Month: February 2022

This will be the first update to the SE model in two years

Apple is planning to release its new low-cost iPhone on or near International Women’s Day, March 8, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources in the company.

The company is also set to unveil an updated iPad.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, the new smartphone will be the first update to Apple’s iPhone SE model in two years. It will support 5G networks, have an improved camera, and a faster processor. Apple also reportedly plans for the phone to be medium-priced, although its exact cost has not yet been revealed.

Sources say, however, that the launch date could be postponed amid production delays and supply-chain issues. Like nearly all tech firms, Apple is still overcoming the shortage in semiconductor chips, widely used in the brand’s products.

READ MORE: Apple stock reacts to metaverse plans

However, the company posted record sales over the holiday quarter in January and gave an optimistic forecast for 2022.

The company has not responded to requests for comment, and no official confirmation of the iPhone release date has been issued so far.

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Investors seem to have recovered their appetite for risk amid the recent stock market rally

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Bitcoin, topped $40,000 for the first time in two weeks, surging nearly 10% and trading at around $41,550 per coin as of 11:00 GMT on Saturday.

On Friday, Bitcoin gained over 11% – its biggest single-day rise since mid-June 2021, and the first major rally after weeks of trading well below $40,000. The token also saw a 27% rise from the year’s low of $32,950.72, which it hit on January 24.

Despite two consecutive days of gains, Bitcoin remains well under its all-time high of around $69,000, which it reached in December last year.

Other tokens followed suit, with Ethereum passing the $3,000 threshold for the first time since January 21.

The crypto gains came alongside a rally in US stocks, with the tech-focused Nasdaq index ending the week up despite the volatile performance of certain stocks – Amazon experienced record growth, while Facebook-owner Meta Platforms suffered a historic plunge.

READ MORE: Digital currency makes Olympic debut

The crypto market also reacted positively to the news of North American crypto mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings boosting its Bitcoin holdings to about 8,595 BTC ($338 million). The move was dubbed a “mammoth increase” by crypto analysts.

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Previously, only seven were allowed to trade the product with the neighboring state

Russia and China have agreed to expand the number of regions that are licensed to supply grain to China, Russia’s veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance department, Rosselkhoznadzor, said in a statement on Friday.

“On February 4, as part of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China and the negotiations between the head of state and Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, bilateral agreements were adopted that expand the list and volume of grain supplied from Russia to China,” Rosselkhoznadzor said in its report.

Changes were made to a number of prior agreements, expanding both the list of regions that are allowed to trade, and the selection of products. Now all Russian regions are allowed to supply wheat, barley and alfalfa to China, while the authorities are also exploring the possibility of supplying peas.

“The changes cancel the regionalization of shipments of wheat and barley from Russia to China. Now these grain crops can be imported to China from all over the Russian Federation,” the report says.

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Previously, the list of suppliers included only seven Russian regions – Altai and Krasnoyarsk Territories, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Amur, and Kurgan Regions. The list did not include the country’s leading grain-producing regions.

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Main crude benchmarks hit their highest levels in seven years amid supply concerns

Oil prices continue to move toward the $100 a barrel threshold amid growing supply concerns, as OPEC and allied producers are slow to boost output. Ransomware attacks on German storage facilities and winter storms in the US are also pushing prices higher.

European benchmark Brent Crude closed around $92.8 per barrel on Friday, its highest level in more than seven years, surging 1.8%. European oil majors Shell and BP also rallied on Brent gains, jumping 3%. Shell earlier reported that its annual profits quadrupled in 2021.

The Brent rally followed ransomware attacks on two German fuel storage facilities, Mabanaft and Oiltanking, earlier this week. A number of other storage sites across Europe also reported IT issues, but those have not been confirmed as related to the attacks in Germany.

Meanwhile, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also hit its peak since 2014, jumping nearly 2% and topping $91.9 a barrel. Experts link the gains to the winter storm that enveloped central and northeast regions of the US on Thursday and partly stalled oil production in the Permian Basin, the US’ largest shale site. Both benchmarks on Friday were on course for a seventh consecutive weekly gain.

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Oil has been on the rise recently amid supply concerns and growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, which could threaten Europe’s energy supply. Also, investors have not been happy with cautious steps to boost oil output taken by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+), including Russia. The group last year agreed to gradually raise production by 400,000 barrels, and said earlier this week that it would stick to this plan in March. However, many OPEC+ producers are struggling to meet the target output increase. For instance, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer Iraq failed to make its OPEC+ quota in January, according to data from state-owned marketer SOMO.

Many analysts warned last year that amid the mounting troubles oil may reach $100 and more per barrel in the year to come.

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Key vehicles and eight factories in US, Mexico and Canada will be affected

Major US carmaker Ford will suspend or cut production at eight of its factories in the US, Mexico and Canada for at least one week, a spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday.

Factories in Michigan, Chicago and in Cuautitlan, Mexico will stop work, while the Ford factory in Kansas City will run only one shift for the production of Ford Transit cargo vans. The carmaker also plans to reduce the schedule at factories in Dearborn, Kentucky and Louisville, and has slashed overtime at the Oakville factory in Canada. The changes will lower the output of vehicles such as Ford Bronco and Explorer SUVs, as well as the Ford F-150 and Ranger pickups, the Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossover and the Lincoln Aviator SUV.

The company says the semiconductor chip shortage is to blame for the changes, which are planned to be in place for one week, starting on February 7.

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Also due to the chip shortage, Ford missed Wall Street expectations when it reported fourth-quarter earnings results earlier this week. The carmaker’s shares plunged 9.7% on Friday, but started to crawl back up in the after hours trading, regaining 0.67%. Ford warned that the persistent shortages would lead to a further drop in its vehicle production in the current quarter, ending in March. The company has forecast a slower recovery in car production in the first half of 2022, but was hopeful that output volumes will increase by year’s end.

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