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Rabu, 11 Maret 2020

Saudi Arabia to Boost Oil Output Even Further - The Wall Street Journal

Saudi Aramco said it had received directions to boost output to 13 million barrels a... — Saudi Aramco said it had received directions to boost output to 13 million barrels a day.
Photo: maxim shemetov/Reuters

Benoit Faucon and

Benoit Faucon

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@benoitfaucon
benoit.faucon@wsj.com

Summer Said

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@summer_said
summer.said@wsj.com

Updated March 11, 2020 4:42 am ET

DUBAI—Saudi Arabia fired another salvo in its oil-market war with Russia on Wednesday, unveiling plans to boost its oil-production capacity to a record 13 million barrels a day.

The capacity increase comes after the kingdom instigated a price war with Russia by signaling its intentions to boost production and slash prices.

Russia responded to that pledge Tuesday, saying it would pump to the tilt.

The acrimony between two of the world’s top oil producers follows a meeting Vienna last week in which Russia rejected a Saudi-backed plan to cut crude output in response to dwindling demand in China.

State oil giant Saudi Aramco said Wednesday it had received a directive from the kingdom’s energy ministry to raise its output capacity to 13 million barrels a day, from 12 million barrels a day. Aramco didn’t say when the capacity increase would take place.

On Wednesday, the Brent oil price was down 1.4% to $36.37 a barrel while the West Texas Intermediate was also down 1.7% to $33.8 a barrel. Aramco’s share price was down 0.32% to 31.4% on Wednesday and has fallen 4.8% since last Thursday afternoon when it became clear Saudi attempts to convince Russia to agree to proposed cuts wouldn’t work.

Aramco had already said Tuesday it would raise its crude supply to 12.3 million barrels a day in starting April 1, only days after it cut most of its official selling prices and pledge to boost output triggering Monday’s oil-price crash when crude lost a fifth of its value.

Experts have previously questioned how much production the kingdom could sustain after the country’s largest oil-processing facility and an oil field was attacked by drones and missiles in September.

Write to Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com and Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com

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2020-03-11 09:08:43Z
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Bank of England cuts rates in emergency move to combat coronavirus impact - CNBC

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England (BOE), gestures while speaking during the bank's quarterly inflation report news conference in the City of London, U.K., on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018.

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Bank of England (BOE) announced Wednesday an emergency cut to interest rates in an attempt to limit the economic impact from the new coronavirus.

The announcement follows a similar decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve last week. The virus that began in China late last year has spread worldwide and is impacting all major economies, with flight cancellations, panic buying and strict quarantine measures in some cases. As of Wednesday morning, the U.K. had 382 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including the country's health minister Nadine Dorries.

"At its special meeting ending on 10 March 2020, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to reduce Bank Rate by 50 basis points to 0.25%," the Bank of England said in a statement on Wednesday.

The central bank also announced a new term-funding scheme to support small and medium-sized companies, as well as new steps to help commercial banks lend more.

"Following the spread of Covid-19, risky asset and commodity prices have fallen sharply, and government bond yields reached all-time lows, consistent with a marked deterioration in risk appetite and in the outlooks for global and U.K. growth," the BOE said in a statement, adding that "indicators of financial market uncertainty have reached extreme levels."

Equity markets saw a major sell-off on Monday on the back of an emergency lockdown in Italy and amid fears of a price war among oil-exporting nations.

Sterling fell immediately after the BOE's decision, to $1.289 from $1.293, but quickly erased those losses. Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 opened in the black, trading around 1.5% higher.

A 'mistake'

Data released last month showed that the U.K. economy stagnated in the last part of 2019. The U.K. struggled with some political uncertainty at the end of the year. The country has also been embroiled in economic uncertainty since its decision to leave the European Union in 2016.

"If we are now trying to encourage people to stay at home and not travel, what on Earth is a rate cut supposed to do?," Jim O'Neill, chair at U.K. thinktank Chatham House, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" Wednesday.

"The rate cut part strikes me as a mistake and too soon because they might need these bullets if demand does get a lot weaker," O'Neill, who coined the term BRIC (the acronym that stands for the emerging market economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China) also said.

The rate cut comes as Governor Mark Carney is due to end his mandate at the bank in the next couple of days. The emergency move also brings rates back down to the level seen immediately following the Brexit vote.

David Owen, chief European economist at Jefferies, said in an email Wednesday that it was highly unusual for the BOE to move between meetings. "(It) didn't even happen in the financial crisis after the stock market had crashed," he said.

Fiscal stimulus too?

The decision from the Bank of England also comes just a few hours before the country's finance chief is due to deliver new budget plans. Rishi Sunak is expected to announce new fiscal stimulus to tackle the impact of virus.

Karen Ward, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, said in an email: "We believe targeted fiscal measures would prove more effective (than rate cuts).

"In short, interest rate cuts will help, so long as they are playing the supporting act to pro-active government stimulus," Ward added in an email.

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2020-03-11 09:12:59Z
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Saudi Arabia to Boost Oil Output Even Further - The Wall Street Journal

Benoit Faucon and

Benoit Faucon

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@benoitfaucon
benoit.faucon@wsj.com

Summer Said

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@summer_said
summer.said@wsj.com

Updated March 11, 2020 4:42 am ET

DUBAI—Saudi Arabia fired another salvo in its oil-market war with Russia on Wednesday, unveiling plans to boost its oil-production capacity to a record 13 million barrels a day.

The capacity increase comes after the kingdom instigated a price war with Russia by signaling its intentions to boost production and slash prices.

Russia responded to that pledge Tuesday, saying it would pump to the tilt.

Write to Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com and Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com

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Bank of England cuts rates in emergency move to counter coronavirus impact - CNBC

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England (BOE), gestures while speaking during the bank's quarterly inflation report news conference in the City of London, U.K., on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018.

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Bank of England (BOE) announced Wednesday an emergency cut to interest rates in an attempt to limit the economic impact from the new coronavirus.

The central bank has also announced a new term-funding scheme to support small and medium-sized companies, as well as new steps to help commercial banks lend more.

As of Wednesday morning, the U.K. had 382 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, including the country's health minister Nadine Dorries.

Data released last month showed that the U.K. economy stagnated in the last part of 2019. The decision from the Bank of England comes just a few hours before the country's finance chief is due to deliver new budget plans. Rishi Sunak is expected to announce new fiscal stimulus to tackle the impact of virus.

However, Karen Ward, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, questioned whether rate cuts alone will reduce the impact of the virus. "We believe targeted fiscal measures would prove more effective," she said via email.

"In short, interest rate cuts will help, so long as they are playing the supporting act to pro-active government stimulus," Ward added in an email.

Sterling fell on the back of the BOE's decision, to $1.289 from $1.293.

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Saudi Arabia to Boost Oil Output Even Further - The Wall Street Journal

Summer Said

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@summer_said
summer.said@wsj.com

Updated March 11, 2020 3:44 am ET

DUBAI—State oil giant Saudi Aramco said Wednesday it has received a directive from the kingdom’s energy ministry to up its output capacity to 13 million barrels a day, from 12 million barrels a day.

Aramco didn’t say when the capacity increase would take place.

The company had said Tuesday it would raise its crude supply to 12.3 million barrels per day in starting April 1, only days after it cut most of its official selling prices triggering Monday’s oil-price crash.

April’s crude supply will be 300,000 barrels a day over the company’s maximum sustained capacity of 12 million barrels a day.

On Wednesday, Brent, the international benchmark, was trading down 1.4% to $36.37 a barrel while the West Texas Intermediate was also down 1.7% to $33.8 a barrel.

Write to Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com

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4 deaths, 30 hospitalizations linked to listeria outbreak in recalled enoki mushrooms - CNN

Sun Hong Foods recalled the mushrooms Monday because they may be contaminated with listeria, according to the Food and Drug Administration's website.

Four deaths have been reported in California, Hawaii and New Jersey, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has gotten 36 reports of infected people from 17 states.

Six cases involved pregnant women, two of whom miscarried, the CDC said.

"Do not eat, serve, or sell any recalled enoki mushrooms distributed by Sun Hong Foods, Inc." the CDC said on its website.

The recalled mushrooms were sold in clear plastic packages with a green label.

Listeriosis causes different symptoms in different people. For most, symptoms include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, fever, muscle aches and convulsions.

Pregnant women can have these same symptoms but the bacterial infection can also lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery or life-threatening infection for the newborn.

Symptoms typically start one to four weeks after eating the contaminated food. The infections can be treated with antibiotics.

The source of contamination is being investigated as well as whether other products are linked to the illness.

The mushrooms, labeled "Product of Korea," are white and long with small caps, the CDC said.

The mushrooms were sold in 7.05-ounce/200-gram clear plastic packages with a green label, the CDC said.

Illnesses from the mushrooms began between November 23, 2016, and December 13, 2019.

Until the CDC learns more about the source of the mushrooms and how they're distributed, it advises all people at higher risk of infection -- pregnant women, people 65 and older and people with weakened immune systems -- to avoid eating any enoki mushrooms labeled as being from Korea.

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2020-03-11 07:00:53Z
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