In the United States, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins recognised the 31 states that have taken action alongside the federal emergency dyed diesel relief created by Executive Order 14435 of October 5, and urged the remaining governors to follow. The IRS has suspended enforcement and collection of the federal dyed diesel excise tax, 24.4 cents a gallon, for the relief period, and the USDA estimates combined federal and state savings of more than 640 million dollars across about 224.6 million harvested acres.
In freight, tanker rates in the site market tables rose 5.62 percent on the day to 949.43 dollars, up 5.97 percent on the week, extending the pattern in yesterday’s Scorpio story, where fourth quarter LR2 bookings averaged 181,000 dollars a day. Dry bulk freight eased 0.56 percent to 12.47 dollars, so the strength is specific to oil tonnage, not shipping in general.
In mining earnings, Teck Resources’ profit surged as copper prices hit record highs, Mining.com reported, a headline that sits against copper easing 0.86 percent to 6.52 dollars a pound in today’s tables after its run. The mining beat carries the company detail.
Diesel reached the gold cost line: Agnico Eagle flagged diesel as a risk to gold output costs next year, Bloomberg reported, the first major gold miner in this window to put the fuel, rather than the metal price, at the centre of its cost warning. Gold itself slipped below 4,000 dollars today, covered in the update to the gold story.
In Europe, Indonesia’s Antara news agency reported that the European Union is accelerating its oil stock release for diesel supply, in Indonesian. That is follow on coverage of the 42 million barrel European release, half of it diesel, covered in yesterday’s story, and no new release figure is claimed here.
In US gas, natural gas eased 1.56 percent to 2.91 dollars per million British thermal units in the tables after yesterday’s 8.34 percent rebound, leaving it up 10.08 percent on the week. The record money manager short reported on October 23 remains the standing positioning extreme, and the week’s net move is now higher despite today’s down snapshot.