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Colon cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in US under 50s
According to a recent data analysis, cancer-related deaths among U.S. adult under 50 years of age have declined for all leading cancers except colorectal. This cancer is now the most common cause, moving up from fifth place during the early 1990s. Researchers from the American Cancer Society noted that colorectal cancer has surpassed its original prediction of becoming the leading cause of cancer death in the age group under 50 by 2040. The analysis published in JAMA?found that from 1990 to 2023, the last year for which there are data available, nearly 1.3 millions people in the U.S. died of cancer before the age of 50. After accounting for age during that time, the cancer mortality rate dropped by 44% from 25,5 per 100,000 adults down to 14,2. The average death rate for brain cancer decreased by 0.3% annually between 2014 and 2023, while the rates for breast cancer, leukemia, leukemia-related cancers, and lung cancer declined by 5.7% per annum. The mortality rate of colon cancer increased by 1.1% per year from 2005 to 2023. Researchers said that the findings were consistent with previous reports of an increase in colorectal deaths among adults under 50 years old and across most ethnicities. Researchers recommend that people be educated about the "unique red flag symptoms" of colorectal disease, such as bright red blood in the stool and abdominal discomfort. Researchers also recommended screening at 45 years old. WILDFIRE SMOKE LINKED TO AUTISM RISK IN THIRD TRIMESTER A California study found that exposure to smoke from wildfires during pregnancy could increase the risk of autism in the child. Researchers studied more than 200,000 Southern California births from 2006 to 2014. They found that 3,356 children diagnosed with autism before age 5 were among those who had been examined. Researchers found that children born to mothers who were exposed to wildfire smoke particles for one to five days during the third-trimester had a higher risk of developing autism than those who weren't exposed. Researchers noted that during wildfires, burning buildings and vegetation release toxic metals as well as other pollutants which can be inhaled. Researchers found that the strongest association occurred in mothers who were exposed to wildfire smoke for more than 10 consecutive days during their final trimester. Children in this group had a 23 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with autism than those whose mothers never were exposed to wildfire smoke?while pregnant. Mothers of autistic children are at risk if they're older, pregnant for the first time, or have diabetes or obesity. Researchers say that their study does not prove that wildfires during pregnancy cause autism. However, it adds more evidence to the growing body of evidence about the negative impact of air pollutants on the development of the fetal mind. Mostafijur Rahman, the study's leader at Tulane University, said that understanding the relationship between wildfires and autism was important for developing preventive policies and interventions to protect pregnant women and children. Sign up to receive the complete newsletter for free.
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UAE markets fall on renewed geopolitical worries
The stock markets of the United Arab Emirates ended lower on Friday. Dubai was impacted by weakness in financial and utility shares, after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his threats against Iran. Donald Trump stated on Thursday that he hoped not to have to use the "armada", warning Tehran to stop killing protesters and restarting its nuclear program. Dubai's main stock market fell 0.2% in the session after reaching a near 20-year high. Dubai Islamic Bank, a lender affiliated with the?Islamic bank Dubai Islamic Authority, slid 0.2%. Tecom Group, a business park operator, gained 0.6% when it acquired 125 million dirhams (US$34.03 millions) for an integrated university campus. Abu Dhabi's benchmark indices settled down 0.2%, ending the momentum of six sessions. This was mainly due to a 2.9% drop in Sharjah's Islamic Bank, and a 1.3% 'drop' in Sharjah's Dana Gas. Brent crude was up 1.6% at $65.08 per barrel by 1127 GMT on Friday. According to LSEG, the index for Dubai rose 2.7% in the past week. This is its best performance since?mid July last year. Abu Dhabi's index increased 1.6%. $1 = 3.6728 UAE Dirham (Reporting and editing by Vijay Kishore in Bengaluru)
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TSX Futures are steady as Investors take a pause following a strong commodities-led rally
Futures tied to Canada's major stock index were mostly steady on Friday as investors took a break after?strong mining gains the previous session. Meanwhile, oil prices rose on renewed fears about possible U.S. military action against Iran. As of 5:50 a.m., March futures for Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index were up 0.05%. ET. Toronto's benchmark index recorded its largest gain in 10 days Thursday after a rise in gold prices lifted the mining sector. Wall Street indexes also advanced due to positive U.S. data and the ease of Greenland related risks. Geopolitical uncertainties and waning confidence in American assets continued to drive precious metals prices. This was despite the fact that fears of a trade war with NATO had receded after U.S. president Donald Trump'softened' his stance towards Greenland. Gold spot reached a new peak on Friday morning before falling 0.2%. Silver gained 2.4%. The oil prices rose after Trump claimed that the U.S. was sending an "armada", or fleet, towards Iran, a major supplier of crude oil. This renewed fears about supply disruptions. Brent crude futures, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude were both up around?1.4%. Investors will be looking at the preliminary January U.S. Purchasing Managers' Index data due on Friday morning for clues about the health of the American Economy. After the'markets closed' on Thursday, Aris Mining named Neil Woodyer its new chief executive. Capstone Copper, whose shares are listed in Australia, saw their share price drop 3.4% on Saturday after a workers strike forced a production stop in Mantoverde's mine, Chile. CLICK CODES TO GET CANADIAN MARKETS UPDATES: TSX Market Report Canadian Dollar and Bond Report Global Stocks Poll for Canada Canadian Markets Directory (Reporting and Editing by Jonathan Ananda; Utkarsh T. Tushar Hathi)
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How Green is your rally?
By Anna Szymanski What Mike Dolan, the ROI team and I are looking forward to reading, watching and listening to this weekend. From the Editor Hello Morning Bid readers! Greenland will soon be a "piece of ice", but the Arctic saga of this week is still significant. This week's Arctic saga is a reminder that President Donald Trump will always find a way out, even when it didn't seem possible a few hours ago. It also shows that no deal made with the U.S. should be regarded as final. The major U.S. equity indexes suffered their largest one-day percentage drop in three months Tuesday, when tensions were at a fever pitch over Greenland. However, the indices rallied on Wednesday, after the news broke that a "concept of deal" had been reached over the self-governing Danish territories. This meant President Trump wouldn't be slapping 10% additional tariffs on a number of European allies. President Trump, who delivered a bellicose address at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday in Davos Switzerland, has indicated that the U.S. is now committed to securing "total and permanently" access to Greenland. The Davos detente, however, is not the end of this story. As the U.S. President's willingness in using non-economic disputes to negotiate reopening seemingly closed trade agreements will only increase the uncertainty amongst businesses and trading partners. The dollar index is on course to have its largest weekly decline since June. This reflects the anxiety in the market. Gold, the safe haven, continues to rise, and has now broken through $4,900 an ounce. The European stock market is set to close the week on a negative note for the first time since over a month and the U.S. recovery looks like it may be slowing down. The Greenland controversy also brought to light a few issues that investors should be aware of: Europe's dependence on U.S. gasoline remains a major weakness, and the bond market will likely remain Trump's kryptonite. Japan was the other major market this week. The yield on the 10-year Japanese Government Bond jumped over 18 basis points in just two days, hitting a 27-year record high of 2.38% Tuesday. After Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who promised to boost Japanese growth through massive stimulus, called for a snap election in February. On Friday, the yen fluctuated a little bit even though Bank of Japan kept interest rates at their current level. The yen rose to 157 dollars at one point. Some interpret this as an indication that the government is about to intervene. Some may have forgotten, amid the drama of this week, that Tuesday marked the?one-year anniversary' of Trump's 2nd inauguration. Although domestic political tensions are high, the U.S. economic performance continues to be impressive. The third quarter of the year 2025 saw the U.S. grow at a rate of 4,4%. Oil and gas is one industry in the United States that may be particularly concerned about U.S. policies. Although the embrace by the president of the energy industry was initially welcomed, it now feels a little awkward. Next week will see a Federal Reserve Meeting. The inflation rate is still a little high, as the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index rose 2.8% over the past 12 months, which is just above the 2.7% increase recorded the previous month. This data is a bit noisy because of the government shutdown last fall. The market will be primarily focused on who will succeed Jerome Powell, whose term is set to end in May. Stay tuned! Check out Open Interest for more news on commodities and markets. Open Interest has more commodities and markets news. Check out what the ROI team recommends you read, watch, or listen to as we enter the weekend. This will help keep you informed and prepared for the coming week. Please contact me via email. This weekend we are reading... MIKE DOLAN is a columnist for ROI Finance & Markets. The Bank for International Settlements released a new study on Thursday that examines the dollar's dominance in the global bond market and its use. The report documents three waves of dollarisation since the 1960s and concludes that neither dollarisation nor de-dollarisation have been monotonous trends. Dollar usage is more like a wave-like pattern. ANDY HOME is a columnist for ROI Metals. Our colleagues Steve Holland and Tim Reid published an insightful article about the U.S. The obsession of President Donald Trump with acquiring Greenland is still very relevant. Rare earths? Strategic defense? It may be easier than you think. GAVIN MAGUIRE: Columnist for Global Energy Transition, ROI. Ember's European Electricity Review, 2026, highlights several important energy milestones, including that in 2025 wind and solar generated a greater share of electricity than fossil fuels. Listening to... RON BOUSSO is a columnist for the ROI Energy. Rystad Energy's "Let's Talk Energy", their latest podcast, features a discussion on the future of Venezuela's petroleum industry. We're always watching... JAMIE McGEEVER, ROI Financial Columnist: Canadian PM Mark Carney's pointed speech at the World Economic Forum argues we're witnessing a "rupture of the rules based global order" of the last 80 years, and the emergence... we don't even know what. (From 3 minutes 55 seconds) Sign up for the newsletter to receive Morning Bid every morning in your email. Subscribe to the Morning Bid newsletter Website You can find us on LinkedIn. The opinions expressed are solely those of their authors. These opinions do not represent the views of News. News is bound by the Trust Principles to maintain integrity, independence and freedom from bias. (By Anna Szymanski)
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The Kazakh power outage and Trump's 'armada' remarks about Iran are driving up oil prices.
Prices of oil?recovered?on Friday, after U.S. president Donald Trump renewed his threats against Iran. This sparked fears that military action could disrupt crude supply while outages are occurring in Kazakhstan. Brent crude futures rose by 76 cents or 1.2% to $64.82 per barrel at 1026 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude?was up $75 cents or 1.3% at $60.11. Both benchmarks were set at weekly gains of around 1.1%. Prices rose earlier in the week due to U.S. president Donald?Trump’s actions on Greenland, but fell by about 2% on Thursday after he backtracked on tariff threats and ruled out a military response. Trump announced on Thursday that Denmark and NATO had agreed to a deal allowing "total acces" to Greenland. He also said the U.S. had an "armada", which was heading towards Iran, but hoped that he wouldn't have to use it. He renewed warnings to Tehran about not killing protesters or restarting their nuclear programme. A U.S. official confirmed that warships, including an aircraft-carrier and guided missile destroyers, would arrive in the Middle East within the next few days. The United States carried out strikes against Iran in June last year. Iran is one of the largest oil exporters to China, which is also the second largest oil consumer in terms of volume. Chevron has said that the oil production at Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield is yet to resume. The operator Tengizchevroil, led by Chevron, announced a shut-down on Monday after a fire.
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Copper climbs amid weak dollar
The copper price rose on Friday due to a lower?dollar and growth in other metals. The benchmark "three-month" copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 1.2% at 1043 GMT to $12,901.50 per metric ton after finding support on its 21-day average at Thursday's market close. The metal reached a record-high of $13,407 in January. Investors are uneasy about the sudden policy changes in Greenland and geopolitical tensions. The dollar's weakness makes dollar-priced precious metals more appealing to buyers using other currencies. Capstone Copper, which is on the supply side of things, said that a strike by workers had "forced" a production stop at its Mantoverde Mine in Chile. Freeport-McMoRan, a copper miner, said it expects to have 85% of its Grasberg mine back in production by the end of the year. The Yangshan premium was a result of the high demand for copper and the record December production in China, the world's largest metal consumer. A measure of Chinese appetite for copper imports has stabilised at $22 per ton, the lowest level since mid-2024. This week the premium between the Comex and LME copper contracts has slashed sharply, prompting deliveries of LME registered warehouses to?the U.S. Copper inventories in warehouses tracked by the Shanghai Futures Exchange increased 6%. The spread between the LME cash copper contract (the benchmark) and the LME cash copper contract (the LME cash contract) indicates a rising supply of the metal in the near future. From a Tuesday premium of $102, swung down to a $83 discount per ton. This is the largest since September. Other LME metals saw a 0.1% rise in aluminium to $3135.50. Zinc rose 0.3% to $4221, while lead increased 0.2% to $2,000, while tin was up 3.3% at $53,400. Nickel was also up 3.1%, at $18,545. (Reporting and editing by Vijay Kishore; Additional reporting by Dylan Duan)
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Gold prices drop after reaching $5,000 mark
Investors booked profits as spot gold prices fell after hitting another record on Friday. Silver and platinum have also reached a new high. As of 1028 GMT spot gold was down by 0.1%, at $4,930.44 an ounce. It had earlier reached a record high of $4,967.03 per ounce. Prices have increased by 14% since January. U.S. Gold Futures for February Delivery increased by 0.4% to $4.932.20 an ounce. Lukman Otunuga is a senior research analyst with FXTM. He said that despite the easing of geopolitical risks and tariffs, there was still a lot of caution in the market. In the short term, technical forces and profit-taking limit upside gains. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that he secured permanent and total U.S. access in Greenland through a deal negotiated with NATO. The EU is relieved that Trump has backed down from his threat of tariffs due to?his demands for control of the Island. CENTRAL BANK BUYING & DE-DOLLARISATION RALLY ALSO DRIVE RALLY Gold prices have risen as central banks continue to buy and dedollarise, and investors look for a safe haven from the global risks of policy and volatility. The Federal Reserve is expected hold rates at its meeting on January 27-28, but the markets are still expecting two more rate cuts to be made in the second half 2026. Gold is traditionally favored by low interest rates and economic uncertainty. The gold premiums in India rose this week to the highest level since more than a decade, as investors bought the metal in anticipation of a duty increase in the budget. Premiums in China, however, fell. Silver spot jumped 2.4%, to $98.47 per?ounce. It had previously reached a record-high of $99.34. This is a 37% increase in value for 2026. Nitesh Sha, a commodities strategist with WisdomTree, said that silver was not traditionally viewed as a safe-haven asset. However, this may be changing. He added that prices may ease if industrial demand shrinks as a result of the price increase. Spot platinum rose 1.5%, to $2,667.47 an ounce, after reaching a record of $2,684.43 per ounce earlier. It is already up 30% for the year to date, while palladium dropped 0.7%, to $1,907.45.
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German prosecutors investigate 16 suspects for alleged metals fraud
The German metal trading and recycling company Heraeus has set aside $540 million for the risk of "irregularities", which were revealed by a whistleblower. Frankfurt prosecutors said Friday they have been investigating suspicions since June that materials delivered to Heraeus by customers for processing had been 'illegally taken over a period of 2015-2025. In an email, prosecutors stated that there is "reason to suspect" that illegal withdrawals have been made from delivered customer materials. Financial Times was the first to report on the investigation. Heraeus revealed in its annual report for 2024 a provision amounting to 457.7 millions euros (537.29 million dollars) following the disclosure of irregularities in handling precious metals at a German company recycling site. Heraeus' spokesperson stated in a?Friday statement that the company was cooperating with authorities and that customers affected had been compensated. The spokesperson stated that "we have taken the necessary precautions and measures to prevent a repeat and strengthen our compliance systems."
BHP sends iron ore from Jimblebar to Malaysia and Vietnam after China ban stops sales
BHP Group has sent iron ore cargoes that are not allowed to be sold in China, to Malaysia and Vietnam. The company is looking for alternative buyers because its Jimblebar stocks have been piling up at Chinese ports due a long-running contract dispute with Beijing. China Mineral Resources Group, set up in the year 2022 with the aim of centralising iron ore purchases and gaining better terms from miner, has barred Chinese steelmills and traders from purchasing BHP's Jimblebar Blend Fines, a medium-grade ore. This was done last September, during ongoing talks about a new contract. Lowlands Blue, carrying 95,000 tons of BHP’s JMBF and docked at the Malaysian port on January 14 as?talks continue. This is the first time that a ship with this cargo has been discharged since Kpler began keeping records in 2019. According to Kpler and traders who are familiar with the matter, the Cape Yamabuki sent approximately 75,000 tons JMBF to Vietnam last December. Kpler data indicated that it was the first cargo of this kind to be shipped to Vietnam since 2024.
BHP DIVERSIFIES 'IRON ORE BUYERS
The unusual trades, while?small' compared to BHP’s annual production of over 60 million tons JMBF in Australia, show the mining group's efforts at diversifying its buyers in order to offset its China problems. The world's No. The world's No. It refused to comment on the reported shipments. According to two traders, the stocks of BHP's Jimblebar Fines in major Chinese ports had increased 360% since late September. They were now 8.1 million tonnes as of 13 January. Sources?told that Chinese steelmakers were not allowed to accept JMBF cargoes at ports. According to Kpler data, the daily global exports for JMBF have dropped 74% since January 2025. BHP is 'offering more discount for its iron ore, including the Jimblebar Fines in order to facilitate sales in China', according to several trade sources. Two traders said that discounts for BHP's Newman Fines, a medium-grade type of iron ore, have widened from $2.48 to $4.73 per ton compared to the benchmark 61% indices of Argus & Mysteel.
According to a trader who was familiar with the deal, the Vietnamese steel mill placed the order because of the deep discount.
All sources requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject. Reporting by Staff; Editing by Kevin Liffey
(source: Reuters)