2025-01-06 21:54

Smithfield readies US stock market return after more than a decade First company to publicly file in 2025 for a big New York IPO Morgan Stanley, BofA and Goldman Sachs tapped as lead underwrites WH Group acquired Smithfield in 2013 for $4.7 bln Jan 6 (Reuters) - Smithfield Foods on Monday made public its paperwork for its New York initial public offering as the maker of Farmland bacon and Farmer John sausages prepares for its U.S. stock market return after more than a decade. Hong Kong-based WH Group (0288.HK) , opens new tab, the world's largest pork producer that took Smithfield private in 2013 for $4.7 billion, will sell some of its shares in the Virginia-based company in the offering, alongside the company. The company is spinning off its U.S. and Mexico businesses as it looks to unlock their value and boost Smithfield's access to capital markets. WH Group said in October the IPO is expected to represent up to 20% of Smithfield's shares on a fully diluted basis and value the company at no less than $5.38 billion. Smithfield reported a net income of $581 million in the nine months ended Sept. 29 on sales of $10.19 billion. That compares with a net loss of $2 million in the nine months ended Oct. 1, 2023 on sales of $10.64 billion. Pork producers in China have come under pressure from declining consumer demand as the world's second-biggest economy has struggled in recent years, said Dennis Smith, commodity broker for Archer Financial Services. "Demand took a freaking nose dive," Smith said. "Those guys took huge losses." POISED FOR U.S. STOCK MARKET RETURN Smithfield was founded in 1936 as a packing company in Virginia. Since then, it has grown into one of the major producers of packaged meats and fresh pork products. The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange from 1999 until its acquisition in 2013. Smithfield, which separated its European operations last year, confidentially filed for the U.S. IPO on Oct. 4. The IPO proceeds will be used for capital investments in infrastructure, automation and capacity expansion, Smithfield said. Smithfield will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol "SFD." Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs are the lead underwriters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/pork-producer-smithfield-foods-makes-us-ipo-filing-public-2025-01-06/

2025-01-06 21:51

Jan 7 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. Risk appetite in Asia should get a lift on Tuesday, as the feel-good factor sparked the previous day by a report that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's tariff agenda won't be as aggressive as feared continues to ripple through world markets. Trump denied the Washington Post story, but investors seem to want to believe it - European and world equities rallied on Monday, U.S. stocks rose for a second day, and the dollar fell against developed and emerging currencies alike. If U.S. tariffs are broadly lower than Trump promised on the campaign trail and aimed only at "critical" sectors, then the outlook for global growth should improve and the dollar should weaken. On the face of it, this is bullish for Asian and emerging markets. But if Trump is true to his pre-election word and 'Truth Social' media post on Monday, risky assets will come back under pressure. Wall Street's gains melted a bit as Monday's session progressed and Trump's denial kept Treasury yields elevated ahead of this week's debt auctions. The 30-year yield is the highest in over a year and closing in on 5.00%. That will give investors grounds for caution on Tuesday. In addition, political uncertainty persists in South Korea and is flaring up in Canada too following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's announcement on Monday that he will step down. In Asia, developments in Japanese markets bear monitoring, with yields hitting multi-year highs after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled interest rates will be raised again, but the yen still anchored near 160.00 per dollar. The 10-year Japanese Government Bond yield on Monday hit 1.1350%, the highest since July 2011. Japan's finance ministry will auction 10-year bonds on Tuesday, and recently said it will raise the amount of five-year bonds to be sold early in the new fiscal year. Japanese stocks, which last week touched their highest level since July last year, are feeling the heat from higher JGB yields. The Nikkei 225 index fell 1.5% on Monday, the biggest fall since Nov. 13. Will Japanese stocks on Tuesday take their cue from the weak, export-friendly yen, or the multi-year peak in long-dated borrowing costs? Investors in China will focus their attention once again on the two-year bond yield's flirtation with 1%, the weakening exchange rate, and Beijing's efforts to support the currency and stock markets in the face of slumping yields and persistent deflationary pressures. The spot yuan is now through 7.33 per dollar for the first time since September 2023, getting closer to a break below 7.35 per dollar which would signal a new 17-year low. Asia's economic calendar on Tuesday is light. The main releases will be inflation data from the Philippines and Taiwan, and China's latest FX reserves. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Tuesday: - Japan 10-year bond auction - China FX reserves (December) - Taiwan inflation (December) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-2025-01-06/

2025-01-06 21:18

Louisiana patient was over 65 with underlying health conditions Nearly 70 people in US have contracted bird flu since April Most cases have been mild, risk to general public remains low Jan 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. patient who had been hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu has died, the Louisiana Department of Health said on Monday, marking the country's first reported human death from the virus. The patient, who has not been identified, was hospitalized with the virus on Dec. 18 after exposure to a combination of backyard chickens and wild birds, Louisiana health officials had said. The patient was over age 65 and had underlying medical conditions, officials said, putting the patient at higher risk for serious disease. Nearly 70 people in the U.S. have contracted bird flu since April, most of them farmworkers, as the virus has circulated among poultry flocks and dairy herds, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal and state officials have said the risk to the general public remains low. The ongoing bird flu outbreak, which began in poultry in 2022, has killed nearly 130 million wild and domestic poultry and has sickened 917 dairy herds, according to the CDC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An analysis of the virus taken from the Louisiana patient showed it belongs to the D1.1 genotype - the same type that has recently been detected in wild birds and poultry in Washington State, as well as a recent severe case in a teen in British Columbia, Canada, according to the CDC. It is different from the B3.13 genotype currently circulating in U.S. dairy cows, which has mostly been associated with mild symptoms in human cases including conjunctivitis, or pink eye. The CDC said the risk to the general public remains low. Experts have been looking for signs that the virus is acquiring the ability to spread easily from person to person, but the CDC said there is no evidence of that. People who work with birds, poultry, cows, or have recreational exposure to them, are at higher risk, Louisiana health officials said in a statement. Worldwide, more than 950 human cases of bird flu have been reported to the World Health Organization, and about half have resulted in death. "Though H5N1 cases in the U.S. have been uniformly mild, the virus does have the capacity to cause severe disease and death in certain cases," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Several experts said the death was concerning, but not surprising. "This is a tragic reminder of what experts have been screaming for months, H5N1 is a deadly virus," said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University's School of Public Health. "I hate to have the death of somebody be a wake-up call," said Gail Hansen, a veterinary and public health consultant. "But if that's what it takes, hopefully that will make people look at bird flu a little more carefully and say this really is a public health issue we need to be looking at more closely." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/louisiana-reports-first-bird-flu-related-death-us-state-agency-says-2025-01-06/

2025-01-06 20:24

Storm causes severe travel disruptions, governors declare states of emergency Frigid Arctic air follows, bringing freezing rain and icy conditions Over 330,000 homes without power, nearly 1,900 flights canceled WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - The first major winter storm of the new year barreled into the U.S. mid-Atlantic states on Monday, closing down federal offices and public schools in Washington, D.C., after dumping a foot of snow in parts of the Ohio Valley and Central Plains. More than five inches (12.7 cm) had fallen in the nation's capital by midday on Monday, according to the U.S. National Weather Service, with up to 12 inches in some surrounding areas of Maryland and Virginia. The snow was forecast to continue before the system pushes out to sea on Monday evening. Severe travel disruptions were expected across the storm's path, and officials urged drivers to stay off the roads if possible. Governors in several states, including Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland, have declared states of emergency. In the wake of the storm, dangerously frigid Arctic air was filling the void, bringing freezing rain and icy conditions to a swath of the country stretching from Illinois to the Atlantic coast. The unusually cold temperatures are expected to linger for the rest of the week. The Central Plains, where the storm dumped heavy snow over the weekend, were already in a deep freeze. Parts of Kansas experienced bitter cold wind chills, with values from 5 to almost 25 degrees Fahrenheit below zero (minus 15 to 32 degrees Celsius) overnight. The cold air will persist, with daytime highs only in the mid teens to lower 20s. The airport in Kansas City recorded 11 inches (28 cm) of snowfall, the highest for any storm in more than 30 years, the National Weather Service said. The Missouri State Police said it had responded on Sunday to more than 1,000 stranded motorists and 356 crashes, including one fatality. In Washington, even as the storm struck, Congress met to formally certify Republican Donald Trump's election as president. But federal offices in the nation's capital were closed. In the city's Meridian Hill Park, hundreds gathered for a massive snowball battle, organized by the so-called Washington DC Snowball Fight Association. The combatants - many wearing ski goggles for protection - fired volleys of frozen projectiles, as one dog tried to catch the ammunition in its mouth. "I did not come here to make friends!" Jack Pitsor, who lives across the street from the park, shouted with a laugh before launching a snowball toward enemy lines. School districts in numerous states shut down on Monday due to the storm, including public schools in Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Washington and Philadelphia. The storm also left more than 330,000 homes and businesses in the central and southern U.S. without power on Monday, data from PowerOutage.us showed. As of 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT), nearly 1,900 flights within, into and out of the United States had been canceled, according to the FlightAware.com tracking service. Amtrak canceled dozens of trains on the busy Northeast Corridor line between Boston and Washington. The three airports serving the D.C. area - Reagan National, Baltimore/Washington International and Dulles - were all open, with crews working to clear airfields of snow, but were seeing many flights delayed or canceled. Virginia State Police responded to 300 car crashes between midnight and 11 a.m., while the Maryland State Police received 123 crash reports between 1 a.m. and 11 a.m., spokespeople for the two agencies said. One man died in southeast Virginia after losing control of his pickup truck around midnight, with police citing both alcohol and the weather as factors, local media reported. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/first-major-us-winter-storm-year-sweeps-into-mid-atlantic-states-2025-01-06/

2025-01-06 20:12

BRASILIA, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Brazil's trade surplus shrank by nearly 25% in 2024 compared to the previous year, to $74.6 billion, official data showed on Monday, driven by higher imports as Latin America's largest economy outpaced initial growth expectations. The annual result followed a $4.8 billion surplus in December, which exceeded a $3.9 billion forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. Despite the 24.6% drop from 2023, the 2024 trade surplus was the second-largest since records began in 1989, trailing only the $98.9 billion surplus achieved the previous year. Exports remained largely flat, falling 0.8% from 2023 to $337 billion, impacted by lower prices and volumes for key Brazilian commodities such as soybeans and corn, with iron ore also experiencing a year-over-year decline due to price factors. These moves overshadowed the rise in crude oil shipments, which became Brazil's top export in 2024 - a position the government does not expect to sustain moving forward. "As the agricultural harvest recovers, it is likely that soybeans will regain the top spot, especially as soybean prices begin to rebound," said Herlon Brandao, director of Statistics and Foreign Trade Studies at the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services. Conversely, Brazilian imports rose 9% in 2024 over the previous year, to $262.5 billion, buoyed by strong domestic demand and increased investments, particularly in the acquisition of capital goods. Economic activity consistently outperformed expectations throughout the year, with the government estimating gross domestic product growth of 3.5% for 2024. For 2025, the trade surplus is projected to range between $60 billion and $80 billion, according to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services. With the global focus on the potential impact of tariffs promised by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Brazil's Secretary of Foreign Trade, Tatiana Prazeres, noted that while Brazil maintains a surplus in its overall trade balance, it continues to face a deficit with the United States. "Therefore, under this criterion, Brazil should not be a primary concern for the U.S. government," she said. According to Prazeres, Brazil will rely on its various mechanisms for dialogue with the U.S. to strengthen trade ties in the coming years. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-trade-surplus-shrinks-by-nearly-quarter-2024-rising-imports-2025-01-06/

2025-01-06 18:21

DAMASCUS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Syria is unable to make deals to import fuel, wheat or other key goods due to strict U.S. sanctions and despite many countries, including Gulf Arab states, wanting to do so, Syria's new trade minister said. In an interview with Reuters at his office in Damascus, Maher Khalil al-Hasan said Syria's new ruling administration had managed to scrape together enough wheat and fuel for a few months but the country faces a "catastrophe" if sanctions are not frozen or lifted soon. Hasan is a member of the new caretaker government set up by Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham after it launched a lightning offensive that toppled autocratic President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 after 13 years of civil war. The sanctions were imposed during Assad's rule, targeting his government and also state institutions such as the central bank. Russia and Iran, both major backers of the Assad government, previously provided most of Syria's wheat and oil products but both stopped doing so after the rebels triumphed and Assad fled to Moscow. The U.S. is set to announce an easing of restrictions on providing humanitarian aid and other basic services such as electricity to Syria while maintaining its strict sanctions regime, people briefed on the matter told Reuters on Monday. The exact impact of the expected measures remains to be seen. The decision by the outgoing Biden administration aims to send a signal of goodwill to Syria's people and its new Islamist rulers, and pave the way for improving basic services and living conditions in the war-ravaged country. At the same time, U.S. officials see the sanctions as a key point of leverage with a new ruling group that was designated a terrorist entity by Washington several years ago but which, after breaking with Islamist militant group Al Qaeda, has recently signalled a more moderate approach. Washington wants to see Damascus embark on an inclusive political transition and to cooperate on counterterrorism and other matters. Hasan told Reuters he was aware of reports that some sanctions may soon be eased or frozen. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-unable-import-wheat-or-fuel-due-us-sanctions-trade-minister-says-2025-01-06/