As hindsight as it may sound, there was always little chance of a breakthrough in the Ukraine peace initiative undertaken by US representatives in Moscow. After five hours a Kremlin spokesman briefed reporters saying the talks were “very useful, constructive, and highly substantive,” but a “compromise option was not found.”
One way to measure global and regional economic health is to follow the worldwide activities of manufacturers. The latest snapshot is anything but encouraging. Call it what you will—tariff headwinds, high interest rates, inflation anxiety, or stuttering aggregate demand—factories were forced to scale back production in November.
WTI +$0.49/barrel (+0.84%), Brent +$0.64/barrel (+1.02%), Heating Oil -12.34c/gallon (-5.02%), RBOB +1.25c/gallon (+0.66%) and Gasoil -$26.00/tonne (-3.65%). The difference between COB in October and November shows WTI -3.98%, Brent -2.87%, Heating Oil -4.04%, RBOB -4.88% and Gasoil -4.56% respectively. This is the longest run of losses since WTI fell five times during the Nov22 to Mar23 period and Brent’s five-straight declines over Jan23 to May23.
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