Tag Archives: 10month

Oil dives, hits 10-month low on reports of OPEC+ output boost

  • Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers eye output increase -WSJ
  • Chinese demand fears and strong dollar also weigh on prices

NEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Oil prices plunged on Monday to their lowest since early January, after the Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC oil producers are considering a half-million barrel daily output increase.

Brent crude futures for January tumbled $4.07, or 4.7%, to $82.93 a barrel by 11:43 a.m. EST (1643 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for December were down $4.48, or 5.6%, at $75.60 ahead of the contract’s expiry later on Monday. The more active January contract was down $4.05, or 5%, at $76.04.

An increase of up to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) will be discussed at the OPEC+ meeting on Dec. 4, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report.

“It’s hard to believe they’re going into a market that is basically trading in contango,” said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York, referring the effect of current oil futures trading at a discount to later dated contracts. “That’s playing with fire.”

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, together known as OPEC+, recently cut production targets and de facto leader Saudi Arabia’s energy minister was quoted this month as saying the group will remain cautious.

Releasing more oil at the same time as weak Chinese fuel demand and U.S. dollar strength could move the market deeper into contango, encouraging more oil to go into storage and pushing prices still lower, Yawger said.

Expectations of further increases to interest rates have buoyed the greenback, making dollar-denominated commodities like crude more expensive for investors.

The dollar rose 0.9% against the Japanese yen to 141.665 yen, on pace for its largest one-day gain since Oct. 14. read more

“Apart from the weakened demand outlook due to China’s COVID curbs, a rebound in the U.S. dollar today is also a bearish factor for oil prices,” said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng.

“Risk sentiment becomes fragile as all the recent major countries’ economic data point to a recessionary scenario, especially in the UK and euro zone,” she said, adding that hawkish comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve last week also sparked concerns over the U.S. economic outlook.

New COVID case numbers in China remained close to April peaks as the country battles outbreaks nationwide.

The front-month Brent crude futures spread narrowed sharply last week while WTI flipped into contango, reflecting dwindling supply concerns.

Additional reporting by Noah Browning, Florence Tan and Emily Chow
Editing by Jason Neely, David Goodman and David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Inside Natalie Portman’s 10-month health plan for ‘Thor’

This is how she got her Marvel-ous arms.

Natalie Portman trained for 10 months and stuck to a strict high-protein meal plan in order to shape up for “Thor: Love and Thunder.”

“Natalie did five sessions a week and did not miss one session for the whole time period we trained,” Portman’s trainer Naomi Pendergast told Us Weekly in an interview published Thursday.

The fitness trainer explained that 41-year-old Portman’s major goal was to bulk up in her arms and really get shredded in the abdominal area.

“The initial goal was to build arm and abdominal definition,” Pendergast told the website. “We also worked on stability and agility for injury prevention as Natalie had some dynamic stunt scenes that required her to move, twist and land in various positions.

“I was also really pleased she got through the challenging stunt process without any injuries.”

Natalie Portman focused on defining her arms and abs for her role in “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Evere

Her workouts consisted of boxing, skipping around, core work, and weightlifting.

And because she was working out so rigorously, Portman, who is a vegan, had to switch up her diet so she could ensure enough protein intake to gain muscle as opposed to losing weight.

Portman and co-star Chris Hemsworth both switched up their fitness and diet routines to look the part.
©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Evere

Pendergast shared that during filming, Portman would eat a vegan-based breakfast of oats and berries and a protein shake and her snacks on set would consist of fruit, nuts and salads. For lunch, Portman would have a vegan falafel dish with another protein shake and for dinner she’d eat vegan curry and a third protein shake.

“This amount of food was obviously way more than Natalie normally eats, but it was essential for her to maintain this throughout filming to keep the muscle she had developed,” Pendergast said.

Portman shared how she is used to having to look small in her movie roles so bulking up was a whole new challenge.
Loredana Sangiuliano / SOPA Imag

The RPX Fitness director explained that while she provided the guidance, it was Portman’s dedication that helped her meet her fitness goals for the Marvel film.

“I provided the exercises and guidance, but she did the rest,” Pendergast said. “She is focused, determined, and humble. Natalie turned up every session that was scheduled for the 10 months and gave 100 percent, even on the days she was tired.”

The “Black Swan” actress discussed her new muscular figure, telling Variety that she saw herself in a new light.

Portman, a vegan, had to find ways to get enough protein in during the day so she could gain muscle.
©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Evere

“On ‘Black Swan,’ I was asked to get as small as possible,” Portman recently told Variety. “Here, I was asked to get as big as possible. That’s an amazing challenge — and also state of mind as a woman.”

She added, “To have this reaction and be seen as big, you realize, ‘Oh, this must be so different, to walk through the world like this. When you’re small — and also, I think, because I started as a kid — a lot of times I feel young or little or, like, a pat-on-the-head kind of person. And I present myself that way, too, because of that.”

The actress didn’t miss a single day of working out, according to her trainer.
Samir Hussein/WireImage

Portman’s co-star Chris Hemsworth also had to go the extra mile to prepare for his role as Thor.

As Page Six exclusively revealed, Hemsworth, 38, had to eat eight meals a day to look like the God of Thunder.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” hits theaters Friday, July 8.

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Bitcoin falls to 10-month low as stock markets tumble

HONG KONG / LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) – Bitcoin fell to its lowest level since July 2021 on Monday as slumping equity markets continued to hurt cryptocurrencies, which are currently trading in line with so-called riskier assets like tech stocks.

Bitcoin dropped to as low as $32,763.16 shortly before 1100 GMT, in its fifth consecutive session of falling.

The cryptocurrency has dropped 13% so far in May and has lost more than half its value since it hit an all-time high of $69,000 in November last year.

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“I think everything within crypto is still classed as a risk asset, and similar to what we’ve seen with the Nasdaq, most crypto currencies are getting pummelled,” said Matt Dibb, COO of Singapore-based crypto platform Stack Funds

The tech heavy Nasdaq (.IXIC) fell 1.5% last week, and has lost 22% year to date, hurt by the prospect of persistent inflation forcing the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike rates despite slowing growth. Nasdaq futures were down a further 2.3% on Monday. MKTS-GLOB read more

A bitcoin representation is seen in an illustration picture taken at La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris, France, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Dibb said other factors in the decline over the weekend – bitcoin closed on Friday around $36,000 – were the crypto market’s notoriously low liquidity over the weekends, and also short lived fears that algorithmic stablecoin called Terra USD (UST) could lose its peg to the dollar.

Stablecoins are digital tokens pegged to other traditional assets, often the U.S. dollar.

UST is closely watched by the crypto community both because of the novel way in which it maintains its 1:1 dollar peg, and because its founders have set out plans to build a reserve of $10 billion worth of bitcoin to back the stablecoin, meaning volatility in UST could potentially spill over into bitcoin markets. read more

Ether, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, which underpins the ethereum network, fell as low as $2,360 on Monday, its lowest since late February.

Bitcoin

(This story corrects milestone in headline to 10 months from 22)

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Editing by Kim Coghill

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Teen awakens from 10-month coma with no memory of COVID-19

Joseph Flavill has no recollection of testing positive for the coronavirus last year — nor does he remember anything that happened during the past 11 months.

The 19-year-old Brit had been in a coma since March 1, 2020, after suffering a traumatic brain injury when the student was hit by a car while walking street-side in his hometown, Staffordshire Live first reported on Monday. It would be three weeks into late March before the UK entered its first nationwide lockdown of the pandemic.

“We also don’t know how much he understands as his accident was before the first lockdown, and it’s almost like he has slept through the whole pandemic,” said Sally Flavill Smith, Joseph’s aunt, in a statement.

Much of Flavill’s family have not been permitted to see him in person due to pandemic safety restrictions at Adderley Green, a rehabilitation center where he was transferred after waking up at Leicester General Hospital, where he’s been laid up since last year.

“How do you explain the pandemic to someone who has been in a coma?” asked Smith, whose nephew has also tested positive for COVID-19 twice — once while unconscious and again during rehab — and recovered.

“We try to keep it as simple as possible,” Smith also told the Guardian. “We don’t really have the time to go into the pandemic hugely — it just doesn’t feel real does it? When he can actually have the face-to-face contact, that will be the opportunity to actually try to explain to him what has happened.”

For now, the family visits with Flavill via video calls, though in December he was granted a brief visit home to celebrate his 19th birthday with his mom, Sharon Priestley — but wearing personal protection equipment and remaining at a safe social distance.

Though far from fully recovered, Flavill’s motor and cognitive functions are returning, slowly, said Smith. “We’ve still got a long journey ahead, but the steps he’s made in the last three weeks have been absolutely incredible.”

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