Exiting lockdown: where’s ready, where’s not, and where risks a second wave? May 13, 2020 In collaboration with Schroders’ Data Insights Unit, we’ve looked into the global state of lockdown and compared this with estimated reproduction numbers (R) to identify who is ready to exit lockdown, who is not and who is potentially exiting prematurely. Here’s what we found in summary: While China and Korea were the first to exit [...]
Oil prices mixed as second wave threat tempers new production cut May 11, 2020 Oil prices were mixed today, supported by Saudi Arabia’s move to reduce output by an extra 1m barrels per day, but pressured by fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections. Brent crude fell 1.6 per cent to $30.47 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7 per cent to $24.92. Global oil [...]
Trump hails climbing oil prices as lockdowns begin to lift around world May 5, 2020 Oil prices leapt upwards today on hopes that the easing of coronavirus lockdowns around the world would boost demand, prompting encouraging tweets from US president Donald Trump. After weeks of extreme volatility, both Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) posted their fifth consecutive day of gains. Worldwide standard Brent crude, which two weeks ago [...]
Rival states launch cyber attacks on UK and US coronavirus labs May 5, 2020 British and American spooks have issued an urgent warning after uncovering a string of cyber attacks launched by rival states against healthcare organisations fighting coronavirus. Healthcare bodies, pharmaceutical companies and local government organisations in the UK and US have all been targeted in the attacks, which are aimed at gathering information about the Covid-19 outbreak. [...]
The oil war risks becoming a three-way suicide pact May 4, 2020 I have long been a devotee of the films of the great Sergio Leone, especially his Spaghetti Westerns. On a laughably threadbare budget, the great director made a virtue of his technical limitations, creating nothing less than a whole new look and feel in filmmaking. The climaxes of Leone films are always a treat, perhaps [...]
Oil prices rise on better-than-feared US stockpile data April 29, 2020 Oil prices jumped today after US stockpiles rose less than feared and petrol stocks fell. Oil was also buoyed by hopes demand would increase as some European countries and US states moved towards an easing of lockdown rules. West Text Intermediate crude prices rose 35 per cent to $16.66 a barrel this afternoon. Brent Crude [...]
Oil prices plunge amid fears of historic crash repeat April 27, 2020 Oil prices plunged this morning amid signs that the world’s storage facilities were on the brink of capacity, raising fears that producers are not cutting output fast enough to offset the collapse in demand. After last week’s historic crash, which saw the price of US standard West Texas Intermediate (WTI) turn negative for the first [...]
Oil prices rally loses steam after week of massive losses April 24, 2020 Global oil prices eased their rally this morning but remained on track for a huge weekly loss after unprecedented levels of volatility left producers and traders alike bruised. Worldwide standard Brent crude rose 1.9 per cent this morning to stand at $21.73, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained nearly two per cent to [...]
Renault sees revenue drop a fifth due to coronavirus April 23, 2020 French car giant Renault saw its revenue drop nearly a fifth in the first quarter, warning that it was still to early to say what the overall impact of the coronavirus crisis would be. Revenue at the group fell 19.2 per cent to reach €10.1bn (£8.9bn) as car sales slumped due to the pandemic, which [...]
Analysis: Why oil prices turned negative, and might do again April 22, 2020 On Monday night oil prices turned negative for the first time in history, as traders started paying to have barrels of oil taken off their hands due to the total collapse in demand caused by coronavirus. The unprecedented scenes were a result of a number of coalescing factors which created a situation in which buying [...]