Real-time News

March 13 - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for nearly a month, but the battle between the two parties in Congress over a funding bill for the department continues. On March 12, a Senate bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security failed to pass a procedural vote due to opposition from Democrats, and the department remains shut down.

Australian Energy Minister: This move will allow up to 762 million liters of petrol and diesel to be released from Australia’s domestic oil reserves.

Australian Energy Minister: The government will allow fuel companies to reduce their inventory holdings.

Australia's Energy Minister says the country will address fuel supply chain disruptions by releasing up to 20% of its benchmark minimum inventory obligations for petrol and diesel.

Australia's Energy Minister: Minimum inventory obligations for diesel and fuels will be adjusted.

According to a Reuters poll, the median forecast indicates that the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate to 4.35% by the end of 2026 (up from 3.85% in the February poll).

According to a Reuters poll, 23 out of 30 economists expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise its benchmark interest rate to 4.10% on March 17.

March 13 (Futures News) – According to foreign media reports, Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn futures closed higher on Thursday, with the benchmark contract rising 0.4%, mainly due to a further surge in international crude oil futures, offsetting the impact of ample global supply. The US-Israel war against Iran has also pushed up the cost of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and diesel, raising concerns about reduced food production. Analysts at Allendale stated that input prices have recently surged. Diesel costs will undoubtedly be a key factor in the coming weeks. Therefore, attention is focused not only on agricultural input prices but also on energy pricing and its correlation with biofuels.

On March 13th, according to foreign media reports, soybean oil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) closed higher on Thursday, with the benchmark contract rising 0.4%, mainly reflecting a surge in international crude oil futures. The strength in crude oil futures, coupled with market expectations that the U.S. government is about to release its final rule on biofuel blending, provided support for Chicago soybean oil futures prices. Market rumors suggest that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will set the 2026 biodiesel blending obligation (RVO) at 5.4 billion gallons, far exceeding the mandatory blending volume of 3.35 billion gallons in 2025. This will help boost soybean oil prices. The higher the RVO, the greater the demand for biodiesel and renewable diesel. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report showed that for the week ending March 5, 2026, net sales of U.S. soybean oil for the 2025/26 marketing year decreased by 2,800 tons, significantly lower than the previous week's and the four-week average.

On March 13th, according to foreign media reports, soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) closed higher on Thursday, with the benchmark contract rising 1% to its highest level in 21 months, mainly reflecting the continued strength of international crude oil futures. Traders said that soybean prices reached their highest level since May 2024, driven by speculative and fund buying. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report showed that for the week ending March 5, 2026, net sales of U.S. soybeans for the 2025/26 marketing year totaled 456,700 tons, up 19% from the previous week, but the four-week moving average fell 2%. Net sales for the 2026/27 marketing year were 9,500 tons, with no sales a week earlier. The Rosario Grain Exchange maintained its Argentine soybean production forecast at 48 million tons this week, consistent with the USDA's forecast.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessant: The temporary rise in oil prices is only a short-term, temporary disruption, and in the long run it will bring "huge benefits" to the U.S. economy.

According to the New York Times, Meta Platforms (META.O) has delayed the release of a new artificial intelligence model due to performance issues.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessenter: This short-term measure only applies to oil already in transit and will not bring significant financial benefits to the Russian government.

According to The Information: Nvidia-backed NScale is in talks to acquire a large data center campus in the United States ahead of its IPO.

March 13th - Samsung Electronics is reportedly collaborating with Nvidia to accelerate the development of next-generation NAND flash memory chips. A joint research team comprised of Samsung Semiconductor Research Institute, Nvidia, and Georgia Institute of Technology has successfully developed a "physical information neural operator" model. This model analyzes the performance of ferroelectric NAND devices more than 10,000 times faster than existing models, and the results have been publicly announced. Based on these research findings, Samsung is collaborating with Nvidia to develop and commercialize ferroelectric NAND flash memory.

The Central Bank of Peru kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.25%.

The Venezuelan government announced that the meeting between Venezuelan Acting President Rodriguez and Colombian President Petro was cancelled due to "force majeure".