1 .US inflation jumps to 40-year high, pressuring consumers, President Biden

Jan 13, 2022

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that a measure of inflation that excludes volatile food and gas prices jumped 5.5% in December, also the highest in decades. Overall inflation rose 0.5% from November, down from 0.8% the previous month. Inflation jumped at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years last month, a 7% spike from a year earlier that is increasing household expenses, eating into wage gains and heaping pressure on President Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve to address what has become the biggest threat to the U.S. economy.

Source: Mint Date

2 . Fed officials nod to March rate hike as inflation drumbeat grows louder

Jan 13, 2022

Federal Reserve policymakers this week signaled they will start raising U.S. interest rates in March to battle inflation that's eroding the value of workers' recent wage gains and putting the policysetters under a political spotlight.In what were among the last public comments from U.S. central bankers before their next rate-setting meeting, Fed Governor Lael Brainard on Thursday became the latest and most senior U.S. central banker to signal the current era of near-zero interest rates will come to an end after two pandemic-shook years.

Source: Reuters

3 . Fed's Bullard sees four U.S. rate hikes this year

Jan 13, 2022

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard on Wednesday upped his view of how fast the U.S. central bank should tighten monetary policy, saying he now believes four interest rate hikes may be in the cards this year. "I actually now think we should maybe go to four hikes in 2022," Bullard told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Source: Reuters

4 . German economy grew 2.7% in 2021 after plunge of 4.6% in 2020

Jan 14, 2022

The German economy grew 2.7% in 2021 after plunging 4.6% in the first coronavirus crisis year, data showed on Friday, as microchip shortages hurt the car industry and further COVID restrictions slowed down the recovery of Europe's largest economy. The preliminary estimate published by Germany's Federal Statistics Office was in line with a Reuters poll of analysts.

Source: Reuters

5 .China growth seen slowing to 5.2% in 2022, modest policy easing expected

Jan 13, 2022

China's economic growth is likely to slow to 5.2% in 2022, before steadying in 2023, a Reuters poll showed, as the central bank steadily ramps up policy easing to ward off a sharper downturn. The expected 2022 growth would be lower than the 5.5% analysts had forecast in a Reuters poll in October, underlining multiple headwinds facing the world's second-largest economy due to a property downturn, a crackdown on debt, tougher pollution measures and strict COVID-19 curbs which have hit consumption. Gross domestic product (GDP) likely expanded by 8.0% in 2021, according to the median forecasts of 62 economists polled by Reuters, slower than an 8.2% rise seen in October's forecast but still the highest annual growth in a decade.

Source: Reuters

6. Libya's Oil Output Rises to Almost 1 Million Barrels Daily

Jan 13, 2022

Libya’s oil production is rising gradually after a blockade of its western fields ended and ports in the east re-opened, according to the OPEC member’s energy minister. Output is 963,000 barrels a day, Mohammed Oun said in a response to questions from Bloomberg on Thursday. Production has fluctuated significantly since mid-December, when militias forced western fields, including Libya’s biggest of Sharara, to close down as part of a dispute over pay and politics. The sector was further hit when a major pipeline was shut for repairs early this month, and then again when bad weather caused at least four eastern ports to close. 

Source: Bloomberg

7. China 2021 copper imports slip after previous year's record high

Jan 13, 2022

China's imports of unwrought copper and copper products slipped in 2021 from the previous year's record, though imports of copper concentrate hit a historic high. Imports of unwrought copper and copper products for the year totalled 5.53 million tonnes, General Administration of Customs data showed on Friday, down 17.2% from 2020's record volume of 6.68 million tonnes. On a monthly basis, China's copper imports rose for a fourth straight month in December to 589,165 tonnes, up from November's 510,402 tonnes and its highest monthly level since October 2020 as a favourable price arbitrage window made bringing in overseas metal more attractive.

Source: Reuters

8 . Nickel price storms to 10-year peak on supply worries

Jan 12, 2022

Nickel price surged to the highest in a decade on Wednesday as investors bet automakers will have to scramble to secure supplies for their electric vehicle batteries as inventories dwindle. Nickel was the top performer among industrial metals, which also rallied as worries eased about economic growth in top metals consumer China. Nickel stocks in LME warehouses have halved over the past five months to 99,462 tonnes, their lowest levels since December 2019, while refined nickel inventories in ShFE warehouses held close to a record low of 4,455 tonnes hit in August 2021.

Source: Reuters