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Senators ask for reauthorization of the US Export-Import Bank to support efforts to secure critical minerals
U.S. U.S. Washington has taken steps to counter what policymakers see as Chinese price manipulation for minerals such as lithium, nickel and rare earths, which are essential to the production of electric vehicles, high tech weapons and many other manufactured products. Cramer is a Republican Senator from North Dakota. He co-sponsors the reauthorization bill with Warner, a Democrat senator from Virginia. Both are members of the Senate Banking Committee. Financial Times was the first to report the news. Cramer will?also seek to raise the bank's loan cap by $70 billion, to $205 billion, as part of a?reauthorization plan. "A 10-year authorization provides greater certainty and we all know how important certainty is for investors. Cramer explained that it gives American companies a long-term plan without the looming threat associated with a lapsed authorization. The bank, which is the official U.S. Export Credit Agency, offers direct loans and loan guarantees. The bank plans to invest up to $100 billion in order to secure U.S. and allied supply chains of critical minerals, nuclear power, and liquefied gas. Trump launched a strategic stockpile for critical minerals in the United States on Monday, called Project Vault. The project is backed by $10 Billion in?seed financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and $2 Billion in private funding. U.S. Vice-President JD Vance?announced plans on Wednesday to marshal allies in a preferential trading bloc for critical minerals, and proposed coordinated pricing floors. Warner said in an emailed message that "renewing the Export-Import Bank" is crucial for Virginia businesses in order to'stay viable' in a globalized economy where China and other foreign rivals are present.
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Document shows that the EU rethinks its climate diplomacy following the bruising COP30 Summit.
EU uses trade and finance as leverage in climate talks Bloc made little progress on fossil fuels during COP30 Some countries are considering rejecting weak climate agreements at the COP in the future By Kate Abnett BRUSSELS - A document from the EU, seen by?me?, revealed that after a bruising U.N. climate summit in which it'struggled for support to take faster and more ambitious actions to reduce planet-heating emission, the European Union is mulling a 'new strategy. The COP30 climate change talks in Brazil, in November, were dealt a geopolitical setback earlier this year when U.S. president Donald Trump withdrew the largest economy in the world from the discussions. The summit concluded with an agreement to triple the amount of money available to poorer countries to help them adapt to climate changes, but there were no new global commitments made to reduce fossil fuel consumption or to cut emissions that heat the planet faster. These terms had led some EU?countries to seriously consider leaving the meeting in the last hours. Documents show that the 27-country EU now assesses how to strengthen their strategy for future climate negotiations by using "their trade, finance, and development leverage" in climate talks. The EU climate ministers are expected to discuss these ideas during a meeting on Friday in Cyprus. The document stated that "the EU?found it increasingly difficult to obtain international support to translate its high-level ambition into concrete negotiations outcomes." It was referring to EU efforts to achieve a stronger agreement?on cutting emission. The report said that changing geopolitical dynamics contributed to the "feeling (that) (the EU was) largely isolated during the final phase of negotiations at?COP30. The EU along with climate-vulnerable islands states and a few Latin American countries had pushed for fossil fuels to be addressed in the COP30 agreement - a proposition that was blocked by Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter. The EU was also criticised by poorer nations because it resisted an increase in climate financing until the end of the negotiations. Andre Correa do Lago said that the different assessments by countries of the success of COP30 reflected their priorities when it comes to tackling climate change. "The word ambition' is not a part of a vocabulary which exists only in the EU. In the EU, 'ambition is mitigation. In India, if you mention 'ambition,' it is finance. "When you say ambition, in other countries it is technology," he said. NEW STRATEGY The EU paper argued that a failure to use its tools for trade and development had "limited its?ability to strengthen its positions and shape incentives in negotiating rooms and elsewhere". The document was drafted by Cyprus, the rotating EU presidency, and confirmed that the EU is playing a role in international climate talks. The spokesperson stated that "our aim is to maintain the momentum and to continue to reflect on this important issue, in order to?strengthen the effectiveness of the COP31 negotiation," In many of the EU's deals, incentives are included for?climate change and low-carbon energies. Last month, an EU-India deal included support of 500 million euros (590.10 million dollars) to help India reduce its emissions. One EU diplomat said, "We are in a more transactional era." He added that some countries wanted a clearer EU position on when it would reject future COP agreements that they deemed too weak. The EU struggles to maintain support among its member countries for ambitious climate action. Last year, a new target was agreed just days before the COP30 started, due to disagreements within governments about how ambitious this should be.
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Nigeria's NNPC CEO: NNPC is in talks with Chinese company about refinery
Nigeria's NNPC, according to its chief executive on Wednesday, is in negotiations with a 'Chinese' company about one of the refineries owned by state-owned oil 'firm. Bayo Ojulari, NNPC's chief executive officer, said that the company is seeking experienced operators to become equity partners in order to revitalize its four refineries following years of underperformance and losses. A review of the refineries carried out soon after he assumed his role in April last year revealed that they were operating at a loss, with high operating costs and large expenditures on contractors. Meanwhile, processing volumes remained low. Ojulari stated that the NNPC board has approved a plan to hire refinery operators who have proven expertise, rather than relying on contractors. He also said that the company is in 'advanced discussions' with a number of interested parties. Ojulari, without naming the investor, said: "I just came from a meeting. They are visiting the refinery to inspect it tomorrow. The company is a Chinese one that owns the largest petrochemical plant in China. Nigeria has been struggling for years to renovate its aging refineries that have operated at far below their capacity. This forced Africa's biggest crude oil producer, Nigeria, to heavily rely on imported fuel. The government hopes that new partnerships can help reverse this trend. Ojulari stated that the plants were halted in order to evaluate options for restoring them. This coincided with the opening of the Dangote Refinery, which provided "breathing room" for the domestic fuel supply. He stated that NNPC would not sell the refineries, but instead relinquish a part of the equity to allow the plants to finance themselves. Reporting by Camillus EBOH; Writing by Chijioke OHuocha, Editing by Kirby Donovan
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Suncor will present its plans for bitumen supplies in the long term this spring
Suncor Energy, a Canadian oil sands company, will present to the market options for long-term supply of bitumen this spring. This was announced by the chief executive on Wednesday. Rich Kruger, speaking to analysts in a conference call, said that the bitumen question would be one of the main themes of the new long-term strategy the company will unveil on March 31. Kruger stated, "We need to make it bold, ambitious, compelling and clear to maintain your interest and support." Suncor, based in Calgary, has spent years researching options to ensure the supply of oil sands to its Base Plant upgrade facilities, located north of Fort McMurray. Suncor's Base Plant is capable of producing 350,000 barrels a day. However, the mine at Base Plant will be depleted in the mid-2030s. The company has suggested a 225,000 bpd open-pit oil-sands mine that would be adjacent to the?existing Base Plant. It has not yet made a decision on whether to proceed with the project. It is also unclear if Canadian regulators would approve such a venture. Suncor frames its upcoming Investor Day as the start of the next stage of what has already been a remarkable turnaround for the company. Mark Little, Suncor's former CEO, resigned less than four years after a series of fatalities on the job and mishaps in operations that caused Suncor to lag behind its peers. Kruger, the former CEO of Imperial Oil, was coaxed out of retirement to revive the company's flagging fortunes. Suncor has seen its performance improve dramatically since then. It announced Tuesday record financial results for the fourth quarter, including a production high of 909,000 barrels per day. The company also reduced the WTI breakeven price per barrel by $10 since 2024. It relied on automation and staff reductions to meet its cost-cutting goals a year earlier than scheduled. Suncor's investor day is awaited by the market to see what plans it has, especially in terms of potential capacity expansions and long-term capital investments, according to TD Cowen analyst Menno Hulshof. We also hope for better visibility of how the portfolio and strategy (of Suncor) could evolve in the next five, ten or even fifteen years. Hulshof stated that this question remains important to investors. (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese in Calgary, Amanda Stephenson)
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The global stock index drops as the dollar rises, while precious metals are mixed
MSCI's global equity gauge fell on Tuesday, with technology stocks leading the losses on Wall Street. The dollar rose broadly after the latest U.S. Economic data. In precious metals, silver outperformed the gold following a recent drop. Prices of oil?were slightly lower. Oil prices spiked Tuesday, after the United States shot a drone belonging to Iran and armed boats approached an American-flagged ship in a major waterway. U.S. Treasury Yields initially lost some steam following ADP's National Employment Report, which showed a slower-than expected growth in January. Private employment increased by 22,000 after a downwardly-revised 37,000 job increase in December, and compared to economists' expectations of a 48,000 job advance. According to the Institute for Supply Management, U.S. service sector remained stable in January. However, businesses spent more on inputs. This suggests that services inflation may pick up following a recent slowdown. CME Group’s FedWatch tool shows that traders were still betting on the Federal Reserve cutting rates in June. Emily Roland, Manulife John Hancock Investments' co-chief investment strategy, said that the data were neither too hot nor too cold. Wall Street saw value stocks outperform growth stocks. The market was dominated by a sell-off of global data analytics, professional service and software providers following Anthropic’s Friday launch of plug ins for its Claude Cowork Agent, which sparked fears of AI-driven disruption in these?industries. The U.S. Software and Services Index was down 0.4% on Wednesday after dropping more than 12% over the past five days. There were valuation concerns on the software side. There is a resetting. Roland said that the 'healthy thing' is this broadening of participation in the market and this rotation towards value. The S&P 500 growth index fell 1.3%, while the value index rose 0.9%. At 11:32 a.m., (1632 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 366.30, or 0.75% to 49,609.86. The S&P 500 dropped 17.53 points or 0.25% to 6,900.54, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 260.89, or 1.12%, to 22,995.54. The MSCI index of global stocks fell by 2.45 points or 0.23% to 1,041.53. The pan-European STOXX 600 rose by 0.15%. Gold prices dropped while silver rose, both commodities losing steam from earlier sessions as attention was focused on geopolitical developments and the next U.S. Economic releases that could influence expectations for future interest rates. After a two-day meltdown, both precious metals rose on Tuesday following the announcement by U.S. president Donald Trump that Kevin Warsh would be his choice to lead the Federal Reserve. Some investors believe that Warsh will shrink the Federal Reserve's balance sheet and put pressure on precious metals. Spot gold dropped 0.41% to $4.918.06 per ounce. Spot silver increased 1.6% to $86.48 per ounce. On the fixed income market, traders were evaluating the data from private sources while they waited for delayed economic releases by government sources. They also continued to assess the impact Warsh could have on monetary policies. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10 year notes increased 0.3 basis points from 4.273% to 4.276% late Tuesday. Meanwhile, the 30-year bond rate rose 0.9 basis point to 4.9149%. The yield on the 2-year bond, which moves typically in line with expectations of interest rates?for Federal Reserve, dropped 0.9 basis points, to 3.564%. The dollar gained against the yen, pushing it towards its fourth daily decline. This is ahead of the elections that are expected to increase Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s fiscal and defence spending ambitions. The dollar index (which measures the greenback in relation to a basket including the yen, the euro and other currencies) rose by 0.28%, reaching 97.68. However, the euro fell by 0.18%, falling to $1.1797. The dollar gained 0.61% against the Japanese yen to 156.68. The pound fell 0.31%, to $1.3655. Oil prices on energy markets were slightly lower, as traders digested and monitored the latest geopolitical data. U.S. crude climbed 0.02%, to $63.22 per barrel. Brent was up to $67.45 a barrel on the same day.
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Copper prices fall on stronger dollar and inventory outlook
The copper price fell on Wednesday as traders downplayed Chinese plans to increase strategic reserves. This was due to a stronger dollar, and a rise in metal availability at the?exchange. Benchmark three-month Copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 3% to $13,065.50 per metric tonne by 1700 GMT. It was just above the 21 day moving average which provides technical support at $13,048. Since speculators began buying gold and silver in greater quantities, copper has dropped 10%. This is despite analysts warnings about weak demand, increasing stockpiles, and the possibility of higher supplies. Anant Jatia, an investment manager who specialises in commodity arbitrage, said: "You are seeing volatility in precious-metals spill over to copper, but not at the same level." According to him, the precious metals market has become more speculative and operates in a tight liquidity environment that poses risks for both long-term and short-term positions. Cash is king in this type of volatility. He added that liquidity was the only way to ensure you could defend your position, for both hedgers and speculators, on both the base and precious metals market. Traders and analysts in the world's largest metals consumer,?China cautioned traders against misinterpreting remarks by an official of the state-backed China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association regarding?plans for China to increase its strategic copper reserves. The LME registered warehouses' available stocks rose to 155.725 tons - their highest level since March - after 12.750 tons of copper were returned on warrant in Taiwan and South Korea. Nickel?fell by 0.6%, to $17.340 per ton, in other LME metals. Goldman Sachs & Macquarie raised their average nickel price forecasts for 2026 above $17,000, citing tighter supplies from Indonesia's top producer. Aluminium dropped 1.5% to $3.058.50 per ton. Zinc fell 0.6% to $3.317. Lead rose 0.1% at $1.965.50. Tin declined 3.9% to $48,160. (Reporting and editing by David Goodman, Emelia Sithole Matarise and Lewis Jackson; Additional reporting and editing by Dylan Duan and Lewis Jackson)
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US and Mexico develop coordinated trade policies for critical minerals
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 U.S. Mexico plan underscored both countries' commitment to address global market distortions which have left North American Supply Chains vulnerable to disruptions. The plan stated that "correcting these vulnerabilities was imperative" as critical minerals were "strategic assets integral for modern and innovative industrial economy, and diverse, robust, and market-based supply chain are essential to our economic and national safety." This comes just months before the mandatory review of USCMA, the U.S. Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement. The USTR press release and the joint action plan did not mention Canada. USTR stated that the agreement with Mexico is the first of its type, but added that it was working on developing coordinated trade policies with other trading partners who share similar views. The U.S., Mexico and certain third countries agreed to identify specific mining and processing projects in critical minerals for both countries as well as?certain tertiary countries. However, no details were provided. According to the plan, U.S. officials and Mexican officials are expected to consult on price floor issues and how they can be incorporated into an agreement plurilateral on trade in critical minerals and any other provisions which may be needed. These could include trade actions, regulatory standards for processing and mining, technical and regulatory co-operation, investment promotion, screening and coordination of geological maps. The plan also suggested that other possible tools include coordinated responses for preventing disruptions in supply chain, research and development of innovative technologies and coordinated stockpiling. (Reporting and editing by David Ljunggren. Keywords: USA RUBIO/MINERALS Mexico
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Russian Central Bank says export prospects will worsen in the first quarter
Alexei Zabotkin, First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, said that the outlook for Russian exports in the first quarter of 2026 will be more difficult than it was last year. This will have a negative impact on the federal budget. A?source near the government said earlier that the Russian budget deficit would be nearly three times higher than the official target at the end of 2026 due to falling Indian purchases?of Russian oil, and the widening of trade discounts. "The situation for our exports continues be challenging." Zabotkin, a RBC radio host, said that the situation is likely to be more challenging in the first quarter of the year compared to the fourth quarter or third quarter of the previous year. He said that a weaker export climate would have an inflationary effect. However, he didn't mention India specifically. Donald Trump, the U.S. president announced on Monday a deal to cut tariffs from 50% to 18% in exchange for New Delhi stopping its Russian oil purchases and lowering barriers. India's Russian crude oil imports fell in January, continuing the decline that began in December. The government released data on Wednesday showing that budget revenues in the energy sector fell by half to 393.3 billion rubles ($5.12 billion) in January, their lowest level since August 2020. $1 = 76.7500 Rubels (Reporting Elena Fabrichnaya, Writing by Gleb Brianski, Editing by Ros Rulse)
Lawmakers urge Trump not to cut vehicle fuel efficiency standards
Eighty Democratic members of Congress called on the Trump administration to drop a plan to lower fuel economy standards, which former president Joe Biden finalized for 2024.
In December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed a significant reduction in fuel economy standards for model years 2022-2031. The average mileage requirement would be 34.5 miles/gallon by 2031. This is down from 50.4 mile/gallon (21.4 km/liter) at present.
In a letter sent to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the lawmakers led by Doris Matsui, Senator Ed Markey and others, stated that this proposal would increase fuel consumption and air pollution, and allow automakers to continue prioritizing larger vehicles with higher profit margins, which is already driving the price of cars up.
NHTSA didn't immediately comment.
Duffy said that the rules would allow Americans to purchase the cars they want and not force automakers into?building a growing number of electric vehicles.
NHTSA proposes revising 2022 fuel efficiency standards, and then increasing them by 0.25% to 0.5% per year until 2031. NHTSA, under Biden's leadership, increased fuel efficiency in 2022 by 8% per year for model years 2024-2025, and 10% for model year 2026.
BIDEN'S ARRANGEMENT
Biden's rules were designed to encourage automakers to produce more electric vehicles to meet the new standards, but they would not have forced an end to gasoline-powered cars immediately.
Senators Ron Wyden and Patty Murray are among the group of lawmakers, as well as Sheldon Whitehouse (Senator), Adam Schiff (Senator), Jeff Merkley (Senator), Jack Reed, Tammy Duckworth, Dick Durbin, and Chris Van Hollen.
Fuel efficiency standards are important for the United States because they help to drive innovation. They have led to innovations in hybrids, advanced powertrains and aerodynamics.
The report added that "strong fuel economy standards also encourage manufacturers to offer smaller and more efficient vehicles, which are likely to cost less to buy."
According to the U.S. Auto Agency, the new rule will reduce up-front vehicle costs by $930 but increase fuel consumption of around 100 billion gallons by 2050. This could cost Americans an additional $185 billion in fuel and increase CO2 emissions by 5%.
NHTSA announced Friday that it will also be removing standards for passenger vans and heavy-duty trucks.
(source: Reuters)