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July 1st - According to statistics from the Hengqin Border Inspection Station of the Zhuhai Border Inspection General Station, in the first half of 2026, the total number of passengers entering and leaving the country through the Hengqin Port exceeded 17.77 million, a year-on-year increase of 27.8%; the number of vehicles entering and leaving the country reached 2.21 million, a year-on-year increase of 40.6%. Among them, 1.46 million vehicles had Macao license plates, accounting for 66.2% of the total number of vehicles. The ports passenger and vehicle traffic increased simultaneously, and the vitality of two-way exchanges between Hengqin and Macao continued to be released.On July 1st, Jun Mimura, Japans top foreign exchange official, stated that Japans intervention in the foreign exchange market two months prior to support the yen was successful and received support from some U.S. officials. He said, "Judging from the subsequent market performance, I believe that intervention was clearly meaningful. To my knowledge, the U.S. never commented against our actions; on the contrary, they actually made some more supportive statements." Mimuras remarks came as the yen fell to a 40-year low against the dollar, posing a greater risk of inflation for Japan. Japan is a major energy importer, and food imports account for more than half of its economy. He emphasized frequent communication with Washington, stating, "Through phone calls and emails, I contact them much more frequently than people imagine."Japans household consumer confidence index for June was 33.8, below the expected 34.1 and the previous reading of 33.6.Japans top foreign exchange official: To the best of my knowledge, the United States has never made any comments opposing our actions; on the contrary, the U.S. has actually made some more supportive statements.Japans top foreign exchange official: Judging from the subsequent market movements, I think that intervention was clearly meaningful.

After Geopolitical Worries, Oil Sales Resume

Skylar Williams

Nov 17, 2022 15:40

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Even a big drop in U.S. crude stocks does not appear to be sufficient to guarantee an increase in oil prices at this time.


Crude oil futures resumed their drop on Wednesday, as supply concerns that had supported the market in the previous session faded away.


Also striking was the dealers' disregard for weekly Energy Information Administration (EIA) inventory data.


For the week ending November 11, the EIA reported a crude inventory decrease of 5.4 million barrels, compared to the expected decrease of 440,000 barrels and the previous week's decrease of 3.925 million barrels. During the previous week, U.S. crude imports decreased by an average of 900,000 barrels per day, or more than 6.0 million barrels in total.


Nonetheless, the market remained fixated on the resumption of Russian oil exports to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline and the rise in Covid-19 infections in China.


According to operators of oil pipelines in Hungary and Slovakia, a portion of the Druzhba pipeline was temporarily shut down for technical reasons on Tuesday, halting the flow of oil to portions of Eastern and Central Europe. Wednesday, Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian foreign minister, announced that Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline have resumed.


After a tanker sustained minor damage off the coast of Oman on Tuesday, both New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude and London's Brent crude rose early on Wednesday, highlighting the geopolitical dangers in the world's busiest oil shipping routes.


"Various geopolitical influences, such as an oil tanker being struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman and Russia tensions, are being largely ignored in favor of more bearish elements, such as weak Chinese economic data and demand," said Matt Smith, oil analyst at Kpler, in comments carried by Reuters.


The rising incidence of COVID-19 in China reduced morale following this week's easing of virus restrictions. Chinese officials shut down Peking University after discovering a single COVID case, demonstrating their unwavering commitment to the country's zero-COVID policy.


Beijing also reported over 350 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, according to the Associated Press, which represents a negligible portion of the city's 21 million population but is sufficient to trigger localized lockdowns and quarantines under China's zero-Covid plan. This week, China recorded nearly 20,000 new cases, compared to 8,000 the week before.


Wednesday, oil's selling pressure was attributed to options expiry, which may frequently amplify market direction changes.


Despite this, WTI for December delivery finished at $85.59 a barrel, down $1.33, or 1.5%. The benchmark for U.S. crude declined by 4% week-to-date, the same as the previous week.


Brent for January delivery decreased $1, or 1.07 percent, to $92.86. After a decline of 2.6% the previous week, the global crude benchmark dropped over 3.5% for the week.


Aside from the crude decrease, the EIA's weekly statistics on fuel products were negative, with a larger-than-anticipated increase in gasoline and an unexpected increase in distillate stocks.


The Biden administration's depletion of petroleum from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve was similarly below average, at around 4 million barrels compared to summer highs of eight million barrels.

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