Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Energy crunch bites, inflation hits investor confidence, and Texas mandates no mandates.

Crude is holding above $80 a barrel this morning as shortages of coal and natural gas heading into the Northern Hemisphere winter are expected to keep demand high. The latest pressure on energy supplies comes from record thermal coal prices in China as key mining regions are hit by flooding. The high cost of power is already feeding through to metal prices, with aluminum rising to the highest since July 2008. It seems there is not a lot policy makers and politicians in consumer countries can do beyond asking OPEC to please pump more oil.