2025-11-05 07:56
TOKYO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Japan's top currency diplomat, Atsushi Mimura, said on Wednesday that he is concerned about the surging valuation of the stock market powered by the AI boom. There are concerns "whether or not the current stock market situation might be a bit too rapid and going too far," Mimura said, speaking at a Bloomberg event in Tokyo. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japans-top-fx-diplomat-voices-concern-about-ai-driven-stock-surge-2025-11-05/
2025-11-05 07:54
ABU DHABI, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Western sanctions on Russia and Iran are creating record volumes of oil stored onboard vessels, preventing a supply glut from forming in global markets, Gunvor Group's CEO said on Wednesday. The European Union, United Kingdom and the United States have imposed a raft of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, with the latest U.S. embargo targeting Russia's two top oil producers Rosneft and Lukoil (LKOH.MM) , opens new tab last month. Sign up here. Surplus oil supply has cushioned the impact of trade disruptions caused by the sanctions, keeping markets stable and reducing price volatility, Torbjorn Tornqvist, CEO of Swiss-based commodities trader Gunvor Group (GGL.UL), told the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi. However, the sanctions have also led to an "enormous amount" of oil that is dislocated and some of that is being held on tankers, he added. "This is unprecedented, the size of that. Therefore, obviously, if all sanctions would disappear, this market would clearly be quite oversupplied," Tornqvist said. Global oil prices fell in October for a third month on fears of oversupply as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies are increasing output while production from non-OPEC producers is growing. Oil supply could exceed demand by 2 million barrels per day next year, Mercuria’s CEO and co-founder Marco Dunand said at the conference, but added that Western sanctions remain a wild card in curbing supply. "That probably means that from a 2 million barrels a day surplus we move more into the 1 million barrels a day surplus," Dunand said. "It is true that the (global oil) inventories are low. It is also true that oil on the water is high, so the (supply) glut is forming slowly and probably going to hit the market in the next few months." https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/unprecedented-volume-oil-stored-ships-due-western-sanctions-gunvor-ceo-says-2025-11-05/
2025-11-05 07:23
US crude stocks rise, fuel inventories fall, EIA data shows Canada may scrap oil and gas emissions cap, raising supply concerns Russia suspends fuel exports at Black Sea refinery NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 1% on Wednesday, settling at two-week lows on pressure from concerns of a possible global oil glut, but data showing signs of strong U.S. demand for fuel limited losses. Brent crude futures closed 92 cents, or 1.43%, lower at $63.52 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled 96 cents, or 1.59%, low at $59.60. Sign up here. Oil prices fell following U.S. government data that showed an increase in crude inventories last week. "A rebound in imports and subdued refining activity amid seasonal maintenance has encouraged a build to U.S. crude inventories," said Kpler lead Americas oil analyst Matt Smith. U.S. STOCKS BUILD MORE THAN EXPECTED U.S. crude stocks rose by 5.2 million barrels to 421.2 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said, compared with analysts' expectations for a 603,000-barrel rise. However, signs of stronger-than-expected gasoline demand limited oil price losses. Gasoline inventories fell by 4.7 million barrels last week to 206 million barrels. Analysts had expected a 1.1 million-barrel draw. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's budget plan, unveiled on Tuesday, signalled that Canada could scrap a cap on oil and gas emissions, fuelling concerns over a potential supply glut. "Canada could ditch their controversial oil and gas emissions strategy and unleash more oil," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst with Price Futures Group. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers, a group known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to increase output by 137,000 barrels a day in December. It decided to pause further increases in the first quarter of 2026. Kazakhstan's crude oil production, excluding gas condensate, declined 10% last month to 1.69 million barrels per day, still above the OPEC+ output quota, according to an industry source and Reuters calculations. Russia's Black Sea port of Tuapse has suspended fuel exports, while its oil refinery halted crude processing after Sunday's Ukrainian drone attacks on its infrastructure, according to two industry sources and LSEG ship tracking data. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-prices-fall-amid-broader-market-selloff-gains-us-crude-stockpiles-2025-11-05/
2025-11-05 07:19
COPENHAGEN, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Orsted (ORSTED.CO) , opens new tab, the world's biggest offshore wind farm group, swung to a quarterly net loss of 1.70 billion Danish crowns ($265,50 million), it said on Wednesday, hit by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies and resistance to renewable energy. Orsted's shares have plummeted 85% from their 2021 peak, hit by soaring costs and supply chain disruptions, as well as challenges in the United States where Trump sought to halt several ongoing developments and suspended new licensing. Sign up here. Orsted saw impairment losses of 1.8 billion crowns in the third quarter. "The negative development was driven by increased tariffs in the U.S. and negative impact from the stop-work order on Revolution Wind, partly offset by decreasing interest rates," the company said in a statement. The company's net loss for the July to September period was smaller than the average expectation of a 1.95 billion crowns deficit in a company-provided poll of analysts, but significabtly down from a year-ago profit of 5.17 billion crowns. Meanwhile, its profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), excluding new partnerships and cancellation fees, came in at 3.06 billion crowns for the period, lagging an average poll forecast of 4.0 billion crowns. ($1 = 6.4029 Danish crowns) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/offshore-wind-group-orsted-turns-net-loss-q3-following-us-woes-under-trump-2025-11-05/
2025-11-05 07:14
Nov 5 (Reuters) - Dutch supermarket group Ahold Delhaize (AD.AS) , opens new tab said on Wednesday it was planning to carry out 1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) share buyback, starting at the beginning of 2026, after it beat market expectations for third-quarter earnings. The company, which operates the Food Lion chain in the United States, said its quarterly underlying operating income was 933 million euros in the quarter, against an average forecast of 866 million euros from analysts polled by it. Sign up here. The beat was supported by strong performance of Ahold's U.S. business, which also includes Stop & Shop, Giant and Hannaford chains, the company said. Comparable U.S. sales excluding gasoline grew by 2.9%. Ahold generates more than half of its revenue in the country. The company reiterated its full-year financial targets, which include underlying operating margin of around 4% and at least 2.2 billion euros of free cash flow. Ahold, which had seen record-high sales in the first quarter of 2025, may however be heading into stormier waters due to rising inflation and the looming lapse of food aid in the U.S. "With rising inflation, stagnating economic growth and governmental policy moves, the business and customer climate is pressured", CEO Frans Muller said in a statement, pointing to price limitation in Serbia and higher VAT rates in Romania. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) https://www.reuters.com/business/ahold-delhaize-launch-12-billion-buyback-after-q3-profit-beat-2025-11-05/
2025-11-05 06:55
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 5 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand inched up early on Wednesday, attempting a recovery from an almost two-month low as investors awaited fresh signals on the global and domestic economic outlook. At 0630 GMT, the rand traded at 17.49 per dollar , up about 0.3% after falling more than 1% on Tuesday amid weaker gold prices, in line with other commodity-linked currencies. Sign up here. Investors now await the S&P Global October whole-economy PMI (ZAPMIM=ECI) , opens new tab due at 0715 GMT for insights into business conditions in Africa’s most industrialised economy. Last month's index showed that business conditions in South Africa's private sector improved for the fifth month running in September, buoyed by a rise in output and new orders. It also flagged that business expectations for the year ahead fell to their lowest level since July 2021, with concerns over economic and political uncertainty cited for dampening sentiment. The domestic calendar looks relatively lean for the rest of the week, with October's foreign reserves data due on Friday the main focus for further clues on the health of the local economy. South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond was flat in early deals, with the yield at 8.835%. The nation's risk-sensitive assets could consolidate around the current levels unless a significant catalyst related to domestic politics, U.S. policy and economic events emerges for directional momentum. "Given yesterday's sell-off, today's trading session will be particularly interesting to see whether the stock market correction gathers momentum or stalls. If the latter, fears of a major bout of ZAR depreciation will subside," said ETM Analytics in a research note. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index (.JTOPI) , opens new tab fell more than 2% on Tuesday hurt mainly by precious metal miners. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africas-rand-pauses-slide-investors-await-next-catalyst-2025-11-05/
