May ICE NY cocoa (CCK26 ) on Wednesday closed up +168 (+5.55%), and May ICE London cocoa #7 (CAK26 ) closed up +61 (+2.62%). Cocoa prices settled sharply higher on Wednesday as a plunge in the dollar index ($DXY ) to a 4-week low sparked short covering in cocoa futures....
May ICE NY cocoa (CCK26 ) on Wednesday closed up +168 (+5.55%), and May ICE London cocoa #7 (CAK26 ) closed up +61 (+2.62%). Cocoa prices settled sharply higher on Wednesday as a plunge in the dollar index ($DXY ) to a 4-week low sparked short covering in cocoa futures....
Chinese buyers were the end destination of a five-year smuggling pipeline that drained an estimated US$917 million worth of stolen copper from Chile, authorities said on Wednesday after police dismantled the network in one of the largest organised crime operations ever uncovered in the country. The group trucked stolen metal to Iquique, a port city in Chile’s far north, and shipped it to China in ...
Chinese buyers were the end destination of a five-year smuggling pipeline that drained an estimated US$917 million worth of stolen copper from Chile, authorities said on Wednesday after police dismantled the network in one of the largest organised crime operations ever uncovered in the country. The group trucked stolen metal to Iquique, a port city in Chile’s far north, and shipped it to China in containers disguised as scrap cargo. Over the same period, it collected more than US$55 million in...
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) before the closing bell in New York City on April 8, 2026. Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images U.S. stock futures were little changed on Wednesday night after a massive comeback following President Donald Trump's decision to suspend attacks on Iran for two weeks. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.1%. Futures tied to ...
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) before the closing bell in New York City on April 8, 2026. Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images U.S. stock futures were little changed on Wednesday night after a massive comeback following President Donald Trump's decision to suspend attacks on Iran for two weeks. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.1%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 10 points, or less than 0.1%. During Wednesday's regular session, the S&P 500 climbed 2.51%, and the Nasdaq Composite popped 2.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 1,300 points, or 2.85%, for its best day since April 2025 — back when Trump softened his stance on some of his lofty initial tariffs. On Tuesday night, Trump agreed to pause attacks on Iran. The Middle Eastern conflict has been going on for five weeks and has resulted in the closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz. "I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post . "We received a 10-point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate." The "double sided" ceasefire, however, was contingent on Iran agreeing to reopening the strait. Tehran agreed to reopen the waterway for the next two weeks as long as all attacks are halted, according to a statement from Iran's Foreign Minister. Media reports said that Israel has also agreed to the ceasefire. But later on Wednesday, Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf accused the U.S. of already violating the ceasefire agreement . The violations are Israel's continued attacks on Lebanon, a drone's entry into Iranian airspace and the denial of the Islamic Republic's right to enrich uranium, he said. Even as the market rebounded on Wednesday, there are still potential pitfalls around negotiations in the Middle East, according to Eric Johnston, chief equity and macro strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. He spoke on CNBC...
Lockheed Martin Services, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), won a $105M firm-fixed-price task order to support GPS IIIF launch and on-orbit testing operations. Work is expected to be completed by March 2030, with an initial funding of $13.42M already allocated from FY2026 R&D budgets. The contract is awarded and managed by the Space Systems Command. More on Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin: ...
Lockheed Martin Services, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), won a $105M firm-fixed-price task order to support GPS IIIF launch and on-orbit testing operations. Work is expected to be completed by March 2030, with an initial funding of $13.42M already allocated from FY2026 R&D budgets. The contract is awarded and managed by the Space Systems Command. More on Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin: Strong Franchise, Limited Upside At Current Valuation Why Lockheed Martin Is Heading To $843: A Deep Dive Into Its Financial Health The Shahed Drone War Is Creating A Missile Defense Supercycle For Lockheed Martin Defense giants secure $1.84B Andromeda deal to boost space surveillance Wars cut output and force hard fiscal trade-offs, IMF says
Oil rebounded after its biggest one-day drop since April 2020, as the Strait of Hormuz remained largely blocked and Israeli attacks on Lebanon threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate traded near $97 a barrel, after slumping 14% on Wednesday, while Brent closed below $95. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that passage of oil tankers throug...
Oil rebounded after its biggest one-day drop since April 2020, as the Strait of Hormuz remained largely blocked and Israeli attacks on Lebanon threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate traded near $97 a barrel, after slumping 14% on Wednesday, while Brent closed below $95. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that passage of oil tankers through the strait were halted after Israeli strikes, although US Vice President JD Vance countered that assertion, saying “we are seeing signs that the straits are starting to reopen.” The near-halt of traffic through the waterway — through which about a fifth of the world’s crude and liquefied natural gas flowed before the US and Israeli first struck Iran at the end of February — has caused the biggest-ever oil market disruption . Vance will lead a US delegation to Islamabad for direct talks with Iran on Saturday morning local time. “This isn’t over just yet,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president for trading at BOK Financial Securities Inc. “We will need to see a full opening of the strait with no obstacles before we see crude prices in the low $80s for WTI. And I don’t see that in the next two weeks.” Sporadic fighting continued throughout the region, including the Israeli moves in Lebanon and Iranian strikes on Gulf states. There’s disagreement between Tehran and the American-Israeli side over whether the ceasefire covers Lebanon. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said in a statement posted on X that three clauses of the ceasefire proposal have been violated so far. Even once Hormuz transit picks up, the return of energy supplies won’t be instant. Output has been reduced at oil and gas fields, while refineries have curtailed production or shut down. Some of those will take weeks — or possibly longer — to return to normal. “We’re still far from over in Iran,” said Carl Larry, an oil and gas analyst at Enverus. “Every day remains an adventure, but $90 lo...
With reports from Gulf nations of continued drone strikes , Israel’s insistence it can keep bombing Lebanon and traffic in the Strait of Hormuz reportedly at a standstill , it would seem Donald Trump’s dramatic announcement last night of a ceasefire in the war with Iran might have been premature . In fact, some Israelis say they want the war to continue to fully eliminate the regional threat they ...
With reports from Gulf nations of continued drone strikes , Israel’s insistence it can keep bombing Lebanon and traffic in the Strait of Hormuz reportedly at a standstill , it would seem Donald Trump’s dramatic announcement last night of a ceasefire in the war with Iran might have been premature . In fact, some Israelis say they want the war to continue to fully eliminate the regional threat they say is posed by Tehran. But on Wednesday it was Lebanon that Israel was bombing, its largest assault on that country since the start of its recent invasion. Israeli attacks said to be aimed at Iran-aligned Hezbollah have killed at least 1,500 people there since the war began. Iran today pushed back on any de-escalation of the war that doesn’t include Lebanon. “The Iran–U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit : the U.S. must choose—ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,” Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post . What You Need to Know Today Among the many long-term consequences of the war, including potentially elevating Russia and China at the expense of American credibility , a big one may be the continued splintering of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Trump has attacked NATO for not assisting with the conflict or its consequences, adding to his long list of grievances concerning the defensive alliance. Now the US president is again talking about leaving NATO (though he does not have the legal power to do so ). One man, however, has been making it his mission to preserve NATO’s integrity, in part by showing some support for Trump. But as the grim economic and political fallout of the war becomes clear, Secretary General Mark Rutte’s strategy is coming under fire . As Trump Bullies NATO, Europe Questions Rutte In NATO’s glass and steel corridors, calls and texts were coming in from European governments: Mark Rutte needs to tone it down. This isn’t our war. Read more It’s been said that no one profits from a prolonged ...
Whether the US-Israeli war on Iran wraps up quickly or drags on, the repercussions will be felt for years, reshaping warfare, geopolitics and energy security as well as how the world sees the United States and its tactical and strategic capabilities. In the final instalment of a three-part series, we look at the move away from precision strikes on limited military assets. When Iran’s South Pars ga...
Whether the US-Israeli war on Iran wraps up quickly or drags on, the repercussions will be felt for years, reshaping warfare, geopolitics and energy security as well as how the world sees the United States and its tactical and strategic capabilities. In the final instalment of a three-part series, we look at the move away from precision strikes on limited military assets. When Iran’s South Pars gas field was hit at the start of the US-Israeli war on the country, Tehran retaliated with attacks on...
The Trump administration wants to require health insurance companies to hand over troves of sensitive, detailed, and identifiable medical records from millions of federal workers and retirees, along with their families. The move is raising immediate concern from legal and health policy experts, according to a report by KFF Health News . The unprecedented proposal was quietly revealed in a short no...
The Trump administration wants to require health insurance companies to hand over troves of sensitive, detailed, and identifiable medical records from millions of federal workers and retirees, along with their families. The move is raising immediate concern from legal and health policy experts, according to a report by KFF Health News . The unprecedented proposal was quietly revealed in a short notice from the Office of Personnel Management in December, KFF notes. OPM said it is seeking "service use and cost data," which would be harvested from medical records such as "medical claims, pharmacy claims, encounter data, and provider data." That list could give the federal government access to prescriptions employees have filled and their diagnoses, as well as provider information, doctors' notes, treatments, and visit summaries, among other sensitive health information. The collection would affect more than 8 million Americans and harvest data from 65 insurance companies, according to KFF. Read full article Comments
Exxon Warns Of $6.5 Billion Hit From Iran War As Q1 Earnings Set To Print Slightly Below Consensus In an early clue how the Iran war will impact energy earnings, ExxonMobil warned of a $6.5bn hit to Q1 earnings from the Iran war but said the bulk of this was the result of unfavorable timing for its accounting of hedging contracts, which would be offset as underlying transactions were eventually co...
Exxon Warns Of $6.5 Billion Hit From Iran War As Q1 Earnings Set To Print Slightly Below Consensus In an early clue how the Iran war will impact energy earnings, ExxonMobil warned of a $6.5bn hit to Q1 earnings from the Iran war but said the bulk of this was the result of unfavorable timing for its accounting of hedging contracts, which would be offset as underlying transactions were eventually completed. The US supermajor also said that global oil and gas production would be 6% lower in the first three months of the year than in the fourth quarter of 2025 because of attacks on facilities in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in which it holds ownership stakes. According to Exxon's 8K filed this morning , Goldman calculated that the company's adjusted EPS at the mid-point came in at ~$1.80 vs. consensus closer to $1.90 and Q4 levels closer to $1.71. As shown in the chart below, there was sequential improvement in Upstream driven by higher liquids prices , sequential declines in Downstream due to higher maintenance and relatively flat performance in Chemicals . Volume disruptions at Exxon's production and refining businesses would deliver a $400mn to $800mn hit to earnings, while trading losses incurred because of a failure to deliver physical cargoes hedged with financial derivatives would cost another $600mn to $800mn, the company said in a statement. Separately, the company provided a number of strategic updates, including: (1) the Permian likely producing at 1.8 mn boe/d in 2026 , (2) first gas at Golden Pass having been achieved on March 30 , and (3) that the Middle East production negatively impacted Q1 Upstream volumes by 6% compared to Q4 levels, with the overall Middle East portfolio representing 20% of Upstream production (albeit a lower level of segment earnings). As an aside, the quarterly comparison was challenging given disruptions in the Middle East, and large timing effects, the latter of which are excluded for the purposes of comparison. Exxon has on...
Levi Strauss CEO Michelle Gass discusses the company's strong start to the year, reporting growth across multiple geographies, categories, genders and sales channels. She attributes this momentum to the strength of the Levi's brand, product innovation and effective execution by the team. She speaks on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)
Levi Strauss CEO Michelle Gass discusses the company's strong start to the year, reporting growth across multiple geographies, categories, genders and sales channels. She attributes this momentum to the strength of the Levi's brand, product innovation and effective execution by the team. She speaks on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)