2025-09-29 20:03

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Paul Atkins, chair of the U.S. markets watchdog, said on Monday the regulator is fast-tracking President Donald Trump's push to scrap quarterly earnings reports, raising transparency concerns around the potentially major shift for U.S. companies. Trump's desired change , opens new tab to the reporting standard would require listed companies to publish results semi-annually instead of the current SEC mandate for the release of financial statements every 90 days. Sign up here. The agency could release a proposal by the end of this year or in early 2026, Atkins said. In 2018, the SEC had solicited public comment on possible changes but ultimately left the current regime in place. "The president's call was timely, and so we are, you know, working to fast track it," Atkins said, speaking to reporters at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters on the sidelines of a joint roundtable with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on policy harmonization. "I'm hoping this sometime end of the year, early next year, to be able to have a proposal out and then be able to collect comment from people," he added. Trump has argued that the move, first proposed by him in 2018, would cut costs and discourage shortsightedness among publicly traded companies. The U.S. SEC at the time had said it was making his proposal a priority. This time, the agency appears fully on board, giving the proposal a better chance of succeeding as the White House takes greater control of the commission's agenda. Atkins did not lay out a timeline for the change. Some investors have cautioned that delaying financial disclosures could reduce transparency and increase market volatility, making U.S. stocks less attractive, though several have recently supported the idea. Transparency advocates also warn that it could give companies more opportunity to hide or postpone bad news. Meanwhile, investors argue that one reason U.S. stocks trade at a premium, compared with equities elsewhere, is their stricter financial reporting requirements. U.S.-listed companies did not always report financial results quarterly. The shift from semiannual to quarterly reporting was mandated by the U.S. regulator in 1970. Atkins first outlined the move in an editorial in the Financial Times earlier on Monday. https://www.reuters.com/business/us-sec-chairman-atkins-vows-fast-track-scrapping-quarterly-corporate-reports-ft-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 19:25

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said on Monday that emerging signs of weakness in the labor market drove his support for cutting interest rates at the most recent central bank meeting. “It made sense to move interest rates down a little bit” and “to take a little bit of the restrictiveness out of there,” to help ensure ongoing health in the job market while still keeping some downward pressure on above-target inflation levels, Williams said during an appearance in Rochester, New York. Sign up here. Williams' comments on Monday were his first public remarks since the central bank's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee mid-month gathering that met market expectations, with officials trimming their overnight target rate range by a quarter percentage point to between 4% and 4.25%. The Fed justified its rate cut on rising risks to the job market, even as inflation remains above target. At the Fed meeting, officials penciled in more rate cuts into year-end. In his appearance, Williams did not say what he wants monetary policy to do going forward, saying the FOMC will make decisions on a meeting-by-meeting basis. Williams also noted the Fed has unresolved business in dealing with high price pressures. "We still have a ways to go to get to that 2% goal. We've moved a long ways towards that," but the central bank also does not want to do "undue harm" to the Fed's other goal of keeping the job market as strong as it can be. "We have a balancing act here" between getting inflation down and supporting a job market that "has been gradually softening over the past year." When it comes to weakening job creation, "I don't want to see that go too far." At the same time, Williams noted that some of the things that were creating worry about persistently high inflation have waned. "The tariff effects have been smaller than most people thought, and there doesn't seem to be any signs of inflationary pressures building." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/feds-williams-says-cutting-rates-aimed-bolstering-job-market-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 18:57

Dutch-flagged Minervagracht damaged by explosive device in Gulf of Aden, operator said Two crew injured, vessel operator said Cargo ship is adrift and on fire, Aspides said LONDON/ATHENS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The Dutch-flagged general cargo ship Minervagracht is on fire and drifting in the Gulf of Aden after an attack with an explosive device required the helicopter rescue of its 19 crew, the EU maritime mission Aspides and the vessel's operator said on Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the attack that injured two sailors was carried out by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, who since 2023 have launched numerous assaults on vessels in the Red Sea that they deem to be linked with Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians over Israel's war on Gaza. Sign up here. The vessel's Amsterdam-based operator Spliethoff said Minervagracht was in international waters in the Gulf of Aden when it was struck by an unidentified explosive device that inflicted substantial damage and started a fire on the ship. The ship was about 128 nautical miles southeast of the port of Aden, Yemen, when the explosion happened. Rescuers evacuated the vessel's 19 crew, who are Russian, Ukrainian, Filipino, and Sri Lankan. One was wounded and in stable condition and another was seriously injured and being transported to Djibouti, the EU maritime mission Aspides said. "The MV Minervagracht is on fire and adrift," said Aspides, which added that the vessel had not previously asked for its protection. If confirmed, this would be the first attack by the Houthis on a commercial ship since September 1, when they targeted the Israeli-owned tanker Scarlet Ray near Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Yanbu. In July, the Houthis attacked and sank the Magic Seas bulk carrier and Eternity C cargo ship in the Red Sea. The last significant Houthi attack in the Gulf of Aden was on the Singapore-flagged Lobivia container ship in July 2024. The vessel was previously targeted on September 23 on its way to Djibouti, according to British security firm Ambrey. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netherlands-flagged-cargo-ship-attacked-near-yemens-aden-maritime-firms-say-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 18:49

Livestock restrictions threaten a $192 billion sector, Mexico's meat industry says US blames Mexico for screwworm spread near border, keeps cattle ban in place Ivermectin rule delays cattle movement, sector source says, adding pressure to supply chains Parasite has not yet crossed US border, officials say MEXICO CITY, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Mexico's meat industry is pushing back against new government regulations on livestock movement as tensions with the United States heat up over an outbreak of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite. Restricting movement of livestock from the south to the north of the country "threatens the viability of a sector that generated $192 billion in 2024," Mexican meat chamber AMEG said in a statement released on Friday. Sign up here. "Recent measures... jeopardize the supply chain of the meat production sector," AMEG said without specifying which measures. It said the only proven method to eradicate the screwworm, which infests and can kill livestock if untreated, was the release of sterile flies to reduce the mating population in the wild. A document dated September 19 from Mexico's agriculture ministry and sanitation agency Senasica, seen by Reuters and confirmed by a Senasica spokesperson, said the anti-parasite drug ivermectin must be given 72 hours in advance of the movement of cattle under the supervision of staff from the International Regional Organization for Animal and Plant Health. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins blamed a confirmed case of screwworm last week in Mexico's Nuevo Leon state, less than 70 miles (113 km) from the U.S. border, on Mexico's failure to curb cattle movements and tend to fly traps that monitor the wild population. The Mexican document detailing the new requirement for ivermectin use was sent to sector professionals by the government via email, according to a Mexican industry official who asked not to be identified. The ivermectin requirement would substantially delay livestock movement, the official said. Mexico has battled to contain the outbreak that has moved northwards from Central America. The pest, which officials have said has not yet crossed the U.S. border, poses a multibillion-dollar risk to the country's beef industry. The U.S. government has kept its border mostly closed to Mexican cattle imports since May. U.S. cattle producers, including industry group R-CALF USA, have publicly called on the U.S. government to persuade Mexico to halt the northward movement of livestock and the illegal trafficking of cattle originating from other Latin American countries. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week the country was working on new measures that would soon be announced, but said restricting livestock movement from the south to the north was not simple. Senasica told Reuters on September 25 that its fly trap system is checked every three or four days, a frequency that was jointly determined with U.S. counterparts, and that it has implemented a double inspection system at the livestock's point of origin. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/mexico-meat-sector-decries-new-livestock-movement-rules-ivermectin-requirement-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 18:00

WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - St. Louis Federal Reserve President Alberto Musalem said he was open to further interest rate cuts but the Fed must be cautious and keep rates high enough to continue to lean against inflation that remains roughly a percentage point above the central bank's 2% target. "Monetary policy is now somewhere between modestly restrictive and neutral," Musalem, a voter on interest rate policy this year, said at Washington University in St. Louis. "I am open minded to future potential reductions in interest rates. I do believe we need to move cautiously because the room between now and the point where policy becomes overly accommodative is limited." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/feds-musalem-open-further-cuts-must-be-cautious-2025-09-29/

2025-09-29 14:59

ROME, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Italy and Bahrain said on Monday they had signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at enhancing investments and trade worth over one billion euros ($1.2 billion), according to a joint statement between the two nations. The memorandum was announced after a meeting in Rome between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the statement said. Sign up here. The memorandum "will enhance economic relations and increase trade and investments ... with the partnership committing to investments in excess of one billion euros," as the parties agreed to boost ties in sectors including energy and defence. The two countries also called for the end to the war in Gaza and the release of all Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, while also condemning "any unilateral or violent action in the West Bank." "Both parties called for full and safe humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza," the statement added, confirming support for a two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians. ($1 = 0.8524 euros) https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/italy-bahrain-sign-memorandum-worth-over-1-billion-euros-2025-09-29/