logo
LME Is Keeping a Closer Watch as Energy Traders Bet on Metals

LME Is Keeping a Closer Watch as Energy Traders Bet on Metals

Bloomberg4 days ago

Welcome to our guide to the commodities powering the global economy. Today, EMEA Metals and Mining Team Leader Mark Burton discusses how the London Metal Exchange is being more proactive to head off potential market risks.
The world's top energy traders arrived in metals with a splash this year, building huge positions that give them growing influence over prices.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

You're Only Three Weeks Away From Reaching International Clients, Partners, and Customers
You're Only Three Weeks Away From Reaching International Clients, Partners, and Customers

Entrepreneur

time19 minutes ago

  • Entrepreneur

You're Only Three Weeks Away From Reaching International Clients, Partners, and Customers

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you'll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. If your business takes you across borders, even occasionally, knowing a second language can be the difference between a wasted trip and a new partnership. Whether you're sourcing materials from Europe, meeting with international clients, or attending trade shows abroad, clear communication builds trust and saves time, and Babbel can help. Babbel is a language-learning app built for real-world conversations, and right now, you can get lifetime access to all 14 languages for just $129.99 (reg. $599). This price won't be available for much longer. Take your business to the next level Babbel focuses on practical, everyday language rather than academic grammar drills. You'll learn phrases and conversations around travel, dining, directions, casual introductions, and more. That means you're gaining skills you can actually use in meetings, while traveling, or in customer interactions. Each session takes just 10 minutes to 15 minutes, so you can fit lessons into your schedule between calls or during a break. You're not limited to one language either. Babbel gives you access to all 14, including: Spanish French German Portuguese Italian And that's just a sampling. You can switch between them at any time, whether you're building fluency in one or picking up useful basics in several. Babbel also uses speech recognition to help with pronunciation, and its new AI-powered conversation partner gives you a low-pressure way to practice speaking out loud. Personalized review sessions reinforce what you've learned, so you actually remember it when it counts. If your business depends on travel or international communication, language should be an asset, not a barrier. Use code LEARN40 by June 30 at 11:59 p.m. PT to get a Babbel Lifetime Subscription for only $129.99. Babbel Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages) See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change

Portugal Aims to Meet Defense Spending Goal of 2% of GDP in 2025
Portugal Aims to Meet Defense Spending Goal of 2% of GDP in 2025

Bloomberg

time23 minutes ago

  • Bloomberg

Portugal Aims to Meet Defense Spending Goal of 2% of GDP in 2025

Portugal said it aims to reach a target for investment in defense to represent 2% of gross domestic product in 2025, reaffirming a plan to accelerate spending in the sector. A fifth of the investment will be on goods, infrastructure and equipment, in line with Portugal's commitments as a NATO member, according to the government program handed in to parliament on Saturday. The ruling center-right coalition won an early election on May 18, and Prime Minister Luis Montenegro is now serving a second term.

The Flywheel Effect And It How It Nurtures Next-Gen Entrepreneurs
The Flywheel Effect And It How It Nurtures Next-Gen Entrepreneurs

Forbes

time35 minutes ago

  • Forbes

The Flywheel Effect And It How It Nurtures Next-Gen Entrepreneurs

Saily CEO, Vykintas Maknickas, says working in a company-within-a-company setup is like being in a ... More big accelerator. According to a recent report by VC firm Accel and market intelligence provider Dealroom, 281 unicorn companies in Europe and Israel have been collectively responsible for the launch of more than 2,000 new tech startups. The logic behind the research - which I covered last month is this. As startup businesses morph into scaleups, their key employees gain experience and start to develop business ideas of their own. The result is an ever-increasing number of new companies, led by people who understand their chosen markets and the realities of growing a startup. This is the much sought-after flywheel effect. But how does it play out in practice? Well, one important factor is the willingness of scaling companies - some of them at least - to assign leadership roles to team members as they develop new products or explore hitherto untapped market opportunities. Projects of this kind provide an opportunity for today's employees to acquire the insights, skills and market know-how that will help them become tomorrow's entrepreneurs. In some cases an individual chooses to move on and start a new business. But there may also be an opportunity to take charge of a company within a company. That's the route taken by Vykintas Maknickas, CEO of eSim venture Saily, a business that sits within the portfolio of Lithuanian scaleup Nord Security. And as Maknickas sees it, there are some real practical advantages to building a company under the umbrella of a larger parent. 'You don't need to think about the office. You don't need to worry about where the tables come from. You don't need to worry about the IT stuff. You mostly focus on product, marketing and delivery. It's like being in a big accelerator,' he says. Saily operates as an independent brand, with its own CEO, as part of Nord Security. As Head of Strategy within that organisation, Maknickas researched new business opportunities. During that time, he identified eSims - virtual sim cards - as a promising, under-developed and potentially lucrative market. He pitched the idea to Nord Security's founders and Saily was born. So how difficult was the sell? Maknickas says Nord Security is open to proposals from team members but that doesn't necessarily equate with taking a leadership role. 'The founders are very open to everyone pitching,' he says. 'Execution is a different matter. You may not be the best person to execute, so that could be tricky.' Once a business has been given the green light and a leadership role asigned, there are further advantages to being part of a bigger organisation, not least in terms of resourcing. For instance, staff can be shared across different teams. Typically, a company may have seven or eight full time people, such as developers. Other roles can be split between business units. 'For intance, you don't necessarily need your own graphic artist,' says Maknickas, 'but you do need dedicated product and marketing people.' For the parent company, there is an opportunity to find new customers and revenue streams. At the same time, there can be an overlap between the new company's product and the parent's core offer. For instance, Nord Security is best known for its VPN and security solutions. Saily's main customer case is travellers who want to keep roaming costs down, but in addition to the eSIM functionality, the company has built in VPN/Security features. Thus reputation, credibility and and knowhow can be extended into adjacent markets. Of course, not everyone will have an opportunity to form a company within a company. The flywheel effect is also - and perhaps mainly - driven by those who spend time working for one or more technology startups before launching their own ventures. David Villalon is co-founder and CEO of Maisa, an agentic AI startup that has raised $5 million in pre-seed finance. Prior to forming Maisa with Manuel Romero, Villalon worked as Head of Product at VoiceMod and Chief AI Officer at Clidrive. Having held senior positions in Spanish technology companies, he applied his insights into creating a company that has adopted - as he characterizes it - a new approach to AI. Maisa is aimed at businesses in regulated industries, such as energy, finance and manufacturing. As he explains, the AI is designed to automate key tasks while being fully transparent around the decision making and execution process. As such it can be trusted to carry out tasks that require accuracy and accountability. The key insight that he took from his previous roles was the lack of customer trust in a technology they didn't really understand. 'Clients were telling me, we don't understand this. We hear this is great but we don't know what to do with it and we don't have the know-how,' he recalls. When Villalon and Romero founded Maisa they felt they had a clear idea of what theirtarget customers were looking for. 'We thought about what kind of messaging they were looking for, what kind of products, what kind of leaders and what kind of thought leadership.' Added to that was the practical operational acquired in previous roles. 'During our time at Voicemod we saw hyperscaling. We went from a small team to over 100 in a year and half. That gives you insights. You learn you have to build a solid company. You have to create processes that are agile. I learned how to hyperscale from a team and resources perspective,' he says. Perhaps the question facing entrepreneurially minded employees who develop their own ideas is 'should I stay or should I go.' There are advantages to both approaches, but what can't be denied is that experience in the technology sector is helping a new generation of CEOs and founders to build companies on a foundation of operational and market knowledge.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store