Crude Oil Bouncing Back — Market Talk
0924 ET - Crude oil futures are higher after trading lower Tuesday. Reports of potential sanctions relief being offered to Russia were a factor dragging oil down, says the Hightower Report in a note. "President Trump later denied those reports, which helped crude oil regain strength early in today's action," says the firm. Oil traders will also be looking for the EIA's weekly report, which analysts expect will show decreased inventories for U.S. crude oil and distillates. WTI crude is up 1.1% to $90.32 a barrel, while Brent crude futures rise 0.6% to $103.19 a barrel. ([email protected])0901 ET - Treasury yields fall on lower-than-expected U.S. inflation, reducing odds of a Fed hike in October. August 12-month PCE inflation slows to 3.4%, versus WSJ consensus of a repeat of July's 3.7% pace. The surprise overrides stronger-than-expected jobs and activity data. ADP shows private-sector job creation accelerating in September, while 2Q GDP third estimate rises to 2.2% from 1.5%, both beating forecast. The Fed is now more likely to hold than hike in October, according to LSEG. The 10-year yield falls to 5.203% from 5.234% on the data, before bouncing back to previous levels. The two-year is at 4.845%, down from 4.881% before the data. ([email protected]; @ptrevisani)0827 ET - Bitcoin's recent rise to a near eight-month high largely reflected exchange-traded funds inflows but demand is now thinning, CoinMarketCap's Alice Liu says in a note. "ETF buys are a major driver for the recent price rally above $87k, with over $2.4 billion inflows in within a week." However, eight straight sessions of inflows read as $999 million, $715 million, $347 million, $191 million, $135 million, then $31 million on Monday, she says. Bitcoin rises 0.2% to $83,807 after reaching a high of $87,315 on Sep. 21, according to LSEG. In the past three months it has strengthened 39%. CoinMarketCap expects it to reach $80,000-$95,000 by year-end if the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged. ([email protected])0400 ET [Dow Jones]--There's no one-size-fits-all solution for managing AI spending within a business, but 75% of the companies who have most effectively leveraged AI have some sort of guideline on token spending, according to a new Boston Consulting Group report. About half of those companies actively encourage employees to maximize their AI usage, while 22% have limits or controls to manage spending. "Organizations that have a strong financial muscle are well-prepared to leverage that capability for AI," BCG Managing Director Natasha Taylor says, adding that businesses are growing smarter about routing less complex AI tasks to cheaper models. ([email protected])0400 ET [Dow Jones]--AI spending is increasingly coming from all parts of the enterprise, not just the IT budget, according to a new Boston Consulting Group report. Non-IT spending on AI was five to six times higher than IT spending among surveyed businesses, and IT budgets held flat year over year while overall AI spending tripled. The growth of spending on AI across business units indicates that effective AI adoption is "a strategic imperative for the whole enterprise," BCG Managing Director Natasha Taylor says. "To be successful requires engagement from all of the functions in an organization." ([email protected])0349 ET - Fresenius investors might have overreacted to news that the FDA sent a warning letter to the German healthcare group's Kabi pharmaceutical business alerting it to what the regulator called serious violations at a U.S. facility, Citi analysts say in a research note. Fresenius Kabi said in response that no patient-safety concerns had been identified. While the letter is negative for sentiment, a warning letter doesn't come as a big surprise given that Fresenius had already flagged potential FDA action at its last earnings call, and the company expects no material impact on production or results, the analysts say. "The warning on withholding of new drug approvals until violations are fully resolved is standard warning letter language," they add. Fresenius shares rise 1.8%, after closing 4.9% lower on Tuesday. ([email protected])