2025-11-18 21:20

Reactor shut in 2019, Constellation wants to restart in 2027 First U.S. LPO loan issued and closed at same time, official says Loan office has $250 billion, focused on large-scale reactor development WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Tuesday it has loaned Constellation Energy Corp (CEG.O) , opens new tab $1 billion to restart its nuclear reactor at a Pennsylvania plant formerly known as Three Mile Island. Constellation signed a deal in late 2024 with Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab to restart the 835-megawatt reactor, which shut in 2019, and which would offset Microsoft's data center electricity use. The other unit at the plant, renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center, shut in 1979 after an accident that chilled the nuclear power industry. Sign up here. U.S. power demand is now rising for the first time in two decades on technologies including artificial intelligence. Nuclear energy, which is virtually carbon-free, has become an option for technology companies with uninterrupted power needs and climate pledges. Critics point out that the U.S. has failed to find permanent storage for radioactive waste. Greg Beard, head of the Energy Department's Loan Programs Office, or LPO, said the restart would support the PJM regional grid. "This type of energy is important because it's large, stable, affordable base load power," Beard told reporters. Constellation said the loan will help it lower the cost of financing and leverage private investment to restore power to the grid. The LPO has more than $250 billion in capital, and "a large portion of that we expect to be deployed to help reinvigorate the large-scale nuclear reactor development," Beard said. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said this month that the bulk of the LPO money would go to nuclear projects. Constellation in June had moved up the timeline to restart the reactor by about a year to 2027 after PJM fast-tracked its review process to connect the project to the grid. Constellation said it has hired hundreds of workers, completed infrastructure inspections and ordered major equipment for the reactor. It will need to revamp cooling towers, install a main power transformer among other equipment, and re-fuel before producing electricity. It was the first time the LPO declared that a company had met all conditions for a loan and closed it at the same time, Beard said. Constellation is guaranteeing the loan, he said, and that loan structure would protect taxpayers if the project does not succeed. Constellation is an "investment-grade" established nuclear operator that could have gotten a bank loan without the government's help, Beard said. "But we want to show support for affordable, reliable, stable, secure energy in the U.S., as directed by President (Donald) Trump." The plant also needs U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and water-related permitting, Constellation said this year. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-loans-constellation-1-billion-three-mile-island-reactor-reboot-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 21:04

LIMA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - A Peruvian congressional committee on Tuesday approved a bill to extend temporary permits for informal miners until the end of 2027, a move that came as more than a thousand miners protested outside the legislature against the permits' looming expiration. The bill will now be debated in a full plenary session of Congress for final approval. The program, known as REINFO, which grants a temporary legal status, has already been extended several times and is currently scheduled to expire in December. Sign up here. Renewed demonstrations broke out earlier in the day by miners who argue that government efforts to push them toward full formalization of their claims are too complex and costly. Many miners, most of whom extract gold, are seeking up to five more years to transition out of the temporary system. Formal mining companies and industry professionals have voiced concerns that another extension could increase illegal activity. They say the REINFO scheme has enabled illegal miners, at times operating alongside criminal gangs, to profit while gold prices hit record highs on international markets. The debate comes just five months before general elections in which many legislators are seeking re-election. Union leader Maximo Franco Bequer told Reuters that he met on Friday with President Jose Jeri, who took office last month. The president "promised us that before taking a position on any potential decision by Congress, he will assess the situation of informal miners," Bequer said. Peru is a global mining powerhouse and exported $15.5 billion worth of gold in 2024. An estimated 40% of that gold is of illegal origin, according to sector data and the country's financial regulator. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/perus-informal-miners-protest-congress-against-ending-temporary-permits-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:51

KYIV, Nov 18 (Reuters) - One of Ukraine's main opposition parties physically blocked lawmakers from holding a vote in parliament on Tuesday to dismiss two ministers over a corruption investigation, demanding the removal of the entire cabinet instead. The stand-off in parliament was the latest manifestation of mounting public anger since Ukraine's biggest wartime corruption scandal erupted last week. Sign up here. Ukraine's anti-graft bureau says it has been investigating a $100 million pay-to-play scheme for procurement contracts at the state nuclear power company, run by the energy ministry. Five suspects have been detained and two are at large, including one of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's former business associates who fled the country last week. Parliament was due to vote on Tuesday on the dismissal of Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk and her predecessor German Galushchenko, who now serves as minister of justice. ALLEGATIONS CAUSE FURY AS WAR'S FOURTH WINTER APPROACHES But the vote was not held as the opposition European Solidarity party blocked access to the speaker's podium, with lawmakers holding cardboard signs that bore slogans such as "What is the price of darkness?" Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk halted the session. One opposition MP said a new vote would likely be on Wednesday. Both cabinet ministers deny any wrongdoing in the scandal. Hrynchuk has offered to resign and Galushchenko has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. Zelenskiy supports removing both of them. European Solidarity, which is led by ex-president Petro Poroshenko, has said it would seek to remove the whole cabinet, a measure which now has little support in parliament. Members of Zelenskiy's Servant of the People bloc accused the opposition group of grandstanding and preventing parliament from taking action. "While some thieves run away and hide, others – populist politicians – put on a show," said Danylo Hetmantsev, a senior Servant of the People lawmaker. Ukraine's anti-corruption court on Tuesday ordered former prime minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, one of the suspects, held in custody subject to bail of 51.6 million hryvnias, equivalent to $1.23 million. Interfax Ukraine news agency said Chernyshov's lawyers asked during a two-day hearing for the order to be thrown out, saying that evidence against him was insufficient and the bail stipulations inappropriate as all his assets had been frozen. The allegations by the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), have caused widespread fury as the fourth winter of war approaches with most Ukrainians living under daily power cuts caused by Russian bombardment of the grid. The alleged head of the graft scheme, businessman Timur Mindich, is a co-owner of the TV studio where Zelenskiy made his career as a sitcom star before winning office in 2019. Zelenskiy has imposed financial sanctions on Mindich and the studio said Mindich now plays no decision-making role in its activities. Ukraine, which has received tens of billions of dollars of support from its allies since Russia invaded in 2022, is under international pressure to tackle its long-running corruption problems as it seeks to join the European Union. Zelenskiy tried to curb some powers of anti-corruption body NABU earlier this year, but backed down after an outcry from the public and European allies. He said his changes were intended to make the government more efficient. Opponents said he was trying to shield associates from investigations, which he denied. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-corruption-case-causes-stand-off-parliament-anger-mounts-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:48

Nvidia's quarterly report on Wednesday seen as pivotal for AI trade September jobs release on Thursday first key post-shutdown data S&P 500 breaks below 50-day moving average, VIX hits one-month high NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The biggest U.S. stocks pullback in months is fraying investors' nerves ahead of tests to two underpinnings of the market's record-breaking rally: the artificial intelligence trade and expectations for interest rate cuts. After a sharp and steady six-month climb, stocks have been sliding in November. The S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab was last down on Tuesday over 3% from its late October all-time high, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab had dropped about 6% from its peak from that time. Sign up here. The S&P 500 on Monday closed below its 50-day moving average, a key intermediate trend indicator, for the first time since April 30. The Cboe Volatility Index (.VIX) , opens new tab, Wall Street's fear gauge, rose on Tuesday to its highest level in a month. Several investors said the declines could be healthy for the bull market, to shake out speculative froth, with the benchmark S&P 500 still up over 30% since its low for the year in April. However, elevated valuations are keeping investors alert for signs of an "AI bubble," with high-flying technology stocks bearing the brunt of the latest weakness. "Markets are needy of getting both reassurance the Fed is going to cut rates and also reassurance that the AI trade is not going to go south," said Tony Roth, chief investment officer at Wilmington Trust. Investors have zeroed in for weeks on the quarterly report from Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) , opens new tab, the world's largest company by market value, as a potentially pivotal moment for the AI trade. The semiconductor company, whose chips are central to the massive AI infrastructure buildout rippling through corporations, reports fiscal third-quarter results after the market closes on Wednesday. "I can't think of a real reason to go in and buy aggressively until that's out of the way," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia. With the U.S. government shutdown ending last week, investors are expecting a deluge of delayed official data to be released, starting with September's employment report on Thursday, and its importance for monetary policy. The Federal Reserve had been expected to cut interest rates for the third straight meeting on December 10 in response to a labor market that showed signs of weakening ahead of the shutdown. But Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have pushed back against expectations that a quarter-point cut was a done deal, and Fed funds futures as of Tuesday were indicating a roughly 50-50 chance of such a move next month. "The nonfarm payrolls report will hold a whole lot of weight with policymakers, whether or not they need to move forward with additional easing," said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager, equities, at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management. "So it definitely is a market moving event." Lacking fresh government data during the 43-day shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, investors had little of the evidence they rely on to gauge the economy's health. "I think a lot of people are worried that the data is going to be indicating a more protracted slowdown," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. While a weak jobs number could shore up expectations of a December rate cut, "depending on how weak the numbers are, I guess you have to be careful what you wish for," Pavlik said. Along with the pullback in stocks, gold and bitcoin , which also had put up strong performances since April, have fallen in recent weeks. Such "froth" coming out of several assets "is a sign of how sentiment had just gotten very complacent, not just around AI, but around anything that was going up," said Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at retirement and wealth services provider Empower. "I don't think it's a bubble because there's still enough fundamental health in the market," Norton said, describing it more as a "course correction." The selloff is "very limited," said Johanna Kyrklund, group chief investment officer at Schroders. "It's just that we've got used to such a low level of volatility that is abnormal." For example, the S&P 500's latest pullback has yet to remotely approach 10%, the level widely defined as a market correction. Schroders remained optimistic about U.S. equities, Kyrklund said, describing the economic environment as benign during a briefing with reporters. "Valuations are expensive, but they can probably stay expensive for a bit longer." Jim Carroll, a senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager at Ballast Rock Private Wealth who analyzes volatility and other trading signals, wrote in a commentary that cracks have formed in what is a longer-term uptrend. "It's a really good time to gut check your exposure and get comfortable with the potential for a pullback more meaningful than one day or a week," Carroll said. https://www.reuters.com/business/market-slide-frays-investors-nerves-with-ai-trade-rate-cut-doubts-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:27

Nov 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. producer price index for September will be released on November 25 while the import and export price indexes for the same month will be issued on December 3, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. The release of some data was delayed during the federal government shutdown. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us-bureau-labor-statistics-says-sept-producer-price-index-due-out-nov-25-2025-11-18/

2025-11-18 20:24

Jamaica seeking funds to rebuild after Hurricane Melissa Minister at COP30 calls islanders 'victims of the actions of others' Country needs grants and investments more than loans BELEM, Brazil, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Jamaica spent years building a pot of money to handle climate-fuelled disasters. It turned out to be enough to cover just 5% of the cost wrought by one storm. Hurricane Melissa has left the island nation with bills totalling $10 billion – only $500 million of which it can cover with climate-preparation reserves stockpiled to deal with disasters, Jamaican cabinet minister Matthew Samuda told Reuters. Sign up here. Jamaica is asking wealthy countries at the COP30 climate summit in Belem, Brazil, to urgently offer grants, investment and concessional finance. What it does not want are commercial-rate loans that saddle the country with more debt as it faces a future expected to deliver increasingly severe climate impacts such as heatwaves, droughts, rising seas and catastrophic storms. "We don't come as mendicants. We come as victims of the actions of others," Samuda said in an interview at the summit, referring to the fact Jamaica has done little to cause the planet-warming emissions that are driving climate change. He said Jamaica had spent three decades improving its financial health and inching closer to an investment grade credit rating. "To have quite a bit of that success wiped out in a single 24-hour period by a storm that was stronger, lasted longer, came at a time of year that is unusual and brought more rain than usual because of the actions of others, is a difficult pill to swallow." Negotiations at the COP30 summit aim to make progress in shoring up funding for developing countries to prepare for and adapt to the coming climate extremes. The U.N. estimates they will need at least $310 billion a year by 2035. "COP30 cannot end without an ambitious outcome (on adaptation)," said Ana Mulio Alvarez, policy advisor at climate think tank E3G. CATEGORY 5 STORM WREAKS HAVOC Melissa walloped Jamaica on October 28 as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, delivering an initial 17-foot storm surge along with severe winds and some 30 inches of rain that caused landslides and flooding. Scientists determined climate change had made the storm 30% stronger than it would have been without global warming - and six times more likely to hit when it did. Samuda described the impact as "seismic," with 192,000 buildings damaged and the country's key tourism and agriculture sectors hobbled. He said the storm should be given a new Category 6 designation. The economic damage was far greater than that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, when the island lost some 10% of its GDP. The pandemic "didn't wash away bridges, destroy roads, disrupt the water supply in the way that this particular incident has," Samuda said. Before Melissa hit, Jamaica had been building protection against such events, including through a catastrophe bond issued by the World Bank that disbursed $150 million and a parametric insurance scheme that helped to net another $90 million. These self-help measures garnered about $500 million before Melissa caused $10 billion in estimated damages, just under 30% of the country's economic output. "That leaves a $9.5 billion gap," Samuda said. (This story has been corrected to clarify that $9.5 billion refers to the finance gap, not the amount of financial help Jamaica is seeking, in the headline) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/jamaica-seeks-95-billion-financial-help-rebuild-after-melissa-2025-11-18/