Market Information Thursday 12 October 2023

China has saved $10 billion by buying oil from oil states facing Western sanctions according to Reuters’ calculations based on data from traders and shiptrackers. This is an unintended consequence of sanctions by the United States and other countries to boycott Russia, Iran and Venezuela. This has caused oil import prices to fall for China. Reuters’ analysis compares how much Chinese importers would have paid for the same quantity from non-sanctioned producers. China shipped a record 2,765 million barrels of crude oil by sea from Iran, Russia and Venezuela in the first nine months of 2023, according to average data from tanker trackers Vortexa and Kpler.

Statistics Netherlands in reports that 25 more companies declared bankruptcy in September than a month before. This corresponds to an increase of 9%. This trend has been going on for over a year. In the first three quarters, bankruptcy increased by 60% compared to 2022. In 2021, a record low of 109 bankruptcies was declared in the month of August. As of May 2022, the number of bankruptcies was consistently higher than in the same month a year before. Specialty services, such as consulting are particularly struggling. In that sector, the number of bankruptcies doubled from the previous month.

After 1.5 years of stagnation, the market for company takeovers is reviving in the Netherlands and the Benelux, according tot the Financieel Dagblad (FD) after talks with banks and other parties closely involved in M&A. At the moment it is mainly the smaller companies that are attracting interest. The larger deals are still postponed because banks are reluctant to provide financing. The M&A market is a good indicator of the economic climate. When the economic climate recovers, the takeover market usually follows. Over the past 1.5 years, the takeover market fell silent due to rising interest rates, high inflation and the war in Ukraine.

The 6M Euribor decreased with 2 basis points to 4.11% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap decreased with 6 basis points to 3.29% compared to previous business day.

In the attachment, today’s market data on money and capital market rates as well as other rates are presented.