Crude futures prices fell slightly on Friday, capping off a 5 percent decline from a week ago, as worries about low winter fuel inventories dissipate amid rising oil supplies.
Light, sweet crude for December declined US$0.10 to US$47.32 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, settling nearly US$8 below the late October peak of US$55.17. December Brent crude traded at US$42.31, down US$0.71 on the International Petroleum Exchange in London.
A research note by Credit Suisse First Boston said the downtrend in oil prices had reasserted itself after the markets rose Wednesday following the US government's latest petroleum supply report. That report showed the supply of distillate fuel, which includes heating oil, shrank for the eighth consecutive week -- a disappointment to many traders who had been expecting a break in the trend.
By Thursday, though, confidence that the refining industry would produce enough heating oil before winter reemerged, sending prices US$1.44 per barrel lower and reversing all but a nickel of Wednesday's gain.
"The US$55 per barrel prices seen in October were never warranted by the market fundamentals, and with no new supply threats appearing the market could not sustain the rally," the London-based World Markets Research Center said. "However, prices are unlikely to slide below US$45 in the immediate future, given the still precarious distillate situation in the US and the upcoming Nigerian general strike."
Wednesday's US Energy Department report showed commercially available supplies of distillates dipped by 100,000 barrels last week to 115.6 million barrels, or 13 percent below year ago levels.
Heating oil for December was unchanged at US$1.3636 per gallon on Nymex, where gasoline futures rose US$0.12 to US$1.2569 per gallon. Natural gas futures settled at US$7.16 per 1,000 cubic meters, a decline of US$0.76.
Markets have been tense for months due to the world's limited excess production capacity, now only around 1 percent above the daily consumption of 82.4 million barrels, leaving little room to maneuver in the event of a production outage. Such a disruption could come next week as Nigerian unions vowed to defy a court order blocking a strike set for Nov. 16. Nigeria produces 2.5 million barrels a day and is the world's seventh-largest exporter.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his