2025-09-06 00:46

Choices include current, former Fed governor and White House aide Trump pushes for significant rate cut as job market weakens Treasury secretary rules himself out WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's short list of candidates to succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve now includes his aide Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and current Fed Governor Christopher Waller. Trump told reporters at the White House that the three men were the finalists for appointments to the Fed, adding he would consider Scott Bessent, too, but that the Treasury secretary was not interested. Sign up here. Bessent, who was with the president in the Oval Office, confirmed his lack of interest. "I had four," Trump said. "Now I'm talking about three. He (Bessent) told me: 'I'm not leaving'." The president has made clear he intends to install a Fed leader more aligned with his push for rapid interest-rate cuts, browbeating Powell for being "too late" to act on borrowing costs and for hurting home buyers with higher mortgage rates. Powell's Fed has kept rates on hold all year on concern that Trump's tariffs could reignite inflation, although recently his concerns have shifted to center more on the slowing labor market. The choice of a Fed chair will carry high stakes for financial markets, which closely watch Fed leadership changes for clues about the direction of interest rates, inflation policy and the central bank's independence. U.S. job growth weakened sharply in August and the unemployment rate increased to nearly a four-year high of 4.3%, the Labor Department said on Friday, confirming that labor market conditions were softening. Powell last month noted downside risks to the labor market that "may warrant" a careful policy adjustment, remarks that financial markets and analysts took to mean he would likely support a quarter-point interest-rate cut in September. That's far short of the several percentage points of cuts that Trump has demanded. Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, has been a reliable advocate for Trump's tariffs and other policies, and agrees with Trump that the Fed has kept rates inappropriately high. Warsh has repeatedly called for "regime change" at the Fed. Waller, who ran the St. Louis Fed's research department before Trump picked him to be Fed governor in 2020, would be an institutionalist pick. Bessent released a barrage of criticism against the Fed on Friday and called for a full review of the central bank's operations, from staffing to research to monetary policy. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-short-list-fed-hassett-warsh-waller-2025-09-05/

2025-09-06 00:10

Sept 5 (Reuters) - U.S. LNG firm New Fortress Energy (NFE.O) , opens new tab posted a wider second-quarter loss on Friday, as lower contributions due to asset sales weighed on its performance. The New York-based company reported a net loss of $556.8 million, or $2.02 per share, in the three months ended on June 30, compared to a loss of $86.9 million, or 44 cents per share, a year earlier. Sign up here. NFE's total revenue fell to $301.7 million in the second quarter, from $428 million a year earlier. The company's adjusted core earnings fell to a loss of $3.7 million, from a profit of $120.2 million a year earlier. In May, the company sold its Jamaican assets and operations to Excelerate Energy (EE.N) , opens new tab for $1.06 billion to reduce debt, impacting earnings for New Fortress Energy. The company said it planned to use the proceeds of the transaction to pay down $270 million on its loan. At NFE's LNG import and regasification unit, the operating margin declined to a loss of $7.2 million during the quarter, swinging from a profit of $214.3 million a year ago. The company's operating margin for its shipping segment fell to $32.2 million during the April-June period, from $34.1 million a year earlier. Last year, the company began exploring options, such as bringing in strategic partners or selling assets, after deferring shareholder dividends to preserve cash and working out a deal with bondholders to push back debt maturities. The company's long-term debt as of June 30 stood at $7.8 billion, it said in its earnings report, compared with $8.93 billion as of March 31. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/new-fortress-energy-reports-wider-second-quarter-loss-2025-09-06/

2025-09-06 00:09

Sept 6 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin urged aerospace industry leaders on Friday to press on with efforts to develop booster rocket engines for space launch vehicles and build on Russia's longstanding reputation as a leader in space technology. Putin, who has spent the past week in China and the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok, flew to the southern Russian city of Samara, where he met industry specialists and toured the Kuznetsov design bureau aircraft engine manufacturing plant. Sign up here. Quoted by Russian news agencies, Putin said Russia remained a leading force in the development of the aerospace industry. "It is important to consistently renew production capacity in terms of engines for booster rockets," the agencies quoted Putin as saying late on Friday. "And in doing so, we must not only meet our own current and future needs but also move actively on world markets and be successful competitors." Putin noted Russian success in developing innovations in terms of producing engines, particularly in the energy sector, despite the imposition of sanctions by Western countries linked to Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. "In conditions of restrictions from sanctions, we succeeded in a short period of time in developing a series of innovative engines for energy," Putin was quoted as saying. "These are being actively used, including in terms of gas transport infrastructure." Putin called it "an extremely important theme", particularly for the development of Russian gas exports, including the planned Power of Siberia 2 pipeline under discussion in China this week to bring Russian gas to China. Putin praised the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline as beneficial to both sides. Russia proposed the route years ago, but the plan has gained urgency as it looks to Beijing as a customer to replace Europe, which is trying to reduce Russian energy supplies since the Russian invasion of its smaller neighbour. Putin also pointed to the development of the PD-26 aircraft engine, saying it would allow for the development of military transports and wide-bodied passenger planes. "The development of this project will allow for the modernisation not only of military transport aircraft, but also opens up prospects for construction of a new generation of wide-bodied civil planes," he was quoted as saying. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/putin-urges-russias-aerospace-industry-develop-rocket-engines-2025-09-06/

2025-09-05 23:46

Bessent criticizes Fed's 'missteps,' calls for nonpartisan review Interviews for new Fed chair started Friday Trump seeks to remake Fed board Sept 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday called for renewed scrutiny of the Federal Reserve, including its power to set interest rates, as the Trump administration intensifies its efforts to exert control over a central bank whose insulation from short-term political pressures is widely seen as key to effective control of inflation. "There must also be an honest, independent, nonpartisan review of the entire institution, including monetary policy, regulation, communications, staffing and research," Bessent wrote in the Wall Street Journal. Sign up here. Bessent also called for the Fed to leave bank supervision to other governmental authorities and to "scale back the distortions it causes in the economy," including by bond purchases made outside of true crisis conditions. "The Fed must change course," he said in a longer piece published in The International Economy that excoriated the Fed for policies he said helped feed inflation, enriched the rich at the expense of the poor, and exacerbated the housing affordability crisis. Hours after Bessent called for the review, President Donald Trump told reporters that his Treasury chief was among four candidates on his personal shortlist to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires in May 2026. But Bessent immediately said he was not interested. Trump said he was also considering National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and current Fed Governor Christopher Waller. Bessent himself began interviews on Friday of candidates to replace Powell, a source familiar with the process said. It was not immediately clear who would be interviewed. Characterizing his barrage of criticism as a bid to restore the Fed's independence, Bessent accused the central bank of partisanship and misusing public funds. He said too much had been spent on everything from a renovation of its headquarters to its police force to the staffing of its 12 regional reserve banks, amplifying charges made by Fed critics within and outside of the Trump administration. A Fed spokesperson declined to comment on Bessent's broadside. Fed officials over the years have pushed back against a number of similar accusations. BOARD REPLACEMENTS Trump has been unhappy with Powell since shortly after making him Fed chair in 2018, and all this year has ratcheted up pressure on the Fed to lower rates, as well as moving to install allies in the central bank who will push for cuts. Last week he said he was removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, which Cook says are unfounded. Cook is suing to stop the firing and remains in her job for now. Trump's nominee to fill an open seat at the Fed, Stephen Miran, said at his nomination hearing this week that he would take unpaid leave from his job as White House economic advisor while he does the Fed job, a situation that Democrats say impugns his ability to make monetary policy decisions independently of the president. Some of Bessent's criticisms echo those of the Fed chair candidates. Warsh, for instance, has long called for "regime change" at the Fed and has argued the Fed's balance sheet is far too large. Waller was one of two Fed governors to dissent against the Fed's decision in July not to cut interest rates. The Fed does look set to kick off a series of reductions this month to shore up an increasingly fragile labor market, though no current policymakers have signaled support for the kind of deep rate cuts that Trump has demanded or the wholesale remaking of the Fed that Bessent is now advocating. "The Fed must reestablish its credibility as an independent institution focused solely on its statutory mandate of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates," Bessent said, referring to the three goals Congress sets for the Fed under law. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-treasury-secretary-bessent-calls-big-changes-fed-2025-09-05/

2025-09-05 22:39

Sept 5 (Reuters) - Utility DTE Energy (DTE.N) , opens new tab said on Friday its coke battery unit intends to appeal a U.S. court ruling that found it violated the Clean Air Act permitting rules, with a trial on penalties set to begin on September 15. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's trial brief includes a request for penalties, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sign up here. The EPA had accused EES Coke Battery of violating its 2014 Clean Air Act permit by releasing substantially higher sulfur dioxide emissions than allowed and failing to meet reporting requirements set by Michigan's environmental regulator in 2018 and 2019. DTE on Friday expressed uncertainty about the outcome and potential financial impact with regard to the unit's legal battle with the EPA. The company, which was added as a defendant in the lawsuit last year, had earlier said it could not be held liable for Clean Air Act claims against the unit. The EPA's motion for partial summary judgment on liability was granted by the trial court in August. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/dte-energys-coke-battery-unit-appeal-us-court-ruling-clean-air-act-violations-2025-09-05/

2025-09-05 21:33

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Canadian government on Friday promised hundreds of millions of dollars and less onerous regulations to boost biofuels production, which the country's agriculture minister said faces tough U.S. competition. Prime Minister Mark Carney made support for biofuels and the canola industry one of six areas highlighted in an aid announcement designed to help companies deal with damage from U.S. tariffs and trade disruptions. Sign up here. "We have the U.S. flooding the market with cheaper products, and we've got to do more for our guys here to ensure that they can continue to operate until we get clean fuels regulations amended," Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald told Reuters. Canadian canola, an ingredient in some biofuels, is also facing high duties and tariffs in China, the largest export market for canola seed. The government pledged C$370 million ($267.79 million) in production incentives for Canadian biofuels producers and also said it would overhaul Canada's biofuels regulations. Canadian biofuels producers and the canola industry have complained for years that the U.S. provides more incentives for biofuels production than those in Canada, discouraging Canadian output. A Canadian government investigation into U.S. biofuels supports concluded in May that U.S. programs do not qualify as "dumping and subsidizing" that have hurt Canadian producers, though. The U.S. Renewable Fuels Association said U.S. and Canadian producers both benefit from supportive biofuel policies and should work together. Canadian producers have also complained that regulations are confusing and an obstacle to investment in the sector. During the April election, Carney pledged to improve the situation. Canada's largest renewable diesel facility, owned by Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) , opens new tab, which will use canola oil as one of its feedstocks, went into production in July. However, another major project was shelved this year over regulatory and trade concerns in Canada and the U.S. Biofuels demand has become a key component in the world price of canola, as production in the U.S. and other countries has expanded in recent years and consumed a greater proportion of world vegetable oil crops. ($1 = 1.3817 Canadian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/canada-pledges-money-regulatory-reform-boost-biofuels-2025-09-05/