North America

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced on Thursday that his government will implement a plan to address fuel shortages in the 'next week' as the U.S. attempts to cut off oil supplies to the Caribbean Island nation. Last week, tensions escalated after the U.S. announced it would impose tariffs on products from countries that supply oil to Cuba. This led to a spike in prices for transportation and food, and a severe shortage of fuel. Last month, U.S. president Donald Trump announced that Cuba would cease to receive oil from Venezuela, its largest supplier. Diaz-Canel stated in a two-hour long televised...

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed that Abbas Araqchi, Iran's Foreign minister, has left?for Muscat in the Omani capital at the head of a diplomatic delegation for nuclear talks to be held with the U.S. on Friday. Officials from both sides confirmed that the U.S. has agreed to hold talks with Iran in Oman this Friday. However, they are still at odds over Washington's demand that Tehran's arsenal of missiles be included in negotiations and Iran's refusal to talk about anything but its nuclear program. Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian spokesperson, said on Thursday that Iran will engage in talks with...

India and the U.S. are expected to sign a "formal" trade agreement in March. After that, New Delhi will lower tariffs on U.S. products, said Trade Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday. This was the first official timeline of the adoption of the deal. Washington will then reduce the duty on Indian exports from 50% to 18% within a few days. Goyal stated that India will purchase about $500 billion worth of U.S. products over the next five years. This includes $70-80 billion of Boeing aircraft. In the deal announced Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reduced U.S. Tariffs on Indian Goods...

Ivanhoe Mines is in advanced discussions with Congo's Gecamines state miner and Swiss commodities trader Mercuria about channeling zinc-rich concentrates from its giant Kipushi mining to the United States, under Washington's newly developed strategic stockpiling program Project Vault. The deal is part of a larger agreement between the U.S., and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the area of minerals. Washington is intensifying its battle with China for control of Africa's vast mineral deposits. Project Vault, a $12 billion supply chain security programme launched by the U.S. on Monday and backed by private capital of $1.67 billion and a U.S....

Investors say that the U.S. India trade deal will likely be enough to stop foreign stock selling. However, they insist that earnings growth and fundamentals must improve before sustained?buying can occur. The long-awaited agreement sparked an increase in the stock markets and rupee's strongest rally in seven year on?Tuesday as it?signalled improved diplomatic and trade relationships with the U.S. This was only one of many factors that hung over the currency and stock market, which has underperformed by a large margin regional and global counterparts since the start of last year, and seen the foreign allocations shrink to a 2-decade-low....

Marathon Petroleum bought two cargoes Venezuelan crude oil at the end of January, and executives expect their refineries to process more heavy grades. Refiners in the United States are expected to gain from President Donald Trump’s efforts to increase output in Venezuela, and to rebuild the country's deteriorating oil sector after the capture of Nicolas Maduro last month. Since Washington and Caracas met, Venezuelan crude oil exports have risen. Deal worth $2 Billion Last month, U.S. Gulf Coast Complex Refineries The U.S. produces heavy sour oil, but Venezuela's is more suitable for processing. Maryann Mannen, CEO of Marathon Oil, said:...

A government official revealed to? ?on Tuesday. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, announced on Monday a deal with India that reduces U.S. tariffs from 50% to 18% on Indian goods in exchange for India ceasing its Russian oil purchases and lowering trading barriers. Trump said India had agreed to "BUY AMERICAN" at a higher level. He said India would be able to?buy $500 Billion worth of U.S. coal, technology, agricultural, and other products. Unnamed official of the Indian government said that India had agreed to "buy U.S. products" to reduce the trade gap between the U.S. The U.S. has a...

Four trade sources reported?on Tuesday that the independent Chinese refiner Chambroad Petrochemical had purchased one Canadian crude cargo for May delivery. This follows a decrease in Venezuelan crude supply to China. According to sources, the refiner is one of the biggest buyers of Venezuelan crude oil. It also imports Canadian oil from the Trans Mountain pipeline for its bitumen manufacturing. Chambroad bought Canadian Cold Lake Crude exported?from TMX for a discount of close to $5 per barril compared to the July ICE Brent contract, according to two people. The crude was to be delivered to the eastern Shandong Province in...

Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that he and India had reached a deal on Monday. He also stated that New Delhi agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil in favor of buying more from the U.S. Here are some of the most important developments in U.S.-Indian Trade Relations over the last year. Why did India-U.S. Why did the India-U.S. Trump surprised India in April to August 2025 by imposing an initial 25% tariff on goods sent to the United States. The U.S. then imposed a second 25% tariff citing India's purchases of Russian oil. Tariffs on Indian goods sent to...

Two sources familiar with the operational data say that oil production at Kazakhstan's Tengiz giant field has increased in recent days. It reached nearly 20% of its capacity on Sunday, following a complete outage in January. Tengiz, the oil refinery that accounts for almost 40% of Kazakhstan's production, was closed on 18 January after an electrical fire. This cut down on the nation's overall oil supply, at a time where exports had already been constrained due to disruptions along its main pipeline route. Sources said that oil output at Tengiz increased to 23,000 metric tonnes (183,000 barrels), up from 14,900...

Wall Street's major indexes rose on Monday, as memory chipmakers and heavyweight stocks?led a recovery from losses caused by the sharp drop in precious metals prices. The 'S&P 500' ended three consecutive daily losses. This was after a session in which gold and silver prices fell so much that investors were forced to unwind their leveraged bets. Sandisk, a memory-related stock, soared by 16%. Seagate rose by 5.8%. Western Digital rose 7.8%. This is a continuation of the strong momentum that began in January and continued through late-2025. Market participants stated that the focus of the market was on positioning...

S&P 500 and Nasdaq sawsawed back and forth between gains and losses Monday as the markets took in a sharp drop in precious metals. This was at the beginning of a busy week that would include corporate earnings and important?economic? data. Silver and gold both fell by up to 10%, before recovering some of their losses. The CME Group increased margin requirements after a historic drop on Friday. U.S. listed gold and silver miner companies pared losses to trade higher. Jim Baird is the chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. Last week, the metals market plunged after U.S....

Muyuan Foods shares closed slightly higher on Friday in Hong Kong, following the world's largest pig breeder. raised HK$10.7 Billion ($1.4 Billion) in a share sale This is the largest city-wide event so far in this year. The shares of the firm opened at HK$39 per share, matching their initial offer, and ended 3.9% higher, at HK$40.52, after trading between HK$38.98 and HK$41.72, with 40.59 millions shares worth HK$1.63billion changing hands. The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended 1.2% lower. This is the biggest share sale in Hong Kong in recent memory, surpassing Zijin Gold International $3.5 billion in September. Dickie...

South Africa announced on Friday that the 'trade minister' had signed an economic framework partnership agreement during a trip to China. It described this as a "step" towards ensuring duty-free access for South African exports to the Chinese market. Africa's largest economy, which is the second largest bilateral trading partner in Africa after China, wants to boost its exports despite a dispute over tariffs with the United States. In August, U.S. president Donald Trump imposed the highest tariff rate in Sub-Saharan Africa of?30% on South African exports. The South African trade ministry announced in a press release that Minister Parks...

CME Group, the world's largest commodities exchange, has raised the margin requirements on gold and silver contracts to reduce the risks of a heightened volatility in precious metals markets. Margin is the 'deposit' that investors pay to an exchange to cover their risk in case of default. When volatility increases in the market, exchanges will typically increase margins as a way to reduce risk. CME Group announced on Thursday that the margins for COMEX Gold Futures (100) have increased from 8% to 9% for accounts with a Non-Heightened risk Profile (Non HRP). The initial and maintenance margins on COMEX Silver...

Canada's Capstone Copper announced on Friday that its largest union at the Mantoverde copper and gold mine in?Chile approved a three-year contract. This ended a strike which began on January 2, and allowed production to resume normal. The Australian-listed shares of the miner fell by?3.9%, to A$15.430. This is their lowest level since January 23. The agreement brings an end to the labour strike which had reduced production in the?mine by about 55%. Capstone announced that it had?now negotiated new contracts for all four unions on the site. This allows the company to resume its full operations. Union No. Union...

Barrick Mining announced on Thursday that it will move forward with the?preparations of an initial public offering (IPO) of its North American assets, and appointed interim?head Mark Hill as its CEO and President. The company's shares listed in the United States rose by 2% during premarket trading. The company's Toronto shares dropped 6.7% during morning trading. Analysts said that the market punished the company because of high cost guidance, and the disclosure of the December payout to Mali. Martin Pradier is an analyst at Veritas Research. He said, "My concern about the cost increase is huge." Mali, when you factor...

According to a report published on Thursday, federal enforcement actions against polluting businesses in the U.S. dropped?to an historic low in 2025. This was the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term. According to an analysis conducted by the Environmental Integrity Project, only 16 civil lawsuits were filed by the Justice Department in civil court on behalf of Environmental Protection Agency. This is down from 76 complaints during the 'first year' of the Biden Administration, 81% less than the first 'year' of Trump's term, and 87% less than the first 'year' of former President Barack Obama. Why is this...

Nippon Steel, which had previously forecast a net loss for the 'financial period ending in March' of 70 billion yen (US$446.1 million), increased it on Thursday to 70 billion dollars due to an explosion at a blast-furnace. This was after the company experienced a profit in nine months up to December. Japan's largest steelmaker had previously anticipated a loss in the region of 60 billion yen due to charges related to an $15 billion deal to purchase U.S. Steel, which closed in June. Steel exports from China and sluggish demand in Japan will also affect the company's performance for the...

Maas Group, an Australian company, announced on Thursday that it would be selling its building materials division up to A$1.70billion ($1.19billion) in order to pivot to artificial intelligence infrastructure. This caused its shares to drop by more than 26%. Maas Group is selling its Construction Materials (CM), a?unit, to Heidelberg Materials' local subsidiary, HMA. It will also invest A$100m in Nvidia AI infrastructure?firm Firmus Group, for a 1.7% share. The conglomerate was founded by former rugby player Wes Maas over 20 years ago. It is now selling an unit that generated approximately half of the A$219 millions in core operating...

Australia's Ardea Resource said that on Thursday, its Kalgoorlie Nickel Project received separate letters from Export Finance Australia (A$1 billion) and the U.S. Export-Import Bank to support a possible funding of up A$1 Billion ($699.90 Million). The funding will be used to support Kalgoorlie Nickel’s Goongarrie hub?project in Western Australia. This project is expected to supply nickel and cobalt which are both critical minerals in lithium batteries. Ardea shares jumped 9.6% by 0058 GMT to A$0.745, their highest level for nearly two weeks. They also snapped out of three sessions in losses. The 'Trump administration' has increased efforts to secure...

On Wednesday, the United States and Mexico unveiled a plan of 60 days to develop coordinated trade policies that would mitigate vulnerabilities in vital mineral supply chains. The plan does not mention China or its chokehold over the processing of many minerals. Instead, it calls on both nations to consult about including price floors into a binding multilateral agreement on trade. Separately, U.S. vice president JD Vance announced plans on Wednesday to rally allies to a preferential trading bloc for critical mineral?as Washington intensifies efforts to shore-up supply chains vital to advanced manufacturing. U.S. Aims to fix vulnerable supply chains...

On Wednesday, the United States and Mexico unveiled a plan for developing a coordinated trade policy to?mitigate vulnerabilities in critical supply chains of minerals. This could include possible price floors on certain mineral imports. The plan does not mention China or its chokehold over the processing of these minerals. Instead, it calls on both nations to consult about including price floors into a binding multilateral agreement on trade. Separately Vice President JDVance announced plans on Wednesday to marshal allies to a preferential?trade?bloc in order to secure supply chains vital to advanced manufacturing. U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer stated that the...

Greenland - the 'Arctic Island' coveted by U.S. president Donald Trump - experienced its hottest January ever this year. A rate of warming that is four times faster than global averaging has changed the outlook in sectors from mining to fishing. Trump said that the U.S. should own Greenland - an autonomous part within the Kingdom of Denmark - for security reasons, although he has backtracked on his threats to seize the island with force. The Danish Meteorological Institute's preliminary temperature readings in Nuuk, Greenland's capital city, averaged +0.2° Celsius (32.4° Fahrenheit) during January. This is the highest recorded and...