Condo and single-family home sales have plummeted to historic lows, with condo sales hitting the lowest since 2012 and inventory reaching levels not seen since the housing bust, driven by a sharp decline in demand due to skyrocketing prices that have become unsustainable, leading to significant price drops in many major cities.
China's recent restrictions on rare earth exports have exposed Western dependence on Chinese supplies, especially for EV magnets, prompting automakers to consider reducing demand through technological redesigns and alternative solutions to break China's chokehold on these critical materials.
Oil prices dropped over 4% as concerns about "demand destruction" and weak China exports highlighted a slowdown in global demand. China's exports fell for the sixth consecutive month, while imports rose. Daily price fluctuations of more than 2% have become common since the recent conflict between Hamas and Israel, keeping oil futures volatile. The market is currently more focused on demand concerns than escalating war tensions. Moscow and Saudi Arabia have reaffirmed their voluntary production cuts, but recent data suggests that Russia's crude exports are at a four-month high, potentially indicating non-compliance with the cuts. OPEC+ is set to meet later this month, where Saudi Arabia and Russia may decide to extend their production curbs into next year.
The OPEC+ group is not expected to ease the ongoing production cuts during their meeting this week, despite the tightening oil market and concerns about demand destruction if prices remain high. Saudi Arabia, the largest crude oil exporter, has extended its extra 1 million bpd cut until the end of the year, contributing to the recent rally in oil prices. Some analysts suggest that Saudi Arabia may start easing the cuts sooner than expected to avoid overheating the market.
Experts warn of "demand destruction" as oil prices are expected to breach $100 per barrel due to supply concerns. Market strategists are concerned about how high crude oil prices can go before they start affecting demand, as Goldman Sachs raises its oil price target to $100 again, citing lower OPEC output and higher demand outweighing increased US supply.
Oil prices have been capped by fears of demand destruction due to economic woes despite OPEC+ announcing a production cut. Diesel prices have been shrinking for the past six months due to cyclical sensitivity. The Iraqi federal government and Kurdistan’s regional authorities have signed a temporary deal to resume oil exports through Turkey. The French court has ruled against TotalEnergies’ halted refinery. US oil major ExxonMobil will exit its self-operated license blocks in offshore Brazil after its exploration drilling program failed to yield any commercial discovery.