China is moving to establish an alternative to shipping insurance provided by Western financial institutions such as Lloyd's of London, the WSJ's Costas Paris writes.
Chinese maritime officials are talking to local shipping companies, banks and Chinese insurers about putting together $15 billion in funds to set up an insurance and reinsurance hub for dealing with catastrophic events at sea like a ship sinking or mariners lost, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The goal is to create a Chinese maritime-insurance system by 2029, the people said, though they cautioned the talks are at an early stage and could fall apart given the sum that would need to be raised and other challenges.
If successful, Beijing's efforts would shake up a centuries-old setup that has undergirded global shipping. A Chinese alternative would advance efforts to insulate the country from sanctions and events that could choke the international shipping that is so vital to the country's export-driven economy. Meanwhile, Western shippers could shift business to the Chinese hub if it offered more attractive terms.
-- The Trump administration is set to extend a waiver to the Jones Act to allow some non-U.S.-flagged ships to carry oil and other commodities between American ports. (Reuters)
Number of the Day
337
Voyages between U.S. ports taken by foreign ships, as of Oct. 30, since President Trump first waived the Jones Act on March 17, according to the Cato Institute's Jones Act Waiver Tracker
Economy
Home sales fell in October to their lowest level since 2010, a new trough for a housing market that has been hovering near rock bottom for more than four years, the WSJ's Nicholas G. Miller writes.
Sales of existing homes fell 5.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.75 million, the National Association of Realtors said, marking the steepest decline since January. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a decline of 3.8%. The last time sales were this low was August 2010 when the economy was still reeling from the housing bust and the recession that followed.
Construction
Architects and developers are increasingly turning to mass timber, a wooden alternative to structural materials such as steel and concrete for large buildings, the WSJ's Ryan Dezember writes. Mass timber is made by pressing and gluing together layers of dimensional lumber, often two-by-six boards, into large panels and beams. A slab of mass timber can serve as ceiling, floor and load-bearing elements all in one.
Projects started this year will bring to more than 1,500 the number of apartment complexes, hotels, offices and other commercial and public buildings made of mass timber in the U.S., up from fewer than 100 a decade ago, according to industry group WoodWorks-Wood Products Council.
Proponents say it creates a new market for the glut of wood that has depressed prices and put U.S. timberland at risk of being cleared for more profitable uses, such as shopping centers and solar farms. Meanwhile, the costs of traditional building materials have risen, driven by demand from data centers, supply disruptions from wars and President Trump's tariffs.
"I haven't talked to a single architect who doesn't want to use it."Architect Patrick Shay, on mass timber
In Other News
-- U.S. commercial crude-oil inventories unexpectedly rose by 4.7 million barrels last week, after five straight weekly withdrawals. (WSJ)
-- U.S. initial jobless claims rose to 200,000 in the week through Nov. 7, the Labor Department said, higher than the upwardly revised 191,000 reported a week earlier. (WSJ)
-- The eurozone's goods trade deficit narrowed in September, offering some relief after a sharp deterioration in August. (WSJ)
-- The U.K. economy grew 0.7% in the third quarter, marking the strongest quarterly expansion since the first quarter of 2024. (WSJ)
-- SpaceX said it plans to invest more than $74 billion across two supercomputing facilities in Texas and Arizona. (WSJ)
-- A U.S. District Court approved the expansion of a zinc and manganese mine in Arizona on national security grounds, overriding concerns over habitat loss in the region. (Dow Jones Risk Journal)
-- Rolls-Royce said deliveries of engines to civil customers were significantly higher, while orders rose 62% in its power-systems business in the first nine months of the year. (WSJ)
-- Autonomous-boat maker Saronic Technologies awarded Syncrolift, a unit of Norway's Nekkar, a $100 million contract to supply a shiplift for its shipyard under construction in Brownsville, Texas. (WorkBoat)
-- The cost of operating self-driving trucks in the U.S. could drop to match that of trucks with human drivers by 2028, according to a report by Kearney and the MIT Mobility Initiative. (SupplyChainBrain)
Dow Jones Risk Journal Podcast
In this week's episode: The departure of (Nvidia's) longtime leader raises questions about corporate governance, national security and U.S.-China relations. Plus, Washington targets crypto exchange MEXC over alleged illicit transactions linked to Iran, Russia and North Korea. New episodes every Friday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon.