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Oil prices fall, but stocks rise as Iran and chips drive markets
Wall Street gained in the midday trade on Monday, largely due to continued optimism about chip stocks. Oil fell as a result of an expected surge in supply. All three major U.S. indexes rose in the early afternoon after European stocks had flirted earlier with'record peaks' before retreating, ahead of the crucial earnings season for AI. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.07% to 52,938.04, while the S&P 500 rose by 0.73% to 7,537.75, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.25% to 26,155.56. The MSCI index of global stocks rose 0.45% to 1,128.87. Global AI continued to dominate the markets. South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix 00660.KS launched a U.S. shares sale on Monday to raise 43 trillion won (28.07 'billions) and received interest from up to $7 billion of major investors. Broadcom also announced that it has expanded its partnership to Apple for the development and supply of?custom chips until 2031. Microsoft announced that it would cut 4,800 jobs worldwide, or 2.1% of the global workforce. Investors are watching closely to see how companies that deal with artificial intelligence fare amid fears of a bubble during the upcoming earnings period. Delta Air Lines, PepsiCo and other big names in the U.S. are reporting earnings this week. Samsung Electronics will make a big splash on Tuesday, as analysts anticipate an 18-fold rise in profits. OIL SLIPS Oil prices fell but were still trading at levels similar to those seen before the Iran war. U.S. crude oil fell 0.55% to $68.31 per barrel while Brent dropped 0.51% to $71.75 a barrel. While the fractious U.S. - Iran peace talks have not progressed, there are ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. 160 vessels were reported to have transited the Strait of Hormuz from Monday until Saturday last week. OPEC+ agreed to increase output targets from August by another 188,000 barrels a day. According to Institute for Supply Management data, the drop in oil prices appears to have provided some relief to private sector workers, as it has helped slow down the rate of service inflation. ISM reported a decline in the U.S. service sector's activity in June. However, employment increased after declining for three consecutive months. The U.S. president will be attending a NATO summit in Turkey this week. Fed watchers can get a glimpse of how the new chairman Kevin Warsh is leading the central bank when the Federal Open Market Committee releases its first minutes under his leadership on Wednesday. "We expect Warsh will make the FOMC Minutes less informative in terms of the views expressed during the FOMC Meetings. Warsh avoided 'policy guidance' in his statement and press conference. It seems unlikely that he will allow such guidance through a?minutes", Steve Englander wrote in a Standard Chartered Bank note. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10 year notes increased 0.22 basis points to 4.481% from 4.479% at late Thursday. The dollar index rose by 0.07% on the currency markets to 100.94, after it had dipped in response to the weaker than expected June U.S. payrolls data released Thursday. As speculators tested the Japanese authorities' willingness to intervene, the dollar rose 0.53% at 162.23 yen. This is not far off from a 40-year high of 162.84 yen. Gold was down 0.56% at $4,152.11 per ounce, after having risen 2% the previous week. Reporting from Washington by Pete Schroeder; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Stephen Coates. Will Dunham, Thomas Derpinghaus, Jacqueline Wong.
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Macron is the first EU leader to visit Syria since Assad was overthrown.
The Syrian state news agency said that French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Syria Monday. This was the 'first visit by a European Union Head of State to Damascus'since rebels led President Ahmed al-Sharaa overthrew Bashar al-Assad 2024. The visit highlights Syria's geopolitical change under Sharaa. A former al Qaeda leader, Sharaa has built close ties to Western and Middle Eastern countries that shunned Assad as he tries to rebuild a nation shattered after 13 years of war. "I'm here to affirm France’s commitment to the Syrian People. "I am here to affirm France's commitment to the Syrian people. Let's open a page of?peace and stability together," Macron wrote in a post published on X after his arrival. The Syrian state news agency SANA said that he was met at the airport in Damascus by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani. A French official said that the reconstruction of Syria will 'be one of the main themes of the trip.' Macron will also be accompanied by other business leaders, including the CEOs from TotalEnergies, CMA CGM and French container shipping company CMA CGM. Macron will also emphasize France's commitment towards a free and pluralistic Syria, which respects all its communities, and "meet Syrians of all backgrounds and affiliations", the official said. Sharaa and Macron met during a trip to France in last year. It was his first visit to a European nation since he?toppled Assad. The French president led the call for the lifting of Western sanctions which?had stifled the Syrian economy. They were removed in large part last year. The Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was the first foreign leader to visit Syria following the overthrow of Assad. He visited in January 2025. European Commission President Ursula ?von der Leyen visited Damascus in January, ?while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met Sharaa ?during a visit to Syria in April. Reporting by John Irish in Paris, Makini Brice and Muhammad Al Gebaly in Cairo, Feras Dalatey in Dubai and Alex Richardson in London.
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Aluminum up as the focus returns to shortages and sliding stocks
Prices of aluminium rose on Monday, as attention shifted back to forecasts about shortages caused by disruptions in Middle East supplies and shrinking stocks. Benchmark Aluminium on the London Metal Exchange was up by 0.8% at $3,115 per metric ton?at 1603 GMT. It fell to $3,040 - the lowest level since February 19 - as optimism grew over a possible resumption in Middle East supplies. The Middle East is home to 9% of the world's aluminium smelting capacities. Even if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, this market will still see a deficit in 2018. Macquarie analysts expect Middle East production to drop to 4,44 million tons in this year's fiscal year, a 35% decrease from the previous year. Analysts at Macquarie expect the aluminium market to be 930,000 tonnes short this year. The stock of aluminum in LME approved warehouses is down by more than 40% from late January, and has reached its lowest level since September 2022. Metal earmarked to be delivered at 16% or cancelled warrants indicate that another 48,950 tonnes are expected to leave the LME. The market in other countries is still awaiting the result of the review of possible tariffs on U.S. copper imports. The traders had expected to hear a decision by the end of June. Macquarie stated in a note that the June 30 deadline was for the Commerce secretary to give an update to President rather than a?decision by the President. We are therefore in the 'wait and see' mode. Since President Donald Trump's order to conduct a "national security investigation" in February of last year, traders and producers have shipped metals into the United States. Since then, the copper stocks registered by Comex in?warehouses at 668.691 short tons (606,626 metric tonnes) have increased nearly 600%. Many of those stocks came from?LME storage facilities. LME copper rose 0.1% a ton to $13,381, zinc rose 1.1% at $3,580 and lead fell 0.6% at $1,880. Tin advanced 0.6%, to $52,950 while nickel was unchanged, at $16,435. (Reporting and editing by Joyjeet Das, Tomasz Jarowski, and Solomon Cefai)
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Saudi Arabia cuts prices and OPEC+ increases target, but oil prices are little affected
Prices were little changed Monday as they traded?around pre -Iran War levels. Saudi Arabia slashed their?official'selling prices. OPEC+ approved a new production target starting in August. And exports via the Strait of Hormuz improved further. Brent crude futures were trading at $72.19 per barrel at 11:26 am, after hitting a four-year peak above $126 late in April. ET (1626 GMT), up by 7 cents or 0.1%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude was trading at $68.81 per barrel, an increase of 12 cents or 0.2%. WTI was not settled on Friday due to the fact that U.S. market were closed. Both contracts were essentially unchanged last week, after falling over the last month to levels seen last in late February before the start of the war which severely disrupted the global energy flow. UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo stated that "the downward movement is still influenced" by the fact that earlier stranded oil tankers managed to leave the Gulf and resulted in a rise in?oil on water. Investors closely monitored the talks between the U.S., Iran and other countries over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. They also kept tabs on the improvement in Gulf oil exports. Two people who are familiar with the production data say that after leaving OPEC, the United Arab Emirates increased its crude production to near-record levels above 3.8'million barrels per a day in June. Saudi Arabia set its official price for Arab Light crude exported to Asia at $1.50 per barrel less than the average price in Oman/Dubai in August, the largest monthly price cut since records began. Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has also sold crude at reduced prices through tenders, traders have reported. Robert Yawger is the director of energy futures for Mizuho. He said: "It's looking more and more like Gulf producers are preparing to wage a price war." On Sunday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, agreed to increase their output targets for August by 188,000 bpd. This is on top of the similar increases?for both June and July. These increases are largely theoretical because of the Iran War, which has closed the 'Strait of Hormuz' to tanker traffic, limiting the output of key OPEC countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq. PVM analyst Tamas Varga said: "They're selling into a declining market and there is little hope for an immediate price recovery." Lower oil prices, however, will stimulate demand in the future. Ukraine's military announced on Monday that it had struck overnight the largest Russian oil refinery, Omsk. It also hit facilities in Yaroslavl, Leningrad and Yaroslavl regions. Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and other shipping groups will resume certain sailings through Suez Canal. The canal accounts for 10% of global trade. Most shippers abandoned the Asia-Europe trade corridor after Houthi attacks on the Red Sea during the Gaza War. Hapag-Lloyd's spokesperson stated that resuming this route would reduce the length of the journey by four weeks. Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York, Robert Harvey and Helen Clark in London; Anushree Mukerjee in Bengaluru. Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Joe Bavier.
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Wildfires in Southern France Force 10,000 People to Leave Their Homes
Officials said that strong winds will exacerbate the fires. The European Union announced on Monday that it would be sending four waterbombing planes from Sweden and Cyprus to France, as well as more than 100 firefighters to assist emergency teams near Perpignan. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said on X that "Europe stands with France". In a post to?X, Pierre Regnault de la Mothe, the local prefect, said that the fire had injured 16 people including four firefighters and burned 4,600 hectares (11,367 acres) of land in the foothills near the French Pyrenees. The early summer heatwaves that swept across France and western Europe between May and June drained vast areas, leaving them vulnerable to wildfires. According to Tour de France Director?Christian Prudhomme, the Trevillach fire was burning close to the third stage. This led to it being closed to the public on Monday in order to give firefighters access to the area. He said that the motorcade of cars that follows the race had also been kept to a minimal. The 196-km (122-mile) stage began in Granollers, Spain, and ended in Les Angles in the Pyrenees Orientales region of France. The World Meteorological Organization says that Europe is warming up at a rate more than double the global average. This makes prolonged heat waves more likely. The temperatures are expected to hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit in southwest France again this week. Portugal and Spain will also be baking in a heatwave. But they are not likely to reach the records set in June. The fire on the Spanish side of border ravaged 2200 ha, 97% of which were in the 'protected natural area' of Les Gavarres. Regional authorities stated over the weekend that the fire was stable and will be extinguished by the end of the week. The police have arrested a?employee from a company that was contracted by the regional government of Catalonia. He is suspected of having sparked a wildfire using an angle grinder on the side of the road. In the eastern Castellon Province, south of Catalonia 500 people had to be evacuated after a wildfire engulfed the Sierra 'de Espadan National Park, which is home to an important?cork-oak forest. Portugal has seen hundreds of fires over the past few days. The largest of these has already burned through 10,000 ha - roughly the same size as 14,000 football fields. Reporting by Inti Latona, David Latona, and Dominique Vidalon, with editing by Richard Lough and Gareth Jones.
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Eni, the Italian company, has acquired a minority stake in EnergyX’s lithium project in Chile
Eni, the Italian energy company, announced on Monday that it had signed a deal to purchase a 25% stake of?Black Giant?a subsidiary owned by EnergyX?a U.S. start-up developing a lithium?project?in Chile. Eni will be able to access EnergyX's innovative proprietary technologies for lithium production and?secure the possibility of getting up to one-fourth of Black Giant's future output, it said. Eni's $225 million investment will give it access to EnergyX proprietary lithium technologies and the chance to obtain up to a quarter of Black Giant future production, according to the Wall Street Journal report. Eni owns a small minority stake in EnergyX via its corporate venture capital firm Eni Next. Black Giant’s?project aims to produce?52.5 kilograms of lithium carbonate per year at full capacity by 2030. It will be implemented in two phases. The Italian state-controlled company said that the transaction was in line with its strategy to diversify supply chains and strengthen its entry into critical minerals value chain. This will also help Eni to support its initiative to manufacture stationary lithium batteries in Italy as part of their plan to reduce exposure to the petrochemical industry and increase exposure to "the green" transition. Eni Storage Systems, jointly owned by Eni and a unit of Seri Industrial, on Monday launched construction work ?in the Italian city of Brindisi for the development ?of a hub for the production of lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. The production will be primarily used for battery energy?systems that enhance the stability of power grids, and support the deployment of renewable energy sources. According to Wood Mackenzie, the European BESS market is expected to grow by around 138 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2030. (Reporting and editing by Keith Weir.)
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Heatwave to sweep across Europe as Tour de France cyclists prepare for blistering conditions
Tour de France riders will face scorching temperatures as a heatwave sweeps across the country. Temperatures around Carcassonne where Tuesday's 4th stage starts are forecast to reach 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit). Extreme heat is a constant enemy of the peloton during the 'Tour de France in July and the 'Vuelta a Espana' in August. Hugo Page, a French rider, told reporters that the heat of July is always hot. "Global warming could make things worse and worse." According to Benjamin Thomas, France's Cofidis, high temperatures can affect the health and safety of riders. It can be dangerous and affect the health of riders. "Once the perceived temperature exceeds 40 C, things start to get dangerous," said he. The teams have implemented protocols to cool down riders?before and during the stage. They use ice vests and socks, ice cubes wrapped around the neck, and ice slush to lower core body temperature. Mattia Michiusi, Cofidis' head of performance, said that the team uses cold bottles to cool down. They also use wristbands. On Saturday, Netcompany-Ineos cyclists were seen dipping their arms into a bowl of cold water and imitating a aerodynamic position. Mathieu le Strat, Groupama-FDJ United’s medical director, said that the riders?had a heightened heat tolerance because of their targeted training. He said that "you can't compare these athletes to the general public, due to the intense heat training they have undergone." START STAGES EAGER? This training method is designed to help riders adjust to heat. Michelusi said that the first step was to get riders used to high temperatures. "This is why we organise our training camp in Sierra Nevada where you can experience altitude and really hot temperatures." The French Championships last month saw dizziness and headaches as a result of prolonged exposure to extreme heat. Vice president of the CPA Riders Union, Pascal Chanteur, urged organisers not to start the stages during the hotter parts of the day. Chanteur said: "Working six hours at extreme temperatures in extreme conditions is not possible." "The only solution to the problem of the future is changing the departure times." He said that there was no alternative. However, TV schedules which prioritize peak viewership are a major barrier to such adjustments. Christian Prudhomme, the race director of the Tour de France, expressed his confidence in its ability to handle extreme weather conditions. Prudhomme, a reporter, told reporters that "we are always ready to adapt, anywhere, at any time." We will give more ice to teams. We can also open the feed zones more frequently, and have already added a 3rd motorbike so that we can give more water bottles during the stage. The International Cycling Union introduced the High Temperature Protocol (HTP) in 2024, using a five-tiered risk assessment system, based on Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, a system that measures the impact of direct sunlight, ambient temperature and humidity on the body. According to a French Interior Ministry report seen last week, the UCI protocol is not binding, but it does suggest countermeasures. For example, if temperatures rise above 28 C, officials in French regions may cancel Tour de France stage if there is a heatwave alert. (Reporting and editing by Hugh Lawson in Les Angles)
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In one of the deepest strikes ever, Ukrainian drones strike Russia's largest refinery.
Kyiv’s military confirmed on Monday that Ukrainian drones had'struck' Russia's Omsk Refinery, located deep in Siberia and the largest refinery in the country. This would have been 'one of the longest ranged' Ukrainian strikes since the beginning of the war. Local Russian authorities also confirmed a strike. Ukraine's General Staff released a statement in which it stated that the strike caused an fire at the Omsk Refinery. The refinery is located around 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles), away from Ukrainian territory, and near the border between Russia and Kazakhstan. Vitaly Khotsenko said that Ukraine attacked the refinery and said that Russian air defenses destroyed most of drones involved in the strike. Khotsenko wrote in a message on the Russian messaging application MAX that there were no injuries and emergency services had arrived at the scene. It wasn't immediately clear what damage had been done to the refinery. According to sources, the Gazpromneft owned Omsk refinery processed approximately 23 million metric tonnes last year. That's around 460,000 barrels per day. Ukraine is intensifying its campaign of strikes on Russian oil refineries. This has caused fuel shortages in some time zones. Local governors said that, in addition to Omsk and other Russian ports on the Baltic Sea such as Ust-Luga, Vysotsk and Kaluga, the Ukrainian military also 'hit' targets 'in the Kaluga, Yaroslavl and Kaluga regions. According to the Russian-installed officials, a woman was killed in Crimea after a strike occurred on Kerch's port. Sevastopol was the largest city on the peninsula and suffered a power outage, according to reports. Reporting by Felix Light, Alessandra Prrentice, Alexandra Hudson, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, and Sharon Singleton; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Emelia Sithole Matarise
Trump claims that either there will be a deal made with Iran, or the US will "finish the job"
Donald Trump, President of the United States, said that the United States will either "finish the job" or reach an agreement with Iran. He renewed his threat to take military action in response to the defiance shown by Tehran following the funeral for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The indirect U.S.-Iran negotiations ended last week with no public signs of progress toward a lasting peace. This was despite the 60-day ceasefire that was intended to create "space for diplomacy" following U.S.
We'll either make a deal, or we'll?finish the task. It won't be difficult to finish the job. Trump told reporters that he would rather reach a deal than affect 91,000,000 people.
"We can knock their bridges down in an hour, we can knock their energy supply .... They have no money. We haven't given any money to them.
Trump said after Khamenei’s?weekend?funeral, that, instead of looking weakened by war, which began on February 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes,?Iranians seemed to be defiant. They were united, and they appeared determined to shape the 'next?.
Washington hoped to revive diplomacy in order to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. (Reporting and editing by Doina Schiacu and Howard Goller; Reporting and editing by Bo Erickson, Steve Holland)
(source: Reuters)