Commodities rallied this week as the European Central Bank (ECB) offered cheap loans amid upbeat economic data, but the gains fizzled out after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke downplayed a need for more stimulus.
OIL: Brent crude struck a near four-year peak above US$128 on Thursday following upbeat data and over fears of supply disruptions in Saudi Arabia.
Brent reached US$128.40 a barrel — the highest level since July 23, 2008 — after an Iranian media report of a pipeline fire in Saudi Arabia, although Saudi officials later denied the story.
New York light sweet crude hit a nine-month high at US$110.55 a barrel.
By late Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April edged up to US$123.86 from US$123.83 the previous week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate, or light sweet crude, for April dropped to US$106.51 from US$108.23 the previous week.
PRECIOUS METALS: After a strong start to the week that saw silver and platinum notch five-month highs, precious metals prices tumbled and gold struck a one-month low point of US$1,688.40 an ounce after Bernanke’s comments.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold dropped to US$1,707 an ounce from US$1,777.50 the previous week.
Silver fell to US$35.21 an ounce from US$35.57.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum decreased to US$1,704 an ounce from US$1,714.
Palladium dipped to US$713 an ounce from US$714.
BASE METALS: Aluminum reached US$2,361.50 on Friday — the highest level since Sept. 19 last year — owing to unrest in Iran and Syria.
By late Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months jumped to US$8,595 a tonne from US$8,502 the previous week.
Three-month aluminum increased to US$2,340 a tonne from US$2,304.
Three-month lead fell to US$2,175 a tonne from US$2,190.
Three-month tin dropped to US$23,800 a tonne from US$24,125.
Three-month zinc climbed to US$2,113 a tonne from US$2,078.
Three-month nickel dipped to US$19,459 a tonne from US$19,975.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure