2024-10-18 23:57

HAVANA, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Cuba's national grid collapsed on Friday, leaving the entire population of 10 million people without electricity and underscoring the precarious state of the Communist-run country's infrastructure and economy. Restoration of service is under way but long-term challenges will remain. WHY DID THE GRID COLLAPSE? Cuba's electrical grid and oil-fired power plants are obsolete and crumbling, constructed decades ago and scarcely maintained. And because Cuba produces very little fossil fuel of its own - with limited refining capacity - it depends almost entirely on imports to assure adequate generation. Long-time ally Venezuela slashed fuel shipments to Cuba by half this year as it struggles to assure supply at home. Allies Russia and Mexico have also cut exports to Cuba, forcing the cash-strapped government to seek far pricer fuel on the spot market. The situation came to a head on Friday, when Cuba's largest power plant malfunctioned, joining several smaller plants already offline. Foul weather had also stalled the arrival of fuel from tanker ships offshore, starving the island's power plants. The combination prompted the entire grid to collapse. IS THE UNITED STATES AT FAULT FOR CUBA'S ELECTRICAL WOES? Cuba has long blamed the U.S. Cold War-era trade embargo as well as more recent sanctions by former President Donald Trump for its electricity woes, allegations repeated by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Thursday. The United States denies any role in the recent grid collapse. U.S. sanctions, however, do complicate financing of fuel purchases and spare parts for Cuba. They also scare off many oil tankers, forcing Cuba and Venezuela to depend on their own obsolete fleet for transportation. But Cuba's government has also acknowledged its own shortfalls. Rampant corruption, bureaucracy and vast inefficiencies have brought its state-run economy to its knees, leaving the government with no surplus funds to update its electrical grid. HOW ARE THE CUBAN PEOPLE RESPONDING? Life in Cuba has become extraordinarily difficult. Millions suffer daily without electricity in the sultry Caribbean climate, leading to soaring levels of mosquito-borne illness. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans are currently without water, in part due to power outages that cripple water supply and infrastructure. Vast and growing shortages of food, fuel and medicine also complicate life on the island. Months of hours-long daily blackouts have wiped out precious stores of frozen foods, putting a majority in ever more precarious situations. Frustration is nearly universal. Under a government that does not tolerate protests, many make their unhappiness known by emigrating, contributing to a record-breaking exodus off the island since 2020. WHAT SOLUTIONS HAS THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT PROPOSED? Cuba's government says it has begun investing in a long-term plan to produce a growing percentage of its electricity from renewable sources, primarily solar. It is also investing to produce more crude oil domestically. State-run media this week reported that 26 solar farms were under construction throughout the country, with the goal of new installed capacity of 1,000 megawatts, or about one-third of existing demand, in two years. Another similar project is due to be complete by 2031. Economic crisis, fuel shortages and funding shortfalls have slowed progress, forcing it to continue to rely on its obsolete power plants in the near-term. HAS A GRID COLLAPSE OF THIS MAGNITUDE HAPPENED BEFORE? Yes. Following the passage of Hurricane Ian in September 2022, Cuba's grid collapsed, leaving the entire country without power for several days. Authorities eventually re-established service, but not before protests broke out in various cities across the island, including Havana. (This story has been refiled to clarify the sequence of events leading to the blackout in paragraph 6) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/how-cubas-electrical-grid-collapsed-what-comes-next-2024-10-18/

2024-10-18 22:55

Three main benchmarks achieve sixth straight weekly gain Weekly indexes up: Dow 0.96%, S&P 500 0.85%, Nasdaq 0.79% Netflix jumps on growth forecast American Express, SLB down following results Friday indexes up: Dow 0.09%, S&P 500 0.4%, Nasdaq 0.63% Oct 18 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 chalked up record closing highs on Friday, with the Nasdaq also in positive territory, as markets were boosted by an earnings-driven jump in Netflix shares and broader gains across technology stocks. All three major Wall Street benchmarks also comfortably secured a sixth straight weekly gain, their longest weekly winning streaks since late 2023. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.9%, the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1%. Shares of Netflix (NFLX.O) , opens new tab jumped 11.1% to a record closing high after the streaming giant topped Wall Street estimates for subscriber additions and said it expected continued growth through the end of the year. Many of the so-called Magnificent Seven tech stocks, which have driven much of Wall Street's rally this year, rose. Apple (AAPL.O) , opens new tab gained 1.2% after data showed a sharp increase in new iPhone sales in China, while chip heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab advanced 0.8% after BofA Global Research hiked its price target on the stock. Netflix's increase lifted the communication services sector (.SPLRCL) , opens new tab 0.9%, making it the largest gainer among the 11 S&P 500 sectors, while information technology (.SPLRCT) , opens new tab rose 0.5%. "It's kind of the 'what's not to like' market," said David Waddell, chief executive of Waddell & Associates, citing positive economic data, disinflation and upbeat earnings and forecasts from corporate America. On Friday, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab rose 23.20 points, or 0.40%, to 5,864.67 points, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab advanced 115.94 points, or 0.63%, to 18,489.55. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab gained 36.86 points, or 0.09%, at 43,275.91. For the Dow, it was the fifth session in the last six that it had posted a record closing high. However, its gains on Friday were restrained by American Express (AXP.N) , opens new tab, which lost 3.1% after the credit card company's quarterly revenue missed estimates. Financial companies have had a broadly positive earnings season so far. The S&P Banks index (.SPXBK) , opens new tab slipped 0.1% though, ending its string of wins at five. The upbeat earnings of financial companies, and broadly positive economic data, have helped sustain the three main indexes' grind upwards in recent days. However, stretched valuations - the S&P 500 is trading at nearly 22 times forward earnings - along with high expectations for corporate results and potential volatility around the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, could leave stocks vulnerable to a pullback. David Waddell of Waddell & Associates noted though that strong corporate earnings could override any political considerations or concerns about overdone valuations. "We have gotten all we're going to get from multiple expansion, so I think the path forward is completely reliant on earnings," he said. "We're priced for pretty-darn-good earnings, so it could create a disturbance if we don't get them, but absent of recession, I think the bull is intact." Small-cap stocks have attracted investor buying in recent days, with both the Russell 2000 (.RUT) , opens new tab and S&P Small Cap 600 (.SPCY) , opens new tab outperforming major indexes for the week. Both small-cap indexes were down slightly on Friday, though. Energy (.SPNY) , opens new tab was the only S&P sector which dropped. It fell 0.4%, as it was bogged down by lower oil prices and a 4.7% decline in SLB (SLB.N) , opens new tab after it posted earnings below expectations. This dragged down fellow oilfield services providers Baker Hughes (BKR.O) , opens new tab and Halliburton (HAL.N) , opens new tab by 1.3% and 2.1%, respectively. The energy index was the week's worst-performing sector, dropping 2.6%, as U.S. crude prices slumped 7% due to concerns over Chinese demand and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. CVS Health (CVS.N) , opens new tab dropped 5.2% after it replaced CEO Karen Lynch with company veteran David Joyner and withdrew its 2024 profit forecast. The news also weighed on other health insurers, including Cigna (CI.N) , opens new tab and Elevance Health (ELV.N) , opens new tab. The latter, which fell 3.1%, closed at its lowest level in nearly 15 months. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.62 billion shares, compared with the 11.56 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/wall-street-futures-rise-tech-stocks-gain-netflix-jumps-after-strong-earnings-2024-10-18/

2024-10-18 22:19

MEXICO CITY, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Mexican state oil company Pemex (PEMX.UL) will curb the activity of its exploration and production arm in the last quarter of the year as it seeks to save up to 26.8 billion pesos ($1.35 billion), an internal document showed on Friday. In deferring spending at PEP, as the arm is known, the heavily indebted company is seeking to "optimize resources," the letter said, through postponing some planned works and acquisitions until 2025. The internal company letter was signed by Nestor Martinez, a former senior official at the hydrocarbon commission, who was appointed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to lead the exploration and production arm. It is dated Oct. 11. Until the end of the year, Pemex will prioritize investments in higher-producing wells, the letter said. It will defer some administrative and production work, including covering wells and acquiring seismic equipment needed for exploration. Pemex did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what prompted the spending cuts, and how it would affect crude oil production. Under the six-year administration of President Sheinbaum, who took office on Oct. 1, Pemex will seek to maintain average crude oil production of 1.8 million barrels per day. Pemex currently produces on average 1.5 million bpd of oil. Adding condensate, a natural gas liquid that is similar to a very light crude oil, its production is 1.8 million bpd. Despite efforts to reduce debt under Sheinbaum's predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the company carries financial debt of about $100 billion and provider debt of about $20 billion. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/mexico-oil-company-pemex-slows-spending-save-over-1-billion-document-shows-2024-10-18/

2024-10-18 22:06

Oct 18 (Reuters) - (This Oct. 18 story has been corrected to say that the NYSE received approval to trade options on 3, not 11 ETFs, in the headline and paragraph 1, to remove references to IBIT and Invesco Galaxy approvals in paragraph 4, and to add a line about CBOE approvals in paragraph 3) The U.S. securities regulator has granted "accelerated approval" to the New York Stock Exchange to list and trade options tied to three spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, according to a regulatory filing. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had in January approved the bitcoin ETFs to track bitcoin, in what was a watershed for the world's largest cryptocurrency and the broader crypto industry. Separately, Cboe Global (CBOE.Z) , opens new tab also got approval to trade options on two spot bitcoin ETFs, according to a filing. Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC.Z) , opens new tab, the ARK21Shares Bitcoin ETF , and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust BTC (GBTC.P) , opens new tab are among funds that received the approval on Friday. The index options - listed derivatives offering a quick and inexpensive way to amplify exposure to bitcoin - on a bitcoin index would give institutional investors and traders an alternative way to hedge their exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency. Options are listed derivatives that give the holder the right to buy or sell an asset, such as a stock or exchange-traded product, at a predetermined price by a set date. The regulator last month approved listing and trading of options for asset manager BlackRock's (BLK.N) , opens new tab, exchange-traded fund on the Nasdaq. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-sec-gives-green-light-options-listing-spot-bitcoin-etfs-nyse-2024-10-18/

2024-10-18 21:36

SAO PAULO, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Brazilian planemaker Embraer (EMBR3.SA) , opens new tab delivered 57 non-defense aircraft in the third quarter, up 33% from a year earlier, it said on Friday. The world's third-largest planemaker delivered 16 commercial and 41 executive jets in the quarter ended in September. In a securities filing, Embraer said its firm order backlog reached $22.7 billion at the end of September, a nine-year high. The company, which also delivered two defense aircraft in the quarter, is expected to release full third-quarter earnings on November 8. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/brazils-embraer-delivers-57-non-defense-aircraft-third-quarter-2024-10-18/

2024-10-18 21:30

WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. on Friday announced nearly $2 billion in grants to protect its aging power grid against the growing threat of extreme weather fueled by climate change. BY THE NUMBERS This round of funding for the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program is for 32 projects across 42 U.S. states. About 950 miles (1,530 km) of transmission lines are expected to be bolstered. The improvements will include burying some lines underground, lifting substations above flood plains, and increasing the capacity of some existing lines. Funded by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, the GRIP program pledged $10.5 billion for communities across the country. The first round of GRIP funding, announced in October 2023, included $3.5 billion for 58 projects in 44 states. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The U.S. power transmission grid, which in some cases is more than 100 years old, is struggling as climate change fuels stronger storms. Power demand is increasing for the first time in two decades amid demand from artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and crypto currency. In addition, new wind and solar farms need transmission to get power to cities. KEY QUOTE "The funding couldn't come at a more critical time, because energy demand, as we know, is rising nationwide and it is straining our outdated grid infrastructure," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters in a call. Recent Hurricanes Helene and Milton have damaged power infrastructure and the funds would help protect the grid from strong storms, Granholm said. Six of the projects across the U.S Southeast include utilities hit by Helene and Milton, the department said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-grants-nearly-2-bln-harden-power-grid-against-extreme-weather-2024-10-18/