Overnight stock market
European and American stock markets are closed for a day on Friday due to the Good Friday holiday. This week, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation concerns and the prospect of a Fed rate hike, all three major U.S. stock indexes recorded cumulative declines, with the S&P 500 and nasdaq both falling more than 2 percent.
Commodity markets
According to the New York Times, EU officials are drafting a plan to embargo Russian petroleum products, and the specific measures will be implemented in phases similar to the previous coal ban. The news further pushed up the rally in international oil prices this week.
In the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, natural gas prices continue to be at a high level, while U.S. natural gas inventories are at a low level, and U.S. Energy Agency (EIA) data shows that as of early April, total U.S. natural gas inventories fell by 23.9% from the same period last year and 17.8% lower than the five-year average.
Market news
[U.S. government announces resumption of leasing for oil and gas drilling]
On April 15, local time, the US government announced the end of the 15-month lease ban and resumed the sale of leases for oil and gas drilling and exploitation on federal land. It also said it would significantly reduce the area available for lease and charge higher royalties to oil and gas producers. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, about 582 square kilometers of land will be provided for oil and gas drilling leases, an 80 percent reduction in land area compared to the scale of approvals before the ban. In addition, mining companies will be required to pay royalties of 18.75 percent of the mining value, up from the previous 12.5 percent.
[Biden nominates Michael Barr as Fed Vice Chairman]
On the 15th local time, US President Biden announced that he would nominate Michael Barr as the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve responsible for financial supervision. After the first nominee, Ruskin, did not receive a Senate-confirmed vote, Biden made a second attempt to nominate a candidate for the position. Biden said Barr would play a key role in the Fed's quest to fight inflation, if confirmed.
[U.S. Department of State: "Nothing Can Stop" U.S. Government Support Ukraine]
On the 15th local time, US State Department spokesman Ned Price responded to the media on Russia's warning that the United States would stop arming Ukraine, saying that "nothing can stop" the US government from continuing to support Ukraine. Price said billions of dollars worth of security assistance from the United States and other allies were exactly what Ukraine had asked for, and Ukraine used that security assistance to work. According to the Washington Post reported on April 14 local time, the Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a note to the United States, warning that the united States and NATO's arms shipments to Ukraine are exacerbating the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and may bring "unpredictable consequences."
[German Chancellor: Willing to allocate 2 billion euros for military aid, most of which will be provided to Ukraine]
On the 15th local time, German Federal Chancellor Scholz said that Germany is willing to allocate 2 billion euros for military assistance, and most of it will be provided to Ukraine. According to sources, the €2 billion will be used to purchase new military equipment, of which €400 million will be provided to the European Peace Fund and to buy weapons for Ukraine through this EU financing tool. At the same time, the aid will include the cost of the German Bundeswehr and third countries to ship weapons to Ukraine. According to the sources, the appropriation is not included in the 100 billion euros special defense budget proposed by the German federal government, but will be spent separately.
[Japan's nuclear regulator "broadly agrees" with nuclear contaminated water discharge plan]
The Japan Atomic Power Regulatory Commission largely concluded its review of the safety of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant's nuclear contaminated water discharge plan on the 15th. The committee "broadly agreed" with TEPCO's plan to discharge contaminated water from nuclear pollution, and in May it will issue a de facto qualified review.
[German Finance Minister approves 2.47 billion euros for the establishment of LNG terminals]
On the 15th local time, German Federal Finance Minister Lindner has approved the allocation of 2.47 billion euros in the financial budget for the construction of the first batch of LNG receiving terminals. Affected by the situation in Russia and Ukraine, the German federal government is speeding up the pace to get rid of its dependence on Russian gas as soon as possible.
[Gazprom: Natural gas extraction decreased by 1.3% over the same period last year]
Gazprom (GAZ) said on April 15 that, according to preliminary statistics, gazprom extracted a total of 155.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas from January 1 to April 15, 2022, a decrease of 1.3 percent from the same period last year. Affected by the warm weather in February this year, the supply to the Russian domestic market decreased by 3.9 billion cubic meters, a decrease of 3.6% year-on-year. Natural gas exports to non-CIS countries were 44.6 billion cubic meters, down 26.4% year-on-year and 16 billion cubic meters. As of now, the average daily export volume in April fell by 17.6% from the same period in March to 406.7 million cubic meters.
【France's March CPI increase hit a new high in more than 30 years】
According to data released by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Research on the 15th, the French Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 4.5% year-on-year and 1.4% month-on-month in March, the largest year-on-year increase since December 1985. Compared with the previous month, energy prices in France rose by 9.0% in March, of which the price of petroleum products rose by 17.0%, the price of manufactured goods rose by 1.4%, and the price of food rose by 0.9%, the data showed. Compared with the same period last year, energy prices in France rose by 29.2% in March, of which the price of petroleum products rose by 43.5%, the price of natural gas rose by 41.3%, and the price of electricity rose by 6.0%, the price of food rose by 2.9%, the price of fresh products including fruits, vegetables and seafood rose by as much as 7.6%, and the price of bread and cereal rose by 3.3%.
[Twitter launches 'poison pill defense' boycott of Musk's acquisition]
On Friday (April 15), local time, Twitter announced in a press release that the company's board of directors unanimously approved a shareholder rights plan of a limited period to reduce the possibility of other entities (referring to Elon Musk) gaining control of the company through open market accumulation. Twitter's move, also known as "poison pill defense", also known as "equity dilution anti-takeover measures", is a defensive measure for target companies against hostile takeovers. This will allow the company's original shareholders to obtain a large number of shares in the company at a lower price, thereby driving up the cost of the acquirer. But the side effect is that the company's stock price may plummet.
[Musk allegedly acquired Twitter solicitation partners]
According to the New York Post, Tesla CEO Musk is allegedly looking for (multiple) potential investors to group up to buy Twitter, possibly announcing new acquisition plans in recent days. One possibility is that Musk is partnered with Silver Lake.