Canada Responds to U.S. Metal Tariffs With Levies on About $21 Billion in Imports From U.S.

    New York (Dow Jones)--Engelhard Corp's base price for industrial 
gold bullion was $2,919.00 per troy ounce, up $6.00 from previous. 
    Handy & Harman's base price for gold was $2,924.80 per troy ounce, 
up $7.90. The fabricated form price was $3,246.53, up $8.77. 
 

WINNIPEG, Manitoba--The ICE Futures canola market resumed its downturn on Wednesday due to tariffs imposed by the United States and China.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada projected 2025-26 canola acres to total 21.646 million, down 1.7 per cent from last year. The data was collected before the United States implemented tariffs on Canadian imports.

An analyst said canola is testing its contract lows and it will need to "punch through them" in order to regain stability in the market.

Chicago soyoil and European rapeseed were down while Malaysian palm oil was up. Crude oil was stronger due to a weaker U.S. dollar.

The Canadian dollar was up more than two-tenths of a U.S. cent compared to Tuesday's close.

About 35,400 contracts have traded at 10:07 CDT. Prices in Canadian dollars per metric tonne:

 
           Price      Change 
May       571.80    dn 19.10 
Jul       585.40    dn 17.90 
Nov       600.60    dn 11.40 
Jan       612.10     dn 8.80 
 

Source: Commodity News Service Canada, news@marketsfarm.com

By Anthony Harrup

U.S. crude oil inventories increased for a second consecutive week with an increase in production and net imports, while gasoline stocks fell more than expected as demand picked up, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 1.4 million barrels to 435.2 million barrels in the week ended March 7, and were about 5% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted a 1.2 million barrel increase in crude stockpiles.

Oil stored in the SPR rose by 275,000 barrels to 395.6 million barrels. Oil stocks at Cushing, Okla., the Nymex delivery hub, were down by 1.2 million barrels at 24.5 million barrels.

The EIA estimated U.S. crude oil production at 13.6 million barrels a day, up by 67,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Crude imports fell by 343,000 barrels a day to 5.5 million barrels a day, while exports were down by 846,000 barrels a day at 3.3 million barrels a day, resulting in a 503,000 barrels a day increase in net imports.

Crude input to refineries rose by 321,000 barrels a day to 15.7 million barrels a day, with refinery capacity use up by 0.6 of a percentage point at 86.5%. Refinery runs were forecast to have risen by 0.4 of a percentage point in the Journal survey.

Gasoline inventories dropped by 5.7 million barrels to 241.1 million barrels against expectations of a 1.1 million barrel withdrawal, and were 1% above the five-year average. Gasoline demand was 9.2 million barrels a day compared with 8.9 million barrels a day the previous week.

Distillate fuel stocks fell by 1.6 million barrels to 117.6 million barrels and were 5% below the five-year average. Distillate stocks were expected to have declined by 300,000 barrels.

 
Change in U.S. oil inventories for the week ended March 7: 
 
                   Crude       Gasoline      Distillates         Refinery Use 
EIA data:           1.4          -5.7           -1.6                  0.6 
Forecast:           1.2          -1.1           -0.3                  0.4 
 

Note: Numbers in millions of barrels, with the exception of refinery use, which is in percentage points.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

By Perry Cleveland-Peck

Wind and solar energy generated more electricity in the U.S. than coal for the first time ever last year, according to analysis from energy think tank Ember. The two renewable energy sources accounted for 17% of the country's power mix while coal fell to a low of 15%.

Solar was the fastest-growing energy source, according to Ember's analysis of data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, increasing 27% from the year before, while wind rose 7%.

"We're in a new paradigm," said Dave Jones, chief analyst at Ember. "Solar did more to meet the rising demand for electricity last year than natural gas. And that's at odds with the current narrative and expectations going forward, where so much of the discussion has switched towards building more gas plants."

The research comes as the Trump administration is preparing for an upsurge in natural gas production and exports. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told an energy conference in Houston this week that he is pushing for new gas pipelines in places like Alaska and New England, and approving permits to ship natural gas overseas.

"Drill, baby, drill also requires build, baby, build," he said.

Overall, the U.S. installed 50 gigawatts of new solar capacity in 2024, according to a report this week from the Solar Energy Industries Association, a nonprofit trade group, and consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. This marked a record in new power generation added to the grid in any energy technology in more than two decades. Solar and storage account for 84% of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the grid last year, the SEIA report said.

Wind and solar have overtaken coal in 24 states, according to Ember, with Illinois the latest to join the ranks in 2024, following Arizona, Colorado, Florida and Maryland in 2023.

California and Nevada both surpassed 30% annual share of solar in their electricity mix for the first time last year (32% and 30%, respectively). California's battery growth was key to its solar success. It installed 20% more battery capacity than it did solar capacity, which helped it transfer a significant share of its daytime solar to the evening.

Texas installed more solar and battery capacity than even California. Yet the growth of solar was uneven — 28 states generated less than 5% of their electricity from solar in 2024, highlighting significant untapped potential — even before adding battery storage.

"It shows that renewables can meet that rise in electricity demand, that solar is able and wind is if it is given the chance," Jones said. "The fall in battery costs is a gamechanger for how much solar the U.S. electricity grid could integrate in the near future."

Natural gas generation increased 3.3% in 2024, according to Ember, and remains by far the largest source of electricity in the U.S., accounting for 43% of the mix.

Looking ahead, the global offshore wind industry is poised for a rebound in 2025, with capacity additions expected to reach 19 gigawatts and sector-wide expenditure projected to hit $80 billion, according to research from Rystad Energy. This recovery follows a slowdown at the end of last year, when new installations dropped to approximately 8 GW — 2 GW lower than the prior year. A record wave of lease auctions is driving the resurgence, with the world's largest offshore wind market, mainland China, accounting for 65% of new capacity.

Write to Perry Cleveland-Peck at perry.cleveland-peck@dowjones.com

Live cattle futures on the CME are up 1.1%, pushing the most-active futures contract over the $2.01 a pound mark. For cattle, supportive fundamentals are striking a balance with an increasingly stormier macroeconomic view. "Traders being pushed from two directions," says ADM Investor Services in a note. "One side has boxed beef prices rapidly rising but at the same time traders are alarmed there is talk about a recession and financial markets falling." New retaliatory tariffs from the EU include beef and pork products. Lean hogs are up 0.1%. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

The Baltic Exchange's dry bulk sea freight index, which measures shipping rates for vessels transporting dry bulk commodities, advanced for a fifth day on Wednesday, climbing 128 points to its highest level since November 26 at 1,559 points, supported by all segments.

The capesize index, which typically tracks vessels transporting 150,000-ton cargoes such as iron ore and coal, jumped 285 points to 2,759 points; and the panamax index, which usually tracks vessels carrying 60,000-70,000 tons of coal or grain, was up for a fourth session, adding 94 points to a two-week high of 1,158 points.

Among smaller vessels, the supramax index rose 8 points to 872 points.