The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 commodities rose 0.1 percent to close at 645.88 at 3:44pm in New York on Friday, led by gasoline, hogs and copper. The UBS Bloomberg CMCI index of 26 raw materials climbed 0.2 percent to 1,518,97, up for a sixth straight session.
OIL: Crude oil rose, capping its biggest weekly gain in two months, as US economic reports signaled that growth in the world’s biggest crude-consuming country would accelerate.
Oil for February delivery advanced 0.2 percent to US$99.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since Dec. 13. Futures gained 6.6 percent for the week and have climbed 9.1 percent this year after increasing 15 percent last year.
Brent oil for February settlement gained 0.1 percent to end the session at US$107.96 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European contract’s premium to New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) crude narrowed to US$8.28 a barrel, the smallest differential based on closing prices since March 8. The spread surged to a record US$27.88 on Oct. 14.
Most US Gulf oils weakened as the difference between West Texas Intermediate and Brent narrowed a sixth consecutive day.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold fell in New York for the third straight day on Friday on speculation a stronger US dollar would curb demand for the metal as an alternative asset.
Gold futures for February delivery slipped 0.3 percent to settle at US$1,606 an ounce on the NYMEX’s Commodity Exchange (COMEX). There were 96,547 futures in the contract traded on Thursday, compared with 189,916 a week earlier.
Silver futures for March delivery added 0.1 percent to US$29.084 an ounce on the COMEX. Still, prices declined 2 percent this week.
On the NYMEX, palladium futures for March delivery gained 1.8 percent to US$665.25 an ounce, extending this week’s gain to 6.5 percent. Platinum futures for January delivery rose 0.4 percent to US$1,429.50 an ounce.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last