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.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登精密), the sole extreme ultraviolet pod supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it has trimmed its revenue growth target for this year as US tariffs are likely to depress customer demand and weigh on the whole supply chain. Gudeng’s remarks came after the US on Monday notified 14 countries, including Japan and South Korea, of new tariff rates that are set to take effect on Aug. 1. Taiwan is still negotiating for a rate lower than the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the US in April, which it later postponed to today. The
MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR: Revenue from AI servers made up more than 50 percent of Wistron’s total server revenue in the second quarter, the company said Wistron Corp (緯創) on Tuesday reported a 135.6 percent year-on-year surge in revenue for last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers, with the momentum expected to extend into the third quarter. Revenue last month reached NT$209.18 billion (US$7.2 billion), a record high for June, bringing second-quarter revenue to NT$551.29 billion, a 129.47 percent annual increase, the company said. Revenue in the first half of the year totaled NT$897.77 billion, up 87.36 percent from a year earlier and also a record high for the period, it said. The company remains cautiously optimistic about AI server shipments in the third quarter,
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
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