2025-01-22 23:44

Historic storm blankets Gulf Coast with snow Storm has killed at least 12 people More snow expected in parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina ATLANTA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - An historic January storm dumped more deep snow along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday after bringing Houston and New Orleans to a near standstill over the past two days and burying parts of Florida's Panhandle with accumulations more typical of Chicago. Another 4 inches (10 cm) of snow, combined with sleet and freezing rain, piled up in some spots in northern Florida, southern Georgia and southeast South Carolina as the storm crawled through the region on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. Florida may have already broken its all-time record of snowfall with 9 inches in the western Panhandle town of Milton, near Pensacola, according to Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center. Before this storm, Milton Mayor Heather Lindsay said she had not seen a snowflake fall in town since 2014. "We're taking it in stride, but everything is shut," said Lindsay. The city has no snow plows and most residents don't even own a snow shovel, she said. "But the kids are out using kayaks and inner tubes as sleds, enjoying a snow day," she said. As the precipitation dissipated on Wednesday, frigid air set in and will remain at least until this weekend along the Gulf Coast and the East Coast. "The cold is sticking around," Pereira said. Tallahassee, Florida's capital city, where temperatures are typically in the 60s in January, was expected to see a low of 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday. The winter storm had already slammed major Gulf Coast cities such as Houston, where 4 inches (10 cm) of snow fell, the most the city has gotten since 1960. In the New Orleans area, a record 10 inches (25 cm) of snow accumulated in some places, turning Bourbon Street white on Tuesday. SNOW A RARITY IN LOUISIANA Justin Daffron, chief development officer at Covenant House in New Orleans, said its shelter was operating at full capacity but managing to keep up with demand even though snow emergencies are virtually unknown in Louisiana. "I think this is different because hurricanes in New Orleans are commonplace, and we are unaccustomed to the severe winter weather," he said. "It took everyone by surprise because for those of us who have had winter weather here before, it was basically a dusting." The storm has killed at least 12 people, including five in Zavala County, Texas, early on Tuesday in a car accident on Highway 57, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Two other Texas deaths were reportedly caused by exposure to the cold in Austin, officials announced. Other cold-related deaths were reported in Alabama and Georgia, officials announced. Some 20 million people across the region were under winter weather advisories and warnings on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said, warning people about the dangers of frostbite and hypothermia and road travel. "These travel impacts may linger for several days given the historic heavy accumulations combined with frigid temperatures, as well as the lack of equipment for clearing roads compared to areas further north," the service said. More than 90,000 homes and businesses were without power from Texas east into Georgia and Florida, according to Poweroutage.us. Many schools and local government offices were closed, while many highways across the region were slick, covered with snow and ice. Airports, including Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were temporarily closed overnight and early on Wednesday because of the storm. More than 1,400 flights were canceled in the U.S., many in the southeast and another 1,200 were delayed, according to the tracking site, Flightaware.com. U.S. liquefied natural gas company Freeport LNG said on Wednesday it closed its export plant in Texas on Jan. 21 due to a power feed problem during the winter storm, and will keep it shut until power supply stabilizes. The U.S. Northeast was facing another day of frigid cold temperatures. The lowest temperature recorded in the contiguous United States on Wednesday was a harsh -27 degrees Fahrenheit (-32 C) in Davis, West Virginia, according to the National Weather Service. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/parts-florida-panhandle-shut-down-by-historic-winter-storm-2025-01-22/

2025-01-22 23:38

Tech stocks up after $500 bln AI investment announcement Netflix rallies after record subscriber numbers Procter & Gamble gains after upbeat Q2 results Indexes up: Dow 0.30%, S&P 500 0.61%, Nasdaq 1.28% Jan 22 (Reuters) - Wall Street's indexes rose on Wednesday, with the benchmark S&P 500 hitting an intraday record high as investors cheered streaming video provider Netflix's quarterly report and President Donald Trump's private-sector artificial intelligence infrastructure investment plan. The technology sector (.SPLRCT) , opens new tab advanced 2.5% and was the biggest gainer among the S&P 500's 11 major industry indexes with its biggest boosts from AI heavyweights Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab and Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab. Netflix (NFLX.O) , opens new tab, the S&P's biggest gainer, finished up 9.7% after reporting a record number of subscribers for the holiday quarter, enabling it to increase prices for most service plans. Investors piled bets into the promise of AI the day after Trump announced a $500 billion private-sector AI infrastructure investment plan from a venture involving Oracle (ORCL.N) , opens new tab, OpenAI and SoftBank (9984.T) , opens new tab, even though there was no clarity on funding. But of the 11 major industry sectors only tech and communications services (.SPLRCL) , opens new tab, up 1.1%, notched daily gains while the biggest decliner utilities (.SPLRCU) , opens new tab, lost 2.2%. "This is just the excitement about the technology investments," said Irene Tunkel, chief u.s. equity strategist at BCA Research, noting the market's narrow breadth on Wednesday. "Everything else just cannot compete with it." Shares in Oracle rallied 6.8% while U.S. traded shares of ARM Holdings , a chip technology supplier that is roughly 90% owned by SoftBank, rose 15.9%. Server maker Dell added 3.6%. "It's a story of big tech and everything else is hanging in there," said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager for equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, who attributed much of Wednesday's rally, particularly in chip stocks, to the AI announcement. "The direct beneficiary, at least the beginning would be the semiconductor space," he said pointing to outperformance in the Philadelphia semiconductor index (.SOX) , opens new tab, which closed up 1.7%. But without funding clarity, Stucky described the news as "more of a pie in the sky kind of investment story." The S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab ended up 37.13 points, or 0.61%, to 6,086.37 just a few points below its last record closing high of 1090.27, reached on Dec. 6. The Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab gained 252.56 points, or 1.28%, to 20,009.34 while The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab rose 130.92 points, or 0.30%, to 44,156.73 Risk appetites have been boosted recently by strong economic data and cooling inflation along with Trump's more moderate than feared approach to tariffs since his Monday inauguration. However, investors are still cautiously watching for the president's trade plans due to inflation concerns after he warned that tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, Canada and the European Union could be issued on Feb. 1. The president has ordered federal agencies to complete comprehensive reviews of a range of trade issues by April 1 - the date that analysts at Barclays say markets should focus on. In individual stocks, Procter & Gamble (PG.N) , opens new tab advanced 1.9% after beating second-quarter estimates, driven by growing demand for its household items in the United States. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) , opens new tab shares fell 1.9% although the drugmaker reported fourth-quarter results above estimates. After rising on Tuesday, Ford (F.N) , opens new tab sank 3.8% as Barclays downgraded the stock. Textron (TXT.N) , opens new tab shares fell 3.4% after it forecast 2025 profit below estimates. Halliburton (HAL.N) , opens new tab slipped 3.6% after warning of softer North America activity this year and posting downbeat quarterly revenue. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.55-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 271 new highs and 57 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 1,835 stocks rose and 2,571 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.4-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 39 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 104 new highs and 95 new lows. On U.S. exchanges 13.89 billion shares changed hands, below the 15.33 billion average for the last 20 sessions. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/nasdaq-futures-lead-gains-after-netflix-results-trumps-ai-investment-plans-2025-01-22/

2025-01-22 23:28

HOUSTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - LyondellBasell Industries (LYB.N) , opens new tab will begin the permanent closure of its 263,776 barrel-per-day Houston refinery this coming weekend, said people familiar with plant operations. Layoffs of up to 400 employees at the refinery are scheduled to start two months after the shutdown begins, the sources said. The company said on Wednesday it is following a planned schedule to close the refinery. "LyondellBasell is on schedule to cease refining operations at the Houston Refinery at the end of the first quarter of 2025," the company said in an emailed statement. "As previously mentioned, the gradually planned ramp down begins toward the end of January and continues through February. Our focus is on safely ceasing refining operations to protect the community, environment and our workers," Lyondell said. Lyondell first announced plans to shut the refinery within a year in 2023, after failing in attempts over seven years to sell it, but extended the timing of the closure by a year to the first quarter of 2025. The company plans to convert existing hydrotreaters at the refinery site along the Houston Ship Channel for use with equipment - to be added after 2027 - that will produce plastic pellets from recycled plastic items. Hydrotreaters use hydrogen to remove sulfur from motor fuels in compliance with U.S. environmental rules. Lyondell plans to shut the first of two crude distillation units (CDUs) and an associated coker in January. The second CDU, units fed by it and its associated coker, will shut between mid and late February. CDUs begin the refining of crude oil by breaking it down into feedstocks for all other units at the refinery. Cokers convert residual crude oil into either feedstocks for motor fuels or petroleum coke, a coal substitute. The Lyondell plant is the first of two U.S. refineries planned for closure this year. Phillips 66 (PSX.N) , opens new tab said in October it will shutter its Los Angeles refinery by the end of 2025. Valero Energy (VLO.N) , opens new tab is reviewing the future of its two California refineries for possible closure, citing the state's plans to phase out sales of new gasoline-powered automobiles by the middle of the next decade. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/lyondell-begin-closure-houston-refinery-this-weekend-sources-say-2025-01-22/

2025-01-22 23:13

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Solar power overtook coal in the European Union’s electricity mix for the first time last year, while wind power’s share plateaued, data from energy think tank Ember showed on Thursday. The EU is seeking to increase its renewable power generation as part of efforts to cut emissions and reach its climate targets as well as cutting its reliance on fossil fuel imports to help boost energy security. Solar generation provided 11% of the EU’s electricity mix in 2024, up from 9.3% in 2023 and overtaking coal which fell to less than 10% for the first time since Ember began collating the figures in 2011, the data showed. “For the past two years we have seen sharp declines in both coal and gas in the EU power system and fossil fuels are now at an historic low,” Chris Rosslowe, senior analyst and lead author of the report said in an interview. Gas-fired power production fell to a 15.7% share from 16.9% in 2023 while wind power was almost flat at 17.4%. Although some 13 gigawatts (GW) of new wind capacity was added in 2024, wind conditions were less favourable than in 2023, leading to lower than expected generation. "The new capacity added this year was slightly offset by the worse wind conditions," Rosslowe said. The EU wants wind power to make up around 34% of its electricity mix by 2030 and more action is needed, particularly around making permitting for new projects easier, to meet the goal, Rosslowe said. Nuclear remained the dominant electricity provider in the EU, rising to 23.7% from 23% in 2023. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/solar-power-overtook-coal-eus-electricity-mix-2024-ember-says-2025-01-22/

2025-01-22 22:55

SAO PAULO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's first-ever auction to add batteries and storage systems to its national power grid, scheduled for later this year, is seen generating $450 million in investments, according to an estimate by consultancy firm Oliver Wyman. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The batteries would be able to store energy from wind and solar power, renewable sources which, although growing in importance for Brazil's power grid, remain limited in that as they are less predictable than thermoelectric or hydro power units. ADDITIONAL CONTEXT Brazil's government often holds auctions to buy power capacity to be used when demand is high but supply is lower, such as in the late afternoons when solar power units stop producing energy. The June auction will be the first from the government allowing batteries and storage systems to participate, and will be exclusive to such technologies. BY THE NUMBERS Oliver Wyman estimates that, if the government purchases around 300 megawatts of energy capacity, the winners of the auction could spend $450 million to get their projects online. According to the consultancy firm, if Brazil were to have those batteries and storage power systems working already, the nation could have reduced the amount of fossil fuels burned by thermoelectric plants by 21% between April and December of 2024. KEY QUOTES Oliver Wyman engagement manager for energy and natural resources Rodrigo Borges said that the estimated investments required could still change depending on details about the auction which have not yet been made public. "One of the main doubts is regarding the size of power demand and its location," Borges told Reuters. "This can create more bottlenecks or fewer bottlenecks, or encourage more or less investment," he added. WHAT'S NEXT According to the government's proposal, the auction will take place in June and will offer 10-year contracts, with supply beginning in July 2029. The systems will have to deliver maximum power availability equal to four hours a day, receiving a fixed price for this. Power companies, such as Portugal's EDP (EDP.LS) , opens new tab and Brazil's ISA Energia , have indicated their interest in taking part in the auction. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brazils-first-power-auction-batteries-could-lead-450-million-investments-2025-01-22/

2025-01-22 22:02

Korea Zinc management excludes Young Poong's voting rights Young Poong, MBK vow to hold Korea Zinc responsible for invalid shareholders' meeting Takeover battle pits two founding families against each other SEOUL, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Korea Zinc (010130.KS) , opens new tab held a special shareholders' meeting on Thursday to elect new board members, opening another chapter in a bitter four-month takeover battle for the world's top refined zinc producer. In the meeting finally held after hours of delay, however, Korea Zinc management said its rival and major shareholder Young Poong (000670.KS) , opens new tab does not have voting rights, causing consternation from representatives of Young Poong and its takeover partner, private equity firm MBK Partners. Young Poong and MBK have been attempting to wrest control away from Korea Zinc's current management, led by Chairman Yun B. Choi, since September and have amassed a 40.97% stake in the firm, according to a December regulatory filing. Korea Zinc's Choi has an estimated 34.42% backing him, according to local media. Attempting to control the board, Young Poong and MBK have proposed 14 new candidates, while Korea Zinc's management has nominated seven. The firm currently has 13 board members, with one board member having tendered their resignation. As the shareholders' meeting began, Korea Zinc management said Young Poong's shares would be excluded from voting. Young Poong had a 25.42% stake in Korea Zinc as of a December filing. The reason cited for the exclusion was that entities related to Korea Zinc sold a stake larger than 10% in Young Poong to Korea Zinc's Australian unit Sun Metals Corp (SMC) according to a filing on Wednesday, creating a cross shareholding structure. Korea Zinc said in an emailed statement that according to South Korea's Commercial Act, because a Korea Zinc subsidiary has more than a 10% stake in Young Poong, Young Poong's stake in Korea Zinc does not have voting rights. MBK said in its own statement the Commercial Act provision only applies to domestic companies and does not apply to SMC. "This is a grossly unjust decision," said a lawyer representing Young Poong and MBK in the shareholders' meeting. "We will hold you responsible for the failure of a valid shareholders' meeting," the lawyer said. It was not clear what the outcome of Korea Zinc's move will be. The takeover battle has pitted members of Korea Zinc's two founding families against each other. Choi, a grandson of the company's co-founder, had taken a series of steps to try to thwart the takeover bid including promising to give its board more independence by making way for an outsider to become its chair, as well as underscoring Korea Zinc's role in the global supply chain for materials outside China. MBK and Young Poong have said Korea Zinc's current board of directors do not take into account shareholders' interests, and vowed to improve governance at the zinc refiner. Reactions have been divided. MBK and Young Poong have gained the backing of proxy adviser ISS, while Choi has gained the backing of proxy adviser Glass Lewis. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/korea-zinc-takeover-battle-culminates-shareholders-meeting-2025-01-22/