2025-06-13 00:39

Israel hits Iran nuclear facilities, missiles fired back Crude surges on supply risks Dow slumps, European, Asian shares also down Dollar regains ground, Treasury yields spike June 13 (Reuters) - World stock markets fell on Friday, and oil prices surged, as Israel launched military strikes on Iran, sparking inflows into safe havens such as gold and the dollar. Early on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program - the primary target of the strikes - saying there was still time for the country to prevent further conflict with Israel. But later in the day, Iran fired missiles at Israel in response to the attacks; explosions were heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as sirens sounded on Friday night across the country. Sign up here. Worries that the conflict could disrupt Middle Eastern oil and gas supplies pu. Global benchmark Brent crude futures settled 7% higher at $74.23 a barrel, after earlier soaring over 13%, while U.S. crude finished at $72.98 a barrel, up 7.62%. U.S. natural gas climbed about 3% and European gas prices jumped over 5% to their highest intraday level in 10 weeks. Gold , a safe haven in times of global uncertainty, rose 1.4% to $3,431 per ounce, bringing it close to the record high of $3,500.05 from April. The rush to safety was matched by a dash out of risk assets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 1.8%, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab dropped 1.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab lost 1.3%. European shares (.STOXX) , opens new tab dropped 0.9%, briefly hitting its lowest level in three weeks, and in Asia, major bourses in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong fell over 1% each. An escalation in the Middle East - a major oil-producing region - adds uncertainty to financial markets at a time of heightened pressure on the global economy from President Trump's unpredictable trade policies. "The re-emergence of major conflict in the Middle East should raise geopolitical stress, including sharply higher oil prices," Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said in an email. Samana added, though, that the conflict should represent a buying opportunity for long-term investors, including in U.S. large-cap stocks and commodities. Investors will also keep close watch on planned protests across U.S. cities on Saturday, amid heightened concerns following immigration raids in Los Angeles. TWO-WAY PULL FOR BONDS U.S. 10-year Treasury yields 5.6 basis points to 4.413%, as markets absorbed a sudden shock to commodity and stock prices, reversing some of the declines after four days mainly in the red. "This is a flight-to-safety event. But markets are struggling a bit, and in the fixed income space you have an oil-price shock that is inflationary, and so you should see markets expecting an even more hawkish Fed," said James Rossiter, head of global macro strategy at TD Securities. "On the other hand, you have the flight to safety, which should push bond yields lower." Some traders were attracted to the dollar as a haven, with the dollar index up about 0.5% to 98.16, retracing most of Thursday's sizeable decline. The Swiss franc briefly touched its strongest level against the dollar since April 21, before trading 0.1% lower at around 0.811 per dollar. Another safe haven, the Japanese yen , fell 0.34% to about 144 per dollar, giving up earlier gains of 0.3%. The euro was down 0.3% at $1.15, after rising on Thursday to the highest since October 2021. "Clearly if the conflict in the Middle East is short term in nature, the weakness in USD will likely continue," Arun Bharath, Chief Investment Officer at Bel Air Investment Advisors, said in an email. If not, he added, the fundamental factors that suggest further weakness for the dollar might be offset by a geopolitical premium for it. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-wrapup-1pix-2025-06-13/

2025-06-12 23:42

ADM shifts to pricing soy against November futures from July in unusual move Move effectively cuts cash price offer to farmers by 6.5% EPA expected to propose biofuel blend rule below industry recommendations CHICAGO, June 12 (Reuters) - Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM.N) , opens new tab, a major U.S. soybean crusher and biofuel producer, slashed its bids to buy the oilseed this week ahead of an expected Trump administration announcement on biofuel blending requirements, a primary driver of demand for soybean oil. Processors such as Chicago-based ADM have been waiting for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision on blending requirements for months as they grapple with slumping crush margins and abundant soybean stocks. Sign up here. Reuters reported on Thursday that the EPA is expected to propose blending requirements below industry recommendations on Friday, leading to lower-than-expected demand for soyoil to be used in biofuels. ADM said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Thursday that it does not have insight around the pending blending announcement beyond publicly available information and that it independently sets its basis bids, which is the difference between futures and a local cash price to take possession of the grain immediately. The company on Wednesday rolled its cash basis bid at its flagship Decatur, Illinois, facility to 20 cents below the Chicago Board of Trade November soybean futures price from 22 cents over July futures . The roll to November futures, which closed at a 15-cent discount to July on Thursday, lowered the local cash price by about 60 cents a bushel, representing an unusually sharp 6.5% drop in the price offered to farmers. ADM also rolled basis bids at its other crushing facilities, and some rival processors, including Cargill, followed ADM on Thursday. Other processors kept their basis bids against the July futures contract, but lowered basis values by up to 15 cents. "ADM Decatur put the bean market in a frenzy," agriculture trading company John Stewart and Associates said in a note. Falling basis values reflect expectations for a large autumn harvest and weak demand that has eroded processing margins for companies that crush beans into soymeal livestock feed and soyoil used for cooking and producing biofuels. Crush margins have struggled as a recent jump in U.S. processing capacity has swelled available supplies of meal and oil and pressured prices for the soy products. Tariff worries and unclear U.S. biofuels policies have stoked further unease among crushers and biofuel makers, and some biodiesel producers have scaled back or idled plants. ADM said in April it would permanently close a South Carolina soybean processing plant to cut costs. "Cash crush margins stink, and there is a bunch of downtime scheduled for July," said Charlie Sernatinger, executive vice president for Marex Capital Markets. Diana Klemme, vice president of Grain Service Corp in Atlanta, which serves agricultural hedgers in the futures markets, sent an alert to customers after seeing ADM's bid adjustments. She said that she had never seen a move to new-crop basis levels in June in more than 50 years in the grain business. "I said check your markets carefully because ADM just dropped all their bids 40-75 cents a bushel and went to new-crop values," Klemme said. The November futures contract represents the autumn harvest price, or the new crop. Farmers have been reluctant to sell crops to processors because they want higher prices, while processors avoided raising bids to protect their thin margins. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/adm-sets-off-frenzy-us-soybean-market-ahead-new-biofuel-blend-rule-2025-06-12/

2025-06-12 23:08

WASHINGTON, June 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and executives from the tech and energy sectors will appear at an artificial intelligence and energy summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 15, the office of the state's U.S. Senator Dave McCormick said on Thursday. McCormick's inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit will be held at Carnegie Mellon University, his office said in a statement. Sign up here. Axios reported that tech executives like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta Platforms (META.O) , opens new tab CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab CEO Satya Nadella and Alphabet CEO (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab Sundar Pichai were on the summit's guest list. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab CEO Darren Woods, Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab CEO Wael Sawan and Chevron (CVX.N) , opens new tab CEO Mike Wirth were also on that list, according to Axios. White House AI czar David Sacks, who is also expected to attend the summit, expressed concern earlier this week that regulating U.S. AI too tightly could stifle growth and cede the critical market to China. The comments indicated the Republican president's approach to AI could be centered on expanding markets abroad for U.S. AI chips and models. Democratic former President Joe Biden had emphasized policies that countered risks the chips could be diverted to China and used to bolster Beijing's military. A group of 40 state attorneys general, including Republicans from Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas, Utah and Virginia and other states, have pushed back against Republican attempts to block states from regulating AI, saying states should develop and enforce common-sense regulation to protect consumers. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-attend-ai-energy-summit-pittsburgh-2025-06-12/

2025-06-12 22:36

NAPERVILLE, Illinois, June 12 (Reuters) - Another month, another fresh set of numbers. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply and demand report on Thursday did not shake things up too much versus trade expectations, there were some adjustments – and lack thereof - that are certainly worth a closer look. Sign up here. U.S. CORN EXPORTS USDA raised 2024-25 U.S. corn exports on Thursday, perhaps by a bit more than expected. The new 2.65 billion-bushel target would be the second-best on record. But there is an argument for an even higher number. As of June 5, total U.S. corn sales for export in 2024-25 covered 98% of USDA’s forecast, which is about as good as it gets. In the previous 18 years, there were eight instances where sales coverage by this date exceeded 95%. In seven of those eight years, final exports were higher than what USDA had estimated in June. The record volume year of 2020-21 is the one outlier, which could raise concerns about additional increases for 2024-25 given how strong the expectations already are. But there is no evidence that this is necessarily a limiting factor. U.S. WHEAT EXPORTS Right before the 2025-26 U.S. wheat marketing year began on June 1, cumulative pre-season export sales had reached a 12-year high. But as of June 5, the 5.9 million-metric-ton total was only an eight-year high for the date. The shift can be explained. Large, unshipped balances at the end of a marketing year sometimes get rolled over to the new one. Still, the 2025-26 progress is impressive. Total sales now cover 26.3% of USDA’s freshly increased, full-year export forecast of 22.45 million tons. That portion is a 12-year high and compares with a five-year average of 21.9% by this same date. Although U.S. wheat exports are expected to hit five-year highs, they may still lack on the world stage. The United States is seen accounting for 10.5% of global shipments in 2025-26, down slightly from the prior year and the third-lowest share in decades. USDA VERSUS CONAB Forecast discrepancies between USDA and its Brazilian counterpart Conab have been in focus over the past year or so, but those deviations took a new turn this month. Conab on Thursday increased its 2024-25 Brazilian soy crop estimate to 169.6 million tons from 168.3 million last month. For an unprecedented 13th consecutive month, USDA left its projection unchanged at 169 million. That marks the first time in eight years that USDA’s estimate is lighter than Conab’s. However, the two numbers are very close, as are the two agencies’ figures for Brazil’s 2024-25 soybean ending stocks. This means they may have found synchrony on both supply and demand assumptions, though the agencies may have to revisit pending the outcome of Brazil’s in-progress soy export program. On the corn side, Conab increased its 2024-25 Brazilian harvest outlook while USDA’s was unchanged. USDA’s projection sits 1.4% above Conab’s, the smallest discrepancy in four years. WORLD CORN STOCKS Global corn stocks and stocks-to-use are still expected to hit respective 12- and 13-year lows in 2025-26, though the numbers tightened further on Thursday with a reduction in old-crop stocks. The 2025-26 stocks-to-use figure of 18.7% is down from 19.7% a year earlier and 22.3% in 2023-24. That is above the 12% to 15% levels seen between 2010 and 2013, a period of high grain prices and ongoing supply struggles. But it still suggests there is not a ton of play in the global corn numbers, and major exporters’ crops must meet expectations. That includes a record U.S. crop target, and things are off to a decent start. That recently sent new-crop CBOT corn futures to six-month lows, and prices are at five-year lows for the date. A big test is coming on June 30. Not only will USDA reveal more information about current U.S. stockpiles, but volume expectations for the 2025-26 U.S. corn harvest could be completely reset if the acreage survey offers a surprise. Such a surprise would not at all be … surprising. Corn acreage has landed outside the range of trade predictions in four of the past six Junes, meaning this month could conclude with some volatile trade. Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own. Enjoying this column? Check out Reuters Open Interest (ROI) , opens new tab, your essential new source for global financial commentary. ROI delivers thought-provoking, data-driven analysis of everything from swap rates to soybeans. Markets are moving faster than ever. ROI , opens new tab can help you keep up. Follow ROI on LinkedIn , opens new tab and X. , opens new tab https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/four-must-see-charts-following-usdas-latest-data-drop-braun-2025-06-12/

2025-06-12 21:44

NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - Meta (META.O) , opens new tab signed an agreement with XGS Energy to help develop 150 megawatts of advanced geothermal electricity in New Mexico to power the Facebook parent company's artificial intelligence expansion, the companies said on Thursday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Giant technology companies like Meta are striking unprecedented power deals to secure massive amounts of electricity for the data centers needed to develop AI, which is a top driver of the record U.S. power consumption projected for 2025 and 2026. Sign up here. Geothermal energy, which does not produce climate-warming carbon emissions, has become a popular source of electricity for Big Tech companies, many of which have emissions reduction goals. Unlike conventional geothermal power production, advanced geothermal does not rely on natural water sources. Last year, Google announced plans to fuel its data centers with advanced geothermal power produced by Fervo Energy. CONTEXT While 150 megawatts is a tiny fraction of the many gigawatts of power sought by technology companies to power AI, it would represent about 4% of total U.S. geothermal production. New Mexico, which lays claim to a section of the world's largest shale oil basin, has 160,000 megawatts of untapped geothermal power generation potential. The phased-in project between XGS and Meta is projected to be operational by the end of the decade. The advanced geothermal electricity will be deployed to the electric grid and support Meta's operations in the state. KEY QUOTE “With next-generation geothermal technologies like XGS ready for scale, geothermal can be a major player in supporting the advancement of technologies like AI as well as domestic data center development," Urvi Parekh, Global Head of Energy at Meta said in a written statement. "We’re excited to partner with XGS to unlock a new category of energy supply for our operations in New Mexico,” he said. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/meta-signs-deal-advanced-geothermal-power-new-mexico-2025-06-12/

2025-06-12 21:43

NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - Citadel has hired veteran U.S. oil and fuel trader Shai Barnea as a portfolio manager for its refined products trading business as the U.S. hedge fund pushes deeper into commodities markets, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Barnea had spent over a decade at trading firm Freepoint Commodities, where he was named global head of oil products in 2021, his LinkedIn profile showed. Prior to joining Freepoint in 2012, Barnea traded oil and fuel derivatives for Barclays (BARC.L) , opens new tab, it added. Sign up here. Commodities have been Citadel's top performing business, delivering record profits in recent years for the hedge fund firm founded by CEO Ken Griffin. Its commodities arm, led by Sebastian Barrack, trades products in oil, natural gas, agricultural and other key markets. Earlier this year, Citadel acquired privately owned Paloma Natural Gas, adding energy production to its trading portfolio for the first time. It has also recently hired power trader Nic Zhang from Goldman Sachs (GS.N) , opens new tab, a source told Reuters. Citadel and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Zhang did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters earlier reported that Barnea was among a number of employees to depart Freepoint in recent months. His departure coincided with an ex-Freepoint analyst's lawsuit alleging that top executives at the firm, including Barnea, pressured employees to break insider trading laws and retaliated against those who objected. Freepoint has denied those allegations and told Reuters last month that the ex-analyst was fired for performance-related reasons. Citadel began interviewing Barnea well before the lawsuit was filed, and was comfortable proceeding with his recruitment after it had reviewed the lawsuit, a source familiar with the hiring process told Reuters. Barnea and Freepoint did not respond to requests for comment. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/citadel-hires-veteran-us-trader-barnea-bolster-fuel-trade-sources-say-2025-06-12/