Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures down 0.1% to 7,691.00
- Dow Average down 1.2% to 38,518.05
- Aussie down 0.1% to 0.6503 per US$
- U.S. 10-year yield fell 7.6bps to 4.1370%
- Australia 3-year bond yield little changed at 3.68%
- Australia 10-year bond yield fell 1 bp to 4.09%
- Gold spot up 0.7% to $2,130.29
- Brent futures down 0.9% to $82.05/bbl
Economic Events
- 11:00: (AU) Australia to Sell A$800 Million 2.75% 2029 Bonds
- 11:30: (AU) 4Q GDP YoY, est. 1.5%, prior 2.1%
- 11:30: (AU) 4Q GDP SA QoQ, est. 0.2%, prior 0.2%
Stocks came under pressure as a trio of tech heavyweights slid, with traders wading through mixed economic data in the run-up to Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress.
Equities lost traction after a rally that has spurred concern about sky-high valuations — especially in megacaps, leaving the group vulnerable to big moves in the face of bad news. Apple Inc.’s iPhone woes in China deepened, while Advanced Micro Devices Inc. hit a US roadblock in selling an artificial-intelligence chip to the Asian nation. And Tesla Inc. extended its rout as China shipments slumped.
Wall Street also weighed data showing the US service sector cooled — even as orders and business activity picked up. Caution prevailed, with Powell heading to Capitol Hill for his semiannual testimony before Congress, where the Federal Reserve chief is expected to reiterate the lack of urgency to cut rates.
The S&P 500 fell below 5,100, while the Nasdaq 100 dropped about 2%. All megacaps fell, with Tesla extending a two-day slide to 11% and Apple dropping to the lowest since October. Treasury 10-year yields slid eight basis points to 4.13%. In the latest sign of market exuberance, Bitcoin hit a record — before erasing gains. Gold also touched an all-time high.
Other News
Many of the world’s biggest nickel mines are facing an increasingly bleak future as they wake up to an existential threat: a near limitless supply of low-cost metal from Indonesia.
With roughly half of all nickel operations unprofitable at recent prices, the bosses of the largest mining companies last week sounded a warning that there was little prospect of a recovery.
The potential collapse of nickel mining from Australia to New Caledonia comes at a time when western governments are scrambling to secure the supply chains needed to decarbonize the global economy. But in an ironic twist, Indonesia’s coal-fired nickel output is pricing out greener metal that’s so far failed to command a market premium.
Wresting control of strategic metals from China has become a focal point of Joe Biden’s administration. Yet while US officials have dashed around the world looking to strike deals for materials such as cobalt and copper, the heaviest reverse has come in Chinese-backed Indonesian nickel, a key component of electric vehicles.
Indonesia now accounts for more than half of world supply, with the potential to reach three-quarters of all production toward the end of the decade.
“There is a serious structural challenge as a result of Indonesian nickel,” said Duncan Wanblad, chief executive officer of Anglo American Plc, after his company took a $500 million writedown on its nickel business last week. “They don’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.”
Traditionally, nickel has been split into two categories: low grade for making stainless steel and high grade for batteries. A huge Indonesian expansion of low-grade production led to a surplus, and, crucially, processing innovations have allowed that glut to be refined into a high-quality product.
Commodity markets have always been susceptible to cyclical volatility, especially when sudden supply and demand imbalances get a push from wider macro upswings or downturns. But what’s happening in nickel right now is different, with the entire industry undergoing a structural shift that has upended forecasts and models.
For BHP Group, the world’s biggest miner, nickel is a rounding error, contributing mostly losses to profits that routinely break $30 billion a year. Yet in recent years the company has championed the metal, seeing it as a key growth market that will help offset its retreat from fossil fuels.
Instead it’s turned into a disaster.
CEO Mike Henry conceded that the company will have to make a decision on whether to shutter its flagship nickel business in Australia within the next few months. Having already written down the business’s value by $2.5 billion, Henry said he expects the market to remain in surplus until at least 2030.
That means the pain is likely just starting.
Macquarie Group Ltd. calculates that about 250,000 tons of annual production — equivalent to about 7% of the total — has been taken out of the market by closures, with another 190,000 of planned output delayed.
Combined with economic slowdowns in China and the US and the choppy adoption of EVs, nickel has been pummeled. The price fell 45% last year, and is currently hovering around $17,000 a ton. According to Macquarie, at $18,000 a ton 35% of production is unprofitable, while at $15,000 a ton that jumps to 75%.
Anglo’s CEO Wanblad, who is reviewing nearly all the company’s mines in bid to cut costs, said that he will give the miner’s nickel business time in the face of the Indonesian threat.
“Our nickel business will undergo a fulsome review in terms of holding its head above water and making a viable profit,” he said. “I’m not giving up on the guys to come up with a plan that might help them readjust themselves into a position where they can function effectively.”
Glencore Plc, which has already moved to shutter its nickel operations on the islands of New Caledonia, is one of the world’s biggest producers with sprawling businesses in Canada and Australia. At current prices, that business will make just $500 million this year, with CEO Gary Nagle expecting prices to remain depressed.
“We see continuing strong production growth out of Indonesia,” Nagle said. “We do not expect significant price recovery in the short to medium term.”
With more than half a decade of oversupply ahead, more mines are likely to close before things get better. Should the market finally rebalance, that will leave Indonesia and China with even more market share then they already have.
Still, Indonesia’s rapid expansion has drawn criticism. Much of its production comes from coal-powered energy, giving it higher emissions per ton than rival producers, and its rapid expansion is eroding rainforests.
With little prospect of a near term recovery, western miners are pinning their hopes on state aid in the short term and a push toward customers — such as carmakers — demanding “greener” nickel in the future and being willing to pay more for it.
BHP this week called for the London Metal Exchange to expand its responsible sourcing policy to include environmental due diligence, helping to differentiate production from Indonesian and Chinese supply.
Still, as conceded by Glencore, so far buyers of nickel are unwilling to pay more.
“Right now there is not much of a premium in the market,” Nagle said.
(Bloomberg)
