U.S. Forces Seize Sixth Oil Tanker Near Venezuela-- Commodities Roundup

MARKET MOVEMENTS:

-- Brent crude oil falls 4.6% to $63.47 a barrel.

-- European benchmark gas is up 0.7% to 33.40 euros a megawatt-hour.

-- Gold futures are down 0.5% to $4,610.10 a troy ounce.

-- LME three-month copper futures are down 1.6% to $13,094.50 a metric ton.

TOP STORY:

U.S. Forces Seize Sixth Oil Tanker Near Venezuela

U.S. forces seized a sixth oil tanker on Thursday morning, the U.S. Southern Command confirmed.

In a predawn raid, Marines and sailors launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier in the Caribbean and apprehended the vessel Veronica, according to the military's Southern Command.

"The Veronica is the latest tanker operating in defiance of President Trump's established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean," U.S. Southern Command said in a post on social media.

The move could raise tensions with Russia, which has been moving to protect dark fleet tankers in recent weeks.

OTHER STORIES:

Repsol Shares Fall After Production Misses Expectations

Shares in Spanish energy company Repsol fell after fourth-quarter production missed expectations, meaning earnings could come in lower than expected.

In afternoon trade in Europe, shares were down nearly 6% at 15.79 euros and were the second-largest faller on the Stoxx Europe 600 index. Shares remain up more than 10% over the past three months.

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Canadian Solar Secures Positive U.S. Patent Ruling Against Maxeon Claims

Canadian Solar said Thursday it has landed a win in litigation proceedings against Maxeon Solar Technologies before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

The solar-technology and renewable-energy company said the board ruled in its favor, holding that all claims asserted by Maxeon against Canadian Solar relating to alleged infringement of patents were invalid.

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Clearway, Google Enter 1.17 GW Power Purchase Agreements

Clearway Energy Group agreed to three long-term power-purchase agreements with Google to supply 1.17 gigawatts of energy for Google data centers.

The energy will come from projects in Missouri, Texas and West Virginia representing a total of $2.4 billion in investment, Clearway said Thursday. Construction will begin this year with the first sites expected to come online in 2027 and 2028, it said.

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Talk About Range Anxiety-Could Giant Cargo Ships Run on Batteries?

Any readers considering a life on the high seas can assess their career options at maritime-zone.com. It lists more than 30 openings for the position of wiper. You'd make about $1,500 a month.

"The job is to wipe oil that's leaking out of an engine," says marine engineer turned entrepreneur Steven Henderson. "Working on a ship in the middle of the ocean is brutal."

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Humble Hershey's Gets a Marketing Makeover

Hershey wants its 125-year-old, workhorse chocolate brand to work a little harder.

The candy and snacks maker, whose portfolio also includes famous names like Reese's and Twizzlers, has increased its marketing budget for Hershey's by 20% to fund the brand's first new advertising campaign in eight years. The Hershey Company spent $600 million total on advertising expenses in 2024.

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Amazon Is Buying America's First New Copper Output in More Than a Decade

Amazon.com is turning to an Arizona mine that last year became the first new source of U.S. copper in more than a decade, to meet its data centers' ravenous appetite for the industrial metal.

The mine was restarted as a proving ground for Rio Tinto's new method of unlocking low-grade copper deposits. Rio signed a two-year supply pact with Amazon Web Services, a vote of confidence for its Nuton venture, which uses bacteria and acid to extract copper from ore that was previously uneconomical to process.

MARKET TALKS:

Precious Metals Cool Off After Recent Record Run -- Market Talk

1129 ET - Gold and silver futures are lower, pulling back from the record-highs found by both metals yesterday. A turn in the U.S. dollar is pressuring these metals, says John Caruso of RJO Futures in a note. However, Caruso notes, the long-term trend for the USD is lower, which in turn means that precious metals have room to resume their gaining ways. "We're going to continue to look at grossing up metals from range lows when we get them," he says. Both metals are now paring deeper losses seen in morning trade. Most-active gold futures are now down 0.2%, while silver falls 0.3%. ([e-mail])

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U.S. Natural Gas Inventories Fall Less Than Expected -- Market Talk

1121 ET - Withdrawals last week from U.S. natural gas underground storage were less than expected and well below the average for the time of year, increasing the surplus over the five-year average. Inventories fell by 71 Bcf to 3185 Bcf, the EIA reports. That left stocks 106 Bcf above the 2021-2025 average, compared with a 31 Bcf surplus the previous week. Analysts in a Wall Street Journal survey had forecast an 87 Bcf inventory decline. Nymex natural gas futures fell following the report, with the February contract down 2.4% at $3.045/mmBtu.([e-mail])

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Canada Says China Seeks Reliable Trade Partners on Energy -- Market Talk

1104 ET - China has a growing appetite for Canadian energy products, Canada's Energy Minister Tim Hodgson tells reporters in Beijing traveling with PM Mark Carney. "They are very clear they would like more energy products," says Hodgson, following meetings Carney had with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other senior Chinese officials. "What we heard loud and clear is China is looking for reliable trading partners, trading partners that don't use energy for coercion." China is already a significant buyer of Canadian crude oil transported by the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline to the Pacific coast. The province of Alberta is pushing Carney to back a second crude-carrying pipeline to the northern Pacific coast, bound for Asia-bound tankers. ([e-mail], @paulvieira)

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European Cocoa Grind Volumes Fall, Dragging Prices Near Two-Year Lows -- Market Talk

1525 GMT - New York cocoa futures slip after new data showed European Cocoa grind volumes were at their lowest since 2013. The volume of cocoa beans processed for the production of chocolate and other confectionery in Europe was down 6.1% in 2025 compared with 2024, a release from the European Cocoa Association shows. Volumes for the last quarter of 2025 were down more than 8% on year. The fall signals weaker demand, a follow-on from historically high cocoa prices that hit consumption on the continent over the past year. New York futures are down 1.05% to their lowest level since October 2024 at $5,036 a metric ton, while futures in London trade close to a two-year low. ([e-mail])

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Oil Sinks Back As U.S. Puts Off Possible Action in Iran

0849 ET - Oil futures are sharply lower as expectations fade for possible U.S. strikes on Iran, reducing the geopolitical risk premium behind the recent rally. The U.S. seemingly putting a move on hold tempered immediate fears of supply disruption, but "geopolitical risk has not disappeared," Sky Links Capital Group's Daniel Takieddine says in a note. While concerns over an oversupplied market remain a weight on prices, "any renewed escalation in the Middle East or other producing regions would quickly push crude prices back to the upside." WTI is off 4.3% at $59.36 a barrel and Brent is down 4.2% at $63.77.([e-mail])

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Dollar Could Benefit if Oil Prices Rise Sharply -- Market Talk

1325 GMT - The dollar could prove stronger than expected if there's a significant spike in oil prices, MUFG Bank's Lee Hardman says in a note. Higher oil prices since the start of the year pose a risk to MUFG's view that prices could fall for a fourth consecutive year in 2026 on a supply glut, he says. "Our expectation [for] the lower price of oil support our forecast for a weaker dollar which became more positively correlated to the price of oil last year." Lower energy prices are supportive for terms of trade and growth outside the U.S. and create more favorable conditions for the Federal Reserve to keep lowering rates this year. The DXY dollar index rises 0.15% to 99.283. ([e-mail])

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Palm Oil Ends Lower on Weaker Crude, Soybean Oil -- Market Talk

1008 GMT - Palm oil closed lower on weaker crude oil and soybean oil prices, says David Ng, a trader at Kuala Lumpur-based Iceberg X. The persistent high stock level has also weighed on market sentiment, he adds. Ng expects crude palm oil futures to find support at 3,900 ringgit a ton and face resistance at 4,150 ringgit a ton. The Bursa Malaysia Derivatives contract for March delivery fell 60 ringgit to 3,980 ringgit a ton. ([e-mail]; @ivy_jiahuihuang)

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European Gas Price Rises on Supply-Disruption Fears, Stronger Asia Demand -- Market Talk

0928 GMT - European natural-gas prices rise in early trading as unrest in Iran raises concerns about potential disruptions to global markets, despite easing fears of imminent U.S. action against Tehran. The benchmark Dutch TTF contract is up 2.8% to 32.71 euros a megawatt hour, at its highest level since October. Prices were also supported by lower-than-average gas storage levels across the EU and expectations of stronger liquefied natural gas demand in Asia. "Parts of Asia, including northwest China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan are set to be hit by a cold wave, which threatens to push demand for heating higher," analysts at ANZ Research say. However, "gains were tempered by forecasts of stronger supply." ([e-mail])

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Copper Prices Fall, With Goldman Pointing to Correction Risks -- Market Talk

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01-15-26 1206ET