월스트리트저널 읽기 - U.S., Heating Bills, Hong Kong's Market

<SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2023>

 

◈ U.S. Lifts Sanctions to Give Venezuela Economic Relief (미국이 베네수엘라에 경제적 구제를 위해 제재를 해제하다)

 

 

The Biden administration’s removal of an array of U.S. sanctions against Venezuela’s oil sector is designed to stabilize that country’s calamitous economy and, in time, reduce the huge outflow of migrants toward the American southwestern border, said people familiar with the negotiations that led to sanctions relief.

 

Removing sanctions for six months on oil, gas and the mining sector as announced by U.S. officials this week is expected by economists to boost an economy that contracted 80% and led 7.7 million people to flee in the past decade.

 

Talks between U.S. and Venezuelan envoys in recent months led to a tentative breakthrough, with Biden administration officials announcing American and foreign companies could produce and export Venezuelan oil and gas, and conduct business with state energy monopoly Petróleos de Venezuela. In what U.S. officials called a “partial agreement,” Venezuela would pave the way toward fair elections by respecting the opposition’s choice of candidate, letting rivals campaign on state media and permitting international observers to monitor the vote.

 

The sharp shift in U.S. policy means Venezuela would over a year’s time have access to at least $4 billion in oil money simply by being able to export to the U.S. That’s in contrast to current customers as far away as China, who import Venezuelan oil at heavy discounts to market prices because of sanctions, said Francisco Rodriguez, an economist.

 

◈ Northeast States Face Rise In Heating Bills This Year (동북부 주들은 올해 난방비 인상에 직면해 있다)

 

 

Nearly 4,000 Connecticut households last fall turned to Operation Fuel for help staying warm after the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices skyrocketing. This year, the nonprofit cut off applications early after aiding roughly the same number of people in about half the time.

 

“It has outstripped our expectations,” said Roxanna Booth, spokeswoman for the donor-backed group.

 

Much of the surging need stems from heating oil, even as global crude trading has stabilized since last year’s turbulence. Households’ average spending on the diesel-like fuel this winter is slated to rise about 8% annually, to roughly $1,850 apiece, according to base-case projections by the Energy Information Administration.

 

The expected bill is 75% more than the EIA’s estimates for those who heat their homes with electricity and 200% more than natural gas. Both of those alternatives are set for annual cost declines from November to March.

 

◈ Hong Kong's Market Is Losing Its Allure (홍콩 시장이 매력을 잃어가고 있다)

 

 

Hong Kong’s lackluster stock market epitomizes the challenges that the city is grappling with: China’s economic slowdown, which looks increasingly structural, and Beijing’s tightened grip on the semiautonomous city.

 

Neither issue looks likely to disappear soon, although China’s economy could improve a bit cyclically next year. Weak third-quarter results released Friday by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing—the market’s owner and operator— are the latest sign of how entrenched the city’s problems have become.

 

Shares of HKEX, which owns the London Metal Exchange in addition to its Hong Kong operations, have been in the doldrums for years. They have lost half their value since peaking in 2021, including a 15% fall in 2023 to date.

 

오늘도 경제신문으로 세상을 봅니다.

 

2023.10.20 - [경제신문 읽기] - 월스트리트저널 읽기 - Rate, Nokia, Oil Prices etc.

월스트리트저널 읽기 - Rate, Nokia, Oil Prices etc.