Oil prices turned down after the Chinese government flagged it was looking for ways to tame record high coal prices and that it would ensure coal mines operate at full capacity as Beijing moved to ease a power shortage. Chinese coal prices and other commodity prices slumped in early trade, which in turn pulled oil prices down from an uptick earlier in the day.
* Brent, WTI up around 20% since beginning of September. * API shows crude stocks up, fuel stocks down -sources. * Official U.S. inventory data out Wednesday. By Stephanie Kelly.
Oil futures rose on Tuesday and were near multi-year highs as an energy supply crunch continued across the globe, while falling temperatures in China revived concerns over whether the world's biggest energy consumer can meet domestic heating needs. The Brent crude benchmark rose 75 cents to settle at $85.08 a barrel. Prices have been climbing the last two months.
Union workers at Exxon Mobil Corp's Beaumont, Texas, oil refinery overwhelmingly rejected the company's six-year labor contract on Tuesday, extending a lengthy standoff over job assignments.
China's new home prices stalled for the first time since February 2020 in September, official data showed on Wednesday, as the chill in the property market intensified amid a sustained crackdown on speculative investment.
Asian shares advanced and U.S. long-dated bond yields edged up to a five-month high on Wednesday on rising optimism about the global economy and corporate earnings while the yen slipped to a four-year low on the dollar. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.8% while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.3%, led by 0.9% gains in Australia.
Asian shares advanced and U.S. long-dated bond yields edged up to a five-month high on Wednesday on rising optimism about the global economy and corporate earnings while the yen slipped to a four-year low on the dollar. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.8% while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.3%, led by 0.9% gains in Australia.
Japanese shares rose on Wednesday, underpinned by overnight strength on Wall Street, while higher U.S. Treasury yields lifted the country's brokerage and banking shares.
Union workers at a Beaumont, Texas oil refinery on Tuesday rejected an Exxon Mobil (XOM) labor contract by a wide margin, union officials said, a move that will continue a nearly six-month-long refinery lockout. "Exxon's take it or leave it offer is not what we're looking for," said Bryan Gross, a United Steelworkers international union representative.
U.S. bonds drove currencies on Wednesday, with a rise in long-term rates pushing the dollar to an almost four-year high on the yen, but a decline in shorter-dated yields putting it on the back foot against most other major peers. The dollar and yen were also under pressure from a global equity rally that sapped demand for assets regarded as safe havens.
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