Global Macro Perspectives
Baltic dry index rose 1.5% last week; Capesize Index was up 8.1%; Panamax Index fell 4.1%; Supramax Index was down 1.0%; Handysize Index fell 1.9%.
Thermal coal stockpiles ticked up but are still at extremely low levels; Steel stockpiles fell but stocks are high; Iron ore stockpiles recorder a massive rise reaching new record high. Prices still strong.
Iron ore inventory rise could be a early warning sign of stronger than expected China slowdown.
Baltic Dirty Tanker Index fell 4.1%; Baltic Clean Tanker Index fell 6.0%.
Holidays in the U.S. and in Europe slowed the demand and brought lower rates.
Baltic Dirty Tanker Index rose 0.5%; Baltic Clean Tanker Index fell 6.9%.
Baltic dry index rose 3.3% last week; Capesize Index was up 11.2%; Panamax Index fell 3.1%; Supramax Index was down 1.4%; Handysize Index fell 1.0%.
Thermal coal stockpiles are unchanged at extremely low levels; Steel stockpiles also unchanged but stocks high; Iron ore stockpiles near record high. Prices strong.
Working gas in storage rose 92 Bcf from previous week. The consensus was at 90 Bcf.
Storage level is 170 Bcf lower than same time year ago and bellow 5-year average.
U.S. railroads originated 294,271 carloads, up 1.4% compared with the same week in 2010 and down 1.7% compared with 5-year average. Week over week change was 4.4%.
No changes from last week. Weak demand, low distillates stocks, high crude stocks. Driving season ahead.
Baltic dry index fell 2.5% last week; Capesize Index was down 4.6%; Panamax Index fell 2.8%; Supramax Index was up 0.4%; Handysize Index fell 0.5%.
Large decrease in thermal coal stockpiles; steel stockpiles also fell, iron ore stockpiles unchanged. Prices strong. No sign of any China slowdown.
Mixed bag of data. Low refinery utilization rates, low net imports, low product stocks. On the other hand high level of crude oil .
Driving season could begin to lower the crude inventory.
China trade balance was reported at USD 11.4 billion vs. USD 0.1 billion in March and USD 3.2 billion consensus. Export and import growth were running at 29.9 and 21.8 percent vs. 35.8 and 27.3 percent y-o-y in March
Strong set of figures.
Baltic dry index rose 5.6% last week; Capesize Index was up 0.1%; Panamax Index rose 22.0%; Supramax Index was down 0.3%; Handysize Index fell 0.6%.
Commodities stockpiles were not released, but judging by the price action I suspect no major changes.
Baltic Dirty Tanker Index fell 4.0%; Baltic Clean Tanker Index fell 2.9%.
Oversupply of vessels is so high that at even increased supply of cargoes rates are sinking.
Number of crude oil drilling rigs in the U.S. rose for 48 in April ; Number of natural gas drilling rigs rose for 13.
On world scale number of oil & gas drilling rigs fell for 341 in April. This is because of a seasonal fall of drilling activity in Canada.
Again the price of oil is not determined by the fundamentals but the last couple day’s new hit scare – deflation.
Baltic dry index rose 1.2% last week; Capesize Index was up 1.6%; Panamax Index rose 5.3%; Supramax Index was down 0.8%; Handysize Index fell 0.6%.
Huge drop in thermal coal stockpiles; Huge drop in steel inventory; Iron ore inventory unchanged. Prices are strong. Monetary tightening still not affecting Chinese commodity demand much.