2025-01-10 22:34

Separatist region prolongs state of emergency New energy-saving measures in region Central Moldovan government in new offer to help Jan 10 (Reuters) - Moldova's Moscow-backed separatist region of Transdniestria extended its state of emergency on Friday for another month as it grapples with an energy crisis after losing access to Russian gas supplies that had propped up its economy for decades. Russia's Gazprom suspended gas exports to Transdniestria on Jan. 1, citing unpaid Moldovan debts of $709 million. Moldova disputes that debt and says Moscow is engineering a crisis to undermine its pro-Western government. Russia used to supply gas to Transdniestria via Ukraine and Moscow blames the crisis on Kyiv, which refused to roll over a gas transit deal that expired on Dec. 31 due to Russia's invasion. Moldova, which supports Ukraine, says Moscow could use an alternative route to continue supplies. Residents and businesses in Transdniestria, which broke away from Moldova in the final days of Soviet rule and has long relied exclusively on Russian gas, have since faced gas cutoffs, rolling power cuts and problems with water supplies. The separatist authorities said on the Telegram app that residents would have five hours of power cuts on Friday and that the state of emergency would be in place until at least Feb. 8. The authorities' official Telegram news channel said daily power cuts would remain at five hours during the weekend. It also said several factories, including a machine-building plant in the region's main town, Tiraspol, would be permitted to operate at night, when strain on the power grid is lower. Moldova's pro-European government accuses Russia of artificially creating the energy crisis to destabilise the country ahead of this summer's parliamentary election. The central government's spokesperson, Daniel Voda, said authorities had proposed several solutions to help Transdniestria "for the sake of a peaceful, stable and prosperous future together." "There are solutions, but ... Transdniestrian authorities refuse all dialogue and spread false information, blaming everyone except those who created this crisis and shut off the tap," Voda said. "The energy blackmail organised by Russia in Transdniestria must stop." Moldovan President Maia Sandu has said Gazprom could supply gas to Transdniestria via an alternative route, TurkStream. Transdniestria blames Moldova and Ukraine for the energy crisis into which it has been plunged and denies that Moldova has made any proposal to help ease the crisis. An official in Transdniestria, quoted by the official news channel, said on Wednesday that the breakaway region's gas storage volumes would be enough for the next 24 days. Transdniestria fought a brief war against Moldovan government forces in 1992 and still hosts 1,500 Russian soldiers on the tiny territory that neighbours Ukraine. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/moldovas-pro-russian-separatists-extend-state-emergency-amid-gas-cutoff-2025-01-10/

2025-01-10 22:04

TSX ends down 1.2% at 24,767.73 Posts its lowest closing level in 2025 Financials and real estate lose 1.8% Energy adds 1.1%; oil settles 3.6% higher Jan 10 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index posted its biggest decline in over three weeks on Friday as rising prospects that the Federal Reserve would pause its interest-rate cutting cycle encouraged investors to take some profits after strong gains for the market in 2024. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab ended down 305.63 points, or 1.2%, at 24,767.73, its lowest closing level since the start of the year and the biggest decline since Dec. 18. The index notched a gain of nearly 18% in 2024 but has pulled back from a December peak. "We would view this as counter-trend in nature rather than an end of the bull market," said Joseph Abramson, co-chief investment officer at Northland Wealth Management. "As bond yields have been increasing, stocks have been having a pullback. But very importantly, the rise in bond yields is reflective of improving growth." Stocks on Wall Street also sank as the yield on the U.S. 10-year note , a benchmark for borrowing costs globally, touched its highest level since November 2023 at 4.790%. U.S. job growth unexpectedly accelerated in December, reinforcing expectations the Fed would keep interest rates unchanged this month. Canada's employment report was also stronger than expected, with the economy adding 90,900 jobs in December. Still, investors continued to lean toward further easing by the Bank of Canada on Jan. 29. Both the real estate sector and heavily weighted financials tumbled 1.8% and technology was down 1.4%. Energy was a bright spot, adding 1.1%, as the price of oil settled 3.6% higher at $76.57 a barrel. The Biden administration imposed fresh sanctions targeting Russian oil and gas revenue. Consumer discretionary was the only other sector to end higher, as shares of Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) , opens new tab jumped 19.1% after the clothing retailer beat estimates with its quarterly results. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/tsx-futures-steady-investors-brace-us-payrolls-domestic-jobs-data-2025-01-10/

2025-01-10 21:54

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Buyout firm Blackstone is weighing strategic options, including a sale, for Liftoff that could value the mobile app marketing provider at more than $4 billion, including debt, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The Redwood City, California-based company is working with investment bankers at Goldman Sachs and Jefferies to weigh its options, which also include a potential initial public offering, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the matter is confidential. The deliberations are at an early stage, the sources said, cautioning that a deal is not guaranteed. Blackstone is hoping to command a valuation for Liftoff equivalent to more than 10 times the company's 12-month earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization of $350 million, the sources said. Liftoff currently generates about $650 million in annual revenue. Blackstone and Goldman declined to comment, while Liftoff did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Jefferies declined to comment. Liftoff previously explored an IPO in late 2021, before the plans fizzled out after equity capital markets froze up following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the sources said. The company, which was formed through a merger of Vungle and Liftoff that was engineered by Blackstone, provides a platform for mobile developers to build, advertise, and monetize their applications. Blackstone acquired Vungle in 2019, and invested in Liftoff the following year. Liftoff's customers include large corporations such as Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab, PayPal (PYPL.O) , opens new tab, and Lyft (LYFT.O) , opens new tab, according to its website. New York-based Blackstone, the world's largest alternative asset manager, had assets under management of more than $1.1 trillion, as of the end of September. The buyout giant is expecting an improved environment for dealmaking and a pickup in equity capital markets to help it sell and exit more than twice the number of private equity investments this year. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/blackstone-mulls-4-billion-plus-sale-liftoff-sources-say-2025-01-10/

2025-01-10 21:53

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE.N) , opens new tab has struck a deal worth over $1 billion to provide Elon Musk's social media platform X with servers optimized for artificial intelligence work, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The agreement was reached late last year, the report said, adding that competitors Dell Technologies (DELL.N) , opens new tab and Super Micro Computer (SMCI.O) , opens new tab had also bid to sell the equipment. Hewlett Packard declined to comment on the report. AI servers have been seeing strong demand from enterprises looking for hardware capable of powering artificial intelligence applications. Musk's companies, including Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab and xAI, have emerged as major customers for such hardware. Shares of HPE were up 1% in afternoon trade. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/hpe-secures-1-bln-ai-server-deal-elon-musks-x-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-01-10/

2025-01-10 21:49

Plan should stick to financial factors, judge says Ruling is among first of its kind ESG investing facing backlash from conservatives Jan 10 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas on Friday said American Airlines (AAL.O) , opens new tab violated federal law by basing investment decisions for its employee retirement plan on environmental, social and other non-financial factors. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor appeared to be the first of its kind amid growing backlash by conservatives to an uptick in socially-conscious investing. O'Connor said American had breached its legal duty to make investment decisions based solely on the financial interests of 401(k) plan beneficiaries by allowing BlackRock (BLK.N) , opens new tab, its asset manager and a major shareholder, to focus on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors. "The evidence made clear that [American’s] incestuous relationship with BlackRock and its own corporate goals disloyally influenced administration of the Plan," wrote O'Connor, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush. The judge ruled after holding a four-day non-jury trial in June, in a class action by American pilot Bryan Spence on behalf of more than 100,000 participants in the retirement plan. O'Connor said he would decide later on whether class members suffered financial harms and American must pay them damages. American said in a statement that it was reviewing the decision. Lawyers for Spence did not immediately respond to requests for comment. BlackRock, which on Thursday said it was leaving an environmentally focused investor group under pressure from Republican politicians, is not involved in the lawsuit. In November, BlackRock and two rival asset managers were sued by 11 Republican-led states who claim the firms violated federal antitrust law through climate activism that reduced coal production and caused energy costs to increase. BlackRock called the claims baseless. Spence sued American in 2023, saying it had violated the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by failing to remain loyal to 401(k) plan participants and to prudently oversee their assets. O'Connor last February rejected American's claims that the lawsuit should be dismissed because Spence could not show that the 401(k) plan had underperformed, paving the way for a trial. On Friday, the judge said that American had breached its duty of loyalty to retirement plan participants. But the company's decisions did not violate its duty of prudence, O'Connor said, because it was acting according to prevailing industry standards." O'Connor is known for frequently ruling in favor of conservative litigants challenging laws and regulations governing guns, LGBTQ rights and healthcare. The Biden administration in 2023 adopted a rule allowing 401(k) and other plans to consider ESG factors as a "tiebreaker" between financially equal investment options. The rule replaced a regulation adopted during Republican President-elect Donald Trump's first administration barring the consideration of any non-financial factors, which could be resurrected after Trump takes office for the second time later this month. A Texas federal judge is currently considering a legal challenge to the Biden administration rule by 25 Republican-led states and oil drilling company Liberty Energy (LBRT.N) , opens new tab. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/american-airlines-focus-esg-401k-plan-is-illegal-us-judge-rules-2025-01-10/

2025-01-10 21:47

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) , opens new tab said on Friday that departures and arrivals at its Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta hub have resumed after extreme winter weather forced the closure of all five runways for more than two hours. The carrier canceled approximately 700 flights across its network on Friday and warned that additional adjustments to its flight schedule are possible throughout the weekend. Recovery efforts are ongoing at other airports throughout the Southeast of the United States, the airline said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/delta-resumes-flights-atlanta-hub-cancels-700-flights-2025-01-10/