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China's 'No. China's 'No.
China will stabilize grain and 'oilseed production, diversify agricultural exports, and increase support for the farmers, according to a rural policy blueprint designed by the government in order to ensure food security. The State Council’s "No. The State Council's "No. China is still heavily dependent on imports, despite its record grain production last year. Trade tensions with the U.S. have increased efforts to achieve self-sufficiency. DIVERSIFICATION?PUSH The document No. The No. Even Rogers Pay, director of Beijing-based consultancy Trivium China, believes that China's drive to diversify its agricultural imports will reduce reliance on traditional suppliers and increase trade with the Global South. Pay stated that "central policymakers are increasingly focusing on diversification to make China's?food system more secure and resilient in the face of shocks such as natural disasters or wars." She said that the soybean plan will shift from consolidating growth gains in 2025, to consolidating and improving production capacity. This signals a greater emphasis on yield and quality, rather than plant area. Since the first trade conflict, Beijing has reduced its reliance on U.S. soya beans - which is processed into?feed to China's large herd of pigs - while increasing domestic production in order to boost food security. U.S. soyabean market share in China dropped to 15% in 2025 from 41% in 2016, AGRI-TECH INNOVATION The document stated that China intends to promote internationally competitive agricultural enterprises. It also plans to support the expansion and diversification of agricultural exports. The document also includes?measures that can be taken to increase agricultural innovation. These include strengthening research platforms, supporting leading agritech firms, developing?industrialized cultivation of biotech, integrating AI into farming, and cultivating agricultural talent. STABILISING THE MEAT SECTOR The document stated that China wants to improve pork production management and beef and dairy sectors, as well as promote dairy consumption. Oversupply and low price have squeezed the margins of meat producers. The government has taken measures to stabilize the industry. These include a quota-based system for beef imports, and tariffs on EU milk products. Reporting by Beijing Newsroom Ella Cao, Lewis Jackson. Editing by Jan Harvey, Mark Potter and Jan Harvey.
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ARKO Petroleum aims for a valuation of up to $910 Million in US IPO
ARKO Petroleum wants to raise as much as $910,000,000 in its U.S. IPO, according to the company's announcement on Tuesday. It is the latest to test the waters? in a booming listings market. As the IPO market gains momentum into 2026 due to pent-up demand following a government shut down last fall, and?strong investors appetite for more companies to go public. SOLV Energy, a solar and battery storage company, said it is aiming for a $4.99 billion valuation in its IPO. Investors have been 'throwing money at new listings in 2018 with Brazilian fintech company PicPay and satellite company York Space Systems making strong market debuts. ARKO Petroleum is aiming to raise $210 million by selling 10.5 millions shares at a price between $18 and $20 per share, according to an SEC filing. The company, which is a subsidiary to convenience store operator ARKO Corp., has applied to list at the Nasdaq under the symbol "APC." The company primarily 'engages in wholesale distribution of fuel, catering to gas stations and third party dealers in over 30 U.S. States. It reported a decrease in revenue for the nine-month period to $4.27bn in its filing compared to $4.92bn a year earlier. Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti from Bengaluru, Editing by Shreya Biwas and Leroy Leo
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Lescure: France is ready to increase FX volatility during G7
France's finance minister announced on Tuesday that it would put currency volatility "on the agenda" of Group of Seven financial talks, if necessary. Paris is using its G7 Presidency to press for action against what it sees as worsening economic imbalances around the world. Last week, the U.S. Dollar fell to its lowest level in more than four-and-a half years against the euro, causing concern among policymakers. Meanwhile, China's Renminbi, which has been weaker for many years, gives its exports an edge. Roland Lescure, presenting his G7 priorities to journalists, said: "If needed, I'll put the issue of volatility in the foreign exchange markets on the agenda." The G7, once the premier forum to discuss global economic issues, is now struggling to remain relevant. This is especially true as Trump's administration continues its unilateral policies, which have upset allies. Lescure will host G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Paris from May 18-19. He said France wanted to focus the group on imbalances, which he described as being driven by credit fuelled overconsumption and underinvestment in Europe and export-led economic growth in China. He added, "If we keep going at this pace, without dialogue and without a consensus on corrective measures, the outcome will be bad, whether it is an economic crisis, a financial crisis or a political crisis." He said G7 Finance Ministers should "agree" a "catalogue of joint tools for addressing imbalances. This could target specific sectors like rare earths. U.S. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent convened a meeting with counterparts from G7 countries and other partner countries last month to discuss ways of reducing reliance on China in rare earths. This included setting a floor price?and creating new partnerships to develop alternative supplies. Lescure also said that he wanted to use France’s G7 Presidency to revive discussions on international taxation for multinational companies, a topic which has been criticized by the Trump Administration in the past. Reporting by Leigh Thomas. (Editing by Richard Lough, Mark Potter and Leigh Thomas)
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Gold and stocks surge as nerves settle
The global stock market rose on Tuesday after a three-day drop. Investors were encouraged by the fact that gold had recovered some of its?poise, following a two day rout. They also welcomed a long-awaited deal between India and the United States. The Australian dollar is the best-performing currency in the market. It has rallied after its central bank, which joined Japan as being the only developed world economy to raise interest rates. The investor sentiment has improved, as shown by the sharp drop in volatility, and a strong recovery of assets, such as silver and copper, that were previously beaten down along with gold. Indian markets rose after U.S. president Donald Trump announced tariffs would be reduced to 18%, from 50%, in exchange for New Delhi ceasing Russian oil purchases and lowering the trade barriers. MSCI All-World Index rose 0.5% after three days of declines. Europe's STOXX 600 index also rose, this time by 0.1%, having earlier reached record highs. S&P futures rose 0.1%, signaling a modestly better start for the index later in the day. The index had reached an all-time record high on Monday. Steven Leung of UOB?Kay Hian, Hong Kong's director of institutional sales, said that investors had taken stock and sat back after so many positions were stopped by the collapses in silver and gold bets. He said: "It'll take them a long time to rebuild a bear or bull position... So they are staying out of the market." STABILISE METALS Gold is up almost 6% and on track to be its largest one-day gain since 2008. It's now at $4,932 per ounce. This represents a 13% increase from Monday's lowest price. Silver jumped 9.5%, to $87 an ounce. Commodities and the dollar have been bouncing around since Trump's nomination Kevin Warsh as the Federal Reserve chief sent metal prices plummeting. Warsh wants to shrink the Fed balance sheet. This would increase bond yields and be a negative for metals which have no yield. Mohit Kumar, a strategist at Jefferies, said that the selling on Friday and Monday had more to do with the paring down of overcrowded gold and silver positions than any change in fundamentals in these markets. The sharp fall in prices had a limited impact and was only temporary on the market. We remain positive on risky assets and would use the proceeds of any sales to purchase. We remain in the diversification group, both geographically as well as within sectors. He said that we are in favour of a broader rally, and have moved away from the "just AI" theme. After the close of trading, AMD and Super Micro Computer will report on their AI-related products. According to industry reports, OpenAI developer ChatGPT has been looking for faster alternatives to Nvidia artificial intelligence chips. TAKAICHI?TRADE The dollar has taken a step back following last week's rally. This was most notable against the Aussie Dollar, which rose as much as 1.5 percent after the Reserve Bank of Australia increased rates by a quarter point to 3.85%. They cited above-target inflation as well as a tight labor market. The markets had largely anticipated the rise, but are now rushing?to price in a follow up in May. The euro was flat on the day. It is just below $1.18, and still short of its peak in late January above $1.20. The dollar rose 0.2% to 155.89 after the yen lost a little ground. It had retraced around half of the gains made against the U.S. currency following talk of a possible joint U.S. and Japanese intervention. Sanae Takaichi, the Japanese Prime Minister's Liberal Democratic Party is expected to win a landslide in the weekend elections. This would put pressure on the yen and bonds as well as give her a mandate for fiscal loosening. Satsuki Katayama, the Japanese Finance Minister, played down Takaichi's weekend remarks that highlighted benefits of a low yen in contrast with efforts by authorities to support it. (Additional reporting and editing by Shri Navaratnam, Susan Fenton, and Tom Westbrook)
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Deals and delays with MORNING BID AMERICAS
By Mike Dolan Feb. 3 - What's important in the U.S. and Global Markets Today By Mike Dolan Editor-at-Large of Finance and Markets The U.S. Manufacturing industry has reacted sharply to the ups and downs of the past year. According to the ISM survey, factory activity expanded in January for the very first time in over a year. This will throw a 'curveball' into the macro- and interest-rate picture, limiting expectations of Fed easing. Below, I'll go into all of that and more. Check out my most recent column about why we all should be focused on the dollar-risk premium. Listen to the Morning Bid Daily Podcast. Subscribe to the Morning Bid daily podcast and hear journalists discussing the latest news in finance and markets seven days a weeks. Deals and delays were not a concern on Monday as all major Wall Street indexes continued to rise, despite the recent commodity selloff. Alphabet and Amazon led the S&P 500 to a higher close, with Alphabet up by 1.9% and 1.5% respectively. Both companies will report their earnings later this week on Wednesday and/or Thursday. The European stock market followed suit. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed?1% higher and set a new high thanks to the strong gains made by financial and healthcare companies. Elon Musk, in tech news announced that SpaceX had acquired his AI startup xAI. This ambitious tie-up consolidates Musk’s AI and space ambitions, and could boost SpaceX’s planned expansion into data centers as it competes with AI heavyweights. Investors can get a better idea of the AI economy's performance today when AMD and Supermicro Computer release their reports, along with updates from PepsiCo, Pfizer and other consumer and pharmaceutical names. The 'JOLTS' data that was originally scheduled for today will now be delayed due to the partial government shutdown which began on Friday. The January employment report that was originally due on Friday will be delayed as well until the government resumes funding. The shutdown will likely be short, as lawmakers are expected to vote on legislation today to end it. After the recent rumblings, precious metals, which are volatile, seemed to have found their equilibrium on Tuesday. Gold, for example, surged more than 5% and is on course to achieve its largest one-day gain in 2008. Analysts say that despite the recent sell-off, the precious metals bull market still has room to grow. The price of oil continued to fall on Tuesday, as the "geopolitical premium" dissipated due to the possibility that tensions between the U.S. and Iran could deescalate. Both sides are preparing for Friday's nuclear talks to be held in Turkey. Oil dropped more than 4% Monday. Meanwhile, President Trump announced on Monday a deal with India in which?New Delhi would cease Russian oil purchases for a reduction of tariffs from 50% to 18% on Indian goods. Trump said India would instead purchase oil from the U.S., Venezuela and perhaps even China - along with American aircraft and arms. The dollar was slightly weaker, but the yuan in China reached its highest level for almost three years just before the Lunar New Year holiday. The Australian dollar, bond yields and other financial instruments all rose after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised rates for the first two years. Chart of the Day India's rupee saw its largest one-day gain in seven years, and India's stock indices rose more than 2% following the announcement by U.S. president Donald Trump of a trade agreement?that reduces U.S. duties on Indian goods from 50% to 18% in exchange for India stopping Russian oil purchases and lowering tariffs. Watch today's events Thomas Barkin, Richmond Feds' Thomas Barkin speaks * U.S. corporate earnings: AMD, Amgen, Merck, Mondelez, PayPal, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Super Micro Computer 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 the authors. These opinions do not represent the views of News. News is a non-partisan organization that adheres to the Trust Principles and values integrity, independence, freedom from bias, and impartiality.
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Ghana offers lower levy as a sweetener to higher gold royalties regime, says lobby
The head of the mining lobby in Ghana has said that Ghana's finance minister offered to reduce a mining tax by two percentage points to help push a new gold royalties regime through. Africa's leading gold producer is looking to replace the flat rate of royalty with a sliding scale between 5% and 12% in order to maximize value at a time when prices are surging. The new gold royalties regime will come into effect in 21 days if parliament does not amend it. It adds one percentage point to every $500 increase in gold prices, similar to Burkina Faso's system. Ghana's gold-mining companies want to reduce the rate. After recent discussions, the Chamber of Mines CEO Kenneth Ashigbey said that Finance Minister Cassiel Forson had instead suggested cutting a fee called "the growth and sustainability leviey". Ashigbey stated that "we asked for the 3% levy to be removed completely, but the Minister is only offering to remove two points." The Ghanaian finance and mining ministries have not responded to comments immediately. Sources within the government who were familiar with the discussions confirmed that the Minister had proposed a two-percentage-point reduction in the levy. Source: The finance minister said he would be open to dialogue with companies, but parliament could still pass the royalty amendment in its current form unless the ministry provides an alternative. MINERS STARTED PAYING HIGHER TAX AFTER FAILED RESISTANCE Last year, the GSL was increased to 3%. The mining sector regulator said in January that producers initially refused to pay, but then paid after talks continued. Ashigbey, a mining representative, said that miners were looking for a new gold royalty system in the range of 4-8% with one percentage point set aside for a fund to support host communities. He stated that 'the chamber also wants broader royalty price bands. They argue that the government thresholds are too easy to trigger higher rates, which could'squeeze more expensive or less profitable mines. Ashigbey stated that the chamber seeks urgent engagement. He said, "The question is if government wants revenues on a sustained basis or only in the next few year before investing elsewhere." Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Emmanuel Bruce and Robbie Corey Boulet edited the article.
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Russia's Severstal reports big profit drop, sees further decline in steel demand
Severstal's CEO, who spoke on Tuesday, said that the company expects further fall in demand this year. He cited?local economic conditions, as it announced a?79% drop in net profit for 2025, which is now 31.99 billion Russian roubles (416 million dollars). Since 2024, the demand for steel in Russia has fallen. This is due to high interest rates as well as a slowdown of activity by major customers such as the construction industry. Severstal reported that domestic steel consumption dropped by 14% between 2025 and 2026. Last June, the Russian central bank began reducing its key rate from a high of?21%. This was the highest since the early 2000s. Since then, it has lowered the rate to 16%. Severstal CEO Alexander Shevelev stated that despite the gradual easing of the monetary policy, cooling of 'the economy will be inertia. We therefore expect a further decrease in steel demand in 2026. He said that the company expected steel production to rise to 11.3 millions metric tons by this year, from 10.8 million tons in 2025. Severstal’s metal product sales by volume increased 4% last year to 11,24 million tons, but revenues fell 14% to 712,9 billion roubles because of?lower prices. The company has reported negative free-cash flow for 2025, and it will not be paying a dividend in the fourth quarter. The company last paid a quarterly dividend in the third quarter 2024. Akhmed Aliyev, an analyst at T-Investments, said that the chances of receiving payouts by 2026 were very low. Severstal expects capital expenditures to fall from 173 billion roubles in 2025 to 147 billion by 2026.
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Gold tokens market could be tested by fluctuations in precious metal prices
The price of gold has risen, driving the demand for tokenized gold. This is a rapidly growing niche in the digital asset markets, but experts warn that it carries regulatory and custody risks which are not always obvious to investors. Gold tokens are digital currency issued by crypto firms such as Tether and Paxos on a blockchain. They are backed by an equal amount of gold in a vault. This allows retail investors and traditional investors to play with the yellow metal, without having to take physical delivery. Gold tokens, while still small in comparison to the digital asset market as a whole, are growing quickly. According to CoinGecko data, there were almost 20 gold tokens, which had a combined capitalization of $6 billion, as of Monday. Offerings from Paxos, and Tether accounted for more than half of the market. Since the end of 2024, the market has grown by more than four times. INVESTOR PROTECTION TESTS Gold spot price rose to a record $5,594.82 on a Thursday. But a day after, it posted its largest one-day drop since 1983. If a sudden rush of redemption requests for physical metals reveals gaps in the industry, then such blips can pose a risk to investor protection. Some tokens are not transparent as to where and who controls the metal they contain. This leaves investors less informed than traditional gold markets. It's unclear what you own when you purchase a digital token that is backed by a physical asset, said Adrian Ash. He's the head of research for online marketplace BullionVault. If you were to need to prove your ownership during a legal dispute, the court could decide that you only own the token and not the gold. In a press release, Paxos said that it is governed by federal law and all its reserves are protected in case of bankruptcy. It added that each token is 100% backed up by institutional-grade gold, fully allocated and held in London vaults, redeemable at any time for physical delivery. Tether declined to comment on the matter, but it says that Tether Gold "gives you ownership of actual physical gold." Last month, Tether said that it held 16.2 tons (or 16 metric tons) of gold as reserves for the token. TOKENIZATION PULSE Over the last year, tokenization has become popular across many asset classes. This includes stocks and bonds. Tokenization, say digital asset firms, allows for quicker and sometimes instantaneous settlements. This boosts liquidity and lowers transaction costs. Critics say that because the United States does not have a clearly defined regulatory framework, there are differences in investor protections and rights. Gold tokens are only valuable if the gold backing them can be redeemed quickly, is independently audited, and is held in a one-to-1 ratio. In the past, the question of who owns the underlying metal was at the center of many legal disputes after commodities-related bankruptcy cases. This included when U.S. Hedge Fund MF Global failed in 2011. Some investors believe that tokenization will only make disputes like these more complicated. The majority of the risk is off-chain, in terms of whether the token represents an indirect, bankruptcy-remote, claim on specific bars, or a contractual claim on the issuer and custodians. This huge distinction determines if holders own an asset, or own a guarantee, said Michael Ashley Schulman. The oversight of digital assets in general is also changing. Campbell Harvey, professor of finance at Duke University noted that a long-anticipated bill making its way through Congress had put the 'Commodity Futures Trading Commission' in charge of these products. It's not clear whether the controversial legislation will be approved. Harvey said that a custody arrangement such as this is challenging. CRYPTO'S 'GOLD RUSH' The metal's recent rally sparked interest in the tokenized form of gold, as geopolitical tensions fuelled safe-haven demands. The explosive growth of gold-backed tokens is a reflection of a younger, newer demographic that has become interested in gold. They may be frustrated by the lack momentum in bitcoin's price, said independent analyst Ross Norman. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency in the world, which is seen as a hedge against inflation, is falling and has fallen 38% since its October high. Paxos said it had record inflows to its gold tokens in January. This increased its market value equivalently by about 1.68 metric tonnes of gold and brought its total gold holdings at London up to more than thirteen metric tonnes. Some crypto-investors believe that tokenized gold could replace bitcoin in the portfolio as a preferred inflation hedge. In an interview with Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino last month, he discussed the company's portfolio of investments. He said, "It is hard to choose which one I prefer."
OPEC gains share in India after Russian oil imports fall in December
Trade data shows that India's Russian imports?fell at their lowest level for two years in December as Western'sanctions' prompted refiners?to tap alternative sources, raising OPEC’s share of imported oil to an 11-month peak.
The lower imports of Russian crude oil sold at a discounted price will likely hit the profits of refiners and consumers in the third largest oil consuming and importing nation in the world and force them to look for suppliers in the Middle East and the U.S.
Tighter ?U.S. Tighter?U.S.
Reliance Industries - the largest Indian buyer for Russian oil - stopped receiving crude in its deal with Rosneft during the last 10 days of the month. Its imports of Russian oil fell to nearly two years low.
State refiners continued to source Russian oil, however, from non-sanctioned sources.
RUSSIA RETAINS TOP SUPPLIER
In spite of the decline, Russia was the largest supplier of oil for India in December, and the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which runs until March 31, 2026. Iraq and Saudi Arabia were the next two suppliers.
The data shows that some cargoes arriving in December were released in January.
India's Russian imports will average between 1.2 and 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in January. The pullback is more likely to be a temporary disruption due to compliance issues than India completely abandoning Russia, according Sumit Ritola.
The Indian government wants to know the exact amount of crude oil purchased by refiners from Russia and America every week.
OPEC SHARE RISES
In 2025, OPEC will have a greater share of India's crude oil imports, up from 49% a year ago. Russia's share, however, has shrunk to 33.3% compared to 36% in the previous year.
India emerged as the largest buyer of discounted Russian crude seaborne oil following the outbreak of the Ukraine War in 2022.
These purchases have sparked a backlash among Western nations who have targeted Russia's oil sector with sanctions. They claim that the revenues from oil sales help to fund Moscow's military efforts.
As punishment for the U.S.'s heavy purchases of Russian oil, it doubled its import tariffs to 50% on Indian goods last year. Both countries are currently in negotiations for a possible trade agreement.
(source: Reuters)