Oil prices stabilized on Thursday (February 12th), as the market reassigned a risk premium to US-Iran tensions despite US inventory data showing swelling domestic supplies. This movement confirms one thing: geopolitical headlines are still more "noise" than signals of a short-term surplus. As of 3:50 PM WIB, Brent was at $69.60/barrel (+0.29%) and WTI was at $64.83/barrel (+0.31%). The gains were moderate, but enough to keep prices near the psychological $70 level for Brent. From a geopolitical perspective, market focus is on the potential for escalation in the Middle East. Recent reports...
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic are set to hold another round of talks in early June on the sidelines of a WTO meeting in Paris, according to the Global Times. "The two sides will conduct in-depth exchanges on the important topic of China-EU economic and trade cooperation," a source said, adding the talks will help prepare for future high-level exchanges. This meeting marks the third between the two in 2025, reflecting a notable increase in China-EU engagement amid global trade uncertainty. Recent initiatives include the China-EU Working Group...
Tencent and Baidu, two of China's largest technology companies, revealed how they're keeping in the global artificial intelligence race even as the U.S. tightens some curbs on key semiconductors. The business' methods include stockpiling chips, making AI models more efficient and even using homegrown semiconductors. While the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped one controversial Biden-era chip rule, it still tightened exports of some semiconductors from companies including Nvidia and AMD in April. Big names in the sector addressed the issue during their latest earnings...
President Donald Trump threatened Monday to divert billions of dollars in endowment funds from Harvard University and give them to vocational schools across the U.S., escalating his feud with the elite institution. "I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Endowment Funds from the highly anti-Semitic Harvard, and giving them to STRUGGLE SCHOOLS across our country," Trump said in a social media post. "What a great investment that would be for the U.S., and much needed!!!" Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has moved to freeze...
Iran would be able to survive if negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear programme fail to secure a deal, President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday, after President Donald Trump described weekend talks with Tehran as "very good". The negotiations aim to resolve a decades-long dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions, and Trump has threatened Iran with crippling economic sanctions and bombing if no new nuclear agreement is reached. "It's not like we will die of hunger if they refuse to negotiate with us or impose sanctions," Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by state media about the talks...
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday backed off his threat to speed up 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union, agreeing to extend his deadline for trade talks until July 9 after the head of the EU executive body said the bloc needed more time to "reach a good deal." Trump threatened on Friday to intensify his trade war after expressing frustrations that trade talks were not moving quickly enough, saying he wanted steep new import taxes to start on June 1. The threat roiled global markets. Trump relented after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told him during a...
During remarks delivered to the press during his weekly Executive Order signing, US President Donald Trump added further, though not always clear, tariff comments to his social media posts earlier Friday. Key highlights We're talking about big factories. Technology has come a long way in terms of safety and cost. We need a tremendous amount of electricity. Talks with the EU are going slowly. (On his threat of new 50% tariffs on the EU): I'm not looking for a deal, the tariffs are set at 50%. I can talk about delaying the EU tariffs if they start moving factories to the US. We have a...
US Treasury bonds appear to have taken some comfort today from the Supreme Court ruling that the Fed's unique structure can protect its board members from potential presidential removal, Rabobank FX analyst Jane Foley reports. Closing of USD shorts for 1 to 3 months cannot be ruled out "This would ease any potential credibility issues for the Fed which would dampen inflation concerns, at least until the end of Chairman Powell's term. Nonetheless, the USD weakness this week suggests that investors continue to re-evaluate what ‘US exceptionalism' means. For a number of years, the ‘buy...
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened once again on Friday to ramp up his trade war, recommending a 50% tariff on European Union goods starting June 1 and warning Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab he may impose a 25% tariff on any iPhones manufactured outside the U.S. The twin threats, delivered via social media, roiled global markets after weeks of de-escalation had provided some reprieve. The S&P 500 fell 0.9% in early trading, the Nasdaq fell 1.5%, and European shares fell 1.1%. Trump's latest broadside against the EU stemmed from his frustration at the lack of progress in trade talks...
Gold rises in the early Asian trade. There's a broad commodities uptrend, driven by macro uncertainty, a weaker dollar, and persistent demand for "hard" assets, says Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst...
Oil extended declines after OPEC+ agreed to a bigger-than-expected production increase next month, raising concerns about oversupply just as US tariffs fan fears about the demand outlook.
Brent...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) weakened against its US counterpart and reversed part of Friday's recovery from the lowest level since July 23 following Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda's remarks....