2025-10-20 23:17

HOUSTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Venture Global (VG.N) , opens new tab has asked federal regulators for permission to introduce natural gas by Thursday into the final block of its Plaquemines LNG plant, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission grants the permission, Venture Global will soon be producing LNG from its entire Plaquemines plant, more than a year ahead of when it is expected to provide its first set of long term customers with their contracted amounts of gas. Sign up here. Completion of the Plaquemines export facility in Louisiana will bring it to its full capacity of 27.2 million metric tons per annum (mtpa). In September, Plaquemines, the second largest plant in the country, was responsible for more than 17% of total U.S. exports, according to financial firm LSEG. Venture Global, the second largest LNG exporter in the U.S., has aimed to quickly construct and ramp up production at its LNG plants and make money up front by selling LNG produced in the commissioning phase on the spot market at higher liquefaction fees than it can get from its long-term customers. The company has been producing at Plaquemines and selling it on the spot market since December 2024. Venture Global has been taken before courts of arbitration by some of its long-term customers of its first LNG plant, Calcasieu Pass, also in Louisiana, over the length of time they took to receive their LNG. In the case of Calcasieu Pass, Venture Global said it could not provide them with the gas in the agreed timeframe because of a faulty electric system at the plant, while the customers that included the likes of BP (BP.L) , opens new tab and Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab accused the Arlington-based company of profiting by selling the gas on the spot market rather than to them for lower contracted prices. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/venture-global-ready-introduce-natural-gas-into-final-part-plaquemines-lng-plant-2025-10-20/

2025-10-20 23:11

Oct 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is "opportunistically evaluating" a public offering for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, possibly as soon as end-2025, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte said on Monday. "President Trump made the right decision not to take Freddie and Fannie public during his first term and is opportunistically evaluating an offering this time around, which could be as early as the end of 2025," Pulte said on X. "We are focused on running them like a business and taking out costs so I don’t think there’s any limit to what they could be worth one day," Pulte added. Sign up here. Trump, who said in May he was working on taking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public, wants to end the long-standing conservatorship of the housing giants, which have been under the U.S. government's control since 2008 after they suffered heavy losses during the subprime mortgage crisis. He had tried to reduce government control of the pair during his first term. The FHFA, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is expected to play a central role in any effort to return the pair, which backs the majority of the nation's residential mortgages, to the private sector. Shares of both companies, which are traded over the counter, have climbed more than 700% since Nov. 5, 2024, when Trump was elected, and they now have a combined market value of about $20 billion. https://www.reuters.com/business/trump-administration-weighing-fannie-freddie-offering-soon-end-2025-fhfa-2025-10-20/

2025-10-20 22:44

SAO PAULO, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Danish shipping company Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) , opens new tab is testing a blend of Brazilian ethanol with methanol and marine diesel - known as "bunker" - for its vessel engines as part of its efforts to further decarbonize operations, the company announced on Monday. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The initiative could open a new market for Brazil's ethanol industry while helping to reduce the maritime shipping sector's carbon footprint, which currently accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Sign up here. BY THE NUMBERS Maersk, which represents 15% of the global maritime shipping market, is testing a blend with 10% of ethanol. If the whole industry adopted the fuel mix, it could create demand for 50 billion liters of ethanol globally per year. Brazil's expected production this year is around 35 billion liters. KEY QUOTES "This is the first time ethanol is being burned in a two-stroke engine that's four stories tall - it's a completely different scale of research and level of concern," said Danilo Veras, VP of Regulatory Policies at Maersk Latam. CONTEXT Maersk, which aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040, chose the Brazilian ethanol for the test because it comes from existing sugarcane areas or, when corn-based, mostly from the same fields as soybeans, lowering potential impacts for deforestation, according to Veras. WHAT'S NEXT Maersk will complete ethanol blend tests in methanol-powered vessels by October 23, followed by bunker fuel testing. If successful, the company would begin negotiations with major Brazilian ethanol producers, including Raizen (RAIZ4.SA) , opens new tab, Copersucar, Inpasa, FS and Atvos. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/maersk-tests-brazilian-ethanol-mix-make-cleaner-maritime-fuel-2025-10-20/

2025-10-20 22:39

Indexes up: Dow 1.12%, S&P 500 1.07%, Nasdaq 1.37% Philadelphia Semiconductor Index hits all-time high Apple shares hit record high Boeing rises after FAA approves 737 MAX production raise NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks jumped on Monday with finance and technology shares providing much of the upside muscle, as upbeat quarterly earnings results revived risk appetite and investors grew less fearful about regional bank credit quality. A broad rally sent all three major U.S. stock indexes to a sharply higher close. The small cap Russell 2000 (.RUT) , opens new tab outperformed its larger counterparts, rising 2.0%. Sign up here. "It's a good, solid, across-the-board move, there's not a lot of negative in the market," said Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor & market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest in Elmhurst, Illinois. "There’s some relief from the financials ... investors are looking at it as maybe a bit of an overreaction on the downside last week." "As far as the market’s concerned, everything is wonderful again." Apple stock (AAPL.O) , opens new tab touched a record high, while Meta (META.O) , opens new tab, Netflix (NFLX.O) , opens new tab and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab gained between 1.3% and 3.3%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (.SOX) , opens new tab breached an all-time high, ending the session up 1.6%. Third quarter earnings season has shifted into high gear. Notable results this week include Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab, Netflix (NFLX.O) , opens new tab, IBM (IBM.N) , opens new tab, Intel (INTC.O) , opens new tab, GM (GM.N) , opens new tab and Ford (F.N) , opens new tab, along with a spate of other high-profile industrial firms, including aerospace, transports and diversified manufacturers. Upcoming U.S. regional bank results are expected to provide a closer read of the sector on the heels of last week's selloff, which was driven by fears of systemic credit stress. Analysts currently expect third-quarter S&P 500 earnings growth, on aggregate, of 9.3% year-on-year, marking an improvement over their 8.8% growth estimate as of October 1. "A lot of the uncertainty that the businesses were concerned about -- tax legislation, the tariffs -- earlier this year has subsided for the time being, and that's allowed companies to focus on earnings and profitability," said Matthew Keator, managing partner in the Keator Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts. Sentiment was given an extra boost by White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett, who said the federal government shutdown is likely to end this week. With the federal shutdown entering day 20, investors and policymakers have had to feel their way forward amid the resulting data blackout. But on Friday the Labor Department will make an exception by releasing its September consumer price index (CPI), which will provide the data dependent U.S. Federal Reserve with a glimpse at the state of inflation and perhaps an indication regarding the extent to which President Donald Trump's tariffs are affecting price growth. In the ongoing trade skirmish between Washington and Beijing, Trump suggested easing tariffs on China if Beijing resumes key agricultural purchases including soybeans. Trump blamed the latest showdown on China's rare earth export controls. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab rose 515.97 points, or 1.12%, to 46,706.58, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab gained 71.12 points, or 1.07%, to 6,735.13 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab gained 310.57 points, or 1.37%, to 22,990.54. Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, communication services (.SPLRCL) , opens new tab enjoyed the largest percentage gain, while consumer staples (.SPLRCS) , opens new tab and utilities (.SPLRCU) , opens new tab inched lower. Among other stock moves, Boeing (BA.N) , opens new tab advanced 1.8% after the planemaker won approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to raise 737 MAX production to 42 planes per month. WeightWatchers (WW.O) , opens new tab surged 9.3% following the company's announcement that it would partner with Amazon for weight-loss drug delivery. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4.81-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 345 new highs and 47 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 3,599 stocks rose and 1,078 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.34-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 77 new highs and 69 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 17.50 billion shares, compared with the 20.21 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. https://www.reuters.com/business/wall-street-futures-gain-corporate-earnings-momentum-builds-2025-10-20/

2025-10-20 22:25

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Australia's South32 (S32.AX) , opens new tab on Tuesday logged a 135% jump in its first-quarter manganese output, supported by a recovery in its operations following the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Megan. The diversified miner said it had successfully executed the operational recovery plan at its Australia operations and ramped up export shipments after the tropical cyclone damaged infrastructure last year. Sign up here. The domestic manganese division produced 854,000 wet metric tons (wmt) during the first quarter, boosting the company's total quarterly production to 1.4 million wmt. South32's total production for the three months ended September 30 beat Visible Alpha's estimate of 1.23 million wmt and was significantly higher than the 597,000 wmt produced a year earlier. Its South Africa manganese operations produced 551,000 wmt in the first quarter, lower than the prior year's production. Meanwhile, the threat of closure of the Mozambique aluminium smelter continues to hang over the company, which said negotiations to secure affordable power have not progressed. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/australias-south32-posts-135-jump-quarterly-manganese-output-2025-10-20/

2025-10-20 21:35

Oct 20 (Reuters) - The backers of a proposed 800-mile (1,287 km) gas pipeline in Alaska championed by U.S. President Donald Trump expect to complete a key engineering and cost study by the end of this year, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Monday. The ambitious proposal to transport gas from Alaska's far north to the Gulf of Alaska has been talked about for decades but has received new impetus under Trump, who has sought to boost U.S. development of fossil fuels. Sign up here. The pipeline is a joint venture between U.S. energy developer Glenfarne and the state of Alaska's Alaska Gasline Development Corporation. Earlier this year Glenfarne said it expected to make a decision on the project in 2025 and had hired Australian engineering firm Worley (WOR.AX) , opens new tab to prepare a final engineering and cost estimate known as a Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study. "There's a lot of optimism about the Alaska LNG project, and the FEED study should be coming out in December of this year, and I think that we're going to see a lot of interest in that project," Burgum said during an appearance at an event hosted by the American Petroleum Institute trade group. Since returning to office, Trump has promised to push forward the mammoth project to move gas from Alaska's north to be chilled and shipped overseas as liquefied natural gas. Representatives for Glenfarne, AGDC and Worley were not immediately available for comment. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/key-alaska-lng-pipeline-study-will-be-completed-this-year-us-interior-secretary-2025-10-20/