Palm Oil Ends Lower Amid Tepid Demand — Market Talk

European natural-gas prices jump back to 50 euros a megawatt-hour, the highest level since the first trading day of the year as freezing weather in Texas threatens U.S. LNG exports. "The catalyst for the move appears to be an outage at the Freeport LNG export terminal in the U.S.," ING analysts say. Meanwhile, cold weather in Europe has exacerbated supply concerns. "Europe needs to pull in more LNG this winter with the loss of Russian pipeline flows through Ukraine, along with also stronger demand," the analysts say. "EU gas storage has now fallen to 59% and the region will need to try to make sure it stays above the European Commission's target of 50% full by February 1." The benchmark Dutch TTF contract currently trades 0.8% lower at 49.64 euros a megawatt-hour. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)

The absence of immediate cryptocurrency executive actions from the Trump administration has led to renewed volatility in bitcoin, Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter says in a note. However, bitcoin remains firm and is up more than 50% since Donald Trump's presidential election victory in November on hopes that he will soon start laying out plans for a bitcoin reserve fund and other targeted support, she says. Bitcoin falls 1.8% to $104,766, having reached a record high of $109,071 on Monday, according to LSEG. (renae.dyer@wsj.com)

Oil prices slip in early trade as markets digest U.S. President Trump's raft of energy policies and eye trade tariffs. Brent crude is down 0.2% at $79.14 a barrel, while WTI falls 0.3% to $75.59 a barrel. The president threatened to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and said he was considering a 10% punitive duty on China in response to fentanyl flows from the country. "The oil market's attention is slowly turning away from U.S. sanctions against Russia towards President Trump's potential trade policy," ING analysts say. "Trade and tariff risks and the potential for retaliation are growing." Meanwhile, traders are keeping an eye on supply-side news, as a rare winter storm in the U.S. south threatens to disrupt oil production and Russian oil exports dropped significantly last week following the latest batch of U.S. sanctions. (giulia.petroni@wsj.com)

U.S. President Trump's decision to ramp up production of liquefied natural gas is "certainly good news" for Europe, Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission vice president for the economy, tells the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Europe can still put more pressure on Russia by reducing LNG imports further, the Latvian politician says. More than half of the EU's LNG now comes from the U.S., he notes. Ukraine's Western allies should focus on Russia's sanction circumvention, he adds. (cristina.gallardo@wsj.com)

TTF Gas increased to a 14-month high of 50.79 EUR/MWh.

Over the past 4 weeks, Natural Gas EU Dutch TTF gained 10.52%, and in the last 12 months, it increased 85.77%.

Policy direction by the Trump administration could play a dominant role in the oil market's trajectory in the short term, says Dilin Wu, Pepperstone's research strategist. On the supply side, Trump's national energy emergency declaration and his push for energy independence are significant drivers of bearish momentum, Wu writes in a note. Trump's policies could likely turn the U.S. into a net energy exporter, which may have lasting implications for global oil prices, Wu says. Traders will assess the balance between economic growth, energy security and policy risks, as more details emerge over energy production and trade agreements, Wu adds. Front-month WTI crude oil futures are down 0.65% at $75.34/bbl; front-month Brent is 0.5% lower at $78.89/bbl.(amanda.lee@wsj.com)