2024-09-10 07:09
DUBAI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthis downed a U.S. MQ-9 drone in Saada province, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Tuesday. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/yemens-houthis-say-they-downed-us-drone-saada-2024-09-10/
2024-09-10 06:45
Sept 10 (Reuters) - AngloGold Ashanti (AU.N) , opens new tab will buy Egypt-focused smaller rival Centamin (CEY.L) , opens new tab in a $2.5 billion stock and cash deal, the companies said on Tuesday, as the U.S.-listed global miner expands its operations in Africa. Shares in Centamin jumped about 24% to 148.10 pence in early trade, their highest level since October 2020. Shares in Centamin's London-listed peer Hochschild (HOCM.L) , opens new tab rose about 4%. New York-listed AngloGold's shares were down 6% in premarket trading. Under the terms of the deal, Centamin shareholders will receive 0.06983 new AngloGold shares for each Centamin share and $0.125 in cash. The implied 163 pence ($2.14) per share offer represents a premium of 36.7% to Centamin's Monday closing price of 120 pence, the companies said in a statement. The acquisition coincides with a flurry of deal activity in the gold mining sector over the past couple of years, with the world's top gold producer Newmont (NEM.N) , opens new tab buying Australia's Newcrest Mining for $16.8 billion in late 2023. On Aug. 12, AngloGold's peer Gold Fields (GFIJ.J) , opens new tab announced a deal to acquire Osisko Mining (OSK.TO) , opens new tab for C$2.16 billion ($1.59 billion), two years after an attempt to buy another Canadian miner, Yamana Gold, was scuppered by a rival offer from Agnico Eagle (AEM.TO) , opens new tab and Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) , opens new tab . Following the completion of the Centamin deal, it is expected that AngloGold shareholders will own about 83.6% and Centamin shareholders about 16.4% of AngloGold Ashanti's enlarged issued share capital. AngloGold Ashanti said it expects the deal to be accretive to free cash flow per share in the first full year post completion of the transaction. Describing the deal as "highly compelling", AngloGold Ashanti Chair Jochen Tilk said it offered "enormous geological potential" that the company was well-placed to develop. Centamin's principal asset is the Sukari gold mine, which is Egypt's largest gold mine as well as one of the world's largest producing mines. Adding Sukari's annual output of 450,000 ounces would push AngloGold's yearly production above 3 million ounces, making it the fourth largest gold producer in the world by volume, behind Newmont, Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) , opens new tab and Agnico Eagle (AEM.TO) , opens new tab. The Centamin acquisition also expands AngloGold's portfolio to yet another key gold producing region. It currently has assets in nine countries - Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Australia, the U.S., Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. The Centamin board said it intends to unanimously recommend the deal to its shareholders. ($1 = 0.7634 pounds) ($1 = 1.3567 Canadian dollars) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/anglogold-ashanti-buy-centamin-25-bln-deal-2024-09-10/
2024-09-10 06:39
COPENHAGEN, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor (EQNR.OL) , opens new tab has discovered gas and oil in the Haltenbanken Vest Unit prospect in the Norwegian Sea, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate said on Tuesday. The well was drilled in connection with the Lavrans discovery, which is part of the Kristin field, according to the offshore directorate. Preliminary estimates indicated a discovery of between 2 million and 4 million standard cubic metres of recoverable oil equivalent, the directorate said. Four million standard cubic metres would correspond to about 25 million barrels of oil equivalent, according to a Reuters calculation. Equinor is the operator and owns 54.82% of the permit while Norwegian state-owned oil firm Petoro holds 22.52%, Vaar Energi 16.66% and TotalEnergies holds the remaining 6%. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/equinor-makes-gas-oil-find-norwegian-sea-2024-09-10/
2024-09-10 06:33
NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - India's Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari urged carmakers on Tuesday to set up vehicle scrapping centres to get polluting vehicles off the roads, adding that the move could boost sales of vehicles by 18-20%. Gadkari told the annual convention of industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) that the government is targeting setting up 20,000 compressed natural gas or CNG stations by 2030 to refuel gas-based vehicles. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-road-transport-minister-urges-carmakers-set-up-scrapping-centres-2024-09-10/
2024-09-10 06:05
LITTLETON, Colorado, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The northern hemisphere summer has not yet officially finished, but United States natural gas markets are already sizing up supply and demand balances for this winter and the next year, and indicate that sharply higher prices may emerge. Forward markets for Henry Hub futures, the benchmark U.S. natural gas price, indicate that prices will average $3.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in 2025, compared to an average of $2.22 so far this year, data from LSEG shows. If realized, that roughly 44% year-on-year price increase would be the steepest annual climb since 2022, and could worsen energy product inflation trends despite a slowdown in broader price gains in the United States. MOOD SWING The bullish outlook in forward markets contrasts with a fairly downbeat mood in U.S. gas markets so far in 2024. U.S. futures plumbed 4-year lows in the spring as major storage hubs emerged from last winter with bloated stockpiles after mild temperatures during the traditionally coldest months of the year cut gas use for heating. Inventory levels have remained around 10% above the long-term average since, and have limited price progress throughout this past summer even as higher demand for cooling systems lifted national gas consumption in July and August. Prices then slumped around 3% on Monday on expectations that a storm forecast to hit Louisiana later this week would cut gas demand by causing power outages and reduced gas use by liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants. Additional storms off the Louisiana coast this fall will likely make further disruptions to key gas demand centers in the region, even as gas supply hubs farther inland continue to operate at near record levels. Through the first eight months of 2024, average U.S. dry gas production hit a record of 102.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), according to LSEG. That total was up around 0.3% from the same months in 2023, and is 9.5% above the average daily production rate from 2020 through 2022. For 2024 as a whole, production is expected to average 103 Bcf/d, and then rise to a new record of 105 Bcf/d in 2025, according to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA). DEMAND DRIVERS Gas use is also set to scale new heights going forward. Power production, industrial processes and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports are the key drivers of U.S. natural gas use. The power sector accounts for around 38% of total U.S. gas demand, while industry consumes an additional 32%, according to EIA. The LNG export sector accounts for an additional 10%, according to the Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The power and industrial demand sectors look primed for further growth in 2025 and beyond, as total national electricity consumption continues to climb and output of manufactured goods and chemicals rises. Gas use in U.S. power generation is likely to accelerate over the coming decade as more inefficient coal-fired power plants are replaced by gas-fired units, which emit around 77% less carbon dioxide per unit of electricity than coal plants. U.S. LNG exports also look set to expand to new records, as new export terminals crank up operations and tap into growing global use of natural gas. The volumes of U.S. natural gas consumed by LNG exporters, known as feedgas, are expected to climb from around 13 Bcf/d currently to 17 Bcf/d by the end of 2025, according to LSEG. PRICE SUPPORT VS PRICE PAIN That 31% climb in gas use by the LNG export sector is expected to help tighten the U.S. supply of natural gas just as gas use in power generation also climbs. In response, prices are set to trend higher, which is reflected in the current upward-sloping forward curve for the U.S. natural gas market. Higher gas prices should in turn spark a supply response, and motivate producers to lift output. On the other hand, high gas prices may start to trim consumer demand, especially among the cost-conscious industrial sector which may electrify certain processes if direct gas-use costs climb too high. High gas acquisition costs may also eat into the demand for gas by certain LNG exporters, especially those that do not already have in place favourable terms with gas buyers in overseas markets. Currently, average gas prices in the Netherlands, a major European gas consumption hub, are around 4.6 times above Henry Hub prices, and so can present a hefty profit opportunity for U.S. LNG exporters with the means to deliver cargoes. By the end of 2025, however, that price differential is forecast to decline to 3.5 times the Henry Hub level, due in large part to rising U.S. gas prices, and may narrow even more if European gas prices decline. Gyrations in forward U.S. and international gas prices can be expected to make further changes to the economics of gas production, use and exports going forward. As a result, international traders will continue to keep one eye on far-forward gas prices in key markets, even if current prices do not show much sign of strength. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-natural-gas-markets-point-steep-price-rise-2025-maguire-2024-09-10/
2024-09-10 05:55
Stocks mixed as economic worries meet rate cut hopes CPI report on tap Banks under pressure after Barr's bank capital plan revisions JPMorgan Chase's interest income warning further rattles sector Oil dips as OPEC+ lowers demand forecast NEW YORK, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained ground while Brent crude prices hit a 3-1/2-year low on Tuesday amid concerns over softening global demand a day ahead of key inflation data. Market participants were girding for the Labor Department's consumer price index report, and the first debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, who are locked in a tight race for the White House. Data from China showing a spike in exports appeared to be in anticipation of tighter tariffs from trading partners, including the incoming U.S. administration. Megacap tech and tech-related stocks helped boost the Nasdaq , while the S&P 500 posted a more modest gain and the blue-chip Dow finished in the red. "It really feels like today is kind of a calm before the storm," said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. "We obviously have the first presidential debate between Trump and Harris later this evening, but then we have the CPI inflation data tomorrow and investors are kind of on strike right now with no major buying or selling." Shares of big banks were under pressure after Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr unveiled sweeping bank capital plan revisions. The sector was further rattled after JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) , opens new tab issued an interest income warning as interest rates are expected to ease. The warning from JPMorgan Chase "is a reminder that there still are some cracks in the economy as we head into the end of the year," Detrick added. Wednesday's CPI report is expected to show inflation drifting closer to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, reflecting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's belief that price growth is under control, and softness in the labor market suggests the time has come for an interest rate cut. Financial markets are baking in a 71% likelihood that the central bank will cut its Fed funds target rate by 25 basis points at the conclusion of its monetary policy meeting next week, with a 31% chance of a supersized 50 basis point rate cut, according to CME's FedWatch tool. "Investors are firmly focused on what the Fed is going to do, and on economic reports," said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, in New York. "So far, the data indicates that the most likely scenario is a soft landing or very mild recession." The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 92.63 points, or 0.23%, to 40,736.96; the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab gained 24.47 points, or 0.45%, to 5,495.52; and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab added 141.28 points, or 0.84%, to 17,025.88. European stocks lost ground, weighed by bank and energy stocks as investors took a cautionary stance ahead of the U.S. inflation data and an anticipated rate cut from the European Central Bank later in the week. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) , opens new tab lost 0.54% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS) , opens new tab gained 0.17%. Emerging market stocks lost 0.07%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) , opens new tab closed 0.07% higher, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) , opens new tab lost 0.16%. U.S. Treasury yields dipped ahead of the debate and Wednesday's CPI report. Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 14/32 in price to yield 3.6479%, down from 3.699% late on Monday. The 30-year bond last rose 20/32 in price to yield 3.9648%, down from 3.999% late on Monday. The dollar was last nominally higher against a basket of world currencies. The dollar index (.DXY) , opens new tab rose 0.06%, with the euro down 0.07% to $1.1026. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.60% versus the greenback at 142.33 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.3085, up 0.10% on the day. Oil prices slid and Brent dipped below $70 per barrel for the first time since December 2021 as a lower demand forecast from OPEC+ offset potential U.S. supply concerns due to Tropical Storm Francine. U.S. crude tumbled 4.31% to settle at $65.75 per barrel, while Brent settled at $69.19 per barrel, off 3.69% on the day. Gold firmed above the $2,500 level as investors positioned themselves ahead of the CPI report. Spot gold added 0.5% to $2,516.61 an ounce. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/global-markets-wrapup-1-2024-09-10/
