Highlights
President Biden signed legislation to require US rail workers to continue to work. There will be no legal strike in the coming months, but there are union members calling for a strike anyway. If any of the twelve unions strike, will the other union member cross the picket line to work? Probably not. Hopefully, the fear of a strike is what hurt corn and wheat this past week and, hopefully, that fear is behind us now that a strike would be illegal.
The EU reached an agreement yesterday to cap Russian crude oil purchases at $60 per barrel. As Russian and European experts have repeatedly stated, this measure will work only if a large number of non-EU countries join this cap program. Otherwise, it will only cause distortions in the oil market and can only lead to an increased income for Russia, which has repeatedly stated it will not sell oil to any country which supports the cap. It is a well known fact that China and India have been buying Russian crude well below $60 for months as they get discounts for remaining loyal buyers of Russian crude...