2023-12-27 19:18

BUKAVU, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Dec 27 (Reuters) - At least 40 more people have died in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said, after heavy downpours overnight on Tuesday unleashed floods and landslides that left residents digging through the mud to find bodies. In the city of Bukavu, onlookers gathered to watch on Wednesday as a group of men hauled a car out of the mud to recover a woman's body from underneath, a Reuters witness said. At least 20 people died in Bukavu and at least 20 more were killed in the village of Burinyi, 50 kms (31 miles) from Bukavu, according to officials in the two places. Bukavu resident Yvonne Mukupi, who was able to stay clear of the deluge, said her neighbour was swept away by the flood waters. "We have managed to recover three bodies under the trees but others have not been found yet," she said. Poor urban planning and weak infrastructure make communities like Mukupi's more vulnerable to extreme rainfall, which is becoming more intense and frequent in Africa due to warming temperatures, according to United Nations climate experts. "When rain falls, the main waterway gets clogged sometimes because of the waste, so it gets flooded and it affects the houses," Bukavu official Emmanuel Majivuno Kalimba told Reuters at the scene, as residents worked to salvage belongings from their damaged homes. The overnight devastation follows the deaths of at least 22 people in Kasai-Central province on Tuesday when a landslide swallowed houses, churches and roads, killing entire families and leaving people homeless. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/least-40-more-people-die-floods-landslides-dr-congo-2023-12-27/

2023-12-27 19:14

TSX up 0.6% Crypto stocks rise as Bitcoin climbs Materials up on upbeat Chinese data Dec 27 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose 0.65% on Wednesday, extending gains to a third day, helped by energy and healthcare stocks, while investors grew optimistic that major central banks could begin cutting interest rates in the upcoming year. At the 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) provisional close, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) rose 134.72 points, or 0.65%, at 21,015.91, its highest close since May 4, 2022. Fund managers were cautious after the recent rally, which has taken this year's index gains to 8.4%. They warned the price action could be exacerbated by thin trading volume during the holiday period, while Middle East tensions could be back in focus in the New Year. "The action in December always tends to be misleading because the volume of trading are down...," said Elvis Picardo, senior portfolio manager at Luft Financials, iA Private Wealth. "It is quite possible that in New Year investors will once again try to get a grip on the deteriorating geopolitical situation and central bank's moves." Top gainer healthcare sector (.GSPTTHC) rose 2.9%, led by gains in Bausch Health Companies (BHC.TO) which climbed 3.7%. Shares of crypto firms Bitfarms (BITF.TO) and Hut 8 Mining soared 17.2% and 21.7%, respectively, as Bitcoin climbed over 1.5%. The broader information technology (.SPTTTK) index gained 1.0%. The materials sector (.GSPTTMT), which includes metals miners and fertilizer companies, ended at 0.66% high as prices of most base metals rose after data showed manufacturing activity in top consumer China improved last month, while a weak U.S. dollar also lent support to the market. https://www.reuters.com/markets/toronto-shares-eye-higher-open-metal-prices-advance-2023-12-27/

2023-12-27 17:01

Dec 27 (Reuters) - London's gold price benchmark hit an all-time high of $2,069.40 per troy ounce at an afternoon auction on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record of $2,067.15 set in August 2020, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) said. "I can think of no clearer demonstration of gold’s role as a store of value than the enthusiasm with which investors across the world have turned to the metal during the recent economic and geopolitical turmoils," said LMBA's chief executive officer Ruth Crowell. LBMA is a leading bullion trade body that certifies gold refiners, allowing them access to London's bullion market, the world's largest. The LBMA Gold Price is the global benchmark price for unallocated gold delivered in London. The London gold price opened the year on Jan. 3 at $1,835.05 and has since risen by 12.7%, LBMA said. Since the turn of the century, the price has increased more than seven-fold. In the spot market, gold prices hit their highest in more than three weeks in anticipation of U.S. interest rate cuts next year. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/london-gold-price-benchmark-breaks-all-time-high-lbma-says-2023-12-27/

2023-12-27 16:13

Dec 27 (Reuters) - Cytokinetics (CYTK.O) said on Wednesday that its experimental heart disease drug met the main goal of a keenly awaited late-stage study, putting it on track to compete with a rival treatment from Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY.N). Analysts called the data a "home-run" and said the treatment aficamten's safety and efficacy compared favourably to Bristol's Camzyos. Shares of the San Francisco-based Cytokinetics surged over 80% to touch a more than a 19-year high of $83.82, on track to add as much as $3.74 billion to its market cap. The success of the company and the study are "inextricably linked" at this point, said Oppenheimer analyst Justin Kim, adding that it could bring in about $2 billion in peak U.S. sales. CEO Robert Blum said that Cytokinetics spent a lot of time with analysts and investors discussing "what would good look like" and the data met the "high expectations" set ahead of the announcement. The company plans to seek marketing approval for the drug in the United States and Europe in the second half of 2024 to treat obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, where heart muscles become stiff and can cause cardiac arrest. Aficamten helped significantly improve patients' exercise capacity, the study's main goal, compared to placebo after 24 weeks of treatment. Peak oxygen capacity, measured in terms of milliliters per minute per kilogram of body weight, improved by 1.74 points on average, versus the 1.4 point improvement seen in the study of Bristol's drug. At least two analysts said the data reflects aficamten's "best-in-class" potential and could be supportive of buyout interest in Cytokinetics. Cytokinetics has attracted interest from at least one major drugmaker and other bidders may have been waiting for the data, Bloomberg reported in October. Treatment with aficamten was not interrupted in study due to lower levels of the heart's ability to pump blood from the left ventricle. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/cytokinetics-heart-disease-drug-meets-main-goal-study-2023-12-27/

2023-12-27 16:06

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O) is expected to post another record quarter for electric vehicle (EV) deliveries, likely shy of an ambitious 2 million annual internal target that CEO Elon Musk touted at the beginning of the year. Faced with slowing sales, Tesla leveraged its industry-leading margins and slashed prices of its four car models globally in 2023, with a focus on China, where the company has lost market share to locals including BYD (002594.SZ). The price war and slowing EV demand, however, have prompted automakers including Ford Motor (F.N) to pull back on their electrification plans, leaving Tesla as the undisputed leader in the United States and helping its stock more than double this year. "The fourth quarter is typically the strongest of the year in terms of deliveries for Tesla, we're expecting that to be the case again this year," said Garrett Nelson, senior analyst at CFRA Research. Tesla likely delivered 1.82 million vehicles globally in 2023, up 37% from 2022, with about 473,000 units in the fourth quarter, according to 14 analysts polled by LSEG. The EV maker is expected to report quarterly deliveries and production as early as Tuesday. In January, Musk said that Tesla has the potential to achieve 2 million deliveries this year, if there was no "freaking force majeure". But as recently as October, he warned that higher borrowing costs were pressuring demand. The company, which made a year-end sales push by increasing discounts on its key models, has said it aims to achieve a 50% average annual growth rate over multiple years. Going into 2024, the EV market leader will have to contend with the loss of federal tax credits for some of its cars in the United States as well as in Germany, where the government is prematurely ending its EV subsidy program. This may force more price cuts next year even though interest rates and battery ingredient costs are expected to ease. Jairam Nathan, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets, trimmed his estimate for Tesla's deliveries next year to 2.04 million from 2.14 million and said he was modeling for a 4% decline in average revenue per car from 2023. 2024 CHALLENGES The company is also dealing with a rise in regulatory scrutiny of its self-driving systems and other parts in the United States and in some European countries. Earlier this month, Tesla recalled nearly all of its 2 million vehicles on U.S. roads to install new safeguards. Musk has previously said he believes full self-driving (FSD) could one day account for most of Tesla's value. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha expect 2.2 million deliveries by Tesla next year. Most believe that the newly released Cybertruck and a refreshed Model 3 are not enough to boost demand. "Tesla candidly admitted the company is now in an intermediate low-growth period," Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner wrote in a note, citing a meeting with Investor Relations Chief Martin Viecha. Investors expect Tesla's margins to remain pressured as the company ramps Cybertruck production and prepares to launch a cheaper car platform. Musk has said Cybertrucks will be a small percentage of the vehicles Tesla makes next year and that there are "enormous challenges" in reaching volume production for the pickup, whose controversial design has divided fans. Tom Narayan, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said in a report that Cybertruck would represent 3% of Tesla's volumes in 2024, calling it more of a "halo" product that could attract consumers to the brand. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-deliveries-hit-record-fall-short-musks-aspirations-2023-12-27/

2023-12-27 16:02

Dec 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. health regulator has placed a clinical hold on Iovance Biotherapeutics' (IOVA.O) trial of its experimental cell therapy in lung cancer patients after a patient death, the company said on Wednesday, sending its shares down about 20%. The company will pause enrollment in the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) trial during the hold, while patients who were previously treated with the therapy will continue to be monitored. The hold placed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could potentially delay the therapy trial by months, analysts estimated, marking a setback to Iovance's quest to develop a new type of therapy for NSCLC, which is the most common form of the disease. The therapy, called LN-145 TIL, which is also being developed to treat melanoma, uses white blood cells from a patient's tumor, modifies them and puts them back into the patient to help the immune system destroy cancer cells. "Beyond the time it takes to actually resolve the clinical hold, it is possible that (the) hold results in recruitment losing momentum, potentially exacerbating the delay to data," said Truist analyst Asthika Goonewardene in a client note. The company said the death was potentially related to a pre-conditioning regimen, where the patient receives a short course of chemotherapy to kill immune cells before being infused with Iovance's therapy. The FDA's hold has no impact on any other trials conducted by the company, including a melanoma study, the company said. The hold raises concerns that it could impact the marketing application in melanoma, Mizuho analyst Mara Goldstein said, though the company has indicated no impact. The FDA had extended review of the skin cancer therapy from November to Feb. 2024, due to resource constraints. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-places-clinical-hold-iovances-lung-cancer-treatment-trial-2023-12-27/