2025-08-05 12:48

Aug 5 (Reuters) - August, an AI startup founded by Columbia University alumni and that caters to midsize law firms, said on Tuesday it had raised $7 million in a seed funding round led by venture capital firms NEA and Pear VC. WHY IT MATTERS AI's ability to handle routine, document-heavy tasks is unlocking new efficiencies for lawyers, particularly because the legal field is built on vast volumes of literature such as case law, contracts and filings. Sign up here. By automating time-consuming paperwork, AI platforms such as August are freeing up lawyers to focus on higher-value work. It also helps to cut costs, a crucial benefit for midsize law firms that lack the resources of their deep-pocketed rivals. CONTEXT August was founded in 2023 by Rutvik Rau, Thomas Bueler-Faudree and Joseph Parker, who met at Columbia University. Besides NEA and Pear VC, the startup secured backing from angel investor Gokul Rajaram, Ramp's vice president of product Geoff Charles, OpenAI's head of engineering David Azose and Bain Capital Ventures partner Kevin Zhang. The company is based in New York and currently has a team of 12. It expects to expand the workforce to 25 to 30 by the end of the year, Rau told Reuters in an interview. August operates in a competitive arena dominated by some established players, most notably Harvey, an OpenAI-backed legal AI startup, which caters to elite law firms and big professional services companies. KEY QUOTES "The future is one where AI partners with individuals to be a step further than where the industry is today," Rau said. "We're enabling lawyers to be more productive by eliminating some of the work, so they can actually spend a lot more time working with their clients, understanding their needs and being the strategic value partner for them." https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/ai-startup-by-columbia-graduates-raises-7-million-target-midsize-law-firms-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 12:46

Aug 5 (Reuters) - HSBC on Tuesday raised its year-end S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab index target by more than 800 points to 6,400, citing euphoria around artificial intelligence and easing U.S. policy uncertainty. The upgrade comes after similar moves from other brokerages, including Goldman Sachs and BofA Global Research, last month. Sign up here. "The AI trade is powering the tech/AI cohort higher (roughly half of the S&P 500), while reduced policy uncertainty (namely tariffs) is fueling the 'rest' of the market," HSBC strategists wrote in a note. The S&P 500 has rebounded 30.8% since its April 8 low, following U.S. President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs. The index notched fresh highs in July, driven by upbeat earnings from tech giants Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab and Meta Platforms (META.O) , opens new tab, which renewed investor optimism around AI. HSBC's new target represents a marginal 1.1% upside to the index's last close at 6,329.94. Its previous target was 5,600 for the index. The brokerage expects slower growth in the U.S. in the second half of the year, allowing the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates, and sees the tariff impact to remain muted and temporary. But in its bull-case scenario, HSBC expects the index to end the year at 7,000. "We believe there is still room for margins to expand in tech...don't see valuations as stretched for the tech sector," HSBC strategists said in a note to clients. https://www.reuters.com/business/hsbc-lifts-sp-500-year-end-target-6400-ai-boom-easing-policy-uncertainty-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 12:19

Aug 5 (Reuters) - Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC.N) , opens new tab beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit on Tuesday, benefiting from a rebound in refining margins as fuel demand remained firm. U.S. refiners are posting upbeat quarterly profits, recovering from the losses in the previous quarter on stronger diesel margins. Sign up here. Marathon's rivals Valero Energy (VLO.N) , opens new tab, Phillips 66 (PSX.N) , opens new tab and HF Sinclair (DINO.N) , opens new tab all exceeded Wall Street estimates. Diesel cracks - a measure of margins - averaged $17 per barrel during the quarter, in line with the first quarter. However, they ended the three-month period higher at $21 per barrel, TPH & Co analyst Matthew Blair said in a note earlier. Fuel makers also saw an unexpected boost in profits from higher demand for key products in recent months, easing the slump since 2022 highs, driven by a post-pandemic recovery and war-related supply disruptions. The margins also benefited from improved capture rates, which reflect a refining company's ability to capitalize on favorable market conditions. "Our second-quarter results reflect actions we have taken to deliver on our strategic commitments...in refining, our team delivered 97% utilization and 105% margin capture; and we remain constructive on the long-term outlook," said CEO Maryann Mannen. Marathon's throughput volumes for the quarter were 3.1 million barrels per day (mmbpd), unchanged from last year, but now expects 2.9 mmbpd in the third quarter. Its refining and marketing margin per barrel rose to $17.58 in the quarter from $17.53 a year earlier. The company reported adjusted profit of $3.96 per share for the three months ended June 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of $3.29 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/top-us-refiner-marathon-petroleum-beats-quarterly-profit-higher-refining-margins-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 12:18

BRASILIA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank on Tuesday flagged caution over the impact of steeper U.S. trade tariffs, reaffirming its commitment to a policy stance aimed at lowering inflation expectations after signaling interest rates will remain on hold for long. In the minutes from its latest policy meeting, where policymakers paused an aggressive tightening cycle that had increased the benchmark rate by 450 basis points to a near 20-year high of 15%, the bank said that the 50% U.S. levies on goods from Brazil could have "significant" effects on specific sectors. Sign up here. The broader macroeconomic effects remain uncertain and will depend on the course of negotiations and market perceptions of risk, it said. Policymakers emphasized they are closely monitoring potential effects on the real economy and financial markets, and reinforced the central bank's cautious stance in a scenario of heightened uncertainty. They also noted that inflation expectations among many market participants remain above the official 3% target, with no significant changes in longer-term projections, even as implied inflation measures derived from financial assets have declined. "The committee reaffirmed and renewed its commitment to reanchoring expectations and to conducting a monetary policy that supports such a movement," the minutes said. The current scenario "prescribes a significantly contractionary monetary policy for a very prolonged period to ensure the convergence of inflation to the target," it added. While acknowledging clearer signs of moderation in credit markets amid a high-interest rate environment, the central bank said the labor market remained resilient, and said it was "natural" to observe mixed signals at "turning points in the economic cycle." Latin America's largest economy is evolving broadly in line with expectations, said the central bank, with slowing growth seen as necessary to widen the output gap and ensure inflation control. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-central-bank-warns-us-tariffs-vows-anchor-inflation-expectations-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 12:10

SAO PAULO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian planemaker Embraer (EMBR3.SA) , opens new tab on Tuesday reaffirmed its 2025 outlook and said U.S. tariffs did not significantly affect its second-quarter results, even as it described the levies as a "major concern" amid ongoing trade uncertainties. The company avoided a potential setback last week when U.S. President Donald Trump exempted aircraft from a 50% tariff imposed on U.S. imports from Brazil, but still faces a 10% duty first imposed in April, which it indicated was harmful but manageable. Sign up here. As it reported its April-June earnings, Embraer said it advocates for a "swift return to zero tariff rules for all aviation and aerospace industries" and again sought to underscore its ties to the U.S., including local jobs and investments. Embraer, whose E175 narrowbody is a workhorse of U.S. regional aviation, flagged last month that a 50% tariff from its No. 1 market could have triggered order cancellations, deferred deliveries and hammered its revenue like the pandemic did. Following last week's relief, Embraer now reiterated it expects to deliver between 77 and 85 commercial aircraft this year, and 145 to 155 executive jets. Full-year net revenue is forecast to hit $7 billion to $7.5 billion. The company late on Tuesday flipped on its reported adjusted net loss of $4.7 million, saying that it had not properly taken into account an impact from deferred income tax and social contribution. That adjustment brought the firm into the black, logging an adjusted net profit of $118.9 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached $245.5 million, up from $190.4 million a year earlier. Net revenue came in at $1.82 billion, a 22% year-on-year increase. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/embraer-keeps-2025-outlook-us-tariffs-had-limited-impact-quarterly-results-2025-08-05/

2025-08-05 12:00

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Asia's imports of seaborne thermal coal ticked up in July, but the increase was driven by the developed economies of North Asia and not heavyweights China and India. Total seaborne imports of the fuel used mainly to generate electricity rose to 70.66 million metric tons in July, up 12% from June's 63.02 million tons, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler. Sign up here. The rise in July imports comes amid a weaker trend for Asia's seaborne thermal coal shipments, as top buyers China and India trimmed purchases amid plentiful domestic supplies and rising generation from renewables. July's arrivals were down 7.8% from the same month in 2024 and Asia's imports for the first seven months of the year were 8.4% lower at 479.54 million tons, according to Kpler data. The recovery in volumes in July from June was driven by higher imports in the developed economies of North Asia, namely Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Japan, the world's third-biggest coal importer, saw arrivals of 10.0 million tons of thermal coal in July, up from 6.16 million in June. However, it's worth noting that June was the lowest month for seaborne thermal coal imports for Japan in Kpler data going back to January 2017. South Korea, the fourth-biggest coal buyer, saw imports of 7.49 million tons in July, up from 5.49 million in June and the highest monthly total since August last year. Taiwan's imports were 3.91 million tons in July, up from 3.72 million in June and the most since November last year. The stronger imports in North Asia reflect higher demand for electricity during the northern summer, but also likely show the cost competitiveness of thermal coal compared to liquefied natural gas. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan predominantly buy higher-grade thermal coal benchmarked against the Newcastle Index in Australia. This weekly assessment by price reporting agency Argus has been rising in recent weeks, ending at $112.06 a ton in the seven days to August 1. It has rallied 22.4% since hitting a four-year low of $91.58 a ton on April 25, reflecting the stronger demand from North Asia. PRICIER LNG While higher-grade thermal coal prices have risen, they are still competitive against spot LNG , with cargoes for delivery to North Asia being assessed at $12.10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in the week to August 1. The LNG price is down from its recent four-month high of $14 per mmBtu, but even at its current level it is still above $11.20, which is the upper end of the range at which a Japanese utility would find it more economical to burn coal, according to LSEG data. In contrast to the robust gain in prices for higher-grade Australian thermal coal, the lower-energy fuel preferred by China and India has seen much more modest increases. Coal with an energy content of 5,500 kilocalories per kilogram (kcal/kg) ended last week $67.49 a ton, up slightly from the recent four-year low of $66.00 in the week to July 11. Indonesian coal with an energy content of 4,200 kcal/kg ended at $41.20 a ton in the week to August 1, also up slightly from its four-year low of $40.45 in the seven days to July 4. The relative weakness in the lower-quality coal from the world's two biggest exporters reflects soft demand from the top importers, China and India. China's imports of seaborne thermal coal rose to 22.78 million tons in July, up from 18.21 million in June, according to Kpler. But it's worth noting that June's imports were a three-year low and July's arrivals were also down from the 26.99 million tons from the same month in 2024. China's seaborne thermal coal imports have dropped 17.1% in the first seven months of 2025 from the same period last year, according to Kpler data. Rising domestic coal output, which was up 5% in the first half of 2025, and a greater share of electricity generation from renewables have trimmed China's demand for imported coal. Renewables are also behind some of the weakness in India's coal imports, with analysis of official data showing coal-fired generation dropped nearly 3% in the first half of 2025, while renewables surged 24.4%. India's seaborne imports of thermal coal dropped to 11.51 million tons in July, down from 13.93 million in June, making it the weakest month since November last year, according to Kpler. Enjoying this column? Check out Reuters Open Interest (ROI), your essential new source for global financial commentary. ROI delivers thought-provoking, data-driven analysis of everything from swap rates to soybeans. Markets are moving faster than ever. ROI can help you keep up. Follow ROI on LinkedIn , opens new tab and X , opens new tab. The views expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/asia-thermal-coal-imports-rise-july-japan-south-korea-buy-2025-08-05/