LiveWire

Indices for both sectors have jumped amid heightened inflation expectations.

AeroFarms the vertical farming giant, agreed to go public via a SPAC deal. Investors have committed $125 million to a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, offering to support the deal. The transaction will provide about $317 million of cash to AeroFarms to fund its future farm development, they said. The merger, which has been cleared by the boards of both companies, will be subject to the approval of Spring Valley shareholders. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter, according to the statement.

Bullion has dropped about 9% this year amid optimism over a recovery from the pandemic, a resilient dollar, and the rise in bond yields. Continuous strengthening in the U.S. dollar alongside reflation optimism are likely to weigh on gold prices, which remains in a downward trend.

The Suez canal has been blocked for three consecutive days by the 224,000 ton Ever Given. The incident has already caused major tailbacks at both ends of the canal with over 150 ships dropping the anchor. With over 50 ships passing by the canal per day, delays are usually likely to have repercussions, such as higher shipping contracts and oil prices. The Suez canal is one of the several chokepoints for oil. The Strait of Malacca sees 15.7 million barrels pass through daily, vs. 4.6 million for the Suez Canal. Who knows which other incidents could hurt oil prices?

A rally that has pushed the S&P 500 Materials Index to an all-time high has more room to run, thanks to a combination of economic forces including higher prices for raw materials. Shares in companies such as copper miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and lithium producer Albemarle Corp. have soared on commodity price increases, helping to push the index up 98% higher since its crash a year ago. The gains have made the sector the best performing after energy on the S&P 500 in a trend analysts say could continue.