Agriculture
More Flourishing trade in spurious GM seeds adds to farmers’ woes HT cotton is a third-generation GMO developed by Monsanto/Bayer, with a Round-Up (Glyphosate-based herbicides) resistant trait. The shift in coffee demand is bad news for Starbucks, that’s why it announced, last month, over 400 stores will be closing in the next 18 months. Another coffee trader said despite the switch, arabica prices were rising too, mainly because of sharp gains in the Brazilian currency. In the 2019/2020 season, Brazil collected an estimated 124.7 million tonnes of soybeans, making it the world’s largest producer, C leres said a statement. So when tens of millions of people were locked down, and many coffeehouses closed, people were forced to buy instant robusta coffee from grocery stores. China booked deals to buy 1.967 million tonnes of U.S. corn, its biggest weekly total of the yellow grain on record, in the week ended July 16. The exchange, widely referenced by farmers and grains traders, expects 6.5 million hectares of wheat to be sown this season, down from an original forecast of 6.8 million hectares.
Currencies
The rupee (INR), that closed flat for two consecutive days, has opened today’s session considerably lower against the dollar (USD). The Japanese yen rose against the dollar and spot gold rose due to their safe-haven appeal. Malaysia said the investment bank has agreed to a $3.9 billion settlement with the government over the multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal. The Japanese yen rose against the U.S. dollar and spot gold rose due to their safe-haven appeal. Losses have been offset however, by a weaker dollar as this encourages buying of dollar priced commodities such as oil as it becomes cheaper for holders of other currencies. MARKETS TODAY OIL: Oil prices edged higher, supported by a weaker dollar, though tensions between the United States and China weighed. The US Dollar Index yesterday fell to its lowest level since March, and the downside momentum shows no signs of easing.
Metals
Source: Created by the Author Excellon Resources is a small gold and silver mining company with one silver mining operation in Mexico. For all their public posturing about “gold not paying interest,” gold being “a barbarous relic,” or a “pet rock,” they certainly have been doing just the opposite! Midas Gold is solely focused on the Stibnite Gold Project located 10 miles east of Yellow Pine, Idaho. On that day the price of gold futures in New York started drifting higher than the price for spot gold in London. On Thursday, Gold climbed another $25/oz, but both Silver and the gold stocks made a higher high before closing lower. The world’s most dominant gold spot market is the London Bullion Market, where mostly “loco London” gold is traded. During its years in production, it “produced 1.6 million ounces of gold and 100 million ounces of silver.”
Oil
My focus is in the financial markets, cyber-security, hacking, agriculture, natural gas, crude oil, geopolitics and alternative investments. Refinitiv Oil Research believes the list of jet fuel vessels floating idle around the outer port limits continues to rise, with more than 1.4 million tons idle outside ports. The Severo-Samburgksoye block’s estimated oil reserves are even higher, at 90.5 million tonnes. Deteriorating relations between the US and China has put pressure on crude futures, by threatening future global economic growth and in turn oil demand. Russia’s number two oil company, Lukoil, also conducted a test crude oil delivery last September, featuring its Varandey blend. Market also weighed down by an unexpected increase in US crude oil inventories as Covid-19 pandemic hit fuel demand. Malaysian palm oil futures rose to a five-and-a-half-month high, tracking rising soyoil prices, while underlying expectations of output drop due to heavy rains continued to boost sentiment.
United States
I think that does imply they re going to buy a greater proportion of longer-dated Treasuries, former New York Fed President Bill Dudley said on Bloomberg TV. Stocks fell sharply in the US on Thursday, as surging Covid-19 case numbers began to make their mark on the nation’s economic recovery. As I’ve long been saying I think there’s going to be a relatively swift recovery in the US economy. One possibility, albeit a highly controversial one, is to lower the Fed’s target rate into negative territory. That said, the Fed isn t likely to tolerate any significant weakening in rates that are highly connected to the real economy. “You know these riots that are going on, attacking our monuments and our history, this is not political speech,” Mr Gaetz said, speaking at a Students for Trump event. China ordered the US to close its consulate in Chengdu on Friday, responding to a US demand that China close its Houston consulate.
China
US Secretary of State added fuel to the fire with a highly critical speech of China and its president Xi Jinping, calling him authoritarian and tyrant. Washington hinted that Beijing of using its Texan outpost for spying. Beijing’s move will have a bigger impact than shutting the consulate in Wuhan, though less than closing missions in Hong Kong or Shanghai. The tit-for-tat consulate closures were yet another twist in deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing, perhaps the gravest one yet.
Europe
Convincing an investor to match the $9 bln J Sainsbury offered in 2018 looks fanciful given weak growth, Brexit risks, and the legacy of the pandemic. With difficulty in achieving consensus among EU member states, negotiations regarding Brexit have taken a back seat in many aspects. Boris Johnson said to believe tough steps needed to tackle UK’s obesity problem 2020-07-24T07:44:30.210Z Russian-born Tory donor Alexander Temerko insisted Russian-linked businessmen have “zero” influence on British politics. The Good News: A European Renaissance The pandemic has done for the European Union what the past decade s string of crises sometimes couldn’t: compelled action. My reason for making this argument was that the currency stands to have significant downside if a Brexit deal is not struck, but limited upside if it is. Back in February, Washington state lawmakers also repealed a key tax break for Boeing (NYSE:BA) to head off a parallel action by the EU at the WTO.
1 The TEG recognizes it as an issue, says Nathan Fabian, a member of the EU panel, and notes that a future group will likely address the language.)