2025-07-23 23:28

July 24 (Reuters) - Australia's top investment bank, Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) , opens new tab, reported a decline in first-quarter net profit on Thursday and announced that Chief Financial Officer Alex Harvey will step down at the end of 2025. Harvey will retire mid-2026 after completing an extended handover to his successor, Frank Kwok, who has been with Macquarie for 28 years and currently serves as deputy CFO, the company said. Sign up here. The leadership changes come as Australia's corporate regulator (ASIC) has sued Macquarie, alleging it misreported up to A$1.5 billion worth of short sales over a 15-year period, misleading the market and violating transparency rules put in place following the global financial crisis. Macquarie indicated it may adjust executive bonuses following the ASIC lawsuit, stating, "So far as remuneration impacts are concerned, this will be an FY26 matter, about which the board will come to a view over the period ahead." "As CFO for the last eight years, Alex has delivered a significant transformation in Macquarie's financial management and stakeholder engagement activities, playing a key role in driving the global growth of the Group," Macquarie said. The bank's first-quarter net profit declined due to lower contributions from its Asset Management arm and Commodities and Global Markets unit. Macquarie Asset Management experienced a softer quarter compared to last year, with net profit contribution down primarily due to timing of investment-related income from asset realisations. Meanwhile, Commodities and Global Markets unit's net profit contribution fell due to reduced contribution from Commodities, which recorded lower net interest and trading income in North American Gas and Power. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/macquaries-quarterly-profit-falls-cfo-harvey-decides-step-down-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 23:07

HOUSTON, July 23 (Reuters) - A liquefied petroleum gas tanker moored at the Enterprise Products Partners (EPD.N) , opens new tab terminal along the Neches river in Texas, ship tracking data showed on Wednesday, the first vessel to arrive for loading at the facility. Energy research firm Vortexa said the mooring signaled the commissioning of the plant. Enterprise did not immediately reply to a request for a comment. Sign up here. Enterprise, one of the top U.S. ethane producers and exporters, has been adding to its natural gas liquids business by building and expanding facilities to export ethane and propane to meet growing global demand. The company announced in April plans to construct a new export facility, which could load either ethane or propane, located on the Neches River in Orange County, Texas. Ethane and propane are byproducts of oil and gas production. Ethane is primarily used to make plastics, while propane is used for heating and cooking. Phase 1 of Enterprise's Neches River project has a nameplate capacity of 120,000 barrels per day and will accommodate loading rates of up to 45,000 barrels per hour. It was expected to begin service in the second half of 2025. Medium-sized gas tanker Navigator Eclipse entered the Enterprise Beaumont dock late on Tuesday and was moored on Wednesday, according to ship tracking data on LSEG and Kpler. The vessel has only moved ethane between U.S. and China since May 2021, according to Kpler. The vessel is likely to head to Satellite Chemical's (002648.SZ) , opens new tab Lianyungang import terminal in China with the commissioning cargo, Vortexa's Samantha Hartke wrote in a note. Satellite could not immediately be reached outside of office hours. A company uses the commissioning stage to test and ensure all aspects of a plant are working before moving to commercial operations. Phase 2 of the terminal, which will allow Enterprise to load up to 180,000 bpd of ethane and 360,000 bpd of propane, or a combination of the two, is expected to begin service in the first half of 2026. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/first-lpg-tanker-docks-enterprise-products-neches-river-terminal-texas-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 22:37

Australia satisfied with US measures, minister says Curbs lifted after extensive risk review Trump in April singled out trade disparity with Australian beef SYDNEY, July 24 (Reuters) - Australia lifted on Thursday strict biosecurity restrictions on beef imports from the U.S. after an extensive scientific and risk review, likely removing a key concern for U.S. President Donald Trump's administration over bilateral trade. Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said Australia was satisfied with the measures put in place by the United States to effectively manage biosecurity risks. Sign up here. "The U.S. Beef Imports Review has undergone a rigorous science and risk-based assessment over the past decade," Collins said in a statement. "The ... government will never compromise on biosecurity." News of Australia lifting the curbs was first reported by the Australian Financial Review. The report said Australia will use the easing of rules to argue its case for the United States to wind back 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium and Trump's threat to impose a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals. Trump in April singled out the beef trade disparity after Australia's beef exports to the United States surged last year, reaching A$4 billion ($2.64 billion) amid a slump in U.S. beef production. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in April had ruled out relaxing Australia's strict biosecurity rules during tariff talks with the United States. Since 2003, Australia has curbed entry of U.S. beef after detecting bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. It lifted some restrictions in 2019. Australia allows entry if the cattle were born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States, though few shippers can prove these requirements, as cattle frequently move between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The United States has introduced more tracking methods since last year to identify and trace all cattle from Mexico and Canada to the farm and through the supply chain. Australia views its strict biosecurity rules as safeguarding its disease-free cattle, helping it preserve access to lucrative markets such as Japan and South Korea, while Australian beef is prized by U.S. fast-food chains for its lower fat content and competitive prices. ($1 = 1.5152 Australian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/australia-lifts-biosecurity-curbs-us-beef-amid-tariff-talks-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 22:29

July 23 (Reuters) - Packaging Corp of America (PKG.N) , opens new tab forecast third-quarter profit below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, hurt by rising freight costs and weak export containerboard sales amid global trade uncertainty. The Lake Forest, Illinois-based company specializes in delivering paper and packaging products catering to a range of sectors, including the food and beverage industry, paper manufacturing, and retail commerce. Sign up here. While demand for packaging goods is recovering from a post-pandemic slowdown, sticky inflation and cautious consumer sentiment have pressured sales, especially while its customers navigate trade uncertainties due to tariffs. CEO Mark Kowlzan said pricing in both packaging and paper will remain flat in the third quarter, while freight costs will rise due to higher rail rates. The company expects third-quarter profit of $2.80 per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of $2.92 per share, according to LSEG data. Packaging Corp's net sales rose slightly to $2.17 billion in the quarter ended June 30, from $2.07 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average estimated $2.19 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Its adjusted profit for the second quarter came in at $2.48 per share, compared with estimates of $2.44. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/packaging-corp-forecasts-profit-below-estimates-export-freight-pressures-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 22:05

July 23 (Reuters) - Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it expects costs associated with the maintenance plan for its closed copper mine in Panama will increase to roughly $17 million to $18 million per month. In May, Panama approved the company's preservation and safe management plan (P&SM), which allowed it to export copper concentrate stored at the site as well as to restart a power plant at Cobre Panama. Sign up here. The site had been shut in 2023 after massive protests from local residents over environmental issues. The mine's closure, which had contributed 1% to global copper production, has had an impact on both Panama's and the company's financial prospects. First Quantum began shipments of the 120,000 metric tons of copper left at the site in June. The final shipment is expected to be dispatched soon, the company said on Wednesday, putting an end to uncertainty over the stockpiled copper. During the second quarter, maintenance costs related to the Cobre Panama mine averaged roughly $15 million per month. The plan also allows for import of fuel to help restart Cobre Panama's thermoelectric power plant, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2025. First Quantum said that the up to $3 million rise in P&SM costs could be partially offset by the potential sale of excess power to support Panama's national grid. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/first-quantum-expects-rise-cobre-panama-maintenance-costs-2025-07-23/

2025-07-23 22:03

ECB awaits outcome of US-EU trade talks Trump's threatened 30% tariff steeper than ECB expected Rumoured 15% tariff closer to ECB baseline One further rate cut seen as likely by year-end FRANKFURT, July 24 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank was set to keep interest rates on hold on Thursday, pausing after seven straight cuts as it waited for the fog surrounding Europe's trade relations with the United States to clear. The ECB has halved its policy rate from 4% to 2% in the space of just one year after taming a surge in prices that followed the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sign up here. With inflation now back at its 2% goal and expected to stay there, euro zone central bankers were likely to stay put this week and observe what kind of tariffs President Donald Trump's U.S. administration would impose on the European Union after an August 1 deadline for talks, all 84 economists polled by Reuters said. The tense and unpredictable trade talks between Washington and Brussels have made policy-making difficult. Trump's threat to impose a 30% duty on EU goods exported to the U.S. - a steeper tariff than the ECB had anticipated under even the most negative of three scenarios it released last month - has forced ECB President Christine Lagarde and her colleagues on the Governing Council to contemplate lower outcomes for growth and inflation. However, two diplomats said on Wednesday the EU and the U.S. were heading towards a deal that would result in a broad tariff of 15% applying to EU goods, an outcome lying closer to the ECB's baseline scenario than the severe possibility. "If the two sides indeed conclude such a deal, it would support our call that the euro zone economy can regain momentum from the fourth quarter onwards and that the ECB will not need to cut rates further," Berenberg economist Holger Schmieding said. Among the deals that have been struck so far and could serve as a template for the EU, Japan negotiated a 15% tariff rate, Indonesia 20% and Britain, which runs a trade deficit with the United States, 10%. "The key point is that tariffs look likely to be higher and more varied across countries than the 10% flat baseline that many had assumed would be the end-point of tariff negotiations," BNP Paribas's head of developed markets economics Paul Hollingsworth said. The ECB assumes that U.S. tariffs will push down growth and, if there is no EU retaliation, inflation over the medium term. This is why markets and most economists are still betting on at least one more interest rate cut, probably towards the end of the year, as inflation is now at risk of going too low. The euro zone economy is already barely growing and companies, while still optimistic about an upturn ahead, are starting to feel the pinch from tariffs on their profits. Even the ECB's own projections see price growth dipping below 2% for the next 18 months, raising the prospect of undershooting. "More challenging may be the end of the year, when we see inflation dropping below 1.5% and staying thereabouts for most of 2026," Societe Generale's Anatoli Annenkov said. "Here we see risks that inflation expectations follow inflation lower, forcing the ECB to take action to anchor inflation expectations." On the other hand, banks have seen rising loan demand and policy uncertainty has not yet translated into an economic or market downturn. After a short-lived selloff in April investors have taken the trade turmoil in their stride, with European equity indices close to new highs also thanks to Germany's newly found appetite for spending. In fact, erratic policy-making in the United States, including Trump's relentless criticism of the Federal Reserve, has lured foreign investors to euro zone assets, briefly pushing the euro to the highest level against the dollar since September 2021 at $1.1829 earlier this month. ECB board member and outspoken hawk Isabel Schnabel even said the central bank should watch out for price hikes caused by tariffs and the bar for further cuts was "very high". But the euro's appreciation has unnerved other policymakers, who fear a stronger currency would make European exports less competitive and contribute to pushing down inflation. "On that front, we would expect Christine Lagarde to strike a reassuring tone, reminding people that the ECB does not target exchange rates but that any resulting downward pressure on inflation will be addressed, if necessary," Julien Lafargue, chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank, said. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ecb-keep-rates-steady-trade-conflict-clouds-economic-outlook-2025-07-23/