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2022-07-25 02:36:06 ​​Oil climbed at the start of the week as investors weighed signs the market remains tight against concerns about an economic slowdown.

West Texas Intermediate rose above $95 a barrel after capping a third weekly decline on Friday, the longest streak of losses this year. The market has seen bouts of volatility recently, characterized by sharp swings and low liquidity, as traders juggle competing supply and demand outlooks.

The Federal Reserve is expected to approve another big interest-rate hike this week as the central bank combats surging inflation, piling pressure on demand. However, oil consumption may exceed expectations even if the global economy falters, according to veteran commodities trader Pierre Andurand.

Oil is still up around 25% for the year, although futures have given up most of the gains seen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. The US has been championing a price cap on Russian crude to limit revenues flowing to the Kremlin to fund its war, and the Treasury Department’s No. 2 official will be in Europe this week to rally support for the measure.

PRICES

WTI for September delivery rose 0.4% to $95.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 7:18 a.m. in Singapore.
Futures lost 3% last week.

Brent for September settlement gained 0.5% to $103.75 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has prompted a pivot away from the OPEC+ producer by many oil consumers. That’s led to Saudi Arabia and Iraq diverting more and more of their crude toward Europe.

The oil market is steeply backwardated, a bullish pattern market by near-term prices commanding a premium to later-dates ones. Brent’s prompt spread was $4.90 a barrel in backwardation, over $1 higher than the start of the month.

WTI crude futures capped a third weekly decline on Friday Открыть/Комментировать

2022-07-25 01:28:43 Saudi Arabia plans to build a skyscraper that stretches for 75 miles.

When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed authorities to develop land in the kingdom’s arid northwest, he demanded something as ambitious as Egypt’s pyramids.

What urban planners came up with are plans for the world’s largest structure, dubbed the Mirror Line: two buildings up to 1,600 feet tall, running parallel for 75 miles in a line across coastal, mountain and desert terrain, connected via walkways, according to hundreds of pages of confidential planning documents. #WSJ Открыть/Комментировать

2022-07-25 01:25:22 37%

The drop in the price of wheat futures since mid-May. It's one of the signs that inflation may have peaked. But even if inflation indeed comes down, economists see a slow pace of decline. #WSJ Открыть/Комментировать

2022-07-25 01:24:08 16,000

Global monkeypox cases surpassed this number in an outbreak that has prompted the World Health Organization to declare the disease a public-health emergency of international concern. The main purpose of declaring an emergency is to mobilize resources to contain transmission, according to global health experts. #WSJ Открыть/Комментировать

2022-07-25 01:21:53 Russia faces future economic harm if it cuts gas flows.

Russian President Vladimir Putin can afford to slash natural-gas exports to Europe thanks to ample revenues from other commodities. He has threatened to do so as early as this week in response to Ukraine-related sanctions, but such a move would come with longer-term risks for Russia’s economy and its prolific energy industry. #WSJ Открыть/Комментировать

2022-07-25 01:20:34 Investors are unfazed by weak earnings reports after a brutal year for stocks.

Better-than-feared reports from companies such as Netflix and Tesla have given investors greater confidence to scoop up shares of beaten-down growth stocks. The technology-focused Nasdaq, which has fallen 24% this year, is up 7.3% in July—on course for its best month since November 2020. Earnings season is still in its early innings, with Apple, Amazon and Microsoft headlining this tech-heavy week. #WSJ Открыть/Комментировать

2022-07-25 01:18:24 Cheaper products gain favor as inflation pinches shoppers.

Consumers are trading down to cheap beer brands and discount cigarettes as they feel more pressure on their pocketbooks.

They are also buying more store brands at the supermarket, shifting sales from big food companies that are dealing with their own rising costs.

Second-quarter economic-growth figures due on Thursday will likely reflect surging prices, while data coming on Friday will give the latest gauge of consumer sentiment and spending. #WSJ Открыть/Комментировать

2022-07-25 01:17:02 Risk of recession is higher if the Fed fights inflation alone.

High inflation is fanning fears that the U.S. is relying excessively on the Federal Reserve to reduce demand rather than have other policy makers work to increase the economy’s capacity to supply more goods and services or workers. Fed officials have indicated that if forced to choose between battling inflation or preventing a recession, they will select the former. They are expected to raise interest rates Wednesday by 0.75 percentage point. #WSJ Открыть/Комментировать

2022-07-25 00:02:47 Economic reports in the week ahead

The biggest week of the earnings season will keep investors heads on a swivel with Microsoft, UPS, Meta Platforms, Boeing, Pfizer, Apple, and Amazon just a few of the powerhouses due to report.

While the economic calendar includes updates on new homes sales, consumer confidence, durable goods, Q2 GDP and the PCE price index - the two-day FOMC meeting will be the major event of the week.

The Federal Reserve is expected to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by another 75 points to 2.25% to 2.50%, although futures trading still implies a 20% chance of a 100-point hike.

Heading into the meeting, virtually every FOMC participant has stated firmly that reducing inflation is the top priority at present, but also steered away from tipping off a 100-point bazooka.

BNP Paribas reminds that the Fed's preferred financial market recession predictor, the near-term forward spread, remains upward sloping. "Despite a massive growth deceleration this year, which may seem to indicate that the US economy is heading into a recession, a hard landing can be avoided, in our view – but its a close call," previews the firm into the big week. Investors may end the week with a clearer view on recession risk. Открыть/Комментировать

2022-07-24 17:10:28 US climate envoy John Kerry has issued a warning to the next prime minister that the commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 cannot be compromised.

While both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the two candidates vying to replace Boris Johnson, are committed to the net-zero target some Government climate policies came in for questioning among the Tory contenders in the early stages of the contest.

The Foreign Secretary has said she will pause green levies on domestic energy bills, while Mr Sunak has pledged to keep the ban on building new onshore wind farms, but wants to introduce a legal target to make Britain energy self-sufficient by 2045 by overseeing a massive expansion in offshore turbines.

Mr Kerry told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend programme he did not want to become embroiled in the leadership contest.

"But I will say very pointedly and adamantly - we are behind.

"We do not have the luxury of jiggering with the 2050 right now.

"We are currently headed to a warming of the planet at somewhere between 2.5 degrees and 3.5 degrees centigrade. The world is already warmed to 1.1, close to 1.2 degrees now. The cushion we have between 1.5 and that is obviously tiny.

"And we see what's happening with the damages on the planet at 1.1 degrees. Imagine when you get to 1.5 - every tenth of a degree that we warm is going to cost us trillions more dollars."

#Bloomberg Открыть/Комментировать