2024-03-23 01:27

SANTIAGO, March 22 (Reuters) - China's Tianqi Lithium Corp on Friday urged Chile's SQM to hold a shareholders vote over a lithium deal under discussion with state-run copper miner Codelco, and criticized a lack of clarity in the negotiations. Tianqi holds about a 20% stake in SQM, which is ironing out the details of a joint venture with Codelco as part of a government mandate to boost state control over the lithium industry. "It is indispensable that the agreement that is reached between SQM and Codelco is approved by the shareholders," the company said in a statement. Chile is the world's second-largest producer of the metal that powers batteries for electric vehicles, and SQM is the country's top producer. SQM and Codelco this week extended the deadline for the deal by two months, to the end of May. SQM in a meeting with shareholders on Thursday attributed the delay to complexity in the negotiations, including ongoing audits. It also reaffirmed the terms set out in a preliminary agreement in December, including the plan for Codelco to take a stake of 50% plus one share once the partnership goes into effect in 2025. Tianqi said the meeting still left many aspects of the deal unclear. "There is still a considerable amount of fundamental aspects of the agreement that are not defined or have not been clearly explained," Tianqi said in a statement. Tianqi called for shareholders, not only the board of directors, to also vote on the final deal to ensure transparency and full participation. SQM did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tianqi bought its share in SQM in 2018 for $4.1 billion, becoming the company's second-largest shareholder, amid concerns from regulators, competitors and consumer groups that the deal could give Tianqi a near monopoly over the global lithium market. A Chilean antitrust court eventually approved the transaction but set conditions that limited Tianqi's access to SQM business secrets. Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/tianqi-seeks-shareholder-voting-power-chiles-sqm-codelco-lithium-deal-2024-03-23/

2024-03-23 01:19

March 22 (Reuters) - Two people, including a young boy, were killed and dozens of others were injured in a Texas highway crash on Friday when a cement truck veered head-on into an school bus carrying more than 40 children on a field trip, authorities said. The accident, which left the school bus on its side, unfolded around 2 p.m. on State Highway 21 in Bastrop County, Texas, northeast of Austin, the state capital, police and fire officials said. In addition to one child on the bus pronounced dead at the scene, the wreck killed the male driver of a passenger car that was traveling behind the bus and ended up crashing into one of the two larger vehicles when they collided, police said. A total of 11 adults and 44 children were aboard the bus, while the two other vehicles each carried only a driver. Among the survivors, four were flown to hospitals by helicopter in critical condition, and six with serious but less dire injuries were transported by ambulance, said Kevin Parker, a division chief for Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. The remainder sustained minor injuries, some of which were also treated at area hospitals, he said. Investigators were seeking to determine what led the cement truck to swerve into the path of the oncoming school bus. There was no immediate indication the driver was impaired, according to Sergeant Deon Cockrell of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Cockrell said the school bus was taking the children on a field trip when the crash occurred. Authorities at the scene did not give the children's ages. But the Austin-American Statesman newspaper reported the youngsters were pre-kindergarten students from the Hays Consolidated Independent School District who were on their way to a local zoo. Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/two-killed-40-injured-texas-highway-crash-school-bus-cement-truck-2024-03-23/

2024-03-22 23:52

FedEx jumps on Q3 profit beat Nike falls after revenue forecast disappoints Indexes: Dow down 0.77%, S&P 500 down 0.14%, Nasdaq up 0.16% NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended little changed on Friday, but the index registered its biggest weekly percentage gain of 2024 after the Federal Reserve this week stuck with projections for three interest rate cuts by year's end. The Nasdaq ended slightly higher for the day, along with an index of semiconductors (.SOX) , opens new tab. The semiconductor index was also up sharply for the week amid continued optimism over artificial intelligence. The Dow ended lower on the day. On Friday, consumer discretionary shares edged lower. Shares of Nike (NKE.N) , opens new tab fell 6.9%, a day after the world's largest sportswear maker warned that revenue in the first half of fiscal 2025 would shrink by a low-single-digit percentage. Lululemon Athletica (LULU.O) , opens new tab shares fell 15.8% after the company forecast annual revenue and profit below expectations. Earlier in the week, the Fed left rates unchanged but signaled it was still on track for three rate cuts this year. "The market took that as saying the Fed isn't your enemy any more, and eventually it is going to be your friend," said Matt Stucky, chief equity portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. Traders now see about a 71% chance of the first rate cut hitting in June versus 56% at the start of this week, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 305.47 points, or 0.77%, to 39,475.90, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab lost 7.35 points, or 0.14%, to 5,234.18 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab gained 26.98 points, or 0.16%, to 16,428.82. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 2.3% in its biggest weekly percentage advance since mid-December. The Dow climbed 2%, also its biggest weekly gain since mid-December, while the Nasdaq rose 2.9%, its biggest weekly percentage jump since mid-January. "At some point before too long it wouldn't be surprising to see a pullback or correction, or even a sideways trading period, after the gains we've had since the October lows," said Michael Sheldon, director at RDM Financial Group at Hightower in Westport, Connecticut. Among the day's gainers, FedEx (FDX.N) , opens new tab jumped 7.4%, a day after the company beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit. On the flip side, Digital World Acquisition (DWAC.O) , opens new tab fell 13.7% after shareholders of the blank-check firm voted to approve its merger with former U.S. President Donald Trump's media and technology company. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.45 billion shares, compared with the 12.34 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-tick-up-after-wall-street-hits-record-highs-2024-03-22/

2024-03-22 22:48

ATLANTA, March 22 (Reuters) - Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic said on Friday he now expects just a single quarter-point interest rate cut this year instead of the two he had projected, citing persistent inflation and stronger-than-anticipated economic data. "I'm definitely less confident than I was in December" that inflation will continue to fall towards the Fed's 2% target, Bostic told reporters after a forum. Price pressure concerns led him to scale back this year's rate-cut outlook and push back the likely start date, he added. Bostic had previously said rate reductions might start as soon as this summer. The Fed is widely expected to reduce rates beginning in June. Bostic said the economy has proved more resilient than anticipated, with recent data causing him to roughly double his 2024 U.S. economic growth estimate to 2%. He saw little or no change in the current 3.9% unemployment rate, a level considered inflationary not too long go, he added. While he feels inflation is on an "arc" lower, it may be moving slower, and he cited concern about the number of items still recording outsized price increases. The balance of risks has shifted towards waiting longer before easing monetary policy, said Bostic, a voter this year on the U.S. central bank's interest rate policy and its first official to speak publicly since the Federal Open Market Committee meeting ended on Wednesday. The Fed held rates steady in the 5.25% to 5.5% range at the meeting, with most policymakers still expecting at least three rate cuts this year, but its new projections reflected slower progress on inflation and continued economic strength. "If we have an economy that is growing above potential, and we have an economy where unemployment is at levels that were deemed to be unimaginable without pricing pressures, and if we have an economy where inflation is moderating ... those are good things," Bostic said. "That gives us space for patience." Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/feds-bostic-scales-back-single-rate-cut-year-versus-two-previously-2024-03-22/

2024-03-22 21:56

March 22 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked a land swap needed before developers can build a major clean-energy transmission line through a Mississippi River wildlife refuge, according to attorneys involved in the case. U.S. District Judge William Conley issued a preliminary injunction suspending U.S. government approvals for the land swap during a hearing in Madison, Wisconsin, in a challenge to the nearly complete $649 million Cardinal-Hickory Creek high-voltage line brought by three environmental groups, attorneys for the groups and representatives for the project developers said. The decision effectively blocks developers ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative from clear-cutting a path for the line through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge until Conley can consider the environmental groups' challenge on its merits. The developers said in a statement that they disagree with the court's decision to block construction on the "last mile" of the 102-mile (164 km) project, and said permits were issued for the project consistent with the government's authority under U.S. environmental review and protection laws. Howard Learner, an attorney for the environmental groups, said the court made the right decision because the transmission line would cause irreparable harm to the refuge. The U.S. Interior Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which were involved in approving the land exchange, declined to comment. The exchange approved last month would swap around 20 acres (8 hectares) of refuge land in the path of the transmission line to the developers in exchange for 35 acres of land that would be added elsewhere to the refuge. The power line is a joint project between ITC, Dairyland and a third company, American Transmission Co LLC. The three companies say the line will connect more than 160 renewable energy projects to the Midwestern energy grid once complete. Driftless Area Land Conservancy, the National Wildlife Refuge Association and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation sued the U.S. government on March 6 seeking to block the land swap. They claimed the federal approvals violated the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act because building the transmission line in the refuge would destroy floodplains and fragment vital habitat for wildlife, which is inconsistent with the refuge’s conservation purpose. The project’s developers have said a years-long analysis of the land swap showed it would improve the quality of the refuge and increase its total area. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/us-judge-temporarily-blocks-649-million-clean-energy-transmission-line-2024-03-22/

2024-03-22 21:23

OTTAWA/TORONTO, March 22 (Reuters) - Canada's banking regulator on Friday said lenders will have to limit the number of mortgage borrowers with highly leveraged loans in their portfolios as Canadians grapple with the burden of huge debt in a challenging economic environment. In an emailed statement, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) said it is implementing a cap on the number of mortgages a bank can lend that are larger than 4.5 times a borrower's annual income. The loan-to-income, or LTI, measure applies to individual banks and is designed to prevent the buildup of highly leveraged loans during low interest rate periods, OSFI said. The banks will have to monitor and manage their portfolio of underwritten mortgages every quarter, it added. OSFI said it had considered banks' business models and that the portfolio limit, specific to each institution, would not bind any one bank's underwriting method. "This approach allows institutions to continue competing in the same way they have been in the past on a relative basis," it said. The Globe and Mail, which first reported the news, said the new income limit is expected to take effect in the first quarter of next year, adding it would not apply to insured loans in which the borrower has to pay for mortgage insurance because their down payment is less than 20% of the property's purchase price. The banking regulator has already introduced new rules including a minimum qualifying rate that is 2% higher than the borrower's agreed mortgage rate to ensure consumers can withstand future interest rate changes. Canada's big banks have also set aside more funds to cover loans that could potentially turn sour since the central bank began raising interest rates and the regulator has required to banks to show a strong capital position. "Banks in Canada have a long history of working with their customers to keep their mortgages in good standing," Canadian Bankers Association, a top lobbying group said. "Understanding their customers and adapting to their changing circumstances is a top priority. The industry is still assessing the impact of OSFI's policy." Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/canada-banking-regulator-cap-mortgages-highly-indebted-borrowers-newspaper-2024-03-22/