FT : Saudi Arabia warns oil producers over fragile market

Saudi Arabia warns oil producers over fragile market
Opec+ talks to continue on Tuesday as split with Russia on output leaves resolution at risk

Saudi Arabia warned Opec and allies outside the oil cartel against unleashing more barrels on to a fragile market, putting the kingdom at loggerheads with rival Russia.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the kingdom’s oil minister, told officials from the 23-member Opec+ group, which includes Russia, that joint efforts to restrict production and manage the sharp fall in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic had to be maintained.

Tensions have simmered for months about how quickly to restore supplies after the group last year cut more than 10 per cent of global output, with Russia keen to raise production to protect its market share.

On Monday, a virtual meeting of oil ministers was adjourned without a resolution between the two sides. Talks are due to continue on Tuesday as delegates hope to hammer out an agreement for production in February.

“Do not put at risk all that we have achieved for the sake of an instant, but illusory, benefit,” Prince Abdulaziz said. “Our job is not yet done.”

Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister, told the conference the current rollout of vaccination programmes would only “accelerate”. This, he said, might pave the way for a recovery in oil production.

Oil prices retreated from earlier highs as the ministerial meeting got under way and the split among producer nations was apparent.

Brent crude eased to as low as $50.75 a barrel, a pullback from the nine-month high of $53.33 struck earlier in the day. West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, dipped as low as $48.05.

Oil ministers from the Opec+ group face a complex outlook for crude demand, with the reopening of economies in some parts of the world but renewed lockdowns in others.

The global rollout of vaccines has driven positive sentiment and pushed prices back above $50 a barrel, but case numbers in countries such as the UK have accelerated sharply, prompting new government curbs.

“Infection rates are still high in western industrialised countries, meaning that lockdowns will have to be extended in many places,” said Barbara Lambrecht, an analyst at Commerzbank. “The buoyant start to the year on the oil market risks faltering.”

Last month Opec+ decided to raise production by 500,000 barrels a day from January.

The increase was less than the 2m b/d rise initially agreed as part of a gradual easing of the cuts deal that lopped 9.7m b/d off the market at the height of the pandemic last year. 

While Russia has pushed to raise production by a further 500,000 b/d, Opec’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia and other producers in the cartel are keen to maintain January’s levels.

Helima Croft at RBC Capital Markets said: “The prudent course is to put on hold plans to increase output given the unpredictable trajectory of the virus.”

The group’s research arm has also further downgraded its expectations for oil demand this year.

Prince Abdulaziz added: “As we see light at the end of the tunnel, we must — at all costs — avoid the temptation to slacken off our resolve.” The new coronavirus variant, he said, was “worrying and unpredictable”.

A split between Saudi Arabia and Russia early last year over how to respond to the pandemic, resulted in Riyadh ultimately launching a price war when Moscow failed to back other producers in making large cuts to output. The move exacerbated the crash in crude prices as demand-sapping lockdowns spread across Europe and the Americas, before a US-backed agreement was reached in April to make record supply cuts.

Although analysts say a deal for February is still likely to be agreed this week, unity in the group is weakening with output decisions now being made monthly rather than over longer periods.

WSJ : Millennial Buyers Help Global Art Market Survive the Covid Pandemic

Millennial Buyers Help Global Art Market Survive the Covid Pandemic
During the crisis, sales of jewelry, Japanese whiskies, handbags and game jerseys sustain major auction houses.
Auctioneer Oliver Barker, center, at work during Sotheby’s livestreamed sale in July. SOTHEBY'S

Millennial collectors bid on everything from jewelry to Japanese whiskies to game jerseys last year, softening the blow for auction houses as the global art market shrank amid the pandemic.
Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips tossed out their traditional playbooks when the crisis hit and it was no longer safe or possible to coax hundreds of bidders into a saleroom. Instead, the auction houses redirected art lovers online, adding hundreds of online-only sales that allowed people to click-to-bid in timed auctions. The top houses also built telethon-worthy sets so collectors could watch and bid in livestreamed auctions that featured an auctioneer and specialists simultaneously fielding phone bids in real time. Only a handful of auctions in Asia near year’s end allowed bidders to show up in person.
Annual sales figures released in late December by the privately held houses reveal they still suffered, with Sotheby’s $5 billion in sales representing a 12% drop from 2019. Sales at Christie’s fell 22% to $4.5 billion and at Phillips were down 11% to $646 million.
Francis Bacon’s 'Triptych inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus' sold for $85 million during a livestreamed auction.
PHOTO: SOTHEBY’S


Christie’s Chief Executive Guillaume Cerutti said the crisis “came as a shock and a catalyst,” compelling the clubby, air-kiss art world to double down on digital-first strategies. Christie’s expanded customizable features like augmented reality to its site so potential bidders could see how art would look hanging in their homes. As a result, online sales that lacked a livestream element and operated more like eBay amounted to between 8% and 10% of overall revenue, up from 2% the year before, Mr. Cerutti said. Buyers who traditionally only bid in the room wound up claiming four of the house’s priciest offerings online, he added.
In 2020, Sotheby’s conducted 380 online-only auctions totaling $558 million—compared with $80 million in sales from 129 online sales in 2019. Sotheby’s sold the year’s priciest work—an $85 million Francis Bacon triptych—via a livestreamed online auction, but the houses said some heavyweights opted to splurge discreetly this year. Mr. Cerutti said Christie’s privately brokered a dozen sales of $25 million-plus art trophies this year compared with nine offerings that crossed that bar in public auctions. Christie’s said it also helped three buyers spend more than $100 million apiece privately—a sign that sprees happen in good markets and bad. Both houses topped $1 billion in private art sales.
Sotheby’s CEO Charles Stewart said he was surprised by the art market’s resilience in 2020, given that collectors couldn’t gather at fairs, biennials, museum parties and auctions. While museums and fairs still struggle, he said, auction houses proved “we can adapt.”
An Hermès Kelly bag made of Nile crocodile hide sold in Hong Kong for $437,330.
PHOTO: CHRISTIE'S

Collectors are still wistful for the pre-pandemic art world. Suzanne Gyorgy, who leads Citi Private Bank’s art advisory and finance team, said her collector clients initially enjoyed clicking through online auctions because they were “bored at home and looking at their walls.” But, she said, her own eyes are glazing over after months of online sales and she longs to experience more art in real life.
“We’re doing what we can, but we want to see art without having to zoom in,” Ms. Gyorgy said. “When you stand in front of really great art, you get chills. That’s what we’ve been missing, the goosebumps.”
Here are trends that defined the art market in 2020.
Asia in the Lead
Asian collectors, who have played a key role in the art market over the past 15 years, went into hyperdrive in 2020. They battled the virus earlier and emerged from lockdowns sooner than their counterparts in Europe and the U.S. The Chinese economy also held its own, buoying regional collector confidence, market watchers said. As a result, Christie’s said, Asians outspent U.S. collectors for the first time in the company’s history—a potential sea change for an art market that U.S. collectors have dominated for decades. Asian collectors also accounted for more than a third of Sotheby’s world-wide auction sales last year, taking home nine of the house’s top 20 priciest works. That $85 million Bacon went elsewhere, Sotheby’s said, but the underbidder was Asian.
Yoshitomo Nara’s 'Hothouse Doll' sold for $13.3 million in Hong Kong in December.
PHOTO: PHILLIPS

Ed Dolman, Phillips’ chief executive, said Asian collectors bought half its top 10 works, including a $13.3 million Yoshitomo Nara, “Hothouse Doll,” sold in Hong Kong in December. He said older generations of Asian buyers arrived on the scene seeking classic or contemporary Chinese art but newcomers are chasing rising-star artists from around the world, including Eddie Martinez, Nicolas Party, Dana Schutz, Titus Kaphar and Amoako Boafo. “If you look at their wish lists, it’s fascinating how new and adventurous they are,” Mr. Dolman said.

Millennials Go Luxe
Millennials everywhere joined seasoned collectors in chasing after luxury items in 2020, boosting sales of pink and blue diamonds, vintage and military watches, whiskies, wine and boxy handbags. That is partly because items produced in editions or multiples, like handbags, generally cost less and their values are easier to compare online, Christie’s said. The house said 92% of the handbags it offered last year found buyers, including one who paid a record $437,330 white Hermès Kelly bag made of Nile crocodile hide.
Amy Cappellazzo, chairman of Sotheby’s fine art division, said the number of under-40 collectors bidding at the house doubled last year, with many hailing from the technology industry. The majority are comfortable bidding by app, rather than on the phone. Millennials seldom even ask to see condition reports, she said.

The 14.83-carat Spirit of the Rose diamond sold in November 2020 for $26,633,253. PHOTO: SOTHEBY'S
A fancy intense blue, marquise-cut, internally flawless, diamond ring of 12.11 carats sold for $15,870,815. PHOTO: CHRISTIE'S

Millennials lifted luxury sales across the board. Among the top prices, in July, Christie’s Hong Kong sold a “fancy intense” blue, 12.11-carat diamond for $15.9 million, and in November Sotheby’s Geneva sold a 14.83-carat purple-pink “fancy vivid” diamond for $26.6 million. Thanks in part to younger buyers, Phillips said, it sold more high-end watches in 2020 than 2019.
Ms. Gyorgy said she is warning some millennial clients not to get caught up in bidding frenzies. “Buying art is easier than selling it, and that can be a painful lesson to learn,” she said.
Bidders Play Ball
Sports memorabilia stood out in 2020. Driven in part by younger collectors, auction houses held more sales of basketball sneakers last year, with mixed results. In May, Sotheby’s sold a game-worn pair of Michael Jordan’s Nike sneakers for a record $560,000, nearly quadrupling its estimate. Five months later, the house failed to sell two other pairs of red-and-black Jordan sneakers estimated to fetch at least $300,00 and $600,000, respectively. Sotheby’s said another pair of black Air Jordan high-top sneakers worn by Mr. Jordan in the 1991 National Basketball Association Finals sold for $252,000—a sign that collectors are still sifting price levels for this newer collectible.
A pair of Michael Jordan's game-worn autographed Nike Air Jordan 1s from 1985 sold for $560,000 in May.
PHOTO: SOTHEBY'S
In December, Christie’s tried its luck with a different sport—baseball—and scored with a $1.4 million 1931 pin-striped Yankees jersey worn by Lou Gehrig, above its $1 million low estimate.

WSJ : Brexit Forces Bankers to Shift Trading of European Stocks Out of London

Brexit Forces Bankers to Shift Trading of European Stocks Out of London
The abrupt shift underscores the European Union’s broader plan to bolster its own financial centers

The fallout from Britain’s split from the European Union showed itself on the first trading day of the year as a big chunk of dealing volume in EU stocks moved from London to venues located in Amsterdam, Paris and the Continent’s other financial centers.

Britain’s membership of the EU had meant the region’s banks and investors could bypass the home exchanges of stocks such as Paris-listed luxury-goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE and Amsterdam-listed Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, the big food-delivery company, and trade them in London over alternative venues. Those venues included Turquoise, a trading facility majority-owned by the London Stock Exchange Group PLC, and rival platforms Aquis Exchange PLC and Cboe Global Markets Inc.’s Europe-based marketplace.

But with the Brexit trade agreement taking effect Jan.1, that option ended.

The bloc pushed for greater control over the trading of EU stocks during Brexit negotiations as part of its efforts to better compete with London, historically Europe’s dominant financial center.

Trading venues had been ready for the post-Brexit shift of EU stock trading volume. The LSE’s Turquoise, for example, at the end of November set up a European hub in Amsterdam to trade European stocks. Cboe also has a hub in Amsterdam. Aquis operates a platform in Paris for the same reason. While the operations therefore look unlikely to suffer, at least in the short term, volumes leaving London send a signal that other city centers can compete effectively and support comparable services without hiccups.

The LSE declined to comment on the trading volume levels of its Turquoise platform in Amsterdam Monday. For Cboe, about 90% of its trading volumes of European stocks had moved to its platform in Amsterdam Monday. Before that, all of that volume had been handled in London. In the case of Aquis, close to 100% of its volumes of European stocks had moved to its Paris operation. That is up from a minimal amount when the U.K. was still part of the EU.

“It’s been an overnight transition business,” said Belinda Keheyan, head of marketing at Aquis.

The U.K.’s split with the EU already has triggered an outflow of £1.2 trillion, equivalent to about $1.6 trillion, of assets to Continental Europe since the 2016 Brexit vote, and forced banks, exchange operators and other financial institutions to move hundreds of employees and expand or set up new offices in Frankfurt, Paris and other European cities.

Officials at some exchanges say it is too early to determine whether Europe’s domestic stock markets will generate significant gains in trading volume on their respective exchanges as a result of the shift in activity to the Continent. That is reflected in the market share data of different operators. For example, trading volume on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra exchange currently represents about 14.4% of total volume across European markets, according to Cboe, which tracks the data. That is up from about an average daily share of 13.9% in December. However, Spain’s Bolsa de Madrid’s market share and that of Euronext NV’s European platforms including those in Amsterdam and Paris are currently down from their December averages.

The shift in trading volumes of EU stocks coincided with weakness in the pound, which was trading 1.5% lower against the euro.

Jane Foley, head of foreign-exchange strategy at Rabobank, said that while the change in trading venue might weigh on the pound, news on Covid-19’s spread and vaccinations against it are obscuring any impact.

“Perhaps during the course of this year that might become a little more obvious,” Ms. Foley said. “We need a longer period to really look through the overriding factors. It’s quite difficult to figure out which factors are pulling in any direction.”

9to5 : Entire iPhone 13 lineup to feature LiDAR scanner, not just ‘Pro’ models

Entire iPhone 13 lineup to feature LiDAR scanner, not just ‘Pro’ models

With the release of the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, Apple added a new LiDAR scanner to the back camera array for depth-sensing features. Now, a new supply chain report from Digitimes says that Apple will expand the LiDAR sensor beyond the ‘Pro’ models with this year’s iPhone 13.

iPhone 13 LiDAR rumor
The Digitimes report focuses broadly on the time-of-flight sensor industry, specifically on the supply chain side of things and adoption among Android manufacturers. Nestled in the report, however, is a tidbit that the LiDAR scanner currently exclusive to the iPhone 12 Pro will come to “all 2021 iPhone models” this year with the iPhone 13.
Apple has adopted dToF LiDAR scanner in iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro series, and is expected to apply the scanner technology to all its 2021 iPhone models, which will remain available with Face ID sensors, the sources said.
Furthermore, the report explains that Apple has signed a deal with Sony that guarantees LiDAR scanners will be used in the iPhone through at least 2023:
Sony, in the supply chain for Apple devices, reportedly has signed a three-year contract with Apple to offer a new-generation near infrared (NIR) CIS with a single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array for dToF LiDAR scanner, indicating that Apple will adopt the scanner in iPhones and other devices through at least 2023, the sources said.
We still don’t know much about what to expect from this year’s iPhone release, whether it be the iPhone 12S, the iPhone 13, or something completely different. Earlier today, a separate supply chain indicated that the iPhone 13 could bring mmWave 5G support to additional countries.

CNBC : Haven, the Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan venture to disrupt healthcare, is di

Haven, the Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan venture to disrupt healthcare, is disbanding after 3 years

  • Haven began informing employees Monday that it will shut down by the end of next month, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
  • Many of the Boston-based firm’s 57 workers are expected to be placed at Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway or JPMorgan Chase as the firms each individually push forward in their efforts, the people said.


Haven, the joint venture formed by three of America’s most powerful companies to lower costs and improve outcomes in health care, is disbanding after three years, CNBC has learned exclusively.

The company began informing employees Monday that it will shut down by the end of next month, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Many of the Boston-based firm’s 57 workers are expected to be placed at Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway or JPMorgan Chase as the firms each individually push forward in their efforts, and the three companies are still expected to collaborate informally on healthcare projects, the people said.

The announcement three years ago that the CEOs of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase had teamed up to tackle one of the biggest problems facing corporate America – high and rising costs for employee health care – sent shock waves throughout the world of medicine. Shares of healthcare companies tumbled on fears about how the combined might of leaders in technology and finance could wring costs out of the system.

Brooke Thurston, a spokeswoman for Haven, confirmed the company’s plans to close and gave this statement:

″The Haven team made good progress exploring a wide range of healthcare solutions, as well as piloting new ways to make primary care easier to access, insurance benefits simpler to understand and easier to use, and prescription drugs more affordable,” Thurston said in an email.

“Moving forward, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will leverage these insights and continue to collaborate informally to design programs tailored to address the specific needs of our individual employee populations and locations,” she said.

9to5 : Kuo: Apple to release AirTags, first AR device, new AirPods, and more in

Kuo: Apple to release AirTags, first AR device, new AirPods, and more in 2021

Realable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a wide-ranging new report today focused on what to expect from Apple in 2021. The analyst says that Apple will release its first augmented reality device in 2021, alongside AirTag item trackers and much more.

AirTags have been rumored for well over a year now, and despite multiple reports suggesting a release, Apple has stayed silent on the fate of the accessory. Nonetheless, Kuo doubles down on the existence of AirTags in today’s report, suggesting that the long-anticipated item tracker will be released in 2021.

Elsewhere, Kuo makes broad claims that Apple will release some sort of augmented reality device in 2021. Specifics here are unclear, but Kuo has previously said that Apple’s first-generation of AR glasses will be heavily dependent on the iPhone.

Kuo has reported in the past that the AR glasses will essentially act as a display only with the actual computing, rendering, internet connectivity, and location services coming from the iPhone in the user’s pocket.

As for the rest of Apple’s product lineup, Kuo says that Apple will continue the transition to Apple Silicon in the Mac lineup in 2021. It will also undertake a transition to mini LED displays across the iPad Pro and Mac lineups.

Kuo also corroborates that new AirPods are on the way in 2021. The rumored AirPods Pro Lite would replace the non-Pro AirPods in Apple’s lineup. They’d feature a design similar or identical to the current AirPods Pro, which means they’d be in-ear and likely include different ear tip sizes in the box.

More to come…