COMMODITIES
Coffee rally stuns traders
Coffee’s stunning rally late this year took many traders and analysts by surprise, creating tension over where prices go from here. Arabica beans have surged 28 percent since the end of September, on pace for the best quarterly performance since 2014 and the biggest gain among major commodities in the past three months. Prices recovered after adverse weather threatened production in Brazil, the world’s top grower and exporter. “The market ran up too much, too fast, and now we’re seeing a healthy pullback,” said Josh Graves, a senior market strategist for RJO Futures in Chicago. “In the short term, high volatility is here to stay.”
CHINA
Magnet exports to US fall
The country’s exports of rare-earth magnets to the US last month fell 21.2 percent month-on-month, customs data showed yesterday, as improving trade relations between the two countries reduced demand for stockpiling. US-bound shipments of the magnets, which are widely used in medical devices, consumer electronics and defense, came in at 376 tonnes, General Administration of Customs data showed. The figure was also down 3.2 percent year-on-year. The US military plans to stockpile rare-earth magnets used in Javelin missiles and F-35 jets, according to a government document seen by Reuters, although a US policy bill bans the purchase of rare-earth magnets from China for military use in the 2019 fiscal year.
ENERGY
Crude oil above US$61
Oil settled above US$61 a barrel on Tuesday amid light volume as US President Donald Trump said a preliminary trade deal with China is “done” and ahead of government data expected to show another crude stockpile decline. Futures rose 1 percent in New York to close at a three-day high. US crude inventories last week fell by 1.5 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg survey before US Energy Information Administration data tomorrow. With prices on the rise since October, the market headed into Christmas in a completely different state from a year earlier.
CHINA
Bond defaults spark alarm
Financial regulators are calling for more efficient handling of bond defaults to restore investor confidence after repayment failures hit a record high this year. Senior officials from the central bank, the securities regulatory body, the supreme court and other departments discussed court-mediated dispute resolution concerning bond defaults at a symposium in Beijing on Tuesday, according to a report by the state-run Financial News. China’s onshore bond defaults have exceeded 130 billion yuan (US$18.6 billion) so far this year, surpassing the previous annual high of 122 billion yuan last year.
EQUITIES
Japanese stocks decline
Japanese stock prices declined and Chinese markets were little-changed yesterday, while trading in most other Asian economies was closed for Christmas Day. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.2 percent to 23,792.34, while the Shanghai Composite Index was at 2,983.13. Malaysia’s benchmark was down 0.6 percent, while the TAIEX gained 12 points. Markets in Hong Kong, India, New Zealand and Singapore were closed. Wall Street ended nearly flat on Tuesday in a shortened trading session before closing for Christmas Day. US markets are to reopen today.
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
The demise of the coal industry left the US’ Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless kilometers of abandoned underground mines. Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centers that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. One such project is underway by a non-profit team calling itself Energy DELTA (Discovery, Education, Learning and Technology Accelerator) Lab, which is looking to develop energy sources on about 26,305 hectares of old coal land in
Netflix on Friday faced fierce criticism over its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The streaming giant is already viewed as a pariah in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of traditional industry practices. As Netflix emerged as the likely winning bidder for Warner Bros — the studio behind Casablanca, the Harry Potter movies and Friends — Hollywood’s elite launched an aggressive campaign against the acquisition. Titanic director James Cameron called the buyout a “disaster,” while a group of prominent producers are lobbying US Congress to oppose the deal,
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
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