2025-11-04 00:19

Nov 3 (Reuters) - A travel association has urged the U.S. Congress in a letter on Monday to reopen the federal government ahead of the Thanksgiving travel rush, as the shutdown stretches into its 34th day. The prolonged shutdown has led to a spike in airline delays, affecting airports and 3.2 million passengers due to a high number of absences in air traffic controllers, with many of them taking up second jobs to cope. Sign up here. The shutdown is estimated to cost the U.S. economy between $7 billion and $14 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. "Air travel's number one priority is safety and while safety will be maintained, travelers will pay a heavy and completely unnecessary price in terms of delays, cancellations and lost confidence in the air travel experience," said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman. In a letter that was signed by 500 organizations, including Hilton (HLT.N) , opens new tab and MGM Resorts (MGM.N) , opens new tab, Freeman urged the Congress that the fastest way to restore confidence and restart travel was to reopen the government by passing a clean continuing resolution. "The damage from this shutdown is growing by the hour with 60% of Americans reconsidering their travel plans". The shutdown has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers to work without pay and snarled tens of thousands of flights. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-travel-group-warns-congress-thanksgiving-chaos-amid-government-shutdown-2025-11-04/

2025-11-03 23:53

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would ask Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to again consider terminating the New York City vehicle congestion fee, more than five months after a federal judge blocked the effort. The first-in-the-nation program launched in January charges most passenger vehicles $9 during peak periods to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street, which is on track to raise $500 million this year. Sign up here. In May, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman issued a preliminary injunction preventing the U.S. Transportation Department from withholding federal funding from New York after the Trump administration sought to stop Manhattan's congestion pricing program. Duffy in April told New York Governor Kathy Hochul the Transportation Department could withhold environmental approvals or the start of project funding if the state did not end congestion pricing. "New York City is getting KILLED by her ridiculous CONGESTION PRICING, where people have to pay a fortune to come into Manhattan - So they just don't come!" Trump said on Truth Social of Hochul on Monday. "The place is a ghost town." Hochul has said tourism and business have increased in New York City because the fee is dramatically reducing gridlock. Trump's comments on social media come just a day before New York voters will pick a new mayor. Duffy and Hochul's offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Judge Liman has said he will issue a ruling on the merits of the lawsuit by the end of December. Hochul has said funds raised from the program underpin $15 billion in debt financing for critical mass transit capital improvements. Earlier this month, Trump's administration froze $18 billion for major transit projects in New York, including the $17.2 billion Hudson River tunnel project, which received more than $11 billion in federal grants for passenger railroad Amtrak and commuter lines between New Jersey and Manhattan. Trump said the Hudson tunnel project has been "terminated," which has become a campaign issue in the New Jersey governor's race. Additionally, the Transportation Department on February 19 rescinded federal approval of a program designed to reduce traffic and raise money to upgrade aging subway and bus systems. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-renews-push-end-new-york-city-vehicle-congestion-fee-2025-11-03/

2025-11-03 23:48

Nov 3 (Reuters) - U.S. pipeline operator Williams Companies (WMB.N) , opens new tab missed Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit on Monday as higher interest and maintenance costs offset gains from higher service revenues, sending its shares down more than 2% after the bell. Williams, which owns and operates more than 32,000 miles of pipelines, placed several expansions into service during the quarter, including Transco's Alabama Georgia Connector and Commonwealth Energy Connector, and Northwest Pipeline's Stanfield South project. Sign up here. Interest costs rose to $372 million in the third quarter from $338 million a year earlier, while operating and maintenance expenses increased to $583 million. Service revenues climbed to $2.12 billion from $1.91 billion a year ago. The company lifted its 2025 growth capital expenditure by $500 million to a range of $3.95 billion to $4.25 billion after its roughly $1.9 billion investment in Woodside Energy's Louisiana LNG project. Larger rival Kinder Morgan (KMI.N) , opens new tab posted a rise in third-quarter profit, helped by higher volumes of natural gas transported through its pipelines. Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams reported adjusted profit of 49 cents per share for the quarter ended September 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of 56 cents per share, according to LSEG. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/williams-companies-profit-falls-short-estimates-higher-expenses-2025-11-03/

2025-11-03 23:46

Indexes: Dow down 0.48%, S&P 500 up 0.17%, Nasdaq up 0.46% Kimberly-Clark to acquire Kenvue for more than $40 billion US manufacturing activity contracts in October Fed officials offer conflicting viewpoints regarding a December rate cut NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed higher on Monday, with artificial intelligence-related deals driving much of the gains even as the Federal Reserve's near-term monetary policy grew increasingly foggy due to scarcity of official U.S. economic data. Tech and tech-related firms helped boost the Nasdaq to the biggest gain. Healthcare companies UnitedHealth Group UNH.N , opens new tab and Merck MRK.N , opens new tab, falling 2.3% and 4.1%, respectively, held the Dow in negative territory. Among the major drivers to the upside, Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab announced it struck a $38 billion deal with OpenAI to allow the ChatGPT maker to run and scale its artificial intelligence workloads on Amazon Web Services' cloud infrastructure. Amazon's stock advanced 4.0%. Nvidia shares (NVDA.O) , opens new tab gained 2.2% after U.S. President Donald Trump said the AI chipmaker's most advanced microchips will be reserved for U.S. companies and kept out of China and other countries. Over the weekend, the White House released details about the agreement reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to de-escalate the trade war between the world's two biggest economies. "The Amazon deal and other M&A news have boosted the market, and then you know we came into the week after getting marginally positive news over the weekend, both about the China trade situation and some dovish Fedspeak," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky. "(But) it's definitely a market led by big tech semiconductors and it has been for almost this entire bull market." Kimberly-Clark(KMB.O) , opens new tab shares slid 14.6% after it was revealed the consumer goods company will buy Tylenol maker Kenvue (KVUE.N) , opens new tab for more than $40 billion. Kenvue advanced 12.3%. While official economic data remains scarce amid the ongoing government shutdown, the Institute for Supply Management and S&P Global released their purchasing managers' indexes, which showed U.S. factories continue to grapple with uncertainty stemming from Trump's tariff policies. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments pertaining to the legality of Trump's tariffs on Wednesday. In the wake of last week's expected interest rate cut, the Fed's next move has become increasingly unclear given the lack of economic indicators due to the ongoing government shutdown. Payrolls processor ADP's National Employment index, expected on Wednesday, could shed light on the state of the U.S. labor market. Fed officials offered conflicting viewpoints, with Fed Governor Stephen Miran making the case for additional rate cuts, but Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he was leery of additional cuts while inflation remains well above the central bank's 2% annual target. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 226.19 points, or 0.48%, to 47,336.68, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab gained 11.77 points, or 0.17%, to 6,851.97 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab gained 109.77 points, or 0.46%, to 23,834.72. Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) , opens new tab enjoyed the largest percentage gains, while materials suffered the biggest decline. Third-quarter earnings season is well underway, with well over 300 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 83% have beaten analysts' estimates, according to the most recent LSEG data. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.34-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 202 new highs and 142 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 1,799 stocks rose and 2,887 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.6-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 16 new 52-week highs and 32 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 74 new highs and 181 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 19.62 billion shares, compared with the 21.11 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. https://www.reuters.com/business/sp-500-nasdaq-gain-after-amazon-openai-deal-kenvue-soars-after-buyout-2025-11-03/

2025-11-03 23:38

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Hafnium prices are near record highs in Europe, driven by supply constraints due to China's export controls and booming demand fuelled by AI-led growth in semiconductors and gas turbines. Prices for the metal used in aerospace, nuclear, and computing applications ranged between $6,300 and $7,000 per kg in Rotterdam, nearing the record high of $7,100 reached in 2023, according to information agency Argus. Sign up here. Hafnium, a byproduct of zirconium refining, typically occurs at a ratio of 1 part hafnium to every 50 parts zirconium, making its separation complex and costly. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) listed China, Germany, and the Netherlands as the top exporters of unwrought hafnium in 2024. China tightened export controls on hafnium under revised dual-use regulations in 2024, meaning exporters require more stringent government licensing to ship the material abroad, analysts and traders said. "Latest wave of geopolitical tensions have increased pressure. Very few parties are able to have their licenses granted or get material actually exported," said a minor metal trader, referring to China's tightening grip on hafnium exports. "Companies without a track record of handling dual-use items or prior export licenses are suddenly not being granted them at all," the trader added. China's unwrought hafnium exports plunged from 5,001 kg in January to 499 kg in September, a 90% decline over nine months, according to customs data. Cristina Belda, hafnium pricing specialist at Argus, said demand was rising across multiple sectors for both hafnium metal and hafnium dioxide, particularly for use in semiconductors and memory technologies. "The clamour for hafnium is also being fuelled by demand for gas turbines, particularly for powering AI data centres ... Demand for nuclear power is also expected to increase hafnium usage," Belda added. Hafnium is used in gas turbines to make heat-resistant superalloys, which help power artificial intelligence data centres, and in memory chips, where hafnium oxide enables fast, efficient data storage. It is also valued for its anti-corrosive properties and used to make control rods for nuclear reactors. Market sources highlighted that U.S. hafnium prices were trading even higher, mostly above $7,000 per kg, due to tighter availability. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hafnium-prices-near-record-highs-europe-china-export-curbs-ai-boom-2025-11-03/

2025-11-03 22:37

HOUSTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Executives from the Panama Canal plan to meet shipping companies interested in the construction and operation of two new ports in the waterway's area in early December, and expect to have the companies prequalified in early 2026, the canal's chief Ricaurte Vasquez said in a conference on Monday. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/panama-canal-complete-prequalification-port-concessions-early-2026-2025-11-03/