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Reuters
08-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US licenses for Trinidad-Venezuela gas projects revoked, Trinidad says
Summary Companies The suspension hits projects by Shell, BP and Trinidad's NGC Companies have until May 27 to wind down activities Trinidad's government seeks meeting with Washington April 8 (Reuters) - The United States has revoked two licenses it had granted in recent years for the development of offshore natural gas projects between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, the Caribbean country's prime minister, Stuart Young, said on Tuesday. Trinidad is the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Latin America and one of the world's largest exporters of ammonia and methanol, but the Caribbean island was aiming to develop offshore fields in Venezuela and on the maritime border to counter its declining reserves and secure supply. The projects are seen as the only real opportunities in the near term for Venezuela to monetize its vast gas reserves and begin exports to open a much-needed new source of revenue. The licenses, which have allowed Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab, BP (BP.L), opens new tab and Trinidad's National Gas Company ( to plan the projects as exemptions to the U.S. sanction regime on Venezuela, now have a May 27 deadline for the companies to wind down activities, Young said in a press conference. Venezuela in 2023 granted Shell a 30-year license to operate the Dragon field, which contains 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. The project aimed to begin gas exports to Trinidad next year to be turned into LNG. A similar license was granted by Venezuela last year to BP to develop a cross-border field called Manakin-Cocuina. U.S. licenses are needed for the companies to negotiate, plan and develop the projects because of Washington's sanctions on Venezuela's energy industry and its state-owned company PDVSA. U.S. President Donald Trump 's administration last month began suspending many authorizations linked to Venezuela, including to U.S.-based Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab, Italy's Eni ( opens new tab and Spain's Repsol ( opens new tab, giving them all until May 27 to wind down operations and exports. The United States has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of not doing enough to restore democracy and secure the return of migrants illegally in the U.S. Venezuelan officials have said the sanctions amount to an economic war. Shell declined to comment. BP and Venezuela's government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister, Young, said the revocation stops any payments to Venezuela related to the projects. Trinidad is seeking a meeting with the U.S. government to discuss the suspensions and also its recent tariff imposition on Chinese shipping, which could harm the Caribbean island and others in the region.
Reuters
25-03-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Wall St futures slip as Trump-led rally loses steam
Summary Companies March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures dipped on Tuesday, a day after Wall Street indexes surged to two-week highs on hints that the Trump administration might adopt a softer approach to tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that not all of his threatened levies would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get breaks, a move Wall Street took as a sign of flexibility on a matter that has roiled markets for weeks. Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. The benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (.IXIC), opens new tab closed at their highest level in over two weeks, propelled by a rally in megacap stocks including Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab. However, futures lost some ground on Tuesday as uncertainty over the scope of Trump's tariffs weighed on sentiment. "Just because the bite isn't going to be as bad doesn't mean it's not going to hurt. This is a classic 'buy the rumor, sell the fact' we're seeing," said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at "There's still a lot of weakness in the equity market. Eventually, it's going to turn lower and buyers don't want to be caught out on the wrong side of the trade." Tesla slipped 0.4% in premarket trade following a near 12% surge a day earlier. The company's market share in Europe continued to shrink year-on-year in February, data showed, as sales of the all-electric car maker dropped for a second month despite rising EV registrations overall on the continent. KB Home's (KBH.N), opens new tab shares fell 8% as the homebuilder cut its full-year 2025 revenue forecast. At 5:55 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis were down 4.75 points, or 0.08%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 31.25 points, or 0.15%, Dow E-minis were down 42 points, or 0.1%. Speeches from Federal Reserve Board Governor Adriana Kugler and Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams are due later in the day. A slew of economic indicators is set to be released this week, including consumer confidence for March, which is due at 10:00 a.m ET on Tuesday. Forecasts point to a further deterioration in consumer sentiment, following an eight-month low in February. The most eagerly anticipated release is Friday's personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred inflation indicator, which consensus forecasts suggest will hold steady but remain above the Fed's 2% target.
Reuters
20-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Futures tick up after Fed holds rates steady
Summary Companies March 20 (Reuters) - Wall Street futures climbed on Thursday as investors drew confidence from the Federal Reserve's signaling of more interest rate cuts this year despite uncertainties stemming from U.S. trade policies. The Fed opted to maintain current interest rates on Wednesday, a move widely anticipated by the market, but reaffirmed its forecast for two 25 basis point reductions by the year-end. Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here. However, the central bank revised its economic outlook, projecting slightly reduced growth and increased inflation for the year, alongside a modest uptick in the unemployment rate by 2025. "I mean it's just ... really hard to know how this is going to work out," Fed Chair Jerome Powell told a press conference after a two-day policy meeting. Market participants are currently factoring in 63 basis points of easing from the Fed this year, placing odds of 25 bps rate cut in June at 60%, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool. In the previous session, the major stock indexes gained, with the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab advancing 1%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq (.IXIC), opens new tab climbing 1.4% and the Dow (.DJI), opens new tab gaining nearly 1%. The CBOE volatility index (.VIX), opens new tab, also known as Wall Street's fear gauge, touched a nearly one-month low in the previous session. At 5:40 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis were up 8.5 points, or 0.15%, with 99,371 contracts changing hands. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 32.5 points, or 0.16% and Dow E-minis were up 39 points, or 0.09%. Despite Wall Street seeing gains in three out of the past four sessions, the S&P 500 remains down 3.5% so far this year and the Nasdaq lower 8%. The indexes' declines erase all gains since President Donald Trump's November election, underscoring concerns over slowing economic growth and trade tensions fueled by Trump's aggressive trade policies. "The potential downside risks to growth and upside risks to inflation, in part from tariffs and trade policy uncertainty, creates a complication for the monetary policy outlook," said Ryan Wang, U.S. economist at HSBC. Gold prices hit a new record high, another sign of lingering investor worries. A key focus for the markets will be the upcoming implementation of new reciprocal and sectoral tariffs, slated to take effect on April 2. Growth stocks ticked up in premarket trade, with Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab rising nearly 1%. Meta (META.O), opens new tab, (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab all gained above 0.2% each.
Reuters
14-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Insight: A stain on Britain: sewage contaminates it waterways and seas
Summary Companies Photo essay: LYME BAY, England, March 14 (Reuters) - Beneath the gloomy seas off southern England, 400 million mussels encrust ropes hanging from buoys dotted over an area the size of the country's biggest airport. Almost 5 km (3 miles) from shore at its nearest point, Europe's largest offshore mussel farm was built by the Holmyard family in Lyme Bay, where they believed it would be free of the millions of gallons of sewage pumped into UK waters each year. But even this far offshore, harmful bacteria such as can pollute the water, blocking exports to continental Europe for weeks and damaging the prospects of a business producing sustainable food. "It's criminal that they're allowed to dump what they dump in the seas and get away with it," sales manager Sarah Holmyard said during a visit to the farm. "It's affecting all sorts of businesses, including us." While Britain's shellfish industry is small, the problems faced by the Holmyards underscore how failings with the most basic services in British society such as water and sewage can harm the broader economy. Reuters interviews with 20 people and data analysis show how polluted water has also hit tourism and delayed construction projects, acting as a drag on the economy at a time when the new Labour government is trying to kick start growth. In the five years to October 2024, the Environment Agency intervened on 60 occasions to object to planning applications due to the pressures they would place on local sewerage systems, according to a Freedom of Information request. Clean water campaigners have started to marshal opposition against planning applications, believing that's more likely to pressure the government into fixing the sewage system than current efforts focusing on the harm caused to biodiversity. "Money talks," said Ash Smith at campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution. Standing knee deep in grey, untreated sewage water in a local brook in Oxfordshire, he explained how they were objecting to house building to show how the water system had broken the country's infrastructure more broadly. The pumping of sewage into rivers and seas has become a major scandal in Britain. Privatised water companies have been accused of prioritising dividends over investment and dumping sewage in waterways when its ailing infrastructure cannot cope. The pollution has deterred wild water swimmers, angered surfers, prompted warnings about toxic blue-green algal blooms in lakes and created an army of people who have become experts on water quality after they noticed changes in waterways. In England, water companies discharged sewage for 3.6 million hours in 2023, polluting streams, rivers and coastlines, littering them with sanitary products and condoms, damaging ecosystems and habitats, and scaring away tourists. SEWAGE SPILLS British sewers mostly combine rainwater with wastewater. During exceptional rainfalls, water companies can make "spills" into waterways to prevent sewers from becoming overwhelmed. But many have been fined for releasing sewage too regularly. South West Water, which provides water and sewerage services in the county of Devon by the Holmyard's farm, discharged sewage for 530,737 hours in 2023 - an 83% jump on 2022 making it one of the worst performers in England, Environment Agency data show. South West Water said it was looking for ways to improve water quality at Lyme Bay. "We are making sure that every designated shellfish water in the region will meet the government's target of less than 10 spills per year – 10 years ahead of deadline – as we plan to nearly double investment to 2.5 billion pounds from 2025-30." When John Holmyard and his wife Nicki started to plan their mussel farm, they had a lot to factor in. Having farmed mussels in colder waters off Scotland for years, they decided to find a site with warmer water, the right sea depth and abundance of nutrients they believed would help mussels grow faster. It had to be far enough offshore to avoid runoff, but with some protection to limit the swell of the sea. They settled on Lyme Bay after visiting similar sites around Britain, Europe, China and New Zealand and spent seven years securing planning and regulatory approval - without knowing whether their hunch would pay off. Eleven years on, the farm produces about 3,000 tonnes of mussels a year and the Holmyards hope to hit 10,000 to 12,000 tonnes once it is completed. John Holmyard, who runs the business with Nicki, their daughter Sarah and son George, said they never expected sewage to affect their farm: "But it's not worked out like that." For shellfish producers, dumped sewage has been toxic. Before Britain left the European Union, mussels and oysters could be shipped to the continent prior to purification. Post Brexit, the EU only accepts purified goods or those from the cleanest British waters, rated Class A. That change has all but destroyed mussel farming in north Wales on Britain's west coast. The region once produced the bulk of Britain's exports to Europe but now rarely sells to the continent due to poor water and a lack of bulk purification facilities in the country. The Shellfish Association of Great Britain (SAGB) says British exports would double if the seas were cleaner. James Green, who harvests and sells oysters in Whitstable, a town in southeast England famed for shellfish since Roman times, used to send about half of his produce to markets such as Hong Kong and Europe, but Brexit and water quality issues mean he now only sells purified oysters domestically. His water supplier, Southern Water, was fined 90 million pounds in 2021 for dumping sewage in the five years to 2015, disrupting harvests and exports. He did not get any compensation and says it is hard to wait for improvements. "I've got a business," he said. "Can you wait for the changes to kick in, in five, six, seven years' time?" To protect his oysters, Green monitors for salmonella and Norovirus, and tracks rainfall and sewer overflows to assess risks before harvesting. Southern Water said it was investing heavily to ensure the continued high quality of shellfish beds around its coast. "The 2021 court case regarding events between 2010 and 2015 found no evidence of impact on shellfish beds, which are affected by many factors," it said. DRIVEN TO DESPAIR The Holmyards say their mussels are tested for in the Netherlands on an almost daily basis - and they have always been within the limits for a Class A designation. But high numbers of have occasionally been reported by British authorities in similar monthly tests, designating parts of the farm Class B. In the British system, negative readings can have different outcomes for future harvests. For the Holmyards, it stopped them from exporting mussels for several weeks from that part of the farm - and also designated the same area as Class B the same time the following year. The family say they find it baffling, as bacteria coming from the shore should be heavily diluted by the time they reach the farm - and because the British readings don't tally with the more frequent Dutch tests. John said they had been unable to raise fresh capital since Brexit due to the risk of export bans. The British body responsible for classifying shellfish harvesting areas, the Food Standards Agency, said it had tried to be flexible, but it had to protect public health and classifications would only improve with better water. As Sarah and George plucked predatory starfish off the mussels, they explained how an annual survey showed the farm had spawned an abundance of species, such as crab and lobster. Their blue mussels, known for their rich, sweet flavour, are sold as a premium product in Europe. Notwithstanding the bans, the Holmyards still export about 95% of their mussels to the EU, with the rest sold in Britain. Tourism bosses say this is the kind of high-quality, locally produced food they need to promote to prospective holidaymakers. Alistair Handyside, chairman of the South West Tourism Alliance, said while tourism was mainly affected by weather and cost, talk of sewage had damaged the appeal of many locations. "It drives you to despair," he said. TOXIC OUTPUT The sight of sewage and litter on beaches and in rivers has also driven thousands of people to protest. Sally Burtt-Jones was one of the founders of SOS Whitstable, part of a network of groups that stage protests, test local water and campaign for legislative change. She said she was most proud of her campaigning work. "We care about the community and the sea," she said. "When we get together we can make change happen." John Reeve, a Surfers Against Sewage representative in the northeastern seaside town of Saltburn, has worked with local officials and studied the geology to understand how to control rainwater as storms become heavier due to climate change. "We are making a difference over time," he said. The water industry says it has invested heavily in infrastructure since privatisation in 1989, but population growth and climate change have imposed new pressures at a time when it says successive governments - and regulator Ofwat - were focused on keeping customer's bills low. Ofwat said water companies in England and Wales had paid out 53 billion pounds ($66 billion) in dividends since privatisation - and had collective net debt of 69.5 billion in 2024. It has proposed letting customer bills rise by an average of 36% before inflation over the next five years to fund infrastructure upgrades and has gained new powers to link dividends to performance. The government is also reviewing the sector. An Ofwat spokesperson said customers wanted change: "We need to see a transformation in companies' culture and performance. We will monitor and hold companies to account." Failures around sewage have also bedevilled construction, with the Environment Agency objecting to planning applications when it thinks existing systems will not cope. The objections, for everything from housing to retail sites, offices, schools, a science business park and leisure centre, are typically overcome with ways to mitigate the impact. But the objections add time, cost and complexity to building projects, a serious challenge for the government as it seeks to trigger a boom in housing and infrastructure construction. Water pollution has also damaged biodiversity. Stocks of Atlantic salmon, which hatch in freshwater breeding grounds in Britain, have hit new lows. The provisional declared rod catch in 2023 was the worst since records began in 1988. The Environment Agency attributed the fall to pollution and sedimentation - just the type of environment the Holmyards had sought to avoid. Sarah said the potential for the business being replicated elsewhere was huge. "But if you've got the same issues of not being able to export because of the water quality, then it's just not going to work." ($1 = 0.8046 pounds)
Reuters
14-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Donald Trump makes Chinese stocks (somewhat) great again
Summary Companies SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, March 14 (Reuters) - As U.S. President Donald Trump's wide-ranging trade war rouses fears of recession, global investors have found an unlikely new sanctuary: Chinese equities. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index (.HSI), opens new tab - where many major Chinese companies are listed - is up 17% since Trump entered the White House in January. Make sense of global markets with the Trading Day newsletter. Sign up here. That compares to an about 9% drop in the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab, which has also shed $4 trillion in market value from record highs last month. Trump's erratic pronouncement on tariffs and moves to slash federal government spending have challenged assumptions about the appeal of U.S. stocks, which have vastly outperformed most of their global counterparts since 2021. Investors have moved from believing in "TINA" - There is No Alternative to U.S. assets - to "TIARA" - There Is A Real Alternative - said Andy Wong, a senior Hong Kong-based executive at Pictet Asset Management. Much of the Chinese rally has been led by technology shares (.HSTECH), opens new tab that have risen 29% so far in 2025, hitting their highest level in more than three years last week. Like many of the new China equities bulls, Wong said he sees opportunities in tech, defense and consumer-facing plays. A key reason for the optimism: Chinese stocks are cheap, trading 30% under their 2021 highs. The Hang Seng Index is priced at 7 times its projected 12-month earnings - a commonly used metric to value stocks - compared to 20 times for the S&P 500, according to LSEG data. To be sure, Chinese equities traded cheaply for a reason. Many investors were burned after a pandemic-era government crackdown on tech stocks and questions remain over the property market and the economy. Concerns about the concentration of power in the White House are magnified in Beijing, where President Xi Jinping has no serious political opposition. But investors see plenty of upside after a major rally in tech shares following AI startup DeepSeek's splashy debut of its R1 reasoning model. The prospect of fiscal stimulus that could lift consumption - long a drag for the Chinese economy - is another tailwind. While some of the renewed global interest in Chinese equities has come at the expense of U.S. stocks, investors are also moving out of South Korea and India's struggling markets, according to Reuters' interviews with more than a dozen fund managers and strategists. J.P. Morgan has seen a record amount of U.S. dollars and Chinese yuan being converted into Hong Kong dollars over the past few weeks, pointing to the force of money flowing into Hong Kong stocks, said Serene Chen, the firm's head of credit, currency & emerging market sales. She did not specify the amount or the time period. Leo Gao at Greenwoods Asset Management said that he sold all the U.S. companies in his portfolio in early February, shortly after the emergence of DeepSeek. The senior portfolio manager at one of Asia's largest hedge funds told investors in March that he was now especially bullish on China tech firms and other companies that cater to changing consumer habits. GOING TO CHINA Trump declined over the weekend to rule out the prospect of a recession for the world's largest economy, exacerbating market fears. Investors have also reacted negatively to the volatility of decision-making in the White House, which had issued last-minute delays on tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Slowing economic data is additionally raising doubts over whether U.S. growth can outpace the rest of the rich world for much longer. U.S. equities valuations are sky-high and susceptible to any hint of trouble. Trump has so far downplayed market turbulence and repeatedly said that "tariffs are going to make our country rich." China, meanwhile, has been rolling out stimulus and support measures for its economy and markets. In February, Beijing held a meeting between Xi and business leaders that investors widely took as a positive signal. "China is now the adult in the room," said Dong Chen, chief Asia strategist at Pictet Wealth Management. Foreign-based funds invested $3.8 billion in Chinese equities in February, after three straight months of withdrawals, data from Morgan Stanley showed. Kamal Bhatia, the New York-based chief executive of Principal Asset Management, said long-term investors like predictability. "Even very large sophisticated investors don't want to have their investment thesis change over three years," he said. Some investors noted the irony of a rally in the equities markets of Europe and China, which Trump has singled out as geopolitical rivals. "The pressure that the Trump administration is putting on foreign governments... has actually, in a lot of cases, resulted in outperformance from those countries," said Ross Mayfield, a U.S.-based investment strategist at Baird. A prospective fiscal bazooka in Europe after Trump cast doubt on his willingness to defend NATO allies has also fuelled share prices of defense companies in the region. European equities have long faced headwinds that include higher corporate tax rates, slow economic growth and a dearth of major tech firms. "As investors adjust to the narrative change, capital will flow away from the previously crowded winners," Pictet's Wong said. STRUCTURAL OR SHORT-TERM? Alongside concerns around China's corporate reporting standards, the deflationary pressures and a renewed trade war with U.S. weigh on sentiment. Stocks surged in September after Beijing unveiled stimulus measures but the rally quickly fizzled. "Still, people have traumatic experience with Chinese equities," said Pictet's Chen. "China used to be called uninvestible and so this deflationary kind of narrative still hasn't been completely dissipated." Bhatia said his clients are asking more about tactical allocations, an investment strategy that aims to take advantage of trends and economic changes with short-term bets. "The past ten days have made it very clear that it pays off to have a regionally diversified allocation strategy," said Lilian Haag, a senior portfolio manager at DWS.
