2025-08-18 23:02

Aug 19 (Reuters) - Australia's Woodside Energy (WDS.AX) , opens new tab recorded a 24% fall in its first-half profit on Tuesday, mainly due to lower average realised prices and depreciation costs associated with its Sangomar oil project in Senegal. The company's average realised price for its products was $61.8 per barrel of oil equivalent during the first half, compared with $62.6 pboe last year. Sign up here. Meanwhile, production costs, depreciation and amortisation related to the Sangomar project came in at $773 million during the period. The oil and gas giant reported an underlying net profit after tax of $1.25 billion for the six months ended June 30, compared with $1.63 billion last year and in line with Visible Alpha's consensus estimates. It declared an interim dividend of 53 cents per share, lower than 69 cents declared last year. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/australias-woodside-posts-24-drop-first-half-profit-2025-08-18/

2025-08-18 22:57

MEXICO CITY, Aug 18 (Reuters) - A strong explosion rocked steelmaker ArcelorMittal's facilities in the Pacific town of Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico on Monday, the firm said. No injuries were reported and material damages were still being assessed, ArcelorMittal said in a statement. The cause of the explosion was under investigation. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/steelmaker-arcelormittal-reports-explosion-mexico-plant-none-injured-2025-08-18/

2025-08-18 22:46

Three main stock indexes close near flat Trump hosts Zelenskiy, EU leaders to push Russia peace deal Solar stocks rise on 'milder' subsidy rules Dayforce surges on Thoma Bravo acquisition talks Aug 18 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes closed roughly flat on Monday, after struggling for direction while investors awaited a raft of corporate earnings reports from major retailers for more signs about the state of the economy and the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole. Walmart (WMT.N) , opens new tab, Home Depot (HD.N) , opens new tab and Target (TGT.N) , opens new tab, among others, are set to report results this week and are likely to indicate how trade uncertainty and inflation expectations have affected U.S. consumers. Sign up here. Investors are also closely watching the Fed's Jackson Hole, Wyoming, conference between August 21 and 23, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak, could offer more clarity on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework. Talks at the White House on Monday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy failed to move the market significantly. "It's a quiet day, with investors getting ready for things to come," said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital. "The most important event is Powell's speech, as we expect updated thoughts about how the Fed is viewing this economic environment where inflation is at a fairly high level while unemployment seems to have a rising trend." Data on Friday showed that while retail sales were increasing broadly as anticipated, consumer sentiment overall had taken a hit from mounting inflation fears. On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell to the lowest reading since December 2022. Wall Street's main indexes rallied over the past two weeks, with the blue-chip Dow (.DJI) , opens new tab hitting an intraday record high on Friday, aided by interest rate cut expectations and a better-than-expected earnings season despite an uncertain trade environment. On the geopolitical front, Trump and Zelenskiy met to discuss the future of the war in Ukraine, days after Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin which yielded no concrete outcome. Trump said he would call Putin and that it was possible the three leaders could hold a meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 34.30 points, or 0.08%, to 44,911.82, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab lost 0.65 point, or 0.01%, to 6,449.15 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab gained 6.80 points, or 0.03%, to 21,629.77. Investors continue to price in a 25-basis-point cut from the Federal Reserve next month, although they have lowered their expectations for another rate cut this year, according to data compiled by LSEG. Recent data has also suggested that while U.S. tariffs have not filtered in to headline consumer prices yet, weakness in the jobs market could nudge the central bank to take a more dovish stance. Intel (INTC.O) , opens new tab shares fell 3.66% after a Bloomberg report said the Trump administration is in talks to take a 10% stake in the chipmaker. Dayforce (DAY.N) , opens new tab jumped 26% after a report that private equity firm Thoma Bravo was in talks to acquire the human resources management software firm. Solar stocks including SunRun (RUN.O) , opens new tab and First Solar (FSLR.O) , opens new tab gained 11.35% and 9.69%, respectively, after the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled new federal tax subsidy rules for solar and wind projects, which were less strict than investors had feared. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.16-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 185 new highs and 36 new lows on the NYSE. The S&P 500 posted 9 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 69 new lows. https://www.reuters.com/business/wall-street-ends-muted-note-ahead-jackson-hole-summit-retailers-earnings-2025-08-18/

2025-08-18 22:15

Aug 18 (Reuters) - Figure Technology Solutions' revenue surged 22% in the first half of 2025, the blockchain lender disclosed on Monday in its U.S. initial public offering paperwork, the latest crypto-linked firm set to hit the new listings market. A crypto-friendly environment under the Trump administration and the blowout debut of stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL.N) , opens new tab have set the stage for a flurry of listings from the digital asset industry. Sign up here. Figure joins a growing list of crypto players looking to tap public markets this year. Winklevoss twins' crypto exchange, Gemini, also filed for New York IPO last week. Figure's revenue surged 22.4% to $191 million in the six months ended June 30. The company reported a profit of $29 million, compared with a loss of $13 million in the same period a year earlier. The New York-based company and some of its existing stockholders will sell shares in the offering. "Crypto is becoming one of the big pillars of the IPO market, with more deals expected not only via IPO- but also through deSPAC transactions," said IPOX CEO Josef Schuster said, referring to companies going public through blank-check mergers. BLOCKCHAIN LENDING Figure, co-founded in 2018 by technology entrepreneur Mike Cagney, is a blockchain-native platform that powers lending, trading, and investing in areas such as consumer credit and digital assets. The company and its more than 160 partners have originated over $16 billion of home equity to date. "Blockchain can do more than disrupt existing markets. By taking historically illiquid assets – such as loans – and putting these assets and their performance history on-chain, blockchain can bring liquidity to markets that have never had such," Cagney said in the filing. "The IPO is one step in a long process to bring blockchain to all aspects of capital markets." Cagney, who was also the co-founder of fintech SoFi (SOFI.O) , opens new tab, will continue to control a majority of Figure's voting power after the offering. In 2021, Figure raised $200 million in a funding round at a $3.2 billion valuation. Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and BofA Securities are the lead underwriters. Figure will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol "FIGR". https://www.reuters.com/business/blockchain-lender-figure-technology-reveals-revenue-surge-us-ipo-filing-2025-08-18/

2025-08-18 22:03

LIMA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Peru hopes to increase agricultural investment with a significant reduction in income tax for large export companies, the sector's minister told Reuters on Monday. The Peruvian Congress last week passed a law that reduces income tax to 15% from the current 29.5% for large agricultural exporters over the next 10 years. Medium-sized businesses would pay 1.5% income tax, while small businesses would be exempt from the tax. Sign up here. Peru expects agricultural sales to surpass mining, considered the country's economic engine, by 2050. Peru is the world's third-largest copper producer. "This will allow us to attract investment," said Agriculture Minister Ángel Manero in a telephone interview, of the new law. The country recorded $12.8 billion in agricultural exports last year, and Manero expects increased fruit shipments to drive sales to about $15 billion by 2025. The star product of Peruvian agricultural exports is blueberries, which are exported primarily to the United States and Europe. Minister Manero also highlighted the sharp increase in sales of table grapes, avocados, cocoa, and mangos. Peru has a portfolio of approximately $24 billion in largely public-private irrigation projects to expand its agricultural area, primarily on the country's coast, to more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres). Manero said that eight projects worth $11 billion have been launched from that portfolio. Manero noted that the next market to conquer is India, with which a free trade agreement is expected to be signed this year. Peru last week announced a new trade deal with Indonesia. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/peru-hopes-attract-investment-with-tax-cuts-sustain-agro-export-boom-minister-2025-08-18/

2025-08-18 21:53

ORLANDO, Florida, Aug 18 (Reuters) - TRADING DAY Making sense of the forces driving global markets Sign up here. By Jamie McGeever, Markets Columnist Many world markets took a breather on Monday as investors awaited the outcome of U.S. President Donald Trump's extraordinary meetings with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy and many European leaders, and looked ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's keynote speech in Jackson Hole later in the week. More on that below. In my column today I ask whether U.S. consumer spending can be sustained, which would keep the economy growing and steer it away from recession. Much will depend on how the rich feel about their finances. If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today. Today's Key Market Moves Today's Talking Points: * Europe goes to Washington. U.S. President Donald Trump's intense, hastily-arranged summitry continued on Monday as he welcomed Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the White House to discuss how to end the Ukraine-Russia war. This follows Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, which was a success for the Russian president but yielded little for Trump. And that meant little for Ukraine or Europe, which explains the extraordinary sight of Zelenskiy being backed in Washington on Monday by many of Europe's most powerful leaders, including Germany's Friedrich Merz, France's Emmanuel Macron, Britain's Keir Starmer and NATO's Mark Rutte. Trump's appearance with Zelenskiy before the cameras was cordial and even friendly, in stark contrast to their acrimonious meeting in February. Trump said the U.S. would help Europe in providing security for Ukraine as part of any deal, but also suggested to reporters that he no longer believed a ceasefire was a necessary prerequisite for striking a peace agreement. * Jackson Hole. Attention is now turning to the annual Kansas City Fed's symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which gathers Fed officials, central bankers and leading economists from around the world to discuss the challenges facing the global economy. Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday is the keynote event. Leaving aside any possible long-term policy steers, such as changes to QT or tolerating slightly higher inflation, the main focus is whether he leans toward a rate cut in September or not. Rates traders still think he will, but their conviction is ebbing by the day. They are now attaching an 82% probability of a quarter-point cut next month, the lowest likelihood since the unexpectedly weak employment data on August 1. * Long-end bond blues. Yields on 30-year sovereign bonds in major countries around the world continue to rise. In some cases, like that of Germany, they are now the highest in many years as investors begin to fret again about inflation and fiscal spending plans. Many investors are also questioning the wisdom of the Fed resuming its easing cycle next month, which is what's currently priced into rates futures markets, with inflation above target, unemployment at a historical low, stocks at record highs and financial conditions the loosest in years. Even the long end of China's bond market is feeling the squeeze. The 30-year yield spiked 8 basis points to 2.12% on Monday, the highest in five months and biggest one-day rise since October. And this is in China, where the deflationary pressures of the last few years are showing no sign of lifting. Can the rich continue to prop up US consumer spending? U.S. consumer spending's surprising resilience is the main reason the economy has not only avoided recession, but continued to grow at a solid clip. The big question now is whether American households can keep that going, especially with higher, tariff-fueled prices coming down the pike. In the U.S., "the consumer" is king. Consumer spending accounts for around 70% of total economic output, so changes in people's propensity to spend have a direct, outsized influence on the health of the economy. But "the consumer" is, of course, actually millions of people. And when you split them into groups based on income and wealth, it becomes clear that total spending disproportionately comes from the rich. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said earlier this year that the richest 10% of Americans, those earning at least $250,000 a year, now account for half of all consumer spending. That's a record. Thirty years ago, the richest 10% accounted for 36% of all consumer spending. A Boston Fed paper , opens new tab last week backed up Zandi's findings, concluding that the strength of aggregate consumer spending in the last three years is due to high-income earners. But the authors suggest high-income consumers have a reasonable cushion because they haven't maxed out their credit cards. While the lower-income and middle-income cohorts both saw their credit card debt soar past pre-pandemic totals in the last few years, wealthier Americans' credit card debt remains below the 2019 high and well below the level implied by the pre-pandemic trend. So, if necessary, they still have room to borrow to fund their spending. EARNING POWER Spending across the income deciles could also be supported by enhanced earning power. While some indicators show that the U.S. labor market may be softening, annual average earnings growth still rose in July to 3.9%, meaning real wage growth is running at a 1.3% annual pace, depending on what slice of inflation you use. Real annual wage growth has been between 1.0% and 1.8% for over two years, above the average for the decade leading into the COVID-19 health crisis. And overall workers' income may be growing at an even faster rate, according to economists at Bank of America. They calculate that aggregate labor income – number of jobs multiplied by wages multiplied by number of hours worked - increased 5.5% in July on a six-month annualized basis. Most of that growth was driven by higher wages. With household delinquency rates, excluding student loans, cooling off this year, strength in labor income should continue to support consumer spending, they argue. This, in turn, should help the U.S. avoid the recessionary spiral of lower spending begetting layoffs, begetting even lower spending, begetting more job cuts. This is one of the reasons BofA economists retain their out-of-consensus call that the Federal Reserve won't cut interest rates at all this year. FLASHING AMBER? Others are less confident. Zandi at Moody's Analytics warns that a correction on Wall Street would hit the rich hard via the negative wealth effects, "and, given how weak the economy is, push it into recession." The concentration of equity ownership at the top of the U.S. wealth ladder is extreme - the richest 1% in the country owns 50% of stock market assets and the top 10% holds around 90%. Some measures of household spending are already flashing amber. Inflation-adjusted spending as measured by personal consumption expenditures flat lined in the first half of this year. Yet figures on Friday showed that retail sales rose 0.5% in July after an upwardly revised 0.9% gain in June. But then there are tariffs. Companies, not consumers, have borne the brunt of these levies so far. Economists at Goldman Sachs estimate that consumers absorbed only 22% of tariff costs through June, but they reckon that figure could rise to 67% in the months ahead if the Trump administration's expected tariffs are implemented. So there are grounds for both caution and optimism. Much will depend on whether the rich draw in their horns. What could move markets tomorrow? Want to receive Trading Day in your inbox every weekday morning? Sign up for my newsletter here. Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles , opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. (This story has been refiled to correct the spelling of Emmanuel Macron's first name in paragraph 12) https://www.reuters.com/business/global-markets-trading-day-corrected-graphic-2025-08-18/