2024-05-31 22:26

SAO PAULO, May 31 (Reuters) - Brazilian airline Gol announced on Friday that its board elected Eduardo Gotilla as its new chief financial officer, while also posting preliminary results for April including net debt of $4.5 billion as part of the carrier's ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Gotilla was the CFO of power company Light (LIGT3.SA) New Tab, opens new tab through last January. He replaces Mario Tsuwei Liao in the same role at Gol and is set to start on June 3, the airline said in a securities filing. Gol (GOLL4.SA) New Tab, opens new tab added that Tsuwei will serve as an adviser for special projects for the airline. In a separate filing, Gol released preliminary results for April, part of the monthly data it must disclose due to the bankruptcy process the Brazilian airline entered in the United States earlier this year. Gol reported a $76 million net loss for April, which was adjusted to exclude exchange rate losses. It also posted net revenue of $259 million for the month and $26 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/amid-bankruptcy-process-brazil-airline-gol-swaps-finance-chief-2024-05-31/

2024-05-31 21:50

May 31 (Reuters) - The United States will extend its temporary suspension of tariffs on Ukrainian steel by another year, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing disruption caused by the Russian invasion. Washington initially suspended tariffs on Ukrainian steel for one year in May 2022, months after the Russian invasion began, and extended the suspension in May 2023. "Ukraine's steel industry continues to be significantly disrupted by the Russian Federation's unjustified, unprovoked, unyielding, and unconscionable war against Ukraine," Biden said in a statement. In 2023, the amount of steel imported into the United States from Ukraine accounted for less than 1% of all steel imports into the country, he added. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-extends-temporary-suspension-tariffs-ukraine-steel-another-year-2024-05-31/

2024-05-31 21:32

HOUSTON, May 31 (Reuters) - U.S. diesel demand fell to its lowest seasonal level in March since 1998, while crude oil output rose to a multi-month high, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed on Friday. Demand for distillate fuels, which includes diesel and heating oil, has been hit sharply this year under pressure from sluggish manufacturing activity, milder-than-expected winter weather and booming renewable fuel supply. Products supplied of distillate, EIA's measure of demand, fell over 6% from February to 3.67 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, lowest for the month since 1998. The two most immediate U.S. ultra-low sulfur diesel futures contracts settled in the steepest contango since 2020 on Friday. A market is in contango when prices for commodities are lower now than for future deliveries. U.S. crude oil output rose by 0.6% to 13.2 million bpd in March, the highest since December, the data from EIA showed. Output from Texas, the top producing state, edged 0.7% higher to 5.6 million bpd in March, also the highest since December. Production in New Mexico, the second largest producer, grew by 1.6% to 2 million bpd to its highest on record for a second straight month. Crude production in North Dakota, however, fell by 2.7% to 1.2 million bpd to its lowest since January. Meanwhile, total product supplied of oil and petroleum products fell 0.4% to 19.9 million bpd. Finished motor gasoline supplied rose 3.3% to 8.9 million bpd. Gross natural gas production in the U.S. Lower 48 states fell by about 3.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to 114.7 bcfd in March, down from 117.6 bcfd in February, according to EIA's monthly 914 production report. That compares with a monthly record 118.2 bcfd in December. In top gas-producing states, monthly output in March held steady in Texas at 34.6 bcfd, and fell 9.0% in Pennsylvania to 19.4 bcfd. That compares with monthly record highs of 35.0 bcfd in Texas in December 2023 and 21.9 bcfd in Pennsylvania in December 2021. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-crude-output-rises-march-while-product-supplied-falls-2024-05-31/

2024-05-31 21:00

LOS ANGELES, May 31 (Reuters) - Spiking ocean shipping rates, vessel backups at seaports and empty container shortages - issues that wreaked havoc on global trade during the COVID pandemic supply-chain crisis - are back as the industry enters its busy season. "There is a cocktail of uncertainty and disruption across global ocean freight supply chains," said Peter Sand, chief analyst at pricing platform Xeneta. "It is the speed and magnitude of this recent (rate) spike that has taken the market by surprise," he said. On Friday, the spot rate to send a 40-foot (12 meter)container from China to North Europe was $4,615, almost 3.5 times higher than on May 1, but below the all-time high of $14,407 on January 2022, Sand said. That rate excludes $10,000 "diamond tier" rates for priority shipments. The China to U.S. East Coast spot rate was $6,061 on Friday. That rate was $2,772 on May 1 and hit a record high of $11,900 in January 2022, he said. The container industry's woes trace back to December, when Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) New Tab, opens new tab, Hapag-Lloyd and other shipping lines diverted vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to avoid Houthi drone and missile attacks from Yemen. Ships on the China to Europe and China to U.S. East Coast lanes are instead sailing around Africa, cascading disruptions and higher costs across supply chains that rely on ocean vessels that transport about 80% of international trade volume. Pricing experts said spot rates would keep rising as retailers like Walmart (WMT.N) New Tab, opens new tab and Target (TGT.N) New Tab, opens new tab stock up for the back-to-school, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and as manufacturers and importers rush in goods to avoid possible tariff hikes. "In the near term we will see a significant crunch in the form of very elevated rates and additional delays," Judah Levine, head of research at Freightos (CRGO.O) New Tab, opens new tab, said. Port congestion in China and other Asian countries is pressuring an over-stretched container shipping market that is already reeling from shortages in vessel space and equipment, analytics provider Linerlytica said in a recent report. Singapore, the world's second-busiest container port, is now experiencing severe delays. Some ships are skipping calls there, upending schedules at downstream ports, Linerlytica said. Empty containers also are piling up in Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates, while China and Singapore are reporting shortages, said Koray Kose, chief industry officer at Everstream Analytics. "We're sailing into the storm," Kose said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/red-sea-diversions-tariff-risks-send-ocean-shipping-soaring-2024-05-31/

2024-05-31 20:34

US annual PCE inflation rises 2.7% YoY in April Dell plunges after lower current-quarter profit forecasts Trump Media falls in choppy trading after Trump conviction Indexes: Dow up 1.51%, S&P 500 up 0.8%, Nasdaq down 0.01% NEW YORK, May 31 (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 ended higher on Friday and the Dow registered its biggest daily percentage gain since November 2023 as month-end repositioning drove a late sharp rally, with all three major indexes posting strong gains for May. Almost all of the major S&P 500 sectors ended higher, with the energy sector (.SPNY) New Tab, opens new tab up 2.5%. The technology sector (.SPLRCT) New Tab, opens new tab closed slightly in the red. "We definitely saw a spike in volume toward the end," said Joe Saluzzi, co-founder and co-head of Equity Trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey, noting it was probably related to month-end repositioning. Volume on U.S. exchanges totaled 14.60 billion shares, compared with the 12.56 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. The U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis reported, matching the unrevised gain in March. It also showed consumer spending slowed more than expected. "People were pleased that it wasn't hotly surprising but also underneath the surface, the consumer continues to show a little bit of strain," said Carol Schleif, chief investment officer at the BMO family office in Minneapolis. Traders of futures tied to the Fed policy rate added to bets of roughly even odds that the central bank will begin to cut rates in September and boosted the chances of a second rate cut in December to about the same probability. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) New Tab, opens new tab rose 574.84 points, or 1.51%, to 38,686.32. The S&P 500 (.SPX) New Tab, opens new tab gained 42.03 points, or 0.80%, at 5,277.51 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) New Tab, opens new tab lost 2.06 points, or 0.01%, at 16,735.02. For the month, the S&P 500 rose about 4.8%, the Nasdaq jumped 6.9% and the Dow climbed 2.4%. Stocks were down for the week, however, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq breaking five-week winning streaks. For the week, the S&P 500 fell about 0.5%, the Nasdaq declined 1.1% and the Dow fell 0.9%. On Friday, shares of Dell (DELL.N) New Tab, opens new tab fell 17.9% after it forecast current-quarter profit below market estimates and signaled that higher costs to build servers that meet heavy AI workloads would dent its annual margins. Among gainers, Zscaler (ZS.O) New Tab, opens new tab jumped 8.5% after the security solutions provider forecast fourth-quarter results above estimates. Gap (GPS.N) New Tab, opens new tab surged 28.6% after the apparel maker raised its annual sales forecast and its first-quarter results beat market expectations, in fresh signs that its turnaround strategy was starting to work. Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT.O) New Tab, opens new tab fell 5.3% after a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump of falsifying documents to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star ahead of the 2016 elections. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.94-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.51-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and six new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 55 new highs and 100 new lows. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-slip-investors-brace-inflation-numbers-2024-05-31/

2024-05-31 20:07

CAIRO, May 31 (Reuters) - Iraq welcomed a unanimous decision by the United Nations Security Council on Friday to terminate the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), set up after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iraq's state news agency said. The mission, based in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, had a wide mandate to help develop Iraqi institutions, support political dialogue and elections, and promote human rights. Iraq requested in May that the U.N. mission end by the end of 2025, saying it was no longer needed because Iraq had made significant progress towards stability. Iraqi government spokesperson Bassem Al-Awadi said the decision was "a result of the tangible progress that Iraq has witnessed in various ways, stability at the internal level, and the completion of the political construction process that began in 2003, after the overthrow of a dictatorial regime", the state news agency reported. Since last year, Iraq has taken steps to end several international missions, including the U.S.-led coalition created in 2014 to fight Islamic State and a U.N. mission established to help promote accountability for the jihadist group's crimes. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iraqi-welcomes-security-councils-decision-end-unami-mandate-by-2025-2024-05-31/