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On August 28th, sources revealed that Anthropic had discussed acquiring AI chip startup MatX for approximately $7 billion, aiming to accelerate the development of custom hardware for its rapidly growing AI business. One source indicated that the merger negotiations later evolved into discussions about a partnership. Previously, one source revealed that MatX was currently seeking a new round of funding, valued at approximately $4 billion. Discussions with MatX also suggest that Anthropic may be interested in developing chips for model training, while other chip startups and competitor OpenAI are developing processors better suited for generating chatbot responses—a process known as "inference." However, sources indicated that Anthropic might also choose to develop inference chips.On August 28th, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, Nvidia (NVDA.O) has suspended part of an agreement to provide credit support to AI cloud service providers in exchange for revenue sharing, less than two months after the plan was announced in July. Some Nvidia employees are concerned that the plan could trigger antitrust scrutiny, particularly regarding the extent to which the company can determine how its clients conduct business. The plan, called the "AI Computing Partner Program," promised that if cloud service providers couldnt find other customers, Nvidia would lease its GPU computing power, thus providing them with guaranteed revenue and helping them secure financing. Nvidia disclosed this week that such agreements, typically six years long, involve $36 billion in commitments. Under the proposed agreement, once a cloud service providers revenue exceeds a basic threshold covering costs such as chip depreciation, data center expenses, and personnel, Nvidia would receive 50% of the excess. Nvidia may adjust the plan or merge it into other projects in the future.Sources say the U.S. government is close to reaching an agreement to secure long-term access to Venezuela’s oil reserves.On August 28, local time, US President Trump announced via social media that Ben Moss will assume the position of Assistant to the President and White House Staff Secretary, effective September 2, succeeding Will Schaaf, who has become White House Counsel. Trump stated that Moss previously served as Deputy White House Staff Secretary and, more recently, as Vice Presidential Policy Director.On August 28th, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf posted a sarcastic remark on social media, criticizing US Treasury Secretary John Bessenter and citing a New York Times report that Irans creditworthiness in the bond market is under pressure. The post stemmed from Bessenters previous criticism of the Iranian government on social media. He stated that while Iranians struggle to afford even basic necessities, the "corrupt Iranian regime is squandering huge sums of money overseas," and that it should spend those billions on its own people instead of channeling them to so-called "terrorist proxies." Ghalibaf responded with almost identical statements: instead of investing heavily in Israel, a "terrorist proxy," and the approximately 750 US military bases worldwide, this "declining empire" could certainly use its money on its own people. "But wait, that might be too reasonable for this regime," he added. He then directly addressed Bessenter: "Scott, man, your credibility is in jeopardy. Do something worthwhile." The post also included a link to the New York Times report. According to the report, Bessenter attempted to lower yields through measures such as expanding long-term US Treasury bond repurchase agreements, but the market response was lukewarm. With US debt already reaching $40 trillion and the situation in Iran exacerbating inflationary pressures, its ability to "tame" the bond market and its personal credit are facing increasing challenges.

After Geopolitical Worries, Oil Sales Resume

Skylar Williams

Nov 17, 2022 15:40

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Even a big drop in U.S. crude stocks does not appear to be sufficient to guarantee an increase in oil prices at this time.


Crude oil futures resumed their drop on Wednesday, as supply concerns that had supported the market in the previous session faded away.


Also striking was the dealers' disregard for weekly Energy Information Administration (EIA) inventory data.


For the week ending November 11, the EIA reported a crude inventory decrease of 5.4 million barrels, compared to the expected decrease of 440,000 barrels and the previous week's decrease of 3.925 million barrels. During the previous week, U.S. crude imports decreased by an average of 900,000 barrels per day, or more than 6.0 million barrels in total.


Nonetheless, the market remained fixated on the resumption of Russian oil exports to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline and the rise in Covid-19 infections in China.


According to operators of oil pipelines in Hungary and Slovakia, a portion of the Druzhba pipeline was temporarily shut down for technical reasons on Tuesday, halting the flow of oil to portions of Eastern and Central Europe. Wednesday, Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian foreign minister, announced that Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline have resumed.


After a tanker sustained minor damage off the coast of Oman on Tuesday, both New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude and London's Brent crude rose early on Wednesday, highlighting the geopolitical dangers in the world's busiest oil shipping routes.


"Various geopolitical influences, such as an oil tanker being struck by a bomb-carrying drone off the coast of Oman and Russia tensions, are being largely ignored in favor of more bearish elements, such as weak Chinese economic data and demand," said Matt Smith, oil analyst at Kpler, in comments carried by Reuters.


The rising incidence of COVID-19 in China reduced morale following this week's easing of virus restrictions. Chinese officials shut down Peking University after discovering a single COVID case, demonstrating their unwavering commitment to the country's zero-COVID policy.


Beijing also reported over 350 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, according to the Associated Press, which represents a negligible portion of the city's 21 million population but is sufficient to trigger localized lockdowns and quarantines under China's zero-Covid plan. This week, China recorded nearly 20,000 new cases, compared to 8,000 the week before.


Wednesday, oil's selling pressure was attributed to options expiry, which may frequently amplify market direction changes.


Despite this, WTI for December delivery finished at $85.59 a barrel, down $1.33, or 1.5%. The benchmark for U.S. crude declined by 4% week-to-date, the same as the previous week.


Brent for January delivery decreased $1, or 1.07 percent, to $92.86. After a decline of 2.6% the previous week, the global crude benchmark dropped over 3.5% for the week.


Aside from the crude decrease, the EIA's weekly statistics on fuel products were negative, with a larger-than-anticipated increase in gasoline and an unexpected increase in distillate stocks.


The Biden administration's depletion of petroleum from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve was similarly below average, at around 4 million barrels compared to summer highs of eight million barrels.