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Iron ore prices fall as investors focus on coking coal
Iron ore futures fell on Wednesday as investors shifted their focus from iron ore to coking coal due to concerns about the demand for iron ore in China, its largest consumer. As of 0712 GMT, the benchmark September iron ore traded on Singapore Exchange fell 0.7% to $100.75 per metric ton. The daytime trading price of the most traded September iron ore contract at China's Dalian Commodity Exchange was 794.5 Yuan ($110.52) per ton, down by 0.06%. Cao Ying is a Beijing analyst with broker SDIC Futures. She said that the buying in the spot market has been weak because mills are hesitant to stockpile raw materials in anticipation of the upcoming major event in September. This is dragging down futures prices. The big event is a ceremony in Beijing on September 3, commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the End of World War Two. Chinese steelmakers, particularly those in the north, often restrict production in advance of major events in order to maintain air quality in Beijing. Cao, from SDIC, added that "Speculative sentiment" is very low as capital has poured into the volatile coal market. Iron ore open interest in Dalian dropped by 4.2% on Tuesday compared to the previous day, while Dalian coking coal saw a 13.7% increase. Open interest is the number of option contracts that have not yet been settled between buyers or sellers. It's a measure for investors' participation on a particular market. Three analysts and traders have said that they are now focusing on trading coking coal. Analysts said that the price of coking coal increased by 6.45%. This was due to fears about a possible contraction in supply, amid more stringent safety inspections for coal mines, and government investigations for reducing excess production. The price fluctuations of coking coal have attracted more capital and investors, which has in turn increased the volatility, said Zhou Tao analyst at Galaxy Futures. Coke rose by 1.95%. The Shanghai Futures Exchange has seen a rise in most steel benchmarks. Rebar gained 0.75%; hot-rolled coil grew 0.41%; wire rod climbed 0.38%, while stainless steel fell 0.12%. ($1 = 7,1889 Chinese Yuan) (Reporting and editing by Amy Lv, Lewis Jackson)
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The dollar is struggling to find direction
The dollar was unable to gain any ground on Wednesday due to growing Federal Reserve expectations of rate cuts. Investors were looking at weak U.S. economic data and warnings from corporations about the impact of tariffs. The EUROSTOXX futures are up 0.5%, indicating that European stocks will open higher. Novo Nordisk, a maker of wegovy, reported a second-quarter growth in sales of 18%. This was below the initial expectations by analysts. Nasdaq and S&P futures both rose 0.4% after a dip. After the bell, shares of AI chip maker Advanced Micro Devices fell 6.6% on disappointing data center revenue. Analysts at BlackRock Investment Institute said: "We see risky assets as a tug of war between strong U.S. earnings, fueled by the artificial-intelligence (AI) theme and tariffs that hurt growth but raise inflation." We remain overweight U.S. stock but become more granular in assessing the impact of tariffs. Overnight, U.S. stock prices finished lower following the unexpected stagnation of services sector activity in July. Input costs and employment have risen by nearly three years. This highlights the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy. Tariffs are beginning to impact U.S. earnings, even though they were generally positive in the second quarter. Taco Bell's parent company Yum Brands missed its expectations due to steep trade duties that impacted consumer spending. Caterpillar also warned of a cost of up to $1.5 Billion this year from U.S. Tariffs. In Asia, MSCI’s broadest Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan fell by 0.1% while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.6%. Australia's resource shares rose by 0.8%. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong and the blue chips of China both rose by 0.1%. Trump said on Tuesday that he would announce tariffs for semiconductors and chips within the next few weeks. The U.S. will initially impose a'small tariff' on pharmaceutical imports, before it increases it significantly in the following year or two. He said that the U.S. and China were close to a deal on trade, and if one was reached he would be meeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping by the end of the calendar year. He threatened to increase tariffs on Indian goods over their Russian oil purchases. The Reserve Bank of India held its key interest rate at 5.50%, as expected, on Wednesday. However, the chances of another reduction have increased after the U.S. imposed steep tariffs on Indian imports last week. On the currency markets, after a disappointing jobs report last Friday that caused markets to price in an almost certain chance of a Fed rate cut in September, the dollar has stabilized. The dollar index (which measures the U.S. Dollar against six counterparts) was unchanged at 98.73 this week, after Friday's fall of 1.4%. FedWatch from the CME shows that Fed funds futures indicate a 94% probability of a rate reduction next month. At least two cuts are priced in this year. Investors await Trump's choice to fill the upcoming vacancy at the Fed Board of Governors. Trump announced that a decision would be made shortly, but ruled out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is currently the Fed Board of Governors' chief and whose tenure ends in May 2026. Treasury yields rose after a $58 Billion auction of 3-year notes failed, but they remained near their multi-month lows. This week, the market will see more supply with $42 billion of 10-year notes and $25 billion of 30-year bonds. The yields on two-year Treasury bonds rose by 2 basis points, to 3.7323%. They had risen by 3.5 basis points overnight. Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year bond yields increased 3 bps, to 4.2217% after remaining unchanged overnight. Oil prices have risen on commodity markets after four consecutive sessions of declines. U.S. crude oil rose 0.6% to $65.57 a barrel while Brent crude was up 0.6% at $68.07 a barrel. Trump said Tuesday that he would decide whether or not to sanction countries who purchase Russian oil following a scheduled meeting with Russian officials on Wednesday. The spot gold price fell 0.3%, to $3.370 per ounce.
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Two people killed and 10 injured in Zaporizhzhia by Russian strikes, says regional governor
Ivan Fedorov, the governor of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, said that Russian attacks in the region killed two people, and injured 10, including four children. Fedorov reported that Russian forces launched 567 attacks in 16 settlements of the region over the course of 24 hours, from Wednesday morning to the next day. Zaporizhzhia was on the frontlines of the war Russia launched in February 2022 against its smaller neighbor. Fedorov, a Telegram user, said that nine buildings had been damaged by the strikes in the Zaporizhzhia district. Zaporizhzhia is the administrative center of the region. Fedorov stated that "Emergency Services continue to respond" on the ground. The report could not be independently verified. Russia has not yet responded. Both sides deny that they have targeted civilians when attacking each other's territories. The vast majority of the civilians killed in the conflict are Ukrainian. (Reporting and editing by Saad sayeed in Melbourne, Lidia Kelly from Melbourne)
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MORNING BID EUROPE - Tariff toll still not deter stock bulls
Stella Qiu gives us a look at what the future holds for European and global markets. Stock investors aren't too worried about the impact of Donald Trump's tariffs on economic data and corporate earnings. The data showed that the U.S. services sector slowed down in July, as the employment rate continued to decline and input costs rose by the highest level in almost three years. This, combined with Friday's brutal jobs report, rekindled fears of stagflation and put the Federal Reserve into a difficult position. The impact of tariffs on U.S. earnings is becoming more evident, even though the results were generally positive in the second quarter. Caterpillar warned it could lose up to $1.5bn in tariffs this year, and Taco Bell's parent company Yum Brands warned against increased costs and a weakened consumer market. After the bell, shares of Advanced Micro Devices, a stock that makes AI chips for data centers, fell 6.6%. Investors are caught in a tug-of-war between tariffs and still robust earnings. According to the impressive rise in stocks following the U.S. employment figures, buying the dip is still a good idea for now. Reports indicate that the other big news today is the ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company is currently in the early stages of a possible secondary stock sale. This would value the company at approximately $500 billion. In Asia, the majority of shares fell but Japan and Australia performed better with gains of 0.6%. Wall Street futures recovered after a dip. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 rose 0.1% each. The European stock futures market is bracing itself for a higher opening, with EUROSTOXX futures up by 0.3%. The dollar has struggled to recover after the Friday jobs slump. Trump's choice to fill the upcoming vacancy at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors is being watched closely. Trump announced that a decision would be made by Friday. He also ruled out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is currently the chief of staff and whose tenure ends in 2026. After a disappointing three-year auction on Tuesday, the Treasury market prepared for a $42 Billion auction of 10-year bonds. The following are key developments that may influence the markets on Wednesday. Retail sales in the Eurozone for June U.S. Treasury 10-year bond auction Disney, Uber and McDonald's earnings results Want to stay up-to-date with the latest tariffs? Our daily news digest provides a quick overview of the most important headlines that impact global trade. Tariff Watch is available here.
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Trump's threats against Russian crude buyers have led to a rebound in oil prices
On Wednesday, oil prices rose, recovering from a five week low the day before, amid concerns about supply disruptions following U.S. president Donald Trump's threat of tariffs against India for its Russian crude purchase. Brent crude futures rose 43 cents (0.6%) to $68.07 per barrel at 0330 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 40 cents (0.6%), reaching $65.56 per barrel. Market chatter has grown that China's purchases may be the next thing to come under scrutiny, according to ING commodity analysts on Thursday. They said that if India stopped buying Russian oil due to tariff threats, the market could cope with this loss. The bigger risk, however, was if the other buyers started to avoid Russian oil. The oil contract prices fell more than one dollar on Tuesday, reaching their lowest level in five weeks. This was the fourth session that both contracts had lost money, due to concerns about oversupply resulting from OPEC+’s planned September production increase. Investors are assessing if India will reduce their Russian crude purchases as a response to Trump's threat, which could tighten the supply. But it is yet to be seen whether this will happen," said Yuki Tasashima. He said that if India's imports remained steady, WTI would likely stay in the $60-$70 price range for the remainder of the month. OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and its allies agreed on Sunday to increase oil production by 547,000 barges per day in September. This will bring an end to the most recent cut in output earlier than expected. OPEC+ produces about half the oil in the world. For several years, the group had curtailed production to help the market. This year, the group has accelerated its output to regain some market share. The U.S. demand that India stop buying Russian oil, as Washington looks for ways to pressure Moscow to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine, could disrupt supply as Indian refiners look for alternatives and Russian crude gets redirected to another buyer. Trump threatened on Tuesday to increase tariffs on Indian products over the country's Russian-oil purchases in the next 24 hour. Trump said that falling energy prices may also pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin into ending the war in Ukraine. New Delhi called Trump’s threat “unjustified” and pledged to protect its own economic interests, deepening the trade rift between two countries. Takashima, from Nomura, also cited industry data that showed crude inventories in America, the largest oil consumer in the world, as a positive for the oil markets. Sources citing American Petroleum Institute data said Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks fell by 4.2 millions barrels during the past week. This compares to a poll estimation of a 600,000.0 barrels draw in the week ending August 1. Wednesday is the day that the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly inventories. Reporting by Yuka Obaashi in Tokyo, Jeslyne Lerh and Stephen Coates in Singapore. Editing by Christian Schmollinger & Stephen Coates.
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Markets watch Fed appointments as they see gold prices drop amid dollar gains
On Wednesday, gold prices fell on a stronger dollar. Investors held off on making large bets before Donald Trump made his decision about the Federal Reserve. As of 0312 GMT on Wednesday, spot gold was down by 0.1%, at $3,376.01 an ounce. It had hit a two-week high the day before. U.S. Gold Futures dropped 0.1% to $3431.10. The dollar recovered from the one-week low it hit in the previous session. This reduced gold's appeal for other currency holders. We see that gold is con "We are solidifying and have a slight upward bias," Brian Lan, Singapore's managing director of GoldSilver Central said. We expect gold to test a higher trading range like $3,393 or $3,400. Trump said on Tuesday that he will announce his decision on the short-term replacement of Fed Governor Adriana Kulgler, who announced on Friday her resignation, as well as on his choice for the next Fed Chair. CME FedWatch now places the odds of a cut in September at almost 87% after Friday's employment data that was weaker than expected, which led to Trump firing the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trump threatened again to increase tariffs on Indian goods over their Russian oil purchases. New Delhi, however, called the attack "unjustified," and pledged to protect its own economic interests. This further widened the trade gap between the two nations. The refiner reported on Wednesday that the Perth Mint saw its gold sales fall 33% from the previous months, and silver sales drop to a six month low. Silver spot was unchanged at 37.82 cents per ounce. Platinum fell 0.5% to 1,313.94 dollars and palladium dropped 1% to 1,164.15 dollars. (Reporting and editing by Anushree Mokherjee in Bengaluru, Brijesh Patel in New Delhi)
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Trinidad, ExxonMobil Strike Deal for Seven Deepwater Blocks
Trinidad and Tobago's government has agreed to award U.S. oil major ExxonMobil acreage in an ultra-deep area that includes seven blocks to explore for oil and gas, two senior government officials told Reuters.The parties began negotiations earlier this year for the areas off the east coast of the Caribbean country, which ExxonMobil left more than 20 years ago. The blocks are located northwest of ExxonMobil's prolific Stabroek block in Guyana, where the consortium it leads has confirmed more than 11 billion barrels of recoverable resources.ExxonMobil and the Trinidadian government could sign the agreement as soon as next week, according to the people with knowledge of the negotiations, who were not authorized to speak publicly.The area to be awarded to ExxonMobil is an amalgamation of seven blocks, and has been renamed Ultra Deep 1 or UD1. The area covers water depths of 2,000 to 3,000 meters, the people told Reuters."We will not comment on third party sources, but we routinely look at opportunities to optimize our advantaged portfolio," an ExxonMobil spokesperson told Reuters.Trinidad and Tobago Energy Minister Roodal Moonilal did not respond to a request for comment."Ultra-deep Trinidad and Tobago could unlock potential similar to ExxonMobil's Stabroek block," according to a 2024 study by Houston-based energy data analytics firm TGS.In Guyana, ExxonMobil and partners Chevron and CNOOC are about to begin production at their fourth floating facility, which will expand its capacity beyond 900,000 barrels per day (bpd), less than six years after beginning oil production in the South American country. The group plans to produce up to 1.7 million bpd by 2030.During a press briefing last week, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said exploration is part of a three-pronged approach to ensure that the company continuously replaces the oil and gas it produces."We're continuing to have a very consistent and focused effort on finding more resources that will be economically advantaged and competitive in our portfolio." Woods said.Work To DoExxonMobil has agreed to a signing bonus and a three-phase exploration program in Trinidad that includes the acquisition of seismic data and drilling of exploration wells, the two sources said.If oil or gas is found, the agreement also includes royalty payments and a share of the profits to the government, along with a provision for cost recovery, the sources said.ExxonMobil first approached the Trinidadian government in November of 2024 with interest in the seven blocks, they added.Trinidad and Tobago is in the middle of a deepwater auction that has been extended to close on September 17 and excludes the areas ExxonMobil is interested in.According to Trinidad's laws, the government can individually negotiate areas for exploration and production if they are not included in a competitive bidding round.Trinidad has been trying to rejuvenate investment, especially offshore, where more gas output is needed to support the nation's liquefied natural gas and petrochemical industries. But it is also hoping to find oil in its deep waters.A flagship offshore gas project with neighboring Venezuela recently lost its U.S. authorization to move forward and has been shelved. It was expected to help relieve some of the country's ongoing gas shortages.(Reuters - Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Additional reporting by Sheila Dang; Editing by Richard Chang)
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Ramboll Names Offshore Substations Chief
Danish engineering group Ramboll has appointed Tommy Flindt as the new Global Director for Offshore Substations within the Wind Division.Effective from August 1, 2025, Tommy Flindt will be responsible for leading Ramboll’s global offshore substations business, supported by a team of close to 200 experts.Ramboll offers support within optimization, development and design of both topside facilities and substructures, including services that span both detailed technical expertise and the necessary environmental impact assessments and permitting.The substations team is part of Ramboll’s Wind Division, which comprises of more than 900 specialists offering comprehensive services throughout the entire life cycle of wind energy projects.Joining Ramboll from Copenhagen Offshore Partners, where he was a Senior Director, Tommy Flindt has also contributed to leading industry players such as Ørsted, Maersk and Semco Maritime.His experience in global, multicultural settings, coupled with his focus on people, empowerment, communication, delivery professionalism, and development, perfectly aligns with Ramboll’s values and mission.“Tommy Flindt brings more than 13 years of extensive experience in the offshore wind industry. His expertise spans engineering, technology, project management, business development and senior leadership. He brings the whole package,” said Tim Fischer, Global Executive Director for Ramboll’s Wind Division.
US announces that it has begun seabed mineral negotiations with the Cook Islands
State Department announced on Tuesday that the U.S. and the Cook Islands have begun discussions on research regarding seabed mineral exploration and development.
Cook Islands are a group of 15 islands, atolls and other small groups that lie between New Zealand (halfway) and Hawaii. In 2021, the country had a total population of 15,040.
After Beijing signed deals in recent years with Pacific nations on trade, defense and finance, Western nations who traditionally dominated the Pacific Islands are becoming increasingly worried about China's plans for increasing its influence.
A strategic partnership agreement was signed between China and Cook Islands earlier this year. The agreement covered a wide range of areas, from deep-sea mines to scholarships for education. However, it did not include security ties.
The Statement Department stated in a press release that "The Government of the United States of America began discussions with the Government of the Cook Islands regarding the support of research needed to inform seabed exploring and responsible development within the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone."
It said that U.S.-linked companies "sit at forefront" in deep seabed mineral exploration and research on the Cook Islands.
From 1901, the Cook Islands were part of New Zealand. In 1965 it became independent but still in free association with New Zealand.
King Charles III is the head of state. Cook Islanders are New Zealand citizens and have New Zealand passports. Cook Islanders have the same rights and privileges as New Zealanders, including the right to work, attend school, and access the medical system.
New Zealand cut off millions of dollars from budget funding for the Cook Islands in June as relations continued to deteriorate due to the island group's growing ties with China. Reporting by Kanishka Shakil and Ismail Shakil, Editing by Christopher Cushing, Lincoln Feast and Ross Colvin.
(source: Reuters)