2024-08-27 20:48
Aug 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. commodity markets regulator on Tuesday ordered the Swiss energy trader TOTSA TotalEnergies Trading SA to pay a $48 million fine, alleging that the company had attempted to manipulate the market for European benchmark gasoline futures. "The scheme in this matter involved an attack on the market integrity of CFTC-regulated futures contracts on gasoline, and this settlement demonstrates such attacks will not be tolerated in any market," U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Enforcement Director Ian McGinley said in a statement. The parent company, TotalEnergies SE (TTEF.PA) , opens new tab, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Regulators found that in March 2018, the company flooded the market for physical EBOB benchmark gasoline at cut-rate prices while maintaining a large short position betting that EBOB futures would fall in value. The maneuver amounted to losing money on physical sales to increase the value of the short position, according to the CFTC. EBOB is a benchmark of gasoline primarily used in Europe that the CFTC said trades on exchanges it regulates. The agency said the company had offered some cooperation with investigators but had not adequately preserved some WhatsApp instant messages or produced them in a timely manner. Caroline Pham, a Republican member of the five-person commission, dissented against the action, expressing concern the evidence was "flimsy". Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-cftc-totsa-totalenergies-trading-pay-48-mln-attempted-market-manipulation-2024-08-27/
2024-08-27 20:41
CARACAS, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday made major changes to his cabinet, including leadership of the oil and finance ministries and state oil company PDVSA, after a contested election both the ruling party and the opposition claim to have won. The changes, which include a return to the cabinet by ruling party leader and famed hard-liner Diosdado Cabello and a change in duties for Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who will add the oil ministry to her brief, came as Maduro shifted his rhetoric away from the election dispute and toward promised changes. The disagreement over the July 28 election has sparked international calls for the release of full vote tallies, deadly protests and moves by the country's prosecutor to investigate the opposition and arrest journalists, even as the opposition insists a change in government is still possible. The cabinet changes are "a profound renovation of the national government and we are putting together a new team which will help us transition everything for this era, open new paths ... speed the changes the people need," Maduro said during an event broadcast live. Cabello, a close ally of Maduro's predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, will be the new interior, justice and peace minister, after being second in command of ruling party PSUV and the host of a colorful weekly show on state television, where he inveighs against the opposition and Venezuela's international critics. "Today I think Venezuela is on the path of definitive peace, a peace with justice, a peace where the people feel that those who have acted against the constitution and the law have justice applied to them on time," said Cabello, a former vice president and lawmaker who also served as interior and justice minister in the early 2000s. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez will remain in her post, but add the oil ministry to her brief, Maduro added, while Anabel Pereira will replace Rodriguez as finance minister. Rodriguez has built close relationships with business people as finance minister, connections that may help shore up PDVSA sales even despite U.S. sanctions, as the government grapples with high inflation and other economic woes. Hector Obregon is the new president of PDVSA, replacing Pedro Tellechea, who will move to head the Industry Ministry, Maduro said on state television. ELECTION DISPUTE Yvan Gil and Vladimir Padrino will remain in their respective posts as foreign minister and defense minister, Maduro said. Reuters reported earlier, citing three sources, that Maduro would name Obregon to PDVSA and designate a new oil minister. Obregon is a lawyer who was added to PDVSA's executive board last year as part of his government responsibilities, which also include positions at the finance ministry and Venezuela's development bank. Tellechea, appointed to both PDVSA and the oil ministry in 2023, promised to target endemic corruption at the financially troubled company while hoping to win over its thousands of workers, a move critical to securing much-needed cash for the country. Peaceful street protests and international pressure still have the potential to unseat Maduro, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told Reuters on Tuesday. Dozens of employees at PDVSA, the oil ministry and other parts of the public sector have been forced to resign since the election over their political views, workers and unions have said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuelas-maduro-prepares-executive-changes-state-oil-firm-pdvsa-sources-say-2024-08-27/
2024-08-27 20:33
NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Traders in the U.S. equity options market are expecting Nvidia's (NVDA.O) , opens new tab upcoming earnings report to spark a more than $300 billion swing in the shares of the world's most dominant artificial intelligence chipmaker. Options pricing shows that traders anticipate a move of around 9.8% in the company’s shares on Thursday, a day after it reports earnings, data from analytics firm ORATS showed. That's larger than the expected move ahead of any Nvidia report over the last three years and well above the stock's average post-earnings move of 8.1% over that same period, according to ORATS. Given Nvidia's market capitalization of about $3.11 trillion, a 9.8% swing in the shares would translate to about $305 billion, likely the largest expected earnings move for any company in history, analysts said. Such a move would dwarf the market capitalization of 95% of S&P 500 constituents, including Netflix (NFLX.O) , opens new tab and Merck (MRK.N) , opens new tab, according to LSEG data. The results from Nvidia, whose chips are widely seen as the gold standard in artificial intelligence, also have big implications for the broader market. The stock is up some 150% year-to-date, accounting for around a quarter of the S&P 500’s 18% year-to-date gain. "It alone has been a huge contributor to the overall profitability of the S&P 500," said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. "It's the Atlas holding up the market." Options pricing suggests traders are more concerned about missing out on a large upside move from Nvidia than getting hurt by a large drop. Traders are assigning a 7% chance the stock rises more than 20% by Friday, while only a giving a 4% probability to a more than 20% sell-off, according to a Susquehanna Financial analysis of options data. "(Ahead of earnings) people typically want to buy hedges, they want to buy insurance, but in Nvidia's case, a lot of that insurance is FOMO insurance," Sosnick said, referring to the popular acronym for "fear of missing out." "They don't want to miss a rally." Part of the reason options traders are pricing this large a move for Nvidia has to do with how volatile the company's shares have been in the past. Nvidia's average 30-day historical volatility this year - a measure of how much the stock has gyrated over a rolling 30-day period - is about twice the average of the same measure for all other companies with market caps higher than $1 trillion, according to a Reuters analysis of Trade Alert data. "The options are just reflecting how the stock is actually moving," said Christopher Jacobson, a strategist at Susquehanna Financial Group, which makes markets in the securities of Nvidia. "(It's) is just a function of continued uncertainty/optimism with regards to AI and the ultimate size of the opportunity coupled with NVDA having become such a widely followed stock among institutional and retail," he said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/technology/nvidia-results-could-spur-record-300-billion-swing-shares-options-show-2024-08-27/
2024-08-27 20:19
Paramount Global slips after Bronfman abandons bid Super Micro falls as Hindenburg discloses short position S&P 500 +0.16%, Nasdaq +0.16%, Dow +0.02% Aug 27 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended higher on Tuesday and the Dow Jones notched a record-high close ahead of a much-anticipated quarterly report from Nvidia on Wednesday and economic data expected later in the week that could give clues about the path of interest rate cuts. Heavyweight tech-related stocks were mixed, with the focus on upcoming results from Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab, the chipmaker at the center of Wall Street's rally in AI-related stocks. Nvidia's shares climbed 1.5% and it was the most-traded company on U.S. stock exchanges, according to LSEG data. Up 159% in 2024, Nvidia is viewed as the biggest winner so far from AI technology, and its results follow recent concerns about increases in already-hefty spending by Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab, Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab and other major players in their race to dominate emerging AI technology. "There's a really, really high bar to clear for not just Nvidia's earnings and guidance, but the story they tell about the state of AI that kind of lifts the tech sector out of its recent funk," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. Apple (AAPL.O) , opens new tab shares closed 0.4% higher, while Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab dipped 1.4%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.16% to end the session at 5,625.80 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.16% to 17,754.82 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.02% to 41,250.50 points, closing for the second day in a row at a record high. Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, six rose, led by information technology (.SPLRCT) , opens new tab, up 0.63%, followed by a 0.48% gain in financials (.SPSY) , opens new tab. Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer confidence rose to a six-month high in August, while consumers also became more anxious about the labor market after the unemployment rate jumped to near a three-year high of 4.3% last month. Investors will look to July Personal Consumption Expenditure data due on Friday for additional hints at the potential pace of rate cuts. Traders are now betting on an interest rate cut of either 25 or 50 basis points in September, according to CME Group's Fed Watch tool. Meanwhile, UBS Global Wealth Management raised the odds of a U.S. recession to 25% from 20%, citing weakness in the labor market. Paramount Global (PARA.O) , opens new tab slid more than 7% after Edgar Bronfman Jr. abandoned his bid for the company, clearing the way for Skydance Media to take control of Shari Redstone's media empire. Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab fell 1.9% after Canada said it will impose a 100% tariff on the imports of Chinese electric vehicles. The duties apply to all EVs shipped from China, which would include those made by Tesla. Super Micro Computer (SMCI.O) , opens new tab declined 2.6% after short seller Hindenburg Research said it had a short position in the AI server maker. The PHLX Housing index (.HGX) , opens new tab lost 1.2% after data showed single-family home prices fell in June as higher mortgage rates weighed on demand. Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX) , opens new tab by a 1.1-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 50 new highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq recorded 62 new highs and 57 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 8.6 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 11.9 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-inch-up-with-eye-interest-rates-nvidia-results-2024-08-27/
2024-08-27 20:12
TSX ends down 0.4% at 23,259.96 BMO shares slide fall 6.5% after earnings miss Energy loses 2%; oil settles 2.4% lower Real estate rises 1%, hitting an 18-month high Aug 27 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index ended lower on Tuesday, pulling back from a record high, as a drop in oil prices weighed on the energy sector and investors weighed prospects for bank earnings after mixed results from some of Canada's major lenders. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab ended down 89.01 points, or 0.4%, at 23,259.96, after posting a record closing high on Monday. "There's more likely downside pressure for bank earnings moving forward with a slowing Canadian economy as consumers seem to be tapped out at this moment," said Macan Nia, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife Investment Management. Canadian gross domestic data, due on Friday, is expected to show the economy growing in the second quarter at an annualized rate of 1.6%, which is below the roughly 2.4% rate that Canada's central bank estimates for potential growth. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) , opens new tab shares fell 6.5% after the lender reported lower-than-expected profit, warning it would need to continue to set aside money for loans that are unlikely to be repaid. Shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) , opens new tab fared better, rising 2.5%, after the bank beat analysts' profit estimates. The energy sector was down 2% as the price of oil settled 2.4% lower at $75.53 a barrel on worries that slower economic growth in the U.S. and China could reduce demand for energy. The materials group, which includes metal miners and fertilizer companies, also ended lower, falling 0.7%. Real estate was a standout. The sector, which could particularly benefit from recent declines in borrowing costs, rose 1% to trade at its highest level since February 2023. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/tsx-futures-slip-lower-crude-prices-domestic-banks-earnings-2024-08-27/
2024-08-27 19:53
CHICAGO, Aug 27 (Reuters) - A type of genetically modified wheat developed by Argentina's Bioceres Crop Solutions (BIOX.O) , opens new tab may be safely grown and bred in the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday. Bioceres must still complete additional steps, including field trials, that will take years before it can commercialize HB4 wheat, modified to tolerate drought, industry group U.S. Wheat Associates said. Still, USDA's finding moves genetically modified wheat closer to production in the U.S. in a potential win for farmers grappling with drought and more severe weather, despite concerns among some consumers. "Wherever wheat is grown in the world, drought takes its toll on yields and quality, so an innovation like HB4 holds a lot of interest for growers like me," said Michael Peters, an Oklahoma wheat farmer and past chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates. Genetic modification involves altering a plant's makeup by transferring DNA from one organism to another and is common in crops such as corn, used for livestock feed. Some consumer groups oppose genetic modification of wheat over concerns about human health since it is widely used to make bread and pasta, and therefore consumed directly by people. USDA's decision on HB4 wheat is farther than the agency has ever gone with genetically modified wheat, U.S. Wheat Associates said. Bioceres declined to comment. The company has said opposition to genetically modified wheat is easing due to soaring food prices and because GM crops can survive drought and pests, reducing the risk of famine. In May, Bioceres said it started sales of genetically modified wheat seeds in Argentina, the first time the technology became commercially available to farmers anywhere in the world. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded a review of Bioceres' wheat in 2022 without further questions. The FDA oversees the safety of food from new GM crops before they enter the market, while the USDA reviews the impact on agriculture and the environment. Bioceres also has regulatory approval for food and feed use in Nigeria, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and South Africa, and farmers are growing HB4 wheat in Argentina and Brazil, according to U.S. Wheat Associates. Top buyers of U.S. wheat, including Mexico, the Philippines and Japan, have not approved it. Two decades ago, Monsanto Co was working to commercialize wheat bred to withstand treatments of its weed-killer Roundup, but the company halted that effort in 2004. International buyers had threatened to boycott U.S. wheat if the product was introduced to the marketplace. Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) , opens new tab purchased Monsanto in 2018. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-says-genetically-modified-wheat-safe-grow-pending-trials-2024-08-27/
