Headlines Mar 4

​Metals

Copper Slides Below $9,000 as Metals Get Hit By Sell-Off

Shanghai Nickel Falls by Daily Limit as Tsingshan Raises Supply

Copper May Have Overshot Underlying Fundamentals

Nickel tumbled after a major Chinese producer’s unexpected plan to add supply eased concerns about a structural deficit

Asian Nickel Stocks Fall After Metal Prices Drop Most Since 2016

Indian gold buyers sidelined for most of the past year due to surging costs are now snapping up bullion

ETFs Cut Gold Holdings for 13th Straight Day, Sell Silver

Gold Holds Near Lowest Since June With Fed Chair in Focus

Base Metal Plunge Is Probably Just a Blip in the Supercycle

China’s Great Metal Disrupter Strikes Again With Tech Surprise

Iron Ore Futures Gain as Mill Curbs Put Steel Supply in Focus

Top Iron Ore Miners’ Exports to Decline 15% in 1Q: Bernstein

China to Boost Steel Imports to Offset Local Output Drop: CISA

European Miners May Move With Gold Near 9-Month Low Before Fed

 

Oil

OPEC and its allies kept oil-watchers guessing about their next move ahead of a video conference today in which ministers from the alliance, including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq, are due to finalize the next stage in their plan to gradually repeal production cuts

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they launched missile and drone strikes against a Saudi Arabian oil facility and a military base

OPEC+ Silence Leaves Oil Market Guessing Next Supply Move

Yemen’s Houthis Claim Strike on Saudi Base, Aramco Oil Depot

Russian ESPO Crude Loadings to Rise to 11-Month High in April

Platts Says Sorry to Oil Traders for Sudden Brent Overhaul

Israeli Security Officials Unaware Iran Blamed for Spill: Media

China’s High Crude Inventories May Not See Big Draws: Unipec

Russian Refiners Have Least Capacity Offline in a Year

Shell Plans Green Hydrogen Plant at Europe’s Biggest Refinery

European ULSD-Laden Tanker Bound to U.S. Rerouted to Brazil

Gasoline Heads Toward $3 in U.S. For First Time in Six Years

Asian Diesel Glut to Swell as Indian Oil Refiners Boost Exports

U.S. Crude Supplies Jumped Most Since 1982

U.S.: Record U.S. Fuel Supply Drop May Boost Prices

ASIA Diesel Glut Seen Worsening; Stockpiles Rise

 

Events & Synopsis

U.S Futures indicates negative opening for the markets

While the dollar strengthens and treasuries edge higher

U.S. Capitol Police warn of possible plot to attack U.S. Capitol by militia groups

Police, FBI Issue Warnings of Possible Capitol Attack Thursday

Software maker Splunk rising after its Q4 sales beat estimates

Melvin Capital Dusts Off From GameStop Fiasco With a 22% Rebound

Powell Likely to Push Back on Bond-Market Doubts Over Fed Policy

Senate Final Vote on Stimulus Likely Pushed Into Weekend

Cuomo Enters Survival Mode After Public Apology, Show of Remorse

New Warnings of Capitol Attack Raise Tensions in Washington

Deliveroo Plans to List in London With Dual-Class Structure

Greensill Crisis Pressures Ambitious ‘Savior of Steel’ Gupta

Brexit-Free Budget Drops EU Access for Finance Down the Agenda

Covid: EU Starts Sputnik Review, Germany to Ease Curbs

London Sees Rise in Virus Cases as National Decline Slows

Merkel Sets Path to Gradually Ease Germany’s Covid Lockdown

Melrose Restarts Sale Process for $3.5 Billion Nortek Unit

SpaceX’s Biggest Rocket Manages First Landing, Then Explodes

Stellantis Shelved U.K. Auto Investment Over Combustion Ban

Aviva Sells Italy Units to Allianz, CNP in $1.1 Billion Deal

France Puts State Backing Behind Loan Plan to Avert Bankruptcies

Green Revolution Gets More Expensive as Copper Price Surges

Apple Faces U.K. Antitrust Investigation Into App Store

Bitcoin Drops Below $50,000 Level as Investors Turn Cautious

Lufthansa Sees Delayed Recovery After Record Annual Loss

Higher Earners Will Be Hit Hardest by U.K. Tax Rises, Sunak Says

Tech Hits One-Month Low as Chip Stocks, Pandemic Winners Drop

SocGen to Cut Investment Bank Bonuses 20% After Trading Hit

Norway’s Wealth Fund Puts Kirin on Watch for Myanmar Ties

Asian Stocks Tumble as Technology, China Shares Resume Declines

India’s Flipkart Said to Mull U.S. Listing With SPAC as Option

China Stocks Approach This Year’s Low as Traders Sell Favorites

Malaysia Keeps Rates on Hold Amid Faint Signs of Recovery

Suez Is Said in Talks to Sell Australian Arm to Cleanaway

Philippine Central Bank Sees No Need to Act Yet on Inflation

 

 

9:30am: Senate Armed Services Committee holds hearing on the nomination of Colin H. Kahl to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

10am: Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee holds hearing on the nomination of David M. Turk to be Deputy Secretary of Energy; panel also plans vote on Deb Haaland to be Interior Secretary

10:15am: Senate Homeland Committee holds hearing on the nominations of Shalanda Young to be OMB’s Deputy Director, and Jason S. Miller, to be the agency’s Deputy Director for Management

11:05am: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appears on BTV’s “Balance of Power” to discuss Covid-19, climate change

12:05pm: Fed Chair Powell Discusses the U.S. Economy

12:45pm: Press Sec. Jen Psaki holds press briefing with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough

2pm: President Biden, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg meet with bipartisan group of House members on infrastructure

5pm: Biden participates in virtual call with NASA team to congratulate members on successful Mars landing

Chamber canceled plans for Thursday votes partly due to threat

U.S. House next meets March 8

 

Forex

A gauge of the dollar neared a one-month high as a selloff in stock markets deepened in European hours.

Treasuries inched higher, with investors turning their focus to a speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell as they seek clues on whether the central bank will try to contain the recent rise in Treasury yields

The greenback was steady to higher against all its Group-of-10 peers

The euro fell to a 2-day low versus the dollar in the European session; the volatility term structure in euro-dollar escapes from normalized mode as the one-week tenor now captures the next ECB meeting; still, traders don’t expect outsized price swings to materialize

The pound fluctuated between modest losses and gains as investors digested the budget presented by Chancellor Rishi Sunak; Gilt yields edged lower after the government’s plan to sell more debt than expected in the next fiscal year sent 10-year bond yields soaring by the most since December on Wednesday

The yen fell to its lowest since July versus the greenback

Oil traded near $62 a barrel, with investors focusing on a critical OPEC+ meeting that may see supply curbs eased, while tracking events in the Middle East after Houthi rebels said they hit targets in Saudi Arabia

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will probably seek to convince suddenly skeptical financial markets on Thursday that the central bank will be ultra-patient in pulling back its support for the economy after the pandemic has ended.

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak defended his plan to increase U.K. taxes to their highest level in more than 50 years, saying it was fair for the highest earners to suffer the hardest hit

London’s virus infections are rising, while the rate of decline of the disease nationally is slowing, a new study suggested

The head of the U.K.’s Debt Management Office is hardly batting an eye over the meltdown in U.S. Treasuries that sent shockwaves across global bond markets last week for one key reason: liquidity at home