Fyi, have finally bit the bullet and fixed energy price with EDF for 2 years until July 2024.
The Nord Stream pipeline 1 issue over the last few days made me make the final decision.
Would welcome Mr Treacy comment about the recent events with Russia cutting supplies and short and medium-term implications. Will we ever see the energy prices normalize? His comments are always very insightful.
This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
“We are finally starting to see some weakness in the US dollar index, as gold bounces off an oversold level, recovering above $1,700 for now,” said John Feeney, business development manager at Sydney-based bullion dealer Guardian Gold Australia. “We now expect this initial flight to the US dollar to start rotating back into gold as investors search for a true and reliable hedge against inflation.”
This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
“Boeing has been the biggest beneficiary at Farnborough to date,” said Sheila Kahyaoglu, an aviation analyst at Jefferies LLC.
Airbus Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury acknowledged in an interview Monday that business was “probably a bit less now than it used to be in the past because we are constrained by the supply chain.”
The Toulouse-based company has had to grapple with so-called gliders -- fully built aircraft sitting on the ground without engines that can’t be completed amid a shortage of components, from engines to computer chips The planemaker now has 26 planes without engines, six more than at the end of May, according to Faury, who said he’s optimistic the issue will be resolved by the end of the year.
Besides, the company came into the show with some major orders under its belt, including a deal from China for 292 airliners worth more than $37 billion just this month.
Even if Airbus has to cede the commercial bragging rights to Boeing this year, the European company can take solace in the fact that it has an order backlog stretching out years, giving it little reason to hunt for fresh deals. The company’s best-selling A320 family is sold out until 2027. Faury said his priority now is to serve existing customers and get the supply chain sorted.
This presentation by Stuart Kirk at a Financial Times conference in May is a notable discussion on subject of ESG and climate.
This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here it is in full:
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers issued one of his harshest criticisms yet of the Federal Reserve’s slowness in moving to raise interest rates, and warned that policy makers are still presenting forecasts that are unrealistic.
“In 2021, our central bank let us down quite badly,” hurting policy makers’ credibility, Summers said on Bloomberg Television’s “Wall Street Week.” “It made mistakes in the core functioning of a central bank,” including in its failure to lean in against fiscal stimulus last year, he said.
Among the errors has been a “repeated poor forecasting record -- and I have to say that it’s not something that’s been fully fixed,” Summers said. The June median Fed official predictions showed inflation coming back toward the 2% target but unemployment only reaching a high of 4.1% by 2024 -- a “highly implausible” result, he said.
“Frankly I think in 2021 our central bank lost its way. It was talking about the environment, talking about social justice in a range of things,” Summers, a Harvard University professor and paid contributor to Bloomberg TV, said. “It was confidently dismissing concerns about inflation as transitory.”
Turning to Japan, which has seen its currency tumble to the weakest since 1998 as the Bank of Japan declines to join its peers in tightening policy, Summers said it’s likely to be a challenge to exit the current zero-yield targeting regime.
Dollar’s Impact
“Sooner or later they’re going to leave the yield curve control strategy and I’m not entirely sure what’s going to happen when they do,” Summers said. “In the meantime, the pressures are likely to build,” with the potential for “an even weaker yen,” he said.While some emerging markets are also suffering from a strengthening dollar, Summers said that he didn’t see a “systemic” crisis along the lines of 1998. Still, countries with “particularly unsound policies” including Turkey and Argentina are a concern, he said.
This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
Germany’s vice chancellor made a public plea to the Canadian government to release a turbine that’s caught up in sanctions against Russia and critical for gas flows to Europe.
Economy Minister Robert Habeck told Bloomberg that the turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline needs to be returned before maintenance work begins on Monday. Releasing the component would remove an excuse for Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep the conduit closed.
“I’ll be the first one who will fight for a further strong EU sanction package, but strong sanctions means it must hurt and harm Russia and Putin more than it does our economy,” Habeck said in a phone interview late Wednesday. “Therefore, I ask for understanding that we have to take this turbine excuse away from Putin.”
This note from Bloomberg may be of interest.
Russia’s currency is set to end four days of losses against the greenback as demand for foreign currency declined in Moscow. The country’s main stock index drops for a second day.
Ruble gains 0.1% to 63.2800/$; adds 0.9% versus euro to 64.1850
USD/RUB rate might correct to 55-60 range in the near future, George Vaschenko, head of Russian trading at Freedom Finance in Moscow, writes in a note
“Ruble weakening was not accompanied by significant trade volumes; the weakening of demand will lead to a decline in the exchange rate”
This article from the BBC may be of interest. Here is a section:
New chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has urged unity after his predecessor, the health secretary, and several junior ministers walked out.
But the prime minister has been hit by six further resignations, taking the total to 16 in the past day.
It comes as he prepares for PMQs later and a grilling by senior MPs.
Mr Johnson's premiership has been plunged into crisis following the dramatic resignations of Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
They quit within minutes of each other on Tuesday following a row over Mr Johnson's decision to appoint Chris Pincher deputy chief whip earlier this year.
Their departures triggered a wave of resignations from more junior roles that has continued on Wednesday.
In six further departures ahead of PMQs, education ministers Will Quince and Robin Walker, Justice Minister Victoria Atkins, Treasury minister John Glen, and ministerial aides Laura Trott and Felicity Buchan have all walked out.
This article from Reuters may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
The new rules will add gas and nuclear power plants to the EU "taxonomy" rulebook from 2023, enabling investors to label and market investments in them as green.
Out of 639 lawmakers present, 328 opposed a motion that sought to block the EU gas and nuclear proposals.
The European Commission welcomed the result. It proposed the rules in February after more than a year of delay and intense lobbying from governments and industries.
This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
“It is hard to find much positive to say about the EUR,” said Dominic Bunning, the head of European FX Research at HSBC. “With ECB sticking to its line that we will only see a 25bp hike in July – at a time when others are hiking much faster – and waiting for September to deliver a faster tightening, there is also little support coming from higher yields.”
Money-market traders are betting ECB will deliver around 140 basis points this year, down from more than 190 basis points almost three weeks ago. The repricing gathered pace after a string of weak economic data last week, with traders trimming bets again on Tuesday after French services PMI was revised lower.
Investors have also been more cautious on the euro due to the risk of so-called fragmentation, when economically weaker nations see unwarranted spikes in borrowing costs as financial conditions tighten. The ECB is expected to deliver further details of a new tool to backstop more vulnerable countries’ debt at their policy meeting later this month.
The losses Tuesday were compounded by poor liquidity and selling in euro-Swiss franc, according to three Europe-based traders. The euro fell as much as 0.9% against the Swiss franc to 0.99251, the lowest level since 2015.
“The FX market is not back up to full liquidity given the US holiday,” said Mizuho’s Jones. “Any given size of trade is likely to have a greater impact on market movement.”
