2024-08-20 23:25

August 21 (Reuters) - Australian oil and gas explorer Santos (STO.AX) , opens new tab posted an 18% drop in its first-half profit on Wednesday, hurt by weaker realized prices and a decline in production and sales volume amid poor demand from top consumer China. Geopolitical tensions, including Red Sea LNG trade disruptions and Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, are driving price volatility, while a slowing recovery in China is hurting demand. Sales volume for the half year was 46.4 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), down from 47.1 mmboe a year earlier. The country's second-largest independent gas producer reported underlying profit of $654 million for the six months ended June 30, down from $801 million last year. That compares to a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of $694.5 million. It declared an interim dividend of 13 cents per share, compared to 8.7 cents a year earlier. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/australias-santos-posts-18-drop-first-half-profit-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 22:41

Palo Alto rises on upbeat forecast Eli Lilly rises as weight-loss drug cuts diabetes risk in trial Labor Department to issue preliminary data revisions on Wednesday Indexes down: Dow 0.15%, S&P 500 0.20%, Nasdaq 0.33% NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday, breaking their recent winning streak amid few market-moving catalysts ahead of the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, set to get under way on Thursday. All three major U.S. stock indexes edged down, ending a multi-session rally in which the equities market bounced back from a steep sell-off driven by recession fears. "Last week was the best week of the year for stocks, which begs the question whether the rally will continue," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. "But I don’t think today is indicative of a trend change," he added. "Investors are taking a pause and they’re sleepy now after feasting for the last couple weeks." The eight days of consecutive daily gains were the longest winning streaks for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq since November and December, respectively. On Thursday, representatives from central banks around the globe are expected to converge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for their annual Economic Symposium, at which U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is expected to deliver remarks on Friday. Powell's speech will be parsed by market participants for hints regarding the number and timing of expected policy rate cuts this year and next. "The question is, is the rate cut going to be 25 or 50 basis points, and I think that's where a lot of the reading between the lines is going to happen, trying to see how aggressive that first cut is going to be," Carlson said. Financial markets are currently pricing in a 69.5% likelihood of a 25 basis-point reduction of the Fed funds target rate at the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in September, with a 30.5% chance of a super-sized cut of 50 basis points, according to CME's FedWatch tool. On Wednesday, the Labor Department is expected to release preliminary benchmark revisions to its employment data for the 12 months through March. A significant downward revision to the data could potentially affect the data-dependent Fed's policy path. The Democratic National Convention in Chicago entered its second day on Tuesday as election-year tensions potentially exacerbate market swings at a time when the light volume typical of late summer trading can trigger market volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) , opens new tab fell 61.56 points, or 0.15%, to 40,834.97, the S&P 500 (.SPX) , opens new tab lost 11.13 points, or 0.20%, to 5,597.12 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) , opens new tab dropped 59.83 points, or 0.33%, to 17,816.94. Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, energy stocks (.SPNY) , opens new tab suffered the largest percentage drop, sliding 2.7%. Consumer staples (.SPLRCS) , opens new tab led the gainers, rising 0.5%. Eli Lilly's (LLY.N) , opens new tab weight-loss drug Zepbound was shown to drastically cut the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in pre-diabetic adults, sending the drugmaker's shares up 3.1%. Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks (PANW.O) , opens new tab jumped 7.2% after its fiscal 2025 revenue and profit forecasts beat analyst estimates. Boeing's (BA.N) , opens new tab shares slid 4.2% in the wake of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's announcement that it was adopting an airworthiness directive for the planemaker's 787 Dreamliner. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.55-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.84-to-1 ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted 38 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 75 new highs and 72 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.93 billion shares, compared with the 12.22 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-steady-after-sp-extends-winning-run-fed-cues-awaited-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 21:56

Aug 20 (Reuters) - Liquefied natural gas firm NextDecade (NEXT.O) , opens new tab has withdrawn its application at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for building a carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility, the company said on Tuesday. The company had proposed the project in 2021 to reduce permitted carbon dioxide emissions at Rio Grande, its LNG facility in Texas, by more than 90%. NextDecade said its subsidiary Rio Grande LNG has requested the FERC to terminate the CCS proceeding. "The CCS project at RGLNG is not sufficiently developed to allow FERC review to continue at this time," said NextDecade CEO Matt Schatzman. Earlier this month, a U.S. court overturned the FERC's authorization for NextDecade's Rio Grande LNG project for not issuing a supplemental environmental impact statement. The facility has been in development for several years, suffering repeated delays, and the phase 1 is now expected to reach completion by early 2029 at an expected cost of about $18 billion. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/nextdecade-withdraws-carbon-capture-project-application-ferc-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 21:52

Aug 21 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets. Interest rate decisions in Thailand and Indonesia , opens new tab top the Asian calendar on Wednesday, as investors put the recent rebound across many markets on hold and look ahead to a keynote speech from U.S. Fed chief Jerome Powell later in the week. The global equity market picture going into Wednesday appears to be one of consolidation, while U.S. Treasury yields are retreating once again and the dollar is printing fresh lows for the year. Fed Governor Michelle Bowman, one of the most hawkish U.S. rate-setters, on Tuesday repeated that she sees upside risks to inflation and is cautious about cutting rates. But traders are increasingly confident the easing cycle will begin next month, and are putting a 30% probability on the Fed kicking it off with a half percentage point cut. The two-year Treasury yield is back below 4.00% and the dollar index is down 3% this month. This is supportive of Asian and emerging markets - MSCI's emerging market currency index on Tuesday hit a fresh record high. Taking advantage of the dollar's weakness, the Chinese yuan posted its biggest one-day rise this year at the central bank's daily fixing on Tuesday. In the spot market, the yuan registered its strongest close since Jan. 2. Asia's calendar on Wednesday also includes Japanese trade figures and South Korean producer price inflation, but the focus will be on Bangkok and Jakarta. The Bank of Thailand will keep its one-day repo rate unchanged at 2.50% and through the first quarter of next year, according to a Reuters poll, as policymakers balance growth, inflation and ongoing political instability. Rates traders are more dovish though, attaching a roughly 80% probability to a quarter-point cut in December. Inflation is running below target and the government has repeatedly called for interest rates to be cut, but central bank governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput has so far resisted. Figures on Tuesday showed that the Thai economy expanded in the second quarter faster than economists had expected, with annual growth reaching 2.3% against estimates of 2.1%. First quarter growth was revised up too. Bank Indonesia, meanwhile, is also widely expected to keep its benchmark seven-day repo rate on hold at 6.25%, then cut borrowing costs in the fourth quarter after the Fed's easing cycle gets underway, according to a Reuters poll. Annual inflation is barely 2.00%, the lowest in two and a half years, but policymakers are wary that easing policy too soon could weigh heavily on the rupiah. Asian currencies are generally weaker against the dollar so far this year but have recovered most of these losses in recent weeks. The Thai baht is even up slightly year to date. Here are key developments that could provide more direction to Asian markets on Wednesday: - Thailand interest rate decision - Indonesia interest rate decision - Japan trade (July) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/global-markets-view-asia-graphic-pix-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 21:03

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Argentine authorities have quarantined a cargo ship in the Parana River over a suspected case of mpox onboard, the government said on Tuesday, as global public health authorities remain on alert for a new faster-spreading variant of the virus. The quarantined Liberian-flagged ship was sailing from Santos, Brazil - also a major commodities hub - to pick up soy cargo, according to the health ministry and industry body the Argentine Naval League. The World Health Organization (WHO) last week declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the virus spread rapidly in Africa. A day later, a case of the clade 1b variant was confirmed in Sweden, the first sign of its spread outside Africa. The ship near Argentina's inland grains port of Rosario alerted authorities that "one of its crew members of Indian nationality showed cyst-like skin lesions predominantly on the chest and face," the ministry said in a statement, adding the person had been isolated from the rest of the crew. The ministry said public health emergency protocol was then activated and the ship, which had been bound for the San Lorenzo port in the Santa Fe province, had to drop anchor in the river. Only medical personnel will be able to board the ship, while the whole crew will be required to quarantine pending test results, the ministry added. Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can kill. The clade 1b strain has caused concern because it seems to spread more easily through routine close contact. Some 13 countries have reported mpox cases caused by other strains across the Americas this year, according to WHO data as of last week. Argentina has previously recorded eight cases, though none were the clade 1b strain. Denmark's Bavarian Nordic (BAVA.CO) , opens new tab is set to decide this week on whether to ramp up vaccine production, while Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche (ROG.S) , opens new tab has said it is looking to boost its laboratory testing capacity. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ship-argentinas-parana-river-is-quarantined-suspected-mpox-case-local-media-2024-08-20/

2024-08-20 20:45

BERLIN, Aug 20 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 20 story has been corrected to rectify the figure to 250,000, not 25 million, in the headline and paragraph 1) German authorities have seized almost 250,000 euros ($279,000) in cash in a nationwide operation targeting cryptocurrency ATMs, the country's financial regulator BaFin said in a statement on Tuesday. Authorities seized 13 machines that had been operating without the necessary permits, posing a risk of money-laundering, according to the regulator. The ATMs had been used to trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and were located in 35 different locations, the statement said. BaFin worked together with law enforcement and the German Bundesbank to conduct the operation. ($1 = 0.9002 euros) ($1 = 0.8973 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-seizes-almost-25-mln-cash-crypto-atm-sting-2024-08-20/