NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 2% on Thursday, turning positive as OPEC and its allies said the producer group would crack down on countries that failed to comply with output cuts and planned to hold an extraordinary meeting in October if oil markets weaken further. After falling early in the session amid bearish jobs numbers and a ramp up in Gulf of Mexico oil output following Hurricane Sally, crude benchmarks reversed course to gain on the day, bolstered by comments from OPEC. "Although no amendments to the current supply-cut deal have been proposed by OPEC+ today, the producers group gave the impression that it does not sweep troubles under the carpet," said Rystad Energy's Head of Oil Markets, Bjornar Tonhaugen. Brent oil futures extended gains to settle up $1.08 or 2.56% at $43.30 a barrel. U.S. crude futures settled higher by 81 cents, or 2.02% at $40.97 a barrel. Both contracts rose more than 4% on Wednesday. The panel of major producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, did not recommend any changes to their current output reduction target of 7.7 million barrels per day (bpd), or around 8% of global demand, according to a draft press release and an internal report. The panel pressed laggards such as Iraq, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates to cut more barrels to compensate for overproduction in May-July, while extending the compensation period from September to the end of December, according to three OPEC+ sources. "They were coming down hard on the UAE," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in New York. The expectation that output could fall as the UAE and others trim production bolstered prices, he said. The OPEC news overshadowed the restart of U.S. offshore production after Hurricane Sally passed through the Gulf of Mexico and bearish U.S. economic news. U.S. energy companies were starting to return crews to offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico after Sally halted operations for five days, shutting down nearly 500,000 bpd of output. Prices were also under pressure from the slow economic recovery from the pandemic. Global coronavirus cases are expected to pass 30 million on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally. The U.S. Labor Department's report showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, but remained at extremely high levels as the labor market recovery shifts into low gear and consumer spending cools. Even OPEC+ cautioned that the pandemic could continue to curb demand. An OPEC+ technical panel warned that a rise in coronavirus cases in some countries may curb oil demand despite signs of economic recovery and initial indications of a decline in oil stocks, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.
Good news, perikatan nasional has won the Sabah election by 38 seats out of 73 seats ! So that our politic will be stable for another 3 years till 2023 election ! It’s good for our economy, like that next week KLSE will be spike up like mad already !
PETALING JAYA: Budget 2021, which will be tabled in November, will be expansionary though narrower than Budget 2020, with economists projecting a budget deficit of 4% to 6% next year.
The government, they said, would need to revitalise the economy with appropriate measures due to the uncertainties arising from the Covid-19 and the weak global economy, which has caused many nations to fall into recession.
The World Bank expects Malaysia’s fiscal deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) to widen to 7% this year, underpinned by increased expenditure and downward pressure on revenue. The government, however, expects the fiscal deficit to be at 5.8% to 6% this year.
Economists expect the government to look into some core areas to ensure Malaysia is on the right track to achieve economic sustainability post-pandemic.
Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie told StarBiz that the federal government is torn between managing a tight fiscal space and keeping the country’s sovereign rating intact.
"In our view, the government should go for another year of fiscal deficit targeted at public spending and programmes as well as the provision of tax incentives and allowances to boost private investment, creating jobs and income.
Oh My goodness ! Mahsing closed at RM1.24 (0.295) (+31.2 %) ! Tommorrow Mahsing probably will continue spike up and opened at=> RM1.40 (+0.16) (+12.9 %) and closed at RM1.60 (+0.36) (+29 %) ! Keep it up Mahsing !
Oh My goodness ! LSTEEL closed at 0.34 (0.065) (+23.6 %) ! Tommorrow LSTEEL probably will continue spike up and opened at=> RM0.40 (+0.06) (+17.6 %) and closed at 0.50 (+0.16) (+47.1 %) Keep it up LSTEEL !
GEORGE TOWN: A section of a steel factory at the Perai Industrial Park exploded this evening, hurting six workers and sending plumes of smoke that were visible from Penang island.
In the 4.28pm incident at the Ann Joo Steel Factory, a team of 15 firemen from the nearby Perai fire station put the flames out in 15 minutes.
Perai fire department operations chief Azrul Khairi Abu Bakar said the incident took place at the smelting section in a 3-storey building, where a 1,000 degrees Celsius furnace was located.
He said 30% of the section was damaged.
“We are now cooling down smelted steel. A forensic team would investigate the cause of the incident tomorrow after the metals cool down sufficiently,” he said when contacted.
Azrul said the six workers, all in their 40s, who sustained minor injuries were sent to the hospital for treatment.
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 31): Malaysia reported 659 new Covid-19 infections today, 80.3% or 529 of which came from the worst-hit state of Sabah, while the Klang Valley contributed 10.6% or 70 cases. This raised the country's cumulative positive cases to 31,548, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH). The number of recoveries hit 1,000 today — the country's highest so far in a day — as recoveries exceeded new infections for the second day in the past four days; on Thursday, recoveries came in at 685 versus 649 new infections. This means a total of 21,248 patients have recovered so far, yielding a recovery rate of 67.4% of total confirmed cases. As for active cases, which carry transmission risk, the tally is now down to 10,051 from 10,392 yesterday. The death toll, meanwhile, remained at 249 or 0.8% of total infections, with no new additions. No new infection clusters were reported today, according to the MoH. This means the number of active clusters remains at 33, while 114 clusters have ended. In Sabah, 205 cases originated from existing clusters, while 203 cases were discovered via contact tracing and 121 infections were discovered from other Covid-19 screening tests.
Selangor saw 55 new cases, 18 of which came from existing clusters, followed by 22 from contact tracing, and 15 from other Covid-19 tests. Labuan and Kuala Lumpur saw 12 and 11 cases respectively, followed by Sarawak (nine cases), Perak (six), Putrajaya (four), Kedah (two), Pulau Pinang (two), Terengganu (two), Pahang (one) and Kelantan (one). Meanwhile, 137 cases or 20.8% of total infections today were linked to the prison clusters and temporary detention centres, namely the Kepayan cluster (26 cases) and the Rumah Merah cluster (111 cases). Of the 659 cases reported today, one was an imported infection involving a foreigner who travelled from Bangladesh.
Declining R0 During the question and answer (Q&A) session today, MoH director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Malaysia's R0, which measures the contagiousness of the virus, was brought down to 1.5 last week — from 2.2 at the start of the third wave of infections. A higher R0 translates into a higher rate of infection in the community. For comparison, the second wave had an R0 rate of 3.55. “Based on the projection for R0 of 1.5, daily new cases should be 1,357. If the R0 is 1.0, it should be 950 cases per day. However, we have been seeing daily cases of below 950 — at 799 yesterday and 659 today. So our R0 is currently below 1.0. “This means that the measures that have been enforced under the CMCO (conditional movement control order) for the past two weeks — that is, by allowing economic sectors to operate while toning down social, education and sports activities — have resulted in a lower rate of infection,” he added. Tan Choe Choe
Covid-19: Malaysia’s recovery on track, infectivity rate decreasing, says Health DG * NATION * Saturday, 31 Oct 2020 7:00 PM MYT By TARRENCE TAN and AUSTIN CAMOENS
PUTRAJAYA: Despite daily three-digit Covid-19 infection figures in the country, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah says Malaysia is on the road of recovery. This was because the projected figures were much lower than expected, as the Health Ministry was predicting a four-digit spike of 1,357 cases on Thursday (Oct 29), based on the 1.5 infectivity rate, or known as the R nought (R0), said Dr Noor Hisham.
If the R0 level was at 1.0, Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysia would have gotten 950 cases on Oct 30 and 955 cases on Oct 31. “But, there were only 659 cases on Oct 31. This means our R0 level is less than 1.0, ” said Dr Noor Hisham during a press conference at the Health Ministry in Putrajaya on Saturday.
“This meant that the conditional movement control order (MCO) that allows only the economic sector to function has a positive effect on reducing our R0 level to 1, ” he added. For an R0 level of 1, it means that each Covid-19 patient will infect one other person. Dr Noor Hisham also credited the lowered R0 level to the efforts of the Health Ministry, adding that they are now targeting to reduce the infectivity level to 0.3. Dr Noor Hisham also urged Malaysians to play their role in ensuring SOPs are adhered to in order to curb Covid-19.
Wow, Superb Good news ! Covid-19=>Malaysia’s recovery on track ! Furthermore next week is budget 2021 week and US presidential election will be over next week Wednessday ! So, next week start onwards will be the bull market for world stock markets including Malaysia’s KLSE !
New York (CNN Business)The Dow and S&P 500 were up on Monday, one day before Election Day, when Wall Street expects Joe Biden will win the presidency and Democrats will retake the Senate and maintain control of the House.
Stocks opened sharply higher before encountering some volatility and paring some gains. The Dow (INDU) was still up 1.4%, or some 360 points, mid-afternoon. At its high point, the index gained more than 500 points. The broader S&P 500 (SPX) was up 0.9%. Both benchmarks are retracing some of their losses from last week, when they recorded their worst week since March. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) reversed its earlier gains and fell 0.2% in mid-afternoon trade. Although stocks typically favor Republican policies, investors are eager for more fiscal stimulus, that will buoy an economy headed south once again as coronavirus cases soar. Investors predict a "blue wave" would lift the chances of a comprehensive stimulus deal getting passed in the winter.
A Biden win would also likely mean less news and headline risk for stocks in the term to come, investors believe. "If the polls are roughly right, Joe Biden is going to win the election comfortably and we will know that before midnight tomorrow," said Andy Laperriere and Don Schneider at Cornerstone Macro. Even if the polls are wrong, the evidence is still pointing to a Biden victory, they added. Prediction market PredictIt puts a Biden win at 65%. "We have been emphasizing that the Senate outcome is important for the trajectory of fiscal policy," said Citi economist Andrew Hollenhorst in a note to clients, even though neither party is likely to get a filibuster-proof majority so bipartisan cooperation could still be needed for the next stimulus bill. "Under any election scenario we expect a $1.5 trillion plus fiscal package, possibly as early as just post-election," Hollenhorst said. Congress has been stuck on negotiating a second stimulus deal since the summer. Investors have been waiting for results, getting jumpy at any headlines about the progress. What this really tells us is that markets believe the US economy needs more help getting back on track as the effects of the CARES Act are running out. So far the economy's improvements have been rather uneven. For example, millions of jobs have been added back since the spring lockdown, but the economy is still down more than 10 million jobs from February. Millions of Americans still need government benefits to make ends meet, and that's bad news because the US economy relies heavily on consumer spending. Analysts at Goldman Sachs (GS) expect consumer spending to wane in the coming months because of the Covid-19 resurgence is keeping people at home and any new stimulus package will probably take until 2021 to kick in. And as if this election and its repercussions weren't enough for investors to think about, the week is also filled with important economic reports, including the October jobs report. On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management reported that America's factories did better than economists had predicted in October. The sector's purchasing managers' index rose to 59.3 points from 55.4 points in September, its highest level since September 2018. Any value over 50 denotes an growth in the sector.
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tkl88
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Posted by tkl88 > 2020-09-09 16:24 | Report Abuse
Wow, Amazing !
Oil price already turn green and spike up like mad !
As at 4.15pm,
Nymex at => $37.52 (+0.76) (+2.07 %) !
Brent at => $46.17 (+0.62) (+1.56 %) !