Stock & Commodities Related News.

US STOCKS-Wall St set to extend recovery as trade war fears cool - Reuters News

05-Apr-2018 09:05:10 PM

• Zuckerberg says no "meaningful impact" on Facebook ad sales

• Wells Fargo, Citi gain after UBS upgrade

• U.S. trade deficit rises to near 9-1/2-year high

• Futures up: Dow 0.33 pct, S&P 0.48 pct, Nasdaq 0.77 pct 

Adds comments, details, updates prices

By Sruthi Shankar

April 5 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks on Thursday looked set to add to late-session gains from a day earlier as concerns over a trade war between the United States and China eased on signs that the world's two biggest economies were open to negotiations on tariffs.

Technology stocks, which have taken a beating in the past three weeks, were higher in premarket trading. Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet, Netflix - collectively known as the "FANG" group - were up between 1.1 percent and 3.8 percent.

"U.S. equity markets are poised to open in the green as investors temporarily shrug off trade war fears," Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda said in a note.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 500 points on Wednesday after a proposed U.S. tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods prompted swift retaliation from Beijing. China hit back with equal measure on U.S. goods such as soybeans, autos, chemicals and some types of aircraft. 

Shares of big U.S. manufacturers, grain traders and chipmakers were hit hard until mid-day.

But sentiment reversed after President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the administration was involved in a "negotiation" with China rather than a trade war.

"The bounce on Wednesday was really quite impressive, especially as there was not much of a catalyst for the turnaround given that neither the U.S. or China is backing down on tariffs and negotiations were always going to take place in the background," Erlam wrote. 

Also, the effective date of China's move depended on when the U.S. action took effect, providing room for maneuver.

Economic data on Thursday showed that the U.S. trade deficit increased to a near 9-1/2-year high in February, but the shortfall with China narrowed sharply.

While exports to China were unchanged in February, imports from the country declined 14.7 percent. 

At 8:35 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis  were up 79 points, or 0.33 percent, with 65,148 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 12.75 points, or 0.48 percent, with 224,988 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 50.5 points, or 0.77 percent, on volume of 80,483 contracts.

Facebook shares were up 3.7 percent after Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company had not seen "any meaningful impact" on usage or ad sales since the scandal. 

Wells Fargo rose 1 percent and Citigroup gained 1.5 percent following upgrades by UBS.

Advanced Micro Devices jumped 2.8 percent after Stifel upgraded to "buy", while Micron Technology fell 1.5 percent after UBS started with a "sell" rating.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

UPDATE 4-Oil steady as easing U.S.-China tension, U.S. stockdraw support - Reuters News

05-Apr-2018 08:59:46 PM

• Investors hope for U.S., China trade negotiations

• U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 4.6 mln barrels -EIA

Updates prices, adds dollar move

By Ahmad Ghaddar

LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices were broadly steady on Thursday as an easing of trade tensions between the United States and China and a surprise draw in U.S. crude inventories last week supported the market.

Brent crude was 2 cents lower at $68 a barrel at 1248 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 11 cents at $63.26 a barrel.

"Oil prices are profiting from the general brightening of sentiment on the markets as signs emerge that the trade dispute is easing between the U.S. and China," analysts at Commerzbank said in a note.

Global equities rose after the United States expressed willingness to negotiate a resolution on trade after proposed U.S. tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods prompted a quick response from Beijing that it would retaliate by targeting key American imports.

"I suspect that we are going to have period of wait and see in markets as both parties enter into a period of negotiations before those tariffs actually go into effect," BNP Paribas head of commodities strategy Harry Tchilinguirian told the Reuters Global Oil Forum.

A slightly stronger U.S. dollar weighed on prices. Since oil is dollar-priced, a stronger greenback makes purchases in other currencies more expensive. 

WTI and Brent had hit two-week lows on Wednesday after China proposed a broad range of tariffs on U.S. exports, feeding fears of a trade war.

But prices rebounded after U.S. crude inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 246,000 barrels, according to Energy Information Administration data. 

OPEC member Qatar's energy minister told Reuters the organisation should stay the course in its joint cuts with non-OPEC members led by Russia to allow increased investment in the oil industry.

"I would see the need to keep the (OPEC cooperation) momentum ... We need to restore investments. It could take months ... OPEC could start being concerned about gross over-tightening," Mohammed al-Sada said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers are collectively curbing 1.8 million barrels per day of crude output to help eliminate a glut in oil inventories. 

The cuts run until the end of the year but leading OPEC member Saudi Arabia has said they could be extended in one form or another into 2019. 

Oil has also received support after a Reuters survey showed on Wednesday that OPEC output fell in March to an 11-month low due to declining Angolan exports, Libyan outages and a further slide in Venezuelan production. 

(Additional reporting by Osamu Tsukimori in Tokyo, editing by David Evans)

PRECIOUS-Gold prices fall as U.S.-China trade tensions ease - Reuters News

05-Apr-2018 08:00:52 PM

• U.S. and China say they are willing to negotiate on tariffs

• Rising global stocks, stronger dollar dampen gold demand

• China markets closed on Thursday and Friday

(Updates prices)

By Peter Hobson

LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Gold prices fell on Thursday after the United States and China signalled willingness to resolve a trade dispute through negotiations, reducing demand for bullion as a safe place to park assets.

Investors moved money back into equities, sending global stock markets higher, while the dollar strengthened, making gold more expensive for users of other currencies. 

"It's been a double whammy (for gold)," said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at FOREX.com. "Stock markets have stabilised, at least for the time being, and that has reduced demand for safe havens."

The slide in gold prices had also created a negative technical picture that encouraged further selling, Razaqzada said.

Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,329.03 an ounce at 1247 GMT.

U.S. gold futures were 0.6 percent lower at $1,332.50 an ounce.

Gold had surged to $1,348.06 on Wednesday after China threatened to retaliate against proposed U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports worth around $50 billion with its own threatened duties on U.S. imports including soybeans, planes, cars, whiskey and chemicals.

Both Washington and Beijing later said they were willing to negotiate a resolution.

Trump's top economic adviser called the announcements by the two countries mere opening proposals and suggested the U.S. tariffs may never go into effect, while China's ambassador in Washington said Beijing's preference was to resolve the dispute through talks.

Technical support for gold was now around $1,320 and the 100-day moving average at $1,311, said MKS trader Sam Laughlin.

Gold prices reached an 18-month high of $1,366,07 in January but have since then been locked in a trading range between around $1,310 and $1,360.

Investors were looking ahead to U.S. jobs data on Friday to give new direction to prices. Strong employment and wage growth would encourage the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more aggressively and push gold prices lower.

Gold is sensitive to rising interest rates because they push up bond yields, reducing the attractiveness of non-yielding bullion, and tend to boost the dollar, in which gold is priced.

Trading volumes were likely to be lower however with markets in mainland China, the world's largest gold consumer, closed on Thursday and Friday for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.

In other precious metals, spot silver was flat at $16.29 an ounce.

Platinum was 0.4 percent lower at $907.99 an ounce after touching $901.50, its lowest since December.

Palladium was down 0.5 percent at $919.75 an ounce, close to Wednesday's six-month low of $913.

(Additional reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Adrian Croft and David Evans) 

ASIA GOLD-India demand up ahead of festival, subdued buying elsewhere - Reuters News

05-Apr-2018 07:18:12 PM

• Demand picks up in India ahead of Akshaya Tritiya

• Premiums narrow in Singapore, little changed in China

By Rajendra Jadhav and Eileen Soreng

MUMBAI/BENGALURU, April 5 (Reuters) - Physical gold demand in most Asian hubs was muted this week, weighed down by stronger prices, despite a slight pick-up in buying in India ahead of the wedding season and a key festival.

This month Indians will be celebrating the annual festival of Akshaya Tritiya, when buying gold is considered auspicious.

"Jewellers want to build inventory for Akshay Tritiya, but due to the price rise they are postponing purchases," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a private bank.

Dealers in India were offering a discount of up to $3 an ounce on official domestic prices this week, unchanged from the last week. The domestic price includes a 10 percent import tax.

In the local market, gold futures closed at 30,500 rupees ($468.71) per 10 grams on Wednesday, after hitting an over one-year high of 30,995 on Monday.

"Retail buying has improved due to wedding season, but still demand is lower than last year due to price rise," said Harshad Ajmera, the proprietor of JJ Gold House, a wholesaler in Kolkata, India.

Benchmark spot gold prices touched a week high of $1,348.06 per ounce on Wednesday as the dollar dipped versus the yen after China retaliated against a U.S. move to slap tariffs on $50 billion worth of its imports. 

Meanwhile, demand for gold in other Asian centres was quiet this week due to holidays in China and Thailand. 

Premiums in top consumer China hovered around $7 to $8, little changed from the previous week.

"This is a short week in China due to the Qingming festival ... There is not much activity in the market," said Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong. 

In Hong Kong, premiums were steady at 60 cents to $1.20 an ounce, while in Singapore premiums narrowed to 40-50 cents from 60-80 cents charged last week. 

"If we see prices go down below $1,300 or move up above $1,350 then probably we will see some demand," a Singapore-based banker said.

Gold was being sold at par with the global benchmark in Japan this week, a Tokyo-based trader said. Premiums were at 25 cents last week.

($1 = 64.99 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai and Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru, editing by David Evans)

METALS-Copper climbs 1 pct as U.S.-China trade fears ease - Reuters News

05-Apr-2018 08:37:24 PM

By Jan Harvey

LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Copper rose 1 percent on Thursday as fading concerns over the prospect of a trade war between China and the United States sparked a bounce in cyclical assets such as stocks and industrial metals.

Stock markets rebounded from the previous session's two-month low after the United States indicated it was willing to negotiate a resolution to the trade spat between the world's two biggest economies.

Investors had sought nominally safer assets earlier this week after a U.S. proposal for tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods prompted Beijing to respond that it would target key American imports in retaliation.

"The positive (factor) today is that there are possible talks on (averting) a trade war, and a possible de-escalation," ABN Amro analyst Casper Burgering said. "Copper is a very cyclical metal, and it tends to react very swiftly to macroeconomic events."

Copper remains undervalued given its underlying fundamentals, he added. "From the data I've received there is still no real shortage in the copper market, but given the projections for this year and next, it appears to be heading for a deficit," he said. 

* COPPER: London Metal Exchange copper was untraded in official midday rings, and was last bid at $6,795 a tonne, up 1.1 percent. The metal is recovering from a three-month low of $6,532 a tonne hit on March 23. 

* FINANCIAL MARKETS: World stocks rose as investors dipped back into riskier assets after signs that Sino-U.S. trade tensions are easing, while the recovery in equities helped lift the dollar index to a two-week high. 

* SHFE: The Shanghai Futures Exchange was closed on Thursday and Friday for China's national Tomb Sweeping Day holiday. "Since Chinese markets will be closed for the rest of the week because of the Qingming festival, impetus for the metals markets will come only from the U.S.," Commerzbank said in a note. 

* ALUMINIUM: Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) aluminium stocks fell for the first time in more than nine months, giving the market faint hopes of a drawdown on record inventories of the metal in China, the world's biggest aluminium producer and consumer.

* ALUMINIUM PRICES: LME aluminium was down 0.1 percent in official midday trading at $1,990 a tonne. 

* ZINC STOCKS: Headline zinc inventories in LME warehouses fell 2,175 tonnes to 207,325 tonnes, exchange data showed, but on-warrant stocks - those not earmarked for delivery and therefore available to the market - surged 16 percent to 166,650 tonnes, their highest since mid March. 

* ZINC PRICES: LME zinc was untraded in official rings, and was last bid 0.8 percent lower at $3,231 a tonne.

* OTHER METALS: LME lead was also untraded in official rings, and was last bid 0.5 percent higher at $2,383 a tonne. Nickel was up 1.5 percent at $13,350 a tonne in official trading, while tin was 0.6 percent higher at $21,025 a tonne. 

(Additional reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne, editing by David Evans and Susan Fenton)

CORRECTED-RPT-U.S., China rivalry poses risks, benefits for Latin America - Reuters News

05-Apr-2018 09:30:33 PM

Corrects name of bank in paragraph 22 to Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank from Asian American Investment Bank

By Luc Cohen

MENDOZA, Argentina, April 5 (Reuters) - As the trade dispute between the United States and China was gaining steam last month, a half-dozen Chinese dancers and a person in a panda bear suit paraded across a stage inside a hotel lobby in the heart of Argentina's wine country.

The March 24 ceremony celebrated the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) choice to hold its next annual meeting in Chengdu, China, a decision criticized by the United States, whose regional influence has been increasingly challenged by the Asian economic superpower.

Just over a week later, China imposed tariffs on a range of U.S. products from frozen pork to wine in response to U.S. President Donald's Trump's decision to place tariffs on steel and aluminum from countries including China.

The trade fight, which escalated further on Wednesday with China targeting key American imports including soybeans, planes and cars in retaliation for proposed U.S. tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, has left Latin America in the middle, analyzing risks and opportunities. 

"The U.S. is forcing countries in the region to choose between the U.S. and China," said Margaret Myers, director of the Latin America and the World program at the Inter-American Dialogue. "It's putting Latin American countries in a very challenging position while at the same time not offering a particularly attractive policy." 

China, whose demand for raw materials increased during rapid economic growth the past two decades, is already the top trade partner for countries ranging from Brazil, Latin America's largest economy and the world's top soybean exporter, to tiny Uruguay. 

Rather than celebrating a chance to gain market share, Brazil and Argentina responded cautiously to the tariffs on Wednesday. Brazil's Agriculture Ministry declined to comment. Argentina, the world's No. 3 soy exporter, said it was "analyzing the situation."

Analysts in both countries said, however, the tariffs could force China to purchase more soybeans and soy-based products from South America.

CHINESE LOANS, INVESTMENT

Latin American countries' turn to China for financing has alarmed Washington even as its own policy toward the region shifts.

Trump's December 2017 national security strategy said China was seeking to "pull the region into its orbit through state-led investment and loans." 

David Malpass, the U.S. Treasury Department's undersecretary for international affairs, said at a March conference in Buenos Aires that China's hosting of next year's IDB meeting "does not serve the interests of the Western Hemisphere." 

In response, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno noted that the IDB would hold a special meeting for the bank's 60th anniversary in Washington next year, saying: "We have found the best of all worlds."

Trump's trade policies and rhetoric about immigration have disturbed even the most U.S.-friendly governments in Latin America. 

Before the United States temporarily exempted Brazil from planned steel tariffs, a Foreign Ministry official said trade relations between the two countries were in "uncharted waters."

Argentina is threatening to take Washington to the World Trade Organization over biodiesel import tariffs. While the United States is the IDB's largest shareholder, it backed out last year of one of the bank's key funds. 

Still, China's perceived disregard for projects' social and environmental costs has generated opposition within Latin America. 

Civil society groups from Ecuador, Argentina and Peru set up an alliance to present information on "multiple human rights violations" linked to Chinese investments to the United Nations, according to a February statement from global nonprofit alliance Civicus.

MORE CHINESE PLAYERS

Chinese foreign direct investment, or FDI, in the region has increased by $70 billion since 2012, according to the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. While the United States remains the largest source of FDI, its share fell to 20 percent in 2016 from 25.7 percent in 2015 and 24 percent in 2012, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Data from the Inter-American Dialogue and Boston University show lending from Chinese state-run banks to countries in the region exceeded $20 billion in 2015 and 2016. Since 2005, those loans have exceeded combined financing to the region from the IDB, World Bank and CAF, a Latin American development bank.

Commercial banks like ICBC are becoming increasingly active, Myers said, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) - a 2-year-old Beijing-based multilateral lender - is seeking to partner with the IDB on projects in the region, such as roads, railways, ports or tunnels that could improve connectivity with Asia.

Seven Latin American countries including Argentina have been approved to join the AIIB, although none have yet paid in to become full members.

(Additional reporting by Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires, Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Jose Roberto Gomes in Sao Paulo and Daniela Desantis in Asuncion; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Peter Cooney)

CBOT Trends-Wheat up 5-8 cents, soy up 4-7 cents, corn up 1-3 cents - Reuters News

05-Apr-2018 09:15:21 PM

CHICAGO, April 5 (Reuters) - Following are U.S. trade expectations for the resumption of the grain and soy complex trading at the Chicago Board of Trade at 8:30 a.m. CDT (1330 GMT) on Thursday.

WHEAT - Up 5 to 8 cents per bushel

• Forecasts for dryness in southwestern U.S. Plains, key areas for hard red winter wheat production, underpin wheat market.

• Support for benchmark CBOT May soft red winter wheat contract noted near 100-day moving average during overnight trading. Resistance seen at Wednesday's high of $4.61-1/2 a bushel.

• A weekly U.S. Agriculture Department report showed wheat export sales of 309,200 tonnes, in line with market forecasts that ranged from 250,000 tonnes to 700,000 tonnes.

• CBOT May soft red winter wheat last traded up 4-3/4 cents at $4.60-1/2 per bushel. K.C. May hard red winter wheat was last up 6 cents at $4.92 and MGEX May spring wheat  was last up 6-1/4 cents at $5.83.

CORN - Up 1 to 3 cents per bushel

• Technical buying expected to support corn futures after benchmark CBOT May contract found support from overnight weakness at 40-day moving average and the 50 point retracement point on a Fibonacci chart tracking its recent rally to a 2-1/2 week high.

• USDA said weekly corn export sales totaled 909,300 tonnes, below analysts' estimates that ranged from 1.100 million tonnes to 1.600 million tonnes. 

• CBOT May corn last traded up 2-3/4 cents at $3.83-3/4 a bushel.

SOYBEANS - UP 4 to 7 cents per bushel

• Mild round of bargain buying expected following Wednesday's 2.2 percent decline that stemmed from China's announcement that it will slap 25 percent tariff on imports of U.S soybeans.

• Weekly soybean export sales of 1.491 million tonnes top market expectations for 600,000 to 1.150 million tonnes.

• CBOT May soybeans last traded up 6-1/2 cents at $10.21-3/4 per bushel.

(Reporting by Mark Weinraub

Editing by Bill Trott)

Stock & Commodities Related News.

US STOCKS-Wall Street set to open higher after tech-fueled slide - Reuters News

03-Apr-2018 09:16:04 PM

• Tesla rises after robust Model 3 production numbers

• Spotify to debut on NYSE

• Viacom dips on report CBS plans to bid below current value

• Futures up: Dow 0.65 pct, S&P 0.69 pct, Nasdaq 0.96 pct

Adds comments, details, updates prices

By Sruthi Shankar

April 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street was on track to open higher on Tuesday, recovering from a technology stocks-driven selloff a day earlier that pushed the Dow and the S&P 500 below important technical levels amid renewed global trade concerns.

Facebook, Amazon and Netflix Alphabet rose in premarket trading.

Monday's slide also saw the three main U.S. indexes erasing their gains for the year and the S&P 500 closing below its 200-day moving average for the first time since Britain's vote to leave the European Union in June 2016.

If current gains hold, the S&P 500 would open at 2,594.25, above its 200-day moving average. 

"What's going on with the trade policy is a real concern for investors," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.

"It goes back and forth almost everyday and when you back away from the paradigm of free trade, then the markets move unfavorably."

China on Sunday decided to impose extra tariffs on 128 U.S. products, deepening a dispute between the world's two biggest economies, in retaliation to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The Trump administration is expected sometime this week to publish a list of Chinese goods that could be subjected to new U.S. tariffs.

At 8:33 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis  were up 154 points, or 0.65 percent, with 48,393 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 17.75 points, or 0.69 percent, with 205,541 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 61.25 points, or 0.96 percent, on volume of 65,284 contracts.

Amazon.com Inc rose 1 percent premarket, after closing down more than 5 percent on Monday after Trump's latest attack on the online retailer.

"You're still going to see negative attitude (in tech sector), but at some point you have to return to fundamentals and we're still looking at a pretty good earnings growth," said Brown.

Investors will be able to buy and sell shares in the Swedish music streaming service Spotify in the New York Stock Exchange's first-ever direct floor listing.

Tesla shares rose 2.6 percent after the electric car maker said that it built 2,020 Model 3 sedans in the last seven days of March, would produce the same number next week and would see output climb rapidly through the second quarter.

Viacom Inc fell 5.4 percent after Reuters reported CBS Corp planned to make an all-stock offer that valued the media company below its current market valuation. CBS shares rose 2.5 percent.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

UPDATE 2-China ready for proportionate response to U.S. tariffs- envoy - Reuters News

03-Apr-2018 07:25:09 PM

Adds Chinese Foreign Ministry comment

BEIJING, April 3 (Reuters) - China will take counter-measures of the "same proportion" and scale if the United States imposes further tariffs on Chinese goods, China's ambassador to Washington said, amid growing fears of an impending trade war.

Cui Tiankai made the comments ahead of what is expected to be the announcement this week of U.S. tariffs on $50 billion to $60 billion in Chinese imports following an investigation under Section 301 of the 1974 U.S. Trade Act.

"If they do, we will certainly take countermeasures of the same proportion, and the same scale, same intensity," Cui said in an interview posted on the website of China Global Television Network (CGTN) and broadcast on state television on Tuesday.

The U.S. tariffs are expected to target products benefiting from Beijing's "Made in China 2025" industrial development programme, although it may be more than two months before the import curbs take effect, U.S. officials have said.

China on Sunday announced tariffs on $3 billion in imports of U.S. food and other goods in response to U.S. tariffs on imports of aluminium and steel, a skirmish that investors fear is a prelude to a broader trade war.

"China does not provoke a trade war, and doesn't want to fight a trade war, but we also aren't afraid of a trade war," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing.

The Section 301 investigation initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump is focused on accusations of theft of intellectual property and forced technology transfer by China, charges Beijing denies.

Cui said China has been bolstering its protection of intellectual property rights.

"China has been strengthening its efforts and strengthening our legal system on this particular issue, and we are making good progress," he said.

(Reporting by Lusha Zhang, Tony Munroe and Michael Martina; Editing by Nick Macfie)

UPDATE 4-Oil struggles to retain gains as trade war concerns build - Reuters News

03-Apr-2018 08:10:27 PM

• Russian crude output hits 11-month high, almost 11 mln bpd

• Saudi Arabia expected to cut its physical crude prices

• Market awaits U.S. production data for fresher cue 

Updates prices

By Amanda Cooper

LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Oil steadied on Tuesday, after the price posted its biggest one-day fall in almost a year the previous day, although higher Russian output and Saudi Arabia possibly cutting its selling prices acted as a drag. 

The mood across financial markets was cautious after China announced last week it would slap extra tariffs on 128 U.S. products, deepening a dispute between the world's two biggest economies and stoking concerns about the impact on global growth. 

Brent crude futures were last up 6 cents on the day at $67.70 a barrel by 1153 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate futures were up 12 cents at $63.13 a barrel.

The oil price fell by more than 3 percent on Monday, marking its largest one-day fall since June, following a sharp sell-off on Wall Street as the tech sector came under fire.

Last week, Brent rose to $71 a barrel, close to its highest so far this year, but failed to hold on to that level.

"Last week, we had a test of the year's (price) high and oil failed to break that, so from a trading perspective ... with a possible trade war looming and negative sentiment building, and a possible rise in U.S. inventories later this week, this fits with a picture of profit-taking," ABN Amro chief energy economist Hans van Cleef said.

U.S. crude inventories, widely viewed as a litmus test of the broader trend in global inventories, are expected to have risen for a second week in a row, according to a Reuters poll on Monday 

The American Petroleum Institute releases its weekly inventory data later on Tuesday and the U.S. government releases its figures on Wednesday. Inventories are expected to have risen by 1.7 million barrels in the week to March 30.

Money managers raised their bets on a sustained price rise in Brent crude to the highest level on record last week, bringing total long holdings of futures and options to the equivalent of more than 615 million barrels. 

"With excessive hedge fund positions still looming over the market, profit-taking should weigh on oil prices over the coming weeks," Julius Baer head of commodities and macro research Norbert Ruecker said.

There was also pressure coming from the physical market, where top exporter Saudi Arabia is expected to cut prices for all the crude grades it sells to Asia in May, while output from Russia, the world's largest producer, hit an 11-month high.

Prices for physical barrels of oil in the North Sea are around their lowest since last June, as extensive refinery maintenance across the region eats into demand. 

(Additional reporting by Meng Meng in Beijing and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Susan Fenton and Louise Heavens)

PRECIOUS-Gold prices slip after Monday's surge - Reuters News

03-Apr-2018 07:39:38 PM

• Gold rose 1.3 percent on Monday

• Struggles to break from trading range

• Stock market turmoil, trade war fears support gold

• Funds raise bets on higher prices

(Updates prices)

By Peter Hobson

LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged lower on Tuesday, having surged in the previous session as falling U.S. stock markets and fears of a global trade war pushed investors towards safer assets.

Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,337.07 an ounce at 1231 GMT after rising 1.3 percent on Monday. U.S. gold futures were 0.4 percent lower at $1,341.20 an ounce.

"It's a correction after yesterday's strong move," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

"There's a lack of conviction that prices will rise much further or can sustain levels of $1,350. Profit taking started here so we are back below $1,340."

Gold has struggled to break from a trading range of $1,310- $1,360 since the start of the year.

"It's going to take a significant trigger to push it beyond this range," said Danske Bank analyst Jens Pedersen.

European stock markets continued to fall on Tuesday, led by technology shares, but Wall Street futures suggested that U.S. markets would open higher. 

The Trump administration is meanwhile expected this week to unveil a list of advanced technology Chinese imports targeted for U.S. tariffs after Beijing on Monday raised tariffs on 128 U.S. products, escalating a dispute between the world's two largest economies. 

Gold is often used as a safe place to park assets during times of financial or political uncertainty.

Funds have raised their bets on higher prices, with the net long position on the Comex exchange rebounding from a three-month low. 

Speculative investors have room to expand their long positions further, which would help drive prices higher, analysts at Citi said in a note.

Higher market volatility and rising tension between Washington and Beijing will likely hold gold above $1,300 throughout 2018, they said.

"We assign a 30 percent probability that gold prices can scale $1,400 an ounce this year."

Momentum indicators suggested gold prices would rise, with technical Fibonacci support at $1,317.25 and resistance at $1,361.80, analysts at ScotiaMocatta said in a note.

In other precious metals, spot silver was down 0.4 percent at $16.55 an ounce after rising 1.8 percent in the previous session.

Platinum was flat at $937.70 an ounce.

Palladium was up 0.4 percent at $938.45 after touching $927.75, its lowest since Oct. 10.

(Additional reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru, editing by Louise Heavens and David Evans) 

METALS-Copper hits one-week high, shrugs off trade dispute - Reuters News

03-Apr-2018 08:13:43 PM

By Pratima Desai

LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Copper prices touched one-week highs on Tuesday as investors bought on expectations the escalating trade dispute between China and the United States would not undermine flows of metal.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was untraded in official rings, but bid up 1.1 percent at $6,790 a tonne from an earlier high at $6,828.

China on Sunday announced tariffs on $3 billion in imports of U.S. food and other goods in response to U.S. tariffs on imports of aluminium and steel.

"China's response wasn't as aggressive as some investors were thinking," said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg. 

"That suggests the impact on China's metal imports is unlikely to be dramatic. After the recent price drop investors are seeing some value."

TARIFFS: The U.S. is this week expected to announce tariffs on $50 billion to $60 billion of Chinese imports following an investigation under Section 301 of the 1974 U.S. Trade Act.

PROTRACTED: "Over the course of April, we think investors will come to the conclusion that the trade issue is going to be protracted and complicated and will likely be "defanged" as it plods along," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.

"Having fired off the initial round of tariffs, both China and the U.S. will now engage in serious talks in an attempt to lower the temperature. As a result, the panic that seems to be hitting the markets every time the trade issue is brought up will likely subside."

STOCKS: Traders expect higher inventories of copper, up 20 percent at 383,025 tonnes since March 22, in LME approved warehouses to cap price gains. 

TECHNICALS: Upside resistance for copper prices is at $6,830, near the 21-day moving average. Support is at $6,700, near the 200-day moving average.

ZINC: Concern about the nearby availability of zinc on the LME market due to one company holding between 50 and 79 percent of warrants has created a premium of $12 a tonne for the cash contract over the three-month forward. Three-month zinc slipped 0.1 percent to $3,272 a tonne.

NICKEL: Prices were up 2.3 percent at $13,600 a tonne from an earlier two-week high at $13,660. Nickel's gains have been fuelled by falling stocks in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange. 

RESISTANCE: A break of key resistance at $13,450, where the 21-day and 55-day moving averages met, triggered a flurry of buying by funds.

PRICES: Aluminium was up 1.1 percent at $2,026 a tonne, lead added 0.2 percent to $2,399 and tin gained 1.1 percent to $21,300.

(Editing by Mark Potter and Louise Heavens)

CBOT Trends-Wheat up 5-6 cents, soy up 7-10 cents, corn steady-up 2 cents - Reuters News

03-Apr-2018 09:04:11 PM

CHICAGO, April 3 (Reuters) - Following are U.S. trade expectations for the resumption of the grain and soy complex trading at the Chicago Board of Trade at 8:30 a.m. CDT (1330 GMT) on Tuesday.

WHEAT - Up 5 to 6 cents per bushel

• Rising on U.S. Agriculture Department report that showed the U.S. winter wheat crop was rated 32 percent good to excellent compared to 51 percent a year earlier. K.C. wheat futures notched the biggest gains overnight, rising 2.4 percent.

• CBOT May soft red winter wheat last traded up 5-3/4 cents at $4.52 per bushel. K.C. May hard red winter wheat was last up 11-1/4 cents at $4.78-3/4 and MGEX May spring wheat  was last up 3-3/4 cents at $5.77-1/4.

CORN - Steady to up 2 cents per bushel

• Consolidation trade expected after market failed to push through March high during early rally on Monday. Wheat gains, concerns about cold weather delaying early planting in U.S. Midwest continue to underpin prices.

• CBOT May corn last traded up 1/4 cent at $3.87-1/2 a bushel.

SOYBEANS - Up 7 to 10 cents per bushel

• Technical buying supports soybeans after May contract SK8 found support near 40-day moving average overnight. Consolidation trade noted near 30-day moving average.

• CBOT May soybeans SK8 last traded up 7-3/4 cents at $10.43-1/4 per bushel.

(Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

China grants more subsidies to soy farmers as it cuts corn stocks - Reuters News

03-Apr-2018 06:16:40 PM

BEIJING, April 3 (Reuters) - Soybean farmers in China's northeastern provinces will get higher subsidies than corn producers this year as Beijing continues a policy set last year to reduce its huge corn stockpile, the government said on Tuesday. 

Stocks of corn in China reached around 250 million tonnes in 2017, a legacy from its near-decade long stockpiling system that was only abandoned in 2016. 

Beijing will give more subsidies to soybean growers than corn farmers in Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Inner Mongolia provinces, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a document released on its website. 

China included cutting corn acreage and lifting soybean acreage in a five-year plan issued in 2016, part of the country's efforts to overhaul the world's largest agriculture sector. 

Farmers will also get subsidies from the government to rotate their plantings as well as to leave some land fallow. Such subsidies will cover 30 million mu (2 million hectares) of land this year, the document said, without giving further details on the subsidies. 

China started giving subsidies to encourage farmers in the northeast to rotate their corn plantings with other crops in 2016 as part of a push to rebalance grain stocks.

Beijing will also give subsidies to farmers to purchase agriculture machinery and equipment in areas including irrigation and planting. 

Those treating animal waste, using organic fertilizer in growing vegetables and fruits, and recycling land films will also receive subsidies from the government, according to the document. 

(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Josephine Mason

Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.)

20180402 E-Mini S&P Technical View.

E-Mini S&P Technical: 

Weak. Only 3 green candles out of 15 candles.

For strength, prices need to hold above 2680. 

For further weakness prices need to break below 2529.

20180402 Gold Technical View.

Gold Technical: 

Congestion

Prices recovered due to renew trade war tension. 

For strength, prices need to hold above middle Bollinger band level or ideally above 1352.20. 

For weakness prices need to break below 1325.40. 

Stock & Commodities Related News.

US STOCKS-Wall St to open lower as China tariffs revive trade war fears - Reuters News

02-Apr-2018 09:05:44 PM

• Tesla drops after saying crashed car was on autopilot

• Humana up after report Walmart discussing tie-up, acquisition

• Amazon falls after Trump again targets the online giant

• Futures down: Dow 138 pts, S&P 11.75 pts, Nasdaq 54.25 pts 

Adds comments, details, updates prices

By Sruthi Shankar

April 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to start the second quarter on a downbeat note on Monday as China's decision to raise import tariffs on U.S. products revived global trade war fears and technology stocks remained under pressure.

Nasdaq futures pointed to a 0.8 percent decline at the open as big names including Facebook and Amazon slipped in premarket trading.

China, late on Sunday, said it would increase tariffs by up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products, escalating a spat between the world's biggest economies. The move came in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminum and steel.

"That's going to start stoking fears of trade wars and protectionism. The market doesn't really like that," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

"And if it escalates, the questions could be on if China is going to buy our bonds. We have speculation out there, but it could be some profit taking and some risk-off mentality for the moment."

U.S. President Donald Trump is separately preparing to impose tariffs of more than $50 billion targeting "largely high-technology" Chinese products.

At 8:33 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 138 points, or 0.57 percent, with 33,657 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were down 11.75 points, or 0.44 percent, with 102,321 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 54.25 points, or 0.82 percent, on volume of 39,975 contracts.

Amazon fell 1.5 percent after Trump launched his second attack over the weekend, accusing the world's biggest online retailer of getting unfairly cheap rates from the U.S. Postal Service and not paying enough tax.

Facebook fell 0.8 percent as the data scandal last month continued to weigh. On Monday, brokerage Pivotal Research slashed its price target, citing a faster-than-expected deceleration in the social media company's revenue growth.

Hit by concerns about a possible trade war, rising interest rates and valuations in the technology sector, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted their worst declines in more than two years in the quarter ended March.

Nervous investors are hoping an unusually strong U.S. earnings season can restore some of the optimism that characterized equity markets last year.

Tesla shares fell about 4 percent after the electric car maker said the Model X vehicle that recently crashed was on Autopilot and also announced a recall.

Humana rose about 6 percent after a report that Walmart was in early-stage talks with the health insurer about developing closer ties, with acquisition discussed as one possibility. Walmart declined more than 1 percent. 

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

UPDATE 7-China hammers U.S. goods with tariffs as "sparks" of trade war fly - Reuters News

02-Apr-2018 08:51:41 PM

• China imposes tariffs of up to 25 pct on 128 U.S. goods

• New trade measures effective from April 2 

• China's commerce ministry calls for negotiations 

Adds Xinhua commentary, detail on Chinese tech products

By Ben Blanchard and Tony Munroe

BEIJING, April 2 (Reuters) - China has increased tariffs by up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products, from frozen pork and wine to certain fruits and nuts, escalating a dispute between the world's biggest economies in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminium and steel. 

The tariffs, to take effect on Monday, were announced late on Sunday by China's finance ministry and matched a list of possible tariffs on up to $3 billion in U.S. goods published by China on March 23.

Soon after the announcement, an editorial in the widely read Global Times newspaper warned that if the United States had thought China would not retaliate or would only take symbolic counter-measures, it could "say goodbye to that delusion".

"Even though China and the U.S. have not publicly said they are in a trade war, the sparks of such a war have already started to fly," the newspaper said.

The Ministry of Commerce said it was suspending its obligations to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reduce tariffs on 120 U.S. goods, including fruit and ethanol. The tariffs on those products will be raised by an extra 15 percent.

Eight other products, including pork and scrap aluminium, would now be subject to additional tariffs of 25 percent, it said, with the measures effective from April 2. 

"China's suspension of its tariff concessions is a legitimate action adopted under WTO rules to safeguard China's interests," the finance ministry said. 

China is moving swiftly with retaliatory action amid escalating trade tension with the United States, which has rocked global financial markets in the past week as investors fear a full-blown trade dispute between them will damage world growth. 

U.S. President Donald Trump is separately preparing to impose tariffs of more than $50 billion on Chinese goods following an investigation under Section 301 of the 1974 U.S. Trade Act. 

The U.S. administration says China has systematically misappropriated American intellectual property - allegations China denies. 

About the Section 301 investigation, China had "yet to unsheathe its sword", the official Xinhua news agency said.

Sometime this week, the Trump administration is expected to unveil a list of Chinese goods that could be subjected to new U.S. tariffs.

U.S. technology industry officials said they expected the list to target products that benefit from Beijing's "Made in China 2025" programme, which aims to upgrade the domestic manufacturing base with more advanced products. 

China has repeatedly promised to open its economy further, but many foreign companies complain of unfair treatment. China warned the United States on Thursday not to open a Pandora's Box and spark a flurry of protectionist practices across the globe.

"There are some people in the West who think that China looks tough for the sake of a domestic audience, and would easily make concessions," the Global Times said. 

"But they are wrong."

The Global Times is run by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, although its stance does not necessarily reflect government policy.

Reaction to China's measures varied on social media, with some saying Chinese customers would be the ones to ultimately pay for a trade war. 

"Why not directly target soybean and planes? The tariffs that China announced today don't sound a lot to me," said a user on the Weibo microblog platform.

Aircraft and soybeans were China's biggest U.S. imports by value last year. 

In a statement published on Monday morning, the commerce ministry said the United States had "seriously violated" the principles of non-discrimination enshrined in World Trade Organization rules, and had also damaged China's interests.

"China's suspension of some of its obligations to the United States is its legitimate right as a member of the World Trade Organization," it said, adding that differences should be resolved through negotiation. 

Weibo prominently featured the list of U.S. goods that China is targeting among the day's "hot" trending topics. 

"I will never buy fruit from the U.S.," a Weibo user wrote.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Tony Munroe; Additional reporting by David Stanway in SHANGHAI and Stella Qiu and Lusha Zhang in BEIJING

Additional Writing by Ryan Woo

Editing by Eric Meijer and Shri Navaratnam)

UPDATE 4-Oil rises towards $70 on lower U.S. drilling, Iran sanctions concern - Reuters News

02-Apr-2018 07:23:17 PM

• U.S. drillers cut rigs for first time in three weeks

• Concerns of U.S. sanctions against Iran also support crude

• Rising Russian output, U.S-China trade spat limit gains

Updates prices

By Alex Lawler

LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - Oil rose towards $70 a barrel on Monday, lifted by a drop in drilling activity in the United States and concerns that Washington could reintroduce sanctions against Iran.

U.S. drillers cut seven oil rigs in the week to March 29, bringing the total down to 797, the first decline in three weeks. The rig count is closely watched as an indicator of future U.S. oil output.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 47 cents to $69.81 a barrel by 1111 GMT. It was still below its 2018 high of $71.28 reached on Jan. 25. U.S. crude added 27 cents to $65.21.

Trading volume was lower than normal as many countries were still on Easter holiday.

"The market is set for a re-test of the highs of 2018," said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix.

"The Iranian factor is going to be a very significant input for the next four weeks. It is going to be an underlying support for the whole month."

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pull out of a 2015 international nuclear deal with Tehran under which Iranian oil exports have risen. He has given the European signatories a May 12 deadline to "fix the terrible flaws" of the deal.

Oil has risen from a multi-year low near $27 in January 2016, helped by production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia, which started in 2017 and are due to run until the end of 2018.

The revival in prices has helped to support a surge in U.S. drilling, which has boosted U.S. production to a record 10.43 million barrels per day (bpd), taking it past top exporter Saudi Arabia.

Russian oil output rose in March despite the output deal, to 10.97 million bpd from 10.95 million bpd in February, Russian Energy Ministry data showed, putting Russia ahead of the United States as the world's biggest crude producer.

Also potentially weighing on markets were rising trade tensions between the United States and China. 

China increased tariffs by up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products from Monday, escalating a spat between the world's biggest economies in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminium and steel.

"Investors took their cue from falling U.S drilling counts," said Wang Xiao of Guotai Junan Futures. "But increasing trade friction between China and the U.S. is likely to rock global markets and tarnish bullish sentiment in crude oil markets." 

(Additional reporting by Meng Meng in Beijing and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Susan Fenton)

PRECIOUS-Gold rises on renewed U.S.-China trade tensions - Reuters News

02-Apr-2018 03:32:06 PM

• China imposes tariffs of up to 25 pct on 128 U.S. goods

• Gold snaps three-day losing streak

• Specs raise net long position in COMEX gold -CFTC

(Adds trader's comment, updates prices)

By Swati Verma

BENGALURU, April 2 (Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Monday as the dollar eased amid renewed concerns over a trade war after China imposed additional tariffs on U.S. products in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminium and steel.

After falling in the past three trading sessions, spot gold edged up 0.5 percent to $1,331.19 per ounce at 0706 GMT.

China has slapped extra tariffs of up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products including frozen pork, as well as wine and certain fruits and nuts, in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminium and steel.

The tariffs take effect on Monday and match a list of potential tariffs on up to $3 billion in U.S. goods published by China on March 23.

"The trade war is going on and it is getting worse, so that might be the reason that people are selling dollar and buying gold," said Yuichi Ikemizu at ICBC Standard Bank in Tokyo.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other major currencies, eased 0.3 percent to 89.929.

U.S. gold futures rose 0.6 percent to $1,334.90 an ounce.

Gold fell 1.7 percent last week in its biggest such drop since early December. But the precious metal climbed 1.7 percent in January-March, posting its third straight quarterly gain.

The market is trading higher on bargain-hunting amid expectations that prices have hit bottom, said a Singapore-based trader.

"Even the most steel-nerved trader will be tempted to go in now," he said.

Hedge funds and money managers increased their net long positions in COMEX gold contracts in the week to March 27, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday. 

Gold speculators raised their net long position by 50,996 contracts to 172,834 contracts, CFTC data showed.

In other precious metals, spot silver climbed 0.8 percent to $16.45 per ounce.

Platinum rose 0.8 percent to $935 per ounce, having fallen to its lowest since end-December in the previous session.

Palladium was down 0.1 percent at $950.55 an ounce after dropping to $938.22 on Thursday, its lowest level since Oct. 11.

(Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.) 

CBOT Trends-Corn up 2-4 cents, soy up 8-10 cents, wheat up 3-5 cents - Reuters News

02-Apr-2018 09:07:59 PM

CHICAGO, April 2 (Reuters) - Following are U.S. trade expectations for the resumption of the grain and soy complex trading at the Chicago Board of Trade at 8:30 a.m. CDT (1330 GMT) on Monday.

WHEAT - Up 3 to 5 cents per bushel

• K.C. hard red winter wheat futures lead on forecast for dry conditions in the southwest U.S. Plains. Weak dollar also supportive. CBOT May soft red winter wheat briefly broke through resistance at 100-day moving average during overnight trading but failed to hold support above that key technical point.

• CBOT May soft red winter wheat last traded up 4-3/4 cents at $4.55-3/4 per bushel. K.C. May hard red winter wheat was last up 7-1/4 cents at $4.74-1/2 and MGEX May spring wheat was last up 1 cent at $5.79-1/2.

CORN - Up 2 to 4 cents per bushel

• Gains in wheat, soybeans leading corn market higher. Forecasts for cold, wet spring that could delay plantings in U.S. Midwest also seen as supportive.

• CBOT May corn last traded up 3 cents at $3.90-3/4 a bushel.

SOYBEANS - Up 8 to 10 cents per bushel

• Continued strength, underpinned by Friday's U.S. Agriculture Department report that surprisingly forecast drop in soybean acreage. Most-active soybean futures contract hit highest since March 9 during overnight session. New-crop November soybeans hit contract high.

• CBOT May soybeans last traded up 9 cents at $10.53-3/4 per bushel.

(Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by David Gregorio)

Stock & Commodities Related News.

US STOCKS-Wall St closes lower in rocky session on Amazon losses - Reuters News

29-Mar-2018 04:45:54 AM

Updates to market close

• Indexes close lower after volatile trading

• Amazon.com, Tesla weigh on consumer discretionary stocks

• Q4 GDP revised up, biggest consumer spending gain in 3 years

• Dow up 0.04 pct, S&P 500 up 0.29 pct, Nasdaq off 0.85 pct 

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street closed lower after a rocky session on Wednesday as gains in consumer staples and healthcare were offset by a sharp drop in Amazon shares and a continuing slide in technology stocks.

All three major U.S. indexes ended the day in negative territory following Tuesday's late-session tech-driven sell-off following Monday's rally as traders moved to defensive stocks after recent weeks' heightened volatility.

"People should expect what's happening given the kind of volatility we've seen as well as the fact that we're kind of in a news vacuum prior to quarterly earnings," Chuck Carlson, chief executive at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana, said. "It's a market that's really looking for the next leadership." 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.29 points, or 0.04 percent, to 23,848.42, the S&P 500 lost 7.62 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,605 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 59.58 points, or 0.85 percent, to 6,949.23.

Online retailer Amazon.com was down as much as 6.7 percent, losing more than $53 billion in market value after a report that President Donald Trump indicated he wanted to rein in the company. The stock later pared its loses to end the day down 4.4 percent.

Shares of automaker Tesla slumped 7.7 percent, extending recent losses, following a credit downgrade and news that officials are investigating a fatal crash and fire in California.

Countering those losses were gains for consumer staples, real estate, telecom, and healthcare.

The S&P Energy index posted the biggest loss of the 11 major S&P sectors, ending 1.99 percent lower as crude prices fell after data showed a surprise build in U.S. stocks. 

The markets shrugged off a report from the U.S. Commerce Department that the U.S. economy slowed less than previously reported in the fourth quarter as consumer spending grew at its fastest quarterly pace in three years. GDP expanded at a 2.9 percent annual rate in the last three months of 2017, ahead of the previously reported 2.5 percent. 

Strong economic data could invite a more hawkish approach by the U.S. Federal Reserve this year with respect to further interest rate hikes.

"I'm not surprised by the economic data," said Carlson. "But the market right now is looking past that from a valuation standpoint." 

Stocks had jumped earlier in the week as trade war fears ebbed following comments from officials in the United States and China that implied the world's two largest economies would renegotiate tariffs and trade imbalances.

China is expected to announce a list of tariffs on U.S. imports in retaliation against the expected tariff proposals from the U.S. on Chinese goods. 

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.22-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.96 billion shares, compared to the 7.36 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. 

(Reporting by Stephen Culp

Editing by Nick Zieminski and Susan Thomas)

UPDATE 2-Oil prices rise as OPEC seen continuing supply cuts through 2018 - Reuters News

29-Mar-2018 03:31:07 PM

• Crude up as OPEC/non-OPEC deal to hold through 2018

• But rising U.S. crude inventories, production cap prices

• Shanghai crude futures down almost 10 pct since Monday launch

• Goldman says Shanghai crude launch was "relatively successful"

Updates prices, adds chart

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE, March 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday as the producer cartel OPEC and other suppliers look set to continue withholding output for the rest of the year and potentially into 2019.

U.S. WTI crude futures were at $64.63 a barrel at 0729 GMT, up 25 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their previous settlement.

Brent crude futures were at $69.76 per barrel, up 23 cents, or 0.3 percent.

The Middle East-dominated Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) together with a group of non-OPEC producers led by Russia started cutting output in 2017 to rein in oversupply and prop up the market.

Brent, off which OPEC prices most its crude exports, has risen by around a quarter since then, which has lead to speculation that the restraints on production may be lifted.

But sources at OPEC told Reuters this week that the group and its allies were set to keep their deal on cutting production for the rest of 2018.

Despite this, Brent remained below $70 and WTI under $65 per barrel, weighed by rising crude inventories and production in the United States.

Commercial U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.6 million barrels in the last week to 429.95 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

U.S. crude oil production hit a record, at 10.43 million barrels per day (bpd). That puts the United States ahead of top exporter Saudi Arabia. Only Russia pumps out more, at 11 million bpd.

In China, Shanghai crude oil futures opened Thursday's morning session down nearly 2 percent, pushing the new market near to parity with U.S. prices, before closing at 409.7 yuan ($65.18) per barrel at 0700 GMT.

The latest drop takes the fall since the contract's launch on Monday to 10 percent.

Despite high volatility and lingering scepticism about Shanghai's trading hours, along with doubts about the process for physical delivery of crude under contract, most analysts expect the contract to establish itself as a third global oil price benchmark next to Brent and WTI.

Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients that there was "finally, an exchange traded price for Chinese crude oil."

Shanghai's "start of trading was relatively successful (as)...it is the first onshore Chinese commodity contract that allows direct trading by foreign investors and is denominated in RMB (yuan), indirectly promoting the use of the Chinese currency," Goldman said.

The U.S. bank said Shanghai crude futures represented 3 percent of combined WTI and Brent trading volumes since its launch on March 26.

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein

Editing by Aaron Sheldrick and Christian Schmollinger)

PRECIOUS-Gold steadies as N. Korea, global trade concerns ease - Reuters News

29-Mar-2018 04:00:54 PM

(Recasts with updated prices, adds quote and details)

• Gold heads for a third straight quarterly rise

• Silver set post its worst quarter in three

• Platinum to post worst month since September

• Palladium on track for worst quarter since end-2015

By Swati Verma

BENGALURU, March 29 (Reuters) - Gold prices held largely steady on Thursday, a day after posting its biggest one-day percentage fall in nearly 9 months, as tensions over North Korea and global trade eased.

Spot gold was nearly unchanged at $1,325.16 per ounce at 0736 GMT, after hitting a low of $1,322.50 earlier in the session, it's lowest since March 21.

Prices dropped 1.5 percent on Wednesday, their biggest one-day percentage decline since July 3, 2017.

U.S. gold futures for April delivery were steady at $1,324 per ounce.

"There was a premium in the (gold) price due to both the trade issue and with the North Korea. Both of these tensions look to be less inflamed currently," said Cameron Alexander, an analyst with Thomson Reuters-owned metals consultancy GFMS.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un pledged his commitment to denuclearisation and meet U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after his meeting with President Xi Jinping, who promised China would uphold friendship with its isolated neighbour.

Gold, often seen as an alternative investment during times of political and financial uncertainty, was on track for a third straight quarter of gains, having risen nearly 2 percent so far.

Concerns about the global trade war have eased but that doesn't mean it is over, said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore.

U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods may not be imposed until early June, administration officials said on Wednesday, with public consultations and potential tariff revisions buying time for negotiations to forestall them.

In other precious metals, spot silver was steady after falling to $16.20 per ounce, its lowest in one week. Silver was on track to post its worst quarter in three.

Platinum rose 0.5 percent to $936.30 per ounce, after hitting a near three-month low in the previous session. The metal was down about 5 percent so far this month, on course to post its worst month since September.

Palladium was up 0.3 percent to $968.90 an ounce.

Palladium was set to fall over 7 percent this month, the steepest drop since December 2016.

For the quarter, the metal is down more than 8 percent so far, its worst since the quarter ended December 2015.

(Reporting by Swati Verma and Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Amrutha Gayathri) 

RPT-COLUMN-Trade biases and trends for USDA's plantings, stocks reports –Braun - Reuters News

29-Mar-2018 01:30:00 PM

Repeats March 28 column for wider distribution. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a market analyst for Reuters.

By Karen Braun

CHICAGO, March 28 (Reuters) - Agriculture market analysts may be a little off on their forecasts for U.S. corn and soybean plantings, but a missed prediction on supply could turn into the main event on Thursday in terms of possible impact on Chicago-traded futures.

This is all part of the fun each year when the U.S. Department of Agriculture publishes prospective plantings and March 1 grain inventories on the last trading day of March. This year, those reports are scheduled for release on Thursday at noon EDT (1600 GMT).

There are some important trends and market conditions to consider when it comes to the pre-report analyst polls, as the expectations may not always match the reality, and this can lead to high volatility in the futures market on the day.

ACRES

Industry analysts have pegged 2018 U.S. soybean plantings at an all-time high of 91.056 million acres, some 1 percent more than a year ago. The average corn guess is 89.42 million acres, fractionally lower than the final acreage in 2017.

But historical data suggests that Thursday's soy number may come in higher than the trade peg and the corn number may be a little smaller.

Since 2005, analysts have underestimated soybean plantings in only five years, one of them being 2017. These years all have one common link: an elevated new-crop futures price ratio. 

When the ratio of CBOT November soybeans to December corn is near 2.5 or above heading into the spring, U.S. farmers may prefer planting soybeans over corn based on better expected returns. Through the first three weeks of March, this ratio averaged 2.56, very similar to the same period a year ago. In 2017, analysts' pre-report guess of 88.214 million soybean acres was too low by 1.3 million acres. They were also too low on March 1 soy stocks, and the most-active futures contract fell 17 cents a bushel or 1.8 percent on report day.

This analysis transfers over to corn, as the elevated bean-to-corn ratio tends to coincide with analysts overestimating corn acres. They tend to underestimate corn plantings when that ratio is relatively low.

This means that USDA's corn target may fall below 89.42 million acres on Tuesday, despite the fact that planting corn is probably more attractive than it was a year ago since futures prices have performed better and the supply outlook has tightened.

If the trade acreage numbers are realized, it will be the first time in history that U.S. farmers plant more soybeans than corn "organically" instead of in response to government influence. Bean plantings topped those of corn only one other time due to heavy participation in the government's 1983 acreage reduction program that was designed to curb corn production and stimulate prices.

Since 2012, market analysts either nailed or came in a little too high on planted wheat acres in prospective plantings.

Trade estimates place all U.S. wheat planted acres at 46.297 million acres, fractionally more than last year, but there is a chance that this number is even larger on Thursday.

From 2013 to 2017, USDA lowered its wheat planted area target by an average of 3 percent early on between the baseline projections and the agriculture outlook forum in February. For the most part, that ended up being the correct call in terms of final acres.

But in 2018, the agency increased this number by 3 percent, which is why the six-year streak of generally high-balling wheat plantings ahead of the March report could be in jeopardy.

STOCKS

Market analysts have had mixed luck in guessing March 1 corn and soybean stocks. But when their misses are big enough – by about 2 percent or more – it tends to dominate the futures price action for the day, even if the opposite signal is given by acres.

For soybeans, the stakes could be high. The average trade guess for March 1 stocks is 2.03 billion bushels, some 14 percent larger than 2007's record. And 18 of the 25 analysts polled by Reuters submitted an estimate larger than 2.03 billion.

Dec. 1, 2017 soybean stocks hit an all-time high of 3.16 billion bushels, and in the three months that followed, exports were pretty disappointing. Meanwhile, soy processors were crushing at a record rate, but this almost certainly cannot offset the pile-up of supply from slow shipments.

The market also expects March 1 corn stocks to edge last year's record with 8.706 billion bushels. Demand for U.S. corn started booming in early January, but this may not have had a sizable impact as of March 1 since a lot of the new commitments had not yet been fulfilled. 

A year ago, analysts underestimated March 1 corn stocks by 1 percent, but the most-active contract rose 6.75 cents a bushel or 1.9 percent as the trade had been too high on corn acres.

Trade estimates place March 1 wheat stocks at 1.498 billion bushels, down about 10 percent from a year ago. Analysts have underestimated this number in four out of the last 5 years.

(Editing by Matthew Lewis)

TECHNICALS-CBOT soybeans may test support at $9.83 in 3 months - Reuters News

29-Mar-2018 12:34:01 PM

SINGAPORE, March 29 (Reuters) - CBOT soybeans first month may test a support at $9.83 per bushel in three months, a break below which could open the way to the next support at

$9.10-3/4.

These supports are identified respectively as the 14.6 percent and the 7 percent Fibonacci retracements on the downtrend from September 4, 2012 high of $17.94-3/4 to the Nov. 23, 2015 low of $8.44-1/4.

The failure of the contract to break above $10.68-1/2 not only triggered a deep correction to $9.83, but also signalled a completion of the bounce from the June 23, 2017 low of $9.00-1/4. The completion means the downtrend from $17.94-3/4 may have resumed.

Even if the uptrend from $9.00-1/4 extends, the contract may still approach $9.34, the Sept. 27, 2016 low, as suggested by the symmetrical nature of the chart pattern.

A projection analysis on the daily chart reveals that the current drop is closely related to the previous downtrend from the June 10, 2016 high of $12.08-1/2.

Wave pattern shows the contract is riding on a wave c, which is capable of travelling into the range of $8.80-1/2 to $9.53. A break above $10.71 could open the way towards $12.08-1/2.

** Wang Tao is a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals. The views expressed are his own.

No information in this analysis should be considered as being business, financial or legal advice. Each reader should consult his or her own professional or other advisers for business, financial or legal advice regarding the products mentioned in the analyses. **

(Reporting by Wang Tao; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) 

UPDATE 1-China warns U.S. not to open Pandora's Box, unleash trade ills on world - Reuters News

29-Mar-2018 12:21:50 PM

• China could target goods including semiconductors and even service - China Daily

• China still mulling curbs on soybeans - U.S. Soybean Export Council Asia 

• China warns U.S. not to open Pandora's Box

Adds scale of Chinese imports of U.S. chips, comments from Chinese commerce ministry

By Se Young Lee and Yawen Chen

BEIJING, March 29 (Reuters) - China warned the United States on Thursday not to open Pandora's Box and spark a flurry of protectionist practices across the globe, even as Beijing pointed to U.S. goods that it could target in a deepening Sino-U.S. trade dispute. 

China could target a broad range of U.S. businesses from agriculture to aircraft, autos, semiconductors and even services if the trade conflict escalates, the official China Daily newspaper said in an editorial on Thursday. 

President Donald Trump's move last week to slap up to $60 billion in tariffs on some Chinese imports has since provoked a warning from Beijing that it could retaliate with duties of up to $3 billion of U.S. imports.

China's biggest U.S. imports are aircraft and related equipment, soybeans and autos, with the total bill about $40 billion last year. 

"The malicious practices of the United States are like opening Pandora's Box, and there is a danger of triggering a chain reaction that will spread the virus of trade protectionism across the globe," a commerce ministry spokesman said. 

The official line from China continues to be stern even as Beijing says it is all for dialogue and negotiations. The feedback from U.S. and Chinese officials on the nature and extent of trade talks remains mixed, media reports show. 

The Financial Times reported only on Monday that China had offered to buy more U.S. micro-chips and move more quickly to finalise rules allowing foreign firms to take majority stakes in Chinese securities firms, citing people briefed on the negotiations. 

Chinese customs data shows the U.S. accounted for just $2.6 billion, or 1 percent, of China's total semiconductor imports last year by value, with suppliers in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan commanding a bigger share. 

But a source in the U.S. semiconductor industry said U.S. companies have slightly more than 50 percent of China's market for chips, though export data doesn't reflect that because much of the product is sent off-shore for low value added processing. 

The source said the U.S. semiconductor industry had not asked the Trump administration to urge China to buy more U.S. chips and had been told by senior U.S. officials that the U.S. government had not made such a request to Beijing.

"We don't need China to buy more chips," the source said, adding that U.S. industry was concerned about being targeted by Chinese non-tariff barriers. 

"It's more about (Chinese) subsidies, IP protection, and cyber rules," the source said, referring to concerns over Chinese retaliation. 

China has long said it would like to import more U.S. high-tech goods, including high-end chips, but has been stymied by U.S. export controls set on national security grounds. 

China's commerce ministry said on Thursday the U.S. approach to trade could trigger a domino effect and U.S. trade protectionism will only hurt U.S. consumers. 

While China hopes the U.S. will resolve trade conflicts with China through dialogue, it will take all possible steps to protect its interests, ministry spokesman Gao Feng told a regular briefing in Beijing. 

"Negotiations must be equal, and China will not accept any consultation under unilateral coercion," Gao said. 

SERVICES MAY BE TARGETED

On Wednesday, Trump's top trade envoy said he would give China a 60-day window before tariffs on Chinese goods take effect, but added that it would take years to bring the two countries' trading relationship "to a good place."

The tariff list is expected in the next several days.

The China Daily on Thursday quoted Premier Li Keqiang as telling a U.S. Congressional delegation this week that China was open to dialogue but "fully prepared with countermeasures".

It warned that if the conflict continued to escalate "China could consider taking reciprocal measures against U.S. imports of agricultural products besides soybeans, as well as aircraft, automobiles and semiconductors."

"And should the Trump administration further obstruct Chinese investments in the U.S., even tougher measures such as restrictions on imports of U.S. services and similar investment reviews would likely be on the table," it said.

Separately, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported on Thursday that U.S. and Chinese officials had been holding talks to shield American soybeans and other agricultural products from trade sanctions.

China is still considering import curbs on U.S. soybeans, U.S. Soybean Export Council Asia director Paul Burke said on Thursday, following a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture.

(Reporting by Se Young Lee and Yawen Chen in BEIJING; Additional reporting by Michael Martina, John Ruwitch, Dominique Patton and Stella Qiu

Additional writing by Ryan Woo

Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Kim Coghill)

UPDATE 1-China still considering curbs on U.S. soybean imports -U.S. soybean council - Reuters News

29-Mar-2018 11:46:34 AM

• Soybeans were top U.S. agricultural export to China last year

• U.S. soybean trade group met with Ag Min on Monday

• Meeting comes as tensions between China, US over trade mount

Adds details throughout

By Dominique Patton

BEIJING, March 29 (Reuters) - China is still considering import curbs on U.S. soybeans in retaliation for moves by Washington to impose trade tariffs, U.S. Soybean Export Council Asia director Paul Burke said on Thursday, following a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture.

The ministry requested an informal meeting in Beijing with the council, Burke told Reuters by phone. The meeting, which took place on Monday, was attended by the U.S. trade group's China director, Xiaoping Zhang, along with officials from the ministry's department of international relations.

In his comments, Burke rejected a report in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that the council's meeting with the ministry had been part of official talks aimed at shielding American soybeans.

"The agriculture ministry wanted to discuss our view of the soybean industry regarding tariffs and the supply and demand situation," Burke said. "We are cautiously optimistic soybeans won't be targeted, but they're still on the table."

A trade spat between the world's top two economies is escalating, with U.S. President Donald Trump preparing to slap tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports over the alleged forced transfer of intellectual property.

Soybeans were the top U.S. agricultural export to China last year, worth more than $12 billion. China is the world's biggest soybean importer and the U.S. is its second-largest supplier. 

In an editorial on Thursday, the China Daily newspaper said Beijing could target a broad range of U.S. businesses form agriculture to aircraft, autos and semiconductors if the conflict escalates.

(Reporting by Dominique Patton

Writing by Josephine Mason

Editing by Aaron Sheldrick)

Stock & Commodities Related News.

US STOCKS-Wall Street closes sharply lower, tech leads late selloff - Reuters News

28-Mar-2018 04:41:35 AM

• Markets turn sharply lower in late trading

• Facebook, Alphabet drag down tech stocks 

• Twitter falls after short-seller report

• Dow down 1.43 pct, S&P 500 down 1.73 pct, Nasdaq down 2.93 pct

Updates to market close

By Stephen Culp

March 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street closed sharply lower Tuesday, with each of the major U.S. indexes suffering their fourth decline in five sessions, fueled by a selloff in the tech sector.

Tech stocks, among the best performing sectors of the bull market, have been under pressure recently as concerns about government regulation stemming from their strong growth and privacy questions surrounding Facebook.

"What it really amounts to is a complete lack of knowing what to expect," said Peter Kenny, senior market strategist at Global Markets Advisory Group, in New York. 

"It seems so open-ended, there is a lot of risk here and investors don't like uncertainty and this is the definition of uncertainty." 

Facebook shares dropped 4.9 percent at $152.22 and is down nearly 15 percent for the month. The Nasdaq Internet index saw its worst daily percentage drop since June 2016. 

Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 only defensive plays such as consumer staples, telecom, real estate and utilities ended the session in positive territory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 344.89 points, or 1.43 percent, to 23,857.71, the S&P 500 lost 45.93 points, or 1.73 percent, to 2,612.62 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 211.74 points, or 2.93 percent, to 7,008.81. 

Since hitting a record on Jan. 26, equities have been battered by worries about rising inflation, the pace of interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the possibility of a global trade war. The S&P 500 is down 9.1 percent from its high. 

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro confirmed on Monday top Trump administration officials have asked China to cut tariffs on imported cars, allow foreign majority ownership of financial services firms and buy more U.S.-made semiconductors in negotiations to avoid imposing tariffs on a host of Chinese goods. 

A person familiar with the discussions said these were among the asks from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as they pursue talks with Beijing. 

Markets roared back on Monday with their best day since August 2015 on hopes that the world's two largest economies were willing to renegotiate tariffs and trade imbalances. 

But those gains proved temporary as early advances were overcome by the tech sector weakness. 

The drop in Facebook continues to put pressure on the tech sector, which is down 5.2 percent for March and on track for its worst month since April 2016. 

Privacy concerns for the social media giant were highlighted further on Tuesday when a whistleblower said Canadian company AggregateIQ had developed software to target Republican voters in the 2016 U.S. election. 

Alphabet shares fell 4.5 percent after an appeals courts resurrected a multibillion dollar copyright case brought by Oracle Corp against the company. 

Nvidia was another weak spot, falling 7.8 percent after the chipmaker temporarily suspended self-driving tests across the globe.

Tesla shares were off 8.2 percent after the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board opened a field investigation of last week's fatal Tesla crash and vehicle fire.

Twitter fell 12 percent after short-seller Citron Research called the stock "most vulnerable" to privacy regulations.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.36-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.57 billion shares, compared to the 7.37 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. 

(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak

Editing by Susan Thomas)

UPDATE 3-Oil prices fall on surprise U.S. inventory rise; China crude volatile - Reuters News

28-Mar-2018 03:13:42 PM

• Brent falls below $70/barrel, WTI dips below $65/barrel

• Saudi Arabia proposes long-term supply management with Russia

• High volumes for Shanghai crude, but also high volatility

• Shanghai crude falls 3.75 percent to 410 yuan/barrel

Adds comment, updates prices

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE, March 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday, with Brent dropping back below $70 per barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate dipping below $65, pulled down by a report of increasing U.S. crude inventories that surprised many traders.

U.S. WTI crude futures were at $64.72 a barrel by 0700 GMT, down 53 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their previous settlement.

Brent crude futures were at $69.69 per barrel, down 42 cents, or 0.6 percent.

Traders said the falls came after the American Petroleum Institute (API) late on Tuesday reported a surprise 5.3 million barrels rise in crude stocks in the week to March 23, to 430.6 million barrels.

"Crude futures are trading lower in response to a surprise build in API data," said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of energy consultancy Trifecta, in a note.

Official U.S. inventory data will be published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late on Wednesday.

Robert Carnell, chief economist and head of research at Dutch bank ING in Asia told the Reuters Global Markets Forum on Wednesday that "more supply coming from the U.S." would also likely weigh on oil prices.

U.S. oil production has already jumped by almost a quarter since mid-2016, to 10.4 million barrels per day (bpd), taking it past top exporter Saudi Arabia and within reach of the biggest producer, Russia, which pumps around 11 million bpd.

Wednesday's price falls came despite Saudi Arabia saying it was working with Russia on a historic long-term pact that could extend controls over world crude supplies by major exporters for many years.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters that Riyadh and Moscow were considering greatly extending a short-term alliance on oil curbs that began in January 2017 after a crash in crude prices, with a partnership to manage supplies potentially growing "to a 10-to-20-year agreement."

VOLATILE SHANGHAI CRUDE

In Asia, Shanghai crude oil futures posted high volumes and volatile trade on their third day of trading.

Spot Shanghai crude futures were down 3.75 percent on Wednesday, to 410.4 yuan ($65.37) per barrel by 0700 GMT.

In dollar-terms, that puts Chinese crude prices significantly below Brent and only slightly above U.S. WTI.

Since Shanghai crude oil futures were launched on March 26, it would have been profitable to buy the spread between Brent and Shanghai crudes, which has risen from $1.60 per barrel on Monday to $4.60 on Wednesday, while shorting the Shanghai premium over WTI, which has narrowed from $3.10 a barrel on Monday to just 30 cents on Wednesday.

Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at futures brokerage AxiTrader, said he hoped Shanghai crude "gets a lot of traction and we end up with three established global benchmarks", but he cautioned that "the first couple of days have been volatile".

($1 = 6.2782 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; editing by Aaron Sheldrick and Richard Pullin)

EXCLUSIVE-OPEC, Russia consider 10- to 20-year oil alliance -Saudi Crown Prince - Reuters News

28-Mar-2018 02:41:23 AM

Adds analysts' comments, background

By Richard Mably and Yara Bayoumy

NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Russia are working on a historic long-term pact that could extend controls over world crude supplies by major exporters for many years.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters that Riyadh and Moscow were considering a deal to greatly extend a short-term alliance on oil curbs that began in January 2017 after a crash in crude prices. 

"We are working to shift from a year-to-year agreement to a 10 to 20 year agreement," the crown prince told Reuters in an interview in New York late on Monday. 

"We have agreement on the big picture, but not yet on the detail." 

Russia, not a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has worked alongside the 14-member group during previous oil gluts, but a 10 to 20 year deal between the two would be unprecedented. 

Top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia recruited Russia and other non-OPEC countries to help drain oversupply when oil prices collapsed to below $30 a barrel in 2016 from over $100 in 2014.

Crude has since recovered to $70 but fast-rising output from U.S. shale producers has capped prices.

"This is all about whether the arrangement is a short-term expedient to deal with this particular crisis in the oil market, or whether it reflects a realignment in world oil," said oil historian Daniel Yergin, vice chairman at consultancy IHS Markit. 

"OPEC countries want to find a way to institutionalize this relationship rather than to have it be a one-shot deal." 

Robert McNally at consultancy Rapidan Energy Group said Riyadh wanted help in breaking the boom-bust cycles that characterize oil markets by capping crude on the upside as well as by helping lift low oil prices.

"History shows that without a long-term, powerful, competent coherent, disciplined swing producer in the oil markets ... you get space-mountain oil prices. Wild volatility of the sort we have seen in the past 10 to 15 years and that Saudi Arabia and Russia do not want to see again," McNally said.

He said that would require Russia to join Saudi in building spare production capacity to use when prices rise too much.

SAUDI, RUSSIA ALLIANCE "THICKER THAN OIL"

A long-term pact between Moscow and Riyadh would effectively co-opt Russia to the Saudi-led OPEC cartel while strengthening Russia's hand in the Middle East where the United States has long been the dominant super-power. 

News of the potential oil alliance came at a time when the two have been working to cement an economic relationship despite being at odds over the conflict in Syria, where they back opposing sides. 

Riyadh supports rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army, while Russian and Iranian forces have backed Assad – meaning that Russia effectively sides with Iran, Riyadh's regional arch-foe.

A meeting between the Saudi crown prince and Russian president Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in China in September 2016 was instrumental in bringing Russia on board to support OPEC, non-OPEC oil curbs.

Last October, Saudi King Salman became the first Saudi monarch to visit Russia, providing investment and political support for a Russian economy battered by Western sanctions.

"It is a very important strategic development," Helima Croft at RBC Capital Markets said of a potential 10 to 20 year Saudi-Russia oil collaboration.

"First, the Crown Prince is making the statement, not the oil minister, one more clear sign that he (like Putin) is the final word on his country's oil policy. 

"Second it is one more sign of the major reversal in Saudi-Russia relations. Saudi was a staunch cold war ally of the U.S. Now this Russia-Saudi alliance appears to be thicker than oil and seems to be driven by the personal affinity between Putin and MBS," said Croft. 

ARAMCO IPO LATE 2018, EARLY 2019

The crown prince predicted that world oil demand would not peak until 2040, despite advances in renewable energy technologies and the electric vehicle.

In an attempt to end Saudi Arabia's reliance on oil, he is leading a push to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil and gas by 2030. 

Riyadh plans to raise funds through the flotation of a 5 percent stake in state Saudi oil company Aramco. Time is running out for an initial public offering this year but the crown prince said the IPO could still take place at the end of 2018 or in early 2019, depending on financial market conditions.

Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih said last week that documentation was ready but that a venue for the IPO had not yet been decided. The New York stock exchange is still in the running for the IPO, alongside London and Hong Kong, but Falih said there was a risk of a "frivolous" legal action if Aramco were listed in the United States. 

(Additional reporting by Stephen Adler, Jessica Resnick-Ault

Editing by Frances Kerry, Toni Reinhold)

PRECIOUS-Gold slips from over 5-week high as trade tensions ease - Reuters News

28-Mar-2018 04:04:47 PM

• SPDR Gold holdings down 0.14 pct on Tuesday

• Platinum off from near 3-month lows

(Updates prices, adds quote and details)

By Swati Verma

BENGALURU, March 28 (Reuters) - Gold on Wednesday backed away from an over 5-week high touched in the previous session as concerns about a trade war between the United States and China eased, which supported the dollar and reduced the incentive to hold bullion as a safe-haven asset.

Spot gold was down 0.4 percent at $1,339.46 per ounce at 0723 GMT. Prices dropped 0.7 percent on Tuesday, its biggest percentage loss since March 15, after rising to over 5-week highs.

U.S. gold futures for April delivery were down 0.1 percent to $1,341.10 per ounce.

"The gold price is mainly driven by the U.S. dollar ... The risk of trade war is shrinking, which is good for the U.S. dollar," said Ji Ming, chief analyst, Shandong Gold Group.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other major currencies, rose 0.2 percent to 89.503 after gaining 0.3 percent on Tuesday, the most since March 20.

The dollar recovered from the five-week low as concerns of a global trade war were eased by optimistic news that the U.S. and China were set to begin trade negotiations, after earlier exchanging threats. 

However, the White House said Trump had discussed trade practices with China in calls on Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which could lead to an escalation of trade tensions.

"Any sort of an announcement that negotiations are being formalized and/or are being taken seriously by both sides (U.S.-China), could provide strength to the greenback and alternatively weigh on precious metals instead," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said in a note.

A firmer dollar makes gold, which is seen as a safe investment in times of political and financial uncertainty, more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.14 percent to 846.12 tonnes on Tuesday from 847.30 tonnes on Monday. 

In other precious metals, spot silver was down 0.2 percent at $16.46 per ounce. Silver ended 1 percent lower in the previous session, after rising to a three-week high of $16.80 per ounce.

Platinum was down 0.2 percent at $941 per ounce, having fallen to lowest since early January in the previous session at $935.

Palladium was steady at $971.70 an ounce.

(Reporting by Swati Verma and Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru, Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Sunil Nair) 

GRAINS-Wheat firms after two-day decline, improved U.S. weather weighs - Reuters News

28-Mar-2018 10:31:22 AM

• Rains in parts of U.S. southern Plains caps gains in wheat

• Soybeans little changed after falling for three sessions

Adds details, quotes

By Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE, March 28 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures ticked higher on Wednesday after falling for the past two sessions, as rains in parts of the U.S. southern Plains improved crop prospects.

Soybeans were little changed while corn ticked higher in positioning ahead of a U.S. Department of Agriculture planting intentions report due on Thursday.

The Chicago Board Of Trade most-active wheat contract gained 0.3 percent to $4.50-1/4 a bushel by 0203 GMT, having lost about 2.3 percent in the past two days.

Soybeans were largely unchanged at $10.19-3/4 a bushel and corn rose 0.2 percent to $3.74-3/4 a bushel.

"The U.S. winter wheat crop had a pretty tough winter period but spring weather has been favourable," said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.

"A large chunk of the rally that we saw in February has gone."

Showers crossing the U.S. Plains on Tuesday should help recharge soil moisture in some areas.

The USDA on Monday rated 13 percent of winter wheat in Kansas, the top producer, in good-to-excellent condition, up from 11 percent last week. However, ratings are down significantly from a year ago, when 38 percent of the state's wheat was rated good to excellent.

The soybean market could face pressure as U.S. farmers are expected to boost plantings this year. 

Analysts expect the USDA to project U.S. soybean plantings for 2018 at a record-high of 91.1 million acres and corn plantings at 89.4 million acres, down from 90.2 million in 2017.

Analysts also expect the USDA to report record-high March 1 corn and soybean stocks, reflecting several years of bumper harvests. 

There was additional pressure stemming from news that Agroconsult, a Brazilian consulting firm, raised its estimate of the country's soybean harvest to 118.9 million tonnes, from 117.5 million previously.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, wheat, soymeal and corn futures contracts on Tuesday, and net buyers in soyoil, traders said. 

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; editing by Richard Pullin)

Brazil soybean prices surge as U.S.-China trade spat deepens - Reuters News

28-Mar-2018 05:44:13 AM

By Dominique Patton and Ana Mano

BEIJING/SAO PAULO, March 27 (Reuters) - Chinese importers are paying record harvest-time premiums for Brazilian soybeans as they look to secure supplies amid concern that shipments from the United States may be disrupted by a trade war between Washington and Beijing.

China buys about 60 percent of globally traded soybeans to feed the world's biggest livestock industry. Brazil supplied half of its imports last year while the United States supplied around a third. 

But Beijing has threatened to target soybeans, the United States' biggest agricultural export, in retaliation for measures taken by President Donald Trump's administration aimed at improving terms of trade for the United States.

Demand for beans from top exporter Brazil pushed up premiums on concern that China could curb U.S. purchases. Premiums paid for beans from Brazil's Paranagua port topped $1 per bushel above benchmark international prices, according to Esalq, an agricultural market research body at the University of Sao Paulo.

That was the highest spot premium on record for March, a time when the incoming flood of newly harvested soybeans in Brazil typically weakens premiums.

The premium was up over a third from the 65 cents a bushel buyers were paying on March 1 for April shipments of soy from Paranagua, one of the top grain export terminals in Brazil.

A year ago, Paranagua premiums for spot shipments were just 36 cents over futures, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data.

"The market is going crazy," said a Beijing-based trader, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to talk to media.

"Some buyers are still buying due to the good crush margins here, but they're feeling very uncomfortable about the high price," he added.

Buying more Brazilian beans is one of several contingency plans that Chinese buyers are executing to ensure they have the animal feed they need despite the threat of a disruption of supply from the United States.

China's crushers have increasingly favoured Brazilian soybeans over American beans because of their higher protein and oil levels.

Soybeans shipped in April from the Brazilian port of Paranaguá were priced about $414 per tonne, compared with U.S. soybeans shipped out of the Gulf of Mexico at $403 per ton, according to traders and Thomson Reuters data.

"(There's a) lack of interest coming for U.S. beans presently despite being the cheapest thing in town," one U.S. trader said.

Brazilian officials have previously said they could see increased Chinese demand for Brazilian soy due to growing trade tension between China and the United States.

Brazil has already benefited from an increase in demand for its corn from Mexico, where buyers are also concerned that trade negotiations with the United States could impact U.S. corn exports to its southern neighbor.

The sharp rise in soybean premiums suggests Brazilian exporters are already reaping benefits even before China has taken any action to curb imports from its second-largest supplier.

Drought in neighbouring Argentina, the world's third-largest soy exporter, is driving up global soy prices and stoking demand for beans from elsewhere. 

Rain during harvesting in neighboring Brazil may have also slowed soybean trading, contributing to higher prices, said traders.

Strong demand for biodiesel in Brazil has boosted soy crush margins, raising demand from local crushers and reducing the volume of soybeans available for export, said one Brazil-based trader.

Mato Grosso-based farmer Elso Pozzobon believes some growers may be holding on to their stockpiles in anticipation that prices could rise even further if Sino-U.S. trade tensions escalate.

"Farmers who are not in need of immediate cash are holding on to their beans," he said.

(Reporting by Dominique Patton in Beijing, Ana Mano and Roberto Samora in Sao Paulo and Karl Plume and Michael Hirtzer in Chicago

Editing by Simon Webb and Matthew Lewis)

GRAINS-Wheat firms after two-day decline, improved U.S. weather weighs - Reuters News

28-Mar-2018 10:31:22 AM

• Rains in parts of U.S. southern Plains caps gains in wheat

• Soybeans little changed after falling for three sessions

Adds details, quotes

By Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE, March 28 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures ticked higher on Wednesday after falling for the past two sessions, as rains in parts of the U.S. southern Plains improved crop prospects.

Soybeans were little changed while corn ticked higher in positioning ahead of a U.S. Department of Agriculture planting intentions report due on Thursday.

The Chicago Board Of Trade most-active wheat contract gained 0.3 percent to $4.50-1/4 a bushel by 0203 GMT, having lost about 2.3 percent in the past two days.

Soybeans were largely unchanged at $10.19-3/4 a bushel and corn rose 0.2 percent to $3.74-3/4 a bushel.

"The U.S. winter wheat crop had a pretty tough winter period but spring weather has been favourable," said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.

"A large chunk of the rally that we saw in February has gone."

Showers crossing the U.S. Plains on Tuesday should help recharge soil moisture in some areas.

The USDA on Monday rated 13 percent of winter wheat in Kansas, the top producer, in good-to-excellent condition, up from 11 percent last week. However, ratings are down significantly from a year ago, when 38 percent of the state's wheat was rated good to excellent.

The soybean market could face pressure as U.S. farmers are expected to boost plantings this year. 

Analysts expect the USDA to project U.S. soybean plantings for 2018 at a record-high of 91.1 million acres and corn plantings at 89.4 million acres, down from 90.2 million in 2017.

Analysts also expect the USDA to report record-high March 1 corn and soybean stocks, reflecting several years of bumper harvests. 

There was additional pressure stemming from news that Agroconsult, a Brazilian consulting firm, raised its estimate of the country's soybean harvest to 118.9 million tonnes, from 117.5 million previously.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, wheat, soymeal and corn futures contracts on Tuesday, and net buyers in soyoil, traders said. 

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; editing by Richard Pullin)