Headlines Mar 19th

​Metals

The world’s largest palladium supplier may turn to Russia’s metals stockpiles to help to fulfill contract obligations after a temporary halt at two of its biggest mines

Rio Tinto will back a motion from ESG investors requesting it to disclose short, medium and long-term targets for greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations

Copper Heads For Weekly Decline as Inflation Fears Rattle Stocks.

LME on-Warrant Copper Stockpiles Fall by Most in Two Years

Aluminum to Benefit Most From China’s Green Transition: Mysteel

Gold Flaunts Haven Role With Second Weekly Advance Amid Turmoil

ETFs Cut Gold Holdings for 24th Straight Day, Sell Silver

China Steel Hub’s Plan to Cut More Output Batters Iron Ore Again

China Iron Ore Stockpiles Rise 1.4M Tons to 130.2M Tons: Mysteel

Steel Stockpiles to Drop in 2Q as Downstream Demand Rises: CISA

Shanghai Weekly Nickel Stockpiles Fall 16%

China Feb. Rare Earth Exports Fall 26.22% (MoM)

Hydrogen Rivalry Intensifies With South Korea Challenging Europe

 

Oil

Crude’s 30%-plus rally this year came crashing down on Thursday, signaling that prices had risen too quickly.

America’s oil refiners are taking their sweet time to return to full capacity after the historic arctic blast that crippled the U.S. Gulf energy belt last month.

Oil’s Swift Rout Triggers the Biggest Weekly Loss Since October

Oil’s Plunge Was Sign of a Market That Got Too Bullish, Too Fast

Slow Comeback for U.S. Refiners Is Starting to Hit Crude Prices

China Shandong Port Oil Stockpiles Fall to 2 Week Low: SCI99

China Diesel Exports Jump in February As Holidays Hit Demand

Heavy Canadian Crude Strengthens After Pipeline Rationing Falls

Norway Feb. Oil Output 0.4% Above NPD’s Prognosis

Magellan Expands Open Season for New Mexico Fuel Pipeline

Oil, Fuel Loadings Halted in Novorossiysk Amid Storm: Transneft

Tatneft Aims to Resume Oil Drilling in Libya This Year: Tass

The First Shale IPO Since 2017 Fails to Impress Wall Street

Chinese Co. Buys Qatar Marine Crude for May at 10C-15C Discount

California Oil Driller Reaped Gains From Historic Texas Freeze

Big Money Joins Rush for Carbon, Fueling Bets Prices Will Soar

Asia Physical Market Shows Weakness; CPC’s Upper Zakum

US/CANADA: Slow Comeback for U.S. Refiners Hurt Oil Prices

Europe: 11-Month Low for Mideast Flows; Weak Diesel

Asia: Singapore Fuel Stockpiles; China LCO Tax Plan

Goldman Sees Oil Buying Opportunity After ‘Transient Pullback’

UBS Sticks With Forecast for Brent at $75 After Oil’s Big Slump

 

Events & Synopsis

U.S. stock-index futures rise after a drop in Treasury yields signaled concern about inflation may be easing

Nike drops 2.7% in premarket trading after its sales missed analyst estimates, while Ford gains 2.6%

U.S.-China Talks in Alaska Quickly Descend Into Bickering

SoftBank Is Said to Seek $1.2 Billion in Greensill Collapse

Chubb Proposes a Takeover of Rival Hartford for $23 Billion

Oil’s Swift Rout Triggers the Biggest Weekly Loss Since October

U.S. Vaccine Milestone; German Cases Jump.: Virus Update

Hydrogen Rivalry Intensifies With South Korea Challenging Europe

Billionaire Scores 3,000% Gain Through Electric-Vehicle SPAC

EU Seeks to Reset Vaccine Campaign After Reversing Astra Ban

Thomson Reuters, Investors Sell $1 Billion Stake in LSE

U.K. Government Sells Part of Natwest Stake For $1.6 Billion

U.K. Grid Mega-Deal Throws Spotlight on Once-Unloved Assets

EU Mulls Freezing Funds in New Rule-of-Low Powers Aimed at Orban

U.K. Confidence at Pandemic High as Britons Look Beyond Lockdown

Astra’s EMA Endorsement Isn’t Good Enough for Scandinavia

German Cases Soar to Two-Month High as Lockdown Decision Nears

Italy Is Said to Review Telecom Italia Single-Network Plan

Russia Seen Holding Key Rate But Hike Coming: Decision Day Guide

World’s Longest-Lasting Negative Rate Regime Is Getting a Revamp

LCH Proposes Exact Dates for ‘Big Bang’ Libor Transition

BOJ Carves Out More Flexibility for Longer Inflation Fight

Bank of Japan Brings End to Decade-Long Buying of Nikkei 225

Didi Is Said to Accelerate IPO Plans as Business Rebounds

Tokio Marine Faces Larger-Than-Expected Exposure to Greensill

North Korea Cuts Malaysia Ties After Citizen Extradited to U.S.

China Stocks Slump as Sino-U.S. Talks Show Gap Remains Wide

Pakistan Army Chief Says It’s Time to ‘Bury the Past’ With India

Thailand to Reduce Quarantine for Visitors to Revive Tourism

Germany’s coronavirus cases rose by the most in two months and the contagion rate inched closer to a critical threshold, days before Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts talks to decide on the government’s lockdown strategy

 

President Biden and Vice President Harris travel to Atlanta, Ga.

U.S.-China meeting in Alaska continues

Biden Scraps Georgia Political Event After Atlanta Shootings

House lawmakers to consider H.R. 1868, a measure that would waive a requirement for $36 billion in cuts to Medicare in 2022

Bill would waive the need for automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, triggered under statutory “pay-as-you-go” requirements because Democrats didn’t offset the cost of their stimulus bill

U.S. Senate next meets March 22

 

9:00am: U.S. House meets

10:45am: Biden departs White House, headed to Atlanta

12:30pm: White House Covid-19 response team holds press briefing

1pm: U.S.-China talks in Alaska enter third, final session

2:15pm: Biden, Harris visit CDC in Atlanta

3:35pm: Biden, Harris meet with Asian-American leaders in Atlanta

4:40pm: Biden delivers remarks, Emory University

7:10pm: Biden departs Atlanta

 

Annual General Meetings: HEI US

Other Events: UEIC US

 

Forex

A gauge of the dollar’s strength swung between modest losses and gains and Treasury yields inched lower after Thursday’s bond rout

European stocks slipped while U.S. futures crept higher, led by Nasdaq 100 futures

The greenback traded mixed versus its Group-of-10 peers, though moves were confined to recent ranges; the euro slipped below $1.19

After futures led another bruising selloff in Treasuries on Thursday, the evidence is mounting that a big short position is responsible. Open interest in 10-year notes surged by almost 150,000 contracts, according to preliminary data, the equivalent of $14 billion in the cash bonds. Coupled with the price move, that suggests new short positions were added with overall open interest climbing to the highest in over a year

The yen rose to a one-week high versus the greenback amid short covering after Bank of Japan’s policy decision, before paring its advance

Japanese government bonds edged lower after the central bank set out a wider-than-previously-thought movement range for bond yields and scrapped a buying target for stock funds at the end of a three-month policy review; it also said it will provide the specific amounts it’s spending on bond purchases, instead of a range, in its monthly plan starting from its April operations

The Aussie trimmed a loss in European session after falling to a day low after February retail sales missed all economists’ estimates

Oil, one of the most-favored reflation trades, just took a heavy beating. Prices headed for the biggest weekly slump since October after a sell-off driven by concerns that recent gains had been too rapid given mixed signals about near-term demand and a rising dollar

Treasury holdings at primary dealers fell another $16.1 billion in the week to March 10, extending a record $64.7 billion decline the previous week, according to Federal Reserve data released Thursday. Holdings have dropped to their lowest since October 2018, with declines across much of the curve and only seven to eleven year maturities seeing an increase

Armed with an all-clear for AstraZeneca Plc’s vaccine from EU regulators, European leaders must get a grip on a vaccine drive that’s lagging the U.S. and the U.K. and potentially delaying an economic recovery. The rising pace of cases and a renewed four-week lockdown in parts of France underscore the urgency of the threat

U.K. government borrowing totaled 19.1 billion pounds ($26.6 billion) in February, reflecting the cost of supporting the economy through a third lockdown to fight the coronavirus. The shortfall left the budget deficit for the first 11 months of the fiscal year at 278.8 billion pounds, almost six times the amount borrowed in the same period a year earlier, Office for National Statistics figures published Friday show. Net debt climbed to 97.5% of GDP, near the highest since the early 1960s

Denmark’s central bank will switch from operating one negative interest rate to three by the end of this week, joining several other peers that have overhauled frameworks in a bid to fine-tune their policy levers

The yen is expected to stay under downward pressure as the market’s focus shifts back to U.S. yields after the Bank of Japan’s policy review was largely in line with market expectations, says Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management