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Japan Q2 Aluminium drops to $182/T due to weak demand, sources
Six sources involved in the pricing discussions said that the premium for aluminium shipped to Japanese buyers from April to June is $182 per metric ton. This is a 20% drop compared to the current quarter as domestic demand remains weak. This is a lower figure than the $228 paid per ton in January-March and marks the first quarterly decrease in five quarters. However, it is still below the initial offers made by global producers of $245-$260 per ton. Japan is the largest Asian importer for premiums and light metals For primary metal shipments, it agrees to each quarter pay over the benchmark London Metal Exchange cash price that is set as the benchmark for the area. Sources at Japanese rolling mills said that the aggressive initial offers were made because they expected U.S. Tariffs to push Canadian Aluminium from the U.S. into Europe, increasing the U.S. Premium and redirecting metal headed for Asia to North America. The source noted that the final agreement reflects the weak domestic demand. On March 12, U.S. president Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum into the United States. He suspended the 25% tariffs that he had imposed in early March on many goods coming from Canada and Mexico. Exemptions for two of the largest U.S. trade partners expire April 2. Another source from a Japanese trading firm said that global suppliers had to make compromises to match local spot premiums of around $170, or less. Japan's automakers and construction sector demand remained weak, despite the fact that aluminium stocks were increasing at three major Japanese port cities Marubeni reports that the number of tons produced in February fell by 3.5% from the previous month. Late February, Japanese buyers and global suppliers including Rio Tinto, South32, began quarterly pricing discussions. Due to the sensitive nature of the issue, the sources refused to identify themselves.
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Sources say that Italy is planning to invest in Newcleo, a nuclear startup.
Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed on Monday that the Italian government intends to invest in Newcleo, a nuclear startup company. This is part of its efforts to bring back nuclear power in Italy after nearly 40 years. According to one source, the right-wing alliance could invest up to 200 million euros (216.52 millions) in Newcleo through state-controlled entities. One senior official said that Rome looked with special interest at Newcleo’s projects, and was willing to invest in it. The ministers spoke following a joint announcement by Italy's Energy and Industry Ministers that the government will play an active part in the development innovative technologies in this sector, with particular focus on Newcleo’s projects. A 200 million euro investment will give Italy a prominent position in Newcleo. The company has so far raised more than 540 million euros, including from the family venture capital fund of Agnelli. The two ministers stated that "the government intends concretely to support the strengthening the national industrial chain dedicated innovative nuclear energy. Recognizing its fundamental importance for ensuring energy safety," they said. The Italian nuclear company, founded by Stefano Buono in 1985, is working on small modular reactors that are powered by reprocessed waste nuclear. Nuclear experts claim that small modular reactors reduce the initial cost of building a nuclear plant using advanced technologies. This will lower the project's risk. Last month, the Italian government approved a new law that will allow nuclear energy to be used again. It was previously banned in a referendum. The government wants to decarbonise the most polluting industries and produce nuclear energy using advanced modular reactors. The government claims that technological and safety advances have rendered the 1987 nuclear power ban obsolete. Meloni’s government is still struggling to gain support from local authorities and citizens in order to find a location to store nuclear waste. A new referendum could be held on nuclear power.
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South Africa grants Eskom coal plants limited emissions exemptions
The environment minister announced on Monday that South African coal-fired electricity stations had received some exemptions from the air quality laws, and regulations aimed at reducing harmful emissions. However, he stressed that these measures were not a "blanket respite". The government struggles to find a balance between the calls to reduce carbon emissions and to stop them and the need to supply electricity to Africa's largest economy which is stagnant due to power outages. Eskom, the power utility that generates South Africa's majority of electricity from its fleet of coal-fired plants, applied to exempt 8 of these plants from air quality regulations' minimum emission standards. The Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, which granted the exemptions, said that Eskom would be required to increase monitoring, hire environmental health specialists and offer mobile health clinics, as well as other measures. Dion George, the Environment Minister, said at a press briefing that "these exemptions aren't a blanket reprieve. They are tailored to every facility with strict conditions." Six plants, Lethabo Kendal Tutuka Majuba Matimba Medupi, will receive exemptions for a maximum of five years. These will expire on April 1, 2020. The Duvha and Matla Power Stations will remain exempt until the planned decommissioning date in 2034. Eskom has been working hard to clear the maintenance backlog and end a decade-long period of economic damage caused by power outages. The company has said in the past that retrofitting their plants with new technologies to reduce harmful emission is too expensive. A 10-year study published in early this month found that South Africans living in the coal belt of Mpumalanga Province, which is dominated by coal-fired power plants, have a higher mortality rate than those who live elsewhere. In a report by the South African Medical Research Council (SARMRC) and Britain's Department for International Development, it was found that communities located near coal-fired plants had higher rates of cardiovascular and lung diseases and birth defects. The report recommended that coal-fired power plants be phased out. George stated, "We want enough power to grow our economy and clean, breathable, air." It is unacceptable that our children suffer from lungs problems and that babies are born with cleft lips. (Reporting and editing by Joe Bavier; Wendell Roelf)
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Gold records record high of $3,100/oz and is on track for the best quarter since 1986
Gold prices soared to record levels on Monday, surpassing $3,100 an ounce, amid fears of inflation caused by U.S. Tariffs. The safe-haven investment is set to have its best quarter since 1986. Bullion has continued to rise, with the metal up 18% this year. Gold spot rose 1.1%, to $3,117.43 an ounce, at 0935 GMT. It had earlier reached a record of $3,128.06. U.S. Gold Futures rose 1.1% to $3149.60. Bullion prices rose by more than 27% in the past year, as several factors, such as a favorable monetary policy and robust central bank purchases, combined to encourage investors to buy this safe-haven investment. Technical charts show that gold's Relative Strength Index is above 77. This indicates the market has become overbought. However, analysts say momentum has contradicted any logic about where prices should be. Gold's bull market is a reflection of the fear around tariffs. Gold is being supported by the fear that tariffs will be growth-constricting and could lead to lower economic outcomes, according to Nitesh Sha, commodities strategist for WisdomTree. Trump is expected announce reciprocal tariffs by April 2. Automobile tariffs will go into effect on April 3. The record run of non-yielding gold has been aided by a combination of factors including central bank purchases, rate cut bets and the demand for exchange traded funds. Shah stated that "gold prices could be trading at around $3,500 by this time next. This reflects the strong sentiment towards the metal, especially with the geopolitical risk still present." Trump stated on Sunday that he is "pissed" with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said he would impose secondary duties of 25-50% to buyers of Russian Oil if he felt Moscow was blocking his efforts in ending the war in Ukraine. Gold demand was sluggish in India last week due to record-high prices and jewellers closing their accounts for the year. Most other Asian hubs saw the same trend. Silver spot rose by 0.2%, to $34.17 per ounce. Platinum was up by 1% at $993.15. Palladium rose by 0.5% to $978.75. All three metals are expected to see gains in the month of March.
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More US companies are saying that retailers are turning away their products as 'Buy Canadian" grows
The "Buy Canadian' movement has sent new waves of concern to the U.S. consumer companies who had hoped to sell their products in Canadian retail stores. Jessica Hung, CEO of California-based Parasol Co, said that the company has been working with a distributor since January to increase sales to new retailers, including convenience shops, in Canada. Hung said that the distributor, whom she declined to identify, had stopped working on the deal in early March due to the growing anti-American sentiment? Canada. Hung, referring the distributor, said that "they were instructed by a retail to pause any American-brand launch." They told us that they would reevaluate the situation when the market conditions permit. Hung said, "That is a disruption that we never expected." I never heard about this until now. "It's definitely a lot of headwinds." The dramatic reorganization of Canada's shelves demonstrates the impact of patriotic consumerism in Canada. In 2024, Canada imported almost $350 billion worth of goods from the United States, making the United States its largest trading partner. The annexation of Canada by U.S. president Donald Trump, the 25% tax on Canadian steel and aluminum and the threat to tax other products from Canada have led many Canadians to avoid buying U.S. made goods. Hung stated that Parasol, a company which sells mainly online and in Target stores in the U.S.A., is working to label its packages in French in order to appeal more directly to Canadian consumers. Hung said that she has already started making decisions on which products will be included in the Canada distribution agreement, now scrapped. Shopper Rebecca Asselin, a mom and health insurance professional from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, has been using social media to share her story about her search for Canadian products. She said she switched to Royale diapers made by Irving Personal Care in Moncton (New Brunswick), one of Canada's only manufacturers of baby training pants and diapers. I never thought about where diapers are made before, but it seems that Canadian diapers can be hard to find. This is a major change for us." Irving Personal Care says retailers from across Canada have reached out to discuss the possibility of increasing distribution. Jason McAllister is Irving Personal Care's Vice President of Business Operations. He said that weekly shipments had quadrupled. Companies say that the Buy Canadian campaign is hurting more than just one business. It also affects drinks and citrus fruits from the U.S. Brown Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel's, said that in early March that the removal from Canadian stores of American bourbons and whiskeys was worse than Canada's tariffs. Early March, a source familiar with Californian citrus exports said that Canadian retailers had cancelled their orders. GT's Living Foods in Los Angeles, California and its Synergy Kombucha products are known. They said that retailers in Canada including Walmart have placed fewer orders because of the uncertainty surrounding tariffs. The distributors of Walmart Canada, Loblaw's Metro, and Sobey's have told us that they will only buy one truck of product instead of two, as retailers are cautious and waiting to see what the outcome of this (tariff) situation will be," said Daniel Bukowski. He managed these accounts for GT's Living Foods while serving as senior vice president for sales. Walmart stated that it will "continue to work closely with its suppliers to find the most effective way forward in these uncertain times." Loblaw's & Sobey's have not responded to our requests for comments. Metro prioritizes Canadian local products when possible. Metro said it prioritizes local Canadian products whenever possible. Demeter Fragrances is a small, family-owned business in Pennsylvania that produces perfumes. It has announced it will not expand to Canada by 2025. Mark Crames is the chief executive officer of Demeter Fragrances. He said that Canadians have turned away from American products. "It seems to be a waste of time and effort, so we scrapped it." According to Vice President Tracy Hayes, Grime Eater Products Limited is a Canadian manufacturer that produces Response and Luster Sheen products. The company has been unsuccessfully trying to convince Canadian Tire to carry its products for many years. She said that the future is promising with the Buy Canadian movement spreading. She learned that Canadian Tire, which operates 504 stores across Canada, was planning to reduce its offering of Fast Orange, the hand cleaner brand produced by Permatex, her U.S. competitor. Permatex and Canadian Tire did not respond to requests for comment. (Reporting from Siddharth Cavale in New York, and Nivedita Bali in Toronto; Additional reporting by Jessica DiNapoli; Editing by Aurora Ellis.)
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The Russian rouble has weakened after Trump's Russia remarks
The Russian rouble fell against the U.S. Dollar on Monday, after U.S. president Donald Trump declared that he was "pissed" with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also threatened to impose tariffs on buyers of Russian crude oil. The rouble had fallen 0.7% to 85.50 USD on the OTC market by 0920 GMT. The Russian currency has gained about 25% this year against the US dollar, mainly due to expectations that geopolitical tensions will ease. Trump said to NBC News that he had been very angry when Putin criticized the leadership of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. His comments show his frustration over the lack of progress on a ceasefire. Denis Popov, a PSB bank representative, said: "The news background, at least, has stopped the formation of optimism in the market which limits the demand for rouble denominated assets." Exporting companies also stopped buying roubles to pay their corporate taxes, as they had done last week. Popov said that "after the exhaustion by fundamental factors which created a slight excess of foreign currency in the last week there is the risk that the value may move to a somewhat weaker level." The rouble fell 0.2% on the Moscow Stock Exchange against the Chinese Yuan, which is the most commonly traded foreign currency in Russia. (Reporting and editing by Gareth Jones.)
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Copper tariffs at two-week low, but China data support
Copper prices fell on Monday, their lowest in over two weeks. Worries about new U.S. Tariffs are due this week cushioned the losses by strong factory data coming from China's top metals consumer. The benchmark three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.7% at 9730.50 per metric tonne by 1000 GMT to its lowest level since March 13. The stock market and other financial markets were sent into a tailspin after U.S. president Donald Trump announced that he would introduce reciprocal tariffs to all countries this week. Data released on Monday revealed that China's manufacturing sector expanded at its fastest rate in an entire year in March. Ole Hansen is the head of commodity strategy for Saxo Bank, Copenhagen. He said that "the Chinese data keeps the market from aggressively reversing some of its recent strong gains. We're still holding relatively high levels." LME copper is up 11% this year, while the U.S. Comex has risen by 27%. Hansen said that traders have been buying up copper in anticipation of tariffs expected on the metal. However, these tariffs will be implemented within the next few weeks, so there is not much time left to complete the trades. U.S. Comex Copper Futures fell 0.7% to $5.12 a lb. This brings the premium of Comex to LME up to $1,542 a tonne. Hansen stated, "I believe that the arbitrage period has closed or is about to close, which brings the risk of the Comex contract suddenly seeing a significant additional weakness." The Shanghai Futures Exchange saw a 0.4% increase in tin, to 282,350 Yuan ($38,938.92), due to concerns about supply disruptions following an earthquake that occurred last Friday in Myanmar, which is rich in tin. Tin prices on the LME fell 1.6%, to $35,815 per ton. Other metals include LME aluminium, which fell by 0.1% to 2,544 per ton. Zinc also dropped 0.9% to 2,830.50; lead fell by 0.3% to $2,000 and nickel dropped 2.7% to $16,945. $1 = 7.2511 Chinese Yuan Renminbi (Reporting and Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri; Additional reporting by Violet Li in Shanghai)
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Dutch consider new subsidies for offshore Wind as bidders opt-out
The Dutch government wants to introduce subsidies into its offshore wind farm tenders, because bidders have withdrawn from the current "zero-subsidy" model. Since 2017, the Netherlands has been able to attract builders to its offshore wind farms, without subsidizing electricity prices. However, interest has decreased due to increasing construction costs and uncertain power prices. The Dutch Climate Ministry said that interest in the upcoming auction for three sites on the North Sea was "very low". Eneco, Orsted and other energy firms have already announced that they will not participate in the September tender because they do not see a viable business case for them without subsidies. Pieter ten Bruggencate, the ministry's spokesperson, said that the absence of bidders was a "real difference" from the previous three years. We are constantly looking for new ways to provide bidders with more comfort and security. He said that any changes to the tender for the three 1-gigawatt sites would be relatively minor, without providing further details. The government will also look at "contracts of difference" in the long term. These contracts offer companies a subsidy when the electricity price is low, while the government gains when the prices are high. Ten Bruggencate suggested that other forms of price guarantee could be considered. Sophie Hermans, the climate minister, is expected to release detailed plans in mid-April. The Netherlands pushed back their plans last year to increase capacity by 4.7 GW instead of 21 GW, citing cost, supply-chain difficulties, and "challenges with timely decision making". (Reporting and editing by Bart Meijer)
Wall Street falls as new data fuels inflation fears
Wall Street stocks finished sharply lower Friday with sales in Amazon, Microsoft, and other technology giants. U.S. statistics stoked concerns of weak economic growth, high inflation, and the Trump administration's escalating tariffs.
The U.S. consumer's spending in February was less than expected, while an indicator of prices underlying the data rose at its highest rate in 13 months.
A University of Michigan study showed that in March consumers' expectations for 12-month inflation had risen to their highest level in almost 2-1/2 years. They also expect inflation to continue to rise beyond the next 12 months.
This data fuelled fears that the rush of tariffs announced by U.S. president Donald Trump after he took office in January would increase prices of imported products, cause inflation and discourage the Federal Reserve from reducing interest rates.
Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon have all seen their shares fall sharply as a result of inflation and tariff concerns.
Greg Bassuk is CEO of AXS Investments, New York. He said: "One other cautionary point for investors is that inflation has not yet shown up in the data. This is why we think this is the calm prior to the tariff storm. Inflation is likely to move more north than south over the next few months."
The preliminary data shows that the S&P 500 fell 113.03, or 1.99% to 5,580.28 while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 483.30, or 2.71% to 17,320.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 724.84, or 1.71% to 41,576.15.
According to CME FedWatch, traders who trade interest rate futures see 76% probability that the Fed will reduce rates by 25 basis point by its meeting in June.
After Friday's losses the S&P 500 has fallen about 9% since its record-high close of February 19. The Nasdaq has fallen around 14% since its record-breaking close on December 16th.
Bob Doll is the chief executive officer at Crossmark Investments. He said, "We don't understand the rules. Businesses struggle with this."
"I don't know what tomorrow will bring so I'll be more cautious." This is part of the economic weakness that we are experiencing.
The CBOE Volatility Index rose 3 points, reaching a new high for a week.
Reports noted that Mary Daly, a policymaker at the Federal Reserve, still sees two interest rate cuts in this year as "reasonable".
Trump's commitment to a 25% auto import tariff, which is set to go into effect next week, has weighed down auto stocks a second time, with General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) both dropping.
Trump has hinted that the new tariffs will not be the same as the previous tit-fortat duties.
Lululemon Athletica shares plunged after it lowered its forecasts for the year, citing uncertainty surrounding tariffs.
Gold prices rose in response to concerns about a trade war, causing mining companies Harmony Gold and Gold Fields to rally.
The S&P 500 will experience its first decline in six quarters while the Nasdaq, which is dominated by technology, is expected to suffer its biggest quarterly fall since 2022.
UBS Global Wealth Management has lowered its target price for the S&P500 to 6,400, down from 6,600.
Wolfspeed's shares fell a day following the appointment of a new CEO by the chipmaker amid its struggle to improve its financial situation.
(source: Reuters)