2025-11-19 21:03

Target drops after missing quarterly comparable sales estimates Indexes briefly pare gains after Fed minutes September US jobs report due on Thursday Indexes: Dow up 0.1%, S&P 500 up 0.4%, Nasdaq up 0.6% NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended a choppy session higher on Wednesday, bouncing off recent losses as technology stocks rose ahead of Nvidia's quarterly results. Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab shares gained more than 5% after ending the regular session up 2.8% as the artificial intelligence leader forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) , opens new tab rose 2.8% after the bell, while Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab was up 1.6% and Palantir Technologies (PLTR.O) , opens new tab was up 4%. Sign up here. "The market is breathing a big, collective sigh of relief because Nvidia is confirming that AI demand is strong," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York. "If it sticks and stays by tomorrow's close ... this little pullback in the market could end." The S&P 500 is still down more than 3% from its October highs. Indexes briefly pared gains during the regular session after minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting showed policymakers cautioned that lower borrowing costs could undermine the fight against inflation. The Fed cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point at each of its meetings in September and October. Worries about a cooling labor market persisted ahead of Thursday's release of the September U.S. jobs report following the record-long U.S. government shutdown. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said it will not publish the October employment report, but will instead combine nonfarm payrolls for that month with November's report. Nvidia's results have been seen as a test for the AI-driven rally that has powered the market to record highs this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab rose 47.03 points, or 0.10%, to 46,138.77, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab gained 24.84 points, or 0.38%, to 6,642.16 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab advanced 131.38 points, or 0.59%, to 22,564.23. Investors have worried about how companies will be able to make money from their huge investments in AI. Among decliners, Target (TGT.N) , opens new tab shares fell 2.8% after the retailer reported a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly sales as cash-strapped U.S. consumers cut back on discretionary spending. Shares of Walmart (WMT.N) , opens new tab, which is due to report earnings on Thursday before the bell, ended 0.8% lower. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.59-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, where there were 55 new highs and 211 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 1,846 stocks rose and 2,851 fell, as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.54-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and 22 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 48 new highs and 305 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 17.46 billion shares, compared with the roughly 20.2 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. https://www.reuters.com/business/us-stock-futures-steady-lead-up-nvidia-test-2025-11-19/

2025-11-19 20:52

Cuba's oil imports from Mexico are down 73% to some 5,000 bpd Imports from Venezuela fall almost 15% to some 27,000 bpd Power capacity to cover nearly a third of demand shut down Power cuts topping nine hours in Havana, some provinces seeing just two hours of electricity a day HAVANA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Cuba's imports of crude and fuel in the first 10 months of the year fell more than a third compared with the same period of 2024 as key allies Mexico and Venezuela slashed supplies, according to shipping data and documents seen by Reuters, preventing the Caribbean country from easing daily power cuts. The Communist-run island relies on imported refined products to meet demand, including fuel oil and diesel for power generation, and jet fuel and gasoline for transportation. U.S. sanctions and a deep economic crisis have for years made it impossible for the government to buy enough fuel, forcing a growing dependence on allies. Sign up here. Between January and October, Cuba's oil imports from Mexico - which emerged as a reliable provider in 2023 after regularizing shipments of light crude - declined to some 5,000 barrels per day, a 73% fall from the 18,800 bpd received in the same period of 2024, according to the shipping data. Imports of crude and fuel from Venezuela, Cuba's most important political ally, fell almost 15% over the same period to 27,400 bpd, with the reduction particularly hitting supplies of fuel oil for power generation, internal documents from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA showed. In total, Cuba's imports of crude, liquefied petroleum gas and residual and motor fuels from all origins fell 35% to some 45,400 bpd in January to October, from 69,400 bpd in the same period last year. Mexico and Venezuela are both dealing with output limitations and do not have much spare capacity to offer Cuba. Their lower availability of light crude and fuel oil for export, coupled with Cuba's struggles to pay for purchases on the spot market, have put a ceiling on fuel imports. Russia, a supplier that has helped Cuba in past crises, has only sent a couple cargoes of Urals crude this year, in line with last year's supply, the data also showed. PDVSA, Mexico's state oil company Pemex, and the information ministries of Cuba and Venezuela did not reply to requests for comment. LONG CUTS REACH HAVANA Cuba's government blames the fuel shortages, decrepit infrastructure and damage from Hurricane Melissa for worsening power outages, which are increasingly hitting the capital Havana, the country's economic engine. Almost 900 megawatts of power generation, nearly a third of daily demand, was shut down on Wednesday due to lack of fuel and lubricants, the country's electrical union said. In Havana, unplanned power cuts sometimes top nine hours daily. Many outlying provinces see just two to four hours of electricity a day, vastly reducing productivity and complicating daily life. "The situation with the blackouts is awful, to say the least," said 18-year-old university student Daniela Castillo. "We arrive home exhausted, there's no electricity, and many times we have to wait for it to come back on - if it comes back on at all - so that we can eat, so we can study...?" LESS SPARE CAPACITY A traditional heavy oil producer, Mexico's output of the Olmeca light sweet crude that fits the Cuban refineries' diet is typically reserved for well-paying international customers, especially amid Pemex's reduction of overall crude exports. Pemex's oil output fell almost 9% to 1.63 million bpd in January to September, from some 1.79 million bpd in the same period of 2024, while crude exports suffered a 23% cut in that period to 604,000 bpd, official data showed. Venezuela faces a similar situation. Numerous changes in U.S. sanctions policies towards the OPEC producer have forced PDVSA to supply more crude and feedstock to its own refineries, limiting the volume and types of products PDVSA can export to Cuba. PDVSA has reduced output of the residual fuel oil Cuba demands for power generation, internal company documents showed. Flows are also being disrupted by a long-standing lack of sufficient vessels to move oil supplies from Venezuela and Mexico to Cuba, the data showed. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cuba-struggles-ease-power-cuts-amid-reduced-fuel-supplies-venezuela-mexico-2025-11-19/

2025-11-19 20:14

Brazil's Lula set to meet key negotiators COP30 host seeking early deal on contentious issues Fresh negotiating texts still not released BELEM, Brazil, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Brazil's president was meeting with key negotiators at the COP30 summit on Wednesday as part of a drive to land an early deal on some of the most divisive issues in the global climate talks, including fossil fuels and climate finance. The two-week U.N. summit in the Amazon city of Belem has brought nearly 200 countries together to try to ratchet up multilateral action to limit climate change, despite the absence of the U.S., the top historic greenhouse gas emitter. Sign up here. But rifts on key issues remain, posing a fresh test of the international will to slow global warming. Host Brazil, hoping to buck the trend in which recent climate summits ran well past deadline, seeks to endorse a package of agreements later on Wednesday, and the outstanding issues on Friday. But it is already facing delays publishing new negotiating texts. FRESH DRAFT EXPECTED ON WEDNESDAY The COP30 presidency had planned to land a fresh draft of the initial deal early on Wednesday, but no announcements had been issued by early afternoon. Negotiators told Reuters tough talks were ongoing. The first version of the deal published on Tuesday had presented a range of options that split opinion. Brazil and around 80 other supportive nations want to agree something that helps spur action on a 2023 agreement made at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels, the main source of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the idea of creating a roadmap to help guide that transition had so far been rejected by others, Brazil's COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago said on Tuesday. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived back at the conference on Wednesday, giving renewed political impetus to the talks. He was expected to meet key negotiators as well as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. 'WE'VE GOT BLOCKERS,' VANUATU SAYS Pacific island nation Vanuatu's climate minister Ralph Regenvanu told Reuters Saudi Arabia was one of those opposed to the fossil fuel plan. Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "I think it's going to be very difficult ... because we've got blockers," Regenvanu said. Other island nations said the issue was vital. "We're going to have to fight tooth and nail. There are many parties who have already said that they do not want that in the text at all," Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege told Reuters. A coalition of 100 organisations, including companies like Volvo and Unilever, sent a letter to the COP30 presidency expressing support for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuel use, saying it would help countries and businesses plan the shift to cleaner energy. CLIMATE FINANCE Other contentious issues in the package include pinning down how rich countries will provide finance to poorer countries to switch to clean energy, and what must be done about a gap between promised emissions cuts and those needed to stop temperatures rising. Poorer countries already bearing the impacts of global warming are rallying for a strong outcome. "We want ambition on finance. We want ambition on adaptation. We want to see ambition on the transition," Jiwoh Abdulai, Sierra Leone's climate minister, told Reuters. "And we want to ensure that we live here on a path that is sustainable, not just for this generation, but for future generations." Plans to launch a U.N.-backed global market for trading carbon offset credits have hit a snag as governments dispute over the funding to get the market up and running, five sources told Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/brazils-lula-pushes-negotiators-early-climate-deal-cop30-summit-2025-11-19/

2025-11-19 19:51

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would work to help end the war in Sudan after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked him to get involved in the matter. "We've already started working on that," Trump said at a Saudi investment conference a day after he met with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler at the White House. Sign up here. Trump told the gathering, which was attended by bin Salman and his delegation, that his administration began working on the issue half an hour after the crown prince made the request during Tuesday's meeting. The United States will work with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and other Middle Eastern countries to end atrocities in the region and stabilize Sudan, Trump later said in a social media post. The Sudan conflict erupted in 2023 amid a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. It has caused ethnically charged bloodletting, widespread destruction and mass displacement, drawing in foreign powers and threatening to split Sudan. The Saudi crown prince believes Trump's direct pressure is needed to break a logjam in talks to end more than two and a half years of war, pointing to his work to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza last month, five people familiar with the matter said. The Saudi ruler appeared to appeal to the U.S. president's view of himself as a peacemaker, according to Trump's account. "He mentioned Sudan yesterday, and he said, 'Sir, you're talking about a lot of wars, but there's a place on Earth called Sudan, and it's horrible what's happening,'" Trump said. For Saudi Arabia, a resolution to the conflict is linked to national security, given hundreds of miles of Sudanese coastline lying opposite the kingdom's Red Sea coast. "Tremendous atrocities are taking place in Sudan," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "It has become the most violent place on Earth and, likewise, the single biggest Humanitarian Crisis. Food, doctors, and everything else are desperately needed." https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/trump-says-he-will-work-sudan-saudis-request-2025-11-19/

2025-11-19 19:50

Nov 19 (Reuters) - Kraken, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, said on Wednesday it has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the U.S., as digital asset companies look to tap the new listings market before the 2026 midterm elections. Companies such as stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL.N) , opens new tab and crypto exchanges Gemini (GEMI.O) , opens new tab and Bullish (BLSH.N) , opens new tab have made strong debuts in the U.S. this year. Sign up here. Kraken's potential listing will fuel competition in a sector where sentiment has turned more upbeat amid support from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump, who has pledged to make America the "crypto capital of the world", signed the Genius Act into law earlier this year, boosting confidence in the digital asset sector. "Kraken's confidential IPO signals one thing, crypto is here to stay and crypto exchanges are not a winner takes all market. The pathway for crypto exchanges in the US is to innovate and expand with more tradable assets and penetrating payments," said Third Bridge analyst Jacob Zuller. Kraken's announcement comes a day after the company said it was valued at $20 billion in its latest capital raise, a 33% increase in under two months. The funding involved participation from Wall Street heavyweights Jane Street and Citadel Securities. The crypto exchange plans to go public in the first quarter of 2026, Reuters had reported last month. The recent fundraise and IPO could allow Kraken to invest in the growth of its products and overseas expansion, Zuller said. With midterm elections less than a year away, analysts expect some urgency from crypto companies in pursuing IPOs to get ahead of any uncertainty. The presidential party tends to lose ground in midterm elections, which could reshape the landscape for the digital asset industry. Crypto-focused asset manager Grayscale and custody startup BitGo are among the companies currently in the IPO pipeline. Kraken, founded in 2011, said the number of shares to be offered and the price range have not yet been determined. Initially focused on crypto, the company has expanded across asset classes in recent months, including equities with the rollout of commission-free trading. Kraken has also been expanding aggressively through acquisitions, buying retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion in May and futures exchange Small Exchange from IG Group for $100 million last month. https://www.reuters.com/business/crypto-exchange-kraken-confidentially-files-us-ipo-2025-11-19/

2025-11-19 19:45

Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's lavish welcome of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington this week, touted by many as rehabilitation of human rights record of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, has been followed by the kingdom ramping up its planned U.S. investments to $1 trillion. The move marks a remarkable increase from the $600 billion that the world's largest exporter announced during Trump's visit to Riyadh six month ago. Bin Salman is scheduled to meet top U.S. corporate leaders on Wednesday. Sign up here. Here are some of the deals and frameworks announced by U.S. and Saudi Arabia this week: Energy Sector The U.S. and Saudi Arabia signed nuclear cooperation pact, laying groundwork for decades-long partnership and ensuring projects meet strict nonproliferation standards with American firms as preferred partners. Progress on such a nuclear pact, long sought by Bin Salman, has been difficult because the Saudis have resisted a U.S. stipulation that would rule out enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel - both potential paths to a bomb. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday the nuclear deal does not allow enrichment. Separately, Saudi Aramco said it has signed 17 memoranda of understanding and agreements with major U.S. companies, carrying a potential value of more than $30 billion , opens new tab. Critical Minerals Washington and Riyadh inked minerals framework, expanding collaboration to diversify supply chains and bolster U.S. resilience, building on similar agreements Trump secured with other allies. Critical minerals have become a key pillar of geopolitical negotiations after the U.S-China trade war exposed the overt reliance of supply chains worldwide on the Asian country. Separately, MP Materials (MP.N) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it would build a rare earths refinery in Saudi Arabia with the U.S. Department of Defense and Saudi Arabian state-owned mining company Maaden to expand Middle Eastern processing of the critical minerals. Artificial Intelligence U.S. and Saudi Arabia signed an AI memorandum of understanding, granting Riyadh access to the American edge in the technology that has become foundational to global equity market gains. Sector bellwether Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab announced on Wednesday it is working with Saudi to build supercomputers. Strategic Defense Agreement Trump and bin Salman signed a strategic defense agreement, strengthening an 80-year partnership, easing U.S. defense firms' operations in Saudi Arabia, securing burden-sharing funds and affirming Riyadh's reliance on Washington as its key strategic ally. The agreement appeared to fall short of the congressionally ratified NATO-style treaty Saudi Arabia initially sought. F-35 Fighter Jets and American Tanks The White House announced Trump had approved future deliveries of F-35 fighter jets and the Saudis had agreed to purchase 300 American tanks. The sale of the stealth fighter jets to the kingdom, which has requested to buy 48 of the advanced aircraft, would mark the first U.S. sale of the advanced fighter jets to Riyadh, a significant policy shift. Until now, Israel has been the only country in the Middle East to have the F-35. Trade and Capital Markets Washington and Riyadh advanced investment opportunities aimed at expanding U.S. exports and lowering trade barriers, delivering direct gains for American manufacturers in global markets. U.S. Treasury and Saudi finance ministry signed accords to boost collaboration on capital markets , opens new tab technology, standards and regulations, while strengthening ties in international financial institutions. Source: White House fact sheet, company press releases https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-secures-1-trillion-saudi-spending-commitments-spanning-nuclear-energy-f-35s-2025-11-19/