2025-09-02 20:13
Sept 2 (Reuters) - EOG Resources CEO Ezra Yacob confirmed on Tuesday that the company's project with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is running on schedule, with ADNOC drilling horizontal wells and testing oil to the surface at a shale block in the United Arab Emirates. Houston-based EOG Resources operates the block and had expected to begin drilling in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi in the second half of 2025. Sign up here. EOG also entered Bahrain's upstream sector earlier this year, signing a gas exploration deal with Bahrain's state-owned Bapco Energies. Bapco has horizontally tested gas to the surface at the onshore gas prospect, Yacob added at the Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference in New York. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/adnoc-starts-drilling-wells-eog-resources-uae-shale-play-2025-09-02/
2025-09-02 20:07
Investors await Supreme Court decision on Trump tariff Trump's tariff agenda likely to remain unchanged despite court ruling, backup plans in place Court ruling adds uncertainty to trade policy, affecting Wall Street and Treasury yields Sept 2 (Reuters) - U.S. investors returning from Labor Day break on Tuesday were hit with fresh uncertainty in trade policy after a federal appeals court ruled most of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs illegal, setting up a potential showdown at the Supreme Court. Wall Street's main indexes fell about 1% on Tuesday, while longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields jumped, amid a global bond selloff on fiscal worries. Sign up here. The court allowed the tariffs to remain in place through October 14 to give the Trump administration a chance to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. But the verdict did not affect tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum. Trump on Tuesday said his administration will ask the Supreme Court for an expedited ruling on tariffs as early as Wednesday "because we need an early decision." Several market participants said they were in a wait-and-watch mode for now, but the brewing uncertainty is adding to markets' list of worries, including concerns around the Federal Reserve's independence and increasing risks of U.S. stagflation. "Whether it's the level (of the tariffs) or the timing or now questions about their validity, we've just got to let it play out," said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors about the latest court ruling. "What it will mean in the near term remains to be seen. How will our trade partners react to that? How quickly will this make its way through the Supreme Court now? Lots of questions, not a lot of answers." Trump's steep levies on trading partners triggered market volatility in early April, but increasing clarity on tariff levels and hopes of interest rate cuts have since helped stocks rebound toward record highs. "On a more intermediate-term basis, we think corporate uncertainty around tariffs will remain elevated, though lower than late spring levels," RBC's Head of U.S. Equity Strategy Lori Calvasina said in a note. TRUMP'S TARIFF AGENDA NOT EXPECTED TO CHANGE Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday the administration has a backup plan if the Supreme Court does not uphold Trump's use of emergency powers to impose tariffs. One of the tariff authorities the administration can use, he added, could be Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 50% for five months against imports from countries that are found to discriminate against U.S. commerce. Raymond James Washington Policy Analyst Ed Mill said there are multiple other tariff authorities available to the Trump administration, supporting the view that "the process might change, but the outcome on tariffs will largely stay the same." However, several investors fear that if the current ruling is upheld, the U.S. may have to issue tariff refunds to its trading partners - a move that could deepen fiscal concerns. "The big question will be whether the courts deem that all tariffs collected under emergency powers must be refunded, which at this point could be a (nearly) $200 billion decision," strategists at Glenmede said in a note. https://www.reuters.com/business/us-court-ruling-trumps-tariffs-fuels-market-uncertainty-2025-09-02/
2025-09-02 20:06
KABUL/ MAZAR DARA, Afghanistan, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Nasrullah Khan's voice breaks as he describes how with his own hands he buried three children in one grave and two young men in another after an earthquake struck the mountainous southeastern Afghan province of Kunar on Sunday. Nasrullah, an office worker from Kunar City, travelled six hours into Dewagul Valley in Kunar after the quake to help rescue efforts. Sign up here. "The first man I met had lost 18 members of his family," he said. "The injured and the dead were lying on the ground with no aid. In some villages, only two or three people survived in each household. It was the first time in my life I saw so many dead bodies." "Entire households were gone." In valleys lined with mud-brick homes, survivors carried bodies on woven stretchers. Nasrullah said he saw the bodies of children wrapped in patterned blankets and men digging graves with pickaxes. Sunday's magnitude 6 quake killed some 1,400 people and injured 3,124, with more than 5,400 houses destroyed, according to a Taliban spokesperson. On Tuesday, a second large quake shook the same region, leading to fears of yet more destruction in a country crippled by poverty, war and shrinking aid. Officials said three villages in Kunar were flattened, causing more than 600 deaths. The defence ministry said 40 flights had evacuated 420 victims as rescue teams moved from badly hit villages to more remote hamlets. Gul Bibi, an 80-year-old, was weeping, holding a toddler in her arms, next to a destroyed house in the mountain village of Mazar Dara, one of the places worst hit in Kunar province. "I lost everything," Bibi said, saying her family was buried under the mud and debris of their home. "Just this grandson survived." The United Nations has warned the toll would rise as victims remained trapped under the rubble. In Dara-e-Noor, in the province of Nangarhar, 23-year-old Ziarat Gul said his uncle’s house collapsed, killing a seven-year-old boy and two girls. "We pulled them out with our hands, but they were already gone." He and his family have been sleeping in open fields since the quake. Nasrullah said he went to three villages and helped bury 41 bodies, but not all could be laid to rest. "We buried people quickly, before aftershocks forced us to run from the gravesites," he said. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/afghan-quake-survivors-dig-graves-with-pickaxes-entire-households-wiped-out-2025-09-02/
2025-09-02 19:59
Sept 2 (Reuters) - The Trump administration announced plans on Tuesday for competitive coal lease sales this year in Alabama, Montana, and Utah as part of a broad government effort to bolster domestic coal production. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The sales are part of President Donald Trump's push to revitalize U.S. coal mining despite global efforts to transition to cleaner energy sources to cut planet-warming carbon emissions. Sign up here. KEY QUOTE "Coal has long been the backbone of America's energy and industrial strength," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. "By moving forward with these lease sales, we are creating good-paying jobs, supporting local communities, and securing the resources that keep America strong." BY THE NUMBERS In Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management will offer two leases covering 14,050 acres (5,685.83 hectares) that are estimated to contain 53 million tons of metallurgical coal used in steelmaking. The sale will be held on September 30. Utah's Little Eccles Tract, spanning 120 acres in Emery County, holds an estimated 1.29 million tons of recoverable coal. The planned sale of that lease responds to an application by Canyon Fuel Company and will take place on October 1. In Montana, BLM will hold a sale on October 6 for 1,262 acres with an estimated 167.5 million tons of coal in Big Horn County. The sale could potentially extend the Spring Creek Mine's life through 2051. Navajo Transitional Energy Company is the operator of that mine and applied for the lease. CONTEXT Trump has signed executive orders aimed at boosting coal production, including designating metallurgical coal as a critical mineral. While coal-burning plants now generate less than 20% of U.S. electricity, Trump has argued that deregulation could revive the industry and support energy security. Critics, however, have pointed to coal’s declining competitiveness and environmental impact. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trump-administration-plans-coal-lease-sales-alabama-montana-utah-2025-09-02/
2025-09-02 19:25
Sept 2 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration can proceed with terminating more than $16 billion in grants awarded to non-profit groups to fight climate change, a U.S. federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. Trump's predecessor Joe Biden's signature 2022 Inflation Reduction Act had awarded the grants aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency under Trump had sought to terminate the grants. Sign up here. The EPA under administrator Lee Zeldin maintained the program did not align with the agency's priorities, and it cited concerns with potential fraud, waste and abuse. The FBI and Justice Department under Trump also investigated the program. By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled , opens new tab that a lower-court judge lacked jurisdiction to hear the case brought by five of eight of the non-profits who had collectively been awarded $20 billion under the law's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program. U.S. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao said that because the grant recipients' case was essentially contractual in nature, the case largely belonged before a specialist court that hears monetary claims against the government, the Court of Federal Claims. While U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan did have jurisdiction to hear a claim that the EPA violated the U.S. Constitution by not abiding by Congress' funding decisions, Rao said the agency did no such thing, as nothing in the law limited Zeldin's discretion to withhold or terminate grants. Rao's opinion was joined by a fellow Trump appointee and prompted a dissenting opinion by U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, who called the administration's actions an "unlawful nullification of Congress’s duly enacted policy." The grant funds were being held by Citibank and had been awarded to Climate United Fund, Coalition for Green Capital, Power Forward Communities, Inclusiv and Justice Climate Fund. They sued after access to their collective funding worth over $16 billion was frozen. Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction in April, requiring Citibank to disburse the funds. But her ruling was paused while the appeal was considered. "It's fantastic to see reason prevail in the court system," an EPA spokesperson said in a statement. Climate United CEO Beth Bafford in a statement called the ruling disappointing but vowed "to press on for communities across the country that stand to benefit from clean, abundant, and affordable energy." https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-appeals-court-allows-trumps-epa-nix-climate-grants-2025-09-02/
2025-09-02 19:22
Sterling, yen fall against dollar Britain, France bond yields at multi-year highs on fiscal worries Higher Treasury yields support dollar Key US data due this week NEW YORK/MUMBAI, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Sterling and the Japanese yen slumped on Tuesday on growing investor anxiety about government finances, allowing the dollar to claw back some ground, while traders looked toward Friday's U.S. jobs report for signals on the greenback's next turn. Renewed pressure on bond markets, with Britain's 30-year borrowing costs rising to their highest levels since 1998, spilled over into currency markets, while gold hit fresh record highs. Sign up here. "Negative developments outside of the U.S. are probably what's driving the market today, in terms of dollar strength," said Vassili Serebriakov, FX strategist at UBS in New York. U.S. payrolls data to be released on Friday is likely to determine the path of the dollar in coming weeks, he added. Sterling fell to a 3-1/2 week low and was 1.24% lower in afternoon trade at $1.3375. The dollar strengthened 0.84% to 148.40 yen , hitting its highest against the Japanese currency since August 1. The euro fell 0.61% to $1.1637. While worries about fiscal issues overseas were the main drivers when U.S. markets reopened after the Labor Day holiday, markets also keyed in on late Friday's U.S. appeals court ruling that most of President Donald Trump's tariffs are illegal. The divided court allowed for the tariffs to remain until October 14, to give the administration a chance to file an appeal with the Supreme Court. Also, the return of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday leaves less than a month to pass legislation that would keep federal agencies funded and avert a partial government shutdown. The midmorning release of a slightly weaker-than-expected ISM manufacturing PMI did not elicit much response in the forex market, with Friday's August non-farm payrolls the main focus of the week. While sterling was weighed down by lingering worries over Britain's fiscal position ahead of a budget later this year, dovish-leaning remarks from a Bank of Japan official and the resignation of a key ruling party official pulled down the yen. "Sterling's underperformance is reflecting the growing concerns over the fiscal situation as we move closer to the budget and it becomes a bigger focus for market participants," said Lee Hardman, senior currency analyst at MUFG. Finance minister Rachel Reeves is expected to raise taxes in her autumn budget in order to remain on course for her fiscal targets, potentially adding to the challenge of boosting growth. For the Japanese yen, heightened political uncertainty was likely to remain a drag, while the lack of a hawkish policy signal from Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino on Tuesday would encourage speculators to continue rebuilding short yen positions, Hardman said. The dollar drew some support from an uptick in U.S. Treasury yields amid a broad bond market shakeout, with investors looking to the jobs report for cues on the path of benchmark interest rates. The buck has trended lower all year, and lost more than 2% in August. Against a basket of major currencies , it was up 0.74% Tuesday afternoon, at 98.37. Money markets are currently pricing in a 91% chance that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut rates by 25 basis points this month, but those wagers could be tested by U.S. economic data lined up this week. Concerns about the independence of the Fed have also been in focus for investors in light of Trump's repeated push for lower policy rates and his move to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she denies. Elsewhere, data released on Friday showed that euro zone inflation edged up in August but remained close to the European Central Bank's 2% target, likely reinforcing market expectations that the ECB will keep benchmark rates unchanged in the near term. Spot gold , meanwhile, steadied after touching an all-time high and was last up 1.59% at $3,531.08 a troy ounce. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/weak-pound-yen-shore-up-dollar-bonds-payrolls-focus-2025-09-02/
