2025-01-31 14:33
MOSCOW, Jan 31 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has authorised Armenian investment fund Balchug Capital's purchase of Goldman Sachs' unit in Russia, a government decree published on Friday showed, potentially paving the way for the U.S. bank to fully withdraw from Russia. Moscow has steadily tightened restrictions on foreign asset sales since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, with banks requiring Putin's approval for any deal. A source confirmed Goldman Sachs had entered into a binding agreement to dispose of its Russian subsidiary, subject to various conditions. According to a ranking of banks maintained by banki.ru, the Goldman Sachs subsidiary is Russia's 229th largest lender in terms of net assets. Balchug Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The fund's CEO and founder David Amaryan oversees all investment activity. Last year, the company acquired U.S. machinery maker Caterpillar's Russian assets. Only a handful of Western banks, including Austria's Raiffeisen (RBIV.VI) , opens new tab, Italy's UniCredit (CRDI.MI) , opens new tab and Hungary's OTP (OTPB.BU) , opens new tab, are still operating in Russia nearly three years after the conflict in Ukraine began. Dutch bank ING Groep (INGA.AS) , opens new tab said this week it had reached an agreement to sell its business in Russia to local company Global Development JSC, taking a 700-million-euro ($726.2 million) hit to its profits. ING's sale still requires regulatory approvals from the EU. Foreign lenders say that needing approval from Russian authorities before selling assets makes it hard to leave, and presidential approval is no guarantee of a successful exit. Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) , opens new tab received the green light from Putin to sell its Russian assets in September 2023, but has still not managed to do so. The bank's CEO said last year it had cut its overall exposure to Russia to a "negligible" level, but it was hard to dispose completely of its local subsidiary. ($1 = 0.9639 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/putin-decree-permits-sale-goldman-sachs-russian-unit-armenian-fund-2025-01-31/
2025-01-31 14:01
Economic contraction led by mining, transportation Growth likely to bounce back to 0.2% in December Annualized fourth-quarter growth expected to be 1.8%, Statscan said OTTAWA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Canada's economy contracted more than expected in November as activity across a majority of sectors shrank due to work stoppages in inland transportation and at ports, Statistics Canada said on Friday. The country's gross domestic product shrunk by 0.2% in November on a monthly basis from a 0.3% rise in October, led by contraction in mining, quarrying, oil sands extraction and transportation, Statistics Canada said. Analysts polled by Reuters had estimated the GDP to drop by 0.1% in November and economists foresee a bounce-back in December. A preliminary estimate shows that GDP is likely to rebound by 0.2% in December, led by increases in retail trade, manufacturing and construction, the statistics agency said. Currency swap markets showed traders trimmed the chances of a 25-basis-point rate cut by the Bank of Canada in March to 53.9% from 54.2% before the data were released. The Canadian dollar was little changed at C$1.4468, or 69.12 U.S. cents. The December figures will be announced next month when Statscan will also publish the fourth-quarter economic growth number. According to its initial estimate, annualized fourth-quarter GDP is likely to be 1.8%, or similar to what the Bank of Canada had forecast in projections published this week. The central bank has been concerned about the slow pickup in economic activity despite several rounds of rate cuts. It has reduced interest rates by a cumulative 200 basis points since June to 3%. After announcing a 25-bps cut this week, Governor Tiff Macklem said growth was picking up, but it would want it to be sustained. The bank revised its 2025 GDP growth forecast downward to 1.8% from 2.1% earlier, led by a decline in population this year. The growth forecast figures can be further dented if U.S. President Donald Trump slaps a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports starting on Saturday. The services-producing industries contracted by 0.1% in November, with transportation and warehousing leading the drop with a contraction of 1.3%, its largest decline in two years. This was led by a work stoppage in postal services and labor actions at ports, Statscan said. Within the goods-producing industries, mining and quarrying and oil and gas extraction dropped by 1.6%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-gdp-contracts-by-02-november-likely-rebounded-following-month-2025-01-31/
2025-01-31 13:50
Jan 31 (Reuters) - Traders on Friday kept bets that the Federal Reserve will wait until June to resume interest rate cuts, after government data showed inflation by the U.S. central bank's targeted measure ticked up to 2.6% in December, as economists had expected. After the inflation report, released at the same time as hawkish monetary policy remarks from Fed Governor Michelle Bowman, traders of futures that settle to the Fed's policy rate priced in about a 70% chance that the short-term borrowing rate will be 4.25% or lower after the Fed's June meeting, little changed from earlier in the day. They were pricing in a second and final 2025 interest rate cut no sooner than October. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/traders-bet-feds-next-rate-cut-will-wait-until-june-2025-01-31/
2025-01-31 13:11
Jan 31 (Reuters) - Toronto-based bitcoin miner Bitfarms (BITF.TO) , opens new tab has enlisted two consultants to explore how it can transform some of its facilities to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence data centers, it said on Friday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Crypto miners often own large plots of land and significant power resources — assets that are also crucial for high-performance computing (HPC) and AI data centers. To capitalize on the AI boom, many miners have begun to repurpose parts of their operations into data centers, given they already have most of the infrastructure. Critics of the approach, however, warn that the shift may not be successful because AI data centers are more sophisticated. CONTEXT Bitfarms said the consultants, Appleby Strategy Group and World Wide Technology, will analyze its North American sites. They will also advise the company on its computing and AI strategy, while marketing the sites to potential customers. Earlier this month, Riot Platforms (RIOT.O) , opens new tablaunched a review , opens new tab of the potential AI and computing uses for parts of its facility in Navarro County, Texas. KEY QUOTE "The contracts associated with HPC/AI customers provide long-term, steady cash flows and earnings streams, while our bitcoin mining operations will continue to monetize bitcoin's flexible upside potential," Bitfarms CEO Ben Gagnon said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/canadian-bitcoin-miner-bitfarms-mulls-pivot-ai-data-centers-2025-01-31/
2025-01-31 12:46
Jan 31 (Reuters) - Petrochemicals manufacturer LyondellBasell (LYB.N) , opens new tab on Friday reported a loss in the fourth quarter, hurt by weak demand across key markets such as Europe and Asia. The euro zone economy stagnated last quarter as high inflation hurt consumption, adding to fears that a long-predicted recovery could be further delayed. The German economy, Europe's largest and the second-largest market for LyondellBasell after the United States, has been affected by intensifying competition from abroad, weak demand and an industrial slowdown. This has affected the company's margins. Germany accounts for 6% of LYB's total revenue. LyondellBasell's fourth-quarter margins declined across most businesses, also hurt by higher costs for natural gas liquids (NGL) feedstocks and natural gas and restrained product prices due to seasonally slower demand. The company reported core earnings of $496 million in its olefins & polyolefins-Americas unit, the largest segment by sales volumes, compared with $604 million a year ago due to lower polyethylene sales volumes. Olefins are used to manufacture polymers such as plastic. Adjusted core profit in its intermediates & derivatives segment, which makes oxyfuels and intermediate chemicals, fell 5.6% to $250 million from a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $9.5 billion, down from $9.93 billion. The company posted a net loss of $603 million, or $1.87 per share, compared with a net income of $185 million, or 56 cents per share, a year earlier. However, it reported an adjusted profit of 75 cents per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of 72 cents, according to data compiled by LSEG. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/lyondellbasell-posts-quarterly-loss-weak-demand-chemicals-2025-01-31/
2025-01-31 12:41
Norway seizes ship at Latvia's request Owner denies involvement in Baltic Sea cable breach Swedish prosecutor believes breach caused by a different ship Baltic Sea region on edge after string of undersea outages OSLO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Norwegian police said on Friday they had seized and boarded a Norwegian ship with an all-Russian crew on suspicion of involvement in causing damage to a telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea, the second vessel to be named by investigators in the case. The Silver Dania cargo ship was seized at the request of Latvian authorities, and with the help of Norway's coast guard, police in the northern Norwegian city of Tromsoe said. "It is suspected that the ship has been involved in serious damage to a fibre cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden," the police said in a statement. The Silver Dania's owner, the Silver Sea shipping group, denied that the vessel was involved in the undersea fibre optic cable damage, Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported. Sweden and Latvia are investigating the suspected sabotage on Sunday of the cable linking the two countries, and Swedish police seized and boarded Maltese-flagged cargo ship Vezhen on suspicion it caused the damage. Norwegian police said the two ship seizures were related to the same incident. "The suspicion is that someone on the (Silver Dania) has something to do with the cable incident," police lawyer Ronny Joergensen told a press conference. He declined to provide detail. The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the NATO military alliance recently boosted its presence with frigates, aircraft and naval drones. SHIP WAS SAILING TO MURMANSK IN RUSSIAN ARCTIC Mats Ljungqvist, the Swedish prosecutor handling the sabotage investigation in Sweden, said he now had a clearer picture of what happened and that he believed that the Vezhen had caused the cable damage. "Our view is that it is the vessel that we have seized that has caused the cable break," he told Reuters. "We have looked at the vessel that has been seized in Norway but for various reasons we have dismissed it." He declined to comment further on the investigation, citing confidentiality. The head of the Bulgarian company that operates the Vezhen said on Monday it might have struck the Baltic undersea cable with its anchor but denied any malicious intent. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. The ship that was seized in Norway was Norwegian owned and flagged, and had been sailing from St. Petersburg in the Baltic Sea to Murmansk in the Russian Arctic, police said. The owner and crew of the Silver Dania had voluntarily agreed that it would follow a coast guard vessel to port, the police added. Latvia's State Police confirmed they had requested the arrest in Norway. "We are in close contact with the Norwegian law enforcement authorities, but in the interest of investigation, we will not comment further at this time," a Latvian police spokesperson said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/norway-police-arrest-ship-suspicion-baltic-sea-cable-damage-2025-01-31/
