2025-02-07 22:42

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Friday that Rodney Hood, a former credit union regulator, would take over as the acting head of a leading national bank regulator. Hood would replace Michael Hsu as head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees the nation's largest banks, from February 10, the OCC said in a statement. Hsu served as the acting comptroller under President Joe Biden. Hood will also serve in an acting capacity, and a full-time nominee could be named at a later date. The Treasury Department, in a separate statement, said Secretary Scott Bessent also intends to appoint Hood as a deputy comptroller and to designate him the first deputy comptroller of the OCC. "The strong leadership and career experience of Rodney Hood will strengthen the OCC’s efforts to ensure the safety and soundness of the banking system while also enhancing economic growth," Bessent said in the statement. Hood previously served as the chairman of the National Credit Union Administration under Trump and Biden, from 2019 to 2021. He was previously a vice chairman at that regulator, and also had stints at JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) , opens new tab, Wells Fargo (WFC.N) , opens new tab and Bank of America (BAC.N) , opens new tab, according to his LinkedIn bio. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-treasury-appoints-hood-acting-comptroller-currency-2025-02-07/

2025-02-07 21:58

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have started working at the U.S. Energy Department where officials are concerned that they could get access to personnel files and information about disbursement of federal grants, two sources said on Friday. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who was confirmed this week by the Senate, told CNBC on Friday that three DOGE members are at the department and "have access to look around, talk to people and give us some good feedback on how things are going." Wright said they are "friends in Elon's broader circle." Wright said the DOGE members do not have security clearances and are not looking at nuclear weapons secrets. The department's National Nuclear Security Administration is in charge of maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and labs. Two sources, one career worker and a former official in contact with workers at the department, said one DOGE member has been working in the office of the chief information officer, and that all three are listed in department's email and messaging systems. The sources said one of the DOGE members at the department is Luke Farritor, a former intern at SpaceX, Musk's space company. "They may not have clearances, but it certainly seems like they can access secure information," one of the sources said. Officials are concerned that the DOGE members will have access to computer drives and human resources systems, data on grants and loans on energy projects and financial management systems. One of the sources said they have not heard any concerns related to the NNSA, but it was uncertain whether they could eventually gain access to data from that branch. The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Efforts to reach Farritor were unsuccessful. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/three-doge-members-raise-access-concerns-us-energy-department-sources-say-2025-02-07/

2025-02-07 21:33

In interview, Ukraine's Zelenskiy offers mineral partnership to US Zelenskiy emphasizes need for security guarantees in any deal Ukrainian president keen to speak to Trump before Putin does Ukraine proposes using its gas storage for U.S. LNG supplies KYIV, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pored over a once-classified map of vast deposits of rare earths and other critical minerals during an interview with Reuters on Friday, part of a push to appeal to Donald Trump's penchant for a deal. The U.S. president, whose administration is pressing for a rapid end to Ukraine's war with Russia, said on Monday he wanted Ukraine to supply the U.S. with rare earths and other minerals in return for financially supporting its war effort. "If we are talking about a deal, then let's do a deal, we are only for it," Zelenskiy said, emphasising Ukraine's need for security guarantees from its allies as part of any settlement. Ukraine floated the idea of opening its critical minerals to investment by allies last autumn, as it presented a "victory plan" that sought to put it in the strongest position for talks and force Moscow to the table. Zelenskiy said less than 20% of Ukraine's mineral resources, including about half its rare earth deposits, were under Russian occupation. Rare earths are important in the manufacture of high-performance magnets, electric motors and consumer electronics; Zelenskiy said Moscow could open those resources to its allies North Korea and Iran, both sworn U.S. enemies. "We need to stop Putin and protect what we have - a very rich Dnipro region, central Ukraine," he said. Russian troops have been gaining ground in the east for months, throwing huge resources into an unrelenting offensive while Kyiv's much smaller army grapples with a shortage of soldiers and frets over future weapons supplies from abroad. Zelenskiy unfurled a map on a table in the heavily-defended president's office in Kyiv, showing numerous mineral deposits, including a broad strip of land in the east marked as containing rare earths. Around half of it looked to be on Russia's side of the current frontlines. He said Ukraine had Europe's largest reserves of titanium, essential for the aviation and space industry, and uranium, used for nuclear energy and weapons. Many of the titanium deposits were marked in northwestern Ukraine, far from the fighting. Ukraine has rapidly retuned its foreign policy approach to align with the transactional world view set out by the new occupant of the White House, Ukraine's most important ally. But Zelenskiy emphasised that Kyiv was not proposing "giving away" its resources, but offering a mutually beneficial partnership to develop them jointly: "The Americans helped the most, and therefore the Americans should earn the most. And they should have this priority, and they will. I would also like to talk about this with President Trump." He said Russia knew in detail where Ukraine's critical resources were from Soviet-era geological surveys that had been taken back to Moscow when Kyiv gained independence in 1991. In addition, Zelenskiy said Kyiv and the White House were discussing the idea of using Ukraine's vast underground gas storage sites to store U.S. liquefied natural gas. "I know that the Trump administration is very interested in it ... We're ready and willing to have contracts for LNG supplies to Ukraine. And of course, we will be a hub for the whole of Europe," he said. ZELENSKIY WANTS MEETING WITH TRUMP BEFORE US-RUSSIA TALKS The interview comes days before the February 14-16 Munich Security Conference, where officials from dozens of Western countries will converge at an unpredictable juncture in the nearly three-year-old war. Zelenskiy said he planned to attend the forum, where Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, is also expected. The Ukrainian leader said it was essential that he met Trump in person before the U.S. president meets Russian President Vladimir Putin, "otherwise it will look like a dialogue about Ukraine without Ukraine". Trump said on Friday that he expected to talk to Zelenskiy next week. Zelenskiy said his own priority would be raising Ukraine's need for security guarantees as part of any deal, to prevent Russia launching another invasion in the future. In general though, it was vital the West determined a broad strategy before entering into talks with Moscow. He said there were already regular contacts between his team and Kellogg and Trump national security adviser Michael Waltz. "Every day we have contacts, we talk about general things, but the specifics will come a little later," he said. Trump's peace push comes as advancing Russian forces threaten the major Ukrainian logistics hub of Pokrovsk. On the battlefield, Zelenskiy confirmed for the first time that his troops had launched a new offensive on Thursday, advancing 2.5 km (1.5 miles) further into Russia's Kursk region. Russia had reported a Ukrainian attack in the area that day, but said it was repelled. Zelenskiy said thousands of North Korean troops fighting on Russia's side had now returned to active combat against Kyiv's forces in Kursk after a pause of several weeks. Next week, the government intends to launch lucrative recruitment contracts to entice young men aged 18-24 - below draft age - into the armed forces to help ease a manpower shortage. Zelenskiy declined to say how many men were expected to sign up. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/zelenskiy-says-lets-do-deal-offering-trump-mineral-partnership-seeking-security-2025-02-07/

2025-02-07 21:28

Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel would take the form of an investment instead of a purchase on Friday, even as two sources familiar with the matter said the Japanese steel company had not withdrawn its bid. Nippon's (5401.T) , opens new tab pursuit of U.S. Steel (X.N) , opens new tab has stretched on for more than a year, with Trump vociferously condemning the proposal on numerous occasions, before Friday's more tempered remarks at the Oval Office with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at his side. U.S. Steel did not respond to a request for comment, while Nippon Steel declined to comment late Friday. It was unclear if the investment referred to a new deal structure and what the details of the transaction would be, but Trump said he would meet with the head of Nippon Steel next week and he would be involved "to mediate and arbitrate." Nippon Steel "is going to be doing something very exciting about U.S. Steel," Trump said on Friday, sitting next to Ishiba. "They'll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase." The U.S. president mistakenly referred to Nippon Steel as "Nissan," the Japanese automaker, during his remarks, a White House official said. The company's shares ended down nearly 6% on Friday after a volatile session. The stock initially rallied on a CBS report that Trump would consider approval of the deal, only to sink after Trump said in earlier remarks Friday that he hadn't changed his mind about his opposition. Trump's comments came one day after he met with U.S. Steel Chief Executive David Burritt at the White House. The proposal became highly politicized ahead of November's U.S. presidential election, with both Biden and Trump pledging to kill it. Nippon Steel put forth a series of concessions to try to sway public opinion in favor of the deal. During separate remarks on Friday, Trump told reporters he hasn't changed his mind on his opposition to the deal. Last year, Trump said "I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan." United Steelworkers President David McCall said in a Friday statement that the union, which opposes the deal, has had no contact with either company or the administration regarding Nippon's investment in U.S. Steel. "Our concerns regarding Nippon's continued interest in U.S. Steel remain unchanged," he said in a statement. A $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel was blocked last month, by former President Joe Biden. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/trump-considering-allowing-nippon-steels-149-bln-us-steel-takeover-cbs-news-2025-02-07/

2025-02-07 21:00

Nonfarm payrolls increase by 143,000 in January Uber jumps 6.6% after Bill Ackman discloses stake Indexes down: Dow 0.99%, S&P 0.95%, Nasdaq 1.36% Feb 7 (Reuters) - All three U.S. stock indexes closed lower on Friday after President Donald Trump said he plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week, following weak jobs and consumer sentiment data. Trump did not identify which countries would be hit but suggested it would be a broad effort that could also help solve U.S. budget problems. "Today, the tone was set early with the payroll report and very quickly people ignored that as soon as tariff conversations started coming back in," said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide. Markets had a dismal start to the week when Trump announced sweeping trade tariffs over the weekend, before he suspended the levies on goods from Mexico and Canada on Monday for a month. A host of strong earnings in recent days offset the weak start. Earlier in the day, a survey showed U.S. consumer sentiment dropped unexpectedly in February to a seven-month low and inflation expectations rocketed, with households seeing inflation over the next year surging to 4.3% - the highest since November 2023. Another report showed U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in January after robust gains in the prior two months, although a 4% unemployment rate will likely give the Fed cover to hold off cutting interest rates at least until June. The final employment report under former President Joe Biden's administration showed 598,000 fewer jobs were created in the 12 months through last March than previously estimated. The final payrolls benchmark revision, however, was less than the reduction of 818,000 jobs estimated back in August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 444.23 points, or 0.99%, to 44,303.40, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab lost 57.58 points, or 0.95%, to 6,025.99 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab lost 268.59 points, or 1.36%, to 19,523.40. All three indexes were down for the week, with the Dow breaking a three-week streak of gains and ending 0.54% lower. The S&P fell 0.24% while the Nasdaq was down 0.53%. All 11 S&P 500 sectors traded lower on Friday, with consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) , opens new tab leading losses with a roughly 2.5% fall. Uber (UBER.N) , opens new tab jumped 6.6% after billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman disclosed a large stake in the company. Amazon.com (AMZN.O) , opens new tab dipped 4.1% due to weakness in the retailer's cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, and lower-than-expected forecasts for first-quarter revenue and profit. The Cboe Volatility Index (.VIX) , opens new tab, known as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 6.6% on Friday to 16.3. Traders of short-term interest-rate futures now expect the Fed to cut interest rates just once this year, backing away from earlier bets on two rate cuts starting in June. Among other movers, Expedia (EXPE.O) , opens new tab rose 17.3% after the online travel platform posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Elf Beauty (ELF.N) , opens new tab tumbled 19.6% after the cosmetics company cut its annual net sales and profit forecasts. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 162 new highs and 104 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 1,241 stocks rose and 3,145 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.53-to-1 ratio. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.06 billion shares, compared with the 14.91 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-steady-ahead-monthly-payrolls-test-amazon-slips-2025-02-07/

2025-02-07 20:50

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he would probably meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy next week to discuss Ukraine's war to repel Russian invaders. Trump did not make clear whether it would be a face-to-face meeting or a video conference. He spoke about the possibility while taking questions from reporters in an Oval Office welcome for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Trump said he will "probably be meeting with President Zelenskiy next week," and he also again expressed interest in meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin with whom he said he always had a "good relationship." Asked for a location for such a meeting with Zelenskiy, Trump noted "I'm here" in Washington and said he would not be going to Ukraine. "I'd like to see it end, just on a human basis," Trump said of Russia's three-year-old invasion of Ukraine. "I'd like to see that end. It's a ridiculous war.” Trump said he wanted to talk to Zelenskiy about security for Ukraine assets such as rare earth minerals and wants "an equal amount of something" in exchange for U.S. support. "We would like them to equalize." Ukraine, wanting continued U.S. support in its war with Russia, is looking forward to a visit this month by Trump's special envoy for the region, Keith Kellogg, according to Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andy Yermak. Yermak said he had spoken to Kellogg about topics including the battlefield situation, the safety of Ukrainian civilians, and meetings at the annual Munich Security Conference later this month. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-he-may-meet-ukraines-zelenskiy-next-week-2025-02-07/