2024-07-16 23:56

July 17 (Reuters) - BHP Group (BHP.AX) , opens new tab on Wednesday reported record annual iron ore production for a second consecutive year, helped by improved weather conditions and higher contribution from its South Flank operations in Western Australia. The world's largest listed miner beat analyst expectations for both its quarterly iron ore and copper production in its production report. BHP has eked out consistent gains from a project to debottleneck its Western Australian iron ore operations, while also benefiting from higher throughput at its Escondida mine in Chile. The upbeat performance comes after BHP said last week it was suspending its Western Australia nickel operations from October, citing plunge in the metal's prices and an oversupply in the global market. For the full year ended June 30, BHP produced 287.0 million metric tons (Mt) of iron ore. It expects to produce between 282 Mt and 294 Mt for fiscal 2025, as it progresses towards its medium-term target beyond 305 Mt. BHP's South Flank operations have now ramped up to full operational capacity of 80 Mt during the quarter. Iron ore output from Western Australia on a 100% basis was 76.8 Mt in the three months to June 30, beating a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 75.4 Mt as compiled by Macquarie. The global miner had recorded Western Australia iron ore output of 72.7 Mt last year. Copper production during the quarter increased 6%, compared with the prior year to 504.9 kilo tons (kt), helped by higher concentrator grade and throughput at Escondida, BHP said. That beat a Vuma consensus of 469.2 kt. In late May, BHP walked away from a $49 billion takeover offer for rival Anglo American (AAL.L) , opens new tab, a plan which was at the time aimed at securing Anglo's prized copper assets in Latin America and increase BHP's access to copper. Energy coal output fell partly due to unfavourable weather and maintenance works brought forward while metallurgical coal production fell 18% during the quarter following the divestment of its Blackwater and Daunia mines in Queensland to Whitehaven Coal (WHC.AX) , opens new tab. BHP will report its full-year results on Aug. 27. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/bhp-fourth-quarter-iron-ore-output-rises-6-2024-07-16/

2024-07-16 23:28

June retail sales stronger than expected BofA profit beats expectations UnitedHealth rises after Q2 profit beats estimates Russell 2000 touches multi-year high Indexes gain: Dow 1.85%, S&P 0.64%, Nasdaq 0.20% NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks rose and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all-time closing high on Tuesday after U.S. retail sales data supported the view that the Federal Reserve is approaching its easing cycle, reining in inflation while avoiding a recession. All three major U.S. stock indexes advanced on the day, but weaker megacap growth stocks, led by Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) , opens new tab and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) , opens new tab, capped the tech-heavy Nasdaq's gains. Economically sensitive small caps extended their rally. The Russell 2000 (.RUT) , opens new tab scored a fifth straight day of gains greater than 1%, its longest winning streak since April 2000. The index gained 3.5%, touching its highest level since January 2022. Dow transportation stocks (.DJT) , opens new tab also outperformed the broader indexes, logging its biggest one-day percentage gain since November and reaching its highest closing level since August 2023 as investors increasingly focused on undervalued areas of the market. Value stocks (.IVX) , opens new tab, which have underperformed their growth peers (.IGX) , opens new tab and the broader S&P 500 so far this year, jumped 1.5%. "This rotation underscores the likelihood of interest rate cuts as early as September," said Greg Bassuk, CEO at AXS Investments in New York. "Small cap companies are among the best-positioned to benefit from rate cuts, and today we're seeing this trifecta of strong earnings, a resilient economy and high confidence of a rate cut in September." Economic data on Tuesday included stronger-than-expected retail sales reported by the Commerce Department. This provided reassurance that consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the U.S. economy, has stayed resilient despite restrictive monetary policy, and eased fears that high interest rates could tip the economy into recession. "As you look at the economic data, it's slowing down but not at a concerning pace," said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis. "The Fed is seeing what it wants to see - it's that sweet spot of the economy slowing down but not too much and not too fast." "This small cap rally seems predicated on the Fed cutting rates at the September meeting, where the futures markets are setting up a 100% probability," Hainlin added. Second-quarter earnings season is ramping up. UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) , opens new tab jumped 6.5% after reporting consensus-topping profit, lifting the blue-chip Dow (.DJI) , opens new tab and the S&P 500 Health Care index (.SPXHC) , opens new tab to all-time highs. Bank of America's (BAC.N) , opens new tab second-quarter profit beat expectations, and underwriting fees rose as capital markets resurged. The second-largest U.S. bank also provided upbeat net interest income guidance, sending its shares up 5.3%. Morgan Stanley (MS.N) , opens new tab rose 0.9% even after the investment bank posted disappointing wealth management revenue. Charles Schwab (SCHW.N) , opens new tab slid 10.2% after reporting a dip in interest income. Tinder parent Match (MTCH.O) , opens new tab jumped 7.5% on news that activist investor Starboard has a stake of over 6.5% in the company. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab rose 742.76 points, or 1.85%, to 40,954.48, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab gained 35.98 points, or 0.64%, at 5,667.2 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab added 36.77 points, or 0.2%, at 18,509.34. Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, industrials enjoyed the largest percentage gains, while technology (.SPLRCT) , opens new tab and communication services (.SPLRCL) , opens new tab were the only two sectors to end in negative territory. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 4.58-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.50-to-1 ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted 94 new 52-week highs and three new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 305 new highs and 29 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.83 billion shares, compared with the 11.68 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-tread-water-ahead-retail-sales-data-2024-07-16/

2024-07-16 23:13

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - Donald Trump will not try ousting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell before the central banker's term ends and would consider JPMorgan (JPM.N) , opens new tab CEO Jamie Dimon for treasury secretary if he won the Nov. 5 election, the former president told Bloomberg in an interview published on Tuesday. JPMorgan declined to comment on Trump's remarks. Powell's term as chair expires in 2026. Powell's seat on the Fed Board of Governors expires in 2028. The Trump interview was conducted in late June, according to Bloomberg. Powell said on Monday he has no plans to leave his post as head of the U.S. central bank before his term expires. Powell was first appointed to the Fed Board of Governors by former President Barack Obama, but it was Trump who picked him to lead the central bank, a post Powell assumed in early 2018. Trump turned against him soon after, railing against the interest rate hikes that the Fed delivered during Powell's first year at the helm. Trump went so far as to discuss firing the Fed chief, although aides later said Trump came to the conclusion that he likely did not have the power to do so. That did not stop Trump from continuing to threaten Powell throughout his presidency, a practice President Joe Biden, Trump's successor, has refrained from during his term. Trump said in the Bloomberg interview that the Federal Reserve should abstain from cutting rates before the November elections in which the Republican presidential candidate faces Democrat Biden. Powell has been asked repeatedly over the last week whether the election would play into the Fed's decision on whether to cut rates, and Powell said again on Monday that he and other central bank policymakers do not take politics into account in their decision-making. On Dimon, Trump said he was considering him for the top job at the Treasury Department. Trump had until recently been critical of Dimon. Last year, Trump called Dimon a "Highly overrated Globalist" on his Truth Social platform. Dimon, like many other corporate executives, had condemned the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who made an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 elections that Trump lost to Biden. However, recently Dimon has praised some of Trump's positions and policies. "Take a step back, be honest. He was kind of right about NATO, kind of right on immigration. He grew the economy quite well. Trade tax reform worked. He was right about some of China," Dimon told CNBC earlier this year. "He wasn't wrong about some of these critical issues." Trump also said in the interview that he would reduce the corporate tax rate to as low as 15%. In addition to targeting China for new tariffs of anywhere from 60% to 100%, he said he would impose a 10% across-the-board tariff on imports from other countries, citing complaints about foreign countries not buying enough U.S. goods. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-weighing-dimon-treasury-would-allow-powell-finish-term-bloomberg-2024-07-16/

2024-07-16 23:03

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - Global fusion energy investment growth fell for a second year, an industry group said in an annual survey on Tuesday, amid difficulties in raising capital for a technology that one day could revolutionize the energy industry but has major hurdles. Investments rose more than $900 million this year to a total of about $7.1 billion, the Washington-based Fusion Industry Association said. But the growth in new investments is lower than the jump of $1.4 billion in last year's survey and the leap of $2.8 billion in 2022, it said. "The growth seen in the last 12 months is positive, but will not be enough to deliver fusion’s ambitious goals," said Andrew Holland, the head of FIA. Fusion "needs continued support from public and private investors if it is to continue to innovate," he said. Fusion, which fuels the sun and stars, is in the experimental stage on Earth, but could one day generate enormous amounts of energy that emits virtually no greenhouse gas and without generating large amounts of long-lasting radioactive waste. Physicists in government and private labs are working to replicate fusion reactions by forcing together light atoms with technology including lasers or giant magnets. Hurdles include getting reactions to occur almost continuously, lowering the amount of energy needed to kick off reactions, and building systems to capture the energy and send it to power grids. In the survey, 89% of the companies said that fusion will provide electricity to the grid by the end of 2030s, about the same level they predicted in 2021, the first year of the survey. But about 66% of the respondents said they believe funding will be a barrier to success. The survey included 45 fusion companies, up two from last year. A bright spot was global public funding into private fusion companies which jumped about 57% to $426 million, FIA said. Countries including the United States, China, Japan, the UK and Germany are pursuing fusion. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/global-fusion-energy-investment-growth-falls-second-year-2024-07-16/

2024-07-16 22:11

Court did not overturn FERC's 2022 approval Environmental groups argue FERC ignored climate risks Commonwealth expects final investment decision by first-half 2025 WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. court on Tuesday ordered federal regulators to reassess the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from Commonwealth LNG's Louisiana liquefied natural gas project, potentially slowing full approvals for the venture. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia did not overturn the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's 2022 approval of the project as it ordered the agency to reconsider the emissions after environmental groups had sued saying they were not taken seriously. "We think it 'reasonably likely' that on remand, the Commission can redress the defects in its (greenhouse gas) emissions and cumulative-effects analysis and still authorize the Project," the court said in its decision. Five environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council sued FERC over the approval, saying it did not take climate and air pollution risks seriously when it approved the project in November 2022. Commonwealth has not made a final investment decision (FID) yet. If developed, the project is expected to begin shipping 9.5 million tonnes a year of LNG from Cameron, Louisiana, in 2028. Lyle Hanna, a Commonwealth spokesperson, said the company will work with FERC during the reassessment and that it expects a FID in the first half of 2025. Private equity firm Kimmeridge, through its subsidiary Kimmeridge Texas Gas, acquired a 90% stake in Commonwealth LNG, it said in June. In the 2022 approval, Democratic members of FERC had listed concerns about the impact of emissions linked to warming the planet and on communities frequently exposed to other types of pollution, saying the terminal would produce the equivalent of about 3.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually. But they approved the project, saying federal natural gas law requires FERC to approve facilities unless they are contrary to the public interest. The NRDC said the ruling will help ensure an "honest" assessment by FERC. "This ruling underscores what we have said for years: FERC continues to violate bedrock national environmental legal obligations to assess the community and climate impacts of LNG projects," said Caroline Reiser, a lawyer at the nonprofit. It was unclear whether the decision could delay any start of the project, but it could delay another necessary approval. ClearView Energy Partners, a nonpartisan research group, said the Department of Energy, which has the power to approve exports to major global markets from the Commonwealth project, may not act while FERC is reconsidering the emissions impact. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-court-orders-federal-regulators-assess-emissions-louisiana-lng-project-2024-07-16/

2024-07-16 22:06

NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) , opens new tab shut down its 251,800-barrel-per-day refinery at Joliet, Illinois, due to a power outage after a storm, according to a filing late on Monday. The loss of power caused a flaring incident on Monday night, the filing showed. Exxon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The plant went down due to heavy wind and rain, two industry sources said. A severe storm passed through Joliet on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service, leaving thousands without power. "Situations like this take time to recover as they will have to see if the sudden shutdown did damage to any of the units," one of the sources said. The Joliet refinery mainly processes Canadian crude oil and produces around 9 million gallons a day of gasoline and diesel, according to the company website. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-shut-joliet-illinois-refinery-after-power-outage-2024-07-16/