Tag: jul 27 2021

China’s development of a digital yuan could threaten the dollar’s position as the world’s leading currency. (See “Dollar Under Assault as World’s Reserve Currency,” Trends Journal, 1 June 2021.) Although 80 countries are developing digital versions of their national currencies, China already has tested its version with a million Chinese consumers and is ready to...

To head off further inflation, Russia’s central bank has raised its benchmark interest by a full point, its largest single rate increase in six years, and the fourth in recent months. (See “Russia Raises Interest Rate to Tamp Down Inflation,” Trends Journal, 15 June 2021.) The Bank of Russia has raised its rate by 2.25...

Starting Monday this week, Canfor Corp., one of the continent’s largest lumber producers, has been forced to cut back production at its British Columbia mills because hundreds of wildfires across western North America have cut the supply of timber, the company said. The company’s 10 mills will reduce output by about 115 million board feet...

Futures prices for Brazil’s 2022 arabica coffee harvest rose past $2 a pound last week, a level not seen since October 2014, as freezing temperatures frosted crops in the country’s three largest growing regions and sparked fears of a poor yield. Frosts were worse than predicted; temperatures fell as low as -5°C, or 23°F. Even...

Lithium carbonate, used to make battery cathodes for electric vehicles (EVs), will be increasingly scarce (see related story in this issue), according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, and will not be able to meet market demand next year. Prices already have risen, not only for lithium carbonate, which has doubled in price year on year; the...

Investors expect lithium, a key metal in batteries for portable devices, to play an even bigger role in a world with more and more electric vehicles (EVs) and connectivity. The price of lithium carbonate, the form of lithium most common in EV batteries, has doubled over the past 12 months, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence reported. Share...

Since the beginning of this year, the price of benchmark Australian thermal coal—one of the dirtiest energy sources—has zoomed up 80 percent to $146 a ton, its highest mark in more than 10 years, according to the Financial Times. That makes Australian coal the world’s best investment so far this year, beating the 44-percent gain...

The European Central Bank (ECB) will keep interest rates at record-low negative levels until inflation settles at the bank’s 2-percent target “well ahead of the end of [our] projection horizon and durably,” ECB president Christine Lagarde told a 22 July news conference. The Eurozone’s inflation rate jumped to 2 percent in May from 1.6 percent...

The dollar’s value has risen this month and remains close to its high point this year (see related story in this issue), threatening the economic recovery and debt stability of emerging markets, the Financial Times reported.  Investors increasingly believe the U.S. and Chinese economic recoveries are losing momentum, and a new round of a virulent...

After setting a new price record above $34,000 (“Tin Prices Set New Record”, Trends Journal, 20 July 2021), tin prices closed last week still in record territory as fears of impending shortages persisted. Tin’s price has shot up 70 percent this year and 9 percent in this month alone. Tin is essential in everything from...