2024-03-19 20:53

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - Chrysler parent Stellantis (STLAM.MI) , opens new tab and the state of California reached an agreement on emissions on Tuesday after the company unsuccessfully sought to join a deal that other automakers had struck with the state in 2019. Under the agreement announced by the state and the company, Stellantis will comply with California's zero-emissions, light-duty vehicle sales requirements through 2030 even if the state cannot enforce its rules. In addition, the company will not oppose California’s authority under the Clean Air Act for its greenhouse gas emissions and zero-emission vehicle standards. Ford (F.N) , opens new tab, Honda (7267.T) , opens new tab, Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) , opens new tab and BMW (BMWG.DE) , opens new tab struck a voluntary agreement with California in 2019 on reducing vehicle emissions and Volvo Cars, owned by China's Geely, joined soon afterward. Stellantis in December challenged the state's prior refusal to allow it to join the agreement, and said it had been forced to cut some work in Michigan and Ohio at two SUV plants, citing California emissions regulations. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said on Tuesday the agreement "will avoid 10 to 12 million metric tons greenhouse gas emissions over the lifetime of the agreement and will also allow our U.S. customers to fully benefit from our advanced technologies." The agreement will allow Stellantis to join other automakers in complying with California's rules based on national sales. Stellantis has been limiting shipments of gasoline-powered vehicles to dealers in states adopting California's emissions rules and sales of plug-in electric vehicles to states adopting California rules. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the partnership "with Stellantis will help California achieve our ambitious goals to drastically cut pollution and get more clean cars on the roads." Stay up to date with the latest news, trends and innovations that are driving the global automotive industry with the Reuters Auto File newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/california-stellantis-strike-vehicle-emissions-deal-2024-03-19/

2024-03-19 20:49

March 19 (Reuters) - A selloff in bitcoin continued on Tuesday, accompanied by record outflows from Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, accelerating the asset losses by the fund since it converted into an exchange traded fund this year. Grayscale’s ETF notched a daily record of $642.5 million in outflows on Monday, according to data from BitMEX Research, when bitcoin tumbled about 4%. The cryptocurrency was down another 2% by mid-afternoon Tuesday, bouncing off session lows. Data for Tuesday's flows will be available Wednesday morning. Investors have been unloading holdings in the Grayscale fund since it converted into an ETF Jan. 10. Meanwhile, money has flowed into the nine new spot bitcoin ETFs approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on the same date. Monday's outflows from the Grayscale ETF brought the total to roughly $12 billion since Jan. 10, though the 52% gain in bitcoin's price has helped counterbalance some of those losses. The fund’s assets now stand at $27.2 billion, compared to $29 billion on the first day of trading in the new ETFs. "As the largest and currently the most expensive bitcoin ETF, profit taking and redemptions are understandable," said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, a market analysis firm. In a statement, Grayscale said the firm anticipated that shareholders would harvest gains, engage in arbitrage and liquidate shares to repay creditors, and that this would result in outflows. Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein told CNBC the firm will cut fees on its fund "over time." The current 1.5% fee is significantly higher than those levied by the nine other ETF providers. Their fees top out at around 0.25% although temporary waivers often bring them down to zero. Most other bitcoin funds saw muted inflows or little net change in their assets. The lack of fresh buying, combined with the Grayscale outflows, made Monday the lowest single day for bitcoin ETF flows since late January. "Money isn’t going to pour into these ETFs day after day," said Rosenbluth. "It's reasonable that people take profits after strong runs." The Technology Roundup newsletter brings the latest news and trends straight to your inbox. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/grayscale-bitcoin-etf-saw-record-daily-outflows-bitcoin-tumbled-2024-03-19/

2024-03-19 20:26

NEW YORK, March 19 (Reuters) - A Texas school fund told BlackRock (BLK.N) , opens new tab on Tuesday it was terminating its contract to manage around $8.5 billion of state money, accusing the investment giant of boycotting fossil fuel energy producers, who represent a large part of the state's industry. BlackRock has denied it is engaged in any boycott, saying the money pulled is a tiny sliver of the $10 trillion in assets that it manages. The move by the Texas Permanent School Fund, however, highlights how BlackRock and other asset managers continue to attract controversy in some Republican-run states over environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investing. Texas State Board of Education Chair Aaron Kinsey, who administers the fund, said its relationship with BlackRock breached state law against investing with companies accused of boycotting energy companies. Kinsey told Reuters that the fund was complying with a 2021 Texas law obliging state agencies to divest from fund managers like BlackRock that shed investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He added the fund receives about $1 billion a year from Texas's General Land Office, which manages 13 million acres-worth of rights to land and minerals. "That money originates from the oil and gas industry primarily... if there's no income, no billion dollars a year from oil and gas, that's a problem for our fund, obviously an existential long-term risk," he said. A few illiquid investments with BlackRock remain in the schools fund's portfolio, but these will roll off over time, Kinsey added. BlackRock called the move arbitrary and said it ignores the private equity firm's $120 billion investment in Texas public energy companies. "The decision jeopardizes Texas schools and the families who have benefited from BlackRock's consistent long-term outperformance," BlackRock said. CEO Larry Fink said last year BlackRock had lost around $4 billion as a result of the political backlash, and this was dwarfed by net inflows to BlackRock. Fink has since said he would stop using the term "ESG", and hosted a summit with state officials in Houston last month focused on investing in the state's infrastructure. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/texas-schools-fund-pulls-85-billion-blackrock-over-esg-policies-2024-03-19/

2024-03-19 20:02

DAMASCUS, March 19 (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said he visited Damascus on Tuesday to restart talks focused on fostering confidence in the peaceful use of atomic energy by Syria. Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, met with President Bashar al-Assad, who had extended the invitation, and Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad. "We're ready to start working on reigniting high-level dialogue between the IAEA and Syria, focusing on building confidence in the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Syria," Grossi wrote in a post on X. Syria's state news agency also reported Grossi's visit. IAEA inspectors last visited Syria in 2011, the year its civil war began after the government's violent crackdown on street protests against Assad's rule. They were seeking to revive a stalled IAEA investigation into activity at a site in Syria's eastern desert that U.S. intelligence had deemed to be a nascent, North Korean-designed reactor intended to produce plutonium for atomic weaponry, before Israel bombed it to rubble in 2007. The Vienna-based IAEA also sought information about other sites that may have been linked to the Deir al-Zor facility. Syrian authorities have said it was a non-nuclear military site, but the IAEA concluded in 2011 that it was "very likely" to have been a reactor that should have been declared to nuclear non-proliferation inspectors. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-nuclear-watchdog-chief-visits-syria-restart-talks-2024-03-19/

2024-03-19 19:44

Canadian dollar weakens 0.3% against the greenback Touches its weakest since Dec. 12 at 1.3613 Canada's annual inflation rate cools to 2.8% Bond yields fall across the curve TORONTO, March 19 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened to a three-month low against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday as an unexpected cooling in domestic inflation bolstered expectations the Bank of Canada would begin cutting interest rates in the coming months. The loonie was trading 0.3% lower at 1.3565 per U.S. dollar, or 73.72 U.S. cents, after touching its weakest intraday level since Dec. 12 at 1.3613. Canada's inflation rate cooled in February to an annual rate of 2.8%, its slowest pace since June, and closely-watched core inflation measures eased to more than two-year lows. "The Canadian economy is much weaker than the headline data suggests, and we're now starting to see that weakness manifest within nearly all macro indicators, even the BoC's preferred core measures of inflation that were a major sticking point for the bank back in 2023," said Simon Harvey, head of FX analysis for Monex Europe and Monex Canada. Money markets see a 75% chance of the BoC easing in June, up from roughly 50% before the data. "The Bank of Canada is in a tough place," said Darcy Briggs, a portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Canada. "The data alone ... it would suggest that the Bank of Canada has a green light to cut rates but they're kind of tethered to Fed policy. And part of that has to do with if they start cutting too soon or by a greater amount then you could have the loonie depreciate quite dramatically." Investors are concerned that the Federal Reserve will reveal new economic projections on Wednesday that signal fewer interest rate cuts and a later start to the policy easing cycle. Canadian bond yields fell across the curve. The 2-year was down 12.5 basis points at 4.174% after posting on Monday its highest intraday level in one month at 4.318%. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/c-hits-3-month-low-cpi-surprise-lifts-rate-cut-bets-2024-03-19/

2024-03-19 19:27

March 19 (Reuters) - Energy pipeline company Enbridge (ENB.TO) , opens new tab plans to expand capacity on its Gray Oak oil pipeline by 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year and could add another 40,000 bpd in 2025, an executive told Reuters on Tuesday. The company had originally planned to add 200,000 bpd to the Texas pipeline, but in February revised downward that target to between 100,000 bpd and 200,000 bpd. The Gray Oak pipeline runs between the Permian basin in West Texas and Corpus Christi, Texas, on the Gulf Coast. Enbridge's Ingleside Energy Center there is the largest crude oil storage and export terminal by volume in the U.S. Enbridge said it is not concerned about potential competition at the Corpus Christi hub, where Enterprise Products Partners is trying to secure licensing for its Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) export project. “It's certainly a competitor for Corpus. But given the advantages of our terminal at Corpus, we are confident Ingleside can compete well against SPOT,” said Colin Gruending, an executive vice president at Calgary-based Enbridge. The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ceraweek-enbridge-eyes-120000-bpd-expansion-gray-oak-texas-oil-pipeline-by-2025-2024-03-19/