2025-07-30 12:51
WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday again called on the Federal Reserve to lower benchmark rates after data showed U.S. economic growth rebounded more than expected in the second quarter. "2Q GDP JUST OUT: 3%, WAY BETTER THAN EXPECTED! “Too Late” MUST NOW LOWER THE RATE. No Inflation! Let people buy, and refinance, their homes!" Trump wrote on Truth Social as the central bank prepared to release its policy statement. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/trump-pushes-rate-cut-fed-meets-second-quarter-data-released-2025-07-30/
2025-07-30 12:43
MOSCOW, July 30 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it was concerned about the threat of new strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, and that a deal on Tehran's nuclear programme could be reached through dialogue. Israel and the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June with the stated aim of preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Iran denies any such intention. Sign up here. "Regular threats towards Iran to launch new missile and bomb strikes on its nuclear facilities cannot but cause serious concern. The cynicism of such statements is added by the fact that they are made under the guise of imaginary concern for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters. "Bombing nuclear facilities should not become commonplace, routine international practice. The catastrophic risks associated with this cannot be ignored, much less justified." Russia has cultivated closer ties with Iran since the start of its war in Ukraine, and this year signed a strategic partnership treaty with the Islamic Republic. Zakharova said a sustainable peace settlement and a promise not to conduct new strikes on Iran were prerequisites for normalising cooperation between Tehran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-says-its-worried-about-threat-new-strikes-iranian-nuclear-facilities-2025-07-30/
2025-07-30 12:42
ANKARA, July 30 (Reuters) - Turkey will start providing Syria with natural gas from August 2, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told state-owned Anadolu news agency on Wednesday, adding Azerbaijan would also be involved in the exports running through Turkey's Kilis province. Ankara, which supported rebel forces in neighbouring Syria throughout the 13-year civil war that ended in December with the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, has become one of the new Syrian government's main foreign allies while positioning itself to be a major player in Syria's reconstruction. Sign up here. Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir provided further details on the supply in a statement released by his ministry: "Starting August 2, Syria will begin receiving 3.4 million cubic metres of gas from Azerbaijan to Aleppo Governorate via Turkey," Bashir said. He said this would contribute to generating some 900 megawatts of electricity and help enhance the stability of the electricity grid in Syria. During a visit to Damascus in May, Bayraktar had said Turkey would provide Syria with 2 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually, in addition to 1,000 megawatts of electricity. He had said this month that Azerbaijan's SOCAR may be a partner in the project as well. On Wednesday, he said the natural gas provision would help Syria address its electricity needs as well, adding this would be used as fuel in electricity production at Syria's existing power plants. "We made a swap agreement with Azerbaijan, and the gas that will come from Azerbaijan will be exported to Aleppo, Syria, via Kilis," he said, adding Qatar would also be involved in terms of financing, and that ministers from the three countries would mark the start of the gas flow in a ceremony on Saturday. "With the 6 million cubic metres of gas that we are planning to send there, we will be able to realise 1,200 megawatts of electricity production," he added. Bayraktar said Ankara would also be supplementing that with 500 megawatts of its own to help address Syria's energy issues. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/turkey-start-providing-syria-with-natural-gas-august-2-minister-says-2025-07-30/
2025-07-30 12:42
SAN FRANCISCO, July 30 (Reuters) - Helion Energy, a startup backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman and SoftBank's venture capital arm, has started construction on a site for a planned nuclear fusion power plant that will supply power to Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab data centers by 2028, the company said on Wednesday. The site in Malaga, Washington, is in the center of the state along the Columbia River, where Helion hopes to take advantage of grid infrastructure in place for the nearby Rock Island Dam hydroelectric plant. Sign up here. The startup still has to secure final permits from Washington's government but said the work puts it on track to sell power to Microsoft under a deal it struck in 2023. Fusion generates electricity by ramming atoms into each other, releasing energy without emitting significant greenhouse gases or creating large amounts of long-lasting radioactive waste. But despite billions of dollars of investment, scientists and engineers still have not figured out a way to reliably generate more energy with fusion than it takes to create and sustain the reaction. Helion is still working on how to do that with its current prototype, called Polaris, which is housed in Everett, Washington, where it plans to build components for the machine to be built at Malaga, called Orion. Orion will connect to Washington's primary power delivery networks, David Kirtley, Helion’s co-founder and CEO, told Reuters. "We'll actually be able to connect to the exact same grid just upstream of the Microsoft data centers," Kirtley said. Microsoft has for years said that nuclear energy should be part of a mix of carbon-free energy sources and has also signed power purchase agreements for conventional fission-based nuclear power. Fusion is a longer-term bet, said Melanie Nakagawa, Microsoft's chief sustainability officer. "Over the last three, four years, you've been seeing from across the fusion space different types of milestones being met by other companies and peers, Helion included," Nakagawa told Reuters. "There's a lot of optimism that this could be the moment that fusion actually comes forward within this decade, or near in this decade." https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/helion-energy-starts-construction-nuclear-fusion-plant-power-microsoft-data-2025-07-30/
2025-07-30 12:36
Trump vows sanctions unless Russia makes progress on peace deal U.S. also warns China over Russian oil China unlikely to comply with U.S. sanctions, analysts say LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Wednesday as investors awaited developments on U.S. President Donald Trump's tighter deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine and his tariff threats to countries that trade its oil. The most active Brent crude futures were down 5 cents or about 0.1%, at $71.63 a barrel by 1226 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 5 cents to $69.61. Sign up here. The Brent crude September contract that expires on Wednesday was steady at $72.50. Both contracts had fallen nearly 1% earlier in the day. "Events in the last few days have moved the needle a touch more, but we still appear to be somewhat rangebound and testing the next resistance level," said Rystad Energy analyst Janiv Shah. Trump had said on Tuesday that he would start imposing measures on Russia, such as secondary tariffs of 100% on trading partners, if it did not make progress on ending the war within 10 to 12 days, moving up from an earlier 50-day deadline. The United States also warned China, the largest buyer of Russian oil, that it could face huge tariffs if it kept buying, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a news conference in Stockholm. JP Morgan analysts wrote that while China was unlikely to comply with U.S. sanctions, India has signalled it would do so, which could affect 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian oil exports. "Oil prices reacted strongly yesterday, so there is some profit booking," said UBS commodity analyst Giovanni Staunovo, adding that data from the American Petroleum Institute from Tuesday was also bearish for crude. "Market participants are also taking into account that low prices and secondary sanctions/tariffs on Russia won’t work at the same time." U.S. crude and distillate stocks rose last week while gasoline inventories fell, market sources said, citing API data. "Depending on the outcome of the U.S.-Russia discussions, tariff implementation and the OPEC+ meeting and announcement on unwinding (of output cuts), the market could see some movement," Rystad's Shah added. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-steadies-market-weighs-up-supply-risks-2025-07-30/
2025-07-30 12:10
Rio Tinto first-half profit drops 16% to $4.81 billion Interim dividend drops to $1.48, lowest in seven years Focus shifts to copper and lithium due to strong demand July 30 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto reported its smallest first-half underlying profit since 2020 and lowest interim dividend in seven years on Wednesday, as falling iron ore prices and rising costs in Australia highlighted the challenges facing its incoming CEO. The world's largest iron ore producer posted underlying earnings of $4.81 billion for the six months to June 30, down 16% from a year earlier and slightly below a $5.05 billion Visible Alpha consensus. Sign up here. Prices the miner received for its iron ore fell by 15%, though that was partly offset by stronger prices for copper, bauxite, alumina, aluminium and gold. Rio (RIO.AX) , opens new tab, (RIO.L) , opens new tab, which is increasingly shifting its focus to copper and lithium, declared a $1.48 per share interim dividend, down from $1.77 last year. Its London-listed shares were down 1.3% at 1145 GMT. Still, outgoing CEO Jakob Stausholm said the company was in "good shape", with lots of opportunities ahead for iron ore boss Simon Trott, who will take charge from August 25. "With the CEO transition ... one question is: how will Rio's strategy change? The consensus is that management will be focused on operational improvements," analysts at Jefferies, who don't expect major changes, said. Stausholm said his major achievements included Rio Tinto's progress towards cutting carbon emissions by 50% by the end of the decade. Costs rose during his tenure, but the miner was boosting operational efficiency as it worked on new lithium and copper projects, Stausholm said, declining to comment on any potential headcount reduction. "We are streamlining the company, and there might be more to come," Stausholm told investors. Reuters reported that Rio Tinto is considering a possible sale of its titanium unit, as well as streamlining the structure of its core businesses. Asked by analysts, Stausholm said the Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium (RTIT) business had low profitability in the first half. "They had very difficult conditions. But the question is still, are we the best owner of it or are we not? And I happily leave that for my successor," he said. Rio Tinto's unit costs at its flagship Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia rose to $24.3 per wet metric ton (wmt) in the first half, from $23.2 per wmt last year, due to lower shipments and impact from cyclones. Iron ore prices eased on lower steel production in top consumer China and more supply from Australia, Brazil, and South Africa. Rio maintained its full-year Pilbara shipment guidance at the lower end of its 323-338 million tons range. In lithium, prices have started to recover from a downturn, and Rio Tinto has seen robust demand from the stationary battery sector which has doubled from a year ago, Stausholm said. TARIFFS Stausholm said U.S. tariffs on copper represented an opportunity for Rio's Kennecott project, where he expects the smelter to become "much more profitable from the tariffs immediately". He said that growing power demand from data centres could double U.S. copper consumption to 4 million tons, adding that the company's Resolution Copper project in Arizona, if built, "should be able to produce one-fourth of the copper consumption in the U.S. for decades to come." But talking about the company's aluminium business in Canada, he said the end consumer would be charged for the 50% U.S. import tariff in effect since June 4. "Do we like all this? Do we like a 50% tariff on aluminium? Not really. But it's not for us to make statements around that," Stausholm said. "I think it's much more the final consumer that will have to pay. We are able to pass on things." https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/rio-tinto-logs-smallest-first-half-profit-five-years-lower-iron-ore-prices-2025-07-30/
