2024-07-10 09:16
BUDAPEST, July 10 (Reuters) - Hungary's government will phase out windfall taxes on telecommunication and pharmaceutical companies from 2025, its, economy minister Marton Nagy was quoted as saying by local broadcaster ATV on Wednesday. Earlier this week the government announced tax hikes on banks, and said that a windfall tax on banks and retailers will be extended beyond 2024, but decided to scrap the windfall taxes on airlines. "The windfall tax on banks is justified," Nagy said at a press briefing on Wednesday according to broadcaster ATV. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government imposed windfall taxes on a range of sectors including banks, insurers, energy and airlines, telecommunication and pharmaceutical companies in 2022, as it tried to plug holes in the budget. The government said at the time that it aimed to collect 800 billion forints ($2.20 billion) in taxes on "extra profits" earned by firms, hitting Budapest stocks and rattling investors. Despite the measures, Hungary's annual budget deficit averaged at 7% since 2020, paired with inflation peaking above 25% in the first quarter of 2023, only returning to single-digits in last September. High interest rates to rein in on inflation came at the cost of reduced lending and household consumption, impeding Hungary's economic recovery and drying up consumption-based tax revenues for state coffers. ($1 = 363.6800 forints) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/hungary-end-windfall-taxes-some-companies-2025-atv-reports-2024-07-10/
2024-07-10 07:48
FTSE 100 up 0.3%, FTSE 250 up 0.2% Precious metal miners lead broader gains Barratt Developments falls after forecasting fall in homebuild targets US Fed Chair Powell's comments on tap July 10 (Reuters) - London stocks rebounded on Wednesday amid broad-based gains after a slew of corporate updates, while investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony to gauge the U.S. central bank's monetary policy path. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) New Tab, opens new tab was up 0.3%, after logging its worst day in nearly a month on Tuesday, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 index (.FTMC) New Tab, opens new tab was up 0.2% at 0722 GMT. Travel and leisure stocks (.FTNMX405010) New Tab, opens new tab rose 0.9%. SSP Group (SSPG.L) New Tab, opens new tab jumped 8.7% after the restaurant operator stuck to its fiscal year forecasts. Precious metal miners (.FTNMX551030) New Tab, opens new tab advanced 1.2% as gold prices steadied ahead of a crucial U.S. inflation report. Homebuilders (.FTNMX402020) New Tab, opens new tab were the biggest laggards on the index, declining 1%. Barratt Developments (BDEV.L) New Tab, opens new tab, down 3%, hit the bottom of the FTSE 100 index after forecasting an up to 7% fall in its homebuild targets for fiscal year 2025. Energy (.FTNMX601010) New Tab, opens new tab and industrial metal miners (.FTNMX551020) New Tab, opens new tab dipped 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively, in tandem with oil and copper prices. Investor focus is now on the second day of Powell's Congressional testimony. He stated on Tuesday that a rate cut would not be appropriate before the Fed gains more confidence in cooling inflation. The comments come ahead of the crucial U.S. consumer price index figures and Britain's GDP numbers, both due on Thursday. Bank of England's chief economist Huw Pill is also scheduled to speak at the UK's Asia House think tank later in the day. Travis Perkins (TPK.L) New Tab, opens new tab climbed 2.6% after the construction firm named Pete Redfern as its next CEO. IAG (ICAG.L) New Tab, opens new tab topped the FTSE 100, gaining 3.2%, after Morgan Stanley upgraded the British Airways owner to "Overweight" from "Underweight". Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/london-stocks-climb-investors-take-corporate-updates-powells-comments-focus-2024-07-10/
2024-07-10 07:33
GUWAHATI, India, July 10 (Reuters) - More than 150 animals, nine of them rare one-horned rhinoceros, have drowned in floods at the Kaziranga National Park in India's northeastern state of Assam, authorities said. Assam is grappling with flash floods triggered by heavy rain over the past two months. At least 79 people have been killed in the flooding, which has inundated farms, residential areas and displaced thousands. Seven deaths have been recorded since Tuesday, according to the Assam disaster management authority. The Kaziranga National Park, with almost one-third of its camps flooded, is home to nearly half of the global population of one-horned rhinos, which stands at around 4,000. India's weather department said on Wednesday that heavy rainfall is expected to lash northern and northeastern states for the next 2-3 days, which could further worsen the situation. Water levels in 9 rivers in Assam are already above dangerous levels, while the tributaries of the Brahmaputra River are expected to rise further until Wednesday, according to a state government assessment report. Multiple rivers in India's eastern state of Bihar are also close to breaching their banks as water flows downstream from neighboring Nepal, parts of which were also flooded earlier this week. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/floods-indias-assam-kill-nine-one-horned-rhinos-2024-07-10/
2024-07-10 06:55
LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Wednesday as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kept its growth forecast for oil demand unchanged for this year and next, while U.S. crude and gasoline inventories likely fell last week. Brent futures were down 11 cents, or 0.1%, at $84.55 a barrel at 1212 GMT, after falling 1.3% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $81.34 a barrel, after falling 1.1% in the previous session. OPEC maintained its 2024 and 2025 global oil demand growth forecasts at 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd) and 1.85 million bpd, respectively, it said in a monthly report on Wednesday. U.S. crude oil fell by 1.923 million barrels and gasoline inventories by 2.954 million barrels, according to market sources, who cited American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration will be released at 1430 GMT. Both contracts ended the previous three sessions lower on signs that the Texas energy industry came off relatively unscathed from Hurricane Beryl. Oil and gas companies restarted some operations on Tuesday. Some ports have reopened and most producers were ramping up output, although some facilities sustained damage and awaited full restoration of power. "The latest bout of selling can be attributed to two major factors: the potential revival of truce talks between Israel and Hamas and Hurricane Beryl," PVM Oil analyst Tamas Varga said. In the Middle East, negotiations to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza war will resume in Doha, with the intelligence chiefs of Egypt, the United States and Israel in attendance. Concerns over demand in China also weighed on prices as consumer prices in the world's second-largest economy grew for a fifth straight month in June but missed expectations, while producer price deflation persisted. In its annual Energy Outlook report on Wednesday, BP (BP.L) New Tab, opens new tab said it expects oil demand to peak next year and wind and solar capacity to grow rapidly in both of its two main scenarios. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/oil-rebounds-us-stockpiles-drop-interest-rate-cut-outlook-brightens-2024-07-10/
2024-07-10 06:49
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, July 10 (Reuters) - India's growing employment stems largely from self-employed individuals, unpaid workers and temporary farm hires, whose jobs are not equivalent to formal positions with regular wages, private sector economists said on Wednesday. The comments follow labour department figures New Tab, opens new tab released this week showing 20 million new employment opportunities generated each year since 2017/18, countering a Citibank report that said only 8.8 million jobs were added each year since 2012. "What is clear is that there is a large increase coming from agriculture and from self-employment, which includes own account work or unpaid family work," said Amit Basole, head of the Centre for Sustainable Employment at the Azim Premji University. The jump in employment cannot be equated to the creation of formal jobs with regular wages, Basole said, going by detailed data available up to the financial year 2022/23. In the fiscal year that ended in March 2024, employment in the economy rose by 46.7 million for a total of 643.3 million, up from 596.7 million a year ago, the central bank said in a statement on Monday. The Reserve Bank of India database showed agricultural work opportunities contributed 48 million of the 100 million jobs generated between financial years 2017/18 and 2022/23, Basole said. "I wouldn't call them jobs," he added. "They're just people working in agriculture or in non-farm self-employment because of lack of adequate demand for workers from businesses." While the central bank gave a provisional estimate of the increase in employment in 2023/24, it did not detail the sectors that saw these additions. That data was only available up to the previous year. The central bank and government did not respond to emails from Reuters seeking comment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party lost its absolute parliamentary majority in elections last month, having to turn to allied parties to retain power, first won power in 2014, on a promise of creating 20 million jobs a year. However, he has since faced criticism from analysts and political rivals for failing to deliver. "The Modi government's only mission is to make sure youth are jobless," Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the main opposition party Congress said this week, after the Citibank report reignited the jobs debate in India. Modi's party manifesto for this year's general election promised to create jobs through investments in sectors such as infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and green energy. But the party's failure to win an absolute majority on its own was blamed on voters' disenchantment with lack of jobs and high inflation. "Yes, there has been an enormous increase in the number of people who are, quote-unquote, employed," said India's former chief statistician, Pronab Sen. "But the bulk of this increase has come in agriculture and in casual work." Growing farm employment was "extremely regressive" as it went against the nation's goal of moving more Indians away from agricultural work, he added. "Look, the question is, do you really believe there's so much employment happening?" Sen said. "It seems unlikely." The debate over India's employment data was "muddying the water," he added. Government data shows just 20.9% of India's overall workforce earned regular wages in the form of salary, as of 2022/23. Economists have pointed to weak consumption in the economy, which grew by just 4% in 2023/24, or half the pace of gross domestic product (GDP) which expanded at a world-beating 8.2%. "We can have disputes on the numbers but ultimately, what we should go by is the outcome," said Rupa Rege Nitsure, an independent economist. "If enough employment is being generated, then enough income should get generated and that should get translated into higher consumption at a broad-based level. Why are we seeing so much unevenness in consumption spending?" Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/official-employment-data-masks-indias-jobs-problem-say-economists-2024-07-10/
2024-07-10 06:44
MADRID, July 10 (Reuters) - Enagas (ENAG.MC) New Tab, opens new tab has agreed to sell its 30.2% stake in U.S. energy infrastructure company Tallgrass Energy to finance green hydrogen projects, the Spanish gas grid operator said on Wednesday. U.S. investment firm Blackstone (BX.N) New Tab, opens new tab, which already had a stake in Tallgrass, will pay $1.1 billion for the stake, Enagas said in a statement. Enagas expects a 360 million euro ($389.38 million) capital loss from the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of this month, it said. The transaction is likely to lead to a loss for Enagas this year, said RBC stock analyst Fernando Garcia in a note to investors, though the divestment means a small positive impact on earnings from 2025. The deal will strengthen Enagas in its plans to invest in renewable hydrogen infrastructure, Sabadell said in a separate report. Shares in Enagas were up 3.9% in early trading on Wednesday. Enagas had paid $1.64 billion in 2019 to build the stake in Tallgrass, Garcia said. Enagas invested in Tallgrass together with Blackstone and Singapore's GIC sovereign wealth fund. They later delisted the company. Enagas - in which the Spanish state owns a 5% stake - aims to transition from its traditional role as a natural gas grid operator to managing a network of hydrogen infrastructure, taking advantage of the government's plans to develop green hydrogen production. It expects net investment of around 3.2 billion euros will be required through 2030 to develop its planned hydrogen trunk network in Spain and its flagship project, the trans-European H2Med corridor. To help fund the plan, it has slashed its dividend plans for the next three years. By the end of the decade, the group's regulated hydrogen assets, worth some 3 billion euros, are expected to exceed those of natural gas, seen at around 2 billion euros. ($1 = 0.9246 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/spains-enagas-sell-302-stake-us-tallgrass-blackstone-11-bln-2024-07-10/
