2025-09-04 12:39
Sept 4 (Reuters) - The gasoline unit at Nigeria's 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote refinery may be shut for 2-3 months for repairs, IIR Energy said in a client note on Thursday. The 204,000 bpd Residue Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit (RFCCU) was forced to shutdown on August 29 and a tentative restart is planned for September 20. Sign up here. However, it may remain shutdown for longer to complete major repairs and equipment replacements that were previously scheduled for December 2025, the note said. Dangote did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The possibly lengthy shutdown marks a setback for the refinery just as it was ramping up in recent weeks. It has shipped two gasoline cargoes to the U.S. East Coast, expected to arrive in the New York area later this month, a major milestone as industry observers were closely tracking if and when the plant would produce fuel meeting U.S. standards. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/nigerias-dangote-refinery-gasoline-unit-could-be-shut-2-3-months-iir-says-2025-09-04/
2025-09-04 12:38
MADRID, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Spain's high speed trains to and from Madrid were either halted or delayed on Thursday afternoon, as a result of a computer outage, railway infrastructure operator Adif said in a post on X. Adif said its backup system was working and that service was being gradually restored. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/spains-high-speed-trains-madrid-disrupted-after-computer-outage-2025-09-04/
2025-09-04 12:30
WASHINGTON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - The Trump administration's widely anticipated report from President Donald Trump's "Make America Healthy Again" commission will be released next week, White House adviser to "MAHA" Calley Means said on Thursday. "We need to get back to whole food and away from ultra-processed food," Means told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "So we -- and you'll see this with the MAHA Commission report next week... -- this administration is evangelizing ranchers, evangelizing farmers and working to put whole food on the child's plate." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/maha-commission-report-due-next-week-white-house-adviser-says-2025-09-04/
2025-09-04 12:27
Gold hits all-time high at $3,578.50/oz on Wednesday Silver eases from highest level since September 2011 US non-farm payrolls data due on Friday Sept 4 (Reuters) - Gold prices declined on Thursday, pulling back from a record high as investors locked in profits as attention shifted to U.S. jobs data for further insight into the Federal Reserve's policy path. Spot gold was down 0.3% at $3,547.18 per ounce as of 1207 GMT, while U.S. gold futures for December delivery dipped 0.8% to $3,605.90. Sign up here. On Wednesday, spot gold peaked at $3,578.50 amid rising bets for a Fed rate cut and lingering geopolitical and economic uncertainties. "The market was way overbought and needed to correct," StoneX analyst Rhona O'Connell said. The focus is now on weekly jobless claims and the ADP report due later in the day, and U.S. non-farm payrolls data due on Friday. "If the jobless claims are way out of line, then we could see a reaction (in prices) – down if below, up if high," O'Connell said. A Labor Department report showed on Wednesday that job openings fell more than expected to 7.181 million in July. Meanwhile, several Fed officials said labour market worries continue to animate their beliefs that rate cuts are imminent. The market is now pricing in a 98% chance of a 25 basis-point rate cut this month, CME Group's FedWatch tool showed. Non-yielding gold typically performs well in a low interest-rate environment and in times of uncertainty. Questions about the Fed's independence will take centre stage on Thursday when President Donald Trump's economic advisor Stephen Miran testifies at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on his nomination to the U.S. central bank's seven-member governing board. "Should private investors diversify more heavily into gold, we see potential upside to gold prices to well above our $4,000 mid-2026 baseline," Goldman Sachs said in a note on Wednesday. Elsewhere, spot silver fell 0.6% to $40.95 per ounce, after hitting its highest since September 2011 on Wednesday. Platinum lost 1.9% to $1,394.40 and palladium shed 1% to $1,136.19. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/gold-eases-record-high-all-eyes-us-jobs-data-2025-09-04/
2025-09-04 12:13
Sept 4 (Reuters) - Lesotho's biggest diamond mine, Letseng, has laid off 240 workers, a fifth of its workforce, as it battles persistently low gem prices due to weak demand and an uncertain global economic environment, parent company Gem Diamonds (GEMD.L) , opens new tab said on Thursday. Diamonds are vital to Lesotho's economy, with the sector contributing up to 10% of its GDP and providing employment for thousands in the country of just over 2 million people. Diamonds are also Lesotho's major export commodity, along with textiles and clothing. Sign up here. Gem Diamonds said its Letseng mine, which produces some of the world's largest and most valuable gems such as the 910-carat "Lesotho Legend", had revised its mine plan and cut jobs to reduce costs. "Sustained pricing pressure, softer demand in key markets, ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, and tariff uncertainties in respect of India, combine to create difficult trading conditions," Gem Diamonds CEO Clifford Elphick said in a statement. Gem Diamonds on Thursday reported a half-year loss of $11.7 million, compared to a $2.1 million profit a year earlier, after revenue plunged 42% on the back of weaker prices. It booked a $10.7 million impairment on the value of Letseng due to the weak diamond prices. The company realised an average price of $1,008 per carat in the six months to June 30, 26% lower than last year. Its half-year production was 47,125 carats, compared to 55,873 carats during the same period last year. Diamond prices have fallen about 35% from early 2022 highs due to changing consumer preferences and the rise of lab-grown gems, according to the Zimnisky Global Rough Diamond Price Index. Miners have responded by curbing output, cutting jobs and halting projects. https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/lesothos-biggest-diamond-mine-cuts-20-workforce-price-slump-persists-2025-09-04/
2025-09-04 12:07
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - British businesses have cut employment by the largest amount in nearly four years and expect wage growth to slow - but do not think this will translate into much lower inflation, according to a Bank of England survey published on Thursday. The BoE's Decision Maker Panel survey of around 2,000 firms with at least 10 staff showed businesses reported that employment levels in the three months to August were 0.5% lower than a year earlier, the biggest drop since the third quarter of 2021. Sign up here. This is in line with the annual fall in payrolled employees in July reported in tax office data released last month, although other official data - which has suffered from low response rates - suggest this fall has been offset by higher self-employment. The BoE forecast last month that inflation will climb to 4% in September. Policymakers are divided about how fast it will return to its 2% target and whether further interest rate cuts are warranted after August's quarter-point reduction to 4%. Thursday's survey offers ammunition for both camps. Businesses surveyed by the BoE in the three months to August said they expected to raise their own prices by 3.7% over the coming year - although more volatile monthly data showed a drop to 3.5% in August alone from 3.9% in July. Companies said they planned to raise wages by an average 3.6% over the coming year - less than the 4.6% they said they had over the past 12 months and the joint-lowest since the BoE started regularly asking this question in May 2022. But Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the rate at which planned wage growth was falling had slowed and that businesses were responding to higher employment costs by cutting staff rather than wages. "The DMP survey shows stubborn wage and price pressures despite falling employment, continuing to suggest that structural economic changes and supply weakness are keeping inflation high," he said, predicting no more rate cuts this year. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/uk-firms-report-biggest-drop-employment-since-2021-boe-survey-2025-09-04/
