Commodity markets enjoyed mixed fortunes this week as traders eyed growing speculation over a full bailout of debt-plagued Spain and amid rising doubts over the US Federal Reserve’s stimulus plan.
Spain unveiled on Friday the full cost of rescuing its troubled banks, seen by investors as one of the final steps before a looming sovereign bailout.
The nation’s stricken banks need 59.3 billion euros (US$76 billion) to fix balance sheets hammered by a 2008 property crash, an independent audit showed.
It comes one day after the Spanish government unveiled an austerity budget of 39 billion euros to rein in the public deficit.
OIL: New York crude plunged close to a two-month low under US$89 per barrel on eurozone woes, but prices finished the week on a mixed note.
West Texas Intermediate dived to US$88.95 on Wednesday, hitting the lowest level since Aug. 3.
The market has since recovered somewhat, helped by a weaker US dollar, steps taken by Spain to help reduce its debt mountain and on easing Middle East tensions, analysts said.
Oil prices also won some support from Middle East tensions traders said.
“By late Friday on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November increased to US$111.77 a barrel from US$110.37 a week earlier.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or light sweet crude for November retreated to US$91.78 a barrel, from US$93.09 a week earlier.
PRECIOUS METALS: Gold and silver lost ground as dealers took profits from recent multimonth peaks and tracked worries over Chinese and European demand.
“Gold and silver prices have continued to be swayed by investor sentiment and the macro environment,” Barclays Capital analysts said in a research note.
Meanwhile, the world’s top platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum, on Thursday launched disciplinary procedures against thousands of striking miners emboldened by a big pay hike won by workers at another South African mine.
By late Friday on the London Bullion Market, gold dipped to US$1,776 an ounce from US$1,784.50 a week earlier.
Silver eased to US$34.65 an ounce from US$34.69.
On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum increased to US$1,668 an ounce from US$1,642.
Palladium slid to US$642 an ounce from US$672.
BASE METALS: Base or industrial metals diverged, having fallen earlier in the week on eurozone woes, but the outlook remains upbeat according to analysts.
By late Friday on the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months slid to US$8,250 a tonne from US$8,283 a week earlier.
Three-month aluminum rose to US$2,123 a tonne from US$2,106. Three-month lead gained to US$2,300 a tonne from US$2,283.
Three-month tin climbed to US$21,700 a tonne from US$20,825. Three-month nickel grew to US$18,576 a tonne from US$18,086.
Three-month zinc eased to US$2,120 a tonne from US$2,124.
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six