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Glencore faces a tight deadline to sweeten its proposal. Teck’s plan to separate its coal business and wind down the dual-class share structure will go to a shareholder vote on April 26. Glencore Chief Executive Officer Gary Nagle told investors in a Monday conference call that its proposal can’t be implemented if Teck’s shareholders approve that plan.
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The announcement came during a Brazil-China business forum in Beijing on Wednesday in which government officials and company executives from both sides discussed trade and investment opportunities. Much of Brazil’s agricultural and mineral products are shipped to the Asian nation.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was due to be in China for an official state visit this week, but was forced to postpone after he was hospitalized with pneumonia.
China and Brazil also agreed to settle trade in their own currencies, without the need of an intermediary currency like the US dollar, according to a statement from the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency. The expectation is to reduce the costs of commercial transactions with the direct exchange between Brazilian reais and yuan.
Tatiana Rosito, Brazil’s Secretary of International Affairs at the Finance Ministry, says the goal is to boost liquidity of the Chinese currency, giving options to investors and traders.
“It’s not a game changer in relation to the impact on short-term trade, but it has the potential to expand transactions and familiarize agents” with transactions in yuan, she said in a telephone interview.
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Buyers are facing difficulties building up stockpiles as crops in several regions have been poorer than expected. Low fertilizer application in Thailand, excessive rains in India, and dryness in Europe, Mexico and parts of China led to several downward revisions to supply estimates.
In Thailand, the world’s fourth biggest grower, all but 5 of 57 millers already stopped crushing due to a lower-than-expected harvest, the Thai Sugar Millers Corp. said. Egypt and Algeria recently announced measures to restrict sugar outflows from the countries.
Crop issues removed 4 million metric tons from world trade flows in the first quarter of this year, StoneX analyst Ricardo Nogueira wrote in a report. Such volumes would be crucial to help ease current tightness in global supplies, especially since it will take time before a large output from Brazil can reach destinations.
However, Brazilian supplies may not bring much relief to the refined sugar market, said Michael McDougall, managing director at Paragon Global Markets. The country is the world’s top supplier of raw sweetener, but its production of refined is small.
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Sweden has long fallen short on its constitutional pledge to provide an affordable place to live for all of its 10.4 million people, but until recently that was masked by the growing economy which had helped disguise flaws in the system.
The shortage of affordable accommodation is hitting recruitment. The Stockholm Chamber of Commerce reported last year that three out of four heads of human resources said the housing situation was making it harder for their firms to hire new staff.
Rents are negotiated annually by landlords and the tenants association. Advocates say the system helps create a rental market in Stockholm where teachers, police officers, street cleaners and other public sector workers can afford to live alongside bankers, software developers and government officials. Yet supply hasn’t kept up with demand for decades. Average waiting times for a rent-controlled apartment is now 9.2 years, but can stretch up to 20 years in some parts of the capital.
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Hardly. The world’s population of people aged 60 years and older is expected to double by 2050, according to the World Health Organization, while fertility rates are in long-term decline. The financial strain is challenging old-age support systems and leaving many countries facing tough choices about raising the age of retirement, cutting benefits or lifting taxes. Pension shortfalls will be the equivalent of about 23% of world output by 2050, the Group of 30 consultancy estimated. One key measure is the old-age dependency ratio — the number of older people compared to the population that is working age. In Europe and North America, that ratio will be about 50 per 100 by 2050, according to UN forecasts, a rise from 30 per 100 in 2019. In short, we’re on a trajectory toward a smaller share of people paying taxes and a higher proportion drawing pensions. By 2035, the basic US system known as Social Security will no longer be able to cover payments, forcing a 20% reduction in benefits, according to its trustees.
I would be grateful if Mr Treacy could provide comment on which casualty will government and central banks choose
The way I see the situation now is:
Printing money to save banks = increasing inflation + sinking small people
Raising interest rates = reducing inflation + sinking banks + sinking small people with adjustable/variable mortgages
EQUALS
government and central banks caught in vicious circle of their own makingWhich casualty will in Mr Treacy's opinion governments + central banks choose going forward?
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Brazil’s worsening credit outlook amid troubles facing local retailer Americanas SA raises the risk of a recession that could lead its central bank to change its balance of risks at the upcoming interest rate decision on March 21 and 22, Tony Volpon, a former director at the bank, said in an interview.
“At the very least, the central bank committee should change the balance of risks at the next meeting, which would be a signal to start cutting its rate in May”
NOTE: BCB said in the statement of Feb. 1 meeting, which maintained the Selic rate at 13.75%, that the risks to its inflationary scenarios remain in both directions, upside and downside
According to Volpon, high interest rates and worsening of credit in the midst of the Americanas case may reduce investment and increase the risk of a drop in economic growth
“If the BCB does nothing, it is almost certain that there will be a recession”
Volpon had written earlier on Twitter that “almost every recession needs a ‘snap’ and the Americanas case and the collapse of the credit market already set up an exogenous shock that, left unanswered, should lead to a recession”
Basic scenario is interest rate cuts starting in May, but BCB could cut it later this month if credit data show a more serious deterioration, says the former director
According to him, part of the market could react badly to an eventual Selic cut, which would lead to a greater rate curve steepening, but this would not prevent the positive effect of monetary relief on the economy
Possible negative investor reaction to an early interest rate cut could also be mitigated with announcement of the new fiscal framework, says Volpon
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Wheat futures in Chicago fluctuated just below $7 a bushel as traders assess progress in negotiations to renew the Ukrainian grain export deal through the Black Sea, along with global supply prospects.
The food staple traded at $6.9675 a bushel, about half the level a year ago when the price hit a record on a supply crunch after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday in Kyiv to discuss the continuation of the Black Sea agreement.
A wave of Russian wheat cargoes has pushed down global prices in recent weeks to around the lowest level since September 2021. Still, the US winter wheat crop has been suffering from dry weather and shipments from Australia, currently the world’s second-biggest exporter, may tumble 20% in the next financial year as the climate turns drier after three wet years.
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The historic Perth Mint is facing a potential $9 billion recall of gold bars after selling diluted or "doped" bullion to China and then covering it up, according to a leaked internal report.
Four Corners has uncovered documents charting the WA government-owned mint's decision to begin "doping" its gold in 2018, and then how it withheld evidence from its largest client in an effort to protect its reputation.
While the gold remained above broader industry standards, the report estimated up to 100 tonnes of gold sent to Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) potentially did not comply with Shanghai's strict purity standards for silver content.
One Perth Mint insider, who asked not to be named as they could face five years' jail if their identity is revealed, says it is a "scandal of the highest level".
"I don't know if I've ever seen one this big," they say.
The mint is the largest processor of newly mined gold in the world, one of Perth's top tourist attractions and well known for producing commemorative coins to mark everything from royal weddings to a new James Bond film.
Last year alone it sold $20.3 billion in gold. It is the only mint in the world that has a government guarantee.
