2024-02-20 20:52

Feb 20 (Reuters) - A challenge by conservative groups to a Nasdaq rule requiring companies to disclose board diversity or lack thereof will be reconsidered by a federal appeals court in New Orleans after an earlier panel of the court upheld the requirement. The conservative-leaning 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday voted in favor , opens new tab of the full court reconsidering the case. It vacated the earlier decision by a three-judge panel in October and tentatively scheduled arguments for mid-May. More than two thirds of the 17 active judges on the 5th Circuit were appointed by Republican presidents, making it a favorite venue for conservative and industry groups challenging rules passed under the Biden administration. The rule approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2021 requires companies listed on the exchange to have one director who identifies as female, a member of an underrepresented racial or ethnic minority, or LGBTQ+, or explain why they do not. Companies would generally need two diverse directors to satisfy the rule by 2026. The rule drew lawsuits from conservative legal activists including Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment, a group founded by affirmative action opponent Edward Blum. A different organization Blum founded was behind the lawsuits that led to the Supreme Court's June ruling declaring unlawful the race-conscious student admissions policies used by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. "It is our hope that the Fifth Circuit will end these intrusive and illegal race, sex, and sexual identity quotas for all Nasdaq listed companies," Blum said in a statement. A spokesperson for Nasdaq declined to comment on Tuesday. The conservative groups claim the rule violates the U.S. Constitution's prohibition of discriminatory laws and restraints on free speech. They argued that those restrictions on government extend to Nasdaq because the SEC could penalize the exchange if it does not enforce the rule. A three-judge panel for the 5th Circuit rejected those arguments in October, saying constitutional claims do not apply to Nasdaq, which is a private entity. The judges on the panel were appointed by Democratic presidents. Appeals court judges are typically assigned cases at random. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/full-us-appeals-court-reconsider-nasdaq-board-diversity-rule-2024-02-20/

2024-02-20 20:33

Feb 20 (Reuters) - Chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab is replacing Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab as Wall Street's most traded stock by value, adding to its prominence after becoming the third-most valuable U.S. company and showing more evidence of how central AI-related bets have become to investors. Nvidia's outsized representation in day-to-day stock trading could leave investors more vulnerable should the chipmaker's revenue growth fail to meet investors' high expectations and puncture a Wall Street rally that has been fueled by euphoria about artificial intelligence. The Santa Clara, California chipmaker's quarterly report late on Wednesday will be one of Wall Street's most watched events of the week. Some strategists believe anything short of a blowout report could reverse a rally that has sent Nvidia's stock soaring 40% in 2024. Nvidia's stock dropped about 5% on Tuesday, reflecting investors' jitters ahead of the report. About $30 billion worth of Nvidia shares changed hands daily on average over the past 30 sessions, pulling ahead of Elon Musk's electric car maker, which averaged $22 billion per day over the same period. Tesla since 2020 had dominated daily U.S. stock trading, according to LSEG data, with turnover -- a stock's share price multiplied by the number of shares exchanged -- peaking above $35 billion several times in recent years. On Tuesday, combined trading in Nvidia and Super Micro Computer (SMCI.O) , opens new tab, another company benefiting from the boom in AI, accounted for 46% of all turnover of the 10 most traded U.S. stocks, including Tesla, Meta Platforms (META.O) , opens new tab, Apple (AAPL.O) , opens new tab, Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab and Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab. "There's an argument here that this is the dawn of a new era of trading, like the dawn of the internet, with Nvidia in the pole position," said Dennis Dick, a trader at Triple D Trading in Ontario, Canada. But Dick also warned that sky-high turnover in AI-related stocks suggests retail investors and algorithmic traders are driving share prices higher based on momentum rather than fundamentals, such as expectations of future revenue growth. Super Micro, which sells AI-related server components to Nvidia, has seen its value nearly triple to $43 billion so far in 2024. It fell about 5% on Tuesday following a 20% collapse from record highs on Friday after Wells Fargo started covering the stock with an equal weight rating, saying its valuation already discounts "solid upside". Nvidia controls about 80% of the high-end AI chip market, and last week its market capitalization eclipsed, separately, Amazon's and Alphabet's to make it Wall Street's third-most valuable company, behind Microsoft and Apple. Following Tuesday's selloff in Nvidia shares, Alphabet and Amazon's stock market values both pulled back ahead of the chipmaker. Nvidia's stock market value last stood at $1.7 trillion, compared to $540 billion a year ago. Meanwhile, Tesla's stock has tumbled 23% so far in 2024 as it struggles with tepid demand for its electric cars and growing competition. https://www.reuters.com/technology/nvidia-dethrones-tesla-wall-streets-most-traded-stock-2024-02-20/

2024-02-20 20:25

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The Canada Revenue Agency has agreed to Saskatchewan's request to register the provincial government as the province's natural gas distributor in the province instead of the government-owned SaskEnergy company, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday. The move comes as Saskatchewan protests that the federal carbon tax is unfair and places an onerous burden on Canadians already struggling with inflation. The province has not decided whether it will remit residential carbon tax charges for January, which are due this month, spokesperson Sam Sasse said. CONTEXT Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Liberal, faces opposition from conservative-leaning provinces such as Saskatchewan and Alberta to his climate-change policies, including the federal carbon tax on the use of fuels that produce greenhouse gas emissions. In January, Saskatchewan stopped collecting the tax applied to homes heated by natural gas and electricity, after Trudeau's government exempted home heating oil from the tax in a move that favoured Atlantic Canada residents. The provincial government is only breaking the law if it fails to remit carbon tax revenue to Ottawa as scheduled in February and has suggested it could fund the payment with general revenues instead of consumer utility payments. Saskatchewan had said it wanted the Canada Revenue Agency to register the government as natural gas distributor to protect SaskEnergy executives from possible penalties and criminal charges. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Trudeau's Liberals are languishing in popularity ahead of an expected election in 2025. One of Trudeau's main vulnerabilities is the rising cost of living. Some provincial leaders and the federal Conservatives allege that he is out of touch. WHAT IS NEXT Saskatchewan will decide ahead of the February payment deadline whether to pay the January carbon tax charges, Sasse said. THE RESPONSE Canada Revenue Agency said it could not immediately comment. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/canada-names-saskatchewan-gas-distributor-provinces-fight-against-carbon-tax-2024-02-20/

2024-02-20 20:06

LONDON/ADEN/ATHENS, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The Greek-flagged bulk cargo vessel Sea Champion arrived in the southern Yemeni port of Aden on Tuesday after being attacked in the Red Sea in what appeared to have been a mistaken missile strike by Houthi militia, shipping and military sources said. Shipping risks are escalating due to repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait by the Iran-aligned Houthis since November. U.S. and British forces have responded with several strikes on Houthi facilities but have so far failed to halt the attacks. The Sea Champion, which was ferrying corn from Argentina to Aden, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government, was attacked twice on Monday, with a window damaged but no crew injuries, Greek shipping ministry sources said. A port source in Aden and a separate shipping source said the vessel was unloading part of its cargo of some 9,229 tonnes of corn in Aden, before it heads to the northern Yemeni port of Hodeidah, an area controlled by the Houthis, where it was meant to discharge the remaining load of some 31,000 tonnes. The port source in Aden, who declined to be identified, said the attack on the vessel was a mistake. A separate port source in Hodeidah, who also declined to be identified, said the Houthis informed them that the attack was not intentional. Houthi officials could not be immediately reached for comment. The vessel's Athens-based operator Mega Shipping and Greek shipping ministry officials declined to comment on the vessel's arrival. The Sea Champion was anchored in Aden port with its last position updated at 1211 GMT, according to data from ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic. The Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, have attacked vessels with commercial ties to the United States, Britain and Israel, shipping and insurance sources say. CONCERNS GROW OVER RUBYMAR Despite retaliatory Western attacks on them in Yemen, the Houthis have vowed to continue striking ships linked to Israel in solidarity with Palestinians until Israeli forces stop their war in the Gaza Strip. Shipping sources said the Sea Champion, which had made grain deliveries in the past to Yemen, had U.S. ownership links. So far, no ships have been sunk nor crew killed from the Houthi attacks in a sea lane accounting for about 12% of global maritime traffic. Nonetheless, concerns were mounting over the fate of the Rubymar ship, which was hit by missiles in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, despite the crew evacuating onto another vessel. In a maritime advisory seen by Reuters, commercial ships were cautioned to stay away from the area of the abandoned vessel amid fears it might sink. A U.S. defense official said the vessel had not sunk. Stephen Cotton, General Secretary of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), the leading union organisation for seafarers, said the Rubymar attack should be a wake-up call "to immediately prioritise seafarers' safety, before we see human lives lost on the Red Sea". He said an immediate, permanent ceasefire in the war between Israel and Gaza's ruling Palestinian Islamist group Hamas was a critical step towards guaranteeing safe transit through the Red Sea. There was also alarm that commercial ships could face new perils including the possibility of sea mines being deployed, maritime security sources said. The U.S. military's Central Command conducted strikes on various targets on Monday and Tuesday, including what was believed to be the first unmanned underwater vessel (UUV) used since Houthi attacks began. "These actions will protect navigational rights and freedoms and make international waters safer," CENTCOM said. While many ships are diverting around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, some have continued to sail through. French container shipping group CMA CGM said on Tuesday its Jules Verne vessel had transited the Red Sea under French naval escort, after suspending crossings for security risks earlier this month. The European Union on Monday launched a naval mission to the Red Sea to "safeguard freedom of navigation" there amid hopes of more protection and support for commercial shipping. France has provided navy escorts in recent weeks for some shipping traffic including French-linked vessels. https://www.reuters.com/world/greek-ship-attacked-red-sea-by-houthis-arrives-aden-with-cargo-2024-02-20/

2024-02-20 19:43

HOUSTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Trinidad and Tobago has hired two remediation and salvage firms to help clean up an ongoing oil spill off Tobago and salvage the leaking barge, the country's Ministry of Energy said on Tuesday. It has been almost two weeks since the oil spill was first discovered off Tobago's Atlantic coast after a barge ran aground on a reef. The spill has entered the Caribbean Sea, threatening nearby Venezuela and Grenada. "An international partnership comprised of T&T Salvage LLC and QT Environmental Inc, both subject matter experts and licensed oil spill removal organizations, has been engaged on-water oil recovery, survey, and plans to conduct cargo lightering and wreck removal," the ministry said. The barge, which was being towed by a tug boat when it went aground, carried as much as 35,000 barrels of fuel oil, Tobago officials have said. The tug and its operator have not been disclosed. Several beach and golf resorts in Tobago popular with foreign tourists have closed access to the ocean. The nearby Scarborough cruise ship port is being protected from the spill by containment booms. Trinidad and Tobago's Energy Minister Stuart Young on Friday told Parliament the government was trying to identify the owners of the barge and has sent diplomatic notes to the governments of Panama, Aruba and Guyana. The government believes the barge was being towed from Panama to Guyana via Aruba when it sank. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trinidad-government-hires-two-firms-recover-sunken-oil-barge-2024-02-20/

2024-02-20 19:20

Inflation dips below 3% first time since June 2023 Money markets bets for rate cut in April up to 58% Month-over-month consumer price index was unchanged Rental inflation edges up to 7.9% from 7.7% in Dec OTTAWA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate slowed significantly more than expected to 2.9% in January and core price measures also eased, data showed on Tuesday, bringing forward bets for an early interest rate cut. It was the first time in seven months that headline inflation has dipped below 3%. That prompted money markets to hike bets for a rate cut in April to as much as a 58% chance from a 33% chance before the figures were published. The January inflation figure "will certainly raise the odds on an April rate cut," said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay. The Bank of Canada's next policy announcement is March 6, and expectations are that rates will stay on hold at a 22-year high of 5%. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast inflation to tick down to 3.3% from 3.4% in December. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose Liberals are trailing in the polls amid opposition attacks over the soaring price of accommodation and food, described the data as good news. "We are optimistic that the Bank of Canada will start bringing down interest rates sometime this year, hopefully sooner rather than later," he told reporters in Vancouver. Month-over-month, the consumer price index was unchanged, compared with a forecast of a 0.4% rise, Statistics Canada said. The Bank of Canada targets inflation at 2%. Two of its three core measures of underlying inflation also edged down. CPI-median slowed to 3.3%, the lowest since November 2021, while CPI-trim decreased to 3.4%, the lowest since August 2021. The three-month annualized rate of the combined figures decelerated to 3.2% in January from 3.6% in the prior month. The BoC said last month its thinking had shifted to how long rates must stay at the current level. At the same time, it did not completely rule out another rate hike, citing persistence in underlying inflation. "The key takeaway here is that Bank of Canada can seriously consider cutting rates," Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. The BoC projects headline inflation will remain around 3% in the first half of 2024, before cooling down to 2.5% by end-year. The central bank said last month that while interest rates had helped to bring down overall inflation, which touched a peak of 8.1% in June 2022, categories including shelter costs have fed underlying pressures. Shelter price inflation accelerated to 6.2% in January from 6% in December. Rental inflation continued to show upward momentum and accelerated 7.9% in January from 7.7% in December. Excluding shelter, inflation is running at 1.5% annually, Tu Nguyen, economist with accounting & consultancy firm RSM Canada said, adding if this trend continues, the central bank might start cutting rates in April. The Bank should not focus on housing costs when setting rates because they are likely to keep rising, Nguyen said. Some economists still see the first rate cut in June. "The Bank of Canada will likely remain cautious in the face of still-strong wage gains, firm services prices, and the reality that core inflation is still holding above 3%," said Porter from BMO. Economists Nathan Janzen and Abbey Xu from RBC said the BoC would wait for firmer signs of easing inflation, and they expect first rate cuts at mid-year. Food inflation cooled to 3.9% last month from 5% in December. Prices of store-bought food rose 3.4% - the slowest pace since August 2021 - also putting downward pressure on headline inflation. Excluding volatile food and energy, prices rose 3.1% compared with a 3.4% rise in December. The Canadian dollar reversed an early morning trend and weakened 0.25% to 1.3522 against the U.S. dollar at 1915 GMT. The two-year government bond yield dropped 13.9 basis points to 4.163%. The largest contributor to headline deceleration in January was lower gasoline prices, which fell 4% on an annual basis, Statscan said. Month-over-month, gasoline prices fell 0.9%, marking the fifth consecutive monthly decrease. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadas-inflation-rate-drops-more-than-expected-29-january-2024-02-20/