Commodities Weekly China stimulus a possible lifeline for metals demand Most prices rose this week, helped by a weaker dollar, stronger-than expected US retail sales in May and interest rate cuts by the People’s Bank of China. Natural gas prices rose particularly sharply... 16th June 2023 · 4 mins read
OPEC Watch Supply constraints still likely to push the oil price higher The latest OPEC oil market report confirms that OPEC countries implemented a fresh round of voluntary production cuts in May, slashing the group’s crude output by 0.4m bpd. Similar to OPEC’s own view... 13th June 2023 · 3 mins read
Africa Economic Outlook Home-grown and external headwinds to slow growth Sub-Saharan Africa is set to record its weakest growth this year, outside of the pandemic, since 2016 as the drags from domestic headwinds are exacerbated by a less favourable external environment... 13th June 2023 · 3 mins read
Energy Update No need to panic about Europe’s gas supply … yet Having fallen steadily for much of the last year, European natural gas prices surged last week. The catalyst was constrained supply. Given seasonally high stocks and subdued demand, we are not worried... 12th June 2023 · 3 mins read
Commodities Weekly Demand indicators to continue to drive prices for now The oil price ended the week flat despite Saudi Arabia pledging to cut output by 1m bpd in July at the OPEC+ meeting last weekend. Most other commodity prices rose, supported by China’s May trade data... 9th June 2023 · 6 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly Saudi sporting fever, OPEC+ fallout, Kuwait elections Saudi Arabia has dominated the sports headlines this week with big-money moves for global football stars a sign that the Kingdom is recycling large current account surplus. But the move does raise... 8th June 2023 · 7 mins read
Commodities China’s imports firing on all cylinders in May Growth in China’s commodity imports generally was strong in May, with a notable rise in crude oil imports. While the data are consistent with our above-consensus outlook for China’s growth this year... 7th June 2023 · 2 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi economy to contract on back of oil output cuts Saudi Arabia pushed through another oil production cut at the OPEC+ meeting, but, it will come at the cost of slower economic growth and we now think the economy will contract by 0.5% this year. The... 5th June 2023 · 3 mins read
OPEC Watch Five key takeaways from Sunday’s OPEC+ meeting Oil output will be more constrained in the second half of this year if the OPEC+ members stick to their recently-announced production quotas. However, we have also raised our forecast of Russian... 5th June 2023 · 4 mins read
Commodities Weekly OPEC+ likely to stand pat It was a week of two halves, with prices initially falling before the passage of the US debt ceiling bill and a strong US May employment report saw prices recoup some of those losses later in the week... 2nd June 2023 · 6 mins read
Energy Data Response US Weekly Petroleum Status Report Oil prices surged on the back of this week’s report, which managed to successfully tear investors’ attention away from the upcoming OPEC+ meeting this weekend. In isolation, there was little to... 1st June 2023 · 2 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly OPEC+ meeting, Saudi mortgages and 2022 census This weekend’s OPEC+ meeting will be closely watched. We expect that the group will stand pat on Sunday, but OPEC+ has a history of springing surprises. Meanwhile, the Kingdom’s 2022 Census revealed... 1st June 2023 · 8 mins read
OPEC Watch OPEC+ unlikely to change output targets OPEC+ is unlikely to change its output target at the meeting this Sunday. After all, crude supply is already constrained, but prices have fallen on demand concerns. Accordingly, it is unlikely that... 1st June 2023 · 2 mins read
Commodities Update China’s PMIs point to solid, if unexciting, demand China’s PMI surveys suggest that the economic recovery is ongoing, but the pace of growth has slowed. While a lower reading for construction activity is a negative for metals prices, the persistent... 1st June 2023 · 2 mins read
Commodities Weekly Data and debt ceiling to move prices next week Commodity prices generally fell this week, as investors’ expectations for the Federal Reserve’s policy rate rose on concern about the persistence of high inflation. The dollar also strengthened... 26th May 2023 · 6 mins read
Energy Update China’s oil recovery not over yet China’s refineries pumped out more oil products than at any point in their history in the first four months of this year. This is perhaps not too surprising given that the removal of COVID-19... 25th May 2023 · 3 mins read
