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Weekly Commodity Market Update: Nearby corn contract breaks $5 as harvest enters back half​

Oct 24, 2023


10:16
 
Andrew Craig-Bennett gives readers his take on the rise of the shadow tanker fleet.

In 1995, I wrote in a column that “good” shipowners, of whom there are several, the people who look after their ships and their crews, whose immaculate ocean greyhounds arrive with pretty much the cargo that they set out with, and so on, never condemn the “bad” owners, of whom there are plenty, because, I supposed, the “good” simply do not believe the tricks that the “bad” get up to, and say to themselves, “There but for the Grace of “…” go I!”, without realising that their ships and their people never could find themselves in the sort of predicaments that the bad guys choose to get their ships and their people into. A senior figure in a class society wrote to say that although he almost always disagreed with me, he did agree with this.

 
WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected on Wednesday to propose an official review of the fees banks can charge retailers for debit card transactions, setting up a battle between the two industries that could result in a court challenge.

The scheduled Fed board meeting will mark the first time in over a decade that the central bank has proposed revising the fees, which generated around $24.31 billion for lenders in 2019, the most recent Fed data shows.

 
BRUSSELS, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The United States will roll over its suspension of tariffs on European Union steel and aluminium if the two sides need more time to agree on measures to address overcapacity and low-carbon production, the U.S. ambassador to the EU said on Wednesday.

The United States suspended import tariffs of 25% on EU steel and 10% on EU aluminium for two years from January 2022, replacing the tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump with a tariff rate quote (TRQ) system.

 

October's Market Mayhem in Scrap Prices | Weekly Scrap Update​


17:49

📈 Check Scrap Prices: https://iScrapApp.com/ - This week, we discuss the highs and lows of the scrap metal market during this tumultuous October. From copper's nominal rise to the quick downturn in catalytic converter prices, get all the information you need to navigate this challenging period.
👉 Read more: https://iscrapapp.com/blog/weekly-scr...
 
Oct 25 (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers (UAW) union reached a tentative labor deal on Wednesday with Ford Motor (F.N), the first of Detroit's Big Three car manufacturers to negotiate a settlement to strikes joined by 45,000 workers since mid-September.

The proposed accord, which UAW's leadership must still approve, provides a 25% wage hike over the 4-1/2-year contract, starting with an initial increase of 11%.

 

Opinion: Most Americans have tipping fatigue — but it pays to be a generous tipper​

I learned everything I needed to know about the current state of tipping when I joined some pals to play pinball at a New York bar the other night.

We were in the midst of a friendly competition when a machine kept breaking down. We called over a very busy employee who’s responsible for helping keep the place running, including picking up all those errant bar glasses and plates of half-eaten food. He put everything aside to fix our problematic pinball machine twice.

I suggested to everyone that we give him $10 for his time and effort, splitting the tip amongst all of us. A couple of the guys immediately balked, insisting the employee was just doing the job he was paid to do. I pushed back and got the group to agree to the plan, albeit somewhat grudgingly.
That employee was not much different, one could argue, from almost any service worker in any job, from the barista who prepares your morning coffee to the garage attendant who valets your car. There are countless people we can tip on any given day and we are increasingly being prompted to reward them. Admittedly, my pinball wizard didn’t have his hand out, but how many of us have run across those payment screens that suggest a 20% tip for being handed a sandwich we ordered?

More:

 
Malaysian officials are reporting that they are detaining two tankers suspected of conducting an illegal ship-to-ship oil transfer. While they are investigating the circumstances of the situation discovered earlier this week, the not-for-profit group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) posted online citing the vessels as the latest example of the ongoing trade in sanctioned Iranian oil by the shadow fleet of tankers.

 
 

 

Threat to Maritime Chokepoints: Suez, Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb and Turkish Straits​

Oct 27, 2023

12:42

In this episode, Sal Mercogliano - maritime historian at Campbell University (@campbelledu) and former merchant mariner - discusses the decision by Israel to cover war damage to ships, the diversion of an Evergreen vessel under force majeure and the issuance of advisories for maritime chokepoints in and around the Middle East and Black Sea.

U.S. Maritime Advisories https://www.maritime.dot.gov/msci-advisories

Ever Cozy - Marine Traffic https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/...
 
The world is on the hunt for climate-friendly and carbon-free energy, and several countries are looking at nuclear power as an opportunity to replace diesel in remote Arctic communities.

However, when people hear nuclear power, they often respond emotionally based on outdated knowledge.

Does nuclear power just need a good PR agent to turn its bad reputation around?

 
In the real world today, the Dow is negative for the year, with a third of the Dow down double-digits. At one point it was down over 400 points today. The S&P retired the day fully in correction while the NASDAQ, as I noted in the paid portion of yesterday’s “Deeper Dive” entered the correction zone Wednesday and crossed below its 200-day moving average on Thursday. It attempted to rise today on the positive energy of Amazon, which reported huge earnings, but it lost a good part of that rise by the end of the day. Unfortunately for it, its valiant effort was not enough to prove its bearish cross on Thursday was just a head-fake. So, it stuck the landing down in those nether regions, and stocks closed the week with a heavy thud. That’s Realworld.

 

 
 

 

A Head for Heights - North Sea Abseilers. The Unseen Side of the North Sea Oil Industry.​

Oct 30, 2023


6:23
 
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