(RTTNews) - Vallourec S.A. (VLOUF, VLOWY, VK.PA), a French-based manufacturing company, said Wednesday that it has secured five contracts in Indonesia, including two signed in February, for a total of approximately 36,000 tons of oil country tubular goods to support oil and gas o
(RTTNews) - Vallourec S.A. (VLOUF, VLOWY, VK.PA), a French-based manufacturing company, said Wednesday that it has secured five contracts in Indonesia, including two signed in February, for a total of approximately 36,000 tons of oil country tubular goods to support oil and gas o
A senior Japanese official and the country’s military have expressed regret after a serving army officer was arrested on suspicion of trespassing at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo. Tokyo police have identified the 23-year-old suspect as Kodai Murata, a second lieutenant with the Ground Self-Defence Force, and said he was suspected of bringing an 18cm (7-inch) knife onto the embassy premises. No one ...
A senior Japanese official and the country’s military have expressed regret after a serving army officer was arrested on suspicion of trespassing at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo. Tokyo police have identified the 23-year-old suspect as Kodai Murata, a second lieutenant with the Ground Self-Defence Force, and said he was suspected of bringing an 18cm (7-inch) knife onto the embassy premises. No one was injured in the incident and a blade was found in shrubbery on the embassy grounds, Japanese...
Pakorn Supajitsoontorn/iStock via Getty Images A federal judge said the Pentagon's move to blacklist Anthropic ( ANTHRO ) appears to be punishment for the AI startup going public with its contract dispute, which would be a violation of the company's right to free speech. "Everyone, including Anthropic, agrees that the Department of War is free to stop using Claude and look for a more permissive AI...
Pakorn Supajitsoontorn/iStock via Getty Images A federal judge said the Pentagon's move to blacklist Anthropic ( ANTHRO ) appears to be punishment for the AI startup going public with its contract dispute, which would be a violation of the company's right to free speech. "Everyone, including Anthropic, agrees that the Department of War is free to stop using Claude and look for a more permissive AI vendor," Judge Rita Lin said during a hearing on Tuesday. But the Pentagon designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk "looks like an attempt to cripple" the company and doesn't "really seem to be tailored to the stated national security concern," she noted. "It looks like DOW is punishing Anthropic for trying to bring public scrutiny to this contract dispute, which would, of course, be a violation of the First Amendment," Lin added. Anthropic ( ANTHRO ) sued the U.S. government after it was blacklisted over its safeguards that prevent its AI from being used for domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons. It warned that the blacklisting could reduce its 2026 revenue by "multiple billions of dollars." The company sought a temporary restraining order on its blacklisting while the case plays out in court. Lin said she expects to issue a ruling on Anthropic's ( ANTHRO ) request in the next few days. More on Anthropic Wall Street Lunch: Anthropic Sues Pentagon Anthropic's blacklisting defended by Trump administration in court filing Pentagon is said to move to replace Anthropic AI after supply-chain rift Karp says Palantir still using Anthropic, despite Pentagon blacklisting Microsoft backs Anthropic in legal fight over Pentagon blacklisting
Maksim Labkouski/iStock via Getty Images US business activity growth slowed to an 11-month low in March as businesses reported a weakening inflow of new orders and a spike in prices following the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Growth slows as war breaks out The headline Flash S&P Global US PMI Composite Output Index fell from 51.9 in February to 51.4 in March, its lowest since April of last y...
Maksim Labkouski/iStock via Getty Images US business activity growth slowed to an 11-month low in March as businesses reported a weakening inflow of new orders and a spike in prices following the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Growth slows as war breaks out The headline Flash S&P Global US PMI Composite Output Index fell from 51.9 in February to 51.4 in March, its lowest since April of last year. Although above the 50.0 no-change level to signal an ongoing expansion of output, the March reading pointed to a slowing in the rate of growth for a second successive month to round off the economy’s weakest quarter since the fourth quarter of 2023. The March PMI data are indicative of GDP rising at an annualized rate of just 1.0%, with a modest 1.3% expansion signalled for the first quarter as a whole. The slowdown was led by the service sector, where business activity grew at the weakest pace for 11 months amid a weaker gain in new work, the latter driven by a steepening rate of loss of export sales. Slower growth and falling orders, especially in terms of exports, were commonly blamed on subdued confidence among both consumers and business customers. A reticence to commit to additional projects and orders amid the increased geopolitical uncertainty caused by the war in the Middle East reportedly compounded existing policy-related concerns over federal spending. There was better news from manufacturing, where output growth accelerated slightly as new orders rose at their fastest rate for five months. Export orders stabilized after eight months of decline. Panelists indicated some softening of the tariff impact on order books, as well as instances of purchasing of safety stocks, with factories and their customers keen to lock in low prices and ensure supply availability. Supply delays and rising prices War-related shipping issues were a key cause of longer supplier delivery times in March. Supply delays were more widely reported by manufacturers than at any time since...
Shares of China’s food-delivery firms surged as the authorities stepped up efforts to end the intense competition in the sector that has driven down profits. Meituan shares surged as much as 13% in Hong Kong, the biggest intraday advance since October 2024, before trimming gains. Rivals Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. added 6.7%, and JD.com Inc. climbed 5.7%. Shares of the companies rallied after China...
Shares of China’s food-delivery firms surged as the authorities stepped up efforts to end the intense competition in the sector that has driven down profits. Meituan shares surged as much as 13% in Hong Kong, the biggest intraday advance since October 2024, before trimming gains. Rivals Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. added 6.7%, and JD.com Inc. climbed 5.7%. Shares of the companies rallied after China’s market regulator held a seminar to curb unfair competition, and its official website reposted a column from the state-backed Economic Daily newspaper that called for an end to price wars in the industry. The entire food-delivery sector has fallen into a “vicious cycle” of losing money just to gain attention, which ultimately weighs on the broader recovery of consumption, the Economic Daily column said. The price wars run directly counter to the central government’s efforts to boost consumption, it said. The tone of regulators in curbing the intense competition is likely to keep getting “stronger and stronger, until the market finally gets the full message,” said Steven Leung , an executive director at UOB Kay Hian in Hong Kong. Chinese technology giants have been mired in a fierce battle to win customers in the food-ordering sector, after JD.com said early last year it would to enter the industry to gain market share from Alibaba and Meituan. The three companies have since announced rounds of subsidies to compensate customers in order to draw traffic to their apps. Meituan in February announced its biggest annual loss since at least 2021 because of the competition. Meituan will announce its 2025 earnings on Thursday. The company probably made a net loss of 24.1 billion yuan ($3.49 billion) for the year, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates .
HOT TOPICS China discovers world’s second-largest light rare earth mine China has discovered the world’s second-largest light rare earth mine in the Maoniuping mining area in Mianning county, Sichuan province. The discovery adds 9.7 million tons of resources, a more than 300% increase in reserves. The site also yielded significant associated minerals, adding 27.1 million tons of fluorite and 37.2 ...
HOT TOPICS China discovers world’s second-largest light rare earth mine China has discovered the world’s second-largest light rare earth mine in the Maoniuping mining area in Mianning county, Sichuan province. The discovery adds 9.7 million tons of resources, a more than 300% increase in reserves. The site also yielded significant associated minerals, adding 27.1 million tons of fluorite and 37.2 million tons of barite. Rare earth oxides are widely used in critical sectors spanning magnetic and fluorescent materials.
Buyers are snapping up Russian crude shipments after the US waived sanctions , but are taking a more cautious approach to Iranian cargoes. The Trump administration temporarily lifted restrictions on oil from Russia, and then Iran , earlier this month to combat the surge in energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East. But the short duration of the waivers, and compliance concerns, mean flows...
Buyers are snapping up Russian crude shipments after the US waived sanctions , but are taking a more cautious approach to Iranian cargoes. The Trump administration temporarily lifted restrictions on oil from Russia, and then Iran , earlier this month to combat the surge in energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East. But the short duration of the waivers, and compliance concerns, mean flows are unlikely to normalize. The move has also drawn criticism from US allies worried it could weaken pressure on Moscow and Tehran. Some 18 tankers, carrying about 13.5 million barrels of Russian crude, east of Suez are likely available for purchase, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s down from 25 vessels holding about 19 million barrels nearly two weeks ago, when the waiver was broadened. The decline comes even as additional cargoes have entered the region after leaving the Suez Canal. Most of the vessels are signaling “for orders,” indicating no fixed buyers. One is showing its destination is near Singapore — a common holding area for sale. Seven of the tankers are carrying Russia’s flagship Urals crude, a grade similar to much of the Middle Eastern oil affected by the war. In contrast, Iranian floating storage has largely held near 27 million barrels since its waiver on Friday, according to Vortexa Ltd. State-owned firms in China and India are holding back, citing hurdles around payment, insurance and finding compliant ships. Floating storage typically refers to tankers idled at sea for at least a week. It’s used as an indicator of availability, although it excludes vessels in transit that may be carrying unsold cargoes. “I would expect countries to be more hesitant to buy Iranian oil under US waivers than Russian oil,” said Vandana Hari , founder of Singapore consultancy Vanda Insights. “There could be quality concerns, and questions around the payment mechanism, which is not the case with Russian oil.”
Riders refuel their motorbikes at a gas station in Hongdae district in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday, July 2, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images South Korea stepped up its emergency economic planning on Wednesday as Prime Minister Kim Min-seok warned the government must prepare for "worst-case scenarios" from a Middle East conflict that has shown no sign of abating. The government planne...
Riders refuel their motorbikes at a gas station in Hongdae district in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday, July 2, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images South Korea stepped up its emergency economic planning on Wednesday as Prime Minister Kim Min-seok warned the government must prepare for "worst-case scenarios" from a Middle East conflict that has shown no sign of abating. The government planned to set up an emergency economic task force, led by Kim, to coordinate cross-ministerial efforts, the prime minister said at a press briefing, according to Yonhap News Agency . "It is time to step up the government's preemptive response system to prepare against a prolonged situation, including worst-case scenarios," Kim said. The group will convene twice a week across five working groups, overseeing the war-induced impact on energy, the macroeconomy, financial markets and household livelihoods, as well as overseas situation monitoring. Separately, an emergency economic situation room will also be set up at the presidential office, Kim added. The moves follow South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's instruction on Tuesday to activate a preemptive emergency response system, as Seoul stepped up efforts to manage the economic fallout from the conflict. The Asian country imports around 70% of its crude oil and 20% of liquefied natural gas from the Middle East, leaving the economy particularly vulnerable to prolonged disruptions in energy flows. The Strait of Hormuz , a narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and carrying one-fifth of global energy flows, has been effectively closed by Iran since the war began on Feb. 28. The disruption has rattled global energy markets, reigniting inflationary pressures stemming from surging energy prices. South Korea has rolled out several emergency measures as the Iran turmoil deepened, including imposing a fuel price cap for the first time in nearly three decades to contain a spike in energy prices. watch now VIDEO 3:...