House byline
Business correspondent
David Wong is a house byline for InfoHandle’s Business desk.
At an Ohio rally, Trump warned overseas manufacturers they could face 150 to 300 percent duties if they do not build U.S. plants within about 18 months, reviving pressure on allies already negotiating big investment packages.
Baghdad’s state-owned tanker arm carried Iraqi crude on a supertanker through the Strait of Hormuz, giving marketer SOMO more say on where cargoes are sold after years of loading only at Basra.
Leaders pledged a four-month IEA release mixing crude and diesel after weeks of Hormuz-linked price spikes, while explicitly ruling out export bans among member states.
Leaders agreed to release 100 million barrels through the International Energy Agency, front-loading diesel in the first 20 days after Washington threatened to curb U.S. fuel exports to Europe.
Tanker-tracking data shows Middle Eastern export volumes climbing again even as U.S. and Iranian envoys hold separate talks with mediators and Washington weighs diesel export curbs at home.
Washington and Beijing matched tariff relief on non-sensitive goods through the new Board of Trade and set a November round on AI risks, extending a truce that had been due to expire in November.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Saturday that allied governments are choking Iranian aviation and banking links, even as President Donald Trump rejected Tehran's seven-day Hormuz reopening plan.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said Thursday that growth in developing economies is slowing as Russia’s war on Ukraine keeps energy and wheat prices elevated, while German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul urged an immediate Black Sea ceasefire so Ukrainian grain can reach global buyers.
The United States’ “economic D-Day” aviation sanctions took full effect on Thursday, prompting the UAE to suspend all Iranian airline flights and wiping Dubai-bound seats from booking systems, while Saudi Arabia said it intercepted six Houthi ballistic missiles aimed at Taif and the Yanbu area on the same volatile day in the Gulf.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington and Beijing will keep their bilateral tariff pause in place until Jan. 10, minutes after Chinese President Xi Jinping landed for a state visit where trade, artificial intelligence, and Taiwan are on the table.
Exxon Mobil Corp. kept Gulf Coast LNG and crude export load windows unchanged through October while Trump administration officials briefed Gulf allies on a proposed Hormuz shipping insurance backstop, leaving charter desks to price war-risk premiums separately from White House moratorium talk that dominated European headlines this week.
Boeing pulled forward its public China 737 Max delivery forecast into a diplomatic hold as President Xi Jinping’s Washington state visit week froze narrowbody order talk, telling Renton planners to keep fuselage slots flexible while Arlington trade staff treat airline purchase MOUs as off the table until Oval and Commerce meetings clear.
Saudi Aramco has restarted the kingdom’s East-West pipeline at a reduced pumping rate after a nine-day shutdown from drone damage, with traders told Yanbu could load a China-bound cargo Tuesday as Brent slid on signs that roughly four million barrels per day may return to Red Sea routes.
Buy a card, forget the balance, and watch “breakage” turn a liability into earnings. The float comes first. The 10-K comes later.
Marriott capped delegate-rate inventory at flagship Manhattan hotels as UN General Assembly week pushed citywide occupancy above 94 percent, trading uncapped BAR upside for diplomatic-contract goodwill and fewer last-minute walk-off threats from mission finance officers.
Hon Hai raised its September consolidated revenue outlook after rack-scale AI servers cleared Taoyuan customs ahead of schedule, a filing signal that cloud hardware is now setting the monthly pace inside the contract manufacturer.
Tokyo Electric Power Grid crews are working through a backlog of roughly 52,560 customer outages in Chiba after Typhoon Dujuan snapped distribution lines and flooded substation yards, even as Silver Week travel pushes demand back toward normal.
Dramatic video of the Panama-flagged First Margaux striking a Chinese trawler near the Singapore Strait spread Monday as insurers and port authorities review traffic separation rules in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
Chevron is keeping Richmond refinery runs steady while California’s gasoline premium over the national average widens past $1.60, as Hormuz-linked crude costs and lost West Coast import barrels compound refinery closures.
Refined fuel output fell more than 4 million barrels a day below year-ago levels in August, pushing wholesale diesel above $200 a barrel in the United States and Europe as governments in 94 countries rolled out price caps and subsidies to keep pumps from running dry.
Nan Ya Plastics Corp. raised epoxy resin list prices for copper-clad laminate buyers after PCB fabricators in Taoyuan and Kaohsiung stacked orders for networking and AI server boards, tightening supply ahead of fourth-quarter assembly ramps.
Tokyo Gas locked in additional LNG tender slots for October–December delivery as yen weakness and autumn factory restarts push industrial gas nominations higher, while METI keeps LNG stockpile targets in focus ahead of winter.
UPS and the Teamsters agreed to cap mandatory seasonal overtime at Louisville Worldport ahead of the holiday peak, trading unlimited double shifts for a fixed premium schedule union stewards say protects sort-line workers from burnout before November volume hits.
Formosa Petrochemical extended naphtha hedges and staggered autumn refinery turnarounds at Mailiao after crack spreads narrowed, buying time before winter heating demand and export fuel orders collide on Taiwan's west coast.
JR West is tightening reserved-seat yield rules on Sanyo Shinkansen and limited expresses after Silver Week’s return peak filled fewer inbound slots than planners modeled, even with every Nozomi running all-reserved.
Overlapping surfacing on BNSF's Montana subdivisions is compressing Bakken crude unit-train windows as shippers defer Gulf-bound barrels and refiners watch PADD 2 rail flows.
Taiwan Mobile will build a dedicated-spectrum private 5G network across three Taichung precision-tooling parks so CNC telemetry and AGV routing can run without fighting public macro congestion ahead of year-end export audits.
Mitsubishi Estate is resetting rent-free and fit-out concessions on two Marunouchi blocks after a cluster of finance tenants handed back floors, even as portfolio vacancy stays below one per cent.
With two California refineries still behind on summer-blend resupply filings, air regulators are weighing narrow Reid Vapor Pressure waivers while the Energy Commission presses for import-backed inventories.