Noticias del mercado & perspectivas
Anticípate a los mercados con perspectivas de expertos, noticias y análisis técnico para guiar tus decisiones de trading.
El anuncio del alto el fuego del 8 de abril y las discusiones paralelas en torno a una tregua de 45 días no han resuelto la interrupción del Estrecho de Ormuz. Por ahora, han puesto un tope al peor escenario posible, pero el tráfico de petroleros se mantiene en una fracción de los niveles normales y la demanda iraní de tarifas de tránsito señala un cambio estructural, no temporal.
Lo que comenzó como un conflicto regional se ha convertido en un shock energético global, y la pregunta para los mercados ya no es si Ormuz fue interrumpido, sino cómo permanentemente la interrupción cambia el piso de precios para el petróleo.
Puntos clave
- Alrededor de 20 millones de barriles por día (bpd) de petróleo y productos derivados del petróleo normalmente pasan por el Estrecho de Ormuz entre Irán y Omán, lo que equivale a aproximadamente una quinta parte del consumo mundial de petróleo y aproximadamente el 30% del comercio mundial de petróleo marítimo.
- Esto es un choque de flujo, no un problema de inventario. Los mercados petroleros dependen del rendimiento continuo, no del almacenamiento de información estático.
- Si la interrupción persiste más allá de unas pocas semanas, el Brent podría pasar de un pico a corto plazo a un shock de precios más amplio, con riesgo de estanflación.
- El tráfico de petroleros a través del estrecho cayó de alrededor de 135 barcos por día a menos de 15 en el pico de interrupción, una reducción de aproximadamente 85%, con más de 150 embarcaciones ancladas, desviadas o retrasadas.
- El 8 de abril se anunció un alto el fuego de dos semanas, con negociaciones de tregua de 45 días en curso. Irán ha señalado por separado una demanda de tarifas de tránsito para los buques que utilizan el estrecho, lo que, de formalizar, representaría un piso geopolítico permanente en los costos de energía.
- Los mercados han comenzado a alejarse del crecimiento y la exposición tecnológica hacia los nombres de energía y defensa, lo que refleja la opinión de que el petróleo elevado se está convirtiendo en un costo estructural en lugar de una prima de riesgo temporal.
El punto de choque petrolero más crítico del mundo
El Estrecho de Ormuz maneja aproximadamente 20 millones de barriles diarios de petróleo y productos derivados del petróleo, lo que equivale a alrededor del 20% del consumo mundial de petróleo y alrededor del 30% del comercio mundial de petróleo marítimo. Con la demanda mundial de petróleo cercana a los 104 millones de bpd y la capacidad sobrante limitada, el mercado ya estaba fuertemente equilibrado antes de la última escalada.
El estrecho también es un corredor crítico para el gas natural licuado. Alrededor de 290 millones de metros cúbicos de GNL transitaron por la ruta cada día en promedio en 2024, lo que representa aproximadamente el 20% del comercio mundial de GNL, siendo los mercados asiáticos el principal destino.
La Agencia Internacional de Energía (AIE) ha descrito a Ormuz como el punto de choque del tránsito petrolero más importante del mundo, señalando que incluso las interrupciones parciales pueden desencadenar movimientos desmedidos de precios. El crudo Brent se ha movido por encima de los 100 dólares el barril, lo que refleja tanto la estanqueidad física como una prima de riesgo geopolítico al alza.
Tanques inactivos a medida que los flujos son lentos
Los datos de envío y seguros ahora apuntan a tensión en tiempo real. Se informa que más de 85 grandes transportistas de crudo están varados en el Golfo Pérsico, mientras que más de 150 embarcaciones han sido ancladas, desviadas o retrasadas a medida que los operadores reevalúan la cobertura de seguridad y seguros. Eso dejaría un estimado de 120 millones a 150 millones de barriles de crudo inactivos en el mar.
Esos volúmenes representan solo de seis a siete días de rendimiento normal de Hormuz, o un poco más de un día de consumo mundial de petróleo.
Los datos actualizados de envío y seguros confirman ahora que más de 150 embarcaciones han sido ancladas, desviadas o retrasadas, por encima de las 85 reportadas inicialmente. Los 1.3 días de cobertura de consumo mundial del crudo inactivo siguen siendo la limitación vinculante: se trata de un shock de flujo, no un problema de almacenamiento, y el alto el fuego aún no se ha traducido en un rendimiento restaurado de manera significativa.
Un mercado basado en el flujo, no en el almacenamiento de información
Los mercados petroleros funcionan en movimiento continuo. Las refinerías, las plantas petroquímicas y las cadenas de suministro mundiales están calibradas para lograr entregas estables a lo largo de rutas marítimas predecibles. Cuando los flujos a través de un punto de choque que lleva aproximadamente una quinta parte del consumo mundial de petróleo y alrededor del 30% del comercio mundial de petróleo marítimo se interrumpen, el sistema puede pasar del equilibrio al déficit en cuestión de días.
La capacidad de producción sobrante, concentrada en gran medida dentro de la OPEP, se estima en sólo 3 millones a 5 millones de bpd. Eso queda muy por debajo de los volúmenes en riesgo si los flujos de Ormuz se ven gravemente perturbados.
Oil market analysis
How long do idle tankers last?
135M idle barrels — days of cover against each demand benchmark
vs. Strait of Hormuz daily flow (20M bbl/day)
vs. Global oil consumption (104M bbl/day)
vs. US Strategic Petroleum Reserve release (1M bbl/day)
135M
idle barrels on tankers (midpoint of 120–150M range)
~33%
of daily Hormuz flow that is idle storage, not transit
<31 hrs
is all idle storage against global daily consumption
Riesgos de inflación y macroderrames
El impacto inflacionario de un choque petrolero suele llegar en oleadas. Los precios más altos del combustible y la energía pueden elevar rápidamente la inflación general a medida que los costos de gasolina, diésel y energía se muevan al alza.
Con el tiempo, los mayores costos de energía pueden pasar por fletes, alimentos, manufactura y servicios. Si la perturbación persiste, la combinación de una inflación elevada y un crecimiento más lento podría elevar el riesgo de un entorno estanflacionario y dejar a los bancos centrales enfrentando una difícil compensación.
Sin compensación fácil, un sistema con poca holgura
Lo que hace que el episodio actual sea particularmente agudo es la falta de holgura en el sistema global.
La oferta y la demanda mundiales cerca de 103 millones a 104 millones de bpd dejan poco colchón de sobra cuando un punto de choque que maneja casi 20 millones de bpd, o cerca de una quinta parte del consumo mundial de petróleo, se ve comprometido. La capacidad sobrante estimada de 3 millones a 5 millones de bpd, en su mayoría dentro de la OPEP, cubriría sólo una fracción de los volúmenes en riesgo.
Las rutas alternativas, incluidas las tuberías que eluden Ormuz y el envío reencaminado, solo pueden compensar parcialmente los flujos perdidos, y generalmente a un costo más alto y con plazos de entrega más largos.
Conclusión
Hasta que se restablezca el tránsito por el Estrecho de Ormuz y se vea como creíblemente seguro, es probable que los flujos mundiales de petróleo sigan deteriorados y las primas de riesgo sean elevadas. Para los inversionistas, los formuladores de políticas y los tomadores de decisiones corporativas, la pregunta central es si el petróleo puede moverse hacia donde necesita ir, todos los días, sin interrupción.
Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) has had a good start to 2024 with the share price up by over 11% reaching new all-time highs. On Wednesday, it was time for the US construction company to release the latest financial results for Q1 2024, ending on 29/2/24. Lennar reported revenue of $7.313 billion for the quarter, which was below estimate of $7.39 billion.
Revenue was up by 13% from the same period the year before. Earnings per share topped expectations at $2.57 (up by 25% year-over-year) vs. $2.21 per share expected. Company overview Founded: 1954 Headquarters: Waterford District, unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida (Miami, Florida postal address) Number of employees: 12,012 (2022) Industry: Construction Key people: Stuart Miller (Executive Chairman, co-CEO), Jon Jaffe (co-CEO, President), Fred Rothman (COO) Stock reaction Shares were down by 0.28% at the end of Wednesday’s session at $165.50 a share.
The stock fell by around 1% in the after-hours trading. Stock performance 5 day: +2.77% 1 month: +7.56% 3 months: +14.01% Year-to-date: +11.04% 1 year: +65.19% Lennar stock price targets Wedbush: $130 Raymond James: $165 JMP Securities: $170 The Goldman Sachs Group: $158 Royal Bank of Canada: $137 Barclays: $165 Jefferies Financial Group: $117 Wells Fargo & Company: $130 JP Morgan Chase & Co.: $135 Citigroup: $139 UBS Group: $159 Evercore ISI: $164 Bank of America: $120 Lennar Corporation is the 416 th largest company in the world with a market cap of $45.63 billion, according to CompaniesMarketCap. You can trade Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD on the MetaTrader 5 platform.
To find out more, go to "Trading" then select "Share CFDs". GO Markets offers pre-market and after-market trading on popular US Share CFDs. Why trade during extended hours?
Volatility never sleeps. Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: Lennar Corporation, TradingView, MarketWatch, MarketBeat, CompaniesMarketCap
Let us open with this: “It’s unlikely that the next policy rate move will be a hike. I’d say it’s unlikely,” – US Chair Jay Powell This verbatim quote puts a lid on the movements seen in bond and interbank markets that might have overacted to recent data that has been above expectations and has led some to price hikes. The let us counter that quote with this quote: “I think my expectation is that we will, over the course of this year, see inflation move back down.
That’s my forecast. But I think my confidence in that is lower than it was because of the data that we’ve seen.” – US Chair Jay Powell This ‘lack of progress’ is testing the board, it's also clear that members are starting to get spooked by signs in the labour markets that employment is tight and starting to flex to the upside. This is why we use the term ‘lid’ – the lid can come off and judging by the trade in the US500 and USD over the 2 hours from when the statement was released through to the end of Powell’s press conference, the lid is ajar.
The May meeting was supposed to be the start of the Fed's march to lower rates. At least that was what the pricing at the beginning of the year was telling us. As we've seen with the data; persistent inflation, strong employment, flat growth have clearly complicated where the Fed is now going.
And the May meeting may be when the starter gun was lowered - signalling that the federal funds rate to remain at 5.25% to 5.5% for the foreseeable future. If we look at the futures market the expected 150 basis points of rate cuts price in January, forecasted to start at the May meeting, now sits at a mere 32 basis point cut for 2024. And it's falling further.
Risk on trading has been gorging on this idea since last October and in part explains why global indices have been so strong in the face of tough conditions. With the Fed in a fix about what to do next indices are now going to have to ‘prove’ (bottom-up fundamentals) that pricing is justified, something market is now testing. On the FX front, the May Fed meeting has been taken in a different light.
The lid has been taken as ‘firmly on’ and the USD has suffered for it. DXY shows that across the pairs the USD was turfed out as those traders positioned for US Fed hikes got squeezed. We need to be vigilant as to which pairs we looked at.
Considering the EUR, GBP, CAD and Scandinavian currencies are likely to see rate cuts from their respective central banks in the coming months the current fall in the USD may be short lived here. But currencies such as the AUD and NZD facing higher rates for longer may hold on to the gains they acquired. The conclusion, however, is that rates are on hold and will be higher for longer.
The pressure this will put into risk assets is likely to be seen in the coming months and therefore a real test for the bulls that have been driving markets since October last year.
Plenty has been made of the drive towards nickel and lithium as “future metals” as the world's “electrification” takes hold. This “electrification” has been nicknamed the “volt revolution” and when you get these kinds of technological leaps - what's appearing to be the “winner” now doesn't necessarily mean it will be the overall. That is where Nickel and Lithium need to be examined.
The demand for these two metals over the last 15 years has been staggering and for good reason the uptake of electronic vehicles (EVs), household batteries and the accelerated push to “net zero” have made these two metals – must haves. However as mentioned, will the demand hold up or will these metals experience the same market translation social media went through in the late 1990s and 2000s. Think about it what happened to market leaders Myspace and Yahoo?
Think about all those search engines that lost out to Google? Or the online marketplaces that have been cannibalised by Amazon. I raise this because although right now nickel and lithium are all the rage, there are signs they may lose out to cheaper and possibly faster technologies in the EV and battery space over the coming decades.
Nickel in particular looks to be the first one of these under pressure, and not surprising it’s from lithium itself. The light speed advancement in cheap and safe LFP batteries (lithium iron phosphate) is staggering. In fact, they are becoming so good at holding charge and efficiency that LFP batteries have now conquered 70% of the EV mass market in China further to this - they don't need nickel or cobalt like previous iterations.
Then there is the new manganese twist to the LFP batteries. “LMFP” uses manganese as a cathode which almost exponentially upscales the quality. These batteries are now approaching the energy density and range of standard high nickel batteries that are sold in all EVs across Europe in the US — but here is the kicker its two-thirds of the cost. So it would appear lithium is the winner with the LMFP battery technology - Again, I am not sure as battery technology using sulphur and potassium suggests we could see another leap forward in the range and charging time of these players and they are due to hit the market in the latter half of this decade, the catch here – they don’t use lithium in anywhere near the quantities originally forecast.
Let me dig a little further - the Department of Industry and Resources anticipates that lithium prices won't return to the peak levels seen in late 2022 until the end of 2029. Why? Throughout most of last year a surge in lithium production chased the high prices of 2022 leading to a substantial increase in global supply.
Couple that with weaker-than-expected demand for EVs in the US and Europe balanced the market and caused prices to drop significantly. (Source: Department of Industry and Resources) Supply and demand being what it is prices fell throughout 2023 resulting in reduced production, particularly among some higher-cost producers. Which brings us to the 20% increase in lithium price since the start of the year, and forecasts of further gains through to 2025 according to the same report from the Department of Industry, Resources, and Sciences. However, from 2026 onward, lithium-ion EV batteries will face the pressure from the technologies mentioned above.
The impact on lithium prices such as lithium spodumene according to the Department is prices to climb to US$1,360 per tonne by 2026 before declining to US$1,090 by 2029. The reason I want to use the department’s forecasting is it is historically conservative and directionally accurate. So, what does this all mean?
Larger lithium producers like Pilbara Minerals, Mineral Resources, and IGO are expected to remain profitable at current prices, but the outlook for marginal producers like Core Lithium and emerging players like Liontown is less certain, with questions about whether current prices are sufficient to support their projects. It also suggests that when it comes to future metals – nickel, lithium and the like, a short term view may be the better option as picking the eventual winner in the ‘volt revolution’ is far from certain.
Thin trading in FX markets continued in a holiday shortened week with G10 FX mostly flat against the USD in Wednesday’s session also looking like traders are waiting for Fridays key US PCE inflation reading. The highlights were: USDJPY pushed past its November 2023 high hitting 151.97 which is the highest level this pair has reached since 1990 and bringing intervention speculation to the fore once more, with some trading desks flagging the possibility of intervention during thin Easter markets. Comments from Finance Minister Suzuki who said he was closely watching FX moves and won't rule out any steps including decisive steps to respond to disorderly FX moves also stoking the intervention fire.
Gold surged higher with XAUUSD testing the previous all-time high and resistance level at 2195 USD an ounce after an earlier sell-off on a Reuters report that India is to drastically cut its gold imports in March. While the USD was flat, treasury yields did have a decent drop which supported the gold price. Today ahead in economic news, the highlights are US jobs and GDP data.
After last week’s blockbuster NFP figure FX traders have a key US CPI reading to look forward to later today. Rates markets have seen see-sawing expectations on when the Fed will start cutting rates and today’s CPI will be another big part of that puzzle. US CPI for March is expected to come in at a 0.3% increase, a slight cooling from Februarys 0.4% but still stubbornly holding the Year-on-Year rate at 3.4%, showing that not progress in the battle to bring down inflation is slow going and not over yet.
USD has been in a holding pattern during April with the US dollar Index range trading between the support at 104 and resistance at 105, the 104 support is certainly in play should a cooler than expected CPI reading come in, with the next support at the 200-day SMA at 103.81 Golds record run-up to all time highs has seen the precious metal take headlines during April. As an inflation hedge it should benefit from a hot CPI reading, but a cool reading would see yields and the USD drop which is also gold positive. It’s hard to predict how gold will react fundamentally to todays CPI, though from a chartist point of view XAUUSD is in serious overbought territory and a correction is overdue.
USD rallied in Tuesday’s session, with the US dollar Index hitting a 2024 high of 106.510 after hawkish Fed Chair Powell commentary where he noted recent data was showing a lack of further progress on inflation. Powell also added that if higher inflation persists the Fed can maintain current rate as long as needed. On data, building permits and housing starts came in beneath analyst expectations while industrial production was in line with forecasts but manufacturing output beat.
USDJPY moved higher for a 5 th straight session, with the pair closing the New York session at highs of 154.78. There was what appeared to be an intervention earlier in the US session with a steep 100 pip drop on no headlines that quickly retraced. This looked like a shot across the bow from the BoJ with market participants suspecting intervention and will likely strengthen expectations that 155.00 is the line in the sand for Japanese officials.