Western Europe

Here are some of the main factors that could affect Swiss stocks on Friday: ?STATEMENTS OF COMPANY FLUGHAFEN?ZUERICH AGR Reports the first half-year EBITDA of CHF 374.2 millions. ADVAL TECH Holding AG The company reported a strong order intake. Edisun Power Europe Revenue for H1: CHF 5.57 million. JUNGFRAUBAHN HOLDING A G The company posted a profit for the first half of 'the year of CHF 28,9 million. ECONOMY Swiss August?KOF indicators due at 0700 GMT. Seen on 103.3. (Reporting by Zurich newsroom and Gdansk newsroom) |1|For Top News ?in a multimedia Web format on Eikon visit: ?https://bit.ly/2NDFd6g FOR RELATED...

Friedrich Merz, the German Chancellor, said that the German government will soon reveal who is responsible for an attempted drone attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport earlier this month. Merz, speaking at a summit of the coalition, said that his government "works closely with security authorities to this end, and will soon set out this issue?and make a comment about it." Local?media cite security sources that suspect Russian intelligence of involvement in the attempted attack. Berlin, however, has not made direct accusations. A drone with explosives was discovered on August 4 near an Antonov cargo plane used for military supplies. Investigators suspect...

German investigators have discovered a third drone and suspected explosives linked to the attempted attack on the Leipzig/Halle Airport this month, according to the NDR and WDR radio stations and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Media reports stated that the drone was discovered on August 14, 10 day after the incident. It was located?towards the west of airport where investigators also?found about 50 grams (1.8oz) of what they suspected as the military explosive hexogen. The office of the?prosecutor general?didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. The reports cite security sources who suspect Russian intelligence involvement. This accusation has been denied by...

Dutch police reported that a?coach? carrying high-school students from Germany crashed early Monday morning in the Netherlands, causing eight injuries. The injured were taken to hospital. In a post posted on X, the police department in Gelderland Province?stated that "some of the victims taken to hospital are seriously injured." The accident also caused minor injuries to other?people. A police spokesperson said that the coach, which was carrying more than 50 passengers, "crashed" near Wezep (about 100 km east of Amsterdam) at around 4 a.m. A collision with a delivery van, whose driver was among the injured victims, caused the accident...

On Saturday, a South Korean container vessel set sail?for Europe via arctic in the nation's first commercial trip on the route. The?nation is testing its viability and hopes to turn the southeastern port of Busan into a maritime hub. The PanStar Acro is expected to sail north hugging the eastern Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, crossing the Bering Sea and taking the Northern Sea Route. It will stop in Felixstowe, Britain, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Poland's Gdansk before returning in a trip that should take between 40 and 45 days. President Lee 'Jae Myung made Arctic shipping for South Korea a priority,...

Discover Airlines, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, said on Thursday that a temporary fuel shortage could affect its flights to Europe. The airline said that aircraft operating flights to Frankfurt and Munich out of Windhoek were being rerouted through Angola in order to refuel. A spokesperson for the Lufthansa Group said that there was a temporary and local shortage of?fuel at Windhoek International Airport. As reported in local Namibian media, Lufthansa has not responded to the question of whether its cargo freight is also affected by fuel shortages. Namibia Airports Company issued a statement stating that it was aware of fuel...

The Bundesbank stated that the depletion of German rivers is hampering the recovery in Europe's largest economy. The Rhine, and other German rivers are so shallow due to months of dry weather that ships can't be fully loaded. This increases costs and delays transport for cargo owners. The Bundesbank stated that this would likely slow down the recovery of Germany's economy, which will at best grow slightly in this quarter. In its monthly report, the Bundesbank said that "limited transport routes along major rivers and sharply increasing transport costs will likely" significantly impede industrial production and export growth. The Bundesbank's...

South Korea will flag off a container ship bound to Europe via the Arctic on Saturday, testing if a route made possible by melting sea ice is commercially viable. However, the trip requires Russian cooperation, which could cause friction with Western allies. The 'trip' would be South Korea’s first commercial voyage via the Arctic to Europe, if it is successful. It will join China and Russia as the only countries that have run or tested cargo services on this route. PanStar Acro, which will depart from Busan and sail north, will stop at Felixstowe, Britain, Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Gdansk, Poland,...

Lobby groups for port terminals in Brazil have urged government officials to allow the 'dredging' of the Tapajos River. This is a major waterway for grain-exports, which cuts through the Amazon?rainforest. They are concerned that a severe El Nino would make one of Brazil's most important export routes too narrow for barges. Industry data shows that global trading firms such as Bunge Cargill and Louis Dreyfus move 15 million metric tonnes of grain annually along the Tapajos. Brazil is one of the largest corn and soybean suppliers in the world. The Brazilian government, however, has refused to grant the permission?to...

South Korea will launch a container ship bound for Europe via Arctic on Saturday, testing if a route made possible by melting sea ice is commercially viable. However, this could cause friction with Western allies as the journey'requires Russian collaboration. If the trip is successful, it would be South Korea's first commercial voyage via the Arctic to Europe. It would also place South Korea alongside China and Russia as the only countries that have run or tested cargo services on the route. PanStar Acro, which will depart from Busan and sail north, will stop at Felixstowe, Britain, Rotterdam, Netherlands, and...

After the Irish police chief said that young people drove on the wrong side for social media likes, a parliamentary committee asked TikTok how it removed content "that glorifies...?"illegal activity? on Irish roads. Police said that five male teens died in an accident on Sunday, while driving the wrong way on a motorway. Three women and a child were seriously injured in another vehicle, which was travelling to Dublin Airport. Social media has been widely used to share footage purporting to be?taken from the car and other cars engaging in dangerous activities. Alan Kelly, the chair of the committee for...

In an effort to ease the rising cost of living, UK's?competition commissioner?has launched a probe into how British airline Virgin Atlantic and rail and coach ticketing company Trainline show their total prices when customers book tickets. The Competition and Markets Authority announced on Wednesday that it would be launching an investigation into three firms, including one called RED Driving School. This was due to concerns about customers not being shown the full price when purchasing train or coach tickets, holiday packages, or driving lessons. Trainline stated that it has been working with the CMA to improve the transparency of fees...

Ukrainian forces continue to strike at Russian energy infrastructure, as well as other sites. Kyiv claims that this is part of an effort to deny Russia resources for funding its military. The following is a list of recent attacks, starting with the latest. NORSI Ukrainian drones attacked NORSI this week, Russia's 4th largest oil refinery owned by Lukoil. The crude oil processing was suspended on August 26. NORSI is Russia's second largest gasoline producer. It can process?15,000,000 metric tons per year. NOVOSHAKHTINSK A drone from Ukraine damaged the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, located in southern Rostov Region of Russia. The governor...

Gassco, the infrastructure operator, said that Norway's natural-gas export capacity would be reduced by 20% in a period up to the end of September. This is due to the final planned maintenance for the system to be ready for the high demand winter season across Europe. Gassco, the infrastructure operator, said that Norway's natural gas export capacity would be reduced by around 20% in a period until the end of September due to a final round of planned maintenance. This is in preparation for the high-demand winter season in Europe. Gassco data on transparency shows that the aggregated reduction in...

A spokesperson for PCK Schwedt in Germany said that the refinery is still running at around 80% of its capacity, despite the loss of Kazakh crude oil. Alternative imports through Poland's Gdansk Port have fully compensated for what was lost, according to a statement on Wednesday. Russia has stopped supplying Kazakh crude oil to Germany via the Druzhba Pipeline as of?May 1. This is a serious blow to the refinery that supplies the majority of fuel to Berlin and relies on Kazakhstan for 17%. PCK's?currently? supplied via?routes through Rostock and Gdansk allows it to maintain the operating levels reached when...

The CEO of TotalEnergies, a French oil company, said that the company will continue to invest in the Middle East in spite of the Iran conflict. This was revealed at a conference on energy in Norway. Patrick Pouyanne previously said that it was important to fund alternate pipelines in order for oil to leave Middle East, given the paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz during the U.S.-Israel war against Iran. Pouyanne stated at the ONS Conference that "we are today the largest traders of oil from Iraq or Qatar... it is clear to me that a certain amount equity needs...

Uniper, a German company, has filled 70% its?natural-gas storage capacity reserved over the summer despite the wholesale prices being low. The war in Iran is making the market more challenging. Michael Lewis said that an?inverted winter-summer spread', where the summer wholesale prices are higher than those of the winter, means there is no incentive to store gas. He made this statement after signing a deal for gas supplies with Norway's Equinor. "Now, that doesn't imply we haven't stocked any gas." Lewis stated that we've filled about 70% of the contracted gas storage. He added that the price spread had moved...

Uniper, a German company, has signed an 'agreement' to import from Equinor more than 30 Terawatt Hours of gas per year starting in 2027. The companies announced the agreement on Monday. This deal reinforces Norway's role as Europe's largest economy's main supplier. The agreement, which is equivalent to approximately 2.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year, will run until 2041 and represents nearly 3% of Germany's annual imports of gas. According to the network regulator Bundesnetzagentur Norway supplied 44% Germany's imports of gas. This is a significant increase from Russia, which had been the leading supplier before Moscow...

Investigators of rail accidents said that on Wednesday, a track 'irregularity' was visible in?CCTV pictures taken just before a passenger train derailment that occurred last week in England that resulted in two serious injuries. Rail Accident Investigation Branch stated that "a track geometry irregularity was present on the immediate approach to the derailment point, before the accident occurred." There was evidence of previous track maintenance in this area. The accident near Lewes, in southern England, occurred during a sustained period of high temperatures in Britain. The investigation will include factors such as the effectiveness of hot weather mitigation, and the...

German prosecutors announced Wednesday that a second suspect?accused? of participating in the '2022 Nord Stream blasts?has been arrested in Croatia & will be 'extradited?to Germany. The federal prosecutor's office in its statement identified the Ukrainian as Vladimir Z. and added that local police officers who were acting on an European arrest warrant arrested him at the Croatian seaside city of Pula. In July, prosecutors had filed criminal charges against a second Ukrainian, Serhii, who was a former army officer, for his involvement in the explosions. They accused him of acting on behalf of Ukrainian government entities. Prosecutors alleged in their?statement...

Oil market behavior is becoming more and more like a permanent reality. It's not just a temporary shock. The hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough are fading nearly six months after the war broke out between the U.S. The interim ceasefire that was agreed upon on June 17 is now effectively over, the 60 day negotiating period is finished, and neither Washington or Tehran appear willing to compromise about the future of Strait of Hormuz. Both sides have instead dug in. Iran warned that tensions would escalate if Washington did not fully implement the interim peace agreement within weeks. An Iranian...

Open Interest (ROI), every Friday, distills the previous five days' financial week into five charts that highlight the most important trends, surprises, and overlooked moves. 1. HORMUZ REALISTIC CHECK CLYDE RUSSEL, 'ROI Asia Commodities and Energy'?Columnist : Middle East crude exports, including?flows across the Strait of Hormuz?, have been depressed this summer, say commodity analysts Kpler. The data is in line with other vessel tracking companies but it stands in stark contrast to the claims made by U.S. Energy Sec. Chris Wright this week that 15 million barrels of crude oil per day were leaving the region. This includes 9...

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board reported on Thursday that bird remains were discovered in the 'engine' of a Ryanair Boeing 737 NG where a 'passenger' was partially sucked out through a broken window in July. The NTSB investigates the incident in which a piece from the engine of the plane broke and smashed a window. The plane was headed for Germany when it lost pressure, forcing the pilot to land in an emergency. In its preliminary report on the July 10 incident, the NTSB stated that there were four suspected bird strikes against the No. 2 engine of the...

Multiple trade sources confirmed that 'Indian state-run refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp. bought 4 million barrels of Middle Eastern crude in a spot auction on Thursday. They said that the refiner bought 2 million?barrels? of Murban crude? from BP and another?1million barrels? of Murban?from PetroChina, as well as 1 million barrels?of Oman crude?from Trafigura. Both grades are?loaded from outside of the Strait of Hormuz. Two of the people said that Murban's delivered price was $7 per barrel higher than Brent's contract date, and Oman's delivered price was $4 to $5 per barrel. Arrival of the oil is expected to be around...