Australia – Tips For Traders

By Chibuike Oguh

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global equities and crude oil rebounded from earlier losses on Thursday even as economic data continued to show the strength of the U.S. economy and validated the Federal Reserve’s tight monetary policy stance.

A U.S. Labor Department report on Thursday showed that new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to a persistently tight labor market.

The readings for the fourth-quarter personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, were revised upward to 3.7%, indicating inflation was much stronger than initially thought and weighed on sentiment earlier in the day.

Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting released on Wednesday showed that officials favored a moderation in the pace of rate hikes although they indicated that containing high inflation would be key in how much further rates need to rise.

“The Fed minutes yesterday were a bit hawkish and they said ongoing rate hikes would be necessary and that should obviously be negative for the market,” said Sandy Villere, portfolio manager at Villere & Co in New Orleans.

“But it seems the market is starting to discount that we’re getting into the eighth or ninth inning of these rate hikes even though the Fed is saying ongoing rate hikes would be necessary,” Villere said.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, was down 0.27%. European stocks were up at just 0.06%.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq regained earlier losses from better-than-expected revenue at chipmaker Nvidia Corp. The results drove the company’s shares up 14%, along with shares of other semiconductor manufacturers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.33% to 33,153.91, the S&P 500 gained 0.53% to 4,012.32 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.72% to 11,590.40.

“When you see strong numbers at certain companies, it could be market moving and that’s what we’re seeing today – a bit of a relief rally,” Villere added.

Oil prices firmed more than 1% before paring some gains, with Russian supply curbs partially offsetting an expected rise in U.S. inventories.

Brent crude futures settled up 2% to $82.21 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) advanced 2% to $75.39 after six sessions of losses.

U.S. Treasury yields edged lower in choppy trading, with those on the 10-year pulling back from three-month highs, as investors have priced in strong economic data.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes were down at 3.8865%, while the yield curve measuring the gap between the two- and 10-year Treasury notes was still inverted at minus 77.90 basis points, indicating a looming recession.

The dollar retained its strength against its major peers. The dollar index rose 0.077%, with the euro down 0.07% to $1.0594.

Safe-haven gold prices slipped to their lowest in about two months as the U.S. dollar climbed. Spot gold dropped 0.03% to $1,822.09 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures fell 0.55% to $1,822.00 an ounce.

(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York, editing by Anna Driver, Bernadette Baum and Diane Craft)

By Jarrett Renshaw and Hyunjoo Jin

(Reuters) -The Biden administration on Wednesday issued long-awaited final rules on its national electric vehicle charger network that require the chargers to be built in the United States immediately, and with 55% of their cost coming from U.S.-made components by 2024.

The White House hopes the new rules, issued after nearly eight months of debate, will jump-start the biggest transformation of the U.S. driving landscape in generations. It seeks to give consumers unfettered access to a growing coast-to-coast network of EV charging stations, including Tesla Inc’s Superchargers.

Companies that hope to tap $7.5 billion in federal funding for this network must also adopt the dominant U.S. standard for charging connectors, known as “Combined Charging System” or CCS; use standardized payment options; a single method of identification that works across all chargers; and work 97% of the time.

Tesla, the nation’s largest EV maker and charging company, plans to incorporate the CCS standard and expand beyond its proprietary connectors, the administration said.

“No matter what EV you drive, we want to make sure that you will be able to plug in, know the price you’re going to be paying and charge up in a predictable, user-friendly experience,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters in a preview of the rules.

The first tranche of the billions in federal funds will now be rolled out to states in upcoming weeks, forcing companies like Tesla, EVgo Inc and ChargePoint Holdings Inc to jockey for their share of the funds from state governments.

The network is a central part of President Joe Biden’s plan to tackle climate change by converting 50% of all new U.S. vehicle sales to electric by 2030. A dearth of chargers on Ameriocan roads has slowed the growth of EV sales and the positive environmental impact, advocates say.

Manufacturers warned before the rules were released that imposing a domestic components quota too soon in the program rule would slow the rollout. The new rules extend the Made in America deadlines to help give those companies more time to onshore their supply chain.

EV charger manufacturer Tritium announced on Wednesday that it will add more than 250 jobs to its Tennessee manufacturing facility, bringing the total to more than 750 jobs at the site. White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi said that under Biden’s leadership the number of EV models being offered to consumers has doubled, along with the number of charging stations and EV sales.

“So this is not pie in the sky. It’s literally steel in the ground. We are seeing the Biden climate vision on wheels,” Zaidi said.

‘BUILD AMERICA, BUY AMERICA’

Under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, federal infrastructure projects like EV chargers must obtain at least 55% of construction materials, including iron and steel, from domestic sources and have all manufacturing done in the United States starting immediately.

However, the Department of Transportation requested a waiver for EV charging stations and initially proposed that at least 25% of the chargers’ overall cost come from American-made components starting in July of this year and then 55% by Jan. 1, 2024.

The new rules ditch the two-step process and start imposing the component cost provision in July 2024 at 55%. The chargers must be assembled at a U.S. factory, and any iron or steel charger enclosures or housing must be made in the United States, starting immediately.

The United States and its allies Mexico and the European Union have clashed over protectionist policies implemented by Biden. The United States and the EU set up a task force last year to look at American laws that Europeans fear will discriminate against foreign electric car makers.

EV chargers require iron and steel for some of their most crucial parts, including the internal structural frame, heating and cooling fans and the power transformer. Chargers with cabinets that house the product require even more steel, making up to 50% of the total cost of the chargers in some cases.

Global demand for EV chargers is putting strain on the supply chain that makes it difficult, if not impossible, to meet the made-in-America standards and expedite construction of new chargers, states and companies warned in comments to the Department of Transportation.

The new rules would allow Tesla to keep its unique connectors, but it will have to add a permanently attached CCS connector or adapter that charges a CCS-compliant vehicle, similar to a gas pump that has a separate handle for gas versus diesel.

Tesla told the DOT that the plan was “aggressive” and “could lead to a shortfall in the number of compliant charging stations available given the pace and scale of deployment,” records show.

However, labor advocates argue that delaying or skirting the requirements undercuts congressional intent and punishes companies that moved early to comply with the rules.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime shot to get this right,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. “The challenge with extensions is it becomes habit-forming and the herd will always fight and delay.”

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; additional reporting by David Sherpardson; editing by Heather Timmons, Matthew Lewis and Jonathan Oatis)