2024-08-23 19:24
SAN AGUSTIN ACASAGUASTLAN, Guatemala, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Drought and crop failure are a pervasive threat in Guatemala where hunger and malnutrition run rampant, particularly in rural areas - a reality that international aid programs are trying to curb. Workers from the U.N.'s World Food Program are aiming to train people in Guatemala's rural countryside on sustainable farming practices to help combat malnutrition. Guatemala straddles a region known as the Central American Dry Corridor where, over the past decade, droughts have been longer and more severe, and extreme weather events like hurricanes have been causing widespread damage. This puts families living in the Dry Corridor, particularly small and medium-sized farmers and Indigenous people, in vulnerable situations unable to properly feed their children. Guatemala's rate of stunting is consistently one of the highest in Latin America, UNICEF data shows. In 2022, 44 percent of children in Guatemala fell outside of the normal height-for-age range. "Before we didn't know what fish farming was. There was a lot of malnutrition here," said Lilian Ramos, a fish producer in the Tecuiz community of San Agustin Acasaguastlan, a town in the Dry Corridor. Her young children accompany her to a pond where she tosses in a net, retrieving multiple fish. "We started with a small well and we saw how we grew little by little," Ramos added. The World Food Program training emphasizes the use of innovation and anticipatory actions to minimize damage to crops and food sources, enabling community farms to endure difficult weather challenges and continue producing. "We do see some improvements ... it is an excellent model that, even in terms of permeation, is an example for other countries that are also facing challenges from climate change," said Tania Goossens of the World Food Program in Guatemala. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/drought-breeds-hunger-guatemala-farming-program-aims-help-2024-08-23/
2024-08-23 19:23
NEW YORK, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The rally in U.S. stocks faces an important test next week with earnings from chipmaking giant Nvidia (NVDA.O) , opens new tab, whose blistering run has powered markets throughout 2024. The S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab has pared a sharp drop it suffered after U.S. economic worries contributed to a sell-off at the beginning of the month and again stands near a fresh all-time high. Nvidia, whose chips are widely seen as the gold standard in artificial intelligence, has been at the forefront of that rally, jumping by more than 30% since its recent lows. The stock is up some 150% year-to-date, accounting for around a quarter of the S&P 500’s 17% year-to-date gain. The company’s Aug. 28 earnings report, coupled with guidance on whether it expects corporate investments in AI to continue, could be a key inflection point for market sentiment heading into what is historically a volatile time of the year. The S&P 500 has fallen in September by an average of 0.78% since World War Two, the worst performance of any month, according to CFRA data. "Nvidia is the zeitgeist stock today," said Mike Smith, a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, which holds the company's shares in its portfolios. "You can think of their earnings four times a year as the Super Bowl." Some investors are getting ready for fireworks. Traders are pricing in a swing of around 10.3% in Nvidia’s shares the day after the company reports earnings, according to data from options analytic firm ORATS. 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, ORATS data showed. The results come at the end of an earnings season during which investors have taken a less forgiving view of big tech companies whose earnings failed to justify rich valuations or prodigious spending on AI. Examples include Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab, Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) , opens new tab, whose shares are all down since their July reports. Nvidia’s valuations have also climbed, as the stock soared about 750% since the start of 2023, making it the world’s third-most valuable company as of Thursday, while also drawing comparisons to the dotcom bubble of more than two decades ago. The company’s shares trade at about 37 times forward 12-month earnings estimates, compared with a 20-year average of 29 times, according to LSEG Datastream. Market sentiment could depend as much on Nvidia's guidance as its results. Evidence that it sees robust demand will be a bullish sign that companies are continuing to invest rather than pull back in anticipation of an economic slowdown, said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager, equities, at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management. Nvidia's "connection to the largest companies in the U.S. stock market makes this a must-watch event," he said. "The biggest piece that investors want to know is whether there is sustainability and what demand will look like in '25 and '26," he said. The trajectory of monetary policy and the U.S. economy also looms large for investors. In a Friday morning speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell offered an explicit endorsement of interest rate cuts, saying further cooling in the job market would be unwelcome. Investors will be watching U.S. labor market data on Sept. 6 for evidence of whether last month’s unexpected downshift in employment carried over to August. Signs that employment is continuing to weaken could bring back the recession fears that rocked markets earlier this month. A tight presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and Republican former President Donald Trump may also whip up market uncertainty in the weeks ahead. The August surge in stocks may make it difficult for markets to make much more headway in the near term even if Nvidia’s earnings impress Wall Street, said John Belton, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, which holds shares of the chipmaker. The S&P 500 trades at 21 times expected earnings, far above its long-term average of 15.7. "The stock market as a whole is still trading at stretched valuations so the bar remains high," Belton said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/wall-st-week-ahead-super-bowl-nvidia-earnings-stand-test-searing-ai-trade-2024-08-23/
2024-08-23 18:37
ABIDJAN, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's government will increase its support for small local cocoa exporters to help them more than double their annual purchasing volumes, two government sources said on Friday. Ivorian exporters, which have been struggling to secure financing from local banks due to financial difficulties, have to compete with financially secure international players. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower, produced on average 2.2 million tons of beans over the past three years with big multinationals accounting for around 80% of purchases and exports. At the start of the new cocoa season in October, the government will grant small exporters subsidies of 10 billion CFA francs ($16.75 million) per year over the next four years to help them increase the purchasing volumes to 500,000 metric tons. The government used to grant around 3 billion CFA francs per year. This amount allowed exporters and cooperatives buying and exporting cocoa beans to reach between 150,000 and 200,000 tons per season. "Our aim is to have national champions in the cocoa sector in order to increase their purchasing volumes, which represent less than 10% of our annual production," said one of the sources, who works in the prime minister's office. The other source, who is an official at the agriculture ministry, said this financing should encourage banks to extend loans to small exporters as they will be more financially sound. It should also provide extra support as the European Union prepares to implement new regulations on the import of commodities linked to deforestation, which will make competition among exporters fiercer. Yves Brahima Kone, managing director of the Ivory Coast Coffee and Cocoa Council, the national regulator, told Reuters that though the subsidy was a good gesture, the government needed to do more to make Ivorian companies competitive with other exporters. "If the government wants to achieve this goal, it will need to provide greater, more substantial and sustainable financial support. It's possible, but it will require a larger subsidy," Kone said. ($1 = 597.0000 CFA francs) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/ivory-coast-increases-support-cocoa-exporters-say-sources-2024-08-23/
2024-08-23 18:36
BENGALURU, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Peru's gold exports to India are set to jump 36% from a year ago to a record $3 billion in 2024, driven by rising demand from the world's second-biggest consumer, a senior government official said on Friday. India's gold imports from Peru in the first half of 2024 rose 81% from a year ago to $1.47 billion, Javier Manuel Paulinich Velarde, the Peruvian ambassador to India, told India Gold Conference on Friday. In 2023, India became the second biggest buyer of Peru's gold and it should invest in new gold mining projects in the South American country considering rising demand for the metal, he said. India fulfills most of its gold demand through imports. While China, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. are investing in Peru's mining sector, India has not yet invested despite being a leading buyer of gold, Velarde said. "Currently, we have six major gold projects in the investment stage with a total buying investment of 7 billion dollars," he said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/perus-gold-exports-india-set-hit-record-high-says-official-2024-08-23/
2024-08-23 18:32
Aug 23 (Reuters) - Canada's rail shutdown may still delay loading of some bulk grain ships at the country's west-coast ports despite the government's move to end a stoppage at the nation's two largest railroads, traders and analysts said. At risk are more than 20 bulk cargo ships at or bound for British Columbia ports as in-port grain stocks represent just a fraction of what is scheduled to load over the coming weeks, according to shipping industry and government data. Exporters in the world's top canola producer and No. 3 wheat shipper could rack up vessel demurrage penalties totaling tens of thousands of dollars a day if ships sit idle waiting for supplies, analysts said. Although workers at Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) , opens new tab returned to work on Friday, their union said they will strike on Monday and challenge the constitutionality of the government's move to end the shutdown. Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO) , opens new tab has yet to lift its lockout. Thursday's stoppage marked the first time both railroads had shut down simultaneously. "The rail situation in Canada remains very fluid and uncertain," Mike Steenhoek, executive director at the U.S.-based Soy Transportation Coalition said in a statement. Rail delays threaten the flow of grain from Canada's prairies to export terminals just as farmers begin to harvest their crops. If disruptions persist, sales booked for loading in the autumn are also at risk of being canceled. "(Exporters) could try to declare force majeure and go into arbitration ... or they can rack up the demurrage charges," said independent analyst Wayne Palmer. There were 20 bulk vessels anchored near or en route to Port of Vancouver as of Aug. 19, earmarked for loading with 638,900 metric tons of canola and 428,200 tons of milling wheat, according to vessel lineup data seen by Reuters. Most of the canola was due to be shipped to China, while the wheat was slated for various destinations in Asia, South America and Africa, the data showed. However, the commitments far exceeded commercial stocks in Vancouver of 217,500 tons of canola and 216,100 tons of wheat as of Aug. 11, according to the latest data available from Statistics Canada. Vessel-lineup data identified another two vessels bound for Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to be loaded with 134,200 tons of wheat. Wheat stocks there were just 11,900 tons, StatsCan data showed. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/canada-rail-shutdown-may-still-delay-western-grain-exports-2024-08-23/
2024-08-23 18:23
CARDENAS, Cuba, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Power outages totaling 14 hours or more per day were reported on Thursday across much of crisis-racked Cuba, leaving millions of residents defenseless in the summer heat and humidity. The state-run power company said breakdowns had forced six plants off-line on the outdated and poorly maintained grid. The monopoly provider promised only minor relief for the weekend with humidity forecast at around 90% and temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). On Thursday evening there was no power in Matanzas province just east of Havana, except at the famed Varadero tourism resort and key institutions such as hospitals, according to local social media reports and Reuters witnesses. Residents appeared resigned to their fate and would not provide last names as they sought fresh air on the darkened streets of the town of Santa Marta in Cardenas municipality. "We are already adapted, the Cuban lives like this, laughing calmly, with light or without light," said Doris, sitting outside her home with two adult sons. The blackouts, which disrupt daily life and the economy, have plagued the Communist-run country since 2021, sparking rare protests. They reflect a deepening economic crisis marked by shortages of basic goods, double-digit inflation and a lack of cash to import fuel and parts for infrastructure. Ariel Rodriguez, a 52-year-old restaurant worker at the other end of the Caribbean island nation in eastern Santiago de Cuba, where protests broke out in March demanding food and lights, said by phone that the blackouts had eased since then but were worsening again. “Over the last two weeks power cuts have averaged 10 hours a day, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at night from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.,” he said. “Yesterday they added 11 p.m. to 3:15 a.m.,” Rodriguez added. Residents in eastern Holguin province and central Camaguey and Cienfuegos provinces described similar conditions. Havana has largely been spared the blackouts, which come in tranches of four hours or more, often multiple times over 24 hours. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/massive-blackouts-roil-cuba-2024-08-23/
