2024-09-11 23:17

BA will commit to buy 4,000 tons of credits Offtake deal, insurance help de-risk corporate loan Partners hope deal will be a template for others LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered will offer the first commercial debt to a technological carbon removal firm after British Airways agreed to an advance purchase of more than 4,000 tonnes of credits from project developer UNDO, the lender told Reuters. The ability to suck climate-damaging carbon emissions out of the air is a central part of the world's attempt to combat global warming, yet many of the technologies are nascent and unproven at scale. While grants, pre-payments and venture capital have typically provided early-stage financing, project developers have been considered too risky for banks to offer them corporate loans, StanChart (STAN.L) , opens new tab said. By agreeing an advance purchase deal with BA (ICAG.L) , opens new tab and backing it with insurance that pays out in the event not enough carbon credits are produced to repay the loan, the credit risk on project developer UNDO is lowered, it added. UNDO uses so-called 'enhanced rock weathering' to speed up a natural process by spreading silicate rock dust over farmland that then captures carbon when it rains, locking it away for more than 100,000 years. The partners in the deal, which also include offtake intermediary CUR8, insurer CFC and broker WTW (WTW.O) , opens new tab, hope its structure can be replicated by other developers and help to scale up the market. Financial terms were not disclosed. "We need a technological solution that can scale, allowing carbon dioxide removals to become affordable across the market and deliver the net in net-zero," said StanChart's Chris Leeds, head of carbon markets development. "This transaction puts money into a project today in an efficient way, through upfront bank finance." Scientists have said around 10 billion tons of carbon emissions may need to be taken from the atmosphere every year by mid-century in order to hit the world's climate goal, yet such removal credits currently form only a small slice of the market. Carrie Harris, director of sustainability at British Airways, said carbon removals formed "a key part" of reaching its climate goals. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/stanchart-offer-first-commercial-debt-carbon-credit-firm-after-ba-commitment-2024-09-11/

2024-09-11 22:59

August Core CPI up 0.3% vs economist estimates for 0.2% Nvidia rises 8% for biggest market boost Trump Media & Technology shares slump, Solar stocks rally Indexes up: Dow 0.31%, S&P 500 1.07%, Nasdaq 2.17% Sept 11 (Reuters) - All three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Wednesday with a boost from the technology sector offsetting investor disappointment at an early morning inflation report, which crushed hopes the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by 50 basis points next week. The S&P 500 technology index (.SPLRCT) , opens new tab finished up 3.3% after opening lower with a big boost from AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab, which added 8%. It was helped by a Semafor report that the U.S. government is considering letting Nvidia export advanced chips to Saudi Arabia. Political developments also drove market sentiment the day after Democrat candidate Kamala Harris put her Republican rival Donald Trump on the defensive in a combative U.S. presidential debate. Earlier, the Labor Department reported the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.2% last month, in line with July. Core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy components, rose 0.3% on a monthly basis, exceeding economist expectations for a 0.2% rise. Traders changed their bets to a 85% probability for a 25 basis points cut by the Fed from 66% on Tuesday and the probability of a 50 basis point cut fell to 15% from 34% a day ago, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool , opens new tab. "Maybe the market was looking for a softer inflation print which would give the Fed more reason to cut by 50 basis points next week." said Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio manager, at Natixis. "This report was in-line to slightly hotter than expectations. As a result, this puts a bit of pressure on the Fed to cut by only 25 basis points." As the day wore on investors may have come to terms with the inflation numbers, according to Janasiewicz who also pointed to technology as the stand out "which has helped prop up the broader market." The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab rose 124.75 points, or 0.31%, to 40,861.71, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab gained 58.61 points, or 1.07%, to 5,554.13 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab gained 369.65 points, or 2.17%, to 17,395.53. Six of the S&P 500's 11 major sectors advanced on the day with consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) , opens new tab the second biggest gainer, up 1.3%. Among the sector laggards, energy (.SPNY) , opens new tab lost 0.93% followed closely by consumer staples (.SPLRCS) , opens new tab, down 0.88%. The S&P 500 financial index (.SPSY) , opens new tab pared losses to close down just 0.39%. At its session low, it was down more than 2%. Its biggest gainer was American Express(AXP.N) , opens new tab, whose financial chief told a conference that credit was strong and consumer spending stable. Some big U.S. lenders also advanced, rebounding from early tumbles. Goldman Sachs (GS.N) , opens new tab closed up 0.9% while JPMorgan (JPM.N) , opens new tab added 0.8%. The sector was hit Tuesday by warnings of a dip in trading revenue, a slower-than-anticipated recovery in investment banking and an expected hit to interest income from looming rate cuts. After the Presidential debate and with eight weeks left until the election, contracts for a Harris victory are trading at 57 cents, with a potential $1 payout, up from 53 cents before the debate, on the PredictIt politics betting platform. Trump contracts are trading at 48 cents versus 52 cents beforehand. As a result, stocks expected to perform well under a Trump presidency fell, with cryptocurrency and blockchain-related shares and prison operators lower. Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT.O) , opens new tab shares slumped 10.5%. Meanwhile, solar stocks, seen as benefiting from a Harris administration, rallied. First Solar (FSLR.O) , opens new tab added 15.2% while Sunrun (RUN.O) , opens new tab rose 11.3% and SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG.O) , opens new tab advanced 8.5%. While the debate offered Wall Street little clarity on key policy issues, some market watchers see Harris' proposals to raise the corporate tax rate as likely to hit company profits, while Trump's tougher stance on tariffs could stoke inflation. GameStop (GME.N) , opens new tab shares fell almost 12% after the videogame retailer said it had filed for an offering of up to 20 million shares and reported lower second-quarter revenue. Shares of lithium miners jumped after Chinese battery giant CATL (300750.SZ) , opens new tab said it plans to make adjustments to lithium carbonate production in Yichun. Albemarle (ALB.N) , opens new tab, one of the largest lithium miners in the world, jumped 13.6%. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.4-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 342 new highs and 130 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,337 stocks rose and 1,882 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.24-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and 17 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 48 new highs and 129 new lows. On U.S. exchanges 12.19 billion shares changed hands compared with the 10.80 billion 20 day moving average. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-dip-after-harris-trump-debate-eyes-inflation-data-2024-09-11/

2024-09-11 22:44

BRASILIA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Brazil on Wednesday asked the European Union not to implement regulations in its deforestation law at the end of the year as scheduled and asked for it to be revised to avoid hurting Brazilian exports. In a letter to the European Commission seen by Reuters, the Brazilian government said the law banning the import of products linked to the destruction of the world's forests could affect almost one third of Brazil's exports to the EU. The law passed in 2022 by the European Parliament was adopted in June last year, allowing 18 months for companies to adapt. The law applies to soy, beef, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, rubber, wood and derivatives, including leather and furniture. "Brazil is one of the main suppliers to the EU of most of the products covered by the legislation, which correspond to more than 30% of our exports to the community bloc," the letter signed by the ministers of agriculture and foreign Affairs said. "In order to avoid impact on our trade relations, we request that the EU not implement the EUDR (EU Deforestation-free Regulation) at the end of 2024 and urgently reassess its approach to the issue," the ministers wrote. Brazil's exports of these products in 2023 reached $46.3 billion dollars, according to Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade data. The EUDR could affect some $15 billion in exports, the government calculates. "We consider the EUDR to be a unilateral and punitive instrument that ignores national laws on combating deforestation," the letter complained, adding that the European law discriminated against countries with forest resources and increased cost for producers and exporters. The EUDR has been an irritant in EU trade talks with Brazil and its partners in the South American Mercosur trade bloc. European Union and South American negotiators who met in Brasilia last week said they made "significant progress" on contentious issues that have been holding up the long-overdue EU-Mercosur agreement. While the free trade deal is separate from the EUDR, Brazilian officials are concerned that the law could be used to reduce their country's quota of agricultural products to the EU and want to seek some form of compensation if the European law is implemented. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-asks-eu-hold-off-implementing-deforestation-law-2024-09-11/

2024-09-11 22:29

WARSAW, Sept 11 (Reuters) - For Andrzej Stanski, who runs a company that organises cruises on Poland's Vistula river, record low water levels mean he has had to alter the routes his boats take. "We're sailing off the route, because here and there you can simply hit a stone," he told Reuters. "The engines cost quite a lot and it's about the safety of both the passengers and ourselves". After a scorching summer across much of eastern Europe, the water in Poland's longest river is at a fraction of its normal levels. In Warsaw the water level was 20 centimetres on Wednesday, data from Poland's Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW) showed, below a previous record low of 26 cm seen in 2015 and against more usual depths of 105-250 cm. A hydrologist from Warsaw University, Jaroslaw Suchozebrski, said Poland was in a state of hydrological drought. "We have less and less water at our disposal, which means that water recipients have to approach it a little more rationally... mainly the energy industry. Our energy production is based on cooling processes using water," he told Reuters. "The second thing is the quality of this water, because the less water flows in the river, the lower the degree of dilution of pollutants." Private Radio RMF reported on Wednesday that dozens of dead fish have been found in southern reaches of the Vistula. Water levels may rise in coming days as IMGW forecasts heavy rainfall but this may bring new risks. "... we may have a very quick reaction of the river and even go from a hydrological drought to a flood," Suchozebrski said. Other countries in central and eastern Europe including Hungary are also experiencing sharp decreases in river water levels, often with serious consequences for agriculture. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/record-low-river-level-poland-hits-tourism-environment-2024-09-11/

2024-09-11 22:02

AMSTERDAM, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Battolyser Systems, a Dutch startup that makes combined battery and green hydrogen producing machines, has said it had raised 30 million euros ($33 million) to fund expansion. Investors included Global Greentech Capital, Innovation Industries and Invest-NL, the Dutch flagship venture capital fund, Battolyser said in a statement. Battolyser, which sealed a 40 million euro financing package with the European Investment Bank in 2023, did not disclose what the latest fund-raising valued it at. Its nickel-iron battery systems are charged during the day when there is an abundance of solar and wind energy. They then use electricity to turn water into green hydrogen. At night, the battery feeds electricity back into factories or the power grid. CEO Mattijs Slee said that following a 1MW pilot at an RWE power plant in Eemshaven, Netherlands, Battolyser plans to market 2.5MW and 5MW modules. Battolyser, a spin-off from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, began developing a 14,000 metre factory in Rotterdam in 2022. ($1 = 0.9081 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/battolyser-systems-says-it-has-raised-33-mln-fund-expansion-2024-09-11/

2024-09-11 21:52

Sept 12 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. The see-saw nature of U.S. market reactions to the latest U.S. inflation figures on Wednesday highlighted investors' general skittishness right now, as they try to predict whether the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 or 50 basis points next week. At the market close, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had posted healthy gains and chalked up their third daily rise, the VIX 'fear index' had fallen for a third day, and Treasury yields bounced back from new cycle lows to end higher across the curve. There was something for everyone in the CPI data, which is perhaps why the bond market swung so much. Core inflation rose a hotter-than-expected 0.3% while the annual headline rate fell to 2.5%, the lowest since February 2021. It may be a similar picture in Asia on Thursday, although the market open will probably be strong as investors take the baton from Wall Street. Japanese futures point to the Nikkei opening around 1.5% higher. The yen on Wednesday surged to its strongest level against the dollar this year after Bank of Japan board member Junko Nakagawa said the central bank will raise rates again if inflation moves in line with policymakers' forecasts. That echoed recent remarks from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda, so nothing new, and the dollar ultimately clawed back nearly all its losses. But the yen's spike perhaps indicates how sensitive the market is to the prospect of the U.S.-Japanese interest rate gap narrowing. The BOJ is only expected to raise rates a further 25 basis points by the end of next year. But signals that the BOJ is still prepared to tighten policy amid bursts of global market volatility and as other central banks cut rates are yen-supportive right now. In that context, Japan's wholesale price inflation for August will be watched closely on Thursday. The annual rate of inflation is expected to have slowed to 2.8% from 3.0% in July, with the monthly rate evaporating to 0.0% from 0.3%. The wholesale price index in July hit a record high for the eighth straight month. The Asian economic calendar's other main point of focus on Thursday is Indian inflation. Economists polled by Reuters expect consumer price inflation essentially held steady at a five-year low of 3.5% in August. That would mark the second month in a row that annual inflation has held below the Reserve Bank of India's 4.0% medium-term target, but the weak rupee will ensure policymakers don't get complacent. A separate Reuters poll showed inflation averaging 4.2% this quarter, accelerating to 4.5%-4.7% in the coming quarters and back above the central bank's target. Money markets are only pricing in one quarter-point rate cut from the RBI this year. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to Asian markets on Thursday:- Japan wholesale inflation (August) - India CPI inflation (August) - India industrial production (July) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-pix-2024-09-11/