European M&A Shows Signs of Life With $10 Billion Deal Flurry
European deals are finally starting to show signs of life, with more than $10 billion of takeovers announced at the start of this week.
Italian drilling specialist Saipem SpA led the charge, saying over the weekend it plans to combine with Subsea 7 SA in a transaction valuing the Oslo-listed firm at €4.65 billion ($4.9 billion). Tech investor Prosus NV then announced Monday it will buy food delivery group Just Eat Takeaway.com NV for €4.1 billion. In the UK, National Grid Plc said it will sell a renewables business to Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. for $1.7 billion.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Foreign aid cuts could impact agriculture industry in Pa. and other states, advocates say
Norwood Farms in Henry County, Tennessee, on Sept. 19, 2019. (USDA Photo by Lance Cheung) Federal cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development assistance programs will hurt American farmers and the safety of their crops, said several agricultural research leaders at a forum hosted by U.S. Senate Democrats. 'These cuts are clearly problematic for our standing in the world, our leadership in the world, our security, our trade relationships,' Sen. Amy Klobuchar said. 'But it also socks us here at home.' Klobuchar of Minnesota, Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member, hosted a forum to discuss the relationship between foreign assistance programs and the U.S. agriculture market. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Through the Food for Peace program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture facilitates purchases of American crops and partners with non-governmental organizations to distribute these surplus crops to crisis areas around the world. Under the 2026 fiscal year budget request, this program will see major cuts, which may impact American farmers, forum speakers said. Additionally, the reduction of funding to agriculture innovation labs at public universities may leave U.S. crops vulnerable to future diseases. Dr. David Hughes, director of the USAID Innovation Lab on Current and Emerging Threats to Crops at Penn State University, said funding cuts impact his team's ability to study potential threats to U.S. agriculture in 'safe spaces' around the globe. His innovation lab, along with the Food Safety Program at Purdue University, the Livestock Systems Program at University of Florida and Peanut Production, a program addressing malnutrition at the University of Georgia, are among the universities that will see cuts under the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE. Hughes said his team members study threats to agriculture overseas, to 'quickly deploy' mechanisms against those threats when the time comes. One threat the team is studying is thrips, a small insect that poses a risk to the U.S. floral industry. His team uses a space in Nepal to reduce risk to local crops. Additionally, Hughes and his team at Penn State have been developing an artificial intelligence system called PlantVillage which provides advice to help farmers cope with climate change to increase the yield and profitability of their crops. He says many American and European scientists are 'decamping' to China because they fill a space of 'research excellence' left by cuts to research in the United States. 'You want to make sure if you do have an AI system giving knowledge to American farmers, you better be sure it's not a made-in-China system.' Hughes said. 'To be able to count on that institutional market that comes from food assistance is a significant benefit to the U.S. farmer,' said Thoric Cederstrom, International Food Aid representative on the U.S. Dry Bean Council. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Cederstrom said he doesn't think there is any organization that 'stands ready to fill that void,' left by USAID. He argues there is 'enlightened self-interest' in the purchase of American crops from farmers to be used as aid abroad. This purchase helps in 'stabilizing demand and prices for farmers across the heartland' and 'offset the risk of unpredictable market, trade disruptions and climate variability.' The USAID programs create a market that farms can respond to to turn a profit and 'generate income that keeps their businesses active.' 'There couldn't be a worse time to lower our guard,' said Kevin Shea, former administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at USDA. 'African swine fever in the Dominican Republic, very close to our shores, very easily just one trip away from getting here. That's just one example. Foot and mouth disease, eradicated a century ago in America, is now appearing all around the world for the first time in many, many years. Another big concern for us. And screwworm has breached the barrier in Panama for many years and has made it into Mexico.' Shea says that the inspection service has lost nearly 1,300 or around 15% of the workforce has left 'in the past few months' and with the additional cuts under the FY26 budget request 'APHIS can not do its job.' Both Hughes and Shea talked about citrus greening disease, which has impacted the citrus industry in Florida as an example of the need for research and inspection programs. Sarah Charles, former assistant to the administrator of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, said despite the cuts, the career staff left at USAID are working 'furiously' to move food kept in warehouses around that globe, 'even knowing they have been fired,' to areas in need. She also said the U.S. government response to crises, such as the 2025 Myanmar earthquake, has been 'limited' because the capacity has been 'taken offline by the Trump administration.' China showed up in a major capacity, but many of its outreach programs are through the government, so the networks built by the U.S. with non-governmental partners and civil society organizations have been 'abandoned,' Charles said. 'Food rations that could supply three and a half million people for a month are rotting in warehouses around the world because of USAID cuts,' Shaheen said. 'Sadly, people are going hungry while farmers are losing a critical buyer for their crops.' Tom Foley is an intern reporter for Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Global EV sales rise in May as China hits 2025 peak -Rho Motion
By Jesus Calero (Reuters) -Global sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles rose 24% in May compared with the same period a year ago, as strength in China offset slower growth in North America, according to market research firm Rho Motion. Electric vehicle sales in China surpassed over one million units in a single month for the first time this year, driven by strong domestic demand and targeted export efforts from Chinese manufacturers, notably BYD, tapping into emerging markets. BYD's exports to Mexico and Southeast Asia, along with Uzbekistan, have significantly boosted sales in these regions, Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester said. Fleet incentives in Germany and robust growth in Southern Europe helped lift the European market, while the expiry of Canadian subsidies dragged on North American demand, he added. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Global automakers face a 25% import tariff in the United States, the world's second-largest car market, causing many of them to withdraw their outlooks for 2025. In Europe, new incentives for fleet buyers in Germany are expected to support electric car sales through the second half of the year. Tesla's Model Y production in Berlin shields it from tariffs, yet it faces market share pressures as production ramps up globally amidst shifting trade tensions. President Donald Trump's stance towards emissions standards and uncertainties around tariffs has also hampered EV growth in North America. In the U.S., tax credits for EVs are still available but will begin phasing out from 2026, contributing to hesitation among buyers. BY THE NUMBERS Global sales of battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids rose to 1.6 million units in May, Rho Motion data showed. Sales in China grew more than 24% from the same month last year to 1.02 million vehicles. Europe posted a 36.2% increase to 0.33 million units, while North American sales edged up just 7.5% to 0.16 million. Sales in the rest of the world rose 38% to 0.15 million vehicles. KEY QUOTE "The story this month with global vehicle sales is the continued chasm between Chinese market growth versus the faltering market in North America," Charles Lester said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNBC
2 hours ago
- CNBC
An Israeli attack on Iran could send oil prices above $100 as tensions mount
Beset by near-universal bearish outlooks just a month ago, oil prices could spike to more than $100 a barrel in the event of an Israeli attack on Iran, some analysts are warning. Crude prices spiked as much as 5% overnight — before paring gains — on fears of military escalation between Iran and Israel as President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of some U.S. personnel from embassies and bases across the Middle East. The front-month August contract for global benchmark Brent crude was trading at $69 per barrel at 3:20 p.m. ET on Thursday, while the front-month July U.S. WTI contract was at $67.7 per barrel. "They [U.S. military personnel] are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place and we will see what happens... We have given notice to move out," Trump told reporters on Wednesday. The Pentagon has ordered the withdrawal of troops and non-essential staff from embassies in Baghdad, Kuwait and Bahrain. The jury is still out as to whether the moves are a pressure play ahead of upcoming U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, or whether the U.S., Israel and Iran are truly on the verge of conflict. The geopolitical risk premium is "already at least partially reflected in current oil prices," according to J.P. Morgan's global commodities research team, citing Brent crude trading at just under $70 a barrel, already above its model-derived fair value figure of $66 for June. "This suggests an elevated 7% probability of a worst-case scenario, where the price reaction is exponential rather than linear, with the impact on supply potentially extending beyond a 2.1 mbd (million barrels per day) reduction in Iranian oil exports," the bank's research team wrote in a note published Thursday. Iran is OPEC's third-largest crude producer. Israel appears ready to attack Iran, according to reports citing U.S. and European officials, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pressing Trump to allow strikes. But the American president said in late May that he had warned Netanyahu against attacking Iran while negotiations with Washington were under way. U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is currently set to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oman on Sunday for a sixth round of negotiations. Strait of Hormuz in focus Oil traders are focusing on the potential of a wider conflict shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which 20% of the volume of the world's total oil consumption passes daily. The British Navy on Wednesday issued a rare warning to ships in the region, saying it had "been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners." It urged caution for vessels transiting "the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Straits of Hormuz." Beyond that, J.P. Morgan warned, "a more general Middle East conflagration could ignite retaliatory responses from major oil producing countries in the region responsible for a third of global oil output." "Under this severe outcome," the bank's analysts wrote, "we estimate oil prices could surge to the $120-130/bbl range." Even before the latest uptick in tensions, some oil industry watchers were already making bullish calls despite a flood of announced OPEC+ supply coming onto the market, and lower global growth and demand forecasts due to trade and tariff tensions. Josh Young, founder and chief investment officer at Houston-based Bison Interests, told CNBC in late May that physical markets are more tightly supplied than previously thought, and with several oil rigs in the U.S. shale patch coming offline just as the U.S. summer driving season begins, markets should be preparing for Brent crude at $85 a barrel. "The pure inventory versus consumption would indicate $85 [per barrel], which is way higher than where we are right now. It's almost uncomfortable to say that, but that's the current price implied by inventories," Young told CNBC's Access Middle East. He cited his forecast figure as "fair value," arguing that "typically, you go from too cheap to too expensive. So I don't think we should be ruling out $100 oil this year. And I think if there is a geopolitical risk, it could get even higher." Without the geopolitical risk premium — namely, a conflict with Iran — Young still sees crude coming up to the $80 to $85 per barrel range, particularly in the event of trade deals being reached and Trump's tariffs being lowered. The outlook is boosted by this month's forecast from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which sees a decline in U.S. oil production for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic due to slower drilling activity and a declining rig count. Such bullish forecasts are certainly not the norm, however. Without a military attack on Iran, J.P. Morgan's base case for oil "remains in the low-to-mid $60s oil for the remainder of 2025, and $60 in 2026." Goldman Sachs also maintains an oil price forecast in the $50 to $60 per barrel range for this and next year, despite noting an improving demand picture, downside risks to U.S. supply and geopolitical tensions. The recent rise in inventories due to OPEC+ output increases, "supports our cautious oil price forecast, with Brent expected to average $60 for the rest of 2025 and $56 in 2026," the bank's commodities team wrote. "However, small misses in OPEC+ supply suggest that lower-than-anticipated spare capacity represents an upside risk to our price forecast."
