2025-10-27 20:57

Oct 27 (Reuters) - NextEra Energy (NEE.N) , opens new tab and Google (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab have reached an agreement to restart an Iowa nuclear power plant shut five years ago, the companies said on Monday, in another sign that data-center power demand is renewing interest in U.S. nuclear energy. The technology industry's quest for massive amounts of electricity for artificial-intelligence processing has renewed interest in the country's nuclear reactors, which generate large amounts of around-the-clock power that is virtually carbon free. Sign up here. Under NextEra's deal with Google, the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Cedar Rapids is scheduled to resume operations in early 2029. The restart is backed by a 25-year agreement for Google to buy electricity from the 615-megawatt plant. Shares of NextEra Energy rose over 1% to $87.24 after the bell. The agreement follows a similar announcement at the former Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, which is owned by Constellation Energy, in Pennsylvania to fuel Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab data centers. Google, Microsoft, Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab and other so-called hyperscalers that operate massive cloud-computing infrastructure have also agreed in recent months to buy future energy produced by advanced nuclear technologies, including fusion and small modular reactors. NextEra and Google also will explore the development of new nuclear technology, the companies said. “Restarting Duane Arnold marks an important milestone for NextEra Energy,” said CEO John Ketchum. “Our partnership with Google not only brings nuclear energy back to Iowa — it also accelerates the development of next-generation nuclear technology. The Duane Arnold Energy Center -- Iowa's lone nuclear plant -- closed in 2020 after operating for 45 years. While there are now three U.S. restart efforts under way, including a Michigan power plant that is not connected to a technology deal, no mothballed nuclear power plant has actually been restarted. “This partnership serves as a model for the investments needed across the country to build energy capacity and deliver reliable, clean power, while protecting affordability and creating jobs that will drive the AI-driven economy,” said Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google. One of the plant's minority owners, Central Iowa Power Cooperative, will purchase the remaining portion of the plant's output on the same terms as Google, NextEra said. The utility added that it had also signed agreements to acquire the 30% interest in the Duane Arnold plant owned by that cooperative and Corn Belt Power Cooperative, bringing NextEra's ownership to 100%. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/nextera-energy-partners-with-google-restart-iowa-nuclear-plant-2025-10-27/

2025-10-27 20:36

Planned sale is the most consequential action yet for a Russian company over sanctions Lukoil has vast international exposure, including in Europe, Middle East Lukoil says it is considering bids from potential purchasers MOSCOW, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Russia's second-largest oil producer, Lukoil (LKOH.MM) , opens new tab, said on Monday it would sell its international assets following sanctions over Ukraine announced last week by the United States. The planned sale of the assets is the most consequential action so far by a Russian company in the wake of Western sanctions over Russia's war in Ukraine, which started in February 2022. Sign up here. "The sale of the assets is conducted under OFAC wind down license. If necessary the company plans to apply for extension of the license to ensure uninterrupted operations of its international assets," Lukoil said in its statement, adding that the consideration of bids from potential purchasers had started. On October 22, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia's largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab. On October 15, Britain also targeted Lukoil and Rosneft, as well as 44 so-called shadow fleet tankers, mainly consisting of aging tankers with opaque ownership, in what it described as a new bid to tighten energy sanctions and choke off Kremlin revenue. Moscow-headquartered Lukoil accounts for around 2% of global output. Its name derives from three oil towns in Lukoil's traditional exploration region of western Siberia: Langepas, Urai and Kogalym. The company did not identify specific assets to be sold. Its biggest foreign asset is Iraq's West Qurna 2 oil field, one of the world's largest, in which it holds a 75% stake. The oil field's output topped 480,000 bpd in April, Russia's Interfax news agency has reported. The company owns the 190,000 bpd Lukoil Neftohim Burgas refinery in Bulgaria, the largest in the Balkans, as well as the Petrotel oil refinery in Romania. Lukoil supplies oil to Hungary and Slovakia, as well as to Turkey's STAR refinery owned by Azerbaijan's SOCAR, which depends heavily on Russian crude. The company also has stakes in oil terminals as well as retail fuel chains in Europe and has various upstream and downstream projects in Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, and in Africa and Latin America. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-lukoil-says-it-intends-sell-international-assets-due-western-sanctions-2025-10-27/

2025-10-27 20:34

Benwerrin will look at opportunities up to $500 million Firm will finance development, buyout activity Copper, base metals, bulks, precious metals developers in focus MELBOURNE, Oct 28 (Reuters) - (This Oct. 28 story has been corrected to clarify that Orion Resource Partners will invest alongside the U.S. and Abu Dhabi governments in global mining and smelting projects as part of $1.8 billion in commitments, not that it will receive $1.8 billion to invest, in paragraph 7) Former top executives from Australia-based resources investor Taurus on Tuesday launched a firm that could provide up to $500 million per project for multiple projects in strategic metals worldwide, to help fill a funding gap for junior miners. Sign up here. Benwerrin Investment Partners aims to bolster the supply of metals such as copper seen in huge demand for the energy transition, data centres and defence, at a time when the U.S. and its allies are hunting for alternative sources to dominant producer China. "The 'why now?' is that there's a market that's crying out for capital. There's a staggering number of projects that need to be built across a very diverse group of commodities," Managing Partner Martin Boland told Reuters. He could not disclose how much the firm would have available to invest, due to U.S. regulations around fund-raising, but said it would target junior to mid-tier miners. "Given the retreat of traditional capital providers to the space, private capital is going to need to fill the void in a meaningful way," he said. INTEREST GROWING IN THE SECTOR Governments and other institutions, such as the International Finance Corporation, are increasingly looking to work with specialist resources investors to help develop risky mining projects. Last week, New York-based Orion Resource Partners, among the world's largest mining-focused investment firms, said it would with U.S. and Abu Dhabi governments invest $1.8 billion to support global mining and refining projects. Orion co-founder Doug Silver, an early architect of a type of mine finance called streaming, will work as an adviser to Benwerrin. The firm is evaluating opportunities starting at the low end of the tens of millions of dollars and ranging up to half a billion dollars, Boland said. It will invest in developers of base metals, such as copper, precious metals, bulks and some industrial metals, but not in metals processing or frontier locations, such as West Africa. "Africa is still very investable for us, but probably a bit more selectively than what it was, say, five years ago," he said. Critical minerals such as rare earths will not be a focus given the execution risk attached to these often highly technical projects, Boland said. Benwerrin, named for an Aboriginal word meaning "long hill", will offer capital principally for buyout activity and brownfield projects, which are sites with existing mining infrastructure, as loans or in return for a royalty or stream. Streaming and royalty contracts provide funding in exchange for a portion of production or revenue. They have become a popular source of capital for North American gold miners, led by the success of $37 billion company Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) , opens new tab. Boland, previously an investment banker at Barclays, is one of three to join Benwerrin from Taurus. The team will include 14 sector specialists, including in sustainability, in Perth, Melbourne, Vancouver, Toronto and Denver. Boland said mining has been attracting investors who seek exposure to inflation-linked gains from real assets, and accept that a range of metals will be needed, not just those specific to certain battery technologies. "The energy transition, the AI demand profile, the need for defence - it's really making people understand the role of mined commodities." https://www.reuters.com/business/australian-financiers-launch-investment-firm-tap-strategic-metals-boom-2025-10-27/

2025-10-27 20:22

Canary Capital had SEC interactions before shutdown, says CEO New rules simplify crypto ETF launches, removing lengthy reviews Canary plans more crypto products in coming weeks Bitwise plans Solana ETF launch alongside Canary's offerings Oct 27 (Reuters) - Canary Capital plans to launch the first U.S. exchange-traded products tied to the litecoin and hedera cryptocurrencies on Tuesday, the firm told Reuters, forging ahead despite a government shutdown that has hobbled the U.S. securities regulator. Separately, Bitwise Asset Management said it will launch its own new cryptocurrency ETF, tied to solana, on Tuesday. Sign up here. The launches test a recently streamlined approval process, potentially paving the way for a wave of new cryptocurrency products to come to market without lengthy, product-specific reviews. "We've had several interactions with the SEC" on both filings over the last year, Steven McClurg, Canary's founder and CEO, told Reuters. "We were very much ready to go" before the shutdown. Canary is relying on the mid-September vote by SEC commissioners allowing three national securities exchanges to adopt generic listing standards for cryptocurrency and other commodity exchange-traded products. That vote removed the last obstacle for asset managers hoping to launch dozens of new spot funds tied to an array of cryptocurrencies. SEC officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Previously, new spot crypto ETFs, such as the bitcoin funds launched in January 2024, had to undergo lengthy, product-specific reviews by two different groups of SEC staffers. The new rules enable crypto asset managers to launch products as long as they meet certain criteria. McClurg added that Canary will not launch all of its filed crypto products at once, but will roll out additional products in the coming weeks and months. While the firm is comfortable with launching the litecoin and hedera offerings, based on the extent and nature of pre-shutdown discussions with the SEC, "There are a lot of filings we've still got out there that we don't have that level of comfort with." Together with a 2019 rule designed to streamline the ETF listing process, "the standardized listings give the whole industry plenty of room" to roll out these new products, said Dave Nadig, head of research at ETF.com. https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/canary-capital-plans-launch-first-us-litecoin-hedera-spot-etfs-tuesday-2025-10-27/

2025-10-27 20:17

Indexes up: Dow 0.71%, S&P 500 1.23%, Nasdaq 1.86% Investors await high-profile US results, US-China trade talks US-listed Argentina stocks gain after Milei's election Rare earth miner shares fall Oct 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes posted record closing highs for the second day in a row on Monday as investors were hopeful about the prospects for a U.S.-China trade deal and looked forward to a week packed with high-profile technology earnings and a widely expected U.S. interest rate cut. U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are due to meet on Thursday to decide on a framework that could pause tougher U.S. tariffs and China's rare-earth export curbs, easing market jitters around a trade war and sending Wall Street's "fear gauge" VIX (.VIX) , opens new tab down to a roughly one‑month low. Sign up here. During weekend TV appearances, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent talked about agreements around China buying U.S. soybeans and its rare-earth exports after two days of trade talks in Malaysia. Along with the upcoming meeting, Bessent's comments boosted hopes for easing U.S.-China tensions, said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis, Missouri. Earnings from five of the "Magnificent Seven" megacap companies - Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab, Apple (AAPL.O) , opens new tab, Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab, Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab and Meta (META.O) , opens new tab - later this week will test the market rally's endurance, which has largely depended on optimism around growth and capital expenditures related to artificial intelligence. "With five of the Mag Seven reporting this week, what the market expects to hear is confirmation that all this AI CapEx is coming through, that the revenues and profits from AI are coming through," said Wren. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab rose 337.47 points, or 0.71%, to 47,544.59. The S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab advanced 83.47 points, or 1.23%, to 6,875.16 for its first close above the 6,800 level. The Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab gained 432.59 points, or 1.86%, at 23,637.46. Among the S&P 500's 11 major sectors, three rallied sharply. Communication services (.SPLRCL) , opens new tab added 2.3% with Alphabet's 3.6% rally leading the way. Technology (.SPLRCT) , opens new tab ended up 2% at a fresh record close, along with the Philadelphia Semiconductor index (.SOX) , opens new tab, which added 2.7%. The biggest advance in tech came from Qualcomm (QCOM.O) , opens new tab, which surged 11% after it unveiled two AI chips for data centers, with commercial availability starting next year. AI chip leader Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab also rose 2.8% and provided the S&P 500's biggest boost. Consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) , opens new tab finished up 1.5%, led by Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab which rallied 4.3% on optimism around the U.S.-China talks. But Christopher Brown, Synovus' vice president of investments in private wealth management, said Tesla's rally may be short-lived since the stock is still expensive "even with the best negotiated U.S.-China trade deal." The lagging sectors were consumer staples <.SPLRCS>, off 0.27% and materials (.SPLRCM) , opens new tab, which finished down 0.25%. Shares of U.S.-listed rare earth miners slumped as the prospects for a U.S.-China agreement eased fears of supply disruptions that had boosted the sector this year. Shares of Critical Metals CRML.O , opens new tab ended down 13.7%, while NioCorp Developments NB.O , opens new tab dropped 11.5% and Ramaco Resources METC.O , opens new tab fell 2.6%. U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies including Alibaba Group Holding , JD.com , PDD Holdings (PDD.O) , opens new tab rallied between 2.7% and 3% while Baidu climbed 4.8%. FED RATE CUT FULLY PRICED IN Cooler inflation data last week all but sealed bets for a 25-basis-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, and investors will closely monitor Chair Jerome Powell's comments for clues on a December cut, as the U.S. government shutdown holds up key data releases. Among individual stocks, Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP.O) , opens new tab climbed 7.6% after lifting its annual sales forecast and raising about $7 billion to finance its purchase of Dutch coffee giant JDE Peet's. Lululemon (LULU.O) , opens new tab shares rose 1.8% after the sportswear maker announced a partnership with the National Football League. Janus Henderson (JHG.N) , opens new tab shares rallied 11.3% after it confirmed an acquisition proposal from Trian and General Catalyst. U.S.-listed shares of Argentine companies jumped after President Javier Milei's election victory. YPF gained 23.8% while Grupo Supervielle surged 48%, and Banco Macro rose 37.6%. Grupo Financiero Galicia rose 38.7% while Banco BBVA Argentina advanced around 40.8%. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.74-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, where there were 659 new highs and 69 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,593 stocks rose and 2,145 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.21-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and three new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 132 new highs and 57 new lows. On U.S. exchanges, 19.76 billion shares changed hands, compared with the 20.85 billion moving average for the last 20 sessions. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/wall-st-futures-hit-record-highs-us-china-optimism-tech-results-focus-2025-10-27/

2025-10-27 20:05

Ouattara takes 89.7% of the vote He has presided over period of relatively stability, steady growth Strongest opponents deemed ineligible, voter turnout around 50% Ouattara says he will use new term to pass torch to next generation ABIDJAN, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara secured a fourth term with a commanding reelection win, according to provisional results announced on Monday, an outcome that was largely expected after his strongest opponents were deemed ineligible. The 83-year-old former international banker won 89.77% of the vote, his third consecutive decisive victory after the much closer election that brought him to power in 2011. Sign up here. His predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to acknowledge defeat in that race, sparking a four-month war that killed around 3,000 people. Ouattara has since overseen a period of relative stability and steady economic growth in the world's biggest cocoa producer. Former Commerce Minister Jean-Louis Billon, who acknowledged his defeat to Ouattara on Sunday, received 3.09% of the vote, while former first lady Simone Gbagbo received 2.42%, according to the results read on state television by Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, president of the electoral commission. Simone Gbagbo called Ouattara on Monday to congratulate him on his victory, a source told Reuters. The turnout of around 50% was comparable to the presidential elections in 2020 and 2015 but far below the 80% who voted in the first round in 2010. Laurent Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, former CEO of Credit Suisse, were not legally permitted to run this year, and the remaining opposition candidates lacked the backing of a major political party, making Ouattara the clear favourite. In a statement on Monday, Thiam said the election was "not a real election" and that voting had unfolded in a climate of fear with weak participation. "There was no point in voting. Everything was put in place for Ouattara to win these elections. Candidates Thiam and Laurent Gbagbo were eliminated. There was nothing at stake," said Arsene Kanga, a machinist at a cooking oil production company in Abidjan. Since the war that followed the 2010 election, many Ivorians have soured on political engagement more broadly, said Rinaldo Dipagne, deputy director of the Africa program for International Crisis Group. "People saw that they didn't have a future with politics, or they couldn't imagine that politics would bring positive change to the country," he said. The Constitutional Council is expected to validate the electoral commission's results in the coming days. EYE ON NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS Ouattara, a former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has said that in a fourth term he would continue growing the economy and attracting private investment. He also vowed to use a fourth term to facilitate a passing of the torch to a new generation of political leaders. There is no clear successor at the moment and the ruling party is riven with division. If Ouattara fails to appoint one, Dipagne said, the country could face the same kind of crisis that followed the death of founding President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, marked by political vitriol and armed conflict. The election unfolded without major disruption on Saturday, after days of scattered protests in locations including Yamoussoukro, the political capital, where authorities imposed a curfew on Friday night. The government deployed 44,000 members of the security forces and enforced what Amnesty International said was a disproportionate ban on protests. Hundreds were arrested, and the Interior Ministry said dozens had received prison terms of up to three years for offences including disturbing public order. Government spokesperson Patrick Achi, a former prime minister, told Reuters last week that the government protected freedom of speech but was also determined to maintain order. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ivory-coast-president-ouattara-wins-re-election-provisional-results-say-2025-10-27/