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Layoffs Are in the Works at Half of Companies, PwC Survey Shows

This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section: 

That’s a key finding from a survey released Thursday by consultant PwC, which last month polled more than 700 US executives and board members across a range of industries. Half of respondents said they’re reducing headcount or plan to, and 52% have implemented hiring freezes. More than four in ten are rescinding job offers, and a similar amount are reducing or eliminating the sign-on bonuses that had become common to attract talent in a tight job market. 

At the same time, though, about two-thirds of firms are boosting pay or expanding mental-health benefits. The most common move: making remote work permanent for more people.



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Zinc Surges as Trafigura-Owned Smelter to Halt Production

This article for Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

The decline in European zinc production has seen local LME stockpiles fall close to zero this year, while global inventories remain near the lowest in more than two years. 

“There will be a bit of capacity juggling going on,” said Tom Price, an analyst at Liberum Capital. “If the EU needs their metal, they will probably have to import more semi-refined material or the metal itself.”

Supply concerns are still being balanced by the impact of the energy crisis on demand, which has caused many economists to predict a recession in Europe. Economic data on Monday from China, the world’s top metals consumer, added to those fears as the nation struggles to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 curbs, the property slump and the recent heat waves.

China is also facing an energy crunch which could hit metals output. Soaring temperatures are stretching power supplies and drying up water for hydro-electricity, forcing key aluminum-hub Sichuan to vow it will prioritize electricity production for residential use.
 



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Carbon Capture Could Get $100 Billion in Credit from US Climate Bill

This report from Bloomberg New Energy may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

The new legislation raises the credits for captured CO2 that is used and stored to $60/tCO2 and $85/tCO2 respectively. However, project owners must meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements in order to qualify. If they do not, they will be paid a lower credit than the existing 45Q payment. Projects must be under construction by the end of 2032 to receive the credit

A new, much higher credit is available to direct air capture (DAC) projects. DAC currently costs around $600/tCO2. The credit pays $130/tCO2 for gas that is used, say, for enhanced oil recovery or to make synthetic fuels, and $180/tCO2 for CO2 that is stored permanently.

 



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Beijing Faces 'Liquidity Trap' as Lending Collapses

This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section: 

Three things we learned last week: 

1. Shockingly weak Chinese credit growth shows that monetary policy is pushing on a string. Friday’s data showed aggregate financing, a broad measure of credit, was almost half of what economists expected. Bank loan growth slowed to 11%, near the historical low. That’s occurring at a time when the financial markets are flush with cash and interbank interest rates are falling well below the central bank’s benchmark.

In other words, money is aplenty, but no one wants it. It reflects weak confidence among businesses and households amid the housing slump and the Covid restrictions. It’s “a classic sign of a liquidity trap,” Craig Botham at Pantheon Macroeconomics remarked.

What’s more, Beijing is facing a fiscal cliff as the local governments have pretty much used up their special bond-issuance quota for the year. Unless Beijing makes more funding available, the fiscal support may be waning.



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BHP talk offtakes with OZ Minerals, returns with $8.4b bid

This article from the Australian Financial Review may be of interest. Here it is in full:

The companies' top brass only spoke last Friday, when BHP shot across its non-binding and indicative bid to OZ's Adelaide offices, and asked for six-weeks' due diligence and a friendly board recommended deal.

Instead of being flattered by the attention, OZ Minerals' board is playing it cool and defensive.

OZ Minerals' board, advised by Macquarie Capital and Greenhill, is understood to be staunchly against giving BHP a look at its books at a $25 a share offer, reckoning it's both invasive and disruptive to the business. It has said as much to investors in recent days.

Analysts who have spent the past few days canvassing the OZ Minerals register said the shareholders were on the same page as the board.

But at what price OZ would be willing to grant BHP due diligence, is pretty much anyone's guess at this point. Citi and Barrenjoey are in BHP's corner.

What's OZ Minerals worth

The approach and the retreat were so swift that investors haven't had time to think what the company's worth to a bidder.

But they are taking heart from three things: that OZ smacked the $25 a share bid really hard (so BHP must be way off mark) and that the two had been talking about offtakes (so BHP's interest isn't just tyrekicking).

Investors reckon they still need a week or so to come up with a number they reckon would be fair, and OZ's half-year results are due about the same time. But early talk is any suitor wanting to unlock OZ's data room would have to present it with a low-thirties bid.

The offtake revelations have also revived investors' early read of the approach: that BHP's after better performance for Olympic Dam and its copper operations, but is also thinking strategically about securing nickel concentrate for its WA smelters.



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Global Supply Chains of EV Batteries

This report from the IEA may be of interest. Here is a section:

Pressure on the supply of critical materials will continue to mount as road transport electrification expands to meet net zero ambitions. Demand for EV batteries will increase from around 340 GWh today, to over 3500 GWh by 2030 in the Announced Pledges Scenario (APS). Cell components and their supply will also have to expand by the same amount. Additional investments are needed in the short term, particularly in mining, where lead times are much longer than for other parts of the supply chain – in some cases requiring more than a decade from initial feasibility studies to production, and then several more years to reach nominal production capacity. Projected mineral supply until the end of the 2020s is in line with the demand for EV batteries in the Stated Policies Scenario (STEPS). But the supply of some minerals such as lithium would need to rise by up to one-third by 2030 to satisfy the pledges and announcements for EV batteries in the APS. For example, demand for lithium – the commodity with the largest projected demand-supply gap – is projected to increase sixfold to 500 kilo tonnes by 2030 in the APS, requiring the equivalent of 50 new average-sized mines.



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Gold Edges Higher With Lower Yields as Traders Eye US Rate Path

This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

Gold inched higher as Treasury yields pared their recent surge, with traders temporarily looking beyond the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest-rate hike path. 

Bullion rose as much as 0.8%, rebounding from the worst daily loss in two weeks in the previous session. On Friday, a stronger-than-expected US jobs report added to the case for more Fed monetary tightening, pushing up the dollar and bond yields while crushing gold since it pays no interest and is priced in the greenback. 

Still, a bigger rate hike isn’t a done deal, and investors are now waiting for a US inflation report later this week to gauge how hawkish the Fed may be at its September meeting. That allowed a pause for Treasury yields and the dollar, lifting gold prices on Monday.

A hike of 75 basis points at next month’s Fed policy meeting “is far from locked in,” TD Securities commodity strategists led by Bart Melek said in a note. For now, “the yellow metal has been able to hold firm.”

The precious metal has rallied for the last three weeks, as concerns over a global recession and heightened US-China tensions boosted demand for the haven asset.

Holdings of bullion in exchange-traded funds have remained under pressure, however, falling for an eighth straight week.

Spot gold rose 0.7% to $1,788.34 an ounce as of 10:49 a.m. in New York. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index and the 10-year Treasury yield edged lower. Silver, palladium and platinum all advanced. 



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Fertilizer Giants Say Supplies Will Remain Tight Amid War

This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

Fertilizer exports from Russia have largely returned to normal as trade flows have adapted, Bert Frost, CF’s senior vice president of sales, said in a quarterly call Tuesday. But there’s one exception: ammonia.

“The global nitrogen market is likely to be short the fertilizer it needs if product prices do not incentivize greater production in high-cost regions,” Frost said.

CF’s cost of natural gas used for production has more than doubled from last year, according to the statement. The company expects its own production to be down in the third quarter due to scheduled maintenance.

Mosaic Co., a major phosphate and potash company, sees both nutrients staying in short supply. Sanctions on Belarus, a top potash producer, have wreaked havoc on the market. And China has been restricting phosphate exports to keep supply in country.

The company expects Belarusian potash exports to be down 8 million tons this year, Chief Executive Officer Joc O’Rourke said in a quarterly call Tuesday. Belarus normally exports about 10-12 million tons annually, according to Green Markets data.



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From Profits to Pay, JPMorgan's Gold Secrets Spill Out in Court

This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

JPMorgan holds tens of billions of dollars in gold in vaults in London, New York and Singapore. It is one of four clearing members of the London market, where global gold prices are set by buying and selling metal held in a few London vaults -- including JPMorgan’s and the Bank of England’s.

JPMorgan is the biggest player among a small group of “bullion banks” that dominate the precious metals markets, and internal documents presented by prosecutors provided a glimpse of just how dominant a role the bank has played. 

In 2010, for example, 40% of all transactions in the gold market were cleared by JPMorgan. 

And

Another set of important clients were central banks, which trade gold for their reserves and are among the biggest players in the bullion market. At least ten central banks held their metal in vaults run by JPMorgan in 2010, according to documents disclosed in court. 



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US Economy Shrinks for a Second Quarter, Fueling Recession Fears

This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

The drumbeat of recession grew louder after the US economy shrank for a second straight quarter, as decades-high inflation undercut consumer spending and Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes stymied businesses and housing.

Gross domestic product fell at a 0.9% annualized rate after a 1.6% decline in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department’s preliminary estimate showed Thursday. Personal consumption, the biggest part of the economy, rose at a 1% pace, a deceleration from the prior period.

“The more important point is that the economy has quickly lost steam in the face of four-decade high inflation, rapidly rising borrowing costs, and a general tightening in financial conditions,” Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note. “The economy is highly vulnerable to slipping into a recession.”



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