2025-01-02 20:48

Power purchase deal is largest in U.S. GSA history Deal allows Constellation to extend life of nuclear plants, grow capacity Agreement is part of broader turnaround of US nuclear industry NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Constellation Energy has been awarded a record $1 billion in contracts to supply nuclear power to the U.S. government over the next decade, the company said on Thursday. Constellation, the country's largest operator of nuclear power plants, will deliver electricity to more than 13 federal agencies as part of the agreements with the U.S. General Services Administration. The deal is the biggest energy purchase in the history of the GSA, which constructs and manages federal buildings, and is among the first major climate-focused energy agreement by the U.S. government to include electricity generated from existing nuclear reactors. The GSA estimated that the contracts, set to begin on April 25, will comprise over 10 million megawatt-hours over 10 years and provide electricity equivalent to powering more than 1 million homes annually. The procurement will deliver electricity to 80 federal facilities located throughout the PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission operator with service covering more than 65 million people. The U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Army Corps of Engineers are some of the facilities that will receive the power. The nuclear power industry, which saw several decades of contraction over rising safety costs and concerns about radioactive waste, has attracted renewed interest in the last year from Big Tech and government agencies in search of carbon-free electricity to meet the rising energy needs. "This agreement is another powerful example of how things have changed," Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said in a release. Constellation said the deal will enable it to extend the licenses of existing nuclear plants and invest in new equipment and technology that will increase output by about 135 megawatts. “The investments we make as a result of this contract will keep these plants operating reliably for decades to come and put new, clean nuclear energy on the grid while making the best use of taxpayer dollars," Dominguez said. The GSA said in the face of uncertainty over future electricity prices and soaring power demand from data centers and AI facilities, the contracts will provide federal agencies with budgetary stability by keeping electricity costs fixed for 10 years. Robin Carnahan, the GSA administrator, said the deal demonstrates "how the federal government can join major corporate clean energy buyers in spurring new nuclear energy capacity and ensuring a reliable, affordable supply of clean energy for everyone." The deal includes $840 million for power supplied by Constellation and $172 million for the company to complete energy efficiency work, including weatherizing federal buildings and expanding the use of LED lighting. Four buildings in the nation's capital will be converted to electric boilers and heat pumps from current steam power systems. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/constellation-secures-1-bln-contracts-supply-us-government-with-nuclear-power-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 20:33

2024 returns range from almost 10% to over 50% Equity performance adds to returns, energy detracted, sources say LONDON/NEW YORK, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Some of the world's largest hedge funds finished 2024 with comfortable double-digit returns, benefiting from chaotic markets, central bank policy changes and a tight U.S. presidential election race. Hedge funds in 2024 averaged a 10.7% return in the year through November, according to PivotalPath, versus 5.7% in the same period in 2023. But some portfolio managers scored gains above 50% for the full last year. Light Street Capital's long/short fund focused on technology ended 2024 up 59.4%. Overall, long/short hedge funds had their best year since 2020, Goldman Sachs said. Macro hedge fund Discovery Capital ended 2024 up 52% after gains across equities, currencies, rates and credit, a source familiar with the performance said, with trades in both emerging and developed countries. Also on the macro side, Bridgewater Associates' flagship Pure Alpha 18% volatility fund gained just over 11% in 2024 through Dec. 27, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. British hedge fund Marshall Wace, which manages almost $71 billion, returned double-digit gains in several of its funds, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Co-founded by British financier Paul Marshall, the firm returned around 14% in its Eureka fund, a source said. Large U.S. multi-strategy firms also posted double-digit gains. Cinctive Capital went up 22.8% last year, while Schonfeld's flagship hedge fund Strategic Partners rose 19.7%. Citadel's flagship fund Wellington posted a 15.1% gain, while Millennium Management returned 15% in 2024, according to people familiar with the results. Citadel offered clients the option to cash out Wellington's profits. Very few clients took up the offer, with redemptions totaling only roughly $300 million out of billions in profit. Two of D.E. Shaw's multi-strategy funds posted double-digit returns including its flagship Composite fund, which gained 18% in 2024, and its more macro-oriented fund Oculus, which posted a 36% return in the same period, its best-ever annual performance, said another person close to the matter. Millennium and D.E. Shaw's results were first reported by the Financial Times and Bloomberg, respectively. Jon Caplis, CEO of hedge fund research firm PivotalPath, said there was "a resurgence of the multi-strat space across 2024," and he expects to see more inflows to the strategy. Last year's gains came as rate cuts from the likes of the U.S. Federal Reserve helped push stocks higher, while a decisive presidential election win for Donald Trump and Bank of Japan rate hikes were other catalysts for big market swings. TRACKING TRENDS Quantitative hedge funds, which use algorithms and coding to track markets, benefited from big moves in several markets including equities, currencies, grains and soft commodities such as cocoa and coffee, which both surged last year. For Dunn Capital Management, these were all positive drivers for the Dunn WMA trading program, which returned 7.28% for the year despite negative drivers in energies, metals and European equities, said a source with knowledge of the matter. Hedge fund CFM (Capital Fund Management), also a quantitative investment manager, returned 12.01% in its Discus Fund and 14.22% in its Stratus Fund, another source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. British fund Winton saw a roughly 10% return on investment in its multi-strategy systematic fund. Overall, the hedge fund manages around $13 billion. Transtrend's Diversified Trend Program returned 5.90% for 2024. Sourcing: several people with knowledge of the matter. Firms declined to comment on the matter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/hedge-funds-deliver-double-digit-returns-2024-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 20:26

Person in Cybertruck killed himself, seven injured in blast FBI says search of Colorado Springs home related to explosion Incident occurred hours after man drove truck into crowd in New Orleans Jan 2 (Reuters) - Officials on Thursday positively identified the person found dead inside the Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas as a U.S. Army soldier from Colorado, while the FBI said it was not yet clear if the blast was an act of terrorism. The FBI said it had so far found no definitive link between the New Year's Day New Orleans truck attack that killed 15 people and the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas later on the same day, which left seven people with minor injuries. The Cybertruck driver was identified as Matthew Livelsberger, 37, an active-duty Army soldier from Colorado Springs, and police said he acted alone. Livelsberger killed himself with a gunshot to the mouth, police said, citing a report from the Clark County Coroner/Medical Examiner, according to a post on X by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Livelsberger was inside the vehicle when gasoline canisters and large firework mortars in the truck bed exploded, police said. Police previously had told a press conference they believed the person found in the truck was Livelsberger, but because the body was burned beyond recognition, investigators were awaiting confirmation from DNA evidence and medical records. Livelsberger shot himself just before explosives in the vehicle were detonated, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters. A handgun was found at his feet. It was one of two semi-automatic handguns found in the Cybertruck, both of which were lawfully purchased by Livelsberger on Dec. 30. Law enforcement also found military identification, a passport, an iPhone and credit cards in the truck. Livelsberger was assigned to the Army Special Operations Command and was on approved leave at the time of his death, an Army official said. The Army Special Operations Command would not comment on an ongoing investigation, a spokesperson said. A U.S. official told Reuters that Livelsberger had been awarded a Bronze Star for valor and an Army commendation for valor, along with a Combat Infantryman Badge. He completed five combat deployments to Afghanistan, the official said. A close relative of Livelsberger, who asked that his name not be used because he did not want to be publicly linked to the suspect, told Reuters that Livelsberger had always wanted to be an "Army soldier, in Special Forces, even as a little kid. And when he achieved that, he was a soldier's soldier." Livelsberger was a supporter of President-elect Donald Trump throughout the Republican's political career, seeing him as someone who loves the military, the relative told Reuters. "He thought Trump was the greatest thing in the world." Livelsberger went to high school in Bucyrus in northern Ohio, the man said, where he played football and baseball and appeared happy and popular. The man said there had been no inkling in the family that Livelsberger was planning something like the Las Vegas bombing. He said he could not reconcile what Livelsberger is believed to have done with the person he knew both as a child and man. Livelsberger graduated from Bucyrus High School in 2005, according to Ohio media. He immediately left to join the military after graduation, his relative said. Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the Las Vegas hotel showed the Cybertruck, an electric vehicle with a distinctive angular design, exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat in front of the hotel around 8:40 a.m. local time (1640 GMT) on Wednesday. A Trump spokesperson did not return a request for comment on Thursday. TRUMP BUILDING, TESLA VEHICLE The Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is part of the Trump Organization, the company of Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on Jan. 20. The president-elect's son Eric Trump, an executive with the Trump Organization, praised Las Vegas fire and law enforcement officials on Wednesday for their quick action following the explosion. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a key backer of Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign and is also an adviser to the incoming president. "It's not lost on us that it's in front of the Trump building, that it's a Tesla vehicle, but we don't have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology, or... any of the reasoning behind it," McMahill, of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said. Police said Livelsberger rented the Cybertruck in Denver on Dec. 28 and made stops in several cities, including Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona, before arriving in Las Vegas early on Wednesday. The truck drove along the city's hotel- and casino-lined Strip, drove through the Trump hotel's driveway and later returned to the valet area. The Trump hotel was evacuated and most guests were moved to another hotel following the explosion. Both the Cybertruck and the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack were rented through car-sharing service Turo, McMahill said. A Turo spokesperson said the company did not believe either of the renters of the vehicles involved had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi-looks-any-link-between-tesla-explosion-new-orleans-attack-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 20:09

SAO PAULO, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras (PETR4.SA) , opens new tab hiked jet fuel prices for distributors starting on Jan. 1 by around 7% in some key marketing areas, such as Betim, Guarulhos and Duque de Caxias, data on the company's website showed on Thursday. Petrobras makes monthly tweaks to its jet fuel prices based on factors including oil prices and exchange rates. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/brazils-petrobras-raises-jet-fuel-prices-by-around-7-key-markets-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 19:37

Official says all companies except food producers have been idled Russian-speaking territory is worst casualty of gas transit halt Jan 2 (Reuters) - The cut-off of Russian gas supplies to Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region has forced the closure of all industrial companies except food producers, an official said on Thursday. The mainly Russian-speaking territory of about 450,000 people, which split from Moldova in the 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed, has suffered a painful and immediate hit from Wednesday's cut-off of Russian gas supplies to central and eastern Europe via Ukraine. "All industrial enterprises are idle, with the exception of those engaged in food production - that is, directly ensuring food security for Transdniestria," Sergei Obolonik, first deputy prime minister of the region, told a local news channel. "It is too early to judge how the situation will develop. ... The problem is so extensive that if it is not resolved for a long time, we will already have irreversible changes - that is, enterprises will lose their ability to start up." Ukraine had allowed Russia to keep pumping gas across its territory despite nearly three years of war, and was earning up to $1 billion a year in transit fees. But Kyiv refused to renew a five-year deal that expired on Wednesday. European gas buyers such as Slovakia and Austria had prepared for the cut-off by securing alternative supplies. But Transdniestria - despite its ties to Moscow and the presence of 1,500 Russian troops there - has been crippled. The local energy company cut heating and hot water to households on Wednesday, and urged families to keep warm by gathering in a single room, covering windows with curtains or blankets and using electric heaters. GAS RESERVES The leader of pro-Russian Transdniestria, Vadim Krasnoselsky, said the region had gas reserves that could last for 10 days of limited usage in northern parts and twice as long in the south. He said the main power plant had switched from gas to coal and should be able to supply electricity to residents in January and February. Russia had been pumping about 2 billion cubic metres of gas per year to Transdniestria - including the power plant which also provided energy for the whole of Moldova, a country of 2.5 million people that wants to join the European Union. Moldova has a long history of gas payment disputes and tense relations with Russia. The ex-Soviet republic is trying to cut energy consumption by at least a third and import more than 60% of its needs from neighbouring Romania. The head of Moldovan national gas company Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban, said his company had told the gas distribution company in the separatist enclave, Tiraspoltransgaz, that it was willing to help purchase gas from European countries to ease shortages. But any gas supplied to the region would have to be paid for at market prices, he told TV8 television. Transdniestria has for several years paid nothing for supplies from Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) , opens new tab under a tacit understanding with Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described the end of Russian gas transit as "one of Moscow's biggest defeats" and urged the United States to supply more gas to Europe. Since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe has slashed its dependence on Russian energy and increased imports from other sources including piped gas from Norway and liquefied natural gas from the U.S. and Qatar. In a statement on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the loss of Russian gas was hurting Europe economically, and the U.S. was the beneficiary. "Responsibility for the cessation of Russian gas supplies lies entirely with the United States, the puppet Kyiv regime, as well as the authorities of European states that sacrificed the wellbeing of their citizens for the sake of providing financial support for the American economy," she said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/breakaway-moldovan-regions-power-plant-switches-coal-after-gas-cutoff-2025-01-02/

2025-01-02 19:36

Canadian dollar falls 0.2% against the greenback Canada factory PMI rises to 22-month high Price of U.S. oil increases 2.2% Bond yields were little changed TORONTO, Jan 2 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday on the first trading day of 2025, but fared better than some other major currencies as oil prices rose and data showed Canada's factory sector expanding for a fourth straight month. The loonie was trading 0.2% lower at 1.4410 to the U.S. dollar, or 69.40 U.S. cents, after moving in a range of 1.4370 to 1.4442. Last month, the currency touched a near five-year low at 1.4467. "The USD is starting 2025 off as it appears likely to continue, at least for the next few months, as it stretches gains versus the majors," Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank, said in a note. The U.S. dollar index (.DXY) , opens new tab jumped to a two-year high as the greenback posted gains of 1% or more against the euro and sterling on expectations that U.S. economic growth will beat peers. The price of oil , one of Canada's major exports, was up 2.2% at $73.29 a barrel after a pledge by Chinese President Xi Jinping to promote economic growth. The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 52.2 in December from 52.0 in November, its highest level since February 2023 and the fourth straight month above the 50.0 no-change mark. It was helped by inventory accumulation by U.S. clients in anticipation of trade tariffs. Still, the threat of U.S. tariffs and domestic political uncertainty has contributed to elevated levels of implied volatility in the Canadian dollar options market, Osborne said. Implied volatility on an at-the-money options contract to buy or sell Canadian dollars against the U.S. dollar in three months was trading at roughly 7%, its highest level since April 2023. Investors and companies use options to hedge their currency exposure. Canadian bond yields were little changed across the curve, with the 10-year at 3.235%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/canadian-dollar-edges-lower-against-dominant-greenback-2025-01-02/