The headlines followed by the global financial media last night and this morning are as follows:
1. Saudi Arabia raises oil prices and oil prices rebounded after falling for a week
2. Morgan Stanley strategists believe that inflation is the key to the stock market trend.
3. Shell plans to withdraw from South Africa to adapt to the trend of energy transformation.
4. Citi expects the Fed's balance sheet adjustment process to continue until 2025.
5. The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States investigates the inspection and potential record forgery of the Boeing 787.
6. Tesla's software and service team were laid off
Saudi Arabia raises oil prices and oil prices bounce back after a week of decline
Brent crude climbed to $84 a barrel after its biggest weekly decline since February. Saudi Aramco raised the price of all grades of crude oil in Asia in June, with key Arabian light oil (Arab Light oil) rising more than some refiners had estimated. In the Middle East, the Israeli military has begun evacuating civilians from Rafah, possibly a prelude to a long-awaited attack on the Gaza city.
This provides some support for oil prices, which have fallen in three weeks over the past four weeks as concerns about the conflict in the Middle East have eased. OPEC and its allies are widely expected to continue to cut supply in the second half of this year in an effort to prevent a surplus. Iraq and Kazakhstan, which are lagging behind in the organisation, have outlined plans to cut production, indicating how they will curb oil inflows to compensate for production that exceeded quotas earlier this year.
Olle Ole Hansen, head of commodities strategy at Saxo Bank a / S, said: "crude oil traded higher because of renewed concerns about the Middle East, which led to some price premiums and signalled strong demand after Saudi Arabia raised prices in Asia."
Morgan Stanley strategists believe inflation is the key to the trend of the stock market
The "mixed" message from key US economic data and the ensuing stock market volatility mean investors should increase their holdings of defensive stocks such as basic consumer goods, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley.
April inflation data, to be released next week, will provide new insights into the US economy. Employment data released on Friday showed that the labour market was cooling. Some traders believe the latest jobs data suggest that the Federal Reserve (Federal Reserve) will start cutting interest rates as early as September.
A research team led by Michael Wilson wrote in a report that a soft landing or so-called non-landing, in which growth remains resilient even if interest rates remain high, is possible for the US economy. In this uncertain context, when the leading position between market pricing and stocks is affected by potential results, it is necessary to adopt an effective way of investment.
"investors may even consider increasing their holdings of defensive stocks such as utilities and necessities," in case corporate activity indicators slow further, Wilson said.
Shell plans to withdraw from South Africa to adapt to the trend of energy transformation
According to reports, the global energy giant SHELCrashsimulatorpcUs) plans to withdraw from its retail, transport and oil refining operations in South Africa. This decision was made after the company conducted a comprehensive review of downstream and renewable energy businesses in all regions and markets around the world. It is worth noting that Shell has a long history in South Africa and has been operating in South Africa since 1902 and currently has about 600 service sites.
It is understood that Shell and BP.US 's Southern Africa subsidiary jointly own the Sapf refinery in the city of Durban on the east coast of South Africa, which is the largest refining facility in South Africa, with a capacity of 180000 barrels of crude oil per day. However, the refinery ceased operation before it was sold in 2022 and was subsequently damaged by flooding.
The South African government issued new regulations in 2022 requiring all refineries in the country to meet production standards for low-sulphur fuels by 2023, according to a representative lobbying group for fuel manufacturers. This policy change has caused most of the country's existing fleet to become obsolete because it does not meet the new standards.
Shell made it clear as early as 2020 that it was reviewing its stake in the SAP refinery. With changes in the global energy market and the growth in demand for sustainable energy, Shell's move may be part of its global business restructuring and strategic adjustment to adapt to the trend of energy transformation.
Citi expects the Fed's balance sheet adjustment process to continue until 2025.
Barring a recession, the Federal Reserve (Federal Reserve) is likely to continue its plan to shrink its balance sheet into the second quarter of 2025, longer than previously forecast, Citigroup Inc.
Since June 2022, the central bank has been gradually reducing its holdings through a process called quantitative tightening. The Fed said last week that it would slow the monthly reduction of Treasury holdings, in part to ease potential pressure on funding markets.
Citigroup had expected downsizing efforts to continue until the end of 2024, largely in line with the expectations of other Wall Street strategists. Citigroup strategist Jason Williams wrote in a report on Friday that the shift is because the central bank may want to minimize its assets, which currently stand at about $7.36 trillion.
The bank said the ultimate reason for the shrinking balance sheet was that the Fed might not be intimidated by any brief surge in the overnight repurchase agreement rate, a key overnight funding benchmark.
The Federal Aviation Administration investigates inspections and potential record forgery of Boeing 787
The US aviation safety regulator has launched a new investigation into Boeing's testing of the company's 787 Dreamliner and whether employees may have falsified records.
Boeing informed it in April that it may not have completed the necessary testing of the 787 wing-to-fuselage connection, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement on Monday.
Scott Stocker, who is in charge of the 787 project, told employees in an April 29 memo that the errors would not immediately cause flight safety problems, but would disrupt factory operations as Boeing is now conducting the tests on the aircraft being assembled.
"Crashsimulatorpc我们立即向监管机构通报了所了解到的情况并正在与多个团队一起采取迅速而严肃的纠正行动，” 他在备忘录中说。
特斯拉软件和服务团队遭到裁员
据科技杂志《Electrek》周一援引知情人士的话报道，电动汽车制造商特斯拉已经从软件、服务和工程部门裁员。
此前，特斯拉上个月宣布将在全球裁员10%以上，这家由埃隆·马斯克（Elon musk）领导的汽车制造商解散了电动汽车充电部门。
据Electrek报道，这家汽车制造商的员工在周末收到了电子邮件，这是更广泛裁员的一部分。
消息放出，特斯拉股价上涨超过1%，但该公司没有立即回应置评请求。
