Crude oil prices retreated on Friday after an early spike, as traders locked in gains after a storm in the Gulf of Mexico weakened as it moved ashore.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, fell US$1.22 to close at US$81.66 per barrel. Last week New York crude hit an all-time record of US$84.10.
The price of London Brent crude oil on Friday rocketed above US$81 a barrel for the first time, but settled with a loss of US$0.86 at US$79.17 a barrel.
Prices spiked by more than US$2.50 on Thursday, with London smashing through US$80 for the first ever time owing to stormy weather in the rig-heavy Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane Lorenzo barreled ashore from the Gulf of Mexico but rapidly lost its punch. Three people were reported killed in Mexico.
Downgraded to a tropical storm, Lorenzo soaked large areas of central Mexico, leading to fear of further landslides in mountainous regions.
Analysts said the record-breaking run for oil in the past week was not explained by market fundamentals, and that it appeared more speculative money was pouring in.
"Prices have seemingly moved inexplicably," Eric Wittenauer at AG Edwards said.
"The fundamentals don't support the strength and even the technicals suggest a correction is overdue. We think fund money is again playing in this market. This is not hedge fund money though; those funds will go both long and short," Wittenauer said.
He said that some see "an inflationary environment wherein the Fed [Federal Reserve] looks as though they may be willing to cut rates further," and that in that event, "it may make sense for traditional investors to hold commodities as an asset class."
The sliding US dollar has also buoyed oil prices.
A weak US unit makes dollar-denominated commodities cheaper for buyers with stronger currencies and therefore encourages demand.
Prices are finding "continued support from a weaker dollar and persistent concerns over global oil supplies ahead of the winter heating season," Sucden analyst Michael Davies said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day