2026-02-04 12:46

Santagiulia arena construction completed, finishing touches underway Players, including Auvitu, unfazed by ice quality concerns NHL players return to Olympics, increasing event spotlight MILAN, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The buzz of works whirred through the Santagiulia arena the day before the Olympic ice hockey tournament was due to begin at the Milano Cortina Games, as workers scrambled to get the marquee venue ready and players shrugged off concerns about the ice. As players train on the Santagiulia's rink, dozens of workers are racing around the clock to get the site ready for its first match on Thursday, when host team Italy will face France in the women's event. Sign up here. The built-from-scratch arena has been the subject of great concern as organisers raced to finish the 15,300-seater venue. "Construction works, they're done," said Veronika Muehlhofer, event and venue general manager at Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026. "Then obviously now what's happening is some of the finishing touches and obviously always the day and night before the first game. Then it's just going to be a lot more cleaning to do for everything to look as beautiful as possible and spick and span to be welcoming the first spectators into the venue," she said. "Today you will see a lot of cablers from the broadcasting teams that are joining and have joined in the last few days to prepare the games. You'll have some of the sponsors outfitting their areas to promote their products and things like that." The area surrounding the Santagiulia facility remains largely barren, with extensive sections of the construction site yet to be cleared. The arena hosted its first test event as recently as last month, when play was stopped to fix a small hole that had developed in the ice. The playing surface was confirmed to be a few feet shorter than normal NHL standards, as it is at the other ice hockey venues. France defenceman and former NHL player Yohann Auvitu said on Wednesday he did not expect perfect ice. "It's nowhere in the world good. At the end of the day, I've been playing all around. When you play in Florida and it's 35 degrees outside, it's not good. That's how it is, so no complaints. There's going to be three games a day. So I'm not expecting to have good ice. Just handle it," he said after practice on the Santagiulia rink. Auvitu said the arena was pretty nice. "Locker rooms are fine. We have a little walk to get there. But no, those things don't really matter. It's nowhere perfect, so I'm not expecting perfection here," he said. The Olympics welcome back National Hockey League players for the first time since 2014, bringing a brighter spotlight on the event. The IOC's Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi said this week that it was not necessary to have every single space at the Santagiulia venue finished, but that anything that is public-facing or related to athletes and media would be ready. "Anytime you're preparing for a hockey tournament, it's a big countdown until we drop the first puck and with a small sigh of relief," Muehlhofer said. https://www.reuters.com/sports/ice-hockey-under-pressure-santagiulias-final-rush-prepare-first-game-2026-02-04/

2026-02-04 12:39

OSLO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor (EQNR.OL) , opens new tab sold around 30% of volumes from its U.S. onshore natural gas assets on a spot basis in January, capitalising on a cold snap that sharply lifted demand and prices, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday. An Arctic blast sent U.S. heating demand soaring in January and froze oil and gas wells, cutting gas output to a two-year low and pushing some northeast gas hub prices to record highs. Sign up here. Equinor owns stakes in onshore gas production in the U.S., with the Marcellus position in the Appalachian Basin on the U.S. northeast coast its largest natural gas asset outside Norway. While the field is operated by a partner, Equinor takes delivery of its share of the gas and transports and markets the volumes itself, CFO Torgrim Reitan told Reuters following the company's fourth-quarter earnings presentation. The trading business usually leaves some volumes exposed to volatility by selling them on the spot market, he said. "That was also the case during January. We held around 30% of our exposure to cash prices or spot prices," Reitan said. This meant that when Equinor sold some of its gas towards the New York region it achieved prices of "more than $100 per MMBtu (million British thermal units)", he said. Equinor's marginal cost of U.S. production was $1 per MMBtu, Reitan said. Prices have since fallen, with the benchmark Henry Hub month-ahead contract trading at $3.33 per MMBtu on February 4, after peaking at $7.46 per MMBtu on January 28. In 2025, Equinor's U.S. natural gas production rose by 27% to 809 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The increase was mainly due to higher Appalachia output following the acquisition of additional interests in late 2024 and increased operational activity throughout 2025, Equinor said in its earnings report. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/equinor-sold-about-30-its-us-gas-spot-market-during-january-price-spike-2026-02-04/

2026-02-04 12:35

Feb 4 (Reuters) - India's Russian oil imports slipped in January, continuing a downturn that began in December as refiners sought more alternative barrels under Western sanctions pressure and ongoing U.S.–India trade talks, Reuters sources said and data showed. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with India to cut tariffs to 18% from 50% in exchange for New Delhi halting Russian oil purchases and lowering trade barriers. Sign up here. Indian refiners have been redrawing crude import strategies in recent months to shift away from top supplier Russia and boost imports from the Middle East. In January, India imported 1.215 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude, of which the Nayara refinery accounted for 0.41 million bpd, IOC took 0.58 million bpd, and BPCL took 0.19 million bpd, while Reliance imported no Russian crude last month, according to provisional data from analytics firm Kpler. India's Russian oil imports in January were down by some 9% on a daily basis from last December, Reuters calculations showed. December oil imports dropped about 22% from November to 1.38 million barrels per day. While it remains unclear to what extent India may ultimately have to scale back its imports of Russian oil, any further reductions would make it increasingly difficult and costly for Moscow to secure alternative buyers for its crude, Reuters sources said. Indian refiners have not been told by the government to stop buying Russian oil and would need a wind-down period to complete purchases already in process, two refining sources said on Tuesday, following the trade deal with Washington. Reliance Industries Ltd, operator of the world's largest refining complex, will buy up to 150,000 barrels per day of Russian oil from February for its domestic market-focused refinery, a company executive said last week. The country's largest refiner overall, Indian Oil Corp, has committed to buying more Brazilian crude in the fiscal year starting April, after reducing Russian oil imports. India’s reduction in purchases of Russian oil is affecting the freight market for its grades, as traders are increasingly using tankers to store Russia's Urals crude at seas. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indias-russian-oil-imports-down-9-jandec-amid-us-india-trade-talks-2026-02-04/

2026-02-04 12:25

MILAN, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Italian nuclear startup newcleo said on Wednesday it had raised 75 million euros ($88.60 million) in a new funding round with contributions from new investors, including Italian iron and steel group Danieli (DANI.MI) , opens new tab and cement maker Cementir Holding (CEMI.MI) , opens new tab. The latest funding brings the company's total capital raised over the past 12 months to more than 105 million euros, while total funding since its 2021 founding has reached 645 million euros. Sign up here. "This funding will support the strengthening of our research and development infrastructure in Europe and accelerate our expansion in the United States," newcleo founder and CEO Stefano Buono said in a statement. Buono recently said that the developer of small modular reactors was aiming to capitalise on U.S. policies supporting the nuclear sector. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in May to boost domestic nuclear production by cutting down regulations and fast-tracking new licenses. Newcleo specialises in creating advanced modular reactors powered by reprocessed nuclear waste, a technology designed to lower costs and mitigate risks stemming from atomic waste handling. ($1 = 0.8465 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/nuclear-startup-newcleo-raises-89-million-italian-investors-2026-02-04/

2026-02-04 12:11

CME's ADV hits record 27.4 million contracts Explores prediction markets, to avoid smaller political event contracts CEO dismisses AI disruption concerns on post-earnings call Feb 4 (Reuters) - Derivatives exchange CME Group (CME.O) , opens new tab beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, as investors increased hedging activity to manage market risks. Growing uncertainty over the economic outlook, including the pace of interest-rate cuts and rising geopolitical and trade tensions, has pushed investors to hedge more aggressively, lifting demand for equity-linked products and metals trading. Sign up here. Total average daily volume (ADV) at the world's largest derivatives marketplace rose about 7.5% to a record 27.4 million contracts. "(The) quarter reinforces our view on strong ADV, widening volume drivers, strong margins and building capital return flex," TD Cowen analysts said in a note. CME shares were last down 1.6%, with analysts at Jefferies pointing to quarterly expenses that were "modestly higher" than Street expectations. CEO Terry Duffy on a post-earnings call dismissed concerns that AI could disrupt or disintermediate the business, as global software and technology stocks sold off this week on these worries. PREDICTION MARKETS BOOM Legacy exchanges to crypto-native platforms are stepping up their bets on prediction markets as investor appetite for event-based trading surges. Interest in prediction markets climbed sharply during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, fueling rapid growth in users. That expansion has led critics question whether the products amount to regulated markets or gambling. Duffy said CME was not ruling out political event contracts but would avoid smaller congressional or state races, adding that contracts on larger scale such as the U.S. presidential election are fine. "We are not going to get bogged down in legal battles over whether this is sports gambling or swaps markets," he said. The company launched a prediction markets platform in five U.S. states in December with sports betting firm FanDuel. CME's adjusted profit came in at $2.77 per share for the three months ended December 31, beating analysts' average estimate of $2.74 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. https://www.reuters.com/business/derivatives-exchange-cmes-profit-rises-higher-trading-activity-2026-02-04/

2026-02-04 12:06

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Refiner Phillips 66 (PSX.N) , opens new tab beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, as a rebound in U.S. refining margins lifted earnings after a prolonged slump in 2024. U.S. fuel maker margins have begun to rebound from multi-year lows, a pullback that followed the earlier spike triggered by sanctions on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, which had constricted global supply. Sign up here. Quarterly U.S. refinery margins, measured by the 3-2-1 crack spread , were up about 45% on average in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. Phillips 66's realized margin more than doubled to $12.48 per barrel in the quarter, swinging its refining segment to adjusted earnings of $542 million, compared with a loss of $759 million from a year earlier. The refiner's crude capacity utilization in the quarter was at 99%, compared with 94% from a year earlier, while turnaround expenses rose nearly 10% to $135 million. The refiner also said it reduced debt by $2.0 billion during the quarter, ending the year at $19.7 billion. Refiners in the U.S. are also said to benefit from full-scale resumption of Venezuelan oil exports and lower fuel production costs. Last month, Reuters reported that Phillips 66 and Valero Energy bought a cargo each of Venezuelan crude oil, one of the first deals by U.S. Gulf Coast refiners that are part of Washington's agreement with Caracas to export up to 50 million barrels. Phillips 66 reported an adjusted profit of $2.47 per share for the three months ended December 31, compared with analysts' average estimate of $2.16 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/refiner-phillips-66-beats-quarterly-profit-estimates-margins-rebound-2026-02-04/