World Street: Of falling crude, buying cars online, corporate doublespeak on carbon net zero, land sharks

World Street

Crude prices
..fell around 5 percent as global markets are unsure about China, the world’s largest crude importer. China demand concerns are compounded by weak economic data coming out of the U.S. and the European Union. On Wednesday, the EU slashed eurozone growth forecasts for 2023 from 0.8% (forecast) in September to 0.6%.

Bitcoin
..briefly fell below $36,000 following a move by the SEC to delay several approvals for bitcoin-backed ETFs. Also, traders appear to be losing some of their conviction that the Federal Reserve will start to lower interest rates early in 2024.

Land sharks
Investment funds are buying US farmland, amassing over a million acres as they seek a hedge against inflation and gains from rising global demand for food, reports Reuters. But this is worrying some US lawmakers who fear corporate interest will make agricultural land unaffordable. A bill to restrict such purchases is in the works.

Spending Stumbles
Walmart third-quarter earnings beat analyst estimates on strong sales, but the retail major struck a cautious tone with its outlook after it saw consumer spending weaken at the end of the period. Inflation has waned — a tailwind for big retail chains – but prices of some grocery items remain higher. Stock took a beating.

World Street

Buy cars online
South Korean automaker Hyundai on Thursday announced a partnership with Amazon to offer its cars on the e-commerce giant’s platform. The companies said the arrangement will shortly allow customers to purchase a new car on Amazon from a local dealership and then either pick it up or have it delivered.

Cloud of Smoke
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Thursday said it won’t proceed with the full spinoff of its cloud computing arm Cloud Intelligence Group. Apparently, this is due to the US government’s restrictions on cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) technology imports to China. Dejected investors hammered the stock.

Green doublespeak
Glencore, ExxonMobil and Stellantis are among companies lobbying for policies that conflict with their own pledges to cut carbon emissions, says a study by non-profit think tank InfluenceMap. The report assessed 293 companies from the Forbes 2000 list and found that of those with a net-zero emissions or similar climate target, nearly 60 percent are at risk of “net zero greenwash” due to their lobbying.

Car of the year
Automotive publication MotorTrend has named Prius its 2024 car of the year. It’s electric, to a degree, but a hybrid. For all the headlines about the transition to EVs, buyers don’t exactly seem to be as excited about pure EVs

Boeing Boost
American aerospace giant Boeing pulled ahead of its arch European rival Airbus after four days of hectic deals at the 2023 Dubai Airshow. Boeing chalked up 295 aircraft orders in comparison to Airbus’s 86 orders by day four of the Middle East’s largest aviation event. Airbus grappled with publicly aired concerns over the cost and performance of its Rolls-Royce engines.