2025-10-31 11:20

Oct 31 (Reuters) - Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) , opens new tab posted a rise in third-quarter profit on Friday, driven by record oil sands production and near-full refinery utilization that helped offset weaker crude prices. U.S.-listed shares of the Canadian oil and gas producer rose 1.5% in premarket trading. Sign up here. The Calgary-based producer's results come as it pursues a major expansion through its planned about $6 billion acquisition of MEG Energy (MEG.TO) , opens new tab. A MEG shareholder vote on the deal was postponed this week to allow for additional regulatory disclosures. Cenovus produced a record 832,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the quarter, up from 771,300 boepd a year earlier, led by higher volumes at its Foster Creek and Christina Lake projects. Refining throughput also hit a record 710,700 barrels per day (bpd), up from last year's 642,900 bpd, with U.S. plants running at 99% utilization and per-barrel costs down 24% from a year earlier. CEO Jon McKenzie said Cenovus delivered record volumes across the business with major growth projects near completion. Drilling at the company's West White Rose offshore project is due to start by the end of the year, with first oil expected in 2026. The results also come against the backdrop of volatile oil markets, with the benchmark Brent crude averaging about $68 a barrel in the July–September quarter, down more than 13% from a year earlier, as OPEC+ output hikes and slowing global demand pressured prices. Cenovus trimmed its 2025 U.S. downstream throughput forecast to between 510,000 and 515,000 bpd, about 52,500 barrels lower at the midpoint, as it closed the sale of its 50% interest in WRB Refining LP and received proceeds of C$1.8 billion. Cenovus said net income rose to C$1.29 billion ($920 million), or 72 Canadian cents per share, in the three months ended September 30, from C$820 million, or 42 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier. ($1 = 1.4024 Canadian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/canadas-cenovus-energy-third-quarter-profit-rises-higher-production-2025-10-31/

2025-10-31 11:19

PARIS, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Hungary reported a first outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu on a farm this season, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Friday, as Europe faces a swift seasonal upturn in the deadly disease. The spread of avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has raised concerns among governments and the poultry industry after it ravaged flocks around the world in recent years, disrupting supply, fuelling higher food prices and raising the risk of human transmission. Sign up here. Hungary was particularly badly hit by the virus during the 2024/25 season. That flare-up amounted to more than half of the outbreaks recorded on poultry farms in the European Union, with cases mostly detected between end-October and May, official data showed. The H5N1 virus was detected on Monday in a flock of 19,700 fattening duck in the town of Szolnok, and caused the death of 725 birds, the Paris-based WOAH said, citing a report from the Hungarian authorities. The remaining ducks were subsequently culled as a precaution. Fattening ducks are mainly used to make foie gras. Hungary is the second largest producer of the luxury food after France. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/hungary-reports-bird-flu-outbreak-farm-woah-says-2025-10-31/

2025-10-31 11:17

TOKYO, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Japan's Electric Power Development (J-Power) (9513.T) , opens new tab said on Friday it will decommission two coal-fired power plants by March 2029 as part of efforts to meet its 2030 goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 46% from 2013 levels. President Hitoshi Kanno also reaffirmed the company's commitment to completing the Oga-Katagami-Akita offshore wind project in northern Akita prefecture under Japan's second-round public auction framework. Sign up here. J-Power, a wholesale electricity supplier, relies on coal-fired generation for over half of its domestic sales. The units slated for closure are No.1 and No.2 units at the Takasago thermal power station in western Hyogo prefecture, subcritical-pressure plants that began operation in 1968 and 1969, each with a 250-megawatt capacity. "To achieve our 2030 target, we must shut down remaining inefficient thermal units, but we also must maintain supply capacity .... we will decide through discussions with the authorities," Kanno said. He cited the 700-MW No.3 unit at Takehara in western Hiroshima prefecture, and the 1,000-MW No.1 unit at Matsuura in southern Nagasaki prefecture as candidates for future closures. Shutting these, in addition to the two Takasago units, would reduce the utility's domestic capacity by 12%. Japan's power demand is projected to rise due to growing electricity needs from data centres and semiconductor plants, reversing years of decline. Kanno said Japan must accelerate renewable energy deployment, particularly offshore wind, to achieve both carbon neutrality and energy security. Offshore wind developers face global headwinds from rising material, equipment and labour costs. With Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) , opens new tab withdrawing from three first-round auction projects, uncertainty looms over Japan's offshore wind market. "But we are pushing ahead with our Katagami project despite rising costs," Kanno said. A consortium of JERA, J-Power, Itochu (8001.T) , opens new tab and Tohoku Electric Power (9506.T) , opens new tab aims to start operations of the Oga-Katagami-Akita project in autumn 2028, using Vestas' (VWS.CO) , opens new tab wind turbines, Kanno said. The government is reviewing bidding rules for the reopening of the first-round auction, but any decisions should apply retroactively to second- and third-round projects, Kanno said. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/j-power-shut-two-coal-fired-power-plants-committed-offshore-wind-project-2025-10-31/

2025-10-31 10:11

Coinbase's premium pricing may face pressure from increased competition, analysts say Listings of Gemini and Bullish point to maturing crypto market J.P. Morgan sees M&A door open for Coinbase Oct 31 (Reuters) - Coinbase's (COIN.O) , opens new tab first-mover advantage as the only publicly traded crypto exchange helped it top earnings estimates again, but competition is looming from clearer rules and newly listed companies, Wall Street analysts said on Friday. The global crypto market has swelled to $3.7 trillion as institutional and retail investors pour money into digital assets. President Donald Trump has eased regulatory hurdles in the United States after taking office in January, driving bitcoin to record highs and paving the way for the industry's biggest players to tap public markets. Sign up here. "While we think regulatory clarity for cryptocurrency and stablecoins will remain a positive tailwind for volume, it will also likely lead to additional competition," analysts at brokerage Morningstar said, adding Coinbase's premium pricing will likely face increasing pressure. Gemini (GEMI.O) , opens new tab, the crypto exchange founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, listed on the Nasdaq in September. Rival Bullish (BLSH.N) , opens new tab went public in August, while Kraken is reportedly preparing to list in the first half of 2026. The growing roster of public crypto exchanges signals a maturing market and poses the strongest challenge yet to Coinbase's dominance. "Coinbase has established itself as the most institutionally trusted crypto company in the world. That said, we remain cautious on the retail outlook given rising competition and management's recent comments around customers wanting to trade more than just crypto," Piper Sandler analysts wrote in a note. Coinbase ranks third among the top crypto spot exchanges globally on crypto analytics provider CoinMarketCap, trailing Binance and Bybit. It beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit after the bell on Thursday, underpinned by a surge in trading volume. On a post-earnings call, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said regulatory clarity in the U.S. and globally is starting to bear fruit, helping drive growth in the crypto sector, but added it means "that lots of new competition is coming in and so we need to make sure we're executing well". The company has expanded its product portfolio through a string of acquisitions in recent years, including a $2.9 billion deal for derivatives exchange Deribit in May and a $375 million purchase of investment platform Echo earlier this month. CFO Alesia Haas added "we've always faced competition", noting that Coinbase has continued to grow its market share, scale and trading volume. Analysts expect Coinbase to continue its acquisition spree. "We think the M&A door remains very much open for future acquisitions and strategic investments," J.P. Morgan analysts said. "With a leading market position and solid industry and government relationships, we think Coinbase is in an advantaged position to submit competitive bids as an aggressive acquirer." Shares of the crypto exchange were last up 5% in premarket trading. https://www.reuters.com/business/coinbase-holds-edge-us-crypto-race-even-rivals-public-listings-reshape-landscape-2025-10-31/

2025-10-31 09:48

LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - A roller-coaster 2025 is entering its final weeks. The one-year anniversary of Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election arrives alongside key central bank decisions and earnings that could set the short-term tone for markets. Here's a look at the week ahead from Gregor Stuart Hunter in Singapore, Alden Bentley in New York and Alun John, Dhara Ranasinghe and Amanda Cooper in London. Sign up here. 1/ TRICK OR TREAT? On the final day of October, investors gorged on Halloween treats, but they should brace for a potentially tricky November. The Federal Reserve has delivered its second rate cut of the year, Nvidia's (NVDA.O) , opens new tab market value hit $5 trillion as AI fever drives stocks ever higher, and battered bonds end October with strong (price) gains. But in France, a fragmented parliament is beset by volatile budget talks, while Britain faces a key November 26 budget test. The U.S. Supreme Court on November 5 hears arguments on the legality of Trump's sweeping tariffs, and as a government shutdown continues, uncertainty bubbling away in the background could morph into market angst. 2/ JOBLESS The premier event in the coming week may be the non-release of U.S. payrolls data for the second time due to the government shutdown. The employment report is the biggest U.S. economic data-point each month and normally falls on the first Friday. There will be no data on job openings either. Without those, the Federal Reserve will continue to fly almost blind as it navigates what looked like a cooling labour market when it commenced easing in September and followed up on October 29 with another quarter-point cut. Markets will have to focus on a second-tier private-sector release: Wednesday's ADP October National Employment report, which does not have a reliable history of foreshadowing the government jobs data. Earnings are still coming thick and fast, but most of the AI megacaps have already reported and kept Wall Street's runaway train on track. 3/ PUMP IT UP The oil market finds itself at an interesting juncture. On the one hand, there's a possibility that new Western sanctions on Russian oil might help curb a ballooning global surplus of unused oil. On the other, the world's largest exporters are jostling for market share as they unwind self-imposed COVID-era production cuts. Sunday's OPEC+ meeting yielded a modest increase in output in December and a pause in increases in the first quarter of next year, as the producers' group moderates plans to regain market share due to rising fears of a supply glut. In the meantime, the crude price has struggled to get much above $65 a barrel, having stuck to a range of around $63-78 for the better part of a year. With so much uncertainty still over the impact on energy demand from the seismic shifts in global trade, even the International Energy Agency says the most likely direction for prices - in the absence of major geopolitical tensions - is lower. 4/ AUSTRALIA'S "MATERIAL MISS" The Reserve Bank of Australia is broadly expected to keep interest rates on hold at 3.6% when it meets on Tuesday. But the most recent hot inflation report has crushed hopes of a rate cut and complicates the outlook. Consumer prices jumped the most in 2-1/2 years in the September quarter as electricity and travel costs climbed, with annual CPI inflation rate jumping to 3.2%, from 2.1%, above the top end of the RBA's target band. RBA Governor Michele Bullock has said a Q3 rise in core inflation of 0.9% would constitute a "material miss". The even-higher reading suggests the RBA, which has made three 25-basis-point cuts so far this year, is now firmly on hold. Westpac analysts recently wrote that even a February cut was "far from certain now", given this quarter's inflation surprise. 5/ BOE BRINGS THE DRAMA Good news for those who want more central bank excitement: the Bank of England is here. While markets were all but fully pricing in a Fed cut and ECB and BOJ holds this past week - expectations that the central banks met - the situation is different for the BoE, with markets seeing around a 30% chance of 25 basis point easing. If that doesn't change ahead of Thursday's meeting, someone will be disappointed no matter what, and there may be meaningful moves in sterling and gilts. The decision will come down to how policymakers view September's 3.8% CPI print. Big brokerages are split: Goldman and Barclays see a cut, BofA, UBS and Deutsche a hold. Either way, it's going to be close. There are nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee and a 5-4 thriller is possible. https://www.reuters.com/business/take-five/global-markets-themes-graphic-2025-10-31/

2025-10-31 07:58

Fresnillo will pay C$3.65 per share in cash Fresnillo to advance Novador project post-acquisition Probe Gold's largest shareholder Eldorado Gold supports deal Oct 31 (Reuters) - Mexican precious metals miner Fresnillo (FRES.L) , opens new tab has agreed to buy Canada's Probe Gold (PRB.TO) , opens new tab for C$780 million ($556 million) in cash, the companies said on Friday, marking the London-listed firm's expansion into North American markets. The deal comes in the wake of a sharp rally in gold prices this year, as geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty fuel investor demand for safe-haven assets such as bullion. Sign up here. Under the deal, Fresnillo will pay C$3.65 per share in cash, an almost 39% premium to Probe Gold's last closing price, and gain access to its 10 million ounces of gold resources, including the Novador project in Quebec. "After nine years of steady progress advancing the Novador project, we believe this is an opportune moment to transfer the project to an experienced operator," Probe Gold CEO David Palmer said, noting Fresnillo had the expertise to advance the Novador project through permitting and construction. Fresnillo, which operates eight mines in Mexico and has exploration projects in Peru and Chile, said it would take forward Novador's development once the transaction closes. The Novador project, located in Quebec's Val d'Or mining camp, is Probe Gold's flagship project capable of producing over 200,000 ounces annually for more than a decade. Fresnillo CEO Octavio Alvídrez said Mexico would remain central to its strategy while Probe Gold's assets would "meaningfully complement" its project pipeline. Probe Gold's directors, officers and largest shareholder Eldorado Gold, collectively holding 12% of shares, have signed agreements with Fresnillo to vote in favour of the deal. ($1 = 1.4024 Canadian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/business/miner-fresnillo-acquire-canadas-probe-gold-about-556-million-2025-10-31/