2024-11-11 19:41
WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Boeing's (BA.N) , opens new tab head of quality for commercial airplanes, Elizabeth Lund, who has spearheaded the planemaker's improvement plans, will retire in December, the company said on Monday. A 33-year veteran of Boeing, Lund had been named in February to the new position of senior vice president of quality for its commercial planes, after the crisis sparked by the Jan. 5 mid-air panel blowout of a new Alaska Airlines (ALK.N) , opens new tab 737 MAX 9. In June, the National Transportation Safety Board said Boeing violated investigation rules when Lund provided non-public information to media and speculated about possible causes of the blowout. The agency barred Boeing from receiving information produced during its probe. Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker took the unprecedented step in January of preventing Boeing from expanding 737 MAX production until he is satisfied it has made significant quality improvements. Boeing has been implementing a quality plan it submitted to the FAA in May as it seeks approval to boost 737 MAX production. Lund will be replaced by Doug Ackerman, who has served as vice president of Supply Chain and Fabrication Quality and has been involved in the quality plan. Last month, the FAA said it would open a new safety review into Boeing, looking at issues like risk-assessment quality, resource allocation and adherence to regulatory requirements. The review is expected to take three months. Also in October, the Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General criticized FAA oversight of Boeing, saying the agency lacked an effective system to oversee the planemaker's individual manufacturing facilities. An FAA audit of Boeing completed in February found 97 incidents of noncompliance, spanning "issues in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control." Whitaker said recently that Boeing's improvements in safety culture might take three to five years to implement. In June, he acknowledged that the agency was "too hands-off" in its oversight of Boeing prior to January. Whitaker spoke to Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg last week on the planemaker's plans to resume 737 MAX production following a 53-day strike. Lund said at an NTSB hearing in August that the planemaker was working on design changes it hoped to implement within the year and then to retrofit across the fleet to prevent a future incident. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeing-commercial-airplanes-quality-chief-retire-december-2024-11-11/
2024-11-11 19:24
CARACAS, Nov 11 (Reuters) - A pipeline exploded on Monday at a natural gas complex operated by Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA.UL) in the country's Eastern Monagas state, leaving five people injured, the state company said. Outages and accidents at PDVSA's deteriorating facilities are common. Last month, a large fire at a crude storage tank in the country's Western region left more than 20 people with minor burns. Balls of fire and firefighters working to extinguish them were seen in videos and photos posted by neighbors on social media. The fire left blackened and damaged pipelines and equipment, the photos showed. The accident forced the facility to a halt, a source close to its operations said. PDVSA's Muscar plant close to Punta de Mata city distributes gas to the company's oilfields for reinjection and to gas processing centers for domestic use. PDVSA confirmed the accident hours later and said its workers were trying to extinguish the fire, which hit a 26-inch-diameter (66-cm diameter) gas line. An investigation was initiated to determine the cause of the explosion, it said in a release. Injured people were being transferred to nearby hospitals, PDVSA added. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/explosion-gas-complex-venezuelas-eastern-region-leaves-people-injured-2024-11-11/
2024-11-11 19:11
US Oct crude exports to China about half last year's average - Kpler Weak Chinese fuel demand, refinery margins crimp crude demand China buying more discounted oil from US-sanctioned countries China shipping Canadian oil directly since TMX expansion Crude exports from Vancouver to China hit record high in Oct HOUSTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - U.S. exports of crude oil to China, the world's top oil importer, have rebounded in October from their lowest levels since 2020 amid weak Chinese fuel demand and refinery profits, but the outlook for growth in exports is glum, according to ship tracking service Kpler on Monday. China's monthly imports of crude from the world's top producer hit 24,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August, the lowest levels since February 2020 when COVID-19 slashed demand. They have rebounded to about 134,000 and 130,000 bpd in September and October, respectively, Kpler data showed. That, however, is still about half the average of 259,000 bpd in 2023, and weak Chinese demand has helped to reduce U.S. exports to Asia to a three-year low in October of 955,000 bpd. "The economic weakness that we're seeing in China is playing through to refinery run weakness and ultimately weak demand for refined products," Kpler analyst Matt Smith said. China's overall crude oil imports fell 9% in October, data showed on Thursday, the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year declines as the closure of a state oil refinery added to weaker demand from independent refiners. Total imports fell to about 10.53 million bpd, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, recovering a bit from the July's 9.97 million bpd, the lowest level in 22 months. SANCTIONED COUNTRIES China increasingly has purchased its crude from U.S.-sanctioned countries such as Russia, Iran and Venezuela for cut-rate prices. The three combined accounted for about 3 million bpd, or about 30% of total October imports, Smith estimated. China was the main destination of Venezuela's oil exports in October with 385,300 bpd shipped directly and indirectly, according to shipping data and documents from state oil firm PDVSA. The expansion of the Tran Mountain pipeline (TMX) in May to nearly triple the crude flow from landlocked Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast also has boosted the number of shipments of Canadian crude heading directly to China, slashing exports from U.S. ports. Crude exports from Vancouver to China touched a record 217,000 bpd in October, Kpler data showed. Re-exports of Canadian oil from U.S. ports accounted for between 25% and 35% of U.S. crude exports annually to China in the last five years, according to Kpler. GLUM OUTLOOK The weakness in U.S. exports to China will likely continue, analysts said, as Beijing's efforts to stimulate economic growth will take time to take root and boost fuel demand. "We shouldn't expect to see 600,000 to 700,000 bpd of demand growth from China going forward here, as we saw last decade," said Kpler's Smith. More than half of China's auto sales last month were electric and plug-in hybrids, and sales of liquefied natural gas-fueled heavy trucks are rising, reducing demand for gasoline and diesel in transportation. Chinese refiners' preference for sanctioned oil and barrels from the east of the Suez Canal also will remain a key factor, said Rohit Rathod, an analyst with ship tracking firm Vortexa. Offsetting the glum outlook is an increase in government-approved import quota. China's 2025 quota for non-state-owned firms is up 5.8%, to 257 million metric tons, or 5.14 million bpd, the commerce ministry said last month. The increase reflects in part the September startup of one of two new 200,000 bpd units at China's newest refiner, Yulong Petrochemical, buoying hope for higher imports. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-crude-exports-china-rebound-four-year-low-outlook-glum-kpler-says-2024-11-11/
2024-11-11 18:25
NEW DELHI, Nov 11 (Reuters) - One person was killed and two others injured in a fire that broke out on Monday at an Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS) , opens new tab refinery in the western state of Gujarat, a senior police official said. "We recovered a burnt dead body from the site," Narasimha Komar, police commissioner of Vadodara city in Gujarat, told Reuters. IOC, which runs a 13.7 million metric tons per annum integrated refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in Gujarat, earlier said a benzene storage tank caught fire at 3:30 PM local time. The fire spread to a second tank, Komar said. IOC said in a statement that its refinery operations were unaffected. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/fire-indian-oil-refinery-kills-1-injures-2-police-official-says-2024-11-11/
2024-11-11 17:31
Tesla jumps after hitting $1 trillion in market value on Friday Crypto stocks gain as bitcoin surges Megacaps, chip stocks lose ground Russell 2000 up more than 1% Indexes: Dow up 0.85%, S&P 500 up 0.24%, Nasdaq down 0.07% Nov 11 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes notched record high closes on Monday, lifted by stocks expected to benefit from Republican President-elect Donald Trump's potential fiscal policies. Tesla's TSLA.O stock market value surged 9% to over $1.1 trillion, fueled by bets the automaker will benefit from CEO Elon Musk's close ties to Trump. Several other stocks also added to gains they have made since Trump won the election, as traders expect them to benefit from his return to the White House. The S&P 500 financial index .SPSY rallied 1.4%, with banks helping lift the Dow to its highest ever, lifted by gains in Wells Fargo & Co WFC.Nand JPMorgan JPM.N. The small-cap Russell 2000 .RUT jumped 1.5% to its highest since November 2021. Smaller companies are viewed as potential beneficiaries from Trump's proposed tax cuts and expected looser regulations. Microsoft MSFT.O, Amazon AMZN.O and Meta Platforms META.O each dipped about 1%. The S&P 500 has rallied almost 4% since Trump's victory last Tuesday, while the Nasdaq has gained almost 5%. The S&P 500 information technology index .SPLRCTretreated almost 1% and the PHLX chip index .SOX fell 2.5%, with AI heavyweight Nvidia NVDA.O giving back recent gains and ending down 1.6%. "It's been a wild four days since the election and the market is taking a breath," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. "But the trend is moving higher. I would not be surprised if the Trump rally bleeds into a Santa Claus rally." All three major Wall Street indexes climbed to record high closes. The S&P 500 rose 0.10% to end the session at 6,001.35 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.06% to 19,298.76 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.69% to 44,293.13 points. Volume on U.S. exchanges was heavy, with 15.4 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 12.8 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions. Crypto stocks rallied as bitcoinBTC= soared to a record $87,000. Coinbase Global COIN.O jumped 20%, and bitcoin miners MARA Holdings MARA.O and Riot Platforms RIOT.Ojumped 30% and 17%, respectively. Investors are watching consumer price inflation data, due Wednesday, and a raft of other key data this week for signals on the economy and monetary policy outlook. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points last week, and interest rate futures imply traders see a 65% chance of another 25 basis point cut at the central bank's December meeting, according to CME FedWatch. "With policymakers already so cautious about the risk of renewed price pressures, particularly amid the continued strength of the U.S. economy, the Fed will need to tread a cautious path," warned Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 .AD.SPX by a 1.5-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 117 new highs and 7 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 363 new highs and 86 new lows. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-build-trump-fueled-rally-tesla-jumps-2024-11-11/
2024-11-11 15:22
BRASILIA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Brazil's currency weakened on Monday as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration postponed the release of long-awaited spending-containment measures, despite earlier signals of an imminent announcement. The real fell about 1% against the U.S. dollar, extending its decline for the year to over 16%. The currency's drop, which raises import costs and adds to inflationary pressures, follows the government's hesitation to announce a fiscal package to curb the rapid rise in mandatory spending following Finance Minister Fernando Haddad's suggestion that this would happen last week. Since then, however, the government has offered no concrete timeline for the announcement, with Lula holding a series of meetings with his economic team and ministers from other areas likely to be affected by budget cuts. "The inflationary impact of a weaker currency is severe and is already affecting market expectations," said Paulo Gala, chief economist at Banco Master. "A spending cut package would help with this, it would help reduce the risk premium on long-term interest rates and the exchange rate," he noted, adding that Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election is another significant factor fueling inflationary pressures ahead. In a television interview on Sunday, Lula pledged to counter the "speculative greed" of financial markets, adding that Congress and the judiciary should also contribute to spending cuts. Last year, Lula approved a new fiscal framework combining primary budget targets with a cap allowing for spending growth up to 2.5% above inflation. But certain expenditures, such as pensions and some social benefits, have been rising much faster, squeezing other budget items like investments and operational costs under the overall spending cap. Economists and some government officials acknowledge this trend could jeopardize the fiscal framework's sustainability over the coming years, impairing its capacity to stabilize public debt growth. “This spending cut package is necessary. It has to happen, regardless of any delay,” former central bank chief and finance minister Henrique Meirelles said. Speaking at an event in Sao Paulo, however, he expressed doubt that the initiative would be enough to ease concerns over the growth of public debt, which he described as “unsustainable”. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/brazils-currency-weakens-amid-government-delays-announcing-new-fiscal-measures-2024-11-11/
