[
    {
        "id": 1,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-china-turbo-charges-cobalt-132346367.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Eric Onstad\nLONDON (Reuters) - Chinese-owned companies are aggressively expanding cobalt mining in Congo and Indonesia even while prices crash, as they bid to raise market share of the metal used in batteries for the country's electric vehicle (EV) industry.\nChinese cobalt producers have seemed unfazed by oversupply that has knocked prices down by more than half in the past 18 months, with some said to benefit from state support for a sector seen as vital to China's EV industry, as well as firmer prices of metals with which cobalt is mined, such as copper.\nChina's CMOC Group, which boosted its cobalt output by 144% during the first three quarters of 2023, is now on track to become the world's biggest cobalt producer, overtaking commodity group Glencore.\nCMOC is due to lift its market share of the global mined cobalt market from 11% in 2022 to nearly 30% by 2025, said Jorge Uzcategui, an analyst at consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.\nIts Kisanfu mine in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is partially owned by China's CATL, the world's largest battery maker for EVs.\nThe group is able to operate at low costs, likely helped by receiving cheap financing from the Chinese government, Uzcategui said. CMOC is listed in Hong Kong, but according to its LinkedIn profile has \"state-owned capital participation\".\n“Is CMOC trying to flood the cobalt market in an attempt to control a larger share of the market and oust the marginal producers, giving them more control over prices in the medium to long term? That is a possibility,\" said Uzcategui.\nWhen contacted for comment about the impact of weaker prices on output, CMOC said that there were positive aspects to rising cobalt production, but it did not respond to a question about Uzcategui's comments.\n\"The growth of cobalt supply has to some extent dispelled downstream concerns about (its) sustainability,\" a CMOC spokesperson told Reuters.\n\"Our cobalt products are mainly sold through long-term contracts and are not subjected to short-term market fluctuation.\"\nChina's MMG Group has also pressed on with expansion at its Kinsevere mine in Congo, while Jinchuan Group International Resources is likewise expanding its DRC cobalt output.\nBOOM TO BUST\nSilvery-blue cobalt was once seen as an indispensable element of EV lithium-ion batteries, with prices soaring in May 2022 to four-year highs.\nBut EV sales have been slowing as inflation hits consumers and governments cut subsidies, while batteries without the mineral have been rising in popularity.\nA combination of high prices and ethical concerns about child miners and unsafe conditions in Congo have prompted some battery companies to look for alternatives.\n\"Lithium is pretty fundamental to a lithium-ion battery... but with cobalt, you can design it out,\" said Alex Holland at consultancy IDTechEx.\nIncreasing nickel and cutting cobalt increases energy density, allowing longer driving ranges in EVs, he added.\nWhile lower cobalt prices may revive use of higher-cobalt batteries, content of the metal in popular nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries has been declining, while lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries contain none at all.\nINDONESIA HELPS OFFSET DELAYS\nGlobal refined cobalt supply is expected to climb 23% this year, creating a surplus of 74,800 metric tons by 2024, according to Morgan Stanley.\nNo. 1 producer DRC has kept miners under pressure to ramp up output to maintain the millions of dollars it receives each year in mining royalty and tax payments, analysts said - particularly with an election upcoming this month.\nAnalysts had expected at least some major cobalt producers to impose cutbacks, as happened recently in nickel to curb excess supply, but only scant action has materialised.\nJervois Global in March suspended the final construction of what would be the only U.S. primary cobalt mine, while debt-laden Miner Chemaf SA is up for sale, according to a document seen by Reuters in October, leaving two copper-cobalt projects in Congo 85% complete.\nMajor producer Glencore temporarily closed its Mutanda mine there in 2019 due to low prices and its CEO said in August it was considering similar action again, but output so far this year has shown no signs of cutbacks.\nGlencore declined to comment on whether it planned to suspend any cobalt operations in the future, but depleting ore grades were likely to trim output at Mutanda, sources told Reuters.\nNonetheless, delays and cuts have been more than offset by new projects, including in Indonesia, which last year became the world's second biggest producer, with many owned by Chinese companies.\n\"Our view is that Indonesia is a game changer for cobalt,” said Bedder at Project Blue.\nIndonesia is expected to roughly quadruple its production of cobalt in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) by 2033 and may expand even further if all projects go ahead, Project Blue forecasts.\n\"In the next five years or so, we think they'll be oversupply in the market. So essentially that's going to mean prices are going to remain low for the foreseeable future,\" said Thomas Matthews at CRU.\n(Additional reporting by Felix Njini in Nairobi, Sonia Rolley in Kinshasa and Siyi Liu in Beijing; Editing by Veronica Brown and Jan Harvey)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-China turbo-charges cobalt mine output despite price crash"
    },
    {
        "id": 2,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/volkswagen-brand-slash-administrative-staff-131728289.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen plans to slash administrative staff costs at its namesake brand by a fifth, management told staff on Wednesday, adding this would happen via partial and early retirement as opposed to layoffs.\nThe target is part of Volkswagen's push to cut costs at the VW brand by 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) by 2026, having previously warned that high costs and low productivity were making its passenger cars uncompetitive.\nLike other carmakers, Volkswagen has been hit by inflation, fierce competition from Asia as well as high labour and energy costs in Germany, requiring massive cost cuts to not fall further behind its rivals, including Tesla.\n\"What is crystal clear is that we will need to operate with fewer people in many areas at Volkswagen in the future,\" VW brand CEO Thomas Schaefer told employees according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.\n\"This doesn't mean more work for fewer people, but rather shedding old habits and saying no to duplicating efforts and inefficiencies,\" he said.\nOther initiatives include reducing product cycles to 3 years from 50 months, cutting overall production times as well as scrapping a planned new 800-million-euro R&D site in Wolfsburg, the memo said.\n($1 = 0.9283 euros)\n(Reporting by Christina Amann and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Madeline Chambers and Linda Pasquini)\n",
        "title": "Volkswagen brand to slash administrative staff costs by a fifth"
    },
    {
        "id": 3,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-danaher-completes-5-7-130903787.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details on background in paragraphs 2-5)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Medical tools supplier Danaher said on Wednesday it has completed the $5.7 billion acquisition of Abcam, overcoming the initial opposition from the founder of the protein consumables maker.\nDanaher agreed to buy Abcam in September for $24 per share to expand its portfolio of products and services, but founder Jonathan Milner opposed it saying the offer undervalued the company.\nMilner, who owns a 6.14% stake, had said he would vote against the acquisition. But he later suspended his campaign after talks with shareholders, who said the company was fairly valued.\nAbcam's shareholder voted in favour of the deal in November. Milner served as Abcam's CEO from 1999 to 2014 and later as deputy chairman from 2015 to 2020.\nCambridge, England-based Abcam manufactures and supplies so-called protein consumables such as antibodies and reagents used for medical research. (Reporting by Khushi Mandowara in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Arun Koyyur)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Danaher completes $5.7 billion acquisition of Abcam"
    },
    {
        "id": 4,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vast-data-valued-9-1-130531170.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Data infrastructure company VAST Data said on Wednesday it was valued at $9.1 billion after a funding round of $118 million, led by Fidelity Management & Research.\nThe fund-raise comes more than two years after its previous one, when an investment led by Tiger Global valued the company at $3.7 billion.\nThe company said it will use the funds from the latest round to develop a new category of data services for its business clients.\n(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "VAST Data valued at $9.1 billion after latest fund-raise"
    },
    {
        "id": 5,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fitch-p-downgrade-brazilian-carrier-130512665.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "SAO PAULO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian airline Gol had its credit ratings downgraded by both S&P and Fitch after hiring a financial advisor to help it conduct a \"broad review\" to its capital structure as it struggles with high debt.\nFitch on Wednesday joined fellow credit rating agency S&P in cutting Gol's rating to 'CCC-' from 'CCC+' on risks related to the carrier's debt restructuring, further pushing it into speculative territory.\nGol last week announced it had hired Seabury Capital to assist it in a capital structure review that included addressing liability management, financial transactions and \"other measures\" to enhance its liquidity.\nThe carrier would also look into reprofiling its financial obligations as well as its fleet for the near and medium-term, according to a securities filing.\n\"The recurring free cash flow pressure from high leasing and interest expenses despite improving operating performance are resulting in an unsustainable debt profile,\" Fitch said in a note to clients.\nGol reported a net loss in the third quarter and reduced estimates for annual earnings amid delayed deliveries of Boeing aircraft.\n\"The hiring of a financial advisor may prompt a broader discussion of the company's capital structure, given weak prospects for cash flow generation and the dependence on refinancing in the next two years,\" S&P said on Tuesday, adding its outlook for the firm's rating was negative.\nThat outlook reflected a potential debt restructuring that the agency would view as distressed and tantamount to default, it said, although adding it expects the carrier to maintain \"good operating performance amid healthy demand and a very rational supply in the Brazilian airline market.\"\nGol's shares fell more than 9% on Monday before paring some losses the next day.\nAmong sell-side analysts, Citi had downgraded Gol earlier this month to \"sell/high risk\" noting that although the carrier's operating side was in a good place, that was not the case of its capital structure.\nGoldman Sachs analysts said they would take no view on the potential outcome of the potential debt renegotiations, but added the move could be the first step towards a broad rearrangement of obligations with lessors and other suppliers.\nThat \"could potentially alleviate pressure over balance sheet and short-term obligations,\" they added, noting that peer Azul had also announced a broad restructuring of its balance sheet recently. (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Alberto Alerigi Jr.; Additional reporting by Paula Arend Laier; Editing by Steven Grattan)\n",
        "title": "Fitch, S&P downgrade Brazilian carrier Gol amid capital structure review"
    },
    {
        "id": 6,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-stocks-gold-gain-130409159.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates prices at 1245 GMT)\nBy Amanda Cooper\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Global equities rose on Wednesday after U.S. employment data reinforced investors' convictions that rates may soon start to fall, which has pushed down bond yields and lifted gold in the past few trading days.\nThe flow of trade across the markets was relatively calm, with measures of volatility steady around their recent lows, as investors waiting for a read of U.S. private sector job growth later in the day.\nA separate look at job openings on Tuesday showed a bit more softness than expected but not so much as to point to a steeper slowdown in employment, while activity in the U.S. services sector held up last month.\nU.S. Treasury yields held roughly around their lowest in three months, while futures markets show traders are placing a two-in-three chance of a rate cut by March, which in turn gave gold another boost and underpinned stocks.\nThe MSCI All-World was up 0.2%, while in Europe, the STOXX 600 rose 0.4%. German's DAX, which contains a number of tech and industrial heavyweights, hit record highs.\nNext up on the data front is the ADP survey of U.S. private sector employment, which is forecast to show a rise of 130,000 jobs in November, according to a Reuters poll.\n\"We are starting see increasing evidence that the U.S. jobs market is starting to slow, with vacancies falling to their lowest level since March 2021 and with the last two ADP reports adding a combined 202k new jobs as private sector hiring slows,\" CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael Hewson said.\n\"October saw 113,000 jobs added - an improvement on September - and November is expected to see an improvement on that to 130,000, given that a lot of additional hiring takes place in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and the Christmas period so we’re unlikely to see any evidence of cracking in the U.S. labour market this side of 2024,\" he said.\nRATE-CUT BOUNCE\nU.S. stock futures pointed higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures up 0.2%. U.S. 10-year yields were up 2 basis points at 4.187%, having hit their lowest since early September the day before.\nThe \"selloff in yields across the curve is strong evidence of the intense focus the market has on this week's labour market data,\" with the ADP employment report due on Wednesday and non-farm payrolls on Friday, said IG analyst Tony Sycamore.\nWith markets all but certain the Fed's next move is a cut, dovish rhetoric from European Central Bank officials and the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to hold policy steady on Tuesday have stoked bets for a peak in rates globally. The Bank of Canada is widely expected to adopt a wait-and-see attitude on Wednesday as well.\nThat has supported the U.S. currency's rebound from last week's nearly four-month low, with the U.S. dollar index steady around 104.00 on Wednesday, compared with a trough of 102.46 a week ago.\n\"The USD weakened when the Federal Reserve looked like they were cutting while other central banks were holding tight,\" said James Kniveton, a senior corporate FX dealer at Convera in Melbourne. \"Now that looks to be changing, and other central banks are following the Fed's lead.\"\nAgainst the yen, the dollar rose 0.14% to 147.31 and rose a touch against the euro to $1.0778.\nBitcoin edged up 0.2% to $44,175, having risen to as much as $44,490 overnight, buoyed by both Fed rate cut expectations and speculation U.S regulators will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds.\nGold rose 0.3% to $2,025 an ounce, stabilising after Monday's surge to a record $2,135.40.\nCrude fell another 1% on Wednesday to five-month lows, against a backdrop of a worsening demand outlook from China and doubts about the impact of OPEC cuts.\nBrent crude futures fell 0.9% to $76.51 a barrel, while U.S. futures fell 0.88% to $71.51.\n(Additional reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Angus MacSwan and Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, gold gain as investors stay cheery on rate outlook"
    },
    {
        "id": 7,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-set-to-face-latest-challenge-from-ftc-over-activision-deal-125713185.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Microsoft (MSFT) on Wednesday will begin another round in court in its multi-chapter legal defense against the FTC over its $69 billion purchase of \"Call of Duty\" maker Activision Blizzard.\nMicrosoft finalized the deal, the largest ever in the gaming market, on Oct. 13.\nA court hearing in the agency's appeal of a failed injunction request is set to take place Wednesday in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.\nIn July, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suspended its administrative challenge to block the acquisition.\nThe suspension came after a federal district court judge and a three-judge federal appellate court panel declined to grant the FTC a preliminary injunction that would have kept the tie-up from moving forward while the agency completed an investigation into antitrust concerns.\nMicrosoft later reached an agreement with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to relinquish certain cloud gaming rights contained in its original plan, paving the way for the deal to close.\nIn its original complaint to block the deal, the FTC said that Microsoft's ownership of Activision \"would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.\"\nThose concerns stem in large part from the fact that the merger of the two companies makes Microsoft the third-largest video game company in the world by revenue behind Sony (SONY) and Tencent.\nMicrosoft published a statement on Tuesday arguing the FTC should drop its challenge, pointing to 37 venture capital firms that joined together to file a \"friend of the court\" to endorse the deal.\nIn the filing, Microsoft described the FTC’s legal position as a \"watered-down\" stance that would give the agency too much power to block transactions. Support from the venture firms, the company said, \"sent a clear message\" that the FTC's opposition \"threatens the cycle of investment and entrepreneurship that drives America’s innovation economy.\"\nAlthough the FTC can continue to fight the deal, courts generally shy away from unraveling integrated companies. The FTC has also said it intends to continue scrutinizing the deal using its internal administrative process.\n\"The FTC's been down that road,\" Brian Quinn, a Boston College Law School professor, told Yahoo Finance.\n\"The remedies available include taking apart the merged companies, and that's also the remedy that nobody wants to do. No court wants to be in charge of taking a deal apart.\"\nThe protracted legal battle comes amid an aggressive push by the Biden administration over the course of the year to challenge Big Tech's dominance in various markets.\nThe FTC argued in a court filing in November that Microsoft's acquisition would harm consumers by restructuring the gaming industry and likely giving Microsoft the ability and incentive to deny, delay, degrade, or foreclose rivals from accessing Activision's games.\n\"If Microsoft is given free rein to weaponize Activision's content, emerging markets for content library subscriptions and cloud gaming will be walled off and dominated by just a few large companies,\" the FTC wrote in its court filing.\nIn addition to its pressure on Microsoft, the FTC and US Justice Department have brought or continued antitrust suits against Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), and Facebook (META).\nAlexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Microsoft set to face latest challenge from FTC over Activision deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 8,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/encore-energy-sell-30-us-125101566.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 6 (Reuters) - Uranium producer enCore Energy said on Wednesday it will sell 30% of its Alta Mesa project in South Texas to Australia's Boss Energy for $70 million.\nAlta Mesa has an annual production capacity of 1.5 million pounds of U3O8, a uranium compound also known as yellowcake, commonly processed to serve as fuel for nuclear reactors.\nBoss Energy will pay $60 million in cash, invest $10 million into enCore shares at $3.90 per share, and loan the company up to 200,000 pounds of yellowcake for enCore's commercial use over the next year.\nenCore will use the net proceeds from the deal, which is expected to be completed in February 2024, to accelerate its uranium production pipeline in South Texas and develop other projects.\n\"The accelerated production plan is designed to take advantage of what is projected to be a very strong uranium market over the next decade,\" said enCore Executive Chair William Sheriff.\nenCore will establish a new unit to hold the Alta Mesa project and it will be jointly owned by the two companies. (Reporting by Vallari Srivastava and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)\n",
        "title": "enCore Energy to sell 30% of US uranium project to Australia's Boss Energy"
    },
    {
        "id": 9,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-touches-2-week-124537095.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates at 1237 GMT)\nBy Samuel Indyk and Ankur Banerjee\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar touched a two-week high on Wednesday, while the euro was weak across the board as markets ramped up bets that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates as early as March.\nThe euro was down 0.2% against the dollar at a three-week low of $1.0773, as markets adjust rate expectations lower following soft data and dovish central bank commentary.\nThe single currency also touched a three-month low against the pound, a five-week low versus the yen and a 6-1/2 week low against the Swiss franc .\n\"The story in currency markets is mostly about a softer euro,\" said Niels Christensen, chief analyst at Nordea.\n\"Yesterday's comments from ECB's Schnabel supported the market view of early rate cuts.\"\nInfluential policymaker Isabel Schnabel on Tuesday told Reuters that further interest rate hikes could be taken off the table given a \"remarkable\" fall in inflation.\nMarkets are now placing around an 85% chance that the ECB cuts interest rates at the March meeting, with almost 150 basis points worth of cuts priced by the end of next year.\nThe ECB will set interest rates on Thursday next week and is all but certain to leave them at the current record high of 4%. The Federal Reserve and Bank of England are also likely to hold rates steady next Wednesday and Thursday respectively.\nFed officials are now in a blackout period ahead of the Dec. 12-13 meeting, where a key focus will be the updated projections of where they see rates in 2024.\nTraders have priced around a 60% chance of the U.S. central bank cutting rates in March, according to CME's FedWatch tool. They have also priced in at least 125 basis points of cuts next year.\nInvestors have been reassessing the extent of U.S. rate cuts next year in the past few days, helping lift the dollar.\n\"Markets have gone a bit overboard with pricing in very aggressive path of rate cuts through next year,\" said Aninda Mitra, head of Asia macro and investment strategy at BNY Mellon Investment Management.\nMitra said there could be a snapback should the Fed drive home the message more forcefully that it is not about to cut rates anytime soon.\n\"Our view is that Fed might hold off till the second quarter and even then the cuts would be a lot more shallower than what the market would like,\" Mitra said.\nThe widely expected rate cuts from the Fed will result in the dollar loosening its grip on other G10 currencies next year, dimming the outlook for the greenback, according to Reuters poll of foreign exchange strategists.\nThe dollar index, which measures the currency against six other majors, was up 0.1% at 104.07, having touched a two-week high of 104.10 earlier.\nThe spotlight in Asia was on China, as markets grappled with rating agency Moody's cut to the Asian giant's credit outlook.\nThe offshore Chinese yuan rose 0.1% to $7.1694 per dollar, a day after Moody's cut China's credit outlook to \"negative\".\nThe spot yuan rate opened at 7.1570 per dollar and was last changing hands at 7.1585.\nChina's major state-owned banks stepped up U.S. dollar selling forcefully after the Moody's statement on Tuesday, and they continued to sell the greenback on Wednesday morning, Reuters reported.\nElsewhere in Asia, the Japanese yen was down 0.1% at 147.29 per dollar. The Australian dollar rose 0.3% to $0.6574, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.4% to $0.6154.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin eased 0.3% to $43,940 having surged above $44,000 earlier in the session.\nThe world's largest cryptocurrency has gained 150% this year, fuelled in part by optimism that a U.S. regulator will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds (ETFs).\n(Reporting by Samuel Indyk in London and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Jamie Freed, Shri Navaratnam and Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar touches 2-week high, euro soft as traders bet on Q1 rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 10,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-stocks-gain-treasuries-rally-232956900.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Stocks struggled to gain traction, following a rally driven by bets the Federal Reserve will cut rates next year. Oil sank below $70 a barrel.\nAfter climbing in the immediate aftermath of data showing gradual cooling in the labor market, the S&P 500 wavered amid a selloff in energy producers. Oil slumped 4% as concerns the market has excess supplies overshadowed a report showing shrinking US inventories. Treasury 10-year yields dropped to around 4.1%. European shares hit the highest in four months.\nRead: Wall Street Quants Join Chatbot Boom as AI Gold Rush Intensifies\nThe combined rally in equities and bonds has been supported by evidence that a soft landing will allow the Fed to cut rates in 2024, according to UBS’s Chief Investment Office, which expects a “softish landing” — but says the pace of the recent rally looks unlikely to be sustained.\n“The upside for the S&P 500 is now relatively limited,” said Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management. “As growth slows, we believe investors should consider focusing on high-quality stocks from companies with strong returns on invested capital, resilient operating margins, and relatively low debt on their balance sheets.”\nRead: Wall Street Gets Self-Inflicted Narrative Whiplash: Surveillance\nJust a few days ahead of the US jobs report, economic data showed private payrolls increased 103,000 last month, trailing estimates. Friday’s government print is forecast to show employers added 185,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate is seen holding at the highest level in nearly two years.\nTo Stan Shipley at Evercore, Wednesday’s weaker-than-expected ADP Research Institute tally and other high-frequency metrics suggest “soft” employment growth.\n“The slowdown in hiring continues and is becoming more obvious,” said Peter Boockvar, author of the Boock Report. “What I’m mostly focused on right now is the trajectory of activity — and all I see is slowing in multiple places, including now the labor market.”\nWhile the ADP report isn’t a reliable predictor of the government’s jobs figures, the weaker-than-expected number may set up expectations for Friday’s jobs report to come in “soft”, according to Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.\n“What we don’t know is how much the markets have already priced in a slowing labor market, or how they will react if Friday’s data comes in stronger than anticipated,” he noted.\nMeantime, the Bank of England stepped up warnings about hedge funds shorting US Treasury futures, saying its measure of the net position is now larger than before the “dash for cash” crisis in March 2020.\nThe net short position has grown to $800 billion from about $650 billion in July, the central bank said, citing calculations based on Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. That suggests a jump in the so-called basis trade, which is where investors seek to exploit price differences between futures and bonds.\nEuropean stocks climbed as investors speculated that central banks will cut interest rates, with Germany’s DAX Index closing at a fresh record. The country’s factory orders unexpectedly fell in October — highlighting how manufacturing in Europe’s largest economy remains stuck in a rut.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Greg Ritchie and William Shaw.\n",
        "title": "S&P 500 Erases ADP-Fueled Gains as Oil Tumbles: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 11,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/norway-union-warns-may-block-123446762.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Fellesforbundet, the country's largest private sector labour union, said on Wednesday it could from Dec. 20 start blocking any transport of Tesla cars meant for the Swedish market.\nSwedish unions have taken industrial action against Tesla since October in a bid to force the car manufacturer to sign collective bargaining agreements with mechanics.\n\"We consider blocking transportation of Tesla cars through Norway to Sweden unless Tesla reaches an agreement with Sweden's IF Metall union,\" a spokesperson for the Norwegian union told Reuters.\nOn Tuesday, Denmark's 3F labour union also said it would support the Swedish mechanics by refusing to unload or transport cars made by the U.S. auto company for customers in Sweden.\nThe Norwegian and Danish unions said their actions would only affect cars that are meant for the Swedish market.\n(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik)\n",
        "title": "Norway union warns it may block Tesla cars meant for Sweden"
    },
    {
        "id": 12,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-england-review-risks-ai-123019569.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England, which oversees financial stability in the U.K., said Wednesday that it will make an assessment next year about the risks posed by artificial intelligence and machine learning.\nIn its half-yearly Financial Stability Review, the bank said it was getting advice about the potential implications stemming from the adoption of AI and machine learning in the financial services sector, which accounts for around 8% of the British economy and has deep-rooted global connections.\nThe bank's Financial Policy Committee, which identifies and monitors risks, said it and other authorities would seek to ensure that the U.K. financial system is resilient to risks that may arise from widespread use of AI and machine learning.\n“We obviously have to go into AI with our eyes open,\" bank Gov. Andrew Bailey said at a press briefing. “It is something that I think we have to embrace, it is very important and has potentially profound implications for economic growth, productivity and how economies are shaped going forward.\"\nOver the past year, the potential benefits and threats of the new technologies have grown. Some observers have raised concerns over AI’s as-yet-unknown dangers and have been calling for safeguards to protect people from its existential threats.\nThere is a global race to figure out how to regulate AI as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other chatbots exploded in popularity, with their ability to create human-like text and images. Leaders in the 27-nation European Union on Wednesday are trying to agree on world-first AI regulations.\n“The moral of the story is if you’re a firm using AI, you have to understand the tool you are using, that is the critical thing,\" Bailey said.\nAdmitting that he is “palpably not” an expert on AI, Bailey said the new technologies have “tremendous potential” and are not simply “a bag of risks.”\n",
        "title": "Bank of England will review the risks that AI poses to UK financial stability"
    },
    {
        "id": 13,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-us-futures-rise-with-adp-labor-data-set-to-test-fed-hopes-122523521.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "US stock futures rose on Wednesday as investors looked to data on the health of the labor market for clues to the Federal Reserve's next policy move.\nS&P 500 (^GSPC) futures were 0.2% higher, while Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) futures ticked up 0.1%, or about 45 points. Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) futures moved up 0.2%, after the gauges closed mixed.\nTuesday's soft reading on jobs openings bolstered optimism for a Fed pivot to cutting interest rates, and markets are pricing in at least 100 basis points of cuts next year. But doubts about policy remain, with strategists warning those bets look \"overdone.\"\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nGiven that, investors will watch for the ADP private-payrolls numbers due later Wednesday, ahead of Friday's important monthly jobs report. They will be looking out for signs of weakness in the labor market that could persuade the Fed to change course.\nMeanwhile, bitcoin (BTC-USD) briefly surged past $44,000 as more retail investors dived in and embraced hopes for rate cuts and coming spot bitcoin ETFs. The leading digital asset has since given up those gains, coming off notching a six-day win streak, its longest since May, on Tuesday.\nInvestors will get a window into America's largest banks later when the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Bank of America (BAC), among others, give testimony before the Senate’s banking committee.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Stock market news today: US futures rise with ADP labor data set to test Fed hopes"
    },
    {
        "id": 14,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-exxon-mobil-forecasts-increases-122358886.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds spending, production targets, context)\nBy Sabrina Valle\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil will increase annual project spending to between $22 billion and $27 billion through 2027, the company said in an update that largely continues existing spending and production targets.\nThe plan leaves out expected gains from the $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources, which is expected to close next year. Exxon has received\ntwo requests\nfor information on the deal from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.\nExxon bought Pioneer in October for nearly $60 billion in a all-stock deal due to close in the first half of 2024, saying it plans to more than tripling production in the U.S. shale to 2 million barrels per day by 2027.\nExxon's spending outlook will raise outlays for its energy transition unit, called Low Carbon Solutions, to $20 billion between 2022 and 2027, from $17 billion. But the higher spending will require government support.\n\"We need technology-neutral durable policy support, transparent carbon pricing and accounting, and ultimately, customer commitments to support increased investment,\" Chief Executive Darren Woods said in a statement.\nExxon will increase its share buybacks to $20 billion annually through 2025, from $17.5 billion currently, after the Pioneer merger closes.\nShares were up a fraction in pre-market trading on Wednesday after closing down about 2% at $100.44.\nThe company forecasts production of 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2024, from 3.7 million bpd this year, as the top U.S. oil producer bets on a lift from the Permian shale basin and Guyana.\nSpending on new projects will expand to between $23 billion and $25 billion next year, with a range that has a mid-point spending of $24.5 billion annually from 2025 through 2027.\nThe company has said it expected output to be flat until the end of this year, at 3.7 million boepd, due to its withdrawal from Russia. (Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-Exxon Mobil forecasts increases in project spending, output"
    },
    {
        "id": 15,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-green-hydrogen-aid-gets-121955303.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- India’s first tranche of subsidies as part of a $2.4 billion green hydrogen plan attracted bidders including Sembcorp Industries, JSW Energy Ltd. and AM Green, while other major companies stayed away, according to people familiar with the development.\nAcme Solar Holdings and Avaada Group also competed to help build a total capacity of 450,000 tons a year of the clean fuel, the people said, asking not to be named before an official announcement. State utility NTPC Ltd., and Adani Enterprises Ltd., which have green hydrogen plans of their own, didn’t take part in the auction.\nOrganizer Solar Energy Corp. of India Ltd. extended the submission deadline by 10 days until Dec. 14, which could attract new bidders.\nSpokespersons at Sembcorp, Acme, AM Green, Avaada, Adani and NTPC didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment, neither did the renewable energy ministry. JSW Energy declined to comment.\nIndia’s flagship plan aims to produce 5 million tons annually of green hydrogen, seen as key to decarbonize hard-to-abate industries such as oil refining, fertilizers, steel and shipping. As local companies still shy away from high upfront costs, India is now focusing on exports looking for deals with European and Southeast Asian economies, while doubling down on subsidies at home.\nThe fresh subsidies cover the first three years of output, offering up to 50 rupees ($0.6) a kilogram for the first year, 40 rupees in the second and 30 rupees a kilogram in the third year, according to bid documents.\n",
        "title": "India Green Hydrogen Aid Gets Cautious Response From Investors"
    },
    {
        "id": 16,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-futures-edge-fed-121809515.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nNvidia up on plan to develop new chips compliant with U.S. curbs\n*\nPlug Power falls on Morgan Stanley downgrade\n*\nFutures up: Dow 0.09%, S&P 0.18%, Nasdaq 0.23%\n(Updated at 6:58 a.m. ET/ 1158 GMT)\nBy Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A\nDec 6 (Reuters) -\nFutures tracking U.S. stock indexes inched higher on Wednesday as investors were cautiously optimistic about rate cuts from the Federal Reserve early next year and waited for more labor market data.\nThe S&P 500 and the Dow closed lower in the previous session, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq was propped up by a fall in Treasury yields after data showing softening labor demand bolstered bets that the Fed was done raising rates.\nTraders have nearly fully priced in the probability that the central bank will hold rates steady next week and expect to see rate cuts being delivered as soon as the first quarter of next year.\nBets of a cut of at least 25 basis points in March currently stand at 59%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nAt 6:58 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 34 points, or 0.09%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 8.25 points, or 0.18%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 36.25 points, or 0.23%.\n\"With the Fed wanting to be sure that inflation is truly tied down before it loosens policy, we’re going to see this guessing game, where the market tries to position itself ahead of the Fed’s next move,\" Steve Clayton, head of equity funds at Hargreaves Lansdown said in a note.\nMost megacap stocks edged higher in premarket trading. Nvidia rose 1.1% after the chip designer said it was working with the U.S. government to ensure new chips for the Chinese market are compliant with export curbs.\nOptimism about peaking interest rates has led to a rebound in equities from their October lows, with the benchmark S&P 500 gaining nearly 9% in November, hitting its highest close of the year last week.\nEmployment data is in focus this week, with November's non-farm payrolls report, due on Friday, likely to shape expectations for the interest rate path ahead.\nBefore that, investors will get another glimpse into the state of the labor market with the ADP National Employment report due at 8:15 a.m. ET on Wednesday.\nAmong other stocks, Plug Power fell 5.8% before the bell, as Morgan Stanley downgraded the hydrogen fuel cell firm to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight\" on liquidity concerns.\nTobacco giants\nAltria Group and Philip Morris International slipped 1.6% and 1.0%, respectively, after UK peer British American Tobacco said it will take a $31.5 billion hit from writing down the value of some U.S. cigarette brands. (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Futures edge up on Fed pivot optimism"
    },
    {
        "id": 17,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-canada-tough-talk-set-150106550.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Canada is expected to hold interest rates steady as officials seek out a neutral way to acknowledge their rate hikes have gone far enough.\nEconomists and markets say policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem will keep the benchmark overnight rate unchanged at 5% on Wednesday, a third consecutive pause. The key will be the language of the statement. Macklem will be trying to underscore that the central bank understands growth is weak, without causing speculation about deep rate cuts in 2024.\nMacklem has insisted more hikes are possible and that it’s too early to talk about cutting rates. The inflation fight is not yet won, he says. Most economists expect the central bank to keep using that line.\nOfficials don’t want financial conditions to loosen too quickly; that would risk a resurgence of price pressures.\nNovember’s remarkable bond rally has already reduced longer-term borrowing costs. The yield on the five-year benchmark bond — which is key for setting fixed-rate mortgages in Canada — has tumbled almost 100 basis points since early October and closed at 3.446% on Tuesday, the lowest since June.\n“I think they have sufficient reason to take more of a neutral tone,” Beata Caranci, chief economist at Toronto Dominion Bank, said in an interview. The challenge for Macklem and his officials will be keeping markets from getting “ahead of themselves and start becoming overly aggressive in pricing in rate cuts,” she said.\nRead More: El-Erian Says Fed Risks Losing Control of Messaging on US Rates\nThe first reduction in the policy rate will happen in the second quarter of 2024, according to a new survey of economists by Bloomberg, and most think it will happen without advance warning from the bank. Traders in overnight index swaps see a high probability of two rate cuts by June or July.\nThat’s due to a deteriorating economic outlook, which undermines the credibility of Macklem’s threat to hike further if necessary. Canada’s economy has stalled and consumption is weak. The unemployment rate has risen to 5.8% from 5% in just seven months, a loosening of the labor market that typically coincides with recessions.\nEleven of 17 economists in the Bloomberg survey say borrowing costs are restrictive enough — and five say the overnight rate is already too high. Feeble growth is seen persisting into the middle of next year, which will cause more slack in the labor market, helping to bring inflation back to the 2% target sometime in the second half of next year or first half of 2025, the majority say.\nAfter temporarily reversing course due to rising gasoline costs, inflation is again headed in the right direction, decelerating to a 3.1% yearly pace in October. Core measures that strip out volatile items are also trending lower.\nAnd while a soft landing is still the base-case scenario for the economy, key vulnerabilities in the country’s financial system are about to be tested. Canada’s highly indebted households carry shorter-duration mortgages that roll over more quickly than their counterparts in the US, and 82% of economists say that represents a major downside risk to the economy.\n“When I look further out at the market-implied pricing, that’s when I start to think that there’s another shoe to drop,” Royce Mendes, head of macro strategy at Desjardins Securities, said in an interview. His firm expects the bank to cut rates more than consensus in the next two years. “What I see is still an underappreciation for the risks and headwinds emanating from the mortgage renewal story.”\nBefore reaching consensus to hold rates steady at their October meeting, the bank said some members of the six-person governing council thought rates should rise further, according to summary of those discussions.\nPrematurely declaring victory over inflation, only to have to restart rate hikes later, would be another major knock to the central bank’s credibility. Headline inflation has been above the 3% cap of the Bank of Canada’s inflation control range for 30 of the last 31 months — the worst record in the modern era of the central bank — and more than half of economists surveyed say that has hurt the bank’s reputation.\nPolitical pressure is also mounting, and leaders of some Canadian provinces have penned letters to Macklem urging him not to hike rates further. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is ultimately responsible for the central bank, gave a rare public affirmation of policymakers’ September rate pause, which she called a “welcome relief” to Canadians. In the survey, 71% of economists said it’s not appropriate for the minister to comment on the Bank of Canada’s decisions.\n--With assistance from Sarina Yoo.\n(Updates with additional information on the move in long rates in fifth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Bank of Canada’s Tough Talk Set to Meet Harsh Economic Reality"
    },
    {
        "id": 18,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exxon-boosts-share-buybacks-hunt-113443021.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to raise share buybacks 14% as the oil giant accelerates crude production in the US Permian Basin, boosted by its $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources Co.\nExxon will repurchase $20 billion of stock next year, the Spring, Texas-based company said in a statement Wednesday. That matches arch rival Chevron Corp., which pledged to lift buybacks after agreeing to buy Hess Corp. for $53 billion in late October.\nExxon plans to spend $23 billion to $25 billion on capital projects next year as it expands its footprint in North America’s most-prolific oilfield and pursues untapped reserves in overseas regions such as Guyana. That compares with a 2023 target of about $25 billion. The Texas oil giant also expanded spending on low- carbon ventures.\nChief Executive Officer Darren Woods is investing heavily in both fossil fuels and low-carbon projects that he believes will keep Exxon at the forefront of the energy transition. In the first-ever appearance by an Exxon CEO at the UN’s premier climate conference, Woods last week predicted that fossil fuels will be needed for years to come and said the oil industry will play a key role in the transition to cleaner energy.\nFor the post-2025 era, the explorer raised the top end of its annual capital budget range to $27 billion from a previous cap of $25 billion to account for an increase in low-carbon investment. However, Woods noted that the long-term target is susceptible to regulatory and taxation changes.\nExxon will see a “growing profile” of low-carbon spending but it will be limited if projects don’t garner adequate government support, he said during a conference call with analysts. If US climate legislation “gets translated in a way that disadvantages the project, then we won’t pursue the project.”\nExxon dropped 2% to $98.46 a share in New York as a 3.5% slide in international crude futures dragged oil equities lower. The shares have fallen roughly 10% this year.\nThe company plans to cut $6 billion in “structural costs” by 2027, in addition to the $9 billion in reductions achieved since 2019, according to the statement. Outlays for low-carbon projects will reach $20 billion through 2027 as the company builds its lithium, carbon-capture and hydrogen portfolios.\nAs for fossil fuels, the Pioneer deal will make it far and away the biggest Permian producer and help restore the oil giant’s overall production to levels not seen in more than a decade. In addition to the Permian Basin, Exxon is ramping up production in Guyana, where it has discovered roughly 11 billion barrels of crude, and building a multibillion-dollar petrochemical plant in China. About 90% of the new projects will recoup their costs in less than 10 years, Exxon said.\n(Updates with CEO quote in sixth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Exxon Boosts Buybacks 14% as Hunt for More Oil Accelerates"
    },
    {
        "id": 19,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trafigura-sets-aside-127-million-120814108.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Julia Payne\nBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Global commodities trader Trafigura said it was setting aside $127 million cover a possible U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) fine to end a probe into \"improper payments\" by the company in Brazil, a statement from the company said on Wednesday.\n\"The investigations stem in part from statements made by Mariano Marcondes Ferraz, a former Trafigura employee, as part of a plea agreement following his conviction in a separate case in Brazil, not related to Trafigura,\" the company said in the statement.\nThe Geneva-based firm is also under investigation by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland, which has asked the federal court to \"consider charges\" against Trafigura for failing to prevent alleged unlawful payments via a third party to a former employee of Angola's state oil company Sonangol between 2009-2011.\nThe OAG also announced charges against the company's former chief operating office Mike Wainwright. The former Sonangol employee and a former consultant to DT Group, a joint-venture with Trafigura, are being charged as well.\nTrafigura said it would defend itself in court and that Wainwright rejected the charges and would also defend himself.\n(Reporting by Julia Payne; Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "Trafigura sets aside $127 million provision for Brazil, U.S. DOJ fine"
    },
    {
        "id": 20,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hydrogen-industry-raises-alarm-over-141216406.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A leaked draft of Treasury Department guidance for claiming hydrogen production tax credits under President Joe Biden’s climate law is drawing warnings from advocates that the requirements may stifle the burgeoning industry before it takes shape.\nThe drafted blueprint includes requirements sought by some environmentalists that would limit the $3-per-kilogram credit to hydrogen-production operations powered by wind, solar or other clean-power projects built within the last three years, according to people familiar with the plan. Some of the details of the tax guidelines were reported earlier by Politico.\n“If true, the Biden administration’s proposed strategy for implementing these provisions will fail to get this new industry off the ground,” Jason Grumet, chief executive officer of the Washington-based American Clean Power Association, said in a statement Monday. “It is surprising and disappointing that the administration would propose such a rigid approach that is at odds with decades of learning about new technology deployment.”\nThe guidance in the Treasury Department draft also calls for hydrogen projects to be supplied with new, clean-power sources operating on the same grid on an annual basis through 2027, then on a hourly basis starting in 2028, the people said.\nThe Treasury Department, which is expected to make its guidance public by year’s end, declined to comment.\nRead More: Biden’s Plan to Quash Power-Plant Pollution Fuels Industry Clash\nThe issue has sparked an intense lobbying battle and deliberations across the Biden administration that have slowed the release of guidance, with White House senior clean energy adviser John Podesta helping referee debates between the Department of Energy and the Treasury Department.\n“The rigor that is going into this — the good, healthy differences of opinion between Treasury and DOE in coming at an issue and having that be arbitrated — is incredibly robust and helpful to the overall solution, all informed by different perspectives,” Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk said in a US Chamber of Commerce event at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. With “up to $3 per kilogram for the cleanest of hydrogen, that is a big tax incentive — a big tax credit — and we’ve got to get that right.”\nCreates Rift\nThe issue also has created rifts among hydrogen developers. Earlier this month Synergetic, a green-hydrogen developer, resigned from the American Clean Power Association over its recommendations for the tax credits. The company’s chief executive officer, Mike Sloan, said in an email the trade group’s suggestions would “favor dirty hydrogen over clean hydrogen.”\nLooser rules could actually encourage the purchase of low-tech electrolyzers from China, instead of more sophisticated equipment made in the US, said Paul Wilkins, a vice president with Electric Hydrogen Co., a privately held maker of electrolyzers, which use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.\n“If you go with dumb rules you are going to incentivize dumb production,” said Wilkins. “If what’s leaked is indeed accurate, then I think the administration hit the rational middle. Nobody was going to be completely happy.”\nHydrogen is seen as a critical fuel for decarbonizing steel, cement and other heavy industries, and the tax credit is viewed as an essential incentive to spur its development.\nBut environmentalists warn that unless there are strict rules requiring hydrogen to be produced with new clean power sources operating on the same grid and during the same time, it could drive further demand for fossil-fuel based electricity — and unleash more greenhouse gas emissions.\n“Without strong rules hydrogen projects will increase emissions,” said Rachel Fakhry, a policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Getting them wrong means backsliding on our climate goals and paying for it.”\n--With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy.\n(Updates with comment from deputy energy secretary in the seventh paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Hydrogen Industry Signals Alarm Over Proposed US Tax Credits"
    },
    {
        "id": 21,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-mortgage-rate-drops-four-120000010.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- US mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in almost four months last week, spurring the biggest demand for refinancing since February.\nThe contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage decreased 20 basis points to 7.17% in the week ended Dec. 1, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The rate has fallen 69 basis points in the last five weeks, the biggest drop over such a time period since late 2008.\nMortgage News Daily, which updates more frequently, put the 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.08% on Tuesday.\nSince peaking near 8% in October, mortgage rates have retreated on expectations that the Federal Reserve is not only done raising interest rates, but may start cutting them early next year. Economists contend the drop will soon translate to more housing inventory and sales as owners won’t have to take on such an onerous rate when they move.\nRefinancing activity jumped nearly 14%, the most since February, helping boost MBA’s overall index of applications. Purchasing activity ticked down slightly, but still hovered near the highest level since mid-September.\nThe MBA survey, which has been conducted weekly since 1990, uses responses from mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. The data cover more than 75% of all retail residential mortgage applications in the US.\n",
        "title": "US Mortgage Rate Drops to Four-Month Low, Boosting Refinancing"
    },
    {
        "id": 22,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-brazils-public-sector-gross-115923054.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds further data, context)\nBRASILIA, Dec 6 (Reuters) -\nBrazil's government debt as a share of gross domestic product increased to 74.7% in October from 74.4% the month before, central bank data showed on Wednesday, primarily driven by interest expenses.\nEconomists surveyed by Reuters had anticipated the country's gross debt-to-GDP ratio to reach 74.5%.\nThe deterioration occurred despite a primary surplus posted by the public sector for the month, amounting to 14.798 billion reais ($3 billion), which fell short of the 17.6 billion reais surplus projected in the poll.\nThe surplus marked a 45% decline from October 2022, largely influenced by worsening figures in the central government amid a significant increase in social spending.\nSimultaneously, the interest expense in October surged by 49% compared to the previous year, reaching 61.947 billion reais, said the central bank. The increase was propelled by the growth of the public debt stock and a less favorable outcome from currency swap operations.\nOver the 12 month-period, the public sector's primary budget deficit expanded to 1.08% of GDP, while the nominal deficit, which includes interest expenses, rose to 7.88% of GDP – the highest level since May 2021's 8.83%. ($1 = 4.9304 reais) (Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Steven Grattan)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Brazil's public sector gross debt rises to 74.7% of GDP in October"
    },
    {
        "id": 23,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-england-look-closer-rise-115823847.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Huw Jones\nLONDON (Reuters) -The Bank of England will study more closely the growing use of artificial intelligence by financial firms, but specific regulations that target AI may not be the best way forward, Deputy Governor Sam Woods said on Wednesday.\nMachine learning and some types of AI were already being widely used for fraud and money laundering detection, but applications for other forms were only at an exploratory stage, Woods said.\n\"We want to be technology-agnostic in all of our regulation,\" Woods said at a press conference after the BoE published its latest Financial Stability Report.\n\"AI-specific financial regulation may not be the right way forward,\" he added.\nHe said the Bank's Financial Policy Committee would take a look at AI and machine learning next year to consider their risks to financial stability, working alongside other authorities.\nAI and machine learning could deliver significant benefits to the financial sector by driving greater operational efficiency, improving risk management and providing new products and services, the committee said.\nBut wider adoption could post system-wide risks, such as amplifying herd behaviour or increasing the risk of cyber attacks, it added.\nBoE Governor Andrew Bailey said everyone was learning at a fast pace about AI, and should approach it with \"eyes wide open\".\n\"It has, I think quite profound implications, potentially for economic growth and how economies are shaped going forward,\" Bailey said.\nFirms using AI need to understand exactly how it worked, he added.\nWoods said the BoE could consider what steps senior managers in the financial sector, who are directly accountable to regulators, should take to assure themselves that \"what's coming out of the black box is actually reasonable\".\nThe BoE has just been given new powers to oversee how banks use third parties, such as cloud providers, for critical services.\n\"So if it became the case the financial system became significantly dependent on a provider of AI technology, it might well be that that will be a candidate for the use of those new powers,\" Woods said.\n(Writing by Huw Jones; additional reporting by Andy Bruce and Suban Abdulla; editing by David Milliken and Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "Bank of England to look closer at rise of AI in finance"
    },
    {
        "id": 24,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/israel-says-no-trade-oddities-115628270.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Israel’s Securities Authority said it found no significant stock-trading abnormalities in the days preceding Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that warrant further investigation, responding to claims in a US-authored research paper that had caused a public uproar.\nTel Aviv Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer Ittai Ben-Zeev added there were also no oddities evident in equity, bond, or derivative trading, according to an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg TV. The “local market didn’t see anything that’s awkward,” he said.\nThe securities regulator, known as ISA, opened an investigation into possible suspicious pre-attack trading not long after the deadly incursion took place, it said in a statement Tuesday. It then re-examined those findings following the publication of a research report on Dec. 4 titled “Trading on Terror,” written by Robert J. Jackson, at New York University School of Law, and Joshua Mitts, at Columbia Law School.\nProtests, War Push Israel Tech Deals to 10-Year Low, PwC Says\nThe US-based researchers said they found a “significant spike in short selling in the principal Israeli-company ETF days before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack,” referring to exchange-traded funds popular with investors seeking exposure to a specific region, country or industry. “Our findings suggest that traders informed about the coming attacks profited from these tragic events,” they wrote.\nDomestic Only\nISA said it’s only responsible for overseeing trading occurring in the country, and therefore its lack of findings “reflect only trading activity in Israel.” It didn’t comment on trading of Israeli securities abroad, which could include US-listed ETFs.\nThe US authors also said they found a substantial overall increase in short-selling interest in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, peaking just before the attack. “For one company alone, Bank Leumi Le-Israel, 4.43 million new shares sold short over the Sept. 14 to Oct. 5 period, yielding profits of 3.2 billion shekels ($863 million) on that additional short selling,” the said.\nBut Yaniv Pagot, head of trading at the stock exchange, said the researchers miscalculated, since share prices are listed in agorot, which are similar to cents, rather than shekels, “putting the short-sale profit at just 32 million shekels.”\nThe authors later corrected their findings to reflect the use of agorot.\nStocks Rebound\nIsrael’s TA-35 stock index dropped 6.5% on Oct. 9, the first trading day after the attack, but has since rebounded to close 1.3% lower as of Tuesday compared with Oct. 5.\nBen-Zeev told Bloomberg TV that international investors have been returning to the Tel Aviv equity market in the past couple of weeks after pulling out money at the start of the war with Hamas.\n“Investors acknowledge that the market is very cheap and they’re used to these types of situations,” he said.\n(Updates with Tel Aviv Stock Exchange CEO in second paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Israel Says No Trade Oddities Evident Before Hamas Attack"
    },
    {
        "id": 25,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sterling-strongest-three-months-versus-115615396.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Alun John\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The pound hit its strongest against the euro in three months on Wednesday, as signs of economic weakness in the euro zone and market expectations that rate cuts will come earlier next year in Europe than Britain weighed on the common currency.\nThe euro dipped as much as 0.22% against the pound to 85.54 pence, its lowest since early September, before recovering a touch to trade broadly flat on the day.\nThe pound was also steady against the dollar at $1.2603, just about keeping in sight of last week's near four month high of $1.2733.\n\"Bank of England policy makers have been pretty consistent in saying the labour market is too tight and it's too early to consider talking about interest rate cuts, and inflation is a bit higher in the UK than in the euro zone or the U.S.,\" said Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank.\nAs a result \"the market is thinking that the ECB could be cutting rates first, then the Fed and then the BoE.\"\nBoE governor Andrew Bailey said on Wednesday that interest rates in Britain will need to stay at current levels for some time and the Bank is vigilant to financial stability risks that might arise from that.\nMarkets are currently almost fully pricing in a 25 basis point rate cut from the European Central Bank in March next year, while not pricing in a Bank of England rate cut until June.\nOn top of that, said Foley, recent economic weakness at the heart of Europe could hurt the common currency. German industrial orders fell unexpectedly in October, declining by 3.7% on the previous month on a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis, the federal statistics office said on Wednesday.\n\"If you can be reassured that the inflationary problem is going to be under control in Europe, a weak currency could actually be quite favourable to help with the European Commission's rush to improve the competitiveness of the region,\" she said.\nThe pound's moves against the dollar have largely been driven by fluctuations in the greenback. On Wednesday, traders were waiting for the ADP National Employment Report of private U.S. payrolls, ahead of Friday's crucial jobs data.\n(Editing by Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "Sterling at strongest in three months versus euro"
    },
    {
        "id": 26,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dell-90-rally-hits-wall-114658732.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Some Dell Technologies Inc. investors are questioning whether the stock’s price tag justifies growth that hasn’t materialized yet.\nThe personal computer maker’s shares soared nearly 90% to a record through the end of November, amid expectations of a boost from artificial intelligence demand. The stock, which is trading above its five-year average at about 10 times forward earnings, has faltered since Dell’s third quarter report showed the AI boost is far off.\n“We are waiting to seek a better entry point,” said Hendi Susanto, an analyst at Gabelli Funds. “The stock had run up significantly and we are taking a patient approach when it comes to the AI growth opportunity.”\nDell shares rose slightly at market open Wednesday.\nDell sparked optimism in August when it beat sales expectations in the second quarter and said it saw demand for servers that support AI workloads to be a long-term tailwind. However, last month’s results showed that even though it recorded $500 million in revenue in the third quarter from those high-powered servers, it wasn’t enough to offset the slump in PCs.\nIt’s a scenario analysts like Morningstar’s William Kerwin have been warning of. The stock has picked up three-sell equivalent ratings since August. Kerwin, who cut his rating on Dell to sell in September, says shares are overvalued at current levels.\nBarclays analysts led by Tim Long also downgraded shares of the company to a sell-equivalent rating in September, citing macroeconomic pressures leading to difficulty in the PC and server/storage end markets that AI likely wouldn’t be able to offset.\n“Growth in this area will require a cycle when people are upgrading because AI enables them to do something new on the device,” said Daniel Newman, chief executive officer of The Futurum Group. “Everyone seems convinced that the bottom of the PC cycle is here, and there are some positives in that, but the real growth won’t come until AI-based PCs and phones come out.”\nDell Sales Miss Estimates With Corporate PCs Still Lagging\nThat may not happen until the latter half of 2024, Newman added. Consensus estimates now expect Dell’s revenue in the fiscal first quarter of 2025 to slip further to about $21 billion before rebounding to nearly $23 billion in the second quarter and growing through the end of the year.\nStill, Wall Street remains bullish on Dell overall. More than 70% of those covering the company have a buy-equivalent rating, and the average $79 price target implies more than 13% upside, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nIts gain of around 70% this year is “a sign that Dell is still seen as relevant,” said Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank AS. “The company is in the same position as Oracle years back with a stable and high margin business but no growth.”\nFor some investors, Dell’s solid financial position leaves it well placed to withstand a slowdown before potentially benefiting from the next wave of artificial intelligence demand.\n“We like companies that have a very sterling balance sheet, don’t borrow very much and aren’t as subject to the vicissitudes of the market and the economy,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Cresset Capital LLC. “AI could be the next catalyst to drive the next hardware cycle.”\nTech Chart of the Day\nApple Inc. shares rose Wednesday, with the iPhone maker closing with a $3 trillion market capitalization for the first time since August. The stock gained following a strong forecast from iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Technology stocks have rebounded in recent weeks amid hopes that interest rates have peaked.\n--With assistance from Ryan Vlastelica and Subrat Patnaik.\n(Updates stock moves at market open)\n",
        "title": "Dell’s 90% Rally Hits Wall as AI Optimism Met With Reality Check"
    },
    {
        "id": 27,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-exxon-mobil-forecasts-higher-113622576.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details and background from paragraph 2 onwards)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil on Wednesday forecast production of 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2024, as the top U.S. oil producer bets on a lift from Permian basin and Guyana.\nThe company said it would increase the pace of share repurchases to $20 billion per year from the closing of its Pioneer deal through 2025.\nExxon said it expects $6 billion in additional cost savings by 2027.\nThe company has said it expected output to be flat until the end of this year, at 3.7 million boepd, due to its exit from Russia.\n(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Exxon Mobil forecasts higher production, lifts buyback target"
    },
    {
        "id": 28,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exxon-mobil-forecasts-higher-production-113410909.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Sabrina Valle\nHOUSTON (Reuters) -Exxon Mobil will target annual project spending of between $22 billion and $27 billion through 2027, the oil major said in an update on Wednesday that largely continues existing spending and production goals.\nThe largest U.S. oil producer laid out plans to boost spending on nascent lithium and low carbon businesses by 18% throughout 2027.\nIts presentation, however, left out details of projected gains from the $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources that is expected be completed in the first half of 2024, and shares fell by more than 1% in morning trading.\nCompany executives also said most profits from its push into energy transition businesses including carbon dioxide abatement and storage and lithium production would come after 2027. Profits from those units also will depend on government help through regulations and infrastructure.\n\"All those things are coming together,\" said CEO Darren Woods. \"But until they ultimately land, and we know what we've got\" the outlook will remain \"less certain.\"\n\"Exxon will need to convince investors on the merits of the low-carbon spending from here,\" said Biraj Borkhataria, an equity analyst at RBC Capital in a note.\nThe annual forecast is watched closely by investors for its spending and production targets. This year's outlook was keenly anticipated because of deals for Pioneer and carbon pipeline firm Denbury, both of which will underpin long-range targets.\nExxon announced plans to buy Pioneer in October for nearly $60 billion in an all-stock deal, saying it plans to more than triple its production in the top U.S. shale field to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2027. Denbury was a $4.9 billion acquisition to buttress its carbon business.\nExxon's estimated production growth for next year excludes about 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) it would gain from the Pioneer acquisition. That deal would double Exxon's Permian shale oil and gas output to more than 1.3 million bpd, the company has said.\nGOVERNMENT SUPPORT\nExxon's spending outlook will raise outlays for its energy transition unit, called Low Carbon Solutions, to $20 billion between 2022 and 2027, from $17 billion. But the higher spending will require government support.\n\"We need technology-neutral durable policy support, transparent carbon pricing and accounting, and ultimately, customer commitments to support increased investment,\" Woods said.\nExxon will increase its share buybacks to $20 billion annually through 2025, from $17.5 billion currently, after the Pioneer merger closes, the company said. An ongoing divestment plan for its refining operations also will continue.\nAnalysts said excluding any contributions from the Pioneer deal, the company's oil and gas targets were below expectations and its spending forecast higher than expected.\nAnnual project expenditures could hit $32 billion by 2027, above market expectations, assuming an incremental $4-5 billion in spending on Pioneer's assets, RBC Capital said.\nExxon projected earnings and cash flow to rise through 2027 by $14 billion on a combination of cost cutting, higher oil output from Guyana and U.S. shale and gains in its refining and chemicals business. The company is forecast to earn $37.2 billion this year, according to financial firm LSEG.\nIncrease cash flow will come from higher earnings and a new $6 billion cost reduction target through the end of 2027. The company slashed project spending and overhead after suffering a historic $22 billion annual loss in 2020.\nSHALE, GUYANA OIL GAINS\nExxon forecasts production of 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2024, from 3.7 million this year, as it bets on a lift from the Permian shale basin and Guyana.\nSpending on new projects will expand to between $23 billion and $25 billion next year, with a range that has a mid-point spending of $24.5 billion annually from 2025 through 2027.\n(Reporting by Sabrina Valle in Houston and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, David Evans, Nick Zieminski and Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "Exxon Mobil forecasts increases in project spending, oil output"
    },
    {
        "id": 29,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exxon-mobil-forecasts-higher-production-112847404.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 6 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil on Wednesday forecast production of 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) through 2027, as the top U.S. oil producer bets on a lift from Permian basin and Guyana.\nThe company has said it expected output to be flat until the end of this year, at 3.7 million boepd, due to its withdrawal from Russia.\n(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)\n",
        "title": "Exxon Mobil forecasts higher production in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 30,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-bank-bosses-warn-112336246.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Refiles to correct additional reporting credit)\nBy Pete Schroeder, Michelle Price and Lananh Nguyen\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top bosses of JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other major banks warned lawmakers Wednesday that capital hikes and other new regulations being contemplated by U.S. bank regulators will hurt lending, capital markets and the broader economy.\nThe industry has been waging a fierce campaign to kill the \"Basel endgame\" proposal, which overhauls how banks must calculate their loss-absorbing capital, and as regulators roll out fair lending and fee cap regulations, among other rules.\nThe CEOs hope to use the hearing as an opportunity to try to convince key moderate Democratic senators that the Basel rule, which is being led by the Federal Reserve, could stifle lending, hurting small businesses and consumers.\nIt quickly became a battle of narratives, with many Democrats casting skepticism on the industry's complaints and accusing them of over-emphasizing the risks, while Republicans and the CEOs stressed the potential adverse impact on a range of products and services, from green lending, commodities hedging, and pension plan profits, to U.S. Treasury market liquidity.\n\"If enacted as drafted, this proposal will fundamentally alter the U.S. economy in ways that the Federal Reserve has not studied or contemplated,\" Dimon, CEO of the country's largest lender JPMorgan, said in his prepared testimony.\n\"A lot of loans become unprofitable,\" Dimon said later, citing solar, wind, middle market and community lending.\nThe other CEOs appearing are: Bank of America's Brian Moynihan, Wells Fargo's Charles Scharf, Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, Morgan Stanley's James Gorman, State Street's Ronald O'Hanley, and BNY Mellon's Robin Vince.\nGorman emphatically criticized Basel as \"wholly unnecessary\" and later making \"no sense\" for an industry already awash in cash and subject to a slew of strict regulations.\nSenator Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat who chairs the Committee, quickly criticized the banks for aggressively lobbying against the rules, including with multiple public advertising campaigns and meetings with lawmakers.\nBanks have overstated the adverse potential impact of the rules in a bid to preserve their profit margins, he added. When pressed by Brown as to whether all the banks could meet the extra capital required by Basel, all eight indicated they could.\n\"Absolutely nothing in these rules would stop your banks from making loans to working families,\" he said. \"What your banks want is to maximize quarterly profits, the cost of everything and everyone else be damned,\" Brown told the CEOs.\nRegulators say new rules, including capital hikes, are necessary to protect the banking system from unforeseen shocks, especially following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and two other lenders earlier this year.\nThe Wall Street bosses enjoyed support from some of the Committee's Republicans who generally oppose tight regulations. Senator Tim Scott, the panel's top Republican, echoed bank concerns, saying the proposed rules could have a \"devastating impact\" on small businesses.\nSenator Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, asked the CEOs if the regulations could hurt homebuyers, farmers, small business owners, prompting all eight to raise their hands.\nBig bank CEOs have been appearing before Congress for several years after the 2007-09 financial crisis and subsequent scandals thrust the industry into Washington's crosshairs.\nWhile they rarely result in legislation, hearings have led banks to make changes. In 2021, Dimon was drawn into a fiery exchange with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren about overdraft fees, while last year she grilled him over fraud on bank payment network Zelle. Big banks subsequently reduced overdraft fees and expanded Zelle fraud protections.\n(Reporting by Pete Schroeder and Michelle Price; additional reporting by Chibuike Oguh; Editing by David Gregorio and Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "Wall Street bank bosses warn lawmakers of economic toll from tough new rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 31,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boe-sees-more-risk-hedge-103001718.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of England stepped up warnings about hedge funds shorting US Treasury futures, saying its measure of the net position is now larger than before the “dash for cash” crisis in March 2020.\nThe net short position has grown to $800 billion from about $650 billion in July, the central bank said, citing calculations based on Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. That suggests a jump in the so-called basis trade, which is where investors seek to exploit price differences between futures and bonds.\nThe trade is particularly risky because returns are bolstered by borrowing money in the repo market. That tends to work well in a low-volatility environment but can backfire if the market moves fast — and can even disrupt the smooth functioning of the financial system.\n“Sharp increases in volatility in market interest rates could lead to increases in margin required on the futures positions, or hedge funds may fund it harder to refinance their borrowing in the repo market,” the BOE said in a report Wednesday. “This, combined with any breaches of risk- or loss-limits, could force funds rapidly to unwind their positions.”\nThe BOE’s warning adds to a growing body of international regulatory concern. The UK central bank warned in July that the basis trade poses a risk to financial stability. The leveraged trade in US Treasury futures has regained popularity with hedge funds is attracting scrutiny from US regulators.\nThe report said the trade poses spillover risks to the UK because the same hedge funds are also active in the UK bond market, meaning a blowup in their US Treasuries could impact their gilt positions.\nThe message on the basis trade was part of the BOE’s broader warning about risks in market-based finance. Officials also said there “continues to be an urgent need to increase resilience” in that market, and pointed to the “opacity” and lack of frequent re-pricing of private credit assets. That increases their vulnerability to sharp and correlated falls in value, they said.\nIn the same report, the BOE said regulations to improve the liquidity positions of so-called liability-driven investment funds — at the heart of a gilt market blowup last year — had improved their resilience. The regulations require LDI funds to have enough cash to withstand a rise in bond yields of as much as 2.5 percentage points.\nStill, it warned that some LDI funds were too slow to recapitalize their positions to reflect falling gilt prices. The expected response time is five days.\nThe BOE said it welcomed proposals currently under consultation to increase the resilience of UK money-market funds. Those would see their daily and weekly liquidity requirements rise to 15% and 50% respectively.\nHowever, given that around 90% of sterling money-market funds’ assets are domiciled in the European Union and therefore not subject to UK regulation, the rules needs to be mirrored by other jurisdictions, the BOE said. That’s to avoid “regulatory arbitrage.”\n(Adds BOE’s message on private credit in seventh paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "BOE Rings Alarm Bells On Hedge Funds' Risky Trade"
    },
    {
        "id": 32,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bat-writes-off-25-billion-102802531.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- British American Tobacco Plc is writing down some of its US cigarette brands by about £25 billion ($31.5 billion), sending shares to the biggest decline in almost four years.\nThe maker of Lucky Strikes is taking the non-cash impairment to reflect the diminishing carrying value of the brands over the next 30 years as more smokers quit, switch to cheaper brands or adopt smoking alternatives.\nThe cigarette maker also alarmed investors Wednesday by saying organic revenue growth this year will reach only the lower end of its forecast range, while the outlook for next year is for growth in the low single digits.\nThe “disappointing” mid-term guidance highlights challenges in the US cigarette market and increased competition in new categories such as vapes, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco, Morgan Stanley analysts Rashad Kawan and Sarah Simon said.\nThe shares fell as much as 10% in London, the steepest intraday drop since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. The stock is down about 30% this year, triple the decline in Marlboro maker Philip Morris International Inc.\nSmoking Alternatives\nAs demand for cigarettes cools in the US and elsewhere, BAT and rivals are battling for market share in tobacco alternatives. The seller of Vuse vapes and Velo nicotine pouches said its alternatives business should break even in 2023 — ahead of schedule — and be profitable next year.\nYet the company has ground to make up against competitors. It predicted alternatives will account for about half of sales by 2035 — about a decade behind a similar goal from bigger rival Philip Morris.\nBAT’s pod refill Vuse vapes are facing stiff competition from disposable vapes from upstart competitors, many of whom are based in China. Chief Executive Officer Tadeu Marroco said recently that disposables now account for more than half of the US market, the biggest market for vapes.\nGovernments in France, the UK and the US are considering a crackdown on disposables and vape flavors amid concerns the products are targeting underage users. BAT has said it is planning a media campaign to curb underage vaping.\nCigarette giants have been struggling for years to adapt to a more hostile attitude toward smoking by governments and waning demand from consumers in key markets.\nPhilip Morris spun-off its US cigarette operations, now known as Altria, more than a decade ago, bowing to pressure from US investors who wanted higher dividends and more share buybacks. The move was also pitched as a way to set free faster-growing overseas operations while the US business was entangled in smoker lawsuits.\nMarroco shook up management over the past six months, replacing several business heads and naming a new chief financial officer to jumpstart the company’s sluggish performance.\nStill, the outlook looks “grim” as 2024 guidance was disappointing and some investors may have been expecting news of a share buyback, RBC Capital Markets analysts James Edwardes Jones and Emma Letheren said in a note.\n--With assistance from Joel Leon and James Cone.\n(Updates with chart)\n",
        "title": "BAT Writing Off £25 Billion on US Cigarettes, Shares Fall"
    },
    {
        "id": 33,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-proposes-move-avoid-tariffs-111754371.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Philip Blenkinsop\nBRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission proposed on Wednesday delaying by three years a tightening of local content rules that would have led to import tariffs on many electric vehicles (EVs) traded between the European Union and Britain from the start of 2024.\nThe Commission also said it was setting aside an additional 3 billion euros ($3.24 billion) to boost the EU's battery manufacturing industry, a move designed to boost local content and reduce reliance on batteries and materials from China.\nThe post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) says that, to qualify for zero tariffs, at least 55% of the value of EVs need to be from the European Union or Britain, with values of 65% for battery cells and modules and 70% for battery packs.\nHowever, it contains two transition periods, the first with EVs requiring 40% local content and battery packs and components 30%, the second for 2024-2026 at 45% for EVs, 50% for battery cells and modules and 60% for battery packs.\nImport tariffs of 10% apply for EVs falling short of those requirements.\nThe proposal is to extend the first transition period for three years to 2027, when the full local content requirements of the TCA will apply. The second transition period will not apply.\nEuropean Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, who oversees EU relations with Britain, said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine and soaring energy prices, along with support schemes of rivals, meant that EU battery production had not scaled up as planned.\nGiven batteries represent 30-40% of a car's value and that most are from China, many carmakers argued they would have struggled to meet the content requirements of the second transition period.\n($1 = 0.9267 euros)\n(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)\n",
        "title": "EU proposes move to avoid tariffs on EV trade with Britain"
    },
    {
        "id": 34,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trafigura-targeted-us-swiss-prosecutors-111627200.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Trafigura Group and one of its longstanding top executives have been charged over allegations of bribing public officials in Angola, in a major blow to one of the world’s largest commodity traders.\nTrafigura acknowledged the Swiss charges in a statement, and also revealed for the first time a US Department of Justice investigation into “improper payments” made in Brazil.\nThe charges are the latest in a series of actions from global prosecutors targeting corruption in the commodity trading industry, and the most serious so far against Trafigura, a leading oil and metals trader.\nThe charges against Mike Wainwright, who as Trafigura’s chief operating officer has for a decade formed part of the top trio running the company, make him the one of the most senior commodity traders ever to be charged for corruption.\nTrafigura’s top competitors Glencore Plc and Vitol Group have in recent years both agreed to pay fines to settle wide-ranging US investigations into corruption, but until now only a few, largely mid-level individuals have been charged in those cases.\nThe energy crisis over the past two years has raised the profile of companies like Trafigura, Glencore and Vitol in global capitals, as politicians realize they are reliant on commodity traders to secure supplies of essential resources. But it has also heightened scrutiny of an industry that has since the days of Marc Rich had a reputation for corruption and wrongdoing.\nFor Trafigura, the charges follow a series of setbacks that have pressured its leadership and fueled tensions among the senior ranks — including having fallen victim to a massive alleged nickel fraud. The group, which is preparing to report results for its latest financial year, recently reorganized its top management and has been wrestling with the future of its metals business. Still, the company continues to reap huge profits from its energy divisions.\nCash Payments\nIn a statement Wednesday, the Swiss federal prosecutor’s office said that Trafigura, through its unit Trafigura Beheer BV, failed to take necessary organizational measures to prevent the payment of bribes in Angola between 2009 and 2011.\nThe trading house paid €4.3 million euros ($4.6 million) to a bank account in Geneva and made cash payments of $604,000 to an Angolan official between April 2009 and October 2011 in relation to its activities in the country’s petroleum industry, the prosecutor said in the statement. It also paid hotel and meal expenses of 797 Swiss francs ($911) for a stay in Geneva.\nIn return, the Angolan official, the former chief executive officer of a subsidiary of the state oil company Sonangol, favored Trafigura in shipping contracts, the Swiss prosecutor alleges. Trafigura’s alleged profits from those contracts amount to $143.7 million.\nUnder Swiss law, Trafigura faces penalties equivalent to the total illicit profit plus a fine of up to 5 million francs — or around $150 million in total. That compares to net profits of $5.5 billion reported by Trafigura in its latest half year accounts.\nTrafigura said it expects to resolve the DOJ case “shortly” and has made a $127 million provision in its 2023 financial year accounts.\nIt said that the investigations related in part to statements made by former Trafigura executive Mariano Ferraz as part of a plea agreement following his conviction in a separate case in Brazil. Ferraz was charged with corruption and money laundering as part of the Petrobras Carwash probe, while Trafigura and several of its senior executives have been accused of corruption by Brazilian prosecutors in a civil lawsuit.\nCourt Defense\nTrafigura said it had been willing to settle the Swiss investigation out of court, but that now it would defend itself in court. It said Wainwright rejects the Swiss charges and will be mounting a court defense.\n“We sincerely regret these incidents which breached our code of conduct and are contrary to our values,” Trafigura CEO Jeremy Weir said in the statement. “Our compliance policies and procedures have been externally reviewed and found to meet relevant legal requirements and international good practice standards. These historical incidents in no way represent the company we are today.”\nIf Wainwright is found guilty, he faces a potential fine or a maximum of five years in prison. Trafigura earlier this year announced his planned retirement in March 2024, but he has now handed over his responsibilities and is on a leave of absence to focus on his defense, according to a person familiar with the matter.\nThe Swiss attorney general’s office stressed in today’s statement that this is the first time that a case against a company for alleged bribery of public officials has ever been sent to the country’s top criminal court.\nSwiss indictments of companies are rare and convictions even rarer. The last major Swiss company to be convicted of a crime was Credit Suisse Group AG for failing to prevent money laundering. It was one of a series of scandals that befell the bank, which collapsed, and was bought by UBS Group AG less than a year later.\n--With assistance from Hugo Miller.\n(Adds context throughout)\n",
        "title": "Trader Trafigura Targeted by US and Swiss Over Corruption"
    },
    {
        "id": 35,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nissan-buy-parts-renault-geely-111610621.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Nissan Motor Co. will be a major customer to Renault SA’s combustion-engine venture as the partners push on with reshaping their troubled alliance and make progress in the EV transition.\nThe Japanese carmaker will receive gearboxes and engines for 12 of its plants, as well as half a million parts annually, the companies said Wednesday. Junior alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will also be a customer alongside multiple others in the Horse combustion-engine unit, set up with China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.\nThe steps are part of a major revamp of working together following years of growing tensions, allowing the manufacturers to take on new partners and independent ventures. This includes Renault’s plan to list its electric-vehicle unit Ampere, targeting a valuation of as much as €10 billion ($10.8 billion), with both Nissan and Mitsubishi confirming significant investments.\n“What we are doing now is, from size and impact, much bigger than we we did in the alliance in the last ten years,” Renault Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo told reporters. “The most important thing is to show that this alliance can create business value.”\nNissan will work with Renault’s Ampere unit to develop a battery version of its Micra compact car for the European market, a move that will cut development costs for the model by 50%, de Meo said. Nissan’s solid-state batteries — a potential next technology breakthrough for EVs — could be licensed by Renault and Mitsubishi in the future. Mitsubishi will work with Ampere to develop and make its first electric mid-size sport utility vehicle.\nRead more: Renault to Start Selling Nissan Stake Soon Amid EV IPO Pitch\nNissan plans to acquire a stake in Renault’s battery recycling unit that already generates annual sales of some €1 billion, de Meo said. With that step, the Japanese automaker would anticipate stricter European Union rules to help clean up the EV supply chain. Nissan also is interested in the venture for markets outside Europe, CEO Makoto Uchida said.\nEarlier this year, Nissan finalized plans to invest as much as €600 million in Ampere, which has faced headwinds from an EV price war, alongside an earlier commitment of €200 million from Mitsubishi.\nThe two companies rebalanced their 24-year-old alliance last month as they announced the creation of a French trust to which Renault transferred 28.4% of Nissan shares.\nIn November, Renault Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo said his company wants to start selling its stake in Nissan, worth about €4.3 billion, “very soon” as part of its ambitious electric-vehicle development plan. The plan to lower the stake removes a major source of tension for the partners.\nAmong other joint projects, Renault and Nissan said in February they will invest $600 million in India to expand their car lineup, add jobs and decarbonize a manufacturing plant in Chennai.\nRead more: Renault’s Twingo to Be Reborn as Under €20,000 Electric Car\n(Updates with details on joint projects starting in fourth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Nissan to Buy Parts From Renault-Geely Venture in Alliance Rejig"
    },
    {
        "id": 36,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/factbox-us-bank-bosses-grilled-111549043.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - The chief executives of the biggest U.S. banks are set to appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, where they will probably push back on proposals for stricter capital rules.\nThe Committee's Democratic chair Sherrod Brown has alleged that banks \"reward corporations that raise prices on Americans.\" Congress convenes the CEOs as part of its annual oversight of Wall Street firms.\nHere are the bank CEOs scheduled to testify:\nJAMIE DIMON, CEO OF JPMORGAN CHASE\nDimon, the outspoken chief of the biggest U.S. bank, has chided regulators over the draft capital rules, saying they would curb lending and economic growth if implemented.\nDimon, who assumed his current role in 2006, previously clashed with the Committee's member Senator Elizabeth Warren on overdraft fees. Warren also criticized banking watchdogs for allowing JPMorgan to get even bigger when it bought failed lender First Republic Bank in May.\nBRIAN MOYNIHAN, CEO OF BANK OF AMERICA\nMoynihan, who became CEO in 2010, rebuilt the second-largest U.S. lender after its financial crisis-era acquisitions of Wall Street giant Merrill Lynch and mortgage lender Countrywide.\nMore recently, he has joined the industry chorus against the tougher capital rules.\nThe bank has raised its minimum hourly wage to $23, with a goal of eventually boosting it to $25 by 2025. Raising pay has been a centerpiece of the Biden administration's strategy.\nJANE FRASER, CEO OF CITIGROUP\nFraser, the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank, took the helm in 2021. Her focus has been on streamlining the lender and refocusing on core markets.\nThe CEO is carrying out its biggest reorganization in decades to cut bureaucracy and increase efficiency. She has warned that there is \"no room for bystanders\" as the bank looks to close the gap with its peers.\nCHARLIE SCHARF, CEO OF WELLS FARGO\nScharf has led Wells Fargo's cleanup efforts since he became CEO in 2019. He has been tasked with repairing the damage from a sales practice scandal that emerged in 2016.\nWhile its earnings have improved, the lender is still operating under an asset cap that prevents it from growing until regulators deem that it has fixed its problems.\nDAVID SOLOMON, CEO OF GOLDMAN SACHS\nSolomon is steering the storied investment bank back to its traditional strengths - trading and investment banking - in his fifth year as CEO.\nGoldman's consumer-banking flop lost billions and raised questions about Solomon's strategy and leadership, which he has sought to address.\nIts traders and dealmakers are among the best paid on Wall Street. The generous payouts have long been contentious with progressives, especially during times of the economic turmoil.\nJAMES GORMAN, CEO OF MORGAN STANLEY\nGorman's testimony will likely be his last during a 14 year-stint as CEO of the investment banking powerhouse.\nHe is set to hand over the reins to Ted Pick next month, but has said he'd \"help fix up on the loose ends\" of some regulatory matters including the Basel proposals and a probe into the bank's block-trading activities.\nROBIN VINCE, CEO OF BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON\nVince, a former Goldman Sachs veteran, took the helm at BNY Mellon last year. The bank oversees $45.7 trillion in assets.\nEarlier this month, BNY Mellon said it will increase its minimum wage next year to $22.50 an hour from $20 and expand mental health benefits for employees.\nRONALD O’HANLEY, CEO OF STATE STREET\nO'Hanley has steered State Street, one of the world's largest custodian banks, since 2019.\nHe recently highlighted its focus on controlling costs.\n(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Factbox-US bank bosses to be grilled by senators"
    },
    {
        "id": 37,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/governments-spying-apple-google-users-111228279.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Raphael Satter\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users via their apps' push notifications, a U.S. senator warned on Wednesday.\nIn a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from Alphabet's Google and Apple. Although details were sparse, the letter lays out yet another path by which governments can track smartphones.\nApps of all kinds rely on push notifications to alert smartphone users to incoming messages, breaking news, and other updates. These are the audible \"dings\" or visual indicators users get when they receive an email or their sports team wins a game. What users often do not realize is that almost all such notifications travel over Google and Apple's servers.\nThat gives the two companies unique insight into the traffic flowing from those apps to their users, and in turn puts them \"in a unique position to facilitate government surveillance of how users are using particular apps,\" Wyden said. He asked the Department of Justice to \"repeal or modify any policies\" that hindered public discussions of push notification spying.\nIn a statement, Apple said that Wyden's letter gave them the opening they needed to share more details with the public about how governments monitored push notifications.\n\"In this case, the federal government prohibited us from sharing any information,\" the company said in a statement. \"Now that this method has become public we are updating our transparency reporting to detail these kinds of requests.\"\nThe Department of Justice did not return messages seeking comment on the push notification surveillance or whether it had prevented Apple of Google from talking about it. Google did not return messages seeking comment.\nWyden's letter cited a \"tip\" as the source of the information about the surveillance. His staff did not elaborate on the tip, but a source familiar with the matter confirmed that both foreign and U.S. government agencies have been asking Apple and Google for metadata related to push notifications to, for example, help tie anonymous users of messaging apps to specific Apple or Google accounts.\nThe source declined to identify the foreign governments involved in making the requests but described them as democracies allied to the United States.\nThe source said they did not know how long such information had been gathered in that way.\nMost users give push notifications little thought, but they have occasionally attracted attention from technologists because of the difficulty of deploying them without sending data to Google or Apple.\nEarlier this year French developer David Libeau said users and developers were often unaware of how their apps emitted data to the U.S. tech giants via push notifications, calling them \"a privacy nightmare.\"\n(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Stephen Coates)\n",
        "title": "Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications -US senator"
    },
    {
        "id": 38,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-peek-job-market-payrolls-111148438.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets by Amanda Cooper\nThe first week in the month is always a crucial one for economic data and the market is finding plenty to like so far. Job growth is still happening, but at a slower pace, activity in the mighty U.S. services sector is expanding, but modestly. The oil price is down, taking more heat out of the inflation picture, but not so much that the world's major producers have expressed alarm about the demand outlook.\nThe past few weeks have witnessed a dramatic shift in expectations for Federal Reserve monetary policy, from a \"higher for longer\" scenario to one of \"lower, more quickly\". Futures are pricing in a whopping 130 basis points of cuts in 2024, which many in the market say is far too optimistic, given the resilience of the economy, the evidence of tightness in the labour market and the fact that inflation is still above the central bank's 2% target.\nThe 1980s were a period of higher interest-rate volatility. But in the past 30 years, the quickest the Fed has flipped to cutting rates has been the seven months between February 1995 and July that year, when they fell 25 bps to 5.75% in response to GDP virtually halving to 1.3% in the second quarter.\nThe U.S. economy grew at a clip of 5.2% in the third quarter, well above expectations, which, in theory, would argue against a drop in rates any time soon. But recent data suggests momentum since then may have waned, as higher borrowing costs erode hiring and spending.\nIt's been four months since the Fed last raised rates. Money markets show the earliest opportunity for a cut is priced in for March - eight months from the last rate hike - with a cut fully priced in by May, 10 months from the July hike.\nThe strength of the U.S. consumer has taken most observers, including Fed policymakers, by surprise this year. Employment is holding up, wage growth means households' purchasing power hasn't suffered in the face of high inflation and higher interest rates in the last year.\nA lot is riding on Friday's jobs report. Job growth has to be decent, but not so decent as to suggest rate cuts might not be necessary as quickly as some believe. It's also got to show some sort of softening, but not enough to herald a sharper slowdown in the economy.\nToday's ADP survey of private sector employment is expected to show a rise of 130,000 workers in November, while non-farm payrolls is forecast to show growth of 180,000. The economy has generated around 2.4 million jobs so far this year, compared with 4.26 million at this point in 2022.\nThe pace is slowing, but so is the breadth of job creation, according to Deutsche Bank. The bank's economists estimate that the end of the autoworkers strike will give a 30,000 boost to the headline payrolls number.\nBut beyond that, they are looking at the report's diffusion index, which they say shows 70% of the private job gains in the past year have come from just two sectors, leisure and hospitality and private education and healthcare. They say that outside of those areas, job creation in the last 12 months has run at just 0.7% and over the last six months, a mere 0.2%.\nKey developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Wednesday:\n* November ADP national employment survey\n* October international trade\n(Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: A peek at the job market before payrolls"
    },
    {
        "id": 39,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-gasoline-pump-prices-11-110920715.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Shariq Khan\n(Reuters) - U.S. gasoline prices are the lowest they have been since January and by Christmas could fall below $3 a gallon for the first time since 2021, analysts said, which should boost consumer confidence during the holiday shopping season.\nThe national average price for a gallon of gasoline stood at $3.23 on Tuesday, down 15% since mid-September, data from the motorist group AAA showed. Lower pump prices have given American consumers some relief from inflation and left more cash for discretionary spending.\n\"Gas prices being down this year has allowed me to invest more into my small business than I could last year,\" said Macey Ropes, a tie-dye clothing store owner in Lafayette, Indiana.\nTamer fuel bills have also helped her set aside money for personal shopping and travel around the holidays, she said.\nGasoline prices averaged $3.008 a gallon in Indiana on Tuesday, almost half a dollar cheaper than last year.\nPrices have softened with benchmark global oil prices, which settled on Tuesday at their lowest since July as traders worried about China's economy. Oil prices have fallen despite fresh oil supply cuts announced on Thursday by OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies.\nGlobal oil supplies are less strained than they were in the months following the start of the war in Ukraine.\nThe cost of crude is the biggest component in retail gasoline pricing. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled at $72.32 a barrel on Tuesday, down about 10% this year.\nU.S. refiners have lifted gasoline output since last year, helping to build inventories in recent months.\nTotal U.S. motor gasoline inventories stood at 218.18 million barrels as of Nov. 24, 2% higher than a year ago and the highest for this time of the year since 2020, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.\nThe national average price of gasoline is set to decline up to half a cent daily through the end of year. This could bring it below $3 a gallon for the first time since early 2021, said Andrew Gross, a spokesperson with the American Automobile Association.\nDeclining gasoline prices could boost the consumer confidence index, which rose for the first time in November after three consecutive months of declines.\n\"It is argued that gasoline rising towards $4 a gallon gasoline hurts consumer psyche, so a drop towards $3 should help keep it strong\" said John Kilduff, partner at New York-based Again Capital.\n(Reporting by Shariq Khan; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "US gasoline pump prices at 11-month low in time for holiday shopping"
    },
    {
        "id": 40,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cocoa-rally-fuels-bean-theft-110726030.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- From thieves stealing pods to traders rigging scales — high drama is unfolding in Nigeria and Cameroon’s cocoa markets — as everyone jostles for the massive profits on offer as prices of the chocolate ingredient have soared to their highest in over forty years.\nProduction shortfalls in West Africa, where much of the world’s cocoa is grown, are driving the rally. With the heart of the harvest season now underway, the rush of unusual developments highlights the fight over the limited supply and complicates how much farmers ultimately benefit from the price gains.\n“Thieves are invading the sector, stealing pods and selling to traders,” Charles Etoundi Ngono, a local delegate of Cameroon’s Trade Ministry, said. Unlicensed traders have entered the market and are using faulty scales to cheat farmers, he added.\nCocoa futures traded in New York reached a 46-year high last week as heavy rains and crop diseases hurt West African output. In Ivory Coast and Ghana, the top two nations producing about 60% of the world’s cocoa, industry regulators set the price at which traders buy from farmers. Cameroon and Nigeria, however, operate in a free market system with minimal state control.\nA kilogram of beans in the center and littoral production areas of Cameroon currently fetches $3.30, up 26% from the start of the season in October, according to the Cameroon-based Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Board.\nA single cocoa pod sells between 200 and 250 francs depending on the size, according to a survey of five farmers in the area. “We want to take advantage of the rising price before it’s too late,” Jean-Phillipe Amougou, one of the farmers said, in an interview.\nGrowers in Nigeria are witnessing a similar frenzy for profits. Land owners in the south-eastern part of the country, which account for 30% of the nation’s 285,000-ton annual output, are pushing up rents, sometimes looking for quadruple the current prices.\n“My landowner is asking for 450,000 naira per year on the 2-hectare farm for which I currently pay 200,000,” said Attangba Bonjo, who grows cocoa on leased land in Ikom in Nigeria’s southeast. “Cocoa farmgate prices have risen to about 4 million naira from 2.7 million naira per ton in the last two months, which I believe the land owners want to have a taste of.”\nMore than a fifth of the 18,000 farmers in the area are impacted by the rent hikes, according to John Kalu, the zone’s coordinator for the Cocoa Association of Nigeria. The growers will be hurt by this “if cocoa prices were to fall below their current levels.”\nHowever, the skew of the market is not without some benefits for farmers, and they’re making some unusual but potentially lucrative contracts.\nGrowers in central Cameroon have started selling beans still in pods because they want to lock in the current high prices, Ngono said. Buyers are eager because they want to export more, he added.\nIn the normal course, farmers cut open the pods with their machetes and let the cocoa beans ferment and dry in the sun for 10-12 days before selling them. Now, in many new deals, these steps are the buyer’s responsibility. They assess the crop and strike a deal. In some contracts the processing is then outsourced back to the farmers, or the buyer might hire workers.\nWith supplies tight, buying the crop on trees assures traders that a competitor won’t purchase the cocoa ahead of them.\nBut the volatility concerns Cameroon’s authorities.\nThe government plans to ban the sale of all cocoa on the market that cannot be traced, to stem theft in the business, Trade Minister Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana said during a recent tour of the country’s so-called centers of excellence that help cocoa farmers process the beans and find the best bidders for their produce.\n",
        "title": "Cocoa Rally Fuels Bean Theft, Soaring Rents in Cameroon, Nigeria"
    },
    {
        "id": 41,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-ftc-tries-again-stop-110623373.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Diane Bartz\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. antitrust enforcers will argue on Wednesday that a federal judge got it wrong when she ruled that Microsoft's $69 billion deal to buy \"Call of Duty\" maker Activision Blizzard was legal under competition law, in their latest attempt to stop the deal.\nMicrosoft closed the deal, originally proposed in January 2022 as the biggest acquisition in the history of the gaming industry, on Oct. 13 of this year after obtaining the approval of British regulators.\nThe Federal Trade Commission, however, is expected to tell a three-judge appeals court panel in California that the lower-court judge held the agency to too high a standard, effectively requiring it to prove that the deal was anticompetitive when the standard is simply that the deal raises serious competitive concerns.\nThe FTC is fighting an uphill battle, given that it lost the lower-court fight and that the EU and Britain have signed off on the deal.\nThe legal battle is part of a broader push by the Biden administration to fight mergers and price hikes that affect consumers in areas ranging from medicines to airline tickets.\nThe FTC is also expected to argue the judge was wrong to rely on deals that Microsoft struck with rivals to distribute games as proof the merger would not hurt competition.\nThe FTC filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping the deal in December 2022, arguing that Microsoft would use Activision's popular games to suppress competition to its Xbox consoles and dominate fast-growing subscription and cloud gaming businesses. But a federal judge in California ruled in July that it failed to make its case.\nMicrosoft is expected to argue that the FTC has failed to show that the judge erred in her ruling. It will also contend that the agency failed to show that Microsoft had an incentive to withhold \"Call of Duty\" from rival gaming platforms.\nThe judges on the panel are scheduled to be Daniel Collins and Danielle Forrest, both nominated by former President Donald Trump, and Jennifer Sung, nominated by President Joe Biden.\n(Reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "US FTC tries again to stop Microsoft's already-closed deal for Activision"
    },
    {
        "id": 42,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-england-review-ai-risks-110532217.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of England warned that wider adoption of artificial intelligence could bring systemic risk to the financial system and said it would review how to ward off the threat in 2024.\nGovernor Andrew Bailey said it’s crucial that banks and investors understand both the potential the technology has in boosting productivity and also the risks that will emerge from changing work practices.\n“It’s not out of control in the sense of sort of ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’,” Bailey said in reference to the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film about a supercomputer that took control of a space station. “It’s so complicated in many of its forms that understanding exactly what the black box delivers can be very hard.”\nThe remarks at a press conference Wednesday where the UK central bank released a report on risks to the financial system reflects the nation’s effort to take a lead in developing AI and also regulating its more damaging effects. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last month hosted a summit at Bletchley Park, the home of Britain’s World War II code-breakers, devoted to the issue.\nThe BOE, which oversees banks and the UK financial system, said AI and machine learning could deliver significant benefits to the industry. It stressed that regulation should ensure that firms had sufficient oversight and control of the potential dangers.\nThe impact of AI and machine learning, including large language models, on financial stability “needed careful monitoring and consideration,” the BOE said in a record of the Nov. 21 Financial Policy Committee, which was released on Wednesday. The panel would work with “other relevant authorities” to ensure that the UK financial system is resilient to the risks, the committee said.\n“It has quite profound implications potentially for economic growth, productivity, and for how economies are shaped going forwards,” Bailey said. “We have to embrace it with our eyes open. AI has tremendous potential as well. We mustn’t describe it entirely as, as a bag of risks.”\nAI is viewed by Sunak’s team as a political strength for someone who studied and worked in Silicon Valley. The prime minister wants to differentiate himself from Keir Starmer — whose opposition Labour Party leads the ruling Conservatives in polls — to address technological challenges ahead of an election expected in 2024.\nFor now, financial firms appeared to be exploring relatively low-risk uses of large language models, such as retrieving information rather than automating business decisions, the BOE said. However, that position may shift as the technology spreads.\nFinance firms from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to NatWest Group Plc are adopting the new technology in areas such as customer service, fraud detection and data analysis, hoping to improve productivity and cut costs.\nThe BOE separately stepped up its warnings about hedge funds shorting US Treasury futures, saying its measure of the net position is now the larger than during the “dash for cash” crisis in early 2020.\nThe report showed that UK households are in better shape to cope with a jump in interest rates than when the BOE last made its assessment in July. It estimated about 440,000 households will end up with debt levels that are difficult to service, well below the previous estimate of 650,000 and only 40,000 above the current level.\nOverall, the household debt to income ratio was 139% in 2023, the lowest level since 2002. That reflects rising real incomes and efforts by households to reduce their debt.\n(Updates with context and comment from first paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Bank of England to Review AI Risks to UK Financial System"
    },
    {
        "id": 43,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-regulators-clamp-down-bid-110411285.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Pete Schroeder and Nupur Anand\nWASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. bank supervisors are increasing scrutiny of lenders' risk management practices and taking disciplinary action as they try to fix problems that could lead to more bank failures, banking industry sources said.\nThe changes follow the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank earlier this year after depositor runs sparked, in part, by worries that high interest rates would hurt bank balance sheets. After official reviews found frontline examiners failed to act quickly upon spotting problems, they are taking a tougher, more proactive approach.\nInterviews with a dozen industry executives, lawyers and regulatory officials show examiners are executing surprise reviews of a key confidential supervisory bank health rating and in some cases have issued downgrades. They are increasingly warning big banks they will be placed under an order restricting a range of activities if they don't fix lapses; and are pressing top executives to take personal accountability for addressing the banks' problems.\nWhile regulators including the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have pledged to get tough on supervision, the process is confidential and officials have not released details. The activity, which Reuters is reporting for the first time, sheds light on how the agencies are making good on that promise, and suggests they continue to have concerns about some lenders' health amid high interest rates and a slowing economy.\nSupervisors are targeting small, mid-size and larger banks, the people said. Reuters could not ascertain exactly how many banks overall were targeted, but eight of the sources said they each had knowledge of multiple cases or banks affected.\n\"This is not unlike some of the more enhanced monitoring we saw during the Great Recession, where there was concern over all the banks' financial health,\" said John Geiringer, a Partner and banking attorney at Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP.\nThe FDIC and other regulators wrote in recent months to regional and community banks in a number of states notifying them they had launched surprise reviews of their \"CAMELS\" rating, five of the people said. The confidential rating measures bank safety and soundness on metrics including capital adequacy, asset quality, management competence and liquidity.\nExaminers typically review small banks' ratings every 12 to 18 months via an analysis of financial and loan data banks report quarterly, onsite exams, and discussions with executives.\nAnne Balcer, a senior executive vice president at the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), said members of the Washington trade group in different regions had received letters around October notifying them of the off-cycle reviews.\nIn some cases, banks were advised components of their CAMELS rating had been downgraded. The reviews were based on regulators' analysis of the quarterly data, she and three other people with knowledge of several other cases said.\nThe implications \"are pretty far reaching,\" said Balcer. CAMELS ratings contribute to banks' deposit insurance premiums and affect their audits. Downgraded lenders can be barred from doing deals, and could be denied emergency Fed liquidity.\nReasons regulators cited for downgrades included insufficient capital, management issues, and in many cases, exposure to commercial real estate, a sector struggling amid high rates and lingering office vacancies, the people said.\nThe ICBA, which represent banks with up to $50 billion in assets, declined to name the banks concerned.\n\"Off-cycle downgrades are a touchy thing,\" said Michael Tierney, CEO of the Community Bankers of Michigan, who said he had been briefed on some off-cycle reviews. \"What I've been told by regulators is that this will be used sparingly, they will only downgrade CAMEL components, not the overall CAMELs rating.\"\nIn those conversations, officials said they are looking much harder at liquidity and interest rate risk management. \"They've been very clear...those are their top priorities,\" said Tierney.\n'PAINFUL'\nA spokesperson for the FDIC said the agency has long used off-site monitoring to supplement and guide examinations, and has developed tools using quarterly data reports to do so.\n\"Off-site monitoring programs can provide an early indication that an institution's risk profile may be changing,\" he said.\n\"CAMELS ratings, including those that are changed on an interim basis are confidential, but as a general matter, ratings trends tend to deteriorate as macroeconomic conditions worsen,\" he continued, citing inflation and high rates as key headwinds.\nTwo small banks have failed since First Republic, and the FDIC recently added another to its list of problem banks. Many lenders are holding onto piles of cash as insurance against a slowing economy, Reuters has reported.\nSpokespeople for the Fed and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, another federal regulator, declined to comment.\nBigger banks are monitored continuously but they are still feeling increased pressure, said five other sources that work with multiple big lenders. Their supervisors are more frequently warning top management that failing to fix problems could result in a confidential \"4(m)\" sanction, the people said.\nSupervisors typically impose a 4(m) for weak capital, poor management, or following a CAMELS downgrade. Banks under a 4(m) must get regulatory approval to engage in some new business, such as securities underwriting, or to make nonbank investments.\nExiting a 4(m) can take years. It can involve hiring new people and reorganizing businesses. \"It's really painful,\" said one source who asked not to be identified discussing confidential supervisory issues.\nSupervisors are also pressing big bank bosses to take more personal accountability for problems, in some cases seeking briefings with C-suite executives or board members to secure assurances that they are personally on top of the problems, two of the people said.\nThey said this had raised concerns for some senior executives worried about personal liability.\n\"As risks increase, supervisors are going to react appropriately,\" said Karen Lawson, executive vice president for policy and supervision at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, the national organization representing state regulators, which supervise 79% of U.S. banks alongside federal agencies.\nState regulators are discussing ways to be more responsive, including by moving independently to quickly address problems without waiting for a consensus with federal regulators, she said.\n\"Certainly, we all learned things earlier this year.\"\n(Reporting by Pete Schroeder in Washington and Nupur Anand in New York; additional reporting by Chris Prentice in New York; Editing by Michelle Price and Anna Driver)\n",
        "title": "US regulators clamp down in bid to prevent more bank failures"
    },
    {
        "id": 44,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thai-based-china-trade-group-110352862.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Tom Wilson\n(Reuters) - A Chinese businessman who featured in a Reuters investigation into crypto-investment fraud is no longer a board member of a Bangkok-based trade group he had represented, the group said on Monday.\nThe trade group, called the Thai-Asia Economic Exchange Trade Association, was responding to a Nov. 23 Reuters article about Wang Yicheng, who had been the group’s vice president, according to the group’s website. The story detailed how an account registered in Wang’s name had over recent years received millions of dollars from a crypto wallet that a U.S. blockchain analysis firm said was linked to crypto-investment scams.\nThe trade group hadn’t responded to comment requests for the Nov. 23 report. In a Dec. 4 letter to Reuters, the Thai-Asia trade group said Wang had left the association’s board more than three months ago. That was “due to personal reasons,” it said, without elaborating, and Wang’s failure to pay the trade group’s new membership dues.\nThe group said in its letter that background checks conducted on Wang when he originally applied for membership showed he did not have a criminal record at the time. The group said it ran further checks after the Reuters report and found that Wang had no criminal records in Thailand or other countries.\nWang didn’t respond to detailed questions for the Nov. 23 article. He didn’t respond to questions for this report about his status with the Thai-Asia group.\nThe Thai-Asia trade group shared its small office building in Bangkok until recently with another Chinese group, Reuters reported in November. In February, Thai police said they raided the other Chinese group’s office, alleging the group had ties to the 14K Triad criminal organization.\nThe Thai-Asia association in its Dec. 4 letter said that it “has never had any dealings or relationships” with gang-related organizations.\nIt said it is a non-profit organization that promotes “economic and cultural exchanges between China and Thailand.” Its main source of income, it said, is the voluntary donations of members, and the business of its individual members “has nothing to do” with the association.\nThe Nov. 23 Reuters report also described ties between the Thai-Asia trade group and Thai government officials. In its Dec. 4 letter, the Thai Asia association said some of the officials “are indeed the advisors and friends” of the group, who have come together for “the common goal of promoting exchanges between China and Thailand.” The letter added that there were no further “business or financial interests” between advisors and the trade group or its members. It didn't elaborate.\n(Reporting by Tom Wilson; Editing by Cassell Bryan-Low)\n",
        "title": "Thai-based China trade group says man named in crypto scam report no longer a board member"
    },
    {
        "id": 45,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-is-up--and-the-zealots-are-back-110015156.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "You may have heard: Bitcoin is back. The price of the biggest cryptocurrency has surged past $42,000 and is up more than 150% this year.\nWith the price recovery, we’ve seen the reemergence of a certain kind of financial media character: the shill, the opportunist, the tout, the pumper.\nThey were everywhere when bitcoin was climbing to record highs in 2021. When Americans were getting government checks, sitting at home, and looking to strike it rich, crypto seemed like a no-brainer, driven in no small part by FOMO — and these hype men saying it was the future of finance.\nThe voices got quieter when the price crashed from above $60,000 to below $20,000, although the faithful insisted this was part of bitcoin’s “typical cycle.” That quiet turned to embarrassment for some with the collapse of the Terra stablecoin, the implosion of FTX (with whom many had financial relationships), and the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried.\nBut another characteristic of some of this cohort is their lack of shame. So even as all of those events were unfolding, it wasn’t difficult to find them on Twitter, hewing fast to their stated belief that bitcoin was the answer — to getting rich, to finance, to whatever.\nWill retail investors get caught up in FOMO once again? Signs point to yes. The first leg of the latest rally seems to have been driven in part by predictions (once again) for institutional investment in crypto, tied in part to the anticipation of SEC approval for spot bitcoin ETFs.\nWith price action comes renewed retail interest. Robinhood just reported that November crypto trading volumes surged by 75% compared to October. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev told Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi that price appreciation begets media interest begets retail investment:\n“You are starting to see retail investors wake up to certain segments of the rally. What tends to happen is, we've seen in the past as the price of bitcoin approaches all-time highs, the media coverage and intensity increases. And I think that plays a role as well. If people are just hearing more about crypto around them, they tend to become more interested, and you start to see that reflected in trading activity, at least in the past.”\nAll of this is not to say that bitcoin won’t keep going up, or that it couldn't indeed play some role in the future of finance. But I’ve been at this long enough to be suspicious when a bet on an asset starts to sound like a religious belief — especially when the belief is intertwined with profit and depends on you also shelling out cash.\nThere are rational voices in the crypto universe who don’t seem to just be relying on the greater fool theory. One of them is Devin Ryan, who covers the fintech industry for Citizens JMP Securities. He’s looking at the sheer scale of the ETF industry, and the giant asset managers like BlackRock who are sure to allocate to their Bitcoin ETF if it is indeed approved.\n“People are getting a bit ahead of the ETFs,” Ryan told Yahoo Finance Live. But just \"a very small fraction\" of asset managers' trillions would in fact be enormous. Just think of all the private clients allocating a few million here, a few there.\n\"That could be hundreds of billions of market cap expansion,\" Ryan said.\nIt may not be the moon, but it's something.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Bitcoin is up and the zealots are back"
    },
    {
        "id": 46,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-canada-keep-rates-hold-110000419.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Steve Scherer\nOTTAWA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada (BoC) on Wednesday is expected to keep rates on hold at a 22-year high of 5% after growth contracted in the third quarter and is seen slumping next year, analysts predicted.\nThe central bank hiked rates by a quarter point in both June and July and has left them on hold since, adding that it is prepared to tighten further to tame inflation that has remained above the bank's 2% target for 31 months.\nCanada's economy unexpectedly contracted at an annualized rate of 1.1% in the third quarter, avoiding a recession, but most economists forecast that upcoming mortgage renewals at higher rates will take another chunk out of growth next year.\nInflation eased more than expected to 3.1% in October.\n\"There's little question that the Bank of Canada will keep its policy rate at 5% this week,\" Desjardins Group economists Royce Mendes and Tiago Figueiredo said in a note.\n\"Mortgage renewals will become a far greater headwind to the economy as time passes. This is likely to cause the economy to go from balanced to weak, with a brief recession expected in 2024,\" they said.\nThe decision will be announced at 10 am ET (1500 GMT). Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle will deliver a speech explaining the bank's reasoning and hold a news conference on Thursday.\nThe BoC projects that inflation will hover around 3.5% until mid-2024, before inching down to its 2% target in late 2025. Macklem last month said that interest rates may be at their peak, given excess demand has vanished and weak growth is expected to persist for many months.\nMoney markets are betting that there could be a rate cut as early as March, but Macklem has said that the BoC is not even thinking about cuts yet because inflation is still well above target.\n\"The Bank will continue to sing from the hawkish song sheet, still openly talking about the possibility of rate hikes, not cuts,\" Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note.\n\"A renewed rising crescendo of inflation would sound a sour note indeed for the 2024 outlook,\" he said.\nThe BoC will start cutting interest rates in the second quarter of next year as inflation and the economy slow, according to a Reuters poll published last week. (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by David Ljunggren and Mark Porter)\n",
        "title": "Bank of Canada to keep rates on hold given likely economic slowdown -analysts"
    },
    {
        "id": 47,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venture-global-lng-expects-extended-110000350.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Curtis Williams\nHOUSTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A Venture Global LNG export plant due to begin operating in 2024 will undergo a lengthy startup similar to its Calcasieu Pass LNG facility, with customers likely to receive their first cargoes in 2026 at the earliest, Chief Executive Mike Sabel told Reuters.\nThe nearly three-year commissioning at Calcasieu Pass prevented its original backers from obtaining any of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes shipped and has stirred a firestorm of accusations and arbitration claims from those customers.\nThe new Plaquemines LNG plant, which sits 20 miles (32km) south of New Orleans along the Mississippi River, includes some of the same customers that fiercely protested their inability to obtain their cargoes from Calcasieu Pass.\nAsked whether Plaquemines' commissioning period would be as extended as the Calcasieu Pass plant's nearly 36 months, Sabel said \"absolutely.\"\n\"Keep in mind our total timeline from FID (financial investment decision) to COD (commercial operation date) is shorter than most of the world,\" he added.\nThe earliest date that first cargoes are available to long-term contract customers is 2026 or 2027, but Venture Global expects to sell commissioning cargoes in 2024.\nVenture Global LNG has said its contracts give it sole authority to determine when a facility is commercial.\nThe company has said equipment problems at the first plant have prevented it from reaching full commercial production, allowing it to withhold cargoes from big name contract customers including BP, Edison, Repsol, Shell and others, and sell them as commissioning cargoes.\nCustomers claim Venture Global LNG has deprived them of tens of billions of dollars in LNG sales at a time when global prices were much higher than what they were promised. Sabel said the companies knew Venture Global's use of a modular approach to the plant's design would lead to a lengthy commissioning.\n\"Just signing a contract, especially when it is at a spectacularly lower price, doesn't lead to easy capital,\" Sabel said, pushing back at customers who argue their contracts helped get the projects financed.\nPoland's state energy company Orlen, which has agreements to acquire a combined 5.5 million metric tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG from the two facilities, said it would \"take measures appropriate to the situation,\" if it does not receive its first Plaquemines cargo as promised in 2026.\nChina Gas, which agreed to buy 1 MTPA from Plaquemines, is unaware of an extended period facing the Plaquemines startup. It expects to receive its first gas from the project in early 2027 under its contract, a representative said.\nShell \"would never entertain a contract that allowed for commissioning to be extended for an undetermined amount of time,\" said a spokesperson. Chevron, France's EDF and New Fortress Energy, three other Plaquemines contract holders, declined to comment. (Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Editing by Sonali Paul)\n",
        "title": "Venture Global LNG expects extended start-up at second plant, says CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 48,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-peek-job-market-110000452.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 6 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets by Amanda Cooper\nThe first week in the month is always a crucial one for economic data and the market is finding plenty to like so far. Job growth is still happening, but at a slower pace, activity in the mighty U.S. services sector is expanding, but modestly. The oil price is down, taking more heat out of the inflation picture, but not so much that the world's major producers have expressed alarm about the demand outlook.\nThe past few weeks have witnessed a dramatic shift in expectations for Federal Reserve monetary policy, from a \"higher for longer\" scenario to one of \"lower, more quickly\". Futures are pricing in a whopping 130 basis points of cuts in 2024, which many in the market say is far too optimistic, given the resilience of the economy, the evidence of tightness in the labour market and the fact that inflation is still above the central bank's 2% target.\nThe 1980s were a period of higher interest-rate volatility. But in the past 30 years, the quickest the Fed has flipped to cutting rates has been the seven months between February 1995 and July that year, when they fell 25 bps to 5.75% in response to GDP virtually halving to 1.3% in the second quarter.\nThe U.S. economy grew at a clip of 5.2% in the third quarter, well above expectations, which, in theory, would argue against a drop in rates any time soon. But recent data suggests momentum since then may have waned, as higher borrowing costs erode hiring and spending.\nIt's been four months since the Fed last raised rates. Money markets show the earliest opportunity for a cut is priced in for March - eight months from the last rate hike - with a cut fully priced in by May, 10 months from the July hike.\nThe strength of the U.S. consumer has taken most observers, including Fed policymakers, by surprise this year. Employment is holding up, wage growth means households' purchasing power hasn't suffered in the face of high inflation and higher interest rates in the last year.\nA lot is riding on Friday's jobs report. Job growth has to be decent, but not so decent as to suggest rate cuts might not be necessary as quickly as some believe. It's also got to show some sort of softening, but not enough to herald a sharper slowdown in the economy.\nToday's ADP survey of private sector employment is expected to show a rise of 130,000 workers in November, while non-farm payrolls is forecast to show growth of 180,000. The economy has generated around 2.4 million jobs so far this year, compared with 4.26 million at this point in 2022.\nThe pace is slowing, but so is the breadth of job creation, according to Deutsche Bank. The bank's economists estimate that the end of the autoworkers strike will give a 30,000 boost to the headline payrolls number.\nBut beyond that, they are looking at the report's diffusion index, which they say shows 70% of the private job gains in the past year have come from just two sectors, leisure and hospitality and private education and healthcare. They say that outside of those areas, job creation in the last 12 months has run at just 0.7% and over the last six months, a mere 0.2%.\nKey developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Wednesday:\n* November ADP national employment survey\n* October international trade\n(Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID-A peek at the job market before payrolls"
    },
    {
        "id": 49,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rpt-us-retail-lobbyists-retract-110000446.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Katherine Masters\nNEW YORK, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The main lobbying group for U.S. retailers retracted its claim that \"organized retail crime\" accounted for nearly half of all inventory losses in 2021 after finding that incorrect data was used for its analysis.\nA spokesperson for the National Retail Federation said Tuesday that the organization had removed the sentence from its report on organized retail crime published in April. It produced the report in collaboration with private security firm K2 Integrity.\nThe research -- which was edited in late November, according to NRF’s website -- previously stated that “nearly half” of the $94.5 billion in inventory losses reported by retailers in a 2021 survey “was attributable” to organized retail crime.\nRetail executives and law enforcement officials use the term organized retail crime to describe coordinated groups of thieves who shoplift or steal from retailers' warehouses and trucks, reselling stolen merchandise on the black market.\nThe NRF's claim that organized retail crime accounted for \"nearly half\" of inventory losses was repeated in multiple media reports on the issue. The NRF has cited growing rates of crime in calls for Congress to pass new laws, including proposed legislation that would broaden the scope of offenses considered “organized” crime and increase potential penalties.\nAccording to NRF spokesperson Danielle Inman, the claim that organized crime accounted for nearly half of all inventory losses was based on two-year-old testimony from Ben Dugan, former president of the advocacy group Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail. In 2021, he told a U.S. Senate committee that organized retail crime accounted for $45 billion in annual losses for retailers, according to estimates by the coalition.\nThe inclusion of the claim in NRF’s report was “taken directly from Ben’s testimony” and “was an inference made by the K2 analyst linking the results of the NRF survey from 2021 and Ben Dugan’s statement made that same year,” Inman said.\nK2 Integrity did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dugan could not immediately be reached for comment on how the coalition calculated the $45 billion figure.\nThe NRF also removed references to the coalition’s research in its April report.\nThe NRF's retraction highlights ongoing difficulties in quantifying the role crime plays in “shrink” -- another industry term for inventory losses due to any cause, from shipping mistakes to clerical errors.\nSome law enforcement sources, including a November report from the Council on Criminal Justice, suggest that shoplifting outside major cities like New York has decreased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many retailers, however, say that shoplifting is widely underreported and crime statistics do not accurately reflect the scope of the problem.\nTarget, DICK’s Sporting Goods and Walgreens are among major retailers that have cited rising crime as a significant drag on profitability, though some have since walked back on those concerns. In a January earnings call, Walgreens’ CEO told investors that “maybe we cried too much” when reporting rising shoplifting the previous year.\nIndustry data, on the other hand, is often “noisy” or conflates broader statistics on shrink with those on organized retail crime, according to Trevor Wagener, chief economist for the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which has analyzed retail crime data on behalf of members such as Amazon.com and Apple.\nHe pointed to the Retail Industry Leaders Association’s recent estimate that organized crime cost U.S. retailers nearly $70 billion a year, which relied on data from five Fortune 500 companies RILA described as “some of the largest retailers in the country.”\n“That’s a very significant extrapolation, especially in an industry where it’s well known that shrink issues vary quite a bit depending on the category of the retailer,” Wagener said.\nA spokesperson for RILA said the group \"stand by the data from our 2021 report.\"\nNRF data from its annual Retail Security Survey indicates that the percentage of shrink attributed to external theft, including organized retail crime, has largely remained around 36% since 2015. (Reporting by Katherine Masters; Editing by Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "RPT-US retail lobbyists retract key claim on 'organized' retail crime"
    },
    {
        "id": 50,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/insight-us-regulators-clamp-down-110000403.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Pete Schroeder and Nupur Anand\nWASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - U.S. bank supervisors are increasing scrutiny of lenders' risk management practices and taking disciplinary action as they try to fix problems that could lead to more bank failures, banking industry sources said.\nThe changes follow the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank earlier this year after depositor runs sparked, in part, by worries that high interest rates would hurt bank balance sheets. After official reviews found frontline examiners failed to act quickly upon spotting problems, they are taking a tougher, more proactive approach.\nInterviews with a dozen industry executives, lawyers and regulatory officials show examiners are executing surprise reviews of a key confidential supervisory bank health rating and in some cases have issued downgrades. They are increasingly warning big banks they will be placed under an order restricting a range of activities if they don't fix lapses; and are pressing top executives to take personal accountability for addressing the banks' problems.\nWhile regulators including the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have pledged to get tough on supervision, the process is confidential and officials have not released details. The activity, which Reuters is reporting for the first time, sheds light on how the agencies are making good on that promise, and suggests they continue to have concerns about some lenders' health amid high interest rates and a slowing economy.\nSupervisors are targeting small, mid-size and larger banks, the people said. Reuters could not ascertain exactly how many banks overall were targeted, but eight of the sources said they each had knowledge of multiple cases or banks affected.\n\"This is not unlike some of the more enhanced monitoring we saw during the Great Recession, where there was concern over all the banks' financial health,\" said John Geiringer, a Partner and banking attorney at Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP.\nThe FDIC and other regulators wrote in recent months to regional and community banks in a number of states notifying them they had launched surprise reviews of their \"CAMELS\" rating, five of the people said. The confidential rating measures bank safety and soundness on metrics including capital adequacy, asset quality, management competence and liquidity.\nExaminers typically review small banks' ratings every 12 to 18 months via an analysis of financial and loan data banks report quarterly, onsite exams, and discussions with executives.\nAnne Balcer, a senior executive vice president at the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), said members of the Washington trade group in different regions had received letters around October notifying them of the off-cycle reviews.\nIn some cases, banks were advised components of their CAMELS rating had been downgraded. The reviews were based on regulators' analysis of the quarterly data, she and three other people with knowledge of several other cases said.\nThe implications \"are pretty far reaching,\" said Balcer. CAMELS ratings contribute to banks' deposit insurance premiums and affect their audits. Downgraded lenders can be barred from doing deals, and could be denied emergency Fed liquidity.\nReasons regulators cited for downgrades included insufficient capital, management issues, and in many cases, exposure to commercial real estate, a sector struggling amid high rates and lingering office vacancies, the people said.\nThe ICBA, which represent banks with up to $50 billion in assets, declined to name the banks concerned.\n\"Off-cycle downgrades are a touchy thing,\" said Michael Tierney, CEO of the Community Bankers of Michigan, who said he had been briefed on some off-cycle reviews. \"What I've been told by regulators is that this will be used sparingly, they will only downgrade CAMEL components, not the overall CAMELs rating.\"\nIn those conversations, officials said they are looking much harder at liquidity and interest rate risk management. \"They've been very clear...those are their top priorities,\" said Tierney.\n'PAINFUL'\nA spokesperson for the FDIC said the agency has long used off-site monitoring to supplement and guide examinations, and has developed tools using quarterly data reports to do so.\n\"Off-site monitoring programs can provide an early indication that an institution's risk profile may be changing,\" he said.\n\"CAMELS ratings, including those that are changed on an interim basis are confidential, but as a general matter, ratings trends tend to deteriorate as macroeconomic conditions worsen,\" he continued, citing inflation and high rates as key headwinds.\nTwo small banks have failed since First Republic, and the FDIC recently added another to its list of problem banks. Many lenders are holding onto piles of cash as insurance against a slowing economy, Reuters has reported.\nSpokespeople for the Fed and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, another federal regulator, declined to comment.\nBigger banks are monitored continuously but they are still feeling increased pressure, said five other sources that work with multiple big lenders. Their supervisors are more frequently warning top management that failing to fix problems could result in a confidential \"4(m)\" sanction, the people said.\nSupervisors typically impose a 4(m) for weak capital, poor management, or following a CAMELS downgrade. Banks under a 4(m) must get regulatory approval to engage in some new business, such as securities underwriting, or to make nonbank investments.\nExiting a 4(m) can take years. It can involve hiring new people and reorganizing businesses. \"It's really painful,\" said one source who asked not to be identified discussing confidential supervisory issues.\nSupervisors are also pressing big bank bosses to take more personal accountability for problems, in some cases seeking briefings with C-suite executives or board members to secure assurances that they are personally on top of the problems, two of the people said.\nThey said this had raised concerns for some senior executives worried about personal liability.\n\"As risks increase, supervisors are going to react appropriately,\" said Karen Lawson, executive vice president for policy and supervision at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, the national organization representing state regulators, which supervise 79% of U.S. banks alongside federal agencies.\nState regulators are discussing ways to be more responsive, including by moving independently to quickly address problems without waiting for a consensus with federal regulators, she said.\n\"Certainly, we all learned things earlier this year.\" (Reporting by Pete Schroeder in Washington and Nupur Anand in New York; additional reporting by Chris Prentice in New York; Editing by Michelle Price and Anna Driver)\n",
        "title": "INSIGHT-US regulators clamp down in bid to prevent more bank failures"
    },
    {
        "id": 51,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-wall-street-ceos-will-testify-before-congress-wednesday-heres-what-to-expect-181937418.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "The CEOs of America's largest banks will line up before lawmakers this week in a highly anticipated appearance to try and convince Washington — and the world — that the banking sector is back on steady ground following the regional banking crisis earlier this year.\nThe hearing before the Senate’s banking committee is part of Congress's annual oversight of the financial sector and will feature top bosses from Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs (GS) to Brian Moynihan of Bank of America (BAC).\nMuch of the focus during Wednesday's hearing is set to be on the higher capital requirements proposed this summer by the Federal Reserve, called Basel III endgame measures, which the assembled CEOs have been lobbying furiously against for months.\n\"Ironically, a proposal to mitigate risk will create even more risk in the financial system,\" Dimon is set to say in his opening remarks, adding that it \"will fundamentally alter the US economy in ways that the Federal Reserve has not studied or contemplated.\"\nOther CEOs are set to echo the message with Solomon in his prepared remarks arguing the proposal \"has a particularly negative impact to capital markets functioning.\"\nAt the Goldman Sachs US Financial Services conference on Tuesday, the companies offered previews of other topics that could come up at Wednesday's hearing.\nThe assembled CEOs touted the resilience of the US economy during their speeches in New York but urged restraint when it comes to 2024 expectations. Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf also weighed in on the Fed's capital regulations, saying the requirements could limit his bank’s activities in the future.\nThe CEOs of Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), State Street (STT), BNY Mellon (BK), and Morgan Stanley (MS) will also be testifying at the hearing before a panel of 23 senators.\nThe questioners will range from Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to other prominent figures, including two former presidential candidates: Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).\nThe central issue Wednesday is set to be the so-called Basel III measures that were first developed following the global financial crisis of 2007-2009.\nThe final set of these rules unveiled this summer focused on the amount of capital that banks must have in reserve to protect themselves from insolvency, which regulators are hoping to finalize in the coming months.\nThe standards took on a new urgency this spring after banks like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed, largely due to a shortage of liquidity.\nThe proposal would raise banks' capital requirements by 16% in aggregate and widen the scope of new requirements to institutions with as few as $100 billion in assets — an effort to include smaller banks like SVB.\nA new memo released Tuesday by the Financial Services Forum — which represents all eight CEOs —argued in part that this year's banking crisis shows that the stricter requirements are not needed.\nThe group's president and CEO, Kevin Fromer, wrote about how America's largest banks \"acted as a source of strength during the COVID-19 pandemic and the banking turmoil of 2023,\" arguing that the current proposal goes beyond the original framework and that the nation’s largest banks have already tripled their capital levels over the past 15 years.\nThe memo also noted that Wednesday's hearing will be an opportunity to discuss \"how the Basel 3 Endgame capital proposal would harm consumers, businesses of every size and the economy as a whole.\"\nWhile Fed vice chair for supervision Michael Barr proposed the new outline this summer, not every member of the central bank has been on board.\nFed Governor Christopher Waller recently called the proposal \"excessive\" in a conversation with the American Enterprise Institute. He told the think tank last week that if the proposal did away with separate requirements for so-called operational risk — risk from potential losses from disruptions due to internal mismanagement like fraud, or external shocks like a cyberattack — that he could support the proposal. The capital requirement for operational risk is a major sticking point with the banks.\n\"Michael Barr knows he went too far on a few things,\" said David Wessel, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. He predicted that Washington will refine some areas including provisions around operational risk in the months ahead as lawmakers work to finalize the proposal.\nWednesday's hearing is likely to feature the CEOs tailoring their message to moderate lawmakers in the room who could help sway the coming requirements — Democrats like Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) who have raised concerns about the requirements.\nThey are likely to have a less receptive audience from more left-leaning figures on the committee like Brown and Warren. Sen. Brown said this summer that he supported the requirements, noting when banks fail \"workers and small businesses pay the price.\"\nOn the other side of the aisle, Republicans like committee ranking member Tim Scott have often criticized the proposal, including by leading a recent letter signed by every Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee calling on the Biden administration to withdraw the Basel III endgame entirely.\nBut at the end of the day, Wessel noted \"it's not really up to Congress\" how the rules are finalized. \"The real audience here is people like Jay Powell.\"\nWednesday's hearing is also likely to touch on an array of other concerns as senators weigh in.\nThe CEOs have appeared before Congress annually since the 2007-2009 financial crisis and are often asked to weigh in on a wide array of topics. Sen. Warren in particular has often confronted CEOs like Dimon over issues like Zelle fraud in 2022 and overdraft fees in 2011.\nConsumer issues are also expected to be brought up, notably a proposed rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to rein in credit card late fees and cap late fees at $8 unless a bank can show it needs to charge more than that to collect late payments.\nRead more: What are bank fees, and how do I avoid them?\nAnother possible issue: a bipartisan bill that advanced this summer to \"claw back\" the compensation from bank executives who oversee a failure.\nThe bill was overwhelmingly approved in June in a vote of 21 to 2 by the same group — the Senate's Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs — that the CEOs will be testifying before. If that bill eventually passes, it would grant the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) new powers to take back money from CEOs if a bank is shown to have \"failed at the basics of bank management.\"\nThe wide-ranging impacts of America's ballooning national debt could also be high on the agenda with CEOs sounding the alarm in recent months over America’s borrowing, which now stands at nearly $34 trillion.\nIn an interview with Yahoo Finance last month, Dimon also stressed the need for Washington to change its ways on things like regulations that he says are hurting US competitiveness.\n\"D.C. goes out of its way to make it hard for small to large businesses to grow and expand,\" he said at the time, comparing regulations to barnacles and noting, \"I'm in favor of good regulations, just not endless regulations.\"\nThis post has been updated with additional developments.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Top Wall Street CEOs will testify before Congress Wednesday. Here's what to expect."
    },
    {
        "id": 52,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/futures-edge-fed-pivot-hopes-105305620.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Noel Randewich and Amruta Khandekar\n(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were mixed on Wednesday as signs of a cooling jobs market reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates early next year, while weakness in energy shares limited gains.\nThe ADP National Employment report showed private payrolls increased by 103,000 jobs in November, below economists' expectation of 130,000. That provided fresh evidence of labor market weakness, a day after news of a drop in October job openings.\nThe latest employment data reinforced expectations the Fed's rate-hike campaign is cooling the economy.\n\"Right now, it's consistent with the overall trajectory of softening job growth, and so far that's not problematic because the economy is still humming along,\" said Bill Merz, head of capital markets research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.\n\"What would be concerning is if that trend persists for too long, and it turns into large job losses.\"\nOn Friday, the more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report for November will offer greater clarity on the state of the labor market.\nInvestors widely expect the Fed to hold rates steady at its meeting next week and potentially start cutting rates in March.\nA slim majority of economists in a Reuters poll said they believe the Fed will leave rates unchanged at least until July, later than earlier thought.\nOptimism about rate cuts helped push the S&P 500 up nearly 9% in November, and the benchmark is now down about 9% from its record high close in December 2021.\nOf the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, six rose on Wednesday, led by utilities, up 0.94%, followed by a 0.69% gain in industrials.\nLimiting gains, the energy index slid 1.1% as oil prices fell by 2%. [O/R]\nThe S&P 500 was down 0.01% at 4,566.88 points, with nearly two stocks in the index gaining for each one that fell.\nThe Nasdaq declined 0.07% to 14,220.14 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.12% at 36,169.17 points.\nPlug Power fell 3.9% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the hydrogen fuel cell firm to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight.\"\nTobacco giants Altria Group and Philip Morris International slipped 2.6% and 1.6%, respectively, after UK peer British American Tobacco said it will take a $31.5 billion hit from writing down the value of some U.S. cigarette brands.\nCampbell Soup rallied 7.2% after the food seller beat quarterly profit expectations, helped by higher prices for its packaged meals and snacks.\nThe S&P 500 posted 29 new highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 94 new highs and 73 new lows.\n(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A in Bangalore, and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Editing by Pooja Desai and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "S&P 500 flat as investors weigh fresh employment data"
    },
    {
        "id": 53,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-futures-edge-fed-104931096.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nFutures up: Dow 0.08%, S&P 0.19%, Nasdaq 0.28%\nDec 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Wednesday as investors remained optimistic about rate cuts from the Federal Reserve starting early next year, while waiting for more data on the labor market.\nThe S&P 500 and the Dow closed lower in the previous session, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq was propped up by a fall in Treasury yields after data showing softening labor demand bolstered bets that the Fed was done raising rates.\nTraders have nearly fully priced in the probability that the central bank will hold rates steady next week and see rate cuts being delivered as soon as the first quarter of next year.\nBets of a cut of at least 25 basis points in March currently stand at 59%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nAt 5:16 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 30 points, or 0.08%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 8.75 points, or 0.19%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 44.5 points, or 0.28%.\n\"With the Fed wanting to be sure that inflation is truly tied down before it loosens policy, we’re going to see this guessing game, where the market tries to position itself ahead of the Fed’s next move,\" Steve Clayton, head of equity funds at Hargreaves Lansdown said in a note.\nMost megacap stocks edged higher in premarket trading. Nvidia rose 1.2% after the chip designer said it was working with the U.S. government to ensure new chips for the Chinese market are compliant with export curbs.\nOptimism about peaking interest rates have led to a rebound in equities from their October lows, with the benchmark S&P 500 gaining nearly 9% in November, hitting its highest close of the year last week.\nEmployment data is in focus this week, with November's non-farm payrolls report due on Friday likely to shape expectations for the interest rate path ahead.\nBefore that, investors will get another glimpse into the state of the labor market with the ADP National Employment report due at 8:15 a.m. ET on Wednesday.\nAmong individual stocks, Plug Power slipped 4.2% before the bell as Morgan Stanley downgraded the hydrogen fuel cell firm to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight\" on liquidity concerns. (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Futures edge up on Fed pivot hopes, jobs data in focus"
    },
    {
        "id": 54,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/indias-paytm-shifts-focus-higher-104341366.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian digital payments firm Paytm said on Wednesday that it will cut down on disbursing loans under 50,000 rupees and expand to higher ticket ones, weeks after the central bank tightened rules on consumer lending after a surge in demand.\n(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar and Dimpal Gulwani in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)\n",
        "title": "India's Paytm shifts focus to higher ticket loans"
    },
    {
        "id": 55,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-falls-fifth-day-us-000150134.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil fell to the lowest in more than five months as concerns that the market has excess supplies overshadowed a report showing shrinking US inventories.\nUS benchmark West Texas Intermediate slipped as much as 4% to break below $70 a barrel and reach the lowest intraday price since June 29. Global benchmark Brent retreated as much as 3.5%, slipping below $75. WTI futures have now dropped by more than a quarter from this year’s peak in late September.\nCrude has plummeted in recent weeks amid signs of swelling global supplies, including estimates from ship-tracking firms that American crude exports are nearing a record 6 million barrels a day. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies announced deeper output cuts on Thursday in a bid to stabilize markets, but the move failed to arrest the slide as traders remained skeptical the cartel’s members will follow through on the curbs.\nEven a US government report on Wednesday that showed the country’s crude stockpiles falling 4.63 million barrels couldn’t prevent oil from dropping even further. Traders are also partly ignoring the Energy Information Administration data showing a decrease in US crude exports last week because the figure’s so-called adjustment factor — akin to a margin of error — was the biggest move on record.\nIn a reflection of the market’s weakness, Saudi Arabia has reduced its official selling prices to Asia by the most since February.\nRussian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday that OPEC+ could take further measures if last week’s agreement isn’t enough to balance the market. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the UAE at the start of a rare foreign trip in which he was expected to talk about oil with regional leaders.\n--With assistance from Yongchang Chin and Mia Gindis.\n",
        "title": "Oil Falls Below $70 as Market Pessimism Outweighs Stockpile Drop"
    },
    {
        "id": 56,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-russian-rouble-slides-over-103742548.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates to 1012 GMT)\nMOSCOW, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble fell to a more than one-month low past 93 to the dollar on Wednesday, under pressure from exporters' reduced foreign currency sales at the start of the month and citizens' rising demand for FX ahead of Russia's long New Year holidays.\nBy 1012 GMT, the rouble was 1% weaker against the dollar at 93.23, earlier hitting 93.34, its weakest since Nov. 3.\nIt lost 0.7% to trade at 100.66 versus the euro and shed 1.1% against the yuan to 13.01 .\nThe rouble has now lost support from the month-end tax period, for which Russian exporters usually convert foreign currency into roubles.\nBefore last week, the currency had enjoyed seven weeks of gains. It has rebounded from more than 100 to the dollar, thanks to reduced capital outflows since President Vladimir Putin introduced the forced conversion of some foreign currency revenue for exporters in October.\nThe rouble has broken through the latest resistance level, said Andrei Kochetkov of Otkritie Investments, and its weakening may lead the central bank to resort to verbal interventions regarding inflation, he said.\nLate on Tuesday, the central bank said price and credit growth remained high, promising high rates for a long time to return inflation to its 4% target.\nHigh interest rates have been buttressing the currency. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the Bank of Russia to raise rates to 16% on Dec. 15.\nHowever, most economists polled expect the rouble to weaken in 2024.\nBrent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.5% at $76.79 a barrel.\nRussian stock indexes were lower.\nThe dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1.8% to 1,047.3 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 1% lower at 3,099.4 points.\nFor Russian equities guide see\nFor Russian treasury bonds see (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Bernadette Baum)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Russian rouble slides to over one-month low vs dollar"
    },
    {
        "id": 57,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-lgim-cautious-risk-assets-103645710.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Update with comment, context)\nBy Naomi Rovnick and Harry Robertson\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Legal & General Investment Management's CIO Sonja Laud said on Wednesday she remained cautious on risk assets in the near term given a still uncertain economic outlook.\nSpeaking at a media briefing on LGIM's 2024 outlook, Laud said was cautious on credit, underweight on equities and favoured emerging market debt.\nLGIM is one of Europe's biggest asset managers and manages roughly $1.5 trillion in assets.\nLaud said the S&P 500 index assumes a soft landing for the economy and there was a chance for a significant pullback if economic activity weakens.\nThe S&P 500 rallied almost 9% last month, while world shares gained broadly, as data showing inflation pressures easing boosted market hopes for a soft landing and interest rate cuts from major central banks next year.\nBut Laud stressed an uncertain outlook.\n\"Lots of investors are not doing much and quite a few will wait and see because the economic outcome is uncertain,\" she said, adding, \"not everyone is fully positioned yet to whatever outcome we might have.\"\nLaud said LGIM would look to reenter the equity market next year after a pullback.\n\"It (2024) will be all about growth, particularly in the U.S.,\" Laud said. \"This will be the dominant market narrative.\"\nLaud said she still expected a U.S. recession in 2024, while inflation in the United States and Europe would likely stay above central bank targets by year-end.\nJapan was the only stand out area for LGIM in developed market equities, she added.\nOn emerging markets, Laud said LGIM's focus was not on China but other developing nations such as India.\nLaud said the greatest risk to LGIM's 2024 outlook was geopolitics, noting that it was difficult to embed these risks when pricing investments.\n\"What we do know is that the probability of these risks has gone up significantly,\" she said, citing the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict, as well as next year's Taiwanese and U.S. elections as key risks.\nOn the possible election of Donald Trump as next U.S. President, Laud said: \"You have to then start thinking about what this means to Russia, how China will look at this and how all the other players will look at this.\" (Reporting by Naomi Rovnick and Harry Roberston; Writing by by Dhara Ranasinghe; Louise Heavens)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-LGIM cautious on risk assets, underweight equities for now"
    },
    {
        "id": 58,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/indias-ola-electric-slashes-sales-103019149.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By M. Sriram and Aditi Shah\nMUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Ola Electric has slashed its sales goals for 2023-2025 by more than half and delayed its target of achieving profits by a year, after reduced government incentives pushed up e-scooter prices, according to a document and two sources with direct knowledge of the company's finances.\nThe scaling back of Ola's targets comes ahead of its $700 million stock market debut plan, even though the SoftBank-backed company, which likens itself to Tesla in the West, continues to lead the small yet fast growing e-scooter market.\nIn a surprise move in May, India's government cut cash incentives available for e-scooter buyers without giving an explanation. Ola's CEO Bhavish Aggarwal at the time said the reduced incentive would be a \"short-term blip\" for sales, and the company said the move would \"have no impact on volumes\".\nA document seen by Reuters with Ola's latest financial projections shows it now expects to record 300,000 e-scooter sales in the ongoing fiscal year to March 2024, two-thirds lower than the earlier goal of 882,000 which Reuters reported in July.\nThe revenue target for the ongoing fiscal year period is now $591 million, versus the earlier goal of $1.55 billion - a cut of about 60%, according to the internal document.\nIn a statement, Ola did not acknowledge the document or comment on the cuts to internal forecasts. It said future financial targets were \"yet to be verified\".\n\"This is completely confidential information of the company,\" Ola said.\nThe targets have been lowered because of the government's lower subsidy, said two sources with direct knowledge of the company's finances, who declined to be named citing confidentiality.\n\"The new numbers have been toned down so the company is able to meet or exceed them ... that is what investors want to see,\" said one of the sources.\nEV GOALS\nWhile Ola is launching new scooters, parts of its nationwide network of over 400 service hubs which maintain and repair its EVs are showing signs of strain after a surge in sales, Reuters reported last month.\nIndia e-scooters sales nearly tripled to over 700,000 during 2022-23 versus the previous year, with Ola a market leader, but the sales were still a fraction of 15 million plus two-wheelers sold in the country.\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi wants 70% of all new two-wheeler sales to be electric by 2030. India now offers 15% of the price before tax as incentives for e-scooters, compared with 40% earlier, leading to higher prices.\nBefore the government incentive cuts, Ola, still loss-making, was expecting to record its first operating profit of $220 million in the ongoing 2023-24 fiscal year. The revised targets in the document show it will record an operating loss of $92 million this year, and a profit of $111 million next year.\nSales will also rise but at a far slower pace than earlier predicted.\nOla will sell 900,000 units in 2024-25 and 2.3 million units in 2025-26, the new document showed. Those targets are 60% and 21% lower than earlier estimates when incentives were in place.\nOn Saturday, Ola's Aggarwal slashed prices of his entry-level e-scooter by about 20% to around $1,100 to boost their appeal and bring more people into the EV fold, adding that lower government incentives were not a worry.\n\"People had feared the e-scooter industry will be hit due to government incentive cuts. Industry has more than recovered,\" Aggarwal said.\n(Reporting by M. Sriram and Aditi Shah; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Elaine Hardcastle)\n",
        "title": "India's Ola Electric slashes sales targets ahead of planned IPO -document, sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 59,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-seeks-contain-fallout-moody-102228252.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China sought to nip any hit to investor sentiment in the bud after a bearish credit outlook on debt threatened to exacerbate concerns over the financial health of the world’s second-largest economy.\nOne day after Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook for Chinese sovereign bonds to negative, the central bank dialed up its support for the yuan a notch and state media published a handful of articles citing experts who denounced Moody’s understanding of China’s economy. The finance ministry had earlier insisted the nation’s growth will be resilient.\nThe multi-pronged defense of China’s debt status and financial system underscored how critical it is for Beijing to reassure investors and convince them the nation’s bond and asset markets are worth returning to. Foreigners remain extremely pessimistic about the ability for policymakers to turn around a years-long property slump and prevent the economy from stagnating, making the Moody’s cut yet another thorn in the government’s side.\n“If they have been quite ambivalent to the actions by Moody’s yesterday, I think investors might start questioning if fiscal sustainability is top of mind for authorities,” said Louise Loo, lead economist at Oxford Economics Ltd. She said the fact that China was “quite indignant” about the cut “suggests to us that issues that were raised by Moody’s were quite top of mind for policymakers.”\n“I think investors want to see that,” Loo added.\nChina’s stocks and the yuan have both underperformed against peers in the region as the economy’s performance has disappointed. Confidence among businesses and households remains weak and various efforts to bolster the property sector haven’t really taken root. Foreign investment has plummeted.\nA widening yield differential with the US as the People’s Bank of China cut policy rates and the Federal Reserve raised them has also weighed on sentiment: Foreign investors have been selling yuan-denominated bonds at a record pace to buy notes with higher yields elsewhere.\nThe Moody’s announcement, meanwhile, put a spotlight on China’s debt issues. While the agency retained a long-term rating of A1 on the nation’s sovereign bonds, it cited the usage of fiscal stimulus to support debt-laden local governments and the spiraling property downturn as risks.\nThe pushback from China generally followed a theme: Moody’s just doesn’t know this economy.\n“The rating agency’s understanding of how the Chinese economy works and how the Chinese government functions is not deep enough and does not reflect the reality,” Feng Qiaobin, a deputy director of macroeconomic research at a department under the State Council, was quoted as saying in one state-backed newspaper. She told the publication that the cut was based on outdated information.\nState broadcaster China Central Television echoed that criticism in a report published on Wednesday, saying the change was based on “misjudgments” over the nation’s growth potential and government debt issues. Citing experts, the report said Moody’s and other global ratings agencies have historically been overly harsh toward emerging markets.\nWednesday’s state media reports came a day after an initial statement from the Ministry of Finance, which shortly after Tuesday’s cut defended the economy as one that is “highly resilient and has large potential.” The property downturn is well under control, the agency added.\nA major Chinese ratings agency China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co. also sought to allay concerns about the creditworthiness of the country’s sovereign debt. On Tuesday, it reiterated its outlook for the notes as stable and said Beijing “still has ample room to control the rise in debt risks.”\nConcerns over China’s debt probably aren’t going away. After a rare mid-year move to raise the 2023 fiscal deficit by issuing more sovereign debt, many analysts now see China becoming more forceful with fiscal support next year. Several economists project a headline deficit at 3.5% of gross domestic product or higher in 2024, well above the long-adhered to 3%.\n“China’s prospective provision of fiscal support to weaker regions may weigh on the sovereign’s balance sheet,” said Phoenix Kalen, head of emerging markets research at Societe Generale SA.\nStill, she offered a silver lining: “This may indicate a willingness by policymakers to place greater emphasis on bolstering economic growth by backstopping the more fiscally vulnerable parts of the country.”\nMoody’s followed up its changed outlook for the sovereign rating with a similar move for some of China’s corporate borrowers on Wednesday. It downgraded its outlook on Hong Kong and Macau to negative from stable, and placed 26 Chinese local government financing vehicles on review for downgrade on the same day.\nChinese markets on Wednesday found some support. The CSI 300 Index halted a three-day decline, while five-year credit default swaps on Chinese sovereigns remained far off a peak seen a year ago. That gauge measures the cost of hedging against the possibility of a default of the nation’s government bonds, and had briefly jumped in the previous session when the Moody’s cut was announced.\nThe yuan, meanwhile, was little changed in both onshore and overseas markets after the PBOC set a stronger-than-expected fixing of 7.1140 per US dollar — a move seen as one intended to keep the currency stable.\nThere’s no indication that other ratings agencies may follow Moody’s lead.\nFitch Ratings pointed Bloomberg News toward its most recent China commentary issues in August, when the agency affirmed its credit rating of A+ with a stable outlook.\nS&P Global Ratings said it could not comment about other company’s decisions or speculate on its future actions. The firm has rated China as A+ with a stable outlook since 2017, when it issued a downgrade following a similar action by Moody’s.\n--With assistance from April Ma, Philip Glamann, Niluksi Koswanage, Matthew Burgess and Evelyn Yu.\n(Updates with Moody’s cut to Hong Kong and Macau outlook in 17th paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "China Seeks to Contain Fallout From Moody’s Bearish Outlook"
    },
    {
        "id": 60,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/totalenergies-cop28-says-renewables-way-102038155.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Sarah McFarlane\nDec 6 (Reuters) - TotalEnergies's CEO gave his backing to an international pledge to triple renewable energy generation at the COP28 climate summit, calling it necessary to phase out fossil fuels and decarbonise.\n\"It's the right way to frame the object, tripling renewables, because if we don't do that, there's no way to phase out fossil energy,\" Patrick Pouyanne told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the summit in Dubai.\n\"It's a question of mobilising finance, particularly in many developing countries.\"\nGovernments at previous climate talks agreed to phase down the use of unabated coal, but the talks, hosted by oil power United Arab Emirates, have so far been split on the future role of fossil fuels.\nThe debate has focused on whether to prioritise technology to abate, or capture emissions, or on the shift to renewable energy.\nPouyanne said capturing and storing carbon dioxide was still too costly and not the solution to decarbonisation.\n\"Decarbonisation is all about electricity and electrification,\" he said.\nAt least 118 countries have supported the pledge led by the UAE COP28 Presidency to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.\nIssues including grid connection delays, supply chain bottlenecks and manufacturing capacity have raised questions about the feasibility of the target, although some wind and solar developers have added capacity at a fast pace.\nFor TotalEnergies, oil and gas is the largest source of its profits, but it aims to grow its renewable business to 100 gigawatts of gross installed capacity by 2030, from 22 gigawatts now.\n\"The supply chain, if there is the demand, will come,\" said Pouyanne. \"It's not so complex to build a manufacturing plant for solar cells.\"\nHe favoured wind and solar projects for now as opposed to green hydrogen, which he said was \"premature\" for TotalEnergies.\nHe also said the company's research and development unit was looking into commercial uses for carbon rather than storing it. It remains unclear whether the dozens of carbon capture and storage projects globally are profitable.\n(Reporting by Sarah McFarlane; editing by Barbara Lewis)\n",
        "title": "TotalEnergies at COP28 says renewables the way to phase out fossil fuels"
    },
    {
        "id": 61,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-jet-fueled-16-six-021829394.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin traded close to $44,000 after notching its longest winning streak since May, a rally driven in part by expectations of looser monetary policy.\nThe largest digital asset climbed for six days through Tuesday, advancing roughly 16% to as high as $44,491 before giving up some gains. Its 2023 rebound from last year’s crypto rout now stands at 163%.\nBitcoin is up almost 80% since mid-September, a rally that saw it take out the $30,000 and $40,000 levels in quick succession. Along with wagers that the Federal Reserve may start cutting interest rates next year, its rise has also been fueled by speculation that the the US may be close to allowing its first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.\nBlackRock Inc. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June to launch such a product, suggesting crypto could soon gain wider appeal as an asset class.\nRead more: Why Crypto Is Counting on Spot Bitcoin ETFs: QuickTake\n“Surely the ETF story is well and truly priced?” said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia Pty. The recent high volatility and “jet-fueled” move up in Bitcoin is instead a reminder that crypto is “more responsive to a Fed pivot and policy than other asset classes,” he said.\nFor now Bitcoin momentum is overshadowing any concerns that the surge is at risk of becoming too stretched. Smaller virtual currencies such as Avalanche and meme-crowd favorite Dogecoin have also been advancing.\n‘Kimchi Premium’\nThe bullish overall mood is evident across a range of countries. Bitcoin on South Korea’s Upbit and Bithumb exchanges at one point was trading about 4% above the prevailing global price on Wednesday, a return of the so-called “kimchi premium” that made headlines during the pandemic-era bull run in digital assets.\nIn Abu Dhabi, crypto mining hardware retailer Phoenix Group Plc jumped 35% on its debut on Tuesday. The firm is the first crypto-related listing in the Middle East. In El Salvador, Nayib Bukele said in a posting on X this week that the nation’s Bitcoin investments had turned profitable. He’s running for reelection after stepping down as president last week.\nAnother prop for sentiment is the so-called Bitcoin halving due next year, which will cut in half the amount of tokens that Bitcoin miners receive as reward for their work. The quadrennial event is part of the process of capping Bitcoin supply at 21 million tokens. The coin hit records after the last three halvings.\n“Both micro and macro factors are currently lining up for Bitcoin,” said Zach Pandl, managing director of research at crypto fund provider Grayscale Investments LLC.\nBitcoin traded at $44,004 at 10:07 a.m. in London. It peaked at close to $69,000 in November 2021.\n--With assistance from Shinhye Kang.\n",
        "title": "Bitcoin Trades Near $44,000 After Longest Win Streak Since May"
    },
    {
        "id": 62,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/banks-mask-lending-polluters-pr-100417765.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Euro zone banks talking the most about climate change are the biggest lenders to polluting industries and use public relations noise to mask their support, a blog post by four economists published by the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Wednesday.\nThe ECB has been trying and failing for years to force lenders to disclose more of their climate risk, and has threatened to increase capital requirements if they don't.\n\"Banks which portray themselves as more environmentally conscious lend more than others to brown industries,\" the blog post argued, after matching up public disclosures with detailed lending data. \"There are insufficient incentives for banks to change their lending policies.\"\nThe blog, written by an ECB economist and three academics, does not necessarily represent the views of the ECB, which supervises over a hundred of the euro zone's biggest lenders.\nThe mismatch between communication and actual lending is especially true for new funds to smaller polluters, as these fly below the radar and would escape the public's attention, the blog said.\nBanks appear reluctant to lend to young firms that could potentially drive innovation in cleaner technologies or high-emission companies that could green their business, it added.\nLenders appear reluctant to disrupt client relationships and also seem fearful that a withdrawal of their support would threaten the financial viability of the borrower, leaving them with losses, the blog said.\nThis creates a loop in which polluters are kept alive by a banks looking to protect their earnings, perpetuating both the pollution and banks' support for a dirty industry, it said.\n\"Banks with high environmental disclosure, indeed, tend to lend not only to brown borrowers with whom they have exclusive relationships, but also to those with limited financing options and who would be in distress if their banking relationship were terminated,\" the blog said.\nBanks instead prefer to keep firms alive, even though they clearly lack either the operational or financial capacity to switch to greener technologies, it said.\n(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "Banks mask lending to polluters with PR greenwash, ECB blog says"
    },
    {
        "id": 63,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/column-deflating-qt-cushion-may-060000365.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)\nBy Mike Dolan\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Any real economy crunch from the U.S. Federal Reserve's balance sheet rundown may have been softened to date, but the air is rapidly escaping from one of its key cushions.\nWhether last week's rhetorical shift by the Fed acknowledges this potential crunch is an open question, but credit and liquidity watchers are calling time on how long 2023's commercial bank reserves at the Fed can remain so stable.\nDebate centers on the spaghetti of financial liquidity management related to the Fed's 'quantitative tightening', where it has been gradually offloading its still $7.8 trillion balance sheet hoard of bonds and bills over the past 18 months.\nThat stash, which more than doubled to a peak of almost $9 trillion last year after the pandemic shock, effectively bought bonds from banks and credited them with commercial bank reserves held at the Fed, against which those banks could then go on and lend on to business and households.\nSince mid-2022, QT has been rolling these securities off the Fed's balance sheet at a pace of $95 billion a month.\nBut the Fed has also been soaking up what Atlanta Fed boss Raphael Bostic once described as \"pure excess liquidity\", via its daily reverse securities repurchase facility (RRP) - which at its peak in January hit £2.4 trillion.\nAttractive as a parking lot for money market funds and banks as the Fed hiked the returns on these 'reverse repos' in line with its policy rates, the money tucked away there is now exiting at breakneck pace - scrambling to lock into a flood of new longer maturity bills and bonds before Fed rates fall.\nDaily reverse repo totals have now dropped by about $1.6 trillion to just $768 billion last week.\nAnd at the pace at which the RRP has deflated over the past three months alone, it will be gone by March - perhaps coincidentally the month in which Fed futures are now more than two-thirds priced for the central bank's first policy rate cut.\nMaybe just the swings and roundabouts of the money market playground, but these moves may matter an awful lot: both to U.S. bank credit going into next year's economic slowdown as well as asset prices that many reckon feed directly off funding liquidity shifts in the system.\nSociete Generale's Solomon Tadesse says the crux to how QT affects lending to the economy at large hinges on how it erodes bank reserves and this has been extremely muted so far due to all the excess cash piled into the reverse repo buffer zone.\nTadesse points out that during the only other prior example of Fed QT in action - 2017-2019 - bank reserves fell in lockstep with overall Fed balance sheet rundown.\nBut not this time.\nBUMPY RIDE WITH NO CUSHION\n\"Bank reserves at the Fed, the main channel of QT's liquidity impact, remain unchanged despite asset shrinkage from QT as the financing of the growing government debt obligations were mostly absorbed by drawdowns in the Fed's reverse repo facility,\" Tadesse said.\nIn the less than two years of the previous QT campaign through 2019, the Fed's overall balance sheet was cut by more than $600 billion and bank reserves fell by over $800 billion.\nOver the past 18 months, however, bank reserves are still where they were in the middle of 2022, even though some $1.1 trillion has been lopped off the Fed's balance sheet.\n\"In the 2017-19 QT, the Fed balance sheet asset sell-off came almost one-to-one from drawdowns in the Bank Reserves, thus draining liquidity from the system much faster...and leading to the liquidity squeeze of Sept 2019,\" Tadesse said.\n\"It is not currently like that as the RRP cushion is absorbing the expected liquidity drain from QT.\"\nHis key point is that as the RRP depletes further, QT will hit reserves and start to bite much more sharply into already deteriorating loan growth - which to date is largely down to falling demand for credit as borrowing costs rise and the investment horizon weakens from here.\nAnd from there it will sap asset prices, he says, in a way liquidity analysts have puzzled all year that it hasn't done.\nPresumably, the Fed can see this coming too.\nBut whether it's now changing policy tack to get across it is a moot point.\nLast week, New York Fed chief John Williams claimed the depletion of the RRP was as designed, had some ways to go and reserve scarcity was some way off.\nEarlier in November, the three newest Fed governors, including Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, told a U.S. senator it was unclear how much further the balance sheet wind-down will run but there was no fixed target and it faced no imminent end.\nBut left unchecked, the marriage of falling credit demand and supply could pack a greater punch to the U.S. economy next year than seen in the tightening process to date.\nThat may be just another version of the long and variable lags associated with the impact of monetary policy, but it may also underscore why the Fed is starting to prepare the way for a turn. The speed with it now shifts may dictate the fallout.\nAs to the impact on markets, other liquidity experts would insist that is more a function of global liquidity.\nThe latest weekly updates from CrossBorder Capital, chiming with the U.S. bank reserves tune and ongoing credit easing in China, show nominal global liquidity levels actually picking up steam to just below the highest levels of the year. And that's before accounting for what now looks like an early pivot from the European Central Bank.\nBut for the U.S., next year may be a bumpier ride without a 'QT cushion'.\nThe opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.\n(Editing by Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "COLUMN-Deflating 'QT cushion' may have raised red Fed flag: Mike Dolan"
    },
    {
        "id": 64,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rpt-focus-exxons-ceo-sets-100000876.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Repeats with no change to text)\nBy Sabrina Valle\nDec 5 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods' first five years at the oil company were marred by missed oil production targets, an investor rebellion and the company's biggest-ever financial loss.\nRedemption came this year when - aided by a share price pumped up by high oil prices - he clinched a $60 billion deal to buy shale rival Pioneer Natural Resources to guarantee a steady stream of crude from the United States' most prized shale field.\nExxon's stock has underperformed rival Chevron over the course of Woods' tenure as CEO. The company recorded a $22 billion loss in 2020 in the depth of the pandemic. Now, his biggest challenge lies ahead as he executes a strategy to compete for investors demanding high returns and lower greenhouse gas emissions.\nHis plan aims to balance profits from cheaper barrels of oil closer to home, like Guyana's vast offshore oilfields, with a risky multi-billion-dollar promise to create and sell decarbonizing services at margins akin to oil.\n\"We can address the emissions without throwing out all the investments that have been made (in oil),\" the CEO told Reuters at the climate summit COP28 on Saturday. \"Whatever the demand is, we're competitive. That's the strategy.\"\nWoods has set for himself a short four years to deliver on his latest strategy, according to Reuters interviews with Exxon executives, former employees, investors and partners.\nThe executive plans to lay out to investors a new era for Exxon on Wednesday, when he updates the company's capital spending plans and production curve to incorporate his recent goals.\nThat future includes pumping more than 4.4 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) by 2027, a goal that will require new technology to squeeze an extra 700,000 bpd or more from its existing shale wells.\nHe is expected to offer Wall Street an updated budget for addressing methane leaks, and the impact of a waning future for motor fuels and the rise of hydrogen fuels and battery-powered electric vehicles, costly issues with no simple solutions.\nPAST IS PROLOGUE?\nExxon's track record of buying assets at peak levels has frustrated investors.\n“You grow and you grow, and you grow, and then you sell it to Exxon,” said oil analyst Paul Sankey, from Sankey Research.\nWoods' latest decision to concentrate future production in two large assets in the Americas contrasts his expansionist vision from five years ago, when Exxon sunk capital into low-margin, high-risk ventures around the world.\nAmong those projects was a $4 billion bet in 2017 with partners on drilling rights offshore Brazil. It was once a top prospect for growth, but Exxon so far has failed to find a drop on its own.\nAnalysts say Woods is implicitly asking the market for the benefit of the doubt on the acquisition of Pioneer and Denbury, a $4.9 billion carbon-pipeline firm Exxon bought to underpin its plans to sell carbon sequestration services to other companies.\n\"That was an easy ask with Guyana. Not so much for shale and (carbon capture and storage). We are not there yet,\" Sankey said.\nSo far, Woods' plans have turned investors demanding an energy transition strategy into believers - at least on climate.\n\"The path that they're going down is the path that we thought they should go down,” said Chris James, chairman of activist investor Engine No. 1 which led a victorious 2021 proxy fight that attacked Exxon for overspending in oil.\nWoods deal for Denbury fits into an overall $17 billion bet on decarbonization and hydrogen through 2027. To allay investor worries about declining demand for gasoline and other fuels, he has restructured its downstream units to easily switch to chemical from motor fuels.\nAt the same time, the company plans to have a leading role in the vehicle electrification business. In November, Exxon pledged to become by 2027 a large scale producer of lithium, the raw material used in electric vehicle batteries.\nMORE OIL VS GREEN AMBITION\nExxon's ambitious agenda includes starting up the world's largest hydrogen power plant by 2027. These low-carbon businesses can generate return on investment of between 10% and 20%, Exxon said.\n\"We expect this business to generate solid double-digit returns and we expect to compete for capital inside of the rest of the ExxonMobil portfolio,\" said Low Carbon Solutions unit President Dan Ammann.\nCapital spending on low carbon technologies will take about 11% of the company's annualized budget through 2027, or roughly half of what European peers invest. But that is a dramatic difference from as recently as 2.5 years ago, when less than 1% of Exxon's budget was devoted to projects with low emissions.\n\"We can evaluate whether this is a business or not in 2027,\" said Goldman Sachs analyst Neil Mehta.\nTo prove Woods is right, Exxon would need to generate between $1.7 billion and $3.4 billion in net income from the business by 2027, he said. Woods and Ammann declined to specify a targeted year for delivering the promised profits.\nRISKY BUSINESS\nThe $17 billion budget for low carbon technologies as the company's total revenue grows next year \"will continue to rise\", the CEO said. Upon completion, in the first half of 2024, the Pioneer acquisition will add nearly 20% in oil and gas production to Exxon's sales.\nThe investment plan contains risks. Both hydrogen and carbon capture are yet to be regulated, infrastructure is sparse or nonexistent and profitability is uncertain. Returns will also depend on hefty government subsidies.\n\"There is a risk a lot of the hydrogen projects being announced around the country never get to a final investment decision,\" said GTI consultant Brian Weeks, who also coordinated the HyVelocity hydrogen hub proposal by Exxon and dozens of partners.\nExxon's acquisition of Denbury and its 1,300 mile carbon dioxide pipeline network will be linked to a hydrogen facility in Texas and more than 160 offshore blocks in the Gulf of Mexico where Exxon plans to bury carbon dioxide.\nSpending in low carbon currently is constrained by scarcity of customers willing to sign up for contracts and insufficient regulations, Woods said.\nExxon has convinced the largest ammonia maker in the U.S., an industrial gas company and a large steel company to ink long-term contracts for carbon reduction services. The services should be fully paid for only after plants, pipelines and carbon reservoirs are in place.\nThe terms of the contracts, announced earlier this year were not disclosed, offering little visibility for investors.\n“There is a price to pay when you want to be a pioneer,” said Chris Bohn, finance chief at ammonia maker CF Energies, which was the first company to sign up for Exxon’s Low Carbon Solutions service.\n(Reporting by Sabrina Valle in Houston; additional reporting by Richard Valdmanis in Dubai. Editing by Gary McWilliams and Anna Driver)\n",
        "title": "RPT-FOCUS-Exxon's CEO sets ambitious agenda on tight timeline"
    },
    {
        "id": 65,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-rate-cuts-first-half-084915867.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank probably won’t need to lower borrowing costs in the first six months of next year, Governing Council member Martins Kazaks said — pushing back against investor bets for cuts as early as the spring.\nGiven the current economic outlook and medium-term projection baseline, there’s no need for rate cuts in the first half of 2024, the Latvian central bank chief said Wednesday in a presentation at an MNI Connect investor conference.\nIf the outlook changes, however, and the balance of risks for price stability shifts, “our decisions on rates might change,” Kazaks said. The comments were first reported by Econostream Media.\nTraders are ramping up wagers on ECB monetary easing as policymakers signal they’ve probably tightened enough to return inflation to 2%. Money markets see 150 basis points of interest-rate cuts next year — the most priced so far this cycle — with a first reduction expected as soon as March.\nNot everyone agrees with that timetable, however. Sabrina Khanniche of Pictet Asset Management told Bloomberg Television Wednesday that the ECB won’t cut rates until the fourth quarter of 2024 due to persistent upward pressure on prices.\nThe ECB will hold its final policy meeting of the year next week, with no change in rates expected. Borrowing costs are at “levels that are contributing forcefully to inflation normalization,” according to Kazaks, who said the focus now is on the speed with which tightening feeds through the financial system.\nThe inflation path is “likely to remain bumpy,” he said. A “clear peak in wage growth” hasn’t yet emerged and similarly there’s “no clear decline in profit margins visible yet.”\n(Updates with more from Kazaks in sixth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "ECB’s Kazaks Says First-Half Rate Cuts Not Currently Needed"
    },
    {
        "id": 66,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/airlines-see-stable-profits-record-095127159.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Joanna Plucinska\nGENEVA (Reuters) - Airline profits are set to stabilise in 2024 as continued growth in post-pandemic travel is offset by the high cost of capital and capacity constraints, industry group IATA said on Wednesday.\nThe global airline sector has largely recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw planes grounded and travellers reluctant to fly, as demand has boomed across North America, the Middle East and Europe.\nThe airline sector returned to profitability in 2023, with net profit expected at $23.3 billion on a 2.6% margin, and is set to reach $25.7 billion and a margin of 2.7% next year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.\nBut while revenues are tipped to reach a record $964 billion, the high cost of capital driven by rising interest rates is troubling, the global body said.\n\"Industry profits must be put into proper perspective,\" IATA's head Willie Walsh said.\n\"On average airlines will retain just $5.45 for every passenger carried. That's about enough to buy a basic grande latte at a London Starbucks.\"\nStill, the number of travellers globally is set to climb to historic levels, with 4.7 billion people expected to travel in 2024 compared with 4.5 billion in 2019.\nAnd many countries that lagged in the travel recovery, such as China where international travel is still 40% below pre-pandemic levels, are set to turn a profit again in 2024.\nGlobal instability, including the Israel-Hamas war and the Ukraine war, could negatively impact the sector, the industry body warned, especially as they continue to drive up oil prices.\nJet fuel prices are expected to account for 31% of all airline operating costs.\n(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "Airlines see stable profits, record traveller numbers in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 67,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-boj-estimates-show-stimulus-094856199.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details from staff paper)\nBy Leika Kihara\nTOKYO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan's unconventional monetary easing steps taken since 2013 helped create jobs but had a limited effect in lifting inflation, a staff paper produced as part of a comprehensive review of its monetary policy showed on Wednesday.\nAt the time of taking up the BOJ's top role in April, governor Kazuo Ueda announced a plan to conduct the comprehensive review to look into the effects and side-effects of various monetary easing steps adopted by the BOJ during its 25-year battle with deflation.\nWhile the BOJ has said the review won't have a direct impact on monetary policy decisions, analysts have said the discussions could offer clues on how Ueda could dismantle the radical stimulus measures deployed by his predecessor Haruhiko Kuroda.\nUnder Kuroda, the BOJ rolled out a massive asset-buying scheme called \"quantitative and qualitative easing\" (QQE) in 2013 to fire up inflation to its 2% target in roughly two years.\nAfter the target proved elusive, the BOJ introduced negative interest rates and yield curve control, which caps long-term borrowing costs around zero, in 2016.\nThe staff paper, which was presented for discussions at an inaugural workshop for the review on Monday, estimated that the stimulus measures since 2013 helped create jobs, and boost lending and output.\nBut they narrowed financial institutions' margin and pushed up inflation by only around 1%, according to estimates in the paper that was posted on the BOJ's website on Wednesday.\nA separate staff paper analysed the impact of the BOJ's monetary easing steps on financial markets, and concluded that liquidity in the bond market had deteriorated since the introduction of QQE.\nThe paper also said the shape of the yield curve became increasingly distorted from 2022, when rising global interest rates and heightening inflation expectations pushed up Japanese government bond (JGB) yields.\nTo iron out such distortions, the BOJ relaxed its grip on long-term interest rates by tweaking YCC in December last year, as well as in July and October this year.\nThe workshop, whose participants include BOJ staff, academics and private economists, was closed to the media. The next workshop is set for May.\n(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Additional reporting by Takahiko Wada, Kaori Kaneko and Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-BOJ estimates show its stimulus had limited effect in lifting prices"
    },
    {
        "id": 68,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-metals-firms-see-us-094600767.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese firms producing and processing battery materials see new US rules aimed at limiting Beijing’s grip on the electric-vehicle industry as less stringent than feared, allowing them to preserve a key role in the global supply chain.\nWashington’s move, which seeks to cut China out of US tax credits and curb the country’s control over joint ventures, created uncertainty at the end of last week, with questions swirling around the status of Chinese-owned battery-material operations outside the mainland, and over the impact on the wider car and battery industry.\nFord Motor Co. was among the automakers that said its ability to benefit from federal tax credits could be affected, potentially hurting the government’s ability to ultimately boost EV sales.\nChina dominates global metal processing and its domestic industry and state-owned entities will be cut out under the regulation. But significant projects in places like Indonesia and Australia, key for nickel and lithium extraction, are privately held — and so, under current guidance, should not qualify as “foreign entities of concern”, or FEOC.\n“The US wants their own supply chain and to get rid of China,” said Dani Widjaja, Jakarta-based vice president at Chinese company CNGR Advanced Material Co., which produces nickel in Indonesia. “But they also realize they cannot proceed with the electrification of automobile industry if they are not flexible in terms of including the Chinese.”\n“Right now for the critical minerals like graphite, lithium, nickel and cobalt, they are dominated by the Chinese. The announcement from last week was kind of a compromise,” he said, adding he was speaking in a personal capacity.\nOthers welcomed a path for China to continue to participate in the market.\nStill, company officials who asked not to be named as the discussions are not public said teams were still studying the regulations. Washington retains significant room for interpretation, especially in cases where there are ties to senior political figures or institutions, and a US presidential election looms next year, potentially bringing further upheaval.\nRules for battery components should apply from 2024, while critical minerals will be covered from 2025.\n“It is worth noting that the definition of the government of a covered country not only includes a government or a ruling party but also senior foreign political officials and the immediate family members of senior officials,” said Susan Zou, an analyst at Rystad Energy, pointing out that individual shareholders of significant private companies in China are current members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body.\n“The ambiguity is a double-edged sword.”\nRead more: US Sets Limits on Chinese Content to Receive EV Tax Credits\nDaiwa Capital Markets analysts also urged caution. Under Daiwa’s interpretation, the Chinese’ overseas projects they cover are not FEOCs — but could be given links to senior political figures.\n“Our interpretations yield non-FEOC results for all of our coverage, but the ‘spirit of the law’ is subject to changes/modifications by the US,” they said in a note.\n--With assistance from Winnie Zhu.\n",
        "title": "China Metals Firms See US Rules Unlikely to Upend Supply Chains"
    },
    {
        "id": 69,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/deka-investment-more-transparency-vws-094154153.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen top 20-shareholder Deka Investment welcomed the positive outcome of an audit into Volkswagen jointly owned plant in Xinjiang, China, but demanded more clarity from the carmaker regarding its supply chain.\n\"The audit is a step in the right direction in terms of process and result,\" said Ingo Speich, head of sustainability and corporate governance at Deka Investment. \"More transparency in the value chain would also be desirable.\"\nAccording to LSEG data, Deka Investment owns $99 million worth of Volkswagen's preferred stock.\n(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Writing by Christoph Steitz, Editing by Linda Pasquini)\n",
        "title": "Deka Investment: more transparency in VW's value chain 'desirable'"
    },
    {
        "id": 70,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lgim-cautious-risk-assets-underweight-092721902.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Legal & General Investment Management's CIO Sonja Laud said on Wednesday she remained cautious on risk assets in the near term given a still uncertain economic outlook.\nSpeaking at a media briefing on LGIM's 2024 outlook, Laud said was cautious on credit, underweight on equities and favoured emerging market debt.\nLaud said the S&P 500 index assumes a soft landing for the economy and there was a chance for significant pullback if economic activity weakens.\nShe said LGIM would look to reenter the equity market next year after a pullback.\nLGIM is one of Europe's biggest asset managers and manages roughly $1.5 trillion in assets.\n\"It (2024) will be all about growth particularly in the U.S.,\" Laud said. \"This will be the dominant market narrative.\" (Reporting by Naomi Rovnick and Harry Roberston; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)\n",
        "title": "LGIM cautious on risk assets, underweight equities for now"
    },
    {
        "id": 71,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/merck-kgaa-plunges-multiple-sclerosis-092441010.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Merck KGaA plunged after an experimental multiple-sclerosis drug failed in late-stage trials, a blow to the German company’s plans to drive growth with another blockbuster medicine.\nEvobrutinib didn’t show strong enough efficacy in two final-stage studies of people with relapsing multiple sclerosis, Merck said late Tuesday. On Wednesday morning its shares dropped as much as 14% in Frankfurt trading, the most since 2009, erasing more than €5 billion in market value.\nThe surprise drug failure creates a third big challenge for the German conglomerate. Its life science unit has been suffering from a collapse in demand for Covid-related products while the electronics division is reeling from a prolonged slump in the semiconductor industry.\nMerck’s healthcare division — its third pillar — had been banking on evobrutinib to help drive growth in the coming years. Instead, revenue for the unit could stay flat through 2027 and profitability may suffer, Thibault Boutherin of Morgan Stanley said in a note.\nThe analyst had modeled €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion) in peak sales for the drug and said that before the setback, investors were hoping it would be better than existing medicines, even though there were some questions about its safety. Now, investors will have to reassess their expectations for Merck’s growth.\n‘Straight Failure’\n“Even bears were not expecting a straight failure of the trial on efficacy,” Boutherin said.\nThe setback could increase pressure on Chief Executive Officer Belen Garijo to resort to deals to bolster the pharma pipeline. Garijo has repeatedly said that Merck has a war chest of some €20 billion for dealmaking and that her team is constantly evaluating potential acquisitions large and small.\nSuch a step would be welcome given the company’s thin late-stage pipeline of experimental drugs, Michael Shah, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said in a note.\nEvobrutinib failed to meet the primary endpoints in the trials of reducing the rates of relapse in people with the most common form of MS compared to patients receiving French drugmaker Sanofi’s medicine Aubagio.\nSurprisingly, patients taking Aubagio actually had better outcomes than was expected based on that medicine’s previous studies, Merck said in a statement.\nThat was the main driver of the trial failure, since evobrutinib still showed “strong efficacy,” analysts for Citi said in a note. Aubagio, meanwhile, was “way ahead of expectations.”\nA so-called BTK inhibitor experimental medicine, evobrutinib has had a bumpy road through clinical trials. In April, the US Food and Drug Administration placed a partial hold on the trial after two reported cases of patients who appeared to have suffered liver injury during the study.\nProblems have also arisen for similar products being studied by Sanofi and Roche Holding AG.\nWith these results, investors will probably raise questions about the prospects for the Sanofi and Roche medicines, too, Citi said.\nAttention will now turn to xevinapant, another late-stage experimental medicine that Merck is studying in head and neck cancer.\nDarmstadt, Germany-based Merck is unrelated to the US-based Merck & Co.\n--With assistance from James Cone and Angela Cullen.\n(Updates with second paragraph, analyst comment in eighth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Merck KGaA Plunges as Multiple Sclerosis Drug Fails in Trial"
    },
    {
        "id": 72,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-steady-euro-soft-091936432.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates at 0909 GMT)\nBy Samuel Indyk and Ankur Banerjee\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The dollar held near a two-week high on Wednesday, while the euro was weak across the board as markets ramped up bets that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates as early as March.\nThe euro was down 0.1% against the dollar at $1.0783, after touching a three-week low of $1.0775, as markets adjust rate expectations lower following soft data and dovish central bank commentary.\nThe single currency was also at a three-month low against the pound, a five-week low versus the yen and a 6-1/2 week low against the Swiss franc .\n\"The story in currency markets is mostly about a softer euro,\" said Niels Christensen, chief analyst at Nordea.\n\"Yesterday's comments from ECB's Schnabel supported the market view of early rate cuts.\"\nInfluential policy-maker Isabel Schnabel on Tuesday told Reuters that further interest rate hikes could be taken off the table given a \"remarkable\" fall in inflation.\nMarkets are now placing around an 85% chance that the ECB cuts interest rates at the March meeting, with almost 150 basis points worth of cuts priced by the end of next year.\nThe ECB will set interest rates on Thursday next week and is all but certain to leave them at the current record high of 4%. The Federal Reserve and Bank of England are also likely to hold rates steady next Wednesday and Thursday respectively.\nFed officials are now in a blackout period ahead of the Dec. 12-13 meeting, where a key focus will be the updated projections of where they see rates at in 2024.\nTraders have priced around a 60% chance of the central bank cutting rates in March, according to CME's FedWatch tool. They have also priced in at least 125 basis points of cuts next year.\nInvestors have been reassessing the extent of U.S. rate cuts next year in the past few days, helping lift the dollar.\n\"Markets have gone a bit overboard with pricing in very aggressive path of rate cuts through next year,\" said Aninda Mitra, head of Asia macro and investment strategy at BNY Mellon Investment Management.\nMitra said there could be a snapback should the Fed drive home the message more forcefully that it is not about to cut rates anytime soon.\n\"Our view is that Fed might hold off till the second quarter and even then the cuts would be a lot more shallower than what the market would like,\" Mitra said.\nThe widely expected rate cuts from the Fed will result in the dollar loosening its grip on other G10 currencies next year, dimming the outlook for the greenback, according to Reuters poll of foreign exchange strategists.\nThe dollar index, which measures the currency against six other majors, was little changed at 103.94.\nThe spotlight in Asia was on China, as markets grappled with rating agency Moody's cut to the Asian giant's credit outlook.\nThe offshore Chinese yuan rose 0.11% to $7.1661 per dollar, a day after Moody's cut China's credit outlook to \"negative\".\nThe spot yuan rate opened at 7.1570 per dollar and was last changing hands at 7.1577.\nChina's major state-owned banks stepped up U.S. dollar selling forcefully after the Moody's statement on Tuesday, and they continued to sell the greenback on Wednesday morning, Reuters reported.\nElsewhere in Asia, the Japanese yen was flat at 147.14 per dollar. The Australian dollar rose 0.4% to $0.6581, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.5% to $0.6157.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin eased 0.5% to $43,868 having surged above $44,000 earlier in the session.\nThe world's largest cryptocurrency has gained 150% this year, fuelled in part by optimism that a U.S. regulator will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds (ETFs).\n(Reporting by Samuel Indyk in London and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Jamie Freed, Shri Navaratnam and Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar steady, euro soft as traders wager rate cuts to begin in Q1"
    },
    {
        "id": 73,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/surge-lithium-stocks-raise-hope-091924828.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A sudden jump in the share prices of Chinese lithium producers is spurring optimism that a rout in the electric vehicle battery metal may be coming to an end.\nChina’s two biggest producers — Tianqi Lithium Corp. and Ganfeng Lithium Group Co. — closed up 6.5% and 7%, respectively, in Hong Kong on Wednesday. The sharp gains suggest investors may be positioning themselves for a recovery in prices.\nLithium carbonate futures for January delivery on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange traded at 92,450 yuan ($12,915) a ton on Wednesday, down from more than 200,000 yuan when the bourse debuted the contracts in July.\nThe downward trend for lithium is “already nearing an end,” said Zhang Weixin, an analyst at China Futures Co. It’s likely to bottom out between 80,000 and 90,000 yuan a ton, he said.\nWhile lithium prices may not go too much lower, a sharp turnaround appears unlikely. A massive expansion in supply and a slowdown in growth rates for EV sales have contributed to the slump, and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence doesn’t expect the global market to return to deficit until 2028.\n“I think it’s fairly given that the lithium price will be very, very volatile,” Rio Tinto Group’s Chief Executive Officer Jakob Stausholm said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Wednesday. “And why, because sentiment for buying EVs goes up and down.”\nSpot prices of lithium carbonate, a partially processed form of the metal, are down more than 80% from a peak last November to 98,500 yuan ($13,761) a ton.\nContinued overcapacity in the market is inevitable, fueled by a surge in investment seeking to benefit from increasing energy transition demand in the years ahead, Yasmin Liu, chief integration officer at Tianqui Lithium, said at an industry conference in Shanghai on Wednesday. The right strategies to cope with price volatility are going to be key, she said.\nRead More: Lithium Collapse Is Imperiling Supply, Top Miner Albemarle Says\nIn the longer term, the question is whether the current cycle of lower prices sees companies canceling or delaying plans for new mines or refineries, absent policy support from governments that are aiming to build out their own supply chains. Albemarle Corp., the world’s largest lithium producer, said last month that this is already starting to happen.\nThe plunge in lithium prices has almost reached a bottom, but an extended period of weakness is still likely, Wei Xiong, an advisor at raw materials trader Traxys, said at the conference in Shanghai. A turning point to monitor is “whether high-cost mines will exit,” he said.\n--With assistance from April Ma and Haidi Lun.\n",
        "title": "Surge in Lithium Stocks Raise Hope Rout in EV Metal Almost Done"
    },
    {
        "id": 74,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-brazils-natura-explored-divesting-090056744.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds Natura's comment in paragraph 4)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian cosmetics maker Natura and Co has explored selling most of its Avon brand's international business, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.\nNatura, which does not own Avon in the United States, is considering exit strategies for Avon International including a divestment, FT said.\nAvon International has operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific, the report added.\nThe company declined to comment on the report.\nNatura rapidly grew through high-profile acquisitions in recent years, including purchases of The Body Shop, Aesop and Avon International, but ended up struggling with profitability.\nIt sold The Body Shop last month to private investor Aurelius Group in a deal with an enterprise value of 207 million pounds ($260.8 million).\nIn May, the company said it would combine the operations of Natura and Avon brands in Latin America to help expand its product portfolio and cut costs.\n($1 = 0.7936 pounds) (Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan and Angela Christy in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Varun H K)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Brazil's Natura explored divesting cosmetics group Avon International - FT"
    },
    {
        "id": 75,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-komatsu-raise-prices-cut-085554921.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds outlook for Chinese and North American markets)\nBy Kiyoshi Takenaka\nTOKYO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Komatsu, the world's second-largest construction machinery maker after Caterpillar Inc, plans to raise prices and slash costs as it expects the yen to firm next year, its chief executive said on Wednesday.\n\"I'm not probably mistaken to say that the yen will be swinging to the firming side next year,\" Komatsu CEO Hiroyuki Ogawa said in an online interview with a group of reporters.\n\"There are only three things we ought to do to counter that, with one of them being price improvement, or price hikes.\"\nCost cuts and investments in growth areas are the other two steps, Ogawa said.\nIn October, Komatsu, which also competes with China's Sany Heavy Industry and Tokyo-based Hitachi Construction Machinery, raised its net profit forecast for the year to March 2024 by 14% due mainly to the yen's weakness.\nCritics blame the Bank of Japan's ultra-low interest rates for fuelling the yen's fall, but more than 80% of economists in a Reuters poll in November said the central bank will end its negative interest rate policy next year.\nOgawa said China's demand for earth-moving equipment such as excavators and bulldozers will likely remain sluggish next year.\n\"I believe Chinese demand has already hit bottom, and that the situation will remain little changed next year ... We need to watch very carefully for signs of recovery,\" he said.\nOgawa was quick to point out, however, that sales in China account for only 2% of Komatsu's overall revenues, and said any sharp change in the Chinese market will have little impact on the company's overall performance.\nOgawa said he expected the North American market, which represents a quarter of Komatsu's construction and mining equipment sales, to remain largely robust in 2024.\n(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Kim Coghill & Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Komatsu to raise prices, cut costs on firmer yen next year -CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 76,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/german-construction-sector-sees-falling-084755786.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BERLIN, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Revenue in the German construction sector is expected to fall in real terms by 5.3% this year and by 3% in 2024, driven by a downturn in residential construction, the ZDB industry association said on Wednesday.\nThe slump in residential construction is expected to reach -11% in 2023, accelerating to -13% in 2024, the ZDB added. (Reporting by Klaus Lauer, Writing by Rachel More, Editing by Linda Pasquini)\n",
        "title": "German construction sector sees falling revenue on housing slump"
    },
    {
        "id": 77,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-yields-edge-lower-084731201.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Stefano Rebaudo\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Euro zone government bond yields edged lower on Wednesday as investors took a breather after a sharp repricing of the European Central Bank policy path, which led money markets to discount up to 145 bps of rate cuts by the end of 2024.\nEuro area borrowing costs dropped on Tuesday after ECB official Isabel Schnabel told Reuters further interest rate hikes are \"rather unlikely\".\nInvestors increased bids for bonds after data on U.S. job openings (JOLTS) led investors to price in that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates as soon as March.\nBond yields move inversely with prices.\nGermany's 10-year government bond yield, the benchmark for the euro area, fell 0.5 basis point (bp) to 2.23% a fresh 7-month low.\n\"The JOLTS data highlighted the markets' sensitivity to any indications of a cooling U.S. labour market. Ahead of Friday's payrolls report, markets will eye the National Employment Report (ADP) estimate,\" said Padhraic Garvey, regional head of research Americas at ING in a note to clients.\n\"Given its poor track record of forecasting the official data, it is likely to take a larger surprise to move valuations,\" he argued, adding that the consensus was looking for a 130.000 reading today after 113.000 last month.\nMoney markets are currently pricing around 145 bps of ECB rate cuts by the end of 2024 -- from around 100 bps on Nov. 28 -- including an around 95% chance of the first 25 bps reduction in policy rates by March next year.\nAccording to Deutsche Bank, pricing more ECB rate cuts will require a weak labour market.\n\"Further significant inversion of the money market curve is likely to require evidence of weakness in the labour market that would justify central banks easing below neutral,\" said Francis Yared, global head of rate strategy at Deutsche Bank.\n\"While this remains our base case, the evidence is more likely to be observed in the second quarter of 2024 than in the fourth quarter of 2023.\"\nThe neutral rate implies a monetary policy which is neither contractionary nor expansionary for the economy.\nGreek sovereign bonds outperformed their peers, with the 10-year yield hitting a fresh 17-month low at 3.388%, down 5 bps on day.\nRatings agency Fitch upgraded Greece's credit rating to investment grade on Friday, mentioning a sharp downward trend in general government debt.\nFitch's upgrade and a similar move from S&P Global Ratings in October make Greece's bonds eligible for a wide range of bond indexes that require investment-grade ratings.\nThe gap between Greek and German 10-year yields – a gauge of the risk premium investors ask to hold Greek debt – was at 107, close to Spain's spread over German debt, which was at 100 bps.\nItaly's 10-year yield – the benchmark for the euro area's periphery – was down 1.5 bps at 3.98%, with the yield gap versus Germany at 172 bps.\n(Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo, Editing by Bernadette Baum) ;))\n",
        "title": "Euro zone yields edge lower to fresh multi-month lows, U.S. data in focus"
    },
    {
        "id": 78,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bytedance-offers-investors-share-buyback-084653210.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Kane Wu and Josh Ye\nHONG KONG (Reuters) - TikTok owner ByteDance is offering to buy back around $5 billion worth of shares from investors at a price that will value the company at about $268 billion, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.\nThe Chinese technology giant is offering to buy the shares at $160 each, the same price it offered employees last month.\nOne of the sources said the $268 billion valuation was about 10% lower than its value a year ago when it conducted a share buy back plan for investors.\nThe South China Morning Post first reported the news earlier on Wednesday. ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.\nByteDance has been expanding into areas such as e-commerce but has started to retreat from a four-year foray into mainstream video games with a plan to wind down its Nuverse gaming brand, Reuters reported last month.\n(Reporting by Kane Wu and Josh Ye in Hong Kong; editing by Miral Fahmy)\n",
        "title": "ByteDance offers investors share buyback, valued at $268 billion-sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 79,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-twitch-shut-down-south-084242702.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds comment from South Korea's science ministry in paragraphs 4-5, context)\nBy Hyunsu Yim\nDec 5 (Reuters) - Amazon's streaming unit Twitch on Tuesday said it will shut down operations in South Korea in February next year, due to high operating costs and network fees.\n\"Twitch has been operating in Korea at a significant loss, and unfortunately there is no pathway forward for our business to run more sustainably in that country,\" CEO Dan Clancy said in a blog.\nNetwork fees in Korea are still 10 times more expensive than in most other countries, he said, adding that the company spent significant effort working to reduce operating costs to remain in business.\nSouth Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) said in a statement that network usage fees were being reviewed as \"a comprehensive matter that requires consideration of the sustainable development of the internet network, the content industry and user convenience\".\nThe ministry did not comment directly on Twitch's decision to end its operations.\nThe debate over who should foot the bill for increased traffic usage has seen global technology giants clash with local internet providers in South Korea.\nEarlier this year, Netflix and South Korean internet service provider SK Broadband\nwithdrew\nlawsuits against each other over network usage fees.\nIn 2022, Twitch limited video resolution in South Korea, a country with a booming esports scene and use of online videogames, citing growing operating costs.\nShares of Afreeca TV, a South Korean streaming platform and competitor, closed up nearly 30 percent on Wednesday following the announcement.\nTwitch had laid off more than 400 employees in March after its user and revenue growth did not meet expectations. (Reporting by Hyunsu Yim in Seoul and Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K, Ed Davies)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Twitch to shut down in South Korea due to high costs"
    },
    {
        "id": 80,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackpink-agency-shares-skyrocket-k-040254908.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- YG Entertainment Inc. said all four members of Blackpink renewed their contracts with the K-pop agency, dispelling concerns over the band’s continuation after their terms expired in August.\nShares in the Seoul-based artist promoter finished 26% higher on Wednesday, their biggest daily jump since a first-day pop when it went public in 2011. YG Plus, its content production affiliate, shot up 24%. Blackpink plans a new album and a world tour with YG, the agency said in a statement. Wednesday’s gain puts the agency — now the smallest among the four major Korean music labels — at $857 million in market value.\nOther K-pop stocks also rose after the news. BTS label Hybe Co., the biggest K-pop stock with about $7.2 billion in market cap, rose 7.3% while smaller JYP Entertainment Corp. also advanced.\nBlackpink, a four-member K-pop band that debuted in 2016, became the world’s most popular girl group with their songs setting records on the Billboard charts with hits like Shut Down and Pink Venom. The band became the first K-pop headliner at Coachella and their biggest global tour was sold out this year.\n“We are more than thrilled to finally make an official statement that YG will continue the intimate relationship with Blackpink,” YG Entertainment founder Yang Hyun-Suk said in the statement. “As the group represents YG and K-pop itself, they will certainly endeavor to shine brilliantly in the global music market.”\nBlackpink, Once a Novelty, Returns to Coachella as the Headliner\nThe news ends months of uncertainty around YG’s hold on some of its highest-earning artists. Before the announcement, YG’s shares plunged almost 50% from its May peak amid rumors that Blackpink member Lisa might leave the group. Top artists’ contracts are a source of price volatility for K-pop agencies, which rely heavily on a handful of key artists for revenue.\nYG did not disclose the details of each member’s contract, including whether it will retain management of side gigs such as solo projects, luxury brand promotions or acting for Hollywood studios.\nStill, Blackpink’s contract renewal resolves one of the main questions that’s weighed on K-pop stocks and sparked stock selloffs, according to Suh Bokyung, a senior analyst at Sanford C Bernstein. “This serves as a signal that investors can have an upbeat outlook on the K-pop industry in 2024.”\n(Updates with the market value of the K-pop agencies, updates prices, adds a chart.)\n",
        "title": "Blackpink Agency Shares Skyrocket After K-Pop Stars Renew Deals"
    },
    {
        "id": 81,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/markets-turbocharge-bets-ecb-lead-180000940.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Investors are betting that Europe will lead the world’s largest central banks on interest-rate cuts after one of the region’s most hawkish policymakers described a slowdown in inflation as “encouraging.”\nMarkets are fully pricing six quarter-point rate cuts by the European Central Bank in 2024 for the first time, a move that would take the key rate down 150 basis points to 2.5%. There’s also an almost 90% chance of the easing cycle starting in the first quarter of next year, a scenario that was barely contemplated just three weeks ago.\nWhile markets worldwide are betting on more rate cuts, that view gained extra traction in Europe on Tuesday after Isabel Schnabel, a renowned ECB hawk, said inflation is showing a “remarkable” slowdown and that another hike in borrowing costs is “rather unlikely.” Markets have long dismissed chances of further tightening, but Schnabel had been cautioning that it was too early to rule out more hikes.\nIf traders are right, the ECB will be the first among major central banks to cut rates next year, and will deliver the most aggressive easing cycle. Still, some of Wall Street’s biggest names are already cautioning that expectations for cuts by central banks around the world are starting to look extended.\nThe Federal Reserve is expected to deliver its first move in May and lower rates by 125 basis points. In the UK, markets are currently pricing three Bank of England quarter-point cuts starting in June, and a 40% chance of a fourth move. A month ago, just two cuts were priced.\nRates markets in Australia have switched from betting on another hike by mid-2024 to pricing in a better than 75% chance for a cut by then. And even New Zealand’s central bank — which last week said it may need to hike rates next year — is now seen as a strong chance to reduce its benchmark by May.\nThe view that major central banks will have to ease monetary conditions to support their economies next year has boosted bonds, making November a month for the record books. The yields on 10-year US and German bonds are down more than 45 basis points over the past month. The equivalent rate on gilts is down more than 30 basis points.\nSchnabel’s remarks came just days after a report showed euro-area inflation slowed to 2.4%, far lower than economists had anticipated and approaching the ECB’s 2% target.\nWhile effectively ruling out another rate hike, Schnabel said in reference to potential cuts that “we should be careful in making statements about something that is going to happen in six months’ time.” Her colleagues Boris Vujcic ruled them out in the near future, while Francois Villeroy de Galhau said the ECB would examine the question at some point during 2024.\nThat caution is also gaining traction on Wall Street, with strategists at BlackRock Inc. saying Tuesday that they “see the risk of these hopes being disappointed.” Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s strategists are meanwhile recommending options bets to counter excessive rates pricing, and Allianz SE Chief Economic Adviser Mohamed El-Erian warned the Fed is losing control of its messaging.\n“I do believe the Fed is done raising rates, but I don’t think that validates what is in the markets about rate cuts next year,” El-Erian said to Bloomberg Radio on Tuesday.\n--With assistance from Garfield Reynolds and John Viljoen.\n(Updates with latest moves in rates pricing starting in second paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Traders Turbocharge ECB Bets by Predicting 2.5% Rate in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 82,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nissan-mitsubishi-confirm-investment-plans-083253393.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Gilles Guillaume\nPARIS (Reuters) -Renault's long-standing alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi confirmed plans to invest in the French car maker's electric vehicle unit Ampere and use it to develop EVs for the European market, the companies said on Wednesday.\nAfter years of contentious partnership, the announcement on Wednesday confirms that the new alliance between the three automakers is smaller and more pragmatic, focusing on regional cooperation.\nNissan and Mitsubishi confirmed they would invest respectively up to 600 million euros ($647.46 million) and 200 million euros in Ampere, which has been carved out from the rest of Renault and is due for a public listing next year.\nNissan will become \"a strategic investor\" in Ampere, Makoto Uchida, CEO of the Japanese car marker told reporters, adding the company may use the EV unit's software and connectivity innovations in other markets outside Europe.\n\"Developing electric vehicles all over the world alone would be very challenging,\" he said.\nAmpere will develop and manufacture an electric version of the compact Nissan Micra for the European market and a medium-sized electric SUV for Mitsubishi.\nRenault CEO Luca de Meo said Ampere will cut the costs for the Micra for Nissan by 50%.\nThe alliance partners also confirmed their joint projects in Latin America and India.\nIn September, Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi ended their common purchasing agreement, which they said would allow them to focus on individual projects and adapt more quickly to regional differences in automotive markets.\nAt the end of July, Renault and Nissan finalised the terms of a restructured alliance after months of negotiations.\nTalks dragged on for months longer than expected due in part to Nissan, which was concerned about protecting its intellectual property in future collaborations.\n($1 = 0.9267 euros)\n(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume, additional reporting by Nick Carey, writing by Piotr Lipinski, editing by Silvia Aloisi and Bernadette Baum)\n",
        "title": "Nissan, Mitsubishi confirm plans to invest in Renault EV unit Ampere"
    },
    {
        "id": 83,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-releases-details-workshop-long-080525849.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "TOKYO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan on Wednesday released details of discussions at Monday's workshop that was held as part of a long-term review of its past monetary policy steps.\nAmong themes discussed included the effects and side-effects of unconventional monetary policy, and the impact of monetary policy steps on the BOJ's balance sheet, the details released on the BOJ's website showed. (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "BOJ releases details of workshop on long-term policy review"
    },
    {
        "id": 84,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-today-asian-shares-075523327.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is hanging near its best level in 20 months Wednesday following the latest signals that pressure on inflation may be easing.\nThe S&P 500 was edging down by 0.1% in late trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged, as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.\nStocks of oil-and-gas companies weighed on the market after oil touched its lowest price since June. Helping to counter that was a gain of 3% for homebuilder Toll Brothers, which reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said demand from buyers has remained solid so far in the current quarter, thanks in part to slightly easier rates available for mortgages.\nMortgage rates have regressed as Treasury yields have dropped on hopes that the Federal Reserve may finally be finished with its barrage of hikes to interest rates, meant to get high inflation under control. Wall Street is betting the Fed’s next move will be to cut rates, possibly as early as March, which would juice the economy and financial markets.\nMore reports came Wednesday to suggest the Federal Reserve could at least hold steady on rates for now. Its next meeting on interest rates is in a week, and the widespread expectation is for it to leave its main interest rate alone at its highest level in more than two decades.\nOne report said private employers added fewer jobs last month than economists expected. While no one on Wall Street wants to see massive layoffs, a cooldown in the job market could remove upward pressure on inflation.\nA more comprehensive report on the jobs market from the U.S. government will arrive Friday, one that can cause big swings on Wall Street.\n“What we don’t know is how much the markets have already priced in a slowing labor market, or how they will react if Friday’s data comes in stronger than anticipated,” said Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.\nA separate report on Wednesday said U.S. businesses were able to increase the amount of stuff they produced in the summer by more than the total number of hours their employees worked. That stronger-than-expected gain in productivity more than offset increases to workers’ wages, and it could also keep a lid on inflationary pressures.\nTreasury yields in the bond market were generally lower following the economic reports, and the 10-year yield fell to 4.12% from 4.17% late Tuesday. It was above 5% and at its highest level since 2007 in October.\nWithin the S&P 500, Campbell Soup was one of the biggest winners and rose 7% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected.\nTravel-related companies were also strong as crude oil prices fell sharply again to relieve some pressure on them. Carnival rose 5.9%, and Norwegian Cruise Line gained 3.2%.\nAirlines were also flying high. Delta Air Lines climbed 4.7% after it told investors it's sticking to its forecasts for revenue and profit for the end of 2023. United Airlines rose 4.3%, and Southwest Airlines gained 3.8%.\nOn the losing end of Wall Street was Brown-Forman, the company whose brands include Jack Daniel's whiskey. It fell 10.3% after reporting weaker earnings than analysts had forecast. It also cut its forecast for a measure of sales growth for the full year.\nThe drop in crude prices also dragged down stocks of oil-and-gas companies. ConocoPhillips fell 2.2%, and Marathon Oil lost 2.8%.\nCrude prices have been generally falling for the last two months on expectations that too much oil is available for the global economy's demand. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude slumped $2.94 to settle at $69.38. It was above $93 in September. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.8% to $74.30 per barrel.\nShares of British American Tobacco sank 8.4% in London after the company said it will take a non-cash hit worth roughly 25 billion British pounds ($31.39 billion) to account for a drop in the value of some of its “combustible” U.S. cigarette brands. It's moving toward a “smokeless” world, such as e-cigarettes.\nIn the U.S., shares of Altria Group, the maker of Marlboro and other cigarettes, fell 2.5%.\nWall Street could be setting itself up for disappointment if cuts to rates do not come as quickly as hoped. While Federal Reserve officials have hinted that their main interest rate may indeed be at a peak, some have said it’s too early to begin considering when cuts could come.\nStock markets abroad were mostly higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2% after a top central bank official reiterated the Bank of Japan’s will keep its monetary policy easy until it achieves a stable level of inflation.\nGains were more modest across the rest of Asia and Europe.\n___\nAP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.\n",
        "title": "Stock market today: Wall Street hangs near a 20-month high, and oil prices fall sharply again"
    },
    {
        "id": 85,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rakuten-group-sell-15-shares-074706468.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Rakuten Group said on Wednesday it plans to sell 25.5 million shares in Rakuten Bank in the offshore market, the latest bid to shore up its finances.\nThe shares are equivalent to just under 15% of its stake in the bank, according to LSEG data.\nRakuten said it planned to use the proceeds of the sale for the early repayment of bonds, as it had committed to reducing interest-bearing debt.\nThe stake would be worth around 69.8 billion yen ($474.70 million) at Wednesday's closing price.\nThe e-commerce and financial services group has almost 800 billion yen ($5.44 billion) in bond redemptions due before the end of 2025, according to company documents, driven by the cash-burning build out of its mobile network since 2020.\nRakuten publicly listed Rakuten Bank in April this year, raising, 72 billion yen and reducing its holding to 63.3%. After this offering Rakuten Bank will remain a consolidated subsidiary.\nThe share price will be determined after a book building period between Dec. 6 and 7, Rakuten Bank said in a separate statement.\n($1 = 147.0400 yen)\n(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Tom Hogue and Miral Fahmy)\n",
        "title": "Rakuten Group to sell 15% of shares in Rakuten Bank in offshore market"
    },
    {
        "id": 86,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/perpetuals-top-investor-bids-2-073945061.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Scott Murdoch and Lewis Jackson\n(Reuters) - Australian diversified investor Washington H Soul Pattinson (WHSP) has made a A$3.1 billion ($2 billion) bid for domestic fund manager Perpetual in the latest sign of consolidation in the country's wealth management sector.\nWHSP is Perpetual's largest shareholder with a 9.9% stake and the bid came hours after Perpetual announced that it was looking at splitting off its corporate trust and wealth management businesses from its core asset management division.\nPerpetual, which saw its shares surge 6% on news of the strategic review, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on WHSP's bid which was announced after market hours.\nThe indicative non-binding scrip bid values Perpetual at A$27 a share which is a 28.6% premium to its share price on Nov. 13 when WHSP revealed an increased stake in the company.\nThe bid calls for Perpetual's asset management business to be spun off and distributed back to Perpetual's existing shareholders, WHSP said in a statement.\nWHSP would retain ownership of Perpetual's wealth management and corporate trust businesses and take on about $A700 million worth of Perpetual debt.\nThe $A3.1 billion offer would consist of A$1.06 billion worth of WHSP scrip and A$2 billion worth of Perpetual Asset Management scrip.\n\"WHSP believes the complexity of the Perpetual group together with the current market backdrop and Perpetual's high financial leverage is weighing on the share price and constraining Perpetual's strategic flexibility,\" the firm said.\nMorningstar equity analyst Shaun Ler said the WHSP bid represents fair value for Perpetual at a time when the macroeconomic climate does not favour fund managers.\nThe deal also allows investors to cash out without needing to take on the execution risk of Perpetual's own plan to split off assets, he added.\n($1 = 1.5184 Australian dollars)\n(Reporting by Scott Murdoch and Lewis Jackson in Sydney; Additional reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "Perpetual's top investor bids $2 billion to take over the Australian fund manager"
    },
    {
        "id": 87,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bat-writes-down-31-5-073822398.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "LONDON (Reuters) — British American Tobacco said it would take a hit of around $31.5 billion as it writes down the value of some U.S. cigarette brands, acknowledging on Wednesday that its traditional market has no long term future.\nBAT's move comes as ever stricter regulation and growing awareness of health risks squeeze tobacco companies' traditional business, driving declines in cigarette volumes in some markets.\nThe maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes also pointed to economic challenges in the U.S., where some inflation-weary consumers are downgrading to cheaper brands, and the rise of illicit disposable vapes putting pressure on its U.S. cigarette division.\nThese factors contributed to the around 25 billion pound ($31.50 billion) non-cash adjusting impairment charge relating to some U.S. cigarette brands, BAT said. Its Newport, Camel, Pall Mall and Natural American Spirit brands were affected, a spokesperson added.\nIt was assessing the brands' \"carrying value and useful economic lives over an estimated period of 30 years,\" BAT Chief Executive Tadeu Marroco said in a statement.\nt added that it would start amortising the value of its remaining U.S. combustibles brands in 2024 in its first acknowledgement that their value would, over time, reduce.\nBAT's shares fell more than 8% in early trade to 4-1/2 year lows, wiping about 4 billion pounds of the company's value.\nImperial Brands shares were down more than 2%.\nLike rivals, BAT has been investing heavily in smoking alternatives like vapes.\nOn Wednesday, it added a new ambition to generate 50% of its revenues from non-combustibles by 2025 and said it now expects its business from such \"new categories\" to break even in 2023, a year ahead of its current projection.\nJames Edwardes Jones, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, welcomed the ambition given the U.S. charge and a \"grim\" outlook for BAT.\n\"Goodness, that's a big number,\" he said of the charge, adding it exemplifies the \"perils of the industry\" and sends less confident signals about the outlook for cigarettes.\nBAT said full-year revenue growth would likely be at the lower end of its 3-5% range. It also expected low single-digit growth in revenue and adjusted profit from operations in 2024.\n(Reporting by Emma Rumney, Editing by Sharon Singleton and Elaine Hardcastle)\n",
        "title": "Camel maker BAT writes down $31.5 billion from value of US cigarette brands"
    },
    {
        "id": 88,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-beleaguered-rakuten-raises-more-073730420.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Recasts and writes through with background on Rakuten financing efforts)\nBy Anton Bridge\nTOKYO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Japan's Rakuten Group said on Wednesday it plans to sell a large stake in Rakuten Bank to overseas investors, its latest fundraising effort as it grapples with heavy debt and losses at its mobile network unit.\nThe planned sale of 25.5 million shares is equivalent to just under 15% of the online bank, according to LSEG data, and is worth around 70 billion yen ($475 million) at Wednesday's closing price.\nThe e-commerce and financial services group said it would use the proceeds to repay bonds early as it was committed to reducing interest-bearing debt. Hit by spiralling costs to build out its mobile network, it has almost 800 billion yen ($5.4 billion) in bond redemptions due before the end of 2025.\nThe unit's troubles have also resulted in Rakuten logging 13 consecutive quarters of operating losses.\nSince 2021, Rakuten has issued new shares to strategic investors and the public, twice sold down its holding in its securities arm Rakuten Securities, and listed Rakuten Bank in April of this year.\nThe listing raised 72 billion yen and reduced Rakuten's holding in the bank to 63.3%.\nThe price of the shares will be determined after a book building period between Dec. 6 and 7, Rakuten Bank said in a separate statement.\nAnalysts predict Rakuten may soon seek to list its credit card business Rakuten Card, which includes the group's lucrative points and payments system.\n($1 = 147.04 yen) (Reporting by Anton Bridge and Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Miral Fahmy and Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-Beleaguered Rakuten to raises more funds with sale of 15% of bank unit"
    },
    {
        "id": 89,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-bat-takes-31-5-073406905.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Recasts on impairment charge, adds detail throughout)\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - British American Tobacco said on Wednesday it would take an around 25 billion pound ($31.50 billion) impairment charge as it reassessed the value of some of its U.S. cigarette brands.\nThe maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes said challenges in the United States, where a difficult economy and popularity of often illicit disposable vapes have weighed on its business, would drag on its growth in both 2023 and 2024.\nIt said economic challenges affecting the U.S. business, which have seen some inflation-weary consumers downgrade to cheaper brands, had contributed to the 25 billion pound non-cash adjusting impairment charge.\n\"This accounting adjustment mainly relates to some of our acquired U.S. combustibles brands, as we now assess their carrying value and useful economic lives over an estimated period of 30 years,\" BAT said in its pre-close trading update.\nIt added that it would start amortising the remaining value of its U.S. combustibles brands in 2024.\nBAT maintained its 2023 full-year revenue forecast at 3-5% organic growth in constant currency terms, but added this would likely be at the lower end of the range because of pressures in the U.S. and planned investment into its newer products, including vapes and oral nicotine.\nIt said that these factors also meant it would expect low single digit growth in revenue and adjusted profit from operations in 2024. ($1 = 0.7938 pounds) (Reporting by Emma Rumney, Editing by Louise Heavens)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-BAT takes $31.5 bln charge on U.S. cigarette brands"
    },
    {
        "id": 90,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russian-distributor-launch-sales-adidas-073221432.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian distributor of Western sports brands will start selling Adidas and Reebok products as soon as this week, despite the companies' departure from the market over the war in Ukraine, the Kommersant daily reported on Wednesday.\nAdidas and Reebok were among hundreds of Western companies that decided to suspend business operations in Russia soon after Moscow launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022.\nAdidas and rival Nike subsequently opted to leave the market completely. Authentic Brands Group-owned Reebok's Russian business was taken over by Turkey's FLO retailing, Kommersant daily reported in May 2022.\nRussians have developed solutions to the brand exodus with small-scale imports and online sellers helping to keep foreign brands alive, particularly consumer goods that are not subject to sanctions.\nCiting the head of the marketing department at Lestate, the distributor, Kommersant reported that the company will develop a network of mono-brand stores with goods from Adidas and Reebok.\nLestate already sells clothing and shoes from Nike in Russia, Kommersant reported.\nThere was no suggestion that Adidas, Reebok or Nike were facilitating Lestate's sale of their goods.\n(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Alexander Marrow and Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "Russian distributor to launch sales of Adidas, Reebok goods- Kommersant"
    },
    {
        "id": 91,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/climate-change-2023-warmest-record-072655056.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Corrects temperature conversion in first paragraph)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - European Union scientists said on Wednesday that 2023 would be the warmest year on record, as global mean temperature for the first 11 months of the year hit the highest level on record, 1.46 degrees Celsius (2.63 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1850-1900 average.\nThe record comes as governments are in marathon negotiations on whether to, for the first time, phase out the use of CO2-emitting coal, oil and gas, the main source of warming emissions, at the COP28 summit in Dubai.\nThe temperature for the January-November period was 0.13C higher than the average for the same period in 2016, currently the warmest calendar year on record, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said.\nNovember 2023 was the warmest November on record globally, with an average surface air temperature of 14.22C, 0.85C above the 1991-2020 average for November and 0.32C above the previous warmest November, in 2020, Copernicus added.\nThis year \"has now had six record breaking months and two record breaking seasons. The extraordinary global November temperatures, including two days warmer than 2C above preindustrial, mean that 2023 is the warmest year in recorded history,\" deputy director of C3S Samantha Burgess said in a statement.\nThe boreal autumn September–November was also the warmest on record globally by a large margin, with an average temperature of 15.30C, 0.88C above average, EU scientists said.\n\"As long as greenhouse gas concentrations keep rising, we can't expect different outcomes from those seen this year. The temperature will keep rising and so will the impacts of heatwaves and droughts. Reaching net zero as soon as possible is an effective way to manage our climate risks,\" C3S director, Carlo Buontempo added.\nEfforts are lagging to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, beyond which scientists warn of a severe impact on weather, health and agriculture.\nThe EU has among the most ambitious climate change policies of any major economy, having passed laws to deliver its 2030 target to cut net emissions by 55% from 1990 levels, which analysts say is the minimum needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. (Reporting by Diana Mandiá. Editing by Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "CORRECTED-Climate change-2023 will be the warmest year on record - EU's Copernicus"
    },
    {
        "id": 92,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-safran-urges-realistic-aero-072209147.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds quotes, context)\nBy Tim Hepher\nCASABLANCA, Morocco, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The head of French jet engine maker Safran said global supply chains are still struggling to shake off a series of external shocks and warned against setting unrealistic industrial targets as aviation tackles rising travel demand.\nTogether with GE, Safran co-produces LEAP jet engines for all Boeing and more than half of Airbus narrow-body jets through their CFM International venture.\n\"The supply chain is still struggling to recover from the shock of the pandemic, as well as the other shocks: Ukraine, energy, inflation and labour,\" Andries said during a visit to Morocco to sign a government pact on boosting supply chains.\nCiting supply issues, CFM recently trimmed a percentage growth forecast for LEAP deliveries in 2023 to 40-45% from around 50%, implying deliveries of around 1,600 to 1,650 units.\nAndries reiterated a preliminary target of 2,000 LEAP engine deliveries in 2024, subject to final discussions with GE ahead of annual results announcements in February.\nHe indicated, however, that this represented a ceiling as pressure remained on items including raw materials.\n\"It is already very ambitious given the state of the supply chain today and for me to tell you today that we can do 2,100 or 2,200 in 2024 - no. So we are targeting 2,000.\"\nFor 2025, Andries said CFM would raise LEAP deliveries but that there was no urgency to agree precise volumes with aircraft manufacturers until around the middle of next year.\n\"Everyone is very conscious that in a difficult supply chain situation, we all have to be ambitious for sure, but also challenge ourselves and remain realistic,\" Andries said. \"There is no point in making commitments you can't achieve.\"\nEngine makers have been generally more cautious than Airbus, in particular, about raising output to meet new travel demand. (Reporting by Tim Hepher, Editing by Louise Heavens)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Safran urges realistic aero output plans as supply remains tight"
    },
    {
        "id": 93,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-china-ev-maker-nio-071157040.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio plans to spin off its battery manufacturing unit, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, as part of the efforts by the company to turn profitable, reduce costs and improve efficiency.\nThe nascent battery unit, led by senior manufacturing engineers whose previous employers include Apple and Panasonic, will seek external investors after the spin-off that could happen as early as the end of this year, with a valuation to be decided later, the people said.\nThey spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is confidential.\nNio declined to comment beyond founder and CEO William Li's comments on an earnings call on Tuesday that the automaker would continue to do in-house research and development on batteries but now planned to outsource all of the manufacturing.\nThe company, which has a market value of $12.4 billion, currently buys all of its batteries from CATL and CALB Group.\nThe spin-off underscores Nio's efforts to turn profitable sooner, as its previous plan was to develop and manufacture some batteries on its own and outsource production for the remainder to other suppliers like Tesla does, one the people said.\nUnder the plan, Nio battery unit's top engineers, some of whose past experience also included working on quality and supplier management at Tesla's Nevada battery factory, will join the new firm while some staff will be merged into other departments at Nio, both of the people said.\nNio hired these engineers in an effort to mass produce large cylindrical cells similar to Tesla's 4680 in a planned plant in China's eastern Anhui province in 2025 at the earliest, the first person said.\nThe assets to be spun off could include the planned plant, some testing equipment and intellectual property, the person added.\nThe planned plant was expected to have an annual capacity to produce 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) of batteries that could power about 400,000 long-range EVs, Reuters reported in February.\nGROWING LOSSES\nNio ranked ninth in EV and plug-in hybrid sales in the first 10 months of the year in China with 126,067 units sold, according to data from China Passenger Car Association.\nThe company reported a third-quarter loss of 4.56 billion yuan ($637.06 million) on Tuesday, a 10.8% increase from the same period a year ago amid a fierce EV price war.\nLi told analysts on the earnings call that the company would defer its plan of bringing battery production in-house because that would not help it improve profitability over the next three years. He did not mention any spin-off plans for the battery manufacturing unit.\nNio has for years pursued a strategy of developing end-to-end technologies for EVs including advanced manufacturing, batteries, autonomous driving and chips.\nBut Nio is now working to reassure investors concerned that it has taken on too much as it has in recent years also ventured into areas such as smartphone manufacturing and battery swapping, and invested heavily in drawing top talent and facilities.\nThe company announced last month that it would trim its workforce and defer long-term investments, efforts executives said could save up to 2 billion yuan in costs in 2024.\nIt has also partnered with Geely and state-owned Changan Automobile to jointly develop EVs capable of battery-swaps and to build swapping stations to reduce costs.\nThe company is also expanding abroad. Reuters reported in October that it was considering building a dealer network in Europe to speed up sales growth, in part to ease cash pressure.\n($1 = 7.1579 Chinese yuan renminbi)\n(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Zhuzhu Cui and Brenda Goh; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-China EV maker Nio to spin off its battery production unit -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 94,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/malaysia-says-probing-lawyers-linked-045616293.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia says it’s still probing lawyers who worked on a 2020 settlement with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. over the diversion of assets from state wealth fund 1MDB, though it’s halting a legal bid to obtain documents related to the deal.\nThe Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had withdrawn the court application to obtain documents from the lawyers as they were not needed for now, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mahadi Abdul Jumaat told reporters on Wednesday. The investigation remains ongoing and “we may still ask for other documents at a later stage,” he said.\nThe anti-graft body filed the application on Oct. 11 amid festering disagreement between Malaysia and Goldman over the settlement related to the US bank’s role in the 1MDB investment-fund scandal. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said earlier this year that he wants to review the settlement his predecessor struck with Goldman, describing it as “too light”. Goldman in turn took Malaysia to a UK court for “violating its obligations.”\nAs part of the 2020 settlement with Malaysia, Goldman made an initial $2.5 billion payment in September of that year. It also guaranteed the return of $1.4 billion of 1MDB assets seized by authorities worldwide in exchange for Malaysia agreeing to drop criminal charges against the firm and to not bring new ones.\nThe corruption agency’s ongoing investigation is on “corruption and money laundering,” Mahadi said.\nRosli Dahlan, whose law firm acted on behalf of 1MDB when the deal was struck, said separately on Wednesday that the MACC’s actions were an attempt to smear his reputation.\n“All these shenanigans against my firm and I must stop,” Rosli said. “There is still much to be done to recover the losses from the 1MDB scandal,” he added.\nThe 1MDB investment fund became the center of a multi-billion-dollar scandal that spawned probes across continents. Months after striking the initial agreement in 2020, Goldman admitted to its role in the biggest foreign bribery case in US enforcement history.\nGoldman Sachs’s lawyer Shaarvin Raaj said on Wednesday that the US bank had withdrawn its application to be an intervenor in the case after the MACC halted its legal bid for the documents.\n(Adds comment by deputy prosecutor on continuing investigations in second paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Malaysia Is Still Probing Lawyers on Goldman-1MDB Settlement"
    },
    {
        "id": 95,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/german-factory-orders-unexpectedly-dropped-070925738.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- German factory orders unexpectedly fell in October, highlighting how manufacturing in Europe’s largest economy remains stuck in a rut.\nWednesday’s data shows a 3.7% decrease in demand — defying analysts who had predicted a 0.2% gain. September’s advance, however, was revised up to 0.7%.\nThe slump was driven by a 13.5% drop in machinery and equipment that couldn’t offset a 20.2% jump in new orders in the manufacture of transport equipment including aircraft, ships and trains, the statistics agency said.\nThe outcome suggests that the prospective pickup in Germany’s outsized industrial base signaled by survey data is struggling to materialize in the aftermath of the energy crisis and weak global demand, further weighing down the economy.\nOutput shrank 0.1% in the three months through September and economists predict another contraction of the same size in the current quarter, putting Germany on track to be the only major economy with a recession. Budget chaos in Berlin after a shock court judgment risks further overshadowing the recovery.\nRecent surveys have pointed to stabilization. The Ifo institute’s business outlook last month reached a six-month high. A survey of purchasing managers highlighted “considerable weakness,” though easing conditions support a return to growth.\nGermany’s weakness has started to spill over into the labor market. After proving surprisingly resilient, the unemployment rate hit a 2 1/2 year high in November.\n“The economic slump is leaving its mark,” said Andrea Nahles, head of the Federal Labor Agency.\nTight monetary conditions are adding to the headwinds. While European Central Bank officials have insisted that another hike is possible, the marked slowdown of euro-area inflation prompted ECB member Isabel Schnabel to call another such move “rather unlikely.” Investors have ramped up bets on a cut as early as March.\nStill, inflation risks are “skewed to the upside,” Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said last month. “It seems to me to be far too early to even think about a possible interest-rate cut,” he said.\n--With assistance from Joel Rinneby, Kristian Siedenburg and Nicholas Comfort.\n",
        "title": "German Factory Orders Unexpectedly Dropped in October"
    },
    {
        "id": 96,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toyota-sell-entire-stake-japans-070737321.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "TOKYO (Reuters) - Harmonic Drive Systems, a Japanese maker of speed reducers, said on Wednesday that Toyota Motor would sell its entire stake of 4,379,400 shares in it in the open market overseas.\nThe sale price is undecided, it said in a regulatory filing.\nHarmonic Drive Systems said it would buy back up to 700,000 of its own shares, worth up to 0.73% of its outstanding stock, to reduce the impact of the sale on its shareholders.\n(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)\n",
        "title": "Toyota to sell entire stake in Japan's Harmonic Drive Systems -filing"
    },
    {
        "id": 97,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-moodys-outlook-cut-complicates-070416589.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Moody's negative outlook on China has intensified Beijing's battle with market bears, raising pressure on the government for more forceful measures to prop up sinking stocks and stabilise the yuan as investor confidence deteriorates.\nIn its Tuesday announcement, the ratings agency flagged weakening growth prospects, adding to mounting global concerns that China's economic miracle is over, potentially leaving the world's second-largest economy stuck in a middle-income trap.\nWhile keeping China's sovereign rating at A1, Moody's cut its outlook to negative from stable, citing surging municipal debt and property market woes. Such concerns have prompted other institutions to draw comparisons with Japan's similar macroeconomic symptoms before its \"lost decades\" of stagnation.\nEven though China's rising debt levels and over-reliance on property have long been part of the conversation, the voice of a ratings agency carried enough weight to renew a sell-off in Chinese assets and prompt state bank actions in markets.\n\"This is a financial war,\" said Yuan Yuwei, founder and CIO of Water Wisdom Asset Management.\nMoody's move \"would trigger foreign reduction in Chinese assets, and would also push up China's funding costs, potentially leading to deterioration in asset quality.\"\nAuthorities have taken a raft of economic support measures and targeted steps to prop up the stock market, including cutting stamp duty, slowing the pace of listings and getting state-backed funds to buy stocks.\nIn an apparent effort to calm the market, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday that China's securities watchdog will promote reforms to attract more long-term capital into the market.\nAnd last week, state-owned China Reform Holdings Corp said it had started buying index funds to support the market, following a similar move by sovereign fund Central Huijin Investment.\nBut, on the other side of the trade, the weakening prospects for the Chinese economy could prove hard to shake off as confidence remains low.\n\"The pressures on Chinese stocks and the economy more generally are likely to increase if the cost of insuring the sovereign debt continues to rise and bailouts begin,\" said Ryan Yonk, economist at the American Institute for Economic Research.\nRob Carnell, Asia-Pacific Head of Research at ING said that China has used many tools already to drive up demand but with limited effect, \"so getting people to regain confidence in this market is going to be really hard.\"\nUltimately, analysts warn, sentiment can only stabilise sustainably if China delivers a credible longer-term roadmap for solving the structural weaknesses that are curbing its growth potential.\n\"The priority for China now is to stabilize growth momentum and raise confidence for the future,\" said Calvin Zhang, senior portfolio manager at Federated Hermes.\nChina should increase fiscal spending and address local governments' hidden debt, Zhang said.\nIn October, China unveiled a plan to issue 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) in sovereign bonds by the end of the year, raising the 2023 budget deficit target to 3.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) from the original 3%.\nYUAN WORRIES\nChina's blue-chip index hit its lowest level in nearly five years on Wednesday.\nMajor state-owned banks also stepped up U.S. dollar selling very forcefully on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday. China's central bank has used various tools in recent months to stem the yuan's slide, including stronger fixings before the market open.\nStill, outflow pressure remains high.\nChina recorded its first-ever quarterly deficit in foreign direct investment in July-September, while Goldman Sachs data showed outflows from China reached $75 billion in September, the biggest monthly exodus since 2016.\nMoody's outlook cut could raise the stakes further, analysts said.\n\"This is a blow to the already low investor confidence in China,\" said Qi Wang, chief investment officer of UOB Kay Hian's wealth management division in Hong Kong.\nSovereign credit is the foundation of Chinese assets, so the move \"would certainly impact the yuan exchange rate, and reduce global investors' risk appetite.\"\nBut not everyone is bearish.\nRival ratings agencies Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings have made no changes to their respective China credit ratings. Fitch affirmed China's A+ rating with a stable outlook in August, while S&P Global said on Wednesday it has retained China's A+ rating with a 'stable' outlook.\nSome market participants pointed to similar rating moves on the United States as having limited long-term market impact.\n\"Just as most people shrugged off the U.S. downgrade, most investors will shrug off the China downgrade,\" said Jason Hsu, chief investment officer at Rayliant Global Advisors.\n(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Winni Zhou in Shanghai and Summer Zhen in Hong Kong; Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; additional reporting by Megan Davies in New York; Editing by Marius Zaharia and Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-Moody's outlook cut complicates Beijing's 'war' against market bears"
    },
    {
        "id": 98,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bytedance-offers-investors-buyback-268-065228099.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- ByteDance Ltd., parent of social video phenom TikTok, is offering to buy back up to $5 billion from investors, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe new offer, earlier reported by the South China Morning Post, is pitched at $160 per share, the same level as ByteDance offered to employees in November, the people said, asking not to be named discussing a private matter. It’s at a valuation roughly 11% lower than the price ByteDance offered to investors in 2022, which would still place it among the 40 most valuable public companies in the world and third in China behind Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Kweichow Moutai Co.\nThe Beijing-based internet company has ascended to become one of China’s internet leaders, alongside Tencent and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., leveraging the popularity of its social video services to expand into e-commerce and other spheres. Its ventures into gaming and virtual reality, however, have proven unsuccessful and the company has begun winding down efforts outside its core business, which is led by TikTok and its China twin Douyin.\nByteDance has long been the world’s most valuable startup, however plans for a splashy initial public offering have been hit by a series of setbacks, from a crackdown on internet firms at home in China to elevated scrutiny in key markets overseas. India, once TikTok’s biggest market by number of users, banned the app as part of a sweeping expulsion of Chinese software in 2020. TikTok’s US operations have also been the subject of fierce criticism by politicians in Washington, who see it as a potential national security threat. In Indonesia, TikTok was forced to suspend its burgeoning e-commerce business and is now working on a tie-up with local partner GoTo Group.\nRead more: ByteDance, GoTo to Strike Deal to Save Indonesia TikTok Shop\nDomestic rivals in China have had varying degrees of success recovering from the crackdown and the economic fallout from Covid Zero policies. Tencent’s stock is today up 5% from a year ago, having returned to growth and adapted to ByteDance’s challenge with the expansion of its WeChat video service. Temu-operator PDD Holdings Inc. has dethroned Alibaba as China’s most valuable e-commerce company for the first time, as its elder rival grapples with a tumultuous reorganization.\nByteDance occupies a unique position in having some of the most downloaded apps in both the US and China, with its revenue surging 30% to surpass $80 billion in 2022. Its successful rollout of TikTok Shop and on-demand services in China have made the withdrawal from the games business less of an issue than it otherwise may have been.\n--With assistance from Vlad Savov.\n(Updates with further details about competitive landscape from third paragraph)\n",
        "title": "ByteDance Offers Investors a Buyback at $268 Billion Valuation"
    },
    {
        "id": 99,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/world-banks-banga-calls-record-064453313.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By David Lawder\nDec 6 (Reuters) - World Bank President Ajay Banga on Wednesday called on member countries to make the next replenishment of the lender's fund for the world's poorest countries the largest ever, warning that the International Development Association (IDA) was being pushed to its limits by increasing demands.\nOpening a mid-term review of the IDA 20th replenishment totaling $93 billion, Banga said World Bank shareholders, donor countries and philanthropies needed to dig deeper to help IDA deliver better development outcomes to low-income countries.\n\"The truth is we are pushing the limits of this important concessional resource and no amount of creative financial engineering will compensate for the fact that we need more funding,\" Banga told a conference in Zanzibar, Tanzania. \"This must drive each of us to make the next replenishment of IDA the largest of all time.\"\nThe current, 20th IDA funding round is due to be completed on June 30, 2025. The Zanzibar conference is aimed at adding to that funding, but Banga used to launch his campaign for the subsequent round of funding to well exceed the $93 billion.\nHis call for increased concessional resources, which have been depleted by a slow rebound from COVID-19 and negative spillovers from Russia's war in Ukraine, came days after Banga emphasized the World Bank's ambitious plans to expand climate finance at the COP28 conference in Dubai.\nBanga at COP28 announced new targets to boost the climate-related portion of its total annual financing to 45% from 35% currently, with an immediate increase of about $9 billion. Some developing countries have voiced concerns that the lender's new expanded mission to tackle climate change and other global crises will divert funding and attention away from the bank's core development mission.\nBanga has promised to pursue both and argues that positive development and climate outcomes depend on each other.\nHe also said the World Bank needs to revamp how it evaluates its performance to focus on improved outcomes, not numbers of projects or dollars disbursed. That means moving towards platforms that can be replicated, such as an IDA-financed mini-grid that delivers electricity to rural communities in Nigeria.\n\"But this is just one example, I want to see 100,000 - 200,000 - half a million more,\" he said, adding that IDA was investing $5 billion to deliver affordable renewal electricity to 100 million Africans before 2030. (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Kim Coghill)\n",
        "title": "World Bank's Banga calls for record replenishment of fund for poorest countries"
    },
    {
        "id": 100,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-deputy-chief-hints-end-034444128.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino signaled that the central bank is inching closer to putting an end to the world’s last negative interest rate regime by laying out a hypothesis for what might happen if indeed rates go positive.\nWhile Himino reiterated a standard pledge to continue with monetary easing until the BOJ achieves its goal of sustainable inflation with wage increases, he then outlined the various potential impacts that would follow an exit from large-scale stimulus partly by examining what happened when rates went negative.\n“Today, I would like to offer one perspective by looking at what happened to net interest income for relevant sectors in the past during the transition from a state with positive interest rates to a state without them,” Himino said in a speech Wednesday to local business leaders in Oita, southwestern Japan.\nHimino indicated that the first rate hike since 2007 might not be as harmful as some have feared. Himino said households would probably benefit from improved net income if rates moved to positive territory and the impact on the corporate sector would likely be limited. He also said the financial system is resilient enough to cope with that transition.\nThe comments were the clearest sign so far from the BOJ’s leadership that authorities are considering what the impact would be if they ended negative rates. The views will likely reinforce expectations among BOJ watchers that the bank will end negative rates by the middle of next year.\nHimino appeared intent on soothing any jitters among Japanese over the prospects of ending the BOJ’s massive stimulus program, which included taking rates negative in early 2016.\nIf it’s done properly, “there would be a sufficient possibility of achieving a positive outcome from the exit, since a wide range of households and firms would benefit from the virtuous cycle between wages and prices,” Himino said.\nFinancial institutions might face unrealized losses on holdings of long-term bonds, but they’d also have the opportunity to raise their investment yields by replacing the bonds they hold with new ones, he said.\nJapan’s regional banks called on the BOJ to scrap its negative interest rate when executives met with central bank officials last month, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.\nRead More: Japan Regional Banks Asked Ueda to Scrap Negative Interest Rate\nSpeaking to reporters later the same day, Himino stopped short of indicating a possible timeframe for starting the exit, saying there is no preset schedule for that process and the bank will carefully assess economic conditions before embarking upon it.\nAt one point market players were betting the negative rate policy would end in April. Overnight-indexed swaps now estimate the policy will end in July. Swaps show cumulative rate hikes of 21 basis points by the end of next year.\n--With assistance from Sumio Ito.\n(Adds remark from Himino’s press conference in 10th paragraph)\n",
        "title": "BOJ Deputy Chief Hints That Negative Rate End May Be Closer"
    },
    {
        "id": 101,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japanese-buyers-snap-york-london-220000848.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Japanese investors are spending the most in two decades to buy up properties overseas, undeterred by the global real estate slump and the yen’s decline to a 50-year low.\nA Manhattan skyscraper, data centers in Toronto and office buildings in London are among the assets that Japanese companies and pension funds have scooped up this year. Flush with cash and in the only developed economy with access to rock-bottom financing rates, their purchases are giving some relief to the market as rising office vacancies and interest rates keep other buyers away.\n“They see a window of opportunity at the moment in which they can be more competitive,” said Alex Foshay, head of real estate firm Newmark Group Inc.’s International Capital Markets Group.\nJapan-sourced capital has accounted for $7.4 billion of global commercial real estate transactions so far in 2023, more than three times the annual average in the past 15 years, according to MSCI Real Assets. Spending on that scale from Japan has rarely been seen since the late 1980s, when the nation’s asset bubble fueled purchases of iconic places like Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach Golf Links.\nBrokers say their Japanese clients want to continue spending money overseas, particularly in the US, Australia and India. Most are taking a long-term view to diversify income given low returns in Japan. They see attractive prices stemming from the real estate downturn, even as the yen’s weakness reduces purchasing power.\nThe investment boom is being partly fueled by companies that allocated capital for overseas real estate before the pandemic, said Hiroyuki Takayama, director for cross-border transactions at Cushman & Wakefield in Tokyo. While those firms were unable to travel and evaluate targets during the Covid crisis, this year’s return to normal has unleashed dry powder.\nIn a deal that helped put Japanese buyers back on the map, Mori Trust Co. bought a 49.9% stake in 245 Park Avenue — a skyscraper behind Grand Central Station in Manhattan — from SL Green Realty Corp. for about ¥100 billion ($680 million) in June.\n“Our strength is that we have a good financial base,” said Miwako Date, chief executive officer of the closely held developer. “Even for investments of ¥100 billion, we can raise our own funds without gathering investors and quickly execute.”\nMori Trust began to expand internationally in 2016 to diversify into stable markets with growth potential. The Tokyo-based firm zoned in on the US, acquiring a handful of office buildings around Boston and Washington.\nIt reached its original goal of investing ¥200 billion in overseas real estate in 2022, five years ahead of schedule. The company is now targeting ¥1.2 trillion in business investments by 2030, of which about a quarter is for abroad, Date said.\nMori Trust had looked at the New York area and spoken with SL Green on investment opportunities for years, but only made a move when the Park Avenue office tower came up, Date said. “If it’s a one-of-a-kind asset, we do our best to acquire it when the opportunity arises.”\nSuch sales may help to thaw out a market that’s been largely frozen as US workers shun calls to return to the office. After the Park Avenue deal, Mori Trust was flooded with inquiries from around the globe for real estate acquisitions, but hasn’t made further purchases.\n“When the Japanese groups are buying on a direct basis they tend to go for prominent assets,” said Brandon McMenomy, executive director of capital markets in the US at CBRE Group Inc. “It provides welcomed liquidity to the US commercial real estate market.”\nElsewhere, among the biggest transactions by Japanese buyers this year was a C$1.35 billion ($996 million) deal for a data center portfolio in downtown Toronto, purchased by mobile carrier KDDI Corp. A joint venture of Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japan’s largest developer by market value, spent £315 million ($398 million) on a London office building near St. Paul’s Cathedral. In Sydney, a fund led by Mitsubishi Estate Co. bought a commercial tower for A$779 million ($513 million).\nPension funds such as Japan’s GPIF, which only began investing in global real estate in 2018, also added to the aggregate figure.\nMitsui Fudosan has been steadily investing overseas as part of its corporate strategy and takes into account economic and geopolitical risks, but isn’t impacted by short-term foreign exchange trends, a spokeswoman said.\nWading into the fragile global market isn’t without risks. South Korean institutional investors plowed billions of dollars into offices before the pandemic, only to see valuations tumble this year.\nBack in the late 1980s and into the ’90s, Japanese companies struggled with real estate deals that went bad. Mitsubishi Estate gave up its ownership of the bankrupt Rockefeller Center in 1995 after acquiring the New York landmark at the market’s height. Pebble Beach Golf Links was reportedly sold by a Japanese businessman for about 40% less than what he paid for it two years earlier after he became saddled with debt.\nMuch of that experience is driving Japanese investors to be cautious, according to Benjamin Chow, head of Asia-Pacific research at MSCI. “This is the first time that they’ve gone against the grain in a long time,” he said.\nThere are differences with the bubble-era spending, said Stephen Down, head of central London and international investment at Savills Plc in London, who worked in Japan in the early 1990s.\n“It’s certainly not on that scale,” said Down, who advises Japanese clients on transactions in the UK and Europe. “It’s a healthy diversification strategy to complement what is steady business within Japan with some slightly more exciting returns.”\nGlobally, Japan is the fifth-largest source of outbound capital deployed into real estate this year, up from 16th in 2022, according to MSCI. Of the top five most active countries, Japan is the only one to mark an increase. Others like the US and Canada — typically home to investors looking to deploy large amounts of capital — have significantly cut purchases.\nThe spurt also reflects the cyclical nature of where easy money comes from during downturns. After the global financial crisis, Chinese investors mopped up US assets from luxury hotels to office towers. Now Japanese investors may offer a potential lifeline, Cushman’s Takayama said.\n“Many investors are having refinancing problems and are forced to sell,” he said. “Before, they’d probably go to Chinese investors, and I don’t think many Chinese investors are there anymore.”\n--With assistance from Natalie Wong and Jack Sidders.\n(Adds detail about inquiries to Mori Trust in 12th paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Japanese Buyers Snap Up New York, London Buildings in Spending Spree"
    },
    {
        "id": 102,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asia-stocks-rally-063124330.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates prices as of 0600 GMT)\nBy Kevin Buckland\nTOKYO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific equities gained on Wednesday as bets firmed for a peak in interest rates among major central banks globally, pushing down bond yields.\nBenchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yields dipped to their lowest since mid-August at 0.62%, tracking an overnight slide for equivalent U.S. Treasury yields as cooling labour market data cemented views that the Federal Reserve is done raising rates.\nU.S. 10-years touched a three-month trough of 4.163% on Tuesday before ticking up slightly to 4.195% in the latest session. Bets on a first Fed cut coming by March now stand at about 64%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nLower borrowing costs boosted equity markets, with big tech a particular beneficiary.\nJapan's Nikkei surged more than 2%, rebounding from Tuesday's mid-November low, while Australia's stock benchmark jumped 1.65%.\nChinese equities started out weak, still feeling the effects of a Moody's downgrade warning over China's credit rating on Tuesday. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng bounced back to be up about 1%, supported by a rally in tech, with a sector subindex climbing 1.7%.\nMainland Chinese blue chips flipped from early losses to be up 0.38%.\nU.S. stock futures pointed higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq indicated up 0.41% after a 0.31% advance overnight for the cash index. S&P 500 futures rose 0.29%, after the cash index ended Tuesday flat.\nU.K. FTSE futures, Germany's DAX futures and pan-European EURO STOXX 50 futures each added about 0.3%.\nOvernight, U.S. jobs figures came in softer than expected, but coupled with robust services data, added to the narrative for a soft landing for the economy as the Fed shifts to monetary easing, analysts said.\nThe \"selloff in yields across the curve is strong evidence of the intense focus the market has on this week's labour market data,\" with the ADP employment report due on Wednesday and non-farm payrolls on Friday, said IG analyst Tony Sycamore.\nFor the Nasdaq, \"although we remain bullish into year-end, we are not contemplating opening fresh longs at these levels,\" Sycamore added, recommending buying on dips instead.\nWith markets all but certain the Fed's next move is a cut, dovish rhetoric from European Central Bank officials and the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to hold policy steady on Tuesday have stoked bets for a peak in rates globally. The Bank of Canada is widely expected to adopt a wait-and-see attitude on Wednesday as well.\nThat has supported the U.S. currency's rebound from last week's nearly four-month low versus major peers, with the U.S. dollar index steady around 103.95 on Wednesday, compared with a trough of 102.46 a week ago.\n\"The USD weakened when the Federal Reserve looked like they were cutting while other central banks were holding tight,\" said James Kniveton, a senior corporate FX dealer at Convera in Melbourne. \"Now that looks to be changing, and other central banks are following the Fed's lead.\"\nThe dollar added 0.06% to 147.22 yen, while the euro slipped 0.04% to $1.0792.\nBitcoin was slightly lower at around $43,560 after pushing as high as $44,490 overnight, buoyed by both Fed rate cut expectations and speculation U.S regulators will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds.\nGold edged up 0.2% to $2,023, catching its breath following its surge to a record $2,135.40 on Monday.\nCrude was steady on Wednesday, nursing its wounds after closing at five-month lows in the previous session amid a worsening demand outlook from China and doubts about the impact of OPEC cuts.\nBrent crude futures added 1 cent to $77.21 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude futures were down 4 cents at $72.28 a barrel.\n(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks rally as lower bond yields buoy tech; China shares find footing"
    },
    {
        "id": 103,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fosun-weighs-fft-stake-sale-062725692.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Fosun International Ltd. is exploring options including a minority stake sale in German automatic manufacturing solutions provider FFT Group, which could be valued at about €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) in a deal, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe Chinese conglomerate has reached out and gauged interest from potential investors, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Fosun may look to list the holding company of FFT Group — Shanghai Easun Technology Co. — in China in the next three years though the plan remains at an early stage, one of the people said.\nConsiderations are preliminary and Fosun may eventually decide against a deal, according to the people. A representative for Fosun didn’t respond to requests for comment.\nFosun — whose businesses span tourism, pharmaceuticals and finance — accelerated its asset sales late last year to pare debt as credit concerns triggered a bond and stock selloff. Its disposals amount to a record stretch that total at least $6.6 billion in just two years. But the pace of divestitures have slowed in recent months and the planned sale of its 60% stake in Nanjing Nangang Iron & Steel United Co. for $2 billion has been dragged down by litigation that was only settled in October.\nRead More: Record Fosun Asset Sales Can’t Halt Stock Drop to Decade Low\nFounded in 1974, FFT Group provides automation and digitalization of production facilities globally, its website shows. The Fulda-based has a presence in Europe, US, China, India and Mexico with more than 2,800 staff globally. In 2019, Fosun acquired the business from ATOM GmbH, a Germany family-owned private investment company, according to a press release. It didn’t disclose any financial terms.\nFFT Group is fully owned by Shanghai Easun, in which Fosun and its affiliated units hold a 83% stake, according to Fosun’s latest interim report. Shanghai Easun’s revenue increased more than 26% year-on-year to 3.1 billion yuan ($434 million) for the six months ended June 30. The unit outperformed Fosun’s broader intelligent manufacturing business segment, which reported revenue growth of 6.5%.\n--With assistance from Shirley Zhao.\n",
        "title": "Fosun Weighs FFT Stake Sale at $1.6 Billion Value, Sources Say"
    },
    {
        "id": 104,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-steady-traders-weigh-062248154.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 0607 GMT)\nBy Ankur Banerjee\nSINGAPORE, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The dollar was near a two-week high against a basket of currencies on Wednesday as investors assessed U.S. economic data that showed a cooling labour market, while wagering the Federal Reserve will cut rates next year.\nThe spotlight in Asia was on China, where the yuan extended losses as markets grappled with rating agency Moody's cut to the Asian giant's credit outlook.\nThe dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was 0.029% lower at 103.93, having climbed 0.3% overnight. The index is up 0.5% this month, after sliding 3% in November, its steepest monthly decline in a year.\nData on Tuesday showed U.S. job openings fell to more than a 2-1/2-year low in October, the strongest sign yet that higher interest rates were dampening demand for workers. Data also showed there were 1.34 vacancies for every unemployed person in October, the lowest since August 2021.\nMoh Siong Sim, currency strategist at Bank of Singapore, said the data indicated that the cooling of the labour market is on track. \"It puts a lot of focus now on the non farm payrolls this Friday.\"\nThe November jobs data will provide further clues on the labour market ahead of the Fed's policy meeting next week\nFed officials are now in a blackout period ahead of the U.S. central bank’s Dec. 12-13 meeting, where a key focus will be the updated projections of where they see rates at in 2024.\nTraders have priced in 99.7% chance of the Fed standing pat next week but a 56% chance of the central bank cutting rates in March, according to CME's FedWatch tool. They have also priced in at least 125 basis points worth of cuts next year.\nInvestors have been reassessing the extent of rate cuts next year in the past few days, helping lift the dollar.\n\"Markets have gone a bit overboard with pricing in very aggressive path of rate cuts through next year,\" said Aninda Mitra, head of Asia macro and investment strategy at BNY Mellon Investment Management.\nMitra said there could be a snapback should the Fed drive home the message more forcefully that it is not about to cut rates anytime soon.\n\"It ultimately it boils down to an argument about when the cuts really begin ... the first quarter or sometimes in the second quarter.\"\n\"Our view is that Fed might hold off till the second quarter and even then the cuts would be a lot more shallower than what the market would like,\" Mitra said.\nThe widely expected rate cuts from the Fed will result in the dollar loosening its grip on other G10 currencies next year, dimming the outlook for the greenback, according to Reuters poll of foreign exchange strategists.\nMeanwhile, the offshore Chinese yuan eased 0.11% to $7.1647 per dollar, a day after Moody's cut China's credit outlook to \"negative\".\nThe spot yuan rate opened at 7.1570 per dollar and was changing hands at 7.1578 at midday, 98 pips weaker than the previous late session close.\nChina's major state-owned banks stepped up U.S. dollar selling forcefully after the Moody's statement on Tuesday, and they continued to sell the greenback on Wednesday morning, Reuters reported.\nThe euro was up 0.02% at $1.0797, having dropped to three-week low of $1.07785 on Tuesday.\nInvestors believe the European Central Bank could deliver its first rate cut by March. Inflation across the euro zone has fallen more quickly than most anticipated.\nSterling was last at $1.261, up 0.13% on the day. The Japanese yen was flat at 147.14 per dollar.\nThe Australian dollar rose 0.53% to $0.659, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.62% to $0.617.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin eased 0.69% to $43,591.23, having surged above $44,000 earlier in the session.\nThe world's largest cryptocurrency has gained 150% this year, fuelled in part by optimism that a U.S. regulator will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds (ETFs).\n(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Jamie Freed & Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar steady as traders weigh labour data; yuan eases"
    },
    {
        "id": 105,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-tests-protecting-fx-trading-060718885.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Sinead Cruise and Lawrence White\nLONDON (Reuters) -HSBC has completed what it says is the world's first trial of a tool designed to protect highly sensitive financial data from cyber criminals seeking to harness the power of next-generation quantum computers to launch future attacks.\nThe British bank said it used the tool to safeguard a trade on its proprietary platform, HSBC AI Markets, exchanging 30 million euros for U.S. dollars.\nThe test, details of which are reported here for the first time, shows how banks are trying to get ahead of cyber criminals who could use advances in computing to access trading data in global financial systems such as the $7.5 trillion per day foreign exchange market.\n\"While we take the view that we are some distance away from quantum computers being able to break traditional encryption, the time to prepare for this is now,\" Colin Bell, CEO of HSBC Europe, told Reuters.\nHSBC's test ran on a network created by British telecommunications company BT and using devices developed by Toshiba as well as support from Amazon Web Services.\nThe test is an important step in showing the commercial applications of the technology using currently available fibre networks, said Andrew Shields, head of quantum technology, Toshiba Europe.\nHoward Watson, Chief Security and Networks Officer, BT Group, said it was critical that digital infrastructure remained secure against new quantum-based threats.\nHSBC said the test helped it plan how it could roll out to some of its trading systems a form of encryption known as quantum key distribution (QKD).\nQKD uses particles of light to deliver secret keys between parties that can be used to encrypt and decrypt sensitive data, the bank said.\n\"The protection of both the bank's data and our clients' data is something that we take with the utmost seriousness,\" said Richard Bibbey, global head of foreign exchange, emerging market rates and commodities at HSBC.\n\"Were someone to be able to eavesdrop on the flows that go across the largest foreign exchange institutions, they will have a significant amount of information, the capacity to manipulate the market and to understand what trades have been executed before they have been risk-managed.\"\nQuantum computers promise to be millions of times faster than today's most powerful supercomputers, potentially revolutionizing everything from medical research to battling climate change.\nBanks worldwide are working on how to take advantage, as well as how to protect themselves against any risks.\n\"Bringing quantum key distribution to a trading scenario is a real-world example of how this technology ... establishes a model for even more use cases to help customers stay secure,\" Simone Severini, general manager, quantum technologies at Amazon Web Services, said.\nSome 297 patents for so-called Post Quantum Cryptography, or systems resistant to quantum computing attacks, have been filed in the United States alone since 2015, according to John Egan, CEO of independent BNP Paribas research subsidiary L'Atelier.\nSome experts are sceptical of the immediate practical implications of the QKD technology for financial markets.\nAuthorities say its specialist hardware requirements make QKD impractical for many potential end users, said Martin Albrecht, professor of cyber security at King's College London.\n",
        "title": "HSBC tests protecting FX trading from quantum computer attacks"
    },
    {
        "id": 106,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-wall-street-journal-060524168.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 6 (Reuters) - Following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\n- Elon Musk's artificial-intelligence company, xAI, has raised nearly $135 million from four investors and is looking to raise an additional $1 billion.\n- The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating Exxon Mobil's plan to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources , seeking additional information from the companies about the deal.\n- Royal Bank of Canada was fined C$7.5 million ($5.53 million) by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada for failing to comply with the country's rules aimed at deterring money laundering\n- Moscow rejected a proposal by U.S. negotiators of a fresh offer to Russia in recent weeks to secure the release of detained Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan.\n- Rio Tinto, expects to contribute roughly $6.2 billion to the initial development of the Simandou mine in Guinea, including the port and rail infrastructure needed to export iron ore.\n- The suspect who fired a flare gun from inside his Arlington, Virginia, duplex home, which later exploded, is presumed to be dead.\n($1 = 1.3571 Canadian dollars) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST- Wall Street Journal - Dec 6"
    },
    {
        "id": 107,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brazils-natura-explored-divesting-cosmetics-054801745.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian cosmetics maker Natura has explored selling most of its Avon brand's international businesses, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.\nNatura rapidly grew through high-profile acquisitions in recent years, including the purchases of The Body Shop, Aesop and Avon International, but ended up struggling with profitability.\nIt sold its subsidiary The Body Shop last month to private investor Aurelius Group in a deal with an enterprise value of 207 million pounds ($260.84 million).\nIn May, Natura said it would combine the operations of its Natura and Avon brands in Latin America to help expand its products portfolio and reduce costs.\nNatura, which does not own Avon in the United States, is considering exit strategies for Avon International including a divestment, FT said.\nAvon International has operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific, the newspaper report added.\nNatura did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\n($1 = 0.7936 pounds) (Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)\n",
        "title": "Brazil's Natura explored divesting cosmetics group Avon International - FT"
    },
    {
        "id": 108,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-australias-economy-slows-crawl-053731979.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds data on mortgage payments in paragraph 7, risk of economy contracting in paragraphs 13-14)\nBy Stella Qiu\nSYDNEY, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Australia's economy barely grew in the third quarter as exports flagged and households - reeling from a surge in mortgage payments - were reluctant to spend, suggesting rate hikes were working to restrain demand.\nMarking an eighth straight quarter of growth, albeit its slowest in a year, real gross domestic product (GDP) inched 0.2% higher in July-September from the previous quarter. That was short of forecasts of 0.4% and a result that bolsters the case for the Reserve Bank of Australia to no longer need to tighten.\nAnnual GDP growth stood at 2.1%, little changed from the previous quarter, the data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.\n\"Australia's economy hit the wall in the September quarter,\" said Andrew Hanlan, an economist at Westpac, adding it was surprising to see just how weak consumer spending was during the quarter.\n\"The intense headwinds of high inflation, sharply higher interest and additional tax obligations are having a significant impact, leading to a sharp decline in real household disposable income.\"\nIndeed household spending was flat quarter on quarter and has barely grown for four quarters in a row, its worst stretch since the global financial crisis.\nIncome tax paid jumped 23% from a year ago after the expiry of a tax offset scheme and mortgage payments surged 71% as more people came off fixed-rate mortgages onto higher variable rates.\nThat pushed the household savings ratio to drop further to 1.1%, its lowest level since 2007.\nThe slowdown is seen as a necessary consequence of monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of Australia so that inflation can be tamed back to its 2-3% target range. Inflation was 4.9% in October.\nThe central bank on Tuesday opted to stand pat to allow more time to assess the impact of a whopping 425 basis points jump in interest rates since May last year.\nMarkets now figure that the RBA doesn't have to hike any further, given the dovish turn from the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank in recent weeks, with aggressive rate cuts priced in for next year.\nGareth Aird, head of Australian economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said there was a clear risk that real GDP growth could turn negative in the fourth quarter.\nHe added that he believes rates have peaked and the easing cycle will start in the third quarter next year.\n\"A month ago the risks to our call were skewed towards rate cuts starting at a later date. But the run of both domestic and international data over the past month suggests the risks are now more evenly balanced.\"\nNet exports subtracted 0.6 percentage points from gross domestic product as prices for some commodity exports fell.\nProductivity - in the measure of output per hour worked - increased 0.9% in the quarter after four straight quarters of declines. RBA's forecasts of inflation returning to its 2%-3% target in late 2025 hinge on a pickup in productivity. (Reporting by Stella Qiu and Wayne Cole; Editing by Sonali Paul and Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 3-Australia's economy slows to a crawl, consumer spending surprisingly weak"
    },
    {
        "id": 109,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-optimism-over-peaking-rates-053355622.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Kevin Buckland\nEuropean stocks are set for a bullish start if they follow the Asia-Pacific lead, buoyed by a drop in bond yields on deepening confidence that the major central banks' tightening cycle has peaked.\nJapan's Nikkei share average jumped 1.8%, as investors piled back in following the benchmark's drop to a three-week low in the previous session. Two of the top three points movers were heavyweight chip industry players Tokyo Electron and Advantest.\nHong Kong's Hang Seng shook off an early wobble, buoyed by a 1.2% leap in its tech subindex. An index of mainland blue chips managed a small gain, after dipping to a nearly five-year trough early in the session amid lingering worries over a Moody's downgrade warning for China's credit rating.\nAustralia's stock benchmark powered 1.6% higher, still riding the feel-good factor of the Reserve Bank of Australia's rate hike pause.\nCoupled with recent Federal Reserve dovishness and Tuesday's interview with ECB policy maker Isabel Schnabel, where she told Reuters that further tightening is \"rather unlikely\", there's a growing sense that the major central banks are done hiking. The Bank of Canada is seen likely to add to that narrative with a \"hold\" decision later in the day.\nBenchmark government bond yields have fallen sharply, hitting multi-month lows in Japan, as they tracked the slump in U.S. Treasury yields overnight.\nBut while the U.S. economy is certainly slowing, signs still point to a likely soft landing. The labour market is the key focus for the week, with the ADP employment report later in the day, setting up for Friday's monthly payrolls report.\nMacro data from Europe's biggest economies is also due soon, with Germany reporting industrial orders and the UK releasing purchasing manager surveys, while the euro area publishes retail sales figures.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Wednesday:\nGermany industrial orders (Oct)\nUK all-sector PMI (Nov)\nBank of England financial stability report\nEuro area retail sales (Oct)\nU.S. ADP employment (Nov)\nBank of Canada rate decision\n(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Optimism over peaking rates propels stocks"
    },
    {
        "id": 110,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-europe-optimism-over-053000025.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Kevin Buckland\nEuropean stocks are set for a bullish start if they follow the Asia-Pacific lead, buoyed by a drop in bond yields on deepening confidence that the major central banks' tightening cycle has peaked.\nJapan's Nikkei share average jumped 1.8%, as investors piled back in following the benchmark's drop to a three-week low in the previous session. Two of the top three points movers were heavyweight chip industry players Tokyo Electron and Advantest.\nHong Kong's Hang Seng shook off an early wobble, buoyed by a 1.2% leap in its tech subindex. An index of mainland blue chips managed a small gain, after dipping to a nearly five-year trough early in the session amid lingering worries over a Moody's downgrade warning for China's credit rating.\nAustralia's stock benchmark powered 1.6% higher, still riding the feel-good factor of the Reserve Bank of Australia's rate hike pause.\nCoupled with recent Federal Reserve dovishness and Tuesday's interview with ECB policy maker Isabel Schnabel, where she told Reuters that further tightening is \"rather unlikely\", there's a growing sense that the major central banks are done hiking. The Bank of Canada is seen likely to add to that narrative with a \"hold\" decision later in the day.\nBenchmark government bond yields have fallen sharply, hitting multi-month lows in Japan, as they tracked the slump in U.S. Treasury yields overnight.\nBut while the U.S. economy is certainly slowing, signs still point to a likely soft landing. The labour market is the key focus for the week, with the ADP employment report later in the day, setting up for Friday's monthly payrolls report.\nMacro data from Europe's biggest economies is also due soon, with Germany reporting industrial orders and the UK releasing purchasing manager surveys, while the euro area publishes retail sales figures.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Wednesday:\nGermany industrial orders (Oct)\nUK all-sector PMI (Nov)\nBank of England financial stability report\nEuro area retail sales (Oct)\nU.S. ADP employment (Nov)\nBank of Canada rate decision\n(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID EUROPE-Optimism over peaking rates propels stocks"
    },
    {
        "id": 111,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thai-business-group-keeps-2023-052929729.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's economy is expected to grow 2.5% to 3.0% this year, unchanged from a previous forecast, a leading joint business group said on Wednesday.\nTourism revenue will be lower than expected because Thailand is expected to receive only 28 million foreign arrivals this year, down from an earlier forecast of 30 million, said the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking, which includes representatives from those sectors.\nThe economy is expected to grow 2.8% to 3.3% next year. If the government's plan to give away 500 billion baht ($14.23 billion) to Thais via a digital wallet is successful, that would add an additional 1.0% to 1.5% in GDP growth, the group said.\nSoutheast Asia's second-largest economy grew 1.5% in the July-September quarter from a year earlier, the slowest this year, due to declining exports and government spending.\n($1 = 35.1400 baht)\n(Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon, Chayut Setboonsarng and Satawasin Staporncharnchai; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)\n",
        "title": "Thai business group keeps 2023 growth forecast at 2.5%-3.0%"
    },
    {
        "id": 112,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/next-adani-milestone-plan-1-052315510.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate is set to shed light on its plans for $1.25 billion of Adani Green Energy Ltd. notes that come due next year.\nThe group, whose interests stretch from ports to solar energy and coal, is expected to come up with the first blueprints for redeeming or rolling over its overseas bonds since the scathing fraud claims by shortseller Hindenburg Research. That’s because the contractual documents of two Adani Green securities require several months advance notice. In one case, the deadline for a refinancing plan is on Friday.\n“We are coming close to timelines where we would like to see a concrete and definitive plan” Abhishek Dangra, a Singapore-based infrastructure analyst at S&P Global said.\nWhile there have been no suggestions Adani won’t meet the deadlines and the conglomerate even pre-paid debt this year, its finances are under scrutiny after Hindenburg’s allegations of malfeasance triggered a spike in its dollar bond yields. Adani relies on the global market for 80% of its debt raising, according to its chief financial officer. The group denied all of Hindenburg’s claims and called them “bogus.”\nThe group and its bankers have begun exploratory talks about financing plans, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. The group is exploring multiple options for the Adani Green bonds due in 2024, such as refinancing them with new notes or taking out a loan, they said.\nThe first note to come due in 2024 is one by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., while debt issued by Green matures on Sept. 8. That bond requires a roadmap be submitted nine months ahead of the date of maturity. That’s on Friday.\nThe security sold by Green and its subsidiaries due on Dec. 10 mandates a finance plan be submitted to noteholders at least 12 months and one day in advance of the due date, according to the offering circular seen by Bloomberg. That deadline would be on Saturday.\nA spokesman for Adani did note respond when asked by Bloomberg about plans for the maturing bonds and whether investors had been informed of them. The representative also didn’t comment on the talks with bankers.\nWhile S&P doesn’t rate Adani Green, it does rate the December 2024 debt issued by its subsidiary companies under the Adani Green Restricted Group 1 umbrella. Dangra, the analyst, said the Ports business had enough cash on hand and a healthy cash flow so as to redeem its 2024 bond from its own funds.\nGroup CFO Jugeshinder Singh already touched on the conglomerate’s objectives, saying at an event in Mumbai on Dec. 1 that Adani Green would be one of the firms issuing dollar bonds over the next year. The group will also infuse money to repay that unit’s bonds maturing in September and December next year, potentially in July to avoid a prepayment penalty, Singh said.\nHe also told reporters on Friday that the Adani Green December bond “is the one we need to refinance.” When asked about the September bond, he said a refinancing plan had been announced in July, without elaborating.\nThe Adani Ports debt will be redeemed “out of its cash,” he said.\nThe company spokesman didn’t respond to Bloomberg’s request for clarifications on the CFO’s remarks, including details on the refinancing plan announced in July.\nHaving been forced to shelve a $2.5 billion share sale as a result of allegations of fraud and malfeasance levied by Hindenburg Research in late January, Adani and his lieutenants have sought to burnish their image as reliable borrowers.\nThey prepaid debt, held in-person meetings from Hong Kong to London to reassure investors, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying back the debt of units including Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd. and Adani Ports.\nAdani successfully refinanced the debt to purchase Ambuja Cements Ltd. and ACC Ltd., and it also won fresh equity capital from GQG Partners LLC.\nJust this week, Adani Green Energy raised a $1.4 billion loan for a renewable energy project in Gujarat. Its shares surged by a record 20% in a single day on the news.\n“The group has demonstrated access to equity funding,” Dangra said. “We have seen external lenders extending credit lines. We now have to see capital market access - that is the next step.”\n--With assistance from Ameya Karve, P R Sanjai and Andrew Monahan.\n",
        "title": "Next Adani Milestone Is Plan for $1.25 Billion of Green Arm Debt"
    },
    {
        "id": 113,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-begins-integrating-hulu-disney-170217567.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Dawn Chmielewski\n(Reuters) - Walt Disney began offering Hulu as part of its namesake streaming service on Wednesday, bolstering Disney+'s family-friendly content with more general entertainment fare, such as FX's intense kitchen drama \"The Bear\" and the popular reality show \"The Kardashians.\"\nThe combined offering, known as \"Hulu on Disney+\", will be available in an early \"beta\" version to domestic subscribers to the Disney Bundle of streaming services. The formal launch of the integrated service is scheduled for March.\nDisney CEO Bob Iger told investors last month that the company would begin offering a \"unified one-app experience\" that would make Hulu's programs, including \"Only Murders in the Building\" ABC's \"Abbott Elementary,\" adult animation stand-outs like \"Family Guy,\" available to certain Disney+ subscribers.\n\"We expect that Hulu on Disney+ will result in increased engagement, greater advertising opportunities, lower churn, and reduced customer acquisition costs, thereby increasing our overall margins,\" Iger told investors in November, during the company's fiscal fourth quarter earnings call.\nIger is under pressure from investors to make Disney's streaming business profitable. In the quarter that ended on Sept. 30, Disney reduced operating losses to $420 million, representing a dramatic improvement from the prior year, when operating losses exceeded $1.4 billion.\nThe company said it is on track to achieve profitability by the end of fiscal 2024.\nDisney initiated the process of acquiring the remaining stake in Hulu from NBCUniversal parent Comcast, for at least $8.6 billion, which cleared the way for the integration.\nHulu will occupy its own \"tile\" on Disney+, alongside the company's other entertainment brands, such as Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar, and be included in the promotional carousel at the top of the app.\n(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "Disney begins integrating Hulu into Disney+ streaming service"
    },
    {
        "id": 114,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sustainable-finance-newsletter-precedent-musks-170000447.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(In section of newsletter titled \"Musk's crass phrase follows trends\" please note language that readers might find offensive in paragraphs 4 and 11)\nBy Ross Kerber\nDec 6 (Reuters) - With Elon Musk there's always more to the story, I was reminded after writing about his use of a profanity last week.\nAnalysts I spoke with couldn't recall a similar case of a business executive cursing at their own customers but it turned out that - who else? - the leader of promoter Ultimate Fighting Championship rolled out the same phrase on a podcast last month.\nI know it's part of a broader social shift to informality but we all will be sorry when bad language doesn't shock us anymore. (And what will the poor screenwriters do on that day?)\nYou will also find links to stories on the COP28 climate conference in Dubai and how new deals with labor haven't stopped GM from rewarding shareholders as well.\nPlease connect with me on LinkedIn where I welcome comments and feedback. If you have a news tip, potential content, or general thoughts feel free to email me at\nThis week's top stories\nFossil fuel phase-out among options on COP28 table\nEU's electric dreams short-circuited by EV charging gridlock\nWestern start-ups seek to break China's grip on rare earths refining\nMusk's crass phrase follows trends Elon Musk's use of a profanity last week at a conference surprised analysts who couldn't recall a similar case of a business leader publicly cursing at their customers. But the behavior of the Tesla CEO has precedent, in two ways. There has been a higher level of public profanity from business leaders, research shows. Also, Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White made the same comment just last month.\nWhite appeared on the podcast of comedian Theo Von last month and used the same language as Musk when describing what he told a major sponsor who asked him to delete a post supporting former U.S. President Donald Trump. \"You know what I said? Go Fuck Yourself,\" White said on the podcast. If White's language was Musk's inspiration it wouldn't be the first time the billionaire had engaged with the martial-arts kingmaker. Over the summer White reportedly was in talks with Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about a possible cage match, though it didn't happen. Representative to UFC's parent company, TKO Group, and for Tesla did not respond to questions. A representative for Musk's social media platform X did not immediately respond to questions. So far this year executives have used profanity on 179 different corporate conference calls, according to Alphasense, a New York-based financial research platform. That is about the same as last year's count of 180 times and up from 92 times in 2018.\nGeorgetown University linguistics professor Deborah Tannen said the rise in business-call profanity matches a broader trend toward more informality in public discourse.\nThe shift may not be all bad. Tannen also said, via email, that \"Innumerable topics and contexts that in the not too distant past were never mentioned in public -- mental illness, eg -- are now discussed openly.\" Nick Mazing, Alphasense director of research noted some limits in the data. For one thing the count treats all uses of profanity the same: a call on which an executive throws out multiple naughty words would be counted the same as one where an errant NSFW phrase was an anomaly. A prolific CEO swear-er is Jim Hagedorn of Scotts Miracle-Gro, , who for instance on Nov. 1 told an analyst on a conference call that \"Dude, you've been eating your fucking Wheaties,\" according to a spokesman. In an interview Hagedorn said he admires Musk for his creativity, and that he values his own reputation for straight talk. But, Hagedorn said, \"It's a fine line between being seen as crass and unsophisticated, and being seen as honest and passionate.\" Hagedorn said he has sworn at major customers behind closed doors, but never in a hostile way. \"Would I curse out my customer in public? Definitely not,\" Hagedorn said. He added he considers the leaders of major retailers who carry his products as friends. \"I think maybe the difference with Musk and his advertisers is, he's not friends with them,\" Hagedorn said. One more thing: On Nov. 21 New York City's top investment officer, Comptroller Brad Lander, said Tesla's board should sanction Musk if he did not take steps such as removing his endorsement of an antisemitic comment on his social media platform X and apologizing for it. Musk did apologize at his appearance last week. But the endorsement remained online as of Tuesday and Lander said he has yet to hear back from a letter he sent Tesla's board. \"Elon Musk’s behavior was not reflective of what we as shareholders expect in company leadership. I called for board action in my letter in addition to accountability from Mr. Musk. I have yet to hear back from them at all,\" Lander said in a statement provided by a representative.\nTesla and Musk did not respond to questions about Lander's remarks sent to the company. A representative for X did not immediately respond to questions.\nCompany News New labor deals will cost GM $9.3 billion, even as it spelled out $10 billion in share buybacks and a 33% dividend increase. This story puts some important context around the sometimes-competing interests of workers and investors. Colleague Tommy Wilkes had an important story last week about how four top banks quit a big initiative to scrub corporate climate targets, worried it could stop them from financing fossil fuels.\nThe looming shutdown of a lucrative First Quantum copper mine in Panama could hit the country's economic growth, after the country's Supreme Court ruled the mine's contract was unconstitutional.\nOn my radar\nA deal between Canada and Google will keep news stories in search results and require the tech giant to pay out $74 million annually to news publishers. Let's see if it prompts changes by Meta, the other goliath that has sucked up gobs of advertising dollars from publishers, and has already blocked news sharing on Facebook and Instagram.\nTop fund firms are giving their investors proxy-voting choices, which could blunt criticism over their ESG stances. On Tuesday Vanguard said it would let investors in $100 billion worth of funds including its Vanguard Russell 1000 Index Fund choose among four voting policy options in early 2024.\n(Reporting by Ross Kerber. Additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "Sustainable Finance Newsletter - Precedent for Musk's F-bomb"
    },
    {
        "id": 115,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-wall-st-inches-165252943.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nCampbell Soup rises on quarterly profit beat\n*\nPlug Power falls on Morgan Stanley downgrade\n*\nPrivate payrolls rise less than expected in November\n*\nIndexes up: Dow 0.12%, S&P 0.07%, Nasdaq 0.11%\n(Updated at 11:24 a.m. ET/1624 GMT)\nBy Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A\nDec 6 (Reuters) -\nWall Street edged higher on Wednesday as further signs of a cooling jobs market reinforced bets that the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates early next year, although weakness in energy shares kept a lid on gains.\nProviding more evidence of labor market weakness following the drop in job openings on Tuesday, the ADP National Employment report showed private payrolls increased by 103,000 jobs in November, below economists' expectation of 130,000.\nThe data supported bets of peaking interest rates, which had helped equities rebound from their October lows. The benchmark S&P 500 gained nearly 9% in November, hitting its highest close of the year last week.\n\"Today is a continuation of the macro trend that the market believes the Fed is done hiking,\" said Joshua Chastant, senior investment analyst at GuideStone Funds, but added that the markets have been too optimistic about early rate cuts.\n\"We're not going to fight the Fed when they're saying that they're going to hold rates higher unless something materially changes. We are seeing things start to slow down in the economy... but we're not there yet.\"\nLimiting gains, energy stocks slid 1.1% as oil prices fell by 2%.\nMegacap stocks were mixed, with Microsoft and Amazon.com down about 1% each, while Tesla outperformed, rising 2.2%.\nTraders have nearly fully priced in the probability that the central bank will hold rates steady next week and expect to see rate cuts being delivered as soon as the first quarter of next year.\nBets of a cut of at least 25 basis points in March currently stand at nearly 62%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nHowever, a slim majority of economists in a Reuters poll\nsaid\nthey believe the Fed will hold interest rates at least until July, later than earlier thought.\nThe main event of the week will be November's non-farm payrolls report, due on Friday, which will give investors more clarity about the state of the labor market and the outlook for interest rates.\nAt 11:24 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 44.15 points, or 0.12%, at 36,168.71, the S&P 500 was up 3.42 points, or 0.07%, at 4,570.60, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 15.76 points, or 0.11%, at 14,245.67.\nAmong other stocks, Plug Power fell 2.8%, as Morgan Stanley downgraded the hydrogen fuel cell firm to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight.\"\nTobacco giants\nAltria Group and Philip Morris International slipped 2.2% and 1.6%, respectively, after UK peer British American Tobacco said it will take a $31.5 billion hit from writing down the value of some U.S. cigarette brands.\nCampbell Soup\nadded 6.5% on surpassing quarterly profit expectations, helped by higher prices for its packaged meals and snacks.\nAdvancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.56-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.16-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.\nThe S&P index recorded 28 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 84 new highs and 56 new lows.\n(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Wall St inches up on rate cut hopes; energy weighs"
    },
    {
        "id": 116,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investors-bet-44-argentine-peso-155606131.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Argentina investors are preparing for a 44% devaluation of the country’s official exchange rate after Javier Milei’s inauguration on Dec. 10.\nWhile the incoming president’s team has signaled it won’t lift currency controls right away and seemingly delayed plans to scrap the peso altogether, the current level of the Argentine currency is largely seen as unsustainable. Markets are signaling traders will sell pesos at 500 per dollar Monday, about 27% weaker than the current official rate of 363 pesos, according to people familiar, who cited Siopel pricing and asked not to be named because the information isn’t public.\nInvestment banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and local private advisory firms suggest the peso will eventually weaken further, to around 650 per dollar, as Milei prepares to unwind capital controls that have spawned a hodgepodge of exchange rates. Prices on Argentina’s informal markets signal a similar decline.\n“We expect an FX realignment to adjust relative prices, permitting a gradual capital controls phase-off,” JPMorgan economists Diego Pereira and Lucila Barbeito wrote in a research note.\nWhile the magnitude of the devaluation is unclear, the policy “should be coupled with a draconian fiscal adjustment” to offset revenue losses and create incentives to start rebuilding the central bank’s reserves, they wrote, adding that dollarization doesn’t seem to be a priority as of now.\nOne-time congressman Milei, who pledged a radical overhaul to quell inflation that’s running at more than 140%, has toned down his fiery rhetoric since winning the Nov. 19 runoff. He promised his government would meet its debt obligations and sought to dispel fears about governability, seemingly abandoning more controversial proposals and surrounding himself with Wall Street veterans who also served in the administration of former President Mauricio Macri.\nAssets like dollar-linked bonds are currently being sold at around 600 pesos per dollar, while Argentine peso futures negotiated at the Rofex exchange indicate that it will depreciate to 741 pesos per dollar by the end of December.\n“A reasonable value of the exchange rate could be at 600-650 pesos per dollar,” Guillermo Francos, one of Milei’s closest advisers, said during a TV interview over the weekend. Francos, who is focused on building political alliances and is not part of the economic team, also added that the number takes into account the peso’s historical value in real terms.\nA spokesperson for Milei’s office declined to comment.\nIf confirmed, the devaluation would narrow the gap between the official peso and the country’s parallel rate used to skirt currency controls, which is currently trading near 963 per dollar.\nARGENTINA INSIGHT: Dollarization May Wipe Out 86% of Peso Value\nThe weaker rate would be similar to the one that exporters have access to under existing capital controls, which allows some of them to sell half of the currency reserves they receive in parallel markets.\n“There will be an official devaluation and the exchange restrictions would be maintained for the companies,” said Marcos Buscaglia, co-founder of consulting firm Alberdi Partners.\n",
        "title": "Investors Bet on 44% Argentine Peso Devaluation After Milei’s Debut"
    },
    {
        "id": 117,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nyc-congestion-pricing-tolling-structure-164521685.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- New York City’s plan to charge motorists driving into Manhattan’s central business district inched forward as a proposed tolling structure received an initial approval from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.\nThe MTA’s governing board voted Wednesday to allow the tolling program to move forward. The agency, which operates the city’s subways, buses and commuter rail trains, is implementing the congestion pricing tolling plan. It’s the first such program in the US. Passenger cars with an E-ZPass will pay $15 during peak periods, while trucks pay $24 to $36.\nMTA officials anticipate congestion pricing will bring in $1 billion annually that the transit agency will borrow against to raise $15 billion for its $51.5 billion multi-year capital budget. That spending plan includes modernizing subway signals, extending the Second Avenue subway to 125th Street and adding escalators and elevators to make the system more accessible for everyone.\nCongestion pricing gives the MTA, which already has $47 billion of outstanding debt, a new revenue source to fund necessary infrastructure needs, said Neal Zuckerman, an MTA board member who chairs its finance committee.\n“We’re spending 15% of our operating budget servicing that debt,” Zuckerman said. “Congestion pricing is necessary for plugging the gap of the building, the repairing, the fixing we must do.”\nThe initial approval allows the MTA to begin a public comment period on the tolling structure. Drivers may start paying the new toll as soon as May or June, although New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has filed suit against the proposal to get a court to force the MTA to undergo a longer environmental analysis. That lawsuit may delay congestion pricing’s implementation.\nRelated: NYC’s $15 Congestion Pricing Risks Delay From New Jersey Lawsuit\nThe fee would apply once a day to drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends, with tolls 75% lower during the night. There’s a 50% increase for vehicles without an E-ZPass. The proposal includes a credit for drivers entering the district through certain tunnels.\nThe toll wouldn’t apply to taxi drivers and for-hire vehicles, but instead charge passengers per ride, $1.25 for taxis and $2.50 to those in ride-shares like Uber or Lyft.\nThe tolling plan calls for a $5 credit to passenger vehicles entering Manhattan through four tunnels: Queens-Midtown connecting Manhattan to Long Island City, the Hugh L. Carey — a bypass to downtown from Brooklyn, and both the Holland and Lincoln which connect to New Jersey. Small trucks would get a $12 credit while large trucks and tour buses would receive $20.\n",
        "title": "NYC’s Congestion Pricing Tolling Structure Gets Initial Approval"
    },
    {
        "id": 118,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonald-turns-google-ai-chatbot-164500603.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- McDonald’s Corp. is turning to Alphabet Inc.’s Google to build out a chatbot that will help its army of restaurant workers get quick answers on questions like how to clean an ice cream machine.\nCalled “Ask Pickles,” the bot will be trained on everything from manuals to data generated by equipment at restaurants. It will give workers guidance on the spot, potentially boosting productivity in an industry where every second counts.\nThe test is one of the initiatives McDonald’s is implementing as it rolls out Google Cloud’s data and generative artificial intelligence tools in restaurants around the world, highlighting the increasing importance of technology and digital channels to the chain’s business. McDonald’s mobile app, kiosks and delivery now account for more than 40% — or almost $9 billion — of the sales generated by franchised and company-operated stores across its top six markets, according to third-quarter financial figures.\n“We’re not yet leveraging the full potential of technology, nor are we leveraging the full potential of our scale,” Brian Rice, McDonald’s global chief information officer, said in an interview ahead of the company’s Wednesday strategy update for investors.\nUnderpinning the upgrades is Google Cloud’s edge computing technology, which allows retailers to run systems like kiosks off of small servers connected directly to an individual store or restaurant, rather than relying on a centralized cloud.\nThat kind of setup is more reliable and allows for faster processing while enabling data collection, said Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud’s chief executive officer. In the future, franchisees or managers may have access to dashboards telling them that it’s time to change the fryer oil or that freezers aren’t running efficiently, Rice said. Thousands of restaurants will start receiving hardware and software upgrades next year.\nAt some point, McDonald’s could use the data to get a broader look at how equipment performs across its restaurants — most of which are operated independently by franchisees. That, in turn, could inform supplier relationships. The ultimate goal is to reduce downtime, Rice said.\nThe two companies will also work on uses for generative AI. McDonald’s size — it’s shooting for more than 50,000 restaurants by 2027 — means its stores will generate reams of information to train AI models, Rice said.\n“The more data you feed gen-AI models, the better they become,” the executive said.\nUsing one software platform to power all of McDonald’s restaurant and customer-facing digital platforms will allow the company to roll out upgrades faster, according to the chain. It will also help make the ordering experience more consistent for guests, McDonald’s said.\n",
        "title": "McDonald’s Turns to Google for AI Chatbot to Help Restaurant Workers"
    },
    {
        "id": 119,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-stocks-little-changed-as-jobs-market-shows-more-signs-of-softening-163904901.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "US stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors looked to data that signaled more cooling in the labor market.\nThe S&P 500 (^GSPC), Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) all traded flat in midday trading after the gauges closed Tuesday mixed.\nWednesday brought fresh signs of softening in the labor market, as the ADP gauge on private payrolls missed expectations, finding that 103,000 jobs were added in November.\nThat came after Tuesday's soft reading on jobs openings bolstered optimism for a Fed pivot to cutting interest rates. Markets are pricing in at least 100 basis points of cuts next year. But doubts about policy remain, with strategists warning those bets look \"overdone.\"\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Stock market news today: Stocks little changed as jobs market shows more signs of softening"
    },
    {
        "id": 120,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wrapup-1-bank-canada-holds-163741822.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren\nOTTAWA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada (BoC) on Wednesday held its key overnight rate at 5% and left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices.\nThe central bank raised rates by a quarter point in both June and July to a 22-year high and has left them on hold in the three policy-setting meetings since. Inflation slowed to 3.1% in October, down from a peak of more than 8% last year, but it has remained above the bank's 2% target for 31 months.\n\"Governing Council is still concerned about risks to the outlook for inflation and remains prepared to raise the policy rate further if needed,\" the BoC said in an unusually curt, five-paragraph statement.\nIt said it wanted to see a \"further and sustained easing in core inflation.\"\nThe Canadian dollar was trading 0.3% higher at 1.3553 to the greenback, or 73.78 U.S. cents.\nBut the statement dropped language used in its previous policy statement, which said \"progress towards price stability is slow and inflationary risks have increased.\"\nThe BoC instead noted on Wednesday that labor market pressures had eased and growth stalled during the middle part of the year, leaving the economy no longer in excess demand.\n\"Higher interest rates are clearly restraining spending,\" the BoC said. Oil prices are about $10 lower per barrel than it had forecast in October.\n\"The slowdown in the economy is reducing inflationary pressures in a broadening range of goods and services prices,\" the BoC said, noting that October core inflation was at the low end of a range seen in recent months.\n\"It is a stay-tuned message,\" said Derek Holt, vice president of capital markets economics at Scotiabank. \"They are pushing back against the market pricing for rate cuts to begin as early as in the first quarter of next year.\"\nMoney markets are betting that there could be a rate cut as early as March, and are pricing in a cut of 25 basis points by April. Governor Tiff Macklem though has said the BoC is not even thinking about easing yet because inflation is still well above target.\n\"The contrasting signals highlight a Governing Council that is desperately trying to keep markets from pricing in an earlier and more aggressive easing cycle,\" said Simon Harvey, head of FX analysis for Monex Europe and Canada.\nThe BoC forecast in October that inflation would hover around 3.5% until mid-2024, before inching down to its 2% target in late 2025. Macklem last month said interest rates might be at their peak, given excess demand had vanished and weak growth was expected to persist for many months.\n\"The main message from the Bank is that they believe the rate hikes are truly working,\" said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. \"It's pretty clear that they're done raising interest rates and really it's just a countdown now to when they begin trimming rates.\"\nCanada's economy unexpectedly contracted at an annualized rate of 1.1% in the third quarter, avoiding a recession, but most economists forecast that upcoming mortgage renewals at higher rates will take another chunk out of growth next year.\nThe BoC will start cutting rates in the second quarter of 2024 as inflation and the economy slow, according to a Reuters poll published last week.\nSeparately on Wednesday, Canada recorded a larger-than-expected trade surplus of C$2.97 billion ($2.19 billion) in October, as exports rose marginally but imports slumped, Statistics Canada said.\nThe Ivey Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) on Wednesday said Canadian economic activity expanded in November at its fastest pace in seven months.\n(Reporting by Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren; Additional reporting by Ismail Shakil, Nivedita Balu and Fergal Smith; Editing by Mark Porter)\n",
        "title": "WRAPUP 1-Bank of Canada holds rates, still worried about inflation"
    },
    {
        "id": 121,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-google-forced-governments-user-162629684.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have been forced by foreign governments to provide users’ data from notifications they get on their devices, according to a US lawmaker, drawing attention to a new privacy concern.\nIn a letter published Wednesday, US Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon asked the Justice Department to allow the technology companies to discuss the practice publicly. The Democrat said the companies previously told him that the “practice is restricted from public release by the government.”\nThe senator’s letter didn’t specify which governments have sought notification data from Apple and Google, but indicated that they are foreign entities.\nAfter the publication of the letter, Apple confirmed it does receive such requests from foreign governments. The US federal government “prohibited us from sharing any information,” the company said. “Now that this method has become public, we are updating our transparency reporting to detail these kinds of requests.”\nBoth Apple and Google have their own so-called push notification systems that provide instant alerts for everything from text messages to bank deposits to sports scores. The companies deliver billions of notifications to users each month, and the systems are used by millions of third-party developers.\nNotification data — if obtained by a government — could reveal a user’s habits, communications and whereabouts. They’re potentially some of the most private pieces of information sent to a person’s smartphone, tablet or computer.\n“As with all of the other information these companies store for or about their users, because Apple and Google deliver push notification data, they can be secretly compelled by governments to hand over this information,” Wyden wrote. “Importantly, app developers don’t have many options; if they want their apps to reliably deliver push notifications on these platforms, they must use the service provided by Apple or Google.”\nIn response to the letter, Google said it has already been publishing transparency reports that share “the number and types of government requests for user data we receive, including the requests referred to by Senator Wyden.”\n“We share the senator’s commitment to keeping users informed about these requests,” the company said in a statement.\nBoth companies said they have in-depth processes for either accepting or rejecting government requests. And Apple now plans to break out the push notification requests it receives in its next transparency report.\n“Apple is committed to transparency, and we have long been a supporter of efforts to ensure that providers are able to disclose as much information as possible to their users,” the company said.\nReuters previously reported on Wyden’s letter.\n--With assistance from Davey Alba.\n",
        "title": "Apple, Google Forced to Give Governments User Notifications Data"
    },
    {
        "id": 122,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-banking-regulator-warns-risks-162612978.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - A top U.S. banking regulator on Wednesday warned banks to manage the risks to consumers posed by increasingly popular \"buy now, pay later\" financing for retail spending, saying the service creates pitfalls for retail shoppers.\nTHE TAKE\nAs the year-end holidays approach, the statement from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent arm of the U.S. Treasury, was the latest sign that federal regulators are scrutinizing the increasingly popular form of consumer credit.\nThe loans allow borrowers to pay off a purchase in four or fewer interest-free installments but regulators warn they can lead to trouble, leaving unsuspecting borrowers overextended.\nKEY QUOTE\n\"As the 'buy now, pay later' market grows and we enter the holiday shopping season, the guidance confirms our expectation that OCC-supervised institutions offering these products do so in a responsible manner,\" Michael Hsu, acting Comptroller of the Currency, said in a statement.\nCONTEXT\nConsumers with fewer dollars to spend are increasingly turning to \"buy now, pay later\" loans, with a record number borrowing nearly $1 billion this way during the annual Cyber Monday shopping spree alone, analysts say. The surge in business has boosted shares in \"buy now, pay later\" company Affirm.\n(Reporting by Douglas Gillison; Editing by Will Dunham)\n",
        "title": "US banking regulator warns on risks of 'buy now, pay later'"
    },
    {
        "id": 123,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-governments-spying-apple-google-162145349.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds comment from Google in paragraph 7)\nBy Raphael Satter\nWASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users via their apps' push notifications, a U.S. senator warned on Wednesday.\nIn a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from Alphabet's Google and Apple. Although details were sparse, the letter lays out yet another path by which governments can track smartphones.\nApps of all kinds rely on push notifications to alert smartphone users to incoming messages, breaking news, and other updates. These are the audible \"dings\" or visual indicators users get when they receive an email or their sports team wins a game. What users often do not realize is that almost all such notifications travel over Google and Apple's servers.\nThat gives the two companies unique insight into the traffic flowing from those apps to their users, and in turn puts them \"in a unique position to facilitate government surveillance of how users are using particular apps,\" Wyden said. He asked the Department of Justice to \"repeal or modify any policies\" that hindered public discussions of push notification spying.\nIn a statement, Apple said that Wyden's letter gave them the opening they needed to share more details with the public about how governments monitored push notifications.\n\"In this case, the federal government prohibited us from sharing any information,\" the company said in a statement. \"Now that this method has become public we are updating our transparency reporting to detail these kinds of requests.\"\nGoogle said that it shared Wyden's \"commitment to keeping users informed about these requests.\"\nThe Department of Justice did not return messages seeking comment on the push notification surveillance or whether it had prevented Apple of Google from talking about it.\nWyden's letter cited a \"tip\" as the source of the information about the surveillance. His staff did not elaborate on the tip, but a source familiar with the matter confirmed that both foreign and U.S. government agencies have been asking Apple and Google for metadata related to push notifications to, for example, help tie anonymous users of messaging apps to specific Apple or Google accounts.\nThe source declined to identify the foreign governments involved in making the requests but described them as democracies allied to the United States.\nThe source said they did not know how long such information had been gathered in that way.\nMost users give push notifications little thought, but they have occasionally attracted attention from technologists because of the difficulty of deploying them without sending data to Google or Apple.\nEarlier this year French developer David Libeau said users and developers were often unaware of how their apps emitted data to the U.S. tech giants via push notifications, calling them \"a privacy nightmare.\" (Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Stephen Coates and Andrea Ricci)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications -US senator"
    },
    {
        "id": 124,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-stocks-gain-10-161231747.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 10:36 a.m. ET/ 1536 GMT)\nBy Chuck Mikolajczak\nNEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A gauge of global equities rose on Wednesday for the first time this week while U.S. Treasury yields fell after U.S. employment data buttressed expectations the Federal Reserve has room to maneuver towards a rate cut next year.\nU.S. private payrolls rose by 103,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday, below the 130,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters. Data for October was revised lower to show 106,000 jobs added instead of 113,000 as previously reported.\n\"This is basically what markets are looking for (as) weaker labor growth would reduce the threat of inflation,\" said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.\nOther data showed U.S.\nworker productivity grew\nfaster than initially thought in the third quarter, putting more downward pressure on labor costs, which could contribute to lower inflation should the trend remain intact.\nOn Wall Street\n, U.S. stocks rose after the ADP data, led by gains in industrial and real estate stocks.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 93.24 points, or 0.26% , to 36,217.8, the S&P 500 gained 10.38 points, or 0.23 %, to 4,577.56 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 28.02 points, or 0.20 %, to 14,257.93.\nSoftening economic data and recent comments from Federal Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, have heightened expectations that the U.S. central bank has ended its interest rate hiking cycle and will begin to cut rates as soon as March.\nExpectations for a U.S. rate cut of at least 25 basis points (bps) in March are about 60%, according to CME's FedWatch Tool, up from about 50% a week ago. The Fed's next policy meeting is on Dec. 12-13.\nIn addition to the Fed, expectations have risen for rate cuts in other global economies, with markets currently pricing in a 71% chance of cut by the European Central Bank (ECB) in March.\nHowever, the Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its key overnight\nrate at 5%\nand left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices.\nThe ADP report was the latest in a run of data this week on the U.S. labor market, culminating on Friday with the government's payrolls report. On Tuesday, a report on\njob openings fell to its lowest level since early 2021, while a separate measure of activity showed the U.S. services sector picked up, athough new orders were flat.\nThe yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note on Wednesday fell 5 basis points to 4.125% after hitting a fresh 3-month low of 4.115%, suggesting\nthe bond market is anticipating\na weak jobs report on Friday.\nThe two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 2 basis points to 4.593%.\nEuropean shares were higher as investors largely view the peak in interest rates has been reached. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.77% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe climbed 0.67% after two straight days of declines, its first consecutive daily declines in five weeks.\nThe dollar index fell 0.05% at 103.91 after earlier hitting a two-week high while the euro was down 0.04% to $1.0791.\nBrent crude futures fell 2.32% to $75.411 a barrel, while U.S. crude was at $70.39, down 2.67% on the day after settling at their lowest level since July on Tuesday, as the market weighed the effectiveness of OPEC+ cuts against concerns of the potential impact of a worsening macroeconomic outlook on global demand.\n(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; additional reporting by Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru, Editing by Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks gain, 10-year Treasury yield falls as investors digest labor data"
    },
    {
        "id": 125,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-ceo-says-consumers-may-161149180.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Walmart CEO Doug McMillon noted that consumer spending would be tougher to predict next year because of rising credit card balances and dwindling household bank accounts, CNBC reported on Wednesday.\nIn November, the retail bellwether's Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said customers were seeking value to manage within their household budget as they struggle with high interest rates and the start of student loan repayments.\nWalmart had also said that U.S. consumers were acting more cautious with spending during the holiday season. But data on Thanksgiving weekend showed that deep discounts on everything from beauty products and toys to electronics lured shoppers to spend bringing a relief to worried retailers.\n(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "Walmart CEO says consumers may not be as resilient next year - CNBC"
    },
    {
        "id": 126,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/italian-road-airport-operator-mundys-160928356.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Elisa Anzolin\nMILAN (Reuters) - Italian infrastructure group Mundys aims to strengthen its toll roads presence in the United States, Chile and Europe and is exploring expansion in India and Australia, its CEO said.\nMundys, which is controlled by the Benetton family's holding company Edizione and was previously known as Atlantia, operates motorways, mainly through Spanish toll road group Abertis, and also runs airports.\nIt has just acquired Autovia del Camino in northern Spain and won a tender to operate four new toll roads in Puerto Rico with a $2.85 billion bid.\nMundys, in which U.S. investment fund Blackstone has a minority stake, is now looking at the potential for Australia and India, although it has not yet decided what to do in those markets where it has minimal exposure.\n\"We are still evaluating (Australia and India), the final decision is not obvious,\" Andrea Mangoni told Reuters in his first interview since becoming Mundys CEO in April.\nMundys is also keen to expand in airports, where it already controls Rome's Fiumicino and Ciampino, as well as Aeroports de la Côte d'Azur, which has three airports in the south of France.\n\"We aim to have a more balanced portfolio on the airport front,\" he said of the group, whose toll road revenues are roughly five times what it generates from airports.\nThe group expects that the number of passengers in airports will attain 2019 levels next year, the Mundys CEO said, after growing more than 31.4% in the first 10 months of 2023.\nPROFITABILITY\nTraffic on toll roads was 3.1% higher in the first 10 months and should show a similar increase next year, Mangoni said.\nMangoni also said that Mundys' 15% stake in Getlink, the operator of the Channel Tunnel linking France and Britain, is an important asset and is not going to sell it.\nHe said that the group sold AB Concessoes in Brazil in November with a view to optimising profitability, but the South American country is still important for the group.\n\"We don't want to have assets that dilute our profitability in the portfolio,\" he said.\nTotal revenues at Mundys rose by 21% to 6.5 billion euros in the first nine months of this year, while core profit was up 15% in the same period to 3.8 billion euros, driven by traffic and average tariff increase of 8% linked to inflation adjustments.\nIts net financial debt stood at around 28 billion euros.\n(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin; Editing by Keith Weir and Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "Italian road and airport operator Mundys explores India, Australia expansion"
    },
    {
        "id": 127,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-says-ai-firm-160624618.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Elon Musk said on Wednesday his artificial intelligence company xAI was not raising funds \"right now\", a day after the startup filed with the U.S. securities regulator to raise up to $1 billion in an equity offering.\nThe company has raised $134.7 million in equity financing from a total offering amount of $1 billion, the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed on Tuesday.\nReplying to a post on X by Deepwater Asset Management's Gene Munster regarding the financing, Musk said: \"We are not raising money right now\".\nMunster's post had said the fundraising meant Musk wanted to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic.\nReuters could not independently verify if the startup is currently raising funds or not.\nInvestments into AI-linked startups have surged this year following chatbot ChatGPT's success and its parent OpenAI's $10 billion fundraise from Microsoft.\nMusk launched xAI in July this year in response to Big Tech's AI efforts, which he has criticized for excessive censorship and a lack of adequate safety measures.\n(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)\n",
        "title": "Elon Musk says his AI firm xAI is not raising funds 'right now'"
    },
    {
        "id": 128,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-revenues-surprise-topping-expectations-140846695.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia recorded higher budget revenues than expected this year despite a sharp drop in oil prices and production.\nStill, a ramp-up in spending on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s multi-trillion-dollar plan to diversify the economy left the budget in deficit, according to official figures published on Wednesday.\nRevenues for 2023 are set to reach 1.19 trillion riyals ($318 billion), more than 5% higher than estimated in the budget a year earlier. Spending accelerated at a faster rate, hitting 1.28 trillion riyals.\nRead: Saudi Budget’s Back to Old Ways as Oil Habit Proves Hard to Kick\nFor next year, revenues are expected at 1.17 trillion riyals, while spending is forecast at 1.25 trillion riyals, resulting in a shortfall equivalent to 2% of economic output. The projections were unchanged from a preliminary outlook published in October.\n",
        "title": "Saudi Revenues Surprise by Topping Expectations Despite Oil Cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 129,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/with-job-boom-in-restaurants-behind-us-expect-slower-payroll-growth-in-2024-155707032.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "One of the largest contributors to the post-pandemic job market boom is cooling off.\nNew data from ADP released on Wednesday revealed the US added 103,000 private payroll jobs, below economists expectations for 110,000 job gains. One of the largest lagging sectors was leisure and hospitality, an industry that previously couldn't find enough workers during the heat of the pandemic. The sector lost 7,000 jobs in November.\n“Restaurants and hotels were the biggest job creators during the post-pandemic recovery,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “But that boost is behind us, and the return to trend in leisure and hospitality suggests the economy as a whole will see more moderate hiring and wage growth in 2024.”.\nWednesday's data is in line with other signs that the labor market is normalizing from the pandemic. On Tuesday, the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, revealed the ratio of job openings to the number of unemployed workers fell to 1.34, its lowest reading since August 2021. The unemployment rate has ticked higher over the last several months, rising from its several decade low, and employees haven't been leaving their jobs at the same pace as they did during the \"quiet quitter\" era of 2021.\nThat could be in part because the reward for leaving has diminished. ADP data shows annual wage growth for workers who changed jobs fell to 8.3% in November, the slowest pace of growth since June 2021. Meanwhile, workers who kept the same job saw wages rise 5.6% last month, the lowest since September 2021. The reward for switching jobs is now the smallest its been in the three years ADP has tracked the data point.\nMarkets celebrated the ADP data Wednesday, with all three major averages in the green mid-morning. Investors hope signs of a cooling labor market will lead the Fed to hold interest rates steady for the remainder of the year and bring them down in 2024.\nThe next update on the labor market will come with weekly jobless claims Thursday followed by the crucial November jobs report on Friday morning.\nEconomists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the monthly report to show 187,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added to the US economy last month, an uptick from October's 150,000, with unemployment remaining flat at 3.9%.\nJosh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "With job boom in restaurants 'behind us,' expect slower payroll growth in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 130,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-latam-fx-rise-155338016.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "* Moody's changes Hong Kong's outlook to negative from stable * Polish central bank keeps rates on hold * Brazil's Oct public sector gross debt rises to 74.7% of GDP * Argentina's Milei names Bausili incoming central bank chief * Latam stocks add 1.3%, FX up 1.2% By Johann M Cherian Dec 6 (Reuters) - Currencies of most resources-rich Latin American countries rose on Wednesday, as prices of copper and iron ore brightened, while investors assessed data out of Brazil that showed a rise in government debt in October. MSCI's basket of south American currencies added 1.2% against the dollar, with iron exporter Brazil's real up 0.8% on upbeat prices of the raw material. Currencies of copper producers Chile and Peru also appreciated 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively, as prices of the red metal rose. However, oil exporter Colombia's peso dipped 0.2%, while Mexico's peso appreciated 0.7%. Still, Mexico's peso and Colombia's peso are among top performers in the region year-to-date, up 21.7% and 13% respectively. The currencies have benefited from carry trades as their respective central banks continue to keep interest rates on hold, while soaring oil prices have also been a boon. Meanwhile, the index tracking regional stocks added 1.3% by 1454 GMT. Brazil's Bovespa slipped 0.2%. Data showed the country's government debt as a share of gross domestic product increased to 74.7% in October from 74.4% the month before, primarily driven by interest expenses. \"We expect the consolidated public sector to go deeper into deficit territory in 2023... placing the debt dynamics on a structural sustained declining trend and building fiscal buffers remain a key macro challenge,\" Goldman Sachs analysts wrote. Among single movers on the index, Natura gained 2.7% on a report that the cosmetics maker has explored selling most of its Avon brand's international businesses. Gol advanced 3% though the airline had its credit ratings downgraded by both S&P and Fitch after hiring a financial advisor to help it conduct a \"broad review\" of its capital structure as it struggles with high debt. Argentina's Merval index added 2.3%. President-elect Javier Milei named economist Santiago Bausili to become the governor of the country's central bank after he takes office on Dec. 10. The country's peso traded at 905 to the dollar in parallel trade. A poll showed analysts expect the currency to suffer another big devaluation this month, likely shortly after next week's planned inauguration of a new government that is urgently seeking ways to deal with an economic crisis. Chile's equities index inched up 0.6% after central bank chief Rosanna Costa said the local economy is in a phase of stabilization. Elsewhere, the Hong Kong dollar inched up 0.1% after ratings agency Moody's downgraded its outlook on Hong Kong to negative from stable, while Poland's zloty slipped 0.1% against the euro after the central bank left its main interest rate on hold at 5.75%, as expected. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1457 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 975.84 0.39 MSCI LatAm 2481.76 1.23 Brazil Bovespa 126673.62 -0.18 Mexico IPC 54117.93 -0.01 Chile IPSA 5935.72 0.51 Argentina MerVal 905898.97 2.33 Colombia COLCAP 1150.09 0 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.8941 0.61 Mexico peso 17.2639 0.66 Chile peso 873.8 0.40 Colombia peso 4001.77 -0.17 Peru sol 3.7497 -0.06 Argentina peso 363.5500 -0.12 (interbank) Argentina peso 905 0.55 (parallel) (Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrea Ricci)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Latam FX rise on commodity boost; investors parse Brazilian data"
    },
    {
        "id": 131,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quotes-wall-street-bank-bosses-155225380.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street bank bosses warned lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday that capital hikes and other new regulations being contemplated by U.S. bank regulators will hurt lending, capital markets and the broader economy.\nSome Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, hit back at the industry, accusing banks of overstating the risks to the economy and overly aggressive lobbying to water down the rules.\nThe hearing also explored the resilience of the banking system following three bank failures earlier this year, the economic outlook, and worker rights.\nHere are some key quotes from the hearing:\nDemocratic Senator Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate Banking Committee:\n\"Anyone who had any doubt whether Wall Street could be trusted to use its power responsibly need only to look at the current lobbying fight on this ... You have even gone national: pouring money into ads for Sunday Night Football. It is a campaign waged by your lobbyists to prevent financial watchdogs from putting in place capital requirements to protect our banking system and our economy.\n\"That's why people hate Wall Street. That's why people hate Washington because these lobbying campaigns that you engage in usually work.\"\nJamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase:\n\"The debate should not only be about more or less regulation, but about the right regulation to keep the American banking system the best in the world. I urge lawmakers and regulators to be thoughtful about the effect of arbitrary and unstudied regulatory proposals and their cumulative impact on the economy.\"\nJane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup:\n\"Although we certainly don't see a drastic downturn on the horizon, history suggests a recession is possible, given the macroeconomic factors at play.\n\"We also are beginning to see some concerning signs in the lower-FICO score segment of our customers. This is unfortunately the same group that feels any tightening of credit first.\"\nDavid Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs on Basel capital rule:\n\"It would quadruple our capital requirements for clean energy tax equity projects and would increase our capital eight times for important transactions that we enter into with pension funds to improve their returns for retirees.\" (Reporting by Chibuike Oguh, Pete Schroeder, Lananh Nguyen, and Michelle Price Editing by Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "QUOTES-Wall Street bank bosses warn lawmakers of economic toll from tough new rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 132,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-us-airlines-plans-growth-155101371.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Rajesh Kumar Singh\nCHICAGO (Reuters) - Shortages of new planes, jet engines and pilots have left U.S. airlines with little choice but to pursue growth through acquisitions - which then puts them in the crosshairs of anti-trust regulators.\nAlaska Airlines surprised analysts and industry officials with its plan to buy Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion even before a judge rules on the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) lawsuit aimed at blocking JetBlue's proposed merger with Spirit Airlines.\nBut supply and labor constraints are so onerous that airlines like Alaska will likely keep chasing deals despite the Biden administration's aversion to more consolidation. Currently, American Airlines, United, Delta and Southwest Airlines control 80% of the domestic market, leaving little room for growth.\n\"This is an industry that is constantly looking for an angle,\" said Addison Schonland, partner at consulting firm AirInsight. \"If Alaska didn't move on Hawaiian, what would stop somebody else moving on Hawaiian?\"\nThe deal will provide Alaska - primarily a domestic carrier that flies narrowbody planes - Hawaiian's widebody jets, pilots and international networks, opening a runway for growth in long-haul international markets.\nIn an interview, Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci said it was the right time to do the deal, which he described as \"a great investment, a great step change\" for the company.\nAlaska told analysts on Sunday that pursuing long-haul international flying on its own would be much more expensive and much more difficult.\nCourtney Miller, a consultant who advocated for the merger between the two airlines back in 2019, said Alaska would probably have to invest around the same amount it is paying for Hawaiian to launch its own smaller international operation.\nGetting into long-haul international flying by using Hawaiian's fleet of wide-body jets and international networks is a better option, he said.\nWith both Boeing and Airbus facing supply-chain problems, the deal allows Alaska to avoid a prolonged wait for new planes. It also reduces the need to hire and train pilots during an industry-wide staffing crunch and saves the company from fighting for slots at international airports.\n\"The risk is much lower,\" said Miller, who now runs consultancy firm Visual Approach Analytics.\nMergers and acquisitions create economies of scale that helps offset soaring operating costs. Alaska, however, will be challenged on this front as it integrates Hawaiian's fleet, said Schonland.\nWhile the Seattle-based airline flies Boeing's 737 planes, Hawaiian's fleet has a number of Airbus jets, so a combined company would have to rely on different parts and mechanics for repairs. Minicucci said while the combined company will continue to operate a mixed fleet for now, he did not rule out reviewing the plane mix.\nLegacy airlines like Delta and United have been able to mitigate inflationary pressures due to strong bookings for flights to Europe and Asia. But softening domestic travel demand has hurt earnings of domestic carriers including Alaska.\nSimilar growth concerns prompted JetBlue to launch a hostile bid for Spirit last year to try to expand JetBlue's domestic footprint and help it capitalize on the surge in leisure travel between the U.S. East Coast and the Caribbean.\nThe deals, however, face challenges in convincing anti-trust regulators that they are pro-competition and pro-consumer.\nFormer Federal Trade Commission Chairman William Kovacic, who now teaches at George Washington University law school, said the DOJ is likely to look at Alaska's transaction carefully.\n\"They approach airlines with a view that merger policy has been too permissive and allowed excessive concentration,\" he said.\n(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh, Editing by Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-US airlines' plans for growth constrained by antitrust concerns"
    },
    {
        "id": 133,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-yields-hit-multi-155055521.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Recasts to reflect fall in yields, adds U.S. jobs data and BlackRock comment)\nBy Stefano Rebaudo and Harry Robertson\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Euro zone sovereign bond yields slipped to new multi-month lows on Wednesday as investors continued to bet on heavy rate cuts from the European Central Bank next year.\nEuro area borrowing costs dropped on Tuesday after ECB official Isabel Schnabel told Reuters further interest rate hikes are \"rather unlikely\". Bonds found further support after data on U.S. job openings led investors to price in that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates as soon as March.\nMoney markets on Wednesday morning moved to price in almost 150 basis points worth of interest rate cuts from the ECB next year, from around 100 bps on Nov. 28 and roughly 130 bps at the start of the week.\nGermany's 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for the euro area, was last down 3 basis points (bps) at 2.208%, a fresh seven-month low. Bond yields move inversely with prices.\nYields moved lower after data showed that U.S. private payrolls missed expectations in November. Although economists warn that the private data is a poor gauge for predicting Friday's key nonfarm payrolls data, it added to evidence that the U.S. labour market is slowing.\nDeutsche Bank said on Wednesday it expects the ECB to cut rates by 150 bps in 2024, 50 bps more than their earlier forecast, after a sharp slowdown in inflation in the bloc. They predict 50 bp cuts in both April and June.\n\"Given the latest inflation data and the tone of official commentary, we fear we were too timid,\" Deutsche's analysts, led by chief economist Mark Wall, said in a research note. \"The risk is now earlier and larger cuts.\"\nGermany's 2-year bond yield, which is sensitive to ECB rate expectations, was last down 2 bps at 2.593% after earlier hitting its lowest since May at 2.57%.\nMichael Krautzberger, head of EMEA fundamental fixed income at Blackrock, said on Wednesday that market bets on rate cuts were too optimistic.\n\"The ECB is almost priced to cut interest rates by 150 basis points until the end of next year,\" he said at an event in London. \"I'm not saying that it's impossible.... I would still argue it's a high hurdle.\" He said between 75 and 100 bps of cuts was more likely.\nThe Greek 10-year yield hit a fresh 17-month low at 3.364% before paring its fall to sit at 3.377%, flat on the day.\nRatings agency Fitch upgraded Greece's credit rating to investment grade on Friday, mentioning a sharp downward trend in general government debt.\nThe gap between Greek and German 10-year yields – a gauge of the risk premium investors ask to hold Greek debt over safe-haven Bunds – was at 109 bps, not far off Spain's spread over Germany, which was at 100 bps.\nItaly's 10-year yield – the benchmark for the euro area's periphery – was last down 3 bps at 3.964%. The yield gap versus Germany was little changed at 174 bps.\nInvestors were also looking at the reform of the European Union budget rules - the Stability and Growth Pact - which will be discussed at Friday’s Eurogroup even if a deal is seen as unlikely, officials said.\n\"If Germany does not ease up on the stability rules, there could be a big divergence opening up between a U.S. economy growing, but in a very inflationary way and a growing deflationary risk in Europe,\" said Raphael Gallardo, chief economist at Carmignac.\nTight fiscal rules could threaten the resilience that sovereign bonds of most indebted countries have shown so far. (Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo and Harry Robertson, additional reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Toby Chopra)\n",
        "title": "Euro zone yields hit new multi-month lows as traders eye rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 134,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-touches-2-week-154132918.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 1533 GMT)\nBy Hannah Lang and Samuel Indyk\nWASHINGTON/LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar touched a two-week high on Wednesday, while the euro was weak across the board as markets ramped up bets that the European Central Bank (ECB) will cut interest rates as early as March.\nAlthough markets are still pricing at least 125 basis points of interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve next year, the dollar was able to hold steady as rate cut bets for other central banks intensified.\nThe dollar index, which measures the currency against six other majors, was last down 0.01% at 103.95, having touched a two-week high of 104.10 earlier.\nThe euro was down 0.09% to $1.0785 after hitting a three-week low.\nTraders are now betting that there is around an 85% chance that the ECB cuts interest rates at the March meeting, with almost 150 basis points worth of cuts priced by the end of next year. Influential ECB policymaker Isabel Schnabel on Tuesday told Reuters that further interest rate hikes could be taken off the table given a \"remarkable\" fall in inflation.\n\"Markets have aggressively priced in rate cuts, without any kind of confirmation from central banks,\" said Adam Button, chief currency analyst at ForexLive in Toronto. \"As December continues, we need either a change in tune from central bankers or a repricing in markets.\"\nThe euro also touched a three-month low against the pound , a five-week low versus the yen and a 6-1/2 week low against the Swiss franc.\n'A BIT OVERBOARD'\nThe ECB will set interest rates on Thursday next week and is all but certain to leave them at the current record high of 4%. The Fed and Bank of England are also likely to hold rates steady next Wednesday and Thursday respectively.\nThe Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its key overnight rate at 5% and, in contrast to its peers, left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation.\nTraders have priced around a 60% chance of the U.S. central bank cutting rates in March, according to CME's FedWatch tool.\nThe widely expected rate cuts from the Fed will result in the dollar loosening its grip on other G10 currencies next year, dimming the outlook for the greenback, according to a Reuters poll of foreign exchange strategists.\n\"Markets have gone a bit overboard with pricing in a very aggressive path of rate cuts through next year,\" said Aninda Mitra, head of Asia macro and investment strategy at BNY Mellon Investment Management, adding that there could be a snapback should the Fed drive home the message more forcefully that it is not about to cut rates anytime soon.\nThe spotlight in Asia was on China, as markets grappled with rating agency Moody's cut to the Asian giant's credit outlook.\nThe offshore Chinese yuan fell 0.02% to $7.1719 per dollar, a day after Moody's cut China's credit outlook to \"negative\".\nChina's major state-owned banks stepped up U.S. dollar selling forcefully after the Moody's statement on Tuesday, and they continued to sell the greenback on Wednesday morning, Reuters reported.\nElsewhere in Asia, the Japanese yen was 0.03% weaker versus the greenback at 147.18 per dollar. The Australian dollar rose 0.5% to $0.6584.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin eased 0.3% to $43,943 having surged above $44,000 earlier in the session.\nThe world's largest cryptocurrency has gained 150% this year, fueled in part by optimism that a U.S. regulator will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds (ETFs).\n(Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington and Samuel Indyk in London; additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Christina Fincher and Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar touches 2-week high, euro weaker as market bets on rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 135,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-orsted-south-fork-offshore-153511916.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds background)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Danish energy company Orsted's South Fork offshore wind farm off New York State delivered its first power to the state's power grid, according to a press release by New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday.\nThe announcement is a bit of positive news in what has been a tough year for the nascent industry in the United States, which has faced financial troubles in recent months.\nOffshore wind is expected to play a major role in New York's plan to reduce carbon emissions by getting 70% of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2030. It is also a pillar of President Joe Biden's plan to decarbonize the U.S. power grid and combat climate change.\nIn November, New York launched a new offshore wind solicitation to help support the development of 9,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind by 2035, enough to power up to six million homes. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York and Nora Buli in Oslo Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Orsted South Fork offshore wind farm delivers first power to NY electric grid"
    },
    {
        "id": 136,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-wants-require-drug-153411370.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds no immediate airline comment, more from FAA)\nBy David Shepardson\nWASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it wants to require aviation-repair stations in foreign countries to conduct drug and alcohol testing for employees performing safety-sensitive maintenance functions for U.S. airlines.\nThe FAA said few countries require testing of aviation or maintenance personnel.\nThe proposed rule would impact approximately 977 repair stations in 65 countries and ensure \"employees are held to the same high level of safety standards regardless of where they are physically located.\"\nThe FAA has been considering the issue for decades and Congress previously directed the agency to set the requirements.\nAviation unions have called for testing for maintenance functions that are outsourced to repair stations outside the United States.\nThe FAA said some argue U.S.-based maintenance facilities \"are operating at an economic disadvantage as maintenance facilities abroad are not required to subject employees to drug and alcohol testing and, therefore, are essentially circumventing the associated costs to maintain a testing program.\"\nA major airline group did not immediately comment.\nAirlines have said previously that privacy and employment laws in foreign countries could conflict with U.S. drug and alcohol testing requirements. The FAA said airlines could seek a waiver of the requirements for specific foreign repair stations if they cannot comply for domestic reasons.\nThe FAA said the rule would boost safety by deterring substance abuse by safety-sensitive aviation employees and is estimated to cost carriers $102.3 million over five years.\nIt will be open for public comment until early February.\n(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bernadette Baum)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US wants to require drug testing for foreign aviation-repair stations"
    },
    {
        "id": 137,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hollywood-actors-approve-strike-ending-deal-153142683.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "It's official: Hollywood is back in business.\nMembers of the actors' union, SAG-AFTRA, completed voting on Tuesday to ratify its multi-year deal with the major studios.\nThe guild — which ended its 118 day strike last month, the longest in its history — overwhelmingly approved the agreement by a vote of 78.33% to 21.67%, with a voter turnout of 38.15%.\n\"SAG-AFTRA members have remained incredibly engaged throughout this process, and I know they’ll continue their advocacy throughout our next negotiation cycle,\" SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said in the release. \"This is a golden age for SAG-AFTRA, and our union has never been more powerful.\"\nThe contract, valued at over $1 billion, includes \"above-pattern\" minimum compensation increases, with a 7% general wage hike that \"breaks the industry pattern,\" according to the union's national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. Background actors will receive immediate pay increases of 11%.\nThose minimum wages will increase by another 4% in 2024 and then by another 3.5% in 2025.\nThere will also be \"unprecedented\" provisions when it comes to protections surrounding the use of artificial intelligence. According to the guild, members will receive \"informed consent and fair compensation\" for the creation and use of \"digital replicas of members.\"\nAdditionally, for the first time, there will be a roughly $40 million-per-year streaming residual bonus for actors on shows that reach a certain level of success. Pension and health caps were also \"substantially raised,\" the union said.\nOther highlights include new terms for hair and makeup that protect diverse communities, increases to benefit plans for episodic work, and requirements to engage intimacy coordinators for nudity and simulated sex, SAG-AFTRA said.\nSAG-AFTRA, the union that represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, recording artists, and other media professionals around the world, began a strike on July 14 after failing to reach a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which bargains on behalf of the major studios including Warner Bros. (WBD), Disney (DIS), Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), NBCUniversal (CMCSA), Paramount (PARA), and Sony (SONY). The union suspended the strike on Nov. 9 when a deal was reached.\nSimilarly to the writers, who officially ended their own strike in October, SAG-AFTRA had been fighting for more protections surrounding the role of AI in media and entertainment in addition to better pay and higher streaming residuals as more movies and TV shows go directly to streaming.\nAlthough Hollywood is expected to get back up and running quickly, the pain of the past six months has already been felt with the \"double whammy\" work stoppage costing the Los Angeles economy an estimated $6.5 billion. That includes the loss of roughly 45,000 entertainment industry jobs, in addition to the production delays of several blockbuster titles.\nAlexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Hollywood actors approve strike-ending deal: 'Union has never been more powerful'"
    },
    {
        "id": 138,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-canada-holds-rates-wants-152755259.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Canada held interest rates steady for a third consecutive meeting, acknowledging a stalled economy while keeping the door open to further hikes as they watch for more progress on slowing inflation.\nPolicymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem left the benchmark overnight rate unchanged at 5% on Wednesday, the highest level in 22 years. The pause was expected by markets and by economists in a Bloomberg survey.\nOfficials say recent data suggest the economy is no longer in “excess demand” and their hiking campaign is dampening spending and price pressures. They eliminated a line from the October decision that said inflationary risks have increased, but said they’re prepared to raise borrowing costs again if necessary.\n“Governing council is still concerned about the risks to the outlook for inflation and remains prepared to raise the policy rate further if needed,” the bank said, adding that they want to see “further and sustained easing in core inflation.”\nBonds fluctuated, with the yield on the benchmark two-year note at 4.058%, slightly below their level before the release. The Canadian dollar rose slightly to C$1.3564 per US dollar.\nThe more neutral language in the statement suggests policymakers are increasingly confident interest rates are restrictive enough to bring inflation back to the 2% target. Still, officials will want to see more progress on core inflation, which strips out the effect of more volatile items, before declaring victory.\n“The bank’s nod to broader progress against inflation and the fact that the economy is no longer clearly overheated suggest that the central bank isn’t at this point really giving much thought to additional tightening,” Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, wrote in a report to investors.\nBefore Wednesday’s decision, traders in overnight swaps were betting the bank would start cutting borrowing costs by the April meeting and lower the benchmark overnight rate to 4% by the end of 2024.\nRead More: Bank of Canada Rate Decision: Side-by-Side Comparison\nCanada’s economy has stalled and consumption is weak. The unemployment rate has risen to 5.8% from 5% in just seven months, a loosening of the labor market that typically coincides with recessions. Just six weeks ago, the bank said the labor market remained “on the tight side,” but acknowledged on Wednesday they see it loosening.\nAfter temporarily reversing course due to rising gasoline costs, inflation decelerated to a 3.1% yearly pace in October. “The slowdown in the economy is reducing inflationary pressures in a broadening range of goods and services prices,” the bank said.\nDeputy Governor Toni Gravelle will expand on the central bank’s thinking on Thursday, when he is set to deliver a speech and take questions from reporters.\nWhile most economists believe a soft landing is still the base-case scenario for the economy, key vulnerabilities in the country’s financial system are about to be tested. Canada’s highly indebted households carry shorter-duration mortgages that roll over more quickly than their counterparts in the US, and 82% of economists say that represents a major downside risk to the economy.\nPrematurely declaring victory over inflation, only to have to restart rate hikes later, would be a knock to the central bank’s credibility. Headline inflation has been above the Bank of Canada’s 1% to 3% control range for 30 of the last 31 months — the worst record in the modern era of the central bank — and more than half of economists surveyed by Bloomberg say that has hurt the bank’s reputation.\n(Updates with economist comment in seventh paragraph, market reaction)\n",
        "title": "Bank of Canada Holds Rates, Wants More Progress on Inflation"
    },
    {
        "id": 139,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wrapup-1-third-quarter-us-152621130.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nUnit labor costs fall at 1.2% rate in third quarter\n*\nWorker productivity growth raised to 5.2% pace\n*\nPrivate payrolls increase 103,000 in November\nBy Lucia Mutikani\nWASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - U.S. unit labor costs were much weaker than initially thought in the third-quarter amid robust worker productivity, providing a boost to the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation.\nThe inflation outlook was further brightened by other data on Wednesday showing a moderation in wage growth in November. The reports followed news on Tuesday that job openings dropped to more than a 2-1/2-year low in October.\nThey strengthened financial market expectations that the U.S. central bank was done tightening monetary policy and could pivot to cutting rates as early as March.\n\"The decline in labor costs points to a further slowdown in services inflation, the last front in the Fed's effort to bring inflation back to 2%,\" said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics in New York. \"Our baseline forecast assumes that rate cuts don't start until third quarter of next year, although the risk may be growing that the Fed starts sooner.\"\nUnit labor costs - the price of labor per single unit of output - fell at a 1.2% annualized rate in the third quarter, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said, revised down from the previously reported 0.8% pace of decline. That was the first drop since the fourth quarter of 2022.\nEconomists polled by Reuters had expected that the decrease in unit labor costs would be revised down to a 0.9% rate.\nGrowth in unit labor costs was lowered to a 2.6% rate in the second quarter from the previously reported 3.2%. Unit labor costs rose at a 1.6% rate from a year ago, the smallest year-on-year increase since the second quarter of 2021.\nThe moderate annual labor costs bode well for the Fed's efforts to lower inflation to its 2% target. The central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged next Wednesday. It has raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by 525 basis points to the current 5.25%-5.50% range, since March 2022.\nNonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 5.2% rate last quarter, revised up from the previously reported 4.7% and the quickest since the third quarter of 2020.\nThe upgrade was telegraphed last week by revisions to gross domestic product data, which showed the economy growing at a 5.2% rate in the July-September quarter, instead of the previously reported 4.9% pace.\nProductivity grew at an unrevised 3.6% pace in the second quarter. It expanded at a 2.4% pace from a year ago, revised up from the previously estimated 2.2% rate.\nThough hourly compensation rose at an unrevised 3.9% pace last quarter, it increased at a downwardly revised 4.0% rate from a year ago. Annual compensation was previously reported to have risen at a 4.2% rate.\nStocks on Wall Street opened higher. The dollar fell against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury prices rose.\nWAGE GROWTH COOLING\nSlowing wage pressures were underscored by the ADP National Employment Report, which showed pay increases for workers remaining in their jobs at 5.6% year-on-year in November, the smallest gain since September 2021.\nWages for people changing jobs rose 8.3%, smallest year-on-year increase since June 2021.\n\"The softer turn of recent labor market releases reduces the risk that inflation pressures revive due to wage-price issues, making it easier for the Fed to pivot to rate cuts in 2024,\" said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank in Dallas.\nThe ADP report also showed private payrolls increased by 103,000 jobs in November after rising 106,000 in October. Economists had forecast private payrolls rising 130,000.\nThe ADP report, jointly developed with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, was published ahead of the release on Friday of the BLS' more comprehensive and closely watched employment report.\nIt has, however, been a poor gauge for predicting the private payrolls in the employment report.\nThe labor market is steadily slowing in the aftermath of rate hikes. The government reported on Tuesday job openings fell to more than a 2-1/2-year low of 8.733 million in October. There were 1.34 vacancies for every unemployed person, the lowest since August 2021.\nAccording to a Reuters survey of economists, the employment report is expected to show private payrolls increased by 153,000 jobs in November as about 33,000 striking United Auto Workers union members returned to work. Private payrolls rose 99,000 in October. Total nonfarm payrolls are estimated to have increased by 180,000 in November after rising 150,000 in the prior month. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "WRAPUP 1-Third-quarter US unit labor costs revised down; private payrolls miss expectations"
    },
    {
        "id": 140,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-wall-street-bank-bosses-152032059.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated to reflect beginning of hearing; adds Senator Brown quote in paragraph 5, Senator Scott in paragraph 10)\nBy Pete Schroeder and Michelle Price\nWASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon and other major banks warned lawmakers Wednesday that capital hikes and other new regulations being contemplated by U.S. bank regulators will hurt lending, capital markets and the broader economy.\nThe industry has been waging a fierce campaign to kill the \"Basel endgame\" proposal, which overhauls how banks must calculate their loss-absorbing capital, and as regulators roll out fair lending and fee cap regulations, among other rules.\nThe CEOs hope to use the hearing as an opportunity to try to convince key moderate Democratic senators that the rule, which is being led by the Federal Reserve, could stifle lending, hurting small businesses and consumers.\n\"If enacted as drafted, this proposal will fundamentally alter the U.S. economy in ways that the Federal Reserve has not studied or contemplated,\" Dimon, CEO of the country's largest lender JPMorgan, said in his prepared testimony published by the Committee on Tuesday.\nSenator Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat who chairs the Committee, quickly criticized the banks for aggressively lobbying against the rules, including with multiple public advertising campaigns and meetings with lawmakers. Banks have overstated the adverse potential impact of the rules in a bid to preserve their profit margins, he added.\n\"Absolutely nothing in these rules would stop your banks from making loans to working families,\" he said. \"What your banks want is to maximize quarterly profits, the cost of everything and everyone else be damned.\"\nThe other CEOs appearing are: Bank of America's Brian Moynihan, Wells Fargo's Charles Scharf, Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, Morgan Stanley's James Gorman, State Street's Ronald O'Hanley, and BNY Mellon's Robin Vince.\nRegulators say new rules, including capital hikes, are necessary to protect the banking system from unforeseen shocks, especially following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and two other lenders earlier this year.\nWhile CEOs are expected to have the support of Republicans who generally oppose tight regulations, they will have to persuade skeptical Democratic lawmakers that the banking sector is sound.\nSenator Tim Scott, the panel's top Republican, echoed bank concerns, saying the proposed rules could have a \"devastating impact\" on small businesses.\nBig bank CEOs have been appearing before Congress for several years after the 2007-09 financial crisis and subsequent scandals thrust the industry into Washington's crosshairs.\nWhile they rarely result in legislation, hearings have led banks to make changes. In 2021, Dimon was drawn into a fiery exchange with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren about overdraft fees, while last year she grilled him over fraud on bank payment network Zelle. Big banks subsequently reduced overdraft fees and expanded Zelle fraud protections. (Reporting by Pete Schroeder and Michelle Price; additional reporting by Lananh Nguyen; Editing by David Gregorio and Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Wall Street bank bosses warn lawmakers of economic toll from tough new rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 141,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-ten-yields-hit-three-150947827.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Karen Brettell Dec 6 (Reuters) - Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell to three-month lows on Wednesday as investors priced for the possibility that Friday's highly anticipated jobs report for November will disappoint, after ADP data showed jobs growth coming below economists' expectations. Private payrolls rose by 103,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday, below forecasts for 130,000 in jobs gains. Friday's payrolls report for November is expected to show that employers added 180,000 jobs during the month, according to the median estimate of economists polled by Reuters. The drop in longer-dated yields suggests that \"this bond market is expecting a weak payrolls number,\" said Padhraic Garvey, regional head of research, Americas, at ING. However, the pace of the recent yield declines also indicates that the repricing may be overdone in the short-term. Garvey noted that while he does expect yields to decline as the U.S. economy weakens, \"it just seems to have happened very, very quickly ahead of a pivotal payrolls number that, if it comes in as economists expect - it means we don't have a labor market recession. And if we don't have a labor market recession, there isn't any urgency for the Fed to pivot.\" Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a more than 50% probability that the Fed will begin cutting rates in March, and see 127 basis points in rate reductions by December 2024. Yields also fell on Tuesday after data showed that U.S. job openings fell to more than a 2-1/2-year low in October. Benchmark 10-year yields fell as low as 4.136%, the lowest since Sept. 1. They have tumbled from a 16-year high of 5.021% on Oct. 23. Two-year yields fell to 4.574% but are holding the 4.540% level reached on Friday, which was the lowest since June 13. The yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes reached minus 45 basis points, the most inverted since Nov. 28. While Friday's jobs report is likely to set the near-term direction of bond yields, other factors next week may also impact market moves. Fed officials are due to give their updated economic and interest rate projections at the conclusion of their Dec. 12-13 policy meeting. Demand for U.S. government bonds will also be tested when the Treasury sells three-year, 10-year and 30-year debt. Consumer price inflation data for November is also due on Tuesday. December 6 Wednesday 9:56AM New York / 1456 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 5.2475 5.4067 0.000 Six-month bills 5.155 5.3812 -0.006 Two-year note 100-136/256 4.5908 0.014 Three-year note 100-204/256 4.3324 0.002 Five-year note 101-24/256 4.1296 -0.008 Seven-year note 101-48/256 4.177 -0.016 10-year note 102-220/256 4.1458 -0.025 20-year bond 103-252/256 4.4464 -0.034 30-year bond 107-248/256 4.2755 -0.031 (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Will Dunham)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES-Ten-year yields hit three-month lows on concerns for weak jobs report"
    },
    {
        "id": 142,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toll-brothers-shares-climb-mortgage-150516436.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Toll Brothers Inc. stock rose as the homebuilder’s executives pointed to “solid” demand in recent weeks as mortgage rates pulled back from two-decade highs.\n“It sure feels good heading into the spring season,” Chief Executive Officer Douglas Yearley said in an earnings call Wednesday. “We think we will be able to raise prices. And we’ll be able to continue to manage and hopefully continue to modestly reduce the incentive.”\nToll shares were up 3.9% to $90.63 at 10:01 a.m. in New York Wednesday. The company said Tuesday that it expects to deliver 9,850 to 10,350 homes in fiscal year 2024, up from the 9,597 units the company delivered in fiscal year 2023.\nBuyers have been confronting a housing market that’s become increasingly unaffordable since early 2022 as mortgage rates rose. But borrowing costs have fallen for the past five weeks, bringing the average for a 30-year, fixed loan closer to 7%.\nThat bodes well for builders, many of which have been offering incentives such as rate buydowns or lower prices to lure buyers. The companies have been helped in part by the lack of homes on the market as many owners are reluctant to list their properties, keeping supply tight.\n“With resale inventories at historic lows, buyers continue to be drawn to new homes, and we expect lower rates with lower inflation to add to this already solid demand,” Yearley said Tuesday in a statement on earnings for the three months through October.\nThe company said it expects an adjusted home sales gross margin of 27.9%, below the 28.7% in 2023.\n",
        "title": "Toll Brothers Shares Climb as Mortgage Rate Pullback Stokes Demand"
    },
    {
        "id": 143,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-wall-st-rises-150515058.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nNvidia up on plan to develop new chips compliant with U.S. curbs\n*\nPlug Power falls on Morgan Stanley downgrade\n*\nPrivate payrolls rise less than expected in November\n*\nIndexes up: Dow 0.22%, S&P 0.37%, Nasdaq 0.44%\n(Updated at 9:36 a.m. ET/ 1436 GMT)\nBy Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A\nDec 6 (Reuters) -\nWall Street's main indexes gained on Wednesday as investors turned more optimistic about rate cuts from the Federal Reserve early next year, after data showed further signs of a cooling jobs market.\nProviding more evidence of labor market weakness following the drop in job openings on Tuesday, the ADP National Employment report showed private payrolls increased by 103,000 jobs in November, below economists' expectation of 130,000.\n\"This is basically what markets are looking for (as) weaker labor growth would reduce the threat of inflation,\" said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.\nOptimism about peaking interest rates has led to a rebound in equities from their October lows, with the benchmark S&P 500 gaining nearly 9% in November, hitting its highest close of the year last week.\nTraders have nearly fully priced in the probability that the central bank will hold rates steady next week and expect to see rate cuts being delivered as soon as the first quarter of next year.\nBets of a cut of at least 25 basis points in March currently stand at nearly 62%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nAt 9:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 79.28 points, or 0.22%, at 36,203.84, the S&P 500 was up 16.78 points, or 0.37%, at 4,584.01, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 62.92 points, or 0.44%, at 14,292.83.\n\"The market is beginning to level off after a few days of negative activity,\" Cardillo said.\nInvestors will get more clarity on the state of the labor market and the outlook for interest rates from November's non-farm payrolls report, due on Friday.\nMost megacap stocks edged higher, with Nvidia up 1.2% after the chip designer said it was working with the U.S. government to ensure new chips for the Chinese market are compliant with export curbs.\nNine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose, with consumer discretionary and financial stocks leading the gains. Energy stocks underperformed, down 0.5% as crude prices fell.\nAmong other stocks, Plug Power fell 6.4%, as Morgan Stanley downgraded the hydrogen fuel cell firm to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight\" on liquidity concerns.\nTobacco giants\nAltria Group and Philip Morris International slipped 3.3% and 2.2%, respectively, after UK peer British American Tobacco said it will take a $31.5 billion hit from writing down the value of some U.S. cigarette brands.\nCampbell Soup\nadded 4.8% on surpassing quarterly profit expectations, helped by higher prices for its packaged meals and snacks.\nAdvancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.21-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.92-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.\nThe S&P index recorded 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 48 new highs and 31 new lows. (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Wall St rises as soft employment data supports rate cut bets"
    },
    {
        "id": 144,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alphabet-unveils-long-awaited-gemini-150406443.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis\nSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Alphabet on Wednesday introduced its most advanced artificial intelligence model, a technology capable of crunching different forms of information such as video, audio and text.\nCalled Gemini, the Google owner's highly anticipated AI model is capable of more sophisticated reasoning and understanding information with a greater degree of nuance than Google's prior technology, the company said.\n\"This new era of models represents one of the biggest science and engineering efforts we’ve undertaken as a company,\" Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post.\nSince the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT roughly a year ago, Google has been racing to produce AI software that rivals what the Microsoft-backed company has introduced.\nGoogle added a portion of the new Gemini model technology to its AI assistant Bard on Wednesday, and said it planned to release its most advanced version of Gemini through Bard early next year.\nAlphabet said it is making three versions of Gemini, each of which is designed to use a different amount of processing power. The most powerful version is designed to run in data centers, and the smallest will run efficiently on mobile devices, the company said.\nGemini is the largest AI model that the company's Google DeepMind AI unit has helped make, but it is \"significantly\" cheaper to serve to users than the company's prior, larger models, DeepMind Vice President, Product Eli Collins told reporters.\n\"So it's not just more capable, it's also far more efficient,\" Collins said. The latest model still requires a substantial amount of computing power to train, but Google is improving on its process, he added.\nAlphabet also announced a new generation of its custom-built AI chips, or tensor processing units (TPUs). The Cloud TPU v5p is designed to train large AI models, and is stitched together in pods of 8,960 chips.\nThe new version of its customer processors can train large language models nearly three times as fast as prior generations. The new chips are available for developers in \"preview\" as of Wednesday, the company said.\n(Reporting by Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Alphabet unveils long-awaited Gemini AI model"
    },
    {
        "id": 145,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-ups-stakes-ai-race-150323591.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Google took its next leap in artificial intelligence Wednesday with the launch of project Gemini, an AI model trained to behave in human-like ways that's likely to intensify the debate about the technology’s potential promise and perils.\nThe rollout will unfold in phases, with less sophisticated versions of Gemini called “Nano” and “Pro” being immediately incorporated into Google’s AI-powered chatbot Bard and its Pixel 8 Pro smartphone.\nWith Gemini providing a helping hand, Google promises Bard will become more intuitive and better at tasks that involve planning. On the Pixel 8 Pro, Gemini will be able to quickly summarize recordings made on the device and provide automatic replies on messaging services, starting with WhatsApp, according to Google.\nGemini's biggest advances won't come until early next year when its Ultra model will be used to launch “Bard Advanced,\" a juiced-up version of the chatbot that initially will only be offered to a test audience.\nThe AI, at first, will only work in English throughout the world, although Google executives assured reporters during a briefing that the technology will have no problem eventually diversifying into other languages.\nBased on a demonstration of Gemini for a group of reporters, Google's “Bard Advanced” might be capable of unprecedented AI multitasking by simultaneously recognizing and understanding presentations involving text, photos and video.\nGemini will also eventually be infused into Google's dominant search engine, although the timing of that transition hasn't been spelled out yet.\n“This is a significant milestone in the development of AI, and the start of a new era for us at Google,” declared Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, the AI division behind Gemini. Google prevailed over other bidders, including Facebook parent Meta, to acquire London-based DeepMind nearly a decade ago, and since melded it with its “Brain” division to focus on Gemini's development.\nThe technology’s problem-solving skills are being touted by Google as being especially adept in math and physics, fueling hopes among AI optimists that it may lead to scientific breakthroughs that improve life for humans.\nBut an opposing side of the AI debate worries about the technology eventually eclipsing human intelligence, resulting in the loss of millions of jobs and perhaps even more destructive behavior, such as amplifying misinformation or triggering the deployment of nuclear weapons.\n“We’re approaching this work boldly and responsibly,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post. “That means being ambitious in our research and pursuing the capabilities that will bring enormous benefits to people and society, while building in safeguards and working collaboratively with governments and experts to address risks as AI becomes more capable.”\nGemini's arrival is likely to up the ante in an AI competition that has been escalating for the past year, with San Francisco startup OpenAI and long-time industry rival Microsoft.\nBacked by Microsoft's financial muscle and computing power, OpenAI was already deep into developing its most advanced AI model, GPT-4, when it released the free ChatGPT tool late last year. That AI-fueled chatbot rocketed to global fame, bringing buzz to the commercial promise of generative AI and pressuring Google to push out Bard in response.\nJust as Bard was arriving on the scene, OpenAI released GPT-4 in March and has since been building in new capabilities aimed at consumers and business customers, including a feature unveiled in November that enables the chatbot to analyze images. It’s been competing for business against other rival AI startups such as Anthropic and even its partner, Microsoft, which has exclusive rights to OpenAI’s technology in exchange for the billions of dollars that it has poured into the startup.\nThe alliance so far has been a boon for Microsoft, which has seen its market value climb by more than 50% so far this year, primarily because of investors' belief that AI will turn into a gold mine for the tech industry. Google's corporate parent, Alphabet, also has been riding the same wave with its market value rising more than $500 billion, or about 45%, so far this year.\nMicrosoft's deepening involvement in OpenAI during the past year, coupled with OpenAI's more aggressive attempts to commercialize its products, has raised concerns that the non-profit has strayed from its original mission to protect humanity as the technology progresses.\nThose worries were magnified last month when OpenAI's board abruptly fired CEO Sam Altman in a dispute revolving around undisclosed issues of trust. After backlash that threatened to destroy the company and result in a mass exodus of AI engineering talent to Microsoft, OpenAI brought Altman back as CEO and reshuffled its board.\nWith Gemini coming out, OpenAI may find itself trying to prove its technology remains smarter than Google's.\nIn a virtual press conference, Google executives dodged questions about how Gemini compared to GPT-4 and declined to share specific technical details, such as its parameter count — one measure of a model’s complexity. Google promised to release more technical details about Gemini in an upcoming paper.\n“I am in awe of what it's capable of,” Google DeepMind vice president of product Eli Collins said of Gemini.\n",
        "title": "Google ups the stakes in AI race with Gemini, a technology trained to behave more like humans"
    },
    {
        "id": 146,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-bank-canada-holds-rates-150008166.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds analyst comments in paragraphs 10, 12 and 14, dollar reaction in 5)\nBy Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren\nOTTAWA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its key overnight rate at 5% and left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices.\nThe central bank raised rates by a quarter point in both June and July to a 22-year-high and has left them on hold in the three policy-setting meetings since. Inflation slowed to 3.1% in October, down from a peak of more than 8% last year, but it has remained above the bank's 2% target for 31 months.\n\"Governing Council is still concerned about risks to the outlook for inflation and remains prepared to raise the policy rate further if needed,\" the Bank of Canada (BoC) said in an unusually curt, five-paragraph statement.\nIt said it wanted to see a \"further and sustained easing in core inflation\".\nThe Canadian dollar was trading 0.3% higher at 1.3553 to the greenback, or 73.78 U.S. cents.\nThe statement dropped language used in its previous policy statement, which said \"progress towards price stability is slow and inflationary risks have increased\".\nThe BoC instead noted on Wednesday that labor market pressures had eased and growth stalled during the middle part of the year, leaving the economy no longer in excess demand.\n\"Higher interest rates are clearly restraining spending,\" the BoC said. Oil prices are about $10 lower per barrel than it had forecast in October.\n\"The slowdown in the economy is reducing inflationary pressures in a broadening range of goods and services prices,\" the BoC said, noting October core inflation was at the low end of a range seen in recent months.\n\"It is a stay-tuned message,\" said Derek Holt, vice president of capital markets economics at Scotiabank. \"They are pushing back against the market pricing for rate cuts to begin as early as in the first quarter of next year.\"\nMoney markets are betting there could be a rate cut as early as March, and are pricing in a 25-basis-point cut by April. Governor Tiff Macklem though has said the BoC is not even thinking about easing yet because inflation is still well above target.\n\"The contrasting signals highlight a Governing Council that is desperately trying to keep markets from pricing in an earlier and more aggressive easing cycle,\" said Simon Harvey, head of FX analysis for Monex Europe and Canada.\nThe BoC forecast in October that inflation would hover around 3.5% until mid-2024, before inching down to its 2% target in late 2025. Macklem last month said interest rates might be at their peak, given excess demand had vanished and weak growth was expected to persist for many months.\n\"The main message from the Bank is that they believe the rate hikes are truly working,\" said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. \"It's pretty clear that they're done raising interest rates and really it's just a countdown now to when they begin trimming rates.\"\nCanada's economy unexpectedly contracted at an annualized rate of 1.1% in the third quarter, avoiding a recession, but most economists forecast that upcoming mortgage renewals at higher rates will take another chunk out of growth next year.\nThe BoC will start cutting rates in the second quarter of 2024 as inflation and the economy slow, according to a Reuters poll published last week. (Reporting by Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren, additional reporting by Ismail Shakil, Nivedita Balu and Fergal Smith;)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-Bank of Canada holds rates, still fretting about inflation outlook"
    },
    {
        "id": 147,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-norway-union-joins-tesla-145807315.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Updates throughout with union comments, detail)\nOSLO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Norway's largest private sector labour union said on Wednesday it would later this month start blocking transit shipments of Tesla cars meant for the Swedish market, as part of a growing Nordic movement to support striking mechanics in Sweden.\nSwedish unions led by IF Metall have taken industrial action against Tesla since October to try to force the U.S. electric vehicle maker to sign collective bargaining agreements with mechanics.\nDockworkers in Sweden already refuse to unload Tesla cars arriving by ship, and broad groups of Swedish electricians, cleaners, postal workers and at least one maker of auto components also said they would deny the company their services.\nNorwegian union Fellesforbundet said it intended to send a \"clear signal to Tesla\" and do what was necessary to ensure that any vehicle shipments via Norway to Sweden were blocked, but declined to say exactly which measures it might take.\n\"The right to demand a collective agreement is an obvious part of our working life and we can't accept that Tesla places itself on the outside,\" Fellesforbundet leader Joern Eggum said in a statement.\nThe Norwegian union's actions would begin on Dec. 20.\nTesla has a policy of not agreeing to collective bargaining and says its employees have as good or better terms than those the Swedish union is demanding.\nBut Nordic labour unions say Tesla's refusal to play by long-established norms in the region challenge their power and workers' rights to negotiate wages, vacation, overtime pay and other conditions.\nOn Tuesday, Denmark's 3F labour union also said it would support the Swedish mechanics by refusing to unload or transport cars made by Tesla for customers in Sweden.\nThe Norwegian and Danish unions said their actions would only affect cars that are meant for the Swedish market. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Barbara Lewis)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Norway union joins Tesla blockade in support for Swedish workers"
    },
    {
        "id": 148,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tax-credits-for-tesla-model-3-and-other-evs-slashed-starting-next-year-145750794.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "New rules proposed by the Department of Energy (DOE) may mean reduced or even no federal tax credit for electric vehicles made in North America, if their batteries contain parts from places like China.\nBroadly speaking, the federal EV tax credit is meant to make sure US automakers are sourcing battery components and materials from companies located in US or in US free-trade countries. In order to achieve these goals, DOE proposed new rules on December 1 that said EVs with battery components coming from a company or group designated a foreign entity of concern (FEOC) would be ineligible for the full tax credit. A company that had at least 25% ownership by a partner “owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a government” such as China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran is considered an FEOC.\nThe DOE’s proposed rules are set to apply to battery components on January 1st next year, then will expand to include suppliers of battery materials in 2025. The DOE is accepting comments on its interpretation of the rules through January 3rd.\nThe rules are already being felt weeks before the new year. Tesla (TSLA) noted on its website that its cheapest Model 3 sedans won’t be eligible for the full $7,500. “All new Model 3 vehicles currently qualify for a federal tax credit for eligible buyers. $7,500 tax credit will reduce to $3,750 for Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive and Model 3 Long Range on Jan 1, 2024,” Tesla said on the Model 3 order page.\n“Currently, some of Tesla's vehicles use batteries from China, despite all their efforts to make batteries here in the US,” Canaccord Genuity Analyst George Gianarikas said to Yahoo Finance. “They still use batteries we think [from] CATL in China.”\nFord’s (F) Mustang Mach-E may also be affected, as it will likely lose its credit of $3,500 next year. “Beginning Jan 1, 2024, the Mustang Mach-E may not be eligible for the current $3,750 federal tax credit. If you take delivery of a Mustang Mach-E by December 31, remaining 2023 models are still eligible for the federal tax incentive!” Ford said on the Mach-E order page. The Ford F-150 Lightning EV will still retain its full EV tax credit of $7,500, according the Ford's website.\nA check by Yahoo Finance finds that order pages for EVs like the Nissan Leaf EV and Volkswagen ID.4 are also stating buyers must “take delivery by December 31, 2023” to qualify for the Federal EV tax credit. Other EVs offered by GM and Rivian do not mention the loss of tax credits or having to take delivery by the end of the year. Currently only 20 EVs currently on sale from Tesla, Ford, Nissan, GM, and Rivian qualify for federal EV tax credits, per the fueleconomy.gov website.\nDespite the loss of tax credits in some instances, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI), a trade group representing many of the automakers, welcomed DOE’s guidance.\n“When it comes to China and the auto industry… it’s complicated, but this is important clarity,” AAI president John Bozzella said. “It’s important (for economic and national security) that the US controls its own destiny with supply chains and raw materials sourced domestically or from allies. That will happen. In fact, it’s already happening all over the Midwest and Southeast.”\nAs for Tesla, the loss of half the credit for the Model 3 RWD and all-wheel drive may impact sales in the near term, but shouldn’t be a huge concern for investors — it’s the bigger picture that matters.\n“The lack of an incentive is potentially creating an ‘air pocket’ in the first quarter,” Canaccord's Gianarikas said, with the “air pocket” being a drop in sales for the Model 3.\n“Maybe it means the fourth quarter estimates or actual volumes are really good because people rush to the store or rush online to buy their Tesla, leaving a little bit of an air pocket [in Q1]. We'll see how this all shakes out, but at the end of the day what really matters globally, is can Tesla sell 2.3 million plus or minus vehicles next year? We think the answer is 'yes.'”\nPras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Tax credits for Tesla Model 3 and other EVs slashed starting next year"
    },
    {
        "id": 149,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citis-2023-revenue-expected-lower-145657453.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Tatiana Bautzer and Niket Nishant\n(Reuters) - Citigroup's full-year revenue is expected to be towards the lower end of its previous forecast, at around $78 billion, Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said at a conference on Wednesday.\nHe cited the situation in Argentina as one of the factors reducing revenue. \"The Argentina elections for example, that is going to put pressure on revenue for a couple of hundred million dollars. Thinking about the currency impact, that's the cost of us doing business there.\"\nMason said Citi is 'on track' to complete its full reorganization by the end of the first quarter in 2024. The bank's CFO estimates the bank will spend around $1 billion in a combination of repositioning and restructuring charges.\nThe reduction of expenses to $51 billion to $53 billion is attainable and will increase the bank's profitability, he added. Citi has a target for the return on average tangible common shareholders equity, a measure of profitability known as ROTCE, to 11 to 12% over the next years.\n(Reporting by N%, up from Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Tatiana Bautzer in New York)\n",
        "title": "Citi's 2023 revenue expected to be at lower end of forecast, CFO says"
    },
    {
        "id": 150,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-citis-2023-revenue-expected-145445824.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds context on revenue estimate, CFO quotes on reorganization)\nBy Tatiana Bautzer and Niket Nishant\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Citigroup's full-year revenue is expected to be towards the lower end of its previous forecast, at around $78 billion, Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said at a conference on Wednesday.\nHe cited the situation in Argentina as one of the factors reducing revenue. \"The Argentina elections for example, that is going to put pressure on revenue for a couple of hundred million dollars. Thinking about the currency impact, that's the cost of us doing business there.\"\nMason said Citi is 'on track' to complete its full reorganization by the end of the first quarter in 2024. The bank's CFO estimates the bank will spend around $1 billion in a combination of repositioning and restructuring charges.\nThe reduction of expenses to $51 billion to $53 billion is attainable and will increase the bank's profitability, he added. Citi has a target for the return on average tangible common shareholders equity, a measure of profitability known as ROTCE, to 11 to 12% over the next years. (Reporting by N%, up from Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Tatiana Bautzer in New York)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Citi's 2023 revenue expected to be at lower end of forecast, CFO says"
    },
    {
        "id": 151,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ex-twitter-exec-claims-lawsuit-144945300.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Daniel Wiessner\n(Reuters) - A former executive at Twitter Inc, now called X Corp, has filed a lawsuit claiming he was fired after Elon Musk acquired the company for objecting to budget cuts that would prevent the company from complying with a U.S. government settlement over its security practices.\nAlan Rosa, who was Twitter's global head of information security, filed the lawsuit late Tuesday in New Jersey federal court alleging breach of contract, wrongful termination and retaliation, among other claims.\nX Corp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nRosa claims that late last year, after Musk acquired the company, he was told to cut his department's budget for physical security by 50% and to shut down software that enabled Twitter to share information with law enforcement agencies around the world.\nRosa says he objected because the cuts would put Twitter at risk of violating a $150 million settlement it entered into earlier in 2022 with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which claimed Twitter had misused users' personal information. The agreement required Twitter to implement privacy and information security controls to protect confidential data.\nHe was fired days after raising those concerns, according to the lawsuit. Rosa is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and legal fees.\nX Corp has been hit with numerous lawsuits by former employees and executives since Musk acquired the company and culled more than half of its workforce as a cost-cutting measure.\nThose lawsuits make a range of claims, including that the company failed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in severance pay to ex-employees, discriminated against older employees, women and workers with disabilities, and failed to give advance notice of mass layoffs. X Corp has denied wrongdoing.\n(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "Ex-Twitter exec claims in lawsuit he was fired for raising security concerns"
    },
    {
        "id": 152,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-bank-ceos-warn-regulations-144559195.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — The heads of the nation's biggest banks say there are reasons to be concerned about the health of U.S. consumers — particularly poor and low-income borrowers — in their annual appearance in front of Congress on Wednesday.\nThe CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and five other large firms also took the opportunity to impress upon senators that the Biden Administration's new proposed regulations for the industry may hurt the U.S. economy going into an election year and at a time when a recession is possible.\nWall Street's most powerful bankers have regularly appeared in front of Congress going back to the 2008 financial crisis. Among those testifying before the Senate Banking Committee include JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, Bank of America's Brian Moynihan, Jane Fraser of Citigroup and Goldman Sach's David Solomon.\nWhen both houses of Congress were controlled by Democrats, the CEOs would appear in front of both the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate banking panel. Now that Republicans control the House, only the Senate is holding a hearing this year.\nThis year has been a tough one for the banking industry, as high interest rates have caused banks and consumers to seek fewer loans and consumers are facing financial pressure from inflation. Three larger banks failed this year — Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank — after the banks experienced a run on deposits and questions about the health of their balance sheets.\nFurther, regulators have proposed new rules that could hit bank profitability hard, including new rules from the Federal Reserve that would required big banks to hold additional capital on their balance sheets. The industry is adamantly against the new regulations, known as the Basel Endgame, saying the rules would hurt lending and bank balance sheets at a time when the industry needs more flexibility.\n“Almost every element of the Basel III Endgame proposal would make lending and other financial activities more expensive, especially for smaller companies and consumers,” Fraser said in her prepared remarks.\nThere are also proposals coming from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would rein in overdraft fees, which have also been a longtime source of revenue for the consumer banks.\n",
        "title": "Big bank CEOs warn that new regulations may severely impact economy"
    },
    {
        "id": 153,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sentinelone-soars-emerging-cybersecurity-challenger-144010537.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Akash Sriram\n(Reuters) - SentinelOne surged nearly 14% on Wednesday after a strong quarterly revenue forecast signaled its entry into the cybersecurity big leagues, challenging larger rivals like Microsoft and CrowdStrike.\nThe stock hit a more than one-year high and could add nearly $1 billion in value if gains hold, topping up a rise of about 37% notched for the year so far.\nSentinelOne's consolidated platform for enterprise customers as well as the competitive advantages of its Data Lake product are among the top factors behind its growth and rising customer base, analysts have said.\nIts efforts to tap growing demand for security services focused on end-user devices such as laptops and smartphones are also paying off.\n\"We view SentinelOne as an emerging challenger in the endpoint security space, a prominent part of the cybersecurity stack that has been dominated by larger competitors such as Microsoft and CrowdStrike,\" Morningstar analysts said in a note.\nSentinelOne has also rolled out products such as the generative AI-powered Purple AI and Singularity platform to help plug vulnerabilities that come with the rising digital presence of businesses.\n\"We continue to win a significant majority of competitive evaluations against both next-gen and legacy endpoint providers,\" said CEO Tomer Weingarten.\nD.A. Davidson analysts said Data Lake, a data collection and investigation product, offers notable cost savings and superior speed than rival Splunk, which is set to be bought by Cisco for $28 billion.\nAt least eight brokerages raised their price targets on SentinelOne, with an average rating of \"buy\" and median target of $20, in line with closing prices before its results on Tuesday.\nSentinelOne forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $169 million and projected $616 million in annual sales, both surpassing estimates, according to LSEG data.\nThe stock has a 12-month forward price-to-sales ratio - which measures valuation - of 7.7, compared with larger rival CrowdStrike's 15.1 and 10.7 for Microsoft, whose operations also include endpoint security.\n(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)\n",
        "title": "SentinelOne soars on 'emerging cybersecurity challenger' label from Wall St"
    },
    {
        "id": 154,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-eu-scientists-2023-warmest-143132361.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Changes headline)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - European Union scientists said on Wednesday that 2023 would be the warmest year on record, as global mean temperature for the first 11 months of the year hit the highest level on record, 1.46 degrees Celsius (2.63 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1850-1900 average. The record comes as governments are in marathon negotiations on whether to, for the first time, phase out the use of CO2-emitting coal, oil and gas, the main source of warming emissions, at the COP28 summit in Dubai.\nThe temperature for the January-November period was 0.13C higher than the average for the same period in 2016, currently the warmest calendar year on record, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said.\nNovember 2023 was the warmest November on record globally, with an average surface air temperature of 14.22C, 0.85C above the 1991-2020 average for November and 0.32C above the previous warmest November, in 2020, Copernicus added.\nThis year \"has now had six record breaking months and two record breaking seasons. The extraordinary global November temperatures, including two days warmer than 2C above preindustrial, mean that 2023 is the warmest year in recorded history,\" deputy director of C3S Samantha Burgess said in a statement.\nThe boreal autumn September–November was also the warmest on record globally by a large margin, with an average temperature of 15.30C, 0.88C above average, EU scientists said.\n\"As long as greenhouse gas concentrations keep rising, we can't expect different outcomes from those seen this year. The temperature will keep rising and so will the impacts of heatwaves and droughts. Reaching net zero as soon as possible is an effective way to manage our climate risks,\" C3S director, Carlo Buontempo added.\nEfforts are lagging to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, beyond which scientists warn of a severe impact on weather, health and agriculture. The EU has among the most ambitious climate change policies of any major economy, having passed laws to deliver its 2030 target to cut net emissions by 55% from 1990 levels, which analysts say is the minimum needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. (Reporting by Diana Mandiá. Editing by Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-EU scientists say 2023 will be warmest year on record globally"
    },
    {
        "id": 155,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/taylor-swift-rodeo-super-bowl-143049761.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The nation’s gaming and entertainment capital is almost back to normal.\nMore than 34 million people flocked to Las Vegas through October, driven by a rebound in concerts and conventions. The surge is on pace to top last year’s volume, though slightly shy of pre-pandemic levels, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.\nLas Vegas is the market leader and a proxy for tourism nationally, and it’s natural that the city would “lead the anticipated recovery,” said Cathy Breden, chief executive officer of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, which tracks activity in the business to business exhibition industry, in an email.\nOf course, what passes for “normal” in Las Vegas, a city with a mini Eiffel Tower and a Sphinx on its main street, would be larger than life anywhere else. Helping the city draw crowds in 2023 were a Formula 1 Grand Prix race, the upcoming Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and stops by Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Usher. Boding well for the new year, according to Erica Johnson, director of communications at the city’s visitors authority, are such disparate events as Super Bowl LVIII, slated for the week of Feb. 5 to 11, and the World of Concrete tradeshow.\nNearly 42.9 million people visited Las Vegas in 2019, the second-highest year on record, according to Michael Parker, associate director of public finance at S&P Global Ratings. “The pre-pandemic recovery bar was set very high,” he said in an email.\n“We expected a fairly long road back for Las Vegas visitor counts,” Eric Hoffmann, an associate managing director at Moody’s Investors Service, said in an email, adding that the company changed the city’s rating outlook back to stable from negative two years ago because of its “quite steady” fiscal health. Moody’s rates the city Aa2.\nParker noted that it took some time for domestic and international travel to resume. “In the years leading up to the pandemic, international travelers regularly made up over one-tenth of total visitors to Las Vegas. Because people entering the US no longer needed to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test as of June 2022, calendar 2023 is the first full year of minimal US Covid-related travel restrictions.”\nOne bright spot in the city’s recovery is the convention business. Through October, Las Vegas convention attendance is more than 5 million, 24% more than the comparable period in 2022, and already topping that year’s total. The record year for convention attendance was 2019, with more than 6.6 million attendees.\n“Las Vegas’s rebound is not taking too long,” Breden said in an email. She added it was in line with CEIR’s forecast “and is perhaps a little ahead.” Vegas is expected to make a full recovery next year.\n",
        "title": "Taylor Swift, Rodeo, Super Bowl Help Las Vegas Regain Momentum"
    },
    {
        "id": 156,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-backed-bank-c6-brazil-143000416.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Tatiana Bautzer\nNEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - C6, the Brazilian digital bank backed by JPMorgan Chase, earned a profit in November, its founder and CEO, Marcelo Kalim, told Reuters.\nWhile C6 is expected to be profitable in December, it will probably report a full-year loss of 1.2 billion reais ($244 million), Kalim said. That is narrower than the 2.4 billion-real ($487 million) loss it reported last year.\nJPMorgan has a 46% stake in C6.\nThe bank has around 30 million clients. Its losses grew last year as C6 pushed for growth and made more consumer and business loans, Kalim said. The bank has adjusted policies and now has its credit losses under control, he added.\nKalim declined to comment on a potential increase in JPMorgan's stake. JPMorgan's president, Daniel Pinto, recently said the company had not yet made a decision on expanding its holding in C6.\nC6 has sold 660 million reais ($134.01 million) in subordinated debt this year to increase its capital, Kalim said. If it needs more capital, the digital bank would consider issuing more debt, the CEO added. ($1 = 4.9251 reais) (Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer in New York Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "JPMorgan-backed bank C6 in Brazil earned profit last month -CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 157,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/factbox-chinese-other-cobalt-mines-142849055.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - A fall in the price of cobalt, a silvery-blue metal used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries, electronics and the defence sector, has yet to deter many Chinese-owned and other mines from expanding or maintaining output.\nMost of the expansions are in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the dominant producer with nearly 70% of global supply, but Indonesia is a growth area.\nSome projects have been delayed because of the weak prices and major producer Glencore has said it may trim output.\nBelow are the status of current and future cobalt operations.\nDELAYS, POSSIBLE CUTS\nGlencore's CEO said in August the company had stockpiled material and would consider cutting production in response to weak prices, although so far production has remained steady.\nThe company owns the Mutanda copper-cobalt operation in Congo, the world's biggest cobalt mine, which along with other operations pumped 32,500 metric tonnes of cobalt in 2023 to end-September, largely unchanged from last year.\nChemaf SA was expanding its Etoile open cast copper-cobalt mine in Congo and building a new one, Mutoshi, before putting itself up for sale in response to high debt, inflation and low cobalt prices.\nThe two operations were due to produce 4,000 and 16,000 tons of cobalt annually respectively and were 85% complete, but analysts expect the launch to be delayed.\nJervois Global in March suspended final construction of its Idaho cobalt operations, which would be the only U.S. primary cobalt mine, citing weak prices. It was expected to produce 2,000 metric tons a year.\nCHINESE COMPANIES IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO\nThe Chinese-owned CMOC Group, the world's second biggest cobalt producer, owns the huge Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine and is ramping up its new Kisanfu operation.\nThe company said it expected to produce up to 54,000 tons of cobalt this year, more than doubling last's year's 20,286 tons and making it the world's biggest producing company, overtaking Glencore.\nMMG Group added cobalt production to its portfolio this year with the expansion at its Kinsevere copper mine in Congo, which is expected to produce 4,000-6,000 tons of cobalt a year.\nJinchuan Group International Resources owns the open-cast Ruashi copper-cobalt operations and is developing the underground Musonoi mine in Congo. The company's cobalt output is expected to jump 76% to 10,000 tons in 2024, Hong-Kong based Valuable Capital said in note.\nWanbao Mining, a subsidiary of state-owned Chinese military supplier Norinco, launched production in 2021 of cobalt hydroxide - a chemical used in EV batteries - from its Pumpi mine in Congo. Pumpi is designed to produce around 5,000 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide per year on a metal content basis.\nIn addition to the Chinese expansion in DRC, Kazakhstan's Eurasian Resources Group plans to revive its Comide copper, cobalt mine in Congo and complete a hydrometallurgical plant by 2025, aiming to produce 15,000 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide annually.\nThe Metalkol RTR operation processes tailing deposits and produced 20,718 tons of cobalt in 2021.\nINDONESIA\nIndonesia has become the world's second biggest cobalt producing country, with the potential to boost output by more than 10 times by 2030, the Cobalt Institute estimates.\nThe country's new high pressure acid leach (HPAL) nickel projects produce cobalt as a byproduct in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), an intermediate product that can be converted into nickel sulphate used in making batteries for EVs.\nPT Halmahera Persada Lygend, with partner China's Lygend Resources launched the country's first HPAL operation in 2021. Its third phase is due in late 2023 and will have a total capacity of 14,250 tons of cobalt when fully operational.\nA joint venture of Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Tsingshan Holding Group and CMOC started shipping production in February 2022 and has capacity of 7,800 tons of cobalt a year.\nAnother HPAL project at Huafei involving Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, was commissioned in June with annual capacity of 15,000 tons of cobalt in mixed MHP.\nPT QMB New Energy Materials' HPAL joint venture operation, majority owned by GEM Co Ltd, launched production last year and aims to produce 4,000 tons of cobalt a year.\nMerdeka Battery Materials has two HPAL joint ventures, one with China's GEM Co. that targets production at the end of 2024. Another with battery maker CATL is expected to launch in late 2025.\nThe Pomalaa joint venture of PT Vale Indonesia, U.S. carmaker Ford and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, is due to launch in 2026 and produce 120,000 tons per year of MHP, but it did not specify how of cobalt that contained.\n(Reporting by Eric Onstad; editing by Barbara Lewis)\n",
        "title": "Factbox-Chinese and other cobalt mines boosting output despite price slide"
    },
    {
        "id": 158,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-hsbc-tests-protecting-fx-142522788.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds Amazon Web Services quote in paragraph 14)\nBy Sinead Cruise and Lawrence White\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - HSBC has completed what it says is the world's first trial of a tool designed to protect highly sensitive financial data from cyber criminals seeking to harness the power of next-generation quantum computers to launch future attacks.\nThe British bank said it used the tool to safeguard a trade on its proprietary platform, HSBC AI Markets, exchanging 30 million euros for U.S. dollars.\nThe test, details of which are reported here for the first time, shows how banks are trying to get ahead of cyber criminals who could use advances in computing to access trading data in global financial systems such as the $7.5 trillion per day foreign exchange market.\n\"While we take the view that we are some distance away from quantum computers being able to break traditional encryption, the time to prepare for this is now,\" Colin Bell, CEO of HSBC Europe, told Reuters.\nHSBC's test ran on a network created by British telecommunications company BT and using devices developed by Toshiba as well as support from Amazon Web Services.\nThe test is an important step in showing the commercial applications of the technology using currently available fibre networks, said Andrew Shields, head of quantum technology, Toshiba Europe.\nHoward Watson, Chief Security and Networks Officer, BT Group, said it was critical that digital infrastructure remained secure against new quantum-based threats.\nHSBC said the test helped it plan how it could roll out to some of its trading systems a form of encryption known as quantum key distribution (QKD).\nQKD uses particles of light to deliver secret keys between parties that can be used to encrypt and decrypt sensitive data, the bank said.\n\"The protection of both the bank's data and our clients' data is something that we take with the utmost seriousness,\" said Richard Bibbey, global head of foreign exchange, emerging market rates and commodities at HSBC.\n\"Were someone to be able to eavesdrop on the flows that go across the largest foreign exchange institutions, they will have a significant amount of information, the capacity to manipulate the market and to understand what trades have been executed before they have been risk-managed.\"\nQuantum computers promise to be millions of times faster than today's most powerful supercomputers, potentially revolutionizing everything from medical research to battling climate change.\nBanks worldwide are working on how to take advantage, as well as how to protect themselves against any risks.\n\"Bringing quantum key distribution to a trading scenario is a real-world example of how this technology ... establishes a model for even more use cases to help customers stay secure,\" Simone Severini, general manager, quantum technologies at Amazon Web Services, said.\nSome 297 patents for so-called Post Quantum Cryptography, or systems resistant to quantum computing attacks, have been filed in the United States alone since 2015, according to John Egan, CEO of independent BNP Paribas research subsidiary L'Atelier.\nSome experts are sceptical of the immediate practical implications of the QKD technology for financial markets.\nAuthorities say its specialist hardware requirements make QKD impractical for many potential end users, said Martin Albrecht, professor of cyber security at King's College London.\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-HSBC tests protecting FX trading from quantum computer attacks"
    },
    {
        "id": 159,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-plans-add-10-000-142516714.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - McDonald's is planning to open about 10,000 restaurants globally by 2027 and more than double revenue from its loyalty program, the company said on Wednesday, as it invests heavily to automate processes and speed up service at its stores.\nThe expansion plans it laid out would take its restaurant count to about 50,000 in over 100 countries and mark the fastest period of growth in the company's history, McDonald's said ahead of its investor day.\nThe company also said that it planned to increase the user base of its loyalty program to 250 million customers by 2027, putting it on track to deliver $45 billion in annual sales.\nThe program currently has 150 million active users, who generate over $20 billion in system-wide sales.\nShares of the company were down marginally in volatile premarket trading.\nMcDonald's has doubled down on its marketing strategies over the past several years, including piloting its \"Best Burger\" initiative to improve the quality of its burgers.\nThe initiative - which the company scaled to 70 markets recently - will be deployed to nearly all markets by 2026, it said.\nFor 2024, McDonald's expects nearly 2% growth in system-wide sales, on a constant currency basis, compared with the 1.5% growth it expects for 2023. Operating margins next year are estimated to be in the mid-to-high 40% range.\nIt also partnered with Alphabet's Google Cloud to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to its restaurants worldwide. That would include automating processes to help deliver hotter, fresher food to customers faster.\nAlthough U.S. consumer spending has been pressured, McDonald's has remained largely unaffected due to its affordable menu items and aggressive promotions. McDonald's topped estimates for sales and profit in the quarter ended September.\n(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)\n",
        "title": "McDonald's plans to add about 10,000 new stores by 2027, double loyalty program sales"
    },
    {
        "id": 160,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-mcdonalds-plans-add-10-142201294.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds shares in paragraph 5 and background in paragraph 10)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - McDonald's is planning to open about 10,000 restaurants globally by 2027 and more than double revenue from its loyalty program, the company said on Wednesday, as it invests heavily to automate processes and speed up service at its stores.\nThe expansion plans it laid out would take its restaurant count to about 50,000 in over 100 countries and mark the fastest period of growth in the company's history, McDonald's said ahead of its investor day.\nThe company also said that it planned to increase the user base of its loyalty program to 250 million customers by 2027, putting it on track to deliver $45 billion in annual sales.\nThe program currently has 150 million active users, who generate over $20 billion in system-wide sales.\nShares of the company were down marginally in volatile premarket trading.\nMcDonald's has doubled down on its marketing strategies over the past several years, including piloting its \"Best Burger\" initiative to improve the quality of its burgers.\nThe initiative - which the company scaled to 70 markets recently - will be deployed to nearly all markets by 2026, it said.\nFor 2024, McDonald's expects nearly 2% growth in system-wide sales, on a constant currency basis, compared with the 1.5% growth it expects for 2023. Operating margins next year are estimated to be in the mid-to-high 40% range.\nIt also partnered with Alphabet's Google Cloud to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to its restaurants worldwide. That would include automating processes to help deliver hotter, fresher food to customers faster.\nAlthough U.S. consumer spending has been pressured, McDonald's has remained largely unaffected due to its affordable menu items and aggressive promotions. McDonald's topped estimates for sales and profit in the quarter ended September. (Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-McDonald's plans to add about 10,000 new stores by 2027, double loyalty program sales"
    },
    {
        "id": 161,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-plans-record-restaurant-expansion-boost-in-loyalty-program-142054433.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "McDonald's (MCD) is pulling the McSplorer — Ronald McDonald's red shoe car — into high gear.\nOn Wednesday morning, ahead of its investor day, the company shared its future plans, including expanding to 50,000 restaurants by 2027, the fastest pace of growth in its 68-year history.\nThis comes as the company saw high-single digit sales growth in its international operated markets and its international developed licensed markets last quarter. In late November, McDonald's announced that it agreed to buy back Carlyle's minority ownership stake in its China business for reportedly $1.8 billion.\n\"We have a clear trajectory for future growth as we continue to build on the brand strength, global footprint and digital ecosystem that have resulted in unparalleled competitive advantages and cemented McDonald’s as one of the world’s leading consumer-facing brands,\" McDonald’s CEO and President Chris Kempczinski said in the release.\nAs it leans into its core menu items, it plans to bring the Best Burger, an update to its burger lineup that will impact its Big Mac, McDouble burger, cheeseburger, double cheeseburger, and hamburger, to all markets by 2026.\nThe size of its chicken business is now on par with beef, per McDonald. So it's bringing its chicken sandwich, the McCrispy, to all markets by the end of 2025, and expanding it into wraps and tenders.\nLast quarter, US sales benefitted from higher menu prices, new marketing campaigns like the As Featured In Meal campaign, and growing digital and delivery order.\nThis reinvestment in its burgers and chicken comes nearly two years after it entered into the chicken sandwich wars. On a call with investors following its Q3 results, Kempczinski said \"We are gaining market share in both chicken and beef.\"\nIn Q3, McDonald's systemwide digital sales — which includes sales made on the app, delivery, or in-store kiosks — totaled $9 billion across its six biggest markets, making up 40% of total sales. That's up from Q2, which counted $8 billion in digital sales.\nThe company plans to further invest in digital, delivery, and drive throughs, including by growing its loyalty program.\nBy 2027, McDonald's aims to boosts its active loyalty user base from 150 to 250 million 90-day active users, and reel in $45 billion in annual systemwide sales.\nIts also partnering with Google Cloud (GOOG, GOOGL) in 2024 to improve operations, and its customer and crew experience. This includes using generative AI at its restaurants to roll out innovation faster, create less complexity and ensure accurate orders.\nGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai said while the restaurant industry is already using its technology, it is eager to see how McDonald's can use \"our generative AI, cloud, and edge computing tools to improve their iconic dining experience for their employees and their customers all over the world.”\nBack in 2021, McDonald's sold its automated ordering business, McD Tech Labs, to IBM (IBM). In June, competitor Wendy's (WEN) announced plans to automate its drive-thru with Google Cloud, dubbed Wendy’s FreshAI.\n—\nBrooke DiPalma is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "McDonald's plans record restaurant expansion, boost in loyalty program"
    },
    {
        "id": 162,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apollo-marc-rowan-says-levered-141818399.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Apollo Global Management Inc.’s chief executive officer said the business of making leveraged loans to companies is in its “late innings” as regulators crack down on banks and private credit continues to grow.\n“When they ask the banking system to put up 15% or 20% more capital, they’re telling the banking system to shrink,” Marc Rowan said in an interview Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs US Financial Services Conference.\nWhen Europe unveiled new capital requirements, “they’re telling the banks to shrink,” he added. “And we’re seeing this everywhere in the world, so debanking is at the early stages.”\nIt’s a “poor choice of language” to think of private credit as levered lending, he said.\nApollo originates $100 billion of private credit assets annually, and alternative credit is key to its goal of reaching $1 trillion of assets under management by 2026.\nThe firm has $631 billion in assets under management, of which about $500 billion is credit — making its one of the largest alternative credit managers in the world.\nWealth management, the business of selling alternative investments to individuals, is also a growing area for Apollo and its peers.\nRead More: Private Equity Courts a Growing Class of Mini-Millionaires\nRowan said firms such as Apollo will squeeze active managers, while the largest players in passive management will continue to grow.\n",
        "title": "Apollo’s Marc Rowan Says Levered Lending Is in Its ‘Late Innings’"
    },
    {
        "id": 163,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-burger-empire-set-unprecedented-141725390.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "McDonald’s expects to open nearly 10,000 restaurants over the next four years, a pace of growth that would be unprecedented even for the world's largest burger chain.\nAhead of a day-long event for investors, the Chicago burger giant said Wednesday that it aims to have 50,000 restaurants in operation worldwide by the end of 2027. McDonald’s had 40,275 restaurants at the start of this year.\nOther national chains are expanding at a rapid clip as well. Starbucks said last month it expects to have 55,000 stores globally by 2030, up from 38,000 today.\nMore details are expected Wednesday during McDonald's investor event, including where store growth will be concentrated.\nThe company also announced a partnership with Google Cloud, which it said Wednesday will help it accelerate automated services and reduce complexity for its employees.\nMcDonald’s same-store sales rose nearly 9% worldwide in the third quarter, even as U.S. traffic fell slightly.\nThe company is focused on core menu items like Quarter Pounders and fries which, according to McDonald’s, make up 65% of sales systemwide.\nBurgers with softer, freshly toasted buns, meltier cheese and more Big Mac sauce are coming to U.S. restaurants by the end of 2024 and most other markets by the end of 2025. McDonald’s said chicken sales are now on par with beef, and it plans to bring its McCrispy sandwich to nearly all global markets by 2025.\n",
        "title": "McDonald's burger empire set for unprecedented growth over the next 4 years with 10,000 new stores"
    },
    {
        "id": 164,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-plans-add-10-000-141604502.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 6 (Reuters) - McDonald's is planning to open about 10,000 restaurants globally by 2027 and more than double revenue from its loyalty program, the company said on Wednesday, as it invests heavily to automate processes and speed up service at its stores.\nThe expansion plans it laid out would take its restaurant count to about 50,000 in over 100 countries and mark the fastest period of growth in the company's history, McDonald's said ahead of its investor day.\nThe company also said that it planned to increase the user base of its loyalty program to 250 million customers by 2027, putting it on track to deliver $45 billion in annual sales.\nThe program currently has 150 million active users, who generate over $20 billion in system-wide sales.\nMcDonald's has doubled down on its marketing strategies over the past several years, including piloting its \"Best Burger\" initiative to improve the quality of its burgers.\nThe initiative - which the company scaled to 70 markets recently - will be deployed to nearly all markets by 2026, it said.\nFor 2024, McDonald's expects nearly 2% growth in system-wide sales, on a constant currency basis, compared with the 1.5% growth it expects for 2023. Operating margins next year are estimated to be in the mid-to-high 40% range.\nIt also partnered with Alphabet's Google Cloud to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to its restaurants worldwide. That would include automating processes to help deliver hotter, fresher food to customers faster. (Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)\n",
        "title": "McDonald's plans to add 10,000 new stores by 2027, double loyalty program sales"
    },
    {
        "id": 165,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-third-quarter-productivity-revised-140032484.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. worker productivity grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter, putting more downward pressure on labor costs, a trend that if sustained could contribute to lower inflation.\nNonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at a 5.2% annualized rate last quarter, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Wednesday. That was revised up from the previously reported 4.7% pace and was the quickest since the third quarter of 2020.\nEconomists polled by Reuters had forecast productivity growth being revised higher to 4.9% rate.\nThe upgrade was telegraphed last week by revisions to gross domestic product data, which showed the economy growing at a 5.2% rate in the July-September quarter, instead of the previously reported 4.9% pace.\nProductivity grew at an unrevised 3.6% pace in the second quarter. Productivity expanded at a 2.4% pace from a year ago, revised up from the previously estimated 2.2% rate.\nUnit labor costs - the price of labor per single unit of output - decreased at a 1.2% rate in the third quarter. They were initially estimated to have declined at a 0.8% pace. Unit labor costs increased at a 2.6% rate in the second quarter, revised down from the previously reported 3.2% pace.\nThey rose at a 1.6% rate from a year ago, instead of the 1.9% reported last month.\nThe moderate annual labor costs bode well for the Federal Reserve's fight to lower inflation to the Fed's 2% target.\nFollowing a raft of data showing subsiding inflation and easing labor market conditions, financial markets believe the U.S. central bank could start cutting interest rates as soon as next March. Since March 2022, the central bank has raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by 525 basis points to the current 5.25%-5.50% range.\nHourly compensation rose at an unrevised 3.9% pace last quarter. It increased at a downwardly revised 4.0% rate from a year ago. Annual compensation was previously reported to have risen at a 4.2% rate.\n(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "US third-quarter productivity revised higher; labor costs much weaker"
    },
    {
        "id": 166,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-firms-slow-hiring-manufacturers-135745961.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- US companies scaled back hiring in November, with manufacturers reducing headcount to the lowest level since early 2022, adding to evidence of a cooling labor market.\nPrivate payrolls increased 103,000 last month and October’s reading was revised lower, according to figures published by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a reading of 130,000.\nService-providing sectors, including education and health services as well as trade and transportation, drove the advance. Leisure and hospitality, which has been a major driver of job creation during the pandemic recovery, cut jobs for the first time since February 2021.\n“That boost is behind us, and the return to trend in leisure and hospitality suggests the economy as a whole will see more moderate hiring and wage growth in 2024,” Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said in the release.\nShe added in a call with reporters afterward that the trend is consistent with the economy reaching a soft landing in 2024 and buoys the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tamp down inflation.\nS&P 500 futures rose and Treasury yields fell after the release.\nWednesday’s report adds to evidence of a gradual cooling in demand for workers. While job creation remains healthy and wage growth is once more topping inflation, employers are increasingly scaling back hiring amid high borrowing costs and lingering price pressures.\nThe ADP data showed a further cooling in wage growth. Workers who stayed in their job saw a 5.6% median pay bump in November from a year ago, according to the report. For those who changed jobs, wages rose 8.3%. Both figures represented the slowest pace of increase since 2021.\nJob creation was concentrated in the Northeast and the South, while the West saw job losses. Mid-size firms with up to 249 employees continued to drive job gains.\nThe government’s monthly jobs report due Friday is forecast to show that US private employers added 160,000 jobs last month. Separate Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Tuesday showed vacancies plunged in October to the lowest level since early 2021, pointing to broad-based cooling in the labor market.\nADP’s report is based on payroll data covering more than 25 million US private-sector employees.\n--With assistance from Chris Middleton and Mark Niquette.\n(Updates with additional Richardson comment in fifth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "US Firms Slow Hiring With Manufacturers Cutting Jobs, ADP Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 167,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-wall-st-set-135409304.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nNvidia up on plan to develop new chips compliant with U.S. curbs\n*\nPlug Power falls on Morgan Stanley downgrade\n*\nPrivate payrolls rise less than expected in November\n*\nFutures up: Dow 0.13%, S&P 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.25%\n(Updated at 8:27 a.m. ET/ 1327 GMT)\nBy Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A\nDec 6 (Reuters) -\nWall Street was set to open higher on Wednesday as investors were optimistic about rate cuts from the Federal Reserve early next year, after data showed further signs of a cooling labor market.\nThe S&P 500 and the Dow closed lower in the previous session, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq was propped up by a fall in Treasury yields after data showing a fall in job openings bolstered bets that the Fed was done raising rates.\nProviding more evidence of labor market weakness, the ADP National Employment report showed private payrolls increased by 103,000 jobs in November, below economists' expectation of 130,000.\n\"This is basically what markets are looking for (as) weaker labor growth would reduce the threat of inflation,\" said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.\nTraders have nearly fully priced in the probability that the central bank will hold rates steady next week and expect to see rate cuts being delivered as soon as the first quarter of next year.\nBets of a cut of at least 25 basis points in March currently stand at 59%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nAt 8:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 48 points, or 0.13%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.25 points, or 0.22%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 40.5 points, or 0.25%.\n\"The market is beginning to level off after a few days of negative activity,\" Cardillo said.\nOptimism about peaking interest rates has led to a rebound in equities from their October lows, with the benchmark S&P 500 gaining nearly 9% in November, hitting its highest close of the year last week.\nInvestors will get more clarity on the state of the labor market and the outlook for interest rates from November's non-farm payrolls report, due on Friday.\nMost megacap stocks edged higher in premarket trading. Nvidia rose 1.1% after the chip designer said it was working with the U.S. government to ensure new chips for the Chinese market are compliant with export curbs.\nAmong other stocks, Plug Power fell 7.5% before the bell, as Morgan Stanley downgraded the hydrogen fuel cell firm to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight\" on liquidity concerns.\nTobacco giants\nAltria Group and Philip Morris International slipped 1.0% and 1.1%, respectively, after UK peer British American Tobacco said it will take a $31.5 billion hit from writing down the value of some U.S. cigarette brands.\nCampbell Soup\nrose 1.9% on surpassing quarterly profit expectations, helped by higher prices for its packaged meals and snacks. (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Wall St set for higher open on rate cut optimism"
    },
    {
        "id": 168,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/group-norwegian-unions-says-act-135125300.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A conglomerate of unions in Norway said Wednesday it will take action against Tesla in solidarity with its Swedish colleagues, who are demanding that the Texas-based automaker sign a collective bargaining agreement.\nJørn Eggum, the head of Fellesforbundet, or the United Federation of Trade Unions, said if Tesla doesn’t accept the demand from Sweden's powerful metalworkers’ union IF Metall by Dec. 20, “we will proceed with the implementation of boycott actions.” Fellesforbundet is organizing, among others, employees in car repair workshops.\n“This is a clear signal to Tesla that they cannot transport Swedish Teslas through Norway,” Eggum said, adding it was too early to say exactly which measures will be implemented. If they attempt it anyway, “it will be met with actions, and we will take the measures necessary to make this work.”\nDock workers at Sweden’s four largest ports already have stopped the delivery of Tesla vehicles in solidarity with the 130 members of IF Metall who walked out on Oct. 27, at seven workshops across Sweden where the popular electric cars are serviced.\nSeveral Swedish unions, including postal workers, have since joined in a wave of solidarity with IF Metall’s demands.\nTesla, which is non-unionized globally, has no manufacturing plant in Sweden but has several service centers.\nThe move comes a day after the United Federation of Workers in neighboring Denmark said there had been speculation that Tesla would deliver its cars to Danish ports and transport them on trucks to Sweden after Swedish dock workers blocked the reception of Tesla cars there.\nThe head of Norway's Fellesforbundet, which claims to have nearly 170,000 members, said Swedish union members were taking up “the fight against a union-hostile company.”\n",
        "title": "A group of Norwegian unions says it will act against Tesla in solidarity with its Swedish colleagues"
    },
    {
        "id": 169,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jack-daniels-maker-brown-forman-135024091.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 6 (Reuters) - Brown-Forman cut net sales forecast for 2024 on Wednesday as cost-conscious consumers looked at cheaper alternatives to the whiskey-maker's more pricier brands in the United States, dragging the company's shares down 7% in premarket trade.\nRising prices of raw materials such as wood and grains have forced most of the alcoholic beverage sector, including the Jack Daniel's whiskey maker, to bump up product prices in previous years. However, inflation-hit consumers have been deal-hunting and shifting away from pricier non-essentials to stretch their household budgets. The company, which also makes El Jimador tequilas, now expects annual organic net sales to grow between 3% to 5%, compared with a rise of 5% to 7% expected earlier.\nIn the second quarter, depletions, which is stock sold to wholesalers or retailers, fell across its portfolio of spirits, with an overall decline of 2% year-over-year.\nHigher costs of agave, a crucial raw material for tequilas, wood, and glass, have put sustained pressure on margins for the whiskey maker, offsetting gains made from a letup in supply chain costs. The company also lowered its forecast for organic operating income growth to 4% to 6% from its earlier growth target of between 6% and 8%. Net sales for the quarter ended Oct 31 rose 1% to $1.11 billion, missing analysts' average estimate of $1.15 billion, as per LSEG data. Excluding items, the company earned 50 cents per share, compared with estimates of a profit of 51 cents per share.\n(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum; Editing by Tasim Zahid)\n",
        "title": "Jack Daniel's-maker Brown-Forman cuts annual sales forecast as demand softens"
    },
    {
        "id": 170,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-hold-rates-until-least-135002408.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Prerana Bhat and Indradip Ghosh\nBENGALURU (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve will hold interest rates until at least July, later than earlier thought, according to a slim majority of economists in a Reuters poll who said the first cut would be to adjust the real rate of interest, not the start of stimulus.\nAll but five of 102 economists in the Dec. 1-6 Reuters poll said the Fed was done hiking in this cycle, even though Chair Jerome Powell said last week policymakers were \"prepared to tighten policy further if it becomes appropriate to do so\".\nThe debate has now shifted to how long the federal funds rate will remain in its current 5.25%-5.50% range and how many cuts will be delivered next year, which the survey suggests will be significantly less than what markets are currently expecting.\nDespite recent strong economic growth and inflation running above target, markets are pricing in around 150 basis points of cuts next year, starting in March, a swift change from the \"higher for longer\" narrative just a few weeks ago.\nEconomists are less convinced the Fed will start cutting so soon, with slightly more than half, 52 of 102, forecasting no rate cuts until at least July. Nearly three-quarters of forecasters, 72 of 102, predicted 100 basis points of cuts or less next year.\nThe proportion of Fed watchers expecting a cut sometime in the first six months of the year is moving in the opposite direction to markets and has steadily dropped in recent months from more than 70% in September.\n\"We agree the Fed will cut in 2024, but think markets are underestimating how stubbornly high inflation will delay cuts until activity has more clearly slowed,\" said Andrew Hollenhorst, chief U.S. economist at Citi.\nMarkets have moved sharply. Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields have dropped sharply in the past month, after crossing 5% in October. The S&P 500 is up over 19% for the year, marking its best month since July 2022 in November.\n\"We expect stronger core ... inflation in coming months to disrupt the slowing-inflation narrative,\" said Hollenhorst, who expects the Federal Open Market Committee to start cutting in the third quarter of next year.\n\"And even if we are wrong and inflation stays softer, so long as activity holds up, the committee might take the opportunity to bolster their credibility by waiting for even stronger evidence that inflation had sustainably slowed.\"\nAll inflation measures polled by Reuters - the consumer price index (CPI), core CPI, PCE and core PCE - were predicted to decline gradually but remain above the central bank's 2% PCE target until at least 2025.\nStill, the interest rate adjusted for inflation - the real rate - would become more restrictive if left unchanged as price pressures fall and poses a risk of slowing the economy too much.\nOver two-thirds of respondents, 26 of 38, who answered an additional question said adjusting that real rate down would prompt the first Fed rate cut, rather than a need to shift towards stimulating the economy.\nThe world's No. 1 economy, after growing at a strong 5.2% annualized pace last quarter, was expected to lose momentum and expand 1.2% this quarter and average 1.2% in 2024.\nStill, the economy has held up well against the 525 basis points of hikes in the most aggressive tightening cycle in four decades and was expected to continue to add thousands of jobs, keeping the unemployment rate low and price pressures high.\n\"With the current stance of policy 'becoming more balanced', the courage for the Fed to remain on hold will be challenged,\" said Ellen Zentner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley who cautioned not to call next year's moves an easing cycle.\n\"When the Fed begins to cut rates in 2024, it is maintaining a certain level of restrictiveness by following inflation downward ... Cutting versus easing is not just semantics, it's an important distinction.\"\n(For other stories from the Reuters global economic poll:)\n(Reporting by Prerana Bhat and Indradip Ghosh; Polling by Purujit Arun; Editing by Ross Finley and Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "Fed to hold rates until at least July; first cut not start of stimulus wave: Reuters poll"
    },
    {
        "id": 171,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-engine-capital-pushes-changes-134838243.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details from letter in paragraphs 2,3)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Activist investor Engine Capital on Wednesday sent a letter to the board of cancer therapy developer 2seventy bio, urging a board refresh and the appointment of its chief operating officer Chip Baird as CEO, among other changes.\nEngine Capital, which owns about a 3% stake in 2seventy bio, said the company should exclusively focus on its blood cancer therapy Abecma, and explore ways to \"immediately cease or monetize all development programs\".\n2seventy bio did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Engine Capital pushes for changes at cancer therapy developer 2seventy bio"
    },
    {
        "id": 172,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-brazils-finance-ministry-eyes-134638112.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds context, central bank bank data)\nBRASILIA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Brazil's government aims to extend the deadline for its broad consumer debt renegotiation program \"Desenrola\" by an additional three months, said a top Economy Ministry official on Wednesday.\nThe original closing date was set for the end of this year.\nAs a campaign promise of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the government launched the program to ease the financial burden on families, strained by the pandemic and high borrowing costs following a previous inflation surge.\nAbout 72 million people in Latin America's largest economy have been blacklisted, according to October data from credit bureau Serasa.\nSpeaking at a press conference, Marcos Barbosa Pinto, the ministry's secretary of economic reforms, said the proposed change would be included in an executive order expected to be sent to Congress by next week.\nSimultaneously, the government intends to waive a certification requirement on the platform created for the program in an effort to increase participation, Pinto added.\n\"The number of people who have not yet visited the platform and have benefits there is very significant,\" he said.\nThe program has already attended 10.7 million Brazilians, renegotiating debts totaling 29 billion reais ($5.90 billion). However, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad recently underscored its potential to reach 30 million Brazilians.\nIn mid-July, the government launched the program's first phase, allowing banks to offer consumers the opportunity to directly renegotiate their debts.\nIn early October, the program was expanded with government guarantees for negotiating bank and non-bank debts, providing significant discounts for consumers earning up to two minimum wages per month.\nAs of now, about 10% of the 8 billion reais in Treasury guarantees have already been utilized within the program, said Pinto. ($1 = 4.9158 reais) (Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Steven Grattan)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Brazil's Finance Ministry eyes three-month extension for consumer debt renegotiation program"
    },
    {
        "id": 173,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canadas-trade-surplus-grows-more-133949842.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's recorded a bigger than expected trade surplus of C$2.97 billion ($2.19 billion) in October, as imports declined and exports edged up, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.\nAnalysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a C$1.60 billion surplus. September's surplus was downwardly revised to C$1.1 billion from C$2.04 billion initially reported.\nTotal exports increased 0.1% while imports were down 2.8%.\nThe decline in imports was led by metal and non-metallic mineral products and motor vehicles and parts. By volume, total imports were down 3.2%.\nThe motor vehicles and parts category recorded its first monthly decline since March, with imports of passenger cars and light trucks being the largest drag.\n\"In the context of unstable supply due to strikes by U.S. auto workers in October, a large share of the monthly decline was attributable to lower imports from the United States,\" Statscan said.\nAircraft and other transportation equipment and parts rose drove the gains in exports, which registered a fourth consecutive monthly rise.\nThe largest contributor to the aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts category was exports of other transportation equipment to Saudi Arabia, Statscan noted. The shipments to Saudi Arabia also helped increase exports to countries other than the United States - Canada's biggest trading partner.\nWhile the value of exports increased, by volume they were down 0.1%.\nCanada's gross domestic product unexpectedly contracted in the quarter and the Bank of Canada anticipates growth to remain muted until end-2024 as high interest rates weigh on the economy.\nThe central bank has left its key policy rate at a 22-year high of 5% since July and analysts predict that the bank will stay on hold at its next rate announcement at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.\n($1 = 1.3566 Canadian dollars)\n(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Dale Smith)\n",
        "title": "Canada's trade surplus grows more than expected in October"
    },
    {
        "id": 174,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-kazimir-says-first-quarter-133803889.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank Governing Council member Peter Kazimir pushed back against market bets on an interest-rate cut as soon as the first quarter of next year.\nThe Slovak official said he agreed with ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel that “incoming inflation data support the idea that additional tightening won’t be needed,” according to a post on the platform X. “However, expecting a cut in Q1/24 is science fiction.”\nInvestors have piled into bets on earlier reductions in borrowing costs after data last week showed euro-zone inflation slowing more quickly than expected. They expect about 150 basis points of rate cuts next year, with a strong likelihood of the first move happening in March.\nLatvian central bank Governor Martins Kazaks said earlier Wednesday in a presentation that such moves probably won’t happen in the first half of 2024, though he cautioned that if the economic outlook changes, “our decisions on rates might change.”\nBoth officials spoke hours before the start of a blackout period preceding next week’s ECB policy meeting in Frankfurt. Markets expect rates to remain on hold.\n--With assistance from Alice Gledhill and Daniel Hornak.\n",
        "title": "ECB’s Kazimir Says First-Quarter Rate Cut Is ‘Science Fiction’"
    },
    {
        "id": 175,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-canadas-trade-surplus-grows-133454357.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(New throughout)\nOTTAWA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Canada's recorded a bigger than expected trade surplus of C$2.97 billion ($2.19 billion) in October, as imports declined and exports edged up, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.\nAnalysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a C$1.60 billion surplus. September's surplus was downwardly revised to C$1.1 billion from C$2.04 billion initially reported.\nTotal exports increased 0.1% while imports were down 2.8%.\nThe decline in imports was led by metal and non-metallic mineral products and motor vehicles and parts. By volume, total imports were down 3.2%.\nThe motor vehicles and parts category recorded its first monthly decline since March, with imports of passenger cars and light trucks being the largest drag.\n\"In the context of unstable supply due to strikes by U.S. auto workers in October, a large share of the monthly decline was attributable to lower imports from the United States,\" Statscan said.\nAircraft and other transportation equipment and parts rose drove the gains in exports, which registered a fourth consecutive monthly rise.\nThe largest contributor to the aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts category was exports of other transportation equipment to Saudi Arabia, Statscan noted. The shipments to Saudi Arabia also helped increase exports to countries other than the United States - Canada's biggest trading partner.\nWhile the value of exports increased, by volume they were down 0.1%.\nCanada's gross domestic product unexpectedly contracted in the quarter and the Bank of Canada anticipates growth to remain muted until end-2024 as high interest rates weigh on the economy.\nThe central bank has left its key policy rate at a 22-year high of 5% since July and analysts predict that the bank will stay on hold at its next rate announcement at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.\n($1 = 1.3566 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Dale Smith)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Canada's trade surplus grows more than expected in October"
    },
    {
        "id": 176,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cop28-chinas-envision-energy-says-133440891.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 6 (Reuters) - Chinese wind turbine maker Envision Energy believes \"it's easy\" to meet an international pledge made at the COP28 climate summit to triple renewables by 2030.\n\"This is not visionary,\" Envision CEO Lei Zhang told Reuters on the sidelines of the summit in Dubai.\n\"If you look at the wind and solar growth rate in the past, you see triple is not difficult because all renewables have been lower cost than fossil fuel,\" Zhang said.\nAt least 118 countries have supported the pledge led by the UAE COP28 Presidency to triple renewable energy capacity.\nZhang said an initiative launched at previous climate talks to finance the replacement of coal plants with clean energy, known as Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP), was also providing an opportunity for Envision.\nHe said investment plans published by Vietnam and Indonesia to access the JETP funding from banks and wealthy nations showed there is money to be made in the space.\n\"The financial investor or technology developer, they see this is an attractive investment opportunity,\" Zhang said. (Reporting by Sarah McFarlane; editing by David Evans)\n",
        "title": "COP28: China's Envision Energy says 'easy' to triple renewables"
    },
    {
        "id": 177,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-private-payrolls-miss-expectations-132908846.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. private payrolls increased less than expected in November as the labor market gradually cools.\nPrivate payrolls rose by 103,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday. Data for October was revised lower to show 106,000 jobs added instead of 113,000 as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private payrolls rising 130,000.\nThe ADP report, jointly developed with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, was published ahead of the release on Friday of the Labor Department's more comprehensive and closely watched employment report for November.\nThe ADP report has been a poor gauge for predicting the private payrolls count in the employment report.\nThe labor market is steadily slowing in the aftermath of 525 basis points worth of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve since March 2022. The government reported on Tuesday that job openings fell to more than a 2-1/2-year low of 8.733 million in October. There were 1.34 vacancies for every unemployed person, the lowest since August 2021.\nAccording to a Reuters survey of economists, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to report that private payrolls increased by 153,000 jobs in November as about 33,000 striking United Auto Workers union members returned to work. Private payrolls rose 99,000 in October.\nTotal nonfarm payrolls are estimated to have increased by 180,000 in November after rising 150,000 in the prior month.\nEasing labor market conditions together with ebbing inflation have led financial markets to believe that the Fed's monetary policy tightening campaign was over and that the U.S. central bank could cut rates as soon as next March. The Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged next Wednesday.\n(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "US private payrolls miss expectations in November"
    },
    {
        "id": 178,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-quants-join-chatbot-131032665.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Jesse Livermore scanned trendlines. Warren Buffett sought a margin of safety. Peter Lynch bet on growth rates. In the long history of markets, trading systems and investment formulas hold an honored place.\nYet even the finance legends couldn’t have predicted what artificial-intelligence proponents are dreaming up these days, thanks to the computational firepower of language models like ChatGPT.\nIn this new world, there are automated programs that blare out warnings if corporate executives go on unnecessary tangents or jump between subjects — potential signs of anxiety about the future. Another AI model dissects product blueprints and graphs from business slides in an attempt to forecast stock swings. There’s even an trading tool that compares actual statements from the C-suite with imaginary dialogue cooked up by machines to figure out — somehow — market liquidity.\nThe list of ingenious-sounding investing ideas churned out by academia is growing by the day.\nOf course, quants have spent decades trying to uncover hidden stock omens across Corporate America with mixed success. But natural language processing — the branch of AI that deals with text comprehension — is the hottest toy again thanks to the wonders of chatbots. The rush to cash in is leveraging long-standing ties between university researchers and systematic investors — and opening a new frontier in so-called sentiment analysis.\n“Basic sentiment analysis based on dictionary — absolutely, that is being arbitraged away,” said Mike Chen, the head of alternative alpha research at Robeco, which runs $82 billion in quant strategies. “There’s so much more you can do.”\nAt its core, linguistic data-crunching seeks to help quants get better at predicting the future by analyzing the meaning of the text behind the numbers. Think of an analyst reading the news or listening to earnings calls, but scaled up across a myriad number of sources tracking every single company at every single moment — in the blink of an eye.\nBeyond text analysis, there’s a plethora of research dissecting speaking tones, facial expressions in videos and even emojis. At Robeco, quants recently started analyzing the tone and pitch of executives on earnings calls for a sign of their true confidence. Stockpulse, a data provider, this year began compiling what influencers are saying about the economy and various companies on TikTok.\nOver at AllianceBernstein, data scientists Andrew Chin and Yuyu Fan are going all-in on AI tools to find hidden meanings in corporate spiel. Not every attempt has worked. For instance, when they dug into how Chinese companies summarize on-site visits from brokers, they found that the more complex the text — like the length of sentences and unnecessary words — the more evidence that the firm in question is struggling.\nOn the other hand, the number of words divided by the length of the broker event, a proxy for speaking speed, didn’t mean much. In US earnings calls, they studied the use of the “we” pronoun as a sign of collaboration and unity. That also proved meaningless.\n“We really try to generate a broad set of signals — sometimes hundreds — but it doesn’t mean all of them will work,” said Fan, a senior data scientist at the $669 billion manager.\nWhereas machine reading used to rely on counting positive and negative words, the large language models behind chatbots are far better at parsing context even across meandering paragraphs. These robots not only purport to structure the unstructured, they also promise to automate research tasks and generate fresh trading ideas at breakneck speed. And the introduction of ChatGPT alone — which has ingested enough text that it has a good grasp of all subjects — is a regime shift. Academic researchers have found that simply telling the chatbot to rate if a news headline is good or bad for a stock has produced better results than prior methods.\nAt the same time the AI hype also reflects an awkward fact of academic life for quant professionals: Build a new research toy, and the papers will come. Long before ChatGPT, market practitioners were casting a wary eye on the glut of freshly discovered ways to pick winning stocks. There’s even a snide name for it: the “factor zoo.”\nNew research techniques have sped up the boom in trading ideas, but there’s a lot of noise out there.\n“Some of them are useful but probably many are not,” said Yin Luo, a quant analyst at Wolfe Research. “There are way too many academic papers in almost every single field about using ChatGPT in many different ways.”\nThe hunt for new signals is already proving a cat-and-mouse game as corporate executives try to outsmart the robots. A 2020 academic paper showed management personnel are now deliberately deploying positive-sounding words and avoiding the opposite to notch higher sentiment scores. Now as AI tools get more sophisticated, companies are updating their presentations to incorporate a positive vocal tone and upbeat sentences, according to this year’s update to the aforementioned study.\nThat’s why quants like Robeco’s Chen are looking for subtle signs of management confidence that are harder to fake. At the Dutch asset manager, machines scan corporate speech to detect the concrete over vague, the spontaneous over the scripted and whether executives are answering analyst questions directly.\n“Executives have been coached on saying the right words,” he said. “There are a lot of different types of stuff you can look at to go beyond basic sentiment.”\nOne way to make the latest language models even better at finance is to get humans to label sentences based on their own expert interpretation of whether they are positive or negative, as AB and Man Group have done. That helps provide additional training for the AI.\nAt Man, quants have been experimenting with what prompts are best for getting ChatGPT to interpret corporate-speak. Feeding it with a few examples seems to help, says Slavi Marinov, head of machine learning at the systematic unit Man AHL.\nTo him, the current drawback with a lot of sentiment research is even if the signals are predictive, a lot of the time they simply behave like classic quant factors such as momentum, an investing style that rides the winners on the way up and the losers on the way down.\n“People might see that in isolation some signals are useful to predict returns, but they don’t look at whether they are additive to all the things that we already know about,” said Marinov. “So they keep rediscovering the same basic effects.”\nIn other words, insights derived from sentiment analysis can bring little fresh value to trading pros, who are already scrutinizing everything from recent price moves to analyst forecast revisions to ride market trends.\nLike all things AI-related then, the boom in sentiment analysis holds real promise even if there’s a lot of hype out there. Yet despite new computing advances, humans are far from obsolete. If anything, industry specialists have become more relevant to the number crunchers — even if it’s just teaching them where to look.\n“If you’re an analyst and you’re going to look for this anyway, then it probably makes sense,” said Chin, the head of investment solutions and sciences at AllianceBernstein. “If you just have lots of data and you’re trying to find some patterns and relationships, some of that will be noise and not useful.”\n--With assistance from Shelby Knowles Nikolaides.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street Quants Join Chatbot Boom as AI Gold Rush Intensifies"
    },
    {
        "id": 179,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-vast-data-valued-9-130052876.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds background in paragraph 2)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Data infrastructure company VAST Data said on Wednesday it was valued at $9.1 billion after a funding round of $118 million, led by Fidelity Management & Research.\nThe fund-raise comes more than two years after its previous one, when an investment led by Tiger Global valued the company at $3.7 billion.\nThe company said it will use the funds from the latest round to develop a new category of data services for its business clients.\n(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-VAST Data valued at $9.1 bln after latest fund-raise"
    },
    {
        "id": 180,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/traders-eye-ecb-key-rate-123816195.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Traders are ramping up bets on monetary easing from the European Central Bank next year, raising the stakes for President Christine Lagarde as she prepares for a policy meeting next week.\nMarkets fully priced six quarter-point rate cuts by the European Central Bank in 2024 earlier on Wednesday, a move that would take the key rate to 2.5%. Although bets were pared slightly later in the day, Deutsche Bank helped stoke the dovish sentiment by revising its outlook to also forecast 150 basis points of cuts.\nWhile policymakers are still warning of the threat posed by inflation, a slew of dovish comments in recent days has suggested hikes above 4% will likely not be needed due to the decline in inflation. Markets are now pricing in an almost 90% chance of the easing cycle starting in the first quarter of next year, a scenario that was barely contemplated just three weeks ago.\nIf traders are right, the ECB will be the first among major central banks to cut rates next year, and will deliver the most aggressive easing cycle. In the US, where headline inflation has slowed to an annual pace of 3.2%, the Federal Reserve is expected to deliver its first move in May and lower rates by 125 basis points in total.\n“Given the latest inflation data and the tone of official commentary, we fear we were too timid,” economists at Deutsche Bank led by Mark Wall said Wednesday in a report to clients. “The risk is now earlier and larger cuts, and an ECB more capable of decoupling from the Fed.”\nDeutsche now sees the first rate cutcoming in April rather than June, with a “significant risk of a cut” in March and 150 basis points of easing in total through the end of the year.\nBond Rally\nThe view that the ECB and other major central banks will have to ease monetary conditions to support their economies next year has boosted bonds. The yield on 10-year German bonds has dropped about 80 basis points to 2.23% over the past two months, the lowest level since May.\nThat’s led some in the market to start cautioning against excessive optimism. Strategists at BlackRock Inc. say they “see the risk of these hopes being disappointed” and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s strategists are recommending options bets to counter excessive rates pricing.\nStephanie Niven, portfolio manager at Ninety One, says euro area rate cuts are more likely to emerge at the end of next year given central bankers have been guiding toward a higher-for-longer scenario. Lagarde has warned that the medium-term outlook for inflation remains highly uncertain.\n“It’s interesting looking at all the narrative around Europe, the flip-flopping that we’ve seen just in the last three weeks,” Niven said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “Europe has both cyclical and structural challenges, and that’s what causing a lot of that oscillation and volatility about what markets are really expecting the ECB to do.”\nEuro-area consumer prices grew less than expected in November, by 2.4% year-on-year from 5.3% in August. That’s closer to the ECB’s 2% target than at any point since mid-2021.\nAt the same, economic data shows further signs of weakness. German factory orders unexpectedly fell in October, highlighting how manufacturing in Europe’s largest economy remains stuck in a rut.\n“The European economy has been steadily deteriorating over the past 12 months as financial conditions have tightened,” said Gareth Isaac, head of multi sector portfolio management at Invesco. He expects labor markets to soften next year, “providing the ECB with the cover to begin cutting rates sharply as inflation falls back to target.”\n--With assistance from James Hirai.\n(Updates with Deutsche forecast in second paragraph, fresh pricing throughout.)\n",
        "title": "Traders Eye ECB Key Rate at 2.5% as They Ramp Up Bets on Cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 181,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/campbell-soup-beats-quarterly-profit-121843357.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Campbell Soup surpassed Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit on Wednesday, benefiting from higher prices for its packaged meals and snacks that helped offset a slowdown in demand from cost-conscious consumers.\nGlobal producers of staple food have consistently bumped up product prices over the past year to counter higher input and labor costs, even as some of the expenses like those linked to supply chain have now come down from their peaks.\nAverage selling prices in Campbell's meals & beverages division, which also includes soups, rose 2% in the first quarter, while prices for its snacks brands - including Goldfish crackers and Cape Cod potato chips - increased by 5%.\nHowever, overall volumes dropped 5% as customers have chosen to switch to cheaper alternatives such as private-label brands at retailers amid persistent inflation.\nThe company reaffirmed its full-year 2024 outlook.\nIndustry peers such as General Mills, Kellanova and Hershey have also seen demand waver for their products in recent months even as elevated pricing has helped them top sales estimates.\nNet sales at Campbell dropped about 2% to $2.52 billion in the first quarter, in line with analysts' average estimate, according to LSEG data.\nExcluding items, the company earned 91 cents per share, beating analysts' estimate of 88 cents.\n(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "Campbell Soup beats quarterly profit estimates on higher prices"
    },
    {
        "id": 182,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nuclear-backers-pressure-biden-industry-203353816.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Nicole Jao and Timothy Gardner\nNEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear power industry is pressuring the administration of President Joe Biden to include existing reactors in a subsidy program for hydrogen, arguing that U.S. goals to jumpstart a \"clean hydrogen\" economy could fail without them.\nThe lobbying push reflects the big stakes for the nuclear industry, which has been struggling for years amid an upswing in low-cost electricity from natural gas-fired power plants and rapidly expanding wind and solar.\nThe U.S. Treasury is expected to issue guidance later this month on a hydrogen tax credit known as 45V that was outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act. The agency declined to comment.\nSo-called \"green hydrogen\" is a fuel made from water using electrolyzers; industry and government officials say it can be considered “clean” if its production is powered by virtually carbon-free energy sources like solar, wind, and nuclear.\nVirtually no green hydrogen is produced now due to high costs. The Biden administration sees clean hydrogen as vital to tackling hard-to-decarbonize industries like aluminum and cement, and is offering production subsidies of $3 per kilogram through the Inflation Reduction Act.\nThe Treasury is weighing the details of the 45V credit, including a so-called \"additionality\" proposal backed by groups that support renewable energy that would make the perks available only to hydrogen producers that power their facilities with new, instead of existing, low-carbon energy sources.\nA decision is expected later this month.\nDeputy Secretary of Energy David Turk said at the COP28 summit in Dubai that agencies are split over the design of 45V. \"It's a big tax credit. We have to get it right,\" Turk said.\nRAISING THE STAKES\nProponents of additionality say diverting existing nuclear electricity from the power grid to produce hydrogen would leave a gap in power generation that would have to be made up by burning fossil fuels that cause climate change.\nU.S. electricity grids will still need power if nuclear power is diverted to produce hydrogen, said Julie McNamara, deputy policy director with the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a science-based advocacy group.\nWith the renewable energy capacity still nascent, this \"means that the only thing that has the capacity to ramp up when that nuclear power is diverted for electrolysis is coal plants and gas plants,\" she said.\nBut nuclear industry backers say a more flexible approach is needed to make a hydrogen economy work.\n“Allowing existing nuclear reactors to qualify will help ensure that clean hydrogen is available and affordable enough to be used by customers across a wide range of industries,\" Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat, said in a recent letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.\n\"It would be a huge unforced error to exclude existing nuclear from eligibility,” said Doug Vine, director of energy analysis at the environmental policy think tank the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Nuclear power is efficient at producing hydrogen as opposed to solar and wind power which is intermittent, Vine said.\nRaising the stakes, the Department of Energy in October awarded $7 billion in grants to seven proposed clean hydrogen hubs as part of its strategy to jumpstart production. Three of the hubs plan to use existing nuclear.\nConstellation, a nuclear power plant operator, says it plans to build a $900 million clean hydrogen facility at its LaSalle plant in Illinois with a portion of the $1 billion hydrogen hub award it received for the Midwest.\n\"The economics of the project are such that you really need... access to the tax credit in order to make it work,\" said Mason Emnett, Constellation's senior vice president of public policy.\nXcel Energy, a nuclear plant operator also set to receive money from the hub program, said in a recent letter to the Treasury that excluding existing facilities would limit the industry's ability to develop hydrogen. (Reporting by Nicole Jao and Timothy Gardner; additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Aurora Ellis)\n",
        "title": "Nuclear backers pressure Biden to include industry in hydrogen tax break"
    },
    {
        "id": 183,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-2-week-high-202633703.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 2010 GMT)\nBy Hannah Lang\nWASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar was at a two-week high on Wednesday, while the euro was weak across the board as markets ramped up bets that the European Central Bank (ECB) will cut interest rates as early as March.\nAlthough markets are still pricing at least 125 basis points of interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve next year, the dollar was able to hold steady as rate cut bets for other central banks intensified.\nThe dollar index, which measures the currency against six other majors, was last up 0.19% at 104.16. The euro was down 0.29% to $1.0764.\nTraders are betting that there is around an 85% chance that the ECB cuts interest rates at the March meeting, with almost 150 basis points worth of cuts priced by the end of next year. Influential ECB policymaker Isabel Schnabel on Tuesday told Reuters that further interest rate hikes could be taken off the table given a \"remarkable\" fall in inflation.\nThe euro also touched a three-month low against the pound , a five-week low versus the yen and a 6-1/2 week low against the Swiss franc.\n\"It's a reasonably sized sell-off and the market is trying to digest, is it just a correction? Did the market get over-exuberant in the previous weeks? I think there is definitely an element of that,\" said Amo Sahota, director at FX consulting firm Klarity FX in San Francisco.\n'A BIT OVERBOARD'\nThe ECB will set interest rates on Thursday next week and is all but certain to leave them at the current record high of 4%. The Fed and Bank of England are also likely to hold rates steady next Wednesday and Thursday respectively.\nThe Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its key overnight rate at 5% and, in contrast to its peers, left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation.\nTraders have priced around a 60% chance of the U.S. central bank cutting rates in March, according to CME's FedWatch tool.\n\"Markets have aggressively priced in rate cuts, without any kind of confirmation from central banks,\" said Adam Button, chief currency analyst at ForexLive in Toronto. \"As December continues, we need either a change in tune from central bankers or a repricing in markets.\"\nIf the Fed were to cut rates as markets expect, it could result in the dollar loosening its grip on other G10 currencies next year, dimming the outlook for the greenback, according to a Reuters poll of foreign exchange strategists.\nThe spotlight in Asia was on China, as markets grappled with rating agency Moody's cut to the Asian giant's credit outlook.\nThe offshore Chinese yuan was flat at $7.1728 per dollar, a day after Moody's cut China's credit outlook to \"negative\".\nChina's major state-owned banks stepped up U.S. dollar selling forcefully after the Moody's statement on Tuesday, and they continued to sell the greenback on Wednesday morning, Reuters reported.\nElsewhere in Asia, the Japanese yen weakened 0.15% versus the greenback at 147.38 per dollar. The Australian dollar fell 0.02% to $0.65495.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin eased 0.06% to $44,049, still near its highest since April 2022.\nThe world's largest cryptocurrency has gained 150% this year, fueled in part by optimism that a U.S. regulator will soon approve exchange-traded spot bitcoin funds (ETFs).\n(Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; additional reporting by Samuel Indyk in London and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Christina Fincher, Mark Potter and Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar at 2-week high, euro softer as market bets on rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 184,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-ten-yields-hit-three-201752649.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 15:00 EST) By Karen Brettell Dec 6 (Reuters) - Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell to three-month lows on Wednesday as investors priced for the possibility that Friday's highly anticipated jobs report for November will disappoint, as ADP data showed jobs growth coming in below economists' expectations. Yields have tumbled as data increasingly points to a slowing U.S. economy and following dovish comments by some Federal Reserve officials who believe inflation will continue to fall closer to the Fed's 2% target. The drop in longer-dated yields to current levels suggests that \"this bond market is expecting a weak payrolls number,\" said Padhraic Garvey, regional head of research, Americas, at ING. Private payrolls rose by 103,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday, below forecasts for 130,000 in jobs gains, though ADP's data do not necessarily correlate to government payrolls figures. Friday's payrolls report for November is expected to show that employers added 180,000 jobs during the month, according to the median estimate of economists polled by Reuters. The pace of the recent yield declines, meanwhile, also indicates that the repricing may be overdone in the short-term. Garvey noted that while he does expect yields to decline as the U.S. economy weakens, \"it just seems to have happened very, very quickly ahead of a pivotal payrolls number that, if it comes in as economists expect - it means we don't have a labor market recession. And if we don't have a labor market recession, there isn't any urgency for the Fed to pivot.\" Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a more than 50% probability that the Fed will begin cutting rates in March, and see 124 basis points in rate reductions by December 2024. Economists polled by Reuters see cuts starting later, with a slim majority saying that the Fed will hold interest rates until at least July. They also said the first cut would be to adjust the real rate of interest, not the start of stimulus. Other data on Wednesday showed that U.S. unit labor costs were much weaker than initially thought in the third quarter amid robust worker productivity. Benchmark 10-year yields were last down 5 basis points on the day at 4.123%, after falling as low as 4.106%, the lowest since Sept. 1. They have tumbled from a 16-year high of 5.021% on Oct. 23. Two-year yields rose three basis points to 4.603%. They are holding above the 4.540% level reached on Friday, which was the lowest since June 13. The yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes reached minus 49 basis points, the most inverted since Nov. 28, and was last at minus 48 basis points. While Friday's jobs report is likely to set the near-term direction of bond yields, other factors next week may also impact market moves. Fed officials are due to give their updated economic and interest rate projections at the conclusion of their Dec. 12-13 policy meeting. Demand for U.S. government bonds will also be tested when the Treasury sells three-year, 10-year and 30-year debt. Consumer price inflation data for November is also due on Tuesday. December 6 Wednesday 3:00PM New York / 2000 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 5.2475 5.4067 0.000 Six-month bills 5.155 5.3812 -0.006 Two-year note 100-130/256 4.6033 0.026 Three-year note 100-200/256 4.3381 0.008 Five-year note 101-32/256 4.1227 -0.015 Seven-year note 101-80/256 4.1563 -0.037 10-year note 103-12/256 4.123 -0.048 20-year bond 104-156/256 4.4002 -0.080 30-year bond 108-224/256 4.2247 -0.081 (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Will Dunham)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES-Ten-year yields hit three-month lows, concerns for weak jobs report"
    },
    {
        "id": 185,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-settles-at-lowest-level-since-june-on-concerns-of-oversupply-weak-demand-172719771.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Oil closed at its lowest level since June on Wednesday despite government data showing total crude inventories in the US dropped by 4.6 million barrels last week.\nThe Energy Information Administration data also showed gasoline stockpiles rising by more than 5 million barrels last week versus estimates of a build of 1.3 million. Even though a rise in fuel inventory is expected at this time of year, the outsized level points to weakness in demand.\nWest Texas Intermediate (CL=F) fell 4%, settling at $69.38 per barrel. Brent (BZ=F) crude, the international benchmark price, was down more than 3.6%, closing at $74.30 per barrel level.\nCrude prices had opened lower on Wednesday prior to the release of the EIA data on concerns of oversupply and weaker demand. Moody's gave China's credit rating a downgrade warning on Tuesday as concerns about the country's economic growth mount.\n“Economic numbers from China are showing a further slowdown as Asian refinery run rates continue to drop with Saudi cutting cash crude prices for next month to China,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president at BOK Financial's trading division. He also noted that seasonally, oil prices tend to decline in late December.\nMeanwhile, ADP employment data released Wednesday showed an increase of 103,000 jobs in the US last month, compared to expectations of 130,000. The prior month’s add-ons were revised down to 106,000 jobs, versus 113,000 previously reported.\nA weaker US job market points to lower demand amid an economic slowdown.\nOil has been on a downward trend over the last couple of months, despite output reductions from OPEC+, and deepened reductions announced last week. \nLast Thursday OPEC+ agreed to additional output curbs of 1 million barrels per day in a move aimed at sending prices higher. The deeper reductions come alongside an extension of Saudi Arabia's unilateral reduction of 1 million barrels per day.\nA lack of mention of the additional cuts in the official press release following OPEC+'s meeting led traders to believe those reductions were voluntary in nature as each country announced quotas individually.\nSince the oil producer alliance's decision, both WTI and Brent have declined by about $5 each, or roughly 6%.\nInes Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Oil drops to 5-month low on concerns of oversupply, weak demand"
    },
    {
        "id": 186,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/berkshire-utility-reaches-299-million-223219342.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co.’s PacifiCorp said it will pay $299 million to settle claims over wildfires that burned homes in southwest Oregon, averting another jury trial in litigation that has already exposed the utility to billions in damages.\nThe accord, disclosed Tuesday in a regulatory filing, will resolve claims by homeowners that the utility’s equipment was responsible for ignitions around Labor Day 2020 in Douglas County that burned more than 131,000 acres and destroyed more than 100 residences.\nThe settlement doesn’t address claims by insurers and by several timber companies over lost trees. A trial in that case is set for Jan. 30. Investigations by federal agencies concluded that power lines operated by a PacifiCorp unit probably caused the blazes, now known as the Archie Creek Fire.\nThe company saw spreads on its investment-grade bonds narrow Wednesday. The bonds were among the most heavily traded of the day, according to Trace. Its 5.5% notes due in 2054 tightened 28 basis points to 180 basis points more than Treasuries, according to Trace pricing data, as of 3 p.m. New York time. The bond is at its highest price since July.\nPacifiCorp — which touts itself as the largest grid operator in the western US — has been battered by lawsuits claiming the company failed to heed hazardous weather warnings and shut off power in its service areas before toppled power lines ignited fires.\nRead More: Berkshire Shows Unusual Risk Appetite in Wildfire Court Fight\nIn a trial targeting PacifiCorp over a different group of fires in the state on the same 2020 weekend, a state-court jury in Portland in June awarded $90 million to a group of 17 property owners — and paved the way for thousands of other residents to potentially seek billions more damages in early 2024.\nThe seven-week trial marked the first class-action case against a major utility to go to a jury following a series of catastrophic fires on the US West Coast in recent years that were touched off by historic droughts and searing heat exacerbated by climate change.\nPacifiCorp’s legal woes follow the bankruptcy of PG&E Corp., which agreed to settle victim claims over a series of California wildfires for $13.5 billion in 2020. More recently, fires that razed the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui in August have left Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. facing liabilities of almost $5 billion if it’s found negligent.\nMikal Watts, a Puerto Rico-based lawyer who represents Oregon homeowners suing the utility over the Archie Creek Fire, praised PacifiCorp’s new chief executive officer for moving to resolve the claims prior to trial.\nPacifiCorp said in a statement the accord covers 463 plaintiffs affected by the “undeniably tragic” 2020 fires and that the company is “committed to settling all reasonable claims for actual damages as provided under Oregon law.” The company said it has previously settled with other individuals and businesses and resolved hundreds of insurance claims.\nThe case is Ellis v. PacifiCorp, 22 CV 37304, Douglas County Circuit Court (Roseburg).\n--With assistance from Mark Chediak and Josyana Joshua.\n(Updates with bond price movement in fourth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Berkshire Utility Reaches $299 Million Oregon Fire Accord"
    },
    {
        "id": 187,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amd-forecasts-45-billion-ai-200143828.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Max A. Cherney\n(Reuters) - AMD estimated there was a $45 billion market for data center artificial intelligence processors this year as it launched a new generation of AI chips on Wednesday.\nAdvanced Micro Devices announced two new AI data center chips from its MI300 lineup: one focused on generative AI applications, and a second chip geared toward supercomputers. The version of the processor for generative AI, the MI300X, includes advanced high-bandwidth memory that improves performance.\nAs AMD launched the new processors, company executives outlined how rapidly demand for AI chips has increased. The company said it now expects the market for data center AI chips to grow to roughly $400 billion by 2027.\nAnalysts estimate that Nvidia has captured roughly 80% of the AI chip market, when including the custom processors built by companies such as Alphabet's Google and Microsoft. Nvidia does not break out its AI revenue, but a significant portion is captured in the company's data center segment. So far this year, Nvidia has reported data center revenue of $29.12 billion.\nAMD's MI300 series launched on Wednesday is positioned to compete with Nvidia's flagship AI processors.\nAMD also unveiled a new version of the software necessary to deploy the chips for AI.\n(Reporting by Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "AMD forecasts $45 billion AI chip market this year"
    },
    {
        "id": 188,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/automakers-dealers-shoppers-dawdle-evs-200053410.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Despite new electric vehicle market share and sales hitting a record in the U.S. this year, EV growth is starting to slow and fall short of the auto industry's lofty ambitions to transition away from combustion engines.\nThe U.S. has reached a crucial milestone in its efforts to electrify: More than 1 million new EVs have been sold here this year, according to Motorintelligence.com. The auto industry consulting firm says EVs accounted for 7.5% of total U.S. sales through November. Experts say that number must rise swiftly to address climate change because a large share of greenhouse gases comes from transport.\nFord Motor Co. recently touted a 43% increase in electric vehicle sales year-over-year — which includes its top-selling electric Mustang Mach E SUV, as well as the F-150 Lightning pickup — in a November sales release. Hyundai's Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6, both electric SUVs, each hitting around 100% growth year over year last month.\nThis overall figure is strong, but still doesn't come close to the sales pace of 90% year over year that the industry enjoyed last summer. EVs had huge sales growth at the time, even with models averaging more than $65,000, according to Cox Automotive data. Demand was high, inventories were low, and automakers were bullish on sales prospects.\nThis is largely because EVs were more appealing to buyers as gasoline prices flirted with $5 per gallon, said Kevin Roberts, director of industry analytics at the CarGurus website.\nNow, gasoline has dropped to around $3 per gallon nationwide, and the average transaction price for an EV, without any incentives applied, has fallen to just under $52,000. Many tech-savvy early adopters have already bought EVs, and the market has moved to more price-sensitive mainstream buyers, many of whom don't want to pay more for an EV than they would for a gasoline or hybrid vehicle, Roberts said.\nA number of other factors are souring today's positive momentum. Until recently, there were few EV models available to choose from. Location, cost, and convenience of charging these cars also remains a concern, as does vehicle range.\nAlthough there is interest in EVs, Richard Bazzy, who owns three Ford dealerships in suburban Pittsburgh, said many customers tell his sales staff that they’re just not ready yet to make the transition to battery power given the pricing, even with federal tax credits. Customers also fear the electric range isn’t long enough to travel where they want to go. This is true especially for those with harsh winters, where range can deplete more quickly. He also said they’re concerned about too few charging stations.\n“Interest is there because it’s intriguing,” Bazzy said. “But it just doesn’t overcome the concerns.”\nAs such, the sales pace slowed to 50% year over year by June 2023, and last month, it dropped to 35% year over year.\nSome automakers are reevaluating their costly EV strategies as the year comes to a close.\nFord has sold just under 36,000 Mach Es through November, only a 3.5% increase over the same period last year. The company's inventory of Mach Es has been growing much of the year. It had more than 24,000 at or en route to dealers at the end of last month, even though it has been cutting production for the past two months. Yet, Lightning pickup sales of 20,365 are up almost 54%. “We have to manage supply with demand,” said Erich Merkle, Ford’s head of U.S. sales analysis. “We would do that with any product in our portfolio.”\nFord recently announced plans to delay one new EV battery plant, shrink the size of another, and postpone $12 billion worth of future electric vehicle spending. GM also delayed retooling an EV plant, and Volkswagen has delayed plans in Europe.\n“Every automaker was so aggressive with their plans,\" Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ head of insights, said. “We’re seeing those being dialed back to better match where consumers are right now.”\nGeneral Motors CEO Mary Barra remains committed to the company's targets, so long as consumer interest is there.\n“We still have a plan in place that allows us to be all light-duty vehicles EV by 2035,” Barra said in an Automotive Press Association event on December 4. \"We'll adjust based on where the customer is and where demand is. It's not going to be, if we build it they will come. We're going to be led by the customer.”\nMany of these companies' auto dealers are now raising alarm about what they see as slowing EV interest.\nLast week, several thousand dealers from across the country wrote in a public letter to President Joe Biden their concerns over the shift to EVs, calling electrification mandates “unrealistic based on current and forecasted customer demand. Already, electric vehicles are stacking up on our lots.”\nThe Biden Administration targeted half of all new vehicle sales in the nation to be electric by 2030 in August 2021 as part of its efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions, much of which come from transportation sector carbon dioxide emissions, a result of burning fossil fuels such as petroleum. Transportation is a major contributor of GHG emissions, particularly personal transport.\n“The short answer is yes, people are resisting” the switch to electric vehicles, Bazzy said. The environmental group Sierra Club and others have said that many dealers don't make an effort to sell them.\nKey metrics related to how long it takes for a vehicle to sell once it is at a dealership, known as days-to-turn, as well as how much inventory of certain types of vehicles is available at dealerships, are being used to assess current US EV demand.\nWhile internal combustion engine cars and hybrid electric vehicles saw 40 and 17 days-to-turn, respectively, in October, the figure for electric vehicles was 57, according to data from car-shopping resource Edmunds. A year ago, EVs took 39 days to turn, while hybrid EVs took 12 and combustion engine vehicles, 26. This indicates EVs are starting to take longer to sell, on average.\nAuto manufacturers have been boosting their incentives on EVs, in an effort to bring the cost of these vehicles down. As of October, EVs were still nearly $4,000 more, on average, than gasoline cars.\nIncentives reached 9.8% of the average transaction price of EVs in September, according to Cox. Before the pandemic, industry incentives like this were commonplace. During the peak of COVID, incentives hit record lows as supply dwindled. Now, incentives are recovering slightly, but the industry average was at just 4.9% this fall, indicating the extent of today's EV discounts.\nBut many EV proponents believe today's roadblocks are temporary, and the larger challenges are being addressed with a variety of solutions.\n“The rhetoric has been that there are challenges in the market,” said Ben Prochazka, executive director of the Electrification Coalition. \"The reality is we’re continuing to see strong sales, strong growth.\n“There are still things that we need to do and that need to move faster,” he added. “So I don’t know if I would call it a pullback. There’s a lot of opportunity to continue to do more to help build consumer interest and confidence in this shift.”\n__\nAlexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.\n__\nAssociated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.\n",
        "title": "Automakers, dealers and shoppers dawdle on EVs despite strong year in US sales growth"
    },
    {
        "id": 189,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-stellantis-seeks-void-california-195208843.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds no immediate California comment, background)\nBy David Shepardson\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Chrysler-parent Stellantis said on Wednesday it is seeking to void a 2019 California emissions deal with rival automakers and it may face new compliance penalties from state regulators.\nThe automaker said it was petitioning to overturn the California Air Resources Board (CARB) agreement to \"relieve Stellantis of the competitive disadvantages arising from our continuing exclusion and to preserve our ability to best serve our customers by fairly allocating our products to all states.\"\nFord, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW struck a voluntary agreement with California on reducing vehicle emissions and Volvo Cars, owned by China's Geely, joined soon afterward. Stellantis has since sought to join the voluntary agreement but been rebuffed.\nStellantis said in its filing with California that CARB intends to pursue retroactive enforcement of greenhouse gas emissions standards for 2021 and 2022 model years against automakers including Stellantis but \"is not retroactively enforcing these same regulations against\" automakers in the voluntarily agreement.\nStellantis said the agreement allows participating automakers to comply based on national sales, while it and other firms not taking part are measured by sales in the 14 states following the California rules, which hinders it from selling electric models in the other states.\nCARB did not immediately comment\nStellantis said Wednesday at times it has been limiting shipments of gasoline-powered vehicles to dealers in states that have adopted California's emissions rules and in some cases gas-powered vehicles were only shipped to those states for sold orders, once a customer ordered such vehicle.\nStellantis has also at times limited sales of plug-in EVs to states adopting California rules and only shipped sold order vehicles to other states.\nIn May, CARB asked the Environmental Protection Agency for approval for it rules adopted in August 2022 that would allow the state to ban the sale of gasoline-only powered vehicles by 2035 and require at least 80% electric-only models by then. The EPA has not yet opened the request for public comment.\nIn June, Reuters reported Stellantis paid a record $235.5 million for the 2018 and 2019 model years for not meeting U.S. fuel economy requirements. (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by David Evans)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Stellantis seeks to void California emissions deal with rival automakers"
    },
    {
        "id": 190,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-president-signals-firm-more-194904148.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Inc. is embracing its new role as a capital provider to Wall Street after sealing a half-dozen deals with banks involving about $7 billion worth of assets.\nPresident Jon Gray disclosed the numbers Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs US Financial Services Conference and signaled the firm expects those kinds of deals to lighten bank balance sheets.\n“We think that area will continue to grow,” he said.\nIn a typical deal with banks, an alternative asset manager takes a stake in a pool of loans that could include everything from home improvement to equipment loans. The transaction frees up banks’ balance sheets — even if they continue to service the loans and maintain a relationship with borrowers.\nGray’s statement underscores how money managers are major beneficiaries of shifting fortunes on Wall Street. The bank crisis in the US earlier this year and collapse of several regional players opened the door for Blackstone and alternative asset managers to provide capital relief to banks more broadly.\nThe fallout from the crisis further tilted the balance of power after private equity firms got bigger in the business of providing financing and owning loans in the past decade.\nBlackstone is open to continuing to explore partnerships with other financial firms that aren’t banks to broaden its presence in asset-based finance, Gray said. These kinds of plays could involve making loans backed by assets such as railcars and airplanes.\nThe firm doesn’t intend to use its own corporate cash as it grows in this corner of finance, according to Gray. This would free Blackstone from the types of regulations that banks face.\nAs the $1 trillion firm expands into all corners of finance, it faces more scrutiny. Gray spoke as short seller Carson Block unveiled his bet against Blackstone Mortgage Trust, a publicly traded real estate investment trust. Shares of Blackstone and the trust fell after Block revealed the short.\nRead More: Carson Block Shorts Blackstone Publicly Traded Mortgage REIT\n",
        "title": "Blackstone President Signals Firm Will Do More Bank-Asset Deals"
    },
    {
        "id": 191,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-p-500-flat-194212886.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nCampbell Soup rises on quarterly profit beat\n*\nPlug Power falls on Morgan Stanley downgrade\n*\nPrivate payrolls rise less than expected in November\n*\nIndexes: S&P 500 -0.01%, Nasdaq -0.07%, Dow +0.12%\n(Updated at 2:08 p.m. ET/1908 GMT)\nBy Noel Randewich and Amruta Khandekar\nDec 6 (Reuters) -\nU.S. stocks were mixed on Wednesday as signs of a cooling jobs market reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates early next year, while weakness in energy shares limited gains.\nThe ADP National Employment report showed private payrolls increased by 103,000 jobs in November, below economists' expectation of 130,000. That provided fresh evidence of labor market weakness, a day after news of a drop in October job openings.\nThe latest employment data reinforced expectations the Fed's rate-hike campaign is cooling the economy.\n\"Right now, it's consistent with the overall trajectory of softening job growth, and so far that's not problematic because the economy is still humming along,\" said Bill Merz, head of capital markets research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.\n\"What would be concerning is if that trend persists for too long, and it turns into large job losses.\"\nOn Friday, the more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report for November will offer greater clarity on the state of the labor market.\nInvestors widely expect the Fed to hold rates steady at its meeting next week and potentially start cutting rates in March.\nA slim majority of economists in a Reuters poll said they believe the Fed will leave rates unchanged at least until July, later than earlier thought.\nOptimism about rate cuts helped push the S&P 500 up nearly 9% in November, and the benchmark is now down about 9% from its record high close in December 2021.\nOf the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, six rose on Wednesday, led by utilities, up 0.94%, followed by a 0.69% gain in industrials.\nLimiting gains, the energy index slid 1.1% as oil prices fell by 2%.\nThe S&P 500 was down 0.01% at 4,566.88 points, with nearly two stocks in the index gaining for each one that fell.\nThe Nasdaq declined 0.07% to 14,220.14 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.12% at 36,169.17 points.\nPlug Power fell 3.9% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the hydrogen fuel cell firm to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight.\"\nTobacco giants Altria Group and Philip Morris International slipped 2.6% and 1.6%, respectively, after UK peer British American Tobacco said it will take a $31.5 billion hit from writing down the value of some U.S. cigarette brands.\nCampbell Soup rallied 7.2% after the food seller beat quarterly profit expectations, helped by higher prices for its packaged meals and snacks.\nThe S&P 500 posted 29 new highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 94 new highs and 73 new lows.\n(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A in Bangalore, and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Editing by Pooja Desai and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-S&P 500 flat as investors weigh fresh employment data"
    },
    {
        "id": 192,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/british-american-tobacco-writes-down-193931735.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Shares of British American Tobacco tumbled Wednesday after the owner of Camel and American Spirit cigarettes took an impairment charge of about $31.5 billion, mainly related to its struggling U.S. cigarette brands with the number of people who smoke in steep decline.\nIn a financial update, London-based British American Tobacco said it is in the process of transforming its business from traditional, combustible products to “smoke-free” ones. Its goal is to get half its revenue from non-combustibles by 2035. Combustibles currently account for about 83% of its sales, according to the data firm FactSet.\nIn 2017, British American Tobacco bought Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Reynolds American Inc. for about $49 billion in cash and stock.\nEarlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a survey that showed U.S. cigarette smoking in another all-time low, with 1 in 9 adults saying they were current smokers. In the mid-1960s, 42% of U.S. adults were smokers.\nThe preliminary survey findings sometimes are revised after further analysis.\nThe rate has been gradually dropping for decades, due to cigarette taxes, tobacco product price hikes, smoking bans and changes in the social acceptability of lighting up in public.\nCigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke, and it’s long been considered the leading cause of preventable death.\nAt the same time, the CDC survey showed that electronic cigarette use rose, to about 1 in 17 adults.\nThose are the customers British American Tobacco is turning its focus to. The company plans to invest in its “new products” business, which includes vaporizers.\nBritish American Tobacco shares fell $2.72, about 8.6%, to $28.82 in afternoon trading Wednesday. Other tobacco companies also fell, with Altria down 2.75% and Philip Morris losing 1.5%.\n",
        "title": "British American Tobacco writes down $31.5 billion as it shifts its business away from cigarettes"
    },
    {
        "id": 193,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-smithfield-foods-ends-contracts-193907885.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates Tuesday story to add details on hog farms in paragraphs 4-5)\nBy Tom Polansek\nCHICAGO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Smithfield Foods said it will end contracts with 26 hog farms in the U.S. state of Utah, in the latest contraction by the world's largest pork processor in the face of an industry oversupply.\nPork producers have been losing money as pig prices and consumer demand have struggled at a time of high costs for labor and other expenses.\nSmithfield, owned by Hong Kong's WH Group, said it will terminate employees who support its dealings with farms that raise hogs under production contracts. Layoffs may total about 70 employees, or up to one third of the 210 workers in Smithfield's Utah hog production operations.\nThe contracts are with finishing farms that raise hogs to slaughter weight, Smithfield said in an email to Reuters on Wednesday, adding that it will continue to operate company-owned sow farms in Utah.\nAnalysts said pork producers need to cut the number of sows, or female pigs used to reproduce, to return to profitability more quickly.\n\"Our industry and company are experiencing historically challenging hog production market conditions,\" Smithfield CEO Shane Smith said in a Tuesday statement.\nSmithfield in October said it would shut a pork plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, after previously confirming it would permanently close 35 Missouri hog farm sites. Last year, the company said it would close a California plant and reduce its herd in the Western U.S.\nSmithfield needs such cutbacks to remain competitive, Smith said. The company cited an \"industry oversupply of pork, weaker consumer demand and high feed prices\" as challenges, though futures prices for corn used for livestock feed last month fell to their lowest level in nearly three years.\nU.S. meat companies also grappled with excess chicken supplies this year, and face dwindling cattle inventories and a law requiring more space for livestock in California.\nTyson Foods, the biggest U.S. meat company by sales, has shut chicken plants. (Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Smithfield Foods ends contracts with 26 US pig farms, citing oversupply"
    },
    {
        "id": 194,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-stocks-edge-10-193711622.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 1:27 p.m. ET/1857 GMT)\nBy Chuck Mikolajczak\nNEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A gauge of global equities rose on Wednesday following consecutive declines to start the week, while longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields fell after economic data kept afloat expectations the Federal Reserve has leeway to cut rates next year.\nU.S. private payrolls rose by 103,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday, below the 130,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters. Data for October was revised lower to show 106,000 jobs added instead of 113,000 as previously reported.\nOther data showed U.S.\nworker productivity grew\nfaster than initially thought in the third quarter, putting more downward pressure on labor costs, which could contribute to lower inflation should the trend remain intact.\n\"Today is a continuation of the macro trend that the market believes the Fed is done hiking,\" said Joshua Chastant, senior investment analyst at GuideStone Funds, who also noted the market may be too aggressive in pricing in rate cuts.\n\"We're not going to fight the Fed when they're saying that they're going to hold rates higher unless something materially changes. We are seeing things start to slow down in the economy... but we're not there yet.\"\nOn Wall Street\n, the S&P 500 was little changed, with gains in utilities and industrials offset by a drop in energy stocks.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 66.92 points, or 0.19%, to 36,191.48, the S&P 500 gained 1.24 points, or 0.03 %, to 4,568.42 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 7.76 points, or 0.05 %, to 14,222.15.\nSoftening economic data and recent comments from Federal Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, have heightened expectations that the U.S. central bank has ended its interest rate hiking cycle and will begin to cut rates as soon as March.\nExpectations for a U.S. rate cut of at least 25 basis points (bps) in March are about 60%, according to CME's\nFedWatch Tool\n, up from slightly more than 50% a week ago. The Fed's next policy meeting is on Dec. 12-13.\nIn addition to the Fed, expectations have risen for rate cuts in other global economies, with markets currently pricing in a 71% chance of cut by the European Central Bank (ECB) in March.\nHowever, the Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its key overnight\nrate at 5%\nand left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices.\nThe ADP report was the latest in a run of data this week on the U.S. labor market, culminating on Friday with the government's payrolls report. However, the ADP is historically not a very reliable predictor of the government's data. On Tuesday, a report on\njob openings fell to its lowest level since early 2021, while a separate measure of activity showed the U.S. services sector picked up, athough new orders were flat.\nThe yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note on Wednesday fell 6 basis points to 4.112% after hitting a fresh 3-month low of 4.106%, suggesting\nthe bond market is anticipating\na weak jobs report on Friday.\nThe two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, edged up 1 basis point to 4.591%.\nEuropean closed higher as investors largely view the peak in interest rates has been reached, with Germany's benchmark DAX index hitting a fresh record. The pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 0.52% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe advanced 0.17% after two straight days of declines, its first consecutive daily declines in five weeks.\nThe dollar index was up 0.07% at 104.03 after earlier hitting a two-week high while the euro was down 0.17% to $1.0777.\nBrent crude futures tumbled 3.23% to $74.71 a barrel, while U.S. crude was at $69.80, down 3.48% on the day after falling to their lowest level since June, as a larger-than-expected rise in U.S. gasoline inventories exacerbated worries about fuel demand.\n(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; additional reporting by Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru, Editing by Nick Zieminski and Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks edge up, 10-year Treasury yield falls as rate cut timing weighed"
    },
    {
        "id": 195,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-ford-says-unlikely-mustang-193409222.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details, background, paragraphs 3-8)\nBy David Shepardson\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Ford Motor said on Wednesday it is unlikely Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles currently in dealer showrooms will qualify for federal tax credits beginning in January.\nThe U.S. Treasury issued guidance last week detailing new battery sourcing restrictions that take effect Jan. 1 aimed at weaning the U.S. EV supply chain away from China. The current model Mach-E currently qualifies for a $3,750 federal tax credit.\nFord has sold 35,908 Mach-E EVs in the U.S. in the first 11 months of the year, up 3.5% over the same period last year. In October, Ford said it was cutting some Mach-E production.\nFord also said in October it was postponing about $12 billion in EV investments, including delaying its second battery plant in Kentucky.\nFord also\nsaid in October it was temporarily cutting\none of three shifts at the Michigan plant that builds its electric F-150 lightning pickup truck, citing multiple constraints, including supply chain issues.\nCarsDirect reported the EV tax credit news earlier, citing a bulletin to dealers that said the expiring tax credit is \"an excellent motivator to purchase before the end of the year\" and encouraging dealers to complete sales by Dec. 31.\nGeneral Motors said Friday that it expects many of its electric vehicles to qualify for U.S. tax credits next year after new stricter rules limiting Chinese battery content take effect on Jan. 1.\nIn December 2021, Ford\nhad said it expected to triple\nthe output of its all-electric Mustang Mach-E to over 200,000 units per year by 2023 for North America and Europe. (Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Ford says it unlikely Mustang Mach-E EV will qualify for federal tax credits in January"
    },
    {
        "id": 196,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-kyiv-does-not-want-193010027.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Expands with new Zelenskiy quotes, paragraphs 4-5)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that Kyiv was ramping up domestic military production in cooperation with partners as it aims to guarantee its own defence capabilities and become a donor of security.\n\"\"Ukraine does not want to depend only on partners. Ukraine aims to and really can become a donor of security for all our neighbors once it can guarantee its own safety\", he told participants in the joint Ukraine-U.S. defense conference in Washington.\nZelenskiy, whose remarks were posted on the presidential website, said the plan was \"absolutely realistic.\"\n\"I invite all American defense companies to cooperate with Ukraine. I am confident that together we can create a new and powerful arsenal of freedom, which will be a reliable helper for all free nations of the world.\" (Reporting by Yuliia Dysa Editing by Alexandra Hudson, Ron Popeski ; Editing by Sandra Maler)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Kyiv does not want to rely solely on allied military aid-Zelenskiy"
    },
    {
        "id": 197,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ares-sportsology-talks-stake-mlb-192421202.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Sportsology Capital Partners and Ares Management Corp. are in exclusive talks to buy a stake in Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nThe group is in advanced discussions to acquire the 10% stake in the 2023 World Series winners owned by Janice Simpson, and the transaction is set to value the team at more than $2 billion, said one of the people, all of whom requested anonymity discussing confidential information.\nSimpson and her now ex-husband, also a minority owner in the team, were among a group that acquired the Rangers out of bankruptcy in 2010. The Arlington, Texas-based Rangers are majority owned by energy tycoon Ray Davis.\nTerms aren’t final, and a deal is unlikely to be finalized until next year at the earliest, one of the people said. As with all transactions that aren’t yet agreed, talks could still fall apart.\nLos Angeles-based Ares is pursuing the transaction through its sports, media and entertainment finance effort, for which it raised $3.7 billion last year, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Sportsology is led by co-founders Mike Forde, a former executive at Chelsea F.C., and John Carroll, a former executive at investment firms Willowridge Partners and Central Park Group, its website shows.\nRepresentatives for Sportsology and Ares declined to comment. A representative for the Texas Rangers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\nAlternative investment managers have increasingly bet on a variety sports across the globe. Silver Lake, for instance, owns a minority stake in New Zealand Rugby; Dynasty Equity has a minority stake in Liverpool F.C. and Clearlake Capital Group co-owns Chelsea F.C.\n--With assistance from Randall Williams.\n",
        "title": "Ares and Sportsology Are in Talks for Stake in MLB’s Texas Rangers"
    },
    {
        "id": 198,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mexican-financial-system-stable-despite-192021295.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's financial system has a resilient and solid position despite a complex global outlook, central bank Governor Victoria Rodriguez said on Wednesday.\nThe banking system for Latin America's No. 2 economy showed resiliency in stress tests probing its solvency and liquidity, the Bank of Mexico's financial stability report said.\nRisks to Mexico's financial stability include the possibility of a further slowdown in the global economy and an unexpected ratings downgrade for the country's sovereign debt or state oil firm Pemex .\nBanxico, as the central bank is known, also pointed to risks from cyber-attacks emerging from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and said it would hold its cyber alert level at \"yellow.\"\n(Reporting by Kylie Madry and Sarah Morland; Editing by Anthony Esposito)\n",
        "title": "Mexican financial system stable despite complex global outlook, cenbank says"
    },
    {
        "id": 199,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/muddy-waters-short-blackstone-mortgage-191735275.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Nell Mackenzie\nLONDON (Reuters) - Blackstone's Mortgage Trust shares fell as much as 9% on Wednesday after short-selling hedge fund Muddy Waters said that it had taken out a short position in Blackstone's real estate investment trust.\nCarson Block, the CEO of Muddy Waters, told attendees at the Sohn Conference in London that Blackstone's real estate investment trust (REIT) faced issues of over supply, under-funded loan commitments, expiring leases and that its net operating income was compromised.\n\"It is at a good risk of a liquidity crisis,\" said Block.\nBlackstone said in a statement that it believed the report was \"self-interested and misleading\" designed at negatively impacting BXMT’s share price. It said it had \"a conservative liquidity posture\".\nThe trust which is publicly traded, borrows money and lends it onward to commercial mortgage borrowers. Because these are interest-only loans, this model relies on borrowers being able to refinance to repay the loans, explained a report which accompanied the short presentation that Block made at the conference.\nBlackstone's REIT will likely significantly cut its dividend as soon as the second half of next year, the shortseller said.\nEven considering rate cuts, the Blackstone Mortgage Trusts losses on the book value of its loans could reach between $2.5-4.5 billion of the almost $4 billion market cap of the REIT, said Muddy Waters.\nThe losses would be in addition to BXMT's existing loss provisions, the shortseller said.\n\"This is not a story where bad people have done bad things, they are just unlucky,\" he said, talking about problems in the property sector which has meant less income to service debt.\nBlock said that next year large numbers of borrowers would be unable to refinance and repay the mortgages and loans that Blackstone's trust oversees.\nEven if Blackstone tried to modify them to make them weather economic troubles, the company would not be successful, he said.\n\"Blackstone may modify the loans but it's such a big number of loans terminating next year that (they) will not be able to be swept under the rug,\" said Block.\nIts shares at 1846 GMT were down almost 7%.\nThe statement from Blackstone said: \"We will respond in greater detail – however the steps we have taken on both sides of our balance sheet, including proactive asset management, a conservative liquidity posture, and a patient approach to new investments, leave us well positioned to navigate this environment.\"\nThe company also said that liquidity on the REIT was at record levels and pointed to its recent third quarter results, where it said it covered its dividend by 126%.\n(Reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe, Alexandra Hudson and Alison Williams)\n",
        "title": "Muddy Waters is short Blackstone Mortgage Trust REIT"
    },
    {
        "id": 200,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-repo-backstop-gets-most-191710408.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Demand for a rarely used Federal Reserve facility rose to the highest level since 2020 this week amid a sharp pickup in interest in testing the liquidity backstop in the wake of the recent volatility in the funding markets.\nCounterparties tapped the Fed’s Standing Repo Facility, or SRF — where eligible banks can borrow reserves at 5.50% in exchange for Treasury and agency debt — for $203 million on Dec. 5. That’s the most since July 2020, but it’s a miniscule amount for operations that at its peak attracted $153 billion in March 2020. Demand for the facility dropped back to $6 million Wednesday.\nMarket participants are closely watching the SRF for any signs of instability as the Fed has been unwinding its balance sheet for the past 18 months and excess liquidity is dwindling. Funding costs rose after month-end as dealer balance sheets lacked capacity to provide funding and traders needed to finance long Treasury positions. That pushed the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or SOFR, to a record-high 5.39% and put investors on alert for more market disruption.\n“The chatter is a specific bank just got set up for the SRF and tested it,” said Steven Zeng, a strategist at Deutsche Bank AG. “It makes sense some banks are testing the pipes after the SOFR jump.”\nRepresentatives from the New York Fed declined to comment.\nThe central bank reintroduced repo market operations in the midst of the turmoil in September 2019 when increased government borrowing exacerbated a shortage of bank reserves. It made the backstop permanent in July 2021 at a time when the monetary authority was still adding more reserves to the financial system via quantitative easing and scarcity was far from anyone’s mind.\nOver the past two years, banks had been slow to sign up, leading some to question the efficacy of a facility that is accessible to so few institutions. Yet in the past two months, fivebanks have been added as counterparties to the SRF, bringing the total to 25, including the New York branch of Norinchukin Bank on Dec. 1.\n",
        "title": "Fed’s Repo Backstop Gets Most Use Since 2020"
    },
    {
        "id": 201,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amd-ceo-debuts-nvidia-chip-182428413.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su introduced a new line of so-called AI accelerator chips and predicted that the market for such products could explode to more than $400 billion in the next four years.\nAt an event Wednesday held in San Jose, California, Su unveiled a long-anticipated lineup called the MI300, taking aim at an industry dominated by Nvidia Corp. That forecast is more than twice as high as the one AMD gave in August, showing how rapidly expectations are changing for artificial intelligence hardware.\nThe launch is one of the most important in AMD’s 50-year history, setting up a showdown with Nvidia in the red-hot market for AI accelerators. Such chips help develop AI models by bombarding them with data, a task they handle more adeptly than traditional computer processors.\nAMD is showing increasing confidence that the MI300 lineup can win over some of the biggest names in technology, potentially diverting billions in spending toward the company. Companies using the processors will include Microsoft Corp., AMD said.\nThe new chip has more than 150 billion transistors and 2.4 times as much memory as Nvidia’s H100, the current market leader. It also has 1.6 as much memory bandwidth, further boosting performance, AMD said.\nSu said that the new chip is equal to Nvidia’s H100 in its ability to train AI software and much better at inference — the process of running that software — once it’s ready for real-world use.\nNvidia shares dipped 1.3% to $459.61 in New York on Wednesday, while AMD’s stock was little changed.\n(Updates with specifications of new chips starting in fifth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "AMD CEO Debuts Nvidia Chip Rival, Gives Eye-Popping Forecast"
    },
    {
        "id": 202,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-gasoline-futures-drop-lowest-191050829.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Shariq Khan\nDec 6 (Reuters) - U.S. gasoline futures dropped to their lowest level in two years on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a larger-than-anticipated build in the motor fuel's stockpiles.\nGasoline stocks rose by 5.4 million barrels to 223.6 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 1, the biggest increase in two months, the EIA reported. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 1.53 million-barrel build.\nThe large inventory build came as refiners, returning from seasonal maintenance, ramped up their rates by 0.7 percentage point to 90.5% of total capacity, but demand fell short of expectations.\nProduct supplied of motor gasoline, the EIA's measure of demand, rose 3% last week to 8.46 million barrels per day, EIA data showed. That was the first increase in demand in four weeks, but still lags the 10-year seasonal average by 2.5%.\n\"Gas demand really disappointed,\" said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital in New York.\n\"Demand during Thanksgiving week usually rivals summer driving demand,\" he said of the EIA report, which included the holiday weekend.\nWeekly gasoline demand averaged around 9 million bpd from April to September this year, EIA data showed.\nThe hefty increase should put more downward pressure on gasoline prices at pumps across the U.S., with the national average at its lowest since early January.\nGasoline futures were trading about 3.7% lower at $2.03 a gallon by 1:42 p.m. ET (1842 GMT). The benchmark fell to $2.018 a gallon earlier in the session, the lowest since Dec. 6, 2021.\nConcerns about rising gasoline stocks also weighed on global crude oil prices. U.S. gasoline consumption represents around 9% of global oil demand.\nBrent crude and U.S. crude oil futures fell to their lowest since June after the EIA storage report, despite a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude stockpiles. (Reporting by Shariq Khan, additional reporting by Arathy Somasekhar Editing by Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "US gasoline futures drop to lowest in two years on rising inventories"
    },
    {
        "id": 203,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-mexican-financial-system-stable-190942970.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds detail from presentation, report)\nMEXICO CITY, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Mexico's financial system has a resilient and solid position despite a complex global outlook, central bank Governor Victoria Rodriguez said on Wednesday.\nThe banking system for Latin America's No. 2 economy showed resiliency in stress tests probing its solvency and liquidity, the Bank of Mexico's financial stability report said.\nRisks to Mexico's financial stability include the possibility of a further slowdown in the global economy and an unexpected ratings downgrade for the country's sovereign debt or state oil firm Pemex.\nBanxico, as the central bank is known, also pointed to risks from cyber-attacks emerging from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and said it would hold its cyber alert level at \"yellow.\" (Reporting by Kylie Madry and Sarah Morland; Editing by Anthony Esposito)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Mexican financial system stable despite complex global outlook, cenbank says"
    },
    {
        "id": 204,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-introduce-watermarking-feature-ai-190226970.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Meta Platforms will add invisible watermarking to its text-to-image generation product imagine with Meta AI chatbot in the coming weeks to enhance transparency, the Facebook-parent said on Wednesday.\nThe social media firm rolled out products infused with artificial intelligence (AI) for consumers, including bots that create photo-realistic images and smart glasses that answer questions, in late September.\n\"We aim to bring invisible watermarking to many of our products with AI-generated images in the future,\" Meta said in a blog post, adding that it is resilient to common image manipulations like cropping, screen shots, among others.\nThe success of ChatGPT – Microsoft-backed OpenAI's chatbot – has led firms to leverage the power of large language models in creating AI-powered products to attract new investors, push for innovation, retain old customers and engage new ones.\nMeta made Meta AI using a custom model based on the powerful Llama 2 large language model that the company released for public commercial use in July.\nThe company is testing more than 20 new ways generative AI can improve experiences across its social media platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp.\nThe Menlo Park, California-based company is expanding access to imagine outside of chats, making it available in the U.S. while also testing to improve search capability across its several products.\n(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "Meta to introduce watermarking feature for some AI products"
    },
    {
        "id": 205,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecbs-villeroy-rate-cut-could-190003300.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "PARIS, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The question of an interest rate cut could emerge in 2024, European Central Bank member and Bank of France head Francois Villeroy de Galhau told a French paper in an interview published on Wednesday.\nVilleroy told La Depeche du Midi that \"disinflation is happening more quickly than we thought.\"\n\"This is why, barring any shocks, there will not be any new rise in rates. The question of a rate cut could arise in 2024, but not right now,\" he added.\nDeutsche Bank earlier on Wednesday had said it expects the European Central Bank to cut interest rates by 150 basis points next year, 50 basis points more than their earlier forecast, as inflation cools and central bank officials adopt a less hawkish tone.\nVilleroy also said he had proposed to the country's finance minister that the savings rate on France's popular \"Livret A\" bank product be kept at 3% up until at least January 2025.\n(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Leigh Thomas and Mark Porter)\n",
        "title": "ECB's Villeroy: Question of rate cut could arise in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 206,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-may-consider-rate-cuts-190000826.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank has finished raising interest rates unless there are major surprises and may look at cuts at some point in 2024, Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau said.\n“Our decisions to increase interest rates are fully playing their role as a remedy against the disease that is inflation,” Villeroy said in an interview with French newspaper La Depeche du Midi. “This is why, barring any shock, there will be no further increase in our rates — the question of a reduction may arise in 2024, but not now.”\nThe Bank of France Governor’s comments come as fellow policymakers push back against investor bets the ECB will ease policy as early as March. Earlier Wednesday, Peter Kazmir, the Slovak official at the ECB, said expecting a cut in the first quarter of 2024 is “science fiction,” while his Latvian colleague Martins Kazaks said such a move probably won’t be needed in the first six months.\nWhile Villeroy wasn’t as explicit about how long the ECB would likely keep policy on hold, he said that the institution should be “patient” regarding the duration of tight settings. His comments — a few hours before policymakers go into silent period ahead of a rate-setting meeting next week — are a close reiteration of similar remarks last week.\n",
        "title": "ECB May Consider Rate Cuts in 2024, Not Now, Villeroy Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 207,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/muni-bond-funds-posed-20-185735026.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Municipal bond funds that use borrowing as a way to juice returns had a banner month in November, surging almost 12%. Some market watchers say that’s only just the start.\nLeveraged closed-end muni funds rallied along with the broader market as evidence of slowing job growth and cooling inflation convinced traders that the Federal Reserve’s rate-rise cycle is over. Further gains may be in store should the central bank pivot to cutting rates next next year, as many now expect.\nBut there’s more to the story. Despite last month’ gains, leveraged closed-end muni funds are still trading at steep discounts to their net asset value. In the past, this has set them up for a market-beating performance. Taken together, these conditions — combined with the arrival of activist investors looking to push measures that would boost funds’ share value — paint a bullish picture for the sector.\n“The backdrop for the closed-end fund muni space is the best I’ve seen in my career,” said Ryan Paylor, a portfolio manager at Miami-based fund manager Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, which owns stakes in 21 muni closed-end funds. He predicts fund returns of as much as 20% in 2024.\nClosed-end funds raise a fixed amount of money from shareholders in a public offering, unlike mutual funds, which continually sell and redeem shares. The funds are listed on stock exchanges and can trade at premiums or discounts to the net value of the securities they own. Most muni closed-end funds use leverage so they can pay higher distributions — and make more fees.\nThese funds are currently trading at a historically wide average discount to net asset value of 12.3%, Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors’ data shows. That’s a reflection of market losses earlier in the year from which these funds have yet to fully recover.\nEven after November’s rebound, leveraged muni closed-end funds are trading at discounts that have occurred just 1% of the time over the last 20 years, according to BlackRock Inc. Buying into these funds at times like this has proved rewarding in the past, research from the investment giant shows.\nDuring four annual periods when discounts exceeded 11%, municipal closed-end funds have outperformed a broad municipal bond index by an average 14.2 percentage points. Three of the four periods coincided with Fed rate cuts. This year, discounts hit 11% or greater on March 14, according to BlackRock.\nMuni closed-end funds may still be on sale because retail investors, who make up the largest segment of the muni closed-end fund buyer base, are licking their wounds from losses, said Paylor. The Fed’s aggressive campaign of policy tightening battered bond prices and led many funds to cut distributions. In addition, tax-loss selling in recent months put pressure on share prices. The $224.5 million VanEck CEF Muni Income ETF, which seeks to track the performance of a muni bond closed-end fund index, lost 24% last year including reinvested dividends, and is up just 1% this year.\nThe funds’ steep discounts have started to attract activist investors like Saba Capital Management and Bulldog Investors. Activist funds declared 100 stakes of 5% or more in at least 61 closed-end funds as of Dec. 4, according to Paylor.\n‘Open-Ending’\nPaylor expects activist shareholders to push for tender offers or liquidations to boost share prices and narrow discounts. Liquidation, ”open-ending,” — the practice of turning a closed-end fund into an open-end fund — or a tender for shares may allow investors to exit positions at little or no discount.\nAn investor who buys a fund with a 15% discount that liquidates or converts into an open-end fund would get an 18% return even before factoring in the yield or potential gains in net asset value, he said.\nUBS Global Wealth Management is more cautious on the sector.\nWith short-term municipal borrowing rates at 3.3%, the cost of leverage used by the funds is still high, said Sangeeta Marfatia, senior closed-end fund strategist at UBS GWM. Although valuations look attractive, some leveraged muni closed-end funds from BlackRock, Nuveen LLC and Pacific Investment Management Co. aren’t earning enough from underlying holdings to pay distributions. That means money to pay unsustainable dividends comes from fund assets, eroding the funds’ future earning power.\n“When you return capital, that’s really not good long term for the shareholder,” said Marfatia.\nUBS GWM expects the Fed to cut interest rates by half a percentage point in the second half of 2024, which would improve closed-end funds’ earnings. For discounts to close, though, share prices will have go up 10% to 15% more than the net asset value of the funds’ bonds, according to Marfatia. “I don’t see that happening,” she said.\nIn the near term, investors have an opportunity to take advantage of temporary mispricing of the closed-end fund market, BlackRock said. Closed-end fund discounts tend to narrow in January, when investors get back into the market to rebalance portfolios after tax-loss sales. The pent-up demand, known as the “January Effect,” can drive outperformance, BlackRock said.\n",
        "title": "Muni Bond Funds Posed for 20% Gains Even After November’s Surge"
    },
    {
        "id": 208,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-says-unlikely-mustang-mach-185700466.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Ford Motor said on Wednesday it is unlikely Mustang Mach-E electric vehicles currently in dealer showrooms will qualify for federal tax credits beginning in January.\nThe U.S. Treasury issued guidance last week detailing new battery sourcing restrictions that take effect Jan. 1 aimed at weaning the U.S. EV supply chain away from China. The current model Mach-E currently qualifies for a $3,750 federal tax credit.\n(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)\n",
        "title": "Ford says it unlikely Mustang Mach-E EV will qualify for federal tax credits in January"
    },
    {
        "id": 209,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/founder-pre-ipo-share-seller-185554727.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The founder of Prior2IPO, which marketed investments in private companies that might go public, was charged with fraud in New York for what US prosecutors said were $88.6 million in exorbitant markups on share purchases.\nRaymond Pirrello Jr., 47, of Sparta, New Jersey, was named in a three-count indictment in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. Separately, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Pirrello and four others Wednesday, accusing them of misleading more than 4,000 investors.\nPirrello was charged with securities fraud conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and securities fraud tied to offerings by Late Stage Management LLC through several sales offices, including Prior2IPO, which he controlled, Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.\nBetween March 2019 and July 2022, a network of sales agents acting on behalf of Late Stage raised $528 million from investors and diverted cash from the undisclosed upfront markups to Pirrello and his co-conspirators, Peace alleged. Late Stage charged “substantial fees” and markups of stock ranging from 10% to 50% of the actual price, according to prosecutors.\nInvestors paid to get interests in a subscription of one of at least 50 private investment funds, which were invested in companies before they held initial public offerings, according to the SEC. Pre-IPO shares held by early-stage investors, company employees and their families aren’t listed on any exchange. But they can be attractive to investors seeking early stakes before a company goes public, which can boost demand for shares.\nPirrello was previously found liable for insider trading in 2019, regulators said in their complaint. He was arrested Wednesday and is scheduled to make an initial court appearance later in the day.\nThe criminal case is US v Pirrello, 23-CR-499, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn). The civil case is SEC v. Pirrello, 23-cv-8953, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).\n",
        "title": "Founder of Pre-IPO Share Seller Charged in $88.6 Million Securities Fraud"
    },
    {
        "id": 210,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hopefully-its-going-to-look-very-different-lawmakers-and-ceos-push-for-changes-in-proposed-banking-rules-185052997.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "During Wednesday’s highly-anticipated hearing with America’s big bank CEOs, the controversial capital requirements proposed by the Federal Reserve came up again and again.\nWhile many staked out familiar positions, either fully in favor or fully opposed to the provisions, lawmakers in both parties as well as the assembled CEOs also pointed to areas where the proposed rules could be amended before they go into effect.\n“Hopefully it’s going to look very different before it gets promulgated,” noted Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).\nAt issue are higher capital requirements that regulators are hoping to finalize in the coming months after they were unveiled this summer by Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr. Those requirements focused on the amount of capital that banks must have in reserve to protect themselves from insolvency.\nIn the months since, the banks have launched a campaign to roll back the new rules — or scrap them entirely.\n“We hope the Federal agencies will be open to changes and will review the industry’s comments thoughtfully,” added Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman during his testimony.\nPerhaps importantly, the proposed rules also came under scrutiny from moderate Democrats on the Senate panel—who could be important to the debate in the weeks ahead as the Federal Reserve weighs the proposed changes to rule, known as Basel III endgame measures.\nFigures like Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) weighed in to raise concerns about things like how much the proposed regulations could spur the movement of additional financial services outside of the formal banking system.\n“I think the timing at this moment is very problematic with interest rates as high as they are” said Sen. Warner. But he also noted that the big banks object “anytime there is any proposed new regulation.”\nPlayers in the financial sector have pushed for deep changes to the proposal. Meredith Whitney of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group told Yahoo Finance in an interview Wednesday (See video above) that the proposal was \"hamfisted\" and represents a \"the risk is for the US consumer.\"\nThe proposal would raise banks' capital requirements by 16% in aggregate, and widen the scope of new requirements to institutions with as few as $100 billion in assets — an effort to include smaller banks like Silicon Valley Bank, which failed this spring.\nAll Republicans on the committee are aligned on a letter released last month that calls on the Biden administration to withdraw the Basel III endgame entirely. Ranking member Tim Scott (R-S.C.) called Basel a “nightmare proposal” that will make it harder for average Americans to access loans.\nSome GOP lawmakers tried to prod the Federal Reserve to make changes. “Regulation does not exist in a vacuum and the federal reserve must take this into account,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)\nLikewise, the assembled bank CEOs universally assailed the proposal ,but signaled some areas that could get a second look in the weeks ahead.\nGoldman Sachs (GS) CEO David Solomon used some of his time to argue that the more stringent market making provisions in the rules were “particularly punitive” and could increase costs for consumers from airlines tickets to pension plans.\n“These costs will likely get passed on to consumers,” he noted.\nThe hearing is part of Congress's annual oversight of the financial sector. It featured the industry's top bosses from Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Solomon to Brian Moynihan of Bank of America (BAC). The CEOs of Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), State Street (STT), BNY Mellon (BK), and Morgan Stanley (MS) also appeared before the panel of 23 senators for questioning that covered an array of topics .\nMore left leaning questioners gave the rules a warmer reception with Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) kicking things off by telling the assembled CEOs he thought their campaign against the tighter requirements was based on little more than profit.\n“Absolutely nothing in these rules would stop your banks from making loans to working families,” he noted, slamming the bank’s lobbying efforts. He added that “you would rather fund risky trading and derivatives bets than boring, bread-and-butter small business lending.”\nWhile Barr proposed the new outline this summer, not every member of the central bank has been onboard.\nFed Governor Christopher Waller recently called the proposal \"excessive\" in a conversation with the American Enterprise Institute. He told the think tank last week that if the proposal did away with separate requirements for so-called operational risk — risk from potential losses from disruptions due to internal mismanagement like fraud, or external shocks like a cyberattack — that he could support the proposal. The capital requirement for operational risk is a major sticking point with the banks.\nThere is also a broader sense that changes could be in the offing. \"Michael Barr knows he went too far on a few things,\" said David Wessel, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, in an interview this week before the hearing. He predicted that regulators will look at issues like operational risk and debate \"you should fix this or you should fix this\" in the months ahead as lawmakers work to finalize the proposal.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "‘Hopefully it’s going to look very different’: Lawmakers and CEOs push for changes in proposed banking rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 211,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stellantis-seeks-void-california-emissions-184725203.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Chrysler-parent Stellantis said on Wednesday it is seeking to void a 2019 California emissions deal with rival automakers that it says puts the Italian-American automaker at a severe disadvantage.\nThe automaker said it was petitioning to overturn the California Air Resources Board agreement to \"relieve Stellantis of the competitive disadvantages arising from our continuing exclusion and to preserve our ability to best serve our customers by fairly allocating our products to all states.\"\nFord, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW struck a voluntary agreement with California on reducing vehicle emissions. Stellantis has since sought to join but been rebuffed.\n(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)\n",
        "title": "Stellantis seeks to void California emissions deal with rival automakers"
    },
    {
        "id": 212,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bats-us-writedown-puts-tobacco-183835472.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Emma Rumney\nLONDON (Reuters) - British American Tobacco's admission that its U.S. cigarette brands will be worthless within decades has ramped up pressure on the company to prove it can better compete in alternatives like vapes.\nEarlier on Wednesday, BAT put a 30-year lifetime on some U.S. tobacco brands' value, taking a $31.5 billion noncash impairment. The move marked the first time a tobacco company has acknowledged that hugely profitable brands have no economic future.\nWhile the maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes has been investing in alternatives like vapes to counter the decline, it lags behind rival Philip Morris International in the transition, leaving its shares trading at a vastly lower price-earnings ratio than those of its main competitor.\n\"What really matters to the stock is how quickly you can replace (cigarettes) with alternative routes for consumers to get a nicotine hit and how profitable that will be,\" said Chris Beckett, head of equity research at Quilter Cheviot, a BAT shareholder.\nBAT says its newer products will break even years ahead of schedule. Its vape business is growing, along with its oral nicotine product, Velo, the market leader in Europe.\nHowever, it faces key challenges.\nIn the critical U.S. market, authorities have rejected its application to sell some key vape products and illegal disposable vapes have flooded the market, denting sales of those products BAT is able to market.\nThe company is also under pressure from investors to catch up with rival PMI in another alternative, heated tobacco.\nHeated tobacco devices heat up sticks of tobacco resembling cigarettes but do not burn them in an attempt to avoid harmful chemicals released during combustion.\nPMI's IQOS product dominates this category with some 70% market share. BAT's rival proposition, meanwhile, lost market share in 2023 in terms of volume, to stand at 18.2% in key markets, the company said, adding that its volume and revenue growth decelerated in the second half in a \"disappointing\" performance.\nLATE ENTRY\nIt is harder for companies to generate profit from vapes due to intense competition, said Orwa Mohamad, analyst at Third Bridge. BAT's late entry into heated tobacco had left it at a disadvantage and an aggressive pricing strategy aimed at winning share from IQOS had yet to bear fruit, he added.\nWhere PMI expects two-thirds of its net revenue to come from smoke-free products by 2030, BAT's ambition, announced on Wednesday, envisages only 50% of its revenue from new categories by 2035.\nIts slower progress versus PMI means BAT's shares have gained little value so far from its commitment to transition, trading at a price-earnings ratio only slightly above that of rival Imperial Brands.\nUnlike the others, Imperial has in recent years pulled back from heavy investments in new products to refocus on its traditional cigarette business, leaving a question mark over its longer-term sustainability.\nAt the same time, BAT is now falling short of Imperial on something investors have long expected from highly cash-generative cigarette businesses: healthy dividends and share buybacks.\nCigarette businesses are so profitable they do not need to last beyond 30 years to make worthwhile investments, Beckett said, adding Imperial's share buybacks are evidence of that.\nImperial's delivery on this core element of tobacco companies' investment case has helped its shares outperform rivals in recent years, rising 17% since the start of 2022. That compares with 1% for PMI's stock, and a decline of 13% for BAT.\nBAT, meanwhile, disappointed the market on Wednesday when it said it would need to reduce its leverage ratio further before buybacks could resume.\nA buyback would be \"amazingly enhancing\" to the stock, Beckett said.\n(Reporting by Emma Rumney in London; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "BAT's US writedown puts tobacco transition in spotlight"
    },
    {
        "id": 213,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/carson-block-shorts-blackstone-publicly-180306402.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Carson Block said he’s short Blackstone Mortgage Trust, saying the publicly traded real estate investment trust is exposed to a perfect storm of economic conditions hitting commercial real estate and may face a liquidity crisis.\nThe Blackstone Mortgage Trust makes loans collateralized by commercial real estate. Block, who heads short-selling firm Muddy Waters, said the trust is facing a possible liquidity crisis and may default on its loans, and he expects it will have to cut its dividend by at least half.\nBlock, speaking at the Sohn Investment Conference in London on Wednesday, predicted the trust’s borrowers will be unable to refinance and repay the trust and will need to post more collateral.\nBlackstone did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\nRead More: Block Shorts Blackstone REIT, Kintbury Targets BT: Sohn London\nEven if the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, Block estimates that losses on the trust’s $23.2 billion net book value of loans could reach between $2.5 billion and $4.5 billion, meaning the trust’s equity could be completely wiped out.\nShares had returned about 14% so far this year before Wednesday including dividends. The stock had fallen by about 4.2%, to $21.56, at 1:00 p.m. in New York.\nThe vehicle is separate from Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, the firm’s $64 billion vehicle for wealthy individuals that began limiting withdrawals late last year amid commercial real estate market woes. BREIT has limited withdrawals for 13 straight months but has signaled that the backlog is easing.\nHigher Rates\nCommercial real estate owners have come under pressure as higher borrowing costs complicate financing and many properties including offices face a shift in demand. Property prices have plunged, with a measure of those values falling 19% through October from its March 2022 peak, according to real estate analytics firm Green Street.\nLandlords including Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and Blackstone Inc. have defaulted on property debt, with some owners opting to take that path to kickstart talks to renegotiate terms with lenders. More than $650 billion of commercial property debt is expected to mature in 2024, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data.\nThe Blackstone trust hasn’t yet shown signs of distress because it has been modifying troubled loans by extending maturities and allowing payment in kind, Block wrote in a report published on his website. Block estimates that at least nine loans totaling $1.6 billion, or about 6% of the trust’s net book value, have already been modified through the third quarter of this year.\nBlock, 46, built his reputation as a short seller with bets against companies including Sino-Forest Corp, which he accused of exaggerating its assets. The Chinese company filed for bankruptcy protection 10 months after his report was published. He’s also made several bets against European real estate companies, shorting both Corestate Capital Holding SA and the bonds of Vivion Investments.\nReal estate has been a theme for Muddy Waters this year. In November the firm said it was shorting the bonds of CPI Property Group SA. The Eastern European landlord said Block’s firm “purports to conduct research but thrives off shorts and explosive headlines.”\n(Updates with additional context throughout starting in the second paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Carson Block Shorts Blackstone Publicly Traded Mortgage REIT"
    },
    {
        "id": 214,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/november-stock-rally-embarrassed-strategists-182732723.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- November’s near-record equity rally has left top strategists facing a wildly off-the-mark year but their analyst colleagues looking forward to their most-accurate in more than a decade, highlighting Wall Street’s onerous task of forecasting 2024 amid persistent economic uncertainty.\nThe S&P 500 is now an ego-bruising 15 percentage points higher than what strategists, who do so-called top-down market level forecasts, predicted at the start of the year on average. But the actual companies that make up the index are just 1.7% off where analysts, who do a bottom-up study of individual stocks, said they’d be.\nThat’s set up 2023 to be analysts’ most accurate year since 2010 and their third best since records began 19 years ago.\nThe gulf in forecasting success highlights the difficulty strategists face as they try to predict returns for 2024 in their widely-read market outlooks. Wars in Ukraine and Israel, the looming US presidential election, uncertainty around rate cuts, persistent fear of a US recession, economic instability in China, oil production cuts and artificial intelligence unknowns are making market-level predictions look like a fool’s errand.\nDepending on which strategist you ask, the S&P 500 will either fall by as much as 8% or rise as much as 12% next year versus Tuesday’s close. Analysts’ bottom-up strategy predicts the index will jump 11% in the next twelve months.\n“Any estimates you have come with a humongous amount of noise, so you really need to avoid that false sense of precision,” Wei Dai, head of investment research at Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, said in an interview.\nDai, who recently published research finding most timing strategies underperform, sees attempts to time macroeconomic changes like rate cuts losing out to more traditional stock picking next year.\nSimilarly, Brian Belski, chief investment strategist with BMO Capital Markets Corp. and one of the most accurate strategists this year with an initial 2023 target of 4,300, said some of his peers are over-reliant on “backward-looking” economic and quantitative data.\n“I’m part of the lost generation that does story telling and bottom-up [analysis],” he said in an interview. “I just find it perplexing that so many people are waiting to buy, hold or sell based on macro data that previously happened.” Belski sees the S&P 500 rising about 12% to a record 5,100 next year, tied for the most bullish forecast on Wall Street.\nThe bear case, which is a growing cohort including strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley, suggests that November’s rally pushed valuations too high and has left the S&P 500 vulnerable to a significant downturn.\nTraders at least believe the S&P 500 is likely to hold steady and close out the year within a few percentage points of analysts’ start-of-year prediction. But the good year would only lower their average error since 2005 to 11 percentage points after an abysmal 2021 and 2022, when they were more than 20% off target.\nStrategists missed by 12 percentage points on average over the last three years, including by 22% in 2022.\nDimensional’s Dai suggests viewing forecasts as upper and lower bounds, rather than predictions: “Any estimate you see probably falls into a wide range of reasonable estimates,” she said. “But that also means that no one is better than the others, they are all equally noisy.”\n",
        "title": "November’s Stock Rally Embarrassed Strategists But Vindicated Analysts"
    },
    {
        "id": 215,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-launch-ipads-m3-macbook-182543436.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Apple is planning to release several new models, including a faster MacBook Air and two updated iPads, early next year to help combat a decline in sales of the devices, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.\nThe new iPad Air will have two sizes for the first time, while the Pro model of the device will be fitted with OLED screens, the report said. It added the MacBook Air will come with the speedier M3 processor that is designed in-house.\nApple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\nThe company has faced several quarters of sales decline for Macs and iPads, which together account for nearly 15% of its revenue, as sticky inflation and high borrowing costs force consumers to dial back non-essential purchases.\nApple gave a holiday-quarter sales forecast last month that was below Wall Street estimates due to weakness in demand for iPads and wearables. Meanwhile, its Mac business has been grappling with a wider slump in the personal computer market.\nThe Bloomberg News report said the iPads are expected to be launched around the end of March, and that the company is also working on revamped versions of the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard accessories for the Pro model of the device.\n(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "Apple to launch new iPads, M3 MacBook Air to fight weak sales - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 216,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/renault-hopes-escape-negative-core-182348187.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Gilles Guillaume\nPARIS (Reuters) - Renault hopes it can lift the curse of its negative value next year thanks to the creation of two specialised businesses, Ampere and Horse, and its revamped alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi, several top executives said.\nAlthough the French automaker sold more than two million vehicles last year and posted record profits for the first half of 2023, investors effectively are valuing the company's core business at less than zero.\nThe group's market capitalisation is currently around 10.6 billion euros ($11.43 billion), much lower than European rivals. Stellantis is worth about 64 billion euros and Volkswagen 57 billion euros, based on LSEG data.\nRenault's 12-month forward price-earnings ratio - a key metric for valuing shares - is 2.8, the lowest among European carmakers.\nExcluding the value of Nissan shares held by Renault (6.6 billion euros), the net cash position of its automotive business (2.2 billion as of June 30) and financial services of its Mobilize unit (6.1 billion euros on June 30), the remaining \"core\" value stands at minus 4.3 billion euros for Renault's automotive assets, based on Reuters' calculations and Renault data.\n\"It is not up to me decide what is the core value of the company,\" CEO Luca de Meo said at press conference on Wednesday with Nissan and Mitsubishi on their new alliance.\n\"My job is to actually make sure we do the right things so that the investors and the market understand there is a lot of substance in Renault.\"\nDe Meo hopes the listing of Ampere, a \"pure player\" in electric vehicles and software earmarked for an IPO next spring if market conditions permit, will help give that substance.\nIn September, de Meo mentioned a possible valuation of up to 10 billion euros, although some analysts valued Ampere at 3-4 billion euros.\nValue should also be found in Renault's legacy combustion engine business Horse, co-owned with China's Geely, and awaiting an investment from Saudi Aramco.\nSources have previously told Reuters the Saudi oil group plans to take a stake around 20% in the joint venture. How large that investment and stake is - which de Meo said could be announced at the end of the year or in early 2024 - will impact its valuation.\n\"We hope it will gradually become more difficult to say: Horse is worth this much, Ampere is worth so much (...) Everything else is worth minus,\" CFO Thierry Pieton told Reuters last month.\nSIMPLER LINKS TO NISSAN\nRenault's negative valuation problem goes back years. The automaker suffers from conglomerate syndrome, where the whole is worth less than the sum of its parts.\nTo simplify their reading of Renault, investors have repeatedly advocated either a merger with Nissan, or a separation between the French and Japanese partners.\nThis year Renault and Nissan unveiled a vast restructuring of their alliance, which was founded more than twenty years ago, with a simpler capital structure, the end of common purchasing and more pragmatic ambitions based on individual projects and regions.\n\"For sure, this movement on the alliance, I think could help,\" de Meo said. \"But we did not do that for the core valuation, we did it (to) find a set-up that would enable us to be more effective, and fast, and concrete.\"\nIn a client note this week, Bernstein analysts wrote that Renault's valuation remained surprisingly low despite a 16% year-to-date rise in its stock price.\n($1 = 0.9272 euros)\n(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume, writing by Nick Carey. Editing by Jane Merriman)\n",
        "title": "Renault hopes to escape from its 'negative core value' curse"
    },
    {
        "id": 217,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-parent-sued-mexico-alleging-181239555.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Santa Fe, N.M. (AP) — Facebook and Instagram fail to protect underage users from exposure to child sexual abuse material and let adults solicit pornographic imagery from them, New Mexico's attorney general alleges in a lawsuit that follows an undercover online investigation.\n“Our investigation into Meta’s social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex,” Attorney General Raul Torrez said in a (prepared statement Wednesday.\nThe civil suit filed late Tuesday against Meta Platforms Inc. in state court also names its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, as a defendant.\nIn addition, the suit claims Meta “harms children and teenagers through the addictive design of its platform, degrading users’ mental health, their sense of self-worth, and their physical safety,” Torrez’ office said in a statement.\nThose claims echo a lawsuit filed in late October by the attorneys general of 33 states including California and New York, against Meta that alleges Instagram and Facebook include features deliberately designed to hook children, contributing to the youth mental health crisis and leading to depression, anxiety and eating disorders.\nInvestigators in New Mexico created decoy accounts of children 14 years and younger that Torrez' office said were served sexually explicit images even when the child expressed no interest in them. State prosecutors claim that Meta let dozens of adults find, contact and encourage children to provide sexually explicit and pornographic images.\nThe accounts also received recommendations to join unmoderated Facebook groups devoted to facilitating commercial sex, investigators said, adding that Meta also let its users find, share, and sell “an enormous volume of child pornography.”\n“Mr. Zuckerberg and other Meta executives are aware of the serious harm their products can pose to young users, and yet they have failed to make sufficient changes to their platforms that would prevent the sexual exploitation of children,” Torrez was quoted as saying, accusing Meta’s executives of prioritizing \"engagement and ad revenue over the safety of the most vulnerable members of our society.”\nMeta did not directly respond to the New Mexico lawsuit’s allegations, but said that it works hard to protect young users with a serious commitment of resources.\n“We use sophisticated technology, hire child safety experts, report content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and share information and tools with other companies and law enforcement, including state attorneys general, to help root out predators,\" according to a prepared statement adding, “In one month alone, we disabled more than half a million accounts for violating our child safety policies.”\nCompany spokesman Andy Stone pointed to a company report detailing the millions of tips Facebook and Instagram sent to the National Center in the third quarter of 2023 - including 48,000 involving inappropriate interactions that could include an adult soliciting child sexual abuse material directly from a minor or attempting to meet with one in person.\n",
        "title": "Facebook parent sued by New Mexico alleging it has failed to shield children from predators"
    },
    {
        "id": 218,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/roughly-third-unicorns-see-valuations-181159115.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A sharp reset in private market valuations has stripped numerous so-called unicorns of their status, making it harder for some startups to pursue their long-delayed initial public offerings.\nOut of 128 closely held companies that achieved valuations at or above $1 billion as of 2021, nearly 90% were estimated to be valued lower in private trades, according to Forge Global, an alternative trading venue operator. About a third of the startups’ valuations in the group tracked by Forge dropped below $1 billion — the threshold to be considered a unicorn.\nThe slide shows the challenges for companies that raised capital at lofty valuations at the peak in 2020 and 2021, and that have been waiting for IPOs while the market has largely been closed to new entrants. These firms have lately avoided soliciting fresh funding for fear of attracting a lower valuation than in their previous rounds, which can carry a stigma. Only 2% of a broader group of 513 unicorns monitored by Forge from the end of 2021 through Sept. 30 have lost their status through a down round.\nThese former unicorns “are hiding in plain sight,” said Howe Ng, Forge’s head of analytics and investment solutions.\n“A lot of companies have no change in valuation and in their unicorn status, because they probably haven’t raised money since 2021. Some companies would only raise when they could afford to get an up round,” he said.\nRead More: 2023 Was Bad for Startups Amid Bankruptcies, Lower Valuations\nPrivate market trades let employees and some institutional investors trade their stakes to accredited investors before the companies are publicly listed, providing a glimpse of the real-time valuation of companies. Companies and investors often argue that such trades are based on limited information, and that the most recent funding round is a better gauge of a startup’s value.\nOriginally coined to emphasize their scarcity, the term unicorn and its billion-dollar threshold have become an arbitrary benchmark for investors to gauge the investability of late-stage companies.\nSome larger public equities portfolio managers may find companies valued below $1 billion too small to invest in, given the amount of analysis involved.\n“From an investor standpoint, they believe once you’ve hit that billion dollar mark, i.e. a unicorn, you have a greater chance of being able to go public and/or a chance of finding a M&A exit,” John Collmer, Citigroup Inc.’s global head of private capital markets, told Bloomberg News.\n“In this market, investors are really focused on returns and how they will realize them,” Collmer added.\nUnicorn Mania\nThe rising tide of optimism that minted a wave of unicorns in 2021 now looks more like a mania, one that spread far beyond private assets.\nMore than 1,400 companies raised a combined $376 billion in the busiest year ever for US listings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Yet despite a market rally this year which saw the S&P 500 index climbing 19%, companies that went public in 2021 are still on average 18% below their offer prices.\nRead More: New Tech IPOs Could Burn Firms Who Bet on Established Startups\nMany 2021 debutants have suffered major setbacks in valuations. Beverage company Oatly Group AB lost 94% of its market capitalization, sinking to $613 million, and health-care services provider Bright Health Group Inc.’s shares shed 99.6% to give it a market cap of $52 million.\nWith global IPOs this year on track for the lowest volume in more than a decade, many private companies are waiting for the market to open. To investors who may have backed companies in 2021 that listed at sky-high valuations – whether they were ready for the public market or not — startups that have hung onto their unicorn valuations have demonstrated their worth.\n“At a billion-dollar equity value, you can underwrite an IPO or M&A because they’ve got real product market bid and there’s a scarcity value to that right now,” Citigroup’s Collmer said.\n",
        "title": "Roughly a Third of Unicorns See Valuations Shrink, Limiting IPO Prospects"
    },
    {
        "id": 219,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/beaten-down-stocks-revenge-big-180406460.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Stock investors are turning to roughed-up corners of the market from small caps to value shares as they seek out bargains with the S&P 500 Index riding a five-week winning streak and soaring almost 9% since the start of November.\nTo see it, look at the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index, which is up more than 10% since Oct. 31 compared with the S&P 500’s 8.9% rise. In December, the equal weight version of the S&P is up 1.1% while the regular index is flat. It’s still early, but that holds it would be second-best month relative to the broader benchmark index since October 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg,\nThe move comes as the seven largest stocks in the S&P 500 by market value — Apple, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Nvidia Corp., Tesla Inc. and Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. — waffle after dominating the market for most of 2023. Combined they account for more than a quarter of the index’s weight.\nMuch of the optimism for stocks more broadly is coming from investors’ expectations that the Federal Reserve is done with its interest rate hikes to tame inflation and will cut rates in 2024.\n“The expectation that the Fed is done raising rates has been a catalyst for investors to buy the ignored corners of the market including things like value shares and small caps,” said Todd Sohn, managing director of ETF and technical strategy at Strategas Securities. “This is bull-market behavior as the rally begins to broaden out and it also serves as a hedge for retail and institutional traders who want to protect their portfolios against a potential top in megacap stocks that have cooled off.”\nThe improved stock market breadth is also apparent in the small-capitalization Russell 2000 Index, which is up 13% since the end of October, beating the S&P 500 over that time after lagging badly through first 10 months of the year. Small- and mid-cap exchange-traded funds are also seeing stronger inflows since mid-November, according to Citigroup Inc. strategist Scott Chronert.\n“You have the best of both worlds: Rates coming down will relieve pressure on small caps’ margins next year, and the economy holding together better than people thought,” said Vincent Deluard, StoneX’s director of global macro strategy.\nLooking at big cap stocks, the equal weighted version of the S&P 500 is likely to outperform the cap-weighted version due to lower earnings volatility, lower valuation and less crowding, said Bank of America strategist Savita Subramanian, who dubbed it the firm’s “highest conviction call.” In addition, the bank’s macroeconomic regime indicator suggests US equities are in a “recovery”, which is when the equal-weight S&P 500 typically beats the cap-weighted version, BofA data shows.\nHealthy flows into large-cap equal-weight equity funds suggests that investors are using them to allocate away from traditional benchmarks due to the narrow leadership in Big Tech, said Strategas’s Sohn. Investors have poured $1.7 billion into the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) over the past month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.\nNow with the year coming to a close, many active managers who entered 2023 positioned for losses are trying to make up lost ground, creating even more demand for beaten-down stocks with upside.\n“Active managers who broadly underperformed are trying to play catch up,” said Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth.\n--With assistance from Elena Popina.\n",
        "title": "Beaten-Down Stocks Get Some Revenge After Big Tech’s 2023 Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 220,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-muddy-waters-short-blackstone-175349757.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates with context and share price from paragraph 1)\nBy Nell Mackenzie\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Blackstone's Mortgage Trust shares fell more than 6% on Wednesday after short-selling hedge fund Muddy Waters said that it had taken out a short position in Blackstone's real estate investment trust.\nCarson Block, the CEO of Muddy Waters, told attendees at the Sohn Conference in London that Blackstone's real estate investment trust (REIT) faced issues of over supply, under-funded loan commitments, expiring leases and that its net operating income was compromised.\n\"It is at a good risk of a liquidity crisis,\" said Block.\n\"This is not a story where bad people have done bad things, they are just unlucky,\" he said, talking about problems in the property sector which has meant less income to service debt.\nBlock said that next year many of the underlying loans and mortgages that comprised the trust would face liquidity problems and even if Blackstone tried to modify them to make them weather economic troubles, the company would not be successful.\n\"Blackstone may modify the loans but it's such a big number of loans terminating next year that will not be able to be swept under the rug,\" said Block.\nBlackstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nShares at 1733 GMT were down 4.4%.\n(Reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe, Alexandra Hudson)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Muddy Waters is short Blackstone Mortgage Trust REIT"
    },
    {
        "id": 221,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-over-7-million-people-174643584.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details throughout)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Nearly 7.3 million Americans so far have signed up for health insurance for next year through the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) marketplace, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday.\nThe enrolment for 2024 includes 1.6 million new additions to the marketplace, the data showed.\nPeople who want to choose a healthcare plan for 2024 under the ACA, also known as Obamacare, could enroll from November 1, 2023, to January 15, 2024. However, if they want to be covered as of Jan. 1, they generally need to choose a plan by Dec. 15. (Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Over 7 million people have signed up for 2024 Obamacare plans"
    },
    {
        "id": 222,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/duke-energy-disconnects-catl-batteries-174416843.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Michael Martina\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. utility company Duke Energy has disconnected CATL industrial-scale energy storage batteries on North Carolina Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune after lawmakers and experts raised concerns about the battery supplier's close links to China's ruling Communist Party.\nA number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers have sounded the alarm over potential security threats posed by Chinese storage batteries, arguing the United States risks building a critical dependency on its top rival for the devices that may have cyber vulnerabilities and put energy grids at risk.\nDuke Energy used large-scale batteries made by Chinese company CATL in its facility leased at Camp Lejeune, according to an April press release. That spurred criticism from a group of more than two dozen Republican lawmakers led by Senator Marco Rubio, who last week wrote Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin asking him to \"immediately reverse\" the installation of the batteries.\nDuke Energy has since met with lawmakers, including North Carolina Representative Greg Murphy, about the issue.\n\"Some concerns about this project have been raised, and, as a result, Duke Energy disconnected these batteries as we work to address these questions,\" the company told Reuters in a statement.\nBut it added that the system was designed with \"security in mind\" and that the batteries \"were not connected in any way to Camp Lejeune's cyber network or other systems.\"\nThe company did not say how long the batteries would remain offline.\nThe deployment of such utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) is increasing rapidly in the U.S. as sources of renewable energy come online. Much of that capacity will likely come from Chinese suppliers, which are leaders in the technology and stand to benefit from U.S. renewable energy tax credits.\nBut such systems require frequent remote operation and telecommunications equipment connected to the batteries could be vulnerable to hacking attempts, say experts.\nDemocratic senators Mark Warner and Joe Manchin in November urged the Department of Energy to prioritize U.S.-developed energy storage technologies in the face of China's \"near-monopoly\" over battery production, which they said poses \"substantial defense and economic security vulnerabilities.\"\n(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Franklin Paul and Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "Duke Energy disconnects CATL batteries from Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune"
    },
    {
        "id": 223,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sinking-city-brazil-sparks-braskem-174117107.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bonds in Latin America’s largest petrochemical company Braskem SA are getting hammered as the collapse of a salt mine it operated in northeastern Brazil sinks parts of a city of one million people into the sands.\nThe company was notified on Nov. 30 of a 1 billion reais ($205 million) civil lawsuit for potential damages in Maceio, Alagoas state, as entire neighborhoods collapse into the cluster of mines built deep under the city. And that could be just the beginning of the charges.\nDays after the lawsuit was announced, one section of the town that is wedged between the sea and a lake was sinking as much as 5 centimeters (2 inches) an hour, according to a statement by the Civil Defense. The movement and the threat of sinkholes appearing at any time forced Maceio to call a state of emergency and order the evacuation of thousands of people, many of whom sought shelter in empty schools. Others simply refused to leave their homes.\n“None of the potential outcomes seem positive for the company in the near-term,” said Filipe Botelho, a senior credit analyst at Lucror Analytics. For bondholders, “it’s just not the time to pile-on risk.”\nBraskem bonds are the worst performers among Latin America corporate debt over the past week, extending losses Wednesday, according to a Bloomberg index.\n“We can’t see investors wanting to come in and buy bonds before the dust settles,” said Botelho, who cut his recommendation on the bonds to hold from buy on Friday. “A lot of people are spooked, so there should be pressure to sell until the situation improves.”\nPreferred shares fell 12% last week, their biggest such drop since June 2022, and have continued to slide. Brazil’s sole stock operator B3 on Tuesday excluded the shares from its Corporate Sustainability Index, effective Dec. 8.\nSale Threat\nLast week’s lawsuit not only threatens Braskem’s balance sheet but could also derail plans by troubled industrial conglomerate Novonor SA to sell its 38.3% stake in the petrochemicals producer to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., known as Adnoc.\nAdnoc is offering $2.1 billion, or 37.29 reais a share, to buy most of the stake held by Novonor, according to a statement in early November. The stock leaped as much as 23% on the announcement, but has since given up most of those gains.\nRead more: Adnoc’s $2.1 Billion Braskem Offer Highlights Chemicals Push\nNovonor and some of its bank creditors are not satisfied with Adnoc’s new proposal and are trying to encourage bids from companies such as Unipar Carbocloro SA and J&F Investimentos SA, which had made offers earlier this year, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private. Novonor declined to comment.\nThe disaster in Maceio will only make it harder to get a better price, a disappointment to investors who were hoping the sale would be a catalyst for stocks and bonds.\nRating Pressure\nThe rock salt mine now at risk of collapsing has been inactive since 2019, when Braskem shut 35 of its shafts.\nThe company had been mining in Maceio for five decades and the first cracks appeared in 2018. Since then, the petrochemical company has committed to paying 14 billion reais in compensation and relocation costs.\nLast week’s civil action prompted Fitch Ratings to issue a statement saying the potential mine collapse could materially impact Braskem’s cash flows and pressure its rating. The company is one of only five Brazilian firms to be rated investment grade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\n“The company doesn’t have any cushion to deal with new claims,” Fitch analyst Marcelo Pappiani said in an interview.\nHis forecast considers a total payment of approximately 7.5 billion reais in disbursements related to the Alagoas crisis until 2025. Fitch’s base case doesn’t account for any additional payments over this amount.\n“Having to pay any more claims than they had accounted for would turn cash flows negative for 2024, and that level wouldn’t be in line with investment grade,” Pappiani said.\nIt all comes on top of a difficult year for the cyclical and volatile global petrochemical industry, which is facing a prolonged downturn after producers expanded capacity.\nMoody’s, the only ratings firm that does not rate Braskem investment grade, said the risks associated with the Alagoas crisis and a worsening cash burn could be triggers for a downgrade.\nOn Tuesday, Braskem announced it was canceling its corporate credit rating issued by Moody’s, citing cost-cutting measures. In a statement to Bloomberg News, Moody’s said it will continue to cover the credit through an “unsolicited” rating.\nMoody’s had projected that Braskem will burn cash in 2023 and break even in 2024, said senior analyst Carolina Chimenti, without providing any additional details.\n“While 1 billion reais on a standalone basis might not seem material when you look at Braskem’s cash position, if you put this in the context of cash burn, it is,” said Chimenti.\n--With assistance from Cristiane Lucchesi and Ezra Fieser.\n",
        "title": "Sinking City in Brazil Sparks Braskem Bond Rout and Ratings Warnings"
    },
    {
        "id": 224,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-duke-energy-disconnects-catl-173928348.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Recasts to add background and details after paragraph 2)\nBy Michael Martina\nWASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - U.S. utility company Duke Energy has disconnected CATL industrial-scale energy storage batteries on North Carolina Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune after lawmakers and experts raised concerns about the battery supplier's close links to China's ruling Communist Party.\nA number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers have sounded the alarm over potential security threats posed by Chinese storage batteries, arguing the United States risks building a critical dependency on its top rival for the devices that may have cyber vulnerabilities and put energy grids at risk.\nDuke Energy used large-scale batteries made by Chinese company CATL in its facility leased at Camp Lejeune, according to an April press release. That spurred criticism from a group of more than two dozen Republican lawmakers led by Senator Marco Rubio, who last week wrote Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin asking him to \"immediately reverse\" the installation of the batteries.\nDuke Energy has since met with lawmakers, including North Carolina Representative Greg Murphy, about the issue.\n\"Some concerns about this project have been raised, and, as a result, Duke Energy disconnected these batteries as we work to address these questions,\" the company told Reuters in a statement.\nBut it added that the system was designed with \"security in mind\" and that the batteries \"were not connected in any way to Camp Lejeune's cyber network or other systems.\"\nThe company did not say how long the batteries would remain offline.\nThe deployment of such utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) is increasing rapidly in the U.S. as sources of renewable energy come online. Much of that capacity will likely come from Chinese suppliers, which are leaders in the technology and stand to benefit from U.S. renewable energy tax credits.\nBut such systems require frequent remote operation and telecommunications equipment connected to the batteries could be vulnerable to hacking attempts, say experts.\nDemocratic senators Mark Warner and Joe Manchin in November urged the Department of Energy to prioritize U.S.-developed energy storage technologies in the face of China's \"near-monopoly\" over battery production, which they said poses \"substantial defense and economic security vulnerabilities.\"\n(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Franklin Paul and Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Duke Energy disconnects CATL batteries from Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune"
    },
    {
        "id": 225,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bain-capital-last-bidder-race-173456188.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Amy-Jo Crowley, Anousha Sakoui and Oliver Hirt\nLONDON/ZURICH (Reuters) - Bain Capital is the last remaining bidder for software company SoftwareOne Holding AG after other interested parties, including private equity firm Apax Partners, dropped out, three people familiar with the situation said.\nThis makes buyout group Bain the frontrunner to acquire the Swiss software manager after it first emerged as a bidder back in June.\nSpokespeople for Bain, Apax and SoftwareOne declined to comment.\nSoftwareOne received at least four non-binding bid proposals, as part of a strategic review, including from Bain and Apax, Reuters reported in October.\nBain's proposal valued SoftwareOne at up to 3.2 billion Swiss francs ($3.55 billion), in a range of 19.5-20.5 Swiss franc per share, a person with knowledge of the terms said at the time.\nIt is unclear, given SoftwareOne's recent results, if Bain would still be able to make an offer in that range, the same person said on Wednesday.\nBut an agreement between the two sides, potentially over exclusivity of negotiations as one option, could be reached by Christmas, the person said, who was speaking on condition of anonymity.\nLast month, SoftwareOne revised downward its full-year 2023 revenue growth guidance to high single-digits, from double-digits.\nSoftwareOne rejected two offers from Bain in the summer, with the second offer in July being in the same range of 19.5-20.5 Swiss francs per share.\nThat had followed a 2.9 billion Swiss franc offer from Bain, or the equivalent of 18.50 Swiss francs per share, for the company in June. This had the support of founding shareholders Daniel von Stockar, B Curti Holding and Rene Gilli, who together hold 29.1% of the company.\nAt the time SoftwareOne had said that the offer \"materially undervalued\" the company. That offer to take the company private was a 33% premium to the closing price on May 31.\nIn the wake of the failed takeover attempt, SoftwareOne said in August it was running a strategic review to maximise shareholder value.\nThe company reiterated in November that the strategic review was proceeding as planned and the board continued to make significant progress in evaluating various options.\nSoftwareOne helps companies manage software purchases from vendors such as Microsoft, Adobe and IBM.\n(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley, Anousha Sakoui and Oliver Hirt, additional reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr, editing by Jane Merriman)\n",
        "title": "Bain Capital last bidder in race for SoftwareOne - sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 226,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-readies-ipads-m3-macbook-173000916.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., seeking to reverse a decline in Mac and iPad sales, is preparing several new models and upgrades for early next year, according to people familiar with the situation.\nThe effort includes updating the iPad Air, iPad Pro and MacBook Air, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the products haven’t been announced. The new iPad Air will come in two sizes for the first time, and the Pro model will get OLED screens — short for organic light-emitting diode. The MacBook Air, meanwhile, will feature the speedier M3 processor.\nThe Mac and iPad account for 15% of Apple’s revenue combined, and they’ve been particularly hard hit by a decline in consumer tech spending. The iPad slump has been compounded by a lack of new models. In fact, 2023 will be the first calendar year in the product’s history when no new versions were released.\nThere have been Mac releases in the past year, but that market faces a broader pullback for computers following a boom in pandemic spending. Mac sales tumbled 34% last quarter to $7.61 billion, while iPad revenue dropped 10% to $6.44 billion. They also make up a smaller portion of Apple’s total sales these days, with services — once a negligible contributor — now accounting for a much larger piece.\nApple is looking to the new models to help reinvigorate demand next year. The iPads and accessories are expected to launch around the end of March — alongside iPadOS 17.4 — according to the people familiar with the plans. The Macs are being developed alongside macOS 14.3. That software update is likely to be released between the end of January and February, but the hardware may not ship until the March time frame.\nIt’s not unusual for Apple to hold launch events for the Mac and iPad around March. A spokeswoman for the Cupertino, California-based company declined to comment on the company’s plans.\nRead More: Apple Warns of Sluggish Holiday Quarter After China Slowdown\nThe iPad Air, which is the company’s mid-tier tablet, currently comes with a 10.9-inch screen. For next year’s release, the company will add a version that’s about 12.9 inches, matching the size of what’s currently the biggest iPad Pro. The company is readying four models — codenamed J507, J508, J537 and J538 — that will offer Wi-Fi-only and cellular versions of both sizes.\nThe additional screen size for the iPad Air is part of a strategy to offer more options at different prices. It lets consumers get a larger display without having to pay for the iPad Pro, which costs several hundred dollars more. This approach mirrors Apple’s strategy with the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.\nThe new Pro models are currently scheduled to be announced at the same time as the iPad Air. The OLED screens show a wider range of colors and will give the company’s tablets the same display technology used in the iPhone since 2017. The high-end tablet will get the M3 chip that was introduced with the MacBook Pro in October.\nThe company is planning four new iPad Pro models, codenamed J717, J718, J720 and J721, with roughly 11-inch and 13-inch screen sizes and both Wi-Fi-only and cellular configurations.\nApple’s new iPad Pro will mark the first overhaul to the product since the current design was introduced in 2018. The company had previously made smaller changes to the line, including bringing over chips from Macs and adding new cameras. These pricier tablets — which can top $2,000 with the highest storage capacity — are a key part of Apple’s bid to wring more revenue from the iPad.\nThe company is also preparing revamped versions of the Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard accessories, which it will sell alongside the new iPad Pro. The new Pencil — codenamed B532 — will represent the third generation of the product. The company released a new low-end model in November.\nThe new Magic Keyboards — codenamed R418 and R428 — will make the iPad Pro look more like a laptop and include a sturdier frame with aluminum. The latest MacBook Airs — codenamed J613 and J615 — will continue to come in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes. The main focus there will be the addition of the M3 chip.\nBeyond those product lines, Apple also plans to release its Vision Pro headset early next year. For later in 2024, it’s working on an updated Apple Watch with blood pressure sensing and a refresh to the iPad mini. There will be a new low-end iPad and larger upscale iPhones, as well as revamped low-end and mid-tier AirPods that add a USB-C port.\n",
        "title": "Apple Readies New iPads and M3 MacBook Air to Combat Sales Slump"
    },
    {
        "id": 227,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-fx-debt-c-forfeits-172546905.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nLoonie trades in a range of 1.3550 to 1.3594\n*\nBoC leaves policy rate on hold at 5%\n*\nPrice of U.S. oil falls 4%\n*\n10-year yield hits 5-month low\nBy Fergal Smith\nTORONTO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, giving back some earlier gains, as oil prices fell and investors bet that the Bank of Canada's messaging will turn less hawkish in the coming months.\nThe Canadian central bank held its target for the overnight rate at 5%, as expected, and left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices.\n\"They may be less hawkish in the first quarter of 2024,\" said Darcy Briggs, a portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Canada. \"The data is pointing toward the bank being done for the cycle. There is a possibility of some cuts throughout 2024. The question is how much.\"\nMoney markets expect the BoC to begin easing as soon as March and borrowing costs to fall by more than 100 basis points next year.\nThe Canadian dollar was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3585 to the greenback, or 73.61 U.S. cents, after moving in a range of 1.3550 to 1.3594.\nAnalysts see less upside for the currency than previously thought over the coming year as recent data showing a slowdown in the domestic economy brings forward the expected start of Bank of Canada interest rate cuts, a Reuters poll found.\nCanada recorded a larger-than-expected trade surplus of C$3 billion ($2.2 billion) in October, as exports rose marginally but imports slumped.\nThe price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, fell 4% to $69.42 a barrel as a bigger-than-expected rise in U.S. gasoline inventories worried markets about demand.\nCanadian government bond yields fell across the curve, tracking moves in U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year was down 6.1 basis points at 3.280%, its lowest level since July 4. (Reporting by Fergal Smithl Editing by Will Dunham)\n",
        "title": "CANADA FX DEBT-C$ forfeits earlier gains as less hawkish BoC eyed in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 228,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-release-hydrogen-subsidy-guidance-172015468.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Valerie Volcovici\nDUBAI, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. will release guidance for how hydrogen producers can secure billions of dollars of subsidies embedded in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act sometime this year after the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, U.S. energy advisor John Podesta told Reuters on Wednesday.\nIndustry has been waiting anxiously for the guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department for months, as the administration debates whether to restrict the incentives to producers using new, instead of existing, clean energy sources to prevent an uptick in emissions.\nAsked when the guidance would be released, Podesta said he expected it before the end of the year, but not during the Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 COP28 summit.\nHydrogen is a clean burning fuel that the Biden administration views as crucial to cleaning up hard-to-decarbonize industries like aluminum and cement. It is made by electrolyzing water and can be considered green if its production is powered by zero-emissions sources like solar, wind, nuclear or hydro.\nWhile virtually no green hydrogen is produced now due to high costs and other constraints, the Biden administration is hoping to jumpstart the industry with subsidies of $3 per kilogram, embedded in the IRA.\nAt issue is a proposal, backed by environmental groups and some green hydrogen companies, that Treasury’s looming guidance should limit the new perks to hydrogen producers that power their facilities with new clean energy sources.\nA study led by researchers from Princeton University found that without those limits the tax credits could have the unintended consequence of increasing emissions by raising overall power demand fed by fossil power.\nIndustry groups including nuclear backers, meanwhile, say an overly strict subsidy program would threaten the administration’s goals for green hydrogen by rendering some projects uneconomical.\nU.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary David Turk said at an event on the sidelines of the COP28 summit that the tax credit is so lucrative and its impact is so big that even federal agencies are split over the design.\n\"It's a big tax credit. We have to get it right,\" Turk said.\nHe said Treasury and the Department of Energy still have differing opinions on the design.\nOne source who was briefed on a preliminary draft of the guidance said it included the so-called additionality provision redlining existing power sources, but that the administration is considering special treatment for nuclear and hydro.\nThe source, who asked not to be named, said the draft also required hydrogen electrolyzers to run at the same time as renewable energy to ensure the hydrogen is not produced using fossil fuel electricity.\nIn addition to the IRA subsidies, the DOE has selected seven proposed regional \"hydrogen hubs\" that will get $7 billion to try to demonstrate and scale up a clean hydrogen.\nThree of the proposed hubs would include existing nuclear plants, and it is unclear if the hubs would be economically feasible if those reactors were cut out of the IRA subsidy.\nMarty Durbin, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Energy Institute, told Reuters that enabling production to start faster, with looser rules, would have long-term benefits.\n\"There might be a little uptake in greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector in the early stages but they'll be far offset by the decarbonisation of these energy intensive sectors over the long term,\" he said.\nClaire Behar, chief commercial officer for HyStor energy, a green hydrogen company developing a hub in Mississippi, said her company prefers the tougher rules. \"We have one shot to get this right for decarbonization,\" she said. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "US to release hydrogen subsidy guidance after COP28"
    },
    {
        "id": 229,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-targets-shein-big-fee-020729988.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is sharply cutting fees for merchants selling clothing priced below $20, a sign it’s hunkering down for a price war with Chinese fast-fashion upstart Shein.\nOn Tuesday, Amazon announced it would reduce seller fees on clothing products priced below $15 to 5% beginning in January. The rates on clothing priced from $15 to $20 will drop to 10%. The commissions on both categories had previously been 17%.\nIt’s rare for Amazon to reduce the so-called referral fees it charges merchants on its online store, and no other changes of that nature were announced. That signals Amazon is specifically looking to entice merchants offering low-cost clothes — an area where Shein has excelled with its $9 hoodies and other bargain-basement apparel.\n“This will make Amazon way more competitive in the low-price apparel category because a dollar or two can make a big difference,” said Lucas Barnes, a former Amazon executive who founded PNW Web Marketing, a consulting firm. “Amazon wants to let Shein spend all of its money offering discounts without losing too many Amazon Prime shoppers to the $9 hoodie.”\nAmazon dominates US e-commerce by capturing more than $1 of every $3 spent online, making it about six times bigger than closest online competitor Walmart Inc., according to Insider Intelligence. But it faces new threats from companies with ties to China.\nThat includes Shein, which plans to hold an initial public offering in 2024, and Temu, a shopping app that launched in the US last year and is offering steep discounts on a broad assortment of products. Social media app TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., also launched a US shop on its app earlier this year.\nAmazon announced the reduction in seller fees on apparel in a blog post that didn’t offer any explanation about why it was reducing fees for just lower-priced products in one category.\nIn a subsequent emailed statement, an Amazon spokesperson said: “We are reducing referral fees for the apparel category in order to help drive and incentivize even greater selection for customers and competitive prices. Our focus is always on how we can best support the growth and success of our selling partners.”\nThe Seattle-based company has had some missteps in apparel. In November, it announced the closure of its Amazon Style clothing stores in California and Ohio — outlets that had just opened in 2022.\n(Updates with company comment in penultimate paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Amazon Targets Shein With Fee Cuts for Cheap Apparel Sellers"
    },
    {
        "id": 230,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/options-traders-setting-sights-bitcoin-170426522.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Options traders are loading up on bets that Bitcoin will surge to $50,000 by January, when many market observers expect the SEC to finally allow exchange-traded funds to directly hold the cryptocurrency.\nThat’s the price level with the largest open interest, or the total amount of outstanding contracts, to buy Bitcoin with call options that expire Jan. 26, according to data compiled by Deribit, the largest crypto options exchange. Calls give the buyer of the contracts the right to purchase the underlying asset at a specific price within a set time period.\nBitcoin last reached $50,000 in December 2021. Digital assets were then in the midst of retreating from all-time highs with the Federal Reserve beginning to remove the record amount of stimulus added during the Covid pandemic. Now with expectations that the Fed is going to pivot on monetary policy next year and a Bitcoin ETF seen as almost a sure thing, the crypto sector is staging an eye-popping rebound.\n“The bullish sentiment is thriving,” said Luuk Strijers, Deribit’s chief commercial officer.\nBitcoin has surged more than 60% since the middle of October, when speculation jumped that the Securities and Exchange Commission was on the verge of signing off on ETF applications from the likes of asset management powerhouse BlackRock. The token was little changed at around $44,000 on Wednesday.\nCombined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges rose 40.7% in November, to $3.61 trillion, the highest combined total since March, according to researcher CCData.\nActivities in derivatives such as options and futures have continued to dominate crypto trading as they remain one of the few ways for investors to leverage bets after a slew of major crypto lenders imploded in 2022. In addition, cash-settled options and futures contracts can help traders execute their strategies without having to handle crypto-specific issues like custody.\nCrypto prices languished from late March to early October as a series of industry bankruptcies and scandals began to wind down.\n“Volatility has been dropping like a stone for most part of the year,” said Jaime Baeza, founder and CEO at crypto hedge fund AnB Investments. “The environment has been low volatility, reduced volumes, reduced interest rates in the crypto ecosystem and overall reduced interest in the industry.”\nNow with an Bitcoin ETF likely on the horizon and risk taking is returning to the broader financial markets, traders anticipate more interest in crypto.\n“We’ve seen this year that as BTC moves higher, volatility has followed,” said Greg Magadini, director of derivatives at Amberdata. “So a sustained bull market might bring back some more volatility in the short and medium term.”\n--With assistance from Olga Kharif.\n",
        "title": "Options Traders Are Setting Their Sights on Bitcoin at $50,000 by January"
    },
    {
        "id": 231,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/signa-insolvency-yields-long-list-165728756.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- An insolvency filing by Signa Holding shines some light on the complex dealings of the umbrella organization of Rene Benko’s property and retail empire.\nThe court application, seen by Bloomberg, includes a preliminary list of creditors, offering a glimpse of an operation that lured high-profile investors as it lapped up trophy assets like New York’s Chrysler Building, Selfridges department store in London and Berlin’s KaDeWe.\nThe scope of entities that Signa owes money include banks, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, private security personnel and Schertz Bergmann, a Berlin law firm that represented Signa in disputes with the press.\nThe document also provides a sobering €5 billion ($5.4 billion) estimate for potential losses in a liquidation, but leaves major questions unanswered, including the origin of billions of euros in contingent liabilities.\nUncertainties persist surrounding Signa’s overall restructuring plans and whether it will be able to secure financing to allow for an orderly divestment process. The court-appointed administrator is set to present his first findings at a creditor meeting on Dec. 19.\nA spokesman for Signa didn’t respond to a call seeking comment.\nWho are Signa Holding’s creditors?\nIt’s a big group: 273 entities in all. Some are unusual and illustrate the group’s excess, while others hint at the cross dealings between the various units.\nFinancial creditors include the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, well-known lenders such as Julius Baer Group Ltd and BNP Paribas SA, as well as German regional savings banks.\nSeveral units across the broader Signa conglomerate also appear on the list, as well as companies related to some shareholders: for example, Madison International Realty. The real estate private equity firm had bought stakes in Signa Prime, the conglomerate’s largest luxury property unit.\nThere are also dry cleaners, private jet and helicopter charters, as well as restaurants in Vienna and the ski resort town of Alpbach. There are also liabilities to gardeners, farm shops and foresters.\nHow did Signa get here?\nIn the filing, Signa Holding gives a detailed explanation of its financial difficulties. It blames the Covid-19 pandemic, supply-chain issues and lower consumer spending for undermining its retail investments.\nRead More: Billionaire Benko’s Empire Risks Unraveling From the Pandemic\nOn the real estate side of the business, the company points to rising interest rates, as well as higher labor and material costs. Signa also said the European Central Bank’s scrutiny of its creditor banks had an impact on their willingness to loan new money.\nSigna Holding said it hadn’t been able to secure enough funding to ensure short-term needs, making an insolvency filing necessary.\nWhere did all the debt come from?\nIn a liquidation scenario presented in the filing, the company would face about €5.3 billion of liabilities. Major claims would come from other companies within the group, as well as payouts under guarantees, which may be attached to debt issued by other Signa entities.\nThe biggest contribution comes from a line mysteriously dubbed as “liabilities which are not (yet) counted in the balance sheet.” That totals €1.8 billion.\nSigna Holding has typically acted as the organizer for capital increases at the Prime and Development units. Signa Holding often subscribed all new shares before passing them on to external investors. They, in turn, often bought the stock along side an option to sell back their stake. One investor, Roland Berger, has already exercised that option.\nWhat happens next?\nAs part of the self-administered restructuring, Signa Holding has to repay creditors at least 30% of their claims within two years of an agreement with creditors. The corresponding restructuring plan has to be approved by a majority of them.\nIn the mean time, Signa Holding is trying to secure more funds, according to the filing. It’s uncertain if Signa Prime and Signa Development, the main property-owning vehicles, will be able to avoid a similar insolvency filing.\nIn order to raise liquidity, Signa may have to consider selling stakes in units as well as individual properties. The highest-value luxury assets may be among the first to find a buyer given the strong interest in them, but it’s also unclear how much debt might be attached to them.\nAs the liquidity crunch cascades through Benko’s empire, further Signa units have filed for insolvency procedures. These include two Signa financial services companies in Germany and Switzerland, which managed fund transactions for the group.\n",
        "title": "Signa’s Insolvency Yields Long List of Creditors and Questions"
    },
    {
        "id": 232,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-rally-burns-6-billion-165317917.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin’s blistering rally in 2023 has made betting against cryptocurrency company stocks a losing bet for short sellers.\nTraders betting on declines in crypto-related companies such as Coinbase Global Inc., MicroStrategy Inc. and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. have accumulated paper losses of $6 billion so far this year, according to data from S3 Partners LLC.\nBitcoin’s more than 165% jump is driving the gains in crypto stocks, which are highly linked to the price of the digital asset. Hopes of further regulatory clarity and that a US-listed Bitcoin exchange traded fund is on the horizon have also lifted the sector this year. But that optimism has increased chances of a short squeeze, when gains force short sellers to buy back the stocks they’ve bet against to exit losing positions, lifting shares further.\nRead more: What Is Bitcoin ‘Halving’? Does It Push Up the Price?: QuickTake\n“Buying-to-cover in the most shorted crypto stocks such as Coinbase Global, MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital Holdings and Riot Platforms will help push stock prices higher along with the long buying that has driven up stock prices since the end of October,” Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3, said in a Dec. 5 report.\nCoinbase has contributed the most pain to short sellers betting against the sector this year. The company’s 290% rally has amounted to about $3.5 billion in losses, more than half of the total shed so far in 2023. MicroStrategy, which is up more than 300% this year, has added $1.4 billion to crypto short’s losses this year.\nRead more: Coinbase Stock Triples in 2023 After Firm Survives Crypto Chaos\nOf course, even as losses mount for short sellers, some continue to put more money into the contrarian trades, betting the rally will soon run out of steam. Since mid-September, when Bitcoin bounced back from a string of losses, there’s been nearly $700 million of new short selling, according to S3.\nBut that’s likely to reverse if Bitcoin continues to grind higher and lift shares of crypto stocks, adding to the roughly $2.2 billion of short covering seen in the sector so far this year.\n“Investors looking for crypto exposure can now pick between the actual cryptocurrencies or crypto stocks,” Dusaniwsky said. “If the recent momentum continues, both look to outperform the market.”\n",
        "title": "Bitcoin’s Rally Burns $6 Billion for Short Sellers"
    },
    {
        "id": 233,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-britain-proposes-checks-banks-112133317.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds more detail)\nLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Bank of England and Britain's Financial Conduct Authority on Thursday proposed rules to regulate the heavy reliance of financial firms on external technology companies for critical operations.\nBanks, insurers, investment firms and market infrastructure use 'critical third parties' or external firms such as Microsoft, Google, IBM and Amazon for cloud computing and other services to improve efficiency.\nRegulators worry that a glitch at one cloud company could potentially bring down services across many financial firms.\nThe finance ministry has yet to designate which third parties will face the eight requirements proposed on Thursday to monitor and manage these risks.\nThe minimum resilience standards require a third party to identify all services it provides to a financial firm, assess risks to its services and implement appropriate controls, undertake regular testing and have a mechanism for handling failures.\nThe standards aim to prevent or minimise disruption if an external service provider were to go down.\n\"Financial market infrastructure firms are becoming increasingly dependent on third-party technology providers for services that could impact UK financial stability if they were to fail or be disrupted,\" BoE Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said.\nThe BoE had already begun requesting annual updates on the resilience of third parties to cyber attacks, and monitoring cloud computing providers given the \"increasing reliance\" of the financial sector on a small number of them.\nThe regulators said their proposals are designed to be \"interoperable\" with similar rules being introduced in the United States and European Union.\n(Reporting by David Milliken and Huw Jones, Editing by Kylie MacLellan and Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Britain proposes new checks on banks' reliance on tech companies"
    },
    {
        "id": 234,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-england-asks-banks-report-111440598.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Stefania Spezzati and Huw Jones\nLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Britain's top financial regulator has asked banks active in the so-called private credit market for details of their exposure to an area which it has identified as a top systemic danger, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.\nThe global market for private credit, which largely involves leveraged loans made to indebted companies, grew to nearly $1.5 trillion in 2022, a jump of more than 40% from 2020, London-based data firm Preqin estimated.\nThe Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)has identified risks in private credit and leveraged lending and has given banks including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America until the end of 2023 to respond, two people said.\nThe banking regulator's request, which has not been previously reported, includes sharing details of individual clients, the people said.\nBanks with wholesale operations and private equity business have been expanding in private credit in a search for returns.\nBut the lack of transparency in these pockets of the financial system means the size and risks might not be entirely visible in banks' balance sheets, the person added.\nThe BOE said in its financial stability report this week, that riskier corporate borrowing, such as private credit and leveraged lending appears \"particularly vulnerable\".\n\"The opacity of private credit markets makes risks in the sector challenging to monitor in the UK and globally,\" it added.\nA PRA spokesperson declined to comment. JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and BofA also declined to comment.\nBUBBLE?\nPrivate credit firms tend to arrange loans to fledgling companies on a floating-rate basis, which means rising interest rates threaten their ability to repay, prompting regulators worldwide to voice concerns over this opaque corner of finance.\nA private credit shock could cause a liquidity squeeze, a possibility regulators are particularly sensitive to after this year's deposit runs at Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank, one of the people told Reuters on condition of anonymity.\nBritain's banking regulators have been meeting lenders' top executives to discuss the issue this year and aim to map out the banking exposure, the person said.\nBanks often lend to portfolio companies, but also \"to fund investors, underlying funds, asset managers, and everyone in between,\" BoE senior regulator Nathanaël Benjamin said in July, highlighting the complex web of connections in the market.\nBankers have also warned about the risks.\nColm Kelleher, chairman of Swiss bank UBS, said in November there was clearly \"an asset bubble in private credit\".\nBritain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is conducting its own review, the people said, focusing on the leveraged-loan market, including collateralised loan obligations (CLOs), risky loans that are bundled together and sold in tranches.\nAt a roundtable in London at the end of November, the market regulator invited the chairs of banks with major wholesale operations including JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to discuss priorities for next year, they added.\nBanking exposure to private credit markets and private equities was identified as a concern, one of the people who attended the meeting told Reuters.\nThe FCA declined to comment. (Reporting by Stefania Spezzati and Huw Jones; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "Bank of England asks banks to report private credit exposure -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 235,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-bitcoin-etf-issuer-talks-111055137.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Suzanne McGee and Hannah Lang\n(Reuters) - Discussions between the U.S. securities regulator and asset managers hoping to list bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have advanced to key technical details, in a sign the agency may soon approve the products, industry executives said.\nThirteen firms including Grayscale Investments, BlackRock, Invesco, and ARK Investments, have pending applications with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for ETFs that track the price of bitcoin.\nProponents argue that a regulated product, like an ETF, tied to the spot price of the cryptocurrency, offers investors the best way to invest in bitcoin. But the agency has long rejected such products, arguing they fail to meet its bar for investor protections.\nBut after a court in August ruled the SEC was wrong to reject Grayscale's application to convert its bitcoin trust into an ETF, the SEC has been engaging with issuers on substantive details, some of which are usually discussed near the end of an ETF application process, according to half a dozen industry executives and SEC public memos.\nThey include custody arrangements; creation and redemption mechanisms; and investor risk disclosures, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.\nA spot bitcoin ETF would mark a watershed for the industry, allowing previously wary investors access to the world's largest cryptocurrency via the tightly regulated stock market. Demand is expected to be as much as $3 billion on the first few days.\nThe SEC has long worried, however, that bitcoin is vulnerable to manipulation. Previously, discussions focused on that concern and were mostly educational, the people said.\nThe SEC has until Jan. 10 to make a final decision on ARK's filing, which is first in line. The advanced nature of the discussions signals the SEC may approve ARK's application and likely some of the other 12 applications, in the New Year, the people said. The advanced talks help explain a recent rally in bitcoin, the price of which reached a 20-month high this month.\nARK CEO Cathie Wood told Yahoo Finance last month that the nature of the SEC discussions had changed and the odds of several applications being approved had gone up.\n\"My guess is that we'll have several ETFs approved at once, which will give investors the best opportunity to compare them,\" said Bryan Armour, ETF analyst at Morningstar.\nMemos made public by the SEC show that executives from BlackRock, Grayscale, Invesco and 21 Shares, which is working with ARK, have met with SEC staff since September, together with their lawyers and executives from the exchanges where they hope to list the ETF. Other managers also told Reuters they met with SEC staff in that time. The BlackRock meeting memo includes a detailed description of the asset manager's revised redemptions mechanism.\nBlackRock did not return requests for comment. Invesco declined to comment. \"Grayscale continues to engage constructively with the SEC,\" a spokesperson said.\nWhile past meetings have mostly been with staff from the SEC's trading and markets and corporate finance divisions, some recent meetings have been with staff in Chair Gary Gensler's office, according to the memos and sources. The pace of SEC information requests has also accelerated from every few months to every week or so, the people said.\nAs discussions have advanced, issuers have had to update their filings to reflect the new details, one person said. This week, for example, BlackRock amended its filing to provide more insight into measures it plans to take to protect investors.\nCRYPTO SKEPTIC\nTo be sure, the SEC has not said publicly - or indicated to people interviewed by Reuters - whether it will approve the products. There also remain sticking points, chiefly whether issuers will create a cash or an \"in-kind\" settlement mechanism, the people said.\nAn SEC spokesperson said the agency would not comment on individual filings. Gensler, a crypto skeptic who has accused the industry of flouting SEC rules, said in October the agency's commissioners will potentially consider the ETF filings, but he did not indicate when.\nThe SEC began engaging meaningfully with issuers soon after a federal appeals court ruled that the agency failed to justify why it rejected Grayscale's ETF application. The SEC did not appeal and must now review Grayscale's filing.\nSome sources believe the wording of the Grayscale ruling limits the grounds on which the SEC could again reject the filings. And many issuers feel they have addressed the SEC's market manipulation concerns with a surveillance arrangement between the listing exchanges and Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange.\nIf the SEC wants to buy more time, it could ask ARK to withdraw its application and refile, but market participants said that could be legally risky in light of the Grayscale decision.\n\"I don't think much will stop it from moving forward,\" said Roxanna Islam, head of sector and industry research at data firm VettaFi.\n(Reporting by Suzanne McGee in Providence, Rhode Island, and Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Michelle Price and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "US bitcoin ETF issuer talks with SEC have advanced to key details -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 236,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-plunging-yields-oil-checked-110437836.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan\nPlummeting bond yields and oil prices clawed back some of the week's dramatic falls on Thursday, while a burst of speculation about a Bank of Japan policy tightening this month cut across the interest rate optimism and catapulted the yen higher.\nThe size and slightly erratic nature of this week's macro market moves may speak a little to yearend markets both squaring off books and jockeying for position for 2024.\nBut a stream of softer labor market and inflation news - not least an oil price plunge to 6-month lows on booming U.S. crude supplies - has been relentlessly positive for bonds along with clear signs of central bank policy shifts going into next year.\nToo far, too fast? Ten-year Treasury yields plumbed three months lows near 4.1% on Wednesday and money markets are pricing well over 100 basis points of central bank rate cuts next year.\nTen-year U.S. yields recaptured about 6bp of the 25bp drop over the past week early on Thursday - although ten-year German bund yields continued to fall to their lowest since May.\nCutting across the global rates euphoria, however, were Bank of Japan comments that spurred markets into upping chances of another tightening of monetary policy there as soon as this month. That saw 10-year Japanese government bond yields jump more than 10bps and the yen jump almost 2% to its best level since September 1.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank - the lone holdout over the past two years of G7 tightening - has several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory.\nThe five-year JGB yield leapt 10.5 bps to 0.34% - the biggest increase in a single day since April 2013.\nAnd yet, it was hard to ignore the latest oil price fall to its lowest since June as another major disinflationary force - while trade news from China continued to show worrying demand signs from the world's second biggest economy despite some rebound in overall exports.\nChina's crude oil imports in November fell 9.2% year-on-year, the first annual decline since April, as high inventory levels and poor manufacturing activity took their toll.\nU.S. retail gasoline pump prices have now fallen to their lowest since January.\nAll of which switches Wall St traders back to demand signals at home, with another round of labor market updates on weekly jobless and November layoffs due later ahead of Friday's official employment report.\nThe private-sector jobs reading from ADP on Wednesday came in below forecast, chiming with the previous day's news of a surprising drop in job openings in October.\nThe frenetic macro market activity - which saw bond market volatility gauges jump back to their highest since October this week - has stopped benchmark stock markets in their tracks. The S&P500 closed slightly in the red on Wednesday and futures were flat ahead of today's open.\nAsia and European bourses fell back too, with Japan's Nikkei underperforming with losses of almost 2% on the rate speculation and yen surge.\nKey developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Thursday:\n* U.S. November layoffs, weekly jobless claims. U.S. Oct consumer credit\n* Federal Reserve issues quarterly financial accounts of the United States. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde attends euro group meeting of euro finance ministers in Brussels, focussed on 2024 budget plans\n* EU-China Summit in Beijing\n* U.S. Treasury auctions 4-week bills\n* U.S. corporate earnings: Broadcom, Cooper Companies, Lulumelon Athletica, Dollar General\n(By Mike Dolan, editing by Christina Fincher; mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Plunging yields, oil checked amid BOJ jolt"
    },
    {
        "id": 237,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/britain-sets-safeguards-accessing-cash-110239713.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Huw Jones\nLONDON (Reuters) - Britain's banks and building societies should make sure customers can still access cash before closing a branch as more financial services move online, the country's markets regulator proposed on Thursday.\nThe Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it was using powers under a new financial services law approved earlier this year to require banks, such as Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and NatWest to undertake \"cash access assessments\" when they are considering closing a branch.\nBritain is also likely to issue a digital version of the pound in the second half of the decade, raising fears that cash will be even harder to use as some shops already insist on cards for payments.\n\"We know that, while there is an increasing shift to digital payments, over 3 million consumers still rely on cash – particularly people who may be vulnerable – as well as many small businesses,\" said Sheldon Mills, the FCA's executive director of consumers and competition.\n\"These proposals set out how banks and building societies will need to assess and plug gaps in local cash provision. This will help manage the pace of change and ensure that people can continue to access cash if they need it,\" Mills said.\nIn the first quarter of this year, 95.1% of the UK population was within a mile of a free-to-use cash withdrawal point, the FCA said.\nSeparately, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said on Thursday that last year cash was used for 19% of purchases at its members, who are mostly large chains that account for just over a third of UK retail spending.\nThe proportion of cash transactions rose last year for the first time in a decade, after falling to a low of 15% in 2021 when pandemic restrictions encouraging the use of contactless card payments were still in place, the BRC said.\nThe FCA said that existing law allowed retailers to decide whether to accept cash or not, and that it would finalise its new rules by the third quarter of 2024.\n(Additional reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "Britain sets out safeguards for accessing cash in digital age"
    },
    {
        "id": 238,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/futures-listless-traders-await-payrolls-110103520.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Futures tracking the Dow and the S&P 500 indexes were largely flat on Thursday ahead of the monthly payrolls report later this week, while Nasdaq futures were propped up by a rise in Google.\nEquities have come under pressure in December after strong gains last month on bets that the Federal Reserve was done with its interest rate hikes given easing inflation.\nThe payrolls data on Friday will likely give investors pointers to the Fed's interest rate path and the potential for a \"soft landing\" of the U.S. economy.\nAt 5:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 68 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.25 points, or 0.01%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 35.25 points, or 0.22%.\nShares of Google-parent Alphabet were up 2.8% in premarket trading, a day after the release of its most advanced artificial intelligence model. Other megacap stocks were mixed.\nWeak private payrolls and job openings have reinforced expectations the Fed's rate-hiking campaign is slowing the economy, allowing the central bank to potentially start cutting interest rates early next year.\nTraders have nearly fully priced in the likelihood of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged at its meeting next week, with 61% betting on a rate cut as soon as March 2024, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nHowever, some analysts have warned that markets have been too optimistic about rate cuts and also said the upcoming jobs report will be crucial in determining the chances of a soft landing - where the Fed manages to avert a recession.\n\"US jobs numbers tomorrow and central bank meetings next week could inform the market if it has got carried away with the level of rate cuts which are now being priced in for 2024,\" Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell said in a note.\nThe Labor Department's report is expected to show non-farm payrolls increased by 180,000 jobs last month after rising by 150,000 in October.\nAnother report due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday is expected to show initial jobless claims ticked up to 222,000 for the week ended Dec. 2 compared to 218,000 in the prior week.\nMeanwhile, comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda added to growing speculation that the central bank could soon shift away from its ultra-easy monetary policy.\nAmong major movers, Advanced Micro Devices jumped 3.6% premarket, a day after the chipmaker estimated there was a $45 billion market for its data center artificial intelligence processors this year.\nGameStop tumbled 7.6% after the videogame retailer missed quarterly revenue estimates, hurt by rising competition.\n(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)\n",
        "title": "Futures listless as traders await payrolls data for policy cues"
    },
    {
        "id": 239,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-reasons-a-boring-december-could-get-interesting-for-stocks-110007975.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Over the last 10 trading days, the world's most important benchmark index has been trading in a narrow 1.4% range, with no wins or losses exceeding 0.6%. On Wednesday, for instance, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) finished down 0.38%.\nHistorically, volatility tends to contract at the end of December, paving the way for predictable year-end gains. But this year, November's gangbuster returns may have brought forward an early Christmas for investors.\nStocks have had three principle catalysts over the last two years — inflation, jobs, and the Federal Reserve — and all three are on the docket over the next week. Whether bullish or bearish, markets could get quite interesting in what is normally a sleepy time of year.\nFriday, investors will get November employment figures from the BLS — a report that has added 4.67 percentage points of the S&P 500's 18% return year to date. That contrasts with a loss of 5.46 percentage points in 2022 — a year spent mostly in bear market territory.\nThe S&P 500 has ended Jobs Day Fridays in the green 60% of the time this year with an average win of 0.47 percentage points. Last year, 3 out of 4 Jobs Days were losers, with an average loss of 0.46 percentage points.\nMoving ahead to Tuesday, the BLS releases the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and related inflation metrics for November. This year, investors have been rewarded an average of 0.45 percentage points per report — nearly 5.0 percentage points if you add all of them up — with a 73% win rate. That's also a flip from last year, when investors lost a total of 0.72 percentage points and ended red 58% of the time.\nA day later, next Wednesday, Jerome Powell takes the podium at the Fed, as the Federal Open Market Committee releases its final interest rate decision of the year.\nInvestors might be surprised to learn that last year stocks gained 4.14 percentage points on Fed days, despite only winning 50% of the time. In 2023, investors have lost an average of 0.15 percentage points per Fed day for a total loss in 2023 of 1.05 percentage points, with a 57% win rate.\nWith the drop in volatility ahead of these key reports, markets are primed to make a strong directional move. The direction in 2023 has been strongly up for most of the year. But bond market volatility is on the rise, as is the US dollar — both of which act as headwinds for stocks.\nShorts are loading up as all the major indexes — plus the Russell 2000 — are sitting just under strong potential historical resistance. If stocks crack because of a narrative-changing report or announcement, watch out, as liquidity is low and downside moves can get exacerbated.\nBut if these reports end up bullish, the bears simply become fuel for a short-covering rally that could take the S&P 500 to a fresh record high by year-end or early 2024.\nShort-term traders might watch for a potential bear trap if the S&P 500 trades down to 4,500. A head fake lower before ripping higher would be a fitting year-end surprise for the bulls.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "3 reasons a 'boring' December could get interesting for stocks"
    },
    {
        "id": 240,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/column-next-big-thing-retirement-110000243.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)\nBy Mark Miller\nDec 7 (Reuters) - IBM may have just kicked off the next big trend in the world of employee retirement benefits.\nBig Blue made headlines recently when it announced plans to end its 401(k) matching contribution in favor of a new benefit that walks, talks and sounds like a good old-fashioned pension. You might dimly remember them: employers contribute to the plan and manage it; when you retire, a regular check starts arriving in the mail, and it continues as long as you live.\nDefined-benefit pensions are still dominant among public-sector state and municipal employers. But they have all but disappeared in the private sector as employers rushed to get them off their balance sheets over the past two decades.\nIBM, often perceived as a leader in the corporate world, was one of the first large employers to announce a shift to an all-defined contribution retirement program in 2006, and the decision was a harbinger of a plunge in the number of employers offering traditional pensions.\n“IBM was the huge brand name to make that move,” said John Lowell, a partner at October Three, a firm that provides consulting services to plan sponsors. “Other companies thought, ‘Well, if IBM is doing this, there must be a reason.’”\nBut now, IBM delivered a shock of sorts when it said last month that starting on Jan. 1, 2024, it will introduce a Retirement Benefit Account (RBA) for all of its U.S. employees. Employees can continue to contribute to their 401(k) accounts. But the match will be replaced by a contribution of 5% of pay to the RBA, along with a one-time pay increase of 1%. The pay credits will accumulate interest credits at a rate of 6% for the first three years, and will be tied to Treasury rates in the years that follow, with a floor of 3% for the first seven years.\nThe RBA is a defined-benefit structure known as a cash balance plan. Employees do not have individual accounts; instead, the plan “defines” a benefit it will pay from its general assets. The benefit is defined as a lump-sum amount that can be paid in retirement as an annuity calculated to equal the lifetime value of your accumulated sum.\nIBM is not saying much about its motivations. A company spokesperson said: \"By introducing this retirement benefit within IBM’s Personal Pension Plan, which is stable and well-funded, IBM is able to provide a benefit to employees that also helps diversify their retirement portfolios.”\nIBM is not the only employer thinking about restarting a defined-benefit plan. Jonathan Price, who leads the national retirement practice at benefits consulting firm Segal, said he has fielded more calls about unfreezing or starting a new pension plan in the past year than he has in the past decade.\n“In the last few decades, sponsors may have decided that there were certain risks that were just untenable for their balance sheet or for cost purposes,” he said. “But they've learned that with the right design and investment structure, the risks can be managed, much more closely.”\nWHERE PENSIONS SHINE\nIt is too early to say if IBM’s decision signals a major move by plan sponsors back to defined-benefit plans. But the benefits of the company’s shift are clear.\nAll of IBM’s employees will participate in the RBA, and receive the same annual contribution. That is different from the typical defined-contribution plan, where participation is voluntary - and not all employees have the financial wherewithal to contribute enough to get the full matching contribution. By contrast, any form of universal defined-benefit plan helps combat rising wealth inequality in retirement.\nA recent report by the National Institute on Retirement Security and the UC Berkeley Labor Center, for example, found that defined-benefit pensions reduce retiree poverty and near-poverty across race, sex, and educational attainment, with the largest improvement provided to Black and Latino retirees, and retirees without four-year college degrees.\nThe RBA also addresses the problem faced by employees in converting 401(k) balances into steady streams of retirement income. Employers and policymakers have recognized that problem, as evidenced by the U.S. Congress passing the Secure Act of 2019, which cleared the path to add insurance company annuities in defined-contribution plans.\nBut defined-benefit plans offer a much more efficient way to provide a guaranteed income stream. Lowell has found that plans combining defined benefit and defined contribution are anywhere from 10% to 30% less expensive than a commercial annuity option, especially for large companies that may already have a defined-benefit plan that has been frozen or closed.\nPensions also can help employers manage workforce challenges, Price notes. Pensions are an attractive benefit that can help attract talent in a competitive labor market - but their guaranteed income streams also make it easier for older workers to retire, clearing the path for younger workers to move up.\nSaid Price: “Some of the conversations we’re hearing about from employers are about recruitment and retention, and some are about making sure that there's the right intergenerational shift so that individuals can feel confident in their ability to retire.”\nThe opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.\n(Writing by Mark Miller Editing by Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "COLUMN-The next big thing in retirement benefits might be the oldest: a traditional pension"
    },
    {
        "id": 241,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-futures-listless-traders-105734065.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nFutures: Dow down 0.19%, S&P flat, Nasdaq up 0.22%\nDec 7 (Reuters) -\nFutures tracking the Dow and the S&P 500 indexes were largely flat on Thursday ahead of the monthly payrolls report later this week, while Nasdaq futures were propped up by a rise in Google.\nEquities have come under pressure in December after strong gains last month on bets that the Federal Reserve was done with its interest rate hikes given easing inflation.\nThe payrolls data on Friday will likely give investors pointers to the Fed's interest rate path and the potential for a \"soft landing\" of the U.S. economy.\nAt 5:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 68 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.25 points, or 0.01%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 35.25 points, or 0.22%.\nShares of Google-parent Alphabet were up 2.8% in premarket trading, a day after the release of its most advanced artificial intelligence model. Other megacap stocks were mixed.\nWeak private payrolls and job openings have reinforced expectations the Fed's rate-hiking campaign is slowing the economy, allowing the central bank to potentially start cutting interest rates early next year.\nTraders have nearly fully priced in the likelihood of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged at its meeting next week, with 61% betting on a rate cut as soon as March 2024, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nHowever, some analysts have warned that markets have been too optimistic about rate cuts and also said the upcoming jobs report will be crucial in determining the chances of a soft landing - where the Fed manages to avert a recession.\n\"US jobs numbers tomorrow and central bank meetings next week could inform the market if it has got carried away with the level of rate cuts which are now being priced in for 2024,\" Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell said in a note.\nThe Labor Department's report is expected to show non-farm payrolls increased by 180,000 jobs last month after rising by 150,000 in October.\nAnother report due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday is expected to show initial jobless claims ticked up to 222,000 for the week ended Dec. 2 compared to 218,000 in the prior week.\nMeanwhile, comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda added to growing speculation that the central bank could soon shift away from its ultra-easy monetary policy.\nAmong major movers, Advanced Micro Devices jumped 3.6% premarket, a day after the chipmaker estimated there was a $45 billion market for its data center artificial intelligence processors this year.\nGameStop tumbled 7.6% after the videogame retailer missed quarterly revenue estimates, hurt by rising competition. (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Futures listless as traders await payrolls data for policy cues"
    },
    {
        "id": 242,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-sends-commodities-two-low-232932877.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Shares fell across Asia following declines on Wall Street, pressured by weak oil prices and concerns about China’s fiscal health. Treasuries slid after rallying on fresh signs of US labor market softness.\nEquities were lower from Hong Kong to mainland China and Australia. That followed a third daily decline for the S&P 500, its longest stretch of losses since October. US futures were mostly steady.\n10-year Treasury yields drifted higher after Wednesday’s decline that had pushed them to 4.1%, the lowest since August. The policy-sensitive two-year yield also edged up slightly. Australian bond yields were a touch lower.\nDriving the weakness in equities were declines in energy producers after oil fell to its lowest since June on concerns about oversupply, as well as worries over China’s debt burden after Moody’s Investors Service lowered its view on a number of local companies, after earlier cutting its outlook for the nation’s sovereign bonds.\n“Moody’s large scale of outlook downgrade for Chinese companies is very surprising,” said Hao Hong, chief economist at Grow Investment Group. “In usual cases, Moody’s will lower the companies’ rating in 1-1.5 years after outlook downgrades, which will raise their funding cost.”\nFurther souring investor mood was a surprise contraction in China’s imports in November from a Covid-hit period one year ago, dashing hopes that domestic demand would rebound from a low base to spur growth in a slowing economy.\nThe country’s exports rose 0.5% on year last month, slightly better than expected and marking the first expansion since April.\n“It is unclear if exports can contribute as a growth pillar into next year,” said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd. “The European and US economies are cooling. China still needs to depend on the domestic demand as the main driver for growth in 2024.”\nThe focus now shifts to Friday’s US jobs report after private payrolls data that fell short of estimates in a sign of softening in the employment market.\nOil stabilized after a five-day run of losses on signs that global supplies are eclipsing demand despite plans by OPEC+ to rein in its production into 2024. A key gauge for prices of raw materials earlier tumbled to the lowest level since August 2021.\nAn index of the dollar steadied Thursday after reaching its highest in three weeks. Currencies were otherwise muted during Asian trading hours.\nFed policymakers meet next week for the last time in 2023. While no change is expected in their target for the federal funds rate, they are scheduled to release quarterly forecasts that could alter market-implied expectations. Those bets have been gravitating toward more easing next year in response to weaker-than-forecast economic data.\nMarkets fully priced six quarter-point rate cuts by the European Central Bank in 2024 earlier on Wednesday, a move that would take the key rate to 2.5%. Although bets were pared slightly later in the day, Deutsche Bank AG helped stoke the dovish sentiment by revising its outlook to also forecast 150 basis points of cuts.\n“Inflation fears are melting,” said Prashant Newnaha, a rates strategist at TD Securities. “Central banks believe they have clearly done enough and may need to cut, otherwise real rates may be too high and restrictive.”\nHedge Fund Warnings\nMeantime, the Bank of England stepped up warnings about hedge funds shorting US Treasury futures, saying its measure of the net position is now larger than before the “dash for cash” crisis in March 2020.\nThe net short position has grown to $800 billion from about $650 billion in July, the central bank said, citing calculations based on Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. That suggests a jump in the so-called basis trade, which is where investors seek to exploit price differences between futures and bonds.\nIn corporate news, Apple Inc., seeking to reverse a decline in Mac and iPad sales, is preparing several new models and upgrades for early next year, according to people familiar with the situation. Advanced Micro Devices Inc., meanwhile, is taking aim at a burgeoning market dominated by Nvidia Corp. by unveiling new so-called accelerator chips targeting the artificial intelligence boom.\nElsewhere, gold extended Wednesday’s gains, while bitcoin traded just below $44,000, a level not seen since June last year.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Rita Nazareth and Jing Jin.\n",
        "title": "Stocks in Asia Drop on Weak Oil, China Debt Woes: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 243,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/paytm-dives-plan-reduce-smaller-042603484.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Paytm tumbled the most in two years after the fintech bellwether said it will reduce small-ticket size loans following the Indian central bank’s stricter rules to curb risky consumer lending.\nShares of the SoftBank Group Corp.-backed company, officially called One97 Communications Ltd., dropped 18.7% on Thursday. The slump, the steepest in more than two years, erased more than $1 billion in market value.\nThe Indian digital payments company said in a statement Wednesday that it will reduce disbursing of loans below 50,000 rupees ($600). That drew a flurry of rating downgrades from at least five brokers including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nPaytm’s action comes after the Reserve Bank of India in November asked lenders to boost provisions against personal loans and credit card borrowings as these debts are unsecured. Shares of India banks have since been under pressure as the central bank’s move is expected to hurt consumer spending — a key driver of the country’s economy — and in turn lenders’ profits.\nAccording to the rules, banks will have to increase the risk cover on some consumer loans, credit card receivables and bank credit to shadow lenders by 25 percentage points. The increase in risk-weight of loans taken from banks may nudge non-bank lenders to seek alternative sources of credit, analysts have said.\nA slowdown in smaller loans, a key channel for acquiring customers, “could affect medium-term growth potential” of Paytm’s other businesses as well, Citigroup analysts including Vijit Jain wrote in a note, downgrading the stock to neutral from buy. The broker also cut its estimates for Paytm’s operating profit by about 20% for fiscal year 2024 and 2025.\nNearly three quarters of Paytm’s Buy Now Pay Later loans in the second quarter were in the sub-50,000 rupees category, according to Citigroup.\nThe Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has been urging banks to enhance internal controls as unsecured loans are growing nearly twice as fast as total lending. In October, he asked bankers to look carefully at their strategies, warning the surge in personal loans may heighten risks down the road.\nShares of Indian shadow lenders that partner with Paytm and others for smaller loans also slumped on Thursday. Aditya Birla Capital Ltd. fell 3.7%, the most in a month, while Bajaj Finance Ltd. slid more than 1%.\n(Closes shares)\n",
        "title": "Paytm Dives as Plan to Reduce Smaller Loans Seen Hitting Profit"
    },
    {
        "id": 244,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sterling-sinks-vs-supercharged-yen-104643079.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Amanda Cooper\nLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The pound edged up against the dollar and the euro on Thursday, but sank against the yen, as investor expectations mounted that the Bank of Japan could signal an end to its ultra-easy monetary policy next week.\nSterling lost 1.3% in value against the yen, its largest one-day drop against the Japanese currency in nearly five months.\nThe pound has held firm this month, after its biggest monthly rally in a year in November. Investors are gaining confidence the major central banks will cut rates early next year. But the Bank of England is likely to be an exception.\nFutures markets show investors believe the first cut from the BoE might not happen until June, compared with March for both the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve, which has helped limit any profit-taking on November's rally.\nThe catalyst for the yen's broad-based rally on Thursday was comment from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, who told the Japanese parliament the central bank has several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory.\n\"The choice of wording – 'once', not 'if' – suggests the BOJ remains committed to normalising policy, most likely around the start of the fiscal year in April,\" City Index analyst David Scutt said in a note.\n\"But with markets bringing forward the expected timing and scale of rate cuts from other major central banks, such a move would be incredibly risky, creating a scenario that could send the Japanese yen sharply higher against currencies of its major trading partners.\"\nThe pound was last up 0.2% against the dollar at $1.2587 and up 0.1% against the euro at 85.65 pence. Against the yen, it was down 1.45% at 182.31 yen, its lowest since late October.\nThe BoE also meets next week. Markets expect it to leave UK rates unchanged, but they will scrutinise the post-meeting statement for evidence of how Monetary Policy Committee members voted and the central bank outlook on inflation and growth.\nFutures markets show traders think UK rates could fall by around 80 basis points next year to below 4.40%, in contrast to the European Central Bank, which traders expect to implement around 140 bps in cuts, and the Federal Reserve, which could cut U.S. rates by around 120 bps.\nYields on 10-year UK gilts are trading below 4% at their lowest in seven months, having fallen 75 bps in the last six weeks. German 10-year yields, the benchmark for the euro zone, have dropped 80 bps and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields have fallen 90 bps.\nThe \"higher for longer\" scenario for the BoE has given sterling some support.\n\"When it comes to euro/sterling, the drop appears to be overdone, and we expect a gradual dovish repricing in Bank of England rate expectations to favour a rebound above 86.00, although that may not happen in the very short term,\" ING strategist Francesco Pesole said in a note this week.\n(Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Barbara Lewis)\n",
        "title": "Sterling sinks vs supercharged yen, steady vs dollar"
    },
    {
        "id": 245,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/indian-banks-ask-fintech-partners-103802094.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Siddhi Nayak and Ira Dugal\nMUMBAI (Reuters) - Top Indian banks and non-bank lenders have asked their fintech partners to curtail issuing tiny personal loans, three banking and one industry source said on Thursday, weeks after the central bank clamped down on the fast-growing business.\nPaytm plans to go slow on sub-50,000-rupee-loans (about $600), it said Wednesday, the first to announce such a move since the Reserve Bank of India, last month, told banks to set aside more capital to cover personal loans and lending via NBFCs on concerns that soaring demand could lead to higher risk.\n\"There is a clear signal from the RBI to pull back, so we will,\" said a top banker at a mid-sized private sector bank that lends to about a dozen fintechs.\n\"We have signalled to our fintech partners that we don't want to be present in the less-than-50,000-rupees loan category.\"\nHowever, this pullback is not at the expense of severing ties with fintech partners.\n\"While we don't intend to completely cut back funding to fintech partners at this point, we have expressed our discomfort towards them going big on small ticket personal loans,\" said another banker with a private sector bank.\nThe sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.\nBesides Paytm, several smaller fintechs have tie-ups with banks and non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) for small-ticket personal loans and the pullback will weigh on the availability of such loans.\nThe industry's overall loan growth, estimates Macquarie, will moderate to 12%-14%, from above 15% currently.\nPaytm's stock price tumbled 20% on its plans to rein in small loans, and also weighed on Aditya Birla Capital, a key lending partner that, according to Morgan Stanley, Paytm said was looking to scale down small-ticket loans.\nAditya Birla Capital did not reply to an email seeking comment.\nMacquarie said the regulatory monitoring around a bank's growth and asset quality has increased, further prompting caution.\nA third banker said the government-owned bank he works at had asked its fintech partners to selectively issue such small loans.\n\"We don't want to come under regulator's lens,\" the banker said. \"Better to stay away from that segment for some time.\" ($1 = 83.3340 Indian rupees)\n(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak and Ira Dugal; Editing by Savio D'Souza)\n",
        "title": "Indian banks ask fintech partners to limit tiny personal loans amid regulatory glare -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 246,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-rouble-recovers-touching-over-103655453.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates at 1024 GMT, adds Sberbank CEO)\nMOSCOW, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble hit a more than one-month low in early trade on Thursday before recovering, buffeted by relatively low oil prices and the reduced supply of foreign currency from exporters.\nPresident Vladimir Putin and the heads of Russia's central bank, finance ministry and economy ministry were due to speak at a forum hosted by VTB Bank on Thursday.\nBy 1024 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% stronger against the dollar at 92.57, having earlier touched its weakest point since Nov. 3 at 93.56.\nIt had gained 0.3% to trade at 99.81 versus the euro and had firmed 0.1% against the yuan to 12.93 .\n\"Rouble devaluation is continuing,\" said Alexei Antonov of Alor Broker, expecting the rouble to head towards 97.5 to the dollar in the coming sessions. It has fallen from around 89 to the dollar at the start of last week.\nThe rouble has now lost support from the month-end tax period, for which Russian exporters usually convert foreign currency into roubles.\nBefore last week, the currency had enjoyed seven weeks of gains. It has rebounded from more than 100 to the dollar, thanks to high interest rates and reduced capital outflows since Putin introduced the forced conversion of some foreign currency revenue for exporters in October.\nThe market will be closely following Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina on Thursday, who could issue a fresh signal ahead of the bank's final rate decision of the year next week.\nAnalysts polled by Reuters expect the Bank of Russia to raise rates to 16% on Dec. 15.\n\"At the moment, the fundamental value of the rouble is about 90 to the dollar, give or take,\" German Gref, CEO of Russia's largest lender Sberbank said in an interview with state television, broadcast on Thursday.\n\"Honestly, we don't see great potential for strengthening, but we also don't see great potential for the rouble to weaken strongly in some way.\"\nBrent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 1.4% at $75.33 a barrel, recovering slightly after sliding to a more than five-month low in the previous session.\nRussian stock indexes were lower.\nThe dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.3% to 1,042.0 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.6% lower at 3,061.5 points. (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Mark Potter and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Rouble recovers after touching over one-month low vs dollar"
    },
    {
        "id": 247,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/x-start-hiring-engineers-japan-103448479.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Social media platform X will start hiring engineers in Japan, chief executive Linda Yaccarino said in a post on Thursday.\nNikkei earlier reported Yaccarino as saying X would start hiring engineers in 2024 and establish an app development team to develop functions and advertising products for the Japanese market.\nThe development team will create a mechanism for low-cost ads in order to explore demand from small and midsize businesses in Japan, the report added.\nX has struggled to retain advertisers since Elon Musk acquired the company in October 2022, and faced a fresh exodus from major brands including Apple, Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery in recent weeks over rising concerns about antisemitic content.\nMusk has offered a \"full apology on the issue and full explanation\", Nikkei quoted Yaccarino saying, adding that X would also reinforce to its team in Japan to deal with inappropriate content.\n(Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi and Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "X to start hiring engineers in Japan, CEO says"
    },
    {
        "id": 248,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-bundle-is-back-why-netflix-max-disney-and-others-are-teaming-up-103045424.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The bundle is back.\nThe streaming wars have reached a fever pitch with more ads, higher prices, and greater competition as platforms scramble to reach profitability and capture paying users.\nWith so many choices now available to consumers, the media landscape seems to be reverting back to the cable TV bundle of years past — the very thing that streaming set out to undo.\nOn Monday, telecom giant Verizon (VZ) announced it will offer a $10 bundle for the ad-supported plans of both Netflix (NFLX) and Warner Bros. Discovery's Max (WBD) streaming services, yielding more than 40% in savings.\nThe offer, available for Verizon's myPlan customers, will begin on Thursday. The company will also offer an additional bundle that combines the ad-free Disney+ plan along with the ad-supported tiers of Hulu, ESPN+, Netflix and Max for $20 a month.\nVerizon CEO Hans Vestberg said at a UBS media conference on Monday that bundling is driving more customer retention, crediting \"the optionality and the flexibility\" of the trend coupled with its savings for consumers.\n\"Netflix and Max [is] just boosting up the momentum we have in the quarter — we feel good,\" he said, adding the company will work to form new bundles in the future.\nThe news comes after The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Paramount Global (PARA) and Apple (AAPL) are in early stage talks to bundle their streaming services at a discount. Paramount declined to comment while Apple did not respond to Yahoo Finance's request.\nThe concept of bundling isn't new. Companies in the space have recently been doing it with their own services. Apple for instance offers Apple One, which combines Apple TV+ with other services like Apple Music and Apple Arcade. The bundle launched globally in late 2020.\nOn Wednesday, Disney, which also has been offering a bundle with Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, officially began its domestic rollout of a one-app experience that incorporates Hulu content via Disney+ — a similar play to Paramount's Showtime combination, as well as the integration of HBO Max and Discovery+, which both merged their respective services earlier this year.\nThere's also been third-party bundles, with the ad-supported Paramount+ plan automatically offered to Walmart+ members. Meanwhile customers of Instacart+ receive Peacock's ad-supported plan at no additional cost. Paramount also struck a partnership with Delta earlier this year.\n\"Everybody's trying to come up with something proprietary,\" Mark Boidman, partner and global head of media at Solomon Partners, told Yahoo Finance of the bundle. \"When you can bundle something together at an attractive price in the minds of consumers then that makes sense.\"\nYet the trend of distribution players partnering with content operators on bundles \"is definitely a difference compared to what we've seen,\" Boidman said, predicting consumers will likely notice more telecom giants like Verizon and cable companies partnering with content services in the future.\n\"All of these companies need to work together to create stickiness amongst their consumers,\" he said. \"When cable companies lose subscribers, tons of money falls away from their market cap.\"\nBundles can be a way to avoid that by boosting subscriber growth — especially as users search for an attractive and flexible deal.\n\"Consumers are looking for these types of bundles,\" he said. \"The fact that Netflix is not the same company as Warner Bros. is interesting, but that doesn't surprise us because people want to see things packaged together.\"\nEven traditional linear bundles have begun to incorporate streaming services with Charter's historic agreement with Disney serving as a \"first mover\" for similar deals to come.\nCharter will offer some Disney streaming services — the ad-supported version of Disney+, ESPN+, and ESPN's yet-to-be-launched direct-to-consumer offering — as part of select cable packages at no additional cost to the consumer.\nMarc DeBevoise, who helped launch CBS All Access and now serves as CEO of streaming tech company Brightcove, emphasized the benefits of optionality within the bundle.\n\"[Streamers] are going to give consumers a lot of different choices over the next few years,\" he told Yahoo Finance Live. \"They are certainly looking at bundling as a way to reduce churn or a way to impact how they can retain those customers over the long term.\"\nHe predicted the consumer will eventually be able to create their own bundle; however, he also warned it's a double edged sword for media companies still searching for streaming profitability.\n\"At the end of the day, the services are going to need to find a way to be more efficient with the spend that they're doing,\" DeBevoise cautioned, explaining average revenue per user, or ARPU, will likely tick down given the bundles' cheaper, promotional-driven pricing.\nAs streamers attempt to tackle profitability, experts say bundling may be a first step of eventual M&A in the space.\n\"It's definitely a signal of what we would hope will come in the future of seeing M&A,\" Boidman said. \"The model hasn't been proven yet, with the exception of Netflix, so until all of these streaming networks can prove the value that they can create, we're going to see a lot of companies coming together.\"\nAlexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "The streaming bundle is back as Netflix, Disney, Max and others lean into more deals"
    },
    {
        "id": 249,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-holds-five-day-slide-235309966.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil held the bulk of a five-day run of losses that drove prices to the lowest since June on signs that global supplies are eclipsing demand despite plans by OPEC+ to rein in its production into 2024.\nGlobal benchmark Brent edged higher toward $75 a barrel after slumping by 11% in the longest losing run since February. West Texas Intermediate was below $70. Official US data showed another build in crude inventories at the Cushing hub, while oil output held near a record and gasoline demand softened. Widely watched market timespreads are indicating ample near-term supplies.\nCrude’s slide — which helped drag an overall commodity gauge to the lowest since 2021 — has come despite a deal forged last week by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to deepen output cuts. Futures have dropped by about a quarter from a peak in September on concern that increased production from outside the group will outstrip demand, while there’s speculation OPEC+ members themselves may not fully adhere to the curbs.\nA procession of the alliance’s producers have made the case that their latest agreement will stick and could be extended. Saudi Arabia said earlier this week that cuts can “absolutely” stay past March, with similar remarks from Russia. While Algeria and Kuwait added to the chorus, crude remains under pressure.\n“Markets seem to be completely sidelining” the OPEC+ measures, said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at brokerage Phillip Nova Pte in Singapore. In addition, a downgrade of China’s outlook by Moody’s Investors Service has added to a weakening outlook in the top crude importer, she said.\nThe agency cut its outlook for Chinese sovereign bonds to negative in a midweek statement, prompting some pushback from China. Meanwhile, data showed that its imports of crude fell last month to the lowest since April as local refiners grappled with limits on fuel exports and poor margins.\nReflecting the wider market’s softness, key metrics have been weakening, with Brent and WTI both in contango, where later-dated contracts trading at premiums to nearer ones, all the way out to the middle of next year. Brent’s three-month timespread was 19 cents a barrel in contango; a month ago it was 86 cents in backwardation, the opposite bullish pattern.\nOil’s selloff could boost the chances that OPEC+ may call an emergency meeting within the next few weeks, according to Citigroup Inc. The market has been “very disappointed” with the group’s latest set of measures, which came against a weakening backdrop, the bank’s analysts said in a note.\nThe weekly supply-and-demand snapshot from the US Energy Information Administration raised some eyebrows among market watchers. The figures showed lower exports, although ship-tracking data has suggested robust if not record flows. In addition, the so-called adjustment factor — akin to a margin of error — was the biggest on record.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Languishes Near Five-Month Low After Plunging on Glut Fears"
    },
    {
        "id": 250,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-x-start-hiring-engineers-102358504.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds background in paragraph 4, details from Nikkei report in paragraph 3, 5)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - Social media platform X will start hiring engineers in Japan, chief executive Linda Yaccarino said in a post on Thursday.\nNikkei earlier reported Yaccarino as saying X would start hiring engineers in 2024 and establish an app development team to develop functions and advertising products for the Japanese market.\nThe development team will create a mechanism for low-cost ads in order to explore demand from small and midsize businesses in Japan, the report added.\nX has struggled to retain advertisers since Elon Musk acquired the company in October 2022, and faced a fresh exodus from major brands including Apple, Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery in recent weeks over rising concerns about antisemitic content.\nMusk has offered a \"full apology on the issue and full explanation\", Nikkei quoted Yaccarino saying, adding that X would also reinforce to its team in Japan to deal with inappropriate content.\n(Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi and Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-X to start hiring engineers in Japan, CEO says"
    },
    {
        "id": 251,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-yen-roars-bonds-102345153.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nYen sees biggest jump since January on hints of BoJ shift\n*\nWorld stocks subdued after recent 10% rise\n*\nBond market rally stalls due to Japan signals\n*\nOil prices rebound after 4% dive\nBy Marc Jones\nLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Japan's long-suppressed yen surged and global bond and stock markets flinched on Thursday, as Tokyo's monetary policymakers gave their clearest hints yet that the exit from ultra-low interest rates was approaching.\nThe yen rose 1.5% against the dollar, its biggest one-day jump since January, and looked set to extend its post-COVID record of finishing years strongly.\nThe Nikkei's sharpest drop since late October had ensured Asian stocks finished lower while the FTSE 100, DAX, CAC 40 and S&P 500 futures were all around 0.3% weaker in early European trading.\nBank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda had added to speculation about a shift away from negative rates by saying policy management would \"become even more challenging from the year-end and heading into next year\" and flagged several options of what could come next.\nMoney markets started pricing in a near 40% chance that the BoJ changes its course at its final meeting of the year on December 19. Japanese government bonds also saw a sharp selloff, with yields on 10-yr JGBs jumping 11.5 basis points.\nSociete Generale strategist Kit Juckes said end of year yen rallies had become something of a habit since the pandemic but this move looked different and SocGen sees it as precursor for a strong move up next year. \"The yen is cheap as chips and it sounds like they (Japanese policymakers) have moved beyond the fact they are going to have to get rid of negative rates,\" Juckes said.\n\"We have call of 130 (yen to the dollar) for the end of next year... as long as you think there is a bull market in U.S. Treasuries you are supposed to think there is a bull market in the yen too.\"\nIn recent weeks, the rally in bond markets and fall in global borrowing costs has seen world stocks rise 10% and volatility, as measured by the VIX index, drop to its lowest since before the COVID pandemic.\nThursday's action put a temporary stop to that however.\nTraders are turning their focus to the weekly U.S. jobless claims data later in the day, ahead of the non-farm payroll report due on Friday. Economists expect the economy added 180,000 new jobs in November, picking up from 150,000 the previous month.\nData on Wednesday showed a smaller-than-expected rise in private U.S. payrolls in the latest sign that the American labour market is gradually cooling.\nOIL SWINGS\nThe yen's big move knocked the dollar index down 0.3% to under 104. Markets have priced in so many Federal Reserve rate cuts recently that traders feel vulnerable to an upside surprise in U.S. data.\nThe yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note bounced off a three-month low to 4.1515% although Germany's 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for the euro zone, was barely budged at 2.205% just above a 7-month low.\nSentiment on China was still bearish after Moody's slapped a downgrade warning on China's credit rating and cut outlooks for Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese local government financing vehicles.\nMixed trade data out of China also failed to provide much impetus. November exports rose for the first time in six months while imports unexpectedly shrank, suggesting domestic demand remained weak.\nChina's blue-chips index ended down 0.2% after hitting a five-year trough earlier in the session. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell to a 13-month low.\nThe main commodity markets remained choppy too. Oil prices steadied after falling nearly 4% on Wednesday - that had been welcome news for those still nervy about inflation although it does not bode well for the health of the globally economy.\nBrent crude futures recovered 1% to $75 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.6% to $69.85 a barrel. Gold prices also ticked higher to $2,033 per ounce.\n(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Yen roars, bonds flinch as Japan teases rates shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 252,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-england-proposes-checks-banks-101239229.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England and Britain's Financial Conduct Authority proposed on Thursday that there should be greater checks on financial firms' heavy reliance on external technology companies for their operations.\n\"Financial market infrastructure firms are becoming increasingly dependent on third-party technology providers for services that could impact UK financial stability if they were to fail or be disrupted,\" BoE Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said.\n(Reporting by David Milliken, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)\n",
        "title": "Bank of England proposes new checks on banks' reliance on tech companies"
    },
    {
        "id": 253,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-bond-rally-stalls-japan-061606834.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- This week’s sizzling bond rally ran into a stop sign on Wednesday as a slump in Japanese debt jangled the nerves of Treasury traders already fretting that yields had dropped too far.\nThe yield on 10-year US notes jumped 7 basis points to 4.17%, paring declines this week to a mere 2 basis points. That came as similar-dated Japanese yields soared by the most this year, after comments from central bank Governor Kazuo Ueda on more challenging policy ahead and a weak auction of long-term debt.\nUS Treasuries are on course to end a tumultuous year with a stunning rally on bets the Federal Reserve will soon be slashing interest rates after the most aggressive hiking cycle in decades. Some strategists have warned that bonds looked overstretched as rates traders defied warnings from central bankers to price in as many as five, quarter-point US rate cuts next year.\n“While everyone is watching Santa Claus loading the bond tree with presents, the BOJ Grinch just snuck down the chimney with coal in hand for the second year in a row,” said Calvin Yeoh, who helps manage the Merlion Fund at Blue Edge Advisors. “The auction seems to have crystallized some of the risks of an earlier than expected policy-exit by the BOJ.”\nTD Securities recommended selling 10-year Treasuries ahead of Friday’s November employment report, which puts yields “at risk of backing up sharply.”\nJapanese government bonds tumbled after the sale of 30-year notes received only bids for a mere 2.62 times the securities on offer. The move was exacerbated after Bank of Japan Governor Ueda said handling monetary policy will get tougher from the year-end and through next year, remarks that are likely to further fuel market speculation of a looming shift in direction.\nThe 10-year JGB yield rose as much as 10.5 basis points after the auction, hitting 0.75%. That was the steepest jump since Dec. 20, 2022, when then-Governor Haruhiko Kuroda stunned the market by deciding to widen the trading band for the benchmark note.\n",
        "title": "Global Bond Rally Stalls as Japan Slump Meets US Jobs Caution"
    },
    {
        "id": 254,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/woodside-santos-early-merger-talks-100422431.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Woodside Energy Group Ltd. is in preliminary talks with Santos Ltd. on a potential merger, opening the door for the creation of an Australian gas export powerhouse amid a global wave of multi-billion dollar energy deals.\nTalks are at an early stage, Santos said in a statement. Woodside separately confirmed the discussions. Representatives for both companies weren’t immediately available to comment further. The news follows an earlier report by the Australian Financial Review that said the companies were exploring a deal.\nWoodside has a market capitalization of A$56.9 billion ($37.3 billion), while Santos’s market cap is A$22.2 billion. Both companies have seen their shares slide in recent months, falling at least 15% from an August peak.\nA possible combination of Woodside and Santos comes amid a wave of merger activity as oil and gas producers figure out what to do with their profit windfalls from last year’s spike in energy prices. The talks follow Exxon Mobil Corp.’s roughly $60 billion bid for Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Chevron Corp.’s $53 billion takeover of Hess Corp. Last week, Bloomberg News reported that Occidental Petroleum Corp. is in talks to buy shale driller CrownRock LP.\nThe Santos-Woodside discussions also illustrate the growing importance of liquefied natural gas to the industry, as executives expect the fuel to be needed for decades in Asia as part of the energy transition. Woodside is already the top Australian exporter, and a merger would create one of the world’s biggest producers of the fuel while satisfying shareholder pressure for Santos to become a pure LNG business.\nWoodside Chief Executive Officer Meg O’Neill has been aggressive in expanding the company’s role in LNG, betting it will be needed for decades in Asia as part of the energy transition. Woodside absorbed BHP Group’s oil and gas portfolio last year, and recently signed a deal to buy LNG from an export project in Mexico.\nRead More: LNG Exporters Eye New Australia Growth as Profit Boom Fades\nSantos has a stake in an LNG export project in Papua New Guinea and operates two facilities in Australia, and is developing the Barossa gas field off the coast of the Northern Territory.\nInstitutional shareholder L1 Capital in October called for a strategic review into splitting Santos’ assets “to unlock the inherent value.” It said the company has lagged its peers, partly because investors seeking exposure to LNG markets have chosen alternative stocks, leaving the Australian producer “under-appreciated.” Selling its oil and gas assets in Australia to become a pure-play LNG company would boost shares by about 40%, it said.\n(Updates with industry background in fifth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Woodside, Santos in Early Merger Talks to Create LNG Giant"
    },
    {
        "id": 255,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-recession-signs-mount-090509833.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Industrial production in Germany and Italy began the final quarter of the year with a stumble after France and Spain reported similar outcomes, pointing to a possible recession in the region.\nOutput in Europe’s biggest economy fell 0.4% in October from the previous month to the lowest level since August 2020, the German statistics office said Thursday. In Italy, production declined 0.2% from September.\nWhile the scope of each statistics sample isn’t totally comparable, the coincidence of a downswing in both economies along with negative results in France and Spain on Tuesday highlight how weakness is emerging in hard data from around the region.\nWith euro-zone gross domestic product already having shrunk by 0.1% in the third quarter — numbers that could be revised later on Thursday — another three-month period of contraction would mean a recession. Recent surveys signal the downturn in the euro area has continued in services and manufacturing.\nFor Germany, the drop in production was unexpected; the median economist prediction was for a 0.2% increase. The outcome shows how the economy is still struggling to shake off the impact of an energy-induced crisis last winter and a drop in global demand.\nManufacturers — Germany’s economic backbone — are particularly affected by expensive energy, higher interest rates and weak global demand. Several big industrial firms have started cutting costs, and chemical maker BASF SE plans to reduce investment by almost 15% over the next four years.\nData earlier this week showed that factory orders declined more than expected, further dimming the outlook for a recovery. The budget turmoil in Berlin is also weighing on Germany’s outlook.\nStill, recent surveys there suggest some stabilization. The Ifo institute’s business outlook last month reached a six-month high. A poll of purchasing managers, meanwhile, highlighted “considerable weakness,” though easing conditions support a return to growth.\nOther countries are faring only slightly better. The 0.3% drop in French production during the month was due to lower output of energy and equipment goods. But manufacturing, which excludes energy, eked out a 0.1% gain.\nOn Thursday, Bank of France Deputy Governor Agnes Benassy-Quere insisted that, while growth in the country is weak, the institution isn’t anticipating a recession.\n“The central scenario is that it’s really a soft landing of the global and European economies,” she said.\nThe 0.2% drop in Italian industrial production was better than the 0.4% declined anticipated by economists.\n--With assistance from Joel Rinneby and Kristian Siedenburg.\n",
        "title": "Euro-Zone Recession Signs Mount as National Industries Stumble"
    },
    {
        "id": 256,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-lagarde-squeezed-markets-boost-050000034.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank’s forecasts and any accompanying messaging are about to take prominence as President Christine Lagarde weighs how far to push against market wagers on interest-rate cuts.\nWith rapidly weakening inflation, a feeble economy, and one hawkish policymaker changing tack, traders are heaping bets on a reduction as soon as March. They’re now seeing the rate falling to 2.5% by the end of 2024; just last week, they envisaged borrowing costs staying above 3%.\nIf markets are right, the ECB will be the first among major central banks to cut next year, delivering the most aggressive easing cycle. But officials show no rush to act, even though their new projections will need to acknowledge the changed economic backdrop with a lower outlook for prices.\nThe quandary policymakers face evokes December 2021, when they dragged their feet as the US Federal Reserve enacted a hawkish pivot and investors began betting on ECB rate increases. Forecasts then showed inflation accelerating, but hikes only started seven months later, a move most observers judged as behind the curve.\nLagarde and her colleagues, who entered a blackout period on Thursday before the Dec. 14 decision, face a similar trade-off now as they ask which error they’d rather risk making: cutting too soon and letting inflation run rampant, or crashing the economy with too much constriction.\nBjoern Griesbach, senior investment strategist at Allianz, reckons the consumer-price danger is still weighing on many officials’ minds.\n“The projections will be very important,” he said. “One thing is clear: they need to come down. But the ECB is determined not to be caught underestimating inflation for a second time.”\nOfficials are putting finishing touches on the forecasts that Lagarde will present next Thursday along with a view of where the risks lie — communication that may in itself massage expectations.\nThe projections are more comprehensive than those in September and involve a half-yearly process compiling numbers from national central banks, whose deadline to provide data was a week ago. December forecasts are also the only ones out of the four annually to feature a longer horizon into the future — in this case, 2026.\nThe ECB previously predicted inflation to average 3.2% next year and return to the 2% goal in the second half of 2025. That outlook seems increasingly obsolete after consumer-price growth in November slowed to 2.4%, the lowest since mid-2021.\nECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel, normally a hawk, admitted that the number was “remarkable” and that any further rate hike is unlikely. She wouldn’t be drawn on the prospect of a cut in the first half, though Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau did say that the question may come up in 2024.\nShe and others warn that inflation could yet quicken again, but the data and their commentary have persuaded investors to bet on earlier and deeper rate cuts.\nIt also led some economists to revise outlooks, with Deutsche Bank on Wednesday forecasting 150 basis points of easing next year, and a first move in April instead of June. Last week, Goldman Sachs switched to predict a cut as soon as April.\nThe bond rally that accompanied the rate repricing further raises the stakes for Lagarde next week. An index of sovereign debt that excludes Treasuries surged to the highest since April 2022 this week, extending November’s stellar rally.\nErik Nielsen, chief economics adviser to UniCredit group, is sympathetic to the market shift, and reckons that any uptick in consumer prices won’t last.\n“That pickup won’t drive inflation expectations or wage growth,” he said. “If that’s what they want to kill, then welcome to the graveyard.”\nA sluggish economy normally comes with a softer jobs market, Nielsen argues, saying that wouldn’t drive inflation. Bank of Portugal Governor Mario Centeno, one of the ECB’s doves and a labor economist, echoed that in an article this week.\n“Job destruction and the freezing of new hires are more synchronized in recessions than during upswings,” he said. “It took three years to reach the pre-pandemic employment trend; it will require less time to reverse those historical gains.”\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says...\n“The ECB has increased borrowing costs well beyond any estimate of neutral. That’s becoming increasingly obvious in the economic data and the impact is also being seen in inflation. The story is similar on the other side of the Atlantic and the global mood music is changing. Any one of those three developments could cause the ECB to cut before the middle of next year.”\n—David Powell and Jamie Rush. Read more here\nFor hawks such as Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, the danger remains that inflation returns with a vengeance. He has repeatedly ruled out saying that rates have reached a peak. His Belgian colleague Pierre Wunsch even declared that officials could raise again to keep policy restrictive enough as investors bet on cuts.\nNagel points to war in the Middle East, with the danger of regional spillover that prompts an inflationary oil-price spike, as one reason for caution.\nOfficials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say that the overall picture won’t be clear until the full extent of wage deals and fiscal plans emerges after the first quarter. Another complication is that the ECB may also want to accelerate winding down its balance sheet.\nWhatever the case, economists such as Anatoli Annenkov at Societe Generale warn that, amid mounting rate-cut speculation, there’s a risk of complacency.\n“Don’t get fooled by the fact that inflation has been dropping quite quickly,” he said. “There’s a danger with people drawing a straight line, suggesting we’ll undershoot the target within six months.”\nGuarding against that threat is likely to limit how far the ECB does opens the door to rate cuts at next week’s meeting. So far, the noise from officials hasn’t signaled so much of a shift.\n“When do they change their view?” asked UniCredit’s Nielsen. “Maybe when we get the fourth quarter GDP number, which will almost certainly be negative, and we get another bad first quarter with inflation coming down faster than expected. That’s when they may stand pretty red-faced.”\n--With assistance from Alexander Weber.\n",
        "title": "ECB’s Lagarde Squeezed as Markets Boost 2024 Rate-Cut Bets"
    },
    {
        "id": 257,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ray-dalio-puts-profits-back-200000117.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- After a particularly bad year for green investing, the founder of the world’s biggest hedge-fund firm has just set the record straight.\nRay Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, reminded delegates at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai that private capital can only realistically get involved in financing climate solutions if the returns make sense.\n“You have to make it profitable,” he said in Dubai at a Bloomberg Green panel.\nIt’s a mantra that’s reverberating across the sprawling, sun-filled campus at which this year’s Conference of the Parties is being held, with representatives from Wall Street including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. all underlining the point.\nIt’s part of a wider pivot in the messaging from the finance industry. Two years ago at the COP26 summit in Scotland, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero unveiled commitments it said represented $130 trillion in financial assets. Hailed at the time as a “watershed” moment, bankers at this year’s COP have been at pains to attach conditions to such headline figures.\n“You need availability of projects; there may be $130 trillion or more of capital, but it is return-seeking capital, so you need bankable investments that actually provide appropriate risk and return,” Ramaswamy Variankaval, JPMorgan’s global head of corporate advisory and sustainable solutions, said in an interview in Dubai. “That’s what we’re all looking for.”\nAs it becomes increasingly clear that private capital will need to be deployed in a big way to help fight the fallout of the climate crisis, bankers and investment managers are using the COP28 summit to draw some red lines.\nShriti Vadera, chair of Prudential Plc, said no one should expect private capital to fill a political or policy void without the right incentives.\n“Let’s be clear,” she said during a COP28 panel. “The private sector only does things that are commercial and create a commercial return: they are to preserve the capital of their customers, savers, pensioners and depositors.”\nChuka Umunna, head of EMEA ESG and green economy investment banking at JPMorgan, said the feeling is that “some people in our industry have been guilty of overreach in relation to what the role of the banking sector is in all of this.”\nAnd Jason Channell, head of sustainable finance at Citi Global Insights, said that climate pledges alone are “not necessarily what moves the dial. What moves the dial is being able to deploy the capital,” and the concern now is that “there aren’t enough bankable projects,” he said.\nIn its latest report, GFANZ said some progress has been made as financial institutions have started to take action. The alliance said it’s focused on ensuring that capital flows to where it needs to go around the world.\nGiven an annual global need of somewhere between $5 trillion and $10 trillion to address the challenges posed by climate change, it’s obvious private capital will need to provide the lion’s share, Dalio said. But there has to be “a return on the money,” he added.\nThe reality check follows a period of painful losses for green investors. The S&P Global Clean Energy Index is down almost 30% this year, compared with an almost 20% gain in the S&P 500 Index.\nHistoric levels of support in the form of packages such as the US Inflation Reduction Act haven’t been enough to offset the fallout on capital-intensive green projects of much higher interest rates.\nThe investment case in emerging markets is further complicated by the need to compensate private capital for the additional risk of venturing outside the developed world.\nBrian Moynihan, chief executive officer of Bank of America, said on a panel in Dubai that climate and energy transition deals in the developing world are “harder to finance,” citing a $500 million debt-for-nature swap his bank arranged for Gabon that took two years to complete.\nNo COP since the annual talks began in the 1990s has hosted as many financial professionals as this year’s summit in Dubai. COP28, which is being presided over by the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, also has faced more criticism than usual from climate activists who are concerned the event will end up being a venue for deal-making between oil majors and big financial firms.\nSwedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has called the setup “ridiculous.” Prominent financiers, meanwhile, are embracing the moment.\nJeffrey Ubben, the hedge fund veteran who just closed his sustainable investing firm, said climate summitry has tended to be little more than a green “echo chamber” and that it’s time to bring big oil to the talks. Ubben, an Exxon Mobil Corp. board member, is on the COP28 advisory committee along with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.\nRead More: Big Oil’s Pledge to Cut Emissions Caps Busy Day at COP28\nUmunna at JPMorgan said the change in tone around climate finance at this year’s COP is opening doors to strategies that floundered just a few years ago.\n“We were involved in the discussions around the establishment and evolution of a transition bond label in the debt capital market and it didn’t really take off,” he said. The worry at the time was “that the exercise would be the target of claims of greenwash.”\nBut now, “I think there is much more of an appetite for discussion around that,” he said.\nAnother talking point at this year’s COP summit has been the need for financial innovation as a way to lure private capital to the table. Bloomberg News reported earlier that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is now among banks working on debt-for-nature swaps, which are designed to allow nations to refinance existing debt in exchange for commitments to use the savings on nature conservation.\nWhen it comes to addressing the climate crisis in the emerging markets, there’s no viable solution that doesn’t include private finance, said John Greenwood, co-head of Americas structured finance at Goldman in New York. But that will require experimenting with new financing structures to make it appealing, he said.\n“The focus has got to be on innovation,” Greenwood said.\nGFANZ is co-chaired by Mark Carney, who is the chair of Bloomberg Inc.’s board and a former Bank of England governor, and Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.\n(Adds Citi comment in 11th paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Ray Dalio Puts Profits Back in Focus After Painful Period for Green Finance"
    },
    {
        "id": 258,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-says-first-time-095814455.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia has delayed past 2030 some of the projects launched as part of its economic transformation plan, in the first admission that the kingdom is having to shift the timeline for meeting the goals of the multi-trillion dollar program.\nThe government, which is forecasting budget deficits every year out to 2026, has decided on the extension to build capacity and avert huge inflationary pressures and supply bottlenecks, Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan said Thursday. He didn’t specify which projects would be affected.\nA longer period is needed to “build factories, build even sufficient human resources,” Al Jadaan said in Riyadh. “The delay or rather the extension of some projects will serve the economy.”\nAfter determining how much borrowing the government decided was acceptable, it then went back to review the timeline of some projects, Al Jadaan told reporters on Wednesday.\nDubbed Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s wide-ranging initiative unveiled with fanfare in 2016 aims to diversify the oil-dependent economy and attract foreign investment. The government has long touted the progress being made in areas ranging from tourism and manufacturing to digitalization and integrating women into the labor market.\nBut the costs are adding up for an economy that still relies on energy to provide the bulk of government revenue. Following the first budget surplus in nearly a decade last year, the kingdom rewrote its medium-term fiscal plans and shifted to forecasting deficits for years to come as it accelerates spending.\nShifting the Timeline\n“There are strategies that have been postponed and there are strategies that will be financed after 2030,” Al Jadaan said.\nThe International Monetary Fund said in October Saudi Arabia would need crude close to $86 per barrel to balance its budget, a price higher than its average this year. If outlays by government-related entities such as the Saudi sovereign wealth fund are included, the break-even will likely rise to $110 in the second half of this year, according to Bloomberg Economics.\nAl Jadaan warned that delivering on the plans “in a short span of time” would threaten to stoke inflation and put pressure on Saudi Arabia to import more from abroad to marshal the resources needed.\nExpanded, Rationalized\n“Certain projects can be expanded for three years — so it’s 2033 — some will be expanded to 2035, some will be expanded even beyond that and some will be rationalized,” Al Jadaan said.\nSaudi Arabia has projected oil and non-oil revenues out to 2030, along with how much spending will be required to execute on plans it’s announced, Al Jadaan said. “So we identified the gap and looked at how we are going to fill the gap and the gap is mainly filled by debt,” he said.\nFigures unveiled by the Finance Ministry this week showed it expects public debt to reach almost 26% of economic output by end-2024 — a comparably low level by global standards but an increase of more than a percentage point from this year.\nGetting to a threshold above debt levels envisaged by the government can be dangerous, Al Jadaan said on Thursday. Authorities are looking for funding from abroad to avoid crowding out the private sector or competing with Saudi consumers and smaller companies for access to financing, he said.\nThe Saudi government is also reviewing spending plans and looking for ways to trim budgets where necessary. This year alone, it’s saved around 225 billion riyals ($60 billion) that was re-used to implement projects, programs and other strategies, according to Al Jadaan.\n“Optimizing spending is not only about reducing spending,” he said. “It’s about the best way to use resources in order to achieve optimal returns.”\n--With assistance from Fahad Abuljadayel and Matthew Martin.\n",
        "title": "Saudi Arabia Says for First Time Some 2030 Projects Get Delayed"
    },
    {
        "id": 259,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-rate-hike-bets-ramp-050401164.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Traders now see the Bank of Japan’s December policy meeting as a “live” event, with comments from Governor Kazuo Ueda and one of his deputies shaking up wagers in the rates and currency markets.\nOvernight-indexed swaps at one point on Thursday showed an almost 45% chance that the BOJ would end its negative interest rate policy this month, with remarks Wednesday from Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino cited a key driver of the move. Just two days ago, they showed a 3.5% risk.\nMeanwhile, comments from Ueda in parliament this morning added upward pressure on bond yields and the yen. Himino presented a hypothesis for what might happen if the central bank ended the world’s last negative interest rate regime. His boss told lawmakers that the policy-making situation may become more challenging after year-end.\nJapan’s benchmark 10-year government bond yield jumped 8.5 basis points to 0.73% Thursday, snapping a three-day decline, with the move getting an extra boost after weak demand from an auction of 30-year government debt. The yen strengthened 0.4% against the dollar.\nHimino’s speech was perceived as relatively hawkish and turned the BOJ’s Dec. 18-19 meeting “live,” Daiwa Securities Co. strategists Ryoma Kawahara and Kazuya Sato wrote in a note.\nShoki Omori, a strategist at Mizuho Securities Co., pointed to the selling of bonds and futures, as well as a boosting of swap rates.\n“Himino is cracking the belly of the curve,” he said. “It caused investors to begin pricing in the central bank’s exit from ultra-loose monetary policy in January rather than previous consensus view of April.”\nThe yen also strengthened against all of its Group-of-10 peers after Ueda’s comments on Thursday, sending it to near an almost three-month high of 146.23 against the dollar reached earlier in the week. The Japanese currency traded at 146.73 per greenback as of 1:59 p.m. in Tokyo.\n“It’s all about the BOJ,” said Mingze Wu, a currency trader at Stonex Financial Pte. “FX traders appear happy to be buying the yen on risks of a BOJ move in December.”\nIn another sign that expectations of policy change are growing, today’s auction of 30-year sovereign securities had the lowest bid-to-cover ratio since 2015, while the so-called tail, or the difference between the average and lowest-accepted prices, was the longest on record. Yields on the debt jumped 8 basis points to 1.675%.\nThe BOJ is preparing for an exit from ultra-loose monetary policy by conducting a special survey of market participants and holding a workshop to discuss its impact and side effects. Some market participants see the growing possibility of a US rate cut hastening the end of the BOJ’s negative rates.\n“It is probably easier for the BOJ to take action in January when the Fed is unlikely to either raise or cut its benchmark rate,” said Tadashi Matsukawa, head of fixed-income at PineBridge Investments Japan Co. The central bank is likely to end the negative rate policy in January, he said.\n--With assistance from Ruth Carson.\n(Adds more analyst comments.)\n",
        "title": "BOJ Rate-Hike Bets Ramp Up as Ueda and Himino Spook Traders"
    },
    {
        "id": 260,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-european-shares-drop-recent-095619328.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)\n*\nGerman industrial output posts unexpected fall in Oct\n*\nFinal eurozone Q3 GDP due\n*\nSanofi to focus on 12 blockbuster drug candidates, shares rise\n*\nTravel and leisure stocks slip as JPM downgrades airline stocks\n(Updated at 0935 GMT)\nBy Khushi Singh and Ankika Biswas\nDec 7 (Reuters) -\nEuropean shares took a breather on Thursday after strong gains recently, with travel and leisure stocks leading declines, as investors grew wary of a economic downturn after weak German data and awaited the eurozone's GDP print\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.3% by 0935 GMT after touching a more than four-month high on Wednesday. The index is on track for its fourth straight weekly gain.\nGermany's DAX, too, fell 0.2% after scaling a fresh all-time high in the prior session.\n\"It seems like a runaway trade, and we may see a little correction given the overextended rally. By no means is this a turning point as there's still further momentum to go,\" said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.\nFresh data showed Germany's industrial sector struggling as Germany's industrial production unexpectedly fell in October, a day after industrial orders in the 20-bloc nation's largest economy also surprisingly fell during the same month.\nFurther, data showed Italian industrial output fell 0.2% in October month-on-month, a fraction less than expected.\n\"At the back of everyone's mind on the macro side, fundamentally, there are some concerns,\" Hathorn added.\nTravel and leisure led sectoral losses, shedding 1.2%, following a 3.3%-5.4% drop in International Consolidated Airlines Group, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa after J.P. Morgan downgraded the airline stocks to \"underweight\" from \"overweight\".\nUtilities and food and beverage stocks were the only sectoral gainers, up 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively.\nInvestors now await the eurozone final third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) print, due 10:00 a.m. GMT.\nU.S. initial jobless claims, due later in the day, will be monitored following growing evidence of labour market weakness across the Atlantic.\nMeanwhile, a Reuters poll showed the ECB will start cutting rates by the second quarter of next year, earlier than previously thought, as the economy enters a short and shallow winter recession.\nAmong individual stocks, Sanofi shares gained as much as 1.5% before slipping into the red after the drugmaker said it has a dozen drug candidates with annual sales potential of more than $1 billion in development.\nShares of Games Workshop Group tumbled 11.0% to the bottom of STOXX 600 after the miniature wargame maker reported half year trading update.\nThyssenkrupp fell 4% as the company may need to hand over cash or keep hold of some pension liabilities to win over Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky as a co-owner of its steel business. (Reporting by Khushi Singh and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Tasim Zahid)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-European shares drop after recent rally; economic woes weigh"
    },
    {
        "id": 261,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moody-cuts-outlook-chinese-banks-223859944.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook for eight Chinese banks to negative from stable, a day after unveiling a bearish stance on the nation’s sovereign bonds due to concern over the level of debt.\nThe rating action for financial institutions including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and the China Development Bank was primarily driven by the change in outlook to negative from stable on the government’s credit ratings, according to a statement from Moody’s on Wednesday.\nChina has sought to defend its debt status, with the central bank boosting its support for the yuan and state media running a series of articles citing experts who denounced Moody’s understanding of the economy. Chinese markets found some support, with the CSI 300 Index snapping a three-day drop on Wednesday.\nMoody’s also cut its outlook on Hong Kong and Macau and placed 26 Chinese local government financing vehicles on review for downgrade. The agency said there were signs of reduced autonomy of Hong Kong’s political and judiciary institutions after the implementation of a National Security Law.\nThe Hong Kong government said Moody’s made “unfounded comments” on the city’s autonomy and disagreed with the change to outlook, adding that Hong Kong’s deepening ties with China are a source of strength rather than a constraint, according to a statement late Wednesday.\nRead More: Moody’s China Outlook Cut Leaked Hours Before Announcement\nThe Chinese banks that Moody’s changed to negative from stable include three policy banks and five large state-owned commercial banks.\n“Moody’s expects support provided to financially-stressed entities to be more selective, contributing to protracted risks of further strains for state-owned enterprise and regional and local governments,” according to the statement.\n(Corrects outlook change description in sixth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Moody’s Cuts Outlook for Chinese Banks, Hong Kong"
    },
    {
        "id": 262,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-says-biden-plan-shut-094543738.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Joe Cash\nBEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Thursday that Biden administration plans to limit Chinese content in batteries eligible for generous electric vehicle tax credits from next year violate international trade norms and will disrupt global supply chains.\nThe plans will make investors in the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) supply chain ineligible for tax credits should they use more than a trace amount of critical materials from China, or other countries deemed a \"Foreign Entity of Concern\" (FEOC).\n\"Targeting Chinese enterprises by excluding their products from a subsidy's scope is typical non-market orientated policy,\" said He Yadong, a commerce ministry spokesperson.\n\"Many World Trade Organization members, including China, have expressed concern about the discriminatory policy of the U.S., which violates the WTO's basic principles,\" he said.\nChina's dominant position in the global battery supply chain has prompted United States and European officials to take action over fears that cheap Chinese EVs could flood their markets.\nThe European Commission is currently investigating whether Chinese manufacturers benefit from unfair state subsidies.\nWashington has already passed two laws explicitly excluding investors from being able to benefit from a $6 billion allocation of tax credits for batteries and critical minerals, as well as subsidies of $7,500 for every new energy vehicle produced, should they include FEOCs in their supply chains.\nThe term applies to China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. The rules will come into effect in 2024 for completed batteries and 2025 for the critical minerals.\nU.S. President Joe Biden's administration is also proposing tough criteria, including a 25% ownership threshold, for determining whether a company is controlled by a FEOC.\n\"By establishing 'glass barriers', the U.S. is doing more harm than good to the development of EV technologies and the industry more broadly,\" He said, warning that the plans would \"seriously disrupt international trade and investment\".\nChina accounts for almost two-thirds of the world's lithium processing capacity and 75% of its cobalt capacity, both of which are used in battery manufacturing.\nAnalysts, though, have questioned whether China's position in global battery supply chains warrants the U.S. and EU rhetoric over the potential risks.\n\"There is a lot of hyperbole around this. And I'm not sure the measures the EU or the U.S. are considering match the scale of the risk,\" said Dan Marks, a research fellow for energy security at the Royal United Services think tank.\n\"What we should be saying is these strategies in Europe and the U.S. are really industrial strategies. They're just about having competitive industries that can survive.\"\n(Reporting by Joe Cash and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Tom Hogue)\n",
        "title": "China says Biden plan to shut it out of US battery supply chain violates WTO rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 263,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jgbs-rally-biggest-rise-5-094518102.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 0930 GMT)\nBy Brigid Riley\nTOKYO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds (JGB) rallied on Thursday, with the largest selloff of five-year bonds in a decade, as a 30-year bond auction saw the weakest in years.\nYields, which move inversely to bond prices, jumped from multi-month lows touched the previous day as investors sold off bonds.\nThe five-year yield was 10.5 basis points (bps) higher at 0.340%, the biggest increase in a single day since April 2013.\nThe 10-year JGB yield rose 10.5 bps to 0.750%, the largest move in almost a year.\nThe moves in the bond market were enough to buoy the Japanese yen to a three-month high of 145.07 against the dollar.\nThe 30-year JGB yield, meanwhile, rose 9.5 bps to 1.690%, ticking up from 1.610% after the auction results for the bond showed poor demand.\nThe bid-to-cover ratio, which compares total bids to the amount of securities sold, was the lowest since 2015 at 2.62.\nThe tail - the difference between the lowest bid and the average bid - was 1.2 yen, the longest on record.\nAfter yields have dropped as sharply as they have, investors were likely to be taking a \"wait-and-see\" approach, with 30-year JGB yields around the 1.7% level a more appealing range, said Okasan Securities Senior Bond Strategist Makoto Suzuki.\nThe 20-year JGB yield jumped 11.5 bps to 1.490%.\nOn the short end, the two-year JGB yield ticked up 5 bps to 0.085%, while the five-year yield was 9.5 bps higher at 0.340%.\nThere was also some caution about when the Federal Reserve would begin cutting rates and how that could impact the BOJ's timeline to exit from its ultra-loose monetary policy, Suzuki said.\nMarkets were currently pricing in about a 50% chance of a Fed rate cut as early as March, according to the CME's FedWatch tool.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank will face an \"even more challenging\" situation in the year-end and the start of next year, when asked about the economy and monetary policy guidance. The 40-year JGB yield rose 9 bps to 1.925%. (Reporting by Brigid Riley; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Angus MacSwan)\n",
        "title": "JGBs rally; biggest rise in 5-year yield in a decade"
    },
    {
        "id": 264,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-china-says-biden-plan-094346263.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds quotes and further context throughout)\nBy Joe Cash\nBEIJING, Dec 7 (Reuters) - China said on Thursday that Biden administration plans to limit Chinese content in batteries eligible for generous electric vehicle tax credits from next year violate international trade norms and will disrupt global supply chains.\nThe plans will make investors in the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) supply chain ineligible for tax credits should they use more than a trace amount of critical materials from China, or other countries deemed a \"Foreign Entity of Concern\" (FEOC).\n\"Targeting Chinese enterprises by excluding their products from a subsidy's scope is typical non-market orientated policy,\" said He Yadong, a commerce ministry spokesperson.\n\"Many World Trade Organization members, including China, have expressed concern about the discriminatory policy of the U.S., which violates the WTO's basic principles,\" he said.\nChina's dominant position in the global battery supply chain has prompted United States and European officials to take action over fears that cheap Chinese EVs could flood their markets.\nThe European Commission is currently investigating whether Chinese manufacturers benefit from unfair state subsidies.\nWashington has already passed two laws explicitly excluding investors from being able to benefit from a $6 billion allocation of tax credits for batteries and critical minerals, as well as subsidies of $7,500 for every new energy vehicle produced, should they include FEOCs in their supply chains.\nThe term applies to China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. The rules will come into effect in 2024 for completed batteries and 2025 for the critical minerals.\nU.S. President Joe Biden's administration is also proposing tough criteria, including a 25% ownership threshold, for determining whether a company is controlled by a FEOC.\n\"By establishing 'glass barriers', the U.S. is doing more harm than good to the development of EV technologies and the industry more broadly,\" He said, warning that the plans would \"seriously disrupt international trade and investment\".\nChina accounts for almost two-thirds of the world's lithium processing capacity and 75% of its cobalt capacity, both of which are used in battery manufacturing.\nAnalysts, though, have questioned whether China's position in global battery supply chains warrants the U.S. and EU rhetoric over the potential risks.\n\"There is a lot of hyperbole around this. And I'm not sure the measures the EU or the U.S. are considering match the scale of the risk,\" said Dan Marks, a research fellow for energy security at the Royal United Services think tank.\n\"What we should be saying is these strategies in Europe and the U.S. are really industrial strategies. They're just about having competitive industries that can survive.\" (Reporting by Joe Cash and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Tom Hogue)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-China says Biden plan to shut it out of US battery supply chain violates WTO rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 265,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kkr-seeks-raise-7-billion-093635563.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Yantoultra Ngui\nSINGAPORE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. investment firm KKR & Co is looking to raise up to $7 billion for its first global climate fund that seeks to invest in energy transition opportunities, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.\nThe New York-headquartered firm is looking to hit first-close of the fund in the first half of next year, the source added, declining to be named as the matter was confidential.\nPrivate equity funds typically, but not necessarily, begin investing after their first-close, which is when they have received an initial round of commitments from investors.\nKKR's global climate fund will focus on investments involving environmentally friendly technologies such as energy storage, battery-related ventures and transportation, and decarbonizing of existing assets like conventional power and infrastructure, the source said.\nThe fund will scout for opportunities across the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific for investments of between $300 million and $750 million each, the source added.\nKKR declined to comment.\nKKR's first global climate fund comes as investors are increasing their focus on investments and funds that can help fight global warming. This year's U.N. COP28 climate summit in Dubai is now debating the future of fossil fuels, the burning of which is the biggest cause of climate change.\nGoldman Sachs Asset Management, the fund arm of Goldman Sachs, announced in January that it had raised $1.6 billion for its first private equity fund focused on investing in companies providing climate and environmental solutions.\nEarlier this month, the U.S. pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, an international fund dedicated to climate action.\nKKR has been beefing up its climate investing strategy.\nIn August, the firm appointed former Goldman Sachs' energy transition head Charlie Gailliot as co-head of its global climate strategy, less than a year after it recruited Emmanuel Lagarrigue from Schneider Electric and Neil Arora from Macquarie for the same role.\nKKR has committed more than $40 billion to sustainability focused investments, including over $30 billion to climate and environmental sustainability investments since 2010, according to its website.\nIt announced in September a $750 million investment into British-headquartered battery solutions firm Zenobē. Other investments include Indian renewable energy platform Virescent Infrastructure and Britain's waste-to-energy company Viridor. (Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Kane Wu and Miral Fahmy)\n",
        "title": "KKR seeks to raise up to $7 billion for first global climate fund - source"
    },
    {
        "id": 266,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toshiba-invest-rohms-power-chip-092954297.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba plans to invest in Rohm's new plant in southern Japan to produce power management chips, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.\nIt was not immediately clear how much Toshiba was planning to invest. However, it marks the two Japanese companies' first joint project since Rohm decided to invest a total of 300 billion yen ($2 billion) to join a $14 billion buyout of Toshiba.\nThe project would receive subsidies of about 120 billion yen to 130 billion yen from the Japanese government designed to help promote the domestic semiconductor industry, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is private.\n(Reporting by Miho Uranaka and Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by David Dolan)\n",
        "title": "Toshiba to invest in Rohm's new power chip plant in Japan's Miyazaki -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 267,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-bond-yields-trade-092201741.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Harry Robertson\nLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond yields were little changed on Thursday after hitting multi-month lows the previous day, as investors waited for impetus from U.S. jobs data.\nGermany's 10-year bond yield was last down less than 1 basis point (bp) at 2.205%, just above its lowest level in seven months.\nBond yields, which move inversely to prices, have tumbled this week after influential European Central Bank official Isabel Schnabel told Reuters that further interest rate hikes were \"rather unlikely\" given that inflation slowed to 2.4% in November.\nItaly's 10-year bond yield was last up unchanged at 3.957% after falling to 3.95% on Wednesday, the lowest since July.\nThe U.S. employment report on Friday will give investors a sense of whether their expectations for steep Federal Reserve interest rate cuts next year are appropriate. Before that, U.S. weekly jobless claims data is due at 1330 GMT on Thursday.\nPricing in money markets shows that investors currently expect around 120 bps of rate cuts in the U.S. and 140 bps in the euro zone by December next year.\nSonja Laud, chief investment officer at Legal & General Investment Management, said at an event on Wednesday that she expects euro zone inflation to remain above the ECB's 2% target by the end of 2024.\n\"If we're right on that, clearly we might not see the full extent of the rate cuts,\" she said.\nYet she said it has historically paid off to buy bonds when central banks have finished hiking interest rates.\n\"This journey might not be straightforward, but if you accept (that and) you got in here at the top, then you might well be in for a very profitable journey.\"\nGermany's 2-year bond yield, which is sensitive to ECB rate expectations, was last down 1 bp at 2.596% after falling to its lowest since May at 2.57% on Wednesday.\nGlobal bond yields rose in the Asian session overnight, with Deutsche Bank credit strategist Jim Reid pointing to comments from Bank of Japan officials that pushed up Japanese market rates.\nBoJ Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino said on Wednesday that an exit from ultra-loose monetary policy, if done properly, could reap rewards for the country's economy.\nJapan's 10-year bond yield rose around 11 bps overnight and last stood at 0.756%.\nJapanese investors are large holders of foreign bonds and some analysts have said a sharp rise in domestic yields could suck money back to Japan and out of global assets.\nMixed economic data on Thursday showed that German industrial output unexpectedly fell for a fifth month in a row in October, while Chinese exports grew for the first time in six months. (Reporting by Harry Robertson; Editing by Angus MacSwan)\n",
        "title": "Euro zone bond yields trade near seven-month lows before U.S. jobs data"
    },
    {
        "id": 268,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-cmoc-says-geopolitics-helped-031725695.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese copper and cobalt miner CMOC Group Ltd., which sold a controlling stake in its Northparkes mine in Australia earlier this week, said a changing geopolitical situation was one of the reasons for the divestment.\nA media representative for the company — confirming comments made by a CMOC official to local media on the sale — said those shifts and a challenging outlook meant it was unlikely to expand its operations in Australia, which ultimately limited future synergies.\nBeijing’s relationship with the US and its allies has been fraying, with Washington attempting to build supply chains for ingredients crucial to the energy transition to lessen reliance on China. Australia and Canada have also taken measures to limit Chinese participation in their resources sector.\n“Western governments have woken up to the risk that their supply chains of critical minerals could be cut off, or severely squeezed if China dominates supply,” said Grant Sporre, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. That means “a tougher environment for further acquisitions,” especially in developed nations, he said.\nRead More: Why the Fight for ‘Critical Minerals’ Is Heating Up: QuickTake\nCMOC, based in Luoyang in Henan province, agreed earlier this week to sell its 80% stake in the Northparkes copper and gold mine to Australian competitor Evolution Mining Ltd. for $475 million.\nAlong with peer Zijin Mining Group Co., CMOC has for years been at the forefront of China’s mineral expansion overseas from Africa to the Americas, building copper, cobalt and gold supply. Zijin said in August that it has slowed acquisitions due to high project valuations and geopolitical tensions.\nNorthparkes’ falling ore quality, meaning its lower metal content, also contributed to the sale, the media representative said, putting annual returns at 15% since the acquisition in 2013. The company has ample capital reserves and will remain open to global acquisition targets, he added.\n--With assistance from Martin Ritchie.\n(Adds analyst comment in paragraph 4.)\n",
        "title": "China’s CMOC Says Geopolitics Helped Drive Australia Sale"
    },
    {
        "id": 269,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-growth-boom-election-keep-024900701.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- India’s central bank will likely stick to its hawkish policy stance as strong economic growth and a state election victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives policymakers little reason to consider interest rate cuts just yet.\nThe Reserve Bank of India’s six-member monetary policy committee is expected to keep the repurchase rate unchanged at 6.5% on Friday for a fifth consecutive meeting, according to all but one of the 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. It’s also likely to retain its policy stance as “withdrawal of accommodation,” indicating rates would remain higher for longer.\nGovernor Shaktikanta Das said in October he wants to see inflation settle near the 4% target on a sustainable basis, but rising food prices means that’s unlikely to happen until late next year. India’s growth last quarter was also much faster than the RBI had predicted, keeping policymakers on guard. And with Modi’s party now in a strong position to return to power next year, there’s less pressure on authorities to try to juice growth by loosening policy too early.\n“The next two inflation readings could be close to 6%,” said Pranjul Bhandari, an economist with HSBC Holdings Plc. Until food prices ease “the RBI may want to err on the side of caution in its treatment of rates.”\nAastha Gudwani of Bofa Securities India Ltd. was the only economist in the Bloomberg survey who predicted a rate hike of 25 basis points.\nIn the absence of any rate action on Friday, the focus will remain on the RBI’s liquidity strategy. Das signaled in October the RBI may sell bonds in the open market, a move that would drain liquidity and boost short-term interest rates. Bond investors are watching closely for any hints the RBI will follow through on that call.\nHere’s a look at what’s expected from the RBI Governor when he announces the rate decision at 10 a.m. on Friday:\nGDP growth forecast to be raised\nGross domestic product surged 7.6% last quarter from a year ago, far higher than the 6.5% predicted by the RBI, showing the economy’s resilience despite 250 basis points of rate hikes. That prompted economists from Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc. to raise their growth projections for the fiscal year to 6.7%.\nThe RBI is likely to raise its full-year estimate to 6.8% from 6.5%, said Kaushik Das, an economist with Deutsche Bank AG, while probably retaining its inflation forecast at 5.4%.\nLast quarter’s growth burst likely won’t unduly worry policymakers as the lagged impact of monetary policy tightening and weaker global growth weighs on the economy, he said. The post-pandemic pent-up demand is also expected to fade, he said.\nOn the inflation side, crude oil prices have slumped about 13% since the last MPC meeting on Oct. 6, giving policymakers some comfort despite rising food costs.\nRBI to stick to hawkish policy tone\nThe central bank will likely maintain a hawkish tone to indicate rates will remain high. Even though the RBI says its monetary policy is independent of the US Federal Reserve’s, currencies in emerging markets such as India are closely tied to what the Fed does. The RBI is unlikely to shift policy until the world’s largest economy moves first toward easing.\n“With the rate gap with the US the narrowest on record, we doubt the RBI will pivot to easing until after the Federal Reserve starts to lower rates,” said Abhishek Gupta of Bloomberg Economics. “That will avoid spurring capital outflows and hurting the rupee.”\nAnalysts differ widely on when the RBI is likely to cut interest rates. Morgan Stanley predicts the central bank will move in the second quarter, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. only sees easing by the final three months of next year.\nFinancial stability is a concern\nGovernor Das may address financial stability concerns again after the central bank last month tightened restrictions on unsecured consumer loans. Das warned banks to avoid “all forms of exuberance” after recent data showed credit card debt reached a record high in August.\nThe RBI will likely aim for a “targeted approach via macroprudential measures to check excesses,” said Radhika Rao, an economist with DBS Bank Ltd.\nKeeping liquidity tight\nCash remains tight in the banking system with the weighted average call rate — a measure of overnight interbank rate that the central bank closely monitors — running above the RBI’s emergency funding rate of 6.75% for most part of the past month.\nThe RBI may want to keep overnight rates above the policy rate “to facilitate faster transmission from the short end of the curve,” said Rahul Bajoria, an economist at Barclays Plc. “Still, we do not think the RBI is looking to tighten liquidity excessively, lest it hinder growth.”\nWhile bond yields have eased since October, investors remain worried the central bank will resort to bond sales in the open market, as flagged by Governor Das in the last policy meeting. By selling bonds, the RBI’s action would suck liquidity out of the market, boosting interest rates.\nPuneet Pal, head of fixed income at PGIM India Mutual Fund, said the RBI is likely to give “neutral guidance both on liquidity and OMO sales” since crude oil prices have fallen along with global bond yields. “They will reiterate their earlier stance but will sound more balanced,” he said.\n--With assistance from Ronojoy Mazumdar and Tomoko Sato.\n",
        "title": "India’s Growth Boom, Election to Keep Central Bank on Hold"
    },
    {
        "id": 270,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moody-asked-staff-stay-home-090707931.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Moody’s Investors Service advised its staff in China to work from home ahead of its announcement this week cutting the outlook for sovereign bonds to negative in the world’s second largest economy, the Financial Times reported.\nDepartment heads advised non-administrative staff in Beijing and Shanghai not go into the office, the paper reported, citing two Moody’s employees. One of employees said the move was likely motivated by fear of government inspections following the rating company’s outlook cut, according to the FT.\nThe same staffer said Moody’s told analysts in Hong Kong to temporarily avoid travel to the mainland ahead of the announcement, the paper reported. Moody’s on Tuesday had lowered its outlook to negative from stable while retaining a long-term rating of A1 on the nation’s sovereign bonds.\nMoody’s declined to comment on any internal discussions, saying “our commitment to maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of the ratings process is paramount.”\nChina this week sought to contain any hit to investor sentiment after Moody’s issued the bearish credit outlook. The central bank raised its support for the yuan a notch and state media published a handful of articles citing experts who denounced the rating company’s understanding of China’s economy.\nThe Moody’s announcement has put a spotlight on China’s debt issues. While the agency retained a long-term rating, it cited the usage of fiscal stimulus to support debt-laden local governments and the spiraling property downturn as risks.\nForeign companies operating in China have complained about sporadic crackdowns that hurt business sentiment. The authorities in August fined American due diligence firm Mintz Group around $1.5 million for illegal data collection, months after officials raided its Beijing offices and detained five of its Chinese employees.\nIn April, US consultancy Bain & Co. said Chinese authorities had questioned staff at its Shanghai office. Security officials also publicized a raid at Capvision, a consulting firm with headquarters in New York and Shanghai, accusing the company of abetting espionage efforts by foreign entities.\n",
        "title": "Moody’s Asked Staff to Stay Home Ahead of China Cut, FT Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 271,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-euro-sags-yen-jumps-090003013.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates throughout; refreshes prices at 0845 GMT)\nBy Amanda Cooper\nLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The euro grazed a three-week low on Thursday, driven by mounting expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) may cut rates as early as March, while the prospect of a shift in Japanese policy gave the yen its biggest one-day boost since January.\nThe euro is heading for its biggest weekly fall since May, fuelled by a dramatic repricing of interest rate expectations for 2024, although caution around Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls has kept trading volatility subdued.\nFalling inflation, a slowdown in major economies such as Germany and softness in the labour market have prompted traders to assume rates will fall to 3.0%, from 4% currently, by September, from an expectation of 3.4% just two weeks ago.\nAs a result, the euro has hit eight-year lows against the Swiss franc and three-month lows against the pound this week.\n\"The speed of the dovish repricing for the euro zone has been more aggressive than it has been for the Fed and the other G10 central banks. But big difference is there is enough in the data still for the Fed to push back,\" TraderX strategist Michael Brown said.\n\"What can the ECB point to that justifies them pushing back on the rapid pace of easing next year?\" he said.\nThe ECB meets next Thursday for its final meeting of 2023. There has been very little resistance from policymakers to the recent repricing of rates, with even known hawk Isabel Schnabel taking rate hikes off the table.\nThe question of a rate cut could emerge in 2024, ECB member and Bank of France head Francois Villeroy de Galhau told a French paper in an interview published on Wednesday.\nVilleroy said that \"disinflation is happening more quickly than we thought\".\nThe euro, which has fallen 0.95% this week, was up 0.15% at $1.07795. Against the Swiss franc, it was steady at 0.9422 francs, above an overnight low of 0.9415, its weakest since early 2015, when the Swiss National Bank removed its peg between the two currencies.\nYEN OUTPERFORMS\nMeanwhile, the yen was the clear outperformer on Thursday, rising more than 1% to its strongest against the dollar in three months.\nThe Bank of Japan has been the lone holdout among central banks, by maintaining a policy of ultra-low rates that sent the yen to its weakest in decades against the dollar and sparked speculation that monetary authorities could intervene to prop up the currency.\nExpectations are growing for the BOJ to signal it will soon wind down this policy and next week's meeting may provide that opportunity.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank has several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory.\nMarkets took this as a potential sign that change may be imminent and pushed the yen, which has been punished by speculators taking large bearish positions, higher.\nThe dollar was last down 1.3% against the yen at 145.325.\n\"It probably speaks to the positioning that we’ve seen. The market is very, very heavily short the yen and we’ve got a heavy consensus in for 2024 that this is going to be the year that they bring negative rates to an end. So it shows the market is ready to latch on absolutely anything that it can in light of that,\" TraderX's Brown said.\nThe dollar index, which shed 3% last month, was down 0.3% at 103.87, not far off a two-week high, with Friday's payrolls the main focus.\nSeparate U.S. jobs data this week has suggested the labour market is softening, but not showing any material weakness. Futures markets are pricing in a 60% chance of a rate cut by March, up from 50% a week ago, according to the CME's FedWatch tool. But analysts think this might be overdone.\nThe Canadian dollar was steady against the U.S. dollar at 1.3587 per dollar after the Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its key overnight rate at 5% and, in contrast to other central banks recently, did not rule out another hike. (Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Gerry Doyle and Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Euro sags, yen jumps as investors bet on BOJ shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 272,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-nears-deal-regulate-chatgpt-010019381.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The European Union is nearing a deal on what is poised to become the most comprehensive regulation of artificial intelligence in the western world.\nNegotiators have agreed to a set of controls for generative artificial intelligence tools such as OpenAI Inc.’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard — the kind capable of producing content on command, people familiar the discussions said early Thursday.\nDelegates from the European Commission, the European Parliament and 27 member countries reached the compromise in a meeting that began Wednesday afternoon and has dragged on for hours, bringing the group closer to a formal agreement over a broader piece of legislation known as the AI Act, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks aren’t public.\nA deal marks a critical step in clearing landmark AI policy that will — in the absence of any meaningful action by US Congress — set the tone for the regulation of generative AI tools in the developed world. The act would make the EU the first government outside of Asia to put firm guardrails on the technology.\nPolicymakers have been working for months to finalize the language in the AI Act and get it passed before European elections in June usher in a whole new commission and parliament that could force more changes and stall efforts.\nThe European Commission didn’t respond to a request for comment sent outside of regular business hours.\nRead More: EU Races to Reach a Deal on World’s First Major Set of AI Rules\nThe extensive, late-into-the-night discussions underscore how contentious the debate over regulating AI has become, dividing world leaders and tech executives alike as generative tools continue explode in popularity. The EU — like other governments including the US and UK — has struggled to find a balance between the need to protect its own AI startups, such as France’s Mistral AI and Germany’s Aleph Alpha, against potential societal risks.\nRead More: EU’s Flagship AI Rules Risk Ending Up in Limbo: Brussels Edition\nThat has proven to be a key sticking point in negotiations, with some countries including France and Germany opposing rules that they said would unnecessarily handicap local companies. Officials were growing increasingly confident that a deal would be reached early Thursday, though the technical details of the act would still need to be hammered out in a series of follow-up meetings.\nEU policymakers had proposed a plan that would require developers of the type of AI models that underpin tools such as ChatGPT to maintain information on how their models are trained, summarize the copyrighted material used and label AI-generated content. Systems that pose “systemic risks” would have to work with the commission through an industry code of conduct. They would also have to monitor and report any incidents from the models.\n",
        "title": "EU Nears Deal to Regulate ChatGPT, Other AI Tech in Landmark Act"
    },
    {
        "id": 273,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/binance-exchange-bnb-token-misses-085314918.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Binance’s BNB token has missed out on most of the recent rally in digital assets, a sign of the challenging outlook for the largest crypto exchange after it pleaded guilty to US charges and was hit with a $4.3 billion penalty.\nThe total market value of cryptocurrencies has jumped some 12% — or $180 billion — in the past seven days, stoked by a Bitcoin surge, CoinGecko data show. Over the same period, BNB added 1.7% to trade at $231 as of 8:30 a.m. Thursday in London.\nBNB, which offers holders benefits such as lower trading fees on Binance, is viewed as a reflection of sentiment toward the exchange. The platform fielded a web of regulatory probes this year, culminating in the US with guilty pleas on Nov. 21 for anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations. BNB is the only major token still nursing a year-to-date, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nRead more: Binance Pleads Guilty, Loses CZ, Pays Fines to End Legal Woes\nWhile Binance remains by far the biggest platform for buying and selling digital assets as well as crypto derivatives, its dominance is waning. The exchange’s share of spot trading volumes slid to 32% in November from 55% at the start of 2023, according to CCData. Its derivatives market share declined to 48% from more than 60%.\n“We expect Binance will lose its throne as the No. 1 centralized exchange by volumes” following the plea deal with US authorities, said Matthew Sigel, head of digital-assets research at fund manager VanEck. Rivals OKX, Bybit, Coinbase and Bitget have the potential to grab the top spot, he added.\nBinance’s founder Changpeng Zhao also pleaded guilty and resigned as its chief executive officer under the settlement with US authorities. Zhao’s successor Richard Teng, a civil servant turned crypto executive, faces the tricky task of reshaping the firm to avoid regulatory blowups while at the same time stemming the loss of market share.\nTeng has sought to project strength, saying in an interview last month that Binance’s revenues and profits remain robust. He faces pressure to select a formal headquarters, appoint a board of directors and provide greater financial transparency about the company.\nRead more: Binance Top Executive Team to ‘Remain Intact,’ New CEO Teng Says\nExchange Flows\nBinance didn’t respond to a request for comment about BNB’s performance and the business outlook for the company.\nCustomers withdrew a net $1.6 billion from Binance in November, the second highest monthly outflow of the year, according DefiLlama data. Some of that has reversed, with a net $398 million flowing onto the exchange so far in December.\nBNB is down 8% since the US guilty pleas and more than $4 billion fine, which ranks among the biggest such penalties in US history. An index of the largest 100 digital assets advanced some 14% over the same period.\n“BNB is being treated as a proxy for Binance right now, which explains its strong underperformance,” said Clara Medalie, director of research at Kaiko.\nOver longer time periods, BNB has still outperformed — for instance, it’s up about 700% over the past three years compared with a 121% increase in the index of the top 100 tokens.\nThis year’s rebound in digital-asset prices from a 2022 rout provides a tailwind for Binance. The plea deal, and the conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried for fraud at FTX, have also fueled optimism that the worst of the US crackdown on crypto may be over.\nThe US settlement “certainly had an impact on the BNB price” but “Binance remains operational and there’s at least a path forward,” said Annabelle Huang, managing partner at crypto lender Amber Group.\n--With assistance from Emily Nicolle.\n",
        "title": "Binance Exchange’s BNB Token Misses Out on $180 Billion Crypto Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 274,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/woodside-santos-talks-form-52-081140153.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Scott Murdoch, Emily Chow and Lewis Jackson\nSYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's Woodside Energy and Santos said on Thursday they were in preliminary talks to create an A$80 billion ($52 billion) global oil and gas giant, as consolidation among international energy firms intensifies.\nCombining two of Australia's largest oil and gas producers would be the largest corporate deal in the country for several years, during which buyout activity has been subdued by rising interest rates and financial market volatility.\nBoth companies face rising pressures of decarbonisation as well as challenges in their current projects.\nPerth-based Woodside, the larger of the two, said the talks with Santos were confidential and incomplete and that there was no certainty a deal would materialise.\n\"Woodside continuously assesses a range of opportunities to create and deliver value for shareholders,\" it said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.\nIts market capitalisation stands at A$56.91 billion, while Santos is valued at A$22.1 billion.\nA merger of the two would come under close scrutiny from Australia's competition regulator, which has been toughening its stance towards allowing takeovers in concentrated sectors.\n\"The ACCC is aware of public reports of the potential transaction,\" a spokesperson for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said. \"If the potential transaction progresses, the ACCC would consider if a public merger review into the impact on competition is required.\"\n\"It (a merger) makes sense given how the share prices have languished and all the capex to come,\" said Jun Bei Liu, Tribeca Alpha Fund portfolio manager who owns Santos and Woodside shares.\n\"In today's world oil is almost done so you need to get scale and generate as much profit as possible to invest for the energy transition.\"\nThe potential merger follows a string of recent deals in the global oil and gas sector.\nExxon, the largest U.S. oil producer, said on Oct. 11 it had agreed to buy Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock deal valued at $59.5 billion that would make it the biggest producer in the largest U.S. oilfield and secure a decade of low-cost production.\nChevron struck a deal to buy Hess for $53 billion in stock to gain a bigger U.S. oil footprint and a stake in rival Exxon Mobil's massive Guyana discoveries, the latest in a series of blockbuster U.S. oil combinations.\nThere have been existing pressures to simplify the Australian oil and gas sector, which has seen two recent big-cap mergers with Woodside combining with BHP Group's oil and gas business and Santos acquiring Oil Search.\n\"Woodside has already been looking outward after the BHP acquisition and both companies have had good runs with the high oil and gas price environment of the past two years,\" said Kaushal Ramesh, vice president of LNG Research at Rystad Energy.\nDeal discussions with Santos come less than 18 months after Woodside completed the BHP deal and as it grapples to get final approvals for its A$16.5 billion Scarborough venture in Western Australia, its biggest growth project.\nL1 Capital, a local hedge fund and STO shareholder, called in September for the company to consider separating out the company’s LNG assets to help boost its share price, which had lagged global and local peers for three years.\nBoth Woodside and Santos had in annual investor briefings flagged challenging near-term production along with soaring capital expenditure and regulatory hurdles to ongoing projects.\nSantos wants to restart work on the Barossa gas project once it finishes a fresh round of talks with conventional landowners.\nFirms trying to create value through better funding options and cost reductions amid depressed share prices could also be a potential factor behind the energy majors' possible merger.\nWoodside's share price has dropped 15.4% this year so far, while Santos' stock is down 4.3%.\n($1 = 1.5244 Australian dollars)\n(Reporting by Scott Murdoch and Lewis Jackson in Sydney, Emily Chow and Florence Tan in Singapore and Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Alexander Smith and Kim Coghill)\n",
        "title": "Woodside and Santos in talks to form $52 billion Australian oil giant"
    },
    {
        "id": 275,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/european-shares-dip-economic-woes-080257056.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - European shares dropped on Thursday, led by travel and leisure stocks, as investors grew wary of an economic downturn following a slew of recent weak data out of Germany and keenly awaited a GDP print from the euro zone.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.3% by 0810 GMT after touching a more than four-month high on Wednesday.\nData showed Germany's industrial production unexpectedly fell in October, a day after industrial orders in the 20-nation bloc's largest economy also slipped, showcasing a struggling industrial sector.\nGermany's DAX fell 0.2% after scaling a fresh all-time high on Wednesday.\nA rise in euro zone bond yields, mirroring their global peers, also weighed on equities.\nOn the data front, euro zone final third-quarter GDP is due at 1000 GMT.\nU.S. initial jobless claims, due later in the day, will also be monitored following growing evidence of labour market weakness.\nGames Workshop lost 8.9% after its half-year trading update, while Lufthansa shed 3.9% after J.P.Morgan cut the German air carrier to \"underweight\" from \"overweight\", steering a 1% drop in travel and leisure.\nSanofi gained 1% after it said it has a dozen drug candidates with annual sales potential of more than $1 billion in development.\n(Reporting by Khushi Singh and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)\n",
        "title": "European shares dip on economic woes; travel and leisure lead losses"
    },
    {
        "id": 276,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-solar-industry-poised-slower-074326253.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 7 (Reuters) - The United States is expected to add a record 33 gigawatts (GW) of production capacity this year, up 55% compared with new capacity in 2022, but growth is expected to slow in 2024 amid economic challenges, a report published on Thursday showed.\nThe report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie showed the U.S. solar industry added 6.5GW of new electric generating capacity in the third quarter, helped by record installation of residential solar.\nHowever, changes to net energy metering policy in California and elevated interest rates across the U.S. are expected to lead to a brief decline next year before growth resumes in 2025, the report said.\n\"The U.S. solar industry is on a strong growth trajectory, with expectations of 55% growth this year and 10% growth in 2024,\" said Michelle Davis, head of solar research at Wood Mackenzie.\nSolar accounted for 48% of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the U.S. grid through the first three quarters of 2023, the report said. By 2028, solar capacity in the United States is expected to reach 377GW, compared with 161GW now.\nThe utility-scale segment saw lowest level of new contracts signed in a quarter since 2018, owing to higher financing costs, transformer shortages, and interconnection bottlenecks, the report said.\nCalifornia and Texas led the nation in new solar installations in the third quarter. Fourteen states and Puerto Rico installed more than 100 663 megawatts of new solar capacity in the same period.\nWood Mackenzie expects growth in the U.S. solar industry to average 14% annually over the next five years, but noted sustained growth will become more challenging in the longer term as interconnection bottlenecks and transmission capacity suppress the pace of installations.\n(Reporting by Rahul Paswan and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "US solar industry poised for slower growth next year after record-setting 2023 -report"
    },
    {
        "id": 277,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-ueda-explains-monetary-policy-064804359.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda met Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to explain monetary policy ahead of the central bank’s policy decision later this month.\nUeda discussed the state of the economy with the premier and told him that he would monitor how wages affect prices, the governor told reporters at the Prime Minister’s office in Tokyo. They didn’t discuss currencies and Kishida didn’t make any particular requests, Ueda added.\nRead More: BOJ’s Ueda Says Handling Policy Set to Get Tougher From Year-End\nThe meeting comes less than two weeks before the central bank meets for its last policy decision of the year. Economists expect the BOJ will pare back stimulus and scrap its negative interest rate over the coming months as inflation continues above the bank’s 2% price target.\nThe gathering was a regular meeting between a BOJ governor and the prime minister that happens a few times a year, Ueda added.\n--With assistance from Yuki Hagiwara.\n",
        "title": "BOJ Ueda Explains Monetary Policy to Kishida Ahead of Meeting"
    },
    {
        "id": 278,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-uks-smart-metering-systems-073233574.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds SMS board recommendation in paragraph 3, KKR comment in paragraph 4)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - British energy infrastructure firm Smart Metering Systems (SMS) said on Thursday a company owned by funds advised by KKR and its affiliates will take it private in an all-cash deal of about 1.3 billion pounds ($1.63 billion).\nThe 955 pence-per-share offer represents a premium of 40.4% to the London-listed stock's Wednesday close.\nSMS said its directors intend to unanimously recommend that the shareholders vote in favour of the deal.\n\"KKR believes that SMS, under private ownership, will be able to accelerate its growth and continued transition from a metering provider and grid-scale battery storage operator to a fully integrated, end-to-end energy infrastructure company,\" the U.S.-based investment firm said in a joint statement.\nGlasgow-headquartered SMS is listed in London's junior market and employs about 1,500 people, primarily in the UK. ($1 = 0.7964 pounds) (Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-UK's Smart Metering Systems agrees to $1.63 bln takeover offer"
    },
    {
        "id": 279,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-sanofi-focus-12-blockbuster-073159837.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Releads, adds background in paragraph 3, details on drugs with top-potential in last two paragraphs)\nBy Ludwig Burger and Anirudh Saligrama\nDec 7 (Reuters) - Sanofi said on Thursday it has 12 drug candidates with annual sales potential of more than $1 billion in development, as it faces investor pressure after abandoning 2025 margin targets to boost research and development (R&D) spending.\nThe 12 blockbuster drugs include nine medicines and vaccines with 2 billion to 5 billion euros ($2.15-$5.38 billion) in peak sales potential, Sanofi said in a statement.\nIt also highlighted three \"pipeline-in-a-product\" assets with a potential of more than 5 billion euros in peak sales thanks to their potential to treat several conditions.\nAfter a 15% plunge in Sanofi's stock on Oct. 27 when CEO Paul Hudson unexpectedly abandoned 2025 margin targets, investors have been seeking clarity on how much he plans to boost the R&D budget and what the likely pay-off in new drug projects will be.\nThe France-based drugmaker, which holds an R&D event for investors in New York on Thursday, said it expects its recently launched and future pharmaceutical assets to generate more than 10 billion euros ($10.76 billion) of annual sales by 2030.\nThe company's top-selling anti-inflammatory drug Dupixent, which it hopes to use in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), often known as \"smoker's lung\", is expected to deliver a low double-digit rate of annual sales growth from 2023 and 2030, it said.\n\"We are in a privileged position today with many very promising assets in mid- and late-stage development,\" Head of R&D Houman Ashrafian said in a statement.\n\"We believe in our capacity to improve outcomes for patients globally, while bringing innovative new medicines to market and strengthening our leadership in immunology and neuro-inflammation,\" Ashrafian said.\nRecently launched Beyfortus, used to prevent a common respiratory infection in infants, is among the assets it expects to help generate its forecasted sales.\nTwo products with potentially more than 5 billion euros in annual sales are eczema drug amlitelimab, to build on the success of mega-blockbuster Dupixent, and frexalimab against multiple sclerosis, both to be tested in costly phase III trials from next year.\nSanofi said an early-stage experimental pill against psoriasis and other inflammatory conditions, part of a class of drugs known as tumour necrosis factor or TNF inhibitors, had the same commercial potential.\n($1 = 0.9293 euros) (Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-Sanofi to focus on 12 blockbuster drug candidates, immunology pipeline"
    },
    {
        "id": 280,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-executives-looked-industrial-estates-073157247.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Thursday said he showed Tesla executives around industrial estates in the country last week for potential investment.\n\"I went out of my way to entertain them so they would fall in love with Thailand .... they are looking for 2,000 rai (320 hectares) of land,\" Srettha said, adding he was confident that the electric vehicle (EV) maker would invest in Thailand.\nSrettha, a political newcomer, became prime minister in August and held a meeting with Tesla chief Elon Musk a month later.\nSoutheast Asia's second-largest economy is the largest car producer and exporter in the region, with Japanese manufacturers including Toyota Motor Corp, Isuzu Motors and Honda Motor dominating the Thai sector for decades.\nThailand aims to convert about a third of its annual production of 2.5 million vehicles into EVs by 2030 and is preparing incentives to encourage more investment and conversion into EV manufacturing.\nEVs have steadily gained traction in Thailand, spurred by a government subsidy that currently stands at up to 150,000 baht per car. The country accounted for around half of all EV sales in Southeast Asia in the second quarter.\nTax cuts and subsidies rolled out by Thailand have already drawn a raft of Chinese carmakers, including BYD and Great Wall Motor, which have committed to investing $1.44 billion in new production facilities in the country.\nSrettha also said Thailand would continue to promote the manufacturing of traditional combustible engine vehicles.\n\"We were known as Detroit of the East - Japan was the biggest investor, but they are behind in EV,\" he said.\n\"EVs are not going to take over the world ... so is it possible to move (Japanese autos) regional production to Thailand and I will give tax incentives.\"\n(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat, Edited by Kanupriya Kapoor)\n",
        "title": "Tesla executives looked at industrial estates in Thailand - PM"
    },
    {
        "id": 281,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rouble-recovers-clipping-over-one-073057902.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "MOSCOW, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble hit a more than one-month low in early trade on Thursday before recovering to strengthen on the day, buffeted by relatively low oil prices and the reduced supply of foreign currency from exporters.\nPresident Vladimir Putin and the heads of Russia's central bank, finance ministry and economy ministry are due to speak at a forum hosted by VTB Bank later on Thursday.\nAt 0724 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% stronger against the dollar at 92.53, having earlier touched its weakest point since Nov. 3 at 93.56.\nIt had gained 0.5% to trade at 99.68 versus the euro and had firmed 0.3% against the yuan to 12.91 .\n\"Rouble devaluation is continuing,\" said Alexei Antonov of Alor Broker, expecting the rouble to head towards 97.5 to the dollar in the coming sessions. It has fallen from around 89 to the dollar at the start of last week.\nThe rouble has now lost support from the month-end tax period, for which Russian exporters usually convert foreign currency into roubles.\nBefore last week, the currency had enjoyed seven weeks of gains. It has rebounded from more than 100 to the dollar, thanks to high interest rates and reduced capital outflows since Putin introduced the forced conversion of some foreign currency revenue for exporters in October.\nThe market will be closely following Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina on Thursday, who could issue a fresh signal ahead of the bank's final rate decision of the year next week.\nAnalysts polled by Reuters expect the Bank of Russia to raise rates to 16% on Dec. 15.\nBrent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.6% at $74.71 a barrel, recovering slightly after sliding to a more than five-month low in the previous session.\nRussian stock indexes were mixed.\nThe dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.1% to 1,045.9 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.3% lower at 3,071.5 points.\nFor Russian equities guide see\nFor Russian treasury bonds see\n(Reporting by Alexander Marrow Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "Rouble recovers after clipping over one-month low vs dollar"
    },
    {
        "id": 282,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-tesla-executives-looked-industrial-072726414.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates with background, quotes from PM in paragraphs 3-10)\nBANGKOK, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Thursday said he showed Tesla executives around industrial estates in the country last week for potential investment.\n\"I went out of my way to entertain them so they would fall in love with Thailand .... they are looking for 2,000 rai (320 hectares) of land,\" Srettha said, adding he was confident that the electric vehicle (EV) maker would invest in Thailand.\nSrettha, a political newcomer, became prime minister in August and held a\nmeeting\nwith Tesla chief Elon Musk a month later.\nSoutheast Asia's second-largest economy is the largest car producer and exporter in the region, with Japanese manufacturers including Toyota Motor Corp, Isuzu Motors and Honda Motor dominating the Thai sector for decades.\nThailand aims to convert about a third of its annual production of 2.5 million vehicles into EVs by 2030 and is preparing incentives to encourage more investment and conversion into EV manufacturing.\nEVs have steadily gained traction in Thailand, spurred by a government subsidy that currently stands at up to 150,000 baht per car. The country accounted for around half of all EV sales in Southeast Asia in the second quarter.\nTax cuts and subsidies rolled out by Thailand have already drawn a raft of Chinese carmakers, including BYD and Great Wall Motor, which have committed to investing $1.44 billion in new production facilities in the country.\nSrettha also said Thailand would continue to promote the manufacturing of traditional combustible engine vehicles.\n\"We were known as Detroit of the East - Japan was the biggest investor, but they are behind in EV,\" he said.\n\"EVs are not going to take over the world ... so is it possible to move (Japanese autos) regional production to Thailand and I will give tax incentives.\"\n(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat, Edited by Kanupriya Kapoor)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Tesla executives looked at industrial estates in Thailand - PM"
    },
    {
        "id": 283,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-german-industrial-output-falls-072225694.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details)\nBERLIN, Dec 7 (Reuters) - German industrial production unexpectedly fell 0.4% in October compared to the previous month, the federal statistics office said on Thursday, marking the fifth monthly decline in a row.\nThe drop was due largely to a decline in production at the mechanical engineering sector, the office said.\nAnalysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 0.2% rise.\nIn September, production fell 1.3% month-on-month, according to revised data compared to an reported decline of 1.4%.initially\nThe office published more detailed data on its website. (Writing by Ozan Ergenay and Linda Pasquini, editing by Kirsti Knolle)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-German industrial output falls unexpectedly in October"
    },
    {
        "id": 284,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jgb-yields-rise-multi-month-065257600.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Brigid Riley\nTOKYO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond (JGB) yields rose on Thursday, pulling further away from multi-month lows touched the previous day, as an auction for the 30-year bond saw some of the weakest demand in years.\nThe 10-year JGB yield jumped 10.5 basis points to 0.750%, a day after touching a three-and-a-half month low of 0.620%.\nBenchmark 10-year JGB futures fell as much as 1.00 yen to 145.89 yen. Futures were last up slightly at 145.92 yen.\nThe 30-year JGB yield rose 9.5 bps to 1.690%, ticking up from 1.610% after the auction results for the bond were announced.\n\"The results were quite weak,\" said Okasan Securities Senior Bond Strategist Makoto Suzuki.\nThe bid-to-cover ratio, which compares total bids to the amount of securities sold, was the lowest since 2015 at 2.62.\nThe tail - the difference between the lowest bid and the average bid - was 1.2 yen, the longest on record.\nAfter yields have dropped as sharply as they have, investors were likely taking a wait-and-see attitude, with 30-year JGB yields around the 1.7% level a more appealing range, Suzuki said.\nThe 20-year JGB yield jumped 11.5 bps to 1.490%.\nOn the short end, the two-year JGB yield ticked up 5 bps to 0.085%, while the five-year yield was 9.5 bps higher at 0.340%.\nThere is a sense of caution about whether the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could potentially make an early exit from its ultra-easy monetary policy if the Federal Reserve were to begin cutting rates early next year, contributing to the rise in yields, Suzuki said.\nMarkets were currently pricing in about a 50% chance of a Fed rate cut as early as March, according to the CME's FedWatch tool.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank will face an \"even more challenging\" situation in the year-end and the start of next year, when asked about the economy and monetary policy guidance. The 40-year JGB yield rose 9 bps to 1.925%. (Reporting by Brigid Riley; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)\n",
        "title": "JGB yields rise from multi-month lows after weak 30-year bond auction"
    },
    {
        "id": 285,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-wall-street-journal-064417541.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 7 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\n- Meta Platforms said it has started fully encrypting messages on Facebook by default, and will automatically start shifting Facebook users to so-called end-to-end encryption for their messages on that platform and its connected Messenger app.\n- BHP Group has appointed Vandita Pant as its new chief financial officer, as part of a reshuffle of its top executives from March 2024.\n- AbbVie said on Wednesday it would buy Cerevel Therapeutics, a developer of drugs for neurological conditions, for about $8.7 billion.\n- Online pet retailer Chewy appointed David Reeder as its next chief financial officer, who will join the company effective Feb. 14.\n- A lone shooter opened fire on the main campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, killing three people and wounding a fourth before the suspect was shot dead by police.\n- Seven West Media said James Warburton will step down as chief executive before the end of the 2024 fiscal year and be replaced by the Australian media conglomerate’s chief financial officer Jeff Howard.\n(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST- Wall Street Journal - Dec. 7"
    },
    {
        "id": 286,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/minuscule-ai-startup-raises-41-051500583.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A generative artificial intelligence startup targeting the Indian market raised $41 million in fresh funding, the largest such round by an early-stage AI contender in the country.\nSarvam AI is building large language models targeted at unique uses in Indian languages at price points that the country’s 1.4 billion people can afford. The Series A funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and participants included Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla’s Khosla Ventures and Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia Capital India & Southeast Asia, Sarvam said Thursday.\nThe Bangalore-based startup, until recently in stealth mode, was co-founded by Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar. It has ambitious plans to build open source foundational AI systems as well as tools for creating apps for the meager compute infrastructure available to developers in India. The startup has a total of 18 employees and is just opening an office in the city.\n“What we are showing is that you can build large language models with limited resources,” Raghavan said in a phone interview. “We are building at a smaller scale and demonstrating that these can be extremely cost and energy efficient so they can be accessed by everyone.”\nLarge language models, like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Llama, are powerful AI systems that understand by learning from vast amounts of diverse data from the internet and elsewhere to summarize, translate, and create text, audio and video for a wide range of applications. The rivalry to develop ever-more sophisticated models is heating up in Silicon Valley and such efforts have attracted billions of dollars in investments.\n",
        "title": "Minuscule AI Startup Raises $41 Million to Tap India Growth"
    },
    {
        "id": 287,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/graphic-robust-nov-foreign-inflows-063644275.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy\nDec 7 (Reuters) - Asian equities attracted substantial foreign investment in November, signalling the prospects of continued inflows next year, bolstered by a decrease in U.S. Treasury yields and rising optimism for potential Federal Reserve rate cuts.\nAccording to data from stock exchanges across Taiwan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, foreign investors bought a net $11.16 billion in stocks last month, the most since May.\nThe inflows were underpinned by cooler-than-expected U.S. October inflation data and dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials, which led to sharp declines in both U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar last month.\nThe yield on 10-year notes fell by 52.5 basis points in November, marking the steepest monthly drop since August 2011, while the dollar index saw a decrease of about 3%, its largest monthly decline in a year.\n\"Foreign investors may have more risk appetite for EM assets subject to lower USD interest rates and/or weaker USD,\" said Jason Lui, head of APAC equity derivatives strategy at BNP Paribas.\nSo far this year, Asian equities have received a net $14.03 billion, a significant turnaround from the approximately $57.52 billion in net selling in 2022.\nIn the last month, Taiwanese stocks attracted foreign inflows of $7.58 billion, the highest since at least 2008. South Korean shares attracted $3.26 billion, while Indian equities received net inflows of $1.08 billion.\n\"The strong inflows into Korea and Taiwan recently may be more related to the global excitement on AI and semiconductor demand,\" he said.\nPhilippine stocks saw a slight $19 million in foreign inflows after three months of outflows. However, Thai and Vietnamese shares saw outflows of $598 million and $146 million, respectively, with foreigners remaining net sellers since February and April.\nAmid concerns about a global economic slowdown due to high interest rates and inflation, analysts predict Asia may show resilience in the coming year and outperform other regions.\n\"Despite a weak global backdrop, we believe growth in most Asian economies will outperform U.S. and European growth in 2024 amid a semiconductor-led export tailwind, steady domestic demand, and stronger fundamentals,\" Sonal Varma, chief economist at Nomura, said in a note.\n\"Over the medium term, Asia's strong fundamentals and growth prospects mean the region is well-placed to attract large capital inflows.\"\n(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)\n",
        "title": "GRAPHIC-Robust Nov foreign inflows in Asian equities signal positive outlook for 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 288,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-ev-maker-nio-considers-062313936.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details from the Bloomberg report in paragraphs 2-3, background in paragraphs 5-6)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio Inc may undertake further job cuts after the company announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce last month, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.\nSome departments were asked to prepare reserve lay-off lists, which may widen the original dismissals to 20% to 30% within the unit, according to the report.\nThe cuts would apply mainly to non-core businesses or ones that would not generate quick returns or require heavy investment, the report added.\nNio did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\nThe additional cuts come after Nio said in November that it planned to eliminate 10% of its jobs, as it moves to improve efficiency and reduce costs in the face of growing competition.\nDemand for EVs has weakened in China as consumers favour more economical plug-in hybrids. (Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-EV maker Nio considers more job cuts after shedding 10% staff - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 289,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-firm-euro-three-061929733.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 0603GMT)\nBy Ankur Banerjee\nSINGAPORE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The euro eased to its lowest in over three weeks on Thursday as traders intensified bets that the European Central Bank (ECB) would start cutting rates starting in March 2024, while the dollar was steady ahead of crucial payrolls data this week.\nThe euro inched 0.07% lower to $1.0757, its lowest point since Nov. 14. The single currency is down 1% this week and is on course for the steepest weekly decline since May.\nTraders are betting that there is about an 85% chance that the ECB cuts interest rates at the March meeting, with almost 150 basis points' worth of easing priced by the end of next year.\nThe question of a rate cut could emerge in 2024, ECB member and Bank of France head Francois Villeroy de Galhau told a French paper in an interview published on Wednesday.\nVilleroy said that \"disinflation is happening more quickly than we thought\".\nThe ECB will set interest rates on Thursday next week and is all but certain to leave them at the current record high of 4%, although the focus will be on comments from officials about rates outlook.\nA\nslim majority of economists\nin a Reuters poll expect the ECB to cut rates in the second quarter of next year, earlier than previously thought, with a\nnew tug of war\non the exact timing of the first cut emerging.\nThe dollar has found its footing this month after a 3% drop in November as traders ramp up rate cut bets for other central banks.\nThe dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was 0.038% higher at 104.17, just shy of the two-week high of 104.23 it touched on Wednesday. The index is up 0.9% this week, set for its strongest weekly performance since July.\nData on Wednesday showed U.S. private payrolls increased less than expected in November, in yet another sign that the labour market is gradually cooling.\nInvestor attention will now be on Friday's non-farm payrolls data for a clearer picture of the labour market.\n\"The various labour market statistics suggest the U.S. labour market is slowly loosening,\" said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. \"In our view, a sharp weakening of the labour market is needed for financial markets to price in a U.S. recession that we have long expected.\"\nA recent string of softening economic data along with commentary from U.S. Federal Reserve officials have stoked expectations that the central bank is at the end of its rate-increase cycle and will begin to cut rates as soon as March.\nMarkets are pricing in a 60% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared to 50% a week earlier. They are anticipating 125 basis points of cuts from the Fed next year.\nAnalysts though have cautioned that the markets have been too aggressive.\n\"The market is too aggressively priced for Fed rate cuts heading into 2024 and so we expect a correction in this pricing to deliver a stronger USD,\" said David Forrester, currency strategist at Credit Agricole CIB.\nThe Canadian dollar eased 0.10% versus its U.S. counterpart to 1.36 per dollar after the Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its key overnight rate at 5% and, in contrast to its peers, left the door open to another hike.\nThe central bank said it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices.\nThe Japanese yen strengthened 0.47% versus the greenback at 146.59 per dollar and was close to the near three-month high of 146.23 it touched at the start of the week.\nExpectations that the Bank of Japan will soon end its negative rate policy along with softness in dollar has pulled the yen up from the depths, lifting it away from the near 33-year low of 151.92 per dollar it touched middle of November.\nBOJ Governor\nKazuo Ueda\nsaid on Thursday the central bank has several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing cost out of negative territory.\n(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar firm, euro at three-week lows as rate cut bets rise"
    },
    {
        "id": 290,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dubai-taxi-jumps-trading-debut-061349082.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Dubai Taxi Co. gained as much as 19% in its debut after a $315 million initial public offering which was the city’s first privatization in over a year.\nShares in Dubai Taxi opened at 2.2 dirhams on Thursday, according to data from the Dubai stock exchange website. The stock was offered at 1.85 dirhams, which was at the top of a marketed range. The share sale was hugely oversubscribed, drawing orders worth over $41 billion, as investors’ appetite for listings in the Persian Gulf remains unwavering.\nThe region has been one of the few busy IPO spots globally, with deal activity subdued in other markets due to aggressive interest rate hikes and market volatility. High oil prices, strong local investor demand and government drives to list state-owed companies have instead propelled a flurry of IPOs in the Gulf, partly driven by large pools of capital seeking investment opportunities.\nRead more: Middle East Sees Year-End IPO Rush, Despite War and Global Gloom\nDubai Taxi is part of a busy year-end for Middle Eastern IPOs, with a crypto-related firm jumping 35% on its Abu Dhabi debut on Tuesday, while health-care platform PureHealth Holding is seeking to raise $1 billion in a listing in the United Arab Emirates’ capital.\nDubai is the Gulf’s best performing market this year, with the benchmark index up almost 20% so far, partly driven by a jump in property-related shares.\nListing Drive\nThe Dubai government raised $8.3 billion by selling stakes in four state-owned companies, including the city’s main water and electricity utility, in 2022. The share sales are part of a plan unveiled about two years ago to list 10 state-owned companies to boost flagging trading volumes and match similar drives in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.\nA listing of Dubai Parking is expected to follow next year, Bloomberg News has reported.\nThere was a lull in listing activity in Dubai for most of the year, except for money exchange firm Al Ansari Financial Services PJSC’s $210 million IPO in March, which was one of the first private firms to go public in the United Arab Emirates.\nCitigroup Inc., Emirates NBD Capital and Bank of America Corp. were joint global coordinators on the Dubai Taxi IPO, while Rothschild & Co. acted as independent financial adviser.\n",
        "title": "Dubai Taxi Jumps in Trading Debut After $315 Million Listing"
    },
    {
        "id": 291,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-robinhood-launches-commission-free-061247301.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Changes sourcing)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - Trading app operator Robinhood Markets Inc said on Thursday it has launched commission-free crypto trading to customers in the European Union.\n\"It is the only custodial crypto platform where customers will get a percentage of their trading volume back every month, paid in Bitcoin (BTC),\" Robinhood said in a blog post.\nThe app will allow European investors to buy and sell more than 25 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether and Solana's SOL.\nThe launch comes a week after Robinhood announced it will roll out brokerage services in the UK as part of an international expansion plan to \"democratise finance\" and increase access to markets.\nBloomberg News first reported the move earlier on Thursday, citing an interview with its crypto general manager Johann Kerbrat. (Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan and Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Robinhood launches commission-free crypto trading in EU"
    },
    {
        "id": 292,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-market-bets-2024-thrown-061126130.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Naomi Rovnick\nLONDON (Reuters) - Investment banks and asset managers have wildly varying stock market and currency calls for 2024, reflecting deep division over whether the U.S. economy will enter a long-heralded recession and drag the world with it.\nThe lack of consensus among forecasters is a stark contrast to a year ago, when most predicted a U.S. recession and rapid rate cuts that failed to materialise. The world's largest economy expanded by 5.2% in the third quarter of this year.\nThe divisions this year have produced a scattergram of projections for the U.S. interest rate path and how global assets that are influenced by the Federal Reserve's actions will perform.\nMarket participants are therefore bracing for a bumpy start to the new year after a strong rally last month for both stocks and bonds based on a short-term consensus that inflation and interest rates are on a firm downward path.\n\"Whether the U.S. has a hard landing or a soft landing will dominate the market,\" said Sonja Laud, chief investment officer at Legal & General Investment Management.\n\"The narrative isn't clear yet,\" she added, noting that if current interest rate forecasts \"were to shift significantly that creates significant volatility\".\nOptions trading data shows that investors are becoming increasingly interested in protecting their portfolios from heightened stock market volatility ahead.\nALL TOGETHER...NOT\nEconomists polled by Reuters predict 1.2% U.S. GDP growth for 2024 on average.\nBut while forecasters are united that the Fed's most aggressive rate hiking cycle in decades will cause a slowdown, they are split on whether 2024 will also include a couple of quarters of economic contraction that may prompt rate cuts and weaken the dollar.\nAmundi, Europe's largest asset manager, now expects a U.S. recession in the first half of 2024, meaning the group is negative on the dollar and likes emerging market assets.\nIn foreign exchange, Japan's yen will be the market's \"bright spot\" as the Bank of Japan is expected to finally move away from its ultra-easy monetary policy, said Amundi CIO Vincent Mortier.\nThe yen is trading around 147 per dollar, not too far from 30-year lows.\nMorgan Stanley, however, sees no recession and reckons the Fed may keep rates high well into next year. It views the dollar index rising to 111 points from 104 currently, the euro dropping to $1 and the yen recovering only moderately to 142 per dollar.\nSTOCKS, UP OR DOWN?\nFor U.S. stocks, which drive world equity markets, forecasters are divided between what Citi head of trading strategy Stuart Kaiser calls the \"converts and disciples\" of last year's strong recession consensus.\n\"Some bears are (still) very dedicated and believe that if it didn't happen this year it has to happen next year,\" Kaiser said.\nDeutsche Bank predicts a mild U.S. recession in the first half of 2024 and a whopping 175 basis points of rate cuts, with lower borrowing costs driving the S&P 500 share index to 5,100 points. The S&P 500 has gained 19% this year to 4,567.\nJP Morgan views a recession as possible and the S&P finishing the year at 4,200, while Goldman Sachs sees only limited recession risk.\nEquity analysts' estimates of S&P 500 earnings are currently the most dispersed since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Blackrock Investment Institute (BII).\nLGIM, which manages roughly $1.5 trillion of assets, is underweight equities and expects a U.S. downturn, Laud said.\nSome investors meanwhile had moved beyond the U.S. economy debate to seek other opportunities.\nLuca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management, said the firm's big call was for gains in European equities, which they believed were undervalued.\nBONDS ARE BACK\nMost economic forecasters agree that a global inflation surge is over. But whether this means dramatic rate cuts, which generally raise bond prices as yields fall, is not something investors agree on either.\nBond giant PIMCO puts the probability of a U.S. recession in 2024 at 50% and recommends government debt over equities.\nHSBC fixed income strategists target a 3% yield for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury by late 2024, down from about 4.3% currently.\nBut Adrian Gray, global chief investment officer at Insight Investment Management, said government bond markets had moved too exuberantly already.\n\"We're seeing the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England all cutting (rates) from around Q3 next year,\" he said.\n\"Right now, government bond markets are pricing in more than that,\" he said, projecting yields would rise \"a little,\" from here.\n(Reporting by Naomi Rovnick; editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-Market bets for 2024 thrown into chaos by US recession conundrum"
    },
    {
        "id": 293,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-today-asian-shares-061118120.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BANGKOK (AP) — Shares fell Thursday in Asia after a retreat on Wall Street as crude oil prices slipped on expectations that supply might outpace demand.\nBenchmarks fell more than 1% in Tokyo and Hong Kong. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% in its third straight loss though the index remains near its best level in 20 months.\nA barrel of benchmark U.S. crude tumbled roughly 4%, to 4,549.34, on Wednesday as expectations built that the world has too much oil available for the slowing global economy’s demand. It sank below $70, down more than $20 since September. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.8% to $74.30 per barrel.\nEarly Thursday, U.S. crude was up 29 cents at $69.67 per barrel. Brent crude rose 31 cents to $74.61 per barrel.\nChina reported that its exports rose 0.5% in November, the first year-on-year month of increase since April, but imports fell.\nChina has been grappling with sluggish foreign trade this year amid slack global demand and a stalled recovery, despite the country’s reopening after its strict COVID-19 controls were lifted late last year. Economists said a holiday season rush of shipping likely helped push exports higher.\nTokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.7% to 32,858.31. South Korea's Kospi edged 0.1% lower to 2,491.64.\nThe Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 1% to 16,295.83 on renewed heavy selling of technology and property shares. The Shanghai Composite index dropped was flat at 2,969.49.\nAustralia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.1% to 7,173.30. Bangkok's SET lost 0.6% and the Sensex in India fell 0.1%.\nWednesday on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, to 36,054.43, and the Nasdaq composite lost 83.20, or 0.6%, to 14,146.71.\nEnergy stocks had the market’s worst drops by far. Halliburton sank 3.6%, and Marathon Oil fell 3.5%.\nLosses for Big Tech stocks, which are some of Wall Street’s most influential, also weighed on the market. Nvidia dropped 2.3%, and Microsoft lost 1%.\nBut travel-related companies advanced as falling crude prices relieved expected cost pressures. Carnival rose 5.9%, and Royal Caribbean Line gained 3.4%.\nAirlines also flew higher. Delta Air Lines climbed 3.5% after it told investors it’s sticking to its forecasts for revenue and profit for the end of 2023. United Airlines rose 3.4%, and Southwest Airlines gained 3%.\nShares of British American Tobacco sank 8.4% in London after the company said it will take a non-cash hit worth roughly 25 billion British pounds ($31.39 billion) to account for a drop in the value of its “combustible” U.S. cigarette brands. It’s moving toward a “smokeless” world, such as e-cigarettes.\nWall Street is betting the Fed’s next move will be to cut rather than raise interest rates. The Federal Reserve’s next meeting on interest rates is next week, and the widespread expectation is for it to leave its main interest rate alone at its highest level in more than two decades.\nA report Wednesday said private employers added fewer jobs last month than economists expected. A cooling in the job market could remove upward pressure on inflation. A more comprehensive report on the job market from the U.S. government is due Friday.\nA separate report said U.S. businesses increased how much stuff they produced in the summer by more than the total number of hours their employees worked. That stronger-than-expected gain in productivity more than offset increases to workers’ wages and also could help keep a lid on inflation.\n“The market is currently in a consolidation phase as investors eagerly await the November U.S. employment report on Friday. This report is pivotal; if it indicates slowing inflation on wages and a weaker job market, it could fuel expectations for rate cuts in 2024,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary.\nIn the bond market, Treasury yields were generally lower. The 10-year yield rose to 4.17% by early Thursday on a par with its level late Tuesday after it dipped to 4.11%. In October it was above 5%, at its highest level since 2007.\nIn currency dealings, the U.S. dollar fell to 146.63 Japanese yen from 147.34 yen. The euro fell to $1.0760 from $1.0763.\n",
        "title": "Stock market today: Asian shares slide after retreat on Wall Street as crude oil prices skid"
    },
    {
        "id": 294,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-global-small-cap-stocks-060957771.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Samuel Indyk and Lewis Krauskopf\nLONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of smaller companies that have lagged for most of 2023 are drawing investors on both sides of the Atlantic, as they weigh the benefits from an expected fall in interest rates next year against worries about a possible economic downturn.\nIn the U.S., the small-cap Russell 2000 has jumped over 13% from its October lows, while the MSCI Europe Small and Mid Cap Index is up 12% since late last month.\nThe recent surge in small caps stands in contrast to much of the year. While the S&P 500 is up 19% year-to-date, the Russell 2000 has climbed just 5%. Europe's small caps, meanwhile, have risen over 6% in 2023, versus a 12% increase in the broader MSCI Europe equity index.\nThat underperformance has helped make small caps look cheaper than their larger peers when compared to their historical valuations.\nU.S. small caps are near their lowest-ever relative values to large caps, according to LSEG Datastream. The small-cap S&P 600 trades at 13.7 times forward earnings against its long-term average of 18 and well below the S&P 500's current level of 19.\nEuropean small caps trade at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 12.2, below the 15-year average of 15 and below the broader MSCI Europe's current P/E of 12.3.\n\"We're approaching 2-1/2 years of relative underperformance and if you look at the valuation multiples of small caps now, they're very, very cheap,\" said Rory Stokes, portfolio manager on the European equities team at Janus Henderson.\nThose valuations have boosted the appeal of small caps in a multi-asset rally sparked by bets central banks globally will begin cutting rates in 2024 if inflation keeps falling. Recent data has shown U.S., European and British consumer prices cooling more than forecast.\nMarkets are pricing in over 125 basis points of rate cuts each by the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank next year following a hiking cycle that has lifted borrowing costs to their highest in decades, while benchmark government bond yields also have dropped.\nThat is good news for small caps, investors said.\nElevated borrowing costs can be more damaging to smaller companies, which tend to be more reliant on shorter-term debt that is now being financed at higher costs after years of rock-bottom interest rates.\nThe recent fall in Treasury yields \"loosened the noose\" around many small-cap companies, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital.\nU.S. small caps have outperformed large ones during periods of increasing growth and slowing inflation, with the Russell 2000 up an 25.2% on an annualized basis versus 17.3% for the S&P 500, a Morningstar Wealth analysis of data since the 1970s showed.\nThe firm is overweight small-caps in its U.S. equity fund, as cheap valuations give the stocks \"some margin of safety,\" said Marta Norton, Morningstar Wealth's chief investment officer in the Americas. \"That valuation opportunity has just expanded relative to large cap.\"\nSmall-cap earnings also are expected to pick up. Russell 2000 companies' earnings are forecast to increase about 30% next year after falling 11.5% in 2023, LSEG data showed.\n\"Small caps will snap back quickly and the recovery will be strongest in the early part,\" said Amisha Chohan, head of small cap strategy at Quilter Cheviot. \"It is important to have some exposure to this area of the market, especially given where valuations sit.\"\nRecent small-cap stock winners include wireless audio company Sonos, which has jumped over 40% in the past month, while Victoria's Secret & Co has gained 33% during that period, and Britain's Hotel Chocolat soared after the company agreed earlier this month to a takeover offer from confectionary giant Mars Inc.\nReasons for caution remain. While hopes of a so-called economic soft landing have supported stocks, some investors worry the rate hikes will bring a recession in 2024.\nThat would likely hurt small caps, which tend to suffer disproportionately in downturns. Since 1980, the Russell 2000 has lagged the S&P 500 by an average of about four percentage points in the six months after the economic cycle has peaked, ahead of a recession, data from Strategas showed.\n\"There is a legitimate case to be made that the economy could struggle sometime in the next 12 to 18 months,\" said Bryant VanCronkhite, senior portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments. \"If that's the case, the valuations we see today are probably not going to support small caps.\"\nMabrouk Chetouane, Natixis IM's head of global market strategy, believes that thinning year-end trading, recession worries and central banks' insistence that it is too early to consider cutting rates argue for avoiding small caps.\n\"If we have a negative shock, then volatility will be more elevated in segments of the market where liquidity is weak,\" Chetouane said. \"From a tactical point of view, it's not the time to buy or add small caps.\"\n(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf and Samuel Indyk; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-Global small-cap stocks lure bargain hunters after sluggish 2023"
    },
    {
        "id": 295,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/em-asia-bonds-high-valuations-001613736.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The rally in emerging Asian bonds last month is spurring valuation concerns, and that along with expected lower carry returns may weigh on prospects for future gains.\nThat’s according to a Bloomberg analysis of FX carry and long-dated bond valuations in emerging Asia after four previous rallies since 2019. Carry in emerging Asia lags global peers, with the average three-month return at minus 1.21%, in comparison to 2.19% in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and 4.29% in Latin America.\nEmerging Asia bond yields fell last month as slowing inflation gave central bankers reason to rethink rate hikes and wagers grew that the Federal Reserve may start to ease next year. Valuations are expensive as the region’s 10-year yields offer a tighter premium over similar-dated Treasuries, making them less alluring to global investors despite the Treasury rally in November.\nThe Bloomberg Asia dollar index and Bloomberg gauge of EM Asia bonds had their best monthly returns in 12 months in November on hopes for a pivot from the Federal Reserve.\n“I expect Asian currencies to by and large underperform global EM FX in 2024, partly because of the generally lower carry on offer by Asian currencies and partly because a US slowdown will have a negative impact on export-dependent Asian economies,” said Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets in Singapore.\nEmerging Asia’s bond spread over Treasuries is significantly tighter now compared to previous episodes following a rally in EM Asia bonds. The average spread of seven emerging-Asia bonds is currently around 47 basis points, below the 120 basis points at the end of Jan. 2023, and 240 basis points at the end of Nov. 2020.\nAt the shorter end, the carry in emerging Asia currencies is similarly lacking. The three-month forward implied yields for Malaysia, China, Thailand, and South Korea are all offering below a US cost-of-funding benchmark, the 3-month Secured Overnight Financing Rate. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will announce its rate decision on Dec. 14.\nCarry returns have resulted in differentiated spot performance in November — which may be a harbinger of performance in 2024. Latin American peers outperformed last month, with the dollar-LatAm index falling by 2.7%, more than the 2.4% decline in the dollar-Central and Eastern European gauge, and the 2.30% drop in the dollar-Asia index.\n(Updates prices in the second paragraph and Philippine rate decision in the seventh)\n",
        "title": "EM Asia Bonds’ High Valuations May Start to Worry Investors"
    },
    {
        "id": 296,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ev-maker-nio-considers-more-060058289.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Chinese electric carmaker Nio Inc may undertake further job cuts after the company announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce last month, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.\n(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "EV maker Nio considers more job cuts after shedding 10% of staff - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 297,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rpt-bats-us-writedown-puts-060000508.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Repeats story first published on Wednesday.)\nBy Emma Rumney\nLONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - British American Tobacco's admission that its U.S. cigarette brands will be worthless within decades has ramped up pressure on the company to prove it can better compete in alternatives like vapes.\nEarlier on Wednesday, BAT put a 30-year lifetime on some U.S. tobacco brands' value, taking a $31.5 billion noncash impairment. The move marked the first time a tobacco company has acknowledged that hugely profitable brands have no economic future.\nWhile the maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes has been investing in alternatives like vapes to counter the decline, it lags behind rival Philip Morris International in the transition, leaving its shares trading at a vastly lower price-earnings ratio than those of its main competitor.\n\"What really matters to the stock is how quickly you can replace (cigarettes) with alternative routes for consumers to get a nicotine hit and how profitable that will be,\" said Chris Beckett, head of equity research at Quilter Cheviot, a BAT shareholder.\nBAT says its newer products will break even years ahead of schedule. Its vape business is growing, along with its oral nicotine product, Velo, the market leader in Europe.\nHowever, it faces key challenges.\nIn the critical U.S. market, authorities have rejected its application to sell some key vape products and illegal disposable vapes have flooded the market, denting sales of those products BAT is able to market.\nThe company is also under pressure from investors to catch up with rival PMI in another alternative, heated tobacco.\nHeated tobacco devices heat up sticks of tobacco resembling cigarettes but do not burn them in an attempt to avoid harmful chemicals released during combustion.\nPMI's IQOS product dominates this category with some 70% market share. BAT's rival proposition, meanwhile, lost market share in 2023 in terms of volume, to stand at 18.2% in key markets, the company said, adding that its volume and revenue growth decelerated in the second half in a \"disappointing\" performance.\nLATE ENTRY\nIt is harder for companies to generate profit from vapes due to intense competition, said Orwa Mohamad, analyst at Third Bridge. BAT's late entry into heated tobacco had left it at a disadvantage and an aggressive pricing strategy aimed at winning share from IQOS had yet to bear fruit, he added.\nWhere PMI expects two-thirds of its net revenue to come from smoke-free products by 2030, BAT's ambition, announced on Wednesday, envisages only 50% of its revenue from new categories by 2035.\nIts slower progress versus PMI means BAT's shares have gained little value so far from its commitment to transition, trading at a price-earnings ratio only slightly above that of rival Imperial Brands.\nUnlike the others, Imperial has in recent years pulled back from heavy investments in new products to refocus on its traditional cigarette business, leaving a question mark over its longer-term sustainability.\nAt the same time, BAT is now falling short of Imperial on something investors have long expected from highly cash-generative cigarette businesses: healthy dividends and share buybacks.\nCigarette businesses are so profitable they do not need to last beyond 30 years to make worthwhile investments, Beckett said, adding Imperial's share buybacks are evidence of that.\nImperial's delivery on this core element of tobacco companies' investment case has helped its shares outperform rivals in recent years, rising 17% since the start of 2022. That compares with 1% for PMI's stock, and a decline of 13% for BAT.\nBAT, meanwhile, disappointed the market on Wednesday when it said it would need to reduce its leverage ratio further before buybacks could resume.\nA buyback would be \"amazingly enhancing\" to the stock, Beckett said.\n(Reporting by Emma Rumney in London Editing by Matt Scuffham and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "RPT-BAT's US writedown puts tobacco transition in spotlight"
    },
    {
        "id": 298,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/robinhood-launch-commission-free-crypto-054709614.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Trading app operator Robinhood Markets Inc is launching commission-free crypto trading in the European Union, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.\nThe app, which will go live on Thursday, will allow European investors to buy and sell more than 25 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether and Solana's SOL, Robinhood's Crypto general manager Johann Kerbrat told Bloomberg in an interview.\nRobinhood did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.\nThe launch comes a week after Robinhood announced it will roll out brokerage services in the UK as part of an international expansion plan to \"democratise finance\" and increase access to markets.\nThe Silicon Valley-based company does not have any imminent plans to offer its crypto services to UK investors, Kerbrat said in the interview, citing a lack of regulatory clarity around digital assets in the country.\n(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)\n",
        "title": "Robinhood to launch commission-free crypto trading in EU - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 299,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-oils-slide-bolsters-rate-053328355.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook\nOil prices defied worries over war in the Middle East and OPEC+ production cuts with a slump to five-month lows overnight, and are headed for their steepest annual drop since the lockdown year of 2020.\nBrent crude futures have fallen more than 20% from highs in late September and were sold down to their cheapest since late June, after a bigger-than-expected jump in U.S. gasoline inventories indicated dull demand over the Thanksgiving holiday.\nThat overshadowed Wednesday's meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who discussed further cooperation on prices.\nFor the year, Brent is down more than 13% and, at $74.64 a barrel, is settling into a range. That is good news for inflation, for bonds, and for the chances of interest rate cuts in 2024.\nTreasury yields crept up slightly in Asia trade on Thursday, although that isn't unusual following a strong rally in bonds in New York. Ten year yields hit three-month lows overnight before rising 2 basis points in Asia to 4.14%.\nSecond-tier data on the European and U.S. calendars later in the day is headlined by German industrial figures and U.S. weekly jobs claims, with U.S. non-farm payrolls the main event on Friday.\nOn Wednesday, data showed that U.S. labour costs fell last quarter, that private hiring had stabilised, and that pay increases slowed down - adding to evidence that the economy is slowing.\nIn sum, it makes for a benign backdrop to central bank meetings in Europe, the U.S. and Japan in the coming weeks.\nIn Asia on Thursday, Chinese trade data showed exports grew for the first time in six months in November, although imports unexpectedly shrank.\nChinese stocks plumbed new lows, with Moody's downgrade of China's sovereign debt outlook earlier this week putting additional pressure on Chinese assets.\nThe blue-chip CSI300 index hit its weakest since early 2019 and the Hang Seng - which is down almost 9% in just 10 trading days - fell to a 13-month low. [.HK][.SS]\nKey developments that could influence markets on Thursday:\nEconomics: German industrial output, British home prices, final Euro zone GDP, U.S. jobless claims\n(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Oil's slide bolsters rate-cut wagers"
    },
    {
        "id": 300,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fintech-startup-pontera-raises-60-053024307.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Krystal Hu\nDec 7 (Reuters) -\nFintech startup Pontera has raised $60 million in fresh funding led by investment firm ICONIQ Growth, the New York-based company which builds software to help financial advisers manage retirement accounts, said on Thursday.\nPontera didn't disclose its valuation, but a source close to the company said it was now worth over $550 million. The source requested anonymity since the numbers are not public.\nThe company has raised a total of $160 million including the latest round of funding. It also counts Blumberg Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners as backers.\nFinancial advisers like Dynasty Financial Partners and SageView Advisory Group use Pontera's platform to analyze, rebalance and monitor various government issued retirement funds and other accounts across financial institutions.\nPontera co-founder and Chief Executive Yoav Zurel said the company's annual revenue has quadrupled since 2021, but did not give any financial details. It makes money by charging a percentage fee to financial advisors who use the platform.\nHeadquartered in New York, Pontera has 220 employees, 65% of which are based in Israel. Some of them have been called for reservist duty since the Israel and Hamas war broke out in October.\nZurel said he plans to invest the money raised in product and engineering, including hiring 50 more employees in Israel.\n\"We have teams in the U.S. and in Israel and our focus is serving the U.S. retirement saver,\" said Zurel.\nBy June 2021, 401(k) plans in the United States held an estimated $7.3 trillion in assets and represented nearly one-fifth of the $37.2 trillion US retirement market, according to Investment Company Institute.\n\"401(k)'s can be very meaningful portions of people's overall portfolios and assets and it's really important to make the best decisions with them. There was no real way or alternative for advisers to compliantly securely manage held away assets in the past, like they can with Pantera,\" said Yoonkee Sull, partner at ICONIQ Growth. (Reporting by Krystal Hu in New York; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)\n",
        "title": "Fintech startup Pontera raises $60 mln, plans more hiring in Israel"
    },
    {
        "id": 301,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-mulls-curbing-ethanol-output-051812116.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the India Edition newsletter by Menaka Doshi – an insider's guide to the emerging economic powerhouse, and the billionaires and businesses behind its rise, delivered weekly.\nIndia is considering curbing ethanol production from sugar cane as the world’s largest consumer of the sweetener battles domestic shortages.\nAuthorities are studying a proposal to restrict the use of sugar-cane juice to produce biofuel for the current season, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. No final decision has been made, and plans could still change, the people said.\nThe potential move would be in line with government efforts to control domestic food prices before national elections next year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a third term in office. India has ramped up restrictions on exports of rice, and recently extended curbs on overseas sales of sugar.\nShares of Indian sugar companies slumped on Thursday. Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd. tumbled as much as 7.6% in Mumbai, extending a loss of more than 7% a day earlier. Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd. was down 5.5%, while Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd. fell 7.4%. Those moves followed a plunge of almost 8% in New York sugar futures on Wednesday, the most in 10 months.\nPoor rainfall has harmed cane crops in India, prompting the world’s second-biggest producer to prolong curbs on sugar exports beyond Oct. 31. Limiting ethanol output would keep sugar inventories in India from falling further, said Michael McDougall, managing director at Paragon Global Markets.\nSugar production dropped more than 10% from a year earlier to 4.32 million tons in the first two months of the season that started on Oct. 1, according to the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd., a millers group.\nThe group said earlier this month that, according to government estimates, about 4 million tons of sugar will be diverted to produce ethanol in 2023-24. Therefore, net sugar production during the year will be only 29.15 million tons, compared with 33.1 million tons a year earlier, it said.\nWhile the proposed measure could help tame food inflation, it may have limited impact, the people said. That’s because some ethanol was already sold at a tender earlier this year and will need to be produced, according to the people.\nThe Food Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.\n--With assistance from Atul Prakash, Pratik Parija, Megan Durisin and Kevin Orland.\n(Updates to add political context in third paragraph, share moves in fourth, and Indian output estimates in sixth and seventh)\n",
        "title": "India Mulls Curbing Ethanol Output to Fight Sugar Shortages"
    },
    {
        "id": 302,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/everton-us-buyer-leaves-trail-050013975.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Life for Everton seemed to be finally looking up. After more than a year of fruitless takeover discussions, its $700 million stadium was progressing, the team had turned a corner on the pitch, and a US investor with a history of football deals had agreed to buy the English Premier League club.\nThat optimism now looks misplaced. Everton has been docked 10 points for breaking financial rules, and its buyer, 777 Partners, is under scrutiny.\nOver the past five years, the Miami-based investment firm has rapidly become one of football’s biggest multi-club owners, targeting teams in financial distress. It previously stated it has up to $10 billion of assets under management, with businesses ranging from airlines to film studios. It has used assets from its insurance arm to build out its push into football.\nBut Premier League officials studying the suitability of 777 Partners to own a major English football club have also begun adopting a more skeptical stance in recent weeks after questions were raised about its finances, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations. They asked not to be identified because the information is private.\nWith the sale of Manchester United looking downsized, Everton is the biggest club in English football changing hands since American investor Todd Boehly and his consortium bought Chelsea last year. The Liverpool-based team would be the prime asset in the burgeoning footballing portfolio of 777 Partners, along with a stake in Sevilla FC in Spain.\nFears over the future of Everton as a Premier League club have continued, though. Narrowly missing the drop to the second tier last season, current legal owner Farhad Moshiri has halted funding. 777 Partners decided to make loans of at least £100 million ($126 million) to keep the club running, according to two people familiar with the matter.\n“The Moshiri years have seen Everton being increasingly stressed financially,” said Christina Philippou, principal lecturer in accounting, economics and finance at the University of Portsmouth. “While the potential change in ownership could positively affect Everton’s financial situation through investment and refresh, it is important to ensure that the new ownership is right for the club.”\nAs the Premier League decides whether to approve or block the takeover of Everton, 777 Partners says there’s a campaign to torpedo its purchase.\nIn October, the New York Times reported the deal had stalled because the firm failed to provide audited financial statements to the UK regulator. The US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan has started probing 777 Partners, its investments in sporting teams and whether the firm ran afoul of US money laundering laws, according to a person familiar with the inquiries. The investigation, which was first reported by online news site Semafor, is at an early stage and may not lead to criminal charges.\n“777 Partners considers these scurrilous and damaging accusations to be deliberately timed to undermine its ongoing commercial activities, including the ongoing period of regulatory approvals for the proposed acquisition of Everton FC by 777 Football Group,” the firm said in a statement.\nYet people involved with the firm say there are questions about the company’s financial practices. According to three of them, bonuses that were offered to some staff never materialized and on some occasions payroll was delayed due to a lack of available funds.\nA consultant hired for its acquisition of Belgian club Standard Liege in 2022 was paid only last month. The person said the money arrived after they had threatened to complain to the Premier League. A 777 Partners spokesperson said the company “endeavors to pay financial commitments on time to the best of our ability and knowledge.”\nEverton, founded in 1878 in Liverpool, is one of England’s biggest teams and has played continuously in the top flight since the early 1950s. Its most recent heyday, though, was in the mid 1980s, when it last won the league championship. Its points deduction means it’s third from bottom in the drop zone before hosting Saudi-owned Newcastle United on Thursday evening.\nIt’s the kind of club that fits into 777’s stable. The company has picked up stakes in teams ranging from Vasco da Gama in Brazil to Genoa Cricket and Football Club, a 130-year-old Italian club that last won the league title in 1924. The strategy is to focus on businesses that can offer predictable long-term recurring revenues, according to a person familiar with the company.\nJosh Wander, one of the firm’s founders, has sought to allay concerns among Everton fans. He told them in October that 777 Partners has more than 3,000 employees who have built “relatively conventional but profitable finance and insurance businesses that enabled us to invest and build positions in more exciting industries such as aviation and sports.”\n“Not all of our 60 businesses will be profitable at any one time but the fundamental underlying business performance of the 777 Group is strong,” he said in an open letter. 777 Partners declined to give Bloomberg information regarding its group accounts, which are not publicly available.\nThe investments have also enabled Wander to gain influence within European football. He was elected to the board for the European Clubs Association as the representative for Standard Liege.\nMore often than not, owning football clubs means footing annual losses with the hope of recouping money when the club manages to put together a successful run on the pitch, or cashing in on the rising valuations of sports teams.\nWhen Everton is included, 777 Partners is forecasting €180 million (£194 million) in losses across its eight football teams for 2023, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.\nEarlier footballing deals attracted attention. 777 Partners this year purchased a majority stake in Hertha Berlin from Lars Windhorst, a German financier who is selling assets to repay creditors. Windhorst told a UK court in July that he sold Hertha for €65 million, adding that it helped repay a €50 million loan previously provided by 777 Partners.\nBut he also told the court that the firm had not yet paid the remaining sum. The company, though, wouldn’t have been able to take over the club had it not paid, according to a person familiar with the situation.\n777 Partners was founded in 2017 and led by Wander, 42, who started his career focusing on insurance settlements for injury claims, and former investment banker Steven Pasko, 75.\nIts initial success came from structured settlements, a controversial US industry where claimants agree to settle personal injury claims in exchange for a series of payouts. Its Bermudan reinsurance business, 777 Re, is the group’s biggest business, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe various subsidiaries involved in structured settlements have been accused of using predatory financial practices, according to reports from the Washington Post and football investigations site Josimar. The 777 Partners spokesperson said many of the cases described in recent media reports either found in favor of the company or were dismissed.\nIn November, credit rating agency AM Best downgraded 777 Re.’s financial strength rating from “excellent” to “fair,” due to 777 Partners LLC not providing audited financial statements for the past two years.\nBased on the Premier League’s test for owners and directors at its 20 clubs, prospective buyers must show sources of funding. 777 Partners also has to get the blessing of the Football Association, the sport’s governing body in England.\nEverton has several contingency plans that have been in place for months, in case the Premier League rules against the American buyer, according to one person familiar with the matter.\n“We recognize that change can be unsettling,” Wander said in his letter to Everton fans. “We also acknowledge that there have been a number of misleading and concerning reports in the media which have created a perception of instability and unrest around our proposed purchase. Rest assured, in this case, that the truth is far more boring than the fiction.”\n--With assistance from Luca Casiraghi, Ava Benny-Morrison and Giulia Morpurgo.\n",
        "title": "Everton’s US Buyer Leaves Trail of Questions Over Its Finances"
    },
    {
        "id": 303,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russian-diesel-gasoline-boost-helps-050000701.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Russia’s oil product exports rebounded in November as the easing of restrictions on road fuels and the end of refinery maintenance boosted flows.\nRefined fuel shipments climbed to 2.2 million barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from analytics firm Vortexa Ltd. That’s roughly 164,000 barrels a day higher than in October, when volumes slid to a three-year low. The increase happened even though stormy weather caused significant disruption to exports from Russian ports.\nThe market closely watches the nation’s exports to gauge its production since Moscow stopped releasing official output data. Russia has pledged to deepen export cuts to 300,000 barrels a day for crude and 200,000 barrels a day for oil products from May-June levels during the first quarter of next year.\nThe country’s four-week average seaborne crude exports fell to the lowest in three months as of Dec. 3, as storms in the Black Sea affected shipments. Even so, oil product exports rose last month on the back of more diesel, gasoline and dirty refined fuel shipments.\nWeekly data through Dec. 2 showed higher road fuel exports even as refinery rates dwindled in late November. Russia’s ban on exports of some winter-grade diesel remains in place.\nHere’s a breakdown of oil product shipments from the country’s ports for November:\nExports of diesel and gasoil grew 12% from October’s level to a three-month high of 894,000 barrels a day last month, as Russia relaxed export restrictions on most types of fuel. Much of the cargoes were shipped to Africa and South America, notably to Brazil.\nNaphtha shipments eased about 3% to 362,000 barrels a day, the lowest since August. Flows to Asia declined to a five-month low, with increased volumes heading to the Middle East and Africa.\nGasoline and blending component outflows jumped by a quarter to 75,000 barrels a day as the ban on exports was withdrawn. Jet fuel shipments slumped to 8,000 barrels a day, the lowest since April 2022.\nFuel oil exports rose about 4% to 727,000 barrels a day, while flows of refinery feedstocks like vacuum gasoil jumped to a six-month high of about 149,000 barrels a day.\nCargo volumes and destinations may be revised if more port data or vessel information becomes available.\n",
        "title": "Russian Diesel and Gasoline Boost Helps Its Fuel Exports Rebound"
    },
    {
        "id": 304,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/robinhood-launches-commission-free-crypto-050000658.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Robinhood Markets Inc. is launching commission-free crypto trading in the European Union, a week after making its international debut with stock-broking services in the UK.\nThe app, which will go live on Thursday, will allow European investors to buy and sell more than 25 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether and Solana’s SOL, Robinhood Crypto’s general manager Johann Kerbrat said in an interview.\nThe company will offer a cashback-like loyalty program, Kerbrat said, crediting a percentage of each user’s monthly trading volume in the form of Bitcoin.\nThe launch comes alongside a recovery in crypto prices, powered by expectations that US interest-rate hikes could soon reverse and that the industry might see its first exchange-traded fund tied directly to Bitcoin as soon as next month. Crypto notional trading volumes on Robinhood rose 75% in November compared to a month earlier, the company said in an investor update on Monday.\nThe Silicon Valley-based company does not have any imminent plans to offer its crypto services to UK investors, Kerbrat said, citing a local lack of regulatory clarity around digital assets.\nRead more: Robinhood Wants to Shake Up the UK Market in International Debut\nRobinhood will generate revenue from its crypto brokerage by taking a rebate from market makers and trading venues which place trades on its behalf. In Europe that rebate will be “about 65 basis points” per trade, Kerbrat said — nearly double the 35 basis points that the company earns from crypto orders executed in the US.\nWhile crypto prices have increased this year, trading volumes remain low compared to the surge in interest from retail investors seen during the coronavirus pandemic. That muted enthusiasm has weighed on Robinhood’s overall performance, with the company’s third-quarter revenue slipping, largely due to a 55% drop in crypto trading volumes from a year earlier.\nRobinhood — which first launched crypto trading in 2018 — currently lists around 15 tokens in its home market, where regulators have been cracking down on the asset class. The trading app removed several coins from its offering there, including SOL and Polygon’s MATIC, after the US Securities and Exchange Commission labeled them as unregistered securities in June. The regulatory clampdown has led US crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini to expand their overseas operations.\nEuropean customers of Robinhood Crypto will not be able to transfer their crypto holdings outside of the app for now. The company plans to add this feature next year alongside more tokens and staking services, Kerbrat said.\nRobinhood has been registered as a virtual currency exchange operator in Lithuania since September and is working on securing approvals in more EU countries, Kerbrat said. The company will be required to gain full authorization as a crypto service provider in at least one EU member state once the bloc’s new Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) regime comes into force in early 2025.\nRead more: How Europe Wants to Impose Some Order on Crypto World: QuickTake\n",
        "title": "Robinhood Launches Commission-Free Crypto Trading App in Europe"
    },
    {
        "id": 305,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-ueda-says-handling-policy-045701423.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda says handling monetary policy will get tougher from the year-end and through next year, remarks that are likely to further fuel market speculation of a looming shift in direction.\n“It will become even more challenging from the year-end and heading into next year,” Ueda said, referring to policy management, in response to a question in parliament Thursday. “We will work to properly communicate and conduct appropriate policy.”\nThe comments are likely to keep investors on guard against an early BOJ step toward a rate hike. Ueda’s remarks come a day after his deputy, Ryozo Himino, hinted that such a move may be getting closer and played down fears over the potential negative impact of a rate hike.\nRead More: BOJ Deputy Chief Hints That Negative Rate End May Be Closer\nHimino’s remarks prompted investors to move up their prediction for a BOJ exit from negative rates to January from April previously, according to Shoki Omori, chief desk strategist at Mizuho Securities.\nUeda and his fellow board members are closely scrutinizing economic developments to see if they can finally scrap the world’s last negative interest rate.\nThe governor didn’t give any indication of new evidence showing progress toward hitting the bank’s price target. Instead, he stuck largely to his previous comments about not seeing enough certainty yet and pointed to the need for wage increases.\n“We may not be at a stage to talk about an exit now, but to ensure it will go smoothly when it happens we will make efforts to convey information shortly beforehand,” Ueda said.\nSome market players are already wondering what a new policy regime will look like after the bank gets rid of the negative rate of -0.1%. Ueda kept his hands free by avoiding any clear hints.\nPossible policy rates in the post-sub zero world would include the unsecured overnight call rate and the rate for excessive reserves in commercial banks’ current accounts at the BOJ, the governor said.\nUeda added that the central bank hasn’t decided on a pace of rate hikes going forward or whether a rate increase is warranted.\n“I don’t have anything in mind at all for what it should be,” Ueda said, referring to the future policy rate.\nThe BOJ’s policy board concludes its next meeting on Dec. 19.\n--With assistance from Yoshiaki Nohara.\n",
        "title": "BOJ’s Ueda Says Handling Policy Set to Get Tougher From Year-End"
    },
    {
        "id": 306,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-hedge-funds-avert-china-012320648.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Asia hedge funds are set to post improved performances in 2023 after dodging the China investment minefield with winning bets tied to Japan’s rebound, economic trends and the AI-fueled technology rally.\nAbout 58% of Asia-focused funds tracked by Preqin Ltd. avoided losses in the first 10 months of the year, compared with just 32% in 2022. Among the 2023 winners are funds overseen by Astignes Capital Asia Pte, Keystone Investors Pte, Panview Capital Ltd. and Trivest Advisors Ltd.\nBuoyant stock markets in November — the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index jumped the most since January — may have narrowed or eliminated losses at other funds, with a Eurekahedge Pte index edging up about 1% for the month even before most funds reported numbers.\nFunds were rewarded for navigating choppy waters in China, where the short-lived euphoria over exiting from Covid restrictions gave way to persistent concerns about a housing market crisis, economic slowdown and geopolitical tensions. Those who cut China bets early in favor of Japan and global technology names reaped benefits, even as the investor stampede for Japan stymied bearish wagers.\nSome Asia hedge funds “have been generating positive alpha through the year,” said Adam Watson, partner and co-head of Asia Pacific at Partners Capital Investment Group, while adding that it’s been a mixed bag across different strategies and geographies. In Japan, some managers gained from taking bullish positions on companies with room to improve governance and valuations and following bigger investors into specific stocks, he said.\nAbout 68% of China-focused hedge funds lost money in the first 10 months of the year, compared with just 18% of peers specializing in Japan, according to Preqin data.\nRead more: China Misses Out on Everything Rally With Economy in Doldrums\nBelow is a run-down of some of the outperformers and laggards. Representatives of the funds declined to comment for the story.\nFormer Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Ryan Thall’s Panview Asian Equity Fund surged nearly 20% in the first 11 months, led by bullish bets on smaller, lesser-known Japanese firms swept up in the corporate governance reforms, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Also paying off were bets against Asian duty-free shop operators for not meeting market expectations after China lifted pandemic controls. It also profited from a short position against a US cosmetics maker that has struggled to maintain sales in China.\nAthos Asia Event Driven Fund returned 5.6% through November, said a person with knowledge of its performance. Deals lifted returns, such as those involving Australia’s Origin Energy Ltd. and Japanese companies. The fund made money from a bet that the market exaggerated the risk that China would refuse regulatory approval for US chipmaker Broadcom Inc.’s merger with cloud company VMWare Inc.\nAthos, an Asia event-driven shop founded by Matthew Moskey and Fred Schulte-Hillen, also profited from short-term pricing gaps among Chinese companies’ shares traded domestically, in Hong Kong and in the US. More US-traded Chinese companies have gained listings in Hong Kong in recent years. The investor exodus from Chinese equities made for greater arbitrage opportunities as stock prices became more volatile and spreads between different classes of shares widened, said the person.\nSino Vision Greater China Market Neutral Fund, which has concentrated its AI bets in Taiwan, surged 32% in the first 11 months, according to an update from its manager Grand Alliance Asset Management Ltd. Among them are semiconductor and hardware suppliers to AI data servers and data centers.\nTrivest, Keystone\nTrivest Advisors’ TAL China Focus Master Fund averted the fate of its peers with a nearly 16% gain in the first 10 months, said people with knowledge of the matter. At the end of September, the firm held more than $830 million worth of shares of US technology giants Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., Nvidia Corp. and Alphabet Inc. It also had nearly $193 million parked in the US shares of PDD Holdings Inc., a rising star among Chinese e-commerce companies, and Luckin Coffee Inc., the Chinese coffee chain that has staged a turnaround after fraud allegations. The two have soared 74% and 37% respectively this year.\nKeystone Investors returned nearly 24% in the first 11 months, said a person with knowledge of the matter. It dabbled in some of the same names, including Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta and PDD, along with New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc., whose US shares more than doubled this year. Keystone is led by Liu Xuan, a one-time analyst and portfolio manager at global firms including Point72 Asset Management and Millennium Management.\nOvata Equity Strategies Fund rose 9.7% in the first 11 months, said a person familiar with the firm helmed by James Chen, former Asia equities head of BlueCrest Capital Management. More volatile markets favor funds like Ovata that seek to profit from wider pricing disparities between related securities. The fund also made money from Japanese stocks, with the Nikkei 225 up 27% this year.\nTwo Asia-focused firms that allocate capital to pods of investors with different strategies proved the benefits of diversification this year. Dymon Asia Multi-Strategy Investment Fund gained an estimated 10% in the first 11 months, while Polymer Asia Fund was up 3.4% through October, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nMacro Wins\nThe biggest winner as a group was macro hedge funds, which trade across stock, bond, commodity and currency markets to tap broad trends.\nArete Macro Fund of Will Li’s Ocean Arete Ltd. gained 9.1% in the first 11 months, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Lifting returns was a bullish bet on the greenback and bearish wagers on longer-dated US Treasury bonds, on the belief that the US economy would withstand higher interest rates. It also made money buying stocks of large Chinese banks as a proxy for fiscal stimulus, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Further paying off were short positions in European luxury goods, as higher global inflation hurt consumers’ purchasing power.\nTrades involving Japanese rates and China’s economic slowdown helped Southern Ridges Capital Pte’s newer Summit Macro Fund to an 8.8% gain in the first 10 months, while its older macro fund rose 4.6%, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Star trader Minal Bathwal steered his Brevan Howard MB Macro Master Fund to a nearly 11% gain in the same period, said people familiar with its performance.\nLoss Makers\nThe year has been toxic for others, particularly those with bullish China bets, with the MSCI China Index dropping 14%. Among the Asia loss-makers, 40% were more than 10% in the red by October, according to Preqin. Former Marshall Wace portfolio manager Ramesh Karthigesu’s Kaizen Asia Pacific Master Fund lost about 19% in the period, a sharp contrast to the 26% gain last year, said people with knowledge of the matter.\nRead more: A $13 Billion Rout Makes Hong Kong World’s Worst-Performing Bourse\nChina-focused Yunqi Path Offshore Fund lost about 15% through October, according to its newsletter. It highlighted how long-term fundamental stock pickers can struggle when bears dominate the market. Lufax Holding Ltd., its third-largest long position, tanked 57% in US trading this year, while Qifu Technology Inc., its largest bullish bet, dropped 28%.\nThe fund began building a position in Lufax in the final quarter of 2022 to become one of its top shareholders, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its October newsletter laid out the investment thesis: the provider of loans to small businesses in China has returned to profitability, and even with a second dip in the broader economy, it would take a 70% hit to its loan book to justify its current low valuations.\nYunqi’s founder Chris Wang, a former co-manager of Owl Creek Asset Management’s Asia funds, has proven himself right in the past. Two other top-five long positions — social media platform Joyy Inc. and ride-hailing provider Didi Global Inc. — rebounded at least 18% this year, after losing about a third of their value last year. The fund lost 1.7% in 2022, when the average China stock hedge fund plummeted 14%, according to a Eurekahedge gauge.\nZaaba Pan Asia Fund narrowed its loss to 12% this year through Nov. 29. It had more than a third of net assets parked in bullish wagers on Greater China stocks by the end of October, according to its newsletter for the month seen by Bloomberg News.\nSome managers held onto long positions in China expecting performance to recover, especially given the low valuations, said Watson. “They didn’t really see that.”\n--With assistance from David Ramli.\n(Updates with comment in fifth and last paragraphs, and Sino Vision performance in the 11th)\n",
        "title": "Asia Hedge Funds Avert China Turmoil With Bets on Japan, AI"
    },
    {
        "id": 307,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/indias-paytm-tumbles-plan-curtail-035853165.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BENGALURU (Reuters) -India's Paytm plunged as much as 20% in early trade on Thursday, a day after the digital payments firm said it will issue fewer sub-50,000-rupee (about $600) personal loans after the central bank tightened rules on consumer lending.\nShares of the company posted their biggest intraday percentage fall since listing two years ago.\nThe non-bank lender said on Wednesday it will expand its portfolio of high-ticket personal and commercial loans to lower-risk and high-credit-worthy customers.\nPaytm's plans to give out more higher ticket loans would not fully offset a scale back of smaller-ticket loans, analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note, while downgrading the stock to a 'neutral' from 'buy' and lowering the price target to 840 rupees from 1,250 rupees.\nThe company's lending growth, a core driver of Paytm’s profitability, is anticipated to decelerate, while payments, commerce and cloud momentum would remain strong, the analysts said.\nGoldman Sachs now expects Paytm's net income to turn positive in fiscal year 2025-26, a year later than previously expected, owing to slow revenue growth.\nPaytm was last trading 17.2% lower at 673.15 rupees as of 9.35 a.m. IST.\n(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)\n",
        "title": "India's Paytm tumbles on plan to curtail low-value personal loans"
    },
    {
        "id": 308,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citi-boosts-china-high-grade-035016728.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s investment-grade credit offers value and will outperform US peers in 2024 thanks to favorable technicals and higher carry, according to Citigroup Global Markets Inc.\nThe Citi analysts raised their outlook on China high-grade credit to marketweight from underweight, saying the current spread with equivalent US assets is “broadly fair” and that China continues to benefit from favorable technicals, in a note Wednesday. They estimate a total return of 9.5% over the next 12 months from China corporate credit, assuming a “meaningful” slowdown in the US economy.\nThe change comes after a slew of ratings actions from Moody’s Investors Service in recent days, including a cut to outlook for sovereign rating of China Tuesday on rising debt.\n“The market has already priced this in to a degree, and China investment-grade has some value,” Citi analysts wrote in the note, referring to Moody’s actions. They see outperformance versus the US next year, “mainly due to higher carry.”\nHowever, a potential sovereign downgrade would directly impact corporate ratings, the Citi analysts said, adding that building a path to recovery for the property sector could take time amid a “stronger, yet still fragile macro story.”\nChina’s investment-grade dollar bonds have gained 5.4% so far this year, and are on track to end two consecutive years of losses, according to a Bloomberg index. Across assets, global fund managers said they plan to bet on China markets from stocks to yuan to corporate bonds after a selloff earlier this year.\n“China risks are mainly in the price,” the analysts said. “In times of onshore equity-market volatility, the Chinese offshore credit market tends to do well as it is seen as an asset and currency diversifier for local investors.”\n--With assistance from Wenjin Lv, Sofia Horta e Costa and Qingqi She.\n",
        "title": "Citi Boosts China High-Grade Debt Outlook, Sees Value Versus US"
    },
    {
        "id": 309,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-exports-grow-first-time-033511920.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Joe Cash\nBEIJING(Reuters) -China's exports grew for the first time in six months in November, suggesting factories in the world's second-largest economy are attracting buyers through discount pricing to get over a prolonged slump in demand.\nMixed manufacturing data for November has kept alive calls for further policy support to shore up growth but also raised questions about whether predominantly negative sentiment-based surveys have masked improvements in conditions.\nExports grew 0.5% from a year earlier in November, customs data showed on Thursday, compared with a 6.4% fall in October and beating the 1.1% drop expected in a Reuters poll. Imports fell 0.6%, dashing forecasts for a 3.3% increase and swinging from a 3.0% jump last month.\n\"The improvement in exports is broadly in line with market expectations... sequential growth in China's exports in the past few months has strengthened,\" said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. \"There are green shoots in other Asian countries' export data as well in recent months.\"\nThe Baltic Dry Index, a bellwether gauge of global trade, climbed to a three year high in November, supported by improved demand for industrial commodities, particularly from China.\nSouth Korean exports, another gauge of the health of global trade, rose for a second month in November, buoyed by chip exports, which snapped 15 months of declines.\nTrade with China's major peers also painted a rosy picture, with exports to United States, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all up on October.\nDISCOUNTED EXPORTS\nIn the short run, however, the pressure on Chinese manufacturers show little sign of easing off completely.\nChina's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) last week showed new export orders shrank for a ninth consecutive month, while a private sector survey highlighted the struggles of factory owners to attract overseas buyers for a fifth month.\n\"While the level of export volumes hit a fresh high, (they were) supported by exporters reducing prices,\" noted Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics.\n\"We doubt this robustness will persist,\" Huang cautioned, \"as exporters won't be able to continue cutting prices for much longer.\"\nFactory gate prices in the official PMI contracted for a second month in November, while input costs expanded for a fifth straight month.\nStill, some analysts point to quicker-than-expected growth in the third quarter and a run of mostly upbeat data from October to argue that recent hard data paints a less gloomy picture of the economic health of the Asian giant than the sentiment-based surveys. The hard data also suggest the support measures trickling out of Beijing since June have had some effect, they say.\n\"The data shows overseas demand is stronger than we thought and domestic demand is weaker than we thought,\" said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China. \"The biggest export items are still electrical machinery and cars, so demand in Europe and Russia will have bolstered outbound shipments.\"\nUNEVEN RECOVERY\nAnalysts say it is too early to tell whether the recent policy support will be enough to shore up domestic demand and how sustainable any uptick in overseas demand is, with property, unemployment and weak household and business confidence threatening a sustainable rebound at home.\nThe International Monetary Fund in November upgraded its China growth forecasts for 2023 and 2024 by 0.4% percentage points each, but that came from a lower base. And Moody's on Tuesday slapped a downgrade warning on China's A1 credit rating.\nThe Chinese markets seemed to reflect that cautiousness, with the yuan easing against the dollar after the data, while country's blue chip CSI300 stock index fell 0.44% and Hong Kong's Hang's Hang Seng lost 1.46%.\nChina's crude oil imports in November fell 9.2% year-on-year, the first annual decline since April as high inventory levels and poor manufacturing activity took their toll on demand for products such as diesel. But iron ore imports climbed slightly last month.\n\"While export demand improved, it is unclear if exports can contribute as a growth pillar into next year,\" Pinpoint Asset Management's Zhang warned.\n\"The European and United States economies are cooling. China still needs to depend on domestic demand as the main driver for growth in 2024.\"\n(Reporting by Joe CashEditing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "China's exports grow for first time in 6 months in relief for factories"
    },
    {
        "id": 310,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cerevel-options-trading-surge-abbvie-033326050.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Trading in the options of Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings Inc experienced an unusual surge along with its stock price in the days before Wednesday's announcement that AbbVie would buy the drug developer in a multi-billion dollar deal.\nAbbVie said after the market close on Wednesday it would buy Cerevel for about $8.7 billion in a bid to replace revenue as its huge-selling arthritis drug Humira faces a raft of new competitors. The announcement came minutes after Reuters reported a deal was near.\nCerevel's shares, which had already risen 42% over the past three sessions, jumped another 16% to as high as $42.75 in trading after the bell. AbbVie's offer was priced at $45 a share.\nThe stock's rise over the last few sessions was accompanied by a sharp increase in options activity. Call and put options allow investors to buy and sell shares at fixed prices in the future and are used as hedges or ways to speculate on share price movements.\nCerevel's options, which until the recent flurry of activity traded less than 320 contracts a day on average, saw about 51,000 contracts change hands over the last three sessions, according to Trade Alert data.\n\"This is 100% suspicious,\" Matt Amberson, principal at options analytics firm ORATS, said. \"I am almost certain that this was driven by someone in the know.\"\nThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) did not respond to a request for comment out of business hours. Spokespeople for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nCerevel and AbbVie did not respond to a request for comment outside of business hours.\nThe options activity took off in sync with the stock on Dec. 4, with traders buying short-dated upside call options on Cerevel - contracts that would make money if the stock jumped significantly in a short time.\nOn Dec. 4, Cerevel options volume jumped to 6,500 contracts, with call options betting on the stock rising above $35 by mid-January trading nearly 1,800 contracts. The stock had closed at $26 in the prior session.\nCall options in the stock finishing above $25 by mid-December were the second most actively traded contracts on Dec 4.\n\"That's unusual call activity for this stock,\" Brent Kochuba, founder of options analytics service SpotGamma.\n\"Some of this looks fishy ... it does not look clean,\" he said.\nOn Wednesday, the largest trades in Cerevel options were put spreads - a combination of December put options that would offer protection against a slide in the stock price below $35. While it was not clear what the motive behind Wednesday's trade was, Ophir Gottlieb, chief executive of Los Angeles-based Capital Market Laboratories, said the trades may have been a trader either attempting to protect recent gains in the stock price or speculating that the price rise would prove short-lived. Given their timing and their unusual nature, analysts said the options trades are likely to draw scrutiny from regulators. Options activity has been known to spike before the public announcement of deals and the SEC has in the past announced enforcement action for alleged insider trading involving options trading.\n(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; additional reporting by Chris Prentice and Michelle Price; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Sonali Paul)\n",
        "title": "Cerevel options trading surge before AbbVie deal news raises eyebrows"
    },
    {
        "id": 311,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-chinas-exports-grow-first-033110805.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds further details and context throughout)\nBEIJING, Dec 7(Reuters) - China's exports grew for the first time in six months in November, customs data showed on Thursday, suggesting the manufacturing sector may be beginning to benefit from an uptick in global trade flows.\nChina's exports increased by 0.5% in November from a year earlier, compared with a 6.4% fall in October and beating the 1.1% drop expected in a Reuters poll. Imports fell 0.6%, following a 3.0% increase in October.\nMixed manufacturing data for November has kept alive calls for further policy support to shore up growth but also raised questions about whether predominantly negative sentiment-based surveys have masked improvements in conditions.\nThe Baltic Dry Index, a bellwether gauge of global trade, climbed to a three year high in November, supported by improved demand for industrial commodities, particularly from China.\nSouth Korean exports, another gauge of the health of global trade, rose for a second month in November, buoyed by chip exports, which snapped 15 months of declines.\nAnalysts say it is too early to tell whether the recent policy support will be enough to shore up domestic demand, with property, unemployment and weak household and business confidence threatening a sustainable rebound.\nThe manufacturing sector is also running at different speeds across different industries, analysts caution.\nThe International Monetary Fund in November upgraded its China growth forecasts for 2023 and 2024 by 0.4% percentage points each. But Moody's on Tuesday slapped a downgrade warning on China's A1 credit rating.\n(Reporting by Joe Cash Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-China's exports grow for first time in 6 months, imports unexpectedly shrink"
    },
    {
        "id": 312,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-sanofi-focus-12-blockbuster-032839023.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Rewrites with details from Sanofi statement)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - Sanofi said on Thursday it will focus on 12 potential blockbuster drug candidates and prioritise development in immunology, as it faces investor pressure after abandoning 2025 margin targets while boosting research and development spending.\nThe 12 blockbuster drugs include nine medicines and vaccines with 2 billion to 5 billion euros ($2.15-$5.38 billion) in peak sales potential, and three \"pipeline-in-a-product\" assets with a potential of more than 5 billion euros in peak sales, Sanofi said.\nThe France-based drugmaker said it expects its recently launched and future pharmaceutical assets to generate more than 10 billion euros ($10.76 billion) of annual sales by 2030.\nThe company's top-selling anti-inflammatory drug Dupixent, which it hopes to use in treating COPD, or \"smoker's lung\", is expected to deliver a low double-digit rate of compounded annual net sales growth from 2023 and 2030, it said.\n\"We are in a privileged position today with many very promising assets in mid- and late-stage development,\" Sanofi's Chief Executive Paul Hudson said in a statement.\n\"We believe in our capacity to improve outcomes for patients globally, while bringing innovative new medicines to market and strengthening our leadership in immunology and neuro-inflammation.\"\nThe firm reiterated its expectation to generate more than 10 billion euros of annual sales from vaccines by 2030, including its recent launch of Beyfortus, which is used to prevent a common respiratory infection in infants. ($1 = 0.9293 euros) (Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama and Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Sanofi to focus on 12 blockbuster drug candidates, immunology pipeline"
    },
    {
        "id": 313,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-koreans-assets-shrink-soaring-030011963.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Assets held by South Korean households shrank for the first time in data going back a decade after the central bank rapidly raised interest rates, contributing to a correction in the property market.\nTotal assets fell 3.7% to 527 million won ($399,742) per household in the 12 months through March compared with a year earlier, according to data released Thursday by the Bank of Korea and Statistics Korea.\nReal assets, for which properties represent a major component, led the decline, shrinking 5.9% from a year earlier. Financial assets still expanded 3.8%, though the pace of growth almost halved from the previous period.\nFalls in the value of overall household assets can weigh on consumer sentiment and spending, a key prop for economic growth. Last month, the BOK revised its estimate for 2024 growth to 2.1% from 2.2%, citing weakening momentum in consumption and construction investment.\nThe real estate market in middle- and upper-class areas has regained ground since March even as the BOK kept its policy rate at a restrictive 3.5% after three percentage points of increases between August 2021 and January 2023. The recovery in property prices may have helped support an improvement in consumer sentiment over the summer, but the mood has deteriorated in the four months since August to fall back into prevailing pessimism.\nFour board members remain open to resuming the hike cycle if needed to tamp down inflationary pressure while two say the rate has likely reached its peak.\n",
        "title": "South Koreans’ Assets Shrink After Soaring Rates Hit Real Estate"
    },
    {
        "id": 314,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-us-ira-cream-top-024356567.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Recasts, adds commentary around growth plans throughout, changes dateline to Melbourne)\nBy Melanie Burton\nMELBOURNE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. subsidies for critical minerals development will support growth for top 3 lithium producer Arcadium Lithium if the $10.6 billion Livent and Allkem merger creating the new company goes ahead, Allkem's chairman said Thursday.\nThe U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has refocused global supply chains for minerals critical to the energy transition toward the U.S. The tie up is expected to close by Jan. 4 if Allkem shareholders approve it at a Dec. 19 meeting.\nAllkem chairman Peter Coleman said the companies are considering post-merger growth options for Arcadium in Canada and North America, where Livent has half ownership of miner Nemaska Lithium shared with the Quebec government. The IRA represented an opportunity for additional \"cream on the cake,\" he told reporters in Melbourne.\n\"As we look at building out our Canada operations, for example, it's natural that processing be done either in Canada or in North America at the moment, and that's good for us,\" he said.\n\"They don't have their own IRA,\" he added, referring to Canada. \"But they're highly competitive and they know our option is to go 150 kilometres (93 miles) across the border. They understand that they need to compete to be able to get that value-added product.\" Coleman will continue as chairman of the new company, which will produce the metal in Canada, Argentina and Australia, behind only U.S.-based Albemarle and Chile's SQM . Allkem is listed in Australia; Livent is listed in the United States.\nSUBMERGED PRICES\nColeman also said he sees current low lithium prices extending for the near term, forcing companies to look at cost cutting and pushing back investment decisions on new projects. But he said it would not squeeze any firms out while prices are still at relatively \"healthy\" levels for the metal, which is crucial for electric vehicle batteries.\nLithium prices shot too high last year because of China's stimulus and the impact of COVID-19 on global supply chains, but this year fresh supplies, including from Africa, have led to a collapse in prices, Coleman said.\nPrices for the lithium ore spodumene, of which Australia produces about half of global supply, soared to above $6,100 a metric tonne late last year. It traded on Thursday at $1,380. \"That's natural. You get a price signal in the market and everyone runs off to the bank and their investors and says it's time to build a mine,\" he said. \"That price signal arrived a few years ago. Now we have to work that (excess supply) out of the market. We're going to be here for a little while.\"\nLithium prices have fallen amid slowing demand growth for electric vehicles, which has led to a price war among makers in China.\nGATECRASHERS\nColeman, who ran Australian gas producer Woodside Energy for a decade, also said he had never seen Australian investment coming into any sector on the scale it is flowing into lithium.\nMining moguls Gina Rinehart and Chris Ellison have spent more than A$2 billion ($1.30 billion) between them snapping up stakes in lithium developers this year, spoiling deals under way by the worlds' biggest lithium chemicals makers.\nThat could potentially hamstring any future purchases by Arcadium, which has targeted Australia for growth. But Coleman said it was a \"real positive.\"\n\"It's people who understand the business really well, understand Australia really well, taking a very long term view,\" he said.\n(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-US IRA is 'cream on top' as Arcadium eyes lithium growth"
    },
    {
        "id": 315,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/farmers-don-t-curb-emissions-022351740.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Banks will eventually start to impose higher interest rates on farmers and rural businesses that aren’t achieving satisfactory greenhouse gas reductions, a senior Rabobank executive predicts.\nBanks including Rabobank already offer sustainability linked loans that require clients to agree to certain targets, which may include emissions, said Lara Yocarini, global head of rural and food & agri at the Utrecht-based lender.\n“If a client has a sustainability linked loan with us and they actually meet those targets, they do indeed get a discount on their lending rate,” Yocarini said in an interview Thursday during a visit to New Zealand.\nFor other customers, the current approach is to educate and work with them to achieve emissions reductions, but ultimately, if they don’t, they are likely to end up paying more, she said.\nAgriculture is among the largest sources of greenhouse gases that lead to global warming, with nitrogen from fertilizer and methane from livestock coming under scrutiny from climate activists who say there are too many animals. In New Zealand, nearly half of all emissions come from farming.\nRabobank has a commitment to get to net zero by 2050, with interim targets set for 2030. Reducing its scope-3 emissions, which are those of its clients, will be a key driver in achieving those goals.\n“As a bank, we need to hold capital depending on the risk that our clients represent,” Yocarini said. “Over time, as we get closer to that 2030 deadline, obviously clients who are unable or unwilling to transition and improve their carbon footprint will become for us as a bank a higher risk. And so just by virtue of that higher risk, probably the pricing will adjust.”\nNew Zealand’s Fonterra Cooperative Group, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, last month introduced a greenhouse gas emissions target for its farmers, saying its biggest customers like Nestle SA and Mars Inc. want their suppliers to be reducing their carbon footprint. Still, at this stage there is no proposal to pay more for milk from farms that achieve the goals or less to those that don’t.\n“What Fonterra is doing is absolutely in line with what we see most of the large dairy companies doing,” said Yocarini. “If you look at Danone, if you look at Arla, if you look at Friesland Campina, they’re all doing exactly the same things.”\nRead More: Dutch Bank Calls on Dairy Farmer to Mastermind Green Revolution\nIn the Netherlands, the government is seeking to halve nitrogen emissions and has offered to buy out some farmers. Rabobank has estimated that could mean 30% fewer cows within 15 years.\nYocarini is optimistic that with the right tools, most farmers will be able to limit greenhouse gas emissions without having to drastically cut herd sizes or leave the industry. The dairy industry is quite proactive globally in engaging with farmers to develop and implement tools to achieve emissions reductions, she said.\nThat includes use of genetics, deploying different feeds and animal management, as well as building up carbon credits by planting trees.\nIn New Zealand, Rabobank partners with Fonterra, other local food producers and the government in AgriZeroNZ, which is working to develop techniques that will help reduce emissions.\nRead More: Angry Rebel Farmers Have Become the World’s Latest Climate Enemy\nWhile farmers have been battling rising costs, high interest rates and volatile commodity prices, Yocarini anticipates some of those pressures may ease in 2024. But she also has an eye on the weather.\n“El Nino is obviously a big one,” she said. “In Australia and New Zealand everyone’s sort of expecting a drought to start kicking in. In South America, especially Chile and Peru, they’re worried about having torrential rains early in the new year because that’s how El Nino tends to affect them, and that would really impact their harvest.”\nYocarini, who is also a director of Rabobank New Zealand, was visiting the country to speak at the bank’s Global Farmers Master Class, a program for 28 farmers from 12 different countries that aims to educate and stimulate thinking on the industry’s challenges and how to address global food security.\nShe said the event proved to her that farming is a crucial industry that can take the steps necessary to achieve its climate ambitions.\n“There is a growing world population that needs to be fed,” she said. “There’s still a huge amount of progress that we can make through technology, through innovation, through more sustainable practices.”\n",
        "title": "Farmers Who Don’t Curb Emissions May End Up Paying, Banker Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 316,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-prices-regain-ground-falling-021200508.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Ahmad Ghaddar\nLONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices reclaimed some ground on Thursday after tumbling to a six-month low the previous day but investors remained concerned about sluggish demand in the United States and China.\nBrent crude futures were up 76 cents, or 1%, to $75.06 a barrel at 0924 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures was up 67 cents, also 1%, to $70.05 a barrel.\n\"With the largest global importer of oil (China) shuttering its thirst for crude, pressure remains on prices as the largest producer, the United States, continues with headline output,\" PVM Oil analyst John Evans said.\nIn the previous session, the market was spooked by data showing U.S. output remains near record highs even though inventories fell, analysts at ANZ said in a note.\nU.S. gasoline stocks rose by 5.4 million barrels last week to 223.6 million barrels, Energy Information Administration data showed on Wednesday, far exceeding expectations for a 1 million-barrel build.\nConcerns about China's economy also put a lid on oil's price gains. Chinese customs data showed that crude oil imports in November fell 9% from a year earlier, as high inventory levels, weak economic indicators and slowing orders from independent refiners weakened demand.\nWhile China's total imports dropped on a monthly basis, exports grew for the first time in six months in November, suggesting the manufacturing sector may be beginning to benefit from an uptick in global trade flows.\nRatings agency Moody's put Hong Kong, Macau and swathes of China's state-owned firms and banks on downgrade warnings on Wednesday, just one day after it put a downgrade warning on China's sovereign credit rating.\nOil prices have fallen by about 10% since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, announced a combined 2.2 million barrels per day voluntary output cuts for the first quarter next year.\nMeanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met to discuss further oil price cooperation on Wednesday as members of OPEC+, which may strengthen the market's confidence in the impact of output cuts.\nOPEC+ member Algeria said on Wednesday it would not rule out extending or deepening oil supply cuts as oil prices fell to a new five-month low even though OPEC+ announced cuts last week.\nRussian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday the group stood ready to strengthen oil production cuts in the first quarter of 2024 to eliminate what he said was speculation and volatility.\nRussia has pledged to disclose more data about the volume of its fuel refining and exports after OPEC+ asked Moscow for more transparency on classified fuel shipments from the many export points across the country, sources at OPEC+ and ship-tracking firms told Reuters.\n(Additional reporting by Colleen Howe and Muyu XuEditing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "Oil stages small recovery as weak economic outlook lingers"
    },
    {
        "id": 317,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dollar-steady-euro-near-three-015806053.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Ankur Banerjee\nSINGAPORE (Reuters) - The euro eased to its lowest in over three weeks on Thursday as traders intensified bets that the European Central Bank (ECB) would start cutting rates starting in March 2024, while the dollar was steady ahead of crucial payrolls data this week.\nThe euro inched 0.07% lower to $1.0757, its lowest point since Nov. 14. The single currency is down 1% this week and is on course for the steepest weekly decline since May.\nTraders are betting that there is about an 85% chance that the ECB cuts interest rates at the March meeting, with almost 150 basis points' worth of easing priced by the end of next year.\nThe question of a rate cut could emerge in 2024, ECB member and Bank of France head Francois Villeroy de Galhau told a French paper in an interview published on Wednesday.\nVilleroy said that \"disinflation is happening more quickly than we thought\".\nThe ECB will set interest rates on Thursday next week and is all but certain to leave them at the current record high of 4%, although the focus will be on comments from officials about rates outlook.\nA slim majority of economists in a Reuters poll expect the ECB to cut rates in the second quarter of next year, earlier than previously thought, with a new tug of war on the exact timing of the first cut emerging.\nThe dollar has found its footing this month after a 3% drop in November as traders ramp up rate cut bets for other central banks.\nThe dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was 0.038% higher at 104.17, just shy of the two-week high of 104.23 it touched on Wednesday. The index is up 0.9% this week, set for its strongest weekly performance since July.\nData on Wednesday showed U.S. private payrolls increased less than expected in November, in yet another sign that the labour market is gradually cooling.\nInvestor attention will now be on Friday's non-farm payrolls data for a clearer picture of the labour market.\n\"The various labour market statistics suggest the U.S. labour market is slowly loosening,\" said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. \"In our view, a sharp weakening of the labour market is needed for financial markets to price in a U.S. recession that we have long expected.\"\nA recent string of softening economic data along with commentary from U.S. Federal Reserve officials have stoked expectations that the central bank is at the end of its rate-increase cycle and will begin to cut rates as soon as March.\nMarkets are pricing in a 60% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared to 50% a week earlier. They are anticipating 125 basis points of cuts from the Fed next year.\nAnalysts though have cautioned that the markets have been too aggressive.\n\"The market is too aggressively priced for Fed rate cuts heading into 2024 and so we expect a correction in this pricing to deliver a stronger USD,\" said David Forrester, currency strategist at Credit Agricole CIB.\nThe Canadian dollar eased 0.10% versus its U.S. counterpart to 1.36 per dollar after the Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its key overnight rate at 5% and, in contrast to its peers, left the door open to another hike.\nThe central bank said it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices.\nThe Japanese yen strengthened 0.47% versus the greenback at 146.59 per dollar and was close to the near three-month high of 146.23 it touched at the start of the week.\nExpectations that the Bank of Japan will soon end its negative rate policy along with softness in dollar has pulled the yen up from the depths, lifting it away from the near 33-year low of 151.92 per dollar it touched middle of November.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank has several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing cost out of negative territory.\n(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "Dollar firm, euro at three-week lows as rate cut bets rise"
    },
    {
        "id": 318,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-steady-euro-near-015333054.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Ankur Banerjee\nSINGAPORE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The euro languished near a three week low on Thursday as traders intensified bets that the European Central Bank (ECB) will start cutting rates from March next year, while the dollar was steady ahead of a crucial payrolls data later this week.\nThe euro was up 0.05% at $1.0767, but remained close to lows of $1.07595 it touched on Wednesday. The single currency is down 1% this week and on course for the steepest weekly decline since May.\nTraders are betting that there is around an 85% chance that the ECB cuts interest rates at the March meeting, with almost 150 basis points worth of easing priced by the end of next year.\nThe question of a rate cut could emerge in 2024, ECB member and Bank of France head Francois Villeroy de Galhau told a French paper in an interview published on Wednesday.\nVilleroy told La Depeche du Midi that \"disinflation is happening more quickly than we thought.\"\nThe ECB will set interest rates on Thursday next week and is all but certain to leave them at the current record high of 4%. The Federal Reserve and Bank of England are also likely to hold rates steady next Wednesday and Thursday respectively.\nThe dollar has found its footing this month after a 3% drop in November as traders ramp up rate cut bets for other central banks.\nThe dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was little changed at 104.12, having risen 0.17% overnight. The index is up 0.9% this week, on course for its strongest weekly performance since July.\nData on Wednesday showed U.S. private payrolls increased less than expected in November, in yet another sign that the labour market is gradually cooling.\nInvestor focus will be on Friday's non-farm payrolls data for a clearer picture of the labour market.\n\"The various labour market statistics suggest the U.S. labour market is slowly loosening,\" said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.\n\"In our view, a sharp weakening of the labour market is needed for financial markets to price in a U.S. recession that we have long expected.\"\nA recent string of softening economic data along with commentary from U.S. Federal Reserve officials have stoked expectations that the central bank is at the end of its rate-hike cycle and will begin to cut rates as soon as March.\nMarkets are pricing in a 60% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared to 50% a week earlier. They are anticipating 125 basis points of cuts from the Fed next year.\nAnalysts though have cautioned that the markets have been too aggressive in pricing in rate cuts next year.\n\"The market is too aggressively priced for Fed rate cuts heading into 2024 and so we expect a correction in this pricing to deliver a stronger USD,\" said David Forrester, currency strategist at Credit Agricole CIB.\nMeanwhile, the Bank of Canada on Wednesday held its key overnight rate at 5% and, in contrast to its peers, left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices.\nThe Canadian dollar tacked on 0.01% versus the greenback to 1.36 per dollar.\nElsewhere, the Japanese yen strengthened 0.16% to 147.07 per dollar. The offshore Chinese yuan eased 0.02% to $7.1717 per dollar. The Australian dollar added 0.03% to $0.655.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was 0.19% higher at $43,910.11.\n(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar steady, euro near three-week low as rate cut bets rise"
    },
    {
        "id": 319,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-shares-slip-wall-street-015155680.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Marc Jones\nLONDON (Reuters) - Japan's long-suppressed yen surged and global bond and stock markets flinched on Thursday, as Tokyo's monetary policymakers gave their clearest hints yet that the exit from ultra-low interest rates was approaching.\nThe yen rose 1.5% against the dollar, its biggest one-day jump since January, and looked set to extend its post-COVID record of finishing years strongly. [FRX/]\nThe Nikkei's sharpest drop since late October had ensured Asian stocks finished lower while the FTSE 100, DAX, CAC 40 and S&P 500 futures were all around 0.3% weaker in early European trading. [.T][.EU]\nBank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda had added to speculation about a shift away from negative rates by saying policy management would \"become even more challenging from the year-end and heading into next year\" and flagged several options of what could come next.\nMoney markets started pricing in a near 40% chance that the BoJ changes its course at its final meeting of the year on December 19. Japanese government bonds also saw a sharp selloff, with yields on 10-yr JGBs jumping 11.5 basis points.\nSociete Generale strategist Kit Juckes said end of year yen rallies had become something of a habit since the pandemic but this move looked different and SocGen sees it as precursor for a strong move up next year.\n\"The yen is cheap as chips and it sounds like they (Japanese policymakers) have moved beyond the fact they are going to have to get rid of negative rates,\" Juckes said.\n\"We have call of 130 (yen to the dollar) for the end of next year... as long as you think there is a bull market in U.S. Treasuries you are supposed to think there is a bull market in the yen too.\"\nIn recent weeks, the rally in bond markets and fall in global borrowing costs has seen world stocks rise 10% and volatility, as measured by the VIX index, drop to its lowest since before the COVID pandemic.\nThursday's action put a temporary stop to that however.\nTraders are turning their focus to the weekly U.S. jobless claims data later in the day, ahead of the non-farm payroll report due on Friday. Economists expect the economy added 180,000 new jobs in November, picking up from 150,000 the previous month.\nData on Wednesday showed a smaller-than-expected rise in private U.S. payrolls in the latest sign that the American labour market is gradually cooling.\nOIL SWINGS\nThe yen's big move knocked the dollar index down 0.3% to under 104. Markets have priced in so many Federal Reserve rate cuts recently that traders feel vulnerable to an upside surprise in U.S. data.\nThe yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note bounced off a three-month low to 4.1515% although Germany's 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for the euro zone, was barely budged at 2.205% just above a 7-month low.\nSentiment on China was still bearish after Moody's slapped a downgrade warning on China's credit rating and cut outlooks for Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese local government financing vehicles.\nMixed trade data out of China also failed to provide much impetus. November exports rose for the first time in six months while imports unexpectedly shrank, suggesting domestic demand remained weak.\nChina's blue-chips index ended down 0.2% after hitting a five-year trough earlier in the session. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell to a 13-month low.\nThe main commodity markets remained choppy too. Oil prices steadied after falling nearly 4% on Wednesday - that had been welcome news for those still nervy about inflation although it does not bode well for the health of the globally economy. [O/R]\nBrent crude futures recovered 1% to $75 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.6% to $69.85 a barrel. Gold prices also ticked higher to $2,033 per ounce.\n(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)\n",
        "title": "Yen roars, bonds flinch as Japan teases rates shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 320,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ev-maker-zeekr-explores-possible-010616316.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd., the high-end electric car brand under Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., is exploring the possibility of a planned US initial public offering in February, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nThe EV maker has been looking for an appropriate listing window after gauging investor demand last month, the people said. The company is now looking at a potential first-time share sale around the Lunar New Year, which will start on Feb. 10, betting investor appetite will improve by then, they said.\nDeliberations are ongoing and details of the IPO including timeline may still change, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.\n“The company has made a public filing to the SEC and is proceeding with the preparatory work,” a representative for Zeekr said in response to Bloomberg News query, without giving any specific timeline for the IPO.\nZeekr, which filed for a US IPO in November, is poised to be the third or fourth carmaker that Geely takes public in short order. Lotus Technology Inc. is aiming to complete its merger with a special purpose acquisition company and debut on the Nasdaq before year-end. This would follow Polestar Automotive Holding completing its SPAC deal in June of last year, roughly eight months after Volvo Car AB listed in Stockholm.\nRead More: ‘It’s All About 2024’ for IPOs as Recent Debuts Slip: ECM Watch\nAlthough Zeekr hasn’t decided on its IPO size, its listing is still expected to be among the biggest by Chinese firms in the US since Beijing forced Didi Global Inc. to delist after its $4.4 billion New York debut in June 2021. In February, Hesai Group, a developer of sensor technologies used in self-driving cars, became the largest US listing by a Chinese firm since the Didi debacle after raising $190 million.\nThe Zeekr lineup includes the 001, a five-seat crossover introduced in 2021; the 009, a six-seat van that began deliveries in January; and the X, a compact sport utility vehicle that started sales in June. The brand launched a premium sedan last month.\nGoldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and China International Capital Corp. are working with Zeekr on the IPO preparations, according to the filing.\n--With assistance from Linda Lew.\n(Adds context of Chinese listings in US in sixth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "EV Maker Zeekr Explores Possible US Stock Offering in February"
    },
    {
        "id": 321,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/softbank-backed-klook-snags-210-010000188.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Booking service Klook Travel Technology Ltd. raised $210 million in a funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, seeking to expand its footprint as travel recovers following the pandemic.\nPrivate equity firm BPEA EQT and SMIC SG Holdings participated, the Hong Kong-based startup said in a statement on Thursday. Existing investors including HongShan — formerly Sequoia China — also took part in the Series E+ round that consists of a mix of equity financing and bank facilities, bringing the total raised by the startup to more than $900 million.\nKlook, which turned cash flow positive mid-2023, is “well prepared” to go public either in the US or in Hong Kong, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Eric Gnock Fah said in an interview.\nThe Softbank Group Corp.-backed startup helps travelers book activities like its larger peer Expedia Inc. Klook’s revenue has picked up after the lifting of Covid restrictions unleashed pent-up demand for travel.\nOne of its growth pockets is helping millions of consumers in Asia book travel online for the first time, Gnock Fah said. It’s banking on an outsized boost for travel demand in Asia, predicting a decline in prices next year as flight capacities increase.\n“Asia is on an upward trend,” Gnock Fah said. “There’s still so much market growth that will still be happening in Asia. It could see double the growth of the West.”\nFounded in 2014, the startup allows travelers to discover and book tours, local transportation and restaurants in more than 2,300 locations globally. Klook, which first rolled out in Asia, competes with a growing number of experience booking services, including Airbnb Inc., TripAdvisor Inc. and Expedia.\n",
        "title": "SoftBank-Backed Klook Snags $210 Million in Travel Bounceback"
    },
    {
        "id": 322,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-kpmg-plans-merger-uk-002540319.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Rewrites throughout with official comment; changes dateline)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - KPMG, one of the world's Big Four accounting firms, said on Thursday that it is exploring a merger of its UK and Swiss businesses in a bid to boost profit.\nKPMG UK had started talks with the Swiss unit to explore working together closely to benefit clients and partners, Jon Holt, CEO of KPMG UK, told Reuters in an emailed statement.\n\"Together, we would grow faster, be more profitable and do so in a sustainable way,\" Holt said.\nThe Financial Times first reported the possibility of a merger on Wednesday. It said KPMG Switzerland has 2,600 employees, while it employs about 17,000 people in the UK.\nReuters reported in October that KPMG was planning to cut about 100 jobs in its UK deal advisory business.\nThe others in the Big Four accounting firms are Deloitte, EY and PwC. (Reporting by Akanksha Khushi, Utkarsh Shetti and Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Jamie Freed and Savio D'Souza)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-KPMG plans merging UK and Swiss businesses"
    },
    {
        "id": 323,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rakuten-group-prices-rakuten-bank-001109500.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Rakuten Group said on Thursday it set a 2,470 yen per share price in a planned offshore sale of 24.5 million shares of Rakuten Bank worth 60.6 billion yen ($411.85 million).\nThe e-commerce and fintech giant announced on Wednesday it would sell nearly 15% stake of the online bank unit, its latest effort to contend with heavy debt and losses at its mobile network business.\n($1 = 147.1400 yen)\n(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "Rakuten Group prices Rakuten Bank shares at 2,470 yen in $412 million offshore sale"
    },
    {
        "id": 324,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bofa-says-indonesia-rate-cut-000439490.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Despite recent hawkish signals, Bank Indonesia may cut interest rates as soon as this month, triggering a rally in the country’s debt, according to Bank of America Corp.\n“Indonesia, if not December, at some point early next year, will be the first one to cut rates in this region,” Shah Jahan Abu Thahir, head of global markets for Southeast Asia, said in an interview. “Indonesia definitely has a scope to cut policy rates” given the nation’s current “high real interest rates.”\nAbu Thahir’s dovish view comes even as BI itself signaled last week it may extend its interest rate pause. The central bank held its policy rate steady at 6% in November after a surprise increase in the previous month as it sought to support the rupiah amid global uncertainties and rising oil prices.\nHowever, the rupiah jumped nearly 2.5% in November to post its first monthly gain since April as weak US data and dovish comments from Fed officials dragged the dollar to the lowest in nearly four months. Yields on 10-year rupiah government debt slid more than 50 basis points since Oct. 31 to 6.59% as of Wednesday due to a rally in Treasuries.\nThere’s scope for Indonesia’s benchmark yields to slump to as low as 5.25% next year as BI eases policy, according to Abu Thahir, a 16-year veteran of BofA. That would be the lowest yield since 2013.\nForeigners have already started piling up on rupiah bonds on bets the Fed may be done with its most-aggressive tightening cycles in decades. Global funds bought a net $1.5 billion of rupiah sovereign notes in November, the most since January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That keeps Indonesia on track for its first year of foreign inflow in four years, the data show.\nBank Indonesia’s next policy decision is due Dec. 21 and analysts at Fitch Solutions’ BMI and Pantheon Macroeconomics expect the central bank to cut its key rate by 25 basis points.\nAssuming “the market narrative is correct — the dollar starts to weaken, the Fed will start cutting rates — then I think assets like Indonesia’s will do well,” Abu Thahir said.\n",
        "title": "BofA Says Indonesia Rate Cut Possible as Soon as This Month"
    },
    {
        "id": 325,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-nuclear-backers-pressure-biden-235743370.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds comment from U.S. Treasury, paragraph 7)\nBy Nicole Jao and Timothy Gardner\nNEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear power industry is pressuring the administration of President Joe Biden to include existing reactors in a subsidy program for hydrogen, arguing that U.S. goals to jumpstart a \"clean hydrogen\" economy could fail without them.\nThe lobbying push reflects the big stakes for the nuclear industry, which has been struggling for years amid an upswing in low-cost electricity from natural gas-fired power plants and rapidly expanding wind and solar.\nThe U.S. Treasury is expected to issue guidance later this month on a hydrogen tax credit known as 45V that was outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act.\nSo-called \"green hydrogen\" is a fuel made from water using electrolyzers; industry and government officials say it can be considered “clean” if its production is powered by virtually carbon-free energy sources like solar, wind, and nuclear.\nVirtually no green hydrogen is produced now due to high costs. The Biden administration sees clean hydrogen as vital to tackling hard-to-decarbonize industries like aluminum and cement, and is offering production subsidies of $3 per kilogram through the Inflation Reduction Act.\nThe Treasury is weighing the details of the 45V credit, including a so-called \"additionality\" proposal backed by groups that support renewable energy that would make the perks available only to hydrogen producers that power their facilities with new, instead of existing, low-carbon energy sources.\nThe Treasury meets with a range of stakeholders and federal agencies on the tax credit, said a spokesperson who did not comment on the timing or content of the guidance.\nDeputy Secretary of Energy David Turk said at the COP28 summit in Dubai that agencies are split over the design of 45V. \"It's a big tax credit. We have to get it right,\" Turk said.\nRAISING THE STAKES\nProponents of additionality say diverting existing nuclear electricity from the power grid to produce hydrogen would leave a gap in power generation that would have to be made up by burning fossil fuels that cause climate change.\nU.S. electricity grids will still need power if nuclear power is diverted to produce hydrogen, said Julie McNamara, deputy policy director with the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a science-based advocacy group.\nWith the renewable energy capacity still nascent, this \"means that the only thing that has the capacity to ramp up when that nuclear power is diverted for electrolysis is coal plants and gas plants,\" she said.\nBut nuclear industry backers say a more flexible approach is needed to make a hydrogen economy work.\n“Allowing existing nuclear reactors to qualify will help ensure that clean hydrogen is available and affordable enough to be used by customers across a wide range of industries,\" Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat, said in a recent letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.\n\"It would be a huge unforced error to exclude existing nuclear from eligibility,” said Doug Vine, director of energy analysis at the environmental policy think tank the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Nuclear power is efficient at producing hydrogen as opposed to solar and wind power, which is intermittent, Vine said.\nRaising the stakes, the Department of Energy in October awarded $7 billion in grants to seven proposed clean hydrogen hubs as part of its strategy to jumpstart production. Three of the hubs plan to use existing nuclear.\nConstellation, a nuclear power plant operator, says it plans to build a $900 million clean hydrogen facility at its LaSalle plant in Illinois with a portion of the $1 billion hydrogen hub award it received for the Midwest.\n\"The economics of the project are such that you really need... access to the tax credit in order to make it work,\" said Mason Emnett, Constellation's senior vice president of public policy.\nXcel Energy, a nuclear plant operator also set to receive money from the hub program, said in a recent letter to the Treasury that excluding existing facilities would limit the industry's ability to develop hydrogen. (Reporting by Nicole Jao and Timothy Gardner; additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Aurora Ellis)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Nuclear backers pressure Biden to include industry in hydrogen tax break"
    },
    {
        "id": 326,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spacex-tender-offer-values-startup-225853647.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk’s SpaceX has initiated discussions about selling insider shares at a price that values the closely held company at $175 billion or more, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe most valuable US startup is discussing a tender offer that could range from $500 million to $750 million, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential. SpaceX is weighing offering shares at about $95 apiece, the people said.\nTerms and the size of the tender offer could change depending on interest from both insider sellers and buyers.\nA $175 billion valuation is a premium to the $150 billion valuation the company obtained through a tender offer this summer. The increase would make SpaceX one of the world’s 75 biggest companies by market capitalization, on par with T-Mobile USA Inc. ($179 billion), Nike Inc. ($177 billion) and China Mobile ($176 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nRead more: SpaceX Tender Offer Said to Value Company at About $150 Billion\nRepresentatives for SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\nThe Hawthorne, California-based company dominates the market for commercial space launch services with its Falcon rockets. SpaceX also sends payloads to orbit for private-sector customers, as well as for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other government agencies.\nSpaceX also operates its internet-from-space Starlink service, anchored by a growing constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit.\nSpaceX is on track to book revenues of about $9 billion this year across its rocket launch and Starlink businesses, Bloomberg News reported last month, with sales projected to rise to around $15 billion in 2024. The company is also discussing an initial public offering for Starlink as soon as late 2024 — a bid to capitalize on robust demand for communications via space.\n--With assistance from David Ingles.\n(Updates with details on SpaceX’s financials, market cap comparison, in fourth and eighth paragraphs.)\n",
        "title": "Elon Musk's SpaceX Valued at $175 Billion or More in Tender Offer"
    },
    {
        "id": 327,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-exec-behind-iphone-screen-234536237.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Apple senior executive Steve Hotelling who oversaw iPhone screen and touch ID technology that transformed the way iPhones feel and function is leaving the company, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.\nHotelling is named on multiple patents that relate to the iPhone and iPad's touch screen features along with being one of the inventors of Apple devices' Touch ID feature, according to the Bloomberg report.\nThe report also said Steve oversaw the company’s camera engineering team and led efforts on developing depth-sensing technologies for augmented reality.\nApple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\nHotelling has represented Apple in multiple legal trials over his two-decade career with the company, the Bloomberg report said.\n(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Apple exec behind iPhone screen and touch ID is leaving - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 328,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/comcast-raise-prices-xfinity-programs-233816468.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Comcast is raising prices for its Xfinity program, the media giant said on Wednesday, as it looks to offset high programming costs.\nXfinity provides video, broadband and phone services.\nBloomberg News earlier reported that on average, subscribers will see a 3% increase in prices.\nThe price for internet-only service will increase by $3 a month, the report added.\n\"Rising programming costs continue to drive the highest increase in customers' bills,\" the company told Reuters, adding that it is investing in its broadband network.\nPeers Verizon Communications and AT&T also raised prices earlier this year. Verizon raised prices on some of its wireless plans in August.\nComcast forecast higher broadband losses after the number of customers unexpectedly declined in the third quarter amid tough competition, overshadowing the strong performance of its streaming and parks businesses.\n(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru and Dawn Chmielewski in New York; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "Comcast to raise prices for its Xfinity programs"
    },
    {
        "id": 329,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/musks-spacex-approaches-investors-another-233237788.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX has approached investors about another tender offer that would value the company at above $175 billion, a Bloomberg News reporter said in a post on X.\nTender volume could go up as it is not finalised that could value the firm even higher, the post added.\nSpaceX's current valuation of about $150 billion makes it one of the most valuable private companies in the world.\nBillionaire investor Ron Baron, who according to CNBC owns more than $1 billion worth of shares in the rocket company, last month said that SpaceX will be worth about $500 billion by 2030.\nSpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\nMusk in November had said that Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet unit, had achieved cash flow breakeven. Starlink is the world's largest satellite company and boasts a network of about 5,000 low-Earth orbit satellites.\n(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Musk's SpaceX approaches investors for another tender offer - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 330,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-e-commerce-platform-temu-232601440.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Arriana McLymore and Granth Vanaik\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Temu, the fast-growing Chinese e-commerce platform selling $4 home decor and $10 shirts, is successfully taking on U.S. dollar stores including industry leader Dollar General, according to the latest market share data.\nAs of last month, Temu accounted for nearly 17% of market share in the United States within the discount stores categories, according to data analytics firm Earnest Analytics. That compares to 8% for the dollar chain Five Below, 43% for Dollar General and 28% for Dollar Tree.\nTemu launched in the United States in September 2022 and quickly became popular through its use of social-media influencers to tout its merchandise as better and more affordable than traditional stores.\n\"Its (Temu) low prices on household goods and consumer staples makes it more of a threat to brick-and-mortar discounters like the dollar stores than other online marketplaces,\" said Michael Maloof, head of marketing at Earnest Analytics.\nTemu sells apparel including $12 dresses and $20 sneakers, while also offering similar holiday decor, storage containers and toys as dollar stores. Analysts expect it to generate more than $16 billion in revenue this year as it expands internationally.\n\"Temu has the advantage of novelty and excitement that is hard to re-create for staid low-end discount retail brands,\" said Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital Advisors.\nTemu, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Five Below did not respond to requests for comments on the research. The U.S. dollar stores have said previously they do not see an effect from Temu on their sales because of relatively smaller online presences and differing customers.\nWhile dollar stores have maintained strength among customers buying necessities like food, beverages and items like detergent, they are dealing with a shift in consumer demand and also struggling with operational missteps.\nDollar General has cut its annual profit forecast three times this year as budget-conscious shoppers have cut spending on higher-margin discretionary goods and shifted to buying more lower-margin consumable goods.\nMargins have also fallen at dollar stores because they are marking down merchandise to clear excess inventory and like many retailers are also being hurt by retail theft.\nTennessee-based Dollar General has seen the steepest decline in market share compared to competitors, according to Earnest Analytics. It held a 43% market share in November, down from about 57% in January. Dollar Tree's share slid nearly four percentage points from 32% in January to 28% in November.\nTemu is benefiting from shopper fatigue with high prices and inflation, said Peter Earle, an economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, a libertarian, free-market think tank. Temu's parent company PDD Group said revenue rose by 94% to 68.84 billion yuan ($9.62 billion) in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from a year ago.\nTemu uses a network of China-based manufacturers of cheap personal electronics, clothes and home goods. Factories and merchants on Temu send merchandise directly to Temu shoppers, using a trade exemption that allows shipments under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free.\n\"Temu with their 'shop like a billionaire' slogan has mastered gamification and rewards to make online shopping fun, easy, and cheaper than the dollar stores,\" Running Point's Schulman said.\n(Reporting by Arriana McLymore in New York City and Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Chinese e-commerce platform Temu drawing shoppers from US dollar stores -data"
    },
    {
        "id": 331,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bond-gains-renew-drumbeat-friday-232601215.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Treasuries market took another leg higher on Wednesday, as a slowdown in private-sector job creation further encouraged traders to bet on US interest-rate cuts ahead of broad labor-market data due Friday.\nSome yields slumped to the lowest levels in three months, while activity in the options market showed an uptick in bets that profit most if the Federal Reserve’s policy rate falls to 2% by September.\n“The more the numbers get weaker the more the market wants to give the Fed the room to move quickly,” said Michael Franzese, partner in fixed-income trading at MCAP LLC.\nTraders have a trifecta of job-market indicators to evaluate this week for signs the Fed will need to cut, culminating in the release of the Labor Department’s November employment report Friday. While Wednesday’s release from ADP Research Institute is no guarantee that government data will show the labor market is faltering, Tuesday’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey — known as JOLTS — trailed all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.\nThe 10-year yield slid 6 basis points to 4.1% and the 30-year’s sank 8 basis points to 4.21%, with both levels touching the lowest since Sept. 1. The drop in yields was aided by a decline in oil prices, with the benchmark US crude oil contract falling 4.1% to close below $70 a barrel for the first time since July.\nYields declined in other major bond markets as well, with Australian 10-year yields sliding 6 basis points to 4.22% as trading kicked off on Thursday. Similar-dated UK yields fell below 4% on Wednesday for the first time since May. In euro-zone bond markets too, expectations for central-bank easing are fueling gains.\nPrivate sector payrolls expanded less than economists estimated in November as measured by ADP Research Institute. Also Wednesday, the Labor Department said unit labor costs fell at a 1.2% rate in the third quarter, more than previously estimated.\nFed policy makers meet next week for the last time this year. While no change is expected in their target for the federal funds rate following 11 increases from March 2022 to July 2024, they are scheduled to release quarterly forecasts that could alter market-implied expectations.\nThose expectations have been gravitating toward more easing next year, beginning earlier, in response to weaker-than-forecast economic data.\n--With assistance from Rachel Evans.\n(Updates yield levels, adds Australian bonds in sixth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Bond Gains Renew as Drumbeat to Friday’s Jobs Report Intensifies"
    },
    {
        "id": 332,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/abbvie-buy-drug-developer-cerevel-232348789.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - AbbVie said on Wednesday it would buy Cerevel Therapeutics, a developer of drugs for neurological conditions, for about $8.7 billion in a bid to replace revenue as its arthritis drug Humira faces a raft of new competition.\nIt marks the second large deal for AbbVie in the past week, coming days after it agreed to buy cancer drug developer ImmunoGen for $10.1 billion in cash, highlighting its appetite to place big bets on promising new medicines.\nIt is paying $45 per share in cash for Cerevel, which is developing drugs for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, psychosis, epilepsy, and panic disorder. Its experimental drug emraclidine is in midstage trials as a treatment for schizophrenia that will yield data the company hopes can be used to seek regulatory approval.\nThe deal represents a 73% premium to Ceverel's closing share price on Dec. 1, before rumors started circulating among traders about a potential sale of the company. The stock had risen 42% since Dec. 1, when Reuters reported on Wednesday afternoon that AbbVie was nearing a deal to buy the company for $45 per share.\nTrading in options on Cerevel had experienced an unusual surge along with its stock price in the days before Wednesday's deal announcement, with upside call options drawing hefty interest.\nRevenue from Humira, once the top-selling drug in the world, is expected to fall precipitously following market entry of over half a dozen biosimilar versions of the drugs this year in the U.S. It already faced competition in Europe.\nHumira sales, which topped out above $21 billion in 2022, are expected to be below $9 billion next year.\nMeanwhile, sales of AbbVie's blockbuster leukemia drug Imbruvica dropped 20% in the third quarter due to competition from BeiGene's Brukinsa and AstraZeneca's Calquence.\nImbruvica is also one of the 10 drugs that will be subject to the first-ever price negotiations by U.S. Medicare health plans, with new prices expected to come into effect in 2026.\nCambridge, Massachusetts-based Cerevel was started in 2018 when Pfizer carved out its division developing drugs for the central nervous system into a standalone company backed by a $350 million investment from Bain.\nCerevel was listed on the New York stock market in 2020. Bain and Pfizer hold stakes of about 36% and 15%, respectively.\nCerevel shares were up 15.5%, while AbbVie shares were flat in extended trading.\n(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru, Michael Erman in New Jersey, Greg Roumeliotis and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed in New York; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Bill Berkrot and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)\n",
        "title": "AbbVie to buy drug developer Cerevel for $8.7 billion"
    },
    {
        "id": 333,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-musks-spacex-approaches-investors-231929107.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds background and details throughout)\nDec 6 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX has approached investors about another tender offer that would value the company at above $175 billion, a Bloomberg News reporter said in a post on X.\nTender volume could go up as it is not finalised that could value the firm even higher, the post added.\nSpaceX's current valuation of about $150 billion makes it one of the most valuable private companies in the world.\nBillionaire investor Ron Baron, who according to CNBC owns more than $1 billion worth of shares in the rocket company, last month\nsaid\nthat SpaceX will be worth about $500 billion by 2030.\nSpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\nMusk in November had said that Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet unit, had achieved cash flow breakeven. Starlink is the world's largest satellite company and boasts a network of about 5,000 low-Earth orbit satellites. (Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Musk's SpaceX approaches investors for another tender offer - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 334,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cme-board-keep-ceo-duffy-231751932.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Laura Matthews\nNEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The board at CME Group on Wednesday approved an amended contract that extends CEO Terry Duffy's leadership for an extra year, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.\nDuffy, whose tenure was set to end on Dec. 31, 2024, will continue at the helm until December 2025, the filing stated.\nThe board said it \"continues to believe that Duffy's strategic and innovative direction and in-depth knowledge of our business and the industry make him uniquely qualified to continue to lead the company and to execute on our strategy for long-term shareholder value creation\". (Reporting by Laura Matthews Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "CME board to keep CEO Duffy on for another year"
    },
    {
        "id": 335,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-amd-forecasts-45-billion-231204911.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates headline, adds CEO comment in paragraph 3)\nBy Max A. Cherney\nDec 6 (Reuters) - AMD estimated there was a $45 billion market for its data center artificial intelligence processors this year as it launched a new generation of AI chips on Wednesday.\nThe total addressable market forecast is up from AMD's $30 billion estimate in June.\nAdvanced Micro Devices announced two new AI data center chips from its MI300 lineup: one focused on generative AI applications, and a second chip geared toward supercomputers. The version of the processor for generative AI, the MI300X, includes advanced high-bandwidth memory that improves performance. For next year, AMD has a \"significant\" supply of AI chips that is \"well above\" $2 billion worth, CEO Lisa Su said at a press briefing. \"So there's a lot of supply that we have - let's call it reserved - and we have a lot of customers, well above the $2 billion as well,\" Su said.\nAs AMD launched the new processors, company executives outlined how rapidly demand for AI chips has increased. The company said it now expects the market for data center AI chips to grow to roughly $400 billion by 2027.\nAnalysts estimate that Nvidia has captured roughly 80% of the AI chip market, when including the custom processors built by companies such as Alphabet's Google and Microsoft. Nvidia does not break out its AI revenue, but a significant portion is captured in the company's data center segment. So far this year, Nvidia has reported data center revenue of $29.12 billion. AMD's MI300 series launched on Wednesday is positioned to compete with Nvidia's flagship AI processors.\nAMD also unveiled a new version of the software necessary to deploy the chips for AI. (Reporting by Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-AMD forecasts $45 billion AI chip market this year, $2 billion in sales in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 336,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/c3-ai-says-revenue-dented-230744207.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- C3.ai Inc. reported quarterly revenue that fell short of analysts’ estimates and gave an outlook for an operating loss in the fiscal year that was worse than projected. The shares dropped about 9% in extended trading.\nThe fiscal-year loss from operations, excluding some items, will be as much as $135 million, C3.ai said in a statement Wednesday, compared with a previous forecast of as much as $100 million. Analysts, on average, estimated a loss of $87.6 million for the year, which ends in April.\nThe Redwood City, California-based company, which went public in 2020, is known for its data management and analysis software. In March, C3.ai introduced products with generative AI, software that creates text and images in response to a user’s prompts. The company on Wednesday said it would be spending more money than previously anticipated to take advantage of the intense enthusiasm for generative AI products.\nThat investment in generative AI means “short-term downward pressure on free cash flow and profitability,” Chief Executive Officer Tom Siebel said during an earnings call Wednesday. The company continues to expect positive cash flow in the fiscal year ending in April 2025, he added.\nC3.ai said it’s “in a prime position” to benefit from businesses embracing AI and is well-positioned to accelerate growth, achieve sustainable earnings and “establish a market-leading position globally.” Still, the forecast for a steeper-than-expected loss “illustrates the challenge in expanding market share,” Bloomberg Intelligence’s Sunil Rajgopal wrote.\nFiscal second-quarter sales increased 17% to $73.2 million. Analysts, on average, estimated $74.3 million. The adjusted loss was 13 cents per share in the period ended Oct. 31, compared with a loss of 18 cents a share expected by analysts.\nRevenue was affected by new AI governance departments that were set up by customers, which slowed down the sales process, Siebel said. “It has added a step to the process, and it is lengthening the normal sale cycle,” he said.\nThe shares dropped to a low of $26.05 in extended trading after closing at $29.16 in New York. C3.ai, whose ticker is literally “AI,” gained 161% this year as Wall Street developed an insatiable appetite for the emerging technology.\nStill, some investors remain skeptical that the company will live up to the hype. As of Wednesday, C3.ai was the second most-shorted US technology stock — based on a percentage of shares traded — with almost 36% of shares available to the public shorted, according to data from S3 Partners. Last month, the company cut workers and spoke of the need for cost savings.\nEuropean sales teams “did not perform well,” Siebel said in an interview on CNBC. “We implemented a reorganization there to get it back on track.”\nRead More: AI Darling Criticized for Product Delays, Founder Tom Siebel’s Micromanaging\nWhile the company said it closed 62 customer agreements in the quarter, the majority were pilots or under $1 million in total contract value, according to a presentation for investors. Twelve deals were for more than $1 million and one deal was above $5 million, the company said.\nLast month, C3.ai announced its software would be sold on the marketplace of Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud computing unit, expanding its reach. C3.ai’s ability to convert software trials to long-term customers has been a key point of focus for Wall Street analysts.\n(Updates with comments from conference call beginning in the fourth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "C3.ai Says Revenue Dented by New ‘AI Governance’ Department Reviews"
    },
    {
        "id": 337,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canadian-national-purchase-iowa-railroad-230554189.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — Canadian National is buying a small railroad in Iowa to expand its network in the United States.\nCN announced the agreement to buy Iowa Northern Railway Wednesday, but didn't disclose financial terms. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board must approve the transaction next year before it can be completed.\nIowa Northern has about 275 miles of track serving a mix of agricultural and industrial shippers in the state. Iowa Northern Chairman Daniel Sabin said he believes CN will maintain his railway's commitment to providing reliable service while helping connect shippers with bigger markets.\nCN CEO Tracy Robinson said the deal should strengthen the Montreal-based railroad. CN is already one of North America's six biggest railroads with more than 18,000 miles of track across Canada and the United States.\n“By enabling all of us to play an even more important role in this critical supply chain and densifying our southern network, we are accelerating sustainable, profitable growth,” Robinson said.\n",
        "title": "Canadian National purchase of Iowa railroad will add 275 miles of track to North American network"
    },
    {
        "id": 338,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-firms-see-more-listing-230146305.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Makiko Yamazaki\nTOKYO (Reuters) - Most Japanese companies feel burdens related to being listed have increased amid growing pressure from shareholders and regulators for better governance and capital strategies, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Thursday.\nThe results reflect how listed companies have come under deeper scrutiny in Japan, where about half of them are trading below their book value, at a time listing requirements continue to tighten.\nAmong 155 listed respondents in the poll, 85% said they were feeling larger listing-related burdens, although a majority of them also saw benefits of having the listing status including advantages in hiring talent.\nAs reasons for larger burdens, 85% cited increased disclosure requirements, as the list of disclosure items has expanded in recent years to include such items as gender gaps in workforce and sustainability risks.\nThe Tokyo Stock Exchange's call this year for listed companies to improve their use of capital has also weighed, with 68% of the respondents citing it as a reason for heavier burdens.\nIt is the first time for the question to be asked in the Reuters monthly corporate survey and gives insight into how companies are viewing the TSE's governance push.\nThe bourse's reform push, hailed by investors as a remedy to Japan's unusually high number of chronically undervalued stocks, has sparked a slew of share buybacks, unwinding of cross-shareholdings and some management buyouts (MBO).\nFaced with higher costs associated with listing, 30% of the respondents said they have recently re-examined the significance of being a listed company, while only 14 respondents said they have considered going private.\nThe latest poll also showed Japan's big employers may follow this year's bumper pay hikes with another round in 2024, as 51% said they could raise wages beyond a 2.8% rise in Japan's core consumer prices next year.\nWage talks early next year would be closely watched as strong pay hikes are expected to help lift household spending and give the central bank the conditions it needs to finally roll back massive monetary stimulus.\nStill, 60% said the degree of wage increases that would be possible would only be less than 3%, as they face ballooning energy and materials costs. This year saw average wage hikes of 3.58% among major companies.\nThe survey was conducted for Reuters by Nikkei Research on Nov. 21-Dec. 1, with firms responding on condition of anonymity to allow them to speak more freely.\n(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "Japan firms see more listing-related burdens as TSE, shareholder pressure mount - Reuters poll"
    },
    {
        "id": 339,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-executive-invented-iphone-screen-225142821.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc.’s senior executive overseeing touch-screen technology, health sensors and the company’s Face ID interface is leaving the company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nSteve Hotelling, most recently a company vice president, is retiring from Apple, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the move hasn’t been announced. He had reported to Johny Srouji, senior vice president of hardware technologies.\nHotelling’s work included some of Apple’s most complex and critical technologies for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, as well as the upcoming Vision Pro headset.\nThe executive is named on hundreds of patents, including ones related to the iPhone and iPad’s multitouch screen, and known for being one of the inventors of Touch ID — a key feature for authenticating users on Apple devices. “No one was more brilliant than Steve,” said a longtime peer at the company.\nA spokeswoman for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment on the departure.\nRead More: The Apple Team Working on Bringing More Technology In-House\nHotelling also oversaw the company’s camera engineering team and was involved in efforts to develop custom sensors. Apple has increasingly made photography one of the foremost selling points of its devices. In addition, Hotelling led depth-sensing technologies for augmented reality and work on components behind haptic feedback and ProMotion high-frame-rate displays.\nAnother person who worked with Hotelling said that — outside of Apple’s chip efforts — he was the single greatest driver for innovation in its products. His responsibilities are being divided up between multiple of Srouji’s direct reports, including Alan Gilchrist, who took over managing the company’s camera and depth sensor teams. Another executive, Wei Chen, is in charge of many display technologies.\nHotelling represented Apple in multiple trials over his two-decade career with the company. He was a key figure in a case versus Samsung Electronics Co. over iPhone patents last decade, and most recently served as a key witness in a trial with Masimo Corp. That company has sued Apple over patents for health sensors.\nThe departure comes at a pivotal time for Apple’s hardware technologies group, which is working to replace many vital components with in-house technology. The organization recently shipped its first 3-nanometer Mac processors, a critical milestone. But other future technologies — such as a cellular modem, new wireless chips and Apple’s first microLED displays — have hit hurdles. The team is also in charge of a project to develop a noninvasive blood sugar sensor.\n",
        "title": "Apple Executive Who Invented iPhone Screen and Touch ID Is Leaving"
    },
    {
        "id": 340,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chevron-joins-exxon-lifting-budget-224914818.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp. followed rival Exxon Mobil Corp. in raising planned capital spending as the biggest US oil explorers seek to increase long-term crude production.\nGlobal expenditures will reach a range of $18.5 billion to $19.5 billion in 2024, up from $17 billion this year, San Ramon, California-based Chevron said Wednesday. The Permian Basin will account for the largest portion of that investment at $5 billion.\nChevron’s financial performance was the strongest of all the oil supermajors through the pandemic, but its stock has declined roughly 20% this year — twice the drop seen for Exxon — as investors fretted about growth potential outside the Permian.\nRead More: Kerry Calls Out Chevron as Lagging on Climate at COP28\nChevron Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth is attempting to remedy that by purchasing Hess Corp., which would secure Chevron a 30% stake in Exxon’s groundbreaking Guyana project. After the deal the closes in the first half of next year, Chevron said Wednesday its annual budget will be in the range of $19 billion and $22 billion.\nAlthough BP Plc and Shell Plc have pivoted back toward fossil fuels after investors panned hard pushes into greener initiatives, indications are the European companies won’t see significant oil growth in the medium term.\nThe US supermajors, in contrast, aim to maintain their premium stock-market valuations by using last year’s record profits to increase production, notably in the Permian Basin.\n(Updates with additional spending guidance in fourth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Chevron Joins Exxon in Lifting Budget as Oil Chase Heats Up"
    },
    {
        "id": 341,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-grinch-santa-fed-090653696.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - The last big central bank push of the year is here with the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of England among the big hitters meeting while markets try to discern if a U.S. recession is unavoidable or a distant prospect.\nChina's policymakers will set direction for next year while Bitcoin enjoys a stellar rally.\nHere's your week ahead in financial markets from Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Kevin Buckland in Tokyo, Yoruk Bahceli in Amsterdam, and Naomi Rovnick and Elizabeth Howcroft in London.\n1/ FED FIRST\nThere's no bigger factor than the Fed for markets in their bets on when rate cuts might come, with policy makers getting one last chance this year to roil markets when the world's top central bank gives its final 2023 policy statement on Wednesday.\nHolding rates seems a done deal, with investors laser focused on comments from Chair Jerome Powell that could indicate when the Fed might look to cut rates after 525 basis points of hikes since March 2022.\nProjections the Fed is poised to start lowering rates early in 2024 have helped fuel that huge rally in stocks and bonds, sending the S&P 500 to a new closing high for 2023 and pulling 10-year Treasury yields back down closer to 4%.\nU.S. November inflation data on Tuesday could provide a wrinkle for markets. October's consumer price index reading was unchanged, a first in more than a year.\n2/ AND THEN THE REST\nIt is not just in the U.S. that traders have ignored policymaker warnings that bets on steep rate cuts next year have gone overboard.\nMajor central banks elsewhere are on the jam packed agenda with the Swiss National Bank, Norges Bank, Bank of England and European Central Bank all meeting Thursday. All but Norway are tipped to stay on hold.\nWith markets pricing five Fed and six ECB cuts next year, focus is on how policymakers, who can't sound the all-clear on inflation just yet, grapple with the pressure.\nComments from rates-setters, such as ECB hawk Isabel Schnabel, have prompted traders to double down, and they are likely to pounce on any clues central bankers are starting to come around. But if policymakers decide enough is enough and challenge markets, expect a broad sell-off.\n3/ HIGH STAKES\nRecession roulette has been a high-stakes game since late 2021 and it's not getting easier. Forecasters at top investment banks are deeply divided between those sticking to predictions of a long-expected U.S. downturn and rapid Federal Reserve rate cuts and others recommending folding on the bet.\nGoldman Sachs expects the world's largest economy to decelerate without contracting, with borrowing costs staying near current levels. Deutsche Bank predicts a mild recession followed by a whopping 175 basis points of cuts that will drive the S&P 500 about 10% higher by late 2024. Uncertainty seems to rise despite November's red-hot rally for stocks and bonds. PMI readings due out in days to come will provide a frontline view.\nOutflows from equity and bond funds show investors - currently well compensated for holding cash - are stepping away from the table. Citi's risk aversion is ticking higher.\n4/ ANIMAL SPIRITS\nChina's economy is sending mixed signals about its health, just as policy makers convene for pivotal closed-door meetings to set the 2024 agenda. Government advisers have told Reuters they'll recommend a repeat of the 5% growth target, but also more stimulus in order to get there.\nMeasures so far, have for the most part fallen short, with confidence fragile among consumers and factory managers. Beijing needs a return of animal spirits to fill the hole left by patchy property market growth.\nRetail sales data on Dec. 15 will provide an update, after figures out in recent days showed a surprise contraction for imports - suggesting subdued domestic demand - even as exports unexpectedly rebounded.\nReal estate remains the elephant in the room though, and was at the heart of a Moody's decision to cut the outlook for China's debt rating - a move reverberating through Chinese capital markets all week.\n5/ BACK TO 2022\nBitcoin has been rising again. On Tuesday it hit $44,490 - its highest since April last year. In other words, it's back to levels it was at before 2022's most high-profile crypto firm collapses: TerraUSD, Three Arrows Capital, Celsius and FTX.\nThe gains are fuelled by hopes that the U.S. might approve applications for a spot bitcoin ETF, analysts say, as well as investors betting on Fed rate cuts next year.\nBut those outcomes are far from guaranteed, and JPMorgan has called the bitcoin rally \"overdone\".\nMeanwhile crypto fans don't appear worried about the U.S. Treasury warning about consequences for the industry if firms fail to block and report the flow of illicit funds.\n(Graphics by Sumanta Sen, Pasit Kongkunakornkul, Prinz Magtulis and Kripa Jayram; Compiled by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Toby Chopra)\n",
        "title": "Take Five: Grinch or Santa - which Fed will it be?"
    },
    {
        "id": 342,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sterling-heads-weekly-dive-versus-090538148.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Amanda Cooper\nLONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The pound closed in on its largest weekly fall against the yen in a year on Friday, driven by a strong cash flow into the Japanese currency after authorities in Tokyo hinted at a long-awaited change in monetary policy.\nSterling is also heading for its worst weekly performance against the dollar in a month, but was firm against the euro.\nTrading this week has been dominated by rate expectations, with those concerning the outlook for interest in Japan providing the strongest catalyst. The yen has risen across the board, particularly against higher-yielding currencies such as the pound and the New Zealand dollar.\nThe next risk event for markets will be the monthly U.S. employment report later on Friday, which is expected to show 180,000 workers were added to non-farm payrolls in November.\nSterling was last down 0.3% on the day at $1.2564. Against the yen, sterling was up 0.3% at 181.15, after a fall of nearly 3% on Thursday. The pound is set for a weekly decline of 2.8% against the yen, its largest fall in a year.\nThe Bank of England is among the major central banks that meet next week to discuss monetary policy. Traders do not expect the Bank to make any changes to interest rates, leaving the focus on what policymakers think about the outlook for growth and inflation and what that might suggest about the timing of the first cut.\nFutures markets are priced to show the first cut could materialise in June, compared with March for the European Central Bank and May for the Federal Reserve.\nBased on money markets, the BoE is expected to deliver around 80 basis points in rate cuts in 2024, compared with 140 from the ECB and 122 from the Fed.\nThe UK economy has narrowly avoided recession and inflation is receding. But analysts say evidence is emerging that the BoE's series of rate rises has hit consumers and businesses.\nAny revision lower to the path for UK rates could result in more sustained sterling weakness, Gareth Gettinby, an investment manager with Aegon Asset Management, said.\n\"Whilst a lot of the weak structural backdrop is known, the key negative for sterling over 2024 is the potential for the markets to price in earlier rate cuts. Sterling will now return to trading by conventional metrics such as global risk and rates,\" he said in Aegon's 2024 outlook.\nWith the prospect of UK interest rates remaining higher for longer, the pound is the G10 second-strongest performing currency against the dollar this year, with a gain of 3.9%, after the Swiss franc, which has risen nearly 5%.\nIt is also 3% higher against the dollar this quarter, but much of this strength is a function of dollar weakness, rather than demand for the pound.\nAgainst European currencies, sterling is essentially flat against the euro so far in the fourth quarter and up just over 1% against the Swiss franc and the Swedish crown .\nAgainst the Norwegian crown, the pound has gained around 4%, mostly because of falling oil prices, which undermine Norway's economy.\n(Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Barbara Lewis)\n",
        "title": "Sterling heads for weekly dive versus robust yen"
    },
    {
        "id": 343,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/softening-consumption-may-delay-bojs-090307459.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Leika Kihara\nTOKYO (Reuters) - Recent weakness in consumption has emerged as a fresh source of concern for Bank of Japan policymakers who are eyeing an exit from negative interest rates, three sources familiar with its thinking said, suggesting market expectations of an imminent rate hike may be over-blown.\nThe yen and Japanese bond yields have jumped on market expectations of an imminent policy change after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank will face an \"even more challenging\" situation in the year-end and next year.\nBut Ueda's remark, which came in response to a lawmaker's question on the challenges he has faced since becoming governor in April, was taken out of context by markets and was not meant to signal an imminent policy shift, the sources said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.\n\"There was no intention to signal anything about the timing of a policy change,\" which remains up in the air, one of the sources said, a view echoed by two more sources.\nTo be sure, the BOJ has its eyes set on pulling short-term interest rates out of negative territory with inflation running above its 2% target for more than a year.\nRising prospects for sustained wage increases have also heightened the chance of Japan seeing inflation durably hit the target, and meet the prerequisite set by the BOJ to end years of ultra-easy policy.\nBut the timing remains highly uncertain given Japan's fragile economy. Some BOJ policymakers are worried about recent weak signs in consumption, as wages have yet to rise enough to offset the rising cost of living, the sources say.\nData on Friday showed Japan's economy contracted more sharply than first estimated in the third quarter, by an annualised 2.9%, as both consumer and business spending shrank.\nThat suggests domestic demand is not strong enough to offset the drag from sluggish global demand for Japanese exports.\nHousehold spending fell 2.5% in October from a year earlier as inflation-adjusted real wages slumped 2.3% on-year, the 19th straight month of declines, data showed.\n\"The weakness in consumption is a big concern because it could prod firms to start cutting prices again,\" a second source said, referring to the risk of a resurgence in deflationary pressures that dogged the economy for years.\n\"If that happens, an early exit will be out the window.\"\nThe BOJ's current rosy projection is based on the assumption that wage increases will accelerate and give households more purchasing power, thereby allowing firms to keep raising prices.\n\"The BOJ's message has been unwavering, which is that it will keep ultra-loose policy until this positive wage-inflation cycle kicks off,\" a third source said.\nThe strength of Japan's economy is particularly important as an end to negative rates will likely be followed by several more increases in short-term rates, they said.\nThe BOJ next meets for a rate review on Dec. 18-19, followed by a more important meeting on Jan. 22-23 where the board will produce fresh quarterly growth and price projections.\nKey data that could sway the timing of a BOJ exit include the central bank's \"tankan\" business sentiment survey due on Dec. 13, and its regional branch managers' meeting set to be held in mid-January.\nThe BOJ will keep dropping subtle hints that an end to negative rates may be nearing but won't signal much on the timing, the sources said.\n\"In the end, it will be a judgement call,\" one of the sources said on the timing of an exit.\n(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Kim COghill)\n",
        "title": "Softening consumption may delay BOJ's exit from easy policy"
    },
    {
        "id": 344,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-chinas-nov-car-sales-084935674.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Rewrites with details and context on data, competition among automakers)\nBEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 8 (Reuters) - China's passenger vehicle sales rose 25.5% in November from a year earlier, extending gains to a fourth month, industry data showed on Friday, as automakers stepped up a price battle to meet sales goals.\nCar sales totalled 2.1 million units last month, data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed, while growth accelerated from October's 9.9% jump. Sales in the first 11 months of 2023 were up 5% on the year at 19.56 million units.\nNew energy vehicle sales grew 39.8% in November from a year earlier, compared with a 37.5% rise in October, and made up 40.1% of total car sales.\nPromotions and discounts for new energy vehicles intensified towards the year-end, as companies aimed to spur car purchases amid an anaemic economic recovery.\nSales promotions launched in November by major electric vehicle maker BYD and other producers have continued into this month, with additional automakers joining the year-end price battle.\nA new package of tax breaks for new energy vehicle purchases through 2027 imposes caps on tax exemptions starting in 2024. The added cost for higher-priced models that currently enjoy full exemptions is expected to act as a tailwind for year-end sales. (Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Editing by Jamie Freed, Mark Potter and Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-China's Nov car sales rise 25.5% y/y as year-end price battle intensifies"
    },
    {
        "id": 345,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-considers-restarting-wto-case-084904472.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The European Union is considering reopening a case at the World Trade Organization against the US over a Trump-era steel and aluminum dispute that saw the allies hit each other with tariffs on more than $10 billion of goods.\nBut importantly, the EU will refrain from immediately reimposing retaliatory tariffs on American goods over the disagreement, conceding a key point in the negotiations to Washington, according to people familiar with the discussions.\nBy restarting the WTO case, the EU would keep the door open on imposing the tariffs in the future while at the same time prolonging a settlement that avoids the return of duties on billions of dollars of exports next month. A final decision has yet to be taken by Brussels, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.\nBloomberg reported earlier that the EU was opposed to hitting the US with tariffs over fear that it could boost Trump’s campaign ahead of the American election in November. The EU and US have been in intense negotiations for months trying to find a resolution to the dispute.\nA spokesperson for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\nThe trade conflict started when former President Donald Trump imposed levies on European steel and aluminum, citing national security concerns, prompting the EU to retaliate with restrictive measures of its own. The commission reached a temporary truce with the Biden administration in 2021.\nThe EU and US gave themselves a two-year window to reach an agreement on the so-called Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum that would permanently put an end to the conflict and the tariffs. Failure to reach a deal could see some of those duties return next year.\nAs part of the 2021 truce, the US partly removed its measure and introduced a set of tariff-rate quotas above which duties on the metals are applied. Alternately, the EU froze all of its restrictive measures. That has created an unbalanced situation, according to the EU, that has seen the bloc’s exporters pay over $350 million a year in duties.\nWith GSA talks stalled, the two allies have been in talks to prolong the terms of the truce. The US wants to extend the status quo beyond the American election until the end of 2025. The EU has been asking to replace the current tariff-rate quota system — which comprises dozens of both quarterly quotas and categories of steel — with annual quotas in order to better reflect historical flows.\nTrump Boost\nThe Biden administration has so far rebuffed that request, the people said. However, many EU member states are reluctant to respond to that refusal by reimposing tariffs on some US goods due to concerns that it could help Trump’s election chances next year, Bloomberg previously reported. The US may still make some minor concessions.\n“The EU might have been able to hold out for more from the US on improving the quota administration, but it would have required dragging this out until the end of the year and it was fairly common knowledge that member states didn’t want these tariffs to kick back in,” Sam Lowe, a partner at the international advisory firm Flint Global, said in an interview.\n--With assistance from Joe Deaux.\n",
        "title": "EU Considers Restarting WTO Case Against US Over Steel Tariffs"
    },
    {
        "id": 346,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bond-traders-face-reality-check-171055851.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bond traders who powered a ferocious rally in the $26 trillion US Treasury market are about to find out if they’ve gotten ahead of themselves.\nSoftening inflation and employment data in the past month have convinced investors that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates and ignited bets that cuts of at least 1.25 percentage points are in store over the next 12 months. Treasury yields, which touched highs of 5% as recently as October, have declined sharply, with the US 10-year benchmark sliding more than three-quarters of a percentage point.\nNow into the mix comes a key report Friday on the US labor market, which bulls hope will provide fresh evidence of a cooling economy. The bond market is already pricing in more than twice as much monetary easing in 2024 as Fed officials themselves, who while signaling they’re likely done raising rates have also been quick to caution that any talk of cuts is premature for now.\nTraders remain unfazed: A JPMorgan Chase & Co. survey released earlier this week showed clients maintaining their largest net long positions since Nov. 13.\nFriday’s report is expected to show moderating employment and wage growth in November but no major deterioration in hiring. Given the recent run-up in bonds, there’s a risk of a market reversal — at least initially — on any surprises that challenge traders’ bullish narrative.\n“This rally in Treasuries needs to be validated,” said Kevin Flanagan, head of fixed-income strategy at WisdomTree. “The bar has been raised now in terms of the economic and inflation numbers coming in, and they’re going to have to show that the momentum of a slowdown is picking up.”\nRead more: Goldman Favors Options to Counter ‘Excessive’ Rate-Cut Pricing\nPayrolls probably grew by 183,000 last month, after increasing 150,000 in October, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.9%, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The end of strikes by autoworkers and Hollywood actors boosted payrolls last month by 41,300 after depressing them in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. After taking that into account, the underlying pace of payroll gains looks to be slowing.\n“A stronger payrolls and still-elevated inflation expectations will likely apply bearish pressure to rates into next week’s US CPI report and the FOMC, ECB, BOE meetings,” said Evelyne Gomez-Liechti, multi-asset strategist at Mizuho International Plc. “US and EU market inflation expectations have been decoupling lately, after a period of being overly compressed. The divergence may continue if today’s numbers remain high.”\nWisdomTree’s Flanagan adds a resilient jobs report “will continue to provide the Fed with cover as to not have to move prematurely in cutting rates.\nIt would also highlight a bond market perhaps running too far ahead of the central bank, and in danger of repeating a pattern seen during this latest tightening cycle of betting too soon on a Fed course change.\n“Today’s payrolls report will set the scene for the rest of 2023,” said Padhraic Garvey, head of research for the Americas at ING, adding that the rapid move down in Treasury yields “really needs some validation” from the data.\nRead More: Bond Traders Bet Seventh Time’s a Charm by Predicting Fed Pivot\nOn Thursday, a largely in-line report on US jobless claims left market expectations intact. The debate remains about the scale of rate cuts, an outcome ultimately driven by how much hiring and inflation slows. With a 10-year yield now below 4.2%, “the market seems to be priced for a strong near-term deterioration,” said John Brady, managing director at RJ O’Brien.\nFed Meeting\nFed officials are observing a self-imposed quiet period ahead of next week’s policy meeting, which also coincides with fresh data on US consumer prices. Armed with the latest jobs and inflation reports, the central bank will update its quarterly summary of economic projections and predicted path of interest rates.\nFed watchers believe the central bank will leave policy steady at its meeting next week and that it’s next move will be a cut. Some opined that Fed officials aren’t pushing back hard against expectations of easing next year because that’s the same direction they think policy is ultimately headed.\nRead more: Treasury Rally on Fed Bets Could Take Yields to 2.25%, BofA Says\nIn almost any economic scenario — crash landing, soft landing, or no landing — inflation is likely to keep decelerating next year, driven by ebbing rental costs, Bank of America chief US economist Michael Gapen said. He expects Fed officials to pencil in three rate cuts for 2024 in the summary of economic projections they’ll release next week. “I’m calling it a shift from a hawkish hold to a dovish hold,” he said.\nWhat Bloomberg Intelligence Says...\n“Rate markets priced for deep cuts in early 2024 may get a shock next week if the Federal Reserve reiterates that it will keep interest rates at their peak well into next year.”\n— Ira F. Jersey and Will Hoffman, BI strategists\nClick here to read the full report\nSubadra Rajappa, head of US rates strategy told Bloomberg Television they expect 150 basis points of cuts next year, with “a recession penciled in.” She said “risks are skewed asymmetrically in rates to the downside,” and they expect 3.75% on the 10-year by mid 2024.\nThe asymmetry means even a solid payroll number may only spur a limited rise in Treasury yields as traders stick to their guns and expect a slowing economy gathering momentum.\nThe market has “gone from a mode of selling into strength to now buying on the dips,” said Flanagan. Still, “to break through 4% on 10-year yields, given what has been priced now, you are going to need to see genuine signs of a hard landing at this stage of the game,” with payrolls either negative or barely positive.\n--With assistance from James Hirai and Alice Atkins.\n(Updates with analysts comments starting in paragraph eight.)\n",
        "title": "Bond Traders to Face a Reality Check With Friday’s Jobs Report"
    },
    {
        "id": 347,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/benchmark-bund-yields-track-biggest-083727589.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Stefano Rebaudo\nDec 8 (Reuters) - Euro area's benchmark 10-year Bund yield was on track to record its biggest biweekly fall since mid-March as money markets ramped up bets on future European Central Bank rate cuts amid weak economic data and less hawkish remarks from policymakers.\nIn mid-March, bond yields tumbled as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) sent investors rushing into safe-haven assets.\nMoney markets were pricing around 90 bps of European Central Bank rate reduction in 2024 on November 28 before U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller nodded to possible rate cuts in a matter of months.\nThey increased their bets to 110 bps the day after as data showed German inflation fell to a weaker-than-expected 2.3%.\nComments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, European Central Bank rate setter Francois Villeroy de Galhau, and Isabel Schnabel along with weak economic data, led market bets to approach 150 bps on Wednesday.\nDecember 2024 ECB euro short-term rate forwards were last at 2.49%, implying market expectations for 141 bps of rate cuts.\nGermany's 10-year government bond yield rose 1.5 basis points to 2.21% on Friday. It hit the day before 2.166%, its lowest level since April 6. It was also on track to end the last two weeks with a 44 bps drop, the biggest since mid-March.\nInvestors await U.S. data later in the session, which can deliver further clues about the Fed policy path, while Japan's 10-year government bond yield hit a three-week high on growing speculation that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) would end its negative interest rate policy soon.\n\"Our economists are looking for a modest upside surprise in the (U.S.) payrolls, which argues for a continuation of the consolidation (of euro zone bonds after the recent rally),\" said Michael Leister, head of the rate strategy at Commerzbank.\nJapanese investors are large holders of foreign bonds, and some analysts have said a sharp rise in domestic yields could suck money back to Japan and out of global assets.\nItaly's 10-year sovereign bond yields, the benchmark for the euro area's periphery, rose 2.5 bps to 3.97%, with the spread between Italian and German 10-year yields – a gauge of premium investors ask over the safe-haven Bund to hold bonds of highly indebted countries – was stable at 175 bps.\nInvestors will closely watch negotiations over the new European Union fiscal rules – the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) -- as the resilience of peripheral spreads could be in danger if investors already nervous about debt sustainability and high rates are spooked by tight post-pandemic budget rules.\nFrench Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire pressured Germany on Thursday to compromise on revising the SGP, saying that Paris had already moved enough in Berlin's direction.\n(Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo, editing by Angus MacSwan) ;))\n",
        "title": "Benchmark Bund yields on track for biggest biweekly fall since mid-March"
    },
    {
        "id": 348,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/k-pop-company-behind-bts-150000712.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- K-pop boy band BTS may be on hiatus, but its management company is looking to boost the superfan app the group inspired.\nHybe Co. is doubling efforts to sign up new artists to the Weverse app, seeking to draw fans from around the globe and pursue profitability. Having added rival K-pop talent firms’ artists such as Blackpink and Riize to its offerings, the Pangyo-based Weverse Company is setting its sights on artists from bigger music markets in Japan and the US. So far, it’s secured Japanese groups including AKB48 and US boy band Prettymuch.\nThe agency’s also trying to lift engagement, most recently teaming up with Universal Music Group to live stream a 12-week audition for a new girl band. Fans interacted with one another and candidates on Weverse, and hundreds of thousands logged on on Nov. 17 to vote and select the six members of the new group, Katseye.\n“We see many more opportunities in this growing market,” Weverse’s Chief Executive Officer Joon Choi said in an interview. “Once we have more diverse genres and reach monthly active users of around 30 to 50 million, we can offer more profit-making models that’d satisfy both fans and artists.” The app had 10.5TK million monthly active users in the previous quarter, according to Hybe.\nRead more: With ‘Golden,’ Jung Kook Goes From K-Pop Phenomenon to Global Superstar\nRevenue driven by superfan culture has surged over the past few years, with artists amassing loyal audiences worldwide with the help of social media. Sales have boomed as fans show their support of their favorite stars by hoarding albums, streaming songs around the clock and buying up concert tickets.\nBTS’s famous ARMY fans propelled Weverse into being in 2019. The app, which has around 69 million subscribers and more than 100 channels, took off during the pandemic as tens of millions of BTS fans flocked to Weverse to live stream concerts and talk online with K-pop stars who were unable to tour overseas or perform at home. The platform has expanded since then, adding more features such as digital albums, customized goods delivery and private chat services.\n“We started Weverse as a place for our artists to communicate with fans, and it’s evolving into an open platform,” said Hybe Chief Executive Officer Park Ji-won. “We are now building this platform with content based on various artists’ IP.”\nThe company is integrating all fan-related services into Weverse, whose revenue comes from paid content, merchandise retailing and live streaming of concerts and shows. It has plans to add in-app advertisement and paid membership programs next year.\nBy far the biggest challenge is drawing in American talent. Hybe, which in 2021 acquired Ithaca Holdings — the label representing Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, is in discussions with major record labels in the US, but has yet to snag a major pop artist. The app requires artists to interact with fans often, a big additional time commitment for American singers who already have large followings on Instagram and TikTok.\n“Weverse is a safe and friendly place for artists,” said Choi. “It offers a holistic service that spans fan community building and e-commerce and data.”\n",
        "title": "K-pop Company Behind BTS Wants to Make Its Superfan App Global"
    },
    {
        "id": 349,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/anglo-american-plans-deep-mine-082700023.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Anglo American Plc will make deep production cuts for almost all the commodities it mines in the next few years in a bid to slash costs amid logistical and operational snarls at its operations. Its shares slumped.\nAnglo’s recently appointed Chief Executive Officer Duncan Wanblad has faced a tough start to his tenure. He stepped into the role with most commodity prices at a record, but they have declined since then. The company’s portfolio has also been hampered by issues from extreme weather to a breakdown in crucial infrastructure in South Africa.\nThe miner’s shares slid as much as 7.3% in London, the most since March. The stock has lost about a third of its value this year.\nWhile most of the commodities Anglo mines are currently in surplus amid weak demand from China and sluggish economies elsewhere, the scale of the company’s production cuts will likely add to expected shortages of some materials going forward.\nAnglo on Friday said it will produce less copper, an essential material needed to decarbonize the global economy. Most analysts and mining executives see a looming shortage of the metal with few new mines on the horizon.\nIt lowered its 2024 output target for copper to between 730,000 tons and 790,000 tons, from as much as 1 million tons, essentially removing the equivalent of a large copper mine from global supply. Production will fall even more in 2025, before starting to rise again the following year.\nThe miner will reduce expenditure by another $500 million next year, on top of a $500 million reduction already announced. The company also plans to cut it capital spending by $1.8 billion though to 2026.\n“Given continuing elevated macro volatility, we are being deliberate in reducing our costs and prioritizing our capital to drive more profitable production on a sustainable basis,” Wanblad said.\nLower Output\nOverall, Anglo’s production will be about 4% lower next year, before falling another 3% in 2025, it said. It also lowered forecasts for platinum-group metals, iron ore and nickel and coal.\nThe company has been battling with slumping prices for PGMs, while its iron ore operations in South Africa have been stymied by the poor performance of ports and rail logistics there. Anglo said it PGM output would fall to as low as 3.3 million ounces next year, from 3.8 million ounces this year.\n“Whilst it is clearly not positive that Anglo has come to this situation where it needs to shrink its footprint, we think this new streamlined Anglo American should allow it to shed some of the recently more challenging aspects of the business,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Tyler Broda said.\nBloomberg News reported last month that the company was also cutting jobs at two units in South Africa because of declining PGM prices and bottlenecks curbing iron ore exports.\nAnglo Consults South Africa as It Weighs Platinum, Iron Job Cuts\nThe miner has held talks with the government over the potential reduction in its workforce. Senior government officials asked the company to consider delaying the cuts until after elections likely to take place around May.\n(Updates with details throughout)\n",
        "title": "Anglo American Plans Deep Mine Production Cuts to Save Cash"
    },
    {
        "id": 350,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/market-bets-looming-boj-change-082503730.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Market participants have overplayed recent comments by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda and his deputy, as there is no reason to believe the central bank will scrap its negative interest rate early, according to a former executive director.\nThe yen surged and bond yields jumped Thursday after Ueda told lawmakers in parliament that his job would become more challenging from the year-end, a remark some took as a reference to a potential policy transition.\n“This is probably a temporary market phenomenon,” Hideo Hayakawa, the former BOJ official, said in an interview Friday. “Ueda is looking for evidence. There is no need to rush now after intentionally choosing to be behind in coming this far.”\nThe central bank is likely to wait to end the negative rate until April, said Hayakawa, one of few economists who correctly predicted Ueda’s surprise move to adjust yield curve control in July.\nHayakawa was speaking against a backdrop of heightened volatility in financial markets. The yen extended gains and yields on benchmark bonds fluctuated Friday even after a sizable downward revision to third-quarter gross domestic product clouded the prospects for BOJ policy normalization.\nUeda’s remark Thursday came a day after his deputy Ryozo Himino appeared to be laying the groundwork for eventual normalization by noting that the bank’s first rate hike since 2007 might not be as harmful as some have feared. His comments prompted some market players to move forward their bets on when the BOJ might take that step.\nHayakawa, who has known Ueda for more than four decades, said he doesn’t know the thinking behind Ueda’s comment in parliament, but he believes the remark wasn’t intended to flag an early move.\n“Of course, spring is absolutely in his mind as the timing but there is no need to prepare the market for it, as a majority of market players are thinking it will be in April,” Hayakawa said.\nREAD: BOJ’s Ueda Says Handling Policy Set to Get Tougher From Year-End\nHalf of the 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg between Dec. 1-6 forecast the bank will scrap its negative rate in April. Some 15% forecast the transition occurring in January, and 2% expect it in March.\nHayakawa’s remarks are likely to reinforce notions that the BOJ will wait to see the results of spring wage negotiations in March before deciding on a move. More than half of the economists said the upcoming negotiations will yield even bigger hikes than this year’s, which were the largest in three decades.\nUeda’s often reiterated view that risks related to normalizing too early exceed those related to waiting longer mean the governor wants to confirm the likelihood of achieving the bank’s 2% inflation goal using data, which is different from the forward-looking approach of standard central bank practice, Hayakawa said.\n“It’s like a detective who is almost certain who the criminal is, but he can’t get a warrant for the arrest due to a lack of tangible evidence,” Hayakawa said. “They don’t move until they get a warrant. That’s what the BOJ is doing.”\nThat said, once the tightening cycle gets underway, the BOJ may move faster than many market players currently anticipate, Hayakawa said. After ditching the negative rate in April, the bank will probably raise rates by 25 basis points in each of the remaining quarters next year, he said.\n",
        "title": "Market Bets on Looming BOJ Change Overblown, Ex-Official Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 351,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japanese-shares-eye-early-slump-225640582.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s currency advanced and shares fell as traders ratcheted up bets that the Bank of Japan is nearing the end of its negative interest rate policy.\nThe yen gained for a second day, surging as much as 1.1% in thin liquidity before paring its rise. The advance sent the nation’s stocks and bonds lower. Shares in South Korea and Taiwan rose after the Nasdaq 100 index rallied amid renewed optimism on artificial intelligence.\n“The exchange rate fluctuations have been quite dramatic, so it’s inevitable that Japanese stocks fall because of the yen appreciation,” said Ayako Sera, a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. “Since a strong yen is not a bad thing for all Japanese companies, the decline in stocks is likely to be limited to a certain extent.”\nTraders will be on watch for any clarification from Governor Kazuo Ueda of comments he made to lawmakers that his job was going to get more challenging from the year-end, helping fuel speculation the BOJ will start lifting its sub-zero benchmark rate soon. That helped push the yen to its strongest level since August as bets against the currency capitulated.\nSome investors, however, are not convinced that the BOJ will make a significant shift in policy this month. Japan’s economy shrank more than expected in the third quarter, suggesting the recovery is more fragile than thought and may give the BOJ reason to delay normalizing policy.\nThe recent moves in the yen “certainly have been a surprise to us and we think markets are probably overshooting here,” Eddie Cheung, senior emerging markets strategist at Credit Agricole CIB, said on Bloomberg Television. “Around these levels though yen has overshot to the downside.”\nThe Reserve Bank of India kept its rate unchanged, as expected. Strong economic growth and a state election victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi give policymakers little reason to consider interest rate cuts just yet. Policy makers raised their GDP forecast for fiscal year 2024 to 7% from 6.5%. Indian stock benchmarks, already at record levels, added to gains after the decision — the Nifty 50 index topped 21,000 for the first time and the Sensex neared 70,000.\nWaiting for Jobs Data\nElsewhere in Asia, shares in Hong Kong and China reversed losses. Tencent Holdings Ltd., China’s most valuable company, on Friday revealed one of its most ambitious attempts at a big-budget console game as it bet that the new franchise will help its global expansion.\nThe dollar traded mixed against major peers and Treasuries were little changed ahead of Friday’s US non-farm payrolls report as traders look for more evidence of a cooling labor market to assess the outcome of next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting and solidify rate cut bets next year.\n“The jobs report is likely to provide additional indications of the labor market softening, a welcome sign for employers,” Jose Torres, a senior economist at Interactive Brokers, said. “Its impact on markets, however, will depend on whether investors view the data as a stepping stone to a March rate cut and soft landing, or an adverse effect on consumer spending and a sharper economic slowdown.”\nIn other markets, oil ticked higher but remained on course for the longest weekly losing streak since 2018 on concerns about a global glut. Gold headed for the first weekly drop in four weeks.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Akemi Terukina and Winnie Hsu.\n",
        "title": "Yen Surge Hits Japanese Shares, Korea Rises on AI: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 352,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adani-green-lays-initial-plan-022309769.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Adani Group’s solar-energy unit has unveiled an initial plan to repay its $750 million bond due in September, marking the Indian conglomerate’s latest effort to restore investor confidence after a market rout earlier this year.\nAdani Green Energy Ltd., part of billionaire Gautam Adani’s empire, will redeem the notes in full by the due date, it said in a filing to the Singapore stock exchange. It said the bond’s underwriters will provide a funding letter for $675 million. The filing also lists $75.47 million in restricted reserves.\nAdani Green “shall deposit all the equity transaction proceeds and upstreaming of underlying distributable surplus” to build up the repayment amount, it said. The filing didn’t specify what the funding letter will contain or where the equity transaction proceeds will come from.\nThe finances of Adani Group’s various subsidiaries have attracted investor attention after US short seller Hindenburg Research accused the conglomerate of corporate fraud earlier this year, allegations that the group has repeatedly denied. The group’s stocks and bonds have staged a partial recovery since the initial meltdown triggered by Hindenburg’s report in January.\nThe terms of the Singapore-listed bond due on Sept. 8, 2024 require Adani Green to come up with a refinancing plan nine months before maturity.\nAdani Group’s executives have sought to rebuild investor trust in recent months: they prepaid debt, held in-person meetings with investors from Hong Kong to London, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars repurchasing the debt of units including Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd. and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd.\nJust this week, Adani Green raised a $1.4 billion loan for a renewable energy project, triggering a stock rally in the conglomerate’s units that boosted their collective market value by $23 billion.\n",
        "title": "Adani Green Lays Out Initial Plan for Repaying $750 Million Bond"
    },
    {
        "id": 353,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-central-bank-holds-rate-045323876.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Reserve Bank of India left its key policy interest rate unchanged Friday, predicting faster growth in Asia’s third-largest economy and inflation risks from food prices.\nThe six-member Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep the benchmark repurchase rate at 6.5% for the fifth straight time. All but one of the 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted the move.\nThe panel also decided by a vote of five to six to retain its policy stance at “withdrawal of accommodation,” indicating rates may remain higher for longer.\n“The inflation outlook will be influenced by uncertain food prices,” Governor Shaktikanta Das said in a live-streamed address from Mumbai, saying there are risks especially in November and December. The target of 4% is yet to be reached and “we have to stay the course,” Das said.\nStocks advanced 0.4% while the rupee and government bonds traded flat.\nThe RBI raised its growth projection for the fiscal year ending March to 7% from 6.5% after the economy expanded at a much faster pace than expected last quarter. Several economists have also recently raised their full-year projections closer to 7%.\n“So far, the RBI seems very comfortable with the growth outlook, which is going to be key factor deciding monetary policy for India going ahead, unlike inflation which is key in rest of the world,” said Rahul Bajoria, an economist at Barclays Plc.\nThe RBI has raised its key interest rate by 2.5 percentage points since last year to help rein in inflation and bolster the rupee. Analysts are divided on when the central bank will cut interest rates, though most expect a shift only once the US Federal Reserve begins easing.\n(Updates with comments from governor, economist.)\n",
        "title": "India Central Bank Holds Rate as Focus Stays on Inflation"
    },
    {
        "id": 354,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-nov-yuan-loans-seen-080231785.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Joe Cash\nBEIJING (Reuters) - China's new loans are expected to have jumped in November from the previous month and exceeded the year-earlier amount, a Reuters poll showed, as the central bank works to shore up confidence and demand across the world's second-largest economy.\nChinese banks are estimated to have issued 1.3 trillion yuan($181.72 billion) in net new yuan loans last month, up sharply from 738.4 billion in October, according to the median estimates of 19 economists. Last November, 1.21 trillion yuan was issued in new loans.\nLast week, central bank chief Pan Gongsheng pledged to keep monetary policy accommodative to support the post-pandemic recovery, but also urged structural reforms to reduce reliance on infrastructure and property for growth.\nAs part of support measures, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) has cut interest rates on some loans and pumped out more cash in recent months, in contrast to other major economies who have tightened policy to tackle inflation.\nIn September, the PBOC cut banks' reserve requirement ratio for the second time this year, and analysts expect another cut in the coming weeks.\n\"We believe that banks may bring forward some of their releases originally planned for early next year to this November,\" analysts at CITIC Securities said in a note, after central bank officials met with financial regulators last month.\nMoody's on Tuesday slapped a downgrade warning on China's credit rating, citing concerns over the cost of bailing out over-indebted local governments and state firms and controlling the property crisis.\nOutstanding yuan loans in November were estimated to have grown by 11.0% from a year earlier, the poll showed, up slightly on the 10.9% growth seen in October. Broad M2 money supply growth was seen rising 10.1% year-on-year, slowing slightly from the previous month's 10.3%.\nHousehold loans, including mortgages, will be closely watched for any signs of a pick-up in the property market. They contracted in October.\nAny acceleration in government bond issuance could help boost total social financing (TSF), a broad measure of credit and liquidity. Annual growth of outstanding TSF quickened to 9.3% in October from 9.0% in September, as local governments rushed to issue refinancing bonds to pay their existing debt.\nTSF includes off-balance sheet forms of financing that exist outside the conventional bank lending system, such as initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales.\nIn November, TSF is forecast to rise to 2.6 trillion yuan from 1.85 trillion yuan in October.\n($1 = 7.1539 Chinese yuan)\n(Reporting by Joe Cash; Polling by Milounee Purohit and Anant Chandak in Bangalore; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "China's Nov new yuan loans seen rising on policy support: Reuters Poll"
    },
    {
        "id": 355,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yen-extends-rally-second-day-015012411.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The yen fluctuated, giving up most of Friday’s advance as focus shifted from speculation of a near-term policy shift by the Bank of Japan to US jobs data due later in the day.\nThe currency was little changed at 144.06 against the dollar as of 4:52 p.m. in Tokyo after earlier advancing as much as 1.1%. That came after it had briefly jumped almost 4% during the New York session.\nData on Friday are projected to show payrolls in the world’s largest economy increased more in November than October, potentially providing more evidence of a cooling labor market heading into next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting.\n“It is possible to see a rebound in the dollar-yen from solid US jobs data after the earlier move was seen as quite excessive,” said Juntaro Morimoto, senior currency analyst at Sony Financial Group Inc.\nThe outsized move Thursday may have been amplified by speculators closing bearish wagers on the yen, after leveraged funds boosted these to the highest level in more than a year last week. There were also suggestions that a lack of liquidity and algorithmic trading exacerbated the spike.\n“Yen-short positions may have been liquidated considerably,” said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities Co., who added that stop-loss trades were also likely triggered. “Soft US jobs data later today may spur more dollar selling, with 141 for the yen in sight again.”\nComments from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda earlier Thursday, along with remarks from one of his deputies on Wednesday, jolted financial markets in Tokyo and globally. The sharp push for the yen saw it appreciate against all of its peers in the Group of 10 on Thursday.\n“The markets will probably continue to be volatile with nervousness until Governor Ueda’s real intention is revealed on Dec. 19, the monetary policy decision date,” said Ayako Sera, market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd.\nEconomists increasingly expect the central bank to achieve its inflation target, while remaining less aggressive than traders in expectations for how soon the BOJ will move. A growing majority of economists forecast that the negative rate regime will end by April, according to a Bloomberg survey.\nThey are focused on whether Ueda gives any indication of changes to come in a policy statement or at his press conference following the December decision, rather any outright change in settings that soon.\nRead more: Two-Thirds of BOJ Watchers Expect End of Negative Rate by April\n“The odds of tightening administered rates on Dec. 19 are still a bit of a long shot,” said Bipan Rai, CIBC’s global head of foreign-exchange strategy in Toronto. “In conjunction with greater certainty that the Federal Reserve is done with rate hikes, the risk-reward of USD/JPY longs has shifted materially.”\nLeveraged funds boosted their net-short position in the yen to 65,611 contracts in the week ending Nov. 28, the most since April 2022, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.\nThe yen’s rally Thursday was the biggest since the BOJ blindsided investors in December last year after then Governor Haruhiko Kuroda doubled the cap on 10-year yields, sparking bets on policy normalization.\nUeda, who took the helm in April, has maintained cautious approach and gradually widened the yield-curve control this year. He’s kept ultra-loose monetary in place at a time when other major central banks were increasing interest rates to contain global price growth.\nBOJ officials have said the bank is not confident enough yet about attaining the price goal of stable inflation at 2% accompanied by wage growth.\nData released Friday showed labor cash earnings increased more than expected in October, up 1.5% on year compared with the median estimate of 1% in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Still, real cash earnings dropped for 19th straight month.\nThe yen is still down about 9% against the greenback this year, the second worst performance among G-10 peers.\n“Even after a monetary policy shift by the BOJ, the yield gap with overseas nations will remain, so it’s possible investors will re-enter the carry trade,” said Wako Ogawa, director of foreign-exchange sales at Deutsche Securities Inc. in Tokyo “However, it’s hard to take such positions while there’s no clear signal on when the policy will be adjusted.”\nOgawa expects the yen will probably see more appreciation pressure toward the BOJ meetings this month and in January.\n--With assistance from Masahiro Hidaka, Anya Andrianova, Ruth Carson, Winnie Hsu and Saburo Funabiki.\n(Adds strategists comments and updates prices.)\n",
        "title": "Yen Fluctuates as Focus Shifts From BOJ Speculation to US Data"
    },
    {
        "id": 356,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/binance-withdraws-abu-dhabi-license-233019078.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Binance announced the withdrawal of a license application in Abu Dhabi just over two weeks into the tenure of Chief Executive Officer Richard Teng, who faces the task of reshaping the company after its guilty pleas to US charges.\n“When assessing our global licensing needs, we decided this application was not necessary,” a Binance spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday. The company remains “committed” to working with regulators to provide services in the Middle East and beyond, the spokesperson added.\nTeng has indicated that he plans to adopt a conventional corporate structure for the world’s largest crypto exchange, including naming a headquarters and board of directors, as well as providing greater financial transparency.\nBinance on Nov. 21 pleaded guilty to US anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations, incurring a $4.3 billion fine as well as ongoing oversight from the authorities there. Founder Changpeng Zhao also pleaded guilty and stepped down as CEO, handing arguably the toughest job in crypto to Teng.\nBinance was already adjusting its footprint ahead of the US settlement as it fielded a web of probes in key jurisdictions. The company said it exited Russia, Canada and the Netherlands, and wound down its derivatives exchange in Australia. Binance.US lost banking support and saw trading volumes contract.\nWhile Binance globally remains the biggest platform for buying and selling digital assets as well as crypto derivatives, its dominance is waning. The exchange’s share of spot trading volumes slid to 32% in November from 55% at the start of 2023, according to CCData. Its derivatives market share declined to 48% from more than 60%.\nTeng is a civil servant turned crypto executive whose resume includes a stint as chief executive of the regulator at Abu Dhabi’s international financial free zone. In an interview with Bloomberg Television last month, he declined to elaborate on the likely location of Binance’s formal headquarters, saying only that the company will make announcements in due time.\n",
        "title": "Binance Withdraws Abu Dhabi License Application"
    },
    {
        "id": 357,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-power-giant-weighs-bid-074911330.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China Southern Power Grid Co., the country’s second-largest electricity supplier, is considering a bid for the stakes held by Canadian pension funds in Transelec SA, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe Chinese state-owned utility, which already holds almost 28% of Chile’s biggest power-transmission company, is working with a financial adviser as it evaluates a potential offer, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. One of the options under consideration is a joint bid with a strategic partner in a move to ease regulatory concerns in the Chilean market, the people said.\nCanadian pension funds Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and Public Sector Pension Investment Board are considering selling their roughly 72% stake in the Santiago-based utility, Bloomberg News reported in October. That could be worth about $3 billion, people familiar with the matter have said.\nConsiderations are preliminary and China Southern could still decide against proceeding with a bid, the people said. Other suitors could also emerge, they added.\nRepresentatives for the Canadian funds declined to comment, while representatives for China Southern Power Grid and Transelec didn’t respond to requests for comment.\nChina Southern invests, builds and operates cross-regional power transmission and networking projects in five Chinese provinces, according to its website. It’s also connected to the power grids of Hong Kong, Macau and some southeast Asian countries.\nThe company has been eyeing growth in Latin America. It acquired its stake in Transelec from Brookfield for about $1.3 billion in 2018. Earlier this year, it agreed to buy Enel SpA’s distribution assets in Peru for about $2.9 billion.\nTranselec is the main supplier of high voltage systems in Chile, with more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) of power lines across the country, according to its website.\n--With assistance from Kathy Chen.\n",
        "title": "China Power Giant Weighs Bid for Chile’s Transelec Stake, Sources Say"
    },
    {
        "id": 358,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-10-jgb-yield-jumps-073648702.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates yields, adds comments)\nTOKYO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Japan's 10-year government bond yield hit a three-week high on Friday on growing speculation that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) would end its negative interest rate policy soon.\nThe 10-year JGB yield climbed as high as 5 basis points (bps) to 0.8% earlier in the session, its highest since Nov. 16, following a 10.5 bps jump in the previous session, its biggest single-session increase since April 2013.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank anticipates an \"even more challenging\" situation in the year-end and the beginning of next year.\n\"Ueda said there is a challenge at the end of the year, which drove a speculation that the BOJ may end its negative rate policy at its meeting later in the month,\" said Katsutoshi Inadome, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management.\nThe BOJ governor's comments came as some economists and strategists expect the central bank to end its negative rate policy as early as January, with inflation exceeding the central bank's 2% target for well over a year.\nUeda visited Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after he made the remarks, which also helped the yen surge to a multi-month high against the dollar, extending its rally on Friday.\nThe 10-year bond yield retreated later in the session, last at 0.77%, as investors bought back the bonds on dips.\n\"What is expected so far is the timing for the BOJ to end its negative policy. There is no clear view on how the BOJ will raise the rate to positive going forward,\" said Takafumi Yamawaki, head of Japan rates research at J.P. Morgan Securities.\nThe yield swung sharply this week, rising as much as 18 bps, after hitting a three-and-a-half month low of 0.62% on Wednesday.\nYields on other maturities fell from their day's highs, with the 5-year yield last at 0.35% after jumping to 0.385%, while the 20-year JGB yield was at 1.54%, down from 1.57%. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Mrigank Dhaniwala)\n",
        "title": "Japan's 10-year JGB yield jumps on speculation of imminent BOJ policy shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 359,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-nikkei-suffers-worst-week-073353110.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates with closing prices)\nBy Kevin Buckland\nTOKYO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average logged its worst weekly decline since mid-September after falling on Friday, driven by increasing speculation about an imminent end to decade-old Bank of Japan (BOJ) stimulus measures.\nAutomakers and exporters were hit by the surge in yen, eroding the value of their overseas revenue.\nThe Nikkei ended Friday down 1.68% at 32,307.86, taking its loss for the week to 3.36%. The benchmark index had earlier touched its lowest since Nov. 10. Still, it remains up nearly 24% this year.\nThe broader Topix dropped 1.5% on the day and 2.44% for the week.\nThe Tokyo Stock Exchange's transport equipment subindex was the worst performer among the 33 industry groups, dropping 3.69% on Friday.\nToyota Group companies were among the Nikkei's biggest laggards, with parts maker JTEKT dropping 4.98%, logistics arm Toyota Tsusho sliding 4.88% and Denso slumping 4.51%. Toyota Motor also fell 4.08%.\nThe Japanese currency surged more than 2% overnight, hitting a four-month high at 141.60 per dollar after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank is considering various options to target interest rates once it withdraws short-term borrowing costs from negative territory, marking the clearest sign yet of an imminent departure from stimulus measures.\n\"Clearly there are a lot of nerves in the market about a normalization of policy,\" Nomura Securities strategist Kazuo Kamitani said. However, \"even if we see yen appreciation continue, the effect on corporate earnings will be pretty much nil,\" limiting Nikkei declines, he added.\nAt the same time, predicting the yen's movement is \"extremely hard,\" and a potential return to a weaker unit could propel the Nikkei to a fresh 2023 peak before year-end, Kamitani said.\nOf the 225 Nikkei components, 189 dropped, 34 rose and two remained unchanged.\nBank shares outperformed on expectations of an end to ultra-low bond yields, in turn improving the outlook for returns on lending and investment. The TSE's banking index gained 0.29%. (Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)\n",
        "title": "Japan's Nikkei suffers worst week since September on hawkish BOJ bets"
    },
    {
        "id": 360,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/too-tricky-trade-yen-watchers-072401086.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Vishnu Varathan was on the seventh floor of his office in Singapore’s Asia Square on Thursday when the phones started ringing. The yen was surging and clients wanted to know what was coming next, quickly.\n“Price action was very fast,” said Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. “It created a huge dollar-yen squeeze that became contagious through the crosses. No doubt there’ll be more volatility to come.”\nThe foundations for the yen’s biggest surge in nearly a year were laid in Asia after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda and one of his deputies made comments that traders took as hints of a looming interest-rate hike.\nA weak Japan bond auction added fuel to fire. Traders needed little encouragement to abandon bearish yen bets, sending Japan’s currency soaring nearly 4% at one point during the New York session Thursday.\nYoshio Iguchi, managing director at Traders Securities, was awake and worried in Tokyo when the moves in the currency accelerated. “At that moment I had to deal with risk management against the flood of stop-loss transactions by margin traders and my hands were shaking with nervousness,” he said. “I didn’t know where the pair was going as it fell at such a fast pace.”\nThe frantic trading — exacerbated by thin liquidity, computer algorithms and furious covering of short positions in the yen — forced some investors to the sidelines. Yen watchers expect a lot more market swings, with US payrolls data due later on Friday the next likely catalyst.\nGlued to Screens\nNick Twidale is among those bracing for more volatility. He was glued to his computer screens at his office in Sydney’s Bridge Street as the action unfolded. His traders at FP Markets stayed late into the evening Thursday as they monitored moves in Europe, when the yen took a leg higher as more investors joined the buying frenzy.\n“It’s too tricky to trade these market moves, we were hitting liquidity gaps,” said Twidale, a 26-year market veteran and Asia Pacific chief executive at the broker. “If you’re at a desk, you’re just filling orders — it’s very difficult to make two-way prices when you’re seeing 4% moves in a day.”\nThe dollar-yen pair started the trading day at just above the 147 level in Asia Thursday before plunging as low as 141.71 in New York. It extended the advance on Friday, rising as much as 1.1% against the greenback. Underscoring the challenge for traders, it had given up Friday’s gain at 4:22 p.m. in Tokyo and was at 144.35.\nOptions traders said investors were left “confused and unsure” following the roller-coaster ride, while others fretted that markets may be heading into a “dollar bear trap” this evening if US payrolls data surprise on the strong side.\nSome like George Boubouras are opting to watch the market action from afar.\n“I sat out,” said Boubouras, a three-decade investment veteran and head of research at hedge fund K2 Asset Management. “Markets were trading in one day instead of over one month the whole idea of a BOJ policy shift — and there’s probably a lot more moves like these to come.”\n‘Crazy Price Actions’\nThose who are still in the market are preparing for the risk of two more rough sessions Friday.\n“Traders have been pushed into a pretty tight spot,” said Juntaro Morimoto, senior currency analyst at Sony Financial Group. “I’m watching the market from home between European and US hours to respond.”\nKyle Rodda knew it was going to be another busy day as soon as he checked his phone when he woke at 6:00 a.m. in Melbourne on Friday. He isn’t expecting much let-up.\n“These are crazy price actions but it also shows that the markets are potentially at an inflection point,” said Rodda, an analyst at Capital.com. “It’s certainly a beginning of a trend — of markets pricing the BOJ is going to be hiking interest rates, and tighter spreads with the US.”\n--With assistance from Yumi Teso, Michael G. Wilson, Saburo Funabiki and Masahiro Hidaka.\n",
        "title": "‘Too Tricky to Trade’: Yen Watchers Brace for Even Wilder Swings"
    },
    {
        "id": 361,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/woodside-santos-could-sell-assets-071932092.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Scott Murdoch\nSYDNEY (Reuters) - Oil and gas firms Woodside and Santos could overcome any \"significant concerns\" with a A$80 billion ($52 billion merger) from Australia's competition regulator by selling off some smaller domestic assets, said a source with knowledge of the deal's discussions.\nThe source could not be named as the merger talks between Woodside and Santos are confidential.\nWoodside and Santos declined to comment, with Santos referring to its statement on Thursday, which said it was \"assessing a range of alternative structural options\".\nWoodside and Santos after market hours on Thursday confirmed speculation they were in preliminary talks to create a major oil and gas company, with assets in Australia, Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Senegal and Trinidad and Tobago.\nThe merged entity would control about 26% of Australia's east coast gas market and 35% of the Western Australian domestic gas market according to analysts, which could be a matter of concern for the country's competition regulator.\nThe Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been investigating the east coast market for several years, under pressure from the Australian government to help drive down gas prices for households and businesses.\nThe west coast is facing similar issues now, with major gas buyers facing price increases and a forecast supply crunch from 2025.\nThe source did not name any assets that could be sold to appease the regulator. However, analysts have mentioned Santos' Varanus Island asset, which is a key gas supplier in Western Australia, and its Cooper Basin gas business, a key gas supplier on the east coast.\nSantos shares jumped on Friday on the prospects of an A$80 billion merger with its bigger rival Woodside, but investors were cautious about the competition and valuation hurdles to a deal.\nThe ACCC on Thursday said it would study whether a public review into the deal was necessary if there was progress on talks to merge two of Australia's largest oil and gas producers merging.\nACCC has blocked three major M&A transactions in the country in the past year, though its Chairperson Gina Cass-Gottlieb told Reuters in September that the regulator was not averse towards deals.\nThe blocked deals included a data-sharing agreement between telecoms giant Telstra and internet provider TPG Telecoms as well as a buyout by ANZ bank of rival Suncorp's banking business.\nIt also blocked a purchase by Transurban of a Melbourne road.\n(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Sonali Paul)\n",
        "title": "Woodside, Santos could sell assets to overcome merger antitrust hurdles -source"
    },
    {
        "id": 362,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/traders-breathe-sigh-relief-india-070751292.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Traders in India are betting the central bank may refrain from doing bond sales in the coming months after the monetary authority indicated a reduced need to deploy the tool.\nReserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das Friday said that liquidity tightened more than envisaged in the last policy, and thus the need for such debt sales hasn’t arisen. Das shocked the markets in October by suggesting the RBI may do open-market bond sales, fueling the biggest rout in a year. The option of doing OMO sales remains open if and when required, Das said in a post policy briefing.\nThe 10-year yield can drop to 7.05% by March, especially if the RBI pivots on its stance in the next year. The yield was stable at 7.24% on Friday after RBI largely stuck to its script and kept rates on hold.\n“The unexpected change in liquidity situation due to various factors mentioned by RBI, the OMO sales seem unlikely now and even in the last quarter of FY24,” said Abhisek Bahinipati, fixed-income trading head at Mirae Asset Capital Markets India. “As a result, bonds are more likely to celebrate this kind of news.”\nThe overall tightening of liquidity conditions is attributed mainly to higher currency leakage during the festive season, government cash balances, and Reserve Bank’s market operations, Das said.\n“We have been insisting OMO sales were merely announced last time as a way to depict implied policy bias for higher rates and a way to offer higher risk premia to the world and to anchor the rupee – none of which turned out to be a worry,” said Madhavi Arora, lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd.\nREAD: INDIA REACT: RBI Signals No Bond Sales Needed in Dovish Hold\n",
        "title": "Traders Breathe Sigh of Relief as India’s RBI Tones Down on Bond Sales"
    },
    {
        "id": 363,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-yen-soars-nikkei-065103863.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates to 0628 GMT)\nBy Tom Westbrook\nSINGAPORE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Japanese markets were reeling on Friday, with the Nikkei heading for its biggest weekly drop in a year while bonds have been battered and the yen is eyeing its largest weekly gain in five months, as investors rushed out of bets on Japan's rates staying low.\nBeyond Japan, the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan bounced 0.8% and Treasuries were sold down slightly. The Nikkei was down 1.8% on the day, for a weekly drop of 3.6%, with exporters such as automakers falling hardest.\nOther moves were more modest as traders waited on U.S. labour data due later in the day.\nThe yen leapt more than 2% on Thursday and was well-supported on Friday as short sellers fear that a long-awaited rally may have finally begun.\nThe yen hit its strongest on the dollar in four months at 141.6 on Thursday and steadied at 144 to the dollar on Friday, having gained about 5% in three weeks.\n\"The direction is not a surprise,\" said State Street's Tokyo branch manager Bart Wakabayashi. \"But this move and the speed of this move have blown away my expectations.\"\nIn the past year the Bank of Japan has twice widened and then relaxed its tolerance band for 10-year yields and on Thursday Governor Kazuo Ueda said an \"even more challenging\" year is ahead, which traders took as a sign of change in the offing. The BOJ is due to set policy rates on Dec. 19.\n\"The importance of the meeting on December 18-19 has increased, and we judge it's fair to call December's meeting as a 'live' meeting,\" Nomura analysts said in a note.\nJapan's bond market remained under pressure, with yields higher along the curve and the shorter end tracking towards its sharpest weekly selloff since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.\nData showing Japan's economy fell faster than first estimated in the third quarter, as the household sector faced harsher headwinds, complicates the central bank's outlook, and prompted a paring of gains for the yen and of losses for JGBs.\nPAYROLLS\nIn broader markets, since U.S. jobless claims met expectations, the focus is on whether non-farm payrolls figures will reflect signs that the job market is slowing.\nEconomists expect 180,000 jobs were added last month and an upside surprise may unleash a strong reaction if traders dial back bets on more than 125 basis points of Fed rate cuts next year.\n\"If the Fed is going to cut aggressively, it will be due to a recession and a notable drop in inflation led by unemployment. The numbers game of NFP (non-farm payrolls) suggests we are still far from those levels,\" said BNY Mellon's head of markets strategy and insights, Bob Savage.\nShares in Australian gas producer Santos rose 6% on news it was in talks with larger rival Woodside about a merger. Woodside shares fell 0.5%.\nIn currency trade, the yen's surge has the dollar index set to end the week steady at 103.62. The euro was lower for the week at $1.0785.\nThe Australian dollar, weighed by a slowing economy and traders' perception that the central bank is turning dovish, was set to snap a three-week winning streak with a 0.9% drop this week to $0.6613.\nBrent crude futures touched a five-month low on Thursday, before recovering slightly to $75.17 a barrel in Asia trade. Oil is set for a 4.6% fall this week.\nGold, having touched a record high early in the week before recoiling, was clinging on at $2,032 an ounce.\nBitcoin is eying an eighth consecutive weekly gain on expectations that U.S. interest rates have peaked and anticipation that a bitcoin ETF might be approved. It last bought $43,437.\n(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Yen soars, Nikkei slides as rate hikes loom over Japan"
    },
    {
        "id": 364,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/foreigners-turn-bullish-india-stock-064019496.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the India Edition newsletter by Menaka Doshi – an insider's guide to the emerging economic powerhouse, and the billionaires and businesses behind its rise, delivered weekly.\nForeign investors have turned bullish on the outlook for Indian stocks, seeing further gains after victories in key state elections by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party helped drive the market to a $4 trillion valuation.\nOverseas funds held 31,549 more long index futures contracts than short contracts as of Thursday, turning to a net bullish position a day earlier for the first time since September, according to exchange data compiled by Bloomberg.\nStocks extended gains to fresh record highs this week, as the local election results are seen diminishing risk of political upheaval in national polls next year. The NSE Nifty 50 Index is up 16% so far this year, outperforming most Asian peers as investors bet on strong earnings growth and improvement in domestic consumption as well as the likelihood of Modi winning a third term.\nWatch: India Stock Market Value Tops $4 Trillion for First Time (Video)\nCommon futures trades by overseas investors target the Nifty 50 and Nifty Bank Index, among others. While now net long index futures, global funds also have turned buyers of Indian stocks in the cash market again, purchasing over $4 billion from the end of October through December 5 on a net basis.\nRead: BlackRock Urges More Allocation into Japan, India Stocks in 2024\n“This shows that foreign investors are getting confident on India, especially, because of political stability,” which has improved after the state elections, said Chandan Taparia, head of derivative and technical research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. “The rally should extend further with Nifty likely headed to 21,500,” he said.\nThe shift in the positioning of overseas funds in index futures bodes well for India’s record rally. Historically backtested data show that in the last decade, whenever the net index futures positioning of foreign investors has turned positive, the Nifty 50 has risen 2.6% on average over the next 30 days, 79% of the time.\n",
        "title": "Foreigners Turn Bullish on India Stock Futures After Modi’s Wins"
    },
    {
        "id": 365,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-worst-losing-run-since-013429285.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil rebounded after a torrid run but remained on course for the longest weekly losing streak since 2018 on concerns about a global glut, with traders doubtful that deeper supply cuts by OPEC+ will be effective.\nGlobal benchmark Brent, which rose toward $76 a barrel, is still headed for a seventh weekly drop. West Texas Intermediate approached $71 a barrel after retreating by 11% over the past six sessions. Widely watched timespreads are mired in bearish contango structures through to the middle of next year, with prompt contracts trading at a discount to later-dated ones.\nCrude has closed every session lower since last week’s meeting between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies as the group’s plans for deeper cuts were met with skepticism. The slump has come even after leading producer Saudi Arabia said the curbs could be extended beyond March, followed by similar remarks from Russia, Algeria and Kuwait.\nThere are also concerns about the trajectory of demand. Chinese consumption is expected to grow by 500,000 barrels a day next year, according to a Bloomberg survey, less than a third of the increase seen in 2023. In the US, meanwhile, many economists see a recession starting next year.\n“The oil demand outlook remains bleak,” said Ravindra Rao, head of commodity research at Kotak Securities Ltd. in Mumbai. “China’s recovery failed to gain traction, while Western factory activity continues to be in contraction.”\nThe prolonged retreat in oil — as well as declines in related products such as gasoline — will be a boon for central bankers as they seek to rein in inflation. Average retail motor fuel prices in the US have collapsed to the lowest in a year, according to data from the American Automobile Association.\nWhile OPEC+ has been reducing supplies in an attempt to rebalance the market and support prices, production from drillers outside the cartel has been expanding. Official data show US supply running at more than 13 million barrels a day, up from about 12 million at the start of the year.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil’s Bounce Fails to Erase Worst Weekly Losing Run Since 2018"
    },
    {
        "id": 366,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/santos-jumps-prospect-80-billion-232219147.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Santos Ltd. jumped after confirming preliminary talks with Woodside Energy Group Ltd. that would see the companies with a combined value of A$80 billion ($53 billion) create a liquefied natural gas powerhouse to benefit from buoyant demand.\nAdelaide-based Santos rose as much as 11% in Sydney before paring gains, as Perth-based Woodside fell as much as 3%.\nThe producers separately confirmed late Thursday they have had early-stage discussions on a possible transaction. Santos said it’s also reviewing other alternatives aimed at lifting its valuation.\nRead more: Woodside and Santos in Early Deal Talks to Create LNG Giant\n“The rationale to merge is clear,” UBS Group AG analysts including Tom Allen said in a note. A combined entity would offer a “globally unique LNG exposure” and have sufficient scale to self-fund expansion projects.\nWoodside, with a market capitalization of about A$56 billion, has focused on growing oil and natural gas production as it forecasts demand will remain resilient for decades. Santos, valued at about A$24 billion, said last month it was working with advisers on options to boost its share price.\nOne potential structure for a deal would be for Woodside to offer an all-shares proposal at about a 20% to 30% premium to Santos’ closing price Thursday, according to UBS’s Allen.\nThere’s considerable value in the Santos portfolio that’s not currently reflected in its share price, Allen said. “For a merger to proceed, Woodside must be willing to recognize and pay up for that value — which represents the biggest risk to a merger proceeding in our view,” he said.\nA deal holds limited operational benefits, would deliver only about $200 million to $400 million in synergies, and it could prove difficult for Woodside to justify an acceptable premium, Evans and Partners Pty Ltd. analysts including Adam Martin said in a note.\n“On first impression it doesn’t appear compelling,” Martin said. “The devil will be in the detail.” TotalEnergies SE, BP Plc and ConocoPhillips are all potential alternative buyers of Santos, he said.\nSantos in 2018 rejected a $10.9 billion takeover proposal from Harbour Energy Ltd. as too low, and later acquired Papua New Guinea-focused Oil Search Ltd. in a $15 billion deal agreed in 2021.\nWoodside last year completed a transaction worth about $20 billion to add BHP Group Ltd.’s oil and gas division, and has operations in locations including Australia, the U.S. and Trinidad & Tobago. The producer is currently advancing projects including the $12 billion Scarborough LNG development.\nSantos holds assets including a stake in an LNG export project in PNG and has domestic natural gas production in Australia, which could see any combination scrutinized by local regulators.\n“Both Santos and Woodside are material domestic gas producers which may create market concentration concerns,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Gordon Ramsay said in a note.\n(Updates with details, comments from)\n",
        "title": "Santos Jumps on Prospect of A$80 Billion Deal With Woodside Energy"
    },
    {
        "id": 367,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-australia-hit-class-action-062308262.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - An Australian workers union has filed a class action against McDonald's local unit, alleging that the restaurant chain asked current and former employees to work before and after their rostered shifts for free.\nThe SDA union for retail, fast food and warehouse workers alleged that McDonald's did not pay about 25,000 managers and supervisors across its 1,000 stores over six years, and is seeking A$100 million ($66.13 million) in backpay.\n\"The SDA is alleging that this was a deliberate and systematic practice by McDonald's and franchisees,\" the union said in a statement on Friday.\nMcDonald's will respond to the claims in due course, it told Reuters in a statement, adding that the company takes its obligations under all applicable employment laws very seriously.\nMikayla Martin-Coats, former McDonald's shift supervisor and department manager, said that \"getting to work 30 minutes early was not a choice, it was an exception.\"\n\"McDonald's is operating on a broken business model,\" said SDA National Secretary Gerard Dwyer, alleging that the fast-food chain should not be requiring managers to work up to an additional one hour per shift without pay.\n($1 = 1.5122 Australian dollars)\n(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "McDonald's Australia hit with class action over unpaid overtime"
    },
    {
        "id": 368,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-yen-bears-rush-exits-062221179.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 0600 GMT)\nBy Rae Wee\nSINGAPORE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The yen extended its sharp rally on Friday and marched toward its best week against the dollar in nearly five months, as traders ramped up expectations that the end of Japan's ultra-low interest rates was nearing.\nThe broad strength in the yen kept a lid on the dollar, which also stayed on the defensive ahead of the closely-watched U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later on Friday.\nBank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank had several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory. Ueda had on the same day met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.\nMarkets took those comments as the clearest sign yet that the BOJ could soon phase out its ultra-loose monetary policy and catapulted the yen to multi-month highs against its major peers.\nAgainst the dollar, the yen was last nearly 0.3% higher at 143.74, having surged more than 1% against the greenback earlier in the session.\nThe yen had gained over 2% on Thursday, its largest daily rise since January, and was likewise set to end the week with a more than 2% jump.\n\"Obviously, the markets got very excited,\" said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank (NAB).\nThe yen had, as recently as a month ago, fallen to a one-year low of 151.92 per dollar, coming under pressure as a result of growing interest rate differentials with the United States.\nThe weakening yen previously kept traders on edge over potential intervention from Japanese authorities to prop up the currency as it had done last year.\nSterling fell to a two-month low of 179.56 yen on Friday and against the euro, the Japanese currency last stood at 155.15, not too far from the previous session's four-month peak of 153.215 per euro.\nAttention now turns to the BOJ's upcoming two-day monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18 for clues on whether the ultra-dovish central bank will indeed signal a policy shift.\n\"I think a lot of us have felt that we were going to have some sort of more meaningful policy change this year, and we've been disappointed. So I'm a bit reluctant to jump on the bandwagon and say that (a change) is going to happen on the 19th,\" said NAB's Attrill.\n\"But obviously, there's no smoke without fire... So I guess the market is understandably taking the view that the December meeting is live now.\"\nSeparately, revised data on Friday showed\nJapan's economy\nshrank more sharply than first estimated in the third quarter.\nALL EYES ON PAYROLLS\nIn the broader market, the dollar largely drifted sideways, with currency moves outside of the yen subdued ahead of U.S. jobs data.\nThe euro steadied at $1.0783 and was eyeing a weekly decline of more than 0.9%, while sterling last bought $1.2595 and was similarly headed for a weekly fall of nearly 1%.\nThe U.S. dollar index was little changed at 103.67 and on track to gain more than 0.4% for the week. That would snap three straight weeks of declines, as the greenback attempts to stem losses from its heavy selloff in November.\n\"I'm more interested in seeing what happens with the unemployment rate and what happens with average earnings than the nonfarm payrolls numbers,\" said NAB's Attrill.\n\"Obviously, if we get a big shock on the payrolls - a big downside or upside surprise - the markets' initial reaction will be governed by that.\"\nElsewhere, the Australian dollar rose 0.17% to $0.6613.\nIn China, the yuan weakened against the dollar and was poised to snap a three-week winning streak.\nData on Thursday showed the country's exports grew for the first time in six months in November, though imports unexpectedly shrunk.\nConcerns over the country's growth outlook continue to mount, with investor sentiment still fragile on the back of an uneven post-COVID recovery in the world's second-largest economy.\nMoody's had, earlier this week, slapped a downgrade warning on China's credit rating, and followed up a day later with cuts to its outlook on Hong Kong, Macau and swathes of China's state-owned firms and banks.\n\"Moody's downgrade of China's rating outlook was motivated by concern over China's rising debt levels and possible need to bailout local state-owned enterprises,\" said William Xin, fixed income portfolio manager at M&G Investments, though he said the move had \"failed to consider\" Chinese policymakers' emphasis on reducing debt over the years.\n(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Jamie Freed and Kim Coghill)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Yen bears rush for the exits on hints of BOJ policy shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 369,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-nvidia-talks-malaysias-ytl-062045559.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(adds Jensen Huang quotes, context)\nBy Rozanna Latiff and Fanny Potkin\nKUALA LUMPUR Dec 8 - Nvidia is in advanced talks with Malaysian conglomerate YTL on a data centre deal, three sources familiar with the matter said, as the U.S chip giant looks for more business from Southeast Asia.\nThe potential tie-up would include collaborating on cloud infrastructure, and is likely to be anchored at YTL's data centre complex in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, bordering Singapore, one of the people said.\nThe partnership would offer businesses in Southeast Asia access to Nvidia's AI chips via cloud computing, a second person briefed on the matter said.\nNvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who was visiting Malaysia on Friday, declined to comment directly on a potential deal.\n\"YTL is an extraordinary company, (Malaysia) is an important hub for SEA (Southeast Asia) computing infrastructure, which requires access to land, facilities and power, and YTL could play a great role in that,\" he told Reuters at a news conference. \"It would be a privilege for us to partner with YTL in any way.\"\nYTL, whose telecoms division agreed to a cloud gaming partnership with Nvidia this year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nSoutheast Asia has become increasingly important for Nvidia as a \"growing technology hub,\" with Huang telling reporters he was considering artificial intelligence infrastructure projects in Singapore or Malaysia. He said this week the company would \"potentially announce some large investments\" in Singapore.\nAbout $2.7 billion of the company's revenues, or 15%, in the quarter that ended in October came from Singapore, a 401% jump from the same period last year. Singapore hosts many of the Asian headquarters of U.S and Chinese technology giants, and more than 1,100 AI startups.\nThe CEO told reporters on Friday that Nvidia was working with 80 startups in Malaysia. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur, Fanny Potkin and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore, and Max Cherney in San Francisco Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Nvidia in talks with Malaysia's YTL on data centre deal -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 370,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fear-cheap-chinese-evs-spurs-061410621.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Nick Carey and Paul Lienert\nLONDON/DETROIT (Reuters) - The rise of inexpensive Chinese electric vehicles has upped the pressure on legacy automakers who have turned to suppliers, from battery materials makers to chipmakers, to squeeze out costs and develop affordable EVs quicker than previously planned.\n\"Automakers are really now only turning to affordable vehicles, knowing they've got to or they will lose out to Chinese manufacturers,\" said Andy Palmer, chairman of UK startup Brill Power, which has developed hardware and software to boost EV battery management system performance.\nPalmer, formerly Aston Martin's CEO, said Brill Power's products could boost EV range by 60% and enable smaller batteries. The battery is an EV's most costly component.\nFears of slowing demand because EVs are expensive has increased urgency to reduce costs.\nThat urgency can be seen everywhere. Renault said last month it plans 40% cost reductions for its EVs to reach price parity with fossil-fuel models.\nStellantis is building a European plant with China's CATL to make cheaper LFP batteries and recently unveiled the Citroen electric e-C3 SUV, which starts at 23,300 euros ($24,540).\nVolkswagen and Tesla are developing 25,000-euro EVs.\nVincent Pluvinage, CEO of Palo Alto, California-based OneD Battery Sciences, said that on his recent visits with European automaker customers, every meeting started with the same refrain: \"'Reducing costs is now more important than anything else.'\"\nOneD adds silicon nanowires to graphite EV battery anode material to boost range and cut charging time, saving $281 - nearly 50% - versus using graphite alone for a 100 kilowatt hour (kWh) EV battery.\nThis can reduce EV battery weight by 20% for the same range, Pluvinage said. General Motors is a OneD investor and customer.\nOneD has developed a manufacturing process on relatively inexpensive machinery used in the solar panel industry, as Pluvinage said automakers dislike complex, costly new processes. OneD's first test plant will open early next year.\nHodenhagen, Germany-based Veekim has developed an EV motor with magnets using a form of ferrite, or iron powder, instead of rare earths, which five automakers and suppliers are testing for affordable EV projects.\nLegacy automakers want to cut rare earths use because China dominates mining and processing. Veekim CEO Peter Siegle said using cheaper ferrite and low-cost processes - including 3D-printed copper wiring - can cut an EV motor's price by 20%. Motors can cost more than 500 euros.\n'ALL ABOUT THE COST'\nIt is not just startups seeking EV cost reductions.\nChip maker NXP is working with automakers to reduce the amount of electronic control units - or mini-computers - in EVs, which can number between 200 and 300, said Allan McAuslin, director of vehicle control and electrification.\nSiemens has developed software simulation called digital twins to halve expensive EV development time.\nEuropean automakers are reacting to the arrival of lower-cost EVs from China, whose makers are planning even cheaper models.\nBYD's Dolphin hatchback, for instance, starts in the UK at 26,000 pounds ($33,000), nearly 30% below the starting price for the VW ID.3 hatchback.\nBut U.S. automakers, somewhat protected from Chinese EV imports by subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, also seek more affordable EVs.\nGM said it has saved billions partly by developing a more inexpensive battery pack with LFP batteries for its revamped Bolt EV, which will launch in 2025, two years earlier than planned.\nFord said it will cut costs partly through a 50% increase in \"in-sourcing\" of parts like batteries and inverters.\nPremium automakers want lower costs for EVs, too.\nMichigan-based Our Next Energy (ONE) is developing an \"Ares\" battery pack with cheaper LFP technology that should give automakers the same electric driving range for half the price and a \"Gemini\" pack for customers including BMW that offers extended range and should cost $75/kWh compared with an average today of $130/kWh, CEO Mujeeb Ijaz said.\nSuppliers said automakers particularly like less expensive parts that also reduce production costs.\nSan Carlos, California-based CelLink has developed a laminate sheet to replace wire harnesses - labor-intensive to make and install - that can be installed by robots.\nCelLink raised $250 million from investors last year and in May announced a $362 million U.S. government loan for its Texas factory.\nSince opening that plant, said CEO Kevin Coakley, \"We've gotten some form of a purchase order from basically every major automaker that's come through there.\"\nIsraeli startup Addionics has developed porous, three-dimensional copper and aluminium electrode battery materials that look like sheer silk scarves when held up to the light and use far less material - including 60% less copper.\nThose electrodes provide faster charging and boost EV range by 30%, CEO Moshiel Biton said. But automakers are more interested in projected savings of up to $7.50 per kWh.\n\"What we hear from carmakers today is, 'We don't need longer range, we want lower costs,'\" Biton said.\n(Reporting By Nick Carey in London and Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "Fear of cheap Chinese EVs spurs automaker dash for affordable cars"
    },
    {
        "id": 371,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/olympics-race-adidas-pursues-edge-060706180.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Helen Reid\nHERZOGENAURACH, Germany (Reuters) - As sportswear rivals jockey for position ahead of next year's Paris Olympics, Adidas is aiming to stamp its brand on smaller events such as breaking, climbing, skateboarding and BMX.\nAfter a high-profile fallout with Ye, the artist previously known as Kanye West, ended its highly profitable Yeezy shoe line, Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden is seeking to reboot its image.\nAnd the Olympics are a key arena for the global sportswear giants that spend millions sponsoring athletes, sports federations and national teams, as well as on event marketing.\nA shift back to sports rather than celebrities is a key part of a game plan by Gulden, who took over as Adidas CEO at the start of 2023, to turn around its fortunes - a tactic which will face its biggest international test at Paris 2024.\n\"For whatever reason the old strategy here was to focus more deeply on fewer sports, and I'm the opposite, I want Adidas again to be in the smaller sports and to be visible,\" he said.\n\"Focusing only on the four or five biggest sports is, first of all too easy, and it's stupid to be honest,\" he added in an interview at Adidas' headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany.\nA successful Olympics is a must if Adidas is to win back market share it has lost to rivals over the past four years and reward investors who are pinning their hopes on Gulden.\nShares in Adidas, the second-largest sportswear group by global market share, are up more than 50% so far this year, outpacing Nike and Puma, after two consecutive years of losses.\nWhile the main focus for Adidas is still on the big Olympic sports like athletics, working on more niche disciplines stretches design teams and generates ideas for more mainstream products like running shoes, Gulden said.\nBreaking, which has its origins in hip-hop, also has a streetwear and lifestyle appeal, Gulden said, while offering an opportunity to reach new audiences in key markets such as China, where the newest Olympic sport is popular.\nAdidas in June signed China's Liu Qingyi, known as \"B-Girl 671\", the world number one female breaker, but competition is hot.\nNike is official sponsor of the U.S., Japanese and Korean breaking federations and told Reuters it has signed 20 athletes. Puma also recently signed Chinese athlete Qi Xiangyu.\nPERFORMANCE\nAs part of a drive to attract younger people to the Games, climbing, skateboarding and BMX freestyle, which made their Olympic debuts in Tokyo in 2021, will also feature in Paris.\nWhile it is difficult to say how much the Olympics drives sportswear sales, the Games help brands build a reputation for the \"performance\" products used by elite level athletes.\nAdidas signings this year include BMX athlete Kieran Reilly, the Brazilian Skateboarding Federation and the Polish Olympic Committee, although Gulden said its presence in Paris will not be as wide as he would have liked, as Olympics sponsorship contracts run for several years.\n\"The Olympics are important for these brands in terms of showing their technology in every sport,\" said Boris Radondy, who invests in sports firms at French asset manager DNCA.\n\"When these brands forget that they are a sports brand, the customer goes away. You can't be only lifestyle,\" he added.\nPuma is focusing mainly on athletics, where it has already invested significantly as official sponsor of the Jamaica Olympic Association, having signed Usain Bolt when he was 16.\n\"We still need to focus on gaining market share in these areas,\" Richard Teyssier, Puma's global brand and marketing director told Reuters.\nPuma this year signed 35 new athletes across track and field disciplines from javelin and long jump to 10,000 metres.\n\"For them it's very important to be exposed in track & field, and in the past they have picked the best athletes,\" said Radondy, whose fund holds Puma shares.\nAt around three times Puma's size in terms of sales, Adidas can afford to spend on more athletes and more sports at the Olympics. In turn, Nike can far outspend Adidas.\nBut Kerryn Foster, head of specialist sports at Adidas, said \"we continue to invest more and more in the Olympics as a company, not just in the event but in the lead-up.\"\nFor the shareholders who have backed Gulden, the hope will be that his new Adidas approach can deliver gold.\n(Reporting by Helen Reid, Additional reporting by Katherine Masters in New York and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "In Olympics race, Adidas pursues edge in new sports"
    },
    {
        "id": 372,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/focus-fear-cheap-chinese-evs-060000349.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Nick Carey and Paul Lienert\nLONDON/DETROIT, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The rise of inexpensive Chinese electric vehicles has upped the pressure on legacy automakers who have turned to suppliers, from battery materials makers to chipmakers, to squeeze out costs and develop affordable EVs quicker than previously planned.\n\"Automakers are really now only turning to affordable vehicles, knowing they've got to or they will lose out to Chinese manufacturers,\" said Andy Palmer, chairman of UK startup Brill Power, which has developed hardware and software to boost EV battery management system performance.\nPalmer, formerly Aston Martin's CEO, said Brill Power's products could boost EV range by 60% and enable smaller batteries. The battery is an EV's most costly component.\nFears of slowing demand because EVs are expensive has increased urgency to reduce costs.\nThat urgency can be seen everywhere. Renault said last month it plans 40% cost reductions for its EVs to reach price parity with fossil-fuel models.\nStellantis is building a European plant with China's CATL to make cheaper LFP batteries and recently unveiled the Citroen electric e-C3 SUV, which starts at 23,300 euros ($24,540).\nVolkswagen and Tesla are developing 25,000-euro EVs.\nVincent Pluvinage, CEO of Palo Alto, California-based OneD Battery Sciences, said that on his recent visits with European automaker customers, every meeting started with the same refrain: \"'Reducing costs is now more important than anything else.'\"\nOneD adds silicon nanowires to graphite EV battery anode material to boost range and cut charging time, saving $281 - nearly 50% - versus using graphite alone for a 100 kilowatt hour (kWh) EV battery.\nThis can reduce EV battery weight by 20% for the same range, Pluvinage said. General Motors is a OneD investor and customer.\nOneD has developed a manufacturing process on relatively inexpensive machinery used in the solar panel industry, as Pluvinage said automakers dislike complex, costly new processes. OneD's first test plant will open early next year.\nHodenhagen, Germany-based Veekim has developed an EV motor with magnets using a form of ferrite, or iron powder, instead of rare earths, which five automakers and suppliers are testing for affordable EV projects.\nLegacy automakers want to cut rare earths use because China dominates mining and processing. Veekim CEO Peter Siegle said using cheaper ferrite and low-cost processes - including 3D-printed copper wiring - can cut an EV motor's price by 20%. Motors can cost more than 500 euros.\n'ALL ABOUT THE COST'\nIt is not just startups seeking EV cost reductions.\nChip maker NXP is working with automakers to reduce the amount of electronic control units - or mini-computers - in EVs, which can number between 200 and 300, said Allan McAuslin, director of vehicle control and electrification.\nSiemens has developed software simulation called digital twins to halve expensive EV development time.\nEuropean automakers are reacting to the arrival of lower-cost EVs from China, whose makers are planning even cheaper models.\nBYD's Dolphin hatchback, for instance, starts in the UK at 26,000 pounds ($33,000), nearly 30% below the starting price for the VW ID.3 hatchback.\nBut U.S. automakers, somewhat protected from Chinese EV imports by subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, also seek more affordable EVs.\nGM said it has saved billions partly by developing a more inexpensive battery pack with LFP batteries for its revamped Bolt EV, which will launch in 2025, two years earlier than planned.\nFord said it will cut costs partly through a 50% increase in \"in-sourcing\" of parts like batteries and inverters.\nPremium automakers want lower costs for EVs, too.\nMichigan-based Our Next Energy (ONE) is developing an \"Ares\" battery pack with cheaper LFP technology that should give automakers the same electric driving range for half the price and a \"Gemini\" pack for customers including BMW that offers extended range and should cost $75/kWh compared with an average today of $130/kWh, CEO Mujeeb Ijaz said.\nSuppliers said automakers particularly like less expensive parts that also reduce production costs.\nSan Carlos, California-based CelLink has developed a laminate sheet to replace wire harnesses - labor-intensive to make and install - that can be installed by robots.\nCelLink raised $250 million from investors last year and in May announced a $362 million U.S. government loan for its Texas factory.\nSince opening that plant, said CEO Kevin Coakley, \"We've gotten some form of a purchase order from basically every major automaker that's come through there.\"\nIsraeli startup Addionics has developed porous, three-dimensional copper and aluminium electrode battery materials that look like sheer silk scarves when held up to the light and use far less material - including 60% less copper.\nThose electrodes provide faster charging and boost EV range by 30%, CEO Moshiel Biton said. But automakers are more interested in projected savings of up to $7.50 per kWh.\n\"What we hear from carmakers today is, 'We don't need longer range, we want lower costs,'\" Biton said.\n(Reporting By Nick Carey in London and Paul Lienert in Detroit Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "FOCUS-Fear of cheap Chinese EVs spurs automaker dash for affordable cars"
    },
    {
        "id": 373,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/focus-olympics-race-adidas-pursues-060000466.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Helen Reid\nHERZOGENAURACH, Germany, Dec 8 (Reuters) - As sportswear rivals jockey for position ahead of next year's Paris Olympics, Adidas is aiming to stamp its brand on smaller events such as breaking, climbing, skateboarding and BMX.\nAfter a high-profile fallout with Ye, the artist previously known as Kanye West, ended its highly profitable Yeezy shoe line, Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden is seeking to reboot its image.\nAnd the Olympics are a key arena for the global sportswear giants that spend millions sponsoring athletes, sports federations and national teams, as well as on event marketing.\nA shift back to sports rather than celebrities is a key part of a game plan by Gulden, who took over as Adidas CEO at the start of 2023, to turn around its fortunes - a tactic which will face its biggest international test at Paris 2024.\n\"For whatever reason the old strategy here was to focus more deeply on fewer sports, and I'm the opposite, I want Adidas again to be in the smaller sports and to be visible,\" he said.\n\"Focusing only on the four or five biggest sports is, first of all too easy, and it's stupid to be honest,\" he added in an interview at Adidas' headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany.\nA successful Olympics is a must if Adidas is to win back market share it has lost to rivals over the past four years and reward investors who are pinning their hopes on Gulden.\nShares in Adidas, the second-largest sportswear group by global market share, are up more than 50% so far this year, outpacing Nike and Puma, after two consecutive years of losses.\nWhile the main focus for Adidas is still on the big Olympic sports like athletics, working on more niche disciplines stretches design teams and generates ideas for more mainstream products like running shoes, Gulden said.\nBreaking, which has its origins in hip-hop, also has a streetwear and lifestyle appeal, Gulden said, while offering an opportunity to reach new audiences in key markets such as China, where the newest Olympic sport is popular.\nAdidas in June signed China's Liu Qingyi, known as \"B-Girl 671\", the world number one female breaker, but competition is hot.\nNike is official sponsor of the U.S., Japanese and Korean breaking federations and told Reuters it has signed 20 athletes. Puma also recently signed Chinese athlete Qi Xiangyu.\nPERFORMANCE\nAs part of a drive to attract younger people to the Games, climbing, skateboarding and BMX freestyle, which made their Olympic debuts in Tokyo in 2021, will also feature in Paris.\nWhile it is difficult to say how much the Olympics drives sportswear sales, the Games help brands build a reputation for the \"performance\" products used by elite level athletes.\nAdidas signings this year include BMX athlete Kieran Reilly, the Brazilian Skateboarding Federation and the Polish Olympic Committee, although Gulden said its presence in Paris will not be as wide as he would have liked, as Olympics sponsorship contracts run for several years.\n\"The Olympics are important for these brands in terms of showing their technology in every sport,\" said Boris Radondy, who invests in sports firms at French asset manager DNCA.\n\"When these brands forget that they are a sports brand, the customer goes away. You can't be only lifestyle,\" he added.\nPuma is focusing mainly on athletics, where it has already invested significantly as official sponsor of the Jamaica Olympic Association, having signed Usain Bolt when he was 16.\n\"We still need to focus on gaining market share in these areas,\" Richard Teyssier, Puma's global brand and marketing director told Reuters.\nPuma this year signed 35 new athletes across track and field disciplines from javelin and long jump to 10,000 metres.\n\"For them it's very important to be exposed in track & field, and in the past they have picked the best athletes,\" said Radondy, whose fund holds Puma shares.\nAt around three times Puma's size in terms of sales, Adidas can afford to spend on more athletes and more sports at the Olympics. In turn, Nike can far outspend Adidas.\nBut Kerryn Foster, head of specialist sports at Adidas, said \"we continue to invest more and more in the Olympics as a company, not just in the event but in the lead-up.\"\nFor the shareholders who have backed Gulden, the hope will be that his new Adidas approach can deliver gold.\n(Reporting by Helen Reid, Additional reporting by Katherine Masters in New York and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "FOCUS-In Olympics race, Adidas pursues edge in new sports"
    },
    {
        "id": 374,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tsmc-november-sales-slump-7-053943045.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s sales slid back into contraction last month following October gains, showing there’s still a way to go before the global chip market stages a full recovery from a prolonged slump.\nThe world’s largest supplier of made-to-order chips recorded a 7.5% drop in revenue to NT$206 billion ($6.6 billion) in November. Revenue for the first 11 months was down 4.1% from the prior year, to NT$1.99 trillion.\nThe primary chipmaker to Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. in October projected sales of $18.8 billion to $19.6 billion for this quarter. During its third-quarter earning call, Chief Executive Officer C. C. Wei said the company was counting on the chip market hitting bottom “very soon” but stopped short of predicting a strong rebound because of uncertainty around China, which is grappling with a moribund economy and escalating US trade sanctions.\nRead More: TSMC Foresees Long-Awaited Chip Recovery After Outlook Beat\nElectronics makers and chip suppliers have struggled to work through a glut of unsold inventory, built up after the pandemic’s semiconductor shortage drove customers to stockpile and double or triple order. But now executives across the chip industry — from TSMC to Samsung Electronics Co. and Lenovo Group Ltd. — are saying the industry has mostly used up excess supplies.\nThe demand for artificial intelligence chips is helping companies like Nvidia and Advance Micro Devices Inc. and filling up orders for TSMC’s most-advanced production nodes. On Wednesday, AMD upped its outlook for the market for AI chips to climb to more than $400 billion in the next four years — more than twice as high as a projection AMD gave in August, showing how rapidly expectations are changing for AI hardware. TSMC also manufactures AMD chips, including the latest AI chip, the MI300.\n",
        "title": "TSMC November Sales Slump 7.5% in Sign of Uneven Tech Recovery"
    },
    {
        "id": 375,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-wall-street-journal-053525550.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 8 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\n- Apple and its suppliers, led by Taiwan-based Foxconn, aim to build more than 50 million iPhones in India annually within the next two to three years, with additional tens of millions of units planned after that.\n- FedEx issued a security alert to thousands of its package-delivery contractors, reminding them to give priority to the safety of their drivers and to enhance the security of their vehicles.\n- Yellow rejected an offer to revive the bankrupt trucker and rehire thousands of its former workers and said it is moving ahead with the sale of about 130 truck terminals.\n- Clothing retailer Levi Strauss named Michelle Gass as its next president and chief executive and will succeed Chip Bergh, who is slated to retire on April 26.\n- Spotify Technology Finance Chief Paul Vogel will leave the company March 31, with the company launching an external search for his replacement.\n- Crown Castle said it named board member Anthony Melone as interim chief executive officer, succeeding Jay Brown, who told the board he would retire as president, CEO and director of the company.\n(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST-Wall Street Journal - Dec 8"
    },
    {
        "id": 376,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-japan-drags-down-bonds-053418641.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook\nNine of the G10 central banks are expected to cut interest rates next year. Not Japan.\nBank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda's open discussion of a difficult policy year ahead and of possible paths out of negative interest rates has jolted short sellers out of the yen, afraid that the long-awaited yen rally may have begun.\nThe yen is up four weeks in a row for the first time since March. It steadied in Tokyo trade on Friday, perhaps since data showed the economy slowed more sharply than first thought in the third quarter, which makes the next policy steps more complicated.\nJapanese government bonds have been heavily sold, tugging global yields higher. The Nikkei dropped to a one-month low.\nThe consequences of above-zero rates in Japan, and particularly the possibility the BOJ will be hiking while the rest of the world is cutting, could be huge since it may trigger an unwinding of carry trades and a rearrangement of the flow of Japanese capital.\nThe BOJ next meets on Dec. 19. Before then the ECB, Bank of England and Fed will all meet, with markets expecting rates to stay on hold. U.S. non-farm payrolls figures due later on Friday round out the week and will set the tone for the policymakers.\nAn upside surprise in the jobs numbers would probably generate the most turbulence in markets, since a handful of recent indicators - pointing to a cooling labour market and slowing inflation - were behind a powerful bond rally in anticipation of rate cuts.\nThe European calendar is fairly bare on Friday.\nElsewhere in Asia, India's central bank kept its key lending rate on hold, as expected. South Korea's National Pension Service and central bank are in talks to extend their foreign exchange swap programme, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, and the won rose sharply.\nShares in Australian gas producer Santos rose 6% and Woodside stock fell 0.5% after the companies confirmed speculation they were in preliminary merger talks.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Friday:\nEconomics: Final German CPI, U.S. non-farm payrolls\n(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Japan drags down bonds as US payrolls loom"
    },
    {
        "id": 377,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-europe-japan-drags-053000409.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook\nNine of the G10 central banks are expected to cut interest rates next year. Not Japan.\nBank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda's open discussion of a difficult policy year ahead and of possible paths out of negative interest rates has jolted short sellers out of the yen, afraid that the long-awaited yen rally may have begun.\nThe yen is up four weeks in a row for the first time since March. It steadied in Tokyo trade on Friday, perhaps since data showed the economy slowed more sharply than first thought in the third quarter, which makes the next policy steps more complicated.\nJapanese government bonds have been heavily sold, tugging global yields higher. The Nikkei dropped to a one-month low.\nThe consequences of above-zero rates in Japan, and particularly the possibility the BOJ will be hiking while the rest of the world is cutting, could be huge since it may trigger an unwinding of carry trades and a rearrangement of the flow of Japanese capital.\nThe BOJ next meets on Dec. 19. Before then the ECB, Bank of England and Fed will all meet, with markets expecting rates to stay on hold. U.S. non-farm payrolls figures due later on Friday round out the week and will set the tone for the policymakers.\nAn upside surprise in the jobs numbers would probably generate the most turbulence in markets, since a handful of recent indicators - pointing to a cooling labour market and slowing inflation - were behind a powerful bond rally in anticipation of rate cuts.\nThe European calendar is fairly bare on Friday.\nElsewhere in Asia, India's central bank kept its key lending rate on hold, as expected. South Korea's National Pension Service and central bank are in talks to extend their foreign exchange swap programme, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, and the won rose sharply.\nShares in Australian gas producer Santos rose 6% and Woodside stock fell 0.5% after the companies confirmed speculation they were in preliminary merger talks.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Friday:\nEconomics: Final German CPI, U.S. non-farm payrolls\n(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID EUROPE-Japan drags down bonds as US payrolls loom"
    },
    {
        "id": 378,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-today-asian-shares-052808704.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher on Friday ahead of a U.S. government jobs report, after Wall Street rose Thursday to snap its first three-day losing streak since Halloween.\nU.S. futures were lower and oil prices gained more than $1.\nIn Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index shed 1.8% to 32,254.82, as investors speculated that the Bank of Japan may end its negative interest rate policy.\nBefore meeting Thursday with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda told parliament the central bank would face an “even more challenging” situation at the year's end and in early 2024. On Friday, the U.S. dollar fell to 143.79 Japanese yen from 144.12 yen. It was trading above 150 yen until mid-November.\nUpdated data released on Friday showed Japan’s economy shrank by 2.9% year-on-year in the July-September quarter, worse than estimated earlier.\nHong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.3% to 16,394.90 and the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.4% at 2,977.83. The Kospi in Seoul gained 1% to 2,519.07. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.2% to 7190.70. India’s Sensex added 0.4% and Bangkok’s SET gained 0.2%.\nOn Thursday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to 4,585.59. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% to 36,117.38, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.4% to 14,339.99.\nBig Tech stocks helped power the market higher, led by a 5.3% leap for Google’s parent company, Alphabet. They’re Wall Street’s most influential stocks because of their massive size, and they have been on huge tears so far this year.\nCerevel Therapeutics also jumped 11.4% after AbbVie announced an $8.7 billion deal to buy the company and its pipeline of candidates for schizophrenia, Parkinson’s and other diseases. AbbVie added 1.1%.\nWall Street has rallied toward its best level since March 2022 largely on hopes that the Federal Reserve is finally done raising interest rates, which are meant to get high inflation under control. Investors are watching keenly for Friday's U.S. jobs report.\nThe Federal Reserve wants to see the job market slow by just the right amount. Too much weakness would mean people out of work and a possible recession, but too much strength could add upward pressure on inflation.\nA report on Thursday said that slightly more U.S workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, though the number is not alarmingly high and hit economists’ expectations exactly.\nHopes for easier rates help all kinds of investments, particularly those seen as the most expensive or promising big growth far in the future. That’s helped Big Tech stocks make huge gains this year.\nAlphabet’s jump on Thursday brought its gain for the year so far to just over 55%. On Wednesday, it announced the launch of its Gemini artificial intelligence model. Alphabet was the single strongest force pushing the S&P 500 upward, but Apple, Amazon and Nvidia all also rose at least 1%.\nAnother winner was JetBlue Airways, which climbed 15.2% after it said it may report better results for the final three months of the year than it earlier expected. It also slightly lowered the top end of its forecast for fuel costs during the end of 2023.\nOn the losing end of Wall Street, C3.ai tumbled 10.8% after reporting weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.\nCrude oil prices have been falling recently amid worries that global demand may fall short of available supplies. But they reversed their decline on Friday. The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude gained $1.00 to $70.34. It lost 4 cents to settle at $69.34 on Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, gained $1.15 to $75.20 per barrel.\nThe euro slipped to $1.0787 from $1.0793.\n___\nAP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.\n",
        "title": "Stock market today: Asian shares are mostly higher ahead of a key US jobs report"
    },
    {
        "id": 379,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-apple-move-key-ipad-052159749.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details from the report throughout)\nDec 8 (Reuters) - Apple is allocating product development resources for iPad to Vietnam, Nikkei reported on Friday, citing sources briefed on the matter.\nApple is working with China's BYD, a key iPad assembler, to move new product introduction (NPI) resources to Vietnam, the report said, adding that this is the first time the company has shifted NPI resources to Vietnam for such a core device.\nEngineering verification for test production of an iPad model will start around mid-February and the model will be available in the second half of next year, it said.\nApple and BYD did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.\nApple suppliers including Luxshare and Foxconn also invested in the Southeast Asian country earlier this year to further diversify production away from China.\n(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Apple to move key iPad engineering resources to Vietnam- Nikkei"
    },
    {
        "id": 380,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-tankan-show-manufacturers-mood-050423570.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's manufacturers' business sentiment likely edged higher in the three months to December, a Reuters poll showed on Friday, although the global economic slowdown continues to cloud the outlook.\nThe central bank's closely watched survey is also seen showing the nation's service-sector sentiment staying firm, supported by upbeat inbound demand.\nThe Bank of Japan's \"tankan\" business survey is expected to show big manufacturers' confidence index rose to plus 10 in December from plus 9 in September. It would be the third straight quarter of improvement.\nThe non-manufacturers' sentiment index likely stood at plus 27, unchanged from the September survey, the poll showed.\n\"Among the big manufacturers, business confidence is expected to improve in the auto sector due to progress in production recovery,\" said analysts at Daiwa Institute of Research.\n\"The mood in sectors such as retail and accommodation & food services likely rose thanks to gains in consumption by foreign visitors, while labour shortage likely weighed on the construction sector.\"\nBig firms expect to raise capital expenditure by 12.4% in the current fiscal year ending in March 2024, slightly down from 13.6% in the September survey, the poll found.\nThe BOJ will release the data at 8:50 a.m. on Dec. 13 (2350 GMT, Dec. 12).\nThe BOJ will closely watch the tankan figures to gauge the strength of the economy ahead of the central bank's next policy meeting on Dec. 18-19.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda on Thursday told parliament the central bank will face an \"even more challenging\" economic situation in the new year.\n(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko. Editing by Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "BOJ tankan to show manufacturers' mood improving- Reuters poll"
    },
    {
        "id": 381,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/strong-us-job-growth-seen-050214497.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Lucia Mutikani\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth likely picked up in November as thousands of automobile workers and actors returned after strikes, but the underlying trend will probably point to a cooling labor market.\nThe Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday, which is also expected to show wages increasing moderately and the unemployment rate unchanged at nearly a two-year high of 3.9%, will cement views that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates this cycle.\nBut with employment gains forecast to remain well above the 100,000 jobs per month needed to keep up with growth in the working age population, it could pour cold water on financial market expectations of the U.S. central bank pivoting to cutting rates as soon as the first quarter of 2024.\nThe Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged next Wednesday. It has raised its policy rate by 525 basis points to the current 5.25%-5.50% range, since March 2022.\n\"We're looking for more evidence that restrictive monetary policy and tight credit conditions are having the desired effect, dampening inflationary pressures, not only in the economy more broadly, but also the labor market,\" said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING in New York.\n\"I don't think the Fed will be signaling a desire to cut on the scale that the market is looking to price right now, but they will be pretty happy with the evidence of the cooling jobs market.\"\nNonfarm payrolls likely increased by 180,000 jobs last month after rising 150,000 in October, according to a Reuters survey of economists. About 25,300 members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union ended their strikes against Detroit's \"Big Three\" car makers on Oct. 31, which depressed manufacturing payrolls that month, government data showed.\nAt least 5,000 UAW members remain on strike, the majority of them at Mack Trucks. Payrolls also likely got a lift from 16,000 members of the SAG-AFTRA actors union going back to work.\nStill, employment gains would be less than the monthly average of 238,800 jobs this year. Demand for workers is moderating as the hefty rate hikes from the Fed curb demand in the broader economy. The government reported this week that there were 1.34 job openings for every unemployed person in October, the lowest since August 2021.\nThere has also been anecdotal evidence of slowing hiring, with the Fed's Beige Book report last week describing demand for labor as having \"continued to ease\" and \"most districts reported flat to modest increases in overall employment\" from early October through mid-November.\nTemporary help, a harbinger of future hiring, has declined for much of this year. The average workweek has also dropped from 34.6 hours in January to 34.3 hours in October. It is expected to have been unchanged at that level in November.\nRISING LABOR POOL\nBut not every economist agrees that the labor market is softening, arguing that significant portions of the economy, especially in the service sector, remain understaffed.\nIndeed, an Institute for Supply Management survey this week showed services industry businesses in November reporting \"issues\" backfilling vacancies caused by normal attrition. There were also comments that \"the labor market remains very competitive\" and about \"trying to get to full staff levels.\"\n\"We're not convinced that the labor market has really slowed abruptly here,\" said Dean Maki, chief economist at Point72 Asset Management in Stamford, Connecticut. \"The underlying trend in job growth remains pretty healthy.\"\nThe unemployment rate has risen from a 53-year low of 3.4% in April. The increase, however, has been driven by a rise in labor supply rather than companies laying off workers. Economists said there was a risk that the jobless rate could hit 4.0% in November, but urged against interpreting the rise as a sign of deteriorating labor market conditions.\n\"More people are coming into the labor force, and they're counted as unemployed when they come in,\" said Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade North America. \"It's not companies firing people. So, it's not the usual dynamic that would make one concerned.\"\nThe expanding labor pool is slowing wage growth, boosting the Fed's efforts to lower inflation to its 2% target.\nAverage hourly earnings are forecast climbing 0.3% after gaining 0.2% in October. That would lower the annual increase in wages to 4.0%, which would the smallest advance since June 2021, after rising 4.1% in October.\nModerate wage gains would add to recent data showing inflation ebbing in October.\nWhile that could contribute to crimping consumer spending this quarter and beyond, economists do not expect a recession, but rather a period of tepid growth. Most did not see the economy shedding jobs until the second quarter of 2024.\n\"We may have some quarters of virtually flat growth, overall, very very slow growth for the whole year,\" said North.\n(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)\n",
        "title": "Strong US job growth seen in November as strikes end; trend slowing"
    },
    {
        "id": 382,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-cathay-pacific-favours-airbus-050025552.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Recasts paragraph 1, updates with details and background from paragraph 2)\nDec 8 (Reuters) - Cathay Pacific Airways on Friday said it has placed an order to purchase six Airbus A350 freighters for a basic price of $2.71 billion, potentially replacing its aging cargo fleet of Boeing 747 jets.\nUnder the deal, Cathay has also secured the right to acquire 20 more Airbus A350 freighters as the Hong Kong carrier renews the oldest section of its fleet of 747 cargo jets.\nCathay expects the six freighters to be delivered by the end of 2029.\nLate November, Reuters\nreported\nthat the flag carrier was favouring Airbus for the widely watched deal.\nThe selection means Cathay will replace its Boeing 747 fleet with the new Airbus aircraft after several months of postponing a decision.\nBoeing did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comments.\n\"These highly fuel-efficient, next-generation freighters will provide important additional cargo capacity, expand our global network and contribute to our sustainability leadership goals,\" Cathay Group CEO Ronald Lam said.\nCathay's choice for the next phase of cargo development is seen as a key test for the two freighters, given that the airline operates Boeing 777 and A350 passenger models.\nThe Airbus freighters will link Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland coupled with long-haul destinations in North and South America as well as Europe, Cathay said.\n(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Cathay Pacific favours Airbus over Boeing in $2.71 bln freighter deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 383,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wrapup-1-strong-us-job-050001892.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nNonfarm payrolls forecast increasing 180,000 in November\n*\nReturning striking workers to offer boost to payrolls\n*\nUnemployment rate expected to be unchanged at 3.9%\n*\nAverage hourly earnings seen rising 0.3%; up 4.0% y/y\nBy Lucia Mutikani\nWASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. job growth likely picked up in November as thousands of automobile workers and actors returned after strikes, but the underlying trend will probably point to a cooling labor market.\nThe Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday, which is also expected to show wages increasing moderately and the unemployment rate unchanged at nearly a two-year high of 3.9%, will cement views that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates this cycle.\nBut with employment gains forecast to remain well above the 100,000 jobs per month needed to keep up with growth in the working age population, it could pour cold water on financial market expectations of the U.S. central bank pivoting to cutting rates as soon as the first quarter of 2024.\nThe Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged next Wednesday. It has raised its policy rate by 525 basis points to the current 5.25%-5.50% range, since March 2022.\n\"We're looking for more evidence that restrictive monetary policy and tight credit conditions are having the desired effect, dampening inflationary pressures, not only in the economy more broadly, but also the labor market,\" said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING in New York.\n\"I don't think the Fed will be signaling a desire to cut on the scale that the market is looking to price right now, but they will be pretty happy with the evidence of the cooling jobs market.\"\nNonfarm payrolls likely increased by 180,000 jobs last month after rising 150,000 in October, according to a Reuters survey of economists. About 25,300 members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union ended their strikes against Detroit's \"Big Three\" car makers on Oct. 31, which depressed manufacturing payrolls that month, government data showed.\nAt least 5,000 UAW members remain on strike, the majority of them at Mack Trucks. Payrolls also likely got a lift from 16,000 members of the SAG-AFTRA actors union going back to work.\nStill, employment gains would be less than the monthly average of 238,800 jobs this year. Demand for workers is moderating as the hefty rate hikes from the Fed curb demand in the broader economy. The government reported this week that there were 1.34 job openings for every unemployed person in October, the lowest since August 2021.\nThere has also been anecdotal evidence of slowing hiring, with the Fed's Beige Book report last week describing demand for labor as having \"continued to ease\" and \"most districts reported flat to modest increases in overall employment\" from early October through mid-November.\nTemporary help, a harbinger of future hiring, has declined for much of this year. The average workweek has also dropped from 34.6 hours in January to 34.3 hours in October. It is expected to have been unchanged at that level in November.\nRISING LABOR POOL\nBut not every economist agrees that the labor market is softening, arguing that significant portions of the economy, especially in the service sector, remain understaffed.\nIndeed, an Institute for Supply Management survey this week showed services industry businesses in November reporting \"issues\" backfilling vacancies caused by normal attrition. There were also comments that \"the labor market remains very competitive\" and about \"trying to get to full staff levels.\"\n\"We're not convinced that the labor market has really slowed abruptly here,\" said Dean Maki, chief economist at Point72 Asset Management in Stamford, Connecticut. \"The underlying trend in job growth remains pretty healthy.\"\nThe unemployment rate has risen from a 53-year low of 3.4% in April. The increase, however, has been driven by a rise in labor supply rather than companies laying off workers. Economists said there was a risk that the jobless rate could hit 4.0% in November, but urged against interpreting the rise as a sign of deteriorating labor market conditions.\n\"More people are coming into the labor force, and they're counted as unemployed when they come in,\" said Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade North America. \"It's not companies firing people. So, it's not the usual dynamic that would make one concerned.\"\nThe expanding labor pool is slowing wage growth, boosting the Fed's efforts to lower inflation to its 2% target.\nAverage hourly earnings are forecast climbing 0.3% after gaining 0.2% in October. That would lower the annual increase in wages to 4.0%, which would the smallest advance since June 2021, after rising 4.1% in October.\nModerate wage gains would add to recent data showing inflation ebbing in October.\nWhile that could contribute to crimping consumer spending this quarter and beyond, economists do not expect a recession, but rather a period of tepid growth. Most did not see the economy shedding jobs until the second quarter of 2024.\n\"We may have some quarters of virtually flat growth, overall, very very slow growth for the whole year,\" said North. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)\n",
        "title": "WRAPUP 1-Strong US job growth seen in November as strikes end; trend slowing"
    },
    {
        "id": 384,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-clash-markets-over-rate-050000361.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank won’t lower interest rates as soon or as quickly as investors think, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists that suggests policymakers will push back against current market bets.\nOfficials will maintain borrowing costs for a second meeting on Dec. 14 and keep them there until June, when they’ll make the first of three quarter-point cuts in 2024, respondents said. They’d previously anticipated an initial move in September.\nThe new timetable is still later than financial markets are pricing after inflation in the 20-nation euro zone sank far more quickly than expected — a retreat that hawkish ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel called “remarkable.”\nInvestors see almost 150 basis points of cuts next year, kicking off as early as March. Economists only predict reductions in September and December, after June.\nThe shift in market wagers leaves President Christine Lagarde and her colleagues facing a balancing act over communications. With the region teetering on the edge of a recession, they’ll probably shy away from firm commitments on where rates are headed.\n“The ECB will likely want to push back, at least to some extent, on the recent dovish turn by the market, also as it risks unwinding some of the policy tightening,” HSBC economist Fabio Balboni said. “But it seems unlikely it will want to resort to strict forward guidance for the timing of the first rate cut.”\nSome officials have already offered resistance to talk of loosening. Hours before the blackout period preceding next week’s gathering began, Slovak central bank Governor Peter Kazimir called expectations for a reduction in the first quarter “science fiction.” Latvia’s Martins Kazaks, meanwhile, said no such move is needed in the first half of 2024 under the existing economic outlook.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says...\n“The Governing Council will probably discuss a change of timing for winding down its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme, the sharp changes in market pricing for the ECB’s policy rates and the staff economists’ fresh forecasts.”\n—David Powell, senior euro-area economist. Click here to read the full preview.\nThose assumptions are about to receive an update, however, when the ECB presents new projections alongside its decision on rates. Respondents expect growth and inflation predictions to be trimmed for this year and next, and left unchanged for 2025. In 2026 — appearing in the forecasts for the first time — consumer-price gains are seen meeting the ECB’s 2% target.\n“The sheer scale of the recent inflation undershoot of ECB projections at the headline and core level will force the Governing Council to acknowledge greater-than-expected progress in its fight against inflation,” said Oliver Rakau, an economist at Oxford Economics.\nNomura economist Andrzej Szczepaniak expects the new outlook to show inflation moderating below 2% sooner than currently foreseen, meaning officials “can’t credibly be very hawkish.”\n“But they’ll have to lean firmly enough against market pricing for cuts already in January and March,” he said. “Ultimately, markets have run away with the fairies.”\nThose surveyed appear confident that the ECB will get its timing right, with a majority saying it will neither cut borrowing costs too soon nor too late.\nA majority now also reckons the pace of balance-sheet reduction will be quickened by ending reinvestments under the €1.7 trillion ($1.8 trillion) pandemic bond portfolio sooner than planned. Of the two-thirds of respondents expecting that outcome, most see roll-offs starting in the second quarter.\nLagarde has acknowledged that the ECB may revisit its guidance on PEPP, which envisages maturing securities being reinvested through end-2024. An earlier start to rate cuts may affect the timetable, as the two measures risk sending conflicting messages to investors.\n“Although the ECB is done hiking rates, its likely next move may see it moving forward the date from which PEPP starts winding down, so technically the ECB must remain in a tightening mode as concerns official communication,” said Dennis Shen, senior director at Scope Ratings.\n“To avoid any confusion in markets as to whether it’s tightening or loosening, the ECB will need to ensure its communication signals markets shouldn’t anticipate near-term rate cuts,” he said.\n--With assistance from Jana Randow.\n",
        "title": "ECB to Clash With Markets Over Rate-Cut Timing, Survey Shows"
    },
    {
        "id": 385,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/opec-saw-hold-global-oil-050000543.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The OPEC+ coalition’s grip on global oil markets is looking less secure by the day.\nCrude traders have shrugged off the Nov. 30 pledge from Saudi Arabia and its allies to slash supplies by a further 900,000 barrels a day, remaining skeptical of its implementation. Despite the group’s multiple attempts to shore up sentiment in the past week, prices have crashed 11% to a five-month low.\nSome of the most powerful figures in the oil world such as Saudi Arabia’s energy chief and Russia’s deputy prime minister have issued public assurances that the supply curbs could be extended beyond March. President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in a show of oil producers’ unity. All to no avail.\nTraders are doubtful that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will deliver enough of the cutbacks to rein in a looming surplus. Fuel demand growth is slowing and rival supplies are climbing — especially from the cartel’s old nemesis, US shale drillers.\n“The market has proved to be very disappointed in the OPEC+ measures,” said Max Layton, head of commodities research at Citigroup Inc. The measures are “not enough to prevent a gradual deterioration of the oil balance” next year.\nThe extra cuts announced at the Nov. 30 don’t take effect until January, and there is a precedent for the group’s actions taking some time to influence prices. The Saudis first announced their unilateral 1 million barrel-a-day production cut in June, but it wasn’t until July that a sustained rally in prices took hold.\nBut for now at least, the supply reductions aren’t have the desired effect. Oil prices have plunged nearly 25% since nearing $100 a barrel in London three months ago. While that move offers relief for consumers and central banks after years of rampant inflation, it poses an economic threat to the 23 nations of the OPEC+ alliance. Crude futures traded near $70 a barrel in New York on Thursday.\nGlobal markets appear set for further weakness next year, according to the International Energy Agency, as China’s demand is muted by financial difficulties while supplies around the world swell. US crude production has soared to record levels above 13 million barrels a day, as shale explorers are re-invigorated by the support OPEC+ gave to prices earlier this year.\n“Everyone’s turned negative oil, not least because the US has accelerated this year in terms of production,” Paul Sankey, founder of Sankey Research LLC, told Bloomberg television.\nCuts Confusion\nLast week, the darkening outlook spurred the OPEC+ group — which had already kept millions of barrels off the market in the past year to prop up prices — to intervene again.\nYet initial price gains soon fizzled as the group’s new production levels emerged via a series of announcements from individual OPEC+ members, without the usual table of formal quotas or a concluding press conference to clarify the details.\nWhile Riyadh committed to extend its 1 million barrel-a-day cutback through to March, no new measures were offered by the kingdom, whose immense production capacity has been the cornerstone of previous accords. Instead, big contributions came from countries such as Iraq, which has a patchy track record on adhering to quotas.\nMeanwhile, Russia has continued to cloud its exact obligations by saying its supply curbs would now consist of reductions to exports of either crude oil or refined products, the latter of which are not typically subject to OPEC+ limits. Angola, after days of fractious debate, rejected its new quota entirely and insisted it would pump as much as it can.\nAnalysts delivered a scathing verdict. Consultant Vanda Insights branded the agreement a “confusing, entangled mess,” while Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. said that its “fuzziness” could drag prices into the $70s.\nNegative Optics\n“The clunky optics of this OPEC+ meeting will reinforce negative market sentiments heading into the new year,” said Bob McNally, president of consultants Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House official.\nIt’s a marked contrast from previous OPEC+ actions, like the record 10 million barrel-a-day supply cut that revived prices from a historic crash and rescued the oil industry when demand collapsed during the 2020 Covid pandemic.\nSentiment didn’t improve when OPEC+ revealed it had successfully recruited fast-growing producer Brazil into its charter, only for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to promptly explain his entry was intended to speed the group’s retirement of fossil fuels.\nIn the ensuing days, senior officials from the alliance made efforts to turn things around.\nSaudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told Bloomberg television on Monday that the 23-nation coalition could “absolutely” prolong the measures beyond the first quarter of next year. The promised curbs “will happen” in full and prevent inventories rising next quarter, proving the deal’s critic’s “absolutely wrong,” he said.\nPrices initially perked up after the prince’s statement, but promptly faltered again. His sentiment was echoed a day later by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, and then on Wednesday by Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab, but again to little avail.\nDepressed Market\n“The market seems little convinced about the petro-nations,” said Norbert Ruecker, head of economics at Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. The resulting mood is “exceptionally depressed.”\nThe coalition isn’t scheduled to meet again until June, and hasn’t yet set a date for the next gathering of the influential ministerial committee that oversees the cuts — something that typically happens every two months.\nTo revive flagging markets, Citigroup speculates that OPEC+ could call another emergency meeting before the year is out. Others ponder whether it will shift course entirely.\n“OPEC’s strategy looks fragile,” because supporting prices is simply financing a tide of US shale oil, said Doug King, chief investment officer of the Merchant Commodity Fund. Riyadh is also ceding customers to political rival Iran, which has restored output to a five-year high by skirting American sanctions, said Sankey.\nA “more logical plan” for the group would be to open the taps and send prices tumbling as it did in 2014, King said. That would increase demand and “meaningfully reset shale,” he said.\n--With assistance from Fiona MacDonald, Salma El Wardany, Ben Bartenstein and Jonathan Ferro.\n",
        "title": "How OPEC+ Saw Its Hold on Global Oil Markets Fray Despite Extra Production Cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 386,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-unemployment-rate-tick-amid-050000542.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics report due Friday is set to show the US unemployment rate edged higher in November as the economy began to slip into a recession, according to Bloomberg Economics.\nAlongside a rise in the unemployment rate, to 4% from 3.9%, the figures will probably also reveal a temporary rebound in employment growth thanks to the resolution of two major strikes, Bloomberg economists Anna Wong and Stuart Paul said Thursday in a preview of the report.\n“It’s harder for job seekers to find work, and longer stints of unemployment usually lead to persistent increases in the unemployment rate,” Wong and Paul said. “Our view is that a recession likely began in October.”\nRead More: US PREVIEW: Strike End to Boost Payrolls, But Job Market Cooling\nJob creation has slowed this year as employment rates for key working-age demographics have returned to pre-pandemic levels, and wage growth has also cooled as inflation has receded.\nThe Bloomberg economists see the recent resolutions of the United Auto Workers and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strikes boosting the headline job creation figure by 41,000 in the November report, bringing total job creation to 161,000.\nStill, “hiring likely was concentrated in only two sectors: health care and government,” they said. “We expect to see flat to marginal gains in other sectors, with outright declines in manufacturing, financial activities, and professional and business services.”\nThe Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increase in July now appears to have been the final hike in a historically-rapid tightening cycle that began last year, and investors are increasingly betting that the central bank will begin cutting rates as soon as March, according to futures.\n“The Fed can engineer a soft landing if it cuts rates soon,” Wong and Paul said. But waiting too long would mean “the labor market’s nonlinear negative feedback loop may have already kicked off, making a hard landing the most likely outcome.”\n",
        "title": "US Unemployment Rate to Tick Up Amid Early Signs of Recession"
    },
    {
        "id": 387,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wanda-sweetens-offer-mall-unit-045241650.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Dalian Wanda Group Co. has sweetened a proposal for pre-IPO investors in its mall operating unit to postpone a repayment for not listing shares in the entity this year, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe Chinese conglomerate is offering to give new shares in Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management Group Co. to the investors, the people said, in a step that could lead to billionaire Wang Jianlin potentially giving up control in the unit.\nThe revised proposal comes after investors had turned down a preliminary one to postpone the repayment of 30 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) plus interest due in about three weeks. In the current offer, the new shares would be issued at a valuation of about 100 billion yuan, which is half of what the unit fetched in a 2021 funding round before a planned initial public offering, the people said.\nAs part of the current plan, Zhuhai Wanda’s biggest shareholder Wang could sell some of his shares in the unit and could involve a new investor, the people said. These moves would see Wang’s holding in Zhuhai Wanda to fall below 50%, meaning the tycoon would lose control over the mall operator, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.\nWang, through Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group Co., controls more than 78% stake, according to the mall unit’s preliminary prospectus. Private equity firm PAG, which is the biggest investor in Zhuhai Wanda’s pre-IPO round, is leading the negotiation with Wanda on behalf of investors, the people said.\nThe latest proposal is more favorable for Zhuhai Wanda’s investors by giving them more oversight of the unit’s operations. The new shareholding structure could also make it easier to win regulatory approval for the IPO, the people added.\nDeliberations are ongoing and there’s no guarantee Wanda and the investors could reach an agreement, the people said. Representatives for PAG and Wanda didn’t respond to requests for comment.\nWanda was once seen as among the few high-quality Chinese issuers in the junk-bond market because it focuses on commercial real estate and asset-light property management business. The conglomerate’s financials came under pressure after borrowing costs surged and Beijing cracked down on the property sector.\nZhuhai Wanda managed 472 malls across China as of the end of 2022 and also had 181 projects in the pipeline, including 163 from independent third parties, according to its prospectus. The company filed its Hong Kong listing application for the fifth time in November.\nOther than PAG, Zhuhai Wanda attracted a marquee list of pre-IPO investors including Ant Group Co., Citic Securities Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., its prospectus shows.\n--With assistance from Emma Dong.\n",
        "title": "Wanda Sweetens Offer to Mall Unit’s Backers to Delay Repayment"
    },
    {
        "id": 388,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-move-key-ipad-engineering-045148327.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Apple is allocating product development resources for iPad to Vietnam, Nikkei reported on Friday, citing sources briefed on the matter.\nEngineering verification for test production of an iPad model will start around mid-February next year, it said.\n(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "Apple to move key iPad engineering resources to Vietnam- Nikkei"
    },
    {
        "id": 389,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-set-auto-research-institute-043556535.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BANGKOK (Reuters) - China will establish a China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC) in regional automaking hub Thailand, Thailand's government said on Friday, the centre's fourth such facility in the world.\nThai government tax incentives and subsidies have already drawn Chinese carmakers, including BYD and Great Wall Motor, which have committed to investing $1.44 billion in new production facilities in the country.\nCATARC, a Chinese government affiliated auto research institute, has centres in Germany, Switzerland and Japan and the latest one will facilitate Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers in Thailand, Thai government spokesperson Chai Wacharonke said in a statement.\nThailand is Southeast Asia's largest car producer and exporter in the region, with Japanese manufacturers including Toyota Motor Corp and Isuzu Motors dominating the domestic sector for decades.\nThailand aims to convert about a third of its annual production of 2.5 million vehicles into EVs by 2030 and is preparing incentives to encourage more investment and conversion into EV manufacturing.\nGovernment subsidies, which are currently up to 150,000 baht ($4,265) per car, have allowed EVs to gain more traction in Thailand, which accounted for about half of all EV sales in Southeast Asia in the second quarter.\nThai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he has shown Tesla executives industrial estate for potential investment last week.\n($1 = 35.1700 baht)\n(This story has been refiled to fix the spelling of set up in the headline)\n(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Martin Petty)\n",
        "title": "China to set up auto research institute in Thailand as EVs gain traction"
    },
    {
        "id": 390,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cathay-pacific-favours-airbus-over-043238503.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) -Cathay Pacific Airways on Friday said it has placed an order to purchase six Airbus A350 freighters for a basic price of $2.71 billion, potentially replacing its aging cargo fleet of Boeing 747 jets.\nUnder the deal, Cathay has also secured the right to acquire 20 more Airbus A350 freighters as the Hong Kong carrier renews the oldest section of its fleet of 747 cargo jets.\nCathay expects the six freighters to be delivered by the end of 2029.\nLate November, Reuters reported that the flag carrier was favouring Airbus for the widely watched deal.\nThe selection means Cathay will replace its Boeing 747 fleet with the new Airbus aircraft after several months of postponing a decision.\nBoeing did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comments.\n\"These highly fuel-efficient, next-generation freighters will provide important additional cargo capacity, expand our global network and contribute to our sustainability leadership goals,\" Cathay Group CEO Ronald Lam said.\nCathay's choice for the next phase of cargo development is seen as a key test for the two freighters, given that the airline operates Boeing 777 and A350 passenger models.\nThe Airbus freighters will link Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland coupled with long-haul destinations in North and South America as well as Europe, Cathay said.\n(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)\n",
        "title": "Cathay Pacific favours Airbus over Boeing in $2.71 billion freighter deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 391,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tencent-reveals-most-ambitious-game-042750796.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Josh Ye\nHONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings unveiled on Friday a big-budget console game named Last Sentinel, a title seen as the mobile gaming giant's most ambitious foray into the console market.\nThe Shenzhen-based firm showed a trailer of the action role-playing game at The Game Awards in Los Angeles. The title is being developed by about 200 people at Tencent's Lightspeed LA game studio, a key U.S. studio at the heart of Tencent's global expansion plans.\nTencent has not revealed a launch date for Last Sentinel, which will let players fight robots in a dystopian Japan.\nIn 2020, Tencent brought in Steve Martin, a well-known industry veteran who has worked on some of the world's most successful console games such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, to help bolster its presence in console games.\nTencent has been mostly known for developing popular mobile games such as PUBG Mobile, and Chinese players have traditionally spent more on mobile games, which are typically cheaper to produce.\nBut as Tencent looks to expand abroad as well as cater to Chinese consumers' changing tastes at home, it is pouring resources into big-budget console games.\nWhile Last Sentinel will showcase Tencent's in-house development prowess, the company has scooped up big stakes in many of the world's leading game developers, including a 30% stake in Baldur’s Gate 3 maker Larian Studios.\n(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "Tencent reveals most ambitious game yet for consoles amid global expansion"
    },
    {
        "id": 392,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-aims-build-more-50-042106363.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Apple and its suppliers aim to build more than 50 million iPhones in India each year, within the next two-to-three years, with additional tens of millions of units planned thereafter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing people involved.\n(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)\n",
        "title": "Apple aims to build more than 50 million iPhones annually in India - WSJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 393,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nvidia-talks-malaysias-ytl-data-040446289.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Nvidia is in advanced talks with Malaysian power-to-property conglomerate YTL on a data center deal, three sources familiar with the matter said.\nThe potential tie-up would include collaborating on cloud infrastructure, and is likely to be anchored at YTL's data center complex in the city of Johor Bahru, bordering Singapore, one of the people said.\nThe partnership would target businesses in Southeast Asia to provide them access to Nvidia's AI chips via cloud computing, a second person briefed on the matter said.\nIt was not immediately clear how much the deal would be worth.\nThe sources declined to be identified as discussions are not public.\nNvidia, which dominates the market for AI chips, declined to comment. YTL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nYTL's telecoms division already has a cloud gaming partnership with Nvidia agreed earlier this year.\nNvidia CEO Jensen Huang is visiting Malaysia on Friday after meeting with senior officials in Singapore earlier this week. He said the U.S chip designer would \"potentially announce some large investments\" in Singapore.\n(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur, Fanny Potkin and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore, and Max Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "Nvidia in talks with Malaysia's YTL on data center deal- sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 394,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-nikkei-touches-4-week-034123570.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Kevin Buckland\nTOKYO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average hit a four-week trough on Friday, as exporters slumped amid a strengthening yen on rising bets for a near-term end to the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) stimulus measures.\nThe Nikkei lost 1.68% to 32,305.33 as of the midday recess, after hitting its lowest since Nov. 10. The benchmark is set for a 3.37% weekly decline, its worst week since mid-September.\nThe broader Topix sank 1.39%, setting up a 2.33% slide this week.\nThe Tokyo Stock Exchange's transport equipment subindex was the worst performer by far among the 33 industry groups, dropping 3.81%.\nSeveral Toyota Group companies were among the Nikkei's biggest laggards, led by parts maker JTEKT dropping 5.63%. Toyota's logistics arm Toyota Tsusho slid 5.40%, Subaru lost 4.60%, Denso slumped 45.1% and Toyota Motor fell 4.35%.\nA stronger yen erodes the value of overseas revenues when they are repatriated.\nThe Japanese currency surged more than 2% overnight and hit a four-month high at 141.60 per dollar after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank had several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory, in the clearest sign yet of an imminent move away from stimulus.\nNomura Securities strategist Kazuo Kamitani said while it couldn't be ruled out that Ueda intended to strengthen the yen, he likely would have been surprised with the scale of the move.\n\"Clearly there are a lot of nerves in the market about a normalization of policy...Even if we see yen appreciation continue, the effect on corporate earnings will be pretty much nil,\" limiting Nikkei declines, he said.\nHowever, where the yen goes from here is \"extremely hard to predict right now,\" and a return to a weaker yen might see the Nikkei mark a fresh 2023 peak before year-end, Kamitani added.\nOf the 225 Nikkei components, 191 dropped, 33 rose and one was flat.\nBank shares outperformed, with expectations for an end of ultra-low bond yields boosting the outlook for returns on lending and investment. The TSE's banking index gained 0.67%. (Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "Japan's Nikkei touches 4-week low as autos stocks slump on surging yen"
    },
    {
        "id": 395,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-koreas-naver-cloud-sees-034007117.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Joyce Lee\nSEOUL (Reuters) - The cloud computing and artificial intelligence arm of South Korea's Naver expects its exports to at least double in three years, saying its AI services can be easily tailored to suit buyers in regions outside China and the United States.\nSouth Korea is one of the few countries with its own foundational artificial intelligence models. Tech giant Naver is also one of the only global firms with a dominant local search engine to compete with Alphabet's Google.\n\"The U.S. and China hold technological hegemony... They set the standards, which often means their technologies are a difficult fit for situations in countries around them, like regulations, users, companies,\" providing a competitive edge for Korean firms, Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yuwon told Reuters.\nThe company declined to give export figures, but in October Naver affiliates won a $100 million export contract to provide digital twin mapping services to Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. More regional projects are expected in the future, Kim said.\nKim said the company was in advanced talks with entities in the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines and Singapore.\nSuch countries are eager to adopt AI, and \"have demands to create an ecosystem within them, rather than buying it from the U.S. or China unilaterally\", Kim said.\nNaver's unit Naver Cloud provides AI services, cloud computing, corporate services such as co-working tools, and designs and operates data centres. It opened the country's largest data centre last month, a facility that can accommodate up to 600,000 servers.\nWith other units providing working in areas such as robotics, overseas clients could get a suite of services, Kim said.\n\"When you're not choosing a U.S. 'global standard' service, there are concerns that what you're buying may not be compatible with the next technology... not so with Naver,\" he added.\n(Reporting by Joyce Lee. Editing by Ed Davies and Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "South Korea's Naver Cloud sees exports doubling on AI boom -CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 396,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-developer-shimao-trades-flat-033630416.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "HONG KONG (Reuters) - Shares in Chinese property developer Shimao Group were flat on Friday after it issued a restructuring plan to reduce up to $7 billion in offshore debt, becoming the latest developer in China to try to revamp its debt.\nThe developer, with around $11.7 billion in offshore notes, bonds and other credit facilities has been pushing forward plans to revamp its debts over the past few months, Shimao said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late on Thursday.\nIt has proposed to a key group of creditors to exchange some debt for new loans with maturities up to nine years, new senior secured debts and equity-linked instruments, it said.\nShimao plans to decrease its debt by approximately $6 billion to $7 billion \"to enhance the group's financial strength and business operations\", the filing said.\nFollowing the filing, Shimao was trading flat on Friday morning, while the broader Hong Kong index tracking Chinese developers dipped 1.7%.\nNo definitive agreement on the offshore restructuring has been made with creditors, the filing said.\nChinese developers are still struggling with declining property sales, while investors remain concerned about spillover to China's broader financial system and harm to its economic growth outlook. China's property sector accounts for roughly a quarter of the world's second-largest economy.\nShimao, the first major Chinese developer to kick off formal negotiations on restructuring terms with creditors, initially proposed a plan last August to repay its offshore debt over a period of three to eight years.\nThe Shanghai-based developer, which defaulted on its first offshore payment last July, has been seeking to sell one of its hotels in Hong Kong since March to fetch at least $828 million as part of its debt recovery plan.\n(Reporting by Xie Yu; Editing by Tom Hogue)\n",
        "title": "Chinese developer Shimao trades flat after issuing plan to revamp offshore debt"
    },
    {
        "id": 397,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-oil-demand-growth-seen-233655278.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China will see oil demand growth slowing next year, casting a pall over an already disappointing global picture for 2024, as the impact of pent-up appetite for travel and consumption following a three-year pandemic begins to fade away.\nThe world’s top crude importer will consume an additional 500,000 barrels a day next year, according to the median of estimates from 12 industry consultants and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg — less than a third of the increase in 2023. Petrochemical feedstock such as naphtha, and liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, should account for most of the rise, along with jet fuel. Transport fuels such as gasoline, by contrast, are expected to become less significant as the electric-vehicle fleet grows.\n“Next year, growth will be returning to the normal trajectory with pandemic factors fading. The outlook isn’t so encouraging,” said Ke Xiaoming, senior expert at Sinopec, China’s biggest oil refiner, adding the fate of oil products was also closely tied to that of the wider economy. “Petrochemicals are supported by extra capacity, but are facing poor margins.”\nThe prospect of less-impressive Chinese consumption is already casting a long shadow. The International Energy Agency, in its November monthly report, said oil demand growth had been supported by “a narrow set of non-OECD countries, led by China” in 2023 — but it projected a sharp deceleration for the world in 2024 with a surplus on the horizon, even with deeper and prolonged supply cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Russia-led allies.\nChina accounted for 75% of this year’s increase in global demand, according to the IEA. Now the post-Covid lift in the second-largest economy is easing at a time when the world growth prospects look bleak, and a crude glut, especially from non-OPEC producers, is washing over the market, dragging prices steadily lower. US exports are nearing a record of 6 million barrels a day. Oil is heading for its seventh weekly decline — its longest losing streak since 2018.\n“This year’s oil demand growth at over 10% will never be repeated,” said Li Ran, China oil market analyst with China National Petroleum Corp.’s Economics & Technology Research Institute, speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Beijing.\nCNPC predicts China’s demand will return to 2019 levels. Jet fuel may see the strongest growth among oil products, Li said, but a sluggish economy will weigh on gasoline and diesel.\nRead more: China’s Oil Demand Outlook Is Worsening as Winter Approaches\nChina’s drivers are going green in large numbers: electric vehicles accounted for a quarter of all new passenger car sales there in 2022, a figure that rose to almost 38% of the total in October. Rystad Energy analyst Lin Ye said the research outfit expected gasoline to grow just under 4%, with diesel rising 5%, in part because of a recovery in construction — but jet fuel will jump 33% as international travel returns.\n“2024 can be seen as the starting point for a structural slowdown in China’s demand, with the biggest components, such as gasoline and diesel, losing momentum,” said Mia Geng, analyst with oil and gas consultancy FGE.\nRanice Tan, research analyst at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie Ltd, said naphtha would support growth, expanding 13%, while LPG demand would increase by 8% in 2024, thanks to extra capacity in propane dehydrogenation, or PDH, used in the production of plastics and synthetic fibers.\n--With assistance from Yongchang Chin and Sharon Cho.\n(Adds estimate, analyst comments in paragraphs 3 and 9, price in paragraph 5.)\n",
        "title": "China’s Oil Demand Growth to Cool in 2024 as Recovery Fades"
    },
    {
        "id": 398,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yen-soars-nikkei-slides-rate-031236425.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Tom Westbrook\nSINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japanese markets were reeling on Friday, with the Nikkei heading for its biggest weekly drop since October, bonds battered and the yen surging toward its largest weekly gain for five months as investors rushed out of bets on Japanese rates staying low.\nBeyond Japan MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares ex Japan rose 0.5% and Treasuries sold slightly. The Nikkei was down 1.6% for a weekly drop of 3.3%. [.T]\nOther moves were more modest as traders wait on U.S. labour data due later in the day.\nThe yen leapt more than 2% on Thursday and was well supported on Friday, though kept below an overnight four-month peak of 141.6 per dollar to trade at 143.39. [FRX/]\nBank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament on Thursday the central bank faces an \"even more challenging\" year ahead before discussing options for exiting its ultra-easy settings, which traders took as a sign of change in the offing.\nThe BOJ is due to set policy rates on Dec. 19.\n\"This may prove to be too soon for large steps to be unveiled, but... we believe it is a matter of when, not if, the BOJ jettisons its negative interest rate regime,\" said Corpay currency strategist Peter Dragicevich.\n\"This eventual turn and the capital flow implications... underpins our forecasts looking for the 'undervalued' yen to strengthen over the next year. This is also one of the pillars behind our outlook for the dollar to weaken.\"\nJapan's bond market remained under heavy pressure, with the 10-year government bond yield up almost 15 basis points in two sessions to 0.79%, although still well below the BOJ's soft cap of 1%. [JP/]\nFive-year bonds, which suffered their sharpest single-day selloff in a decade on Thursday, with the yield up 10.5 bps, rose another 3.5 bps to 0.375% on Friday. Yields rise when bond prices fall.\nData showing Japan's economy fell faster than first estimated in the third quarter, as the household sector faced growing headwinds, complicates the central bank's outlook.\nU.S. jobless claims met expectations, leaving the focus on whether Friday's broader payrolls figures will reflect growing signs that the job market is slowing.\nOvernight the Nasdaq finished 1.4% higher after a 5.3% jump for Google parent Alphabet as markets cheered the launch of its newest AI model.\nShares in Australian gas producer Santos were last up 6% on news it was in talks with larger rival Woodside about a merger. Woodside shares fell 1%.\nIn currency trade the yen's surge has the dollar index eyeing a slim weekly loss at 103.59. The euro was lower for the week at $1.0785.\nThe Australian dollar, weighed by a slowing economy and traders' perception that the central bank is turning dovish, was set to snap a three-week winning streak with a 1% drop this week to $0.6607. [AUD/]\nBrent crude futures touched a five-month low overnight, before recovering slightly to $75.02 a barrel in Asia trade. Oil is set for a 5% fall this week. [O/R]\nGold, having touched a record high early in the week before recoiling, was clinging on at $2,032 an ounce. Bitcoin is eying an eighth consecutive weekly gain on expectations that U.S. interest rates have peaked and anticipation that a bitcoin ETF might be approved.\nIt last bought $43,484.\n",
        "title": "Yen soars, Nikkei slides as rate hikes loom over Japan"
    },
    {
        "id": 399,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-10-yr-jgb-yield-030950125.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates with comments, yield levels)\nTOKYO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Japan's 10-year government bond yield jumped to a three-week high on Friday amid growing speculation that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) would end its ultra-low interest rate policy soon.\nThe 10-year JGB yield climbed as high as 5 basis points (bps) to 0.8%, its highest since Nov. 16, following a 10.5 bps jump in the previous session, its biggest single-session increase since April 2013.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank anticipates an \"even more challenging\" situation in the year-end and the beginning of next year.\n\"Ueda said there is a challenge at the end of the year, which drove a speculation that the BOJ may end its negative rate policy at its meeting later in the month,\" said Katsutoshi Inadome, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management.\nHis comments come as some economists and strategists expect the BOJ to end its ultra-low interest rate policy as early as January, with inflation exceeding the central bank's 2% target for well over a year.\nUeda visited Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after he made the remarks, which helped the yen surge to a multi-month high against the dollar, extending its rally on Friday.\nMeanwhile, the market was disappointed as the BOJ maintained the same amounts for regular bond buying on Friday, said Inadome at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust.\nThe BOJ has been reducing the amounts for its regular bond buying operations across the curve as yields fell sharply until earlier this week to track U.S. Treasury yields.\nThe 10-year JGB yield was last at 0.790%, up 4 bps from the previous session.\nMeanwhile, the 5-year JGB yield jumped 3.5 bps to 0.375% and the 20-year JGB yield rose to as high as 1.569%, their highest since Nov. 14.\n(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)\n",
        "title": "Japan's 10-yr JGB yield jumps amid speculation of imminent BOJ policy shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 400,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tencent-unveils-big-budget-open-030000123.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. revealed one of its most ambitious attempts at a big-budget console game on Friday, betting on a new franchise to fire up fans and help the global expansion of China’s most valuable company.\nLast Sentinel is an open-world adventure game set in a dystopian future Tokyo, developed by Tencent’s California-based Lightspeed LA studio. The 200-member creative team is headed up by Steve Martin, a quarter-century veteran of the games industry who has worked on marquee games in the genre like Grand Theft Auto and Read Dead Redemption.\nThe new title, four years in development, is testament to Tencent’s long-term pursuit of foreign gaming assets and talent. The WeChat operator still relies heavily on domestic game sales in China, but in recent years it’s amped up efforts to acquire slices of up-and-coming studios from Europe to Japan to complement its ownership of League of Legends creator Riot Games Inc. and large stake in Epic Games Inc. Last Sentinel is part of its push to create new intellectual property from scratch.\n“We have a global gaming community that’s screaming out that it wants something new. It wants new IPs, it wants new characters. We get to provide that,” Martin, who left Rockstar Games to join Tencent in 2019, said in a video interview before unwrapping his work at The Game Awards in Los Angeles.\nHe doesn’t have a launch date for his team’s creation yet, but the debut trailer offers some hints of gameplay and introduces female protagonist Hiromi Shoda. Martin’s former employer this week released the first trailer for its Grand Theft Auto VI, one of the industry’s most hotly-anticipated titles and a successor to a game he was intimately involved in creating.\nA large portion of the years-long development for Last Sentinel so far has been dedicated to documenting production plans and concept art to ensure a consistent direction — the team will move to gathering motion capture animations in Lightspeed’s newly created dedicated facility early next year.\nRead more: Tencent’s Pursuit of Foreign Gaming Assets Is Winning\nTencent, through its diverse international investments, is already a big winner at this year’s Game Awards. It has a 30% stake in Baldur’s Gate 3 maker Larian Studios as well as a 5% share of Remedy Entertainment, the Finnish studio behind Alan Wake 2. The two blockbusters scooped up eight nominations apiece at the award ceremony, including Game of the Year.\nNow the Shenzhen-based company’s own developers are looking to catch up and craft hits in-house. Tencent’s Lightspeed Studios is best known for making PUBG Mobile and its Chinese equivalent Peacekeeper Elite, which have helped the parent company maintain growth during difficult times. The Los Angeles division — situated in a two-floor building in Orange County — was established to take a crack at open-world games, while Playa Vista, California-based Uncapped Games focuses on the real-time strategy genre.\n",
        "title": "Tencent Unveils Big-Budget Open-World Game Led by ‘GTA’ Veteran"
    },
    {
        "id": 401,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-stocks-test-critical-support-230000091.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese stock benchmarks are approaching key technical levels amid a relentless selloff, and a tumble below the thresholds may point to further losses ahead.\nThe downtrend comes as global investors remain pessimistic on China’s outlook, with its economy showing a fragile recovery and the real estate crisis continuing to worsen. Foreign outflows have persisted despite Beijing’s attempts to stabilize sentiment. Moody’s Investors Service’s wide-ranging outlook downgrade across China’s sovereign and corporate ratings has added to the headwinds.\nHong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is approaching a long-term trendline that goes back to the 1998 Asian financial crisis. The line has offered support during the 2008 global financial crisis, and the benchmark was able to quickly rebound after breaching the threshold in October last year.\nYet traders worry the index may extend losses should it tumble below the support this time around given poor sentiment. Down more than 17% this year, the HSI is the worst-performing major stock index in the world.\nThe gauge fell as much as 0.6% on Friday, heading for its lowest close in a year.\nThe so-called “fate line” for the Shanghai Composite Index, which has held up in times of crises in the past 18 years, has also been repeatedly tested this year. Meanwhile, the CSI 300 Index is near its historic trendline after tumbling to its lowest since 2019 this week. The benchmark for onshore shares fluctuated between gains and losses Friday.\n--With assistance from Akshay Chinchalkar.\n(Updates with Friday’s moves.)\n",
        "title": "China Stocks Test Critical Support Levels as Selloff Extends"
    },
    {
        "id": 402,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-sets-aside-902-million-023739898.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Japan is earmarking ¥129.4 billion ($902 million) to Rohm Co. and Toshiba Corp.’s joint push to boost production of power semiconductors, seen as key to lifting energy efficiency in electric vehicles and factories.\nThe two Japanese companies said Friday they will spend ¥388.3 billion to jointly manufacture power devices, with an emphasis on silicon carbide and silicon chips to meet demand for smaller and lighter powertrains from the EV industry as well as efficient and stable devices from plant automation. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry would subsidize about a third of the cost.\n“It is essential that domestic power semiconductor manufacturers work with one another to improve Japanese industry’s international competitiveness,” Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said at a regular news conference Friday. The ministry has been encouraging more collaboration among the country’s chipmakers, he said.\nToshiba will boost production capacity of silicon power devices at an upcoming plant in Ishikawa Prefecture, while Rohm affiliate Lapis semiconductor will lift production capacity of silicon carbide devices and wafers at a plant in Miyazaki Prefecture, the companies said.\nThe plans were reported earlier by the Yomiuri newspaper and public broadcaster NHK.\n",
        "title": "Japan Sets Aside $902 Million for Chipmakers Toshiba and Rohm"
    },
    {
        "id": 403,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-deepest-contraction-since-pandemic-010046170.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) — Japan’s economy shrank at the sharpest pace since the height of the pandemic, an outcome that complicates the policy path for the Bank of Japan amid soaring speculation it is edging closer to scrapping the world’s last negative rate regime.\nGross domestic product contracted at an annualized pace of 2.9% in the three months through September from the previous quarter as households reined in spending, revised figures from the Cabinet Office showed Friday.\nThe updated figure marked the deepest drop since spring 2020 and compared with a preliminary reading of -2.1% and consensus estimates of a slightly narrower contraction.\nThe revised results confirm that Japan’s economic recovery from the pandemic lost momentum during the summer, with the outlook also shaky as overseas economies slow and sticky inflation continues to weigh on domestic consumption.\nSeparate monthly data indicated more weakness in the current quarter, with household spending falling 2.5% in October from a year earlier, an eighth straight drop. Nominal wages gains of 1.5% in the month still left pay gains well short of the inflation that is weighing on consumer spending.\nTaken together, Friday’s figures complicate the calculus for the central bank as authorities wait for more evidence that a positive wage-price cycle is in place before stepping back from a massive stimulus experiment of more than a decade.\nThey also offer little respite for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as he battles record low poll ratings amid criticism over a fund-raising scandal and his measures to tackle the impact of inflation.\n“The revised data and the spending report show signs of weakness for consumption,” said Nobuyasu Atago, chief economist at Rakuten Securities Economic Research Institute. “It’s risky for the BOJ to end the negative interest-rate policy when the economy is already getting worse.”\n“Still, I think their main scenario is they will make the move in January with new price forecasts,” Atago said, referring to quarterly projections that are sometimes used to justify policy adjustments.\nThe weak GDP readings come amid surging speculation in markets that the BOJ will move early to scrap its negative interest rate. Market chatter has been fueled by remarks from central bank chief Kazuo Ueda that his job will get more challenging from the end of this year and comments from his deputy apparently playing down the impact of a possible rate hike.\nJapanese bond yields surged by the most in a year on Thursday and the yen strengthened almost 4% against the dollar.\nThe Japanese currency gained further ground Friday after the GDP result, suggesting that the poor outcome hasn’t stemmed the tide of speculation that the BOJ may act as soon as its December meeting rather than wait for fourth quarter GDP figures in February and annual wage negotiation data in March.\nAlmost all economists surveyed by Bloomberg before Thursday’s surge in the yen expect no change in policy from the BOJ when it concludes its next meeting on Dec. 19. Two-thirds of them see the bank scrapping its negative rate early next year. April is seen as the the most likely timing, with a risk of an earlier move in January.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says...\n“The deeper contraction doesn’t inspire confidence in the market view that the BOJ is getting closer to scrapping its yield-curve control policy.”\n— Taro Kimura, economist\nFor the full report, click here.\nThe GDP data showed that consumption continued to slide over the summer with a 0.2% non-annualized fall compared with an initial flat reading. Capital spending numbers were bumped up, but still showed a 0.4% drop on quarter. Trade also weighed on growth.\nA sharper fall in private-sector inventories shaved another 0.5 percentage point from growth, though a running down of companies’ stockpiled goods can also be seen as a positive sign for the economy going forward.\nStill, the worse-than-expected consumer spending is a further sign that elevated prices are weighing on households.\nThe grinding impact of inflation on consumption carries a political cost for Kishida. Support for his administration has languished despite his latest economic stimulus package meant to help households cope with the rising cost of living.\nIn addition to criticism of his party’s fundraising methods, if wage growth fails to keep up with soaring prices, causing more consumer pain, Kishida could face opposition when his Liberal Democratic Party next holds a leadership election in 2024.\nKishida met BOJ chief Ueda on Thursday to discuss monetary policy and the state of the economy. Kishida didn’t make any particular requests, Ueda said.\n(Adds economist comments, more details from report)\n",
        "title": "Japan’s deepest contraction since pandemic clouds path for BOJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 404,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stellantis-blames-job-cuts-jeep-233023080.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Stellantis NV is eliminating a shift at a Jeep plant in Detroit and cutting jobs at its Toledo, Ohio, Jeep assembly complex, a move the company blamed on strict emissions standards adopted by California and more than a dozen other states in 2019.\nStellantis announced Thursday it will temporarily cut a shift at its Mack Avenue plant in Detroit, which makes two- and three-row Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicles and hybrids, and trim jobs in Toledo, which produces the Wrangler SUV and Jeep Gladiator pickup.\nStellantis said it was cutting Jeep production in anticipation of potentially lower sales of gas-powered vehicles in California and other states. The company filed a petition against California regulators Wednesday arguing the state’s rules put the company at a disadvantage versus competitors.\nThe moves come as automakers are pushing back on the Biden administration’s efforts to increase fuel economy and spur faster adoption of electric vehicles. Automobile industry trade groups have said stricter rules would cost them billions in fines, while dealers warn that EV demand is softening.\nStellantis’ predecessor, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, sided with the Trump administration it its fight to take away California’s legal right to set its own emissions standards. That position resulted in it being left out of the less stringent deal the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, struck with four carmakers — Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen AG, Honda Motor Co. and BMW AG.\nLayoff Notices\nStellantis said it would file notices Thursday to state and local governments under the federal WARN Act, which requires employers with 100 or more workers give 60 days’ notice of plant closings or mass layoffs. The company declined to specify how many jobs would be affected; the two plants combined employ just over 10,000 people.\nStellantis’s Wednesday petition alleged that California improperly adopted a 2019 deal negotiated by state regulators and four carmakers that allowed those manufacturers to voluntarily increase the average fuel economy of their fleets to about 50 miles per gallon (80 kilometers) by the end of the 2026 model year.\nWhile Stellantis has lagged behind other automakers in the conversion to EVs, its Jeep Wrangler 4xe hybrid is the fourth best-selling electrified vehicle in California this year through September, and its Chrysler Pacifica hybrid is 13th on the list.\nAt the same time, all three big Detroit automakers are looking to cuts costs after they agreed to contracts with record pay increases following the United Auto Workers’ strikes this year.\nLys Mendez, communications director for CARB, said the agency expects California’s Office of Administrative Law would recognize the agreements with the carmakers “for the settlements that they are” and dismiss Stellantis’ petition. The UAW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nSales Slump\nStellantis is also wrestling with shrinking sales at its prized Jeep brand as high interest rates put its premium SUV out of reach for more consumers.\nRead More: Jeep’s Jump to $100,000 SUVs Risks Leaving Loyal Buyers Behind\nJeep brand sales fell 4% in the third quarter, the ninth consecutive quarterly decline, Stellantis reported in October. Sales were down 9% this year through September. Jeep named a new head of North America and picked a new global brand head last month.\nThe 2019 emission deal between California and the four carmakers is widely seen as a model for a subsequent Biden administration rule adopted in 2022. That rule now requires carmakers to increase their average fuel economy to about 49 miles per gallon by 2026.\nDespite the fact that the national rules will require roughly the same fuel economy as California’s standards, Stellantis says manufacturers in the 2019 deal can meet the standards based on their nationwide sales, while excluded automakers are measured by sales in the states that follow the California rules. This, a company spokesperson said, necessitated the moves announced on Thursday.\n(Updates with CARB response, in 10th paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Stellantis Blames Job Cuts at Jeep Plants on California Emissions Rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 405,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-prices-head-weekly-decline-015225106.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Stephanie Kelly\n(Reuters) - Oil prices rose in early trade on Friday but were on track to fall 6% for the week, hovering near six-month lows, with investors fretting about weak energy demand in Asia combined with high U.S. crude production.\nBrent crude futures rose 68 cents, or 0.9%, to $74.73 a barrel by 0136 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 64 cents, also up 0.9%, to $69.98 a barrel.\nBoth benchmarks slid to their lowest since late June in the previous session. In a signal that traders believe the market may have become oversupplied, Brent and WTI are also in contango, a market structure in which front-month prices trade at a discount to prices a half year later.\nConcerns about China's economy have fueled the oil market's downturn this week.\nChinese customs data showed that crude oil imports in November fell 9% from a year earlier as high inventory levels, weak economic indicators and slowing orders from independent refiners weakened demand.\nIn India, fuel consumption in November fell after hitting a four-month peak in the previous month, hit by reduced travel in the world's third biggest oil consumer as a festive boost fizzled.\nBrent and WTI crude futures are on track to fall 5.8% and 6%for the week, respectively, despite a recent supply cut agreement from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+.\nOPEC+ agreed to a combined 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in voluntary output cuts for the first quarter of next year.\nSaudi Arabia and Russia, the two biggest oil exporters, on Thursday called for all OPEC+ members to join the agreement on output cuts for the good of the global economy.\nIn the U.S., output remained near record highs of over 13 million barrels per day, U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed on Wednesday. [EIA/S]\n(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Sonali Paul)\n",
        "title": "Oil prices head for weekly decline on signs of weakened Asian demand"
    },
    {
        "id": 406,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/two-thirds-boj-watchers-expect-224533147.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Japan watchers are increasingly expecting the bank to achieve its inflation target, with a growing majority forecasting authorities will end the world’s last negative rate regime by April, according to a Bloomberg survey.\nMore than two-thirds of polled economists see the BOJ scrapping its negative rate by April, with half of the 52 respondents saying it will happen that month. In the previous survey in October, 29% saw the move coming in April.\nThe results come in a week where financial markets were jolted by the prospect of an even earlier end to sub-zero borrowing costs as traders reacted to comments from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda and one of his deputies. Amid hints they could be preparing for a policy shift, Japanese bond yields surged by the most in a year and the yen strengthened almost 4%.\nTraders Pile Into Bets That End of Negative BOJ Rate Is Near\nAlmost all of those surveyed expect the policy board to retain the negative rate and yield curve control program when it gathers this month, with the focus falling on whether Ueda might drop any indication of changes to come in a policy statement or at his press conference following the Dec. 19 decision.\nClick here to read full results of the survey, which was conducted Dec. 1-6.\nLeaving aside the issue of timing, some 78% of respondents said raising the short-term rate would be the next BOJ policy step when multiple options for such predictions were allowed.\nThe results show growing expectations that authorities will seize the opportunity to normalize policy after getting confirmation of solid wage gains as part of annual spring wage negotiations.\nSome 52% said they expect the outcome from the talks to exceed results achieved this year. That’s twice as many optimists compared with the previous survey and follows a series of ambitious pronouncements from labor unions aiming to build on this year’s gains, which were the biggest in three decades.\n“The most beautiful scenario is the end of the negative rate in April,” said Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities. “Still, there is more than a little chance of scrapping it even in January or March as they want to get their homework done as early as possible given uncertainties in financial markets and the political climate.”\nThe BOJ added flexibility to its yield curve control program at the latest meeting in October. Only one economist expected a back-to-back move on YCC. More than three quarters of economists see zero risk of a change to rate policy this month.\nWith that in mind, a key question for the BOJ watchers is whether Ueda and his board may use the December meeting to send smoke signals flagging the approach of policy normalization. Some 36% said there is a chance that might happen, while half don’t expect it.\nIn an indication that market participants are getting more comfortable with the idea of a policy transition, some 94% of the economists said scrapping the negative rate wouldn’t exert a major drag on the economy.\nOn Thursday, 10-year sovereign debt yields climbed, while the yen rose to its strongest versus the dollar in months after remarks by BOJ Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino on Wednesday and by Ueda on Thursday prompted traders to move forward bets on policy normalization. Nervousness continued on Friday with the 10-year gauge extending an increase to 0.8% and the yen surging by more than 1% at one point.\n“It seems more likely to us that, under governor Ueda, the BOJ makes an important policy shift when there is also a quarterly review of forecasts – i.e. in the January, April, July, October meetings,” said Joey Chew, Head of Asia FX Research at HSBC Holdings Plc. “But we can imagine how some market participants would recall previous governor Kuroda’s penchant for policy surprises and therefore regard every meeting as ‘live’.”\n--With assistance from Cormac Mullen.\n(Adds Friday’s yen and yield moves.)\n",
        "title": "Two-Thirds of BOJ Watchers Expect End of Negative Rate Regime by April"
    },
    {
        "id": 407,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tata-plans-iphone-factory-hasten-012632331.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the India Edition newsletter by Menaka Doshi – an insider's guide to the emerging economic powerhouse, and the billionaires and businesses behind its rise, delivered weekly.\nConglomerate Tata Group plans to build one of India’s biggest iPhone assembly plants, tapping Apple Inc.’s ambitions to increase manufacturing in the South Asian country.\nTata wants to construct the factory in Hosur in the southern Tamil Nadu state, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The facility will likely have about 20 assembly lines and employ 50,000 workers within two years, according to the people, who declined to be named discussing unannounced plans. The goal is for the site to be operational in 12 to 18 months.\nThe plant would bolster Apple’s efforts to localize its supply chain and strengthen its partnership with Tata, which already has an iPhone factory it acquired from Wistron Corp. in the neighboring Karnataka state. Apple is diversifying its operations away from China by working with assembly and component manufacturing partners in India, Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere.\nAn Apple spokesman declined to comment, while a Tata representative didn’t respond to a request for comment.\nRead more about Apple’s supply chain diversification\nThe Indian conglomerate has taken other steps to increase its business with Apple and expand beyond its traditional businesses that range from salt to software. It has accelerated hiring at its existing facility in Hosur, where it produces iPhone enclosures, or metal casings. Tata has also said it’ll launch 100 retail stores focused on Apple products. For its part, Apple has opened two stores in the nation and is planning three more.\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s production-linked subsidies have spurred Apple’s key suppliers such as Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group and Pegatron Corp. to ramp up in India. That helped Apple assemble more than $7 billion of iPhones in India in the previous fiscal year, increasing the country’s share of the device’s production to about 7%. The rest are assembled in China, which until a few years ago made all of them.\nThe new plant is set to be mid-sized among iPhone factories globally. It would likely be bigger than the one Tata acquired from Wistron, which employs more than 10,000 people, and smaller than Foxconn’s biggest China facilities that employ hundreds of thousands.\nApple and Tata could likely urge the government to award subsidies for the new factory as it’s expected to begin production just as previous state-backed financial incentives are set to expire.\n--With assistance from Mark Gurman.\n",
        "title": "Tata Plans New iPhone Factory to Hasten Apple’s India Expansion"
    },
    {
        "id": 408,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-10-million-people-signed-012315160.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - More than 10 million people have signed up for X in December, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a post on the social media platform on Thursday.\nThis comes as the company, formerly known as Twitter, risks losing as much $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year as major brands pause their marketing campaigns on the platform, according to the New York Times.\nX, which does not regularly release user data, could not immediately be reached for comment on how the December sign-ups compared to average or why Yaccarino disclosed the figure. Billionaire owner Elon Musk said in July the site had 540 million monthly users.\nSeveral companies, including Apple, Disney, Warner Bros Discovery , Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment , Paramount Global, and IBM said in November they were pausing their advertisements on X.\nMusk cursed advertisers that fled the platform after he agreed with a user who falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people.\nA report from watchdog group Media Matters found ads from major companies next to X posts that supported Nazism. The platform filed a lawsuit in late November against Media Matters accusing it of defamation.\n(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)\n",
        "title": "More than 10 million people have signed up for X in December, CEO says"
    },
    {
        "id": 409,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-more-10-million-people-011921521.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds background paragraph 2 onwards)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - More than 10 million people have signed up for X in December, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in a post on the social media platform on Thursday.\nThis comes as the company, formerly known as Twitter, risks losing as much $75 million in advertising revenue by the end of the year as major brands pause their marketing campaigns on the platform, according to the New York Times.\nX, which does not regularly release user data, could not immediately be reached for comment on how the December sign-ups compared to average or why Yaccarino disclosed the figure. Billionaire owner Elon Musk said in July the site had\n540 million monthly users\n.\nSeveral companies, including Apple, Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment, Paramount Global, and IBM said in November they were pausing their advertisements on X.\nMusk cursed advertisers that\nfled\nthe platform after he agreed with a user who falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people.\nA report from watchdog group Media Matters found ads from major companies next to X posts that supported Nazism. The platform\nfiled a lawsuit\nin late November against Media Matters accusing it of defamation. (Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-More than 10 million people have signed up for X in December, CEO says"
    },
    {
        "id": 410,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-ups-fires-35-newly-011850899.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds UPS comment in paragraphs 3-4 and 7-8)\nLOS ANGELES, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Teamsters union that represents U.S. workers at United Parcel Service on Thursday said it would respond to the firing of about 35 newly organized workers at the delivery company by filing unfair labor practice charges and potentially striking.\nThe roughly three dozen affected specialist and administrative workers at UPS's Centennial hub in Louisville, Kentucky, organized with Teamsters Local 89 this autumn, the union said.\nUPS in a statement said that a small number of employees are being laid off at its Louisville Centennial Hub as it matches staffing with business needs.\n\"UPS respects our employees' rights to organize and we have not committed any unfair labor practices,\" the company said.\nInternational Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien in a statement said that UPS laid off those workers despite the ruling of an independent arbitrator and falsely claimed that their work should be performed by management.\n\"If UPS doesn't get its act together, they'll be on strike next. Our union will not hesitate to act, and we will not back down,\" said O'Brien, who represented some 340,000 UPS workers in a contract deal reached earlier this year.\nUPS said its ratified contract covering Teamsters-represented workers remains intact.\n\"We are committed to working with the Teamsters to resolve this separate matter with a small number of employees at Centennial,\" UPS said, adding that it does not expect disruptions to its Louisville operations. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-UPS fires about 35 newly organized US workers, Teamsters union says"
    },
    {
        "id": 411,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yen-strengthens-most-nearly-bets-201017274.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The yen rallied Friday, consolidating on its biggest move in nearly a year as traders ramp up bets that the Bank of Japan will scrap the world’s last negative interest-rate regime as soon as this month.\nThe currency advanced 1% against the dollar, after briefly jumping almost 4% on Thursday to a four-month high in New York. The outsized move in the previous session may have been amplified by speculators closing bearish wagers on the yen, after leveraged funds boosted these to the highest level in more than a year last week.\n“Yen-short positions may have been liquidated considerably,” said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities Co., who added that stop-loss trades were also likely triggered. “Soft US jobs data later today may spur more dollar selling, with 141 for the yen in sight again.”\nIt traded at 142.79 as of 10:09 a.m. in Tokyo.\nComments from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda earlier Thursday, along with remarks from one of his deputies on Wednesday, jolted financial markets in Tokyo and globally. The sharp push for the yen saw it appreciate against all of its peers in the Group of 10 on Thursday.\nEconomists increasingly expect the central bank to achieve its inflation target, while remaining less aggressive than traders in expectations for how soon the BOJ will move. A growing majority of economists forecast that the negative rate regime will end by April, according to a Bloomberg survey.\nThey are focused on whether Ueda gives any indication of changes to come in a policy statement or at his press conference following the next decision on Dec. 19, rather any outright change in settings that soon.\nRead more: Two-Thirds of BOJ Watchers Expect End of Negative Rate by April\n“The odds of tightening administered rates on Dec. 19 are still a bit of a long shot,” said Bipan Rai, CIBC’s global head of foreign-exchange strategy in Toronto. “In conjunction with greater certainty that the Federal Reserve is done with rate hikes, the risk-reward of USD/JPY longs has shifted materially.”\nLeveraged funds boosted their net-short position in the yen to 65,611 contracts in the week ending Nov. 28, the most since April 2022, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.\nThe yen’s rally Thursday was the biggest since the BOJ blindsided investors in December last year after then Governor Haruhiko Kuroda doubled the cap on 10-year yields, sparking bets on policy normalization.\nUeda, who took the helm in April, has maintained cautious approach and gradually widened the yield-curve control this year. He’s kept ultra-loose monetary in place at a time when other major central banks were increasing interest rates to contain global price growth.\nBOJ officials have said the bank is not confident enough yet about attaining the price goal of stable inflation at 2% accompanied by wage growth.\nData released Friday showed labor cash earnings increased more than expected in October, up 1.5% on year compared with the median estimate of 1% in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Still, real cash earnings dropped for 19th straight month.\nThe yen is still down about 8% against the greenback this year, the second worst performance among G-10 peers.\n--With assistance from George Lei, Yumi Teso and Daisuke Sakai.\n(Updates with yen’s 1% move Friday.)\n",
        "title": "Yen Strengthens by Most in Nearly a Year on Bets That End of Negative Rates Is Near"
    },
    {
        "id": 412,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-slowing-beauty-market-big-010730967.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Casey Hall\nSHANGHAI (Reuters) - Expensive beauty hauls are a thing of the past for Evelyn Zhu. The Chinese branding professional says she now only spends on skincare essentials, joining millions of other consumers who have cut back on cosmetics in the world's second biggest market.\n\"In recent years we all bought so many products,\" the 32-year-old from the affluent eastern city of Hangzhou said. \"My bathroom cupboard is full, it's hard to say I need much more.\"\nThis restraint, which has taken hold amid a slowing economy, spells bad news for global firms such as L'Oreal, Estee Lauder and LVMH who for years banked on China's $52 billion beauty market for growth.\nRegional brands such as Japan's Shiseido, which counted China as its top market for years, are also struggling.\nBut while the economic woes have certainly weighed on sales, analysts say the main issue facing the multinationals is their slowness to adjust to the shifting priorities of consumers, who have become more discerning about what they buy and are increasingly finding that local brands are more suited to their needs.\n\"What Chinese consumers are still keen to spend on are high efficacy products,\" said William Lau, chief executive of multibrand beauty retailer Bonnie and Clyde, which stocks luxury international brands including Chantecaille and 111skin.\n\"What you're seeing is a downgrade in lifestyle-driven luxury and premium brands,\" he added.\nBotanee Biotech's sensitive skincare brand Winona is one of the beneficiaries of this paring back.\nThe Chinese brand, which is priced at around the same level as L'Oreal products, is known for combating redness, a concern that marketing firm iResearch reported affects two-fifth of women. Analysts from CMB International estimate Botanee's revenue will grow almost 18% this year to 5.9 billion yuan ($824 million), with Winona responsible for most of these gains.\nBy comparison, sales for the global beauty giants are expected to fall.\nDEEP DISCOUNTS\nAn analysis from brokerage Jefferies showed first half China sales down 8% at LVMH's beauty division, while sales at Estée Lauder Companies, which counts on China for one-third of its business, fell 12 percent over the same period.\nShiseido reduced its full-year profit forecast in November on slower China demand, which has also been hit by a boycott by some consumer of Japanese products following the release of treated radioactive wastewater in August.\nL'Oreal, Estee Lauder and Shiseido did not respond to a request for comment.\nThese results also come off the lower base of 2022, when the combined colour cosmetics and skincare markets in China lost 9.5% of their value, data from Euromonitor shows.\nWhile the market research firm expects growth of around 6% this year, it forecast won't get back to its 2021 market size of $54.4 billion until 2025.\nSo far, the multinationals have responded to the slowdown by offering deep discounts of up to 40% and gifts during peak shopping events such as the annual online Singles Day festival, but analysts say the data shows even that isn't really helping.\nLuxe skincare brand La Mer, which rarely discounts, gave so many gifts-with-purchase over Singles Day that every sale resulted in almost the same amount of product being given away.\nIndependent data firm Syntun estimated that GMV, or gross merchandising volume, of beauty and personal care fell 6% year-on-year across all online shopping platforms. GMV is commonly used proxy for sales among e-commerce operators.\n\"The biggest global names have seen their Tmall GMV decrease by about 40% on average during 11.11,\" said Jacques Roizen, the Shanghai-based managing director of consulting at Digital Luxury Group, a digital agency for luxury brands.\n\"Now we see you don't have discounting as an acceleration lever you can press to go deeper or wider, because they're already maxed out,\" Roizen added.\nGregoire Grandchamp, co-founder of Next Beauty, a brand management partner for niche beauty players looking to grow in the China market, said the discounts offered by the beauty brands online this year have been \"insane\".\nBut while these larger brands are better able to compete online than smaller companies that lack their marketing budgets, they are not immune to the slowdown in demand.\nAccording to Grandchamp, the sooner they adjust to China's new normal of single-digit growth rather than chasing the growth of yesteryear with brand equity-eroding discounts, the better.\n\"I think the way groups like L'Oreal will react will be to say, Okay, maybe it's better not to have this euphoric growth, but to be more in a more rational market,\" he said.\n($1 = 7.1608 Chinese yuan renminbi)\n(Reporting by Casey Hall; editing by Miral Fahmy)\n",
        "title": "In China's slowing beauty market, big brand discounts won't cut it"
    },
    {
        "id": 413,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yen-rallies-hints-boj-policy-010138963.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Rae Wee\nSINGAPORE (Reuters) -The yen extended its sharp rally on Friday and marched toward its best week against the dollar in nearly five months, as traders ramped up expectations that the end of Japan's ultra-low interest rates was nearing.\nThe broad strength in the yen kept a lid on the dollar, which also stayed on the defensive ahead of the closely-watched U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later on Friday.\nBank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank had several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory. Ueda had on the same day met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.\nMarkets took those comments as the clearest sign yet that the BOJ could soon phase out its ultra-loose monetary policy and catapulted the yen to multi-month highs against its major peers.\nAgainst the dollar, the yen was last nearly 0.3% higher at 143.74, having surged more than 1% against the greenback earlier in the session.\nThe yen had gained over 2% on Thursday, its largest daily rise since January, and was likewise set to end the week with a more than 2% jump.\n\"Obviously, the markets got very excited,\" said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank (NAB).\nThe yen had, as recently as a month ago, fallen to a one-year low of 151.92 per dollar, coming under pressure as a result of growing interest rate differentials with the United States.\nThe weakening yen previously kept traders on edge over potential intervention from Japanese authorities to prop up the currency as it had done last year.\nSterling fell to a two-month low of 179.56 yen on Friday and against the euro, the Japanese currency last stood at 155.15, not too far from the previous session's four-month peak of 153.215 per euro.\nAttention now turns to the BOJ's upcoming two-day monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18 for clues on whether the ultra-dovish central bank will indeed signal a policy shift.\n\"I think a lot of us have felt that we were going to have some sort of more meaningful policy change this year, and we've been disappointed. So I'm a bit reluctant to jump on the bandwagon and say that (a change) is going to happen on the 19th,\" said NAB's Attrill.\n\"But obviously, there's no smoke without fire... So I guess the market is understandably taking the view that the December meeting is live now.\"\nSeparately, revised data on Friday showed Japan's economy shrank more sharply than first estimated in the third quarter.\nALL EYES ON PAYROLLS\nIn the broader market, the dollar largely drifted sideways, with currency moves outside of the yen subdued ahead of U.S. jobs data.\nThe euro steadied at $1.0783 and was eyeing a weekly decline of more than 0.9%, while sterling last bought $1.2595 and was similarly headed for a weekly fall of nearly 1%.\nThe U.S. dollar index was little changed at 103.67 and on track to gain more than 0.4% for the week. That would snap three straight weeks of declines, as the greenback attempts to stem losses from its heavy selloff in November.\n\"I'm more interested in seeing what happens with the unemployment rate and what happens with average earnings than the nonfarm payrolls numbers,\" said NAB's Attrill.\n\"Obviously, if we get a big shock on the payrolls - a big downside or upside surprise - the markets' initial reaction will be governed by that.\"\nElsewhere, the Australian dollar rose 0.17% to $0.6613.\nIn China, the yuan weakened against the dollar and was poised to snap a three-week winning streak.\nData on Thursday showed the country's exports grew for the first time in six months in November, though imports unexpectedly shrunk.\nConcerns over the country's growth outlook continue to mount, with investor sentiment still fragile on the back of an uneven post-COVID recovery in the world's second-largest economy.\nMoody's had, earlier this week, slapped a downgrade warning on China's credit rating, and followed up a day later with cuts to its outlook on Hong Kong, Macau and swathes of China's state-owned firms and banks.\n\"Moody's downgrade of China's rating outlook was motivated by concern over China's rising debt levels and possible need to bailout local state-owned enterprises,\" said William Xin, fixed income portfolio manager at M&G Investments, though he said the move had \"failed to consider\" Chinese policymakers' emphasis on reducing debt over the years.\n(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Jamie Freed and Kim Coghill)\n",
        "title": "Yen bears rush for the exits on hints of BOJ policy shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 414,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rpt-column-carbon-capture-becomes-010000412.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Repeats Dec. 7 column without change)\nBy John Kemp\nLONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Carbon capture and storage has emerged as flashpoint at the UN climate conference in Dubai about how big a role it is destined to play in reaching the target of net zero emissions.\nIt has also prompted an unusual and bad-tempered confrontation between senior officials at the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).\nIn the run up to the conference, the IEA called on oil and gas producers to let go of \"the illusion that implausibly large amounts of carbon capture\" are the solution to reducing emissions and reaching net zero targets.\nOPEC hit back accusing the IEA of finger-pointing, vilifying producers and using an \"extremely narrow framing\" of the challenges in reaching net zero that downplays energy security and affordability.\nCarbon capture has become a proxy for a broader political and diplomatic battle about the future for oil, gas and coal production in a world theoretically committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.\nNICHE TECHNOLOGY\nCarbon capture utilisation and storage are currently small-scale technologies that play a niche role in enhanced oil recovery and cleaning up methane from natural gas wells for sale.\nIn 2022, IEA data shows 45 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) were captured compared with total energy-related emissions of 37 billion tonnes, a capture rate of just 0.1%.\nUnder policies already announced by governments, the IEA projects the amount of CO2 captured will increase to 440 million tonnes a year by 2030 and 3.5 billion tonnes a year by 2050.\nTo achieve net zero emissions by mid-century, the IEA predicts capture would need to increase to 1 billion tonnes a year in 2030 and 6 billion tonnes a year in 2050.\nEven under this more ambitious scenario, however, capture would account for just 10% of cumulative emissions reductions between 2022 and 2050.\nCarbon capture's role is limited because the process is expensive, requiring enormous amounts of energy and water to separate CO2 from other gases, as well as heavy upfront capital expenditure in capture plants.\nEven if costs fall as the technology is deployed more widely, large-scale capture would only be commercially viable in a scenario with a high implicit or explicit price on emissions.\nBut in a world characterised by a high price on emissions, other routes to net zero would become more viable and probably prove simpler, including grid-scale battery storage and hydrogen.\nCarbon capture's role is likely to be restricted to industries such as cement, chemicals, and steelmaking that are hard to decarbonise by other means and produce large streams of relative concentrated CO2 as a waste product.\nIt is unlikely to play more than a minor role in reducing emissions from electricity generation.\nCAPTURE COSTS\nIn the four-stage CCS process, carbon dioxide is captured, compressed, transported by pipeline, and injected underground or used as an industrial input.\nCapture is the most expensive stage because the CO2 must be separated from other gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and methane, which uses large amounts of energy and water.\nProcess efficiency depends on the concentration of CO2 which is why it is most cost effective when paired with industrial processes that produce relatively pure CO2 in their exhaust streams such as cement manufacturing.\nIn electricity generation, where the waste stream is less concentrated, there are three main routes to capturing CO2 emissions:\n* Post-combustion capture is the most mature technology but the low concentration of CO2in power plant exhaust streams makes it expensive.\n* Pre-combustion capture attempts to solve the problem by treating or gasifying the fuel before burning it to remove a high-purity stream of CO2. Gasification has been used in the coal-to-liquids industry since the 1930s but has never successfully at scale for CCS and early pilot projects have not been encouraging.\n* Oxy-combustion is a variation on post-combustion capture in which the fuel is burned in pure oxygen rather than air, resulting in a much higher concentration of CO2 for capture. But purifying oxygen is itself energy intensive and expensive.\nOnly the simple post-combustion system can be considered relatively mature technology for widespread deployment in the electricity sector.\nBut in a power plant fitted with post-combustion capture technology, the capture process uses up between 15% and 40% of the total electrical output, an enormous energy penalty.\nWater consumption is also 25-200% higher than for a conventional power plant, limiting capture in areas where water is scarce.\nAnd capital costs of building a power plant with post-combustion technology are roughly double those for a conventional plant without it.\nAs a result, post-combustion capture systems are likely to increase the cost of electricity by 50-100%, making CCS unviable without subsidies or a high CO2 price.\nSTORAGE ISSUES\nThe other stages of the CCS and CCU process are less expensive but raise practical, safety and social acceptability issues that could limit widespread adoption, according to the most recent UN climate assessment in 2022.\nCompression and pipelines are well-established technologies; costs are likely to be moderate unless CO2 has to be transported over very long distances.\nBut storage creates more challenges because CO2 needs to be locked away for hundreds of years without escaping to reduce the climate impact.\nCO2 is toxic, a threat to human health and life in concentrations of as little as 4%, so the integrity of underground storage must be carefully planned and monitored.\nCO2 is normally stored by injecting it hundreds or even thousands of metres underground into depleted oil and gas fields or deep saline aquifers.\nIf CO2 is injected into depleted fields to enable the recovery of more oil and gas it can improve the economics of the project but results in a smaller emissions reduction.\nGlobal geological potential to store CO2 has been estimated at 10,000 billion tonnes, split between oil and gas reservoirs (20%) and saline aquifers (80%), which is more than enough for the foreseeable future.\nBut the distribution of potential storage is uneven and not all potential sites will prove geologically or politically suitable.\nThe United States, Canada, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East have lots of potential storage, but there is much less in China and Western Europe.\nThe political and social acceptability of large-scale underground storage remains uncertain, but it may be easier in communities with a history of oil and gas production or offshore.\nRelated columns:\n- Carbon capture’s energy penalty problem (October 6, 2014)\n- Capturing CO2 emissions remains frustratingly expensive (July 10, 2014)\n- U.S. hunts for cheaper ways to capture CO2 (November 12, 2013)\nJohn Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own. Follow his commentary on X: https://twitter.com/JKempEnergy (Editing by David Evans)\n",
        "title": "RPT-COLUMN-Carbon capture becomes focus for divisions at climate conference: Kemp"
    },
    {
        "id": 415,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-yen-rallies-hints-boj-005632311.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Rae Wee\nSINGAPORE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The yen extended its towering rally on Friday and marched toward its best week against the dollar in nearly five months, as traders ramped up expectations that the end of Japan's ultra-low interest rates was closing in.\nThe broad strength from the yen kept a lid on the dollar, which stayed on the defensive ahead of the closely-watched U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later on Friday.\nBank of Japan (BOJ) governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday the central bank had several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory, and had on the same day met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.\nMarkets took those comments as the clearest sign yet that the BOJ could soon phase out its ultra-loose monetary policy and catapulted the yen to multi-month highs against its major peers.\nAgainst the dollar, the yen was last steady at 144.30 , after having surged over 2% in the previous session and striking a four-month high of 141.60.\nThe yen had, as recently as a month ago, fallen to a one-year low of 151.92 per dollar, coming under pressure as a result of growing interest rate differentials with the United States.\nThat kept traders on edge over potential intervention from Japanese authorities to prop up the currency as it had done last year.\nThe Japanese currency similarly stood near Thursday's four-month peak on the euro, and was last at 155.67 per euro .\nThe Aussie meanwhile last bought 95 yen, retracing some of its losses from the previous session where it fell nearly 2%.\nAttention now turns to the BOJ's upcoming two-day monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18.\n\"Obviously, the markets got very excited,\" said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank (NAB). \"But I think a lot of us have felt that we were going to have some sort of more meaningful policy change this year, and we've been disappointed. So I'm a bit reluctant to jump on the bandwagon and say that (a change) is going to happen on the 19th.\n\"But obviously, there's no smoke without fire... So I guess the market is understandably taking the view that the December meeting is live now.\"\nALL EYES ON PAYROLLS\nIn the broader market, the dollar largely drifted sideways, with currency moves outside of the yen subdued ahead of Friday's U.S. jobs data.\nThe euro steadied at $1.0792 though was eyeing a weekly decline of more than 0.8%, while sterling last bought $1.2589 and was similarly headed for a weekly fall of nearly 1%.\nThe U.S. dollar index slipped 0.05% to 103.63, though was on track to gain 0.4% for the week. That would snap three straight weeks of declines, as the greenback attempts to stem losses from its heavy selloff in November.\n\"I'm more interested in seeing what happens with the unemployment rate and what happens with average earnings than the nonfarm payrolls numbers,\" said NAB's Attrill.\n\"Obviously, if we get a big shock on the payrolls - a big downside or upside surprise - the markets' initial reaction will be governed by that.\"\nElsewhere, the Australian dollar slipped 0.05% to $0.6599.\nIn China, the offshore yuan edged 0.1% higher to 7.1560 per dollar.\nData on Thursday showed the country's exports grew for the first time in six months in November, though imports unexpectedly shrunk.\nConcerns over the country's growth outlook continue to mount, with investor sentiment still fragile on the back of an uneven post-COVID recovery in the world's second-largest economy.\nMoody's had, earlier this week, slapped a downgrade warning on China's credit rating, and followed up a day later with cuts to its outlook on Hong Kong, Macau and swathes of China's state-owned firms and banks.\n\"Moody's downgrade of China's rating outlook was motivated by concern over China's rising debt levels and possible need to bailout local state-owned enterprises,\" said William Xin, fixed income portfolio manager at M&G Investments, though he said the move had \"failed to consider\" Chinese policymakers' emphasis on reducing debt over the years.\n(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Yen rallies on hints of BOJ policy shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 416,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dhl-express-u-air-hub-002549249.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Lisa Baertlein\n(Reuters) - More than 1,100 newly organized DHL Express workers at the delivery company's main U.S. air hub went on strike on Thursday to protest unfair labor practices and stalled contract talks.\nThe strike threatens to delay packages during the critical peak holiday shipping season when package carriers like DHL, FedEx and United Parcel Service see volumes spike.\nIt also comes as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters intensify organizing activity in the wake of this summer's closely watched contract deal at UPS, the world's biggest delivery firm.\nThe workers, who load and unload DHL Express airplanes at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), voted to organize with the Teamsters in April. They have been negotiating their first contract with DHL since July.\n\"DHL Express was fully prepared for this anticipated tactic and has enacted contingency plans\" to ensure that service is not disrupted, the company said in a statement. Those plans include using replacement staff at the hub and moving flights and volume away from CVG to other DHL locations throughout the Americas region.\nThe company, a division of Germany's Deutsche Post AG, said it expects the strike to garner \"sympathy support\" at various pickup and delivery locations across the U.S. and that it is prepared to deploy replacement staff.\nThe union said it has filed numerous unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board during and since the organizing campaign, including for retaliation against pro-union workers. It also said the NLRB is prosecuting the company civilly.\n\"This company's repeated acts of disrespect — from the tarmac where we work to the bargaining table — leave me and my co-workers with no choice but to withhold our labor,\" said Gina Kemp, a striking ramp and tug worker.\nDHL Express said the Teamsters are using the strike to pressure the company to agree to \"unreasonable\" contract terms.\n\"While there is no agreed deadline for these contract negotiations, we are committed to working in good faith at the December negotiating sessions and have offered further negotiating dates in January to conclude this matter,\" DHL Express said.\n(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Stephen Coates)\n",
        "title": "DHL Express U.S. air hub workers strike during holiday rush"
    },
    {
        "id": 417,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-british-business-dec-000933714.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 8 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\nThe Times\n- Darktrace investors have pushed back against the continued involvement in the business of Mike Lynch, the investor who is facing a trial for fraud in the United States, by voting his representative off the company's board.\nThe Guardian\n- The UK's biggest mobile phone companies face a 3.3 billion pounds ($4.15 billion) class action lawsuit alleging that long-standing customers are being ripped off by \"loyalty penalties\", under which the same services are offered to new customers at a better price to lure them from rivals.\n- Somerset Capital Management, the investment firm co-founded by Jacob Rees-Mogg, has said it will be wound down, days after it emerged it had lost two-thirds of its assets and its largest client.\nThe Telegraph\n- Britain has given Rwanda an extra 100 million pounds ($125.88 million) this year – on top of the 140 million pounds already paid – before any asylum seekers have been deported to the country.\nSky News\n- Coco di Mama owner is to begin testing buyers' appetite for a deal next year in a move that could see chains such as Ask and Coco di Mama changing hands.\nThe Independent\n- Pioneering British writer and poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who used humour and wit to address political injustices, has died aged 65.\n($1 = 0.7944 pounds) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST-British Business - Dec 8"
    },
    {
        "id": 418,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-economy-track-soft-landing-235914860.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (AP) — Can the U.S. economy achieve a much-hyped “soft landing”? Friday's jobs report for November will provide some signs of whether that elusive scenario is coming into view.\nMany of the most recent economic figures have been encouraging. Companies are advertising fewer job openings, and Americans are switching jobs less often than they did a year ago, trends that typically slow wage growth and inflation pressures. Hiring is cooling, and price increases have moderated significantly.\nAll of which means the Federal Reserve may stand an increasingly good chance of bringing inflation down to its 2% annual target without causing a deep recession — the common definition of a soft landing.\nYet that effort isn't without risks. The economy could slow so much as to slide into a recession. The unemployment rate, which began the year at an ultra-low 3.4%, has since risen to 3.9% as more Americans have come off the sidelines to look for jobs and not found them right away. The number of people receiving unemployment aid, though still low, has risen. And for much of this year, hiring has been concentrated in just a few sectors — notably health care, restaurants and hotels and government — rather than broadly across the economy.\nThe November jobs report from the Labor Department is expected to show that employers added a still-solid 172,500 jobs last month, according to a survey of economists by FactSet. That would slightly exceed October's 150,000 gain.\nYet November's increase will be exaggerated by the addition of United Auto Workers members as well as by Hollywood actors whose strikes ended in October and who returned to work in November. Their return is expected to account for about 40,000 of November's job gains.\nHiring has been cooling as the Fed's sharp interest rate hikes have raised borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, depressing sales of homes, cars, appliances and other high-priced purchases and investments. From August through October, job growth averaged 204,000 a month, down sharply from a 342,000 average in the same three-month period in 2022.\nThough the nation's jobless rate remains comparatively low, economists nevertheless worry that a rising rate can feed on itself: Unemployed workers tend to cut back on spending, thereby slowing the economy and leading other businesses to lay off employees, too. By one rule of thumb, if the jobless rate were to rise just a few tenths of a percentage point more, the increase would be consistent with the start of a recession.\nYet if the data did start to point toward a recession, Fed Chair Jerome Powell could signal that the central bank would cut rates soon to lower borrowing costs. Such a message would likely ignite a rally in the financial markets and potentially boost the economy.\nFor now, most analysts are offering a positive outlook of slower but still steady growth and easing inflation. The economy is expected to expand at a modest 1.5% annual rate in the final three months of this year, down from a scorching 5.2% pace in the July-September quarter. Cooler growth should help bring down inflation while still supporting a modest pace of hiring.\nThe economy is still expanding even after the Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times, from near zero in March 2022 to about 5.4%, the highest level in 22 years. The aggressive pace of those hikes has made mortgages, auto loans and business borrowing much more expensive.\nAt the same time, inflation has tumbled from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to just 3.2% last month. And according to a different inflation measure that the Fed prefers, prices rose at just a 2.5% annual rate in the past six months — not far below the central bank's target.\nSuch progress has fueled speculation in the financial markets that the Fed could soon cut its benchmark rate, perhaps as early as March. Wall Street traders now expect five rate cuts next year, according to futures prices tracked by CME FedWatch. Most economists envision fewer.\nChristopher Waller, a key Fed official who typically favors higher rates, buoyed the markets' expectations last week when he suggested that if inflation kept falling, the Fed could cut rates as early as spring.\nPowell, though, pushed back against such speculation last Friday, when he said it was “premature to conclude” that the Fed has raised its benchmark rate high enough to quell inflation. And it was too soon, he added, to “speculate” about when the Fed might cut rates.\nBut Powell also said interest rates are “well into” restrictive territory, meaning that they're clearly constraining growth. Many analysts took that remark as a signal that the Fed is done raising rates.\n",
        "title": "Is the US economy on track for a 'soft landing'? Friday's jobs report may offer clues"
    },
    {
        "id": 419,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-koreas-pension-fund-central-235819719.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jihoon Lee and Yena Park\nSEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) and central bank are in talks to extend their foreign exchange swap programme that was due to expire in December, according to two government sources with direct knowledge of the matter.\n\"The two institutions seem to be in agreement with each other to extend. They are considering it positively,\" a welfare ministry official told Reuters.\nAnother official at the welfare ministry, which oversees the NPS's fund management and policies, also said extension is currently under discussion.\nThe NPS, the world's third-largest public pension fund, and the Bank of Korea (BOK) established in April a foreign exchange swap line of $35 billion to ease pressure on the local currency from the pension fund's growing investments abroad.\nThe swap allows the NPS to use the BOK's foreign exchange reserves in times of currency market volatility, removing one of the heaviest sources of pressure on the won in the spot market.\nThe new amount and period are not yet determined but will likely be in line with the existing contract, one of the welfare ministry officials said.\nThe move comes amid concerns among foreign exchange traders that the local currency would face additional pressure if the pension fund, a major market player with huge demand for dollars, had to return.\nThe won has weakened 3% against the dollar so far this month, sharply reversing the course from November, when it posted its biggest monthly gain in a year. For 2023, the won has so far fallen 5%, on track for its third straight yearly loss.\n\"It is a news if it does get extended, and it is still a news even if it doesn't,\" one currency dealer said.\nThe won, one of the most volatile emerging market currencies, still faces external headwinds from uncertainty over the U.S. monetary policy and a sluggish Chinese economy, traders say, with the country's exports expected to make only a modest recovery.\nIn Reuters' request for comment, an official at the BOK said it was discussing with the NPS about extending the swap line. The NPS also confirmed they were in discussion.\nThe NPS has been increasing its overseas investments for higher returns, adding to demands for dollars.\nAs a result, the NPS has come under criticism for aggravating declines in the won with skewed dollar demand in the market.\nThe NPS held a total of 983.4 trillion won ($746.11 billion) in financial assets as of end-September, 51.6% of which was in foreign assets. It plans to raise the ratio to 60% by 2028.\n($1 = 1,318.0400 won)\n(Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Yena Park, Additional Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-S.Korea's pension fund, central bank to extend FX swap line -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 420,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/santos-shares-jump-11-53-234556447.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Scott Murdoch, Lewis Jackson and Renju Jose\nSYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's Santos Ltd shares jumped on Friday on the prospects of a possible A$80 billion ($52 billion) merger with its bigger rival Woodside, but investors were cautious about the competition and valuation hurdles to a deal.\nWoodside and Santos after market hours on Thursday confirmed speculation they were in preliminary talks to create a major oil and gas company, with assets in Australia, Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Senegal and Trinidad and Tobago.\nSantos shares jumped nearly 11% in early trade to hit their highest level in five weeks, but pared gains to 6% around 0345 GMT. Woodside trimmed early losses and was down 0.5%.\nBoth companies' have lagged the global energy share market boom amid struggles securing environmental approvals for major growth projects. UBS analysts say a deal would provide the scale required to fund the decades long energy transition and could unlock $200 million in cost savings.\n\"It's a dramatic concentration of control,\" said Tim Buckley, a director at think tank Climate Energy Finance. \"But I would emphasize it's coming from a point of weakness. It's coming from a point of ongoing massive underperformance.\"\nA bid price with a sufficient premium to satisfy disappointed Santos shareholders is going to be the \"biggest issue\", said Matthew Haupt, a portfolio manager at long-time Santos shareholder Wilson Asset Management.\n\"We'd like to see a very compelling offer from Woodside with a premium built in to entertain this idea,\" he said.\n\"I just don't know if Woodside are willing to pay up.\"\nUBS analysts modeled an implied bid price for Santos between A$8.20 and A$8.88, with the lower value reflecting a typical \"control premium\" of 20%. By comparison, Santos shares hit a high of A$7.58 on Friday, reflecting uncertainty about how a deal would be structured.\nThe mooted deal would complete the consolidation of Australia's four biggest homegrown oil and gas companies. Woodside just last year combined with BHP Group's (BHP.AX) oil and gas business, while Santos acquired Oil Search in 2021.\nWith the talks revealed, Santos could potentially attract interest from a major European player with interests in the region, UBS analyst Tom Allen said. French giant TotalEnergies co-owns LNG assets in Papua New Guinea and Australia with Santos.\nCOMPETITION CONCERNS\nAnalysts say a potential Woodside takeover of Santos would create a dominant player in Australia's domestic gas market and prompt close scrutiny from the competition regulator, which is concerned about soaring local gas prices.\nSelective divestments could assuage the regulator, with Santos' Varanus Island and Cooper Basin assets likely candidates, according to Jarden analyst Nik Burns.\nThe issue will be getting agreement on price for mature assets in a market with only a handful of interested mid-sized players, for instance Beach Energy, he said.\n\"What's the market appetite to take these assets? It's not like there is a large playing field of potential buyers,\" said Burns, who was previously investor relations head for Beach.\nThe Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said on Thursday it would consider if a public merger review into the impact on competition was required if the deal goes ahead.\n($1 = 1.5154 Australian dollars)\n(Reporting by Scott Murdoch and Lewis Jackson and Renju Jose in Sydney; additional reporting Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul)\n",
        "title": "Woodside-Santos $52 billion merger clouded by competition, price concerns"
    },
    {
        "id": 421,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/broadcom-grows-slowest-pace-since-215558507.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Broadcom Inc., a chip supplier for Apple Inc. and other big tech companies, expects the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence computing to help offset its worst slowdown since 2020.\nRevenue from networking semiconductors used to support AI systems now accounts for 15% of the company’s total chip sales, and that portion will grow to more than 25% in fiscal 2024, Broadcom said Thursday after releasing its quarterly results.\nThe prospect of AI growth helped cheer investors, who initially sent the shares down after the report was released. Broadcom sales are growing at the slowest pace since the early days of the pandemic, with corporate customers and telecom providers reining in their spending.\nAI is a bright spot, according to Chief Executive Officer Hock Tan. Spending on computer networks needed to support those services are expected to double, he said on a conference call. So far, fellow chipmaker Nvidia Corp. has seen the biggest windfall from the AI boom, which has propelled its valuation past the $1 trillion mark this year.\nTan’s remarks helped the shares recover after a drop of 3.6% in late trading. The stock was little changed as of 6 p.m. New York time, at $922.\nRevenue grew 4% to $9.3 billion in the fourth quarter, which ended Oct. 29. Broadcom, which just bought VMware Inc. for more than $60 billion, predicted that its 2024 revenue would be about $50 billion when including that acquisition.\nThough that number appeared to be below the two companies’ combined sales estimates, Broadcom plans to spin off two VMware units. They would account for about $2 billion in sales.\nFor the 11 months remaining in fiscal 2024, VMware will contribute about $12 billion to total revenue, executives said. It will take about a year to fully integrate VMware, but growth will then accelerate as the company focuses on more high-value products, Tan said.\nIn the coming year, the company expects mid- to high-single-digit percentage growth in semiconductors. That’s a slowdown from the preceding two years.\nIn the fourth quarter, Broadcom’s profit was $11.06 a share, excluding some items. Analysts had predicted earnings of $10.93 a share.\nBroadcom’s chip business had sales of $7.33 billion in the fourth quarter, in line with estimates. Infrastructure software revenue was $1.97 billion, versus a projection of $1.94 billion.\nBroadcom provides key components for Apple’s iPhone, designs custom chips for Alphabet Inc.’s Google and is the biggest supplier of networking components that direct traffic between computers in data centers.\nTan emphasized that his company’s relationship with Apple, which he refers to as his “North American customer,” will continue to be strong. Revenue from the division that provides Apple with connectivity chips will be stable next year, he said.\nTan is also betting on software to maintain growth. The company completed the VMware deal last month, gaining a bigger foothold in so-called hybrid cloud services, which cater to companies that store data both in their own facilities and outside server farms.\nBroadcom expects the VMware integration to cost $1.3 billion through fiscal 2025, according to a filing. The chipmaker has been cutting jobs and moved its headquarters to Palo Alto, California, where VMware was based, from nearby San Jose.\n(Updates with CEO remarks starting in fourth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Broadcom CEO Expects AI Windfall Even as Sales Growth Slows"
    },
    {
        "id": 422,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rpt-tata-motors-lobbies-india-233000970.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Repeats earlier story, no changes)\n*\nTesla eyes India, market leader Tata wary-sources\n*\nTata pushing Indian officials to not lower EV taxes\n*\nTata worried about committed investment if taxes lowered\nBy Aditi Shah and Aditya Kalra\nNEW DELHI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Tata Motors is pressing Indian officials not to lower import taxes of 100% on electric vehicles and to protect domestic industry and its investors, as the government reviews Tesla's plans to enter the market, people with direct knowledge said.\nAs India tries to boost domestic manufacturing and EV adoption, Tesla is proposing to set up an Indian factory, but is demanding lower import taxes for electric cars.\nIndia is working on a new policy to cut import taxes on EVs to as low as 15% for companies committing to some local manufacturing. The policy could allow Tesla to set up its India factory to make its proposed $24,000 car, while importing its more expensive models with lower tax.\nTesla's strategy is a departure from its failed plan last year when it just pushed India to lower duties.\nIn meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office and other departments, Tata has opposed the plan, arguing that its investors made decisions assuming the tax regime favouring locals will remain unchanged, two sources with knowledge of talks said.\nTata and Modi's office did not respond to requests for comment.\nTata is also arguing that India's EV players need more government support in the early growth stage of the industry, pointing to imported gasoline or diesel cars which are still taxed at up to 100% despite the industry being well developed, said the first source.\n\"Lower duties will hit the entire (domestic) industry,\" the person said, adding \"the investment climate will get vitiated.\"\nTata, one of India's biggest carmakers, started its EV business in 2019. Private equity firm TPG and Abu Dhabi state holding company ADQ invested $1 billion in 2021, valuing the EV business at around $9 billion, and the second source said lower duties for foreign players could risk future fundraising.\nIndia's EV market is small, but 74% of the 72,000 electric cars sold so far this year are made by Tata.\nTesla, which is losing share in an increasingly crowded U.S. market, has its sights set on the potential of India's auto market, one of the world's biggest where more than 3 million cars are sold each year. EVs still account for a tiny share in India, but Modi's government is promoting the use of clean cars and the sector is rapidly growing.\nModi has been directly overseeing talks with Tesla since his meeting with CEO Elon Musk in New York in June.\nThe domestic car industry had lobbied hard against Tesla's previous plan for India to lower taxes and succeeded, with a Tata Motors executive saying in late 2021 the move would run \"contrary\" to the government's Make-in-India push.\nINDIAN GOVERNMENT'S VIEW\nAnother Indian player, Mahindra & Mahindra, which has raised around $400 million from Singapore's Temasek and British International Investment, has also raised concerns with officials about the lower EV tax plan, said a third source, a senior federal official involved in policymaking.\nMahindra declined to comment.\nNew Delhi, said the third source, is trying to soothe concerns of local automakers, but India remains determined to make EV sector entry for foreign players easier to help meet its goals.\nModi wants 30% of annual car sales in India to be electric from 2030 compared to the current 2%. Charging infrastructure is in its infancy too.\n\"We will come out with a policy that addresses everyone's fears,\" said the official, adding one option was to lower import taxes only above a certain price point.\nIndia's current EV import tax of 100% is for cars priced above $40,000 - which applies to most Tesla models. Tata has three EV offerings, priced $10,400 to $24,000.\n\"If India needs to be an EV hub, we need more manufacturers ... Local industry need not fear that Tesla or anyone else will wipe them out,\" said the Indian official.\nIndia's talks with Tesla come as other countries are courting the U.S. giant.\nThis week, Thailand's Prime Minister said he showed Tesla executives around as they are looking for land, saying he was confident the company would invest in the country.\n(Reporting by Aditi Shah and Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Shivangi Acharya; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)\n",
        "title": "RPT-Tata Motors lobbies India not to lower EV import taxes as Tesla looms-sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 423,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/levis-ceo-chip-bergh-step-232836423.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — Levi Strauss & Co. said Thursday that its CEO will step down in January and hand over the reins of the jeans maker to his appointed successor.\nChip Bergh, 66, will cede the CEO job to Michelle Gass, 55, who left her CEO role at Kohl’s to become president of Levi’s in January of this year.\nBergh, who took over at the San Francisco company in September 2011, will stay on as executive vice chair until he retires in late April, Levi Strauss said. He will remain on as an advisor through the end of the fiscal year.\nGass will take on the CEO position on Jan. 29. The move completes the succession plan that was announced just over a year ago, when Levi Strauss had said Gass was joining the company to succeed Bergh within 18 months.\nOver the course of his tenure, Bergh moved the brand from a predominantly men’s U.S. wholesale pants business to a global, direct-to-consumer company. He also reinvigorated the women’s business. Under his leadership, Levi Strauss returned to the public markets with a successful IPO in March 2019 and expanded the company’s brand portfolio with the acquisition of Beyond Yoga in 2021.\nPrior to joining Levi Strauss, Bergh served in top roles at Procter & Gamble during a 21-year tenure.\nSince starting as president of Levi's, Gass has been responsible for leading the Levi’s brand, including its product, merchandising and marketing functions, as well as the company’s e-commerce and global commercial operations, while working closely with Bergh. The company said Gass has been focused on accelerating international growth, positioning the brand as a head-to-toe denim lifestyle clothing business.\n",
        "title": "Levi's CEO Chip Bergh to step down in January, handing over leadership to former CEO of Kohl's"
    },
    {
        "id": 424,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-says-thieves-swiped-millions-232029459.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. sued what it called an international ring of thieves who swiped millions of dollars in merchandise from the company through a series of refund scams that included buying products on Amazon and seeking refunds without returning the goods.\nAn organization called REKK advertised its refund services on social media sites, including Reddit and Discord, and communicated with perpetrators on the messaging app Telegram, Amazon said in a lawsuit filed Thursday in US District Court in the state of Washington. The lawsuit names REKK and nearly 30 people from the US, Canada, UK, Greece, Lithuania and the Netherlands as defendants in the scheme, which involved hacking into Amazon’s internal systems and bribing Amazon employees to approve reimbursements. REKK charged customers, who wanted to get pricey items like MacBook Pro laptops and car tires without paying for them, a commission based on the value of the purchase.\n“The defendants’ scheme tricks Amazon into processing refunds for products that are never returned; instead of returning the products as promised, defendants keep the product and the refund,” Amazon said in its lawsuit.\nThe lawsuit lists more than a dozen transactions from June 2022 to May 2023 as leading to fraudulent refunds. Items purchased include gaming consoles, smartphones, laptops and even a 24-karat gold coin. The company identifies at least seven former Amazon employees that participated in the theft as “insiders” by allegedly taking bribes of thousands of dollars to approve refunds even though products weren’t returned.\nShoppers around the world will spend $678 billion on Amazon sites this year, making it a big target for scams that sometimes lead to criminal indictments and involve Amazon insiders. In 2020, an Amazon employee in India was charged with taking $100,000 in bribes to give select merchants advantages over others selling goods on the site.\nAmazon said it spent $1.2 billion and employed 15,000 people in 2022 to fight theft, fraud and abuse on its site.\n“When fraud is detected, as in this case, Amazon takes a variety of measures to stop the activity, including issuing warnings, closing accounts, and preventing individuals who engaged in refund fraud from opening new accounts,” Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president in charge of seller services, said in a LinkedIn post.\n",
        "title": "Amazon Says Thieves Swiped Millions by Faking Product Refunds"
    },
    {
        "id": 425,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hornbeck-offshore-discloses-revenue-growth-231600538.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 7 (Reuters) - Marine transportation services provider Hornbeck Offshore on Thursday made public its paperwork for a stock market listing in New York, which showed its revenue rose in the three months ended September.\nThe listing will test the appetite for another stock flotation at a time when green shoots in the U.S. IPO market have been overshadowed by the poor post-debut performances of some high-profile firms that listed recently.\nHornbeck intends to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol \"HOS\".\nThe company reported a revenue of $160.2 million for the July-to-September period, up from $124.5 million a year ago.\nThe filing with the U.S. securities regulator marks Hornbeck's attempt to get back to public markets after emerging from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in September 2020.\nJPMorgan and Barclays are the lead underwriters for the IPO.\nHornbeck is a provider of marine transportation services to companies in the offshore oilfield market and diversified non-oilfield markets, including military support services, renewable energy development and other non-oilfield service offerings. (Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "Hornbeck Offshore discloses revenue growth in its IPO paperwork"
    },
    {
        "id": 426,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/irs-rejects-claims-from-20000-taxpayers-for-lucrative-small-business-tax-credit-230015629.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "The IRS is taking action against small businesses that improperly filed returns claiming a lucrative pandemic-era tax credit.\nThe agency sent 20,000 correspondence letters disqualifying these taxpayers from claiming the Employee Retention Credit, or ERC. Officially known as Letter 105 C Claims Disallowed, the letters targeted two types of filers that were ineligible: entities that did not exist or businesses with no paid employees during the claim period between March 13, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2021.\nThis was the agency's first batch of rejection letters to taxpayers in an extended effort to combat incorrect or even fraudulent claims of the ERC credit.\n\"With the aggressive marketing we saw with this credit, it's not surprising that we're seeing claims that clearly fall outside of the legal requirements,\" IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in the press release. \"The action we are taking today is part of an initial set of steps in our compliance work in this area, and more letters will be going out in the near future, including both disallowance letters and letters seeking the return of funds erroneously claimed and received.\"\nThe prevalence of incorrect ERC returns — especially around the basic eligibility requirement — stoked the agency’s concerns over ERC pop-up firms that were aggressively marketing the credit to unaware small businesses, many of which were ineligible for the credit.\n\"Anytime that you have a credit that has been issued, you're going to have some unscrupulous individuals who's going to try to take advantage of it,\" Eric Hylton, national director of compliance at alliantgroup and former IRS deputy chief of the criminal investigation division, told Yahoo Finance.\nThe IRS has been increasing its ERC compliance endeavors over its concerns.\nThe earliest effort was in September when the tax agency put a moratorium on filing for the credit. It then asked small business owners to review pending claims and voluntarily withdraw any suspicions ones in October. Now, the agency is beginning its wave of rejection letters to unqualified businesses.\n\"This is a part of their overall compliance strategy to address this enormous situation,\" Hylton said. \"[The IRS] came up with the moratorium to filter through the employee retention credit issue so that they could actually get to the legitimate claim.\"\nIt’s no surprise that the IRS is committed to combating ERC fraud, as the payments to businesses can be hefty.\nSince 2020, the IRS has received nearly 3.6 million ERC returns, with more than 600,000 ERC applications in the pipeline totaling $230 billion in refunds paid, according to the Journal of Accountancy. The outstanding applications are estimated worth another $90 billion to $100 billion.\nThe 20,000 rejection letters sent out have an estimated total value of $2 billion to $10 billion applied credits, Hylton said as he estimated that some letters were for taxpayers making claims for $100,000 to $500,000.\nThe agency has also found ERC-related fraud totaling around $3.4 billion and initiated 252 investigations involving another $2.8 billion in potential scams as of the end of July.\nThe IRS has also created a withdrawal program for taxpayers to request and withdraw any claims. This option is for filers who have applications in the works but have not received a refund or for filers who received a refund they haven’t deposited yet. The option comes without any penalties or charges from the tax agency.\n\"They are treated as if they were never filed,\" the IRS website says.\nThe IRS has explicitly warned taxpayers of ERC mills and their practices this year. They are often internet pop-up shops without prior CPA or accounting experience and aggressively push small business owners to claim the ERC credit. They get significant cuts of the tax refund their clients receive, so they are incentivized to convince ineligible and unaware business owners to file for the credit.\nExperts in the matter have previously told Yahoo Finance that the IRS is likely building criminal cases against some of these ERC internet companies that are filing numerous ineligible claims. But whether the IRS can claw back ineligible refunds that have been paid out remains difficult.\n\"The IRS probably will start looking at getting that paid back,\" Hylton said. \"But this may be a challenge because a lot of businesses have actually spent those funds.\"\nRebecca Chen is a reporter for Yahoo Finance and previously worked as an investment tax certified public accountant (CPA).\nClick here for real estate and housing market news, reports, and analysis to inform your investing decisions.\n",
        "title": "IRS rejects claims from 20,000 taxpayers for lucrative small business tax credit"
    },
    {
        "id": 427,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/distressed-debt-firm-sc-lowy-230000507.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Credit investor SC Lowy Financial HK Ltd. has “very little exposure to China” and finds “the credit space uninvestable there,” according to the firm’s chief executive, citing the country’s murky legal proceedings and poor corporate disclosure.\n“We believe that the lack of clear legal process and financial information means that the opportunity is a macro thesis, opposed to our investment philosophy of detailed corporate analysis coupled with downside protection,” Michel Lowy wrote in response to questions from Bloomberg News.\nSC Lowy decided to reduce exposure to China since at least May 2022, due to uncertainties and longer-than-expected debt restructuring by the country’s distressed developers, Lowy said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at that time.\nLowy’s comments mark the latest expression of pessimism among key investors as China’s unprecedented property debt crisis unfolds, with risks spreading from major private builders to state-linked peers once considered much safer. They also reflect deep-rooted concerns about the longer-term, more fundamental challenges faced by Beijing to revive investor confidence, even as authorities have escalated a housing rescue campaign.\nIn contrast to the bleak assessment of Chinese corporate debt, SC Lowy is notably more upbeat about the prospect of private credit in Asia. The firm raised $450 million for its direct-lending strategy in the region as of September 2022, targeting special situations including private lending and nonperforming loans.\n“In Asia, we see very compelling investing opportunities in private debt transactions mostly in Korea and India, where we benefit from our strong teams on the ground,” Lowy wrote in his latest response.\n--With assistance from Bei Hu.\n",
        "title": "Distressed Debt Firm SC Lowy Finds China Credit ‘Uninvestable’"
    },
    {
        "id": 428,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-market-rally-boosts-225957736.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details on performance of trading strategies, market background)\nBy Carolina Mandl\nNEW YORK, Dec 7 (Reuters) - A U.S. market rally in equities and bonds in November led global hedge funds to post their best monthly performance since January, although it caused losses to bearish macro strategies, data provider Hedge Fund Research (HFR) said on Thursday.\nOverall, the hedge fund industry posted gains of 2.2% in November and is up 4.35% in the year, HFR said.\n\"Hedge fund performance jumped in November as economic data showed a welcome decline in inflation, resulting in falling bond yields, and surging equity and cryptocurrency markets, as investors positioned for the conclusion of the Federal Reserve interest rate increasing cycle,\" the data provider said in a statement.\nEquity hedge funds led the industry performance among all four strategies tracked by HFR and rose 4.1% in November. Still, they lagged the S&P 500, which had its biggest monthly rise in over a year last month, up 8.9%.\nEvent-driven hedge funds, which bet on merger activity and activist campaigns, rose 3.6% last month. They are the year's best-performing category, with gains of 6.4%.\nRelative value hedge funds, which explore asset price dispersion, rose 1.5% in the month, with 5.6% in gains in the year.\nSurprised by the markets rally, macro hedge funds were the sole strategy to post losses in November, down 1.6% in the month and 1.8% year-to-date.\n\"Macro strategies declined in November as interest rates and commodities fell while risk tolerance increased,\" said HFR. Computer-driven or systematic trading strategies focused on macro trends led the losses. (Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US market rally boosts hedge fund performance, hits macro strategies in November"
    },
    {
        "id": 429,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-digital-realty-join-hands-225305402.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - U.S. investment giant Blackstone and data-center firm Digital Realty will create a joint venture that will spend $7 billion on developing data centers, the companies said on Thursday.\nThe venture plans to develop 10 data centers across four campuses in Frankfurt, Paris and northern Virginia, the companies said.\nDemand for data centers has remained resilient even in an uncertain economy as more businesses move to the cloud.\nBlackstone will acquire an 80% ownership interest in thejoint venture for about $700 million of initial capital contributions, while Digital Realty will maintain a 20% interest.\nThe joint venture is scheduled to close in two stages over the course of the first half of 2024.\n(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Blackstone, Digital Realty join hands to develop $7 billion data centers"
    },
    {
        "id": 430,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ups-fires-35-newly-organized-224949889.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Teamsters union that represents U.S. workers at United Parcel Service on Thursday said it would respond to the firing of about 35 newly organized workers at the delivery company by filing unfair labor practice charges and potentially striking.\nThe roughly three dozen affected specialist and administrative workers at UPS's Centennial hub in Louisville, Kentucky, organized with Teamsters Local 89 this autumn, the union said.\nInternational Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien in a statement said that UPS laid off those workers despite the ruling of an independent arbitrator and falsely claimed that their work should be performed by management.\n\"If UPS doesn't get its act together, they'll be on strike next. Our union will not hesitate to act, and we will not back down,\" said O'Brien, who represented some 340,000 UPS workers in a contract deal reached earlier this year.\nUPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "UPS fires about 35 newly organized US workers, Teamsters union says"
    },
    {
        "id": 431,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/private-equity-team-76-billion-224940071.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- One of the biggest US public pensions lost most of its private equity team after the fund made changes that would crimp the group’s ability to allocate to the alternative asset class.\nFour members of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System private equity investing team are retiring or have accepted new jobs, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nThe pension’s director of private equity and co-investments, Darren Foreman, will retire in January, while Patrick Knapp, Tony Meadows and Philip VanGraafeiland are pursuing new opportunities, according to some of the people.\nThe pension said it doesn’t comment on personnel-related matters, though a spokesperson said it has 63 investment professionals on the staff, a dozen of whom are primarily responsible for private markets. Departing members of the investment team declined to comment or didn’t immediately respond.\nThe Pennsylvania school pension had about $76 billion of assets as of Sept. 30. Private equity accounted for about $12 billion of its portfolio as of March 31, according to its asset allocation report. That included funds managed by Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital and Cerberus Capital Management.\n‘Very Skeptical’\nPrivate equity has performed well for the pension, delivering an almost 13% annualized return over the 10 years through March — the highest of any asset class, according to the fund’s most recent quarterly performance report.\nBut that has left it with a higher allocation to the asset class than its target, and the fund has said it will invest less in private equity to lower the proportion from 17% to the targeted 12%.\nThat over-allocation puts the fund in the same position as other public pensions that are pulling back on private equity and creating a difficult fundraising environment for many buyout firms.\n“I’m very much skeptical about private assets,” PSERS Chief Investment Officer Benjamin Cotton recently told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “You should earn a premium for locking your money into non-traded assets.”\nCotton’s statement related to “an aversion to paying premium fees without earning a premium return on the investment, regardless of asset class,” a PSERS spokesman said Thursday.\n",
        "title": "Private Equity Team at $76 Billion Pension Hit by Wave of Exits"
    },
    {
        "id": 432,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-digital-realty-join-hands-224043273.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. investment giant Blackstone and data-center firm Digital Realty will create a joint venture that will spend $7 billion on developing data centers, the companies said on Thursday.\nThe venture plans to develop 10 data centers across four campuses in Frankfurt, Paris and northern Virginia, the companies said.\nDemand for data centers has remained resilient even in an uncertain economy as more businesses move to the cloud.\nBlackstone will acquire an 80% ownership interest in the joint venture for about $700 million of initial capital contributions, while Digital Realty will maintain a 20% interest.\nThe joint venture is scheduled to close in two stages over the course of the first half of 2024. (Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Blackstone, Digital Realty join hands to develop $7 bln data centers"
    },
    {
        "id": 433,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-etf-launches-set-annual-223823409.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Suzanne McGee\nDec 7 (Reuters) - There have already been 478 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) launched in the U.S. this year as of Wednesday, a new annual record, according to data from Morningstar.\nThat number, fueled by the record $7.65 billion invested in ETFs, is likely to climb still higher, analysts at Morningstar and other firms said. At least another dozen ETFs are scheduled to make their debut over the next week, according to Strategas, an investment advisory firm.\nThe previous record was set in 2021, when ETF managers rolled out 477 new funds. Last year, quiet by comparison, was still the second-busiest ever, with 407 ETF debuts. It has been clear since October that the pace had picked up this year.\n\"The wheels are in motion,\" said Todd Sohn, ETF analyst at Strategas.\nThe vast majority of ETF launches this year -- some 76%, according to Morningstar Direct estimates -- have been of active ETFs rather than funds designed to track some kind of index.\nAnother big theme in 2023 has been the interest in ETFs that can deliver a steady stream of income.\n\"It's the current craze,\" Sohn said. \"A lot of managers are rushing to mimic\" multi-billion dollar ETFs like the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF, and the JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF.\nSohn said there was no reason to believe the flood of new ETF issuance will slacken next year. Still, he and other ETF analysts are watching the rate at which some recently launched ETFs have been closed.\nETF providers have shuttered 208 funds so far this year, but as a percentage of new issuance or the total number of funds, that falls well short of a record. Still, given the increasingly crowded ETF landscape, several say they are monitoring the figure.\nThe data measures U.S.-based ETFs in all categories and asset classes. (Reporting by Suzanne McGee; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "New US ETF launches set annual record -Morningstar"
    },
    {
        "id": 434,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-crown-castle-ceo-step-222848912.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds shares in paragraph 2, details and background in paragraph 3 & 4)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - Crown Castle Inc CEO Jay Brown would step down effective Jan. 16, the company said on Thursday, days after activist investor Elliott Investment Management urged for a board shake up and leadership change at the wireless tower owner.\nShares of the company rose 1.5% in extended trade to $119.40.\nLast month, Elliott said it was ready to nominate directors at Crown Castle and blamed the company's board and management for years of underperformance.\nCrown Castle said board member Anthony Melone will take interim charge after Brown departs, while it conducts a search process to identify a permanent CEO. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Crown Castle CEO to step down following activist investor push"
    },
    {
        "id": 435,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trudeau-oil-emissions-cut-test-222644895.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s plan to limit emissions from the oil and gas industry is set to test the sector’s resolve in tackling climate change, a challenge it has said for years it’s willing and able to take on.\nThose reductions would be as little as 20% below 2019 levels for the overall sector if companies use all available flexibility measures, including buying carbon offsets or paying into a fund that promotes decarbonization in the sector. But the upper level of the government’s target is to reduce emissions from the sector by as much as 38%.\nIt’s a significant concession to the industry from original projections that producers would have to slash emissions by 42%.\nThe Pathways Alliance, a group of six Canadian oil-sands producers, laid out a plan two years ago to lower emissions by 22 million tons a year by 2030. The government’s new target, then, leaves as little as 12 million tons of reductions for the remainder of the oil and gas industry to achieve.\nThe emissions cap policy “is in line with what the industry said is doable,” said Sara Hastings-Simon, an associate professor in the department of earth, energy and environment at the University of Calgary. “If there is pushback on this, that calls into question whether they are really serious and really committed.”\nThe Pathways Alliance gave a measured response, saying it will take time to review the framework and how it will affect oil-sands operations. Other industry players and officials were more critical of the plan.\nThe Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the main trade group representing oil and gas companies, said the emissions cap was “effectively a cap on production” that could result in “significant curtailments.” Another trade group, the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors, said the policy would hinder the industry’s ability to attract capital.\nThe premiers of oil-producing Saskatchewan and Alberta provinces blasted the move by the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the measure amounts to a forced cut in production for the province’s most important industry and said there was “no doubt” the matter would end up in court. Smith has already vowed to outright defy other federal energy policies — even threatening to create a provincial corporation that wouldn’t be beholden to federal rules, if necessary.\n“If we have to, in some way, create some certainty so that we do not have a production cap, so we do not have our production shut in, we will also be the producer of last resort, whatever that may look like,” Smith said in a press conference from Dubai.\nThe emissions cap will apply to a broad range of activities related to oil and gas, including oil-sands extraction, conventional oil and gas drilling and the country’s small but growing liquefied natural gas export industry.\nOil sands producers already have their production concentrated in a limited area among a handful of producers that operate mines, oil sands upgraders and well sites, a fact that Pathways argues makes it easier to deploy carbon capture and storage technology.\nConventional producers of oil and gas include dozens of companies with well sites spread across Western Canada, adding complexity to the process of cutting carbon emissions. They’ll need to do things such as convert from natural gas to electricity on their rigs, which will require a larger electricity network, Kevin Birn, vice president in the GHG estimation and coordination group at S&P Global, said by phone.\nFor drillers in Western Alberta and eastern British Columbia, hydropower would provide a low-emissions solution. But if the electricity comes from natural gas-fired plants, emissions reductions could be limited.\n",
        "title": "Trudeau’s Oil-Emissions Cut to Test Industry’s Climate Resolve"
    },
    {
        "id": 436,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-stellantis-cut-detroit-suv-222630351.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details on Stellantis' Toledo plant, California regulations, EPA, industry background, paragraphs 2, 4-10, 13)\nBy David Shepardson\nWASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Chrysler parent Stellantis said on Thursday it will temporarily cut one shift at its Detroit assembly plant that builds Jeep sport utility vehicles, citing California emissions regulations.\nThe automaker, which employs 4,600 at the plant that builds versions of the Grand Cherokee SUV, said it will drop to two shifts from three shifts at its Detroit Assembly Mack plant and reduce production by an unspecified amount.\nThe move, it said, was \"in part because of the need to manage sales of the vehicles they produce to comply with California emissions regulations that are measured on a state-by-state basis.\"\nStellantis said on Wednesday it is seeking to void a 2019 California emissions deal with rival automakers.\nSeparately, the automaker also said on Thursday its Toledo, Ohio, assembly plant that builds the Jeep Wrangler will move from an alternative work schedule to a traditional two-shift operation. Both moves will result in job losses but the company did not have a precise figure.\nStellantis said the shift will allow the Detroit plant to improve performance \"in the event that a change in the regulations or marketplace allows for an increase in volume.\"\nThe California Air Resources Board (CARB) declined immediate comment.\nThe company is warning more than 3,600 employees of potential job impacts, citing an abundance of caution, but did not have a precise total of jobs impacted.\nStellantis has been limiting shipments of gasoline-powered vehicles to dealers in states that have adopted California's emissions rules and in some cases gas-powered vehicles were shipped to those states only for sold orders, once customers ordered such vehicles.\nStellantis has also at times limited sales of plug-in EVs to states adopting California rules and shipped only sold order vehicles to other states.\nFord, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW struck a voluntary agreement with California on reducing vehicle emissions and Volvo Cars, owned by China's Geely, joined soon afterward. Stellantis has since sought to join but been rebuffed.\nStellantis said the agreement allows participating automakers to comply based on national sales, while it and other firms are measured by sales in the 14 states following the California rules, which hinders it from selling electric models in other states.\nIn May, CARB asked the Environmental Protection Agency for approval for its rules adopted in August 2022 that would allow the state to ban the sale of gasoline-only powered vehicles by 2035 and require at least 80% electric-only models by then. The EPA has not yet opened the request for public comment. (Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Stellantis to cut Detroit SUV production, citing California emissions rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 437,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stellantis-cut-detroit-suv-production-221918922.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By David Shepardson\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) -Chrysler parent Stellantis said on Thursday it will temporarily cut one shift at its Detroit assembly plant that builds Jeep sport utility vehicles, citing California emissions regulations.\nThe automaker, which employs 4,600 at the plant that builds versions of the Grand Cherokee SUV, said it will drop to two shifts from three shifts at its Detroit Assembly Mack plant and reduce production by an unspecified amount.\nThe move, it said, was \"in part because of the need to manage sales of the vehicles they produce to comply with California emissions regulations that are measured on a state-by-state basis.\"\nStellantis said on Wednesday it is seeking to void a 2019 California emissions deal with rival automakers.\nSeparately, the automaker also said on Thursday its Toledo, Ohio, assembly plant that builds the Jeep Wrangler will move from an alternative work schedule to a traditional two-shift operation. Both moves will result in job losses but the company did not have a precise figure.\nStellantis said the shift will allow the Detroit plant to improve performance \"in the event that a change in the regulations or marketplace allows for an increase in volume.\"\nThe California Air Resources Board (CARB) declined immediate comment.\nThe company is warning more than 3,600 employees of potential job impacts, citing an abundance of caution, but did not have a precise total of jobs impacted.\nStellantis has been limiting shipments of gasoline-powered vehicles to dealers in states that have adopted California's emissions rules and in some cases gas-powered vehicles were shipped to those states only for sold orders, once customers ordered such vehicles.\nStellantis has also at times limited sales of plug-in EVs to states adopting California rules and shipped only sold order vehicles to other states.\nFord, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW struck a voluntary agreement with California on reducing vehicle emissions and Volvo Cars, owned by China's Geely, joined soon afterward. Stellantis has since sought to join but been rebuffed.\nStellantis said the agreement allows participating automakers to comply based on national sales, while it and other firms are measured by sales in the 14 states following the California rules, which hinders it from selling electric models in other states.\nIn May, CARB asked the Environmental Protection Agency for approval for its rules adopted in August 2022 that would allow the state to ban the sale of gasoline-only powered vehicles by 2035 and require at least 80% electric-only models by then. The EPA has not yet opened the request for public comment.\n(Reporting by David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "Stellantis to cut Detroit SUV production, citing California emissions rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 438,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lululemon-sales-growth-slowing-ahead-221338392.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s fourth-quarter revenue guidance trailed Wall Street estimates, a rare miss for the retailer whose performance routinely exceeds investor expectations.\nSales growth at the activewear company, while still robust compared with most peers, is slowing as higher-income shoppers spend more on things like travel and entertainment rather than apparel. Lululemon said Thursday that revenue in the holiday quarter is expected to be up 13% to 14% over last year, down from 19% growth seen in the three-month period that just ended.\nOn a call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer Meghan Frank said the company was pleased with its Thanksgiving weekend sales but it’s “being prudent with the planning” for the remainder of the quarter, which ends in late January.\nThe shares fell 2.3% at 5:04 p.m. in late New York trading. The stock’s strong performance this year — more than double the gain of the S&P 500 Index — has increased pressure for the company to keep up its pace of growth.\n“It is crucial to note that the current price has reached an all-time high, accompanied by exceptionally elevated investor expectations,” Jessica Ramírez, an analyst at Jane Hali & Associates, wrote in a note ahead of Lululemon’s earnings. “This situation implies that any misstep in even a single aspect could potentially limit upside in the very near term.”\nFrom its roots as a yogawear company, Lululemon has enticed shoppers globally with leggings and other sportswear that sell at a premium price. In addition to loyalty in the US and Canada, where it is based, the company has honed its growth strategy outside North America, where revenue rose 49% in the third quarter.\nThe retailer forecast fourth-quarter revenue in the range of $3.14 billion to $3.17 billion, while analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were looking for $3.18 billion, on average.\nIn the third quarter, adjusted earnings per share came in better than expected while operating margin and gross margin missed Wall Street estimates. Lululemon recognized $72.1 million in charges in the quarter related to Mirror, the fitness product it plans to discontinue after inking a partnership with Peloton Interactive Inc. in September.\n(Updates with additional context beginning in second paragraph, company comment in third.)\n",
        "title": "Lululemon’s Sales Growth Is Slowing Ahead of the Holidays"
    },
    {
        "id": 439,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/broadcom-misses-revenue-estimates-dull-221220896.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Arsheeya Bajwa\n(Reuters) -Chipmaker Broadcom forecast annual revenue below Wall Street estimates on Thursday, hurt by weak enterprise spending and stiff competition in the networking chips space.\nShares of the San Jose, California-based company, which recently closed its acquisition of cloud computing firm VMware, fell more than 1% in extended trading.\nIn fiscal 2024, the company expects revenue of about $50.0 billion including contribution from VMware. This compares to analysts' average estimate of $52.50 billion according to LSEG data.\n\"The outlook in part depends on how effectively Broadcom can weave the restructuring into its long-term AI strategy,\" said Jacob Bourne, an analyst at Insider Intelligence.\nThe company also forecast annual adjusted EBITDA of about 60% of projected revenue, which comes out to be around $30 billion, an expected increase of nearly $7 billion from its 2023 EBITDA.\nBroadcom's original goal was to improve Vmware's EBITDA contribution to $8.5 billion within three years of closing.\nBroadcom finance chief Kirsten Spears had said in September that generative artificial spending was coming from large cloud service providers, and not from enterprises yet.\nThe company had already seen revenue from telecom and enterprise clients moderate, and with major client Cisco Systems flagging a slowdown in new orders, analysts worry Broadcom will see the impact as well.\n\"We continue to see a very mixed demand environment for Broadcom's service provider and enterprise businesses,\" said Summit Insights analyst Kinngai Chan.\nCompetition from Nvidia, whose InfiniBand is being used as an alternative to Broadcom’s core offerings for AI, is an added pain.\nBroadcom's revenue in the fourth quarter was $9.30 billion, below estimates of $9.41 billion.\nHowever, on an adjusted basis, the company's profit of $11.06 per share beat estimates of $10.98.\n(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Broadcom misses revenue estimates on dull enterprise spending"
    },
    {
        "id": 440,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lululemon-forecasts-bleak-fourth-quarter-220916516.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Lululemon Athletica Inc on Thursday forecast fourth-quarter revenue and profit below expectations, signaling a bleak holiday season as customers turn thrifty and cut back spending on premium apparel and accessories.\nShares of the Vancouver, Canada-based company, dropped nearly 4% in extended trading.\nLululemon had enjoyed buoyant demand for its athleisure and comfortable clothing in the last several quarters but with costs of living trending higher, some of its customers have started trimming down spending on premium clothing.\nLululemon's holiday forecast mirrors sentiments from other U.S. retailers such as Kohl's, which has hinted at a choppy start to the holiday season.\nThe company expects fourth-quarter net revenue between $3.14 billion and $3.17 billion, and profit between $4.85 and $4.93 per share, both below analysts' estimates, according to LSEG data.\nEven though Thanksgiving weekend sales showed optimism among customers, some consumers have either largely cut back on spending or are waiting to shop closer to Christmas.\nA recent report from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that consumer demand was slowing as Americans grapple with higher borrowing costs, resumption of student loan repayments and depleted excess savings among low-income households due to inflation.\nHowever, Lululemon's third-quarter gross margins were up 110 basis points to 57%, helped by easing costs of production and lower freight expenses.\nThe company also beat third-quarter results and raised annual profit as well as revenue forecasts.\nLululemon now expects full-year 2023 profit between $12.34 and $12.42 per share, compared with its prior forecast of $12.02 to $12.17.\nIt forecast net revenue between $9.55 billion and $9.59 billion, above $9.51 billion to $9.57 billion it had estimated earlier.\n(Reporting by Annett Mary Manoj and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru)\n",
        "title": "Lululemon forecasts bleak fourth-quarter revenue, profit on weaker demand"
    },
    {
        "id": 441,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spotify-cfo-paul-vogel-step-220611154.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Spotify Technology said on Thursday Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel will step down from his role next year March end after an eight-year long stint at the music streaming company.\nVogel's departure follows a rough week at the company. Spotify has said it would lay off around 1,500 employees, or 17% of its workforce, after letting 600 of its staff go in January, and 200 more in June.\nShares of the company fell 2.3% to $191.35 in extended trading.\nThe company said on Thursday it has launched an external search for a successor, and in the meantime Ben Kung, vice president of financial planning and analysis, will take up the role.\n(Reporting by Roshia Sabu and Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "Spotify CFO Paul Vogel to step down next year"
    },
    {
        "id": 442,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-spotify-cfo-paul-vogel-220234240.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details on CFO transition and background in paragraphs 2-4)\nDec 7 (Reuters) - Spotify Technology said on Thursday Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel will step down from his role next year March end after an eight-year long stint at the music streaming company.\nVogel's departure follows a rough week at the company. Spotify has said it would lay off around 1,500 employees, or 17% of its workforce, after letting 600 of its staff go in January, and 200 more in June.\nShares of the company fell 2.3% to $191.35 in extended trading. The company said on Thursday it has launched an external search for a successor, and in the meantime Ben Kung, vice president of financial planning and analysis, will take up the role. (Reporting by Roshia Sabu and Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Spotify CFO Paul Vogel to step down next year"
    },
    {
        "id": 443,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackrocks-fink-pushes-back-firm-220131882.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By David Randall\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink said on Thursday that the firm was unfairly targeted by candidates in the fourth Republican presidential debate, calling it a \"sad commentary on the state of American politics.\"\nBlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has faced a backlash from state pension plans in Republican-led Florida, Louisiana and Missouri for the firm's ESG policies, which filter possible investments based on environmental, social, and governance screens. Overall, the firm lost about $4 billion in 2022 in assets under management as a result of its ESG stance while pulling in $230 billion in inflows.\nFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis criticized the firm in Wednesday's debate for using its \"economic power\" to instill a \"left wing agenda.\"\n\"The only agenda we have is delivering for our clients,\" Fink wrote in a LinkedIn post. \"One candidate last night claimed that BlackRock was somehow deterring American energy companies from drilling for oil. The reality: BlackRock clients have more than $170 billion invested in American energy companies and just last month, we announced a joint venture with one of America’s largest energy companies to help develop new technology.\"\nShares of BlackRock rose 0.5% in afternoon trading, slightly behind the 0.7% gain in the benchmark S&P 500.\n(Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "BlackRock's Fink pushes back after firm criticized in Republican debate"
    },
    {
        "id": 444,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/surge-management-buyouts-gives-extra-220000972.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The best rally in a decade for Japanese stocks is being amplified by a surge in buyouts from company executives.\nThe volume of management buyouts has increased to the highest on record this year, spurring expectations that removing weaker companies from the market may help improve valuations of listed ones. That brings into focus the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s campaign to improve corporate governance, which is underpinning bullish calls on the nation’s stocks.\n“If the MBOs result in industry reshuffles, it will have a great positive impact on the market as accumulated inefficiencies in Japan are getting fixed,” said Sho Nakazawa, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. in Tokyo.\nThe volume of companies being taken private by executives in Japan in 2023 jumped 170% from a year earlier to at least ¥870 billion ($6 billion), according to data complied by Bloomberg. That compares with an increase of 50% globally, the figures show.\nThe pace picked up in November, with the most deals since December 2011. That includes Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. - the biggest MBO this year - and educational services business Benesse Holdings Inc.\n“As the cheap stocks are going away, the value of the capital market increases,” said Mitsushige Akino, senior executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. “This is good for the market.”\nThe increase in MBOs stands to give a further boost to Japan’s world-beating performance this year, driven by investment from veteran fund manager Warren Buffett and the TSE’s campaign.\nThe increase in MBOs is a result of companies properly discussing their growth and business strategies, Hiromi Yamaji, chief executive officer of the bourse’s parent Japan Exchange Group Inc., said at a briefing last month. He added that trend wasn’t necessarily good or bad for the exchange.\nOne factor behind the buyouts has been pressure from activist investors, with hedge funds pushing Japanese companies for higher returns. Shareholder proposals jumped 19% from a year earlier to a record high, according to data from consultancy IR Japan Holdings Ltd. One recent example were calls in October by UK-based activist Palliser Capital for a Japanese railway operator to reduce its stake in Oriental Land Co., which runs Tokyo Disneyland.\nFresh Targets\nInvestors are keenly focused on more potential MBO targets, with industries including retailing and chemicals in the crosshairs, said Shohya Ohkuma, CEO at Japanese advisory firm QuestHub Co., who previously worked at a Singapore-based activist fund.\nBuyouts are possible at firms where the founding family has up to 30% ownership, but acts like it has more influence over decision-making, and which have net cash or significant real estate holdings, according to Ohkuma.\nOn the flipside, MBOs may not be taking into account the rights of minority shareholders. The price-to-book ratio for the Taisho Pharma deal was below a minimum standard of one, and that disregarded the rights of such investors, fund adviser Japan Catalyst Inc. said this month. In Japan, the board of directors isn’t necessarily compelled to make sure it gets the highest possible price for shareholders in the event of a takeover, Nicholas Smith, a strategist at CLSA Securities Japan Co., wrote in a note this week.\nWith too many companies trading at under book value, the trend might be “a process of market normalization,” said Tsuyoshi Maruki, founder of activist fund Strategic Capital Inc. “If you stay cheap, you’ll be purchased when the discipline of the market works.”\n--With assistance from Aya Wagatsuma.\n",
        "title": "Surge in Management Buyouts Gives Extra Boost to Japanese Stocks"
    },
    {
        "id": 445,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-brazil-exchange-operator-b3-215827626.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds more guidance and the announcing of a repurchase program in paragraphs 2-4)\nSAO PAULO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Brazil's financial exchange operator B3 said on Thursday it expects 2024 capex to be between 200 million and 280 million reais ($41 million to $57 million), from an expected 200 million to 290 million reais this year.\nThe company forecast adjusted expenses between 2.14 billion and 2.32 billion reais next year, compared with an outlook of 2.07 billion to 2.24 billion reais for 2023.\nB3 also said it expects its financial leverage to end 2024 at two times its gross debt/recurring Ebitda, from an expected 2.3 times this year.\nIn a separate filing on Thursday, B3 announced a repurchase program of up to 230 million shares starting on March 2024 over 12 months.\n($1 = 4.9115 reais) (Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Brazil exchange operator B3 sees 2024 capex in line with 2023"
    },
    {
        "id": 446,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-japanese-markets-reel-boj-214649029.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\n(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nSignals from Federal Reserve and European Central Bank officials have been behind the eye-popping moves in world bond markets recently, but on Thursday investors were reminded of the punch the Bank of Japan can pack.\nIf the pointers from Fed and ECB officials have been towards the lower interest rate environment coming into view, the BOJ is headed in the completely opposite direction.\nThe dramatic moves in Japanese markets on Thursday will likely continue to reverberate around Asia on Friday, and it is perhaps fitting that the region's economic calendar is dominated by key Japanese indicators.\nThe latest household consumption, bank lending and current account data are on tap, as well as revised third quarter GDP. The other main event in Asia on Friday is the Reserve Bank of India's interest rate decision.\nIf the RBI meets investors' expectations - the key repo rate left unchanged at 6.50% for a fifth consecutive meeting, and signals it will be held there well into next year - there are unlikely to be any market fireworks.\nThere were plenty of fireworks in Japanese markets on Thursday, sparked by comments from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda about the exit from decades of ultra-low interest rate policy - the yen and bond yields soared, and stocks slumped.\nThese moves bear repeating, as they are a measure of how historic the BOJ's shift is and how sensitive markets are to it.\nThe yen's 2.7% surge against the dollar - it had gained as much as 4% earlier in the day - was its biggest in a year. There have been only seven better days for the yen in the last decade.\nThe five-year Japanese Government Bond yield recorded its biggest rise since the pandemic of almost 10 basis points - it has registered bigger daily spikes on only four occasions in the last 20 years.\nLong-dated JGB yields spiked sharply higher too after a dismal auction of 30-year paper - the bid-to-cover ratio was the lowest since 2015 at 2.62, and the tail - the difference between the lowest bid and the average bid - was the longest on record.\nThe timing and scale of Japan's inflation-fighting rate hikes is critical. Japan is the world's largest creditor nation, so the potential repatriation flows are huge; while the yen is near its lowest, and the Nikkei stock market is near its highest, in more than 30 years.\nAccording to Reuters polls, figures on Friday are expected to show Japanese household spending fell in October, and the economy was slightly weaker in the third quarter than thought.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Friday:\n- Japan GDP (Q3, final)\n- Japan household spending (October)\n- India interest rate decision\n(By Jamie McGeever)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Japanese markets reel as BOJ flexes muscles"
    },
    {
        "id": 447,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-sends-commodities-two-low-232932877.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A rally in megacaps spurred a rebound in stocks on speculation the artificial-intelligence boom will keep fueling market gains.\nTraders brushed off any jitters surrounding Friday’s US jobs report to reignite the trade that’s driven the Nasdaq 100 up over 45% this year. Optimism around AI resurfaced, with Alphabet Inc. up almost 5.5% a day after Google released Gemini, the “largest and most-capable AI model” it has ever built. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. also rallied after saying this week its new accelerator chips will run AI software faster than rival products.\n“Artificial intelligence has potential to drive productivity gains sharply higher in 2024 and beyond,” said Yung-Yu Ma at BMO Wealth Management. “Resilience, adaptability and innovation have been hallmarks of the economy in 2023, and we see those factors carrying us through in 2024 as well.”\nThe Nasdaq 100 rose 1.5% and the S&P 500 halted a three-day drop. Treasuries saw small moves, with the 10-year yield edging higher to around 4.15%. Hawkish signals from the Bank of Japan drove the yen up over 2%. The dollar fell.\nKrishna Guha at Evercore says he’s not “buying the idea” that the BOJ will seriously consider a surprise hike in December. “We think January is much more plausible,” he noted. “So while the direction of travel is right, today’s tactical trades have likely overshot.”\nIn a week jam-packed with labor-market readings, data showed continuing applications for US jobless benefits fell by the most since July. Despite the decline, continuing claims are still near a two-year high amid growing evidence of a cooling labor market. The data precedes the government’s monthly jobs report, which is forecast to show a pickup in hiring in November and the unemployment rate holding at 3.9%.\n“The jobless claims release today wasn’t particularly eventful in itself. The jobs report tomorrow is really significant, particularly the wages component.”\nOptimism about disinflation and potential rate cuts next year played a big part in the recent stock rally. Yet a reading of cross-asset volatility shows risks aren’t as muted as they may appear. The gap between the MOVE Index, which tracks interest-rate volatility, and the VIX gauge of stock price swings has once again widened — suggesting rate markets remain choppy and could spark stress for equities at any time.\nMarko Kolanovic at JPMorgan Chase & Co. warned clients that equities and other risk assets won’t be able to sustain any potential rallies without substantial rate cuts by central banks — and he doesn’t anticipate that unless markets drop severely or the economy stalls. For that reason, he said investors should opt for cash or bonds over stocks.\n“This is a catch-22 situation,” Kolanovic said. “This would imply that we would need to first see some market declines and volatility during 2024 before easing of monetary conditions and a more sustainable rally.”\nUS stocks are already reflecting an optimistic outlook on economic growth, leaving them “vulnerable” to any macro shocks, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists including Ryan Hammond and David Kostin.\n“We believe much of the optimistic scenario is already reflected in US equity prices today,” they wrote.\nMeantime, Bank of America Corp.’s quant strategists say that after the big tech-fueled rally in 2023, the S&P 500 has the potential to rise next year — even without their support. Concerns about narrow market breadth are “misplaced” as bull markets in the past four decades — outside of the dotcom bubble — have always ended with far better breadth, they noted.\n“Unlike this year during which the ‘Magnificent 7’ did 70% of the work, we expect broader leadership,” said Savita Subramanian, referring to contributions from the likes of Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft to the rally.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Jan-Patrick Barnert and Michael Msika.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street’s AI Craze Drives Nasdaq 100 Up 1.5%: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 448,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-asia-japanese-markets-214500879.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\nDec 8 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nSignals from Federal Reserve and European Central Bank officials have been behind the eye-popping moves in world bond markets recently, but on Thursday investors were reminded of the punch the Bank of Japan can pack.\nIf the pointers from Fed and ECB officials have been towards the lower interest rate environment coming into view, the BOJ is headed in the completely opposite direction.\nThe dramatic moves in Japanese markets on Thursday will likely continue to reverberate around Asia on Friday, and it is perhaps fitting that the region's economic calendar is dominated by key Japanese indicators.\nThe latest household consumption, bank lending and current account data are on tap, as well as revised third quarter GDP. The other main event in Asia on Friday is the Reserve Bank of India's interest rate decision.\nIf the RBI meets investors' expectations - the key repo rate left unchanged at 6.50% for a fifth consecutive meeting, and signals it will be held there well into next year - there are unlikely to be any market fireworks.\nThere were plenty of fireworks in Japanese markets on Thursday, sparked by comments from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda about the exit from decades of ultra-low interest rate policy - the yen and bond yields soared, and stocks slumped.\nThese moves bear repeating, as they are a measure of how historic the BOJ's shift is and how sensitive markets are to it.\nThe yen's 2.7% surge against the dollar - it had gained as much as 4% earlier in the day - was its biggest in a year. There have been only seven better days for the yen in the last decade.\nThe five-year Japanese Government Bond yield recorded its biggest rise since the pandemic of almost 10 basis points - it has registered bigger daily spikes on only four occasions in the last 20 years.\nLong-dated JGB yields spiked sharply higher too after a dismal auction of 30-year paper - the bid-to-cover ratio was the lowest since 2015 at 2.62, and the tail - the difference between the lowest bid and the average bid - was the longest on record.\nThe timing and scale of Japan's inflation-fighting rate hikes is critical. Japan is the world's largest creditor nation, so the potential repatriation flows are huge; while the yen is near its lowest, and the Nikkei stock market is near its highest, in more than 30 years.\nAccording to Reuters polls, figures on Friday are expected to show Japanese household spending fell in October, and the economy was slightly weaker in the third quarter than thought.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Friday:\n- Japan GDP (Q3, final)\n- Japan household spending (October)\n- India interest rate decision\n(By Jamie McGeever)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID ASIA-Japanese markets reel as BOJ flexes muscles"
    },
    {
        "id": 449,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-funds-gain-2-2-213809795.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (Reuters) - A market rally in equities and bonds in November drove global hedge funds' performance in November, data provider Hedge Fund Research (HFR) said on Thursday.\nOverall, the hedge fund industry posted gains of 2.2% in November and are up 4.35% in the year, HFR said.\n(Reporting by Carolina Mandl, in New York; Editing by Chris Reese)\n",
        "title": "Hedge funds gain 2.2% in November, boosted by markets rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 450,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-fx-debt-canadian-dollar-213518306.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nLoonie trades in a range of 1.3584 to 1.3619\n*\nBoC's Gravelle calls for more housing construction\n*\nCanadian bond yields rise across much of the curve\nBy Fergal Smith\nTORONTO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, while it lost ground against most other G10 currencies, as investors awaited Friday's U.S. employment report for clues on the interest rate outlook.\nThe loonie was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3590 to the greenback, or 73.58 U.S. cents, after moving in a range of 1.3584 to 1.3619.\nAmong G10 currencies, the Swiss franc was the only other currency not to gain ground against the U.S. dollar as a surprisingly clear hint at a shift in policy by Japanese monetary authorities bolstered the yen.\n\"All eyes now are on the nonfarm payrolls data,\" said Rahim Madhavji, president at KnightsbridgeFX.com.\nTraders are trying to determine if the U.S. economy is still running hotter than the Canadian economy and could that put pressure on the Bank of Canada to cut interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve, Madhavj said.\nCanada's economy unexpectedly contracted at an annualized rate of 1.1% in the third quarter, avoiding a recession, but most economists forecast that upcoming mortgage renewals at higher rates will take another chunk out of growth next year.\nMoney markets expect the Canadian central bank to begin cutting interest rates in the coming months after the bank on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 5% for a third straight meeting.\nBoC Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle spoke on Thursday, calling for policy changes to spur more housing construction and reduce pressure on inflation caused by a lack of shelter, especially at a time of record immigration.\nCanadian government bond yields rose across much of the curve. The 10-year was up 2.1 basis points at 3.304%, after touching on Wednesday its lowest intraday level since June 30 at 3.264%. (Reporting by Fergal Smith; editing by Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "CANADA FX DEBT-Canadian dollar lags most G10 rivals ahead of U.S. jobs data"
    },
    {
        "id": 451,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/november-jobs-report-to-test-soft-landing-narrative-213223244.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The November jobs report is set for release Friday morning and is expected to show a reacceleration in job growth after worker strikes impacted the October report.\nThe monthly labor report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, set for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show nonfarm payrolls rose by 185,000 in November while the unemployment rate remained flat at 3.9% from the previous month, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg. In October, the US economy added 150,000 jobs while unemployment ticked up to 3.9%.\nThe report will serve as a test for the stock market. Investors are betting the Federal Reserve is done hiking interest rates and are widely expecting rate cuts in 2024. Much of that thesis is based on the labor market normalizing from its pandemic boom and inflation slowing. If the report helps reinforce that narrative, it could lift equities.\n\"We expect the November employment report to show an acceleration in job growth, driven by the return of striking UAW and SAG-AFTRA workers,\" said Oxford Economics lead US economist Nancy Vanden Houten. \"Excluding those workers, job growth will still be relatively robust, although narrowly based. Looking through strike-related noise, we expect the jobs report to be consistent with softening labor market conditions, allowing the Fed to forego more rate increases.\"\nRecent data this week showed signs of cooling in the labor market. On Tuesday, the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, revealed the ratio of job openings to the number of unemployed workers fell to 1.34, its lowest reading since August 2021.\nTo Vanden Houten, the decline showed a labor market coming into \"a better balance\" between supply and demand, as the Federal Reserve has referenced.\n\"Labor market conditions remain very strong, and the economy is returning to a better balance between the demand for and supply of workers,\" Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a speech on Dec. 1. \"The pace at which the economy is creating new jobs remains strong and has been slowing toward a more sustainable level.\"\nAdditional labor market data out Wednesday from ADP showed private payrolls increased more slowly than expected last month and wages continued to fall. Specifically, ADP noted that the drop in leisure and hospitality jobs in November could be a sign of the labor market normalizing, and therefore payroll growth could eventually slow next year.\n“Restaurants and hotels were the biggest job creators during the post-pandemic recovery,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “But that boost is behind us, and the return to trend in leisure and hospitality suggests the economy as a whole will see more moderate hiring and wage growth in 2024.”\nJosh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "November jobs report to test soft landing narrative"
    },
    {
        "id": 452,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-yen-surges-possible-213221294.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nYen sees biggest daily jump since January\n*\nWorld stocks climb after three straight declines\n*\nOil prices edge lower to extend decline\n(Updated at 4:12 p.m. ET/ 2012 GMT)\nBy Chuck Mikolajczak\nNEW YORK, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Japanese yen jumped on Thursday as Bank of Japan policymakers hinted the central bank may shift away from its ultra-low interest rate plan and a gauge of global stocks rose after three straight falls as investors assessed the latest round of U.S. labor market data.\nThe yen surged 2.39% against the greenback, its biggest one-day jump since Jan. 12, at 143.86 per dollar after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda added to speculation that the central bank could move away from negative rates by saying policy management would \"become even more challenging from the year-end and heading into next year\" and indicated several options of what could be on the horizon.\nThe BOJ is the only central bank not to start tightening policy. Meanwhile, central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank (ECB) are seen as nearing or at the end of their rate hike cycles.\n\"The comments last night sort of poured rocket fuel into bets on an eventual move back into positive rates territory for the Bank of Japan,\" said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay in Toronto.\nThe dollar index fell 0.50% at 103.62 while the euro was up 0.28% to $1.0792.\nMarkets see about a 21% chance that the BoJ hikes rates at its final meeting of the year on Dec. 19, according to LSEG data. Japanese government bonds also saw a sharp sell-off, with yields on the 10-year Japanese government bond up 10.3 basis points, the most since July 28.\nOn Wall Street, U.S. stocks climbed, led by a 3.22% gain in communication services stocks as Google parent Alphabet rallied and the latest piece of data on the labor market showed an uptick in weekly jobless claims.\nAfter a run of data this week confirmed some softening in the labor market, the focus will turn to Friday's government payrolls report.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 62.95 points, or 0.17%, to 36,117.38, the S&P 500 gained 36.25 points, or 0.80%, to 4,585.59 and the jumped 193.28 points, or 1.37%, to 14,339.99.\nEuropean shares closed lower as a recent rally stalled, with the STOXX 600 index down 0.27%, while MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.48% and was poised for its first advance after three straight declines, its longest streak since late October.\nLonger dates U.S. Treasury yields were little changed after earlier bouncing slightly off three-month lows, ahead of the U.S. jobs report. The yield on the 10-year was last up 2 basis points at 4.144%.\nThe cooling of economic data and recent comments from Federal Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, have heightened expectations that the U.S. central bank has ended its interest rate hiking cycle and will begin to cut rates as soon as March.\nWhile the market widely sees the Federal Reserve holding rates steady at its next policy meeting on Dec. 12-13, expectations for a U.S. rate cut of at least 25 basis points (bps) in March are about 63%, according to CME's FedWatch Tool, up from about 43% a week ago.\nOil prices gave up early gains after a slight move higher and settled at a six-month low, as investors worried about sluggish energy demand in the United States and China while output from the U.S. remains near record highs.\nU.S. crude settled down 0.06% to $69.34 a barrel while Brent crude settled at $74.05 per barrel, down 0.34% on the day.\n(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; additional reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham, Nick Zieminski and Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Yen surges on possible Bank of Japan shift, stocks climb"
    },
    {
        "id": 453,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/guidewire-software-fiscal-q1-earnings-212521019.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — Guidewire Software Inc. (GWRE) on Thursday reported a loss of $27.1 million in its fiscal first quarter.\nOn a per-share basis, the San Mateo, California-based company said it had a loss of 33 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were less than 1 cent on a per-share basis.\nThe average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 17 cents per share.\nThe provider of software to the insurance industry posted revenue of $207.4 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $201 million.\nFor the current quarter ending in January, Guidewire Software said it expects revenue in the range of $236 million to $243 million.\nThe company expects full-year revenue in the range of $976 million to $986 million.\n_____\nThis story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on GWRE at https://www.zacks.com/ap/GWRE\n",
        "title": "Guidewire Software: Fiscal Q1 Earnings Snapshot"
    },
    {
        "id": 454,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-sees-rates-rally-driving-212508519.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. is predicting high single-digit returns for US corporate bonds next year, driven by lower bond yields and relatively benign default rates.\nIn a soft landing scenario, analysts at the bank are predicting 8% returns for investment grade bonds and 9% for high yield bonds, Steve Dulake, global head of credit research at JPMorgan, said at a Bloomberg Intelligence conference on Thursday.\n“Lower rates, not spreads, are really driving returns,” Dulake said in a keynote speech at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. “Companies have done a great job at taking advantage of the capital market tailwinds that you’ve seen in place, notably since the Labor Day long weekend holiday.”\nThe benchmark US high-grade bond index gained 6% in November, the biggest jump on a total return basis since 2008, according to Bloomberg index data. Junk bond investors fared almost as well over the month with positive returns of 4.5%.\nJPMorgan forecasts slowing growth in the US, though it will still avoid a recession, with inflation moderating back toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Until roughly six weeks ago, analysts at the bank expected policy rates to begin to ease by about 25 basis points a quarter. They now expect the Fed to essentially cut rates every six weeks, said Dulake.\n“We’ve seen a very big drawdown in return potential for next year,” said Dulake. “But we still think actually that you can still achieve high single-digit returns both in high grade and in high yield next year.”\nJPMorgan projects high grade net issuance to be on par if not lower than it was this year. Concerns around balance sheet resiliency and refinancing risks have eased as companies have done a good job pushing their maturities out next year and in 2025 back out to somewhere between 2028 and 2030, he said.\nHe predicts a default rate of below 3% for junk and 3.25% for loans.\n“There’s a lot of noise, almost on a daily basis, around the private credit space,” he said. “We would argue, at least from a JPMorgan perspective, that private capital has done a lot to elongate the current credit cycle.”\nDulake’s biggest concern is potential volatility in the rates market considering that the US Treasury is engaged in selling securities into the marketplace.\n“In terms of what really shakes the tree, I think it could be interest rate volatility, particularly as we get into supply periods next year and government bond auctions,” he added.\n",
        "title": "JPMorgan Sees Rates Rally Driving Single-Digit Returns for Bonds"
    },
    {
        "id": 455,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-everywhere-cop28-vexing-activists-035947079.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- At the world’s most important climate summit, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries — whose members supply almost 30% of the world’s oil — has a pavilion for the first time.\nThere, staff were giving out a children’s book about oil. A grey-haired cartoon Professor named Riggs takes young readers through topics as arcane as the lightness and sourness of crude, before explaining why oil is important: “Without oil, we would not be able to continue to enjoy the same standard of living.” The book proved so popular that the pavilion ran out of copies just four days into the two weeks of COP28.\nOil and gas executives have tended to keep a low profile at the annual UN climate change gathering, but they have little reason to hide at COP28, hosted by the United Arab Emirates — one of the world’s largest oil exporters — and led by the CEO of its national oil company. At least 2,456 representatives of the fossil fuel industry have been granted access to COP28, according to an analysis by the “Kick Big Polluters Out” pressure group. The number is nearly four times higher than in Sharm El Sheikh last year. If they were a country, they would outnumber all national delegations at the conference except for Brazil and the UAE.\nHeads of major oil companies have attended as part of country delegations. The CEO of TotalEnergies SE, Patrick Pouyanne, is part of the French delegation, while Darren Woods, CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., is accredited to the UAE’s. Other industry representatives attend under the umbrella of influence groups such as the International Emissions Trading Association, which registered at least 110 people for the summit.\nAs COP28 enters its final few days, the most contentious issue is whether the final agreement will pledge to phase down fossil fuels. To many of the thousands of climate activists among the 100,000 or so people registered to attend, the prominence of the oil and gas industry is a travesty — giving the industry most responsible for climate change a seat at the table.\n“You don’t invite the tobacco lobbyists to a health convention when you’re writing health policy,” said Emily Lowan of Climate Action Network Canada. “They have clear stated interests against the very premise of these negotiations, at this COP in particular, related to agreeing on the language on the phase out of fossil fuels.”\nOthers take industry’s statements of good intent at face value and argue the coalition tackling the climate crisis needs to be as broad as possible. Either way, there’s no way of avoiding oil and gas at the giant Expo park hosting COP28 on the outskirts of Dubai.\nFrom luncheons to panel discussions in country pavilion panels and high level declarations, oil and gas is making its case. Industry-linked events often focus on technologies such as carbon capture and making fossil fuel extraction “greener.”\nAt IETA’s two-story “BusinessHub,” where there’s a Carbon Market Networking Lounge, a Partners Private Lounge, fruit bowls and an espresso machine, carbon capture was at the center of discussions. The group’s 110 registered attendees represent companies ranging from Norway’s Equinor to Shell Plc. The sign welcoming visitors lists Chevron Corp., America’s No. 2 oil company, as a partner.\nRead More: What Is COP28 and Why Is It Important?\nBack-to-back events on carbon capture and storage coincided with a networking luncheon for a coalition of Canadian industry leaders. Avik Dey, CEO of Capital Power, a utility with gas- and coal-fired power plants, is attending COP with the US-based Business Council for Sustainable Energy, an association whose members include the American Gas Association.\n“I’m super excited to be here because the heavy-emitting industries are here and being part of the conversation,” said Dey, whose badge lists him as an observer. “I think mankind is the problem. We’re all part of the problem, so all of us need to be part of the solution.”\nFor industry representatives, COP presents a chance to be in the same room with potential partners and government officials with whom it might take weeks to get a meeting back home. Ministers, CEOs and corporate strategists sip coffee in the same pavilions and cram together in the same panel audiences, where it’s easy to strike up an informal chat.\nBy keeping Sultan Al Jaber as both head of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and president of the climate summit, the United Arab Emirates had given industry a green light, said Richard Merzian, a director at an Australian renewables industry association and former COP negotiator for Australia.\n“What I see now is a proliferation of these spaces to create more legitimacy for these delay tactics,” Merzian said. “Carbon capture and storage is a technology invented by the oil industry in order to push C02 down and push oil up.”\nBut Al Jaber, who’s always made plain his belief that his industry should be part of the situation, put oil and gas at the heart of one of signature achievements at COP28. He persuaded more than 40 oil and gas companies, including Exxon, Total and Shell, to join an Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter. It’s controversial because it doesn’t commit members to reductions in oil and gas production, but they will have to all-but-stop emissions of methane, a super-harmful greenhouse gas, by 2030. That could have a tangible impact on global emissions.\n“We must do all we can to decarbonize the energy system we have today,” Al Jaber told delegates last week.\nAnd he has plenty of supporters as well as detractors.\nBut at times, the irony seems almost too much. At one event, the CEO of Libya’s National Oil Co. launched a new sustainability plan, complete with glossy brochures promising the reduction of gas flaring by 2030. In an interview after the event, the CEO said the company was seeking to increase production by one hundred thousand barrels a day by the end of next year and was pursuing a plan to get daily production to two million barrels by 2026.\nThe industry’s boldness has also caused tension with renewables groups and climate activists.\nIn one part of the Blue Zone, the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, a coalition pushing renewable energy, shares a makeshift wall with the Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN), a group that “unites Canada’s oil and gas industry, innovators, technology vendors, academia, research institutes, financiers and government,” according to its LinkedIn page.\nAt yet another carbon capture panel in the CRIN pavilion called “Capturing Your Attention: Sharing Carbon Capture & Storage Knowledge,” panelists Dey from Capital Power and Kendall Dilling, a soft-spoken oil executive who also chairs Canadian oil sands companies group Pathways Alliance, faced critical questioning from an audience where “Emissions cap” baseball hats featured prominently. Above the panelists, a television screen showed an image of snow-capped mountains and a still blue lake, overlaid with “CRIN” in fine lettering.\nAttendees said that Pathways had been lobbying to introduce loopholes and a delayed timeline to the Canadian emissions cap plan. Half way through the panel, a group of activists stood up and walked out of the CRIN pavilion, holding signs that read “No to Carbon Capture. Stop Big Oil Greenwashing.” There were enough audience members who stayed, many of them part of the Canadian energy industry, to fill the empty seats.\n",
        "title": "Oil Is Everywhere at COP28, Vexing Activists Seeking Its Demise"
    },
    {
        "id": 456,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-consumer-price-decline-worsens-020019513.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s consumer prices fell at the steepest pace in three years while producer costs dropped even further into negative territory, underscoring the challenges facing the economic recovery.\nThe consumer price index fell 0.5% last month from a year earlier, the National Statistics Bureau said in a statement Saturday. That’s the biggest drop since November 2020 and is weaker than the 0.2% drop projected by economists in a Bloomberg survey.\nProducer prices declined 3%, compared with a forecast of a 2.8% fall. Factory-gate costs have been mired in deflation territory for 14 consecutive months.\nChina has struggled with falling prices much of this year, contrasting with many other parts of the world where central banks are focused on taming inflation instead. Bloomberg Economics expects deflationary risks to persist into 2024, as there aren’t enough catalysts to counter the housing slump, which has suppressed demand and prices.\n“The continuous drop in CPI data may exaggerate the risk of deflation in China,” said Bruce Pang, chief economist for Greater China at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Demand remains sluggish, he added, “which should be a policy priority for China to deliver more sustainable and balanced growth.”\nDeflation is dangerous for China because it can lead to a downward spiral of economic activity. Consumers may hold off purchases on expectations prices will keep falling, further weighing on overall consumption. Businesses might lower production and investment due to uncertain future demand.\nDeflation can also make monetary policies to stimulate the economy less effective, as declining prices lower corporate income and make it more difficult for companies to service their debt. The central bank has sought to downplay the risks of deflation this year, with an adviser to the People’s Bank of China saying last month that those pressures are “temporary.”\nBeijing recently turned to fiscal policy to spur domestic demand, unexpectedly increasing its budget deficit and encouraging banks to help local governments refinance debt at lower interest rates to help increase their spending capacity.\nThere are indications that fiscal support will strengthen in the coming year to help the recovery: China’s top leaders on Friday announced such policies will be stepped up “appropriately” and emphasized the importance of economic “progress,” suggesting next year’s growth goal may be ambitious.\n--With assistance from Jill Disis.\n",
        "title": "China’s Consumer Price Decline Worsens, Fueling Deflation Fears"
    },
    {
        "id": 457,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasdaq-pay-4-million-settlement-020331482.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - New York-based stock exchange Nasdaq Inc agreed to pay a $4 million settlement to the U.S. Department of Treasury over apparent violations of sanctions against Iran by a former Nasdaq unit, the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on Friday.\nNasdaq OMX Armenia provided services to Iran and Iran's state-owned Bank Mellat, it said.\n\"The settlement amount reflects OFAC's determination that Nasdaq's conduct was non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed,\" OFAC said.\nNasdaq said in an emailed statement that the settlement acknowledged mitigating factors, including Nasdaq's voluntary disclosure of the transactions in 2014 and its sale of the Armenian subsidiary in 2018.\nNasdaq acquired the Armenian Stock Exchange, subsequently renamed Nasdaq OMX Armenia, when it acquired Swedish financial company OMX AB in February 2008.\n(Reporting by Devika Nair and Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Jose Joseph; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "Nasdaq to pay $4 million settlement over apparent Iran sanctions violations"
    },
    {
        "id": 458,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasdaq-pay-4-mln-settlement-015825347.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 8 (Reuters) - New York-based stock exchange Nasdaq Inc agreed to pay a $4 million settlement to the U.S. Department of Treasury over apparent violations of sanctions against Iran by a former Nasdaq unit, the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on Friday.\nNasdaq OMX Armenia provided services to Iran and Iran's state-owned Bank Mellat, it said.\n\"The settlement amount reflects OFAC's determination that Nasdaq's conduct was non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed,\" OFAC said.\nNasdaq said in an emailed statement that the settlement acknowledged mitigating factors, including Nasdaq's voluntary disclosure of the transactions in 2014 and its sale of the Armenian subsidiary in 2018.\nNasdaq acquired the Armenian Stock Exchange, subsequently renamed Nasdaq OMX Armenia, when it acquired Swedish financial company OMX AB in February 2008. (Reporting by Devika Nair and Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Jose Joseph; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "Nasdaq to pay $4 mln settlement over apparent Iran sanctions violations"
    },
    {
        "id": 459,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-china-landspaces-methane-powered-014314205.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Changes attribution, adds details, background in paragraphs 7-9)\nBEIJING, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A rocket developed by LandSpace Technology on Saturday launched three satellites into orbit, a milestone in the Chinese private rocket startup's mission to test whether its vehicle using methane and liquid oxygen is ready for commercial liftoffs.\nThe success could boost investor confidence in methane as a potential rocket fuel, which is deemed able to help slash costs and support reusable rockets in a cleaner and more efficient way.\nSeveral private Chinese rocket startups have lined up test or commercial launches, aiming to prepare their products for the increasing demand in China's expanding commercial space industry, amid growing competition to form a constellation of satellites as an alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink.\nZhuque-2 Y-3 blasted off at 7:39 a.m. (1139 GMT on Friday) from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's Inner Mongolia region, becoming the third LandSpace test rocket for Zhuque-2, and the first that succeeded in lifting satellites.\nA second attempt, without real satellites, in July made LandSpace the world's first company to launch methane-liquid oxygen rocket, ahead of U.S. rivals including Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.\nThe two launches showed Zhuque-2 is reliable enough for commercial launches, LandSpace said in a statement.\nLandSpace said the three satellites reached 460-km (285-mile) sun-synchronous orbit, without providing details on the types and overall weight of them.\nZhuque-2 is capable of putting payloads totalling 1.5 metric tons into 500-km (300-mile) orbit, which LandSpace plans to increase to 4 tons in upgraded versions, the Beijing-based company said.\nThe Zhuque-2 Y-3 rocket carried two satellites developed by Chinese startup Spacety and one by a LandSpace-invested company named Hongqing, according to the LandSpace statement and company registration records.\nThe first launch last December failed, LandSpace said last year, without specifying whether the test rocket, Zhuque-2 Y-1, carried any satellite payloads.\nThe eight-year-old startup said earlier this year it plans to provide clients with about three launches in 2024 and double that in 2025.\nChinese startup OrienSpace said it has scheduled the debut launch of its solid-fuel rocket, Gravity-1, in December. Deep Blue Aerospace, which is developing a reusable kerosene-fuelled rocket, aims to complete next year its first test of launching the Nebula-1 rocket to orbit and recovering it.\nGalactic Energy on Tuesday launched its solid-propellant rocket Ceres-1 with two satellites into orbit, after a failure in September and a series of successful launches earlier. (Reporting by Roxanne Liu, Ella Cao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Josie Kao, Grant McCool and William Mallard)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-China LandSpace's methane-powered rocket sends satellites into orbit"
    },
    {
        "id": 460,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-says-california-agency-implicitly-012744187.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Tesla Inc defended its use of \"Autopilot\" and \"self-driving\" for its driver assistance features, arguing in response to a California regulatory action that the agency had implicitly approved the terms when it did not take action in its previous investigations of them.\nThe electric car company run by billionaire Elon Musk was accused last year by California's Department of Motor Vehicles of falsely advertising its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features as providing autonomous vehicle control.\nThe DMV is seeking remedies that could include suspending Tesla's license to sell vehicles in California, Tesla's largest U.S. market, and requiring the company to make restitution to drivers.\nTesla in a Dec. 5 filing with the state Office of Administrative Hearings, released by the state on Friday, said that the DMV had investigated its use of the Autopilot brand in 2014 and of that and other phrases in 2017.\n\"The DMV chose not to take any action against Tesla or otherwise communicate to Tesla that its advertising or use of these brand names was or might be problematic,\" Tesla said.\nThe DMV also in 2016 decided not to prohibit the use of \"self-driving\" and similar language, when drawing up regulation about statements on autonomous technology, Tesla said. Legislation on the topic also removed a prohibition on the terms that was in an earlier DMV draft, Tesla said.\n\"Tesla relied upon Claimant's (the DMV's) implicit approval of these brand names,\" the company said.\nIn the 2022 complaints, the DMV had said Tesla misled prospective customers with advertising that overstated how well its advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) worked.\nAccording to Tesla's website, the technologies \"require active driver supervision,\" with a \"fully attentive\" driver whose hands are on the wheel, \"and do not make the vehicle autonomous.\"\nThe DMV has said Tesla's disclaimer \"contradicts the original untrue or misleading labels and claims, which is misleading, and does not cure the violation.\"\n(Reporting By Peter Henderson and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)\n",
        "title": "Tesla says California agency implicitly approved of its 'Autopilot' brand"
    },
    {
        "id": 461,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-asks-federal-judge-dismiss-012543740.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Attorneys for Amazon on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against the e-commerce giant, arguing the agency is attacking policies that benefit consumers and competition.\nAmazon’s response came more than two months after the FTC — joined by 17 states — filed the historic complaint against the Seattle-based company, alleging it inflates prices and stifles competition in what the agency calls the “online superstore market” and in the field of “online marketplace services.”\nIn its 31-page filing made in a federal court in Washington state, Amazon pushed back, arguing the conduct that the FTC has labeled anti-competitive consists of common retail practices that benefit consumers.\nThe FTC’s complaint, filed in September, accused the company of engaging in anti-competitive practices through measures that deter third-party sellers from offering lower prices for products on non-Amazon sites.\nThe agency said Amazon buried listings offered at lower prices on other sites. Simultaneously, it noted Amazon was charging merchants increasingly higher fees and driving up prices for products on its own site. It also alleged Amazon kept sellers dependent on services, such as its logistics and delivery service, which have allowed it to collect billions in revenue every year.\nIn its request for a dismissal, Amazon said the lawsuit faults Amazon for featuring competitive prices and declining to feature uncompetitive ones.\n“Amazon promptly matches rivals’ discounts, features competitively priced deals rather than overpriced ones, and ensures best-in-class delivery for its Prime subscribers,” the company wrote in the filing. “Those practices — the targets of this antitrust Complaint— benefit consumers and are the essence of competition.”\nAmazon also pushed back against allegations it conditions Prime eligibility on products — which denotes fast shipping — on whether sellers use its fulfillment service, Fulfillment by Amazon.\nAn unredacted version of the FTC's lawsuit unveiled in November alleged Amazon used a tool — codenamed “Project Nessie” — to predict where it can raise prices and have other shopping sites follow suit. The agency said Amazon used the algorithm to raise prices on some products and kept the new elevated prices in place after other sites followed its lead.\nIn its filing Friday, Amazon said it experimented with the “automated pricing system” Nessie years ago. It posited Nessie was intended to “match to the second-lowest competitor instead of the absolute lowest” for “limited products and duration.” The company also said it stopped the experiments in 2019, and matches its prices to the lowest prices today.\nAmazon also pushed back on the agency's allegations that the company is a monopoly. It said in its filing that it faces competition from small retailers to large online and brick-and-mortar businesses like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Apple, among others.\n",
        "title": "Amazon asks federal judge to dismiss the FTC's antitrust lawsuit against the company"
    },
    {
        "id": 462,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/doordash-added-nasdaq-100-zoom-011824883.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- DoorDash Inc. will be joining the Nasdaq 100 Index while Zoom Video Communications will be removed as part of the annual makeover of the tech-heavy benchmark.\nSplunk Inc., MongoDB Inc., Roper Technologies Inc., CDW Corp. and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Plc will also be added to the index. Meanwhile, Align Technology Inc., eBay Inc., Enphase Energy Inc., JD.com Inc. and Lucid Group Inc. will be removed from the Nasdaq 100.\nThe changes will be effective prior to market open on Monday, Dec. 18.\nThe Nasdaq 100 is comprised of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. There is no minimum market capitalization requirement to be eligible for inclusion, but stocks must have an average daily trading volume of at least 200,000 shares, among other criteria, to be listed.\nJoining the index can benefit a company by providing increased equity trading liquidity, a lower cost of capital and heightened visibility from investors. Furthermore, a spot in the coveted Nasdaq 100 boosts a firm’s investor profile and adds to trading liquidity — factors that can potentially propel a company’s stock price higher.\nMany large index funds, like the $220 billion Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 exchange-traded fund, track the Nasdaq 100 and must own all of its members’ shares. And actively managed funds that are benchmarked against it have to buy the stocks as well.\nThe Nasdaq 100 is up 47% this year as mega-cap technology shares lift the index. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index has gained 20%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen 9.4%.\n",
        "title": "DoorDash to Be Added to Nasdaq 100, Zoom to Be Removed"
    },
    {
        "id": 463,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-landspaces-methane-powered-rocket-004501934.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BEIJING (Reuters) - A rocket developed by LandSpace Technology on Saturday launched three satellites into orbit, state media said, a milestone in the Chinese private rocket startup's mission to test whether its vehicle using methane and liquid oxygen is ready for commercial liftoffs.\nLandSpace's Zhuque-2 Y-3 blasted off at 7:39 a.m. Dec. 9(11:39 p.m. Dec.8 GMT) from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's Inner Mongolia region, state television CCTV said, without providing details on the types and overall weight of the satellites it lifted.\nThe success could boost investors' confidence in methane as a potential rocket fuel, which is deemed able to help slash costs and support reusable rockets in a cleaner and more efficient way.\nZhuque-2 Y-3 was the third of LandSpace's test rockets for Zhuque-2, and the first that succeeded in lifting satellites.\nA second attempt, without real satellites, in July made LandSpace the world's first company to launch methane-liquid oxygen rocket, ahead of U.S. rivals including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.\nLandSpace had said the first launch last December failed, without specifying whether the test rocket, Zhuque-2 Y-1, carried any satellite payloads.\nThe eight-year-old startup said earlier it plans to provide clients with about three launches in 2024 and double that number in 2025.\nSeveral private Chinese rocket startups have lined up test or commercial launches, aiming to preparing their products for the increasing demand in China's expanding commercial space industry, amid growing competition to form a constellation of satellites as an alternative to Musk's Starlink.\nOrienSpace said it has scheduled the debut launch of its solid-fuel rocket, Gravity-1, in December. Deep Blue Aerospace, which is developing a reusable kerosene-fuelled rocket, aims to complete next year its first test of launching the Nebula-1 rocket to orbit and recovering it.\nGalactic Energy on Tuesday launched its solid-propellant rocket Ceres-1 with two satellites into orbit, after a failure in September and a series of successful launches earlier.\n(Reporting by Ella Cao, Roxanne Liu and Bernard Orr; Editing by Josie Kao and Grant McCool)\n",
        "title": "China LandSpace's methane-powered rocket sends satellites into orbit -state media"
    },
    {
        "id": 464,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/flight-attendants-southwest-airlines-reject-004047784.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines flight attendants have voted down a contract offer reached by negotiators for the airline and the union.\nThe Transport Workers Union Local 556 said Friday that the proposal was voted down 64% to 36%.\nThe local’s president, Lyn Montgomery, said the vote followed five years of negotiations during which the flight crews have not received pay raises.\n“We will go back to the table to achieve the collective bargaining agreement that meets the needs of the hardest-working flight attendants in the industry,” she said in a statement.\nMontgomery had previously said the offer would have given Southwest flight attendants industry-leading pay, 16% above crews at Delta Air Lines, who are non-union.\nDallas-based Southwest said, “We are disappointed the industry-leading agreement reached between the negotiating committees was not ratified.” The airline said it would wait to hear about next steps from the union and the National Mediation Board, which has been involved in the negotiations.\nSouthwest is also negotiating with pilots, who have twice asked federal mediators for permission to begin a 30-day countdown to a strike, but have been rejected both times.\nFlight attendants at American Airlines and United Airlines, who are represented by different unions than the one at Southwest, are also in talks over new contracts.\nAirline workers have said they kept working through the pandemic and deserve higher pay now that most of the carriers have returned to profitability. Pilots at American, United and Delta have won raises of roughly 40% over five years.\n",
        "title": "Flight attendants at Southwest Airlines reject a contract their union negotiated with the airline"
    },
    {
        "id": 465,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/openai-altman-ouster-result-drawn-003639487.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- When OpenAI’s board made the shocking decision to fire Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman on the Friday before Thanksgiving, it offered little detail beyond a statement that the leader of the artificial intelligence startup was not “consistently candid” with its directors.\nThe statement, devoid of any details, was the opening volley in a power struggle that played out almost entirely behind closed doors. Privately, Altman and the board jockeyed over what to say publicly and when, according to people familiar with the situation. At one point, during the discussions about Altman’s possible return as CEO, he offered to publicly apologize for misrepresenting some board members’ views in conversations when he was lobbying for a director’s removal, the people said.\nBut the board was concerned that an apology in relation to one incident could make it sound like it was the sole reason he had been fired, one person said, and the directors believed the issues were deeper.\nThe board has declined to elaborate on its reasoning, citing an ongoing independent investigation, but more details are surfacing around the decision-making. According to multiple people familiar with the board’s thinking who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations, the directors’ move was the culmination of months spent mulling issues around Altman’s strategic maneuvering and a perceived lack of transparency in his communications with directors.\nIn a statement, an OpenAI spokesperson told Bloomberg News, “We look forward to the findings of the board’s independent review. Our primary focus remains on developing and releasing useful and safe AI, and supporting the new board as they work to make improvements to our governance structure.” On Friday, OpenAI’s chairman said that two lawyers from WilmerHale would be leading the review.\nBoard members had begun talking about whether to remove Altman earlier in the fall, according to one person. The group at the time consisted of Altman, President Greg Brockman and the four people who would ultimately oust him as CEO: OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, Quora Inc. CEO Adam D’Angelo, AI academic Helen Toner and entrepreneur Tasha McCauley. The company has an unusual structure — with the unpaid, nonprofit board overseeing an artificial intelligence startup juggernaut. Directors’ chief goal is to safely shepherd the development of AI.\nThe board had heard from some senior executives at OpenAI who had issues with Altman, said one person familiar with directors’ thinking. But employees approached board members warily because they were scared of potential repercussions of Altman finding out they had spoken out against him, the person said. The Washington Post previously reported some details of the employee unrest.\nIn a statement, a spokesperson for the company stressed that in the aftermath of Altman’s firing, OpenAI’s senior leadership team unanimously asked for Altman to come back as CEO and for the board to resign. “The strong support from his team underscores that he is an effective CEO who is open to different points of view, willing to solve complex challenges, and demonstrates care for his team,” the statement said.\nAs the board mulled Altman’s leadership, Sutskever’s concerns had been building. Before joining OpenAI, the Israeli-Canadian computer scientist worked at Google Brain and was a researcher at Stanford University. In July, he formed a new team at the company to bring “super intelligent” future AI systems under control. And in October, Sutskever’s responsibilities at the company were reduced, reflecting friction between him and Altman and Brockman. Sutskever later appealed to the board, winning over some members, including Toner, the director of strategy at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.\nAlso in October, Altman attempted to have Toner removed from her seat. At issue was a research paper she co-authored, containing some criticism of OpenAI’s safety practices. After Altman voiced concerns about the paper, Toner sent the rest of the board members an email alerting them to the research and offering to answer questions about it, said one person. One concern Altman expressed, the person said, was that with OpenAI under regulatory scrutiny — due to an ongoing FTC investigation — it would look bad for a board member to say anything critical about the company, as regulators might conclude that there were deeper issues at OpenAI.\nAltman also spoke to some board members himself. It was these conversations that proved particularly problematic, according to multiple people, who said that in some discussions with directors, Altman misrepresented the views of the others, and suggested that the other directors agreed with him that Toner should resign in the wake of it. Some details of these conversations were earlier reported the New Yorker and the New York Times.\nAt one point, one of these people said that Altman told some directors McCauley had said, “Helen’s obviously got to go,” a characterization McCauley resisted. The directors thought that these conversations represented a pattern of manipulative behavior by Altman, the people said.\nAn OpenAI spokesperson said this account “significantly differs from Sam’s recollection of these conversations.”\nIn a memo sent to OpenAI staff the day after Altman’s ousting, Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said Altman’s removal “was due to a breakdown in communication” between Altman and the board. When asked in a recent interview with Bloomberg how he will ensure communication doesn’t break down with board members in the future, Altman said he didn’t want “to go into exactly what happened,” but that “good communication is a super important thing.”\nThe board members had also worried that the CEO wasn’t always fully transparent — and if they couldn’t get a clear picture from Altman, they couldn’t effectively supervise him. That, in turn, would make it impossible to do their jobs overseeing the leader of one of the world’s most important technologies.\nWhen the board moved to fire him, they acted quickly and without advanced notice — horrifying OpenAI’s investors and many of its employees. In the absence of a clear explanation about why Altman was removed, nearly the entirety of the company’s roughly 770-person workforce swiftly signed a letter threatening to quit unless the CEO was brought back. One thing board members in favor of Altman’s ousting did not count on, one person said, was how quickly so many OpenAI workers would rally to Altman’s side.\nOne of them was Sutskever, who recanted his decision to help fire Altman. In negotiations over Altman’s return, Altman pushed for a statement from the board absolving him of wrongdoing, people with knowledge of the matter have said. The directors were unwilling to give in to this and other demands, Bloomberg reported. But within a few days, Altman was reinstated.\nIn the aftermath of Altman’s ouster and return, both Toner and McCauley have resigned from their positions. The only remaining member of the volunteer board that existed before Nov. 17 is Quora’s D’Angelo. The outgoing directors pushed to retain him, one person said, in part because they wanted someone at the company who will remember what happened during the company’s chaotic leadership battle and the events that lead up to it.\n--With assistance from Shirin Ghaffary and Sarah McBride.\n",
        "title": "OpenAI’s Altman Ouster Was Result of Drawn-Out Tensions"
    },
    {
        "id": 466,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-chocoholics-indulge-even-cocoa-000000842.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Asia’s growing number of chocolate lovers will indulge their sweet tooth even as cocoa prices skyrocket to the highest level since the 1970s, a veteran of the industry says.\nWith more than half of the world’s people, Asia accounts for only roughly a quarter of cocoa consumption, making it a growth market for chocolate producers as populations — and disposable incomes — grow. Three years of pandemic restrictions dealt a severe blow, as entertaining, gifting and impulse purchases declined. Then the price of the key ingredient took off, thanks to punishing rains in West Africa.\n“Cocoa and chocolate indulgences are still in demand,” said Elie Fouché, chairman of the Cocoa Association of Asia, who has worked in the industry for about 17 years. “Demand for cocoa and chocolate products has remained steady despite the price increases that we have observed already for quite a few months.”\nCocoa grinding in Asia Pacific, the best indicator of demand, has rebounded from Covid lows, Fouché said. While down from a year earlier as the industry finds its post-pandemic balance, the association said processing was “better than expected” in the three months through September.\n“The dip is behind us,” Fouché said, speaking at Barry Callebaut AG’s factory in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor, one of the largest plants in Asia where beans are turned into cocoa mass, butter and powder — the key ingredients to make chocolate bars, cookies, ice cream and drinks.\nRead more: Chocolate Is Pricier Everywhere as Cocoa Pods Rot in West Africa\nThe younger generation in Asia like to indulge, Fouché said. This, along with low per-capita consumption of chocolate compared with countries in Europe, will help the region remain a growth engine even at times of high prices. India, China and Southeast Asia especially have big potential.\nThe Asia Pacific chocolate market is projected to reach close to $37 billion in revenue by the end of 2030, growing at a compound annual rate of 7% from now until the end of the decade, according to consulting firm Coherent Market Insights. That’s close to double the rate seen for the global market overall.\nThe catch, for now, is price. Cocoa futures traded in New York reached a 46-year high late last month as bad weather and crop disease hurt production and delayed harvests in West Africa, the world’s biggest-growing region. That prompted companies such as Mondelez International Inc., maker of Oreo cookies and Toblerone, as well as Nestle SA, to raise prices of products next year.\nInflated prices are likely to be sustained through 2024 as the market heads for its third consecutive supply deficit, Rabobank said in a report this month.\n“When you look at official consumption data, grind data, they have been relatively resilient,” Fouché said.\nThe good news for chocolatiers is that there are additional products to lure consumers. Young gourmets are drawn to healthier chocolate, including products with a higher content of cocoa and flavanols, said Fouché, as well as so-called functional foods, like high-protein chocolate. Flavanols are known for their antioxidant properties.\n“I want to eat something good, I want to eat something good for me and I want to eat also something good for the planet or good for the farmers,” he said. “These are trends which probably emerge first in the western world or developed world. Now they are finding their way also in Asia Pacific.”\n",
        "title": "Asia’s Chocoholics Will Indulge Even as Cocoa Prices Soar, Industry Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 467,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sec-says-binance-case-advance-234757290.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission says Binance Holdings Ltd.’s recent $4.3 billion settlement with the Justice Department and other US authorities bolsters its own case against the world’s biggest crypto exchange.\nDespite not being part of the agreement, the SEC argued on Friday that the federal court in Washington hearing its case should weigh admissions by Binance and the firm’s former chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, in the Nov. 21 settlement. The firm and Zhao have asked the court to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit.\nRead More: Crypto Exchange Binance, CEO Zhao Ask Court to Dismiss SEC Suit\nRepresentatives for Binance and a defense lawyer for Zhao didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.\nBinance’s record settlement with the US government wrapped up yearslong investigations by Justice, multiple arms of the Treasury Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The agreement didn’t include the SEC, which sued the exchange and Zhao in June for allegedly mishandling customer funds, misleading investors and regulators, and breaking securities rules.\nThe case is SEC v. Binance, 23-cv-01599, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington, DC).\n",
        "title": "SEC Says Its Binance Case Should Advance Despite DOJ Settlement"
    },
    {
        "id": 468,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/end-rally-us-stocks-faces-231749328.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Lewis Krauskopf\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve’s last monetary policy meeting of 2023 and a U.S. inflation report in coming days should test a stock market rally that some view as stretched following weeks of gains.\nBets the Fed will begin cutting interest rates sooner than expected have fueled a surge in U.S. equities, which received a tailwind from a rapid decline in Treasury yields. The S&P 500 up nearly 20% in 2023 after a monthly gain in November that was its biggest of the year.\nYet some investors believe the rise in stocks has left markets more vulnerable to reversals if consumer prices do not keep cooling or the Fed is less dovish than expected.\nThe S&P 500 rose 0.2% this week, marking its sixth-straight weekly increase, the longest such winning streak in about four years. The index stands at its highest closing level since March 2022.\n\"There is some optimism priced in on earnings and the economy and the Fed, so that has taken us to this level,” said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute (WFII). With the S&P 500 near the top of its trading range, \"we think there is a lot more potential for downside than upside.\"\nThe WFII has a 2024 price target for the S&P 500 of about 4,700, or about 2% above current levels.\nWhile the Fed is expected to keep rates steady on Wednesday for a third straight meeting, investors will watch for signs from policymakers that confirm the market’s view for rate cuts as early as March 2024. The Fed will also release its summary of economic projections, which will show officials’ rate expectations for next year.\nFriday's stronger-than-expected jobs and consumer sentiment data, combined with a rise in yields, bolstered the case for those betting the Fed “could lean more hawkish” next week, said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial.\nThe federal funds futures market on Friday was pricing in a 46% chance of a cut at the Fed's March meeting, and a nearly 80% chance of a cut in May, according to the CME FedWatch tool.\nMany investors believe stocks can continue rising in the weeks and months ahead, with the S&P 500 just 4% from making a fresh all-time high.\nPast rate cycles have shown that stocks tend to climb during the period when monetary policy is “on hold.” The S&P 500 has gained an average of 5.1% in periods that the Fed has paused its rate-hiking cycle and before the central bank’s first cut, according to an analysis of nine such periods by ClearBridge Investments.\nThe S&P 500’s rally has brought it back to around where it stood when the central bank last raised rates in July, \"suggesting there could be upside\" from current levels, ClearBridge strategists said in a Dec 4 blog post.\nAt the same time, a period of strong gains often sees stocks continuing to push ahead for months, according to Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at The Carson Group. The S&P 500’s 8.9% gain in November put it in the 20 best-performing months since 1950, Detrick wrote in a recent report.\nThe index was higher a year later 80% of the time after those exceptional months, rising 13.3% on average, according to Detrick.\nStill, the market’s recent gains could warrant caution.\nAngelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones, said a hotter-than-expected number in consumer price data due out on Tuesday could drive a short-term pullback.\nStocks jumped last month after the October consumer price index was unchanged for the first time in over a year, boosting expectations the Fed was done tightening.\nInvestors will weigh the latest CPI data against recent numbers showing economic softening, including moderation in another key inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index.\n“There are enough data points that we have a trend established that we are moving in the right direction,” Kourkafas said.\n(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "Year-end rally in US stocks faces twin tests as Fed, inflation data loom"
    },
    {
        "id": 469,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tellurian-says-co-founder-souki-224207174.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Curtis Williams and Arunima Kumar\nHOUSTON (Reuters) -Tellurian ousted its chairman and co-founder Charif Souki as an executive officer, the U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) developer said on Friday, weeks after auditors raised doubts about the company's ability to cover future expenses.\nSouki helped create the U.S. LNG export market in 1996 after seizing on discoveries of vast amounts of shale gas. He turned Cheniere Energy from an LNG importer into a major exporter, but has not been unable to repeat the same success at Tellurian.\nSouki was pushed out of Cheniere Energy and co-founded Tellurian in 2016 with Martin Houston, who will replace him as chairman. Souki will remain on the company's board, Tellurian said.\nShares of company rose 4% in extended trading to 78 cents. The stock had traded as high as $11.19 in 2019 but fell after initial backers of its crucial Driftwood export project, including LNG traders Vitol and Shell, withdrew as potential customers.\nTellurian has changed its Driftwood strategy several times over the years, never attracting enough potential clients for the first, $14.5 billion phase of the 27.6 million metric ton per annum facility.\nLast month, auditors put a going concern warning on its financial statements. It had begun construction on the first phase using cash from selling equity and from a small gas-production unit.\nThe management change is \"an indication of change in direction and arguably a sign of greater discipline in the company and greater focus on profitability,\" said Ben Dell, managing partner at Kimmeridge, a private equity firm. Dell has been critical of Souki's spending and strategic flip-flops.\nTellurian has lost potential customers for Driftwood over the years. In August, Tellurian revealed that trader Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd terminated its contract to take cargoes.\nSouki's ouster shows Tellurian needed to do something big to salvage the company's prospects, with so much tied to the success or failure of its Driftwood LNG project, said Alex Munton, director of global gas and LNG research at consulting firm Rapidan Group.\n\"The company is still very focused on executing on its plan to complete construction of Driftwood LNG, and Souki recently said it had all but resorted to the tried and tested method of U.S. LNG projects, which he, Souki, was never in favor of,\" said Munton.\n(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru, Curtis Williams and Gary McWilliams in Houston; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "U.S. LNG developer Tellurian ousts co-founder Souki as chairman"
    },
    {
        "id": 470,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/openai-picks-wilmerhale-lawyers-altman-221628403.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- OpenAI has selected two lawyers from the firm WilmerHale to conduct its investigation into the events that led to Sam Altman’s ouster as chief executive officer.\nCompany board members Bret Taylor and Larry Summers interviewed “several leading law firms” before selecting WilmerHale attorneys Anjan Sahni and Hallie B. Levin, Taylor said in a statement. The pair will conduct “an effective and timely review” of the events that led up to Altman’s firing Nov. 17 by the previous board.\n“While the review is ongoing, the Board will continue to take steps to strengthen OpenAI’s corporate governance, build a qualified and diverse board of exceptional individuals, and oversee OpenAI’s important mission in ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity,” Taylor, chair of OpenAI’s board, said in the statement.\n",
        "title": "OpenAI Picks WilmerHale Lawyers for Altman Firing Investigation"
    },
    {
        "id": 471,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-tellurian-says-co-founder-221312757.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Added analyst's comments in paragraphs 8-10)\nBy Curtis Williams and Arunima Kumar\nHOUSTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) -\nTellurian ousted its chairman and co-founder Charif Souki as an executive officer, the U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) developer said on Friday, weeks after auditors raised doubts about the company's ability to cover future expenses.\nSouki helped create the U.S. LNG export market in 1996 after seizing on discoveries of vast amounts of shale gas. He turned Cheniere Energy from an LNG importer into a major exporter, but has not been unable to repeat the same success at Tellurian.\nSouki was pushed out of Cheniere Energy and co-founded Tellurian in 2016 with Martin Houston, who will replace him as chairman. Souki will remain on the company's board, Tellurian said.\nShares of company rose 4% in extended trading to 78 cents. The stock had traded as high as $11.19 in 2019 but fell after initial backers of its crucial Driftwood export project, including LNG traders Vitol and Shell, withdrew as potential customers.\nTellurian has changed its Driftwood strategy several times over the years, never attracting enough potential clients for the first, $14.5 billion phase of the 27.6 million metric ton per annum facility.\nLast month, auditors put a going concern warning on its financial statements. It had begun construction on the first phase using cash from selling equity and from a small gas-production unit.\nThe management change is \"an indication of change in direction and arguably a sign of greater discipline in the company and greater focus on profitability,\" said Ben Dell, managing partner at Kimmeridge, a private equity firm. Dell has been critical of Souki's spending and strategic flip-flops.\nTellurian has lost potential customers for Driftwood over the years. In August, Tellurian revealed that trader Gunvor Singapore Pte Ltd terminated its contract to take cargoes.\nSouki's ouster shows Tellurian needed to do something big to salvage the company's prospects, with so much tied to the success or failure of its Driftwood LNG project, said Alex Munton, director of global gas and LNG research at consulting firm Rapidan Group.\n\"The company is still very focused on executing on its plan to complete construction of Driftwood LNG, and Souki recently said it had all but resorted to the tried and tested method of U.S. LNG projects, which he, Souki, was never in favor of,\" said Munton. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru, Curtis Williams and Gary McWilliams in Houston; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 3-U.S. LNG developer Tellurian ousts co-founder Souki as chairman"
    },
    {
        "id": 472,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japanese-shares-eye-early-slump-225640582.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A pair of solid economic readings shook markets on Friday, with stocks rebounding on speculation the US will be able to skirt a recession. Now the flip side to that story is that bond traders were forced to trim their bets on rate cuts in 2024 — sending yields soaring.\nAll around Wall Street, the prevailing view is: While economic strength makes many investors less apprehensive about a hard landing, it also implies the Federal Reserve might have to hold rates higher for longer. For Treasuries, that means an unwinding of the massive dovish trade that pointed to a Fed pivot as early as March. For equities, jobs and consumer resilience bodes well when it comes to Corporate America.\n“Just when you think the economy is finally softening, it continues to show signs of strength,” said Chris Zaccarelli at Independent Advisor Alliance. “We remain bullish on the market because we are bullish on the economy.”\nFollowing a slew of figures underscoring a labor-market slowdown, Friday’s jobs report showed unexpected strengthening. Nonfarm payrolls increased 199,000 last month, the unemployment rate fell to 3.7% and monthly wage growth topped estimates. Meantime, US consumer sentiment rebounded sharply in early December — topping all forecasts — as households dialed back their year-ahead inflation expectations by the most in 22 years.\nThe S&P 500 saw its sixth straight week of gains — its longest winning run since November 2019. Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — the VIX — came back to pre-pandemic levels. US two-year yields jumped 13 basis points to 4.72%. Swap contracts now show a 40% probability of a March rate cut — from over 50% prior to the economic data.\nTo Callie Cox at eToro, the strong jobs data could be a “heat check for Wall Street” after markets rallied significantly on the rate-cut trade. Hopes have gone a little too far, she noted.\n“The US economy continues to perform well,” said John Leiper at Titan Asset Management. “The aggressive decline in US Treasury yields we saw last month, which already looked a little overdone, is going into reverse with bond yields jumping. With markets pricing out rate cuts next year, higher-for-longer is back in vogue.”\nSoftening inflation and employment data in the past month have convinced investors that the Fed is done raising interest rates and ignited bets that cuts of at least 125 basis points of cuts were in store over the next 12 months. Traders scaled back those wagers to about 110 basis points of easing.\n“People saying recession need to have their heads examined,” said Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro Research.\nTraders are preparing for another busy week, with readings for the US consumer price index and retail sales, a compressed schedule of Treasury auctions — and the Fed’s final meeting of the year on the docket.\nFed officials are widely expected to keep borrowing costs at the highest level in two decades on Wednesday. Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly pushed back against growing bets of rate cuts early next year, stressing that policymakers will move cautiously — but retain the option to hike again.\n“The Fed has been stymied by better-than-expected data releases,” said Quincy Krosby at LPL Financial. “As long as inflation continues to edge lower, the Fed will likely remain on hold. But if today’s report is a harbinger of continued consumer spending, the Fed may have to issue a considerably more hawkish message and telegraph that they still cannot declare victory on their campaign to quell inflation.”\nFormer Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said the Fed should hold off on a shift toward lowering interest rates until there’s decisive evidence showing that inflation is back under control or that the economy is entering a slump.\nTo Brian Rose at UBS, given that the market is already pricing in a lot of rate cuts in 2024, the Fed will possibly avoid sounding “overly dovish.”\nThe Fed is likely to keep policy restrictive until mid-2024 — at which point inflation should have subsided sufficiently to warrant a modest easing cycle, according to Ronald Temple at Lazard.\n“While labor market strength implies fewer rate cuts, investors should applaud the report as it suggests the Fed is delivering a ‘goldilocks’ scenario of lower inflation without recession — which is the best outcome for risk assets,” he noted.\nA key gauge of stock-market worry will climb in 2024 after tumbling to the lowest since before the pandemic struck — and the magnitude depends on the strength of the economy, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists.\nThe Cboe Volatility Index will “generally trade higher in 2024 than in 2023, and the extent of the increase depends on the timing and severity of an eventual recession” and potential wider swings that could curb selling of short-term volatility, the bank’s Americas equity derivatives strategists, led by Bram Kaplan, wrote in a note Friday.\nStock markets will suffer in the first quarter of 2024 as a rally in bonds would signal sputtering economic growth, according to Bank of America Corp.’s Michael Hartnett.\nThe narrative of “lower yields = higher stocks” would flip to “lower yields = lower stocks,” Hartnett wrote.\nSentiment indicators are also no longer supportive of further gains in risk assets, Hartnett said. BofA’s custom bull-and-bear signal surged to 3.8 from 2.7 in the week through Dec. 6, its biggest weekly jump since February 2012. A reading below 2 is generally considered to be a contrarian buy signal.\nMoney-market funds attracted their largest inflows since March, while US equities had an eighth straight week of inflows, BofA said, citing EPFR Global data.\nDavid Bailin, Citi Global Wealth’s chief investment officer and head of investments, says stocks are ripe for further gains in 2024 as inflation trends lower, the economy remains resilient and earnings rebound — increasing the opportunity cost for investors still sitting on the sidelines, clinging to their cash.\n“I’m not sure what investors are waiting for,” he said. “The US economy is going to stay strong and, eventually, money-market rates are going to come down, so why are people not buying core 60/40 portfolios?”\nElsewhere, oil bounced back on a stronger-than-expected US jobs report and plans to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Friday, but still closed out the longest weekly losing streak since late 2018 amid concern about an impending global glut.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Edward Bolingbroke, Sagarika Jaisinghani, Michael Mackenzie and Carly Wanna.\n",
        "title": "S&P 500 Climbs as Jobs Spur ‘Heat Check’ for Bonds: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 473,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/southwests-flight-attendants-reject-tentative-220514128.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "CHICAGO (Reuters) - Flight attendants at Southwest Airlines have rejected a tentative contract agreement, with 64% of them voting against the proposed five-year deal, their union said on Friday.\nThe Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 556, representing nearly 19,000 flight attendants, said in a statement \"this proposed contract is not going to heal the hurt.\"\nSouthwest's flight attendants have been demanding higher pay and better work rules in the new contract. The previous contract came up for renewal in 2018.\nRivals American Airlines and United Airlines are also still negotiating with their flight attendants. Delta Air Lines' flight attendants are not unionized.\nThe TWU Local 556 said on Friday, \"we will go back to the table to achieve the collective bargaining agreement that meets the needs of the hardest-working flight attendants in the industry.\"\nSouthwest's proposed contract included a 20% pay raise beginning next month and a 3% annual raise in 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028.\nThe union had said that would have resulted in a 36% increase over the life of the contract for flight attendants at top of scale and up to 90% for other seniorities.\nThe tentative agreement also provided for paid parental and maternity leave with insurance coverage.\nIn the past two years, unions across the aerospace, construction, airline and rail industries have put up fights for higher wages and more benefits in a tight labor market.\nSouthwest has yet to reach a contract deal with its pilots.\n(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago and Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "Southwest's flight attendants reject tentative agreement"
    },
    {
        "id": 474,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ups-reinstates-35-recently-organized-220432070.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Lisa Baertlein\nLOS ANGELES, Dec 8 (Reuters) - United Parcel Service reinstated about 35 recently organized workers on Friday after they were laid off by the global delivery firm, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.\nThe union said the swift reinstatement of the workers stops any potential labor action. On Thursday, it had threatened to respond by filing unfair labor practice charges and potentially striking - a move that could have delayed packages during the crucial holiday shipping season.\nAll affected workers will receive full back pay and return to their positions on their next scheduled workdays, the Teamsters said.\nThe roughly three dozen specialist and administrative workers at UPS's Centennial hub in Louisville, Kentucky, overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters Local 89 in October.\nTeamsters General President Sean O'Brien on Thursday said UPS laid off those workers despite the ruling of an independent arbitrator and that the company falsely claimed that their work should be performed by management.\nUPS on Thursday said it had not committed any unfair labor practices.\n\"We're pleased to have reached an agreement with the Teamsters,\" the company said in a statement on Friday. \"We remain focused on providing reliable service to our customers during peak season.\"\n(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "UPS reinstates 35 recently organized US workers who were fired -Teamsters"
    },
    {
        "id": 475,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/argentina-rally-put-test-challenges-164128293.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Investors’ giddiness with Argentina will be put to the test as Javier Milei takes over on Sunday, kicking off a presidential term riddled with challenges as he tries to bring the South American economy back from the brink.\nSome of the country’s dollar bonds, which trade at deeply distressed levels, have rallied to their highest levels in two years. The benchmark stock index, to which foreign investors have little access because of currency controls, soared more than 45% since his Nov. 19 win.\nThe libertarian’s decision to pack his economic team with Wall Street veterans has eased concerns for money managers, who worried about his more radical proposals of shutting down the central bank and replacing the local currency with the US dollar when he emerged as the leading candidate back in August. But while assets have jumped, investors warn that Milei’s first months in office are unlikely to be a smooth ride.\n“Milei and team have to cross the Sahara desert with a half a bottle of mineral water; they have to do whatever is possible to send a transparent, coherent message to markets,” said Walter Stoeppelwerth, a senior strategist at Montevideo-based brokerage Gletir. “It will be a rocky four months of implementation — if they are able to engender trust, credibility, that goes a long way.”\nNotes due in 2030 jumped roughly nine cents to around 40 cents on the dollar since Milei’s victory last month, while the $100 million Global X MSCI Argentina exchange-traded fund that tracks the country’s stocks is on track to see three straight weeks of inflows totaling at least $31.6 million.\n“The perception of markets, their constructiveness, has been improving due to the moderation that Milei has shown since winning,” said Mauro Roca, managing director for emerging markets at The TCW Group in Los Angeles.\nMilei tapped ex-investment bankers Luis Caputo and Santiago Bausili to lead the Economy Ministry and Central Bank, respectively. The nominations broaden the powers of the economic team to implement austerity measures and fight inflation. It also signals the new government isn’t planning to have an independent monetary authority for now.\nDevaluation\nCaputo and Bausili will have to rework Argentina’s broken exchange rate regime propped up by capital controls and import restrictions that’s hampered business activity and restricted investment. While Milei railed against the peso on the campaign trail, pledging to scrap it for the dollar, his team has since signaled the change won’t be imminent, and that currency controls are unlikely to be lifted right away.\nStill, a devaluation of the peso is seen as inevitable. The government let it slide by a little more than 5% on Thursday, and market pricing signaled traders expect a steeper drop next week. Investment banks and local brokerages suggest a devaluation of some 44%.\nOn the last business day of President Alberto Fernandez’s administration — Friday is a holiday in Argentina — the central bank put a limit on the amount of foreign currency commercial banks can hold to discourage hoarding of US dollars ahead of an expected devaluation.\nLiquidity rush\nBanks, meanwhile, continue to shore up liquidity, ditching notes due in 28 days, or Leliqs, for one-day repos. On Thursday, they rolled over just 1.5% of the 1.15 trillion pesos in Leliqs auctioned, the lowest amount on record for the second time in a row, and compares with a rate of above 100% before the Nov. 19 election.\nIf lenders continue to flee Leliqs, which are used by monetary authorities to absorb pesos, it potentially could unleash more money supply into the economy and stoke inflation already running at 143% a year.\n“The market has reacted positively so far, although the real test will come over the next few months,” said Fernando Losada, managing director at Oppenheimer & Co. “He will have to show that his policies can be implemented without social unrest, in a context of high inflation, stagnant economic activity and scarce foreign financing.”\n(Updates market figures in fifth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Argentina Rally Put to Test as Challenges Await Milei"
    },
    {
        "id": 476,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/honeywell-buy-carrier-security-business-144305361.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Honeywell International agreed to acquire the security business of Carrier Global Corp. for an enterprise value of about $5 billion, which marks the biggest deal since 2015 for the maker of jet engines and gas detectors.\nThe acquisition broadens Honeywell’s product offerings in security controls for buildings, which was an area lagging behind the larger market positions the company has in property management systems and fire systems, Honeywell Chief Executive Officer Vimal Kapur said in a Bloomberg TV interview with David Westin.\n“This deal strengthens our capability in security, which is I believe a high-growth category,” Kapur said in the interview. “So it fits right in the heart of our building automation business and prepares it for a higher growth rate in the future.”\nIt also marks the first major acquisition under Kapur, who took over as the company’s CEO in June. The new security business will add more that $1 billion to the building technologies unit, which had sales last year of $6 billion.\nHoneywell fell 1.6% to $194.61 in New York Friday. Carrier’s shares rose 4.5% to $55.27.\nInvestors have been pushing Honeywell to juice its growth through more and larger deals. This latest bolt-on addition is the largest since its $5.4 billion purchase of Elster Group under former CEO Dave Cote, which was announced in 2015 and closed in early 2016.\nThe purchase price is about 13 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and the deal is expected to close in the third quarter next year. After counting cost savings. the deal will be accretive to cash earnings per share in the first year and have cash returns of 10% after five years, Kapur said.\n“It really hits all the metrics,” Kapur said. “Not only is it a strong fit in the strategy, it hits all our financial goals.”\nWhen including cost-savings and the tax benefits, the deal will likely add about 3% to 4% to earnings, said Deane Dray, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, in a note to clients.\n“The business brings an attractive growth and margin profile that will be accretive to Honeywell with valuable software content and strong sources of recurring revenue,” Dray said.\nCarrier had been looking for a buyer of the business as it focuses on heating and cooling equipment. The proceeds from this transaction will be used to pay down debt after the company in April agreed to buy Viessmann Climate Solutions, a German maker of heating systems, for €12 billion ($13 billion) in cash and stock.\nEvercore Inc. is serving as financial advisor to Honeywell. Skadden, Arps Slate, Meagher & Flom, Simmons & Simmons and Womble Bond Dickinson are providing external legal counsel.\n--With assistance from Ryan Beene and David Westin.\n(Updates with CEO comments, shares, analyst comment from third paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Honeywell to Buy Carrier Security Business for $5 Billion"
    },
    {
        "id": 477,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-expects-stocks-volatility-climb-184352912.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A key gauge of stock market worry will climb in 2024 after tumbling this year to the lowest since before the pandemic struck, and the magnitude depends on the strength of the economy, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists.\nThe Cboe Volatility Index will “generally trade higher in 2024 than in 2023, and the extent of the increase depends on the timing and severity of an eventual recession” and potential wider swings that could curb selling of short-term volatility, the bank’s Americas equity derivatives strategists, led by Bram Kaplan, wrote in a note Friday.\nThe VIX sank below 12.5 to its lowest level since January 2020 as US stocks extended a six-week win streak, reflecting hopes for a soft landing and easing of central bank policy in 2024. The closely watched measure of market volatility, which soared as the Covid outbreak upended markets and the economy, has averaged around 21 over the past five years.\nIn the case of an economic soft landing, the strategists expect an average VIX reading in the mid-to-high teens in 2024. The index has averaged around 17 this year. A moderate recession in the second half of the year could push that average to the low 20s, according to the note.\n“These scenarios assume that geopolitical risks continue to simmer and periodically flare up, but that tail risks aren’t realized,” the strategists wrote. “Should a tail event occur — e.g. Middle East war spilling into a broader regional conflict, direct conflict between superpowers, etc. — we could see much higher VIX levels than outlined above.”\nRead more: A Hot Options Trade Is Muting Wall Street’s Famous Fear Gauge\nAs a hedge, JPMorgan’s strategists recommended put-spread collars on the S&P 500 Index — composed of buying a put spread, while simultaneously selling a call option — as a “vanilla equity hedge.” The combined position offers lower-cost protection against a drop in equities prices, while capping gains if the rally continues.\nIn research late last month, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists also pointed to positions tied to the benchmark gauge, including put spreads and equity collars.\nGoldman’s strategists were less convinced that market swings will intensify.\nThe group’s model indicated “a high probability of a low vol regime for most of the year,” citing “limited recession risk and tailwinds to global growth in 2024.”\nStill, the strategists noted that the potential for higher volatility had increased, in part given a broad steepening in the yield curve.\n(Updates VIX closing level, adds context in third paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "JPMorgan Expects Stocks Volatility to Climb in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 478,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-faithful-ride-7-trillion-213039123.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- For all the bad things supposedly raining down on Wall Street, it’s shaping up to be a big year for stock bulls who simply sat tight and refused the temptation to outsmart the market.\nIn fact, buying and holding equities has trounced 22 technical strategies used by traders to navigate their ups and downs. The sit-still plan has paid off handsomely after the S&P 500 touched its 2023 low on Jan. 5 only to climb steadily to its highest point on Friday.\nIn a market riven with Federal Reserve uncertainty, economic anxiety and a host of geopolitical ructions, stocks have reacted with uncanny calm. Going by the distance between the extremes in the S&P 500, this year has a shot of seeing the smallest move since 2017.\nWhile charting tools are rarely used in isolation, their lousy performance highlights the pain for anyone who heeded selling signals, whether driven by technical or fundamental factors. Amid the Fed’s most aggressive tightening cycle in decades, three quarters of profit contractions and a collapse in multiple regional banks, those who bailed from the market have missed out on a $7 trillion stock rally.\n“There was a lot of noise and a lot of reasons to be nervous this past year,” said Dylan Kremer, chief investment officer at Certuity. “But if you’re a long-term investor, sometimes the hardest thing to do is sit on your hands.”\nUp 0.2% over five days, the S&P 500 rose for the sixth straight week, the longest advance since 2019. Over the stretch, the pace of gains slowed as the index approached 4,600, a level that thwarted its advance in July. The benchmark gauge ended the week slightly above that threshold.\nFrom big money managers to equity strategists, many came into the year dreading a recession, only to find themselves scrambling to chase the share rally as the economy chugs along. Up 20%, the S&P 500 is more than 500 points ahead of the average year-end target that’s eyed by Wall Street prognosticators back in January.\nJamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group, witnessed first-hand the penalty of timing the market wrong. Back in October, when stocks were on route for the year’s biggest pullback amid a spike in bond yields, one client decided to get out against his advice.\n“He probably sold everything in the early part of November,” Cox said. “And then, here three, four weeks later, 15% worse off, he just let it go.”\nTime Tested\nDespite fresh evidence that staying invested is the ultimate time-tested strategy, caution is creeping back up. Hedge funds sold global stocks last week, according to data complied by Morgan Stanley’s prime brokerage. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Scott Rubner advised clients to add protection against potential losses, while Bank of America Corp.’s Michael Hartnett said equities will suffer in the first quarter.\nThe bearish case: Valuations look stretched. Corporate America is about to enter the earnings-related blackout on buybacks, depriving bulls of one big ally. While expectations on interest-rate cuts have bolstered shares of late, anxiety is also building that any easing on the sight of an economic downturn doesn’t bode well for risky assets.\nAnd going by charting indicators, the market has run too far, too fast. The S&P 500’s 14-day relative strength index triggered a sell signal in November, the same month when an alarm was flagged by Bollinger Bands. This week, the moving average convergence/divergence indicator — better known as MACD - flashed red, too.\nYet for all that, hitting the exit button on chart warnings has not served investors well. One way of looking at this: Bloomberg tracks technical indicators and its back-testing model goes long the S&P 500 when an indicator signals a “buy” and holds it until a “sell” is generated. At that time, the index is sold, a short position is established and kept until a buy is triggered.\nAs things stand now, seven of the 22 chart-based trading models are losing money this year. All have done worse than the simple buy-and-hold strategy.\nAnother lesson comes from market momentum, showing investors that avoiding stocks for any period of time is risky in a year when pullbacks are followed by violent bounces. Take the S&P 500’s latest round trip. While the index fell into a 10% correction over three months through October, the subsequent recovery was three times faster. That means, missing out on any big up days is costly.\nIn fact, without the top five sessions of 2023, the index’s 20% gain shrinks to 9%. (Of course, if one is lucky to dodge the worst five, the return expands to 29%.)\nWhile the stock market retrenches from time to time, it has shown persistent uptrend over the long haul, thanks to corporate America’s ability to expand earnings. Profits among S&P 500 firms returned to positive growth trajectory in the third quarter and are expected to accelerate next year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.\nAgainst this favorable backdrop, calls are growing louder that the benchmark index will climb to a fresh record by the end of next year.\nNo wonder Cox at Harris finds himself spending more time convincing people to do nothing than actively trying to be smart.\n“Timing the market is one of the most fun things you can try to do because it’s like a dopamine-type behavioral thing,” he said. “If you get it right once, you feel really, really good about yourself and you get it right a couple of times and you feel even more confident. Then you become overconfident, and you miss once, and you destroy all the good that you’ve done.”\n",
        "title": "Stock Faithful Ride $7 Trillion Rally as Market Timing Backfires"
    },
    {
        "id": 479,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-stocks-gain-treasury-212628596.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 4:13 p.m. ET/ 2013 GMT)\nBy Chuck Mikolajczak\nNEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A gauge of global stocks rose on Friday, on pace for its sixth straight week of gains, while U.S. Treasury yields shot higher after a strong U.S. jobs report forced markets to modify expectations for the timing of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.\nU.S. job growth accelerated in November, with the Labor Department's employment report showing nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 jobs last month, above the 180,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters, after rising by an unrevised 150,000 in October. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from the near two-year high of 3.9% in October.\nAhead of the payrolls report, a string of labor market data this week indicated some softening in the jobs market, while other reports in recent weeks showed a cooling of inflation and led markets to increase expectations the Federal Reserve would have the leeway to cut interest rates as soon as March.\nExpectations for a March cut of at least 25 basis points (bps) slipped to about 46%, according to CME's FedWatch Tool, down from about 65% on Thursday.\n\"I don't think this gives the Fed the ability to pivot. It's not weak enough,\" said Matthew Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management in Boston.\n\"(Fed Chair Jerome) Powell's going to push back on the market's pricing of rate cuts. He's likely to communicate that the Fed's got to stay steady in restrictive territory for the time being.\"\nOther data from the University of Michigan showed U.S. consumer sentiment improved much more than expected in December, snapping four straight months of declines, as households saw inflation pressures easing.\nOn Wall Street\n, stocks closed higher after a choppy session with the S&P 500 closing at its highest level since March 2022, led by a 1.1% gain in energy shares as oil prices bounced. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 130.49 points, or 0.36%, to 36,247.87, the S&P 500 gained 18.78 points, or 0.41%, to 4,604.37 and the gained 63.98 points, or 0.45%, to 14,403.97.\nU.S. Treasury yields surged following the payrolls report. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note jumped 10 basis points to 4.23%, on track for its biggest one-day gain since Nov. 9. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, shot up by 14.5 basis points, its biggest daily jump since June 29, to 4.725%.\nEuropean shares closed\nat their highest since February 2022 with the STOXX 600 index up 0.80%. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.29% and was poised for a sixth straight weekly gain, its longest streak in four years.\nAlong with recent economic data, comments from Fed officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, have fueled investor speculation about the timing of the central bank's pivot to a rate cut. The Fed's next policy meeting is on Dec. 12-13, while the next policy announcement from the European Central Bank (ECB) is on Dec. 14. Expectations have also grown the ECB was at or near the end of its rate hike cycle and a cut may be on the horizon.\nIn currencies, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six currencies, gained 0.29%, to 103.96 while the euro was down 0.29% on the day at $1.0761.\nCrude prices bounced after a recent slump but oil benchmarks were on track for a seven-week decline, the longest in five years, after Saudi Arabia and Russia lobbied OPEC+ members to join output cuts.\nU.S. crude settled up 2.73% at $71.23 per barrel and Brent settled at $75.84, up 2.42% on the day.\nGold fell\n1.27% to $2,002.56 an ounce after dropping to $1,994.49, its lowest since, Nov 24, as the dollar and yields climbed following the payrolls report.\n(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Sinéad Carew; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Susan Fenton and Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks gain, Treasury yields jump after US job report"
    },
    {
        "id": 480,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-seeks-dismissal-ftc-antitrust-212343370.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The US Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust case against Amazon.com Inc. relies on anecdotal evidence from a handful of online merchants and fails to prove that the online retailer’s practices hurt consumers, the Seattle company’s lawyers argued Friday in a motion to dismiss the complaint.\nThe motion challenges a key assertion made by the agency that Amazon causes prices to go up on competing websites. Online brands and merchants have testified that they don’t offer lower prices on other sites because Amazon, which captures more than one-third of online spending in the US, will punish them by making their products less visible on Amazon.\n“The Complaint does not identify a single product or product category for which prices have risen as a result of the challenged conduct,” Amazon attorney Heidi Hubbard wrote in the motion. “Instead, it implausibly, and illogically, assumes that Amazon’s efforts to keep featured prices low on Amazon somehow raised consumer prices across the whole economy.”\nThe FTC sued Amazon in September accusing the e-commerce giant of monopolizing online marketplace services by degrading quality for shoppers and overcharging sellers, part of a broader agency challenge of the power of big technology companies.\nThe case is FTC v. Amazon, 23-cv-1495, US District Court, Western District of Washington (Seattle).\n--With assistance from Leah Nylen.\n",
        "title": "Amazon Seeks Dismissal of FTC Antitrust Lawsuit"
    },
    {
        "id": 481,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/soft-landing-recession-one-might-212026529.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (AP) — The solid hiring revealed in Friday's jobs report for November, along with a raft of other recent economic data, is boosting hopes that the U.S. economy will achieve a “soft landing” next year rather than a widely feared recession.\nA so-called soft landing would occur if the economy slowed enough to bring inflation down to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, without tumbling into a deep recession.\nIt's a tricky task. The Fed has sharply raised its key interest rate to try to moderate borrowing and spending and tame inflation. The risk is that the Fed would miscalculate and keep its benchmark rate — which affects many consumer and business loans — too high for too long and end up causing a recession.\nIn the past, the Fed's policymakers have often sought to engineer soft landings after a spurt of economic growth ignited inflation or threatened to do so. Most frequently, the Fed has failed.\nWhat would a soft landing look like, compared with a potential recession?\nJOBS\nIn a soft landing, employers would likely keep hiring, even at a more moderate pace. Job growth could weaken as the Fed's high rates weigh on the economy. Many analysts envision growth weakening to about 1% next year from a pace of about 2.4% this year.\nIn some months, hiring could fall below the number that is needed just to keep up with population growth, which is about 100,000. The unemployment rate would likely rise from its current level of 3.7%, near a half-century low. The Fed expects the jobless rate to reach 4.1% by the end of 2024, even without a recession.\nYet in a recession, the scenario is much worse. Employers typically cut millions of jobs. Even in a mild downturn, like the one that occurred in 2001, the unemployment rate topped 6%.\nINFLATION\nIn a soft landing, price increases should gradually ease to a yearly pace of about 2%. That doesn't mean the costs of everyday necessities would actually drop; groceries are about 25% pricier than they were before the pandemic. But over time, wages should continue to rise enough to boost Americans' purchasing power.\nIn a recession, by contrast, inflation would almost certainly fall faster. That's because spending would decline and companies would be forced to hold prices down in the face of falling demand. In the 1970s, though, even recessions weren't enough to defeat inflation, leading to the phenomenon known as “stagflation.” Fortunately, few economists expect that to return next year.\nINTEREST RATES\nAs inflation edges closer to 2%, the Fed will likely cut its key rate next year. That should bring down the costs of a mortgage, auto loan or business loan. Still, in a soft landing, borrowing costs would likely stay higher than in a recession. That's because in a recession, the Fed would likely cut its key rate even further.\nA big question for the future of the economy is whether interest rates will drop back to their ultra-low pre-pandemic levels, when the average 30-year mortgage rate occasionally fell as low as 3%. Some economists think an aging population, slower growth and global demand for Treasury bonds and notes will keep interest rates low.\nOther economists argue that high U.S. government budget deficits, a retreat from globalization and potentially faster growth will keep rates higher than they were before the pandemic.\nCORPORATE PROFITS\nProfits at companies in the S&P 500 rose 5% in the third quarter, after three straight quarters of declines. The consensus among analysts surveyed by the data research company FactSet is that profits should continue growing in 2024 thanks to a resilient economy and could possibly hit an annual record.\nIn a recession, however, profits — and stock prices — typically fall. Analysts at JPMorgan say “a U.S. recession next year remains a live risk,” and that a potential drop in consumer demand, along with the inability of companies to keep raising prices, could lead to a deterioration in corporate earnings.\n___\nAP Business Writer Stan Choe in New York contributed to this report.\n",
        "title": "A 'soft landing' or a recession? How each one might affect America's households and businesses"
    },
    {
        "id": 482,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-lng-exports-panama-canal-211609914.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Changes throughout, details by exporter, annual comparisons)\nBy Curtis Williams, Emily Chow and Marwa Rashad\nHOUSTON/SINGAPORE/LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The number of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels transiting the Panama Canal to Asia halved in November compared with a year ago as Asia prices for the gas this week traded at their steepest premium to European prices in nearly two years.\nA severe drought has cut vessel traffic through the canal, increasing costs for shippers that take alternative routes or pay extra fees for auctioned slots in Panama. Further restrictions on canal transits likely will put more cargoes on lengthier routes, analysts said.\nThe spread between the Japan Korea Market (JKM), a widely used Asian LNG benchmark, and the Title Transfer Facility (TTF), the European gas benchmark, was assessed by S&P at $2.79 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) on Dec. 6, its widest since Dec. 31, 2021.\nSince Dec. 1, only 22 ships are allowed to pass the waterway each day. LNG and dry bulk shipments have been the most affected by transit limits, the canal's authority said last month. It did not reply for a request for further comment.\nIn November, of the 22 U.S. LNG cargoes exported to Asia just six crossed the Panama Canal, nine took a route through the Suez Canal, and seven took the longest route by bordering South Africa, according to the LSEG data.\nIn the same month last year, of the 20 U.S. LNG cargoes that went to Asian destinations, 12 used Panama, six passed Suez and two bordered Africa.\nAsian LNG demand has been tepid since early November due to adequate inventories, weak industrial demand and generally mild weather.\n\"We still see Asia-Pacific balances quite comfortable this winter and expect only a minimal Asian call on U.S. spot LNG, but the Panama congestion makes this marginal call a bit more expensive than normal,\" said Jake Horslen, senior LNG analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects.\nBut vessels taking alternate routes could gains in coming months, said Jason Feer, head of business intelligence at shipping consultancy Poten & Partners.\n\"The reality is that it is too long and expensive to go through the Panama Canal at the moment, even though the forward curve has Asia as the best market for LNG,\" Feer told Reuters.\nThe JKM/NWE - another spread that is commonly used in the market between Asia and Northwest Europe - reached $3.385/mmBtu on Dec. 6, according to S&P.\n\"It is only just at the cusp of being profitable to ship cargoes from the United States around Cape/Suez to Northeast Asia,\" S&P said.\nCheniere Energy Inc, the largest U.S. LNG exporter, this year exported 19% of its cargoes to Asia, a spokesperson said. It has been using alternative routes to deliver some cargoes, the person added.\n\"We will continue to work with the canal to utilize it when feasible and use alternative routes as needed to deliver LNG safely and reliably\", the spokesperson said.\nFreeport LNG, the second largest U.S. LNG producer, declined to comment. Cargoes departing its terminals have been mainly using the Suez Canal since October to reach Asia, LSEG vessel tracking data showed.\n\"We prefer the certainty of the Suez Canal because even if it is going to take an additional 10 days, we know for sure it will get through at the appointed time. But with the Panama Canal, there is no certainty,\" said a person with knowledge of Freeport's operations.\n(Reporting by Emily Chow in Singapore and Marwa Rashad in London; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "US LNG exports through Panama Canal shrink, Asia-Europe spreads widen"
    },
    {
        "id": 483,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-answer-openai-inquiry-doesn-211600451.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- With global regulators examining Microsoft Corp.’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI, the software giant has a simple argument it hopes will resonate with antitrust officials: It doesn’t own a traditional stake in the buzzy startup so can’t be said to control it.\nWhen Microsoft negotiated an additional $10 billion investment in OpenAI in January, it opted for an unusual arrangement, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Rather than buy a chunk of the cutting-edge artificial intelligence lab, it cut a deal to receive almost half of OpenAI’s financial returns until the investment is repaid up to a pre-determined cap, one of the people said. The unorthodox structure was concocted because OpenAI is a capped for-profit company housed inside a non-profit organization.\nIt’s not clear regulators see a distinction, however. On Friday the UK Competition and Markets Authority said it was gathering information from stakeholders to determine whether the collaboration between the two firms threatens competition in the UK, home of Google’s AI research lab Deepmind. The US Federal Trade Commission is also examining the nature of Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI and whether it may violate antitrust laws, according to a person familiar with the matter.\nThe inquiries are preliminary and the agency hasn’t opened a formal investigation, according to the person, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter.\nMicrosoft didn’t report the transaction to the agency because the investment in OpenAI doesn’t amount to control of the company under US law, the person said. OpenAI is a non-profit and acquisitions of non-corporate entities aren’t reported under US merger law, regardless of value. Agency officials are analyzing the situation and assessing what its options are.\n“While details of our agreement remain confidential, it is important to note that Microsoft does not own any portion of OpenAI and is simply entitled to a share of profit distributions,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. Earlier Friday, Microsoft President Brad Smith said “the only thing that has changed is that Microsoft will now have a non-voting observer on OpenAI’s board.” He described its relationship with OpenAI as “very different” from Google’s outright acquisition of DeepMind in the UK.\n“Our partnership with Microsoft empowers us to pursue our research and develop safe and beneficial AI tools for everyone, while remaining independent and operating competitively. Their non-voting board observer does not provide them with governing authority or control over OpenAI’s operations,” said an OpenAI spokesperson in a statement.\nFrom the beginning, Microsoft and OpenAI took pains to telegraph the two companies’ independence. Microsoft hoped to reassure investors and customers that it’s not overly reliant on one partner. OpenAI didn’t want employees, customers and other investors thinking it was merely an outpost of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft. That careful positioning was upended last month with the firing of OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and the startup’s near implosion.\nThe Altman imbroglio demonstrated both Microsoft’s lack of control and its influence. Microsoft received just minutes notice that the OpenAI board planned to announce Altman’s ouster, and its executives were not consulted in the decision. Still Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella played a key role, along with other investors, in forcing the board to reverse its decision. At one point Microsoft said it would hire Altman and his OpenAI colleagues to form a new Microsoft AI unit.\nOnce Altman was restored as CEO, Microsoft executives debated the wisdom of taking a seat on the OpenAI board, people familiar with the matter said at the time. On the one hand, executives feared that a board seat or observer slot might draw the attention of regulators. On the other hand, Microsoft wanted to keep a closer eye on its partner and protect its investment—an imperative that carried the day, despite the risks.\nRead More: Microsoft Prepares to Cash in on OpenAI Partnership\nUltimately, Microsoft could face a world of regulatory headaches. Regulators in Europe are also paying attention, according to a spokesperson for the European Commission. In order for a transaction to be notifiable to the Commission under the EU Merger Regulation, it has to involve a change of control on a lasting basis. While this transaction has not been formally notified, the Commission had been following the situation even before the management turmoil, the spokesperson said.\nLast month, Germany’s competition authority said it wasn’t subjecting Microsoft’s OpenAI investment to a merger review. But the regulator said they would hold off only because OpenAI didn’t have substantial business in Germany. After reviewing the transaction and talking the companies, the regulator found the investment would give Microsoft a “material competitive influence” over the AI company that might warrant scrutiny in the future if OpenAI increases its activities in Germany.\nThe partnership raises competition issues if Microsoft cuts back on its own AI research and development or if the investment keeps OpenAI from partnering with the tech giant’s rivals, said Bloomberg Intelligence antitrust analyst Jennifer Rie. Antitrust enforcers may also have concerns about Microsoft’s board observer since it would give Microsoft additional information on OpenAI’s plans even if it doesn’t have rights to influence the decisions.\n--With assistance from Thomas Seal and Samuel Stolton.\n",
        "title": "Microsoft’s Answer to OpenAI Inquiry: It Doesn’t Own a Stake"
    },
    {
        "id": 484,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-funds-held-big-bet-211454611.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds held a large bet against the yen in the days before comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda triggered the biggest jump in the Japanese currency in almost a year on speculation of a near-term shift in monetary policy.\nSpeculators remained near the most bearish on the yen since April 2022 in the week ending Dec. 5, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. Leveraged funds trimmed their net-short position to 64,841 contracts, down slightly from the previous week’s report of 65,611 contracts.\nThe yen jumped almost 4% on Thursday after comments by Ueda and one of his deputies were interpreted as pointing toward the end of the bank’s negative-rates regime. Trading in the currency soared, with the CME Group Inc. reporting $74.8 billion of activity in the yen, the most this year.\nEven after this week’s jump, the yen is still down about 9.5% against the US dollar for the year, making it the second-worst performing currency among its peers in the Group-of-10 nations. The BOJ will meet next on Dec. 19.\nTwo-week dollar-yen risk reversals, which span the upcoming BOJ rate decision, indicate the market is anticipating a decent amount of further yen gains in the near-term.\n--With assistance from George Lei.\n",
        "title": "Hedge Funds Held Big Bet Against Yen in Days Before Its Surge"
    },
    {
        "id": 485,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-stocks-on-six-week-win-streak-after-strong-jobs-report-210913952.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Stocks closed out the first full trading week of December with a win on Friday as investors assessed the US monthly jobs report in a positive light, embracing the case that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates next year. Stocks turned positive as market watchers saw more evidence of a soft landing for the economy.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.3% or more than 100 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) advanced 0.4%, notching a high for the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained nearly 0.5%. It was the sixth straight week of gains for the major indexes.\nThe US unemployment rate fell unexpectedly to 3.7% in November, the nonfarm payrolls report showed, reflecting signs that the labor market may not be cooling as quickly as many had initially thought.\nMeanwhile, the economy added 199,000 jobs, up from the previous month's reading, as striking auto workers and Hollywood actors came back to the workforce.\nThe report will serve as a test for stocks, which rallied as investors grew optimistic that the Fed's rate hikes have peaked and a \"soft landing\" for the US economy is in the cards. Hints of labor market cooling in earlier data this week were taken as a sign the Fed's inflation fight is paying off.\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nElsewhere, the UK antitrust regulator said Friday it will examine OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) for a potential merger probe. The move comes after AI buzz boosted tech stocks on Thursday, with gains for Alphabet (GOOGL) and AMD (AMD) after they introduced products.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Stock market news today: Stocks on six-week win streak after strong jobs report"
    },
    {
        "id": 486,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ftc-opens-inquiry-chevron-hess-210735049.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Chevron's acquisition of Hess oil company, the second inquiry the independent agency has opened this week of a major oil industry merger.\nChevron and Hess said in separate filings that the FTC is seeking additional information and documentary materials related to Chevron's proposed $53 billion purchase of Hess, announced in October.\nThe statements Friday follow an announcement earlier this week that the FTC is reviewing ExxonMobil's proposed $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources. Such requests for information are steps the agency takes when reviewing whether a merger could be anticompetitive under U.S. law. If completed, the Exxon and Chevron deals would be among the largest mergers in the energy industry in two decades.\nThe inquiries come after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 22 other Democratic senators urged the FTC to investigate the two deals. Schumer said Friday the Chevron-Hess merger would lead to \"higher prices at the pump for families even while Big Oil profits keep going up and up.''\nThe FTC, which shares antitrust authority with the Justice Department, can sue in court to block a merger or decline to take action, effectively clearing the deal.\nA spokesperson for the commission declined to comment Friday.\nChevron, Exxon and other oil companies have announced huge profits from strong energy prices and demand since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Exxon reported $9.1 billion in profits in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, while Chevron reported $6.5 billion in profits.\n",
        "title": "FTC opens inquiry of Chevron-Hess merger, marking second review this week of major oil industry deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 487,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/harpoon-ventures-raises-125-million-120000639.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Harpoon Ventures, whose investors include Andreessen Horowitz veteran Peter Levine and former Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, has raised a $125 million fund to back early-stage startups.\nThe fund — the firm’s fourth — is expected to close Friday, according to Harpoon founder Larsen Jensen. It will be slightly larger than the previous fund, which closed in 2021 at $122.5 million.\nThe five-year-old venture capital firm invests in so-called dual use technologies — commercial products that can also be sold to federal agencies. It has backed about four dozen startups so far, including clean tech provider Solugen Inc. and satellite company Astranis Space Technologies Corp., which recently secured deals with the US Department of Defense and was valued at $1.6 billion.\n“We’re focused on the next generation of outcomes,” Jensen said, adding that his firm writes early checks and holds those shares in perpetuity — rather than selling for a quick return when private valuations rise.\n“We want to build an organization that lasts for decades.” said Jensen, who — like Phelps — is a former Olympic swimmer. He also served as a Navy SEAL before working at venture firms Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Those two firms financed Harpoon Ventures’ early days as a startup accelerator and currently operate “at an arm’s distance” from Harpoon, Jensen said.\nStill, Andreessen’s Levine invested personally in the firm’s newest fund. In an email, Levine said Harpoon’s deep knowledge of Defense Department operations was a major selling point.\n“They’re experts at mapping the government landscape, understanding your business, helping find product market fit, procurement, and the ebbs and flows of the government purchasing cycle,” Levine said.\nIt’s been a challenging year to raise money, especially with the market for initial public offerings remaining sluggish. US-based venture firms had raised just $42.7 billion by the end of the third quarter, putting 2023 on pace for the lowest full-year total since 2017, according to data provider PitchBook.\nJensen said some limited partners, including Phelps, told him they were unwilling to invest in a venture fund under these conditions. Harpoon had initially sought to raise $225 million with the latest fund, according to a filing.\n“I think this year it was no secret that it was more difficult than 2021,” Jensen said in an interview on Bloomberg Television Friday. “In 2021 investors and allocators were jumping both feet into the pool,” he said, adding that “the IPO window has been effectively shut since then.”\nNow, it takes longer to raise money. “It is no secret that the opportunity cost has gone up,” he said, adding that Harpoon is “fortunate to have durable capital partners that have worked with us.”\n--With assistance from Paayal Zaveri.\n(Updates last two paragraphs with quotes from Bloomberg TV and adds detail on Phelps in the ninth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Harpoon Ventures Raises $125 Million for Early-Stage Startups"
    },
    {
        "id": 488,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-faces-hurdles-bid-form-210253407.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. is running into some pushback over fees and control as it aims to pull together a group of lenders to help fund private credit deals it originates, an effort that has the potential to reshape the burgeoning market.\nThe biggest US bank has held talks with several private credit firms about creating what would amount to a syndication group where members would take a slice of each loan, according to people with direct knowledge of the discussions. JPMorgan would select the loans, and others in the syndicate would have no or limited ability to veto deals they don’t want to fund, the people said.\nBanks have been searching for the best way to carve out their own piece of the $1.6 trillion private credit market as higher rates spark a flood of investor interest and increasingly stringent capital rules make them more wary of keeping loans on their balance sheet. Private credit has already been eating into Wall Street banks’ share of the leveraged loan and high-yield bond markets, a key fee generator. Several lenders have announced private credit partnerships, and others are looking at options.\nJPMorgan is in ongoing discussions with potential partners, and in some meetings has floated charging fees that amount to about 2.5%, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified describing private talks. The fees and lack of veto power pitched in some of the conversations have made some firms reluctant to join the effort, they said.\nA spokeswoman for JPMorgan declined to comment.\nJPMorgan has been searching for third-party capital to supplement the more than $10 billion of balance sheet cash that it has already set aside for its private credit strategy, which it began rolling out in the last year, Bloomberg reported last month. In addition to alternative asset managers, it’s also pursuing discussions with sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and endowments.\nThe firm is one of the largest underwriters of leveraged loans and high yield bonds and the private credit effort may help it protect a crucial business. The structure it’s pitching would allow it to maintain control of client relationships and provide a level of certainty to borrowers that agreed loans would be funded, some of the people said.\nPrivate credit specialists have gathered more money to deploy based on the pitch of higher returns and lower volatility than the public loan market. But now they face questions over how they’ll accomplish the unglamorous tasks of finding, underwriting and servicing a broader swathe of loans.\nWhile the largest credit firms and alternative asset managers have spent years building out origination platforms, many smaller or mid-size rivals may struggle to replicate that in short order. Some traditional banks see that as their opening to get a steady stream of fees by leaning on their underwriting and servicing experience and existing relationships.\n--With assistance from Paula Seligson.\n",
        "title": "JPMorgan Faces Hurdles in Bid to Form Private Credit Syndicate"
    },
    {
        "id": 489,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/time-to-buy-why-the-prices-of-rolex-and-other-luxury-swiss-watches-keep-falling-210120166.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "If you are in the market for a luxury Swiss watch now might be your best time to buy — just in time for the holidays.\nSubdial, a watch industry data provider, reported that its Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index fell again for the month of November, down 3% from the prior month and 10% from a year ago to £26,912, or $33,740 — a new two-year low.\nThe Bloomberg Subdial Index tracks a basket of the 50 most sought-after watches by value in the secondhand or used market, representing brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe (MC.PA), and Audemars Piguet.\nAccording to the index, the Rolex Submariner with green bezel (the “Kermit”) was the biggest loser, down 4.6% for the month. The yellow gold Rolex Day Date was one of the few gainers, up an index best of 1.3%.\nWhile Subdial noted that the index fell a whopping 40% in the same time period last year, the 10% decline here should not be ignored.\n“A 10% decline in a market in the course of a year is significant. While there is relative calm compared to the previous year, to claim that we have stability feels a bit overly optimistic, not to say that it couldn’t be around the corner,” the report said.\nSubdial’s insights also reflect what’s happening in the market for new Swiss watches, which had remained strong in 2023. Bloomberg reported Swiss watch exports declined in July for the first time in more than two years, and average growth since then has been trailing the first half of 2023.\nThat being said, the Subdial team believes there might be a silver lining. Despite falling prices in the secondhand market, there is still volume in terms of transactions, meaning watches are being bought and sold at the same clip — just with declining prices.\nThis is a far cry from the heady days during and shortly after the pandemic when supply was low — and factors like social media influencers, crypto’s massive rise, and the feeling that life was too short led to frenzied buying in the luxury watch market across the globe.\nThat's to blame for the Bloomberg Subdial Index dropping 42% from its peak in April 2022.\nA potential positive catalyst for the watch market? The future interest rate environment. Subdial found that the slide in the watch market “perfectly” correlated with the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes.\n“The period between April and August saw larger rate increases — and steeper declines in the watch market. There was then a brief respite in both before another period of rate increases (and corresponding price declines) going into the end of the year,” Subdial said.\nSubdial believes that, with the likelihood of rate hikes in the rearview mirror, there's “reason for optimism in the market.”\nBut with traders already pricing in the first Fed rate cut in May of 2024 per Bloomberg, there’s still a long way to go for watch dealers looking for a respite.\nFor watch buyers, however, it might be time to check in on your local Rolex dealer, even if its watches are likely sold out. You never know: Perhaps there's a two-tone Rolex Explorer suddenly in stock, because a buyer backed out.\nPras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Time to buy? Why the prices of Rolex and other luxury Swiss watches keep falling."
    },
    {
        "id": 490,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-fx-debt-c-sees-205651281.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nCanadian dollar strengthens 0.1% against the greenback\n*\nPosts weekly decline of 0.6%\n*\nPrice of U.S. oil settles 2.7% higher\n*\nCanadian bond yields rise across the curve\nBy Fergal Smith\nTORONTO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart on Friday but the currency still posted its first weekly decline in four weeks as the Bank of Canada left interest rates on hold and U.S. jobs data boosted the greenback.\nThe loonie was trading 0.1% higher at 1.3585 to the greenback, or 73.61 U.S. cents, after moving in a range of 1.3551 to 1.3609. For the week, the currency was down 0.6%.\nThe currency is \"showing a mild correction to the gains seen in recent weeks,\" said Amo Sahota, director at Klarity FX in San Francisco. \"The Bank of Canada provided a fairly neutral update, though we read it as slightly more dovish.\"\nThe Canadian central bank held its benchmark interest rate at 5%, as expected, on Wednesday. It left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation, but acknowledged an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices.\nThe U.S. dollar rallied on Friday against a basket of major currencies as U.S. job growth accelerated in November while the unemployment rate fell to 3.7%, signs of underlying labor market strength that suggested financial market expectations of an interest rate cut early next year were probably premature.\nThe price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, clawed back some recent declines as Saudi Arabia and Russia lobbied OPEC+ members to join output cuts. U.S. crude oil futures settled 2.7% higher at $71.23 a barrel.\nCanadian government bond yields rose across the curve, tracking moves in U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year was up 7 basis points at 3.377%, rebounding after it touched on Wednesday a five-month low at 3.264%. (Reporting by Fergal Smith; editing by Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "CANADA FX DEBT-C$ sees weekly 'correction' as U.S. jobs growth accelerates"
    },
    {
        "id": 491,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-rate-cut-exuberance-ebbs-162809736.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Treasury yields surged as traders pared expectations for the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy aggressively next year after a better-than-forecast jobs report.\nBenchmark two-year yields, those most closely tied to the outlook for US central-bank policy, rose as much as 14 basis points, the most in a day since June. Rates across the maturity spectrum were higher by at least about six basis points on the day.\nSwaps traders scaled back bets on how much the Fed will cut rates next year, pricing in about 110 basis points of easing, down from more than 120 basis points. The employment report said nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 last month versus economists’ 185,000 median estimate while the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 3.7% as workforce participation edged up.\n“This is a good report,” Michael Darda, chief economist at Roth MKM said on Bloomberg Television. “The Fed is going to look at it and not really feel compelled at all that they need to embrace these early rate cuts next year that the market has priced in.”\nFriday’s re-pricing vindicated strategists who’d said the bond market was running too far ahead of the central bank by pricing in rate cuts beginning as soon as March. Swaps traders Friday dimmed to about 40% the probability that the Fed lowers rates in March, from over 50% prior to the report.\nTrading flows contributing to the shift included several large futures block trades in contracts on the two-year Treasury note contract and the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, a market rate influenced by the Fed’s rate.\nRead more: Bond Traders Racing Ahead of Fed Face Reality Check on Jobs\nIn Europe too traders pared bets on interest-rate cuts next year. Five quarter-point reductions are still fully priced, and the odds of a sixth one are gradually slipping. The chance of a first move in March decreased slightly to 60% from 72% on Thursday.\n“The report will stop people from talking about rate cuts,” said Gang Hu, managing partner at Winshore Capital Partners. “The trend of the labor market is weakening, but not as weak as people thought it’d be,” while inflation also doesn’t support easing, Hu said.\nSafe to Buy\nYields for many Treasury tenors had declined to the lowest levels in several months earlier this week on the view that, even if rate cuts come later than expected, it’s safe to buy bonds as long as the most aggressive tightening cycle in decades is over. The Fed has raised interest rates by more 5.25 percentage points since March 2022 in response to quickening inflation.\nInvestors polled weekly by JPMorgan Chase & Co. have a net long position in Treasuries that matches the biggest ones on record since 2010. The market’s 3.5% gain in November was its biggest since 2008, wiping out a year-to-date loss through October.\nRick Rieder, BlackRock Inc.’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, said Friday that he favors buying debt maturing in three to seven years, expecting yields will decline as the Fed begins cutting rates, probably around June.\nThe Fed’s final policy meeting of the year is ahead next week, and while no change in rates is expected, officials Wednesday will update their projections — in what’s known as the dot plot — for the coming years for the first time since September. Then, the median forecasts anticipated one more quarter-point hike in 2023 followed by two cuts in 2024. Post-meeting comments by Chair Jerome Powell may further influence market pricing.\n“It’s probably the case that most Committee participants don’t want to encourage market expectations for easing in the next few months,” JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief US economist Michael Feroli said in a note. “Even so, the revisions to the economic forecasts will likely show lower core inflation this year and next, so we think the dots will still show some easing” with the median 2024 forecast moving down to 4.875% from 5.125% in September.\nFeroli expects the Fed to keep its policy rate unchanged next week, holding in the current range of of 5.25% to 5.5%.\nRead more: Fed Dot Plot Offers Clues on Appropriate Pace of Change\nThe day before the Fed decision, the government will release inflation readings for November, where the main rate is expected to ebb to 3.1% from 3.2%. A bigger-than-anticipated decline in October helped ignite last month’s massive bond rally.\nIn addition, scheduled auctions of three-, 10- and 30-year Treasuries next week on Monday and Tuesday create supply pressure that may temporarily discourage buyers.\nThe shift in rate-cut expectations is a setback, “but we think people will buy the dip,” said Priya Misra, portfolio manager at JP Morgan Investment Management. “Not many had the opportunity to buy 10-year Treasuries at 5%, but even 4.25% is not a bad level heading into a slowing growth and inflation world.”\n--With assistance from Aline Oyamada, Ye Xie and Michael Mackenzie.\n(Updates yields, adds economist’s comment.)\n",
        "title": "Fed Rate-Cut Exuberance Ebbs After Jobs Data, Boosting US Yields"
    },
    {
        "id": 492,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-gene-editing-therapy-sickle-162456273.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The US Food and Drug Administration approved the first gene editing therapy using Crispr technology on Friday, a collaboration between Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Crispr Therapeutics AG for treating sickle cell disease.\nCalled Casgevy, the approval will allow the drug to come to market in the US. Sickle cell disease affects some 100,000 Americans. Vertex says Casgevy is meant for the around 20,000 that have a severe version of the illness. The disease can land some people in the hospital multiple times a year.\nThe treatment works by precisely targeting changes in DNA to repair flaws in patients’ genomes related to the inherited disease. It promises a potential cure, but requires undergoing an intense several month treatment process and costs $2.2 million. It’s unclear whether insurers will widely cover the therapy, or if many sickle cell patients will take it.\nThe FDA’s approval is a positive sign for the the burgeoning field of gene editing, which makes permanent changes in human DNA in order to treat — and potentially cure — diseases. Drug companies and patients are looking to gene-editing technology to fix some of the most intractable disorders, such as sickle cell disease. The FDA’s blessing is a sign that regulators believe the benefits of the one-time treatment outweigh any potential safety concerns about altering human DNA.\nCrispr’s researchers were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry. In November, regulators in the UK approved Vertex and Crispr’s Casgevy. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate the treatment will generate $3.9 billion globally in peak sales.\nInvestors had widely expected the approval on Friday, but shares of Crispr fell as much as 12% as the surprise approval of a rival sickle cell disease drug from Bluebird Bio Inc., Lyfgenia, was also announced the same day.\nVertex shares fell less than 1% at 3:28 p.m. in New York, while shares in Crispr Therapeutics fell 7.9%.\nLyfgenia Risks\nLyfgenia’s approval came with what’s known as a “black box warning” saying patients on the treatment should have lifelong monitoring for blood cancer after cases occurred in people who’ve received it.\nBluebird’s stock rose as much as 15% earlier Friday but the shares were halted after starting to fall following the FDA nod for Lyfgenia. When trading resumed, the stock sank as much as 44% — the biggest drop its ever had.\nOn a call with reporters, FDA officials said they added the warning to Bluebird’s therapy after two patients died from blood cancer during a clinical trial. The treatment from Vertex and Crispr doesn’t have a similar warning because the companies didn’t have any patients with malignancies during their clinical trials, the officials said. Vertex and Bluebird have agreed to do long-term follow-up studies on patients for 15 years.\nPeter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said he expects most medical providers to only give the treatments to patients who are in the hospital several times a year.\n“This is really for those whose lives have been significantly impacted,” Marks said.\nBluebird said Lyfgenia will cost $3.1 million, though the company said it’s in “advanced” talks with payers that cover some 80% of sickle cell patients already.\nPossible Cure\nBoth therapies promise potential relief — and possibly a cure — for sickle cell disease, which largely affects Black people in the US. The life expectancy of people who have sickle cell disease and are covered by Medicaid and Medicare is about 53 years, according to a study published in July.\nSickle cell is an inherited disease where misshapen and inefficient red blood cells lead to clogged blood vessels, painful episodes and shortened lifespans.\nBloomberg Intelligence analyst Ann-Hunter Van Kirk said the negative investor reaction Friday was likely due in part to the FDA highlighting the required chemotherapy treatments that patients must undergo when using the Crispr therapy and “concerns on how that will impact uptake.”\nStill, she said, the FDA approvals are “an important debut of the next frontier of therapies.”\n--With assistance from Fiona Rutherford and Ike Swetlitz.\n(Updates shares, with comment from FDA officials starting in paragraph 12 and with analyst comment.)\n",
        "title": "Vertex, Bluebird Both Get FDA Approval for Sickle Cell Gene Therapies"
    },
    {
        "id": 493,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-colombian-peso-inflation-204604637.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "* US job growth accelerates in November * Brazil's Selic rate to be cut by 50 bps more on Dec. 13 - Poll * Colombia inflation up 10.15% in November * Latam stocks add 0.6%, FX down 0.1% * EM stocks, FX set for weekly losses (Updated at 3pm ET/2000 GMT) By Johann M Cherian Dec 8 (Reuters) - Colombia's peso gained on Friday after economic data signaled inflation pressures still remained a concern for the local central bank, while most other Latin American currencies rose after U.S. data reflected a robust labor market. Colombia's peso appreciated 0.2% after consumer prices rose by a more-than-expected 10.15% in November, far from the local central bank's target. \"I think (Colombia's central bank) is going to be cautious, they started out the year extremely cautious and they were starting to consider cuts at some point,\" said Eduardo Ordonez Bueso, EM debt portfolio manager at BankInvest. \"They've been extremely professional about it, so I would just trust they will continue on the same path and be very data dependent.\" The peso has outperformed regional peers, as the local central bank continue to kept rates steady at 13.25% as inflation remains elevated, while higher oil prices have also propped the oil exporter's currency. More broadly, MSCI's gauge for Latin American currencies edged down 0.1% against the dollar as the greenback strengthened after U.S. jobs data came in stronger-than-expected, dampening hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by early next year. Iron ore producer Brazil's real slipped 0.3%. A poll showed analysts expect the local central bank to cut its benchmark rate by 50 basis points for the fourth time next week. Meanwhile, MSCI's Latin American stocks index rose 0.6%. MSCI's Latin American currencies index is set for a weekly decline of over 0.3%, its worst week in four, while the stocks index is on course for losses of around 0.6%, its worst week since mid-October. MSCI's broader index of emerging market stocks lost 1%, also its biggest weekly decline since October. Investors stayed net sellers of EM equity funds for a 17th consecutive week, shedding a net $1.96 billion in the week to Dec. 6, LSEG data showed. Oil exporter Mexico's peso added 0.6% on Friday as crude prices recovered from recent lows. Brazil's Bovespa gained 0.9%, overshadowing WEG's 1.8% slide after the motor maker said that CEO Harry Schmelzer Junior will leave his position on March 31 next year. Argentine markets were closed on account of a public holiday, while Argentina's peso traded at 970 to the dollar in parallel trade. However, traders will keep a keen eye on developments in the region's second biggest economy as Javier Milei will be sworn in as president on Sunday. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2000 GMT: Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 973.18 0.32 MSCI LatAm 2478.14 0.6 Brazil Bovespa 127095.48 0.86 Mexico IPC 54485.03 0.05 Chile IPSA 5970.81 0 Argentina MerVal 941829.88 5.291 Colombia COLCAP 1145.28 0.98 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.9241 0.08 Mexico peso 17.3483 0.60 Chile peso 869.5 0.00 Colombia peso 3977 0.22 Peru sol 3.727 0.43 Argentina peso 364.0500 -0.12 (interbank) Argentina peso 970 -1.55 (parallel) (Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Colombian peso up after inflation data; Latam FX, stocks slip on the week"
    },
    {
        "id": 494,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apples-head-of-iphone-and-apple-watch-design-leaving-company-report-204545568.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Apple’s (AAPL) head of iPhone and Apple Watch design is leaving the company. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Tang Tan, who has worked on devices including the iPhone, Watch, and Apple’s AirPods, will exit Apple in February.\nTan reports up to Apple’s SVP of hardware design John Ternus, who answers to CEO Tim Cook. Tan’s departure also means Apple is moving around personnel within its design teams to fill in gaps, according to Gurman.\nShares of Apple were relatively flat following the news, with the company’s overall market capitalization remaining steady above the $3 trillion mark.\nApple’s design team has undergone a series of shifts in recent years following former design chief Jony Ive’s departure in 2019. Ive continued to work with Apple via his design firm LoveFrom until 2022, according to the New York Times.\nDesign is of chief importance to Apple, which markets its products as not only high-end pieces of technology, but statement pieces as well.\nThe iPhone is Apple’s single most important product, generating $200.6 billion of the company’s $383.3 billion in revenue in fiscal 2023. But iPhone sales were off throughout the year, as consumers pulled back on spending on pricier devices amidst rising inflation and higher interest rates. Overall, the iPhone business generated $5 billion less in 2023 than it did in 2022.\nThe Apple Watch is the world’s most popular smartwatch and a major means of keeping Apple users dependent on the company’s ecosystem of products. Apple doesn’t break out specific numbers for the Watch business, instead folding it into its wearables, home, and accessories segment.\nThat business also slowed in 2023, bringing in $39.8 billion in revenue throughout the company’s fiscal year versus $41.2 billion in 2022.\nBut there’s hope for a turnaround in 2024. According to Counterpoint Research, in October, global smartphone sell-through grew year over year for the first time in more than two years.\n“Following this strong growth in October, we expect the market to grow [year over year] in Q4 2023 as well, setting out on a path to gradual recovery in the coming quarters,” the research firm said in a statement.\nDaniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Apple's head of iPhone and Apple Watch design leaving company: Report"
    },
    {
        "id": 495,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-strong-us-jobs-203515268.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 1959 GMT)\nBy Hannah Lang\nWASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The dollar rose on Friday after new data showed U.S. job growth accelerated in November and the unemployment rate dropped, pointing to underlying strength in the labor market.\nThe U.S. dollar index was last up 0.3% at 104.0, on track for a modest weekly gain after a bruising November, in which it shed 3%. The yen was 0.52% lower against the dollar at 144.35, following its biggest rally in almost a year the day before.\nU.S. nonfarm payrolls added 199,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 180,000 jobs created.\nThe employment report, which showed the unemployment rate fell to 3.7%, suggested that financial market expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve could pivot to cutting interest rates as soon as the first quarter of 2024 were premature.\n\"So far, there’s nothing in the data that forces (the Fed) off their ‘let’s see what happens’ stance. The market was clearly leaning in the other direction,\" said Steven Englander, head of global G10 FX research at Standard Chartered Bank in New York.\nTraders of short-term U.S. interest-rate futures on Friday pared bets the Fed will start cutting interest rates in March after the report, and now see a May start to rate cuts more likely.\nMarkets had earlier priced in about a 60% chance of a March start to Fed rate cuts but, after the readout, pared that to just under 50%.\n\"In the short term, the U.S. rates market has just gotten, I think, way too dovish on the Fed,\" said Stephen Miran, co-founder of Amberwave Partners. \"The massive ease in financial conditions since the start of November basically means that the Fed doesn't need to cut to throw fuel on that fire.\"\nYEN ENTHUSIASM\nAlthough the yen was lower after the readout of the U.S. November jobs data, it surged by as much as 1.2% earlier on, adding to Thursday's 2% rally after Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda gave the clearest steer yet that the central bank is considering when to wrap up its negative rates policy. It was headed for its fourth weekly gain against the dollar on Friday.\nThe Japanese currency has vaulted to multi-month highs against a range of others in the last two days, although some of that strength dissipated over Friday's European trading session.\nThursday's rally was the largest one-day jump for the yen since January. But without more impetus from the BOJ, it may not have much more scope for outsized gains.\n\"I think it’s pretty clear the BOJ is where other central banks were in late 2021. The case for having the lowest real interest rates in the world ... is not very strong at this point. But the question is, how long do they want to prepare the market?\" said Englander.\nThe yen has fared best against higher-yielding currencies, such as the pound. Sterling fell to a two-month low against the yen on Friday, but last recovered to rise 0.66% to 181.88.\nElsewhere, the euro fell 0.31% to $1.07585, while the pound dropped 0.38% to $1.255, and was set for a weekly decline.\nThe Australian dollar fell 0.32% to $0.65795, while the Chinese yuan weakened 0.27% to 7.1877 against the dollar in offshore trading.\nData on Thursday showed China's exports grew for the first time in six months in November, while imports shrank.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin last rose 1.58% to 43,981, hovering near its highest since April 2022.\n(Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Rae Wee in Singapore; Editing by Mark Potter, Susan Fenton and Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar up after strong US jobs data, takes back some losses from yen"
    },
    {
        "id": 496,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-yields-jump-rate-cut-203002941.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 1500 EST) By Karen Brettell Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields jumped on Friday after data showed that employers added more jobs than expected in November, leading traders to pare back expectations that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates as soon as March. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 jobs last month, above economists' expectations for 180,000 in job gains. Data for October was unrevised to show 150,000 jobs added. \"I don't think this gives the Fed the ability to pivot. It's not weak enough,\" said Matthew Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management. Yields have tumbled in recent weeks, with benchmark 10-year yields hitting three-month lows, on fears that the economy will quickly deteriorate, leading the U.S. central bank to bring forward rate cuts. Optimism is also rising that inflation will continue to drop closer to the Fed's 2% annual target. After Friday's data, traders are now pricing in a 46% chance of a 25 basis points interest rate cut in March, down from 65% on Thursday, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool. \"This is a fairly good report, a strong report, not overly strong but strong enough to perhaps deflate the talk of a early rate cut,\" said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. Benchmark 10-year yields were last up 12 basis points on the day at 4.245%, after earlier reaching 4.278%, the highest since Monday. They are on pace for the largest daily basis point increase since Oct. 17. The yields fell to 4.104% on Wednesday, the lowest since Sept. 1, and are down from a 16-year high of 5.021% on Oct. 23. Two-year yields rose 15 basis points to 4.727% and got as high as 4.740%, the highest since Nov. 28. The yields are on track for the biggest one-day increase since June 29. They have risen from 4.540% on Dec. 1, which was the lowest since June 13. The inversion in the yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes deepened by 3 basis points to minus 48 basis points. With Friday’s employment report out of the way, the market will now turn to a busy week of events ahead. Data wise, consumer price inflation due on Dec. 12 will offer the next clues on the likely path of Fed policy. It is expected to show that headline prices rose by 0.1% in November, for an annual gain of 3.1%. Market inflation expectations have tumbled in the past months, with breakeven levels on five-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) now at 2.09%, or 2.09% per year for five years, the lowest since Jan. 2021. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey released on Friday also showed a drop in inflation expectations, with the 12-month outlook plunging to 3.1% - the lowest since March 2021 - from November's final expectation of 4.5%. The 1.4 percentage point decline was the largest monthly drop in one-year inflation expectations in 22 years. Fed officials are due to give their updated economic and interest rate projections at the conclusion of their two-day policy meeting on Dec. 13. Comments by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will be watched for any effort to talk down market expectations for rate cuts. Powell is expected to \"push back,\" said Miskin. \"He's likely to communicate that the Fed's got to stay steady in restrictive territory for the time being.\" Demand for U.S. government bonds will also be tested when the Treasury sells $108 billion in coupon-bearing supply, which will include $50 billion in three-year notes and $37 billion in 10-year notes on Dec. 11, and $21 billion in 30-year bonds on Dec. 12. The Treasury has seen soft demand for some auctions in recent months on concerns about rising Treasury supply as the U.S. government budget deficit worsens. December 8 Friday 3:00PM New York / 2000 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 5.2425 5.3983 -0.003 Six-month bills 5.1675 5.3914 0.027 Two-year note 100-70/256 4.7272 0.147 Three-year note 100-106/256 4.4714 0.150 Five-year note 100-136/256 4.255 0.143 Seven-year note 100-132/256 4.2884 0.132 10-year note 102-12/256 4.2448 0.116 20-year bond 103-56/256 4.5034 0.084 30-year bond 107-20/256 4.3258 0.080 (Reporting By Karen Brettell; additional reporting by Johann M Cherian and Sinead Carew; editing by Christina Fincher, Alexander Smith and Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES-Yields jump, rate cut expectations pared back after strong jobs report"
    },
    {
        "id": 497,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/texas-grid-ercot-sees-tight-202921446.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Texas grid operator anticipates narrower power reserves next summer due to delays in solar projects that had been scheduled to be completed by July 2024, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said in a report on Friday.\nThe Planning Reserve Margin, which represents excess capacity over peak demand, for summer 2024 was estimated at 29.4% in the report, down 4.7 percentage points from a 34.9% margin forecasted in a May 2023 report.\nThe firm peak demand for summer 2024 is estimated to be 80,050 megawatts (MW), about 6% less than the summer peak load for 2023 due to incremental rooftop solar generation and load reduction programs, the grid operator said.\nERCOT expects a total of 12,325 MW of installed resource capacity by July next year, which comprises of 5,710 MW of solar capacity, 4,457.6 MW of battery storage, and 1,564.8 MW of wind, with a total of 5,207 MW expected to be available during peak load periods.\nThis summer, power use in Texas hit an all-time high of 85,508 MW on Aug. 10, as homes and businesses cranked up air conditioners to escape a three-week-old heat wave, according to data from ERCOT.\nThe grid operator will also deploy inspectors to examine electric generation units and transmission facilities to prepare for the approaching winter season.\nRecently, the Texas grid operator canceled the procurement of an additional 3,000 MW of power reserves for winter, after receiving eligible bids for only 11.1 MW of capacity. (Reporting by Daksh Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "Texas grid ERCOT sees tight power reserves on delayed solar projects"
    },
    {
        "id": 498,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-worst-losing-run-since-013429285.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil bounced back on a stronger-than-expected US jobs report and plans to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on Friday, but still closed out the longest weekly losing streak since late 2018 amid concern about an impending global glut.\nWest Texas Intermediate climbed 2.7% to settle above $71 a barrel after hovering around five-month lows for the past four sessions. Crude notched its seventh straight weekly drop, and widely watched timespreads are mired in bearish contango structures to the middle of next year.\nOil found support on Friday from a US solicitation for 3 million barrels for the reserve and a plan to hold monthly tenders through at least May. The country’s payrolls report also beat projections, adding to expectations that a decline in fuel demand may be bottoming out. Average retail motor fuel prices in the US have collapsed to the lowest in a year, according to data from the American Automobile Association.\nBefore Friday, crude had closed lower every session since last week’s meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. The group’s plans for deeper production cuts were met with skepticism and seen as inadequate to counter supply booms elsewhere, notably in the US. The slump has persisted even amid comments by leading producer Saudi Arabia that the curbs could be extended beyond March, which were followed by similar remarks from Russia and Algeria.\n“The market is providing clear signals that should check the conviction of bulls,” Macquarie analysts including Marcus Garvey and Vikas Dwivedi said in a note. “These signals include skepticism about OPEC+ policy effectiveness, perhaps finally and strangely, a reluctance to bet against US production growth after roughly a decade of outperformance by the US shale industry, and maybe a shelving of the structural underinvestment thesis.”\nThere are also concerns about the trajectory of demand. Chinese consumption is expected to grow by 500,000 barrels a day next year, according to a Bloomberg survey, less than a third of the increase seen in 2023. In the US, meanwhile, many economists see a recession starting next year.\nBut others see the market as currently experiencing a wide gap “between sentiment and reality,” Saad Rahim, Trafigura Group’s chief economist, wrote in the group’s 2023 annual report. “Demand for commodities might have been expected to wane. In fact, we have seen consumption climb to record highs across several markets.”\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Posts Small Rebound Amid Longest Losing Streak in Five Years"
    },
    {
        "id": 499,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-apples-iphone-watch-design-202355234.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Recasts paragraph 1, adds background on executive departures in paragraph 2, details from report throughout)\nDec 8 (Reuters) - The Apple executive leading design for the iPhone and smartwatch, Tang Tan, is leaving the company in February, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.\nThis marks the second departure of an iPhone executive after Bloomberg News reported on Dec. 6, that Steve Hotelling who oversaw iPhone screen and touch ID technology that transformed the way iPhones feel and function is leaving.\nThe departure of Tan, who is vice president of product design at Apple, will come with a slew of elevated roles for some deputies, the report added.\nApple did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\nRichard Dinh, head of iPhone product design will report directly to John Ternus who is senior vice president of hardware engineering, according to the report.\nBloomberg also reported that Kate Bergeron, a hardware engineering executive responsible for Mac teams, is taking over the design of the Apple Watch. (Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Apple's iPhone and watch design head to depart in February - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 500,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-asks-judge-dismiss-ftc-202035801.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amazon.com asked a federal court on Friday to dismiss a U.S. government antitrust lawsuit which accuses the company of using illegal strategies to boost profits at its online retail empire, including an algorithm that allegedly pushed up prices by more than $1 billion.\nIn its motion to dismiss, Amazon said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, in a lawsuit filed in September, confused \"common retail practices\" with anticompetitive conduct and failed to identify harm to consumers.\n\"Amazon promptly matches rivals' discounts, features competitively priced deals rather than overpriced ones, and ensures best-in class delivery for its Prime subscribers,\" the company said in asking for the lawsuit to be \"dismissed in its entirety.\"\nThe FTC lawsuit was one of four that the Trump and Biden administrations have filed since 2020 against the companies that dominate the internet. The Biden team has primarily focused on ordinary consumer items like housing, food and airline tickets.\nThe FTC lawsuit said Amazon, which has 1 billion items in its online superstore, created a \"secret algorithm\" named Project Nessie to identify products for which it can raise prices without losing customers. The FTC said Amazon used Project Nessie to extract more than $1 billion from Americans.\nIn its filing, Amazon said Nessie was discontinued in 2019 and that the company matches other companies' lowest prices.\nThe FTC was also critical of Amazon's decision to require sellers under the company's Prime feature to use its logistics and delivery services even though many preferred to use a cheaper service or one that would also serve customers on other platforms.\nAmazon.com said that using Amazon's fulfillment services was voluntary, including for products sold under its Prime service.\nAmazon's average fees for sellers using its fulfillment services increased from 27% in 2014 to 39.5% in 2018, the FTC said.\nAmazon also argued that it competed with other online superstores like Walmart and Target, and a range of stores with specialized markets such as Best Buy, Home Depot, Kroger, Costco, Staples, Walgreens, Nike and Apple.\n\"The complaint's 'online superstore' market is implausible because it suggests, for example, that consumers would not consider buying a low-priced TV on Bestbuy.com only because Best Buy does not also sell shoes,\" Amazon argued.\n(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "Amazon asks judge to dismiss FTC lawsuit, says no consumer harm shown"
    },
    {
        "id": 501,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citi-strategists-upbeat-us-stocks-201545501.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Lewis Krauskopf\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 is poised for solid gains next year on strong earnings growth and a broadening of the stock market's rally, strategists at Citigroup said on Friday.\nThe bank's \"base case\" calls for the benchmark S&P 500 to end 2024 at 5,100, an 11% gain from current levels, Citi's Scott Chronert and his team said in their outlook report.\nThe index has gained nearly 20% in 2023, led by megacap tech and growth stocks, but \"a broadening beyond 2023’s Growth leadership is necessary for further S&P 500 gains,\" the strategists said.\n\"All told, we are positive on U.S. equities premised on improving earnings growth, even as recession risk lingers,\" the Citi strategists said in their report, projecting S&P 500 earnings per share to rise 10.4% in 2024.\nThe strategists said they were expecting increased volatility but that \"investors should be prepared to buy into pullbacks.\"\nRisk of a recession is likely to persist as the effects of higher interest rates hit, the strategists said, but \"ultimately, this should prove S&P 500 earnings have become less cyclically volatile through time.\"\n\"Our view is that the GDP correlation to S&P 500 EPS growth is lower than commonly perceived as the underlying economic sensitivity embedded in the index construction has lessened over the past several decades,\" the firm said in the report.\nCiti also said that election issues will \"come to the fore\" as the year unfolds.\n\"Our concern is that fiscal restraint enters the 2025 picture either via higher tax proposals or lower spending as debt ceiling issues resurface,\" the strategists said in their report.\n(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "Citi strategists upbeat on US stocks in 2024, fueled by earnings"
    },
    {
        "id": 502,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/private-equity-under-congressional-probe-201123080.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Private equity’s stewardship of hospitals is again coming under scrutiny with the launch of a new bipartisan Senate investigation.\nSheldon Whitehouse, the Rhode Island Democrat who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, and Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican and its ranking member, contacted executives at firms including Leonard Green & Partners and Apollo Global Management, saying they’re seeking answers on “questionable financial transactions that may have impacted quality of care for patients in hospitals under private equity ownership,” according to a Thursday statement.\n“It’s now a familiar story: private equity buys out a hospital, saddles it with debt, and then reduces operating costs by cutting services and staff— all while investors pocket millions,” Whitehouse said in the statement. “Before the dust settles, the private equity firm sells and leaves town, leaving communities to pick up the pieces.”\nState and local governments are scrutinizing and considering new curbs on private equity ownership, including efforts to limit sales of hospitals’ underlying real estate that require them to pay rent on top of already-escalating expenses. Private equity owns almost 400 of the approximately 5,100 hospitals – or about 30% of all for-profits – in the US, according to the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, including more than 100 in rural areas.\nRead More: Private Equity Hospital Flips Fail as Labor Costs, Rates Surge\nLeonard Green and Apollo didn’t immediately respond to calls seeking comment.\nThe probe builds on a previous inquiry from March, when Grassley demanded information from Apollo and related parties on events at Ottumwa Regional Health Center in his home state after nine patients were sexually assaulted there. Despite responses, the senators said in a Dec. 6 letter to Apollo Chief Executive Officer Marc Rowan, “your company has failed to provide full and complete answers.”\n",
        "title": "Private Equity Is Under a Congressional Probe Over Hospital Failures"
    },
    {
        "id": 503,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apples-iphone-watch-design-head-201037065.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Apple's head of iPhone and watch design Tang Tan is leaving the company in February, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.\n(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru)\n",
        "title": "Apple's iPhone and watch design head to depart in February - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 504,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-leads-1-billion-private-153523804.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Inc. is leading a €950 million ($1 billion) loan package to back Permira’s buyout of Gossler, Gobert & Wolters, people with knowledge of the matter said.\nPermira agreed to buy the German insurance broker from Hg on Friday, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Other lenders supporting the transaction include Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Hayfin Capital Management.\nPermira confirmed the agreement to acquire GGW in a statement.\n“The Permira funds are excited to support GGW Group and the management team on their growth journey towards becoming the No. 1 insurance brokerage for small and medium-sized enterprises,” Philip Muelder, head of Permira’s services sector, said in the statement.\nRepresentatives for Blackstone, Goldman and Hayfin declined to comment.\nThe $1.6 trillion private credit market is increasingly winning out over bank syndicates that had traditionally financed large buyouts with leveraged loans. Private credit funds recently provided a record €4.5 billion ($4.9 billion) loan to back the buyout of Adevinta ASA.\nThe debt for GGW’s sale is split up into a €675 million unitranche loan — a blend of senior and junior debt — with a €275 million delayed drawn term loan on top of that for future acquisitions, the people said, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Pricing on the unitranche is 575 basis points over Euribor, with an original issue discount of 98.\nPrivate equity firms have converged on Europe’s fragmented insurance broker market to hunt for deals. Flagship transactions include KKR & Co.’s acquisition of French insurance broker April Group, valued at around €2.3 billion, a deal financed through a combination of bank and direct lending funding.\n--With assistance from Kat Hidalgo.\n(Updates with Permira statement in third paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Blackstone Leads $1 Billion GGW Buyout Private Loan Package"
    },
    {
        "id": 505,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-stocks-advance-treasury-195704405.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 2:30 p.m. ET/ 1930 GMT)\nBy Chuck Mikolajczak\nNEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A gauge of global stocks climbed on Friday, poised for its sixth straight week of gains, while U.S. Treasury yields rose after a strong U.S. jobs report forced markets to modify expectations for the timing of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.\nU.S. job growth accelerated in November, with the Labor Department's employment report showing nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 jobs last month, above the 180,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters, after rising by an unrevised 150,000 in October. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from the near two-year high of 3.9% in October.\nAhead of the payrolls report, a run of labor market data this week indicated some softening in the jobs market, while other reports in recent weeks showed a cooling of inflation and led markets to increase expectations the Federal Reserve would have the leeway to cut interest rates as soon as March.\nExpectations for a March cut of at least 25 basis points (bps) slipped to about 46%, according to CME's FedWatch Tool, down from about 65% on Thursday.\n\"Good news is good news for the economy, but it’s bad news for what it might mean for the Fed. It was a slightly warmer than expected labor market report, but it isn’t exactly too hot to handle,\" said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin\n\"Wages aren’t stoking the flames of inflation, so the Fed should just ignore this and focus on inflation.\"\nOther data from the University of Michigan showed U.S. consumer sentiment improved much more than expected in December, snapping four straight months of declines, as households saw inflation pressures easing.\nOn Wall Street\n, stocks advanced in choppy trade and the S&P 500 hit a four-month high, led by energy shares as oil prices bounced. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 109.47 points, or 0.30% , to 36,227, the S&P 500 gained 16.15 points, or 0.35 %, to 4,601.74 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 62.39 points, or 0.44 %, to 14,402.38.\nU.S. Treasury yields shot higher following the payrolls report. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose 10 basis points to 4.23%, on track for its biggest one-day gain since Nov. 9. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, surged 13 basis points, its biggest daily jump since July 14 to 4.715%.\nEuropean shares closed\nat their highest since February 2022 with the STOXX 600 index up 0.80%. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.27% and was poised for a sixth straight weekly gain, its longest streak in four years.\nAlong with recent economic data, comments from Fed officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, have fueled investor speculation about the timing of the central bank's pivot to a rate cut. The Fed's next policy meeting is on Dec. 12-13, while the next policy announcement from the European Central Bank (ECB) is on Dec. 14. Expectations have also grown the ECB was at or near the end of its rate hike cycle and a cut is on the horizon.\nThe dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six currencies, gained 0.29%, to 103.96 while the euro was down 0.31% on the day at $1.0761.\nCrude prices bounced after a recent slump but oil benchmarks were on track for a seven-week decline, the longest in five years, after Saudi Arabia and Russia lobbied OPEC+ members to join output cuts.\nU.S. crude settled up 2.73% at $71.23 per barrel and Brent settled at $75.84, up 2.42% on the day.\nGold fell\n1.35% to $2,000.94 an ounce after dropping to $1,994.49, its lowest since, Nov 24, as the dollar and yields climbed following the payrolls report.\n(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, Editing by Nick Zieminski and Susan Fenton)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks advance, Treasury yields jump after US payrolls report"
    },
    {
        "id": 506,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-iphone-watch-product-design-195336644.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Apple Inc. executive in charge of product design for the iPhone and smartwatch is stepping down, bringing a shake-up to the company’s most critical product lines.\nTang Tan, whose title is vice president of product design, is leaving in February, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the move isn’t public. Tan reports to John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, and the division is reshuffling duties to handle the transition.\nSeveral deputies to Ternus and Tan are getting expanded roles as part of the changes. That includes Richard Dinh, Tan’s top lieutenant and head of iPhone product design. Dinh is being elevated to report directly to Ternus. Kate Bergeron, a hardware engineering executive responsible for Mac teams, is taking over the design of the Apple Watch.\nApple didn’t respond to a request for comment on the changes.\nThe iPhone and Apple Watch are central to Apple’s operations, accounting for well over half of the tech giant’s $383.3 billion in revenue last year. Tan also was responsible for the design of accessories and oversaw the company’s acoustics team, which handles much of the development of the AirPods. Those two groups are being relocated under Matthew Costello, who is in charge of Beats and the HomePod smart speaker.\nPeople familiar with Apple’s operations say the Tan departure is a blow, and that he made critical decisions about Apple’s most important products. Beyond the iPhone, his work on the Watch and AirPods helped turn those devices into major growth drivers for the Cupertino, California-based company.\nUnder Apple’s organizational structure, the product design team works closely with its industrial design and operations groups. Tan’s team has tight control over product features, including the look of devices and how they’re engineered.\nTan is the second senior executive to announce departure plans recently. Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that Steve Hotelling — a vice president in charge of hardware technologies like Touch ID, Face ID and displays — is retiring. Hotelling reported to Johny Srouji, senior vice president of hardware technologies.\nIt’s also at least the third exit in a year from Ternus’ organization. Yannick Bertolus, who was once in charge of hardware product quality and later ran hardware product management, recently retired. His predecessor in the latter role, Laura Legros, left at the end of last year.\nTernus, who took charge of hardware engineering in 2021, recently shuffled other parts of the organization. He elevated Dan West — formerly the No. 2 executive for hardware quality — to a new non-product role reporting to him. Other executives in charge of Mac product design and iPhone hardware systems were also promoted, suggesting that Apple could be preparing for more leadership changes in the coming year.\n",
        "title": "Apple’s iPhone and Watch Product Design Chief to Leave in Shake-Up"
    },
    {
        "id": 507,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cpi-property-says-short-seller-195128739.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Luxembourg-based commercial landlord CPI Property Group (CPIPG) said on Friday that short-seller Muddy Waters painted \"a misleading picture\" of the company \"by taking facts out of context.\"\nOn Nov. 21, a key bond of CPI Property fell by the most on record after Muddy Waters said it had bet against the credit of the company, which owns properties in Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe.\nThe short-seller alleged in a report that CPI Property's controlling shareholder, Czech billionaire Radovan Vitek, had misstated the value of the landlord. It also said some income had been booked against real estate properties that were in fact empty plots of land.\n\"CPIPG has never obscured our relationship with Radovan Vitek, his family, or any other related parties,\" the company said in a presentation on Friday reviewed by Reuters. It stated some transactions it engaged in are \"complex,\" but that there is no conflict of interest there.\nThe real estate company also said that law firm White & Case LLP will conduct a \"fresh review\" of its compliance, governance and related party transactions. On Nov. 30 CPI Property said it had started an internal audit and engaged a law firm to review the company's governance procedures, compliance policies and allegations raised by Muddy Waters.\nThe price of CPI Property's 2027 medium-term note has not yet fully recovered since Muddy Waters' report was published, although shares in CPI Property have recovered initial losses and are up 3.3% since Nov. 21.\nMuddy Waters' report detailed four transactions totaling about 441 million euros ($474.38 million) in which it said the cash and real estate accounts \"could be misstated\" and inflated.\n\"Muddy Waters went on a fishing expedition, recycling themes that have proven successful for them in the past,\" CPI Property wrote in its presentation. ($1 = 0.9296 euros) (Reporting by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Susan Fenton)\n",
        "title": "CPI Property says short seller Muddy Waters took facts 'out of context'"
    },
    {
        "id": 508,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moves-wells-fargo-appoints-darlene-194939865.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. lender Wells Fargo on Friday named Darlene Goins as its head of Philanthropy and Community Impact and president of the Wells Fargo Foundation.\nIn the role she will be responsible for the company's philanthropic strategy in housing access and affordability, financial health, small business growth and sustainability, the statement added.\nPreviously, Goins served as head of diverse customer segments within Wells Fargo's Consumer, Small & Business Banking.\nPhilanthropy and charitable donations by major conglomerates and private individuals have come into limelight in recent times as focus on social and environmental impact is getting elevated. (Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "MOVES-Wells Fargo appoints Darlene Groins as head of philanthropy"
    },
    {
        "id": 509,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/solar-stocks-poised-for-comeback-in-2024-193803917.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Solar stocks have gotten decimated this year amid high interest rates spurred by the Federal Reserve to tame inflation. Customers have been reluctant to spend on installations, and companies' investment projects have gotten more expensive.\nA policy change that lowered solar energy incentives in California also impacted the industry in the US. The state slashed the subsidy awarded to rooftop panel owners sending excess power to the grid.\nThe solar and wind energy benchmarks Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) is down 36% year to date, and Global X Solar ETF (RAYS) has lost more than 40% during the same period.\nHowever, Wall Street sees tailwinds next year that could help turn the tide for the clean energy industry.\nOn Friday Morgan Stanley analysts upgraded First Solar (FSLR), a solar panel maker, to Overweight, raising their price target from $214 to $237 per share.\n“After the 20% sell-off in the past three months, we see an attractive risk-reward profile for the stock,” Morgan Stanley equity analyst Andrew Percoco and his team wrote in a note to clients this week.\n“We believe First Solar offers one of the strongest risk-adjusted earnings profiles within our US Clean Tech coverage with its sold-out position through 2026,” they added, referring to the thin-film module manufacturer's backlog.\nThe note also reiterated renewable energy giant NextEra (NEE) and solar company Altus Power (AMPS) as names on their high conviction Overweight list. The analysts have a $76 price target on NextEra and $9 price target on Altus Power. Year to date, those stocks are down 29% and 17%, respectively.\nOne of the tailwinds for renewables going into 2024 is the market expectation of lower interest rates at some point during the year. Investors are betting the Fed can start to cut rates as inflation eases and the labor market normalizes.\n“If rates fall in 2024, as our economists and strategists are predicting, we could see a meaningful improvement in clean energy valuations,” wrote Morgan Stanley's analysts.\nThe prices of solar panels, battery storage, and inverters, which increased over the last couple of years, are also showing signs of deflation ahead.\n“We see some evidence that supports a more optimistic view (for developers) of the cost trend for these technologies moving into 2024,” said the note. “Prices for solar panels and components have declined meaningfully since peak levels in the summer of 2023.”\nCiti analysts also recently noted the global solar space is dominated by equipment manufactured in China, but US companies are poised to increase market share next year.\n“With rising importance of emission cuts and opportunities from solar equipment production, more countries are implementing trade policy protectionism to ensure local supply,\" Citi managing director Pierre Lau and his team wrote in a note to clients.\nAn example is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed last year, aimed at incentivizing the use of solar power via subsidy support for local manufacturing.\n\"Our analysis shows that outside of China, the US and India appear the most feasible for solar equipment production,” said the note.\nCiti’s Buy recommendations include Altus Power and solar and storage company SunPower (SPWR), which is currently down about 70% year to date.\nInes is a senior business reporter covering equities. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Solar stocks poised for comeback in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 510,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-oil-producers-slow-capital-192723510.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- US oil producers are about to ease up on their growth in capital spending, indicating that the pace of shale output may slow down after American production rose to record levels this year.\nDrillers will increase capital spending by just 2% in 2024, compared with a 19% hike this year, according to Evercore ISI.\nThe industry will spend about $115 billion on producing oil and gas next year, about the same levels as 2019, Evercore analysts led by James West wrote in a note Friday. Globally, oil producers are expected to increase spending by 5%, reversing a recent trend of North America outspending the rest of the world.\n“We foresee a shift in 2024 as global capital spending leans more towards the international market,” West said in the note.\nUS crude production will likely increase 150,000 barrels a day next year, compared with 1 million barrels a day this year, Evercore said.\n",
        "title": "US Oil Producers to Slow Capital Spending in 2024, Evercore Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 511,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/this-week-in-bidenomics-the-back-to-normal-economy-192600708.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "During the eight years prior to the COVID outbreak in 2020, the economy added an average of 196,000 new jobs per month.\nThe latest job numbers show a gain of 199,000 jobs in November 2023, essentially the same as the pre-COVID norm.\nDuring the same pre-COVID period, real earnings, adjusted for inflation, rose by an average of 0.8% per year. The latest measure of real earnings growth is exactly the same, 0.8%.\nInflation during those eight pre-COVID years averaged 1.6%. It’s now 3.2%. But inflation has been rapidly falling, and many economists think it will be close to 2% by the end of 2024. Perhaps more important, a confidence survey found that consumers are worrying a lot less about inflation than they were a few months ago, the main reason confidence jumped in late November.\nInvestors and economists have been heartily debating whether there will be a soft landing or a hard landing or maybe even no landing, and whether a recession is imminent. But there’s a simpler and less jargony way to describe what’s happening to the US economy: It’s simply getting back to normal.\nThe 2020 COVID pandemic produced deep distortions in the economy that lasted, and will probably continue to last, a lot longer than experts expected at the time. And they went beyond the effects of the pandemic itself to include stimulus measures the United States and other governments took, deep behavioral changes by businesses and consumers, and multiple second- and third-order effects as everybody reacted and counter-reacted to new economic pressures.\nDrop Rick Newman a note, follow him on Twitter, or sign up for his newsletter.\nThe list of distortions is long, but a few of the most important examples include extreme snarls in global supply chains, a massive surge in demand for goods as people got stuck at home got more stuff, and an unprecedented $6 trillion in US stimulus spending that quickly bounced the economy out of a COVID-induced recession. Among other things, those phenomena supercharged spending and triggered labor hoarding at many companies worried about running short of workers needed to meet elevated demand.\nThe most obvious economic impact was a spurt of inflation, which rose from the typical 2% range in early 2021 to a peak of 8.9% in June 2022. The extraordinary job growth under President Biden was also a byproduct of COVID, as that massive stimulus supercharged a recovery and companies raced to hire everybody they could find. For the first two years of Biden’s presidency, employment growth averaged 500,000 new jobs per month, roughly three times what is normal in a healthy economy. Job growth is good, but job growth that fast probably made inflation worse.\nMore than three years after COVID struck, we’re finally returning to normal economic patterns. A 5.2% surge in GDP growth in the third quarter may have been the last hurrah. GDP growth for the current quarter is tracking at just 0.9%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Something like $2.5 trillion in “excess savings” that Americans accumulated during the pandemic, when they couldn’t go out and spend, is dwindling, which means the fuel for booming GDP growth is running low.\nThis is generally good. A return to normal would benefit mostly everybody, including the incumbent running for reelection, Biden. During COVID and its aftermath, there was a lot of talk about a “new era” of structurally higher inflation, maybe even stagflation, driven by de-globalization, populism, nationalism, and other isms that would necessitate permanently higher interest rates and government austerity that would put living standards under stress.\nBut maybe not. If job and economic growth continue to cool, inflation will fall back to normal ranges and the Federal Reserve will ease up on monetary policy. Interest rates, including the cost of mortgages, will fall — not back to the crazy low levels of 2021, but by enough to cut borrowers a break. Home values will fall and affordability will improve from the terrible levels they’re at now, allowing more people to become homeowners.\nThere are risks, of course, as there always are. If job and economic growth soften too much, they could slide into recessionary territory. Inflation would probably no longer be a problem, but rising unemployment and lost incomes would be. If that occurred in the months before the 2024 election, it would harm Biden’s reelection odds as much as any inflation. But we’re not there yet, and maybe we’ll get to enjoy normal for a while before the next bad thing happens.\nRick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @rickjnewman.\nClick here for politics news related to business and money\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "This week in Bidenomics: The back-to-normal economy"
    },
    {
        "id": 512,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/reversal-starbucks-proposes-restarting-union-192533605.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Starbucks said Friday it’s committed to bargaining with its unionized workers and reaching labor agreements next year, a major reversal for the coffee chain after two years fighting the unionization of its U.S. stores.\nIn a letter to Lynne Fox, the president of the Workers United union, Starbucks Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly said the current bargaining impasse between the two sides “should not be acceptable to either of us.” Kelly asked to restart bargaining in January.\n“We will set as an ambition and hopeful goal the completion of bargaining and the ratification of contracts in 2024,” Kelly wrote in the letter.\nIn a statement distributed by Workers United, Fox said she is reviewing the letter and will respond.\n“We’ve never said no to meeting with Starbucks. Anything that moves bargaining forward in a positive way is most welcome,” Fox said.\nWorkers United said the last bargaining session between the two sides was May 23.\nSaturday marks the two-year anniversary of a Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, voting to unionize. It was the first company-owned store to join a union in more than three decades.\nSince then, at least 370 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize, according to the National Labor Relations Board. There are about 10,000 Starbucks stores in the U.S.\nWorkers say they're seeking higher pay, more consistent schedules and more say in issues like store safety and workload during busy times. Seattle-based Starbucks has said its stores run more efficiently if it can work directly with its employees and not through a third party.\n",
        "title": "In a reversal, Starbucks proposes restarting union talks and reaching contract agreements in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 513,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/november-jobs-report-is-what-a-soft-landing-looks-like-192122217.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The November jobs report should be a welcome sign for investors betting the US economy isn't on the verge of tipping into recession.\nData out Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the US economy added 199,000 jobs in November while the unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.7%. Job growth was higher — and the unemployment rate lower — than economists had forecast.\n\"This [is] what a soft landing looks like,\" RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas told Yahoo Finance Live Friday morning. \"This is what full employment looks like.\"\nThis report offers crucial support to the recent market narrative that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hiking campaign could end in a so-called soft landing, in which inflation retreats to the Fed's 2% target without the economy falling into recession.\nNationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic noted Friday's report provides a \"reality check\" to market's recent expectations for an interest rate cut.\nPrior to the report, BlackRock Investment Institute global chief investment strategist Wei Li noted that markets had \"overdone\" their expectations for rate cuts early in 2024. \"Something will have to go seriously wrong for that to come through,\" Li said.\nDuring the Federal Reserve's rate hiking cycle, good economic news like Friday's release hasn't always been greeted with investor cheer, with strong data indicating to some that the Fed's policy was not restrictive enough.\nBut since the Fed's November meeting, the market has been in broad agreement the central bank won't be raising rates next week and is likely done for this cycle.\nRather, the biggest change on Friday came around expectations for future rate cuts. Markets are now pricing in about a 47% chance the Fed cuts rates by 25 basis points at its March meeting, down from a 55% chance just a day prior, according to data from the CME Group.\nFriday's jobs report is also the latest data showing the labor market isn't cracking, but normalizing, something the Federal Reserve has been clamoring for since it began its rate hiking cycle.\nTuesday's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, revealed the ratio of job openings to the number of unemployed workers fell to 1.34, its lowest reading since August 2021.\nPrivate payroll data out earlier this week showed the continuing erosion of outsized wage gains seen during the pandemic, easing concerns that a surge in wages could fill consumer wallets and create additional inflation pressures.\nIn sum, the data paints a picture of a labor market coming into \"better balance\" rather than one suggesting the economy is on the verge of tipping into recession.\n\"Labor market conditions remain very strong, and the economy is returning to a better balance between the demand for and supply of workers,\" Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a speech on Dec. 1. \"The pace at which the economy is creating new jobs remains strong, and has been slowing toward a more sustainable level.\"\nPowell is set to provide further updates next Wednesday, Dec. 13, after the Fed's latest policy decision.\nStill, economists expect the next move for interest rates to be down rather than up despite the economy's resilience through the end of 2023.\n\"We maintain our call for the Fed to start cutting rates by mid-year, but it is contingent on inflation continuing to trend lower and further weakening in economic activity,\" Bostjancic said Friday.\nJosh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "November jobs report is 'what a soft landing looks like'"
    },
    {
        "id": 514,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/private-equity-team-76-billion-224940071.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- One of the biggest US public pensions lost most of its private equity team after the fund made changes that would crimp the group’s ability to allocate to the alternative asset class.\nFour members of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System private equity investing team are retiring or have accepted new jobs, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nThe pension’s director of private equity and co-investments, Darren Foreman, will retire in January, while Patrick Knapp, Tony Meadows and Philip VanGraafeiland are pursuing new opportunities, according to some of the people.\nSusan Oh, a director who has been at the pension fund for almost 29 years, is also leaving, people with knowledge of the matter said. Oh, who has focused on equity bets and currency hedging, most recently specialized in sustainable investing through a role in culture and transformative innovation, according to her LinkedIn profile.\nThe pension said it doesn’t comment on personnel-related matters, though a spokesperson said it has 63 investment professionals on the staff, a dozen of whom are primarily responsible for private markets. Departing members of the investment team declined to comment or didn’t immediately respond.\nThe Pennsylvania school pension had about $76 billion of assets as of Sept. 30. Private equity accounted for about $12 billion of its portfolio as of March 31, according to its asset-allocation report. That included funds managed by Apollo Global Management Inc., Bain Capital and Cerberus Capital Management.\n‘Very Skeptical’\nPrivate equity has performed well for the pension, delivering an almost 13% annualized return over the 10 years through March — the highest of any asset class, according to the fund’s most recent quarterly performance report.\nBut that has left it with a higher allocation to the asset class than its target, and the fund has said it will invest less in private equity to lower the proportion from 17% to the targeted 12%.\nThat overallocation puts the fund in the same position as other public pensions that are pulling back on private equity and creating a difficult fundraising environment for many buyout firms.\n“I’m very much skeptical about private assets,” PSERS Chief Investment Officer Benjamin Cotton recently told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “You should earn a premium for locking your money into non-traded assets.”\nCotton’s statement related to “an aversion to paying premium fees without earning a premium return on the investment, regardless of asset class,” a PSERS spokesman said Thursday.\n(Updates with additional staff departure in fourth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Private Equity Team at $76 Billion Pension Hit by Exits"
    },
    {
        "id": 515,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ontario-teachers-pension-explores-seacube-191627279.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is exploring selling the rest of its stake in SeaCube Container Leasing Ltd., according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nIt’s mulling the stake sale soon after Wren House Infrastructure bought a portion of the shipping container leasing company’s equity from the pension, a transaction that closed this week. In September, Bloomberg reported that Ontario Teachers’ was in talks to sell about half of its stake in SeaCube, in a deal valuing the company at as much as $1 billion including debt.\nA spokesperson for the pension declined to comment. A SeaCube representative didn’t respond to a request for comment.\nSeaCube is based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey and led by Chief Executive Officer Robert Sappio. It’s best known for refrigerated-container leasing. The Ontario pension purchased SeaCube in 2013 for $469.5 million.\n--With assistance from Davide Scigliuzzo.\n",
        "title": "Ontario Teachers’ Pension Explores SeaCube Stake Sale"
    },
    {
        "id": 516,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/timeshare-exit-company-sues-westgate-191513599.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Mike Scarcella\n(Reuters) -A company that helps timeshare owners undo their contracts has sued the United States' largest privately held vacation ownership company, accusing Florida-based Westgate Resorts of scheming to eliminate competition for cancellation services.\nWesley Financial Group LLC's Orlando federal court lawsuit against Westgate, a subsidiary of Central Florida Investments Inc, claims the company violated federal advertising law and antitrust law.\nThe lawsuit escalates a long-running clash between the two companies in an industry valued at $10.5 billion by industry trade group the American Resort Development Association.\nTimeshare properties allow more than one person to share ownership or usage rights for a property, often vacation homes such as such beach or ski condos.\nTennessee-based Wesley Financial markets itself as the country's largest timeshare exit firm, providing services to navigate what it has called a \"maze of red tape\" required to escape timeshare ownership.\nA Westgate representative said the company \"intends to vigorously defend against Wesley's lawsuit.\" Westgate called the complaint a \"last-ditch effort\" in response to a case Westgate filed in 2020 against Wesley Financial in Tennessee federal court.\nWestgate, according to the lawsuit, has developed its own exit services competing with Wesley Financial and others. Wesley Financial said Westgate's program made false or misleading claims and that the company has taken steps to curb competition.\nThe complaint said Westgate devised \"formal and informal\" policies to stop owners from relying on third parties to exit timeshares. Owners \"are guided to more expensive, less efficient exit products\" in a scheme to block rivals, the lawsuit said.\nIt also said Westgate and other developers had colluded with the American Resort Development Association for \"coordinated advertising\" against Wesley Financial.\nA representative from the Washington, D.C.-based trade association, which is not a defendant, had no immediate comment.\nWesley Financial in a statement said the company has \"fought these timeshare companies before and have won and we fully expect to be victorious once again.\"\nWestgate separately sued Wesley Financial in Nashville federal court for allegedly violating a state consumer protection law, claiming it orchestrated a fraudulent \"timeshare cancellation scheme with no legitimate foundation.\"\nIn that case, Westgate is seeking damages and an injunction against Wesley Financial for allegedly causing thousands of Westgate owners to stop making mortgage payments. A trial is scheduled for February.\nThe case is Wesley Financial Group LLC v. Westgate Resorts Ltd et al, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, No. 6:23-cv-02347.\nFor Wesley Financial: John Bennett of Nardella & Nardella; and Patrick Bradford of Bradford Edwards\nFor Westgate: No appearance yet\nRead more:\n'Complete failure' in timeshare exit lawyers' appeal to 8th Circ\n(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)\n",
        "title": "Timeshare 'exit' company sues Westgate vacation property operator"
    },
    {
        "id": 517,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hess-chevron-merger-path-muddied-191206459.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Traders are more jittery than ever about the outcome of the Chevron Corp.’s proposed $53-billion takeover of Hess Corp. as Venezuela threatens to seize mineral-rich regions in neighboring Guyana.\nHess shares fell roughly 5% this week as the conflict escalated, Chevron slid less than 1%. Stock in Hess — which generated nearly a quarter of its revenue from Guyana last year — traded nearly $14 below the value of the all-stock bid at from the oil giant on Thursday, the widest gap since the deal was announced. Hess shareholders will receive 1.025 shares of Chevron for each Hess share.\nOn Nov. 28, before a Venezuelan referendum claiming vast stretches of neighboring Guyana — including its offshore oil fields — the gap was around $3.50.\nEscalating geopolitical tensions between the two South American countries have caused merger arbitrage investors to reprice the deal risk, as they assess the prospect of this year’s second largest oil merger getting delayed or unraveling. Hess’ investments in offshore oil fields in Guyana accounted for about 23% of its 2022 revenue, according to Bloomberg compiled data.\nRead more: Chevron Faces New Venezuela Risk as Maduro Threatens Guyana\nWhile analysts said the chances of an armed conflict are low, just the threat of military action by Venezuela may “discourage investment” in Guyana’s offshore oil fields, according to Benjamin Salisbury at Height Capital Markets. Production in the country is driven by an ExxonMobil Corp.-led consortium that includes Hess, he wrote in a note dated Thursday.\nInvestors appeared to be positioning in the options market to protect against a further drop in Hess shares.\nA total of 16,500 of the $115 puts expiring in June were bought — giving the owner the right to sell 1.65 million shares at that level — and half as many $180 calls were sold. Along with the calls, it appeared $130 puts expiring Dec. 15 were also sold, likely to help finance the June puts while risking owning shares on a further 2.9% decline in the next week.\nMeanwhile, the mega-merger received a second request from the Federal Trade Commission on Friday. The antitrust agency is running an in-depth merger review. The companies are targeting closing the deal in the first half of 2024.\n--With assistance from David Marino.\n",
        "title": "Hess-Chevron Merger Path Muddied as Traders Weigh Guyana Risk"
    },
    {
        "id": 518,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-us-commercial-property-owners-190900919.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Matt Tracy\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - More U.S. commercial property owners are expected to turn to commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) lenders next year instead of banks, according to a new Moody's report.\nElevated interest rates, volatility in property values and weakened cash flows have led to tightened lending standards by banks and other commercial real estate (CRE) lenders through 2023.\nMany new and existing borrowers are instead turning to CMBS, which pool individual loans and which have seen continued demand from investors focused more on the overall credit quality and yields of those securities' loan pools, according to a Moody's report published Wednesday.\nMulti-loan (conduit) and single-asset, single-borrower (SASB) CMBS loan issuance has declined overall this year from 2022 levels. But the second half of the year has seen a spike in SASB and CRE collateralized loan obligation (CLO) issuance, Moody's found.\nAbout 19% of $42.3 billion in performing CMBS conduit loans maturing next year carry high default risk. But CMBS investors, attracted by 10% or greater yields on these loans, will help them achieve refinancing even as lenders have gradually required lower outstanding loan balances as a percentage of property value.\nLandlords have struggled this year to keep up with rising coupon rates on mortgages, which most recently averaged 7.21%. That is double the average rate of 3.62% in 2020, according to Moody's.\nThe hardest-hit commercial properties have been offices, which have experienced rising vacancies since more employees began working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.\nAbout $12 billion in CMBS conduit loans maturing this or next year have already entered delinquency or special servicing, in which a third party helps the borrower work out a solution to avoid default.\nWhile overall CMBS property yields will remain elevated in 2024, roughly $14.7 billion in SASB CMBS carries yield less than 8% and faces greater challenges to refinancing.\nIn the event of trouble refinancing, these and other CRE loans will face low interest from buyers. Moody's expects transaction levels to remain low, matching 2021 levels, as wide bid-ask spreads between buyers and sellers have led to lower sales prices.\nBorrowers' debt service coverage ratios - their ability to make debt payments - have also declined closer to one-for-one. This has led to an uptick in interest-only loans as CMBS and other lenders continue putting capital to work, according to Moody's.\n(Reporting by Matt Tracy; Editing by Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "More US commercial property owners to tap securities market in 2024 -Moody's"
    },
    {
        "id": 519,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/starbucks-looks-resume-union-talks-162850021.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Starbucks Corp. said it reached out to the union representing hundreds of its stores to try to end an impasse over contract talks, a conflict that has frayed the coffee giant’s relationship with some of its frontline employees.\nThe chain is looking for talks to resume with a “set of representative stores in January” and is setting a goal of completing “bargaining and the ratification of contracts in 2024,” Starbucks Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly said in a letter dated Dec. 8 addressed to Workers United President Lynne Fox. The company said it’s open to “ideas and rules of engagement on how bargaining could proceed.”\nFox said the union received the letter and will respond after reviewing it. “We’ve never said no to meeting with Starbucks,” she said in an emailed statement. “Anything that moves bargaining forward in a positive way is most welcome.”\nIt’s been about two years since Workers United clinched its first victory at a Starbucks cafe in Buffalo, New York. Since then, about 350 of the chain’s 9,000 corporate-run US locations have voted to join, but none has come close to securing a union contract with the company.\n“We collectively agree, the current impasse should not be acceptable to either of us,” Kelly said in the letter. “It has not helped Starbucks, Workers United or, most importantly, our partners. In this spirit, we are asking for your support and agreement to restart bargaining.”\nThe two sides have disagreed in many store locations about ground rules for the meetings, including whether workers should be allowed to participate via videoconference. Last month, the coffee chain alleged that it’s been months since the union agreed to meet for contract talks, while the union claimed Starbucks has refused to meet unless workers agreed to illegal infringements on their rights.\nIn the letter, Kelly asked Workers United to commit to conducting sessions without video and audio feeds or recording. Starbucks is also looking to schedule sessions “to ensure partners at each store have an opportunity to participate,” Kelly wrote. She said Starbucks will “refrain from any disparaging, profane, threatening, discriminatory, or abusive language, gestures, or conduct” and will “agree to maintain the confidentiality of personal information and personnel matters.”\nRegional directors of the US National Labor Relations Board have issued more than 100 complaints against the company, alleging illegal anti-union tactics including closing stores, firing activists, and refusing to fairly negotiate at unionized cafes. The NLRB’s general counsel also determined that the coffee chain violated labor law by refusing to participate in collective bargaining sessions if some workers were present via videoconference, an agency spokesperson said earlier this year.\nStarbucks has denied wrongdoing, saying the union is the party refusing to negotiate in good faith.\nFlashpoints\nRecent flashpoints in the relationship include a strike in November in which thousands of baristas claimed the coffee chain has refused to negotiate fairly with the union. The walkout coincided with Red Cup Day, when Starbucks gives out holiday-themed reusable cups.\nStarbucks also sued Workers United in October on the heels of the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, saying the group used the company’s intellectual property in social media posts suggesting the company supported violence against civilians. The union responded to the chain’s allegations with its own lawsuit for defamation, accusing the company of seeking to “exploit the ongoing tragedy in the Middle East to harm the union’s reputation.”\nStarbucks posted results that topped expectations for the quarter ended Oct. 1 and provided a better-than-feared outlook for fiscal 2024. But lately, concerns have emerged over the company’s sales after third-party data signaled a “material slowing” in November, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst John Ivankoe.\nStarbucks shares were little changed in New York trading. The stock has declined in 13 of the last 15 days, excluding Friday, pushing the shares’ year-to-date decline to about 3%. The S&P 500 Index has advanced 19% this year.\n(Updates with additional details starting in second paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Starbucks Says It Wants Union Talks, Agreements in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 520,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-endeavor-energy-explores-sale-185530258.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By David French and Anirban Sen\n(Reuters) - Endeavor Energy Partners is exploring a sale that could value the largest privately-held oil and gas producer in the Permian basin of the United States at between $25 billion and $30 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe sale would come almost 45 years after Texas oilman Autry Stephens started the company that would become Endeavor. The 85-year-old wildcatter has decided to capitalize on a wave of mega deals sweeping the sector, the sources said.\nStephens has asked JPMorgan Chase bankers to prepare to launch a sale process for Endeavor in the first quarter of 2024, the sources said, cautioning no transaction is certain and asking not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential.\nStephens has considered offers from suitors for Endeavor in the past, including in 2018, Reuters has reported. He now wants to settle the company's future rather than let his estate decide after his death who it should sell it to, the sources said.\nEndeavor and JPMorgan declined to comment.\nEndeavor's operations span 350,000 net acres in the Midland portion of the Permian basin, the most lucrative oil and gas region in the United States.\nThe universe of potential deep-pocketed buyers for a company the size of Endeavor is limited. However, the consolidation wave hitting the industry, as producers seek to boost scale and lock up the best acreage, shows there would be appetite among the few.\nIn October, Exxon Mobil clinched a $60 billion deal to buy Pioneer Natural Resources and Chevron announced a $53 billion agreement to buy Hess.\nIn these transactions, the acquirers are using their stock as currency, rather than tapping into their cash piles. This leaves them with sufficient financial firepower to bid for Endeavor, even as they try to complete and integrate these acquisitions. Exxon is familiar with Endeavor's operations because the two companies teamed up to drill on some of the latter's land until 2022.\nConocoPhillips completed in October a $2.7 billion deal to buy out a 50% stake in the Surmont oil sands project in Canada. It has also shown an interest in CrownRock, which is majority-owned by private equity firm Lime Rock Partners and led by another Texas wildcatter, Timothy Dunn, Reuters has reported. The sale process for CrownRock is ongoing.\nIt is unclear whether Exxon, Chevron or Conoco will pursue a bid for Endeavor. All three companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\nThere has been outreach from multiple interested parties in recent times, which helped influence the decision to explore a sale of Endeavor, two of the sources said.\nStephens, a former appraisals engineer who became more known through his appearances on the TV documentary series Black Gold, grew Endeavor by acquiring the unloved acreage of his competitors and managing to extract oil and gas profitably.\nTo lower his production costs, Stephens created and used his own fracking, construction, trucking and other services companies.\nEndeavor produced 331,000 barrels of oil equivalent in the second quarter of 2023, up 25% from the corresponding period in 2022, according to Fitch Ratings. The credit ratings agency projected last month that Endeavor will generate about $1 billion of free cash flow in 2024.\n(Reporting by David French and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Susan Fenton)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-Endeavor Energy explores sale for as much as $30 billion-sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 521,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pemex-refinances-8-3-billion-182731844.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Petroleos Mexicanos has renewed about $8.3 billion in revolving credit lines from banks including Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and others at it grapples with the oil industry’s largest corporate debt load.\nPemex, as the state oil firm is known, obtained a $6.5 billion tranche comprised of a three-year term loan and revolving credit facilities with the same duration in late November from banks including Bank of Nova Scotia, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., BBVA, Citi and JPMorgan, according to a person familiar with the transaction. A second tranche valued at $1.8 billion from HSBC Holding Plc and BNP Paribas SA, among others, involved a six-month term loan and revolver, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public information.\nThe renewals come as Pemex explores ways to improve its credit profile. Government help in the form of capital injections and tax breaks have done little to ease the company’s long-term, financial decline. Pemex’s debt reached $106 billion at the end of September, while the equivalent of as much as $9.4 billion in revolving credit was fully drawn, according to company data.\nPemex didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The arrangements were first reported by REDD Intelligence’s Edgar Sigler on X, formerly known as Twitter.\n--With assistance from Ezra Fieser, James Crombie and Esteban Duarte.\n",
        "title": "Pemex Refinances About $8.3 Billion in Debt Amid Cash Crunch"
    },
    {
        "id": 522,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bond-buyers-unfazed-california-alarming-181434832.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Municipal bond investors seem to have brushed off news that California’s budget has gone from a record surplus recently to its largest deficit ever at $68 billion.\nAn index of California bonds showed yields trading below those of top-rated debt after the state’s budget adviser said tax revenue had plummeted below what was expected, more than doubling the budget shortfall from a year ago.\nThat’s because demand for California bonds that wealthy residents use to shield their income from taxes is outweighing concerns about the looming fiscal crisis facing the most populous US state. Put simply, high-tax rates in California are more concerning than the budget hole.\n“I don’t think California credit spreads will react to the shortfall,” said Adam Weigold, head of the municipal fixed income team at Manulife Investment Management. “Between sky-high state tax rates, limited supply and overall positive technicals for California paper, I wouldn’t expect any trade-off of California bonds relative to the overall market anytime soon.”\nThat wasn’t always the case. California used to be one of the worst rated states in the US, with the yield penalty investors demanded on bonds sold by the state and its localities soaring to as much as 170 basis points above top rated bonds in 2009, when the state resorted to IOUs to pay bills. But a series of budget reforms, tax increases and fiscal discipline starting under former Governor Jerry Brown restored some fiscal credibility on Wall Street.\nIn high-tax states like New York and California, wealthy investors have propped up municipal bond valuations. In November, high absolute yields increased the value of the tax-exemption on municipal bonds to their highest level in 20 years, according to strategists at Bank of America Corp.\n“I really don’t see California spreads getting meaningfully wider,” said Mikhail Foux, head of municipal strategy at Barclays Plc. “I am a believer in market technicals, and at current levels the market tone is strong, and technicals are supportive.”\nStill, the $68 billion projected shortfall is a stark reversal for California, which enjoyed remarkable surpluses in the wake of the pandemic as the stock market rallied on the back of massive stimulus from the federal government. That delivered windfalls to wealthy residents who account for a large chunk of California’s income tax-revenue.\nCalifornia is rated AA by Fitch Ratings, AA- by S&P Global Ratings and Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service. The state has about $70.3 billion of general obligation bonds outstanding, with more authorized but not yet issued, according to the state treasurer’s office.\nCalifornia has long been prone to booms and crippling deficits because of the sensitivity of its revenue to financial markets. High interest rates have hit top earners in the state hard, echoing challenges faced during historical market downturns.\nThe state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office said in a report released Thursday that tax receipts fell $26 billion short of earlier estimates during the last fiscal year and forecast a cumulative $155 billion deficit through 2028.\n“The LAO report is a warning that revenues have slowed and that the economy is slowing, but it’s really important to remember that if you go back to 2019, their general fund budget was $144 billion, said Karen Krop, senior director of US public finance at Fitch. “In 2024, even with lower anticipated revenues, their revenues were estimated at $208 billion.”\nGovernor Gavin Newsom in January will present his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year that begins in July 2024. He and state legislators reached a $311 billion budget deal this past June for the current fiscal year which covered a $32 billion shortfall and at the time they set aside $38 billion of reserves.\n“California knows that it gets hit hard when the economy turns, which is why they’ve been hoarding reserves and been careful about spending during the past couple budgetary ‘boom’ years,” said Dora Lee, director of research at Belle Haven Investments.\n",
        "title": "Bond Buyers Unfazed by California’s Alarming $68 Billion Deficit"
    },
    {
        "id": 523,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yen-trading-volume-hits-2023-160933479.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Trading in the Japanese yen surged to its busiest this year after comments by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda triggered speculation of a near-term policy shift.\nCME Group Inc., the world’s largest regulated foreign-exchange marketplace, traded $74.8 billion in the Japanese currency on Thursday, the highest volume for 2023. That included a total of $39.4 billion worth of futures contracts and $4.2 billion of options.\nThe yen jumped almost 4% in New York trading on Thursday following commentary from Ueda and one of his deputies that traders interpreted as a signal pointing toward the end of the bank’s negative rates regime. It jolted global financial markets, strengthening the yen against all of its peers in the Group-of-10 currencies.\nThe sharp gains in the yen propelled the cost of dollar-yen options to their most expensive level since July, according to the CME. One-week volatility in the currency pair hit the highest level in over four months.\nTwo-week dollar-yen risk reversals, which span the upcoming BOJ rate decision, traded on Friday near 2.31% puts over calls, indicating the market is anticipating a decent amount of yen gains over the next two weeks. That compares with a year-to-date record of 2.86% reached on July 27 and suggests bullishness toward the yen is near the highest in more than four months.\nRead More: Two-Thirds of BOJ Watchers Expect End of Negative Rate by April\nThe yen pared its rally after strong US labor market data drove traders to dial back some of their rate-cuts bets for next year. The Bloomberg Spot Dollar Index gained more than 0.2% Friday, making putting it on pace for its first weekly advance in four weeks.\nIf the dollar recovers, the yen will weaken “but the weight of short yen positioning that likely still exists following the move this week will probably limit the scale of any yen retracement weaker,” analysts at MUFG Bank wrote.\n“Our profit target level in our short USD/JPY trade was hit,” analysts including Derek Halpenny and Lee Hardman wrote. “We have re-established a long yen position this time against euro ahead of next week’s central bank meetings which may prove more negative for euro.”\nThe Federal Reserve will decide on rates next week as well as the European Central Bank and the BOJ. Bank of America strategists expect Japan to end its negative interest-rate policy in January or by April the latest.\nIf no policy moves occur at the BOJ’s next meeting, the yen is likely to retreat again, though the degree will depend on the post-decision communications, according to Ikue Saito, an analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co.\nIf BOJ manages to dampen expectations for further rate hikes after it exits the negative interest-rate policy, “then there would be sharp re-pricing in both front-end forward rates and a big rebound in USD/JPY,” she added.\n(Updates with volatility and risk reversals. An earlier version of the story corrected spelling of CME Group Inc. in second paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Yen Trading Volume Hits 2023 Record at Biggest Currency Exchange CME"
    },
    {
        "id": 524,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wrapup-1-microsoft-openai-tie-180530437.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "*\nUK regulator to look at whether Microsoft/OpenAI deal harms competition\n*\nMicrosoft says to work with the CMA in its review\n*\nU.S. FTC examining partnership between the companies -report\n*\nMove comes as rapid advances in AI use\nBy Muvija M and Chavi Mehta\nLONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Microsoft's partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI is under scrutiny from antitrust regulators in the UK and the United States, according to a statement from the British regulator and a media report.\nMicrosoft said last month it would take a non-voting position on the board of OpenAI, following a dramatic boardroom battle that saw the sudden ouster and return of CEO and founder Sam Altman. Microsoft, which owns 49% of the for-profit subsidiary of the startup, has committed to investing more than $10 billion in OpenAI.\nThe U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Friday it will review whether to launch a merger probe of Microsoft's investment in OpenAI to see if it could hurt UK competition. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also examining the nature of Microsoft's investment in OpenAI, and whether it may violate antitrust laws, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter.\nMicrosoft has recently tangled with both the FTC and the CMA on its acquisition of videogame publisher Activision Blizzard over antitrust concerns.\nThe FTC's inquiries are preliminary and the agency hasn’t opened a formal investigation, according to the report.\nThe two companies and the FTC, which had declined to comment on the CMA's move, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.\n\"There have recently been a number of developments in the governance of OpenAI, some of which involved Microsoft,\" the CMA said on Friday.\nMicrosoft owns 49% of the for-profit operating company, according to sources familiar with the matter. OpenAI has a non-profit parent which owns 2%, those sources said.\nThe speed at which the use of AI technology is growing is unrivalled in economic history, while advances in powerful foundation models, such as the one underpinning ChatGPT mean that this is a pivotal moment in the development of this transformative technology, the CMA said.\n\"The only thing that has changed is that Microsoft will now have a non-voting observer on OpenAI's board, which is very different from an acquisition such as Google's purchase of DeepMind in the UK,\" said Microsoft vice-chair and president Brad Smith in a statement, taking a swipe at its main rival.\nHe said the company will work closely with the CMA. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the CMA's move.\nThe observer position means Microsoft's representative can attend OpenAI's board meetings and access confidential information, but it does not have voting rights on matters including electing or choosing directors.\nMOVE QUICKLY\nMax von Thun, Europe director at Open Markets Institute, a non-profit organisation focused on strengthening antitrust law, said other regulators could follow the CMA given the growing concentration in AI.\n\"It is essential that antitrust authorities move quickly to investigate these deals, including unwinding them if necessary, to preserve competition and prevent this critical emerging technology from being monopolised.\nEuropean Union antitrust regulators said they have been following \"very closely the situation of control\" at OpenAI, including recent management changes as well as Microsoft's investment in the company and its role on the AI firm's board.\nBritain's CMA on Friday kickstarted its review with an invitation to interested parties like Google to comment by Jan. 3 2024.\nA range of transactions and arrangements may constitute a relevant merger situation, including, for example, the acquisition of a minority shareholding or, in some circumstances, commercial arrangements such as outsourcing arrangements, the CMA said.\nThe CMA will review whether the partnership has resulted in an acquisition of control. That refers to one party having material influence, de facto control or more than 50% of the voting rights over another entity or change in the nature of control by one entity over another.\nThe CMA will need to find evidence that the recent fall-out from the Altman affair has led to material changes in the governance of Open AI and Microsoft's influence over its affairs, said Alex Haffner, competition lawyer and partner at Fladgate.\nEven if it doesn't pursue a full probe, the preliminary investigation will better inform the CMA's broader oversight of the fast-developing AI sector, he said.\nThe CMA, which has made global headlines with a combative approach since Britain's departure from the European Union, blocked Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the \"Call of Duty\" video game maker, earlier in the year to the fury of the two U.S. companies.\nIt later changed its mind after Microsoft amended its acquisition plan. (Reporting by Muvija M and Sarah Young in London and Chavi Mehta in Bangalore; Additional reporting by Martin Coulter in London and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Writing by Josephine Mason; Editing by Kylie MacLellan, Kate Holton, Elaine Hardcastle, David Evans and Susan Fenton)\n",
        "title": "WRAPUP 1-Microsoft, OpenAI tie-up comes under antitrust scrutiny"
    },
    {
        "id": 525,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/paramount-stock-surges-more-than-14-after-new-report-floats-breakup-possibilities-180253344.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Paramount Global (PARA) stock surged as much as 14% on Friday after Deadline reported late Thursday private investment firm RedBird Capital, along with Skydance Media CEO David Ellison, were looking to acquire National Amusements' voting shares and take control of the media conglomerate.\nShari Redstone currently serves as the non-executive chairwoman of Paramount Global and president of her family's holding company, National Amusements (NAI), which controls the company through its class A shares.\nAcquiring National Amusements shares could allow RedBird and Skydance to take control of the company while avoiding a full purchase. The group could then offload undesirable assets from there or find a strategic partner.\nParamount and National Amusements both declined to comment on the report. RedBird Capital and Skydance Media did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance's request.\nAccording to Deadline, RedBird and Skydance could be interested in Paramount Pictures and some of the company's other intellectual property.\nNational Amusements, which owns approximately 10% of Paramount's equity capital value, maintains 77% of voting shares — valued at around $1 billion, although that does not account for what could be a \"meaningful control premium,\" Wells Fargo analyst Steve Cahall wrote in a note to clients on Friday.\nParamount has long been viewed as a potential acquisition target due to its small size relative to competitors. The company boasts a current market cap of just around $11 billion, compared to Disney's (DIS) $170 billion and Netflix's (NFLX) $199 billion.\nThe company recently committed to divesting non-core assets as it works to pare down debt and improve its balance sheet. Last quarter, it announced the sale of Simon & Schuster to investment firm KKR after the publishing giant's sale to Penguin Random House collapsed late last year. The $1.62 billion all-cash deal was completed in October.\nShowtime and BET Media Group are two assets that have also recently been the subject of sale rumors.\n\"We've always been suspect of NAI's ability transact PARA,\" Cahall said of the potential deal. \"We think NAI has traditionally been against a break-up (Sumner didn't want that). We don't think strategic buyers are interested in PARA as a whole, but rather just its studios (which have some ~$6 billion in licensing revenues).\"\n\"If successful, we think Skydance/[RedBird] could be more willing to do what NAI wouldn't: keep what it wants and break-up the rest. This could change the equity's outlook,\" he said.\nIn Cahall's view, a Skydance/RedBird takeover could lead to the combination of Skydance with Paramount's existing studios and the shutdown of streaming service Paramount+, along with the possible sales of Pluto and linear TV assets.\n\"We think the probability of a deal is decent given Skydance is a credible buyer, PARA recently announced senior exec change of control packages and Ms. Redstone may have grown tired of Wall Street's drumbeat of media negativity and familial intrigue,\" he said. \"Post very significant asset sales PARA NewCo could be an attractive growth/content company.\"\nThe analyst maintained his Underweight rating on the stock and $12 price target.\nAlexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Paramount stock surges more than 14% as sale chatter mounts"
    },
    {
        "id": 526,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/anglo-american-plans-deep-mine-082700023.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Anglo American Plc suffered its biggest daily drop since the global financial crisis, after unveiling plans to drastically cut production in a bid to reduce costs amid logistical and operational snarls.\nWhile Anglo has had well-publicized issues with its platinum and iron ore operations in South Africa, the biggest and most surprising cuts came at its copper business in South America. Its mines there are the company’s crown jewels, producing a commodity that many in the industry expect to face growing shortages later this decade.\nAnglo lowered its 2024 output target for copper to between 730,000 tons and 790,000 tons, from as much as 1 million tons, essentially removing the equivalent of a large copper mine from global supply. Production will fall even further in 2025, before starting to rise again the following year.\nThe company’s biggest problem is its Los Bronces mine in Chile. Like many of the industry’s biggest copper mines, the operation is more than 100 years old and Anglo is now struggling with hard ore that contains low grades of metal. Rather than mine this expensive-to-process ore, the company has decided to wait until it can blend it with higher grade material. Unfortunately for Anglo, that will take several years.\nThe miner’s shares tumbled 19% on Friday, the most since October 2008. The stock has lost more than 40% of its value this year, weighed down by struggles in its diamond business and slumping prices for key commodities such as palladium.\nWhile most of the commodities Anglo mines are currently in surplus amid weak demand from China and sluggish economies elsewhere, the scale of the company’s production cuts will likely add to expected shortages of some materials going forward.\nCopper is an essential material needed to decarbonize the global economy, and most analysts and mining executives see a looming shortage of the metal, with few new mines on the horizon.\nThe near-term outlook for copper supply had already tightened in recent weeks, as protests against First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s huge Panamanian mine forced the company to halt production, even before the government formally ordered a shut down of the operation.\nThe production slump will also add another headache for Anglo’s relatively new chief executive officer, Duncan Wanblad, who has already faced a tough start to his tenure. He stepped into the role with most commodity prices at a record, but they have declined since then. The company’s portfolio also has been hampered by issues from extreme weather to a breakdown in crucial infrastructure in South Africa.\nThe miner will reduce expenditure by another $500 million next year, on top of a $500 million reduction already announced. It plans to cut its capital spending by $1.8 billion though to 2026.\n“Given continuing elevated macro volatility, we are being deliberate in reducing our costs and prioritizing our capital to drive more profitable production on a sustainable basis,” Wanblad said.\nLower Output\nOverall, Anglo’s production will be about 4% lower next year, before falling another 3% in 2025, it said. It also lowered forecasts for platinum-group metals, iron ore, nickel and coal.\nThe company has been battling challenges in its South African operations, tackling slumping prices for PGMs and the poor performance of rail and port infrastructure that’s stymieing iron ore exports. Anglo said its PGM output could fall to as low as 3.3 million ounces next year, from 3.8 million ounces this year.\nReturns for PGM miners are “at the lowest point seen in this industry in the past 30 years,” Wanblad said. The prices of palladium and rhodium have fallen fast this year, decreasing 46% and 65%. Platinum has fared better, slumping about 14%. Anglo American Platinum Ltd. will postpone plans to build a third concentrator at its flagship Mogalakwena mine and to expand production at its Amandelbult complex, according to Wanblad.\n“Whilst it is clearly not positive that Anglo has come to this situation where it needs to shrink its footprint, we think this new streamlined Anglo American should allow it to shed some of the recently more challenging aspects of the business,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Tyler Broda said.\nBloomberg News reported last month that the company was also considering cutting jobs at two units in South Africa because of declining PGM prices and bottlenecks curbing iron ore exports.\nAnglo Consults South Africa as It Weighs Platinum, Iron Job Cuts\nThe miner has held talks with the government over the potential reduction in its workforce. Senior government officials had asked the company to consider delaying the cuts until after elections likely to take place around May.\nConstraints on the South African state-run railway that moves material extracted by Anglo unit Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. to a port north of Cape Town are unlikely to be fixed until at least 2025, according to Wanblad. The company is unable to stockpile any more iron ore on-site, so has begun to lower the volumes it’s mining, he said. “Unfortunately, the logistics just haven’t been there.”\n(Updates with closing share price.)\n",
        "title": "Anglo American Plunges as It Slashes Production to Cut Costs"
    },
    {
        "id": 527,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/construction-hiring-misses-expectations-in-november-175840369.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Construction hiring in November disappointed.\nJobs in the residential construction sector declined 1,700 jobs in November from the month before, the Labor Department said on Friday. Overall, the construction sector gained 2,000 jobs in November, down from the prior three-month average of 21,000 and the weakest monthly growth since March.\nThe overall construction figure wasn’t in line with expectations, according to Nick Grandy, a construction and real estate senior analyst with RSM US.\n\"Today’s jobs report is a bit of a surprise, as we were expecting the construction industry to add between 15,000 and 20,000 jobs for the month of November,\" Grandy told Yahoo Finance. \"The biggest surprises were within the specialty contractor segment for both residential and non-residential construction employment, which has been one of the primary engines for growth in construction but added just 1,900 jobs for the month.\"\nRead more: Unemployment posts surprise drop as jobs market stays strong\nThe figures come after builders broke ground on more new housing projects in October, including single-family and multifamily homes, climbing 1.9%.\nSingle-family permits and starts have been much more robust than multifamily. In fact, single-family starts and permits are up over 13% year-over-year, while multifamily is down in the mid- to high-20% range, according to data gathered by Bespoke Investments Group.\n\"As the long-term demographics in housing continue to remain positive for the industry with the millennial generation reaching prime buying age and household formations across the US continuing to outpace housing completions, I would expect that housing will continue to add jobs to support the needs of additional housing stock,\" Grandy said.\nRead more: How to buy a house in 2023\nKen Simonson, chief economist at Associated General Contractors, also expects the overall construction pipeline to soon shift back in favor of single-family units instead of multifamily.\n\"Once those buildings finish up, we'll see a big drop in multifamily construction and similarly, on the non-residential side, I expect big shifts away from office that's already in decline,\" Simonson added.\nYear over year, employment in construction has increased by 200,000 jobs, an increase of 2.6%. The unemployment rate on a non-seasonally adjusted basis for the construction industry rose to 4.8% in November, while the unemployment across all industries decreased to 3.7% last month.\nAccording to experts, seasonality does play a role in hiring.\n\"You lay off people in the winter that drives your unemployment rate higher and then it comes back down,\" Grandy said.\nMeanwhile, residential specialty trade contractors added 2,700 jobs. That compares to an average of 4,700 per month over the past three months, which is slightly below the 5,600 pre-COVID average.\nConstruction workers still have reasons to cheer. Wage growth notched up, with average hourly construction wages rising 5.9% year over year in November, higher than the average across the US economy.\nConstruction counted 423,000 job openings at the end of October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday, a drop of 4,000 jobs in September. But that’s still up by 25,000 from the same time last year.\nThe percentage of open construction jobs that went unfilled came in at 5% in October. That’s higher than a year ago and at the start of the pandemic, according to Anirban Basu, chief economist for Associated Builders and Contractors.\n\"While labor market tightness is easing across all economic segments, worker scarcity remains a pressing issue for the construction industry,\" Basu said. \"The lack of available workers will remain a headwind for the construction industry over the next several quarters.\"\n—\nDani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @daniromerotv.\nClick here for real estate and housing market news, reports, and analysis to inform your investing decisions.\n",
        "title": "Construction hiring misses expectations in November"
    },
    {
        "id": 528,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/refiner-phillips-66-forecasts-lower-175124522.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - U.S. refiner Phillips 66 forecast lower spending in 2024 on Friday, days after Elliott Investment Management sought a revamp of its board to boost lagging performance.\nIn November, the activist investment firm in a letter revealed a $1 billion stake in Phillips 66 and criticized its refining operations saying management had taken its \"eye off the ball\" by letting operating expenses soar.\nPrior to Elliott's letter, Phillips 66 had unveiled a plan to raise about $3 billion from non-core asset sales and reduce $1 in cost per barrel.\nThe company forecast its 2024 capital expenditure at $2.2 billion, compared with its estimated 2023 spending of $2.5 billion.\nGlobal demand for fuel has remained stable amid supply cuts by OPEC+ countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia.\nPhillips 66 said it plans to invest $1.1 billion in its refining segment.\nThe refining outlay includes the conversion of its Rodeo refinery in California to a renewable diesel facility, expected to start operations in the first quarter of 2024.\nSeveral plants in the U.S. are being converted to facilities that can produce cleaner-burning renewable diesel amid Joe Biden's push to move the country towards net zero.\n\"The 2024 capital budget includes investing in our NGL wellhead-to-market value chain, completing the Rodeo renewable fuels facility and enhancing Refining performance,\" said CEO Mark Lashier.\nIt also expects to spend about $1 billion for its joint ventures Chevron Phillips Chemical and WRB Refining.\n\"The capital budget is consistent with our plan to return $13 billion to $15 billion to shareholders by year-end 2024,\" Lashier added.\n(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "Refiner Phillips 66 forecasts lower spending in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 529,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/panama-formally-orders-first-quantum-175112593.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Panama’s government formally ordered First Quantum Minerals Ltd. to end all operations at its $10-billion copper mine in the country, according to the Canadian company’s local unit.\nPanama’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry ordered the metals producer to “end extraction, processing, refining, transportation, export and sales activities,” the company said in a Friday statement. The move follows a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated the law governing Cobre Panama’s operating license.\nThe giant Cobre Panama mine has been at the center of widespread protests that erupted over a decision to approve a new multidecade operating contract in October. President Laurentino Cortizo initiated plans to shutter the mine in November.\nRead More: Panama to Shut Down Giant Copper Mine After Court Ruling\nFirst Quantum is also requesting permission from Panama’s labor ministry to lay off more than 4,000 of the 7,000 employees at the site “for justified economic reasons.” Some will remain on site to “maintain the safety of the facilities and avoid environmental losses or damages within the mining area,” the company said.\nShares of the Vancouver-based firm fell as much as 2.1% in Toronto, touching its lowest intraday price since June 2020.\n",
        "title": "Panama Formally Orders First Quantum to Shut Down Flagship Copper Mine"
    },
    {
        "id": 530,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lvmh-sells-majority-stake-cruise-174709932.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "PARIS (Reuters) - LVMH signed a deal to sell a majority stake in the parent company of its cruise retail business to a group of investors led by Jim Gissy, but will remain an \"important minority shareholder\" in the new entity, the luxury group said on Friday.\n\"The new investors are strategic partners in the vacation retail space with a culture of innovation and a growth mindset,\" LVMH said in a statement.\nThe deal to sell the majority stake in Cruise Line Holdings Co, the parent company of the Starboard & Onboard Cruise Services businesses, is expected to be concluded in the coming days. Financial details were not provided.\nStarboard CEO Lisa Bauer, recruited by LVMH for the job in 2019, will continue to lead the business, which will be expanded from cruise ships to vacation retail spots on land.\nStarboard operates on 82 ships at the end of 2022.\n(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Piotr Lipinski and Mimosa Spencer, Editing by Louise Heavens)\n",
        "title": "LVMH sells majority stake in cruise retail business"
    },
    {
        "id": 531,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-lvmh-cedes-control-cruise-174323402.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds further details)\nPARIS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - LVMH signed a deal to sell a majority stake in the parent company of its cruise retail business to a group of investors led by Florida property developer Jim Gissy, but will remain an \"important minority shareholder\" in the new entity, the luxury group said on Friday.\n\"The new investors are strategic partners in the vacation retail space with a culture of innovation and a growth mindset,\" LVMH said in a statement.\nThe deal to sell the majority stake in Cruise Line Holdings Co, the parent company of the Starboard & Onboard Cruise Services businesses, is expected to be concluded in the coming days. Financial details were not provided.\nStarboard CEO Lisa Bauer, recruited by LVMH for the job in 2019, will continue to lead the business, which will be expanded from cruise ships to vacation retail spots on land.\nStarboard, which is based in Miami, sells handbags, jewellery and beauty products on dozens of ships belonging to companies including Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean and Holland America.\nLVMH does not break down sales for the business, part of its selective retailing activity, which also manages beauty chain Sephora and travel retail business DFS.\nGissy is executive vice president of Florida time share company Westgate resorts. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Piotr Lipinski and Mimosa Spencer, Editing by Louise Heavens and Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-LVMH cedes control of cruise retail to Florida developer Jim Gissy"
    },
    {
        "id": 532,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-partnership-openai-facing-uk-111504464.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp.’s partnership with OpenAI Inc. is facing the potential of a full-blown UK antitrust investigation three weeks after a mutiny at the ChatGPT creator laid bare deep ties between the two companies.\nThe Competition and Markets Authority said Friday it was gathering information from stakeholders to determine whether the collaboration between the two firms threatens competition in the UK, home of Google’s AI research lab Deepmind. The US Federal Trade Commission is also examining the nature of Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI and whether it may violate antitrust laws, according to a person familiar with the matter.\nMicrosoft has benefited richly from its investments, totaling as much as $13 billion, in OpenAI. By integrating OpenAI’s products into virtually every corner of its core businesses, the software giant very quickly established itself as the undisputed leader of AI among big tech firms. Rival Alphabet Inc.’s Google has been racing to catch up ever since.\nThe firing — and subsequent rehiring — of Sam Altman as chief of OpenAI last month exposed how inextricably linked the two companies have become. Microsoft shares fell immediately after OpenAI’s board ousted Altman. Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella personally helped negotiate and advocate for his return to the company — at one point offering to hire Altman himself, along with other employees at OpenAI who wanted to leave.\nOpenAI’s board eventually agreed to reinstate Altman. The company recently named a three-person interim board and added Microsoft as a nonvoting observer.\nMicrosoft President Brad Smith said in a statement Friday that “the only thing that has changed is that Microsoft will now have a non-voting observer on OpenAI’s board.” He described its relationship with OpenAI as “very different” from Google’s outright acquisition of DeepMind in the UK. OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\nSmith had said as recently as last month that he didn’t “see a future where Microsoft takes control of OpenAI.”\nMicrosoft’s investment in OpenAI, announced in January, had a complex structure that’s different from a traditional ownership stake, people familiar with the matter said at the time. That’s because investors in OpenAI are limited in the return on their investment since it is a capped-for profit company. Microsoft gets nearly half of OpenAI’s financial returns until its investment is repaid up to a predetermined cap, one of the people said in January. All profits beyond what is owed to investors and employees are returned to OpenAI, which is governed by the OpenAI non-profit organization.\n“Our partnership with Microsoft empowers us to pursue our research and develop safe and beneficial AI tools for everyone, while remaining independent and operating competitively,” OpenAI said in a statement Friday. “Their non-voting board observer does not provide them with governing authority or control over OpenAI’s operations.”\nThe CMA said it will look at whether the balance of power between the two firms has fundamentally shifted to give one side more control or influence over the other. When asked to comment on the CMA’s move, a European Commission spokesperson said the regulator had been “following the situation of control over OpenAI very closely.”\nThe move by the CMA puts Microsoft under the antitrust microscope once again. Its acquisition of video-game giant Activision Blizzard was subjected to nearly two years of regulatory scrutiny before gaining approval in the UK less than two months ago.\nAt the core of the partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI is the massive amounts of computer power required to keep the worldwide boom in generative AI going. Running the systems behind tools such as ChatGPT and Google’s Bard has sent demand for cloud services and processing capacity soaring. OpenAI, for example, has become a major customer of Microsoft’s cloud business.\nIn turn, all three of the world’s biggest cloud-computing providers — Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc., and Google — have become active investors in AI startups.\nThese large firms have used such deals and tie-ups to “co-opt and neutralize potential rivals” in AI, said Max von Thun, director of Europe for Open Markets Institute, a think tank. “It is essential that antitrust authorities move quickly to investigate these deals, including unwinding them if necessary.”\n--With assistance from Samuel Stolton and Dina Bass.\n(Updates throughout)\n",
        "title": "Microsoft’s OpenAI Ties Face Potential UK Antitrust Probe"
    },
    {
        "id": 533,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-consumers-pounce-futures-slump-173648674.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil consumers jumped on a chance to lock in protection against higher energy costs as this week’s price slide made hedging cheaper.\nA flurry of call spreads traded in Brent crude, with one one of the most actively purchased ones involving buying $85 and selling $110 calls for June and December next year and 2025. These contracts and others, covering at least 11 million barrels, limit the impact to the buyers of a rebound in prices and have the hallmarks of consumer activity, according to people involved in the market.\nBenchmark Brent crude futures plunged this week to the lowest level since June as sentiment quickly soured on signs of oversupply despite deeper production curbs from OPEC+. While the move lower on its own makes it more attractive for consumers to lock in the price of the oil they buy, implied volatility — a key gauge of how expensive options contracts are — also fell. That makes it doubly appealing to enter into hedging deals.\nAirlines are some of the biggest consumers to hedge their oil consumption, and they have been actively boosting their activity this year. But there are a whole host of other actors in the market, ranging from Walt Disney Co., which locks in the fuel costs for its theme parks, to the Panama Canal and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority.\nKey timespreads further along the futures curve have also flattened over the course of the week, with nearer-term contracts trading at smaller premiums to later ones. While such a move is generally a bearish signal, it can also be a result of hedgers such as airlines buying later-month futures.\n--With assistance from David Marino.\n",
        "title": "Oil Consumers Pounce on Futures Slump to Lock in Cheaper Barrels"
    },
    {
        "id": 534,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-x-discusses-using-amazons-173601771.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds background in paragraphs 2-4)\nDec 8 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's social media platform X has discussed a potential partnership with Amazon.com that would make X ads available on the online retailer's ad-buying software, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter.\nThe social media platform's billionaire owner last month cursed out advertisers that have fled his social media platform X over antisemitic content.\nAmazon and X did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for a comment.\nSeveral companies including Comcast and Walt Disney paused their advertisements on the social media site after Musk last month agreed with a post on X that falsely claimed Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people.\n(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-X discusses using Amazon's ad-buying software - WSJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 535,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-refiner-phillips-66-forecasts-171851043.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details in paragraphs 2-5)\nDec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. refiner Phillips 66 on Friday forecast lower spending in 2024, days after Elliott Investment Management sought a revamp of its board to boost lagging performance.\nThe company said it plans to invest $1.1 billion in its refining segment.\nIn November, the activist investment firm revealed a $1 billion stake in Phillips 66 and criticized its refining operations saying that management had taken its \"eye off the ball\" by letting operating expenses soar.\nThe company forecast its 2024 capital expenditure at $2.2 billion, compared with its estimated 2023 spending of $2.5 billion.\nGlobal demand for fuel has remained stable amid supply cuts by OPEC+ countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia.\n(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Refiner Phillips 66 forecasts lower spending in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 536,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-google-against-potential-eu-171813364.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds background from paragraph 5, more from Google in paras 4,9,10)\nBy Foo Yun Chee\nBRUSSELS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google on Friday criticised a potential order from EU antitrust regulators to sell part of its lucrative adtech business, saying it was disproportionate and not right for its advertising partners.\nThe comments from Google's director Oliver Bethell and its vice president for global ads Dan Taylor came after the U.S. tech giant responded to EU charges issued to the company in June.\n\"We are opposed to divestment. We don't think that's the right outcome for this case. We think this is a tremendously efficient part of our business,\" Bethell told reporters.\n\"And that kind of remedy would be disproportionate in the circumstances and we have explained that to the Commission in our response to their statement of objections,\" he said.\nThe European Commission said Google has since 2014 abused its dominance in the online advertising technology industry via its market power on both sides of the supply chain.\nIt has done that, the Commission says, by ensuring that both its intermediation tools on the buy-side and on the sell-side would favour its own ad exchange AdX in the matching auctions.\nTaylor said it was common practice in the industry to serve both advertisers and publishers, with a number of rivals doing the same.\n\"There are many firms that have competing adtech businesses with us, Amazon, Microsoft, Criteo, Comcast and others,\" he told reporters.\n\"They offer ad platforms and tools like ours that cater to both advertisers and publishers. Now it is common to do this in the industry because it benefits both advertisers and publishers,\" Taylor said.\n\"Integrated technology stacks will make it easier to provide high quality connections that match the right advertiser to the right ad slot on a publisher page.\"\nThe stakes are higher for Google in this latest clash with regulators as it concerns the company's biggest money maker, with the advertising business accounting for 79% of total revenue last year.\nGoogle can ask for a closed hearing to plead its case before senior EU and national antitrust officials before a ruling is issued, which could come next year.\n(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, Editing by Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Google against potential EU break-up order, says not proportionate"
    },
    {
        "id": 537,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/california-projects-68-billion-shortfall-190200198.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- California is likely to face a $68 billion deficit in its next fiscal year as income tax revenue plummets, marking the second consecutive year of shortfalls that could lead to cuts to key safety-net programs, according to the state’s budget adviser.\nThe projected deficit, which is double the size of last year’s shortfall and the largest in the state’s history, comes after an “unprecedented” downward revision to estimated tax receipts, the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office said in a report released Thursday. The LAO, as the agency is commonly known, said tax receipts last year fell $26 billion short of earlier estimates and forecast a cumulative $155 billion deficit through 2028.\n“There probably will be some difficult choices coming because of those multiyear deficits down the road,” California Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek told reporters at a briefing.\nThe Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases over the past two years have hampered the state’s economy, leading to higher borrowing costs, dwindling home sales, and smaller investments for California businesses, the LAO said in its forecast. The most populous US state’s economic slowdown has resulted in a 25% decline in estimated income-tax payments in 2022-2023, according to the LAO. In particular, Silicon Valley has seen an 80% drop in new California companies going public in 2022 and 2023 compared to 2021.\nRead More: California’s $32 Billion Deficit Adds to Economy’s Woes\nThe state’s fiscal outlook has been complicated by a seven-month extension on its income-tax filing deadline that was granted to those affected by severe winter storms in 2023. The state over allocated tens of billions of dollars, mainly to schools, based on mandatory budget formulas tied to faulty revenue forecasts due to the delayed tax deadline.\nThe budget crunch is tied to the state’s wealthiest residents, who contribute half of California’s personal income tax revenue. The aftermath of a 2022 stock market downturn and high interest rates has hit top earners hard, echoing challenges faced during historical market downturns. Because of that reliance on its richest people, California’s economy, which is considered the fifth largest in the world, is sensitive to extreme booms and busts. Following the dot-com crash in the early 2000s, income-tax revenues plummeted nearly 30%.\nPetek recommended Governor Gavin Newsom declare a fiscal emergency, a procedure that would allow the state to tap into some of its rainy day funds, though he advised lawmakers to preserve up to half of the $24 billion available in budget reserves.\n“The state’s reserves are unlikely to be sufficient to cover the state’s multiyear deficits — which average $30 billion per year under our estimates,” Petek said in the report. “As a result, preserving a substantial portion — potentially up to half — would provide a helpful cushion in light of the anticipated shortfalls that lie ahead.”\nNewsom, a Democrat, in January will present his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year that begins in July 2024. The governor and state legislators reached a $311 billion budget deal this past June for the current fiscal year which covered a $32 billion shortfall and at the time they set aside $38 billion of reserves. However, that budget agreement included funding cuts to the governor’s signature climate change programs and zero-emission vehicle push.\n“When this year’s budget was passed in June, the Administration cautioned that California still faced a revenue downturn driven by a declining stock market, high interest rates, and increased inflation in 2022,” HD Palmer, a spokesperson for Newsom’s finance department, said in an email. “The full scope of that revenue decline has only been revealed late this fall after this year’s unprecedented delay in tax receipts.”\n(Corrects reference in second paragraph to say last year instead of current fiscal year in a story originally published on Dec. 7)\n",
        "title": "California Sees $68 Billion Deficit on Revenue Plunge"
    },
    {
        "id": 538,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/starbucks-resume-union-talks-bloomberg-170310093.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Starbucks has reached out to the union representing hundreds of its stores in the United States, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.\nThe chain is looking for talks to resume with a set of representative stores in January 2024, the report said, citing a letter from Starbucks Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly addressed to Workers United President Lynne Fox.\nStarbucks did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\n(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "Starbucks to resume union talks - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 539,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-against-potential-eu-break-170148579.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Foo Yun Chee\nBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google on Friday criticised a potential order from EU antitrust regulators to sell part of its lucrative adtech business, saying it was disproportionate or not right for its advertising partners.\nThe comments from Google's director Oliver Bethell and its vice president for global ads Dan Taylor came after the U.S. tech giant responded to EU charges issued to the company in June.\n\"We are opposed to divestment. We don't think that's the right outcome for this case. We think this is a tremendously efficient part of our business,\" Bethell told reporters.\n(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, Editing by Louise Heavens)\n",
        "title": "Google against potential EU break-up order, says not proportionate"
    },
    {
        "id": 540,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-utility-company-dte-energy-165905597.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Rewrites with comments from company call)\nDec 8 (Reuters) - Utility firm DTE Energy expects higher operating profit in 2024 and plans to explore small carbon capture storage projects next year, betting on revenue from its energy supply and trading business segments and higher electricity rates.\nThe company also flagged an electric rate hike starting Dec. 15, which the Michigan Public Service Commission said would add $6.51 to the bill of a typical customer who uses 500 kilowatt hours of electricity per month.\nDTE Energy serves 2.3 million customers in Southeast Michigan via its electric business.\nIn its business update for 2024, DTE said it expects full-year operating earnings per share (EPS) to be in the range of $6.54 to $6.83 next year.\nIt cut its 2023 operating EPS outlook to between $5.65 and $5.85 from $6.09 to $6.40 on storm-related expenses and operating and maintenance charges in the previous quarter.\nThe company said it was in advanced discussions with a few parties on long-term contracts for carbon capture and storage (CCS), intending to invest $80 million to $100 million in the Midwest. The CCS projects would likely start to create value in the 2025-26 time frame, according to CEO Gerardo Norcia.\nDetroit-based DTE Energy also said it intended to increase its five-year utility capital spend investment by $2 billion to approximately $25 billion, focusing on grid resilience and renewable.\nThe firm had previously announced plans to retire its coal plants by 2032 and invest $11 billion towards a transition to clean energy, as the U.S. government proposes to crack down on greenhouse gas emissions from the sector.\nShares of the company were up 0.6% in morning trade.\n(Reporting by Kabir Dweit and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Utility company DTE Energy sees higher profit in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 541,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-starbucks-resume-union-talks-165549945.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details from report, disclosure)\nDec 8 (Reuters) - Starbucks has reached out to the union representing hundreds of its stores in the United States, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.\nThe chain is looking for talks to resume with a set of representative stores in January 2024, the report said, citing a letter from Starbucks Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly addressed to Workers United President Lynne Fox.\nStarbucks did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. (Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Starbucks to resume union talks - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 542,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unionized-dhl-express-workers-strike-165112044.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — More than 1,100 unionized DHL Express workers walked off the job at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), a critical logistics hub for the package delivery company, during the busiest time of the year.\nThe International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents over 6,000 DHL workers across the country, said the DHL-CVG workers went on strike Thursday to further demand a fair contract and protest unfair labor practices.\n“For too long, DHL has walked all over our rights to collective action,” Gina Kemp, a DHL-CVG worker, said in a statement shared in the Teamsters' announcement. “This company’s repeated acts of disrespect — from the tarmac where we work to the bargaining table — leave me and my co-workers with no choice but to withhold our labor.”\nNegotiations between DHL and the Teamsters for a first union contract at CVG began back in July — after ramp and tug workers, who load and unload airplanes, voted to organize with the Teamsters in April. In the months since, the union said, the Teamsters have also filed multiple unfair labor practices against DHL with the National Labor Relations Board.\nIn a statement sent to The Associated Press Friday, DHL expressed disappointment over the union's move to “influence these negotiations and pressure the company to agree to unreasonable contract terms by taking a job action in CVG Thursday morning\" and said that the company was commited to negotiating in good faith.\nDHL added the majority of its employees reported to work on Thursday and operations ran at full capacity.\nThe company also said that Teamsters' picket lines were expanded to other U.S. locations on Friday, but didn't specify the number. DHL stated that it anticipated this and enacted contingency plans — including moving flights and volume to other locations and brining in replacement staff.\nThe Associated Press reached out to the Teamsters for comment about Friday's picketing.\nDHL Express is a unit of Germany’s Deutsche Post AG. In 2022, Deutshe Post AG posted record revenue of over 94 billion euros (more than $101 billion) and operating profit of 8.4 billion euros ($9 billion).\n",
        "title": "Unionized DHL Express workers strike at critical Cincinnati air cargo hub"
    },
    {
        "id": 543,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/summers-urges-fed-wait-overwhelming-164959143.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said the Federal Reserve should hold off on a shift toward lowering interest rates until there’s decisive evidence showing that inflation is back under control or that the economy is entering a slump.\n“The moment they turn, or announce they’re going to turn, is going to be a seismic moment,” Summers said on Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin. “And for that reason, they probably need to be very deliberative and careful about getting to that point.”\nA marked slowdown in inflation in recent months has stoked optimism on Wall Street that the Fed will lower rates by the spring of 2024. Chair Jerome Powell said last week that “progress must continue” to get to the Fed’s 2% target. He noted that policymakers’ preferred gauge of prices — the core PCE index, which strips out volatile food and energy costs — ran at an annual rate of 2.5% over the six months through October.\nFed officials probably need to wait “until they see some overwhelming evidence of inflation being locked in low, or see some real evidence of the economy turning over,” said Summers, a Harvard University professor and paid contributor to Bloomberg TV.\nSuch evidence remains to be seen, he said, speaking shortly after the latest US jobs report. The release showed a bigger-than-expected gain in payrolls in November, along with a surprise drop in the unemployment rate to 3.7% and a pickup in average hourly earnings to a 0.4% monthly pace.\nRead More: US Labor Market Defies Slowdown Forecasts in Broad Strengthening\n“These were good numbers — they showed an economy that, at least as of November, was still looking pretty robust,” Summers said. The acceleration in wages “reinforces my sense that people need to be careful about declaring the war against inflation as having been won.”\nWhile a soft landing, where prices come under control without a recession, is looking “more in play,” it’s not an outcome to be confident about at this point, according to Summers.\nPolicymakers need to make sure that progress on bringing inflation down becomes “entrenched and locked in,” he said. One dilemma is that, when data show disinflation, it stokes optimism in markets that eases financial conditions — which “undoes some of the tightening that they have already put in place,” Summers said.\nOverall, the former Treasury chief endorsed the current stance of Powell and his colleagues of proceeding “carefully” with policy. The Fed’s “broadly in the right place of watchful waiting,” Summers said.\n",
        "title": "Summers Urges Fed to Wait for ‘Overwhelming’ Data Before Cutting Rates"
    },
    {
        "id": 544,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wages-us-shale-patch-climb-163806617.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Paychecks in the US shale patch climbed to a fresh record as employment held steady and explorers prepare for low activity growth next year in order to maintain their production levels.\nAverage hourly earnings for frontline oil-and-gas workers rose 1.3% in October from the previous month to $44.11, according to a Labor Department report released Friday. Compared with a year ago, oil pay is up 5.4%. The strength in wages matched a national trend.\nShale explorers are expected to boost the number of drilled US land-based wells next year by less than 1%, far below the 10% growth expected overseas, according to industry data provider Kimberlite International Oilfield Research. Efficiency gains in drilling have allowed explorers to sustain production levels with fewer rigs.\n“In 2024, we are forecasting relatively flattish capex trends for our US E&P coverage, which is in sharp contrast to the 24% increase in 2023 capex,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts including Arun Jayaram wrote this week in a note to investors.\nThe jobless rate in the oil and natural gas industry slipped to 2.2% in November on an unadjusted basis, government figures show. That compares with an unemployment rate of 3.1% a year earlier and is lower than the overall US level.\nThe total number of workers employed in the sector fell less than 1% on a month-over-month basis to 118,400 in November.\n",
        "title": "Wages in US Shale Patch Climb Above $44 an Hour in Fresh Record"
    },
    {
        "id": 545,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nikola-slides-share-convertible-bond-163337437.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Nikola Corp. shares fell after the electric carmaker priced the sale of shares and green convertible bonds.\nThe stock declined about 5.5% to $0.71 cents each as of 11:26 a.m. Friday in New York, the lowest since June. The move came after the company announced it had raised $100 million in a share sale and sold convertible bonds at an 8.25% coupon, confirming a Bloomberg News report.\nNikola raised about $175 million from the convertible bonds, which came with a 20% conversion premium, people familiar with the matter have said. The sum is less than the company had planned to raise from the sale of three-year green convertible senior notes due 2026, it said in an earlier press release.\nA Nikola representative didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.\nThe decline increases the slump in the Phoenix-based company’s shares this year, which have fallen more than 65% this year to date, valuing it at around $823 million.\nThe latest convertible bond comes on the heels of a September issue, when Nikola tapped investors for $40 million in convertible bonds. The one-year notes bore an interest rate of 5%.\nNikola has seen a number of recent personnel changes among its senior executives. In September, it hired Mary Chan, who previously worked at General Motors Co. as its chief operating officer. Chief Financial Officer Anastasiya Pasterick announced last month her departure on Dec. 1.\nNikola’s founder Trevor Milton was convicted in October 2022 of securities fraud and wire fraud, and faces as much as 20 years in prison. He is currently opposing a prison sentence. He remains the company’s second-largest shareholder.\nThe company will use the funds from the convertible bond and equity issues for working capital, general corporate purposes and unspecified projects “in alignment with the guidelines of the Green Bond Principle,” according to the press release.\nBTIG, Baird, Bryan, Garnier & Co. and Wolfe Nomura Alliance are the underwriters of the issues. They have the option to purchase an additional $15 million in stock and $30 million in notes, the release showed.\n(Updates with pricing confirmation and share moves in the first five paragraphs.)\n",
        "title": "Nikola Slides After Share and Convertible Bond Sale Prices"
    },
    {
        "id": 546,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cpi-property-pushed-back-against-162937926.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- CPI Property Group pushed back against accusations from short seller Muddy Waters, saying it has never obscured its dealings with its Czech billionaire owner or other related parties.\nLast month, Carson Block’s Muddy Waters said it was shorting CPI’s credit, claiming the central and east European landlord was overstating the value of assets among other allegations. The issuer’s notes tumbled on the news, but recovered ground in past weeks.\n“Muddy Waters attempted to create an impression that CPIPG was hiding related party transactions and overstating valuations without any basis,” the landlord said in a presentation on Friday. “Each of Muddy Waters’ allegations against CPIPG can be explained by a careful review of the facts.”\nCPI, whose portfolio includes properties in the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland, is the latest in a string of European real estate companies targeted by short sellers, including Vivion Investments Sarl, Germany’s Adler Group and Sweden’s Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB.\n‘Fishing Expedition’\nMuddy Waters alleged that CPI’s Czech owner Radovan Vitek had benefited from undisclosed related-party transactions including two land portfolios that the company sold and bought back at a higher price. In its presentation, CPI said the 2014 sale was not to a related entity and that the price had increased in part due to the prospect of obtaining building permits.\nCPI highlighted a typo in its 2021 full-year report which had created “some confusion,” prompting Muddy Waters to miscalculate the price for a different transaction. The landlord also said that all of its valuations had been conducted annually by third parties.\nSince the shock of the short seller’s report, CPI notes issued have gradually recovered as bond investors welcomed signs of progress on asset disposals and debt repayments, as well as potential further support from Vitek, in third-quarter results.\nCPI said on Friday that Muddy Waters has indicated that a second part of their report would be published “soon,” after which the landlord would host a webcast presenting its response.\n“CPIPG is committed to strong corporate governance,” it said. “Muddy Waters went on a fishing expedition, recycling themes that have proven successful for them in the past.”\n",
        "title": "CPI Property Pushed Back Against Accusations by Short Seller Muddy Waters"
    },
    {
        "id": 547,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-seeks-buy-3-million-161839156.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Timothy Gardner\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday said it wants to buy up to 3 million barrels of crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) for delivery in March 2024, as it takes advantage of lower prices to start to replenish the stockpile.\nThe administration of President Joe Biden last year conducted the largest sale to date from the SPR of 180 million barrels to try to limit an oil price rally after Russia's war on Ukraine began in February 2022.\nThe Energy Department in October said it would buy back oil for the reserve at $79 per barrel or lower, after it had received an average of about $95 a barrel from last year's emergency sales. It plans to release monthly offers to buy crude for the emergency stash through May next year.\nThe new solicitation is for sour crude and the delivery will be received by the Big Hill SPR site in Texas.\nThe department has bought back nearly 9 million barrels for the reserve at about $75 a barrel. It has also secured the return of nearly 4 million barrels by February, several months ahead of schedule, from a previous exchange with oil companies.\nDepartment officials have said that the return of oil is being tempered by planned life extension maintenance at the SPR, where oil is held in hollowed-out salt caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts. The reserve currently holds 351.9 million barrels of oil.\n(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Barbara Lewis)\n",
        "title": "US seeks to buy up to 3 million bbls of oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve"
    },
    {
        "id": 548,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-yields-higher-us-161823068.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates at 1612 GMT to close)\nBy Stefano Rebaudo and Samuel Indyk\nDec 8 (Reuters) - Euro area government bond yields rose on Friday after data showed the U.S. economy added more jobs than expected last month, putting a dampener on expectations for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve early next year.\nThe U.S. Labor Department said non-farm payrolls rose by 199,000 in November, above forecasts for an increase of 180,000 and compared with a prior reading of 150,000. Employment was in part boosted by the return of automobile workers and actors after strikes.\n\"While job growth is falling compared to last year, it is holding up remarkably well in the face of a tough economic picture and slowing growth globally,\" said Richard Carter, head of fixed interest research at Quilter Cheviot.\n\"What this essentially does for the Federal Reserve is help to dampen down any talk of rate cuts in the first of half of 2024.\"\nGermany's 10-year yield was last up 8 basis points at 2.274%, although was still on track to record its biggest biweekly fall since banking turmoil in mid-March, as money markets ramped up bets on future European Central Bank rate cuts. It hit 2.166% the day before, its lowest level since April 6.\nMoney market traders price in around a 60% chance that the ECB starts loosening policy in March next year, while around 140 basis points of easing is priced in through 2024.\nMoney markets had been pricing around 90 basis points of easing next year on Nov. 28 before Fed Governor Christopher Waller nodded to possible rate cuts in a matter of months.\nComments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, ECB rate-setters Francois Villeroy de Galhau and Isabel Schnabel along with soft euro area data have done little to dissuade markets that looser ECB policy could start from the first quarter of next year.\nHowever, some analysts remain sceptical about the repricing of the policy path.\n\"The recent decline in inflation is much less remarkable than may appear to be the case,\" said Mark Dowding, BlueBay CIO, RBC BlueBay Asset Management, who forecasts the first ECB rate cut in the second half of 2024.\n\"Base effects have pulled the consumer price index (CPI) lower, but we are now likely to see this head back up again over the next few months, as these factors drop out of calculations.\"\nItaly's 10-year sovereign bond yield, the benchmark for the euro area's periphery, rose 11 bps to 4.063%.\nInvestors will closely watch negotiations over the new European Union fiscal rules – the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) - as the resilience of peripheral spreads could be in danger if investors already nervous about debt sustainability and high rates are spooked by tight post-pandemic budget rules.\nFrance, Germany and the EU executive expressed hope on Friday that EU governments would reach an agreement.\nTime is pressing because the new rules have to get the approval of the current European Parliament which will dissolve in April before European elections in June, with some analysts expecting a final agreement in second half of 2024.\nInvestors were also watching moves in Japan's 10-year government bond yield, which hit a three-week high overnight on growing speculation that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) would end its negative rate policy soon.\nJapanese investors are large holders of foreign bonds, and some analysts have said a sharp rise in domestic yields could suck money back to Japan and out of global assets.\n(Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo, editing by Angus MacSwan and David Evans) ;))\n",
        "title": "Euro zone yields higher as US jobs growth accelerates"
    },
    {
        "id": 549,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spotify-announces-cfo-paul-vogel-to-step-down-just-days-after-mass-layoffs-161814169.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Spotify (SPOT) announced late Thursday that its CFO Paul Vogel will step down from his position after eight years at the music streaming giant.\nVogel, who joined Spotify in 2016 as head of investor relations before taking over the CFO role in 2020, will exit his position on March 31, 2024. This news comes just days after the company confirmed its third round of layoffs this year.\n\"Spotify has embarked on an evolution over the last two years to bring our spending more in line with market expectations while also funding the significant growth opportunities we continue to identify,\" Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said in a release announcing Vogel's departure.\nIn Thursday's announcement Ek reiterated the company remains on track to hit the financial targets laid out at its Investor Day.\n\"I’ve talked a lot with Paul about the need to balance these two objectives carefully. Over time, we’ve come to the conclusion that Spotify is entering a new phase and needs a CFO with a different mix of experience.\"\nThe company said it has launched an external search for a successor and that Ben Kung, vice president of financial planning and analysis, will take on an expanded role to support the finance team's realignment in the interim.\nSpotify stock was little changed on Friday. Shares are up about 150% year to date after losing two-thirds of their value in 2022. The stock is currently trading at its highest level since January 2022, but remains about 30% below its record close of $364.59 in February 2021.\nSpotify revealed plans on Monday to lay off 17% of its workforce, or about 1,500 employees. The company laid off about 600 employees in January and another 200 workers in June.\nEk said Monday's cuts came despite the streamer's recent efforts to boost margins, with the executive citing economic growth that has \"slowed dramatically\" as higher interest rates squeeze profits amid increased capital expenses.\nIn the third quarter, Spotify turned a profit for the first time in over a year, as its recent price hikes coupled with lower-than-expected costs related to personnel and marketing spend boosted its bottom line.\nOverall, analysts have been bullish on Spotify after the audio giant pledged to improve its profitability beginning in 2023 on a gross margin and operating income basis.\n\"[Spotify's] recent surprising third quarter profitability underscores how much operating leverage the platform possesses after cutting 2% and 6% of staff in two recent rounds of layoffs,\" Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen wrote in a note to clients following Monday's layoff announcement.\nNollen, who raised his price target to $232 a share from $210 and reiterated his Outperform rating, boosted his 2024 operating income estimate to €482 million, up from the prior €212 million. He also increased his full-year 2025 estimate to €916 million from €501 million.\nSpotify spent $1 billion pushing into the podcast market over the past four years with splashy A-list deals and $400 million-plus studio acquisitions.\nThat spending took a significant bite out of gross margins and weighed heavily on profitability. In addition to price hikes and layoffs, Spotify realigned its podcast division this year and recently made audiobooks free to paying subscribers.\nAlexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Spotify announces CFO Paul Vogel to step down just days after mass layoffs"
    },
    {
        "id": 550,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-stocks-gain-treasury-161623417.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 10:31 a.m. ET/ 1531 GMT)\nBy Chuck Mikolajczak\nNEW YORK, Dec 8 (Reuters) -\nA gauge of global stocks was higher on Friday, on track for its sixth straight week of gains, while U.S. Treasury yields rose following a strong U.S. jobs report forced markets to recalibrate the timing of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.\nU.S. job growth\naccelerated in November\n, with the Labor Department's employment report showing nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 jobs last month, above the 180,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters, after rising by an unrevised 150,000 in October. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from the near two-year high of 3.9% in October.\nAhead of the payrolls report, a run of data this week indicated some softening in the labor market, while data in recent weeks showed a cooling of inflation and led markets to increase expectations the Federal Reserve would have the leeway to cut interest rates as soon as March.\nExpectations for a March cut of at least 25 basis points (bps) slipped to about 52%, according to CME's\nFedWatch Tool, down from about 65% on Thursday.\n\"This complicates the recent market narrative of Fed rate cuts as early as March, and you do see some of that repricing,\" said Alex Coffey, senior trading strategist at TD Ameritrade in Chicago.\n\"It did move down a little bit and I don't think that's a surprise, as for us to actually get a rate cut in March, you're going to need to start seeing data that confirms a worsening situation. Hard to leave this report feeling that way.\"\nOther data from the University of Michigan showed U.S.\nconsumer sentiment improved\nmuch more than expected in December, snapping four straight months of declines, as households saw inflation pressures easing.\nOn Wall Street, stocks advanced, led by energy shares as oil prices bounced. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91.27 points, or 0.26%, to 36,207.53, the gained 13.96 points, or 0.32%, to 4,598.78 and the gained 53.80 points, or 0.35%, to 14,393.80.\nU.S. Treasury yields shot higher following the payrolls report. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose 10 basis points to 4.226%. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, climbed 11 basis points to 4.692%.\nEuropean shares rose to their highest level since February 2022 with the STOXX 600 index up 0.84%. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.31% and was poised for a sixth straight weekly gain, its longest streak in four years.\nAlong with recent economic data, comments from Fed officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, fueled investor speculation about the timing of the central bank's pivot to a rate cut. The Fed's next policy meeting is on Dec 12-13, while the next policy announcement from the European Central Bank (ECB) is on Dec. 14. Expectations have also grown the ECB was at or near the end of its rate hike cycle and a cut is on the horizon.\nThe Fed has raised its main funds rate by more than 5 percentage points since March 2022. With inflation still running above its 2% target and fueled by a tight jobs market and rising wages, Fed chair Jerome Powell has said the central bank is ready to tighten monetary policy again if necessary.\nThe dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six currencies, gained 0.22 points, or 0.21%, to 103.76 while the European single currency was down 0.1% on the day at $1.078.\nCrude prices bounced after a recent slump put oil benchmarks on track for a seven-week decline, the longest in five years after Saudi Arabia and Russia lobbied OPEC+ members to join output cuts.\nU.S. crude recently jumped 2.91% at $71.36 per barrel and Brent was at $76.11, up 2.78% on the day.\n(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, Editing by Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks gain, Treasury yields climb after US payrolls report"
    },
    {
        "id": 551,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-diesel-flood-europe-even-161519456.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Europe is poised for a influx of US diesel this month, though lower shipments from Asia and the Middle East will see overall imports decline even as the continent seeks alternatives to Russian barrels this winter.\nDiesel and gasoil arrivals in the European Union and the UK from the US may jump to more than 290,000 barrels a day, early estimates from data provided by analytics firm Kpler and compiled by Bloomberg show. Volumes haven’t been that high since July 2018.\nExports from the US Gulf Coast have surged as the end of the autumn refinery maintenance boosted supplies. Meanwhile shipments to Latin American destinations have been affected by worsening bottlenecks in the Panama Canal, creating an incentive to ship cargoes toward Europe.\n“Increased supply due to USGC refineries’ exit from the autumn maintenance season is being offset by resilient domestic demand and high export demand to Europe and Latin America,” Kpler said in a report.\nDecember estimates include vessels en-route from the US Gulf Coast and some planned cargoes set to sail in the coming days. Imports may be revised higher if more cargoes are observed for the month.\nFreight rates to ship diesel from the US Gulf to Europe surged last month in line with increased exports from the region. A Panama-bound tanker was also diverted to Europe amid transit delays via the canal.\nHowever, overall diesel and gasoil imports into core Europe from external suppliers are likely to remain lackluster this month. Initial observed shipments of the fuel to the EU and the UK for the month suggest about 705,000 barrels a day. That’s the lowest monthly volume in data from Kpler since at least the start of 2017.\nThe elevated shipments from the Americas are likely to be offset by the slump in flows from Asia and the Middle East, where there is heavy refinery maintenance. While a few more cargoes can still sail from the Middle East and complete their voyage to Europe before the month-end, any incremental volumes are likely to be limited.\nWhile higher supply following the end of Europe’s own refinery maintenance season “should, together with weak demand, lengthen gasoil/diesel balances on the European continent, we expect them to remain tighter than normal in December,” Kpler said.\n",
        "title": "US Diesel to Flood Into Europe Even as Flows From the East Slide"
    },
    {
        "id": 552,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-tesla-must-respect-collective-161015939.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds comment from other funds in last 3 paragraphs)\nBy Terje Solsvik\nOSLO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. auto maker Tesla Inc should respect fundamental labour rights, including collective bargaining, Norway's $1.5 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's biggest stock market investor, told Reuters on Friday.\nThe electric vehicle producer faces a backlash in the Nordic region from unions and some pension funds over its refusal to accept a demand from Swedish mechanics for collective bargaining rights covering wages and other conditions.\nNorges Bank Investment Management, which operates the Norwegian fund, is Tesla's 7th biggest shareholder with a 0.88% stake worth some $6.8 billion according to LSEG data.\n\"We expect companies in which we invest to respect fundamental human rights, including labour rights,\" NBIM said in a statement to Reuters when asked about Tesla's conflict with its Swedish workers.\n\"In 2022 we supported a shareholder proposal at Tesla that asked the company to introduce a policy to respect the right to organise,\" it added.\nThe 2022 proposal, which NBIM said was supported by 32% of those who voted, called on Tesla to adopt a policy of respecting labour rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining. The company's board recommended a 'no' vote.\nTesla, which has revolutionised the electric car market, has managed to avoid collective bargaining agreements with its roughly 127,000 workers, and CEO Elon Musk has been vocal about his opposition to unions.\nTesla did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.\nThe company has said its Swedish employees have as good or better terms than those the union is demanding.\nPensionDanmark, one of Denmark's largest pension funds, said on Thursday it had divested its $69 million holdings in Tesla, while fund manager Paedagogernes Pension said it would follow suit and divest its $35 million stake.\nNBIM declined to comment on whether its investment in Tesla would be affected by the car maker's position.\nThe Norwegian fund's separate ethics council, which can recommend that NBIM divests from companies that do not meet its expectations, also declined to comment.\nNBIM said its expectations are built on international standards drawn up by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and global conventions on human rights.\nIn its expectations documents NBIM says that companies it invests in \"should engage with workers and their representatives, such as trade unions\" in a transparent manner when developing and implementing policies and practices.\n'WATCH LIST'\nDenmark's AkademikerPension said on Friday it would hold on to its $18 million stake in Tesla but added that it kept the car maker on a watch list and expected the parties to find a satisfactory solution to the ongoing conflict.\n\"It seems that it has not dawned on Tesla's management that proper working conditions create more value and fewer risks in companies,\" AkademikerPension's CEO Jens Munch Holst said.\nSweden's AP1 state pension fund, which held a $187 million stake at the end of June, said keeping a dialogue with Tesla was its preferred course of action over selling its shares.\nAnother Swedish fund, AP4, which has a $114 million Tesla stake, said the workers dispute did not constitute a basis for exclusion as a shareholding. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo, additional reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Copenhagen and Marie Mannes in Stockholm; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Elaine Hardcastle)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Tesla must respect collective bargaining rights, Norway's sovereign wealth fund says"
    },
    {
        "id": 553,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spotify-cfo-becomes-one-thousands-160442200.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — Spotify's chief financial officer will step down next year, according to the music streaming service, just days after it announced its third round of layoffs for 2023.\nIn a statement announcing CFO Paul Vogel’s departure, CEO Daniel Ek said that the two had “come to the conclusion that Spotify is entering a new phase and needs a CFO with a different mix of experiences.”\nSpotify said this week that it would be axing 17% of its global workforce, citing the need to slash costs and become profitable. About 1,500 people will lose their jobs, a spokesperson confirmed.\nShortly after the layoffs were announced Monday, Spotify’s stock jumped about 8%. On Tuesday, Vogel moved to sell more than $9.3 million worth of shares, according to securities filings.\nTwo other senior executives also cashed in over $1.6 million in shares, The Guardian reported.\nThe Associated Press reached out to Spotify for further comment on Friday.\nVogel will leave Spotify on March 31. Ben Kung, who currently serves as vice president of financial planning and analysis, “will take on expanded responsibilities” in the interim as Spotify searches for a successor externally, the company said in a blog post.\nStockholm-based Spotify posted a net loss of 462 million euros (about $500 million) for the nine months to September. The company announced in January that it was axing 6% of total staff. In June, it cut staff by another 2%, or about 200 workers, mainly in its podcast division.\n",
        "title": "Spotify CFO becomes one of thousands departing the streaming service, after selling $9M in shares"
    },
    {
        "id": 554,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-raise-fees-foreigners-buying-211338617.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Australia will raise fees for foreigners who buy existing houses, while encouraging them to invest in build-to-rent projects that will boost the nation’s housing supply.\nForeign investment fees for the purchase of established homes will triple, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in a statement Sunday in Sydney. Penalties for foreign buyers who subsequently leave their properties vacant will double while application fees for investment in build-to-rent projects will be reduced, he said.\n“We welcome foreign investment because it plays a crucial role in our nation’s economic success,” Chalmers said. “These adjustments are all about making sure foreign investment aligns with the government’s agenda to lift the nation’s supply of affordable housing.”\nForeigners are only able to buy a home in Australia if they live in the country to work or study, and are required to sell it if they don’t become permanent residents. The fee adjustments are designed to encourage them to invest in new housing developments, boosting the nation’s housing stock.\nThe government will make sure foreign investment application fees for build-to-rent projects are at the lowest commercial level — no matter the kind of land involved — and will apply them from Dec. 14, Chalmers said.\n",
        "title": "Australia Will Raise Fees for Foreigners Buying Existing Houses"
    },
    {
        "id": 555,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-rate-cut-standoff-looms-210000369.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- From Washington to Frankfurt to London and beyond, central bankers are approaching their final decisions of the year against a backdrop of unease at how the global inflation cycle is turning.\nPolicymakers from fully half of the Group of 10 jurisdictions of most-traded currencies are scheduled to meet in the coming days, and interest rates for 60% of the world economy will be set in a whirlwind 60-hour window.\nMost notable will be the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, followed on Thursday by central banks including those of the euro zone and the UK.\nWith the exception of Norway, which may conceivably raise borrowing costs, most monetary officials are confronting financial-market pressure to explain why they seem unhurried about pivoting to monetary easing.\nSynchronized weakening in inflation data and some evidence of softening economies have prompted investors to ramp up bets on rate cuts in the first half of 2024. That’s a view that could clash with the mantra the Fed and its peers expounded little more than three months ago, of “higher for longer.”\nIn Latin America, which led the push upwards with rate hikes, most central banks are already on the way down, and Brazil and Peru may both cut in the coming week.\nTheir peers in the US and Europe aren’t so sure. After starting the year with renewed vigor to aggressively ramp up borrowing costs, they’re ending 2023 with more hesitation — setting the scene for what could become a prolonged standoff with investors.\n“Central bankers are saying, ‘look, we’re waiting to see if what we’re seeing on this disinflation is sustainable,’” Joyce Chang, chair of global research at JPMorgan, told Bloomberg Television. “We think you’re not looking to see cuts until the second half of the year.”\nClick here for what happened in the past week, and below is our look ahead to the series of major rate decisions in the coming week.\nFederal Reserve\nThe Fed is widely expected to keep its benchmark rate at the highest level in two decades as policymakers assess the lagged impact of their aggressive series of hikes since early 2022.\nAs central bankers gather Tuesday to begin two days of deliberations, they’ll have fresh inflation data in hand. The core consumer price index is seen reinforcing expectations that Chair Jerome Powell, at his press conference the following day, will acknowledge both the progress made on inflation as well as the risks of stubborn price pressures.\nThe core CPI for November, which excludes food and fuel for a better snapshot of underlying inflation, is projected to climb 0.3% from a month earlier, when it rose 0.2%. Compared with a year ago, forecasters see a 4% advance that indicates that inflation is abating only gradually.\nThe inflation figures follow Friday’s solid labor-market report that showed healthy growth in employment and wages, along with a decline in the jobless rate.\nRead more: US Labor Market Defies Slowdown Forecasts in Broad Strengthening\nNonetheless, there are indications demand across the economy is cooling as the year draws to a close. November retail sales data on Thursday are expected to reveal consumers are becoming more guarded.\nAt the end of the week, industrial production figures are seen showing a partial rebound in factory output as striking auto workers returned to assembly lines.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says:\n“There’s no incentive for the Fed to sound too eager to cut rates, lest financial conditions loosen further. While the December FOMC meeting may not move all the way to endorse the bond market’s pricing of sharp rate cuts next year, we think it will meet them about halfway.”\n—Anna Wong, Stuart Paul, Eliza Winger and Estelle Ou, economists. For full note, click here\nEuropean Central Bank\nPresident Christine Lagarde will probably try to temper market expectations that price in a quarter-point European Central Bank rate cut in April.\nWhile the euro zone could well be in a recession, and policymakers acknowledge that the labor market is showing signs of turning, they aren’t fully convinced that the danger to consumer prices has passed, and want to see more wage data.\nExecutive Board member Isabel Schnabel has called the inflation slowdown so far “remarkable,” and said that further rate hikes are now unlikely. But she hasn’t pivoted much further. One colleague, Peter Kazimir of Slovakia, termed expectations for a rate cut in the first quarter of 2024 “science fiction.”\nLagarde will present new forecasts, accompanied by a collective view on the risks to growth and inflation, that will likely be a central component of the ECB’s messaging to counter market speculation.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says:\n“Given the risks around the inflation outlook, the ECB is probably unhappy with interest-rate swaps pricing in a rate cut in March. Lagarde may make that clear in the press conference. Our view remains that the first cut will come in June and the risks are skewed toward earlier action.”\n— David Powell. For full preview, click here\nBank of England\nThe Bank of England is expected to keep rates on hold for a third straight meeting and deliver a warning that the fight against inflation is far from over.\nWith the UK economy facing stagnation at best next year, investors are betting that the Monetary Policy Committee will start cutting borrowing costs – now at a 15-year high of 5.25% — in June.\nHowever, officials are likely to repeat their guidance that policy needs to remain restrictive for an “extended” period to stop inflation from sticking above their 2% target amid a still-tight labor market and price pressures in the services sector. The BOE announces its decision at noon on Thursday.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says:\n“We expect the BOE to double down on its message that policy is likely to remain restrictive for an extended period of time — services inflation is too high and there are tentative signs the economy may have regathered some momentum in the fourth quarter. There is still a long way to go on the road to 2% inflation.”\n—Dan Hanson and Ana Andrade. For full preview, click here\nSwitzerland\nSwiss inflation is even weaker than in the neighboring euro zone — in fact, it has now declined to well below the 2% ceiling targeted by policymakers.\nSpeculation that they won’t cut rates as quickly as the ECB has pushed the franc to its highest level since the Swiss National Bank abandoned its cap on the currency nine years ago.\nEven so, with Switzerland’s economy growing only feebly, officials will still face questions on the prospect of a reduction in borrowing costs in due course when they reveal their latest decision on Thursday.\nNorway\nNorges Bank faces a tough choice on whether or not to go ahead with a final quarter-point rate hike. Recent data could encourage officials to brush off potentially inflationary krone weakness and stay on hold as the economy cools.\nStagnation is anticipated for the current quarter before a contraction at the start of 2024, as businesses encounter more spare capacity and fewer hiring problems, a key sentiment survey by the central bank showed this week.\nMeanwhile, building activity is falling sharply and retail activity is slowing, even as Norway’s fossil-fuel sector cushions some of the fallout from stubbornly high inflation and rising credit costs. The Norges Bank decision comes Thursday.\nRussia\nAfter raising its key rate by 200 basis points in October, the Bank of Russia will likely need to hike by another percentage point to 16% on Friday as policymakers strive to bring inflation back to their 4% target, according to Bloomberg Economics Russia economist Alexander Isakov.\nBrazil\nTrue to repeated signaling, Brazil’s central bank, led by Roberto Campos Neto, can be expected to deliver a fourth-straight half-point rate cut on Wednesday, to 11.75%.\nA cooling economy and inflation that’s slowed back to within the central bank’s target range is widely expected to keep Banco Central do Brasil on that pace through the first quarter of 2024.\nAt that point, the board may slow the pace of rate reductions — depending on the global backdrop and state of local long-term inflation expectations, which remain above target across the entire forecast horizon.\nMexico\nIn Mexico, where Banxico typically doesn’t go in for dovish surprises, expect a unanimous decision on Thursday to keep the key rate at a record 11.25% for a sixth straight meeting.\nLooking ahead, slowing core inflation and a cooling services component now have Governor Victoria Rodriguez saying that the rate-cut discussion could begin in early 2024. The consensus among analysts is for an easing cycle to begin in the first quarter.\nPeru\nAlso on Thursday, Banco Central de Reserva del Perú’s December meeting finds the economy in recession and riding consecutive months of deflation, possibly making a case for a 50 basis-point reduction after three straight quarter-point cuts.\nStill, upside risks to inflation from El Niño-related disruptions and ongoing political turmoil will likely see veteran bank chief Julio Velarde stay the course and lower the key rate to 6.75% from 7%.\n--With assistance from Robert Jameson, Vince Golle, Ott Ummelas, Tony Halpin, Lizzy Burden, Andrew Atkinson, Anna Edwards and Bastian Benrath.\n",
        "title": "Global Rate-Cut Standoff Looms in 2023 Policy Finale"
    },
    {
        "id": 556,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adani-bond-rebound-helps-erase-200002229.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A rally over the last week was powerful enough to erase some losses on a series of dollar bonds tied to the conglomerate of billionaire Gautam Adani, debt that had dropped after a short seller accused firms owned by Adani of fraud.\nThe jump came after the group, which strenuously denies the allegations, raised $1.4 billion for a renewables project and published an initial blueprint for refinancing a solar-energy unit’s $750 million dollar bond that matures in September.\nThat was enough to also add a whopping $37.5 billion in market value to the group’s listed companies, while notes of the corporation’s electricity and power transmission businesses are now within striking distance of their price level before January’s report by Hindenburg Research.\nThe rebound suggests the conglomerate, once termed “deeply overleveraged” by research firm CreditSights, is finding favor with investors again. The group, whose operations range from cement to airports and coal mining, has yet to tap overseas bond markets since the January publication, which came at a time when rapidly rising US interest rates curbed offshore issuance by Asian companies.\nBillionaire Adani has “clearly got some great assets and he’s clearly able to monetize those,” said Kamil Dimmich, a partner at London-based North of South Capital. “He’s certainly been helped by the underlying businesses becoming more profitable.”\nThe conglomerate’s units have about $7.5 billion of dollar notes outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. About $1.58 billion of those notes come due next year, meaning the amount the firm has to pay for replacement debt will be closely watched. It’s already successfully refinanced $3.5 billion worth of credit for the purchase of two cement companies.\nAs part of the road map for the green energy firm’s bond, the firm said bankers will provide it with a $675 million funding letter in relation to the notes and it will use proceeds from equity transactions to come up with the money.\nOver the “next three years Adani Group companies, particularly on infrastructure and green space, will likely outperform as those are all backed by robust assets,” said Sanjiv Bhasin, director at IIFL Securities.\nThere are still obstacles facing the company in the wake of the short seller report. India’s Supreme Court set up a six-member panel in March to probe if there was a regulatory failure, and also asked the local markets regulator to investigate any manipulation in Adani stocks. The outcome of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Board of India on the allegations of impropriety and shortfalls in corporate governance is still outstanding.\nApart from delving into the rout in Adani Group stocks following Hindenburg’s report, Sebi is investigating if there was a violation of rules concerning minimum public shareholding, related party transactions and manipulation of stock prices.\n“The Adani group has demonstrated that they can access funding even as governance concern lingers, and we believe that it has levers to pull, including raising equity, to cover these maturities,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sharon Chen. “As funding access normalizes, we’re also watching the companies’ investment pace and the potential impact on leverage.”\n--With assistance from Bhuma Shrivastava, P R Sanjai and Ashutosh Joshi.\n",
        "title": "Adani Bond Rebound Helps Erase Short Seller Hit: Credit Weekly"
    },
    {
        "id": 557,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ubs-taps-jpmorgan-rueger-co-172043383.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- UBS Group AG has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. veteran Tommy Rueger as global co-head of equity capital markets, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nRueger, who is based in New York, will join Gareth McCartney in the role, said the people, who requested anonymity discussing confidential information. Jeff Mortara, currently McCartney’s global co-head of ECM, is set to pursue other opportunities either within UBS or externally, the people said.\nThe appointment comes as UBS bolsters the ranks of its US investment bank, one of the people said.\nRueger was earlier this year named vice chairman at JPMorgan after previously holding the role of head of health-care ECM. He has worked at the US lender since 1997, his LinkedIn profile shows.\nSpokespeople for UBS and JPMorgan declined to comment.\n",
        "title": "UBS Taps JPMorgan’s Rueger as Co-Head of Equity Capital Markets"
    },
    {
        "id": 558,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/still-hot-jobs-medical-milestone-152020809.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Hello from Washington. From an unexpectedly still-hot labor market to Congress’ struggles to reach a plan to fund the government long-term, we’re breaking down the most important stories from this week.\nThe stronger-than-expected November jobs report signaled that the US labor market is still humming even under the weight of high interest rates. The data, including the unemployment rate dipping to a four-month low of 3.7% and an uptick in the participation rate, prompted traders to pare expectations for the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy aggressively next year.\nWith a key measure of inflation hitting Tuesday and the Fed’s interest-rate decision on Wednesday, the week ahead will be a pivotal one for investors. Speculation that the Fed is done hiking rates has helped the S&P 500 Index add roughly $4 trillion in market value since late October, and at least one investor predicts stocks will grind higher into 2024. In a market riven with uncertainty, stock bulls who have simply sat tight and refused the temptation to outsmart the market are proving to be the big winners.\nThe US FDA’s approval of the first treatment using the Nobel-prize-winning technology Crispr is a medical milestone, not just for the some 100,000 Americans who suffer from sickle cell disease. Editing DNA with the same ease as spell-checking a Word document has long been a scientific holy grail and the technology’s real potential is still in the future.\nWith the conflict in the Middle East now entering its third month, Bloomberg Opinion’s Noah Feldman & Mohammed Alyahya argue that Israel must now take a bold step toward peace. The best way forward now, according to the authors, is for Israel and Saudi Arabia to restart serious negotiations that not only restore the status quo before Oct. 7, but go further in the direction of genuine, lasting peace based on the creation of a Palestinian state.\nGlobal tensions have also spread to a place briefly considered as a diplomatic safe space: the Arctic. As the region reemerges as a frontier between Russia and the US — even China, it’s also faced the consequences of climate change which warmed the environment and stoked geopolitical adventurism, according to Bloomberg Opinion’s Liam Denning, who takes a final look at how the Far North has become a laboratory of our global ills.\nMeanwhile, hostility within US Congress is high amid efforts to pass a long-term spending bill. Ultraconservatives in the House warned new Speaker Mike Johnson that any attempt to pass Ukraine aid before the country addresses migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border would lead to a rebellion from his right flank. Congress has until early next year to pass funding legislation before facing yet another government shutdown risk.\nThe indictment Thursday of Joe Biden’s son Hunter on nine federal tax charges is expected to become a political headache for the White House as the president puts a bigger focus on fundraising and campaigning ahead of the 2024 election. Biden, who is in Nevada and California this weekend to appeal to big-name donors, sidestepped the matter on Friday but Republicans are seizing on the case as a political gift.\nSpeaking of families, there’s new blood at the top of Bloomberg’s annual ranking of family fortunes. For the first time, the House of Nahyan has joined the list, taking the No. 1 one spot at $305 billion and toppling the Waltons of Walmart. In third place is the family behind Hermès, whose iconic Kelly and Birkin handbags has defied the post-pandemic downturn in luxury. In total, the world’s richest families added $1.5 trillion this year, largely by sticking together, united by a shared sense of duty and the belief that they’ll be richer for it.\nThanks for reading. Look out for our Sunday briefing, where we’ll look at what you need to know for the week ahead.\n",
        "title": "Still-Hot Jobs and a Medical Milestone: Saturday US Briefing"
    },
    {
        "id": 559,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-job-candidates-are-ghosting-employers-like-never-before-151009026.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Payback is hell.\nIn a turn of the tables, job seekers are increasingly ghosting employers. That’s according to a new report by Indeed, the online job search platform.\nProspective employees who are in the middle of the hiring process and vanish without letting the employer know why think it’s “fair play,” according to Raj Mukherjee, executive vice president at Indeed. “It’s easy to see why, after years of having been ghosted by employers.”\nIn other words, they apply for jobs, or are interviewed, sometimes by multiple people, and then it’s radio silence.\nMaybe you've been there or done that.\nMore than half of employers (57%) say ghosting had never happened to them prior to the past 12 months, according to the Indeed findings pulled from a survey of 4,500 job seekers and employers, each, in the US, the UK, and Canada.\nToo bad. A whopping 7 in 10 (70%) of US job seekers say they feel it’s “fair” to ghost employers, according to the data.\nFor many job seekers, being ghosted is maddening.\nThe silence echoes when they don’t hear back from an employer after they submit a resumé, perhaps because an artificial intelligence tool automatically screened and jettisoned it without a person even seeing it. Or it could be the even more personal blackout following a job interview, or even several stressful rounds of interviews. That’s crushing.\nMore than a third (35%) of US job seekers said an employer did not acknowledge their application in 2023, according to the survey. Even more job candidates, 4 in 10 (40%), report getting ghosted after a second- or third-round interview this year, compared to 30% in 2022.\nPer the latest research from Glassdoor, the website where current and former employees anonymously review companies, the total share of interview reviews from users that mention ghosting by employers has more than doubled since before the pandemic in February 2020. The findings draw on over a million interview reviews posted by US-based job seekers between 2016 and 2023.\nInterestingly, candidates who scored an interview with a hiring manager through a recruiter were 1.4 times more likely to be ghosted than candidates who simply applied blindly online. Job seekers who landed that one-on-one via a referral were less likely to be ghosted, but not entirely. Ghosting was still a quibble mentioned in a fraction (2.2%) of referral-based interview reviews.\nRudeness rules\nJob seekers are simply saying that two can play this game.\n“The spike in ghosting is quite surprising,” Mukherjee told Yahoo Finance. “It sparks curiosity about what's changing in the job market and how candidates are approaching their job searches these days.”\nHe’s right. In many ways, the remote process makes it possible. It dilutes the human connection. There are two pieces at play: First, there's the surge in virtual job interviews that ramped up during the pandemic — a practice that continues to be deeply embedded in the hiring landscape. And then, the push-button applying for positions online. Combined they create a less tangible person-to-person relationship. That, in turn, makes it far easier to shut off communication with a prospective employer (or potential employee) guilt-free and not look back.\n“Workplace norms and expectations regarding communication have evolved over time,” Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Workplace Intelligence, told Yahoo Finance. “Individuals may feel that traditional etiquette around formally declining offers has relaxed, especially in industries or sectors where job mobility is high.”\nThe reality: Two-thirds of US job seekers (75%) and employers (74%) say that ghosting has become ingrained in the hiring landscape, according to Indeed’s data.\nBut is the tide turning?\nProbably not. Ghosting is also a signal of who holds the cards in the job market. When the job market was tight with roughly two open jobs for every job seeker, in-demand workers had some leeway to desert potential employers they were interviewing with without so much as a goodbye if a better opportunity turned up. Some workers even accepted a position and walked away without a word.\nJob seekers said their motive for ghosting was usually because it wasn’t the right job or company for them, according to Indeed. Other reasons that emerged as the hiring process reached the final stages included pay offers that were too low, benefits that weren’t good enough, or receiving a better job offer.\nThe latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday showing the unemployment rate was 3.7% for the month, down from 3.9% in October, indicates that job seekers still have leverage.\n“The labor market has ample momentum heading into 2024. Hiring is still robust, job loss is still low, and employment is high, according to Nick Bunker, head of economic research for Indeed Hiring Lab. \"At the same time, the labor market is no longer speeding along at unsustainable speeds.\"\nThen, too, the rate of layoffs was little changed, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics report earlier this week, hiring remained largely unchanged, as was the rate of quitting, which generally reflects workers’ confidence in their ability to find new employment, he added.\nAll positive news for job seekers. “In today's competitive job market, candidates may receive multiple job offers simultaneously,” Schawbel said.\nOne in 4 job seekers (42%) said higher pay would help, or at least knowing what to expect early in the process. Of course it would. Roughly the same (41%) said better pay transparency, such as providing a salary range up-front, would keep them from ghosting at the last stage of the game. And certainly better benefits (39%) would sweeten the pot.\nThe good news that could ease some of the last-minute braking is that it’s becoming much easier for job seekers to find out how much a potential job may pay. Overall, the share of US job postings that disclose a salary range nearly tripled from February 2020 to August of this year, according to Indeed. The increase is largely due to a host of pay transparency laws enacted over the past few years by states.\nIn the end, it comes down to the human touch throughout the hiring process, particularly if it’s a drawn-out one.\nUnbelievably, while the majority of recruiters and hiring managers are aggravated by job seekers ghosting them, 40% have no strategies in place to stop it before it starts, according to Indeed’s survey.\nThey'd better brace themselves then. More than half (62%) of US job seekers said they plan to ghost employers during future job searches, a significant increase from only 37% back in 2019. “Ghosting provides an important window into human connections, revealing what’s broken in our hiring process,” Mukherjee said.\nKerry Hannon is a Senior Reporter and Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a workplace futurist, a career and retirement strategist, and the author of 14 books, including \"In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in The New World of Work\" and \"Never Too Old To Get Rich.\" Follow her on Twitter @kerryhannon.\nClick here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Why job candidates are 'ghosting' employers like never before"
    },
    {
        "id": 560,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/decisive-moment-arrives-4-trillion-150000837.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) — Investors are facing a pivotal week as a key measure of inflation that hits Tuesday and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision on Wednesday are expected to set the tone for the stock market and economy heading into 2024.\nGrowing speculation that the Fed is done hiking rates and will start cutting by mid-year is fueling a sharp drop in Treasury yields and rekindling investors’ risk appetite. The S&P 500 Index has added roughly $4 trillion in market value since late October, as traders rush into beaten-down areas of the market like small caps, which typically benefit from falling borrowing costs.\n“Stocks have been rallying on optimism the Fed is done raising rates,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance. “The pricing has been rational considering how much the 10-year yields have dropped since mid-October. It seems like stocks will continue to grind higher as we enter 2024.”\nThat said, a closer look reveals concerns about the week ahead. A measure of expected volatility in the S&P 500 for the next five trading sessions is surging relative to the subsequent five days. At one point this week, the gap reached the widest since March for such a period, signaling rising demand to hedge against turbulence.\nTuesday kicks off the one-two punch of crucial moments next week, with the release of November’s consumer price index. Signs of ebbing inflation could buoy shares into year-end by cementing expectations that the Fed will soon shift to easing. Consumer prices likely rose at a 3.1% annual pace, the lowest since June, according to a Bloomberg survey.\nThe next day, the central bank is projected to keep policy steady for the third straight meeting. With traders anticipating about a percentage point of total easing next year, they’ll be watching officials’ rate projections particularly closely as well as Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.\nThe risk is that a sturdy economy keeps inflation high, pushing officials to consider another hike or to keep borrowing costs elevated for longer than hoped. That could weigh on rate-sensitive tech stocks that have driven much of the market’s gains in 2023.\n“What Chair Powell says next week could change people’s minds, especially if he strikes a tone that’s more hawkish than what people are expecting,” Zaccarelli said.\nThe S&P 500 is up almost 20% this year, and closed Friday at the highest since March 2022. Traders are hoping that if bond yields are still generally heading lower, stocks are set up for broad-based gains heading into year-end. Since Oct. 19, the yield on 10-year Treasuries has fallen from nearly 5% to around 4.2% while the S&P 500 has risen almost 8%.\nYield Driver\nHistory shows that big drops in bond yields are beneficial to the stock market.\nSince 1980, there have been 33 instances in which 10-year Treasury yields fell 50 basis points or more within a month, according to data compiled by Christopher Cain at Bloomberg Intelligence. The median subsequent forward three-month return for the S&P 500 was nearly 8%, and for the Russell 2000 it was 8.2%.\n“The nature of this bond rally is based on bets of more supportive Fed policy, which is favorable for stocks,” Cain said.\nRetail investors appear to be buying into the enthusiasm. They picked up $6.8 billion worth of US stocks in the week through Wednesday, data compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Peng Cheng show. That’s the largest weekly inflow since March 2022, when the Fed began its tightening cycle.\nMeanwhile, many active managers who sat out this year’s rally are trying to make up for lost ground before the end of the year, creating even more stock-market momentum. Large-cap active funds struggled to keep up with last month’s rally, with just 41% beating their benchmark, data compiled by Bank of America Corp. show.\n“A lot of people completely messed up in 2023,” said Vincent Deluard, director of global macro strategy at StoneX, noting that many investors expected a recession heading into the year. “It’s been a very hard year for active managers. A lot of people got the macro picture wrong.”\n",
        "title": "Decisive moment arrives with $4 trillion stocks rally at stake"
    },
    {
        "id": 561,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quotes-eu-clinches-deal-landmark-144220059.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds comment from MEP, association, lawyer)\nSTOCKHOLM/LONDON/BRUSSELS, Dec 9 (Reuters) - European Union policymakers on Friday agreed a provisional deal on landmark rules governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI).\nThey include the use by governments of AI in biometric surveillance and how to regulate AI systems such as ChatGPT.\nHere is some reaction to the deal:\nSvenja Hahn, German MEP and shadow rapporteur for the European AI Act, on behalf of the liberal Renew Europe group:\n\"In 38 hours of negotiations over three days we were able to prevent massive overregulation of AI innovation and safeguard rule of law principles in the use of AI in law enforcement.\n\"We succeeded in preventing biometric mass surveillance. Despite an uphill battle over several days of negotiations, it was not possible to achieve a complete ban on real-time biometric identification against the massive headwind from the member states.\n\"They wanted to use biometric surveillance as unregulated as possible. Only the German government had called for a ban.\"\nFritz-Ulli Pieper, a specialist in IT law at Taylor Wessing:\n\"Many points still to be further worked on in technical trilogue. No one knows how the final wording will look like and if or how you can really push current agreement in a final law text. The devil will be in the detail of the final text.\n\"There are many areas where they had to make amends. For example, GenAI models are still in scope, but more limited and graded than initially. Or exceptions for open source, but with transparency and copyright obligations.\n\"In the end, this is very usual and necessary for results in highly controversial negotiations: that the outcome strikes a balance in both directions.\"\nMatteo Quarttrocchi, director of EMEA policy at BSA, which represents tech companies:\n\"Those technical details will be fundamental for how AI is developed and deployed in the EU.\n\"AI uptake in Europe is going to be instrumental to growth and innovation, and ensuring a balanced AI legislative framework that promotes responsible technology and protects citizens' rights is of the utmost importance.\"\nAlexandra van Huffelen, Dutch minister of digitalisation:\n\"Dealing with AI means fairly distributing the opportunities and the risks. AI is set to play a major role in many of the sectors in which the Netherlands excels, such as agriculture, education, health care and peace and security.\n\"I'm extremely pleased with this European outline agreement. We must nonetheless remain vigilant in respect of both the opportunities and the risks around the use of AI and enforcement of the rules.\"\nDaniel Friedlaender, head of the European office of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, a tech industry lobby group:\n\"Last night's political deal marks the beginning of important and necessary technical work on crucial details of the AI Act, which are still missing.\n\"Regrettably, speed seems to have prevailed over quality, with potentially disastrous consequences for the European economy. The negative impact could be felt far beyond the AI sector alone.\"\nKim van Sparrentak, a Dutch MEP who worked closely on the draft AI rules:\n\"Europe chooses its own path and does not follow the Chinese surveillance state.\n\"After a huge battle with the EU countries, we have restricted the use of these types of systems. In a free and democratic society you should be able to walk on the street without the government constantly following you on the street, at festivals or in football stadiums.\"\nDaniel Leufer, senior policy analyst at non-profit group, Access Now, which defends digital rights of people and communities at risk:\n\"Whatever the victories may have been in these final negotiations, the fact remains that huge flaws will remain in this final text: loopholes for law enforcement, lack of protection in the migration context, opt-outs for developers and big gaps in the bans on the most dangerous AI systems.\"\nDaniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF):\n\"Given how rapidly AI is developing, EU lawmakers should have hit pause on any legislation until they better understand what exactly it is they are regulating. There is likely an equal, if not greater, risk of unintended consequences from poorly conceived legislation than there is from poorly conceived technology. And unfortunately, fixing technology is usually much easier than fixing bad laws.\n\"The EU should focus on winning the innovation race, not the regulation race. AI promises to open a new wave of digital progress in all sectors of the economy. But it is not operating without constraints.\n\"Existing laws and regulations apply, and it is still too soon to know exactly what new rules may be necessary. EU policymakers should re-read the tale of the tortoise and the hare. Acting quickly may give the illusion of progress, but it does not guarantee success.\"\nEnza Iannopollo, analyst at Forrester, a research and advisory group:\n\"Despite the criticism, this is good news for businesses and society. For businesses, it starts providing companies with a solid framework for the assessment and mitigation of risks, that -- if unchecked -- could hurt customers and curtail businesses' ability to benefit from their investments in the technology. And for society, it helps protect people from potential, detrimental outcomes.\"\nSteffi Lemke, German Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection:\n\"With the European AI Regulation, we are protecting consumers from risks of the new technology. During the negotiations, we were particularly committed to ensuring that AI systems are transparent, comprehensible and verifiable.\n\"In future, companies that offer the use of AI technologies will have to provide information on how their systems work and explain AI-based decisions. It is also particularly important to me that consumer rights are strengthened: In the event of infringements, consumer associations will be able to take legal action.\n\"The new regulation is important so that we can keep up with the rapid pace of technological development in order to protect people's rights.\"\n(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, Martin Coulter in London and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Compiled by Josephine Mason; Editing by Clelia Oziel, Mark Potter and Mike Harrison)\n",
        "title": "QUOTES-EU clinches deal on landmark AI Act - reaction"
    },
    {
        "id": 562,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-the-right-way-to-lend-or-gift-money-to-help-your-loved-one-buy-a-home-123853175.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Saving for a down payment on a home can take a long time, especially amid steep mortgage rates and high home prices.\nThat’s why some Americans are looking to family for help.\nIn fact, the share of first-time homebuyers who received down payment gifts or loans from relatives or friends during the homebuying process in 2023 was 23%, according to a recent study by the National Association of Realtors. The NAR found 19% received gifts, while just 4% took out family loans.\nThat makes sense considering home prices continue to hit record highs and mortgage rates remain above 7%, making affordability more difficult for younger buyers who are struggling with student debt and rising day-to-day costs.\nRead more: Mortgage rates at 20-year high: Is 2023 a good time to buy a house?\n“You have a generation that struggles to find a down payment for their first house,” Mitchell Kraus, the owner of Capital Intelligence Services, told Yahoo Finance. “I'm fourth generation financial services... My father's done this for 60-something years. And you're working with individual clients, and it's just so much harder to save.”\nIntrafamily lending can help Americans speed up the process of purchasing a home in an unfriendly housing market.\n“So just understanding really how it's not overly complicated, how it can be done easily, and how you can save a family member a significant amount of money potentially by having a lower interest rate and a little bit more flexibility may be very appealing,” said Jaime Eckels, a certified financial planner and wealth management partner with Plante Moran Financial Advisors.\nHere’s how to navigate such financial help.\nThose seeking to help should begin by taking inventory of their funds to make sure they can genuinely afford to assist family members in financing their down payment. Those getting the funds should also take into account their finances.\nBoth need to understand what their income sources and expenses are. For those on the receiving end, know “what your expenses would be if you owned a home, and now you have a mortgage payment and property taxes and everything that comes with homeownership,” Eckels said.\nIf possible, the experts recommended that buyers receiving help also put at least 20% down on a home. Otherwise, they will also have to pay private mortgage insurance, or PMI, which increases the monthly mortgage payment.\n“It's not going to be the first choice because it just adds so much cost to the price of homeownership and takes away some of the value of homeownership, and it makes it harder to build equity,” Kraus said.\nDon’t forget the emotional implications of helping out.\nKraus noted that unfairness tends to drive a major wedge between family members. In particular, he said that children or grandchildren resent feeling that their siblings or cousins were treated better than they were.\n“Make sure that if you're going to loan [or gift] money to one child or one grandchild, you have the capacity and a willingness to do it for everybody else,” he said. “Otherwise, you're helping one child, and you're probably tearing your family apart.”\nRead more: How to buy a house in 2023\nIt’s so important to define what help you’re giving.\n“People have to be clear-eyed on what they're asking or what they're getting,” said Doug Ryan, vice president of policy and research at Prosperity Now, a housing nonprofit. “Are they getting a gift? And does that trigger any tax implications? It's a good idea to talk to an attorney to get this laid out for you.”\nIf the down payment assistance is a gift, the maximum amount a gift giver can give another person — aside from a spouse — in the 2023 calendar year without reporting it to the IRS is $17,000. If it's anything more than that, the gift giver will likely need to fill out tax Form 709 to report the gift.\nThat doesn't mean the gift is taxed. It just means gifts above $17,000 can count against the gift giver's lifetime gift exemption. For 2023, the maximum lifetime amount is $12.92 million in cash or other assets before the federal gift tax comes into play.\nThen, there are intra-family loans for down payment assistance. In an intra-family loan, someone with means helps a family member finance their mortgage and then charges them interest. These loans also must be repaid on a schedule.\nEckels recommends hiring an attorney and formally documenting the agreement between family members. The paperwork should include the loan, the rates, and the total payment for the property. Eckels said it was particularly important for the person lending the money to have a lien on the property in order to be able to use it as collateral in the event of a default.\n“It's super important to still have the loan documented appropriately. And so oftentimes that means bringing in an attorney to make sure that the proper documents are drafted in order to again make sure that the terms are all laid out clearly what happens in the event of default,” she said. “Also to make sure that the proper paperwork is on file because there is you know, state and county specific real estate liens that need to be reported and filed as well.”\nThe interest on the lent money must be greater than or equal to the applicable federal rate in order to qualify as a loan rather than a taxable gift by the IRS. There are short-term, mid-term, and long-term rates based on the duration of the loan. Lenders need to know what the buyer is expected to pay back because it's part of the debt-to-income equation used to qualify applicants for a mortgage.\nIn some cases, a loaned down payment may not be allowed, Ryan said, if the borrower fails to comply with federal rules by not charging the appropriate applicable federal rate. That could constitute mortgage fraud.\nAdditionally, a traditional mortgage lender may require any loan from family to be secured by some kind of collateral that the buyer has, such as a car or other asset, according to LendingTree. The person loaning the money may also be required to provide a written statement attesting to the terms of the loan for the mortgage application process.\nCatherine Valega, a financial planner from Green Bee Advisory, recommended that those seeking loans from family members to purchase a home find an intra-family mortgage company. Such companies can help formalize loan repayment and ensure that all tax documents are properly filed. Valega explained that such an arrangement can help mitigate snags in the repayment process.\n“It's very easy to be like, ‘Oh, hey, Mom, I can't make a payment.’ Right?” she said. “So I would always say if you're considering a long-term loan, well, I probably would engage with one of these services that helps you service the loan and make sure all the tax documents are filed correctly.”\nEckels pointed out that providing monetary assistance — especially when the money is loaned — can often shift the dynamics of family relationships and create tension where it didn’t exist. In particular, a relative may tend to monitor the spending of the loved one they helped out.\n“So you kind of open the door to allow other people into your personal space, your personal business, and they may want to be a little bit more involved and that can create some tensions amongst family members,” she said.\nThe best way to combat that is to keep an open dialogue with their family members, especially when it comes to a loan, which is an on-going financial commitment.\n“The number one thing before you enter in any of this loan process or document anything is talk through it talk through every scenario. What would be the case if I lost my job and therefore I couldn't make the payment?” said Eckels. “I think it's just sitting down talking about it, talking through the different scenarios, the structure of the loan, what happens in the event of not being able to make payments. Just having that conversation, I think that's probably the best you can do.”\nDylan Croll is a Yahoo Finance reporter.\nClick here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Here's the right way to lend or gift money to help your loved one buy a home"
    },
    {
        "id": 563,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marex-shuns-london-favor-york-121653628.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- UK commodities broker, Marex Group, has chosen New York over London for its second attempt at a public listing, in another blow to the UK’s ailing stock market.\nThe New York Stock Exchange listing could see Marex valued at more than $1.8 billion (£1.4 billion), according to the Times, far higher than the £500 million ($627 million) to £700 million ($878 million) range it targeted when attempting to float in London two years ago.\nThe UK government and City regulators are trying to boost the appeal of domestic markets with reforms including an overhaul of the UK listing regime by the Financial Conduct Authority, which will replace the premium and standard segments that make up the London market with a single category.\nDespite this, however, Marex confidentially submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering on Friday. The firm cited “challenging” market conditions for the abandonment of its 2021 London IPO attempt.\nMarex’s decision follows in the footsteps of the likes of building materials supplier CRH Plc and Cambridge-based microchip designer, ARM Holdings Plc, both of which opted to move their listings to New York this year. Meanwhile, TUI AG announced on Wednesday that it’s considering making Frankfurt its primary listing, raising further questions around the competitiveness of the UK bourse as a listing destination.\n",
        "title": "Marex Shuns London in Favor of New York for Second IPO Attempt"
    },
    {
        "id": 564,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quotes-eu-clinches-deal-landmark-113531170.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds Dutch minister comment)\nSTOCKHOLM/LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - European Union policymakers on Friday agreed a provisional deal on landmark rules governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI), including governments' use of AI in biometric surveillance and how to regulate AI systems such as ChatGPT.\nHere are some reaction to the news from key people and experts:\nAlexandra van Huffelen, Dutch minister of digitalisation:\n\"Dealing with AI means fairly distributing the opportunities and the risks. AI is set to play a major role in many of the sectors in which the Netherlands excels, such as agriculture, education, health care and peace and security.\n\"I’m extremely pleased with this European outline agreement. We must nonetheless remain vigilant in respect of both the opportunities and the risks around the use of AI and enforcement of the rules.”\nDaniel Friedlaender, head of CCIA Europe (a non-profit trade association for computer and communications industry):\n“Last night’s political deal marks the beginning of important and necessary technical work on crucial details of the AI Act, which are still missing. Regrettably, speed seems to have prevailed over quality, with potentially disastrous consequences for the European economy. The negative impact could be felt far beyond the AI sector alone.\"\nDutch MEP Kim van Sparrentak, who worked closely on the draft AI rules:\n“Europe chooses its own path and does not follow the Chinese surveillance state.\nAfter a huge battle with the EU countries, we have restricted the use of these types of systems. In a free and democratic society you should be able to walk on the street without the government constantly following you on the street, at festivals or in football stadiums.”\nDaniel Leufer, senior policy analyst at non-profit group, Access Now, which defends digital rights of people and communities at risk:\n\"Whatever the victories may have been in these final negotiations, the fact remains that huge flaws will remain in this final text: loopholes for law enforcement, lack of protection in the migration context, opt-outs for developers and big gaps in the bans on the most dangerous AI systems.\"\nDaniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF):\n\"Given how rapidly AI is developing, EU lawmakers should have hit pause on any legislation until they better understand what exactly it is they are regulating. There is likely an equal, if not greater, risk of unintended consequences from poorly conceived legislation than there is from poorly conceived technology. And unfortunately, fixing technology is usually much easier than fixing bad laws.\nThe EU should focus on winning the innovation race, not the regulation race. AI promises to open a new wave of digital progress in all sectors of the economy. But it is not operating without constraints.\nExisting laws and regulations apply, and it is still too soon to know exactly what new rules may be necessary. EU policymakers should re-read the tale of the tortoise and the hare. Acting quickly may give the illusion of progress, but it does not guarantee success.\"\nEnza Iannopollo, analyst at Forrester, a research and advisory group:\n\"Despite the criticism, this is good news for businesses and society. For businesses, it starts providing companies with a solid framework for the assessment and mitigation of risks, that -- if unchecked -- could hurt customers and curtail businesses' ability to benefit from their investments in the technology. And for society, it helps protect people from potential, detrimental outcomes.\"\n(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Martin Coulter in London Compiled by Josephine Mason Editing by Clelia Oziel and Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "QUOTES-EU clinches deal on landmark AI Act"
    },
    {
        "id": 565,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-clinches-deal-landmark-ai-112718320.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "STOCKHOLM/LONDON (Reuters) - European Union policymakers on Friday agreed a provisional deal on landmark rules governing the use of artificial intelligence, including governments' use of AI in biometric surveillance and how to regulate AI systems such as ChatGPT.\nHere are some reaction to the news from key people and experts:\nDaniel Friedlaender, head of CCIA Europe (a non-profit trade association for computer and communications industry):\n“Last night’s political deal marks the beginning of important and necessary technical work on crucial details of the AI Act, which are still missing. Regrettably, speed seems to have prevailed over quality, with potentially disastrous consequences for the European economy. The negative impact could be felt far beyond the AI sector alone.\"\nDutch MEP Kim van Sparrentak, who worked closely on the draft AI rules:\n“Europe chooses its own path and does not follow the Chinese surveillance state.\nAfter a huge battle with the EU countries, we have restricted the use of these types of systems. In a free and democratic society you should be able to walk on the street without the government constantly following you on the street, at festivals or in football stadiums.”\nDaniel Leufer, senior policy analyst at non-profit group, Access Now, which defends digital rights of people and communities at risk:\n\"Whatever the victories may have been in these final negotiations, the fact remains that huge flaws will remain in this final text: loopholes for law enforcement, lack of protection in the migration context, opt-outs for developers and big gaps in the bans on the most dangerous AI systems.\"\nDaniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF):\n\"Given how rapidly AI is developing, EU lawmakers should have hit pause on any legislation until they better understand what exactly it is they are regulating. There is likely an equal, if not greater, risk of unintended consequences from poorly conceived legislation than there is from poorly conceived technology. And unfortunately, fixing technology is usually much easier than fixing bad laws.\nThe EU should focus on winning the innovation race, not the regulation race. AI promises to open a new wave of digital progress in all sectors of the economy. But it is not operating without constraints.\nExisting laws and regulations apply, and it is still too soon to know exactly what new rules may be necessary. EU policymakers should re-read the tale of the tortoise and the hare. Acting quickly may give the illusion of progress, but it does not guarantee success.\"\nEnza Iannopollo, analyst at Forrester, a research and advisory group:\n\"Despite the criticism, this is good news for businesses and society. For businesses, it starts providing companies with a solid framework for the assessment and mitigation of risks, that -- if unchecked -- could hurt customers and curtail businesses' ability to benefit from their investments in the technology. And for society, it helps protect people from potential, detrimental outcomes.\"\n(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Martin Coulter in London; Compiled by Josephine Mason; edited by Clelia Oziel)\n",
        "title": "EU clinches deal on landmark AI Act"
    },
    {
        "id": 566,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chart-of-the-week-pessimistic-consumers-are-suddenly-feeling-better-110026806.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Friday’s consumer sentiment index, out from the University of Michigan, showed a 13% jump in how people feel about the economy, surprising investors with this positivity.\nFour months of pessimism have been erased in one fell swoop. To consumers, it feels like summer. Or last August anyway.\nThe report said that this good mood is “primarily on the basis of improvements in the expected trajectory of inflation.”\nIt’s not the only sign of an often pessimistic cohort putting a smile on.\nLast week’s Consumer Confidence Index from The Conference Board showed a wave of optimism rolled through in November, snapping a three-month decline. Higher prices, wars, and rates had led consumer concerns. And The Conference Board found these increases in optimism were largely driven by the 55-plus age group.\nWhich speaks to one of the great things about these surveys: You don’t really have to wonder why.\nPeople are suddenly feeling good about inflation and where it’s heading, which has been the 2023 bugaboo for both Fed Chair Jay Powell and pretty much anybody who buys things — also known as consumers.\nFriday’s report, on this count, also offered some notable optimism. Consumers now expect prices to rise next year at the slowest pace in two years, and inflation over the long run is expected to rise by the least since 2011.\nRandomly surveyed consumers pulling numbers out of their heads may not seem meaningful.\nBut Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve understand that these are the very people who both buy stuff and set the prices.\nAnd their declining pessimism on these bases will very much be noted by the central bank.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Pessimistic consumers are suddenly feeling good"
    },
    {
        "id": 567,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-everywhere-cop28-vexing-activists-035947079.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- At the world’s most important climate summit, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries — whose members supply almost 30% of the world’s oil — has a pavilion for the first time.\nThere, staff were giving out a children’s book about oil. A grey-haired cartoon Professor named Riggs takes young readers through topics as arcane as the lightness and sourness of crude, before explaining why oil is important: “Without oil, we would not be able to continue to enjoy the same standard of living.” The book proved so popular that the pavilion ran out of copies just four days into the two weeks of COP28.\nOil and gas executives have tended to keep a low profile at the annual UN climate change gathering, but they have little reason to hide at COP28, hosted by the United Arab Emirates — one of the world’s largest oil exporters — and led by the CEO of its national oil company. At least 2,456 representatives of the fossil fuel industry have been granted access to COP28, according to an analysis by the “Kick Big Polluters Out” pressure group. The number is nearly four times higher than in Sharm El Sheikh last year. If they were a country, they would outnumber all national delegations at the conference except for Brazil and the UAE.\nHeads of major oil companies have attended as part of country delegations. The CEO of TotalEnergies SE, Patrick Pouyanne, is part of the French delegation, while Darren Woods, CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., is accredited to the UAE’s. Other industry representatives attend under the umbrella of influence groups such as the International Emissions Trading Association, which registered at least 110 people for the summit.\nAs COP28 enters its final few days, the most contentious issue is whether the final agreement will pledge to phase down fossil fuels. To many of the thousands of climate activists among the 100,000 or so people registered to attend, the prominence of the oil and gas industry is a travesty — giving the industry most responsible for climate change a seat at the table.\nOil exporters are pushing back. Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said this week that the text shouldn’t agree to a phase down, while OPEC’s secretary-general wrote to members asking them to resist the idea.\n“You don’t invite the tobacco lobbyists to a health convention when you’re writing health policy,” said Emily Lowan of Climate Action Network Canada. “They have clear stated interests against the very premise of these negotiations, at this COP in particular, related to agreeing on the language on the phase out of fossil fuels.”\nOthers take industry’s statements of good intent at face value and argue the coalition tackling the climate crisis needs to be as broad as possible. Either way, there’s no way of avoiding oil and gas at the giant Expo park hosting COP28 on the outskirts of Dubai.\nFrom luncheons to panel discussions in country pavilion panels and high level declarations, oil and gas is making its case. Industry-linked events often focus on technologies such as carbon capture and making fossil fuel extraction “greener.”\nAt IETA’s two-story “BusinessHub,” where there’s a Carbon Market Networking Lounge, a Partners Private Lounge, fruit bowls and an espresso machine, carbon capture was at the center of discussions. The group’s 110 registered attendees represent companies ranging from Norway’s Equinor to Shell Plc. The sign welcoming visitors lists Chevron Corp., America’s No. 2 oil company, as a partner.\nRead More: What Is COP28 and Why Is It Important?\nBack-to-back events on carbon capture and storage coincided with a networking luncheon for a coalition of Canadian industry leaders. Avik Dey, CEO of Capital Power, a utility with gas- and coal-fired power plants, is attending COP with the US-based Business Council for Sustainable Energy, an association whose members include the American Gas Association.\n“I’m super excited to be here because the heavy-emitting industries are here and being part of the conversation,” said Dey, whose badge lists him as an observer. “I think mankind is the problem. We’re all part of the problem, so all of us need to be part of the solution.”\nFor industry representatives, COP presents a chance to be in the same room with potential partners and government officials with whom it might take weeks to get a meeting back home. Ministers, CEOs and corporate strategists sip coffee in the same pavilions and cram together in the same panel audiences, where it’s easy to strike up an informal chat.\nBy keeping Sultan Al Jaber as both head of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and president of the climate summit, the United Arab Emirates had given industry a green light, said Richard Merzian, a director at an Australian renewables industry association and former COP negotiator for Australia.\n“What I see now is a proliferation of these spaces to create more legitimacy for these delay tactics,” Merzian said. “Carbon capture and storage is a technology invented by the oil industry in order to push C02 down and push oil up.”\nBut Al Jaber, who’s always made plain his belief that his industry should be part of the situation, put oil and gas at the heart of one of signature achievements at COP28. He persuaded more than 40 oil and gas companies, including Exxon, Total and Shell, to join an Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter. It’s controversial because it doesn’t commit members to reductions in oil and gas production, but they will have to all-but-stop emissions of methane, a super-harmful greenhouse gas, by 2030. That could have a tangible impact on global emissions.\n“We must do all we can to decarbonize the energy system we have today,” Al Jaber told delegates last week.\nAnd he has plenty of supporters as well as detractors.\nThe “UAE brought the energy sector into the room to have, for the first time, inclusive real dialogue about the transition, supply-demand dynamics, about what is really difficult and what is relatively easier in terms of wins, like the methane pledge,” said Jay Collins, vice chairman of corporate and investment banking at Citi.\nBut at times, the irony seems almost too much. At one event, the CEO of Libya’s National Oil Co. launched a new sustainability plan, complete with glossy brochures promising the reduction of gas flaring by 2030. In an interview after the event, the CEO said the company was seeking to increase production by one hundred thousand barrels a day by the end of next year and was pursuing a plan to get daily production to two million barrels by 2026.\nThe industry’s boldness has also caused tension with renewables groups and climate activists.\nIn one part of the Blue Zone, the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, a coalition pushing renewable energy, shares a makeshift wall with the Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN), a group that “unites Canada’s oil and gas industry, innovators, technology vendors, academia, research institutes, financiers and government,” according to its LinkedIn page.\nAt yet another carbon capture panel in the CRIN pavilion called “Capturing Your Attention: Sharing Carbon Capture & Storage Knowledge,” panelists Dey from Capital Power and Kendall Dilling, a soft-spoken oil executive who also chairs Canadian oil sands companies group Pathways Alliance, faced critical questioning from an audience where “Emissions cap” baseball hats featured prominently. Above the panelists, a television screen showed an image of snow-capped mountains and a still blue lake, overlaid with “CRIN” in fine lettering.\nAttendees said that Pathways had been lobbying to introduce loopholes and a delayed timeline to the Canadian emissions cap plan. Half way through the panel, a group of activists stood up and walked out of the CRIN pavilion, holding signs that read “No to Carbon Capture. Stop Big Oil Greenwashing.” There were enough audience members who stayed, many of them part of the Canadian energy industry, to fill the empty seats.\n(Adds comments from Citigroup banker.)\n",
        "title": "Oil Is Everywhere at COP28, Vexing Those Seeking Its Demise"
    },
    {
        "id": 568,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/charting-global-economy-us-labor-100000193.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The US labor market strengthened in November with pickups in employment and wages, deflating hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates early next year.\nThe acceleration in payrolls is at odds with recent reports that have depicted a softer hiring pace, an outcome favored by the Fed as it will help rein in demand and tame price pressures. Officials are still expected to leave rates unchanged when they meet next week.\nElsewhere, Japan’s economy contracted in the third quarter by more than initially reported, while Brazil’s barely expanded in the period. Economists are betting on a more pronounced slowdown in Hong Kong given challenges from China and higher interest rates.\nHere are some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week on the latest developments in the global economy:\nUS\nPayrolls increased 199,000 last month following a 150,000 advance in October. The return of striking auto workers helped boost the count by 30,000. The solid labor-market figures shift focus to inflation numbers this coming week as Fed officials gauge how long to maintain interest rates at this cycle’s peak.\nConsumer sentiment rebounded sharply in early December, topping all forecasts as households dialed back their year-ahead inflation expectations by the most in 22 years. Consumers see prices rising at an annual rate of 3.1% over the coming year, the lowest level since March 2021. The 1.4 percentage points decline from the prior month was the largest since October 2001.\nWorld\nPrice increases in OECD countries slowed in October to the weakest in two years in a sign that advanced economies are overcoming their worst inflation crisis in decades. The headline measure for the 38-member club, which includes all Group of Seven economies, dropped to 5.6% from 6.2% as food-cost pressures lessened rapidly and energy prices fell back in most countries.\nThe Panama Canal, the century-old engineering marvel that revolutionized global trade, is being squeezed shut by drought and forcing shippers worldwide to face a painful choice. Each option adds cost, at a time when governments around the world are struggling to tame inflation.\nIsrael’s central bank brought its unprecedented currency interventions to an almost complete halt in November, as the shekel rebounded in tandem with the rally in US stocks while the war against Hamas stays relatively contained. Kenya surprised with the biggest interest-rate hike in more than a decade. Canada, Australia, Poland, Namibia, Uganda, Serbia and India left rates unchanged.\nEurope\nIndustrial production in Germany and Italy stumbled at the start of the final quarter of the year, after France and Spain reported similar outcomes, pointing to a possible recession in the region.\nAsia\nJapan’s economy shrank at the sharpest pace since the height of the pandemic, an outcome that complicates the policy path for the Bank of Japan amid soaring speculation it is edging closer to scrapping the world’s last negative rate regime. Gross domestic product contracted at a 2.9% annualized pace in the three months through September from the previous quarter.\nJapanese investors are spending the most in two decades to buy up properties overseas, undeterred by the global real estate slump and the yen’s decline to a 50-year low. Flush with cash and in the only developed economy with access to rock-bottom financing rates, their purchases are giving some relief to the market as rising office vacancies and interest rates keep other buyers away.\nAssets held by South Korean households shrank for the first time in data going back a decade after the central bank rapidly raised interest rates, contributing to a correction in the property market.\nHong Kong’s economy will likely grow more slowly than previously expected both this year and next as challenges from China’s slowdown and the impact from elevated interest rates weigh on the financial hub. The downgrades reflect a muted post-pandemic recovery as growth has been weak despite a boost this year from a tourism revival, and suggest that tough times are still ahead for the Asian financial center.\nEmerging Markets\nBrazil’s economy unexpectedly expanded in the third quarter, giving a temporary boost to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his efforts to improve living standards ahead of a period of softer growth.\n--With assistance from Lisa Du, William Horobin, Sam Kim, Cynthia Li, Ruth Liao, Yoshiaki Nohara, Andrew Rosati, Zoe Schneeweiss, Alexander Weber and Sonja Wind.\n",
        "title": "Charting the Global Economy: US Labor Market Picks Up Steam"
    },
    {
        "id": 569,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-consumer-price-decline-worsens-020019513.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s consumer prices fell at the steepest pace in three years while producer costs dropped even further into negative territory, underscoring the challenges facing the economic recovery.\nThe consumer price index fell 0.5% last month from a year earlier, the national statistics bureau said in a statement Saturday. That’s the biggest drop since November 2020 and is weaker than the 0.2% drop projected by economists in a Bloomberg survey.\nProducer prices declined 3%, compared with a forecast of a 2.8% fall. Factory-gate costs have been mired in deflation territory for 14 consecutive months.\nChina has struggled with falling prices much of this year, contrasting with many other parts of the world where central banks are focused on taming inflation instead. Bloomberg Economics expects deflationary risks to persist into 2024, as there aren’t enough catalysts to counter the housing slump, which has suppressed demand and prices.\nDeflationary pressures have increased because of weak domestic demand, said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd. “This highlights the importance of more supportive fiscal policy.”\nDeflation is dangerous for China because it can lead to a downward spiral of economic activity. Consumers may hold off purchases on expectations prices will keep falling, further weighing on overall consumption. Businesses might lower production and investment due to uncertain future demand.\nDeflation can also make monetary policies to stimulate the economy less effective, as declining prices lower corporate income and make it more difficult for companies to service their debt. The central bank has sought to downplay the risks of deflation this year, with an adviser to the People’s Bank of China saying last month that those pressures are “temporary.”\nStronger Support\nBeijing recently turned to fiscal policy to spur domestic demand, unexpectedly increasing its budget deficit and encouraging banks to help local governments refinance debt at lower interest rates to help increase their spending capacity.\nThere are indications that fiscal support will strengthen in the coming year to help the recovery: China’s top leaders on Friday announced such policies will be stepped up “appropriately” and emphasized the importance of economic “progress,” suggesting next year’s growth goal may be ambitious.\nRead more: China Politburo Raises Expectations for Ambitious 2024 GDP Goal\nBut it has been difficult for additional government spending to offset declines in demand coming from other sectors. The value of new home sales among China’s 100 biggest developers fell 29.6% on-year in November.\nExports also remain weak, rising just 0.5% last month, far below the pace seen in recent years. Economists have said it’s too early to call a bottom for growth, with some predicting further pressure on the economy in 2024 because of ongoing challenges from the property sector.\nThe weak CPI figures have been partly due to slumping pork prices. An ample supply of hogs and sluggish consumption have weighed on the market, prompting the government to take steps to support prices. The meat has a large share in China’s CPI basket due to its popularity among local diners.\nThe so-called core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.6% on year in November, repeating the previous month’s performance.\nCHINA REACT: Deeper Deflation Surprise - Yes, Demand Crash - No\nChina has set an annual inflation target of around 3% this year, which it is nearly certain to miss. Economists have mixed views on the outlook for 2024, with some arguing that consumer prices could grow at a pace of around 1% as sentiment improves, and others arguing deflation will persist into the first half.\nProactive fiscal stimulus will be a vital part of China’s policy objectives next year, according to Bruce Pang, chief economist for Greater China at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. The measures will “have to strike a balance between juicing investment and consumption, and capping debt risks of local governments.”\n--With assistance from Jill Disis and Yujing Liu.\n(Updates with additional comments and details throughout)\n",
        "title": "China’s Consumer Price Drop Worsens, Fueling Deflation Fears"
    },
    {
        "id": 570,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nigeria-outlook-raised-positive-moody-221006899.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria’s credit outlook was raised to positive by Moody’s Investors Service as the nation takes steps to improve its fiscal position and shore up foreign reserves.\nThe African country’s outlook was moved to positive from stable, according to a Friday statement. Moody’s cited actions taken by the government, including devaluation of the naira and removal of the largest part of the oil subsidy.\n“The positive outlook reflects the possible reversal of the deterioration in Nigeria’s fiscal and external position as a result of the authorities’ reform efforts,” wrote analysts Lucie Villa and Matt Robinson.\nIt affirmed Nigeria’s rating at Caa1, seven levels into junk due to “still weak” fiscal and external positions. The reforms may not be enough to improve its credit profile, Moody’s said.\nNigerian central bank chief Olayemi Cardoso last month pledged to curb inflation and steady the nation’s battered currency, declaring that policymakers will clear forward foreign-exchange contracts that have weighed on the naira.\nA heavy backlog of demand for the US currency has contributed to a 40% slump in the naira’s value against the greenback since President Bola Tinubu’s eased foreign-exchange controls in June.\nSince becoming the nation’s leader on May 29, Tinubu has scrapped the payment of an expensive fuel subsidy an attempt to transform an ailing economy to woo investment and achieve 6%-plus growth in coming years. The last time Nigeria achieved that growth rate was in 2014.\nThe painful reforms have contributed to surging inflation, which reached an 18-year high in October, but have not yet done much to lift growth. Gross domestic product expanded 2.54% in the three months through September from a year earlier, compared with growth of 2.51% in the previous quarter.\nNigeria is expected to spend at least six times more on servicing its debt next year than on building new schools or hospitals in the country. More than 40% of the population lives in extreme poverty.\nBefore the release of the Moody’s report, Ibukunoluwa Omoyeni, an economist at Vetiva Research, said the rating company could look favorably on the minor recoveries in oil production, refining projects, and reforms in the foreign-exchange market, but frown at low levels of net reserves.\n",
        "title": "Nigeria Outlook Raised to Positive by Moody’s on Reform Progress"
    },
    {
        "id": 571,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-gets-ready-cash-090000078.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- As the carbon offset market gets a new lease on life from the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, bankers from Wall Street and the City of London are positioning themselves to get a chunk of the dealmaking they say is coming.\nBanks that have been building up carbon trading and finance desks include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Barclays Plc. They’re looking to finance the development of carbon sequestration projects, to trade credits and to advise corporate clients buying offsets. They’re also keen to support local projects in emerging markets that currently lack the financial clout to scale up their work.\n“A lot of project developers don’t have huge balance sheets and have difficulty raising money,” said Sonia Battikh, Citi’s global head of carbon offsets trading. “Working out how to bridge that financing gap and channel money to projects is where a bank like Citi can play a role.”\nWall Street is racing to get a foothold in a market that has the potential to reach as much as $1 trillion, as offsets offer a way for companies to hit net zero without actually eliminating all their emissions. Rich Gilmore, the chief executive of investment manager Carbon Growth Partners, said it’s already clear there’ll soon be an acute under-supply of high-quality credits, given the demand.\nAgainst that backdrop, “the Wall Street giants will need to balance speed to market with a deep understanding of the rules, norms and expectations” of how the voluntary carbon market is evolving, he said.\nFor now, it’s a market that’s still trying to emerge from a long list of controversies.\nMany of the credits generated have drawn criticism from climate scientists for their ostensible failure to live up to the environmental claims made by those selling them. Last month, the chief executive of South Pole — the world’s biggest seller of carbon offsets — stepped down as the company pledged to look into allegations of greenwashing and “learn from the experience.”\nBankers studying the market say such episodes can’t be allowed to erode confidence in the future of carbon offsetting. “It would be a shame if the criticism, though well-meaning, undermines money flows to these projects,” said Kiru Rajasingam, head of European power, gas and emissions trading at Citi.\nAnd speaking at the COP28 summit in Dubai, John Kerry, US climate negotiator, described himself as “a firm believer in the power of carbon markets to drive ambition and action.”\nIngmar Grebien, who runs the Commodities Sustainable Solutions unit at Goldman Sachs, said the markets he looks at “remain fragmented and in their infancy in terms of efficiency and transparency.”\nAt Goldman, which hired former Gazprom executive Leigh Smith last year with a remit that includes trading carbon credits, the “focus is on expanding trading and financing solutions across sustainable commodities such as carbon, renewables and other nascent environmental products,” Grebien said.\nJPMorgan hired its first trader for voluntary credits in Houston earlier this year, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing information they’re not authorized to disclose. A JPMorgan spokesperson, who declined to name the new hire, said the firm is “adding carbon trading capabilities.”\nThe biggest US bank offers trading in carbon credits along with capital, advisory and market-making services. It’s an “increasingly significant” area of focus for JPMorgan, the spokesperson said.\nFor some, the arrival of global banks in a market that has yet to be properly regulated marks a worrying development.\n“After a year of revelations about how awful the voluntary forest carbon projects have been,” it is “amazing people are again saying we need this without a complete overhaul,” said Michael Sheren, a former senior adviser at the Bank of England who’s now a fellow at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.\n“The VCM is like a multi-headed serpent that rose again at COP28,” he said.\nThough climate scientists have long warned against relying on offsets to achieve net zero emissions, they also acknowledge that such products are critical when it comes to tackling residual emissions in hard-to-abate sectors.\nAnd in the name of exorcising the ghosts of the past, a new era of collaboration took hold during the first week of COP28. The biggest voluntary carbon standard setters agreed to align best practices and improve transparency, while key organizations plan to establish a comprehensive integrity framework for carbon crediting programs.\nThe US Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which regulates derivatives markets, used the COP28 summit to unveil standards for high integrity carbon offsets futures trading. United Nations officials at the talks in Dubai are expected to announce new guardrails around the voluntary carbon market that will be based on guidelines drafted by experts last month.\nVoluntary carbon credits “aren’t going to solve the climate crisis,” Rajasingam said. “But at the same time, we don’t want valuable projects to go unfunded because of reputational stigma.”\nFor now, carbon prices are at historic lows. Last year saw a 12% slump in demand, with a further 5% decline seen in 2023, according to BloombergNEF.\n“But the fundamental drivers underpinning demand haven’t changed,” BNEF’s Layla Khanfar wrote in a recent research note.\nDrivers include the mere fact that many companies will be unable to meet net zero goals without using offsets, along with the prospect of national restrictions. Such dynamics set the stage for a considerable price bump by mid-century, BNEF estimates.\nHow Do Offsets Work:\nThe point of the voluntary carbon offset market is to generate carbon credits, which are then generally bought by companies to offset their emissions. A carbon credit is a paper security that’s supposed to represent one ton of CO2 reduced or removed from the atmosphere, generated by projects like wind farms or planting trees. Project developers team up with middlemen such as South Pole to sell the credits. Buyers can trade the units or use them to offset their own emissions, in which case they must retire the credit to avoid it being used twice.\nCiti’s carbon markets team currently consists of four traders based in London and four sales people covering the voluntary carbon market. Barclays hired an industry veteran from Shell Plc, Oliver Morning, to run its carbon trading operations, Bloomberg reported last month.\nAmong the long list of unknowns surrounding the carbon offset market is the element of technological innovation, which may suddenly turbo-charge the field of carbon removals. That can make some of the project finance feel more like “venture capital-style risk,” Rajasingam said.\n“Carbon credits are best when prices and methodologies are established, and not for technologies that are still emerging,” he said. “That said, we intend to be very actively involved in removals when it scales.”\nMichael R. Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent company of Bloomberg News, is the UN secretary general’s special envoy for climate ambition and solutions. Bloomberg Philanthropies regularly partners with the COP Presidency to promote climate action.\nBloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, partners with South Pole to purchase carbon credits to offset global travel emissions.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street Gets Ready to Cash In on $1 Trillion Climate Market"
    },
    {
        "id": 572,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-egypts-headline-inflation-dips-083739829.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details on inflation and prices in paragraphs 2 to 4)\nCAIRO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation dropped to 34.6% in November from 35.8% in October, pulled down by a slowdown in the rate of food price increases, data from the statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Sunday.\nAnnual inflation was slightly lower than predicted by analysts. The median forecast of 18 analysts polled had expected a reading of 34.8%.\nMonth-on-month, prices rose by 1.3% in November, up from 1.0% in October. Food prices rose by 0.2% but surged 64.5 year on year.\nAnnual inflation had been working its way upwards for two years, hitting a record high of 38.0% in September. The November figure was the lowest since May. (Reporting by Muhammad Al Gebaly; Writing by Patrick Werr; Editing by Louise Heavens)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Egypt's headline inflation dips to 34.6% in November"
    },
    {
        "id": 573,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bond-bulls-betting-ecb-rate-083000540.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Investors betting on an early start to the European Central Bank’s interest-rate cutting cycle risk getting derailed by Christine Lagarde this week.\nStrategists and investors say European bonds have more room for losses than gains from Thursday, when the ECB delivers its final policy decision of the year. That’s because of the recent strong rally that has already sent benchmark German yields to the lowest levels since April at around 2.2%.\nAny dovish tone from President Lagarde would simply validate current market bets on as much as six quarter-point cuts throughout 2024, and allow bonds to hold recent gains. But a surprisingly hawkish tone could send German yields back above 2.4%, according to TwentyFour Asset Management.\n“The risk is for bunds and other European government bonds to sell off,” said Elliot Hentov, head of macro policy research at State Street. “There’s no way we’re going to get an ECB readout that is going to exceed market expectations. Frankly, the odds are that it will underwhelm.”\nGerman bond yields have fallen more than 40 basis points over the past month as investors dramatically ramped up bets on ECB cuts next year after data showed inflation and economic activity were softer than expected.\nThe repricing was turbocharged last week after ECB member Isabel Schnabel, a renowned hawk, said the drop in inflation was “remarkable,” a comment that was seen by markets as a sign that cuts could come sooner than expected.\nMarkets currently fully price five quarter-point rate cuts next year, with a sixth one hanging in the balance. Just a month ago, bets were on just three cuts. There’s now also a 70% chance of the first one happening in March, a scenario that was barely contemplated by markets not long ago.\nThat’s a fairly extreme outlook, given ECB policymakers have shown no rush to act. For hawks such as Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, the danger remains that inflation returns with a vengeance and he has repeatedly ruled out saying that rates have reached a peak.\n“It’ll be easy for Lagarde to come off as more hawkish versus the market,” said Orla Garvey, a senior fixed-income portfolio manager at Federated Hermes. “I’ll be looking at whether or how she adapts her ‘higher-for-longer’ mantra.”\nThe stronger-than-expected US jobs report on Friday served as a reminder of how yields and rate bets are sensitive to economic data and policymaker speeches. As traders scaled back bets on Federal Reserve and ECB cuts, yields on US and German benchmark bonds jumped at least 10 basis points.\nGordon Shannon, a portfolio manager at TwentyFour Asset Management, said a hawkish tone from Lagarde would likely lead markets to erase the probability of a cut in March.\n“The way that they could be a little bit more hawkish would be to indicate they will need to see continued evidence of slowing inflation beyond March,” he said. “That would make it mathematically impossible for a cut by then.”\n--With assistance from Alice Atkins.\n",
        "title": "Bond Bulls Betting on ECB Rate Cuts Face Trial by Lagarde"
    },
    {
        "id": 574,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ohtani-record-700-million-deal-065536759.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani’s record $700 million 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers may also be a boon for his corporate sponsors, whose shares have largely underperformed this year.\nThe contract is the biggest ever in the history of North American sports, according to MLB.com. It will put Ohtani even more in the spotlight, helping advertise the products and services of his corporate supporters including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan Airlines Co., Kose Corp. and Seiko Group Corp.\nOhtani, 29, who has been likened to the legendary Babe Ruth for his ability to hit home runs and pitch at elite levels, has helped lift sponsors’ share prices in the past. After he became the first player in nearly 100 years to start a game pitching while leading Major League Baseball in home runs in April 2021, an equal-weighted basket of five of his sponsors outperformed the Bloomberg World Apparel Index and the Topix Index over the next few months.\nThe news comes as Japanese shares retreat from three-decade highs that were reached earlier this year on signs the nation is escaping from deflation while companies focus more on boosting shareholder value. The Nikkei 225 index had one of its worst weeks so far in 2023 in the period to Dec. 8 as a surge in the yen threatened to cut into exporter profits while growing speculation the Bank of Japan is moving to hike interest rates fueled concern that borrowing costs will increase.\nKose, for whom Ohtani promotes skincare products, has underperformed the Topix index this year on weak China demand due to an economic slowdown and following the release of treated radioactive wastewater at Fukushima. Seiko, which has sold watches named after the baseball star, has also lagged the broader market.\nWhile foreign visitors to Ohtani’s home country rebounded to levels before the Covid pandemic, Japan Airlines shares have also trailed amid concern higher fuel prices and a still weaker yen will weigh on earnings. Meanwhile, MUFG, which has a web page devoted to the athlete, has outperformed the Topix as the sector surged on expectations that banks’ lending profits will get a boost if the BOJ raises interest rates.\nMore broadly, Ohtani’s unprecedented success has driven increases in tourism to see the player and sales of merchandise featuring him, among other benefits, according to Katsuhiro Miyamoto, a professor at Kansai University in western Japan. Ohtani’s move to the Dodgers will have about a 64.3 billlion yen ($444 million) economic impact next year, more than the around 50 billion yen effect if he stayed at the Los Angeles Angels, Miyamoto wrote in a report.\nOhtani, whose unique ability to both pitch and hit well has made him a star since moving to the US in 2018, this year garnered his second American League Most Valuable Player award. As one of the top players ever to hit the MLB free agent market, Ohtani was courted by several teams including the Toronto Blue Jays and Chicago Cubs. Pitchers in modern-era professional US baseball tend to spend little time practicing batting, making Ohtani’s skills stand out.\n--With assistance from Brandon Sapienza.\n",
        "title": "Ohtani’s Record $700 Million Deal Puts Sponsors’ Shares in Focus"
    },
    {
        "id": 575,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-proposes-trading-cost-cuts-035617442.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's securities regulator has published draft rules aimed at slashing trading commissions for mutual funds and addressing the conflict of interest between the securities trading and fund sales businesses of brokerages, the latest reform to the $3.8 trillion mutual fund industry.\nThe China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said the proposals were designed to protect investors and better regulate the way fund managers allocate trading commissions.\nThe rules, published by the CSRC for public consultation on Friday, are the latest attempt by authorities to revive confidence in the sluggish stock market and comes five months after the regulator urged mutual funds to cut management fees and reduce costs for investors.\nAnalysts say the new rules would benefit brokerages with strong trading and research capabilities win commissions.\nAccording to the draft rules, trading commissions would be reduced for both passive and active fund products. SWS Research estimates that overall commissions would be slashed by one third.\nIn addition, fund managers are banned from paying trading commissions to buy third-party services such as external expert consultancy, financial terminals or databases.\nMarket participants say it is common for mutual funds to pay brokers additional commissions for services whose value is hard to justify, pushing up trading costs for fund investors.\nThe draft rules also require the sales team of the mutual funds to not participate in choosing a broker and allocating trading commissions.\nThe proposed rules also require that a mutual fund company must not pay more than 15% of its total trading commissions to a single brokerage, the CSRC said, adding that fund managers should choose brokerages that are \"financially sound, well-behaved, and have strong capabilities in trading and research\".\nThe rules \"will guide the brokerage business back to its root, back to research,\" Founder Securities said.\nKaiyuan Securities expects the CSRC to tighten regulation over fund distribution fees in the next stage of the reform.\n(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; editing by Miral Fahmy)\n",
        "title": "China proposes trading cost cuts for mutual funds, to regulate commissions"
    },
    {
        "id": 576,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-shutters-third-party-apps-022822924.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. on Saturday said it shut down third-party applications that enabled Android devices to use the iMessage service to communicate with iPhone users.\nThe iPhone maker said in a statement it “took steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage.” It added that “these techniques posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential for metadata exposure and enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks.”\nThe company said it would continue to make changes in the future to protect its users. The announcement comes a day after Beeper Mini, the latest app to enable iMessage on Android devices, stopped working. Apple’s iMessage offers encrypted messaging between iPhones, Macs, iPads and other devices made by the company, and it has resisted calls for nearly a decade to expand the service to Android.\nSome users have long argued that the lack of an iMessage app for Android makes messaging between the two platforms less secure. Apple recently said it would support RCS, or rich communication services, later next year. That’s a replacement for the standard SMS service that will enable an improved texting experience between platforms.\nRead more: Apple to Adopt Texting Standard That Works With Android\nBeeper was founded by Eric Migicovsky, who is known for creating the Pebble smartwatch in the years before the Apple Watch and for being part of Y Combinator, the tech industry’s most prestigious business incubator.\nIn an interview, Migicovsky said his new company continues to work on Beeper Mini and is “feeling good” about again bypassing Apple’s restrictions. He said that Beeper Cloud — a variant of Beeper Mini — is still working. Beeper Mini, he says, is more secure and connects directly to Apple services, while Beeper Cloud uses third-party servers.\n“The passion and energy people had this week is indicative of the importance of what we’re doing,” Migicovsky said. He denied that Beeper Mini creates security issues for users, saying his app enables encrypted messaging between Android and iOS so less security is a false notion.\nMigicovsky, who said he hasn’t heard from Apple about his service, was selling Beeper Mini for a $1.99 per month subscription after a one week free trial. Apple doesn’t charge a subscription to use iMessage on its devices.\nApple said it can’t verify that messages sent through unauthorized systems that masquerade the use of Apple credentials are actually end-to-end encrypted. Other services, including one called Sunbird, have previously tried to make iMessage work on Android. Those efforts were also shuttered by Apple.\nDespite adding support for RCS next year, Apple executives have publicly and privately shot down the idea of making it easier for iOS and Android users to communicate. Last year, Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook suggested that a user who wanted to more easily message with his mother on Android buy her an iPhone.\nCraig Federighi, Apple’s software engineering chief, said in an email to fellow executives several years ago that “iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.”\nThe company’s operating systems will further open up next year in the European Union with the Digital Markets Act, which will require Apple to allow third-party app stores in the region.\n",
        "title": "Apple Shutters Third-Party Apps that Enabled iMessage on Android"
    },
    {
        "id": 577,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-raise-fees-foreigners-buying-211338617.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Australia will raise fees for foreigners who buy existing houses and will penalize them if they leave the properties vacant, while encouraging people from overseas to purchase new properties to boost housing supply.\nForeign investment charges for the purchase of established homes will triple, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Sunday in Sydney. Penalties for buyers from overseas who leave their properties vacant will double while application fees for investment in build-to-rent projects will be reduced, he said.\nForeigners are only able to buy a home in Australia if they live in the country to work or study, and are required to sell if they don’t become permanent residents. However, if they pay a fee equal to the initial application fee, they can keep the property vacant and unavailable for rent.\nBy adjusting both fees, the government will effectively require foreign owners to pay six times the existing amount to keep an established house vacant, and is betting that will boost supply in the rental market.\nAustralian Home-Price Growth Slows as Sydney, Melbourne Cool\n“We’ll also incentivize more rental properties coming onto the market by making it more expensive for people to leave them empty,” Chalmers said. “That is a win-win for the housing market, but also for the budget. It helps us raise money to invest in other priorities, including in housing.”\nThe adjustments are also designed to encourage foreign investors to buy into new housing developments.\nThe government will make sure foreign investment application fees for build-to-rent projects are at the lowest commercial level — no matter the kind of land involved — and will apply them from Dec. 14, Chalmers said.\n“We welcome foreign investment because it plays a crucial role in our nation’s economic success,” Chalmers said. “These adjustments are all about making sure foreign investment aligns with the government’s agenda to lift the nation’s supply of affordable housing.”\n(Updates with Treasurer’s comments in fifth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Australia to Lift Fees for Foreigners Buying Existing Houses"
    },
    {
        "id": 578,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/decisive-moment-arrives-4-trillion-150000837.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Investors are facing a pivotal week as a key measure of inflation that hits Tuesday and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision on Wednesday are expected to set the tone for the stock market and economy heading into 2024.\nGrowing speculation that the Fed is done hiking rates and will start cutting by mid-year is fueling a sharp drop in Treasury yields and rekindling investors’ risk appetite. The S&P 500 Index has added roughly $4 trillion in market value since late October, as traders rush into beaten-down areas of the market like small caps, which typically benefit from falling borrowing costs.\n“Stocks have been rallying on optimism the Fed is done raising rates,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance. “The pricing has been rational considering how much the 10-year yields have dropped since mid-October. It seems like stocks will continue to grind higher as we enter 2024.”\nThat said, a closer look reveals concerns about the week ahead. A measure of expected volatility in the S&P 500 for the next five trading sessions is surging relative to the subsequent five days. At one point this week, the gap reached the widest since March for such a period, signaling rising demand to hedge against turbulence.\nTuesday kicks off the one-two punch of crucial moments next week, with the release of November’s consumer price index. Signs of ebbing inflation could buoy shares into year-end by cementing expectations that the Fed will soon shift to easing. Consumer prices likely rose at a 3.1% annual pace, the lowest since June, according to a Bloomberg survey.\nThe next day, the central bank is projected to keep policy steady for the third straight meeting. With traders anticipating about a percentage point of total easing next year, they’ll be watching officials’ rate projections particularly closely as well as Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.\nThe risk is that a sturdy economy keeps inflation high, pushing officials to consider another hike or to keep borrowing costs elevated for longer than hoped. That could weigh on rate-sensitive tech stocks that have driven much of the market’s gains in 2023.\n“What Chair Powell says next week could change people’s minds, especially if he strikes a tone that’s more hawkish than what people are expecting,” Zaccarelli said.\nThe S&P 500 is up almost 20% this year, and closed Friday at the highest since March 2022. Traders are hoping that if bond yields are still generally heading lower, stocks are set up for broad-based gains heading into year-end. Since Oct. 19, the yield on 10-year Treasuries has fallen from nearly 5% to around 4.2% while the S&P 500 has risen almost 8%.\nYield Driver\nHistory shows that big drops in bond yields are beneficial to the stock market.\nSince 1980, there have been 33 instances in which 10-year Treasury yields fell 50 basis points or more within a month, according to data compiled by Christopher Cain at Bloomberg Intelligence. The median subsequent forward three-month return for the S&P 500 was nearly 8%, and for the Russell 2000 it was 8.2%.\n“The nature of this bond rally is based on bets of more supportive Fed policy, which is favorable for stocks,” Cain said.\nRetail investors appear to be buying into the enthusiasm. They picked up $6.8 billion worth of US stocks in the week through Wednesday, data compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Peng Cheng show. That’s the largest weekly inflow since March 2022, when the Fed began its tightening cycle.\nMeanwhile, many active managers who sat out this year’s rally are trying to make up for lost ground before the end of the year, creating even more stock-market momentum. Large-cap active funds struggled to keep up with last month’s rally, with just 41% beating their benchmark, data compiled by Bank of America Corp. show.\n“A lot of people completely messed up in 2023,” said Vincent Deluard, director of global macro strategy at StoneX, noting that many investors expected a recession heading into the year. “It’s been a very hard year for active managers. A lot of people got the macro picture wrong.”\n",
        "title": "Decisive Moment Arrives With $4 Trillion Stocks Rally at Stake"
    },
    {
        "id": 579,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-financial-times-dec-001958556.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 11 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\nHeadlines\n- Cigna pulls out of blockbuster deal to create insurance giant with Humana\n- UK small businesses call on regulator to intervene over 'harsh' banking practices\n- MailOnline to put a small selection of stories behind paywall\n- UK government set to outline plans for Northern Ireland financial package\nOverview\n- U.S. health insurer Cigna Group has dropped plans to acquire rival Humana Inc, a merger that would have created an insurance giant worth $140 billion.\n- The UK's small business lobby has asked the Financial Conduct Authority to step in over \"harsh\" banking practices, which it says are forcing entrepreneurs to put their personal assets at risk unnecessarily.\n- MailOnline, the publisher of the Daily Mail, plans to put a small numbers of its stories behind a paywall everyday for readers in the UK from early next year, moving towards a \"freemium\" subscription model to drive revenues.\n- The British government will on Monday set out its plans for a financial package to steady Northern Ireland's public finances in a meeting with political parties. (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST- Financial Times - Dec. 11"
    },
    {
        "id": 580,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-stocks-brace-central-bank-001911624.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Wayne Cole\nSYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares started cautiously on Monday ahead of a week packed with a quintet of central bank meetings and data on U.S. inflation that could make or break market hopes for an early and rapid fire round of rate cuts next year.\nAn upbeat payrolls report has already seen investors scale back expectations for a March cut by the Federal Reserve, though May remains priced at a 76% chance.\nThe Fed is considered certain to hold rates at 5.25-5.50% this week, putting the focus on the \"dot plots\" for rates and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nThe consumer price report for November on Tuesday will also influence the outlook with analysts forecasting an unchanged headline rate and a 0.3% rise in the core.\n\"We look for another Fed-friendly CPI report but, barring surprises, anticipate the policy statement to signal that economic conditions have not changed enough for officials to drop their tightening bias just yet,\" said John Briggs, global head of strategy at NatWest Markets.\n\"We think Powell will leave the option of a possible hike on the table, but the hurdle seems quite high for the Fed to follow through,\" he added. \"We also expect the ECB to cut early while the BoE will continue to push-back against market pricing of cuts in the first half of 2024.\"\nThe European Central Bank, Bank of England, Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank all meet on Thursday, with Norway the only one considered a possible hiker. There is also a risk the SNB may toy with renewed intervention to weaken the franc.\nWith so much riding on the outcomes, investors were understandably cautious and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.08%.\nJapan's Nikkei bounced 1.2%, after shedding 3.4% last week amid speculation of an end to super-easy monetary policy. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were little changed.\nChinese markets are at risk of another tough week after data showed consumer prices fell 0.5% in November, the sharpest drop since late 2020.\nThe Treasury market faces a test of its own in the shape of $108 billion in new supply of three-year, 10-year and 30-year paper. Yields on 10-year notes were steady at 4.24% having risen on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, though they still ended flat on the week. [US/]\nIn currency markets all eyes were on the yen after some wild swings as speculation swirled the Bank of Japan could signal another step away from its super easy policy at a meeting next week. The dollar was last at 144.97 yen, having lost 1.3% last week and briefly touching a low of 141.60.\nThe dollar fared better on the euro at $1.0761, which was pressured by market pricing for early ECB rate cuts. [FRX/]\n\"With inflation falling quickly in the Eurozone, we do not expect the ECB post-meeting communication to provide too much push back against current market pricing for a rate cutting cycle beginning in April,\" said analysts at CBA in a note.\n\"We expect the first rate cut will come a little later in June.\"\nIn commodity markets, gold took a knock after the jobs report and was last at $1,006 an ounce. [GOL/]\nOil prices idled after sliding 3.9% last week to five-month lows amid doubts that all OPEC+ members would stick with supply cuts. Prices did get some support on Friday when Washington announced it would rebuild its strategic oil reserves. [O/R]\nThe market will also be watching the outcome of the COP28 climate summit, which is working on a first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.\nBrent was up 5 cents at $75.89 a barrel, while U.S. crude was steady at $71.23.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "Asian stocks brace for central bank bonanza"
    },
    {
        "id": 581,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asian-stocks-brace-001649512.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nAsian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4\n*\nNikkei rallies 1%, S&P 500 futures flat\n*\nFed leads five central bank meetings this week\n*\nTreasuries to be tested by $108 bln of new supply\nBy Wayne Cole\nSYDNEY, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Asian shares started cautiously on Monday ahead of a week packed with a quintet of central bank meetings and data on U.S. inflation that could make or break market hopes for an early and rapid fire round of rate cuts next year.\nAn upbeat payrolls report has already seen investors scale back expectations for a March cut by the Federal Reserve, though May remains priced at a 76% chance.\nThe Fed is considered certain to hold rates at 5.25-5.50% this week, putting the focus on the \"dot plots\" for rates and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nThe consumer price report for November on Tuesday will also influence the outlook with analysts forecasting an unchanged headline rate and a 0.3% rise in the core.\n\"We look for another Fed-friendly CPI report but, barring surprises, anticipate the policy statement to signal that economic conditions have not changed enough for officials to drop their tightening bias just yet,\" said John Briggs, global head of strategy at NatWest Markets.\n\"We think Powell will leave the option of a possible hike on the table, but the hurdle seems quite high for the Fed to follow through,\" he added. \"We also expect the ECB to cut early while the BoE will continue to push-back against market pricing of cuts in the first half of 2024.\"\nThe European Central Bank, Bank of England, Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank all meet on Thursday, with Norway the only one considered a possible hiker. There is also a risk the SNB may toy with renewed intervention to weaken the franc.\nWith so much riding on the outcomes, investors were understandably cautious and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.08%.\nJapan's Nikkei bounced 1.2%, after shedding 3.4% last week amid speculation of an end to super-easy monetary policy. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were little changed.\nChinese markets are at risk of another tough week after data showed consumer prices fell 0.5% in November, the sharpest drop since late 2020.\nThe Treasury market faces a test of its own in the shape of $108 billion in new supply of three-year, 10-year and 30-year paper. Yields on 10-year notes were steady at 4.24% having risen on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, though they still ended flat on the week.\nIn currency markets all eyes were on the yen after some wild swings as speculation swirled the Bank of Japan could signal another step away from its super easy policy at a meeting next week. The dollar was last at 144.97 yen, having lost 1.3% last week and briefly touching a low of 141.60.\nThe dollar fared better on the euro at $1.0761, which was pressured by market pricing for early ECB rate cuts.\n\"With inflation falling quickly in the Eurozone, we do not expect the ECB post-meeting communication to provide too much push back against current market pricing for a rate cutting cycle beginning in April,\" said analysts at CBA in a note.\n\"We expect the first rate cut will come a little later in June.\"\nIn commodity markets, gold took a knock after the jobs report and was last at $1,006 an ounce.\nOil prices idled after sliding 3.9% last week to five-month lows amid doubts that all OPEC+ members would stick with supply cuts. Prices did get some support on Friday when Washington announced it would rebuild its strategic oil reserves.\nThe market will also be watching the outcome of the COP28 climate summit, which is working on a first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.\nBrent was up 5 cents at $75.89 a barrel, while U.S. crude was steady at $71.23.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks brace for central bank bonanza"
    },
    {
        "id": 582,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/britains-m-g-invests-crypto-000431650.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "LONDON (Reuters) - Global Futures and Options (GFO-X), a digital assets trading platform, said on Monday that Britain's M&G Investments has led a $30 million second round of funding ahead of its launch.\nGFO-X is licensed by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority for global institutional investors to trade digital asset futures and options that will be cleared at the London Stock Exchange Group's Paris clearing arm LCH SA.\nM&G Investments, which provided most of the latest $30 million funding, is part of M&G Plc, and will have a seat on the board of GFO-X Holdings.\n\"The strategic investment will fund GFO-X through its forthcoming launch and support future innovation in the regulated digital asset sector, enhancing trust and credibility in the market,\" GFO-X said in a statement.\nM&G portfolio manager Jeremy Punnett said the lack of regulated trading venues is materially hampering the growth of the crypto derivatives trading market.\n\"The UK has the potential to become a global hub for crypto asset technology and investment, making London an excellent destination for GFO-X’s new global trading exchange,\" Punnett said.\nLSEG's LCH SA clearing arm in Paris said it will provide a regulated marketplace for bitcoin index futures and options.\n(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Susan Fenton)\n",
        "title": "Britain's M&G invests in crypto derivatives platform GFO-X"
    },
    {
        "id": 583,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-steadies-glut-fears-drove-000420807.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil was steady after its longest weekly losing streak in five years that’s been driven by signs supply is starting to run ahead of demand.\nBrent traded below $76 a barrel, after logging seven weeks of declines, while West Texas Intermediate was near $71. A US plan to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve helped crude snap a six-day losing streak on Friday, with the global benchmark closing up 2.4%.\nOil has fallen more than a fifth since late September, with even additional output cuts from OPEC+ and statements by Saudi Arabia and Russia that curbs could be extended beyond March failing to stem the slide. Production from outside the alliance, particularly the US, has been surging, Chinese demand is forecast to slow next year and there’s a chance of a recession in the US.\nInvestors are readying for a week that includes monthly market reports from the International Energy Agency and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as the Federal Reserve’s final rate decision of the year.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Steadies After Glut Fears Drove Worst Losing Run Since 2018"
    },
    {
        "id": 584,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jack-ma-biggest-e-commerce-000011544.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Jack Ma essentially invented the e-commerce business in China by co-founding Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and steering it to the top of the country’s private sector. But a couple weeks ago, the celebrated entrepreneur called out a little-known rival for outpacing his brainchild and becoming a role model for the tech industry.\n“Congratulations to Pinduoduo for their decision-making, execution and efforts of the past years,” Ma wrote on an internal forum, prodding Alibaba’s 220,000-plus employees to “correct its course.”\nFor those outside of China, the name Pinduoduo may have drawn a blank. Yet the upstart, formally known as PDD Holdings Inc., has been surging in popularity for years, winning over customers in the domestic e-commerce market with a range of innovations. It’s also the company behind the hit shopping app Temu in the US, which has gone from zero to rivaling Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc. in just more than a year. After Ma’s comments, PDD’s market valuation climbed above Alibaba’s for the first time ever, a seismic shift for an industry that has been dominated for more than a decade by the house that Jack built.\n“This is a watershed moment for PDD, surpassing Alibaba,” said Daniel Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities. “PDD has been a thought leader and found success in every pocket of the market, while Alibaba has been a mini debacle.”\nPDD has only been around for eight years, about a third of the time Alibaba has been operating. From its start in Shanghai, founder Colin Huang, a serial entrepreneur, wanted to make the online retail upstart different from traditional services like Alibaba and Amazon by incorporating features from the game companies he had run before. PDD shoppers get bargains by hunting for products and then telling their friends about deals they can land together. They also collect discounts by spinning roulette wheels or raising virtual fish in the app. Huang’s idea was to make shopping online more fun — and more social — than what the competition was offering.\n“A few companies have tried this before, but no one has really been able to do it,” Huang said in an interview with Bloomberg News in 2017, one of his first with foreign media. “We felt we had a competitive advantage.”\nHuang stepped down from the chief executive officer job in 2020, and PDD declined to make executives available for interviews for this story. In a statement to Bloomberg, a Temu spokesperson said its app features are inspired by activities people would find in a shopping mall or fair. “For example, our time-limited deals are similar to flash sales in physical stores, while our prize wheels and lucky draws are reminiscent of shopping mall promotions,” the statement said. “Our aim is to replicate these familiar offline experiences in the digital world, adding an element of fun and familiarity to online shopping.”\nThrough Temu, people in more than 40 countries are now getting a taste of the company’s game-like features and rock-bottom prices. In the US, the app made a splash in February with its “Shop Like a Billionaire” Super Bowl ad — and quickly became one of the most downloaded in the country. Temu.com was the fastest-growing multi-category retailer over Black Friday, with traffic up 84%, compared with 2% at Amazon.com, according to the research firm SimilarWeb.\nCharlotte Hryse can testify to the service’s addictiveness. The 32-year-old finance manager from the San Francisco Bay Area downloaded Temu at the urging of a friend and now plays games compulsively on the platform. Like many users though, she’s ambivalent about the experience. “I told my friend I did not want to download this app and my worst fears were confirmed,” she said. “I keep blaming them for having me sign up and then get addicted to this cheap dopamine.”\nWith those kinds of emotions, skeptics question whether the app’s success is sustainable. Customers get hooked on scrolling through the app to find too-cheap-to-believe bargains, like a sonic toothbrush for $3.28 or AirPod-like earbuds for $2.98. But take away the millions of dollars in subsidies and marketing, and will people stay? The tech industry is littered with one-time wonders — Wish.com, Groupon, Pets.com — that spent heavily on subsidies only to find they couldn’t convert users into loyal customers.\n“Temu may not be able to offer its current low prices indefinitely, which could result in the erosion of its key value proposition,” wrote Morgan Stanley analysts including Simeon Gutman in a recent report entitled “The Temu Effect.” “The data could suggest Temu is ‘burning through’ new shoppers without generating stickiness after initial trials on the platform.”\nPDD and Temu have plenty of supporters. The parent company, they point out, has already demonstrated it can turn a swathe of users into profitable customers. PDD is on track to boost net income by about 60% this year to 51 billion yuan ($7.1 billion) on revenue of 235 billion yuan. Temu is losing billions now, but many analysts think it will turn profitable and become a significant part of the company’s business over time.\n“We expect the company to be a force to be reckoned with globally in the coming years,” Sanford C. Bernstein analysts led by Robin Zhu said in a research report in August.\nPDD says it’s bringing substantial innovations to e-commerce, including interactive game-like shopping and a more efficient supply chain that connects consumers directly with factories for lower costs. “The ‘Consumer-to-Manufacturer’ (C2M) model with Pinduoduo has been a pioneering effort in China. With Temu, we're adapting this model for global markets,” the company spokesman said in its statement.\nMa and Huang represent a generational shift in the Chinese technology industry. Ma, 59, hung out at hotels as a boy to learn English from foreigners and started his business as the Communist Party began to open up the economy to private enterprises. He got the idea for Alibaba when he tried searching for beer online and realized that almost nothing could be found in the Chinese language.\nHuang, a math prodigy 16 years younger, started his career with global opportunities. He went to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin and worked for both Microsoft Corp. and Google. When he founded PDD, he spotted an opportunity between the two leaders of the China tech industry — Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd., the social media and games giant. He realized Alibaba couldn’t really do social or games very well, while Tencent struggled with online commerce. “These two companies don’t really understand each other,” Huang said in the 2017 interview. “They don’t really understand how the other makes money.”\nPDD suffered plenty of setbacks on the path to success. After going public on the Nasdaq in 2018, its shares sunk below its initial public offering price amid profit concerns. Alibaba and other e-commerce players started imitating PDD’s strategy, leading to more red ink. Huang also stepped down as chairman in 2021 after his net worth climbed to $45 billion, as Beijing began cracking down on China’s technology giants and billionaires like Ma.\nYet PDD pressed ahead. Under CEO Chen Lei, the company boosted revenue by expanding into China’s smaller cities and overseas markets. The company turned its first annual profit in 2021 as revenue hit 94 billion yuan, and then tripled profits last year as revenue rose to 131 billion yuan.\nThe company focused on grabbing users in third- and fourth-tier cities, sidestepping bruising battles with the incumbents in richer metropolises. That strategy proved prescient as China’s economy suffered through years of Covid lockdowns. The management navigating through those challenging times included Chen, who also went to the University of Wisconsin; Zhao Jiazhen, a co-founder who is now co-CEO; and Chief Operating Officer Gu Pingping. Gu, one of the most senior women in the China tech sector, is considered the architect of Temu’s global strategy.\nPDD certainly benefited from Alibaba’s travails. In October 2020, Ma made his now-infamous speech criticizing Beijing regulators for their oversight of innovative industries such as technology. The Communist Party quickly cracked down on Alibaba’s finance affiliate, Ant Group Co., and then on Alibaba itself. The government sharply criticized “platform” companies that used their dominance to curtail competition, and hit Alibaba with a record $2.8 billion fine in 2021 after an anti-trust probe.\nXiaoyan Wang, a Shanghai-based analyst at 86Research, said juggernauts like Alibaba had to tread lightly because of the government attention — one reason perhaps the e-commerce leader hasn't been able to catch up with PDD’s strategy. “The tech regulatory scrutiny was focused on concerns that internet companies were too powerful,” she said. “PDD faces less pressure than these tech giants.”\nHuang is also no Ma. The elder entrepreneur grew famous over the decades not just because of his company, but because of his public profile. While Ma appeared at Davos and other high-profile gatherings around the world, Huang largely stayed out of the spotlight. Ma embraced the role of celebrity businessman — which may have been viewed as a threat to President Xi Jinping — while Huang’s priorities could have been lifted from the Communist Party’s own agenda. In earnings reports and press releases, PDD repeatedly stressed its desire to help lift people in the countryside out of poverty, help farmers get their produce to markets and solve the problems of food security and scarcity.\nPDD will need all of its political acumen as it expands globally. In many ways, Temu is similar to TikTok — a smartphone app developed by a parent company that has roots in China. Yet while Washington politicians have threatened to ban TikTok, PDD has almost completely escaped scrutiny. That may be because TikTok’s videos are considered potentially dangerous in influencing American kids, while buying cheap goods has few political overtones. Or it may simply be that Washington politicians haven’t yet tuned in to the surging popularity of PDD’s service.\nTemu set off a rush of downloads this year with its Super Bowl ad and heavy marketing on platforms like Facebook. The app is also frighteningly addictive. Once you install the software, you’re immediately offered a chance to win $200 in coupons if you spin a roulette-like wheel — and everyone wins something. You then find out that your coupons will be boosted to $300 — if you make purchases within 10 minutes. That sets off an adrenaline-fueled scramble to scroll through thousands of deals on items you never knew you wanted, like a $3 gun holster or $16.98 sleeping bag that looks like a shark.\nSuch bizarre offerings are mocked on social media, earning Temu a reputation as the internet’s version of a dollar store. Still, its numbers are nothing to laugh at. The mobile service had 48.2 million monthly average users in the US as of the end of October, just 27% less than Amazon, according to app-tracker Sensor Tower. Temu’s website attracted about 100 million visitors in November, making it the seventh-most popular retail website in the US behind Amazon, eBay, Walmart and others, according to estimates by SimilarWeb.\nTemu has quickly surpassed another app with roots in China, Shein. Its sales first topped the fast-fashion service in May in the US, beating its rival by about 20%, according to Bloomberg Second Measure, which analyzes consumers’ credit and debit card transactions. It has extended that lead every month since, and in November recorded almost triple Shein’s observed sales in the country.\nTemu’s revenue in the third quarter likely grew more than 300% to about $1.8 billion, according to Zhu and the other Bernstein analysts. They estimate Temu will see a $3.65 billion operating loss this year on sales of $13 billion, but they expect it to turn profitable in 2025 or 2026. “Repeat after me: Temu is not worth zero,” they wrote, poking fun at skeptics who think the overseas business may be a bust for PDD.\nTemu said in its statement that Bernstein’s loss estimate “diverges significantly from the reality” but didn’t provide its own figures.\nThere are signs Temu’s growth could be short-lived. About 44% of its shoppers are spending less on the platform while just 22% are spending more, according to surveys by Morgan Stanley, an indication it’s burning through new deal-hungry shoppers without converting them into loyal customers. Temu shoppers skew female, young and low-income. More than half have annual incomes of less than $50,000 and 58% are younger than 45, according to the firm.\nHryse, the finance manager from the Bay Area, purchased $20 fuzzy pajamas and some small trinkets on her first order and received everything in about a week. “I was pleased with the items although disappointed in myself,” she said.\nThe future of Temu is far from clear. It does offer more than trinkets, including clothes that compete with Shein and other fast-fashion rivals. Yet customers gripe regularly about the quality of goods on the platform and mistakes in delivery. Even fans say the app’s addictiveness is unsettling. “This is so fun that I lost track of seven hours,” one YouTuber recently proclaimed.\nTemu objected to any comparison with Wish.com, the e-commerce sensation that became the most downloaded e-commerce app in the world in 2018 as it struck marketing deals with the Los Angeles Lakers and soccer World Cup players — and then saw its revenue collapse after it pulled back on subsidies. “Our platform and supply chain are distinctly different from those of Wish.com,” the company said in its statement, adding it can sustainably offer low prices by cutting out middlemen between producers and consumers.\nFor now, a cottage industry is springing up to help consumers navigate through the burgeoning world of Temu. One Houston mother reviews her hauls on YouTube, praising the affordable and attractive while critiquing any misfires. “Isn’t this the cutest thing?” she says in one recent clip, holding up an oversized mushroom pillow in beige. “I’m thinking of getting it in every single color.”\nShe also gives the nod to a styling mat that can hold hot items like curling irons.\n“I almost bought it on Amazon, but then I found it on Temu for super cheap,” she said.\n--With assistance from Jane Zhang and Jinshan Hong.\n",
        "title": "Jack Ma’s Biggest E-Commerce Rival Is Coming for Amazon"
    },
    {
        "id": 585,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-stocks-eye-early-gains-222132628.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks are set for an early rise as investors ready for a week that includes key US inflation data and the Federal Reserve’s final rate decision of the year among multiple central bank meetings.\nEquity futures in Australia, Japan and mainland China point to gains in early trading Monday while contracts in Hong Kong edged lower. US shares rose Friday to notch a sixth straight weekly gain, while bond yields surged after hotter than expected US jobs data.\nTraders were forced to trim their bets on rate cuts in 2024 after nonfarm payrolls increased 199,000 last month, the unemployment rate fell to 3.7% and monthly wage growth topped estimates. Consumer sentiment also rebounded.\nUS inflation data on Tuesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting Wednesday are now critical to solidify bets the central bank will aggressively cut rates next year and set the tone for markets into 2024.\n“The run of data that preceded Friday’s non-farm payrolls data has mostly been softer, and equity markets appeared willing to overlook NFP as an outlier,” Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG Australia in Sydney wrote in a note. “However, the equity market is unlikely to be so forgiving if it gets another fright this week from either CPI, the FOMC meeting, or retail sales.”\nSoftening inflation and employment data in the past month have convinced investors that the Fed is done raising interest rates and ignited bets that cuts of at least 125 basis points were in store over the next 12 months. Traders scaled back those wagers to about 110 basis points of easing after the data.\n“People saying recession need to have their heads examined,” Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro Research said on Friday.\nThe S&P 500 closed the week with its longest winning run since November 2019, while Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — the VIX — came back to pre-pandemic levels. US two-year yields jumped 13 basis points to 4.72%. Swap contracts now show a 40% probability of a March rate cut — from over 50% prior to the economic data.\nRead More: Decisive Moment Arrives With $4 Trillion Stocks Rally at Stake\nIn Asia, Chinese stocks and the yuan will be front of mind early Monday after China’s consumer prices fell 0.5% last month from a year earlier, the steepest pace in three years. At the same time, producer costs dropped even further into negative territory, underscoring the challenges facing the economic recovery. The Australian and New Zealand dollars - two proxies to gauge the health of the Chinese economy - edged lower in early trading.\nElsewhere, oil bounced back Friday on the US jobs report and plans to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but still closed out the longest weekly losing streak since late 2018 amid concern about an impending global glut.\nThis week, traders will also be keeping an eye on policy decisions at the European Central Bank and Bank of England, while jobs data in Australia and economic activity gauges in Europe are also due.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Michael G. Wilson.\n",
        "title": "Asian Stocks Eye Early Gains Into Fed Meeting Week: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 586,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-halts-poultry-parts-japan-230804323.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Singapore has banned the import of raw poultry and poultry products from four Japanese prefectures, following recent reports of bird flu outbreaks, the Straits Times reported Sunday, citing the Singapore Food Agency.\nThe temporary restriction on raw poultry imports from Saga and Kagoshima in the Kyushu region, and Ibaraki and Saitama in the Kanto region, began taking effect between Nov. 25 and Dec. 3, the report said.\n",
        "title": "Singapore Halts Poultry From Parts of Japan on Bird Flu: ST"
    },
    {
        "id": 587,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/macys-mulling-58-billion-buyout-offer-source-230606275.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The long suffering shareholders of Macy's (M) just scored an early Christmas gift.\nMacy's has received a $5.8 billion buyout offer from real estate investor Arkhouse Management and asset manager Brigade Capital Management, a source familiar with the matter told Yahoo Finance late Sunday. The company's board is mulling the offer with no decision on the near-term horizon, the source adds.\nThe WSJ first reported reported news on the offer.\nMacy's head of communications Bobby Amirshahi didn't return Yahoo Finance's request for comment. Brigade Capital Management declined to comment to Yahoo Finance.\nWhile the offer price marks a 22% premium to Macy's closing market cap on Dec. 8, Macy's board could easily make a case it's on the low side.\nFor starters, Macy's all-time high stock price was $70.99 hit on June 15, 2015, according Yahoo Finance data. The reported offer values Macy's at about $21 a share.\nAs of Friday's close, Macy's shares changed hands at $17.39.\nMeantime, just back in 2022 investment bank Cowen valued Macy's real estate holdings to be worth in a range of $6 billion to $8 billion alone.\nMacy's has a prized real estate portfolio, headlined by its iconic Herald Square location in New York City. Valuations from various money managers on the trophy real estate asset have ranged between $3 billion to $4 billion alone in the past decade.\nBrian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Macy's mulling $5.8 billion buyout offer: source"
    },
    {
        "id": 588,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ev-battery-startup-one-names-221052849.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Electric-vehicle battery startup Our Next Energy (ONE) said on Sunday that Paul Humphries will be its new CEO effective immediately, replacing Mujeeb Ijaz, who held the post since he founded the company.\nIjaz, a former Apple executive, will serve as vice-chairman of the board and take on the role of chief technology officer following Humphries' appointment, ONE said.\nHumphries has also been a member of the ONE Board of Directors since the company was founded in 2020.\nThe Michigan-based company cut around 25% of its workforce, or 128 employees last month, citing \"market conditions\" as reason for the layoffs. It added that it is continuing to focus on establishing its gigafactory in Michigan and to develop a North American supply chain for batteries.\nThe company said in February it had raised $300 million in a Series B funding, valuing it at $1.2 billion.\n(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "EV battery startup ONE names Paul Humphries as CEO, replacing founder"
    },
    {
        "id": 589,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investor-group-launches-5-8-220637248.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - An investor group consisting of Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital has made a $5.8 billion offer to take department store chain Macy's private, after stiff competition from online rivals took a big bite out of its value, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.\nArkhouse Management, a real-estate focused investing firm, and Brigade Capital Management, a global asset manager, submitted a proposal to acquire the Macy’s stock they don’t already own for $21 a share on Dec. 1, WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter said.\nThe group already has a big stake in Macy's through Arkhouse-managed funds and has discussed the proposal with the department store chain, whose board subsequently met to discuss the offer. It isn't clear how the retailer views the proposal, the Journal reported.\nMacy's, Arkhouse and Brigade did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the report.\n(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Diane Craft and Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "Investor group launches $5.8 billion buyout bid for Macy's"
    },
    {
        "id": 590,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-investor-group-launches-5-220317495.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details from WSJ report)\nDec 10 (Reuters) - An investor group consisting of Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital has made a $5.8 billion offer to take department store chain Macy's private, after stiff competition from online rivals took a big bite out of its value, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Arkhouse Management, a real-estate focused investing firm, and Brigade Capital Management, a global asset manager, submitted a proposal to acquire the Macy’s stock they don’t already own for $21 a share on Dec. 1, WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter said.\nThe group already has a big stake in Macy's through Arkhouse-managed funds and has discussed the proposal with the department store chain, whose board subsequently met to discuss the offer. It isn't clear how the retailer views the proposal, the Journal reported.\nMacy's, Arkhouse and Brigade did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the report. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Diane Craft and Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Investor group launches $5.8 billion buyout bid for Macy's- WSJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 591,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-higher-us-yields-dollar-214848857.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\n(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nAsian markets are set for a positive open on Monday, taking the baton from Wall Street on Friday after a surprise fall in the U.S. unemployment rate bolstered the view that an economic 'soft landing' will be achieved and recession avoided.\nLooked at through a 'good news is good news' prism, the rise in Treasury yields and the dollar on Friday should not be a drag on Asian and emerging markets, like they often are.\nThe two-year U.S. yield posted its biggest rise since June after data showed that the unemployment rate fell to 3.7%. Any lingering hopes for a rate cut this week quickly vanished, and the first fully priced rate cut was pushed back to May next year from March.\nIf the S&P 500 and Nasdaq's rise on Friday to their highest levels since early 2022 lifts most Asian markets on Monday, Chinese assets may struggle after figures this weekend showed that deflationary pressures intensified in November.\nConsumer prices fell 0.5% both from a year earlier and compared with October, much deeper than the median forecasts in a Reuters poll of 0.1% declines for both. The year-on-year decline was the steepest since November 2020.\nFactory-gate deflation deepened too - producer prices have been falling on a year-on-year basis or more than a year now - indicating rising deflationary pressures, weak domestic demand, and increasing doubt over the economic recovery.\nFigures like these will only deepen calls for more stimulus from Beijing, and are a reminder as to why Chinese markets are underperforming so much - China's blue chip CSI 300 index has lagged the MSCI World Index, S&P 500, and Nikkei 225 this year by 24%, 27% and 30%, respectively.\nA batch of major economic indicators from Beijing will be released on Friday - industrial production, retail sales, house prices, unemployment and business investment for November.\nThe Asian economic and policy calendar is light on Monday - money supply and a quarterly business survey index from Japan, and industrial production figures from Malaysia are all investors have to get their teeth into.\nFor the rest of the week, interest rate decisions from Taiwan and the Philippines, inflation data from India, and that data dump from China on Friday are the main regional calendar events.\nBut market sentiment and direction will largely be driven by the key events in developed economies. They include policy meetings from the Bank of England and European Central Bank, U.S. inflation, and the one everyone is waiting for - the Federal Reserve's policy decision on Wednesday.\nThe Fed is widely expected to keep its fed funds target range steady at 5.25-5.50%, so all eyes will be on the accompanying statement, policymakers' revised projections, and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Monday:\n- Malaysia industrial production (November)\n- Japan money supply (November)\n- U.S. bills, 10-year note auctions\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: When higher US yields and dollar is a good thing"
    },
    {
        "id": 592,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-asia-higher-us-214500069.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\nDec 11 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nAsian markets are set for a positive open on Monday, taking the baton from Wall Street on Friday after a surprise fall in the U.S. unemployment rate bolstered the view that an economic 'soft landing' will be achieved and recession avoided.\nLooked at through a 'good news is good news' prism, the rise in Treasury yields and the dollar on Friday should not be a drag on Asian and emerging markets, like they often are.\nThe two-year U.S. yield posted its biggest rise since June after data showed that the unemployment rate fell to 3.7%. Any lingering hopes for a rate cut this week quickly vanished, and the first fully priced rate cut was pushed back to May next year from March.\nIf the S&P 500 and Nasdaq's rise on Friday to their highest levels since early 2022 lifts most Asian markets on Monday, Chinese assets may struggle after figures this weekend showed that deflationary pressures intensified in November.\nConsumer prices fell 0.5% both from a year earlier and compared with October, much deeper than the median forecasts in a Reuters poll of 0.1% declines for both. The year-on-year decline was the steepest since November 2020.\nFactory-gate deflation deepened too - producer prices have been falling on a year-on-year basis or more than a year now - indicating rising deflationary pressures, weak domestic demand, and increasing doubt over the economic recovery.\nFigures like these will only deepen calls for more stimulus from Beijing, and are a reminder as to why Chinese markets are underperforming so much - China's blue chip CSI 300 index has lagged the MSCI World Index, S&P 500, and Nikkei 225 this year by 24%, 27% and 30%, respectively.\nA batch of major economic indicators from Beijing will be released on Friday - industrial production, retail sales, house prices, unemployment and business investment for November.\nThe Asian economic and policy calendar is light on Monday - money supply and a quarterly business survey index from Japan, and industrial production figures from Malaysia are all investors have to get their teeth into.\nFor the rest of the week, interest rate decisions from Taiwan and the Philippines, inflation data from India, and that data dump from China on Friday are the main regional calendar events.\nBut market sentiment and direction will largely be driven by the key events in developed economies. They include policy meetings from the Bank of England and European Central Bank, U.S. inflation, and the one everyone is waiting for - the Federal Reserve's policy decision on Wednesday.\nThe Fed is widely expected to keep its fed funds target range steady at 5.25-5.50%, so all eyes will be on the accompanying statement, policymakers' revised projections, and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Monday:\n- Malaysia industrial production (November)\n- Japan money supply (November)\n- U.S. bills, 10-year note auctions\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID ASIA-When higher US yields and dollar is a good thing"
    },
    {
        "id": 593,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-australias-sigma-healthcare-signs-212721058.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "*\nSigma and Chemist Warehouse in $5.8 bln merger\n*\nSigma to acquire Chemist Warehouse in a cash and scrip transaction\n*\nSigma also undertaking a A$400 mln capital raising\n(Adds deal and capital raising details from paragraph 3)\nBy Scott Murdoch and Echha Jain\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Australia's Sigma Healthcare on Monday said it would merge with privately owned pharmacy giant Chemist Warehouse Group to create a A$8.8 billion ($5.79 billion) entity.\nChemist Warehouse will own 85.8% of the merged company that will supply 1,000 Sigma-aligned pharmacies and own 600 Chemist Warehouse outlets, according to a statement.\nChemist Warehouse is a pharmacy and retail chain in Australia known for cheap prices, large stores and major advertising campaigns.\nIt has long been touted as a potential initial public offering (IPO) candidate but the Sigma deal gives it a backdoor way to being listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) at a time when global capital markets remain in the doldrums.\nThe proposed merger has Sigma acquiring Chemist Warehouse in exchange for a stake in the company and A$700 million in cash.\nSigma is raising A$400 million at A70c per share, which is an 8.2% discount to the stock's last closing price on Wednesday before it went into a trading halt.\nThe capital raising is underwritten by Goldman Sachs and partly underwritten by Sigma major shareholder HMC.\nAbout 572.6 million shares will be issued in the capital raising, which equates to 54.1% of Sigma's existing shares on issue.\nSigma said it had also signed a A$1 billion loan with ANZ Group and National Australia Bank to help fund the deal and cover Chemist Warehouse's existing debt.\nThe deal requires Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approval and 75% support from Sigma's shareholders. The antitrust regulator has been taking an increasingly tough stance toward approval deals in sectors where competition is already concentrated.\nThe proposed merger will create savings initially estimated at about A$60 million per annum, expected to be realized after four years.\nThe aggregate annual historical earnings before interest and tax of the merged company would be more than A$495 million, before synergies, Sigma said.\nChemist Warehouse founders Mario Verrocchi and Jack Gance would hold executive positions on the board of the merged company, Sigma said.\nThe Sigma board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favour of the merger, the company said.\nMajor shareholders HMC Capital and HMC Capital Partners Fund I would support the proposed merger in the absence of a superior proposal, Sigma said. ($1 = 1.5209 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Echha Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel, Lisa Shumaker, Mark Porter and Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 3-Australia's Sigma Healthcare signs $5.8 bln merger deal with Chemist Warehouse"
    },
    {
        "id": 594,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/no-global-carbon-price-companies-210456368.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Ross Kerber, Simon Jessop and Peter Henderson\nBOSTON/DUBAI/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A growing list of global companies are setting a price or charging themselves for each metric ton of their carbon emissions, looking to shape their investments and business for future pollution taxes or other new climate rules.\nTheir prices are all over the place, from less than $1 per metric ton of carbon emissions to $1,600, the most of any company worldwide, set by California drugmaker Amgen.\nRegulators, too, have offered a range of prices, including the Biden administration's \"social cost\" of carbon, around $200, and a suggestion from the International Monetary Fund that it should be at least $85 by 2030.\nIncorporating the cost of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions into business decisions has been a dream of climate activists for decades as a way to force corporations to cut emissions.\nWhile a standardized global carbon price is not going to be set at the COP28 climate summit underway in Dubai, the concept has many uses in business such as enabling executives to charge their own divisions extra to use power from fossil fuels, thus making renewables more attractive.\n\"While there are other strategies to do so, failure to use this tool could imply that companies may be failing to adequately plan for the medium- to long-term realities of the cost of carbon,\" said Amir Sokolowski, global director for climate change at CDP.\nAn analysis by the non-profit for Reuters found that 20% of 5,345 global companies making climate-related disclosures said they used an internal carbon price last year, up from 17% the year before. Another 22% planned to do so in the next two years, although historically only a fraction of the companies that planned to implement one have done so.\nThe analysis from CDP, not previously published, reveals both that companies have embraced the new planning tool but also that much debate remains about what prices will spur significant action by companies to cut emissions.\nShown the trends, several analysts told Reuters the emerging picture is one of executives getting ready for some type of new emissions regulation even if they lack a clear sense of what's ahead.\nCompanies are \"getting ready for the reality that it’s going to be required\" said Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz. But the median prices are still too low to have a major impact on corporate decision-making, making the effort a \"mixed bag\", the Nobel Prize winner said.\nCompanies do not have a simple path to follow, since using a high carbon price can dramatically change investment plans, while using a low one can bring charges of \"greenwashing.\"\nSeveral executives who spoke with Reuters said internal pricing plans help them cut emissions and clarify the implications of capital spending and other business activities for the planet.\nMarket prices for carbon offsets can range from $5 to $1,500 a metric ton, said Joe Speicher, chief sustainability officer at software maker Autodesk.\nAutodesk has steadily raised its internal carbon price to $20. Ideally regulators would clarify how companies should treat emissions costs, Speicher said. \"Wouldn't it be nice to have a public authority to help to create a more coherent market?\" he said.\nThe company uses the price to help identify things like the value of its investments in carbon-removal projects, he said.\nTYING IN TO MARKETS\nVarious carbon markets operate globally, including the European Trading System, where carbon currently trades around $70 per metric ton.\nMany companies have designed their own internal mechanisms. When carmaker Volvo embraced internal carbon pricing, it could not find a good model to follow because \"very, very few companies\" used such prices throughout their business, Jonas Otterheim, Volvo's head of climate action, said in an interview.\nVolvo has incorporated a \"shadow price\" of 1,000 krona per metric ton, about $92, in decisions ranging from which model vehicles to produce to what materials to use in factories. Adding the cost of carbon pollution to aluminum, for instance, made using aluminum created with renewable energy a \"super high priority\" because it has less than a quarter of the carbon emissions of typically made material, he said.\nSimilarly, Volvo reconsidered the real cost of its bigger cars as stricter EU rules come into effect.\nThe discussion \"actually made us change the whole volume planning of the company to say that we should not prioritize some cars versus other even though they look more profitable, because they will actually sort of give us a penalty that other cars won't,\" Otterheim said.\nDrugmaker Amgen assesses an \"internal fee\" of $1,000 per metric ton on higher-emitting projects. Proceeds are then used to fund emissions-cutting projects. For example, a utility expansion project in Ireland added $700,000 to its sustainability budget, a spokesperson said.\nIn its 2023 CDP climate report, Amgen said it also uses an \"investment evaluator\" to judge whether to buy new emissions-reduction equipment, using an even higher price for carbon.\n\"Sustainability projects that cost more than traditional projects but are less (than) $1,600 per (metric ton) of CO2e emissions reduced are considered reasonable for design,\" the report states. Amgen as a science-based company aims to be carbon-neutral within its own operations by 2027, the spokesperson said.\nA PRICE THAT BITES\nSeveral analysts who spoke with Reuters offered a range of views about what price companies should use.\nGunther Thallinger, a board member of German insurer Allianz and a member of a U.N. climate advisory council, said a comprehensive global carbon market would be \"a massive boost\" to efforts to cut emissions. But the current variation in prices is a problem, especially with some prices below $5 per metric ton.\n\"I fear this is going in the direction of greenwashing,\" he said.\nHowever, Anita McBain, head of EMEA ESG Research for Citi, said practical uses matter more than high prices.\n“We'd rather see a carbon price with teeth than one without. We'd rather see a $25 price that's actually influencing decisions versus a $75 price that's just a tick-the-box,\" she said.\n___\nFor the latest news from companies, data, and decisions around ESG finance, sign up for the Sustainable Finance newsletter here.\n(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston, Simon Jessop in Dubai, and Peter Henderson in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "No global carbon price? Some companies set their own"
    },
    {
        "id": 595,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/insight-no-global-carbon-price-210000119.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nCarbon pricing debated again at COP28 climate talks\n*\nCorporate prices from under $1 to $1,600/metric ton - CDP\n*\nLow prices raise concern over impact\nBy Ross Kerber, Simon Jessop and Peter Henderson\nBOSTON/DUBAI/SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 11 (Reuters) - A growing list of global companies are setting a price or charging themselves for each metric ton of their carbon emissions, looking to shape their investments and business for future pollution taxes or other new climate rules.\nTheir prices are all over the place, from less than $1 per metric ton of carbon emissions to $1,600, the most of any company worldwide, set by California drugmaker Amgen.\nRegulators, too, have offered a range of prices, including the Biden administration's \"social cost\" of carbon, around $200, and a suggestion from the International Monetary Fund that it should be at least $85 by 2030.\nIncorporating the cost of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions into business decisions has been a dream of climate activists for decades as a way to force corporations to cut emissions.\nWhile a standardized global carbon price is not going to be set at the COP28 climate summit underway in Dubai, the concept has many uses in business such as enabling executives to charge their own divisions extra to use power from fossil fuels, thus making renewables more attractive.\n\"While there are other strategies to do so, failure to use this tool could imply that companies may be failing to adequately plan for the medium- to long-term realities of the cost of carbon,\" said Amir Sokolowski, global director for climate change at CDP.\nAn analysis by the non-profit for Reuters found that 20% of 5,345 global companies making climate-related disclosures said they used an internal carbon price last year, up from 17% the year before. Another 22% planned to do so in the next two years, although historically only a fraction of the companies that planned to implement one have done so.\nThe analysis from CDP, not previously published, reveals both that companies have embraced the new planning tool but also that much debate remains about what prices will spur significant action by companies to cut emissions.\nShown the trends, several analysts told Reuters the emerging picture is one of executives getting ready for some type of new emissions regulation even if they lack a clear sense of what's ahead.\nCompanies are \"getting ready for the reality that it’s going to be required\" said Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz. But the median prices are still too low to have a major impact on corporate decision-making, making the effort a \"mixed bag\", the Nobel Prize winner said.\nCompanies do not have a simple path to follow, since using a high carbon price can dramatically change investment plans, while using a low one can bring charges of \"greenwashing.\"\nSeveral executives who spoke with Reuters said internal pricing plans help them cut emissions and clarify the implications of capital spending and other business activities for the planet.\nMarket prices for carbon offsets can range from $5 to $1,500 a metric ton, said Joe Speicher, chief sustainability officer at software maker Autodesk.\nAutodesk has steadily raised its internal carbon price to $20. Ideally regulators would clarify how companies should treat emissions costs, Speicher said. \"Wouldn't it be nice to have a public authority to help to create a more coherent market?\" he said.\nThe company uses the price to help identify things like the value of its investments in carbon-removal projects, he said.\nTYING IN TO MARKETS\nVarious carbon markets operate globally, including the European Trading System, where carbon currently trades around $70 per metric ton.\nMany companies have designed their own internal mechanisms. When carmaker Volvo embraced internal carbon pricing, it could not find a good model to follow because \"very, very few companies\" used such prices throughout their business, Jonas Otterheim, Volvo's head of climate action, said in an interview.\nVolvo has incorporated a \"shadow price\" of 1,000 krona per metric ton, about $92, in decisions ranging from which model vehicles to produce to what materials to use in factories. Adding the cost of carbon pollution to aluminum, for instance, made using aluminum created with renewable energy a \"super high priority\" because it has less than a quarter of the carbon emissions of typically made material, he said.\nSimilarly, Volvo reconsidered the real cost of its bigger cars as stricter EU rules come into effect.\nThe discussion \"actually made us change the whole volume planning of the company to say that we should not prioritize some cars versus other even though they look more profitable, because they will actually sort of give us a penalty that other cars won't,\" Otterheim said.\nDrugmaker Amgen assesses an \"internal fee\" of $1,000 per metric ton on higher-emitting projects. Proceeds are then used to fund emissions-cutting projects. For example, a utility expansion project in Ireland added $700,000 to its sustainability budget, a spokesperson said.\nIn its 2023 CDP climate report, Amgen said it also uses an \"investment evaluator\" to judge whether to buy new emissions-reduction equipment, using an even higher price for carbon.\n\"Sustainability projects that cost more than traditional projects but are less (than) $1,600 per (metric ton) of CO2e emissions reduced are considered reasonable for design,\" the report states. Amgen as a science-based company aims to be carbon-neutral within its own operations by 2027, the spokesperson said.\nA PRICE THAT BITES\nSeveral analysts who spoke with Reuters offered a range of views about what price companies should use.\nGunther Thallinger, a board member of German insurer Allianz and a member of a U.N. climate advisory council, said a comprehensive global carbon market would be \"a massive boost\" to efforts to cut emissions. But the current variation in prices is a problem, especially with some prices below $5 per metric ton.\n\"I fear this is going in the direction of greenwashing,\" he said.\nHowever, Anita McBain, head of EMEA ESG Research for Citi, said practical uses matter more than high prices.\n“We'd rather see a carbon price with teeth than one without. We'd rather see a $25 price that's actually influencing decisions versus a $75 price that's just a tick-the-box,\" she said. ___\nFor the latest news from companies, data, and decisions around ESG finance, sign up for the Sustainable Finance newsletter here.\n(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston, Simon Jessop in Dubai, and Peter Henderson in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "INSIGHT-No global carbon price? Some companies set their own"
    },
    {
        "id": 596,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/7-cigna-abandons-pursuit-humana-205512377.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds Humana declining to comment in paragraph 8)\nBy Anirban Sen\nDec 10 (Reuters) - U.S. health insurer Cigna has ended its attempt to negotiate an acquisition of rival Humana after the pair failed to agree on price, two sources familiar with the situation said on Sunday, as the company announced plans to buy back $10 billion worth of shares.\nA Cigna-Humana combination would have created a company with a value exceeding $140 billion, based on their market values, but was certain to attract fierce antitrust scrutiny. The discussions came six years after regulators blocked mega-deals that would have consolidated the U.S. health insurance sector.\nThe deal talks ended due to the parties not being able to agree on price, two sources familiar with the situation said. There remains the possibility of a tie-up in the future, those sources said.\nCigna, however, on Sunday announced plans to do an additional $10 billion in share repurchases, bringing total repurchases to $11.3 billion.\n\"We believe Cigna's shares are significantly undervalued and repurchases represent a value-enhancing deployment of capital as we work to support high-quality care, improved affordability, and better health outcomes,\" Cigna Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Cordani said in a statement.\nCordani said the company would consider bolt-on acquisitions aligned with its strategy as well as \"value-enhancing divestitures.\"\nCigna is still exploring the sale of its Medicare Advantage business, which manages government health insurance for people aged 65 and older, the sources said. That move would mark a reversal of its expansion in the sector.\nHumana declined to comment, while Cigna did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the deal talks, which was earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal.\nCONSOLIDATION CHALLENGES\nA merger would have given the combined company more scale to rival bigger U.S. health insurance players UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health.\nCigna and Humana, which have market values of $77 billion and $59 billion, respectively, currently have business overlap, concentrated in Medicare plans for older Americans.\nHumana's Medicare business is much bigger and more profitable than Cigna's. Reuters reported in November that Cigna was exploring the sale of its Medicare Advantage operations, whose performance has disappointed investors. This divestment could boost the chances of a combination with Humana surviving antitrust challenges, regulatory lawyers said.\nHowever, there have been antitrust concerns around the sector. After U.S. courts upheld antitrust challenges in 2017, Anthem -- now known as Elevance Health - gave up on a $48 billion deal to acquire Cigna. Losing the legal battle also caused Aetna -- now owned by pharmacy chain operator CVS Health CVS.N -- to abandon a $37 billion deal to acquire Humana.\nCraig Garthwaite, a healthcare economist at Northwestern University, said in November when news of the deal talks broke that he expected antitrust authorities to challenge the merger, but that a sale of Cigna's Medicare Advantage (MA) business would improve the deal's prospects.\n(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Juby Babu in Bengaluru and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Megan Davies, Caroline Humer, Greg Roumeliotis, Sriraj Kalluvila, Bill Berkrot and Mark Porter)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 7-Cigna abandons pursuit of Humana, plans $10 billion share buyback -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 597,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/explainer-why-prior-mega-health-211807396.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(New headline; updates paragraphs 1, 2 for deal talks ending; paragraph 7 to include CVS)\nDec 10 (Reuters) - A possible deal between U.S. health insurers Cigna and Humana has been abandoned over terms, sources familiar with the deal told Reuters on Sunday.\nSuch a deal likely would have faced scrutiny from the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ), which in 2017 successfully stopped Anthem, now Elevance Health, from buying Cigna for $54 billion, and thwarted Aetna's plan to purchase rival Humana for $34 billion.\nHere's a look at what happened with those deals first announced in 2015.\nWHAT WAS THE RATIONALE FOR THE PROPOSED MERGERS?\nAetna, Humana, Anthem and Cigna cited the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, which was passed by Congress in 2010 to significantly expand access to affordable health insurance. They said aspects of the new law meant their industry needed to consolidate to cope with the costs of expanding coverage.\nWHAT DID THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAY IN ITS COMPLAINTS?\nIn each of the two complaints filed in federal court in Washington in 2016, the Justice Department noted the other deal and the extraordinary consolidation that was being planned for the industry. It asked federal judges to order each transaction stopped.\nThe Justice Department argued that Anthem's deal for Cigna would mean \"higher prices and reduced benefits\" for consumers, including big national employers who pay health insurers to cover their workers. The government complaint also cited Cigna as an innovator that was finding ways to lower medical costs. \"Without the merger, Cigna expects to double in size in the next seven to eight years,\" it said in its complaint.\nThe department's argument against the Aetna deal to buy Humana focused on Medicare Advantage, which is federal Medicare coverage provided by private health insurers. The government said the merger would end competition for Medicare Advantage business between the two. \"Competition between Humana and Aetna has led to lower premiums, more generous benefits, better provider networks, and improved coordination of care,\" the government said in its complaint. Aetna is now part of CVS .\nTWO JUDGES, TWO RULINGS FOR THE GOVERNMENT\nIn January 2017, just days into the Trump administration, Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said Aetna's proposed deal with rival Humana was illegal because it would \"substantially lessen competition in the sale of individual Medicare Advantage plans in 364 counties identified in the complaint and in the sale of individual commercial insurance on the public exchanges in three counties in Florida.\"\nIn February 2017, Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Anthem's deal for Cigna stopped, agreeing with the government's assessment that it would reduce competition in an already concentrated health insurance market, particularly for big national employers.\nAnthem fought on, and an appeals court upheld the decision to block the deal in April 2017. Future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh dissented, saying that a combined Anthem/Cigna would require higher payments to manage the accounts but that would be offset by better negotiated rates paid to providers.\nDOES THE DOJ ALWAYS WIN?\nNo. The Biden administration fought a plan by UnitedHealth , the largest U.S. health insurer, to buy Change Healthcare for $8 billion, arguing it would give UnitedHealth access to its competitors' data and ultimately push up healthcare costs.\nThe DOJ lost in 2022. The judge said efforts the companies undertook to address antitrust concerns were sufficient. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "EXPLAINER-Possible Cigna-Humana deal fades; why other insurer mergers failed"
    },
    {
        "id": 598,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-health-insurer-cigna-175054440.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Corrects detail about 2017 deal attempt to show it was Elevance trying to buy Cigna, not the other way around, in penultimate paragraph)\nBy Anirban Sen\nDec 10 (Reuters) - U.S. health insurer Cigna has ended its attempt to negotiate an acquisition of rival Humana after the pair failed to agree on price, two sources familiar with the situation said on Sunday, as the company announced plans to buy back $10 billion worth of shares.\nA Cigna-Humana combination would have created a company with a value exceeding $140 billion, based on their market values, but was certain to attract fierce antitrust scrutiny. The discussions came six years after regulators blocked mega-deals that would have consolidated the U.S. health insurance sector.\nThe deal talks ended due to the parties not being able to agree on price, two sources familiar with the situation said. There remains the possibility of a tie-up in the future, those sources said.\nCigna, however, on Sunday announced plans to do an additional $10 billion in share repurchases, bringing total repurchases to $11.3 billion.\n\"We believe Cigna's shares are significantly undervalued and repurchases represent a value-enhancing deployment of capital as we work to support high-quality care, improved affordability, and better health outcomes,\" Cigna Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Cordani said in a statement.\nCordani said the company would consider bolt-on acquisitions aligned with its strategy as well as \"value-enhancing divestitures.\"\nCigna is still exploring the sale of its Medicare Advantage business, which manages government health insurance for people aged 65 and older, the sources said. That move would mark\na reversal of its expansion\nin the sector.\nBoth companies did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the deal talks, which was earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal.\nCONSOLIDATION CHALLENGES\nA merger would have given the combined company more scale to rival bigger U.S. health insurance players UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health.\nCigna and Humana, which have market values of $77 billion and $59 billion, respectively, currently have business overlap, concentrated in Medicare plans for older Americans.\nHumana's Medicare business is much bigger and more profitable than Cigna's. Reuters reported in November that Cigna was exploring the sale of its Medicare Advantage operations, whose performance has disappointed investors. This divestment could boost the chances of a combination with Humana surviving antitrust challenges, regulatory lawyers said.\nHowever, there have been antitrust concerns around the sector. After U.S. courts upheld antitrust challenges in 2017, Anthem -- now known as Elevance Health - gave up on a $48 billion deal to acquire Cigna. Losing the legal battle also caused Aetna -- now owned by pharmacy chain operator CVS Health CVS.N -- to abandon a $37 billion deal to acquire Humana.\nCraig Garthwaite, a healthcare economist at Northwestern University, said in November\nwhen news of the deal talks broke\nthat he expected antitrust authorities to challenge the merger, but that a sale of Cigna's Medicare Advantage (MA) business would improve the deal's prospects.\n(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Juby Babu in Bengaluru and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Megan Davies, Caroline Humer, Greg Roumeliotis, Sriraj Kalluvila, Bill Berkrot and Mark Porter)\n",
        "title": "CORRECTED-UPDATE 6-Cigna abandons pursuit of Humana, plans $10 billion share buyback -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 599,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-health-insurer-cigna-scraps-174119702.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Anirban Sen\n(Reuters) -U.S. health insurer Cigna has ended its attempt to negotiate an acquisition of rival Humana after the pair failed to agree on price, two sources familiar with the situation said on Sunday, as the company announced plans to buy back $10 billion worth of shares.\nA Cigna-Humana combination would have created a company with a value exceeding $140 billion, based on their market values, but was certain to attract fierce antitrust scrutiny. The discussions came six years after regulators blocked mega-deals that would have consolidated the U.S. health insurance sector.\nThe deal talks ended due to the parties not being able to agree on price, two sources familiar with the situation said. There remains the possibility of a tie-up in the future, those sources said.\nCigna, however, on Sunday announced plans to do an additional $10 billion in share repurchases, bringing total repurchases to $11.3 billion.\n\"We believe Cigna's shares are significantly undervalued and repurchases represent a value-enhancing deployment of capital as we work to support high-quality care, improved affordability, and better health outcomes,\" Cigna Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Cordani said in a statement.\nCordani said the company would consider bolt-on acquisitions aligned with its strategy as well as \"value-enhancing divestitures.\"\nCigna is still exploring the sale of its Medicare Advantage business, which manages government health insurance for people aged 65 and older, the sources said. That move would mark a reversal of its expansion in the sector.\nHumana declined to comment, while Cigna did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the deal talks, which was earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal.\nCONSOLIDATION CHALLENGES\nA merger would have given the combined company more scale to rival bigger U.S. health insurance players UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health.\nCigna and Humana, which have market values of $77 billion and $59 billion, respectively, currently have business overlap, concentrated in Medicare plans for older Americans.\nHumana's Medicare business is much bigger and more profitable than Cigna's. Reuters reported in November that Cigna was exploring the sale of its Medicare Advantage operations, whose performance has disappointed investors. This divestment could boost the chances of a combination with Humana surviving antitrust challenges, regulatory lawyers said.\nHowever, there have been antitrust concerns around the sector. After U.S. courts upheld antitrust challenges in 2017, Anthem -- now known as Elevance Health - gave up on a $48 billion deal to acquire Cigna. Losing the legal battle also caused Aetna -- now owned by pharmacy chain operator CVS Health CVS.N -- to abandon a $37 billion deal to acquire Humana.\nCraig Garthwaite, a healthcare economist at Northwestern University, said in November when news of the deal talks broke that he expected antitrust authorities to challenge the merger, but that a sale of Cigna's Medicare Advantage (MA) business would improve the deal's prospects.\n(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Juby Babu in Bengaluru and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Megan Davies, Caroline Humer, Greg Roumeliotis, Sriraj Kalluvila, Bill Berkrot and Mark Porter)\n",
        "title": "Cigna abandons pursuit of Humana, plans $10 billion share buyback -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 600,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-top-wall-street-strategists-share-their-new-years-resolutions-for-investing-in-2024-162902395.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Investors may need to display agility in 2024 to dodge potential economic blows. As Mike Tyson famously said, \"Everybody has plans until they get hit for the first time.\"\nAs the Federal Reserve combats inflation in an abnormal environment following the pandemic, equity markets have become ultra-sensitive to Fedspeak and economic data. And evolving recession predictions among economists suggest heightened uncertainty will continue.\n“I think coming out of this very unusual environment from the pandemic, the fiscal stimulus that we've had in the system, the ability for households and businesses to lock in low interest rates has created tremendous uncertainty about the pass-through of monetary policy tightening into the real economy and the impact that that's going to have,” Deutsche Bank Securities chief US economist Matthew Luzzetti told Yahoo Finance Live.\n“If you take a step back,\" Luzzetti added, \"I think most people would have anticipated that we would have gotten a recession at this point in time. Certainly, we were of that camp. But it hasn't happened.\"\nNow, Wall Street's most prominent strategists have a batch of new mantras for weathering uncertainty in 2024, involving agility, discipline, and paying attention to small- and mid-cap stocks.\nHere's what three chief investment strategists think investors should consider going into the new year:\nTruist co-chief investment officer Keith Lerner suggested that investors \"follow the weight of the evidence.\"\n\"I would say the most important thing is to stay agile,\" Lerner told Yahoo Finance Live. \"More importantly, have a basis for your view and adjust as the data shifts over time. ... We'll let the data speak for itself. In some ways, we're data dependent, just like the Feds.\"\nTruist is currently overweight large caps, technology, and communications, but the firm believes at some point during the year it will make sense to \"dig hard into small caps.\"\n\"Right now technology is rich, the earnings momentum is really strong, and the relative price momentum is still really strong as well,\" Lerner said. \"So we're staying overweight there. If we start seeing some cracks in those earnings trends, we would shift our position.\"\nCharles Schwab chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders's top idea for 2024 is all about discipline.\n\"This is the time for disciplined risk management,\" Sonders told Yahoo Finance. \"And it's about diversification and rebalancing. That's the best way to navigate through an uncertain environment.\"\nAccording to Sonders, removing the risk of unprofitable businesses is in itself an exercise of balanced discipline.\n\"I think you want to fade — to use trader lingo — the lower-quality names that have done well but continue to lean in up the quality spectrum,\" Sonders said. She noted that indexes with profitability filters inherently are of higher quality.\nAlthough the Russell 2000 is the most widely used benchmark for small-cap stocks and has outperformed the S&P 500 over the past month, Sonders reminded investors that \"close to 40% of stocks in that index are not profitable — 31% of stocks in that index are zombie companies, versus the S&P 600 that has a profitability filter.\"\nDon't abandon diversification, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management chief investment officer Brent Schutte urged.\n\"If you look back in every economic cycle going back into the '70s and '80s, leadership in the market has changed,\" Schutte told Yahoo Finance Live. \"I don’t think that investors will be talking about the ARKK holdings, will be talking about technology and growth stocks. I do think there's other values and other opportunities in small and mid caps.\"\nIn his outlook, Schutte also expects that there will not be a soft landing for the economy following the inflation-busting campaign led by the Federal Reserve.\nThat economic cycle shift may lead quality small- and mid-cap companies to emerge as outperformers — a projection largely shared by Sonders and Lerner.\n\"I think there's some evidence that small caps and mid caps have discounted an earnings decline, with the price action much more limited than the S&P 500, which is considered higher quality and more defensive in nature,\" Schutte told Yahoo Finance Live.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "3 top Wall Street strategists share their New Year's resolutions for investing in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 601,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-very-hot-economy-is-cooling-from-great-to-good-154057557.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "A version of this article was published on TKer.co.\nStocks ticked higher last week, with the S&P 500 rising 0.2% to close at 4,604.37. The index is now up 19.9% year to date, up 28.7% from its October 12, 2022 closing low of 3,577.03, and down 4% from its January 3, 2022 record closing high of 4,796.56.\nIt’s great news that U.S. economy continues to create a lot of jobs every month. Just on Friday, we learned employers added a healthy 199,000 jobs in November.\nStill, it’s worth having a frank discussion about how the economy is cooling. As you can see in the chart above, the pace of job gains has come down significantly from summer 2021 levels.\nTo be clear, this is not to suggest that we’re doomed for a recession. Rather, it’s an acknowledgement that some of the unusual massive forces that have been juicing growth over the past few years have been easing. And the data seems to confirm economic conditions have gone from very hot to something that’s a bit more normal.\nA year ago, many economists were warning the U.S. was barreling toward a recession.\nAt the time, it was a bit challenging to make sense of these bearish predictions considering the persistent massive economic tailwinds signaling future growth and the many other reasons for optimism.\nImportantly, inflation at the time had already been cooling for months despite persistent economic growth — evidence that we could see a bullish \"Goldilocks\" soft landing scenario where inflation cools to manageable levels without the economy having to sink into recession. (This is a narrative we’ve been repeating every week in TKer’s weekly review of the macro crosscurrents).\nWith the benefit of hindsight, we now know the economy created jobs every month year to date, consumer spending climbed to new record highs, and GDP growth remained positive and even accelerated in Q3.\nOne of the most clicked and shared TKer newsletters ever is the March 4, 2022 issue: Three massive economic tailwinds I can't stop thinking about\nThose three tailwinds: The unprecedented trillions of dollars worth of excess savings accumulated by consumers, the eye-poppingly high number of job openings, and the record-high levels of core capex orders.\nThese metrics are notable because they’re leading indicators: Excess savings represent extra money that has yet to be spent; elevated job openings represent hiring that has yet to happen, which also means incremental consumer spending power that has yet to be realized; and core capex orders represent capital goods businesses have yet to put in place, which means there’s still work to be done by manufacturers and that there’s more capacity coming for the businesses that ordered this stuff.\nIn recent months, these forces have trended toward more normal levels.\nExcess savings have faded from peak levels, and most economists agree these balances will soon be depleted.\nJob openings have come down significantly. According to the BLS’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, employers had 8.73 million job openings in October. This was the lowest print since March 2021, and it’s down significantly from the March 2022 high of 12.03 million.\nDuring the period, there were 6.50 million unemployed people — meaning there were 1.3 job openings per unemployed person. This metric — one of the most obvious signs of excess demand for labor — is close to prepandemic levels.\nOrders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft — a.k.a. core capex or business investment — fell 0.3% to $73.59 billion in October. While this figure continues to trend near record levels, growth seems to be stalling.\nJust because excess savings are down doesn’t mean people are out of money. People most definitely have money. People are sitting on a lot of wealth. It’s just that the extra cash sitting on top of all that money and wealth has largely been spent.\nAnd just because job openings are down doesn’t mean the labor market is toast. There are still a lot of job openings. Furthermore, layoff activity remains low, hiring activity remains elevated, and claims for unemployment insurance remain depressed. It’s just that employers aren’t quite as desperate to fill open positions as they have been over the past two years.\nAnd just because capex orders have gone sideways doesn’t mean business activity is going sideways. A lot of this equipment has yet to be delivered. Once in place, businesses are likely to be more productive than they once were.\nKeep in mind that these cooling metrics are the intended effect of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to bring down inflation. (More here and here.) And in particularly good news, inflation rates have come down significantly from crisis levels.\nIndeed, we seem to be realizing that bullish “Goldilocks” soft landing scenario where inflation cools to manageable levels without the economy having to sink into recession. (Again, a narrative we’ve been repeating every week in TKer’s weekly review of the macro crosscurrents).\nHere’s a great chart from economist Justin Wolfers tracking the trajectory of key measures of economic activity.\nAs you can see, while the rate of growth may be decelerating for some key measures, they are nevertheless still growing.\n\"If I had asked you a year ago to sketch what you thought a soft landing might look like,\" Wolfers tweeted after Friday’s jobs report, \"it's likely you would have pretty much drawn the current economic data.\"\nI think it’s fair to say when growth rates cool and the forces juicing excess demand fade, you may be at greater risk of going into recession in the near future.\nAnd let’s be realistic: Recessions happen.\nRecessions and the market volatility associated with economic downturns are unfortunate hurdles on the long-run path to building wealth in risk assets.\nConsequently, I don’t think it’s totally unreasonable that some economists are forecasting a recession in 2024.\nAt the same time, not all recessions are the same. It’s certainly possible that the next recession is a short and shallow one. And keep in mind that a recession at this point would begin as the economy is in an unusually and historically strong position — meaning that a recession may knock the economy from being very strong to just strong.\nTo reiterate, a recession in the near-term is no sure thing. But as the data continues to come in, we’ll have to be vigilant as we watch for signs that the economic narratives may be shifting.\nThere were a few notable data points and macroeconomic developments from last week to consider:\nThe labor market continues to add jobs. According to the BLS’s Employment Situation report released Friday, U.S. employers added 199,000 jobs in November. While the pace of job growth has generally been cooler, a 35th straight month of gains reaffirms an economy with robust demand for labor.\nEmployers have now added a whopping 2.6 million jobs since the beginning of the year. Total payroll employment is at a record 157.1 million jobs.\nThe unemployment rate — that is, the number of workers who identify as unemployed as a percentage of the civilian labor force — fell to 3.7% during the month. While it’s above its cycle low of 3.4%, it continues to hover near 50-year lows.\nWage growth is cooling. Average hourly earnings rose by 0.3% month-over-month in November, up slightly from the 0.4% pace in October. On a year-over-year basis, this metric is up 4.0%, a rate that’s been cooling but remains elevated.\n📈 Job switchers get better pay. According to ADP, which tracks private payrolls and employs a different methodology than the BLS, annual pay growth in November for people who changed jobs was up 8.3% from a year ago. For those who stayed at their job, pay growth was 5.6%.\nLabor productivity is up. From the BLS: \"Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 5.2% in the third quarter of 2023… as output increased 6.1% and hours worked increased 0.9%. The increase in labor productivity is the highest rate since the third quarter of 2020, in which productivity increased 5.7%.\"\nJob openings fall. According to the BLS’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, employers had 8.73 million job openings in October. This was the lowest print since March 2021. While this remains elevated above prepandemic levels, it’s down from the March 2022 high of 12.03 million.\nDuring the period, there were 6.50 million unemployed people — meaning there were 1.3 job openings per unemployed person. While down from its peak, this continues to be one of the most obvious signs of excess demand for labor.\nLayoffs remain depressed, hiring remains firm. Employers laid off 1.64 million people in October. While challenging for all those affected, this figure represents just 1.0% of total employment. This metric continues to trend below pre-pandemic levels.\nHiring activity continues to be much higher than layoff activity. During the month, employers hired 5.89 million people.\nUnemployment claims tick higher. Initial claims for unemployment benefits increased to 220,000 during the week ending December 2, up from 219,000 the week prior. While this is up from a September 2022 low of 182,000, it continues to trend at levels associated with economic growth.\nGas prices continue to fall. From AAA: \"After a one-day dalliance with a rising price, the national average for a gallon of gas resumed its steady retreat, shedding four cents since last week to $3.20. The main reason is a weaker cost for oil, which is struggling to stay above $70 per barrel. The falling price comes just a week after OPEC+ announced voluntary production cuts of about 2 million barrels daily. But instead of viewing it as coal in the stocking, the oil market response has thus far been a resounding ‘meh.’\"\nMortgage rates continue to decline. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 7.03%. From Freddie Mac: \"The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged near 7% this week, down from nearly 7.80% just six weeks ago. When rates began to rapidly drop, purchase applications rebounded initially, but this improvement in demand diminished in the last week. Although these lower rates remain a welcome relief, it is clear they will have to further drop to more consistently reinvigorate demand.\"\nUsed car prices continue to come down. From Manheim: \"Wholesale used-vehicle prices (on a mix, mileage, and seasonally adjusted basis) decreased 2.1% in November from October. The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index (MUVVI) dropped to 205.0, down 5.8% from a year ago.\"\nConsumer sentiment improved. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index jumped in December. From the survey: \"Consumer sentiment soared 13% in December, erasing all declines from the previous four months, primarily on the basis of improvements in the expected trajectory of inflation. … There was a broad consensus of improved sentiment across age, income, education, geography, and political identification. A growing share of consumers—about 14%—spontaneously mentioned the potential impact of next year’s elections. Sentiment for these consumers appears to incorporate expectations that the elections will likely yield results favorable to the economy.\"\nOn inflation expectations: \"Year-ahead inflation expectations plunged from 4.5% last month to 3.1% this month. The current reading is the lowest since March 2021 and sits just above the 2.3-3.0% range seen in the two years prior to the pandemic. Long-run inflation expectations fell from 3.2% last month to 2.8% this month, matching the second lowest reading seen since July 2021.\"\nThis chart from Bloomberg’s Michael McDonough shows how sentiment has improved across political persuasions.\nCard data suggest consumer spending is holding up. From BofA: \"Total card spending per HH was up 1.8% y/y in the week ending Dec 2, according to BAC aggregated credit and debit card data. Y/y and 4-year spending growth for the week were still impacted in some categories by shifts in the timing of Thanksgiving. Stepping back, however, holiday season spending is off to a solid start.\"\nServices surveys signal growth. The ISM’s November Services PMI reflected growth in the sector at an accelerating pace.\nFrom S&P Global’s November Services PMI report: \"While service sector businesses continued to report further output gains in November, growth remains considerably weaker than seen earlier in the year, and forward-looking indicators point to growth slowing in the months ahead. Firms providing both goods and services have become increasingly concerned about excessive staffing levels in the face of weakened demand, resulting in the smallest overall jobs gain recorded by the survey since the early pandemic lockdowns of 2020.\"\nBusiness investment is cooling. Orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft — a.k.a. core capex or business investment — fell 0.3% to $73.59 billion in October. While this figure continues to trend near record levels, growth seems to have stalled.\nNear-term GDP growth estimates are cooling. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model sees real GDP growth climbing at a 1.2% rate in Q4.\nWe continue to get evidence that we could see a bullish \"Goldilocks\" soft landing scenario where inflation cools to manageable levels without the economy having to sink into recession.\nThis comes as the Federal Reserve continues to employ very tight monetary policy in its ongoing effort to bring inflation down. While it’s true that the Fed has taken a less hawkish tone in 2023 than in 2022, and that most economists agree that the final interest rate hike of the cycle has either already happened or is near, inflation still has to cool more and stay cool for a little while before the central bank is comfortable with price stability.\nSo we should expect the central bank to keep monetary policy tight, which means we should be prepared for tight financial conditions (e.g., higher interest rates, tighter lending standards, and lower stock valuations) to linger. All this means monetary policy will be unfriendly to markets for the time being, and the risk the economy slips into a recession will be relatively elevated.\nAt the same time, we also know that stocks are discounting mechanisms — meaning that prices will have bottomed before the Fed signals a major dovish turn in monetary policy.\nAlso, it’s important to remember that while recession risks may be elevated, consumers are coming from a very strong financial position. Unemployed people are getting jobs, and those with jobs are getting raises.\nSimilarly, business finances are healthy as many corporations locked in low interest rates on their debt in recent years. Even as the threat of higher debt servicing costs looms, elevated profit margins give corporations room to absorb higher costs.\nAt this point, any downturn is unlikely to turn into economic calamity given that the financial health of consumers and businesses remains very strong.\nAnd as always, long-term investors should remember that recessions and bear markets are just part of the deal when you enter the stock market with the aim of generating long-term returns. While markets have had a pretty rough couple of years, the long-run outlook for stocks remains positive.\nA version of this article was published on TKer.co.\n",
        "title": "The very hot economy is cooling from great to good"
    },
    {
        "id": 602,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-and-the-fed-what-to-watch-153602454.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The last two major macro events of 2023 will greet investors in the week ahead.\nNovember's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report out Tuesday morning will offer the last piece of the inflation puzzle ahead of the Federal Reserve's final policy announcement of the year, due out Wednesday afternoon.\nA press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell and a new set of economic forecasts from Fed officials for the coming years will also highlight the proceedings on Wednesday. Producer prices out Wednesday morning, retail sales set for release on Thursday, and a look at US manufacturing activity on Friday also highlight the economic calendar.\nOn the corporate side events should be relatively sparse, with quarterly updates from Costco (COST), Adobe (ADBE), and Lennar (LEN) serving as the week's biggest names to report.\nMarkets enter the week with serious momentum, as all three major US stock market indexes have finished the last six weeks with gains. For the year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is up more than 9% while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) is up nearly 20%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained nearly 38%.\nThe S&P 500 is now less than 5% away from its record closing high.\nAt 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, the Fed will announce its final policy decision of the year, with markets pricing in a near 100% chance the central bank keeps interest rates unchanged in a range of 5.25%-5.50% to cap 2023.\nAlongside this policy decision Fed officials will release an updated Summary of Economic Projections, which includes its \"dot plot\" that maps out policymakers' expectations for where interest rates could be headed in the future. Forecasts on inflation, GDP growth, and unemployment will also be released.\nPowell's press conference is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m. ET, with investors keen to hear how the Fed chair balances investor expectations that interest rates could begin falling as early as March.\nThe last time Powell spoke publicly, on Dec. 1, he called the rate cut speculation \"premature.\"\n\"It would be premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance, or to speculate on when policy might ease,\" Powell said on Dec. 1 in prepared remarks at Spelman College in Atlanta. \"We are prepared to tighten policy further if it becomes appropriate to do so.\"\nInvestors will be watching to see if any recent data — notably the November jobs report and Tuesday's inflation reading — sways how the central bank discusses the path forward for policy.\nThe assembled press Powell will field questions from on Wednesday will be sure to prod the Fed chair for answers about the central bank's next move lower. But JPMorgan chief economist Michael Feroli doesn't think Powell will engage in the rate cutting discussion.\n\"At the press conference we think Powell will try to move the conversation away from the timing of the first ease by noting that currently the Committee is only considering whether they should stay on hold or tighten policy,\" Feroli wrote in a note to clients on Friday.\nMichael Pearce, lead US economist at Oxford economics, also sees Wednesday's press conference skewing slightly hawkish, indicating a bias from Powell and the Fed to keep interest rates higher for longer.\n\"We expect the updated economic projections and the post-meeting press conference to push back against the idea that rate cuts could come onto the agenda anytime soon, emphasizing that inflation is still too strong and that risks are to the upside,\" Pearce wrote in a note to clients on Thursday.\n\"If anything, we expect policymakers to err on the side of leaving rates too high for too long.\"\nThe day before the Fed's announcement, investor attention will be focused on inflation when November's Consumer Price Index (CPI) is released at 8:30 a.m. ET.\nEconomists forecast headline CPI rose 3.1% over the prior year in November, a decrease from the 3.2% rise seen in October. Prices are set to be flat on a monthly basis for the second straight month.\nOn a \"core\" basis, which strips out the volatile food and energy categories, CPI is forecast to rise 4% over last year in November, unchanged from the increase seen a month prior.\nThe Fed targets 2% annual inflation.\nMonthly core price increases are expected to clock in at 0.3%, an uptick from the 0.2% month-over-month increase seen in October.\n\"Similar to last month, we expect a drag on headline [inflation] from falling energy prices with upward pressure remaining on the core segment from components like [owner's equivalent rents]/rents, insurance, and car maintenance as well as other services,\" Jefferies' economics team led by Thomas Simons wrote in a note on Friday.\nTuesday's report will offer investors the first look at inflation in November after data in October showed both core CPI and core PCE, the Fed's preferred inflation measure, reached the lowest levels of annual inflation since September and April of 2021, respectively.\nEconomic data: No notable data\nEarnings: Casey's (CASY), Oracle (ORCL)\nEconomic data: NFIB Small Business Optimism, November (90.7 expected, 90.7 previously); Consumer Price Index, month-over-month, November (+0.0% expected, +0.0% previously); Core CPI, month-over-month, November (+0.3% expected, +0.2% previously); CPI, year-over-year, November (+3.1% expected, +3.2% previously); Core CPI, year-over-year, November (+4.0% expected, +4.0% previously); Real average hourly earnings, year-over-year, November (+0.8% previously)\nEarnings: No notable companies set to report.\nEconomic data: MBA Mortgage applications, week ending Dec. 8 (2.8%); Producer Price Index, month-over-month, November (+0.0% expected, +0.5% previously); PPI, year-over-year, November (+1.1% expected; +1.3% previously); Core PPI, month-over-month, November (+0.2% expected, +0.0% previously); Core PPI, year-over-year, November (+2.2% expected; +2.4% previously); FOMC Rate Decision, lower bound (5.25% expected, 5.25% previously); FOMC Rate Decision, upper bound (5.5% expected, 5.5% previously)\nEarnings: Adobe (ADBE)\nEconomic data: Initial jobless claims (221,000 expected, 220,00 previously); Retail sales, month-over-month, November (-0.1% expected, -0.1% previously); Retail sales, ex auto and gas, November (0.2% expected, +0.1% previously); Import prices, month-over-month, November (-0.8% expected, -0.8% previously); Export prices, month-over-month, November (-1.0% expected, -1.1% previously)\nEarnings: Costco (COST), Lennar (LEN)\nEconomic data: Empire Manufacturing, December (2.0 expected, 9.1 previously); Industrial production, month-over-month, November (+0.3% expected, -0.6% previously); S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI, December preliminary (49.3 expected, 49.4 previously); S&P Global US Services PMI, December preliminary (50.7 expected, 50.8 prior)\nEarnings: Darden Restaurants (DRI)\nJosh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Inflation and the Fed: What to watch"
    },
    {
        "id": 603,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-tech-ability-deliver-ai-150000266.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The fate of the S&P 500 is increasingly resting on whether a handful of the biggest technology companies can parlay artificial intelligence investments into even higher profits.\nSeven firms including Microsoft Corp. and Nvidia Corp. have driven about three-quarters of the index’s gain this year, in a rally stoked by an investor obsession with AI’s potential to disrupt vast parts of the economy. Valuations are high, with the companies’ shares trading at an average of 32 times earnings. Pressure is mounting on companies to deliver on some of the earnings hope embedded in their ever-rising stock prices.\n“We’re getting closer to the moment when the companies that are claiming AI-related profits will have to start showing them,” said Mark Lehmann, chief executive at JMP Securities. “I am not calling for an expansion of multiples next year; the returns will have to come from companies actually turning in better profits.”\nThe companies just delivered record profits of $99 billion in the third quarter. Now more is being asked of them, testament to how high the stakes have become for the stocks that have added around $5 trillion to the market’s value this year. At nearly 30% of the S&P 500, they have more sway over the benchmark than ever before.\nNvidia Corp. has been the engine powering much of the group’s profit growth this year. It’s the only megacap that has delivered a significant jump in results as a result of demand for AI. The chipmaker is projected to generate about $28 billion in profit this year, up from about $4.4 billion last year. Most of the gains stem from sales of so-called accelerator chips used to train the large-language models that underpin applications like ChatGPT.\nOthers in the group haven’t yet shown many AI gains. Microsoft, arguably the company in the next best position in AI owing to its $13 billion investment in ChatGPT owner OpenAI, earned a bit less in the fiscal year ended in June than the period before. For its next fiscal year, analysts on average expect earnings to rise 17%.\nStock prices are climbing faster than earnings estimates. The average price-to-expected earnings ratio in the group of seven is up from about 21 times at the start of the year but below a July peak at 36. Some, like Facebook parent Meta Platforms, are relatively cheap at 19 times. Tesla Inc., on the other hand, is the most expensive at 63 times estimated earnings.\nSome investors believe these levels may be too low. Nick Rubinstein, technology stock portfolio manager at Jennison Associates, is confident that profits from AI will help make some Big Tech stocks look like bargains at current prices.\n“I’m more excited now than I have been for a very long time,” he said in an interview. “So many industries can benefit, while the arms dealers for AI should benefit even more.”\nOther members of the largest seven include Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Future gains for these giants, and the S&P 500 as a whole, will hinge at least in part on the macro backdrop. Investors are pricing in rosy scenarios, where the US avoids a recession and the Federal Reserve pivots from hiking rates this year to cutting them as soon as the first half of 2024.\nMany are reluctant to forecast that tech stocks will drop next year. If there’s anything money managers have learned in 2023, it’s the folly of believing too strongly in year-ahead forecasts.\nBut even if the stocks don’t fall, it’s not clear how much they can rally if valuations are already so high, said Phil Segner, senior research analyst and co-portfolio manager at Leuthold Group. Nvidia’s shares have hovered in a range for most of the second half of 2023 even as profits have jumped, for example.\n“To call a top in this trend has been a fool’s errand,” Segner said. “I can’t say that it’s going to keep going into next year but at some point, I think people should be aware of the risk that those stocks have in their portfolio.”\n",
        "title": "Big Tech’s Ability to Deliver on AI Profits Looms Over S&P 500"
    },
    {
        "id": 604,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/these-brands-are-well-positioned-for-the-millennial-gen-z-wealth-boom-td-cowen-143913430.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Premium brands competing over the growing purchasing power of Gen Z and millennial consumers could have a lot to gain.\nGen Z and millennials wield nearly $165 billion in purchasing power, and their spending is expected to boom as the two cohorts inherit an estimated $60 trillion of wealth by 2050, according to research by TD Cowen.\n\"As these cohorts, who have grown up in the digital age, grow older and experience rising income, along with the potential for substantial wealth inheritance,\" the TD Cowen analysts wrote, \"consumption patterns of these cohorts could lead to profound shifts in the retail, e-commerce, restaurants, food & beverage, hotel and travel industries, rendering them a critical demographic for investor focus across consumer and tech verticals.\"\nCowen's survey of Gen Z and millennial consumers found younger consumers have distinct buying habits and preferences. The demographics, which span the ages of 13-42, are more likely to use direct-to-consumer, social commerce, and digital channels while also seeking authentic brand interactions.\nThe survey also found that value was a priority for Gen Z and millennial consumers, as inflation and a higher cost of living weigh on their spending decisions. According to the New York Fed, millennials experienced the largest surge in credit card delinquency rates.\n“They feel fairly uncomfortable from a financial perspective,” TD Cowen analyst John Kernan told Yahoo Finance Live in October. “They expect to cut spend further into 2024, based on the survey data. So value and price [are] very important to them.”\nDespite potentially weaker spending in the near term, TD Cowen highlighted several stocks poised to outperform amid the burgeoning wealth shift. From e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) to emerging brands such as Deckers (DECK), here are a few of the stocks with “durable growth and stronger competitive positions amidst broader disruptive forces.”\nThe research team at TD Cowen noted growth potential in several retail stocks, including athletic apparel names such as Nike (NKE), Lululemon (LULU), and Hoka sneakers maker Deckers.\nNike and Lululemon saw new highs in brand preference among millennials and Gen Z-ers. At the same time, disruptive growth companies such as Deckers and On Holdings (ONON) emerged as rising brands.\nAnother apparel company proving to be disruptive is fast-fashion clothing brand Shein, which soon may become another stock play for social commerce and Gen Z consumer trends.\nIn November, the China-based company filed to go public in the US, seeking a valuation of $90 billion, according to Bloomberg. At this valuation, Shein would be the biggest IPO for a company founded in China since Alibaba went public in the US a decade ago.\nAccording to the analysts at TD Cowen, \"Shein leads again among brand preference when shopping for fashion apparel\" among adults age 18-24, \"and the direct retailer also takes the top spot again in 2023 for 'going out' dressing among Gen Z at 33%.\"\nThe analysts also pointed to younger consumers' growing preference for off-price retailers. Other retail plays catering to the value-focused consumer include T.J. Maxx owner TJX Companies (TJX) and Ross Stores (ROST).\n\"The broader consumer is overloaded with choice and stimulation across all categories,\" the analysts wrote. \"The most durable companies will be those with pricing power that is driven by innovation, product engineering, and effective marketing.\"\nTech giants like Amazon, Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), and Meta (META) are positioned to continue to dominate.\nAmazon was once again \"the most frequently used channel to begin a product search as well as the most likely place for a consumer to complete the purchase of a new clothing item,” John Blackledge, internet analyst at TD Cowen, wrote. \"However, Google Search saw an uptick in relevance along the consumer’s path to purchase this year, which we view as a positive for long-term shopping trends on Google Search.\"\nMeanwhile, Blackledge highlighted Instagram-parent Meta and TikTok as \"the clear leaders\" in social commerce over the next five to 10 years.\nThese platforms have further amplified social commerce’s structural gains. According to the survey, 18- to 35-year-old consumers spend on average four to eight hours per day on their cell phones, with one-fifth of that cohort spending eight to over 10 hours a day on their devices.\n\"The influence they [Instagram and TikTok] have on younger generations' spending patterns and preferences is enormous,\" Kernan told Yahoo Finance Live. \"I think what's manifesting itself further is that ... barriers to enter have come down, and the amount of time that younger consumers spend on their cell phones is truly astounding.\"\nChipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Constellation Brands (STZ), and Domino's Pizza (DPZ) are also beneficiaries of Gen Z and millennial preferences.\nTD Cowen restaurants analyst Andrew Charles, who has an Outperform rating on Chipotle stock, noted that younger consumers are seeking greater transparency about where their food comes from, which is something Chipotle emphasizes.\n\"As millennials and Gen Z enter their prime years of purchasing power, we note that younger consumers are 6.6 percentage points more likely to view food transparency (aka 'what’s in my food?') as important or very important in making a restaurant decision,\" Charles wrote.\nCharles added that younger consumers are nearly twice as likely to use third-party delivery services, such as Uber Eats (UBER), DoorDash (DASH), and GrubHub. Domino's partnership with Uber Eats, along with its value perception, make it another stock well positioned within its vertical.\nDomino's Pizza's \"80%+ digital mix has room to move higher with the upcoming partnership with Uber that will allow the brand to grow relevance with both younger and more affluent consumers,\" Charles wrote. \"This will be complemented by orders placed on Domino’s app & website via an ecommerce refresh & a loyalty program revamp.\"\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "These brands are well positioned for the millennial, Gen Z wealth boom: TD Cowen"
    },
    {
        "id": 605,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-starts-confront-next-big-140000842.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The most important question facing the economy and financial markets next year is not whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates. It’s why.\nWith inflation having fallen dramatically from multi-decade highs last year, rate reductions in 2024 look increasingly likely. After holding policy steady for the third straight meeting this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues are expected to use their “dot-plot” to forecast rate cuts in 2024 – though probably not nearly as many as investors and economists are expecting.\nIf the central bank is bringing rates down in tandem with cooling inflation, that’s good news for the economy and for investors. It will mean the Fed is on the cusp of achieving an elusive soft landing in which inflation falls back toward pre-pandemic levels without the economy suffering a downturn.\nBut if the Fed is reducing rates because the economy is deteriorating dramatically, at risk of or in a recession, that’s a different story. That would signal that unemployment is headed markedly higher and that corporate profits would take a hit as demand decays.\n“You want rate cuts because the economy has cooled and inflation has cooled, not because the economy is in recession,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG LLP.\nThe motivation for Fed rate cuts has implications for how many there will be. If the economy is in or in danger of recession, officials will likely ease policy rapidly and by a lot, economists said. Smaller, slower cuts are probable if there’s no deep downturn.\nPresident Joe Biden has a lot at stake in how Chair Jerome Powell manages the policy pivot. With voters already sour on Biden’s handling of the economy due to a surge in the cost of living, the president would face a bigger headwind to winning another term in November if the US tumbled into a recession.\nThere was scant sign of a contraction on the horizon in the November jobs report released Friday. Unemployment dropped to 3.7% from October’s 3.9%. Payroll gains remained solid.\nRead More: Fed Rate-Cut Exuberance Ebbs After Jobs Data, Boosting US Yields\nMoney market traders scaled back their estimates of rate cuts following the stronger-than-forecast jobs data. They now see less than a 50% chance that the first rate cut will come in March and are betting the Fed will reduce rates by slightly more than a percentage point during 2024. Earlier this month traders had seen about a 60% chance of easing starting in March and penciled in around five quarter-point cuts for all of 2024.\nThe current market pricing is now more in line with economists’ forecasts. Fed watchers surveyed by Bloomberg last week expect the central bank to lower rates by 100 basis points next year, with the first quarter-point reduction occurring in June.\nMore than two-thirds of the economists polled expect the economy to avoid a recession in 2024 and close to three-quarters say the initial rate cut will come in response to ebbing inflation, not due to a contraction in the economy.\nThe inflation-wary central bank will be much more conservative in forecasting rate cuts than the markets when it releases its summary of economic projections this week, the survey suggested. Powell & Co. are expected to pencil in just a half percentage point of rate reductions next year in the dot plot released after their meeting, according to the Dec. 1-6 survey of 49 economists.\n“We expect the dot plot to avoid suggesting cuts in the first half,” said Brett Ryan, a senior US economist at Deutsche Bank.\nWhat Bloomberg Intelligence Says...\n“Rate markets priced for deep cuts in early 2024 may get a shock next week if the Federal Reserve reiterates that it will keep interest rates at their peak well into next year.”\n— Ira F. Jersey and Will Hoffman, BI strategists\nFor the full note, click here.\nPowell told students at Atlanta’s Spelman College on Dec. 1 that it would be “premature” to speculate on when the Fed might ease policy and even left open the option that it would raise rates further if needed to bring inflation to heel.\nRead More: Powell Pushes Back on Rate-Cut Bets But Markets Push Back Harder\nOver the Fed’s last five credit-tightening cycles, the average time from the last rate increase to the first reduction was eight months, according to Joseph Lavorgna, chief economist at SMBC Nikko Securities America. With the Fed last having raised rates in July, that puts a March rate cut in play.\n“A March rate cut is still quite likely with three more employment reports between now and then,” Lavorgna said, with a deteriorating labor market and softening inflation prompting the Fed to act.\nThe presidential election in November also tilts at the margin to the Fed moving earlier in the year to try to avoid the political glare, said Lavorgna, who served in the White House under former President Donald Trump.\nLavorgna sees the central bank cutting rates by 125 basis points next year, with the distinct possibility of more. That won’t be enough to forestall a recession but it will limit the damage, he added.\nIn contrast, Bank of America Chief US Economist Michael Gapen expects the economy to avoid a downturn and the Fed to cut rates by three-quarters of a percentage point in 2024, with the first move coming in June. The decision to reduce rates will come in response to ebbing price pressures, not a contracting economy, he said.\n“There are a number of headwinds and uncertainty in the pathway for inflation,” said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist for Stifel Financial Corp. “The Fed can’t take its foot off the brake quite yet.”\n--With assistance from Sarina Yoo and Liz Capo McCormick.\n",
        "title": "Fed Starts to Confront the Next Big Question: Why to Cut Rates"
    },
    {
        "id": 606,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-sees-boe-rate-cuts-134730816.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of England will make its first rate cut in August, with the pace of reductions coming faster than previously forecast, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a note.\nThe first 25 basis-point cut is expected to be followed by similar decreases made at each policy meeting, versus a previous expectations for one reduction per quarter, until the rate reaches 3% in mid-2025, Goldman economists including Sven Jari Stehn said in a note on Sunday.\n“This quicker pace is more in line with historical cutting cycles, our updated forecast for the ECB, and our forecast for a quicker decline in inflation,” they said.\nGlobal Rate-Cut Standoff Looms in 2023 Policy Finale: Eco Week\nBloomberg Economics also sees the first rate cut in August as the BOE balances strong underlying price pressures against a weak economy. The bank is expected to hold borrowing costs at 5.25% this week for a third straight meeting.\nGoldman also stressed “significant” uncertainty around the outlook, with a 30% probability that the bank rate will need to stay at 5.25% through all of 2024 “if underlying inflation eases more gradually” than projected.\n",
        "title": "Goldman Sees BOE Rate Cuts Coming From August at ‘Quicker Pace’"
    },
    {
        "id": 607,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/closing-the-688-billion-tax-gap-wont-help-solve-the-us-debt-problem-134309736.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The IRS is promising its focus on increased tax compliance will help with the nation’s debt problem.\n\"Achieving our goals will result not only in a fairer tax system,\" IRS commissioner Danny Werfel testified before Congress in October, \"but also in benefits for taxpayers and the nation because detecting and stopping noncompliance in these areas would result in significant additional revenues and reduce the deficit.\"\nNot so fast, says one expert.\nEven if the Internal Revenue Service achieves a 100% collectible rate, up from the current 86.3% net compliance rate, and closes the estimated $688 billion tax gap, that won’t be enough to meaningfully shrink the chasm between how much the US spends versus how much revenue it takes in.\n\"You're running a $1.7 trillion dollar deficit,\" Scott Hodge, president emeritus and senior policy adviser at the Tax Foundation, told Yahoo Finance. \"Even perfect tax compliance — an impossible goal — would fall short of eliminating the deficit.\"\nThe IRS estimated that the national tax gap was $688 billion in 2021, up 14.4% from $601 billion in 2020 and nearly double from $345 billion in 2001. It attributed the tax gap increase to a growing US economy.\nFor instance, 2021’s estimated tax gap accounted for 2.6% of overall gross domestic product, or GDP, which was $23 trillion in the same period. This ratio has largely stayed consistent since 2014 — oscillating between 2.3% and 2.6% — demonstrating that both elements grow correspondingly.\n\"While $688 billion sounds like a big number and is touted as a big increase from prior years, it is hardly different as a share of the economy than the tax gap figures from prior years,\" Hodge wrote.\nTax collections were also relatively stable when compared to GDP. Between 2015 and 2021, the share of IRS revenue collection has ranged between 16.4% to 18.3% of GDP, while gross revenue continued to climb at an average rate of 3.2%. Revenue collected reached $4.1 trillion in 2021, but the highest GDP share ratio was 18.3% in 2016 when the IRS collected $3.3 trillion in revenue.\nYet the agency's revenue has not kept pace with federal spending. Federal spending was $7.65 trillion in 2021, $6.5 trillion in 2022, and $6.13 trillion in 2023.\nThe federal government's share of spending compared to GDP has clocked in between 20% to 30% between 2015 and 2021, government data shows. This is much higher than the tax collection-to-GDP ratio of 16.4% to 18.3% in that same period.\nSo even if the IRS collects 100% of estimated revenue and closes the tax gap by hundreds of billions of dollars, the government still can't meet its growing deficit.\n\"While it would be unrealistic to expect revenues to match the level of spending during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, 100 percent tax compliance would have fallen well short of matching federal outlays even in pre-pandemic years,\" Hodge wrote.\nIn 2021, the US net compliance rate was 86.3% — after accounting for late payments and IRS auditing efforts — compared with the agency's estimated total liability. This ratio is higher than the voluntary tax compliance rate of 84.9% — the share of US taxpayers who voluntarily pay on time without any enforcement efforts, the IRS Tax Gap Projection research reported.\n\"Relative to the rest of the world, Americans are very compliant for what is essentially a voluntary tax system,\" Hodge said. \"We have to be realistic about how much this is going to go to solving the deficit problem.\"\nThe three components contributing to the $688 billion shortfall in 2021 were non-filings of $77 billion, underreporting of $542 billion, and underpayment of $68 billion, the IRS website shows.\nAnd there are three approaches to promote more compliance, according to Caroline Bruckner, tax professor at the American University Kogod School of Business and managing director of the Kogod Tax Policy Center.\n\"To some degree, the IRS engages in all three,\" Bruckner wrote to Yahoo Finance. \"However, my latest research suggests we don’t do nearly enough tax education. People don’t know what’s due when or how to file their taxes properly.\"\nThe agency has also announced plans to step up enforcement efforts and reduce the tax gap by focusing on wealthy individuals with income above $1 million and more than $250,000 in recognized tax debt. It is working on auditing 1,600 taxpayers who owe hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes, according to an IRS announcement.\n\"In all of our compliance work, our goal is to increase our efforts on those posing the greatest risk to our nation's tax system,\" Werfel said last month, \"whether that is the wealthy looking to dodge paying their fair share or promoters aggressively peddling abusive schemes.\"\nStill, Hodge warned that there is a \"delicate balance\" between attempting to increase compliance and overburdening responsible taxpayers as well as relying on its deficit reduction argument.\n\"We have to really be realistic that the IRS can only do so much,\" Hodge said, \"especially when the deficit is so large.\"\nRebecca Chen is a reporter for Yahoo Finance and previously worked as an investment tax certified public accountant (CPA).\nClick here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Closing the $688 billion tax gap won't help solve the US debt problem"
    },
    {
        "id": 608,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bosch-expects-cut-1-500-132615364.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Automotive supplier Bosch needs to cut up to 1,500 jobs at two of its German sites by 2025 to adapt staffing levels to changing demand and technologies in the auto sector, the company said on Sunday.\nThe workforce reductions were first reported by weekly industry newspaper Automobilwoche.\n\"Like other companies, we have to adjust the level of employment to the order situation, structural changes in the drive sector and the market penetration of future technologies,\" a spokesperson for Bosch said in e-mailed comments.\n\"We see a need to adjust up to 1,500 personnel capacities in the areas of development, administration and sales in the Drives division at the Feuerbach and Schwieberdingen sites by the end of 2025.\"\nBosch said it was trying to achieve this via moving staff to other departments, early retirement or voluntary redundancy agreements, adding the group was in talks with the works council over specifics.\n\"We are facing significantly greater challenges than expected at the beginning of the year ... Even if we want to maintain our employment level as best as possible with new products and a wide range of training measures, we will have to adjust this to the order situation in some areas,\" Bosch said.\nBosch confirmed that the company would refrain from compulsory redundancies at its German mobility locations until the end of 2027.\n(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)\n",
        "title": "Bosch expects to cut 1,500 jobs by 2025 at two German sites"
    },
    {
        "id": 609,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/standout-emerging-market-bond-bet-130000539.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Local bonds from emerging markets are luring investors, who are looking to profit from what they expect to be hefty returns thanks to shifting monetary policy paths.\nCentral banks in many developing economies have sped ahead in the fight against inflation, hiking — and then cutting — interest rates far faster than their policymaking peers in the US and Europe. That’s helped fuel what’s set to be the best annual rally in Latin American domestic bonds since 2009.\nNow, Pacific Investment Management Co. is among those preparing for another windfall in 2024. Speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the coming year, dragging the US dollar lower, should open the door to even looser policy in emerging markets and boost local asset returns.\n“The closer we get to the Fed rate cut, the more investors will tilt toward local currencies,” said Ricardo Navarro, head of Latin American fixed income at Itau Unibanco Holding SA. “Investors want yield pick-up, and the thesis there is that without the Fed hiking further, you might as well get the bigger yield in EM currencies.”\nThat call comes after a standout year for Latin American local bonds. A Bloomberg gauge of local-currency government debt in the region has posted a 24% rally, as of Dec. 7, compared to a 10% surge for similar dollar-denominated debt. The Colombian and Mexican pesos are the top two best-performing currencies in emerging markets this year.\nThose gains have been trailed by the rest of the emerging world, where central banks have been slower in their monetary cycles.\nDomestic debt from Europe, the Middle East and Africa is down 0.4% this year. The Turkish lira, Russian ruble and South African are so far among some of the worst-performing emerging currencies of 2023. Local Asian government debt, meanwhile, has returned about 2.4%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of Dec. 7.\nThierry Larose, a money manager at Vontobel Asset Management AG in Zurich, said he favors Latin American local debt, but still finds opportunity in other parts of the world. He likes Czech and Hungarian rates, on a partially currency-hedged basis, thanks to their duration rather than their carry offerings. In South Africa, Larose said there’s room to make a tactical play and fade excessive exuberance or pessimism.\n“Turkey could be the story of 2024,” said Larose, whose sustainable local-currency bond fund has outperformed 91% of peers over the past year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The new economic team is well respected, has credible objectives to fight inflation and they communicate it in a clear and pragmatic way.”\nPimco’s head of emerging-market debt, Pramol Dhawan, has been touting the asset class as a top pick for 2024.\n“We continue to be bullish,” said Dhawan, whose emerging-market local currency and bond fund has outperformed 95% of peers in the past year. “In fact, even more bullish now”\nThere is, of course, always the potential for volatility along the way. Traders on Friday pared back their expectations for the Fed to ease monetary policy aggressively next year after a better-than-forecast US jobs report.\nNow, investors are looking ahead to the Fed’s final policy meeting of the year, and while no change in rates is expected, officials Wednesday will update their projections for 2024 for the first time since September.\nAs long as the Fed’s rate cute do ultimately materialize, though, strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Latin America’s rate complex should see more support, with scope for meaningful rate relief in Mexico and Brazil.\nThe firm also like currency-hedged front-end bonds in China in anticipation of expected policy easing and long-end bonds in Poland and the belly of Hungarian rates. And India offers opportunity as its notes move into major indexes, a group led by Andrew Tilton wrote in a 2024 outlook note.\nSolid Demand\nFor emerging-market governments in need of financing, there’s an added bonus to increased demand for local assets.\nWith global monetary conditions still tight, borrowers and investors have turned to alternative sources of funding, such as loan syndication, conservation-linked securities and, of course, local-currency bonds.\nThe finance minister in Peru, for instance, has said the nation is eager to raise longer-dated, local currency-debt and using the proceeds to pay down some of the nation’s outstanding overseas notes.\nAnd corporate activity has been rampant in Mexico’s domestic bond market — a trend that’s set to spill into 2024, according to Banco Santander SA. Lira-denominated Turkish government bonds, meanwhile, have been rallying, fueled in part by an increase in offshore buying.\n“I think it’s healthier to rely on its local investor base and in a currency that is under your control,” said Vontobel’s Larose.\nIn all, emerging-market governments and companies have sold some $1.5 trillion worth of domestic debt so far this year, a 4% increase compared to the same period of 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nIssuance was led by Chinese, South Korean and Indian borrowers, the data show, though Brazil, Russia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia also ranked among the most-active local primary markets.\n“There are windows of opportunity in local-currency sovereign issuance,” Itau’s Navarro said. “The sovereign issuers are going to lead the market at least for the first half of 2024.”\n--With assistance from Colleen Goko, Ezra Fieser and Carolina Wilson.\n",
        "title": "Standout Emerging-Market Bond Bet Set for Another Boost in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 610,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/musk-poll-shows-x-users-060647560.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Mrinmay Dey and Jyoti Narayan\n(Reuters) -Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday showed the account of U.S. right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to have been reinstated as a poll organized by owner Elon Musk backed his return after a ban of nearly five years.\nClose to 2 million votes were cast by the time the poll closed, with about 70% voting in favor of Jones' reinstatement.\n\"The people have spoken and so it shall be,\" Musk wrote in the reply to the poll that ended on Sunday.\nSoon after reappearing on the platform, Jones' account began accumulating followers and currently has about 1 million. He has yet to post anything original, but has reposted two messages.\nJones' account with username \"@RealAlexJones\" now shows his last original post was on Sept. 6, 2018, the same day the social media platform's previous owners permanently banned his account and website Infowars, saying they had violated its behavior policies.\nThe ban came weeks after Apple, Alphabet's YouTube and Facebook took down podcasts and channels from Jones, citing community standards.\nReuters could not verify if X reinstated the Infowars account.\nX and Infowars did not respond to a request asking for confirmation on Jones' account. Jones could not be immediately reached.\nJones last year was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in damages to relatives of victims in the Sandy Hook school shooting for falsely claiming they were actors who staged the tragedy as part of a government plot to seize Americans’ guns.\nRight after Musk's takeover of Twitter, the social media platform implemented several modification, including changing its name and revisiting its policies. It also reinstated previously suspended accounts including that of former U.S. President Donald Trump.\nThe billionaire has since sought to reassure users and advertisers that such a decision would be made with the consideration of a content moderation council composed of people with \"widely diverse viewpoints\" and no account reinstatements would happen before the council convened.\nSeparately, Musk in November cursed out advertisers that have fled X over antisemitic content.\nSeveral companies including Comcast and Walt Disney paused their advertisements on X after Musk agreed with a post that falsely claimed that Jewish people were stoking hatred against white people.\n(Reporting by Jyoti Narayan and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Miral Fahmy, David Goodman, Louise Heavens and Mark Porter)\n",
        "title": "Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones reinstated on X after Musk poll"
    },
    {
        "id": 611,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bhp-workers-consider-strike-action-035722065.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Workers critical to the operation of five Australian coal mines owned by BHP Group Ltd. are readying to vote on industrial action that could involve strikes before the end of the year, the AFR reported, citing their union.\nThe open-cut coordinators are responsible for safety compliance that is essential for the mines to stay open, the report said. Their ballot closes on Dec. 20 and includes options for indefinite strikes and bans on risk assessments, which could force BHP to suspend mining operations at its five Bowen Basin sites in the state of Queensland, it said.\nIf backed by workers, strikes could take place as early as Dec. 28, the AFR said.\nThe workers have been in ongoing talks with their employer pushing to cement conditions on redundancy pay, accident pay and consultation over roster changes, AFR said. Another round of bargaining is scheduled for this week, and a BHP spokesman told the paper that “good progress” had been made in recent months to respond to worker concerns.\n",
        "title": "BHP Workers Consider Strike Action at Some Australian Mines: AFR"
    },
    {
        "id": 612,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sovereign-bond-investors-hold-ahead-113538595.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds comments)\nBy Stefano Rebaudo\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Euro zone yields edged lower on Monday, with investors on hold ahead of a reading on U.S. inflation on Tuesday and policy meetings from major central banks later in the week.\nBorrowing costs on both sides of the Atlantic jumped last Friday after robust U.S. economic data led money markets to scale back expectations for future rate cuts slightly.\nDespite that, the benchmark 10-year Bund yield recorded on Friday its biggest biweekly fall since mid-March as money markets ramped up bets on European Central Bank rate cuts.\nBarring the mid-March fall – when bond yields had tumbled on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) - the Bund yield recorded its most significant biweekly drop since the end of July 2011. It was last down 1.5 basis points (bps) at 2.25% after rising 7.5 bps on Friday.\nMoney markets priced 135 basis points of policy rate reductions in 2024, from around 145 bps late on Thursday. They priced 80 bps at the end of November.\nAnalysts brought forward their expectations for future cuts after weak inflation data and the aggressive market repricing, but they expect central banks to keep rates unchanged this week.\nGoldman Sachs forecast the Federal Reserve to reduce rates for the first time in the third quarter 2024, while expecting the ECB to cut by 25 bps in each meeting starting April next year.\nCiti analysts expect an ECB pushback against the recent market repricing of policy rates \"to be quite soft\" at this week policy meeting, and \"a quantitative tightening (QT) discussion/decision\" to widen the spread between 10-year Italian bond yields and the euro short-term rate by 5-15 bps, while being \"relatively neutral\" on bonds.\nECB President Christine Lagarde recently said it may discuss ending reinvestments early of its 1.7 trillion euro Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP), in a move which would reduce excess liquidity.\nThe Bank of England (BoE) looks set to stick to its tough line against talk of interest rate cuts in Britain, even as other leading central banks signal that they might be approaching a turning point in their fight against inflation.\nThe Fed will meet on Wednesday, while the ECB and the BoE will meet on Thursday.\nItaly's 10-year yields, the benchmark for the euro area's periphery, was up 0.5 bps at 4.06%. The spread between Italian and German 10-year yields – a gauge of the risk premium investors ask to hold bonds of the most indebted countries – was at 179 bps after recently falling to 170 bps.\nInvestors are watching the negotiations for the reform of the European Union fiscal rules – the Stability and Growth Pact – as the resilience of peripheral spreads could be challenged if investors already nervous about debt sustainability and high rates are spooked by tight post-pandemic budget rules.\nOn Friday, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner insisted that EU deficits must be controlled when reforming the bloc's fiscal rules.\nMarkets will watch the Bank of Japan (BOJ) policy meeting on Monday next week, while investors weigh the chance that the BOJ could exit from negative interest rates as early as January.\nAnalysts have warned that a sharp rise in domestic yields could suck money back to Japan and out of global assets, including euro area and U.S. sovereign bonds. (Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo, Editing by Alex Richardson) ;))\n",
        "title": "Sovereign bond investors on hold ahead of U.S. data, central bank meetings"
    },
    {
        "id": 613,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/panama-canal-drought-delay-grain-113449936.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Karl Plume\n(Reuters) - Bulk grain shippers hauling crops from the U.S. Gulf Coast export hub to Asia are sailing longer routes and paying higher freight costs to avoid vessel congestion and record-high transit fees in the drought-hit Panama Canal, traders and analysts said.\nThe shipping snarl through one of the world's main maritime trade routes comes at the peak season for U.S. crop exports, and the higher costs are threatening to dent demand for U.S. corn and soy suppliers that have already ceded market share to Brazil in recent years.\nShips moving crops have faced wait times of up to three weeks to pass through the canal as container vessels and others that sail on more regular schedules are scooping up the few transit slots available.\nThe restrictions could continue to impede grain shipments well into 2024 when the region's wet season may begin to recharge reservoirs and normalize shipping in April or May, analysts said.\n\"It's causing quite a disruption both in expense and delay,\" said Jay O'Neil, proprietor of HJ O'Neil Commodity Consulting, adding that the disruption is unlike any he's seen in his 50 years of monitoring global shipping.\nThe Panama Canal Authority restricted vessel transits this autumn as a severe drought limited supplies of water needed to operate its lock system. The Authority did not respond to request for comment on grain shipment delays.\nOnly 22 daily transits are currently allowed, down from around 35 in normal conditions. By February, transits will shrink further to 18 a day.\nGrain ships are often at the back of the line as they usually seek transit slots only a few days before arriving, while others like cruise and container ships book months in advance.\nThe Authority also offers the rare available slots to its top customers first, none of which are bulk grain haulers, O'Neil said.\nAny scheduled slots that come available are auctioned off, but demand is exceptionally high. Some slots have gone for $1 million or more, untenable costs for the traditionally thin-margin grain trading business.\n\"The grain trades and the bulk carrier segment are going to be the last customers to go through the Panama Canal. I would not rely on the Panama Canal any time soon,\" said Mark Thompson, senior trader at Olam Agri.\nWait times for bulk grain vessels ballooned from around five to seven days in October to around 20 days by late November, O'Neil said, prompting more grain carriers to reroute.\nOptions include sailing south around South America or Africa, or transiting the Suez Canal. But those longer routes can add up to two weeks to shipping times, elevating costs for fuel, crews and freight leases.\nThe benchmark Baltic Dry Index, considered a benchmark for bulk grain freight, spiked to a 1-1/2 year peak on Dec. 4, more than doubling from a month earlier.\nWhile grain prices have fallen from 2020 peaks, higher freight costs will be passed on to grain and oilseed importers who buy for human food and livestock feed.\n\"Commercial companies have been finding ways to navigate around the problem. But undoubtedly it costs the end-user more money,\" said Dan Basse, president of Chicago-based consultancy AgResource Co.\nIn the second half of October, only five U.S. Gulf grain vessels bound for east Asia transited the Panama Canal, while 33 sailed east to use the Suez Canal instead, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report. In the same period last year, 34 vessels used the Panama Canal while only seven used the Suez.\nSome U.S. exporters have also been rerouting crop shipments to Asia to load from Pacific Northwest ports instead.\nBut that, too, comes at a higher cost as those facilities source grain mostly via rail as opposed to the cheaper barge-delivered loads supplying Gulf Coast exporters.\nOnly 56.8% of all U.S. corn exports in October were shipped from Gulf Coast ports this year, down from 64.9% in October 2022 and 72.1% in October 2021, according to USDA weekly export inspections data.\n(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago, additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris; Editing by Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "Panama Canal drought to delay grain ships well into 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 614,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/scotiabanks-ceo-must-sell-investors-113303504.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Nivedita Balu\nTORONTO (Reuters) - Bank of Nova Scotia CEO Scott Thomson will face shareholders for the first time on Wednesday since taking the job with expectations running high for the Canadian lender to outline a plan to fix its struggling Latin American units and a vision to grow profits at home.\nThomson, who took charge in February, has warned fiscal 2024 profit growth would be marginal and announced one of the biggest job cuts among the Canadian banks this year, preparing the bank for challenging times. Scotiabank's net income for fiscal 2023 fell 21.5% as its bad debt provisions more than doubled to C$3.42 billion ($2.52 billion).\nThe stock has lost nearly a tenth of its value this year, making it the worst performer among the big six banks.\n\"We're willing to be open minded to see how Scott Thomson wants to remake the bank,\" Chris King, portfolio manager at Scotiabank shareholder Morgan Meighen & Associates said.\nThomson was Scotiabank's board member before becoming the CEO, making him one of the first non-banking executives to lead a big five Canadian bank.\nThomson, in his previous role as the CEO of industrial equipment dealer Finning International, built the company's business in Latin America, giving him familiarity with the region.\nScotiabank has spent about C$11 billion in acquisitions over the past decade buying assets in Chile, Panama, Colombia, Peru and others, seeking growth outside of the highly saturated market at home. The Pacific Alliance nations account for more than a quarter of the bank's total net income, with about 1,100 international branches, compared to 900 in Canada.\nHowever, profit growth from that region has dwindled, especially in Colombia where the economy has contracted. Shareholders will watch for Thomson's strategy on the Colombian business and growth prospects in Mexico, a year after the lender shed some of its Caribbean assets to focus on Latin America.\nScotia's Latam exposure distinguishes it among the Canadian lenders and shareholders do not expect an outright exit from the region.\n\"He does have some experience in dealing with Chile and Argentina. But what's more important is Mexico and how you deal with Colombia,\" King said, adding it remains to be seen whether carving off Columbia will impact some of the other Latam businesses.\nGreg Taylor, chief investment officer of Purpose Investments, said Scotiabank should increase its U.S. footprint since \"they call themselves the bank of the Americas.\"\n\"They're doing a little bit of everything too much and they need to focus on higher margin businesses in Latin America,\" Taylor said.\nOn his first post-earnings conference call in February, Thomson said the bank would look for ways to boost deposits, as it looks to strengthen its balance sheets at a time borrowing costs are elevated.\nScotiabank has been looking to add customers and boost deposits, as it seeks to lower its dependence of wholesale funding which has grown expensive amid the central bank's rate hikes. Still, the bank's larger-than-expected provisions in the fourth quarter surprised the market.\n\"The big question that everyone had is, how much of this is because they're actually seeing a slowdown versus how much of them are just trying to clean the balance sheet and set up for success going forward with the new plan,\" Taylor said.\n($1 = 1.3587 Canadian dollars)\n(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "Scotiabank's new CEO must sell investors on his plan to boost Latam profits"
    },
    {
        "id": 615,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/futures-muted-traders-brace-inflation-112704137.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were muted on Monday in the run-up to an action-packed week that includes the Federal Reserve's interest rate meeting and inflation data, both of which will test investor optimism about a soft landing for the economy.\nThe upbeat sentiment around stabilizing interest rates and robust quarterly earnings caused equities to rebound towards the end of the year, with the benchmark S&P 500 within a hailing distance of its highest intra-day level of the year at 4,607.07 points, earlier hit in July.\nThe S&P 500 and Nasdaq also notched their highest closing since early 2022 on Friday, after data showed non-farm payrolls were higher than expected, underscoring hopes that the world's largest economy could control inflation without slipping into recession.\nFocus now shifts to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data due on Tuesday, which is expected to show headline inflation remaining unchanged in November, and the Fed's last interest rate decision of the year, due on Wednesday.\nWhile money markets have almost fully priced in a rate-hike pause in the upcoming meeting, bets of a rate cut next year have been seeping in, with traders seeing a 43.7% chance of at least a 25-basis-point cut in March 2024 and a 76.2% chance in May, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nHowever, analysts say markets have pinned their hopes on an overly optimistic scenario.\n\"We think that the market is right not to expect a rate hike in December, but too many rate cuts are discounted next year in the market,\" said RBC Wealth Management's Frédérique Carrier, head of investment strategy in the British Isles.\n\"There are some signs that the labor market might be losing steam a bit, but there isn't that weakness, which in our view, would be necessary for the Fed to be a lot more aggressive in its rate cuts.\"\nElsewhere, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, among others, are also scheduled to deliver their interest rate decisions later this week.\nPressuring futures tracking Nasdaq, megacap stocks, including Alphabet, Tesla and Amazon.com, edged lower between 0.6% and 1% before the bell.\nAt 5:33 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 13 points, or 0.04%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 4 points, or 0.09%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 29.25 points, or 0.18%.\nAmong other movers, Macy's soared 19.1% in premarket trading after an investor group consisting of Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital made a $5.8 billion offer to take the department store chain private, according to a source familiar with the matter.\nPeers Kohl's and Nordstrom also rose about 4.5% and 6.4%, respectively.\nCigna jumped 12.4% after the health insurer ended its attempt to negotiate an acquisition of rival Humana, according to sources, and announced plans to buy back $10 billion worth of shares.\n(Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "Futures muted as traders brace for inflation data, Fed verdict"
    },
    {
        "id": 616,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tucker-carlsons-streaming-charge-9-112439960.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Tucker Carlson has priced his subscription-based streaming service at $9 per month, as the former Fox News host looks to capitalize on his popularity among conservative viewers.\nThe Tucker Carlson Network features interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, commentary and early access to tickets for future live events, its website showed on Monday.\n\"We've been working in secret and producing an awful lot of material for months now. We're launching a brand-new thing very soon,\" Carlson said in a post on the X social media platform on Saturday, as he unveiled the website for service.\nHe parted ways with Fox News in April, after parent firm Fox Corp settled for $787.5 million a lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over false claims of election fraud.\nSince June, Carlson has been releasing videos on Elon Musk's X social media platform, formerly Twitter. His interview on Aug. 23 with former U.S. President Donald Trump, who had opted out of a Republican primary debate on Fox News the same night, drew over 74 million views on X, according to statistics on the platform.\nCarlson and his team had explored launching the streaming service through X, but the social media company was not able to move quickly enough to build out the technology needed for the service, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.\nHe will continue to post the service's free content on X, the report said.\nX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Carlson could not be immediately reached for comment.\n(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)\n",
        "title": "Tucker Carlson's streaming service to charge $9 per month"
    },
    {
        "id": 617,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sharp-fed-liquidity-drain-hints-110402176.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Michael S. Derby\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - A key threshold markets link with an end to the Federal Reserve’s wind-down of its asset holdings could be hit sooner than expected, pointing to fresh uncertainty over the endgame for the central bank’s balance sheet normalization process.\nAccording to the most recent New York Fed survey of Wall Street’s biggest banks, the Fed is expected to end the contraction of its holdings of cash and bonds when balances in its reverse repo facility fall to $625 billion. At the same time, banks in the survey also say quantitative tightening, or QT, is likely to stop in the third quarter of next year.\nBut reverse repos have been shrinking fast and could hit the level Wall Street associates with an end to QT well ahead of the expected end date, raising questions about whether that could mean an earlier-than-expected halt or whether markets and officials again need to reset their outlook.\nA key part of the Fed’s rate control toolkit, reverse repos have fallen rapidly this year from a peak of more than $2.5 trillion last December to around $821 billion at the end of last week. Recently the slide is being driven by cash moving off the Fed’s book and into higher-yielding government securities, a process likely to continue given large federal deficits, in the view of market participants.\nThe Fed has cut its Treasury and mortgage-backed securities holdings by nearly $1.2 trillion since June 2022, a reduction that has occurred alongside its aggressive rate rises, which are its main tool to influence the economy. Fed officials have said repeatedly the effort of cutting their holdings will take quite a bit more time as they seek to withdraw just enough liquidity from the financial system to still keep firm control over short-term rates.\nHitting that point is “well off in the future,” New York Fed President John Williams told reporters last month, adding “it's hard to predict exactly where” that level of liquidity will need to be.\nThe reverse repo facility is widely viewed as a proxy for excess liquidity that can be easily removed. Closely watched alongside it is the level of bank reserves on deposit at the Fed, and while reverse repos have been diving, reserves have not. As of Wednesday, in fact, they were the highest since April 2022 at nearly $3.5 trillion.\nFUZZY ENDGAME\nFor market participants the reverse repo facility has become closely linked to the end of the balance sheet drawdown, although - the NY Fed's primary dealer survey notwithstanding - some observers believe its usage needs to go to zero before the Fed will end QT.\nSome inside the Fed, such as Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan - whose views on the matter are influential as the former chief of New York Fed market operations - lean more to the idea of a full reverse repo drawdown being in the cards before discussion of an end to QT is warranted. That in theory gives the Fed more runway to run down its holdings than the market now sees.\nNot everyone agrees.\n“We think a strong argument can be made for ending the Fed’s balance sheet runoff before the [reverse repo] facility is fully drained,” analysts at Wrightson ICAP said. That’s because the liquidity parked there can help steady periods of money market volatility, the firm said.\nAnalysts at TD Securities wrote in a recent note QT will stop in June with a positive reverse repo balance, although they still expect all the cash to eventually come out, presumably on the back of market forces rather than Fed action.\nGoldman Sachs economists told clients, meanwhile, they see reverse repos at $400 billion by the middle of next year and at zero by the end of 2024, while noting “one possible consequence of a faster-than-expected decline in [reverse repo] balances is that the Fed may consider winding down QT a quarter or so ahead of our baseline.”\nDerek Tang, an economist at research firm L.H. Meyer, said in contrast with the Fed’s view, if there’s some structural level of demand for the facility that keeps money in it, “the Fed needs to revisit its plan” and the level of financial sector liquidity needed to allow the Fed to stop QT could arrive sooner than thought.\n(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci)\n",
        "title": "Sharp Fed liquidity drain hints at early end for balance sheet runoff"
    },
    {
        "id": 618,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ozempic-weight-loss-drugs-fears-settle-into-longer-term-risks-for-food-companies-110051500.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "New wardrobes. Salad fests. Fuel savings.\nAs the popularity of Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) Ozempic (approved for Type 2 diabetes) and Wegovy (approved for weight loss) rose, investors frantically debated the prospects of consumers overhauling their entire lifestyles — even as evidence remained scant.\n“We're seeing no impact today with GLP-1s and two, that nobody has any idea what the impact is going to be in the future,\" McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told Yahoo Finance over the phone.\nNevertheless, doomsday predictions, along with other headwinds, have tanked the stock prices of food makers like Kraft Heinz (KHC) and Hershey’s (HSY). The S&P 500 Consumer Staples Index is down 5% year to date, compared to the broader index’s 20% gain.\nOn the other hand, the game-changing drugs, also known as GLP-1s, have propelled Novo Nordisk to become one of Europe’s most valuable companies. On Monday, the drugmaker was named Yahoo Finance's 2023 Company of the Year, after its stock clocked a 41% gain on the year.\nBut the initial panic surrounding food stocks is likely unwarranted, according to several sources Yahoo Finance talked to, including Novo Nordisk’s CEO Fruergaard Jørgensen.\n\"It's really fascinating for us to reflect on how big an impact we might have,\" Jørgensen told Yahoo Finance in an exclusive interview.\n\"There's no doubt that with the intervention we see now with the GLP-1 medicines, you see [there's a] significant shift in consumer behavior ... some of these categories will be impacted,\" Jorgensen added.\nCategories he mentioned include medical technology companies and drink and snack businesses, among others, all of which are estimated to see slower revenue growth due to rising GLP-1 use.\nHowever, the impact will happen \"over many years\", as the drug becomes more widely available, per Jørgensen. Currently, lack of insurance coverage and a supply shortage have limited adoption of Ozempic and Wegovy.\nNoise surrounding obesity drugs ramped up over the summer and reached a fever pitch in the fall, as Wall Street salivated at the prospect of a new $100 billion market.\nYet as investors take some time to reflect, many are realizing the initial fears of the drugs’ disruption of business are \"overblown,” Arun Sundaram, CFRA senior equity research analyst, told Yahoo Finance over the phone.\n\"The market is starting to realize ... this is not having a material impact on food consumption today,\" Sundaram said. \"This is going to be a long-term trend ... [It's] not just going to be a 2023-2024 phenomenon, this is probably going to go on for the next decade. There's a lot of time for companies to react and adapt to changing spending environments.”\nFood companies have weathered numerous dieting trends — think Atkins, Keto, Paleo, Whole30, South Beach — and many have moved towards offering healthier and more diverse options in recent years.\nTo underscore the point, sales of dry goods are up 7.6% in the past 12 months, while frozen prepared foods are up 5.8%, according to data from NielsenIQ. McDonald’s, long synonymous with greasy burgers, clocked an 8.1% gain for same-store sales in its Q3 results and is planning a record restaurant expansion despite weight loss drug proliferation.\nSome of those reactions are perhaps a bit exaggerated, but there's no doubt that with the intervention we see now with the GLP-1 medicines, you see significant shift in consumer behavior and some of these categories will be impacted.Novo Nordisk’s CEO Fruergaard Jørgensen\nHowever, decreased appetite and cravings could change people’s snacking habits and create an impact on fast food.\nBrands that generate substantial sales from snackers or aren’t associated with mealtime — such as Jack in the Box (JACK), Yum! Brands-owned Taco Bell (YUM), Dutch Bros (BROS), and Starbucks (SBUX) — could one day feel the hit.\n\"If you're on one of these drugs, it's much easier to make a decision not to pick up your dollar soda and fries at two in the afternoon or not to eat some of these more fried foods at lunch,\" said Stifel analyst Chris O'Cull.\nRestaurant chains like Olive Garden (DRI), Texas Roadhouse (TXRH), or Chili’s (EAT) are less exposed, as people taking the drugs are still likely to go out with their friends, said O'Cull.\nMeanwhile, Morningstar analyst Sean Dunlop believes \"the impact is going to be financially immaterial\" on fast food companies, as they have bigger fish to fry in 2024, including a pullback in consumer spending and declining foot traffic.\nMorningstar estimates that by 2030, 3.5% of the US population will be taking GLP-1s. Even in a “bull case scenario” where 7% of the population is on weight loss drugs, and assuming that calorie intake for patients drops by 30%, it still only translates to a roughly 2.1% impact to same-store sales across the restaurant industry.\nSuch results are \"hardly enough to justify sweeping concerns” regarding fast food’s future, Dunlop said. More health-conscious brands, like many fast casual chains, may end up benefiting.\n\"Names like Chipotle (CMG), Cava (CAVA), Sweetgreen (SG) would be proportionately better positioned,\" he told Yahoo Finance.\nPersistent demand for the drugs could bring more consumers into retailers that have pharmacies, per Sundaram.\nThis spells good news for Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Kroger (KR), Albertsons (ACI), and Costco (COST).\nThe influx of \"healthier\" shoppers picking up their prescriptions could provide a boost to other departments, including \"the food department, apparel department, other general merchandise departments,\" Sundaram added.\nKroger Health president Colleen Lindholz told Yahoo Finance she believes the actual impact from the drugs will not be a reduction in food purchases, but rather a shift to healthier foods.\n\"It just makes sense that people are going to trade up to fresh foods, things that are better for them, because they're feeling good about themselves and they're feeling good about being healthy overall,\" Lindholz said.\nBut packaged foods like canned soup or chips likely won't be impacted in the near future, experts contend. Many executives have said there has been no evidence of a change in behavior amid the early adoption of the drugs.\nPepsiCo (PEP) reported a record third quarter, where CEO Ramon Laguarta said \"the impact is negligible in our business\" on a call with investors. Constellation Brands (STZ) CEO Bill Newlands told Yahoo Finance he didn't see any signs that weight loss drugs are reducing demand for beer.\nAnd it would hardly be Halloween or Thanksgiving without candy and dessert. Hershey’s CEO Michele Buck pointed out the emotional nature of food, “and the role that [it plays] in moments of celebration and joy,” on the company's Q3 earnings call. The chocolate maker recorded an 11% year-over-year jump in revenue.\nVolume declines in food solely due to GLP-1 drugs will be hard to pinpoint, Mizuho Securities managing director John Baumgartner told Yahoo Finance. New changes in food habits could be due to tightening finances or other factors, even though some will attribute it all to weight loss drugs.\nAs there aren't any GLP-1 related risks outside of the US currently, Baumgartner's top picks include European frozen food maker Nomad foods (NMD) and Oreo maker Mondelez (MDLZ), which has strong international growth.\nHe’s also high on Kraft Heinz, as consumers look for healthier ingredients at value prices.\nAt the end of the day, the food industry has been resilient, and the companies’ share prices account for many risk factors.\n\"You've seen a number of crazes in this industry, a number of fads, and really kind of priced into the stocks ... until you start eating through IVs, or we don't need food at all anymore, and you're getting energy from sun and photosynthesis, I feel like there's going to be demand for food,\" Baumgartner said.\n—\nBrooke DiPalma is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for all of the latest retail stock news and events to better inform your investing strategy\n",
        "title": "Ozempic, weight loss drugs fears settle into longer-term risks for food companies"
    },
    {
        "id": 619,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/novo-nordisks-unique-structure-gives-it-an-extra-edge--and-risk-110030324.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "What do Ozempic, Lego bricks, and Carlsberg lager have in common?\nTheir parent companies all hail from Denmark, for one, but they also share a corporate structure that's common for the Nordic country — a system in which a foundation holds a majority of the voting power.\nAbout half of Denmark's 28 largest companies share this dual-class structure, where the stock is divided into Class A and B. Class A shares are typically not available on the public markets. At Novo Nordisk (NOVO), those shares are wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which also holds a small amount of Class B shares.\nSince each Class A share is entitled to 100 votes while each Class B share only gets 10 votes, the foundation controls roughly 77% of the voting power, despite holding around 28% of shares.\nThe blockbuster success of GLP-1 drugs has put Novo Nordisk — and the 100-year old company's unique structure — in the spotlight. On Monday, the pharmaceutical giant was named Yahoo Finance’s Company of the Year after an impressive year of sales for the diabetes-turned-weight loss drug Ozempic.\nIn many ways, Novo is not all that different from tech companies like Meta (META) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), which famously and controversially have dual-class structures that give founders like Mark Zuckerberg the majority of votes.\nNovo Nordisk Foundation's nine-person board includes former Novo CEO and current board chairman Lars Rebien Sørensen, University of Copenhagen professor Liselotte Højgaard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology biologist Christopher A. Voigt, and a number of employee representatives.\nConcentrating voting power to one person or a select few has its own set of problems and advantages, experts contend.\n\"It's rather insular, with pros and cons,\" Cornell professor Nick Fabrizio told Yahoo Finance. \"So, you're not as at-risk from short-term investors or corporate raiders or short sellers… But, on the other hand, it's hard to make changes from the outside.\"\nThat insular quality is a large part of where the controversy comes from, as critics and concerned academics suggest that it's a more autocratic system, one that could be abused by the wrong people.\n\"As a corporate governance expert, I will say that dual-class structure is just a bad design,\" Stevens Institute of Technology professor Suman Banerjee told Yahoo Finance. \"But I'm also hesitant to say that Novo Nordisk has done anything bad, and they've survived for so long.\"\nBanerjee is careful to note that, while Novo Nordisk does have a dual-class share structure, it's one that seems to have truly worked for the company.\n\"The market is assessing our performance on a daily basis, but then we also have this stable anchor in the foundation, which has a controlling stake, and they have a forever mindset in what we do,\" said Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen in an exclusive interview with Yahoo Finance.\nHe added: \"So, we're not chasing short-term returns, but we're really trying to build value for the long-term, with an eye for the social responsibility, the environmental responsibility, and, of course, staying a healthy company from a financial point of view.”\nBy definition, dual-class structures aren't necessarily forever — and while they have benefits, especially early in a company's life, those benefits may degrade over time.\n\"Founders will argue that they have a vision, and they need a period of time in which to implement that vision and strategy,” Alon Kapen, partner at Farrell Fritz, told Yahoo Finance. “The studies also show that over time — that's 5, 6, 7, 8 years over time — that utility diminishes. So, what we've seen is efforts to sunset these dual-class structures to no more than seven years.\"\nDenmark has a long history of industrial foundations, and is a world leader in the model. Beyond Novo, Carlsberg, and Lego, other Danish companies predominantly controlled by foundations include shipping behemoth Maersk, manufacturer Danfoss, and pharma rival Lundbeck.\nA 2018 Deloitte report showed that Danish foundations had been steadily growing their resources over the first decades of the 21st century. It's a model that has kept many companies linked to the Danish economy, while competitors merged, got acquired, or became increasingly international. (One example of what can happen: Swedish Astra and British Zeneca merged in 1999; AstraZeneca's (AZN) headquarters is now in the U.K.)\nThough the model has gained and retained steam in Denmark, it has long been out of vogue in the US. There were many foundation-owned firms in the US at the beginning of the 20th century, before the Tax Reform Act of 1969 essentially nixed the model.\nThe relationship between growth and a dual-class system is complex. On one hand, experts say the system allows the company to avoid shortsightedness and pursue long-term goals over quarterly results.\nHowever, when it comes to profits, the objectives of the foundation can be somewhat at odds with corporate aims.\n\"One of the [Novo Nordisk] Foundation’s two objectives is to provide a stable basis for the commercial and research activities conducted by Novo Nordisk (and the other companies in the Novo Group) — this objective would tend to promote growth,” said Kapen.\nKapen added: “The other objective is to support scientific and humanitarian purposes — a noble objective but not one that necessarily promotes economic growth.\"\nThe foundation, however, is a beneficiary of Novo’s commercial success. As its profits have grown over time, so have its dividends — providing greater funds to the nonprofit, which gives grants towards preventing cardiometabolic diseases, solving health inequities, creating sustainable technologies, and supporting the life sciences ecosystem.\nOver 2021 and 2022, the foundation has donated over DKK 16 billion — roughly $2.35 billion — and is projected to give out more than DKK 9 billion this year.\nIt can be a mutually beneficial relationship, but investors should ultimately proceed with caution when it comes to Novo and other dual-class structured companies, experts say, as there is no way to affect change in a downturn.\nAs OpenAI’s saga has shown, having limited visibility into the decision-making of the controlling entity makes it more important for investors to understand the risks of the company. That lack of transparency and consolidated voting power could also be a drawback during selloffs, as institutional investors can’t band together to demand change, so the only way through is out.\nDespite the inherent risks, Novo right now benefits from a simple reality — it's hard to argue with success.\n\"Novo is a huge success story,\" said Kapen. \"It's got some blockbuster drugs. They've been in the news a lot, but the stock has quadrupled over the last few years, so maybe that's an argument in favor of the dual-class structure.\"\nThe Novo Nordisk Foundation didn't return Yahoo Finance's request to be interviewed for this story.\nAllie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @agarfinks and on LinkedIn.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Novo Nordisk's unique structure gives it an extra edge — and risk"
    },
    {
        "id": 620,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tc-energys-coastal-gaslink-seeks-110000387.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Rod Nickel\nWINNIPEG, Manitoba, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Coastal GasLink, a Canadian natural gas pipeline partnership operated by TC Energy, is seeking C$1.2 billion ($737 million) from one of its main contractors for construction delays and may be liable for a similar amount if an arbitrator rules against it, court documents showed ahead of a hearing this month.\nConstruction of C$14.5 billion Coastal GasLink (CGL), which TC began planning in 2012, finished in October at more than double its original budget. Private equity firm KKR & Co and Alberta pension manager AIMco jointly own 65% of the limited partnership and TC owns the remaining 35%.\nThe dispute over the project that will supply Canada's first liquefied natural gas export facility around 2025 highlights the extreme difficulties operators face in building Canadian pipelines. The Canadian government-owned Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which aims to boost oil exports, has also faced delays and soaring costs.\nThe 670-km (416-mile) CGL through British Columbia's Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast was delayed by mudslides, a six-month pandemic work stoppage, sometimes violent protests and steep terrain that forced TC to use ski lifts to transport pipe.\nCGL also terminated contractor Pacific Atlantic Pipeline Construction's (PAPC) contract last year alleging poor performance and is claiming C$1.2-billion for the cost of finding new contractors, Blaine Trout, TC's vice-president in charge of CGL, said in court on Nov. 17.\nThe two parties have gone to court in Alberta with CGL arguing it is legally entitled to draw on a C$117-million letter of credit, issued by HSBC to CGL as a performance guarantee for PAPC.\nThe Alberta court case comes ahead of the two parties facing off in International Chamber of Commerce arbitration in November 2024 over whether PAPC defaulted on its contract or was wrongfully terminated.\nOn Oct. 19, an Alberta court granted an injunction request from PAPC and its parent company, Italian contractor Bonatti, forcing CGL to withdraw its call on the letter of credit, pending the Dec. 19 hearing. The letter of credit expires in early 2024.\nTC said in a statement that the cost of PAPC's alleged failure to perform significantly exceeds the amount of the letter of credit.\n\"Coastal GasLink is committed to enforcing its contractual rights and is actively pursuing cost recoveries as it is entitled to,\" TC Energy said.\nPAPC alleges its work was undermined by CGL's thousands of design changes during construction and protests that CGL could not control.\nGreg Cano, PAPC's chief operations officer, told Reuters that TC tried to force PAPC to accelerate construction, which would have required the contractor to almost double its staffing and equipment on site, without paying for the extra cost.\nCano, who previously worked for TC, said he has never seen such a dispute in his 45 years building pipelines.\nPOSSIBLE INSOLVENCY\nIf the Alberta judge allows CGL to call the letter of credit, financial losses to PAPC and Bonatti could snowball, the companies said in court.\nThey may be unable to pay the cost of arbitration, complete current projects or bid on others, resulting in PAPC's possible insolvency, said Bonatti CEO Andrea Colombo, in an affidavit.\nPAPC is seeking up to C$1 billion in its arbitration proceeding.\nKKR and AIMco referred requests for comment to TC.\nCGL will likely provide little financial return to TC after impairments, TC's chief financial officer said in November. TC does not expect current or potential legal proceedings to have a material impact, according to its 2022 annual report. ($1 = 1.3577 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba Editing by Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "TC Energy's Coastal GasLink seeks C$1.2 billion from pipeline contractor over delays"
    },
    {
        "id": 621,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tighter-supplies-create-tailwind-copper-104757973.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Pratima Desai\nLONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Mine closures and disruptions have rapidly changed the landscape for copper supplies and prompted analysts to lower their forecasts for surpluses in a positive signal for prices of the industrial metal.\nCopper prices on the London Metal Exchange on Friday headed towards the four-month highs of $8,640 a metric ton seen on December 1, partly due to Anglo American lowering its production guidance.\nThe London-listed miner said output next year would amount to 730,000-790,000 metric tons, down 20% from a previous estimate, while for 2025 it expects to produce 690,000 to 750,000 tons, down 18% from its previous estimate.\nAnglo is putting one of the processing plants at its Los Bronces operation in Chile on care and maintenance and plans for its Quellaveco facility in Peru have \"been adjusted\" to safely navigate a geotechnical fault line.\n\"(Anglo's) newly issued guidance for 2026 was also well below our numbers,\" said Macquarie analyst Alice Fox.\n\"Vale announced new guidance this week that was below our expectations as well, but not to the same scale ...the outlook for prices is more bullish if demand holds up.\"\nBrazil's Vale estimated its copper production at 320,000 to 355,000 tons in 2024 versus 325,000 tons this year.\nMacquarie now expects copper market surpluses of 100,000 and 287,000 tons for 2024 and 2025 respectively, down from previous forecasts of 203,000 and 369,000 tons.\nGlobal copper production next year and in 2025 is expected to be around 27 million tons.\nDisruptions at First Quantum's Cobre mine in Panama, accounting for 1% of global mined supply last year, are also on the watchlist. Its future is uncertain due to the country's top court declaring as unconstitutional First Quantum's contract to own and operate the mine.\nEven before Anglo's announcement, Bank of America analyst Michael Widmer had removed Cobre Panama from his estimate of copper supplies for next year and switched his forecast from a small surplus to a deficit.\n\"To us, a restart looks unlikely before the May 2024 general elections in Panama at the earliest, i.e. once a new administration is established with which First Quantum may begin negotiating a contract,\" Widmer said.\n\"While elections could bring change, we now assume a potential restart of Cobre Panama in the fourth quarter of next year.\"\n(Reporting by Pratima Desai; editing by Jason Neely)\n",
        "title": "Tighter supplies to create tailwind for copper prices"
    },
    {
        "id": 622,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-stocks-fx-down-103635890.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nUS CPI, Fed decision in focus this week\n*\nCzech's Nov CPI comes in hotter than expected\n*\nChina blue-chips recoup early losses\n*\nStocks off 0.2%, FX down 0.3%\nBy Siddarth S\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Currencies and stocks in emerging markets began Monday on a sombre note as investors stayed wary ahead of a crucial U.S. inflation report and the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due this week.\nMSCI's gauge of emerging markets stocks inched down 0.2%, while a basket of currencies was down 0.3% against the dollar by 1006 GMT.\nFriday's robust U.S. jobs report pushed investors to pull back expectations for a rate cut, and the focus now shifts to inflation data due on Tuesday.\nAlong with the Fed's monetary policy decision this week, markets will scrutinise a slew of central bank meetings, including those of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, for insights on the developed markets outlook for interest rates.\n\"The Fed is still likely to be more of a slow oil tanker than a speedboat but will probably acknowledge that barring a unexpected surprise, the hiking cycle is over but will conclude that it’s premature to talk about cuts at the moment,\" Deutsche Bank economists said in a note.\nIn Asia, China's blue-chip stocks clawed back early losses to end the session up 0.6%, after a fall of as much as 1.6% to hit five-year lows, as investors expected more policy support after disappointing inflation data.\n\"We continue to argue that while consumer prices fell further amid weak demand, China is not yet experiencing deflation, in the sense that the fall in prices has not yet become entrenched and altered consumers’ inflation expectations,\" Tommy Wu, a senior economist at Commerzbank said in a note.\nIn the Middle East, Turkey's lira hit fresh record lows of 29 against the dollar after authorities loosened their grip on the currency in a pivot to more orthodox policies. The lira last stood 0.3% down, at 28.9970 to the dollar.\nData showed a smaller than expected surplus in Turkey's current account balance in October, while industrial production also fell.\nIn Central and Eastern Europe, Czech consumer prices rose by 0.1% in November, defying a prediction of a small dip as the market turned its attention to the size of price markups in January that will help determine the path for interest rates.\nThe Czech crown was little changed against the euro.\nIn South America, Argentine voters may have cause to worry about new President Javier Milei's pledge for painful economic shock therapy, but markets are keen, hoping the libertarian will give the economy a \"firm kick\" when he lays out his plan this week. For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2023, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2023, see https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX\nFor TOP NEWS across emerging markets\nFor CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see\nFor TURKISH market report, see\nFor RUSSIAN market report, see (Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks, FX down slightly as investors watch for US data, Fed decision"
    },
    {
        "id": 623,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ethiopia-become-africa-next-debt-030000184.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia is set to join Zambia and Ghana as a sovereign defaulter, with an interest payment falling due to its bondholders on Monday that the the state says it won’t meet.\nThe government last week held what it referred to as restricted discussions with some of the holders of its $1 billion of eurobonds, the Finance Ministry said in a statement late Friday.\nIt advised the group of bondholders that it’s “not in a position to pay” the $33 million coupon because of the nation’s “fragile external position, with significantly lower foreign-exchange reserves, which inevitably impacts the Ministry of Finance’s ability to service imminent external borrowings,” according to the statement.\nThe government has a 14 day grace period before it’s deemed to be in default, according to the bond’s prospectus.\nEthiopia is seeking to renegotiate its obligations through the Group of 20’s Common Framework, which has started to gain momentum after progress in restructuring by Zambia and Ghana.\nThe clock is ticking for Ethiopia to reach an emergency funding and economic program with the International Monetary Fund that will lay out the parameters for the government to restructure its debt. Official creditors from the Paris Club set a deadline of March 31 for a deal with the fund, or they could declare a debt-service suspension agreed last month null and void.\nRead More: Ethiopia to Suspend Debt Payments, Restructure Eurobond\nA restructuring seemed likely with Ethiopia’s dollar bonds closing at 61.89 cents on the dollar on Friday. Fitch Ratings said last month it expected the government to pay the coupon that’s due Monday.\nAn Ethiopia Ad Hoc Bondholder committee said in a separate statement that it views the decision by the government not to make the payment as “both unnecessary and unfortunate.”\nThe Ethiopian government plans to hold a call with global investors this week in which it plans to “set out a proposal it may launch related to the eurobond,” according to the ministry’s statement.\n",
        "title": "Ethiopia Is About to Become Africa’s Next Debt Defaulter"
    },
    {
        "id": 624,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-see-little-end-negative-074039544.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Japan officials see little need to rush into scrapping the world’s last negative interest rate this month as they have yet to see enough evidence of wage growth that would support sustainable inflation, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThat’s an indication the central bank is likely to keep its monetary stimulus settings unchanged at a two-day policy meeting ending Dec. 19, despite recent market speculation that the negative rate may be scrapped as soon as the December meeting. BOJ officials view the potential cost of waiting for more information to confirm solid wage growth as not very high, the people said.\nThe bank will make its final policy decision after reviewing all available data between now and the decision, including its Tankan survey due Wednesday and conditions in financial markets up to the last minute, according to the people. The BOJ has surprised economists and market participants previously in July and last December, taking advantage of expectations of no change.\nGovernor Kazuo Ueda spurred policy normalization speculation among investors last week when he said his job would become more challenging from the year-end. BOJ officials view Ueda’s comment as merely a general statement, not a signal of impending policy change, the people said.\nThe fate of the subzero rate has become a key focus among BOJ watchers after the BOJ made tweaks to its yield curve control mechanism with adjustments in July and October, adding flexibility to the policy and potentially limiting the impact on markets should it be phased out as part of a normalization of policy.\nAlmost all of the 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg earlier this month expect a stand-pat decision next week. Half of them predict authorities will scrap the negative rate in April.\n--With assistance from Yuji Okada and Daniel Ten Kate.\n",
        "title": "BOJ to See Little Need to End Negative Rate in December, Sources Say"
    },
    {
        "id": 625,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-surging-real-borrowing-costs-063521970.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s real borrowing costs are expected to stay high in 2024 as deflation pressures linger and the central bank will likely avoid aggressive policy rate cuts, posing yet another threat to growth.\nWhile the People’s Bank of China has trimmed policy rates and banks have reduced their benchmark lending rates this year to support economic activity, the nation’s real lending rates have climbed significantly. Calculations by Bloomberg News show those rates — which are adjusted for inflation and reflect the actual cost of borrowing funds — have topped 4% and may even be near 5%, which would be the highest level since 2016.\nThat’s because consumer and producer prices have fallen at a much faster pace than the average loan rate, which is largely based on changes in the benchmark rates set by the PBOC and the nation’s major lenders. By comparison, the benchmark prime rate on one-year loans is 3.45% — roughly 150 basis points lower than what real loan rates are actually estimated to be near.\n“China’s real interest rates are quite high, and are still rising,” said Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Group Ltd. Along with keeping company borrowing costs elevated, he added that the high rates mean “residents are more inclined to save.”\nThat bodes ill for the economy, considering weak business confidence and a population that’s more likely to save than spend have already been challenges this year.\nThe problem is there aren’t many signs that suggest real interest rates will see a reversal. China’s consumer price index in November recorded its steepest drop in three years. The nation’s widest measure of prices, the GDP deflator, was negative for two consecutive quarters this year for the first time since 2015.\nDeflation is dangerous because it risks creating a downward spiral, with consumers holding off on buying anything on the expectation that prices will keep falling. Businesses uncertain about future demand may also lower production and investment. Several economists see pressures persisting into next year: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists forecast annual CPI will rise just 0.5% in 2024, while Nomura Holdings Inc. analysts see it increasing 0.6%. Some, including economists at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, see prices potentially declining.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says ...\n“Without strong catalysts to counter the property slump — a major driver of the deflationary downdraft — we see a 50% chance that CPI deflation will persist at least through the first half of 2024. Stronger policy support is needed to stimulate demand.”\n— Eric Zhu, economist\nRead the full report here.\nOn the policymaking side, authorities face several limitations to their ability to support the economy by making big interest rate cuts. Top leaders have already signaled they’ll be more cautious about monetary easing going forward, suggesting the size of any interest rate cuts in 2024 are likely to be quite small as the focus turns to fiscal stimulus as a means of economic support.\nThis year, the PBOC trimmed policy rates twice — a reflection of a restrained approach to stimulus in recent years as policymakers try to preserve their room for action and avoid building up debt within risky sectors, such as property. Cutting rates can also weigh on profit margins for banks, and those margins are already under pressure. The outlook for the yuan, meanwhile, remains uncertain as long as the Federal Reserve keeps rates high. The US central bank isn’t expected to start cutting rates until well into next year.\n“Real interest rates are important, but obviously what the PBOC can do is rather limited,” said Wei He, China economist at Gavekal Dragonomics. “It’s impossible for the PBOC to match the changes in CPI for interest rates because that would mean substantial changes to rates, which is very much against its methodology.”\nGavekal’s He said the central bank may continue to make moderate cuts to policy rates into next year if the property sector worsens — though such trims would only amount to around 10-to-20 basis points. Any cut would require banks to also lower their deposit rates as they try to preserve their profitability.\nThere are other monetary policies that may be in play, too. Mo Ji of DBS Bank Ltd. flagged a possible 25-basis point reduction to the reserve requirement ratio for banks in the first quarter, which would free up more long-term cash in the economy. She also sees banks lowering their LPRs by 10 basis points later in 2024.\nEventual easing by the Fed would also likely open a bit more room for rate cuts, since a weaker dollar would mean less pressure on the yuan. Still, Macquarie’s Hu pointed to the need for policies — particularly on the fiscal side — that would help drive inflation up.\n“Macroeconomic policies — not just monetary policy — should be more proactive,” he said. “Given the current circumstance, fiscal policy may be more important. But the end goal is the same, and that is reflation.”\n--With assistance from Wenjin Lv.\n",
        "title": "China’s Surging Real Borrowing Costs to Drag on Growth Into 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 626,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-2023-rally-frays-during-052605413.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin delivered another bout of its notorious volatility in a brief but sharp tumble toward $40,000 amid a broader crypto selloff.\nThe largest token sank as much as 7.5% to $40,521 before paring some of the losses to trade 3.7% lower at $42,165 as of 1:05 p.m. Monday in Singapore.\nSmaller tokens like Ether, XRP, Polkadot and Cardano also fell. An index of the largest 100 digital assets shed about 4%, the largest drop since Nov. 22.\nBitcoin has been on a tear this year on expectations that regulators will give the green light for the first US exchange-traded funds investing directly in the token, widening the potential base of crypto investors. Bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in 2024 have also encouraged the rally both in Bitcoin and virtual currencies as a whole.\n“Market leverage had risen materially,” said Sydney-based Richard Galvin, co-founder at Digital Asset Capital Management. “The current fall looks like a market deleveraging as opposed to any fundamental news catalyst.”\nCoinglass data show that about $299 million worth of crypto trading positions betting on higher prices were liquidated on Dec. 11 as of 1:05 p.m. in Singapore — the highest such tally since at least mid-September.\nAwaiting the Fed\nInvestors are braced this week for US inflation data and the Fed’s final policy meeting of 2023, both of which could test aggressive wagers on rate cuts. Global stocks and US equity futures wavered on Monday as a dollar gauge ticked up, a sign of cautious sentiment.\n“It makes sense to see some profit taking,” said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia Pty. He expects falls toward the $37,500 to $40,000 range to be “well-supported” by dip buyers.\nBitcoin has jumped more than 150% year-to-date, energizing a wider recovery in digital-asset prices from a $1.5 trillion rout in 2022. The token remains well below its pandemic-era record of nearly $69,000 set just over two years ago.\n--With assistance from Sidhartha Shukla.\n",
        "title": "Bitcoin’s 2023 Rally Frays During Brief 7.5% Drop Toward $40,000"
    },
    {
        "id": 627,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-nordic-pension-funds-ask-094759868.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds quote, background)\nCOPENHAGEN, Dec 11 (Reuters) - A group of Nordic pension funds will send a joint letter to Tesla Inc this week, urging the U.S. carmaker to respect collective bargaining for its employees in the region, Danish pension fund PFA said on Monday.\n\"As investors in Tesla, we recognise the company's great contribution to the electrification of the transport sector, but at the same time call on the management to seek a resolution to the conflict,\" head of responsible investments at PFA, Rasmus Bessing, told Reuters.\nTesla is facing a\nbacklash\nin the Nordic region from unions and some pension funds over its refusal to accept a demand from Swedish mechanics for collective bargaining rights covering wages and other conditions. (Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Terje Solsvik)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Nordic pension funds will ask Tesla to respect collective bargaining in joint letter"
    },
    {
        "id": 628,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morgan-stanley-wilson-sees-big-094542940.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- US company earnings are likely to weaken in the fourth quarter before a rebound in 2024 as margins are under pressure, according to Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson.\nThe strategist highlights a “steep downward revision” to consensus fourth-quarter estimates, and says he is less optimistic than other strategists about the magnitude of margin expansion next year. “We see earnings risk persisting in the near term before a broader recovery takes hold as next year evolves,” he wrote in a note.\nThe Morgan Stanley strategist has been negative on stocks for most of the year even as markets rallied. He said in October that a year-end rally was unlikely, but the US benchmark has gained about 11% since then.\nEstimates for fourth-quarter S&P 500 profits have fallen 5% since the previous reporting season began, Wilson said. Typically, consensus estimates for the current year’s earnings-per-share decline by nearly 5% through the course of the year and, if that precedent holds, US corporate EPS should fall to around Wilson’s estimate of $229 by the end of 2024, he added.\nData compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show the same trend of falling estimates for the fourth quarter, with Wall Street now expecting year-over-year earnings growth of 1.5% in the period. Meanwhile, consensus estimates are for S&P 500 EPS to climb 11% to $246 next year, a more bullish outcome than predicted by Wilson.\nRead more: Morgan Stanley Sees Bullish Opportunities for US Assets in 2024\nWilson said he remains focused on pricing power and will be monitoring this week’s producer prices data for signs that pricing trends are either stabilizing or decelerating further, especially after an NFIB business survey data indicated that companies are now planning to raise prices into 2024. “This optimism may be an early sign pricing power is set to stabilize, though the PPI data will be important to watch for confirmation,” he said.\nContinued evidence of cooling producer prices would be welcome by US corporates to help bolster their pricing power and lift margins. The last earnings season marked the end of the first US profit recession since the pandemic and all eyes will be on whether the recovery can continue next year.\n",
        "title": "Morgan Stanley’s Wilson Sees Big Drop in Near-Term Profit Views"
    },
    {
        "id": 629,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nordic-pension-funds-ask-tesla-094448547.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A group of Nordic pension funds will send a joint letter to Tesla Inc this week, urging the U.S. carmaker to respect collective bargaining for its employees in the region, Danish pension fund PFA said on Monday.\n(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Terje Solsvik)\n",
        "title": "Nordic pension funds will ask Tesla to respect collective bargaining in joint letter"
    },
    {
        "id": 630,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sportswear-maker-282-million-hk-023741681.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Li Ning Co Ltd. shares tumbled on Monday after investors rebuffed the Chinese sportswear maker’s plan to buy a commercial building in Hong Kong, with some analysts saying the move was not the best use of capital.\nThe stock dropped as much as 16%, taking its declines this year to over 70%. That makes it the worst performer on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index in 2023.\nThe company said in a filing on Sunday that it agreed to buy a commercial building in the city for HK$2.2 billion ($282 million) from local developer Henderson Land Development Co. The block in North Point includes a 22-story commercial space and two floors of retail areas, which Li Ning intends to use as its headquarters in Hong Kong to strengthen international business development.\n“While we think Li Ning’s commitment to overseas markets is important, we don’t think this property transaction will be favored by investors,” Morgan Stanley analysts including Dustin Wei wrote in a note. “As sales and earnings uncertainties have been higher for Li Ning and the industry, we think investors are much more focused on shareholder returns and capital allocation than before.”\nChinese sportswear stocks have been in a funk this year amid the nation’s sluggish consumption recovery. Li Ning reported lackluster earnings in the first half amid margin compressions, while same-store-sales declined in the third quarter. The company announced an interim dividend of 0.362 yuan per share for the first half, compared with a final dividend of 0.463 yuan for the year 2022, according to company filing.\nThe property transaction also prompted analysts at UOB Kay Hian Hong Kong Ltd. to downgrade Li Ning, giving the stock its only sell rating, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. The brokerage cut its target price by over 60% to HK$18.80, saying the move reflects weak corporate governance.\n“This property investment is a less optimal capital deployment than special dividends or share buybacks for shareholders’ value, especially when Chinese sports brands are in the process of channel de-stocking,” Citigroup analysts including Xiaopo Wei wrote in a note. “We expect more negative sentiments on Li Ning and Chinese sports brands in the short term.”\nPeers ANTA Sports Products Ltd. and Xtep International Holdings Ltd. fell more than 3% on Monday.\n(Updates with comments from Morgan Stanley and UOB Kay Hian.)\n",
        "title": "Sportswear Maker Li Ning Plunges on $282 Million HK Property Bet"
    },
    {
        "id": 631,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-chemical-giant-sees-weak-092423901.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The head of Saudi Arabia’s largest chemicals producer warned of another difficult year for the industry in 2024, as the outlook for the global economy remains weak.\nDemand for chemicals — used to make plastics that go into anything from cars to mobile phones — has been hit by sluggish growth amid a slower-than-expected rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic. Margins in the sector have also been squeezed by inflation and higher energy costs.\nProfit at Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the chemicals maker known as Sabic, has declined for five consecutive quarters year-on-year. It’s unclear whether the industry will rebound next year, said Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh chief executive officer of the company that’s owned by state oil producer Saudi Aramco.\nThis “was a bad year for the chemical industry,” the CEO said last week in an interview on the sidelines of a conference in Doha. “I’m not sure whether 2024 is going to have any pickup. It does not seem to be.”\nSabic’s varied portfolio of products has supported the Riyadh-based company’s margins, Al-Fageeh said. The company has capitalized on better conditions in agriculture and automotive businesses, he said.\nSabic is focused on developing technology to turn crude oil into chemicals, something it’s working on with Aramco, Al-Fageeh said. Traditionally, oil producers like Saudi Arabia have sold their crude to refiners, which process it into transport fuels and feedstocks for the chemical industry.\nNow, as producers like Saudi Arabia prepare for a future in which oil demand, particularly for transport, is set to decline, Aramco and Sabic aim to funnel more crude into chemicals that will produce plastics for lightweight vehicles, batteries or mobile phones.\nSabic is working with Aramco on a 400,000 barrel-a-day crude-to-chemical facility planned for Ras Al Khair, an industrial city on Saudi Arabia’s east coast.\nAl-Fageeh declined to comment on whether Sabic planned to sell a plant in the US. Bloomberg reported last month that the company and its partner TotalEnergies SE were considering selling a chemical plant in Louisiana.\nThe company is looking to internal expansion to boost growth, he said.\n",
        "title": "Saudi Chemical Giant Sees Weak Global Demand Extending Into 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 632,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/korea-sees-risks-financial-firms-090247699.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Some South Korean financial institutions may be at risk if bets on overseas property sour, the regulator warned, emphasizing that the likelihood of systemic stress is low.\n“For companies with large overseas real estate exposures, prudential concerns may emerge individually,” the Financial Services Commission said on Monday.\nThe message comes after the country’s pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers plowed billions of dollars into properties and risky real estate loans across the globe in the run up to the pandemic, leaving them under scrutiny as losses start to pile up. Regulators at the industry watchdog, the Financial Supervisory Service, have already urged brokerages to brace for a prolonged real estate slump and boost their capital buffers.\nHowever, given that the firms’ 55.8 trillion won ($42.4 billion) of exposure amounted to less than 1% of the sector’s assets, the risk “is assessed as being sufficiently covered by the financial sector’s current loss-absorbing capacity, even if losses expand due to negative shocks such as global asset price declines,” the FSC said in the statement.\nTrouble in the country’s financial sector began a year ago, when a default by the developer of Legoland Korea triggered a credit crunch.\nOfficials “will monitor the possibility of future losses and the response status of each financial company,” the FSC added.\n--With assistance from Daedo Kim and Youkyung Lee.\n",
        "title": "Korea Sees Risks to Financial Firms From Overseas Property"
    },
    {
        "id": 633,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-stocks-stalled-rate-085834862.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nFed leads five central bank meetings this week\n*\nTreasuries to be tested by $108 bln of new supply\n(Updates throughout for European market open)\nBy Wayne Cole and Lawrence White\nLONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Shares limped lower on Monday in a week packed with a quintet of rich world central bank meetings and data on U.S. inflation that could make or break market hopes for a rapid-fire round of rate cuts early next year.\nAn upbeat U.S. payrolls report has already seen investors scale back expectations for a March cut by the Federal Reserve, though May remains priced at a 76% chance.\nThe Fed is considered certain to hold rates at 5.25-5.50% this week, putting the focus on the so-called dot plots for rates and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nThe consumer price report for November on Tuesday will also influence the outlook, with analysts forecasting an unchanged headline rate and a 0.3% rise in the core.\n\"We look for another Fed-friendly CPI report but, barring surprises, anticipate the policy statement to signal that economic conditions have not changed enough for officials to drop their tightening bias just yet,\" said John Briggs, global head of strategy at NatWest Markets.\n\"We think Powell will leave the option of a possible hike on the table, but the hurdle seems quite high for the Fed to follow through,\" he added. \"We also expect the ECB to cut early while the BoE will continue to push back against market pricing of cuts in the first half of 2024.\"\nThe European Central Bank, Bank of England (BoE), Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) all meet on Thursday, with Norway the only one considered a possible hiker. There is also a risk the SNB may toy with renewed intervention to weaken the franc.\nWith so much riding on the outcomes, investors were understandably cautious and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.32%, while Europe's benchmark STOXX index nudged down 0.08%.\nS&P futures looked set for a similarly muted start to the day, down 0.09% ahead of the U.S. market open..\nBONDS FOR SALE\nThe Treasury market faces a test of its own in the shape of $108 billion in new supply of three-year, 10-year and 30-year paper. Yields on 10-year notes were steady at 4.25% having risen on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, though they still ended flat on the week.\nIn currency markets all eyes were on the yen as speculation swirled as to whether the Bank of Japan would signal another step away from its super easy policy at a meeting next week.\nThe dollar rose to touch 146.28 yen on Monday after analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note the Bank of Japan could disappoint overseas investors by not moving this month, while Bloomberg similarly reported the BOJ sees little need to end negative rates in December.\nThe dollar also gained on the euro at $1.0765, which was pressured by market pricing for early ECB rate cuts.\nIn commodity markets, gold took a knock after the jobs report and was last down at $1,997 an ounce.\nOil prices edged higher, after sliding 3.9% last week to five-month lows amid doubts that all OPEC+ members would stick with supply cuts. Prices got some support when Washington announced it would rebuild its strategic oil reserves.\nThe market will also be watching the outcome of the COP28 climate summit, which is working on a first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.\nBrent was up 54 cents at $76.4 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 52 cents to $71.75.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole and Lawrence White; Editing by Sam Holmes, Edwina Gibbs and Alex Richardson)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks stalled as rate cut hopes face pivotal week"
    },
    {
        "id": 634,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/em-volatility-bets-rise-dovish-085713098.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Emerging-market equities and currencies traded lower, pressured by a stronger dollar ahead of a Federal Reserve interest rate decision this week, and inflation data from the world’s biggest economy.\nMSCI’s index for developing nation stocks fell as much as 0.9% Monday, to touch its lowest level in almost a month on a closing basis. The gauge for currencies sank 0.3%.\nOptions traders have begun raising their expectations of currency swings in anticipation of the risks. The JPMorgan Emerging Market Volatility Index is hovering around its highest levels in a month.\nSoftening US inflation and employment data in the past month have convinced investors that the Fed is done raising rates and ignited bets that cuts of at least 125 basis points were in store over the next 12 months. Traders scaled back those wagers to about 110 basis points of easing after the nonfarm payrolls data. Its decision is due Wednesday.\n“The strong jobs report Friday brings the dovish Fed narrative into question,” said Win Thin, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co in a note to clients.\n“This week is likely to bring a hawkish hold from the Fed as well as elevated core CPI readings in the US; these should help the dollar continue to grind higher and maintain downward pressure on EM and other risk assets.”\nIn credit markets, investors will watch for developments in Ethiopia. The nation is set to join Zambia and Ghana as a sovereign defaulter, with an interest payment falling due to its bondholders on Monday that the the state says it won’t meet.\nEthiopia’s lone Eurobond due 2024 was the worst performer among emerging and frontier sovereign credit markets monitored by Bloomberg.\n",
        "title": "EM Volatility Bets Rise With Dovish Fed Narrative Questioned"
    },
    {
        "id": 635,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-antitrust-trial-focused-android-081407704.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal court jury is poised begin its deliberations in an antitrust trial focused on whether Google's efforts to profit from its app store for Android smartphones have been illegally gouging consumers and stifling innovation.\nBefore the nine-person jury in San Francisco starts weighing the evidence Monday, the lawyers on the opposing sides of the trial will present their closing arguments in a three-year-old case filed by Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game.\nThe four-week trial included testimony from both Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who sometimes seemed like a professor explaining complex topics while standing behind a lectern because of a health issue, and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who painted himself as a video game lover on a mission to take down a greedy tech titan.\nEpic alleged that Google has been exploiting its wealth and control of the Android software that powers most of the world's smartphones to protect a lucrative payment system within its Play Store for distributing Android apps. Just as Apple does for its iPhone app store, Google collects a 15-30% commission from digital transactions completed within apps — a setup that generates billions of dollars annually in profit.\nGoogle has staunchly defended the commissions as a way to help recoup the huge investments it has poured into building into the Android software that it has been giving away since 2007 to manufacturers to compete against the iPhone and pointed to rival Android app stores such as the one that Samsung installs on its popular smartphones as evidence of a free market.\nEpic, though, presented evidence asserting the notion that Google welcomes competition as a pretense, citing the hundreds of billions of dollars it has doled out to companies such as game maker Activision Blizzard to discourage them from opening rival app stores.\nThe jury's verdict in the case will likely hinge on how the smartphone app market is defined. While Epic has been contending Google's Play Store is a de facto monopoly that drives up prices for consumers and discourages app makers from creating new products, Google drew a picture of a broad and fiercely competitive market that includes Apple's iPhone app store in addition to the Android alternatives to its Play Store.\nGoogle's insistence that it competes against Apple in the distribution of apps despite the company's reliance on incompatible mobile operating systems cast a spotlight on the two companies' cozy relationship in online search — the subject of another major antitrust trial in Washington that will be decided by a federal judge after hearing final arguments in May.\nThe Washington trial centers on U.S. Justice Department allegations that Google has been abusing its dominance of the online search market, partly by paying billions of dollars to be the automatic place to field queries placed on personal computers and mobile devices, including the iPhone.\nEvidence presented in both the San Francisco and Washington revealed Google paid $26.3 billion in 2021 for its search to be the default choice on a variety of web browsers and smartphones, with the bulk of the money going to Apple. Without providing a precise dollar amount, Pichai confirmed Google shared 36% of its revenue from searches in the Safari browser with Apple in 2021.\nEpic's lawsuit against Google's Android app store mirror another case that the video game maker brought against Apple and its iPhone app store. The Apple lawsuit resulted in a monthlong trial in 2021 amid the pandemic, with Epic losing on all its key claims.\nBut the Apple trial was decided by a federal judge as opposed to a jury that will hand down the verdict in the Google case.\n",
        "title": "Google antitrust trial focused on Android app store payments to be handed off to jury to decide"
    },
    {
        "id": 636,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-exchange-htx-hit-258-210431876.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The HTX exchange, a digital-asset trading platform linked to China-born industry mogul Justin Sun, has suffered a $258 million net outflow since resuming operations after suffering a major hack.\nThe funds left the exchange between its Nov. 25 restart and Dec. 10, DefiLlama data show, a sign that some clients were unsettled by last month’s security incident. HTX said it lost $30 million worth of crypto tokens in the breach and temporarily suspended withdrawals and deposits following the attack.\nAn HTX spokesperson said the outflow is “a small fraction of our total reserves, indicating a stable and robust platform.” The exchange is committed to providing a “secure and seamless” trading experience, the spokesperson added.\nSun is also linked to the Poloniex platform and the HECO Bridge, a network set up by HTX to enable transfers between blockchains. Poloniex and HECO were hacked in November too, leading to the theft of about $200 million in crypto.\nAfter the November HTX incident, Sun said in a post on X that a probe was underway and that the exchange would “fully compensate for HTX’s hot wallet losses.” Hackers also stole $8 million from the platform in September.\nTop 20 Exchange\nHTX, once known as Huobi, had average trading volume of $1.6 billion in the past 24 hours, putting it in the top 20 crypto exchanges by that metric, according to CoinMarketCap figures as of 6:25 p.m. on Dec. 10 in Singapore.\nDigital-asset investors have become more attuned to shifts in flows and reserves at virtual-currency exchanges following the collapse of the FTX platform last year with a giant hole in its books.\nAt HTX, the biggest chunk of reserves — about 33% — is comprised of Bitcoin, according to DefiLlama. About 32% is in the TRX token from the Tron blockchain, which Sun launched in 2017. HTX’s exchange coin HT accounts for some 14%, followed by a Sun-backed token called stUSDT on 12%.\nTRX is at the center of US fraud allegations against Sun. The Securities and Exchange Commission in a March lawsuit accused him and his firms of market manipulation to make the token appear actively traded. Sun tweeted at the time that the suit “lacks merit.”\nSecurity firm BlockSec said HTX recovered the $8 million stolen in September. Hackers still appear to control the $30 million taken last month, it added.\n(Updates with comment from HTX in the third paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Crypto Exchange HTX Hit by $258 Million Outflow After Hack"
    },
    {
        "id": 637,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asian-stocks-slip-060443516.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nAsian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4\n*\nNikkei rallies as yen eases, China shares hit 5-year low\n*\nFed leads five central bank meetings this week\n*\nTreasuries to be tested by $108 bln of new supply\n(Updated at 0600 GMT)\nBy Wayne Cole\nSYDNEY, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Asian shares drifted lower on Monday in a week packed with a quintet of rich world central bank meetings and data on U.S. inflation that could make or break market hopes for an early and rapid-fire round of rate cuts next year.\nAn upbeat payrolls report has already seen investors scale back expectations for a March cut by the Federal Reserve, though May remains priced at a 76% chance.\nThe Fed is considered certain to hold rates at 5.25-5.50% this week, putting the focus on the so-called dot plots for rates and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nThe consumer price report for November on Tuesday will also influence the outlook, with analysts forecasting an unchanged headline rate and a 0.3% rise in the core.\n\"We look for another Fed-friendly CPI report but, barring surprises, anticipate the policy statement to signal that economic conditions have not changed enough for officials to drop their tightening bias just yet,\" said John Briggs, global head of strategy at NatWest Markets.\n\"We think Powell will leave the option of a possible hike on the table, but the hurdle seems quite high for the Fed to follow through,\" he added. \"We also expect the ECB to cut early while the BoE will continue to push-back against market pricing of cuts in the first half of 2024.\"\nThe European Central Bank, Bank of England (BoE), Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) all meet on Thursday, with Norway the only one considered a possible hiker. There is also a risk the SNB may toy with renewed intervention to weaken the franc.\nWith so much riding on the outcomes, investors were understandably cautious and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.65%.\nJapan's Nikkei bounced 1.6% after shedding 3.4% last week amid speculation of an end to super-easy monetary policy.\nChinese blue chips slid 0.9% and touched five-year lows after data showed consumer prices fell 0.5% in November, the sharpest drop since late 2020.\nBONDS FOR SALE\nEUROSTOXX 50 futures and FTSE futures were little changed. S&P 500 futures were flat, while Nasdaq futures edged down 0.2%.\nThe Treasury market faces a test of its own in the shape of $108 billion in new supply of three-year, 10-year and 30-year paper. Yields on 10-year notes were steady at 4.24% having risen on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, though they still ended flat on the week.\nIn currency markets all eyes were on the yen after some wild swings as speculation swirled the Bank of Japan could signal another step away from its super easy policy at a meeting next week. The dollar did manage to nudge up on Monday to reach 145.56 yen, having lost 1.3% last week and briefly touching a low of 141.60.\nThe dollar fared better on the euro at $1.0767, which was pressured by market pricing for early ECB rate cuts.\n\"With inflation falling quickly in the Eurozone, we do not expect the ECB post-meeting communication to provide too much push back against current market pricing for a rate cutting cycle beginning in April,\" said analysts at CBA in a note.\n\"We expect the first rate cut will come a little later in June.\"\nIn commodity markets, gold took a knock after the jobs report and was last down at $1,998 an ounce.\nOil prices edged higher, after sliding 3.9% last week to five-month lows amid doubts that all OPEC+ members would stick with supply cuts. Prices got some support when Washington announced it would rebuild its strategic oil reserves.\nThe market will also be watching the outcome of the COP28 climate summit, which is working on a first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.\nBrent was up 53 cents at $76.37 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 47 cents to $71.70.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Sam Holmes and Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks slip, rate cut hopes face pivotal week"
    },
    {
        "id": 638,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-rate-prospects-risk-central-053415281.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Wayne Cole\nIt's set to be a pivotal week as the Federal Reserve leads a quintet of rich-world central bank meetings that will test market optimism for early and rapid-fire rate cuts next year.\nThe U.S. consumer price report for November on Tuesday will also influence the outlook, with analysts forecasting an unchanged headline rate and a 0.3% rise in the core rate.\nThe Fed meets Wednesday ahead of \"Super Thursday\", when the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank and Norges Bank all meet. Steady outcomes are expected except for Norway, where there might be a hike given the weakness of the crown.\nThere is talk, however,that the SNB might consider intervention to restrain the franc, which hit a nine-year high on the euro last week. [ECILT/US] [ECILT/EU] [ECILT/GB]\nThe ECB meeting is also shaping up to be an eventful one, given that inflation has slowed enough for even arch-hawk Isabel Schnabel to take a sudden dovish turn.\nAnalysts assume other hawks, led by the Bundesbank, will push back against market pricing for cuts starting in March or April, but it's an open question whether they will be in the majority.\nAs for the Fed, the initial focus will be on the FOMC \"dot plots\" for rates and whether they will stick to 50 basis points of easing next year or nudge that higher. The last plots also had 125 basis points of cuts for 2025 and another 100 basis points the year after.\nAttention will then turn to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's media conference where he will have an opportunity, should he choose, to push back against market pricing for early cuts.\nMarkets have already pared pricing for a March easing to 46% following last Friday's upbeat payrolls report, while a May cut is put at a 58% chance and around 100 basis points of easing is implied for all of 2024.\nGoldman Sachs has brought forward its call for rate cuts to start in the third quarter of next year, rather than the fourth quarter, and has 95 basis points of easing pencilled in for 2024.\nChinese blue chips slid to five-year lows after data showed consumer prices fell 0.5% in November, the sharpest drop since late 2020.\nThe Treasury market faces a test of its own in the shape of $108 billion in new supply of three-year, 10-year and 30-year paper. Yields on 10-year notes are holding at 4.24%, after rising on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, although they still ended flat on the week. [US/]\nOil prices idled after sliding 3.9% last week to five-month lows amid doubts that all OPEC+ members would stick with supply cuts. Prices did get some support on Friday when Washington announced it would rebuild its strategic oil reserves. [O/R]\nThe market will also be watching the outcome of the COP28 climate summit, which is working on a first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.\nOh, and it's not impossible Britain could have a new Prime Minster before the week is out as Rishi Sunak faces a COVID-19 inquiry and a crunch vote in parliament on his plan to revive a policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Monday:\n- Appearances by ECB board member Elizabeth McCaul and Riksbank Deputy Governor Aino Bunge\n- New York Fed one-year inflation expectations for November\n(By Wayne Cole; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Rate prospects at risk as central banks meet"
    },
    {
        "id": 639,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-europe-rate-prospects-053148302.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Wayne Cole\nIt's set to be a pivotal week as the Federal Reserve leads a quintet of rich-world central bank meetings that will test market optimism for early and rapid-fire rate cuts next year.\nThe U.S. consumer price report for November on Tuesday will also influence the outlook, with analysts forecasting an unchanged headline rate and a 0.3% rise in the core rate.\nThe Fed meets Wednesday ahead of \"Super Thursday\", when the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank and Norges Bank all meet. Steady outcomes are expected except for Norway, where there might be a hike given the weakness of the crown.\nThere is talk, however,that the SNB might consider intervention to restrain the franc, which hit a nine-year high on the euro last week.\nThe ECB meeting is also shaping up to be an eventful one, given that inflation has slowed enough for even arch-hawk Isabel Schnabel to take a sudden dovish turn.\nAnalysts assume other hawks, led by the Bundesbank, will push back against market pricing for cuts starting in March or April, but it's an open question whether they will be in the majority.\nAs for the Fed, the initial focus will be on the FOMC \"dot plots\" for rates and whether they will stick to 50 basis points of easing next year or nudge that higher. The last plots also had 125 basis points of cuts for 2025 and another 100 basis points the year after.\nAttention will then turn to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's media conference where he will have an opportunity, should he choose, to push back against market pricing for early cuts. Markets have already pared pricing for a March easing to 46% following last Friday's upbeat payrolls report, while a May cut is put at a 58% chance and around 100 basis points of easing is implied for all of 2024.\nGoldman Sachs has brought forward its call for rate cuts to start in the third quarter of next year, rather than the fourth quarter, and has 95 basis points of easing pencilled in for 2024.\nChinese blue chips slid to five-year lows after data showed consumer prices fell 0.5% in November, the sharpest drop since late 2020.\nThe Treasury market faces a test of its own in the shape of $108 billion in new supply of three-year, 10-year and 30-year paper. Yields on 10-year notes are holding at 4.24%, after rising on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, although they still ended flat on the week.\nOil prices idled after sliding 3.9% last week to five-month lows amid doubts that all OPEC+ members would stick with supply cuts. Prices did get some support on Friday when Washington announced it would rebuild its strategic oil reserves.\nThe market will also be watching the outcome of the COP28 climate summit, which is working on a first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.\nOh, and it's not impossible Britain could have a new Prime Minster before the week is out as Rishi Sunak faces a COVID-19 inquiry and a crunch vote in parliament on his plan to revive a policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Monday:\n- Appearances by ECB board member Elizabeth McCaul and Riksbank Deputy Governor Aino Bunge\n- New York Fed one-year inflation expectations for November\n(By Wayne Cole; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID EUROPE-Rate prospects at risk as central banks meet"
    },
    {
        "id": 640,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-boeing-name-stephanie-pope-051819439.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details from WSJ report in paragraph 2, background in paragraphs 3, 5-7)\nDec 10 (Reuters) - Boeing is expected to name company veteran Stephanie Pope as its chief operating officer, setting her up as the likely successor to Chief Executive David Calhoun, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Sunday.\nPope, who currently heads Boeing Global Services, is expected to be named COO as soon as Monday, according to the report, citing people familiar with the matter. Calhoun is likely to remain in the top job at least one more year, the report added.\nBoeing Global Services provides parts and engineering for airlines and military.\nBoeing declined to comment on the report.\nPope has a two decade history at Boeing and is an executive vice president of the company apart from serving as the president and CEO of Boeing Global Services, according to Boeing's website.\nIn February, the aircraft manufacturer awarded Calhoun an incentive worth approximately $5.29 million, in a move indicating that the current board of directors might not seek to replace Calhoun with a new CEO until at least the mid 2020s.\nBoeing had extended its required retirement age of 65 to 70 in April 2021 to allow Calhoun to stay in the top job.\n(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Boeing to name Stephanie Pope as chief operating officer - WSJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 641,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-area-suffer-first-recession-050000972.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The euro zone will succumb to its first recession since the pandemic, with the economy shrinking for a second straight quarter in the final months of the year, according to a Bloomberg poll of analysts.\nThe 0.1% contraction now predicted between September and December compares with the previous survey’s projection for output to remain unchanged. A mild recovery is seen at the beginning of 2024.\n“We doubt that we’re at the start of an upswing,” said Joerg Angele, an economist at Bantleon Bank. “Headwinds remain strong, especially the ones stemming from the massive increase of interest rates.”\nThe weakness is led by Germany, Europe’s largest economy, which is struggling to shake off its manufacturing malaise. Beset by a budget crisis and weak global demand, the country is expected to experience a 0.2% downturn in the fourth quarter — more than the 0.1% decline initially projected.\nThe survey results contrast with the European Commission’s November forecast, which foresees the 20-nation euro area returning to growth this quarter, helped by a steep retreat in inflation and a robust jobs market.\nEurostat data Thursday attributed the region’s recent weakness to changes in inventories, showing household consumption remaining strong. But shrinking industrial production numbers provided a reminder of the region’s enduring weakness.\nWhile a major headwind has come from tighter monetary policy, the recent slowdown in consumer-price growth has surprised markets and policymakers alike, prompting wagers on the European Central Bank to cut rates as soon as the spring.\nEconomists lowered their projections for inflation through September 2024. But the quarterly forecasts were lifted higher beyond that, and don’t envisage price gains easing to the ECB’s 2% target during the period covered in the poll.\n--With assistance from Joel Rinneby and Barbara Sladkowska.\n",
        "title": "Euro Area to Suffer First Recession Since Pandemic, Survey Shows"
    },
    {
        "id": 642,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boeing-name-stephanie-pope-chief-043512150.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Boeing is expected to name company veteran Stephanie Pope as its chief operating officer, setting her up as the likely successor to Chief Executive David Calhoun, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Sunday.\n(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)\n",
        "title": "Boeing to name Stephanie Pope as Chief Operating Officer - WSJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 643,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pork-prices-extend-plunge-bad-032853771.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese pork prices tumbled more than 6% last week despite efforts by authorities to boost the market, adding to growing concerns around deflation in Asia’s biggest economy.\nAverage national prices for the country’s most-popular protein are now at their lowest since April 2022 and have fallen by almost a quarter from this year’s high in early August.\nBeijing’s announcement in late November that it would buy pork for the nation’s strategic reserves — its third round of purchases this year — hasn’t managed to stem the slide. Authorities are also urging farmers to sell hogs when they are ready for market and not to hoard livestock.\nChina’s economic woes were highlighted over the weekend as official figures showed consumer prices fell at the steepest pace last month in three years, and producer costs also dropped more than expected. It’s not just pork that’s under pressure: farmers in some provinces are being forced to let fresh vegetables rot in their fields as demand wanes.\nThe outlook for the nation’s massive pork industry remains bearish. Consumption is expected to be sluggish after the Spring Festival holidays in mid-February, while hog output will likely rise, the agriculture ministry said last week.\nPeople’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng said last month that the decline in the consumer price index in October was mainly due to a drop in food prices, especially pork. Deflation is dangerous for China because it can lead to a downward spiral in economic activity.\n",
        "title": "Pork Prices Extend Plunge in Bad Deflationary Omen for Chinese Economy"
    },
    {
        "id": 644,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-tiktok-invest-1-5-030636214.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details from paragraph 2)\nJAKARTA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - TikTok will take a controlling stake in an e-commerce unit of Indonesia's biggest tech firm PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia, a partnership that will see the short video app invest $1.5 billion over the long term, the two companies said on Monday.\nThe deal comes after Indonesia in October banned online shopping on social media platforms to protect smaller merchants and users' data, forcing TikTok to close its e-commerce service TikTok Shop.\nUnder the deal, TikTok will buy 75.01% of GoTo's PT Tokopedia, Indonesia's biggest e-commerce platform, for $840 million and inject TikTok Shop's Indonesia business into the enlarged Tokopedia entity.\n\"The strategic partnership will commence with a pilot period carried out in close consultation with and supervision by the relevant regulators,\" the two firms said in a joint statement.\nMany of Indonesia's over 270 million population are active social media users, and TikTok has 125 million users in the country. (Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Neil Fullick and Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-TikTok to invest $1.5 bln in GoTo's Indonesia e-commerce business"
    },
    {
        "id": 645,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tiktok-invest-1-5-billion-025312501.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "JAKARTA (Reuters) - TikTok will take a controlling stake in an e-commerce unit of Indonesia's biggest tech firm PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia, a partnership that will see the short video app invest $1.5 billion over the long term, the two companies said on Monday.\nUnder the deal, Tokopedia will purchase TikTok Shop assets worth $340 million, while TikTok will buy a 75.01% stake in GoTo's PT Tokopedia via a new share issuance worth $840 million, according to a stock exchange filing by GoTo.\n(Reporting by Ananda Teresia: Editing by Neil Fullick)\n",
        "title": "TikTok to invest $1.5 billion in Indonesia's GoTo"
    },
    {
        "id": 646,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asian-stocks-ease-020222571.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nAsian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4\n*\nNikkei rallies 1.6%, S&P 500 futures flat\n*\nFed leads five central bank meetings this week\n*\nTreasuries to be tested by $108 bln of new supply\n(Updates prices)\nBy Wayne Cole\nSYDNEY, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Asian shares drifted lower on Monday ahead of a week packed with a quintet of central bank meetings and data on U.S. inflation that could make or break market hopes for an early and rapid fire round of rate cuts next year.\nAn upbeat payrolls report has already seen investors scale back expectations for a March cut by the Federal Reserve, though May remains priced at a 76% chance.\nThe Fed is considered certain to hold rates at 5.25-5.50% this week, putting the focus on the so-called dot plots for rates and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nThe consumer price report for November on Tuesday will also influence the outlook with analysts forecasting an unchanged headline rate and a 0.3% rise in the core.\n\"We look for another Fed-friendly CPI report but, barring surprises, anticipate the policy statement to signal that economic conditions have not changed enough for officials to drop their tightening bias just yet,\" said John Briggs, global head of strategy at NatWest Markets.\n\"We think Powell will leave the option of a possible hike on the table, but the hurdle seems quite high for the Fed to follow through,\" he added. \"We also expect the ECB to cut early while the BoE will continue to push-back against market pricing of cuts in the first half of 2024.\"\nThe European Central Bank, Bank of England, Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank all meet on Thursday, with Norway the only one considered a possible hiker. There is also a risk the SNB may toy with renewed intervention to weaken the franc.\nWith so much riding on the outcomes, investors were understandably cautious and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.7%.\nJapan's Nikkei bounced 1.6% after shedding 3.4% last week amid speculation of an end to super-easy monetary policy.\nChinese blue chips slipped 0.6% after data showed consumer prices fell 0.5% in November, the sharpest drop since late 2020.\nBONDS FOR SALE\nEUROSTOXX 50 futures and FTSE futures were little changed. S&P 500 futures were flat, while Nasdaq futures edged down 0.2%.\nThe Treasury market faces a test of its own in the shape of $108 billion in new supply of three-year, 10-year and 30-year paper. Yields on 10-year notes were steady at 4.24% having risen on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, though they still ended flat on the week.\nIn currency markets all eyes were on the yen after some wild swings as speculation swirled the Bank of Japan could signal another step away from its super easy policy at a meeting next week. The dollar did manage to nudge up on Monday to reach 145.40 yen, having lost 1.3% last week and briefly touching a low of 141.60.\nThe dollar fared better on the euro at $1.0770, which was pressured by market pricing for early ECB rate cuts.\n\"With inflation falling quickly in the Eurozone, we do not expect the ECB post-meeting communication to provide too much push back against current market pricing for a rate cutting cycle beginning in April,\" said analysts at CBA in a note.\n\"We expect the first rate cut will come a little later in June.\"\nIn commodity markets, gold took a knock after the jobs report and was last at $1,003 an ounce.\nOil prices idled after sliding 3.9% last week to five-month lows amid doubts that all OPEC+ members would stick with supply cuts. Prices did get some support on Friday when Washington announced it would rebuild its strategic oil reserves.\nThe market will also be watching the outcome of the COP28 climate summit, which is working on a first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.\nBrent was up 9 cents at $75.93 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 7 cents to $71.30.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Sam Holmes and Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks ease, rate cut hopes to be tested in week of central bank meetings"
    },
    {
        "id": 647,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/musk-restores-alex-jones-x-010848452.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk restored the account of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on X after users voted for the reinstatement five years after a ban.\nJones and Musk joined an X audio stream late Sunday for a meandering conversation listened to by more than 4.5 million users. The call also featured Andrew Tate, an online influencer who has been banned from most social platforms for his sexist remarks.\n“We will try do our best to avoid any kind of permanent bans unless someone does something fundamentally illegal,” Musk, the owner of X, said on the call. “We’re just trying to stay true to the constitution in the US and the laws of the country.”\nThe billionaire, who renamed Twitter to X after acquiring it a year ago, had asked his followers whether to unban Jones late on Friday, and 70% of the votes were in favor. In the past, Musk has said that major decisions on the platform would be made by the people, though he later limited that to only paying subscribers having a vote.\nJones was permanently suspended from Twitter in 2018, along with the account of his Infowars website, for breaching the platform’s abusive behavior policy and other past violations. Permanent suspension, its most severe action, removes the account from global view and prevents the person from creating new accounts.\nThe talk show host filed for bankruptcy protection last year after he was ordered to pay more than $1 billion in judgments related to his comments that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. This month, he was given clearance by a court to sell his firearms, cars, jewelry and boats on the Infowars show in order to obtain the highest value for them in covering the cost of his bankruptcy.\nA year ago, Musk had dismissed the possibility of letting Jones back on the platform, saying he’d “have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.”\n--With assistance from Debby Wu.\n(Updates with details of X stream from second paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Musk Restores Alex Jones’s X Account After Vote From Users"
    },
    {
        "id": 648,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/record-high-cards-us-stocks-010010972.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The S&P 500 Index will hit a record high in 2024 as the US avoids sinking into a recession, although a weaker consumer will mean the index gains less than this year’s 20% surge, according to Bloomberg’s latest Markets Live Pulse survey.\nA median of 518 respondents expect the S&P 500 to climb to 4,808 points next year — topping its previous closing peak of 4,797 hit in January 2022 — and the 10-year Treasury yield to drop to 3.8% from this year’s high of 5%.\nMore than two thirds of respondents indicated they don’t see a hard economic landing as the top risk to markets and majority expects Federal Reserve interest rate cuts to begin before July.\n“US exceptionalism remains firmly in place,” said Aneeka Gupta, director of macroeconomic research at WisdomTree. “The key drivers are a more favorable economic backdrop versus China and Europe, improving earnings estimates and cheaper valuations for the equal-weighted S&P 500.”\nThe bullish outlook is a stark contrast from expectations coming into this year, when worries about a staunchly hawkish Fed and the specter of a US recession had investors bracing for volatile markets. But the economy has defied pessimistic forecasts, the labor market remains resilient and Corporate America’s earnings are rebounding sooner than estimated.\nRead More: Here’s (Almost) Everything Wall Street Expects in 2023\nTop Wall Street strategists including at Deutsche Bank AG and RBC Capital Markets are also predicting an all-time high for US stocks next year, as they say the S&P 500 has now adapted to the higher rate environment.\nNot everyone is as optimistic. Bank of America Corp. strategist Michael Hartnett said while a pullback in yields in recent months had certainly fueled equity gains, a further drop to near 3% next year would signal a sputtering economy and end up being a drag on stocks. Indeed, about 33% of survey participants said they expect an exhausted consumer to represent the biggest risk to the rally next year.\nMoreover, the median forecast in the survey — while a record closing high — represents a gain of just about 4% from the S&P 500’s current levels. That’s well below an average 19% jump recorded in a year in which the index advances, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The level is also below an intraday all-time peak of 4,819.\n“We see a bit of tension between possible rate cuts and equity markets,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at European digital wealth manager Moneyfarm. “We are currently leaning toward a scenario where growth decelerates and we see some earnings downgrades. That makes us slightly cautious on equities in 2024.”\nFor Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists, the ideal approach is to simply remain invested in stocks and avoid the urge to sell during periods of volatility. MLIV participants are planning on following that advice, with 26% saying they would increase their holdings over the next month — an above-average reading for a question that the poll began asking in August 2022.\nRead more: Most Expect Their Investments to Do Better in 2024: MLIV Pulse\nThe US is also poised to retain its haven appeal, with 43% saying those stocks will continue outperforming international peers in 2024. That’s par for the course, as the S&P 500 has beaten gains in global equities in eight of the past 10 years.\nBut after the seven big tech stocks, including Apple Inc., Tesla Inc. and Nvidia Corp., have dominated the market for most of 2023, investors are turning to roughed-up corners of the market from small caps to value shares as they seek out bargains.\n“We don’t expect the rally in the Magnificent Seven names to be sustained over the long term,” said Shanti Kelemen, chief investment officer at M&G Wealth. “Valuations are much more attractive in other parts of the US market. As companies in more traditional sectors adopt AI, there is potential to improve productivity.”\nAsked about the biggest bargains for next year, MLIV Pulse respondents overwhelmingly pointed to emerging markets outside Greater China. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index, heading for a record fourth year of losses in 2023, is likely to remain a laggard next year, too. Gold, meanwhile, is expected to gain about 5%.\nThe MLIV Pulse survey of Bloomberg News readers on the terminal and online is conducted by Bloomberg’s Markets Live team, which also runs the MLIV blog.\n",
        "title": "A Record High Is in the Cards for US Stocks in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 649,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-steady-us-inflation-004722579.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Rae Wee\nSINGAPORE, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The dollar started Monday on the front foot, with a reading on U.S. inflation and the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting for the year likely to set the tone for the week, while rising deflationary pressure in China leant on the yuan.\nThe greenback pushed back above 145 yen and last bought 145.12 yen, reversing some of its steep fall against the Japanese currency late last week, as bets grew that the Bank of Japan's ultra-low interest rates policy may be nearing an end.\nSterling dipped 0.02% to $1.2545 and was huddled near Friday's two-week low of $1.2504.\nData on Friday showed U.S. job growth accelerated in November while the unemployment rate fell to 3.7%, underscoring the resilience of the labour market in the world's largest economy and challenging expectations of imminent rate cuts from the Fed beginning early next year.\n\"They were a good set of numbers,\" said Joseph Capurso, head of international and sustainable economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).\n\"Wages were still running probably too hot for the Fed to be comfortable and the unemployment rate fell - that was a really big surprise.\"\nThe figures caused traders to push back expectations of how soon the Fed could begin cutting rates, with many now leaning toward May instead of March.\nThe euro rose 0.06% to $1.0767 but stood not too far from Friday's more than three-week low of $1.07235, while the dollar index steadied at 103.95.\nThe index gained more than 0.7% last week, reversing three weeks of loss.\nFocus now turns to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting later this week and U.S. inflation data due ahead of that, where expectations are for consumer prices to continue easing on an annual basis.\n\"The big influence on the U.S. dollar this week is going to be the FOMC meeting, in particular Chair (Jerome) Powell's comments at his press conference,\" said CBA's Capurso.\n\"If he's (hawkish), I think markets will probably ignore him and the U.S. dollar remains steady. But if he's dovish, then I think the U.S. dollar and bond yields will fall, so it's an asymmetric reaction.\"\nCHINA STRUGGLES\nIn Asia, data over the weekend showed China's consumer prices fell at the fastest pace in three years in November while factory-gate deflation deepened, indicating increasing deflationary pressure as weak domestic demand casts doubt over the country's economic recovery.\nThe offshore yuan languished near a three-week low and last stood at 7.1842 per dollar, though movement was largely subdued in early Asia trade.\n\"It is important to note that the main drag to China's headline inflation remains food prices. Nonetheless, the lack of a strong revival in the economy suggests that weak inflation will persist, and more policy support is indeed required,\" said Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets.\nThe latest numbers add to recent mixed trade data and manufacturing surveys that have kept alive calls for further policy support to shore up growth.\nThe Australian dollar, often used as a liquid proxy for the yuan, was little changed at $0.6577, while the New Zealand dollar was last 0.11% higher at $0.6128.\n(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar steady with US inflation, Fed meeting eyed; yuan heavy"
    },
    {
        "id": 650,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-stocks-brace-central-bank-001911624.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Wayne Cole\nSYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares drifted lower on Monday in a week packed with a quintet of rich world central bank meetings and data on U.S. inflation that could make or break market hopes for an early and rapid-fire round of rate cuts next year.\nAn upbeat payrolls report has already seen investors scale back expectations for a March cut by the Federal Reserve, though May remains priced at a 76% chance.\nThe Fed is considered certain to hold rates at 5.25-5.50% this week, putting the focus on the so-called dot plots for rates and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nThe consumer price report for November on Tuesday will also influence the outlook, with analysts forecasting an unchanged headline rate and a 0.3% rise in the core.\n\"We look for another Fed-friendly CPI report but, barring surprises, anticipate the policy statement to signal that economic conditions have not changed enough for officials to drop their tightening bias just yet,\" said John Briggs, global head of strategy at NatWest Markets.\n\"We think Powell will leave the option of a possible hike on the table, but the hurdle seems quite high for the Fed to follow through,\" he added. \"We also expect the ECB to cut early while the BoE will continue to push-back against market pricing of cuts in the first half of 2024.\"\nThe European Central Bank, Bank of England (BoE), Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) all meet on Thursday, with Norway the only one considered a possible hiker. There is also a risk the SNB may toy with renewed intervention to weaken the franc.\nWith so much riding on the outcomes, investors were understandably cautious and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.65%.\nJapan's Nikkei bounced 1.6% after shedding 3.4% last week amid speculation of an end to super-easy monetary policy.\nChinese blue chips slid 0.9% and touched five-year lows after data showed consumer prices fell 0.5% in November, the sharpest drop since late 2020.\nBONDS FOR SALE\nEUROSTOXX 50 futures and FTSE futures were little changed. S&P 500 futures were flat, while Nasdaq futures edged down 0.2%.\nThe Treasury market faces a test of its own in the shape of $108 billion in new supply of three-year, 10-year and 30-year paper. Yields on 10-year notes were steady at 4.24% having risen on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, though they still ended flat on the week. [US/]\nIn currency markets all eyes were on the yen after some wild swings as speculation swirled the Bank of Japan could signal another step away from its super easy policy at a meeting next week. The dollar did manage to nudge up on Monday to reach 145.56 yen, having lost 1.3% last week and briefly touching a low of 141.60.\nThe dollar fared better on the euro at $1.0767, which was pressured by market pricing for early ECB rate cuts. [FRX/]\n\"With inflation falling quickly in the Eurozone, we do not expect the ECB post-meeting communication to provide too much push back against current market pricing for a rate cutting cycle beginning in April,\" said analysts at CBA in a note.\n\"We expect the first rate cut will come a little later in June.\"\nIn commodity markets, gold took a knock after the jobs report and was last down at $1,998 an ounce. [GOL/]\nOil prices edged higher, after sliding 3.9% last week to five-month lows amid doubts that all OPEC+ members would stick with supply cuts. Prices got some support when Washington announced it would rebuild its strategic oil reserves. [O/R]\nThe market will also be watching the outcome of the COP28 climate summit, which is working on a first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.\nBrent was up 53 cents at $76.37 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 47 cents to $71.70.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Sam Holmes and Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "Asian stocks slip, rate cut hopes face pivotal week"
    },
    {
        "id": 651,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-housing-market-gloom-returns-000100021.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- UK home sellers slashed the prices they’re asking for property, data from the sales portal Rightmove showed, a sign that a “slow puncture” for the market is likely to continue.\nThe figures showed a 1.9% drop for December when buyers usually trim expectations to pin down deals, but this year’s drop was sharper than the 20-year average. A separate report from UK Finance, which represents banks, predicted lending for house purchases will fall by 8% over 2024 to £120 billion ($150 billion).\nThe reports together indicate that a slump in prices in 2023 is likely to return despite data from mortgage lenders showing prices edged up in the past few months. While a shortage of properties on the market and easing in mortgage rates has helped support prices, analysts still see affordability issues and economic gloom as headwinds for the housing market.\nBuyers are strained by “higher interest rates and the increased cost of living, as well as house prices still at elevated levels relative to income,” said UK Finance’s Head of Analytics James Tatch. “With these pressures unlikely to ease significantly in the short term, we expect lending to remain weak in 2024.”\nRightmove said the latest data lopped £6,966 off the average asking price, taking it to £355,177 ($445,210). It follows November’s report showing the largest fall for that month in five years.\nTim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property science, said the slide in asking prices reflected sellers trying to become more competitive as demand remained muted.\n“Further price falls beyond the usual seasonal trends that we’d expect at this time of year signal that some new sellers are continuing to act on the advice of agents to price competitively,” he said, citing higher mortgage rates which have stretched affordability for potential buyers.\nThe UK property market has remained surprisingly resilient despite the sharpest series of interest-rate increases from the Bank of England in three decades. A year ago, economists had predicted a peak-to-trough fall in prices of 10% or more, but on Nationwide and Halifax’s measures the drop has only been around half of that.\nThe strength reflects a labor market that has held up better than expected during a cost-of-living crisis, limiting the number of forced sales. Just last week the BOE said it now expects far fewer households will struggle to meet mortgage repayments than it originally thought.\nThe mortgage lenders Halifax and Nationwide have said their data suggest prices edged up again in November, as a lack of supply of properties pushed valuations higher.\nWhile Rightmove predicted a slow start to 2024, Bannister warned against too much gloom. Asking prices are ending the year just 1.1% below where they were 12 months ago.\n“For now, there appears to be more calm and certainty heading into 2024,” Bannister said. He’s predicting a further 1% fall in asking prices over the next year.\nAverage mortgage rates have fallen for 19 consecutive weeks, according to Rightmove, with the average 5-year fixed rate now 5.11% compared to 6.11% in July. This should help attract more family buyers to the market, Bannister said, who had postponed their home moves in the aftermath of Liz Truss’s fiscal program, which caused mortgage rates to rocket.\n",
        "title": "UK Housing Market Gloom Returns After Unexpected Price Rises"
    },
    {
        "id": 652,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-key-charts-watch-global-220000999.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- There’s a lot of red in commodity markets as the holiday season ramps up: Oil is in the midst of a two-month losing streak, prices for key battery metals keep falling and outflows are mounting for bullion-backed exchange-traded funds. Meanwhile, stuck-in-the-mud spuds — the darling of Christmas dinners — are seeing a jump in costs amid terrible weather in Europe. In the US, Congress is getting serious about cracking down on cheap imports of enriched uranium from Russia.\nHere are five notable charts to consider in global commodity markets this week.\nOil\nWeakness abounds for oil, which is trading near a five-month low. Not only have West Texas Intermediate futures fallen for seven weeks, but the prompt spread has suffered a sharp retreat since surging in September as Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their production cuts and concerns mounted over tightening global supplies. Since then, inventories have ballooned, demand growth has cooled and markets have turned skeptical over the prospects for OPEC+ to implement further pledged cuts. The US oil benchmark is set to end the year in contango, a bearish market structure that signals oversupply where barrels for prompt delivery are cheaper than future ones.\nNuclear Power\nUS lawmakers are ramping up efforts to halt imports of Russian enriched uranium. The House of Representatives is slated to consider legislation this week that would bar it. At the same time, a measure requiring the US to boost its purchases of domestic nuclear reactor fuel was added to a compromise version of the $886 billion must-pass defense legislation. Russia supplied almost a quarter of the enriched uranium used to fuel America’s fleet of more than 90 commercial reactors last year, making it the No. 1 foreign supplier, according to Energy Department data.\nPrecious Metals\nGold may be fresh off a record high, but a hotter-than-expected US jobs report diminished hopes for looser monetary policy next year, sending the non-interest bearing precious metal lower and briefly below $2,000 an ounce. At the same time, global holdings in bullion-backed ETFs are continuing to slide, with November marking a sixth straight month of outflows. The reluctance to go long gold may be the result of ETF investors waiting for the Federal Reserve to actually start pulling back rates. Swaps markets, which started last week pricing in a 60% chance of a Fed cut at its March meeting, ended the week around 45%.\nBattery Metals\nRaw material costs for batteries have plunged this year. Lithium carbonate prices in China are down more than 80% since hitting a record in November 2022, a dramatic change of fortune for a key ingredient of batteries that power the world’s electric vehicles. Lithium hydroxide, cobalt and nickel prices also have tumbled. As such, BloombergNEF expects battery prices to continue to drop in the coming years as a result of capacity expansion across the product value chain and lower-than-expected demand growth.\nAgriculture\nPrices for potatoes — a staple for festive season roasts — are soaring thanks to heavy rains that have sidelined tractors in waterlogged fields, delaying harvests and risking supply shortages. Although thinly traded, European processing potato futures are above 30 euros per 100 kilogram bag and are at the highest seasonal level in at least 14 years. Prices also spiked in May due to intense wet weather, providing yet another example of a growing number of crops affected by climate change.\n--With assistance from Celia Bergin.\n",
        "title": "Five Key Charts to Watch in Global Commodity Markets This Week"
    },
    {
        "id": 653,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-singapores-shein-holds-talks-120057806.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details from Sky News report in paragraphs 2-3, background on IPO plans in paragraphs 5-6)\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Fast fashion firm Shein has held talks with the London Stock Exchange about the possibility of a public listing in the United Kingdom, Sky News reported on Monday, citing sources.\nShein's chairman, Donald Tang, met executives from the LSE and other stakeholders in the UK economy during a visit to London last week, according to the report.\nShein and London Stock Exchange Group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\nLast month, Reuters reported that the China-founded firm had confidentially filed to go public in the United States.\nGoldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have been hired as lead underwriters of the initial public offering (IPO), and Singapore-based Shein could launch its new share sale in 2024, the sources said at the time.\nThe company founded in mainland China in 2012 was valued at more than\n$60 billion\nin a May fundraising, down by a third from a funding round last year. (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Anil D'Silva)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Singapore's Shein holds talks with LSE on possible listing -Sky News"
    },
    {
        "id": 654,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/soft-landing-bets-fuel-canadian-113000742.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s economy is stalling, the unemployment rate is rising and housing costs are crushing some households. The country’s banks are exposed to all of that, yet their shares are surging.\nA major index of Canadian bank stocks is up 11% since the beginning of November, erasing most of the year’s earlier losses. When dividends are included, investors have actually made a small profit so far in 2023 — in contrast to the KBW Bank Index of US lenders, which is still in the red.\nThe rally is a bet on a softer economic landing in 2024, one in which bank profits won’t be badly damaged by the financial squeeze that’s hitting Canadian households because of mortgage-rate resets and higher rents.\nFor the Big Six banks, earnings per share dropped more than 6%, on an adjusted basis, in the fiscal year that ended Oct. 31. They’re expected to decline an average of 1.1% in the current fiscal year, according to analyst forecasts compiled by Bloomberg.\n“The earnings are going to struggle to grow over the next year or two,” said Murray Leith, director of investment research at Odlum Brown Ltd., a Vancouver-based firm that manages about C$18 billion ($13 billion). “But they’re very profitable businesses, so there’s a lot of things they can do to add shareholder value.”\nBanks are restructuring with urgency during a year in which costs grew rapidly. Toronto-Dominion Bank is reducing the number of employees by 3%, amounting to more than 3,000 positions. Royal Bank of Canada has installed new management at City National Bank, its struggling California-based unit. Bank of Nova Scotia, the most international of Canadian lenders with large operations in Mexico, Chile and Peru, is set to unveil a new strategy during an investor day on Wednesday under new Chief Executive Officer Scott Thomson.\n“If you look historically, when the valuations get down at these levels, it’s normally a pretty good starting point” to buy Canadian bank shares, Leith said in a phone interview.\nResidential mortgages are the largest part of the Canadian banking business and a major source of worry for economists. Households have loans with rates that rise and fall with the Bank of Canada’s overnight rate, or fixed-rate mortgages that reset periodically — usually every one to five years.\nOver the next two years, about 2.2 million mortgages will be facing “interest rate shock,” according to a report last month from Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. A person with a C$500,000 mortgage renewing a five-year mortgage taken during the lows of the pandemic might see an increase of almost C$1,000 a month in their payments, the housing agency said.\nBanks are trying to soften the blow — with a push from the federal government — by allowing some mortgage holders to spread out payments and extend the length of time it will take to pay off the loan. But that creates its own problems.\nRates have gone up so quickly that for some households, their fixed contracted payments aren’t sufficient to cover the interest on the loan, never mind paying down any principal. Toronto-Dominion had C$37.4 billion of mortgages in that category at the end of October, 14% of its Canadian mortgage portfolio.\nThe banks are trying to whittle away at mortgage risk, with some success. For Royal Bank, loans with amortization periods of more than 35 years were 22% of its Canadian mortgage portfolio as the end of October, down from 25% a year earlier. Toronto-Dominion also reduced the share of mortgages in that category.\nHeavily indebted consumers and exposure to commercial real estate remain two of the bigger concerns facing Canadian banks, according to Peter Routledge, head of the country’s banking regulator. “But we haven’t seen very significant losses in either of those sectors,” and those two risks haven’t worsened in the six months, he said during a news conference Friday.\n“It seems like the Bank of Canada has done their job and nipped off inflation,” said Andrew Moor, chief executive officer of EQB Inc., the parent company of Equitable Bank. The small bank is one of Canada’s top-performing financial stocks this year, up 42%.\n“We’ll see interest rates presumably start to decline next year, which will create a bit of relief on the mortgage side, and I think it’ll breathe a bit more life into the housing market,” he said.\n",
        "title": "Soft-Landing Bets Fuel Canadian Bank Stocks Despite Real Estate Worries"
    },
    {
        "id": 655,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/institutional-investors-lag-retail-peers-150115167.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Bansari Mayur Kamdar\n(Reuters) - Institutional investors lag their retail peers in adoption and use of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to a report by research firm Cerulli Associates.\nThese institutional investors, like endowments or state and local defined benefit plans, own nearly $1.3 trillion in ETF assets – making up just 4.2% of the ETF segment's $31 trillion in U.S. professionally managed assets, the report released on Thursday added.\nETF issuers told Cerulli more than 80% of industry ETF assets come from retail rather than institutional clients.\n\"Some of the largest institutional investors prefer active exposures, may be well suited to invest in alternative investments, or use structures that offer greater customization, while the ETF structure is more likely to play second fiddle as a cash/liquidity management tool,\" said Daniil Shapiro, director of product development at Cerulli.\nNearly 37% of ETF issuers surveyed for the report said the biggest challenge to broader institutional adoption of ETFs was the preference for other vehicles.\nLimited ETF education was another big challenge, according to 26% of the survey respondents.\nAs the range of options among active ETFs grows and more ETFs reach the asset range to be attractive to institutional buyers, an opportunity exists to expand institutional ETF access, Cerulli's Shapiro added.\n(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "Institutional investors lag retail peers in ETF adoption: Cerulli"
    },
    {
        "id": 656,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-steadies-glut-fears-drove-000420807.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil slipped further after concerns that supplies are overtaking demand triggered the longest weekly losing streak in five years.\nBrent futures, the global benchmark, traded below $76 a barrel after sliding for seven weeks in a row as traders shrugged off the latest announcement of production cuts by the OPEC+ alliance.\nThe market briefly perked up on Friday as the US announced plans to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, while the country’s jobs report showed a better-than-expected reading. The busiest year-end travel season expected in the US since 2000 is also shoring up the demand outlook.\nYet the spreads between monthly contracts, a critical barometer for supply and demand, continue to indicate weakness. Three-month spreads for both Brent and the American marker, West Texas Intermediate, are showing a discount on prompt versus delayed barrels, a bearish structure known as contango.\nOil has dropped by about a fifth since late September as output surges in the US and other key producers, while forecasters predict slower Chinese demand growth and see lingering risks of a US recession.\nAt the same time, production cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia, and pledges to prolong them if necessary, have failed to stem the slide.\n“There is little doubt that the oil complex remains in a state of vulnerability,” said John Evans, an analyst at brokers PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London.\nThis week, International Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the US Energy Department will publish their latest monthly assessments of market fundamentals. Investors will also monitor the Federal Reserve’s final rate decision of the year.\nConsumers including airlines and utilities have taken advantage of the recent rout to lock in cheaper barrels. A flurry of call spreads traded in Brent, which limits the impact to buyers of a rebound in crude prices.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Extends Longest Decline in Five Years on Oversupply Fears"
    },
    {
        "id": 657,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-key-charts-watch-global-220000999.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- There’s a lot of red in commodity markets as the holiday season ramps up: Oil is in the midst of a two-month losing streak, prices for key battery metals keep falling and outflows are mounting for bullion-backed exchange-traded funds. Meanwhile, stuck-in-the-mud spuds — the darling of Christmas dinners — are seeing a jump in costs amid terrible weather in Europe. In the US, Congress is getting serious about cracking down on cheap imports of enriched uranium from Russia.\nHere are five notable charts to consider in global commodity markets this week.\nOil\nWeakness abounds for oil, which is trading near a five-month low. Not only have West Texas Intermediate futures fallen for seven weeks, but the prompt spread has suffered a sharp retreat since surging in September as Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their production cuts and concerns mounted over tightening global supplies. Since then, inventories have ballooned, demand growth has cooled and markets have turned skeptical over the prospects for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to implement further pledged cuts. The US oil benchmark is set to end the year in contango, a bearish market structure that signals oversupply where barrels for prompt delivery are cheaper than future ones. Traders will be eyeing monthly reports later in the week from OPEC and the International Energy Agency for supply-demand clues, while the US Energy Information Administration publishes its Short-Term Energy Outlook on Tuesday.\nNuclear Power\nUS lawmakers are ramping up efforts to halt imports of Russian enriched uranium. The House of Representatives is slated to consider legislation this week that would bar it. At the same time, a measure requiring the US to boost its purchases of domestic nuclear reactor fuel was added to a compromise version of the $886 billion must-pass defense legislation. Russia supplied almost a quarter of the enriched uranium used to fuel America’s fleet of more than 90 commercial reactors last year, making it the No. 1 foreign supplier, according to Energy Department data.\nPrecious Metals\nGold may be fresh off a record high, but a hotter-than-expected US jobs report diminished hopes for looser monetary policy next year, sending the non-interest bearing precious metal lower and below $2,000 an ounce. At the same time, global holdings in bullion-backed ETFs are continuing to slide, with November marking a sixth straight month of outflows. The reluctance to go long gold may be the result of ETF investors waiting for the Federal Reserve to actually start pulling back rates. Swaps markets, which started last week pricing in a 60% chance of a Fed cut at its March meeting, ended the week around 45% with the probability dropping even further on Monday.\nBattery Metals\nRaw material costs for batteries have plunged this year. Lithium carbonate prices in China are down more than 80% since hitting a record in November 2022, a dramatic change of fortune for a key ingredient of batteries that power the world’s electric vehicles. Lithium hydroxide, cobalt and nickel prices also have tumbled. As such, BloombergNEF expects battery prices to continue to drop in the coming years as a result of capacity expansion across the product value chain and lower-than-expected demand growth.\nAgriculture\nPrices for potatoes — a staple for festive season roasts — are soaring thanks to heavy rains that have sidelined tractors in waterlogged fields, delaying harvests and risking supply shortages. Although thinly traded, European processing potato futures are above 30 euros per 100 kilogram bag and are at the highest seasonal level in at least 14 years. Prices also spiked in May due to intense wet weather, providing yet another example of a growing number of crops affected by climate change.\n--With assistance from Celia Bergin.\n(Updates with details of oil market reports in third paragraph, swaps pricing in fifth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Five Key Charts to Watch in Global Commodities This Week"
    },
    {
        "id": 658,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-blackberry-appoints-ceo-133314976.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details on strategic review in paragraphs 2-3)\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Canada's BlackBerry on Monday named insider John Giamatteo as its chief executive officer, succeeding John Chen, who stepped down in November.\nThe technology company also shelved its plan to pursue a public listing for its internet-of-things (IoT) business.\nBlackBerry said it would streamline its centralized corporate functions so that each business unit may operate independently and on a profitable and cashflow-positive basis going forward.\nFollowing a strategic review, the company earlier said it would separate the IoT and Cybersecurity businesses and establish them as standalone divisions. Giamatteo has served as the president of the company's Cybersecurity unit since October 2021. (Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-BlackBerry appoints new CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 659,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackberry-appoints-ceo-131139431.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) -Canada's BlackBerry on Monday named insider John Giamatteo as its chief executive officer, succeeding John Chen, who stepped down in November.\nThe technology company also shelved its plan to pursue a public listing for its internet-of-things (IoT) business.\nBlackBerry said it would streamline its centralized corporate functions so that each business unit may operate independently and on a profitable and cashflow-positive basis going forward.\nFollowing a strategic review, the company earlier said it would separate the IoT and Cybersecurity businesses and establish them as standalone divisions.\nGiamatteo has served as the president of the company's Cybersecurity unit since October 2021.\n(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)\n",
        "title": "BlackBerry appoints new CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 660,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/aws-chief-adam-selipsky-talks-124457405.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Adam Selipsky is shepherding Amazon’s cloud unit at one of the most important moments in tech history.\nSelipsky, the CEO of the company’s cloud computing unit AWS, has been behind the various generative AI offerings Amazon has rolled out over the past few months as it aims to compete with Microsoft and others in the growing AI arms race.\nAWS is a leader in the cloud market and a deeply profitable business for Amazon. However, some of its growth has been slowing down the past few quarters, a problem attributed to customers cutting back on their spending due to challenges with the wider economy.\nSimultaneously, the business has been at the forefront of Amazon’s push into generative AI, which flooded the public consciousness last year with the release of OpenAI’s popular chatbot ChatGPT. During a speech held late November at an AWS conference in Las Vegas, Selipsky unveiled the company’s response (kind of) to ChatGPT - an AI assistant for businesses called Q.\nThe Associated Press recently spoke with Selipsky about how companies are spending on cloud services, Amazon’s investment in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic and the future of generative AI. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.\nQ: Companies have been cutting cloud spending this year. Is that still happening?\nA: A lot of our customers over the past several quarters have been pursuing cost optimization. Since day one, we’ve said that AWS and the cloud are the place to do that. We’ve seen that a lot of customers have gotten far through that cost optimization. And we have other customers who are still in the middle of it. We’re further through it, but it’s not over yet.\nWe’re also still seeing a lot of customers investing. The companies who are going to win are the ones who are investing now - in uncertain economic times - when some others are hesitating in their overall investments. And we’re working with a lot of customers who are doing just that. We’re also seeing tremendous interest in our generative AI offerings.\nQ: What’s your vision for generative AI?\nA: We really think about three different layers of the generative AI stack.\nAt the bottom layer of the stack is the infrastructure required to to do generative AI. We have a very large Nvidia GPU-based business and have designed and delivered our own custom-designed chips, including our Trainium and Inferentia chips.\nMost of our enterprise customers are not going to build models. Most of them want to use models that other people have built. And so that’s the middle layer of the stack. We offer customers multiple foundation models with a service called Amazon Bedrock, including from Anthropic, Meta and Amazon itself. The idea that one company is going to be supplying all the models in the world, I think, is just not realistic. We’ve discovered that customers need to experiment and we are providing that service.\nAt the top layer of the stack is consuming applications that have been built using generative AI. And for that, we have a coding companion for developers.\nQ: Speaking of models, there were reports that Amazon is building a large language model called Olympus. Is that something that we should expect to see soon?\nA: You should definitely expect to see multiple iterations of Amazon’s first-party models, which are already out there today under the Titan brand. It goes back to the idea that there’s no one model to rule them all. We want multiple models with different use cases. And I expect that they will collectively be very capable and very powerful.\nQ: Can you chat with me about Amazon’s investment in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic? There are reports that Google, which is also backing Anthropic, is upping its investments. Some say this is becoming some sort of proxy war between Amazon and Google. Do you see it that way?\nA: No, I don’t. We have a very close, very tight relationship with Anthropic that’s very beneficial to both companies. Anthropic has chosen Amazon as its primary cloud provider for its mission critical workloads. The majority of Anthropic workloads will run on AWS. Period.\nNow, these aren’t exclusive relationships. They have very large computing needs. and Anthropic has obviously used other cloud providers over time.\nAnthropic has used AWS since it was founded in 2021. We’ve worked together and the relationship has deepened. Anthropic is training larger and more capable models. And they saw the opportunity to get from AWS a very large amount of compute capacity needed to train their models. It’s also very important for Anthropic to be inside Amazon Bedrock, which is our trusted service for accessing foundation models.\nWe realize that the folks in Anthropic are very smart and world experts in what they’re doing. And by cooperating and collaborating together on training and running Anthropic’s models on our chips, they’re going to help us improve that technology. So it’s really a mutually beneficial relationship where I think both companies and most importantly, our mutual customers, will really benefit for years to come.\nQ: How does Amazon think about safeguards as its building this technology?\nA: Responsible AI is incredibly important and something that Amazon has been taking very seriously. We have a number of principles for responsible AI that we’ve been public about. We’ve done things like create these cards for our services, which talk about the uses of the model, the intended use of the model, about how they were trained. We try to provide more transparency into how some of these AI services are constructed and what they’re used for.\nWe think that a lot of the solutions around responsible AI are going to need to be multilateral solutions. We need a collaboration between cloud industry leaders, folks like AWS, and those producing models, like Anthropic, as well as governments, academia and others. That’s why we’ve been so active at participating in responsible AI forums at the White House and in the U.K.\nQ: Where do you see the AI race going next year?\nA: I think you’re going to see a very rapid evolution and change. And that’s partially reflective of the fact that we are still so early in the evolution of generative AI. That’s why I think adaptability and flexibility are actually incredibly important advantages for customers. In order for them to succeed with their business objectives and to delight their customers, they’re going to need to be very flexible, agile and adaptable in how they evolve their use of generative AI.\n",
        "title": "AWS chief Adam Selipsky talks generative AI, Amazon's investment in Anthropic and cloud cost cutting"
    },
    {
        "id": 661,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/argentina-central-bank-prioritize-fx-124340252.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "BUENOS AIRES, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Argentina's central bank will do increased checks on currency market operations and handle transactions by priority during a transition period as the new government of Javier Milei begins its administration, the entity said in a statement on Monday.\nThe measure, it said, was to give the new government that came into office on Sunday time to carry out the administrative steps to install the new leadership in the central bank and to announce and implement its new policies.\n\"During the transition, exchange market operations will be analyzed and processed based on their priority,\" the bank said. (Reporting by Jorge Otaola; Writing by Adam Jourdan)\n",
        "title": "Argentina central bank to prioritize FX market trades during transition"
    },
    {
        "id": 662,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/renault-pick-partner-twingo-ev-124159338.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Gilles Guillaume and Christina Amann\nPARIS/BERLIN, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Renault aims to pick a partner to develop its new Twingo electric vehicle by early next year, two sources close to the matter said, with Volkswagen among those in the running.\nRenault confirmed it was in talks with several carmakers about a possible partnership, but declined to comment on names or timings. Volkswagen declined to comment.\nThe French carmaker is in talks with Germany's Volkswagen on partnering on the new Twingo EV, said three sources, who declined to be named because talks were ongoing.\nOne of the sources said Renault aims to make a decision on which automaker to partner with as early as this year.\nLast month, Renault announced the launch of a new Twingo EV, called Legend, which will sell for less than 20,000 euros ($21,500), with finance chief Thierry Pieton saying the aim was to democratise the EV market.\nMeanwhile Volkswagen in March laid out the details of an all-EV under development for 25,000 euros, to launch by 2025.\nThe German carmaker said at the time it was also working on a 20,000 euro vehicle, but did not provide further information.\nHandelsblatt reported on Dec. 8 that Volkswagen was in talks with Renault over cooperating on the 20,000 euro car, as rivals attempt to produce more affordable EVs.\nThe average retail price of an EV in Europe in the first half of 2023 was more 65,000 euros, research firm JATO Dynamics said, compared to just over 31,000 euros in China. ($1 = 0.9291 euros) (Reporting by Gilles Gillaume and Christina Amann; Writing by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "Renault to pick partner for new Twingo EV by early 2024 -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 663,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-stocks-tread-water-with-cpi-data-fed-on-the-horizon-123253909.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Stocks were little changed on Monday morning, signaling a muted start to a week packed with a crucial inflation update and the Federal Reserve's last policy decision of the year.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose just above the flatline, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) edged down about 0.2%. Tech stocks led the way lower, with the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) shedding almost 0.5%.\nThe cautious mood comes as investors brace for two events that could set the tone for stocks going into 2024: November's reading on consumer inflation and the Fed's interest rate decision.\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nJobs data on Friday bolstered hopes the Fed could score a \"soft landing\" for a US economy burdened with historically high borrowing costs. That helped the gauges closed out their sixth straight week of wins, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ending at their highest levels since early 2022.\nNow the focus is shifting to the Consumer Price Index data due Tuesday, which could put that optimism to the test. Signs of cooling in inflation have cemented expectations that the Fed will put a pause on rate hikes this week, while bets are growing for a rate cut before the summer.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Stock market news today: Stocks tread water with CPI data, Fed on the horizon"
    },
    {
        "id": 664,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-stocks-bonds-subdued-122720121.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nFed leads five central bank meetings this week\n*\nTreasuries to be tested by $108 bln of new supply\n*\nDollar gains vs yen on report BOJ will hold firm\n(Updates throughout)\nBy Lawrence White\nLONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Stocks and bonds worldwide were listless on Monday, as markets tiptoed tentatively into a week packed with central bank meetings and U.S. inflation data that could make or break hopes for a rapid-fire round of interest rate cuts early next year.\nAn upbeat U.S. payrolls report has already seen investors scale back expectations for a March cut by the Federal Reserve, though May remains priced at a 76% chance.\nThe Fed is considered certain to hold rates at 5.25-5.50% this week, putting the focus on the so-called dot plots for rates and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nThe consumer price report for November on Tuesday will also influence the outlook, with analysts forecasting an unchanged headline rate and a 0.3% rise in the core.\n\"We look for another Fed-friendly CPI report but, barring surprises, anticipate the policy statement to signal that economic conditions have not changed enough for officials to drop their tightening bias just yet,\" said John Briggs, global head of strategy at NatWest Markets.\n\"We think Powell will leave the option of a possible hike on the table, but the hurdle seems quite high for the Fed to follow through,\" he added.\nThe European Central Bank, Bank of England (BoE), Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) all meet on Thursday, with Norway the only one viewed as possibly raising rates. There is also a risk the SNB may toy with renewed intervention to weaken the franc.\nWith so much riding on the outcomes, investors were understandably cautious and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.29%, while Europe's benchmark STOXX index nudged down 0.06%.\nU.S. stock index futures were similarly muted, with S&P 500 e-minis down 0.08% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis down 0.18% ahead of the U.S. market open. .\nBONDS FOR SALE\nThe Treasury market faces a test of its own in the shape of $108 billion in new supply of three-year, 10-year and 30-year paper. Yields on 10-year notes were steady at 4.25% having risen on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, though they still ended flat on the week.\nEuro zone bond yields edged lower, with investors on hold ahead of the slew of central bank data later in the week.\nIn currency markets all eyes were on the yen as speculation swirled as to whether the Bank of Japan would signal another step away from its super easy policy at a meeting next week.\nThe dollar rose to touch 146.12 yen on Monday after analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note the Bank of Japan could disappoint overseas investors by not moving this month.\nThat move reversed some of the steep fall against the Japanese currency late last week, when bets grew that the Bank of Japan may end negative interest rates as soon as next week.\nThe dollar also gained on the euro at $1.0765, which was pressured by market pricing for early ECB rate cuts.\nIn commodity markets, gold took a knock after the jobs report and was last down at $1,997 an ounce.\nOil prices held steady, after sliding 3.9% last week to five-month lows amid doubts that all OPEC+ members would stick with supply cuts. Prices got some support when Washington announced it would rebuild its strategic oil reserves.\nThe market will also be watching the outcome of the COP28 climate summit, which is working on a first-of-its-kind deal to phase out the world's use of fossil fuels.\nBrent was down 54 cents at $75.3 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 60 cents to $70.65.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole and Lawrence White; Editing by Sam Holmes, Edwina Gibbs, Alex Richardson and Susan Fenton)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks and bonds subdued as rate cut hopes face pivotal week"
    },
    {
        "id": 665,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-moderna-merck-begin-stage-122013822.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds therapy details and background in paragraphs 2-4)\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Moderna and Merck & Co said on Monday they have started a late-stage trial of their experimental personalized mRNA cancer treatment in combination with blockbuster drug Keytruda for patients with a type of lung cancer.\nThe therapy, V940, belongs to a class of treatments called m-RNA-based individualized neoantigen therapy (INT) and is tailored for each patient to generate T-cells, a key part of the body's immune response, based on the specific mutational signature of a tumor.\nRecruitment for the study has begun globally with the first patients enrolled in Australia, the companies said.\nModerna and Merck started a late-stage study in July testing the combination therapy in patients with melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. (Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Moderna, Merck begin late-stage study for mRNA cancer therapy"
    },
    {
        "id": 666,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-natgas-prices-drop-near-121857859.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures slid more than 10% to a near six-month low on Monday, hurt by ample output while mild weather limited heating demand. Front-month gas futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 28.1 cents, or 10.9%, to $2.30 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 0941 a.m. EST (1441 GMT), its lowest levels since June. The fundamental reasons why the prices are dropping drastically are \"record production, higher Canadian exports, lukewarm and late arriving domestic demand, and high foreign gas storage levels,\" said Zhen​ Zhu, managing consultant at C.H. Guernsey and Co in Oklahoma City. \"I believe the market is betting against a colder than normal winter in January and February, but the market may be reasonable as most of longer term weather forecasts are calling for a warmer than normal if not normal remaining winter.\" With record production levels and ample storage, gas futures have been sending bearish signals for weeks that prices for this winter (November-March) likely already peaked in November. The contract was down about 8% last week. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states was at 108.5 bcfd so far in December from a record 108.3 bcfd in November. Traders have noted that mild weather and near record output should cap the amount of gas utilities pull from storage in coming weeks. The continental United States entered the winter heating season with the most natural gas in storage since 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said last week. \"Further price decline to the $2.20 area and ultimately toward the $2 mark would appear to be the most likely course given this unusually mild start to the heavy usage cycle,\" said analysts at energy advisory Ritterbusch and Associates in a note. LSEG forecast U.S. gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would stay steady at 123.8 bcfd next week from 123.7 bcfd forecast this week. U.S. energy firms last week added oil and natural gas rigs for a fourth week in a row for the first time since November 2022, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday. The U.S. is on track to become the world's biggest LNG supplier in 2023, ahead of recent leaders Australia and Qatar. Much higher global prices have fed demand for U.S. exports due in part to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine. Gas was trading around $11 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe and $15.98 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia. Week ended Week ended Year ago Five-year Dec 8 Dec 1 Dec 8 average Forecast Actual Dec 8 U.S. weekly natgas storage change (bcf): -48 -117 -46 -81 U.S. total natgas in storage (bcf): 3,671 3,719 3,419 3,404 U.S. total storage versus 5-year average 7.8% 6.7% Global Gas Benchmark Futures ($ per mmBtu) Current Day Prior Day This Month Prior Year Five Year Last Year Average Average 2022 (2017-2021) Henry Hub 2.38 2.59 5.77 6.54 2.89 Title Transfer Facility (TTF) 11.57 12.59 36.68 40.50 7.49 Japan Korea Marker (JKM) 15.98 16.05 32.34 34.11 8.95 LSEG Heating (HDD), Cooling (CDD) and Total (TDD) Degree Days Two-Week Total Forecast Current Day Prior Day Prior Year 10-Year 30-Year Norm Norm U.S. GFS HDDs 322.9 340 321.2 344 354 U.S. GFS CDDs 1.9 2 12.5 6.5 5.9 U.S. GFS TDDs 324.8 342 333.7 350.5 359.9 LSEG U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts Prior Week Current Next Week This Week Five-Year Week Last Year (2018-2022) Average For Month U.S. Supply (bcfd) U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production 108.1 109.0 108.9 102.7 94.2 U.S. Imports from Canada8 8.8 8.6 9.2 9.1 9.1 U.S. LNG Imports 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 Total U.S. Supply 116.9 117.6 118.1 111.8 103.5 U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada 3.3 3.5 3.5 3.3 3.2 U.S. Exports to Mexico 3.9 4.3 5.0 5.6 5.0 U.S. LNG Exports 14.5 14.8 14.3 11.7 8.6 U.S. Commercial 13.2 13.9 13.7 13.5 14.6 U.S. Residential 20.9 22.4 22.0 21.8 24.7 U.S. Power Plant 33.2 31.9 32.5 30.9 28.6 U.S. Industrial 24.3 24.6 24.6 24.1 25.0 U.S. Plant Fuel 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.3 U.S. Pipe Distribution 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.9 2.9 U.S. Vehicle Fuel 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Total U.S. Consumption 99.8 101.1 101.1 98.7 101.2 Total U.S. Demand 121.4 123.7 123.8 119.3 118.0 U.S. Northwest River Forecast Center (NWRFC) at The Dalles Dam Current Day Prior Day 2023 2022 2021 % of Normal % of % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal Forecast Normal Actual Actual Actual Forecast Apr-Sep 85 -- 83 107 81 Jan-Jul 85 -- 77 102 79 Oct-Sep 85 -- 76 103 81 U.S. weekly power generation percent by fuel - EIA Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Dec 8 Dec 1 Nov 24 Nov 17 Nov 10 Wind 12 10 11 9 11 Solar 3 3 3 3 4 Hydro 5 6 6 6 5 Other 2 2 2 2 2 Petroleum 0 0 0 0 0 Natural Gas 40 42 39 42 41 Coal 17 17 16 17 16 Nuclear 21 20 22 21 20 SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu) Hub Current Day Prior Day Henry Hub 2.57 2.52 Transco Z6 New York 1.99 2.00 PG&E Citygate 3.84 3.98 Eastern Gas (old Dominion South) 1.85 1.85 Chicago Citygate 2.23 2.13 Algonquin Citygate 2.35 3.24 SoCal Citygate 3.23 3.53 Waha Hub 1.21 0.97 AECO 1.87 1.38 SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour) Hub Current Day Prior Day New England 34.75 58.75 PJM West 25.25 29.50 Ercot North 16.00 21.00 Mid C 72.29 70.00 Palo Verde 33.75 41.00 SP-15 32.50 36.25 (Reporting by Anjana Anil and Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "US natgas prices drop to near 6-month low on mild weather, ample output"
    },
    {
        "id": 667,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/huawei-start-building-first-european-121827207.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Supantha Mukherjee\nSTOCKHOLM (Reuters) - China's Huawei will start building its mobile phone network equipment factory in France next year, a source familiar with the matter said, pressing ahead with its first plant in Europe even as some European governments curb the use of the firm's 5G gear.\nThe company outlined plans for the factory with an initial investment of 200 million euros ($215.28 million) in 2020, but the roll-out was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the source said on Monday. They declined to be identified because they are not authorised to comment on this matter.\nThe source did not give a timeline for when the factory in Brumath, near Strasbourg, will be up and running. Huawei did not respond to a request for comment.\nThe move comes even as some European governments restrict or ban the use of equipment made by Huawei and China's ZTE, citing security concerns.\nEuropean leaders are also debating how to \"de-risk\" but also cooperate with the world's second-largest economy. China is France's third largest trade partner behind the European Union and the United States.\nIn 2020, the French government told telecoms operators planning to buy Huawei 5G equipment that they would not be able to renew licences for the gear once they expire, effectively phasing Huawei out of mobile networks.\nBut following a meeting with French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire in Beijing in July, China's vice premier He Lifeng said France had decided to extend Huawei 5G licences in some cities.\n($1 = 0.9290 euros)\n(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee; Additional reporting by David Kirton in Shenzhen; Writing by Josephine Mason; Editing by Susan Fenton)\n",
        "title": "Huawei to start building first European factory in France next year -source"
    },
    {
        "id": 668,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bond-investors-brace-fed-pushback-121211278.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Bond investors are expecting the Federal Reserve this week to temper the market's conviction that U.S. interest rates will be cut early next year, even as portfolios get positioned for lower yields later in 2024.\nMany portfolio managers have reduced long-duration bets to be more neutral on their bond positions, at least in the short term. Going long duration against a benchmark reflects expectations U.S. yields will fall because the Fed will cut rates.\nInvestors widely expect the Fed to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday but do not expect it to signal a shift from its tightening policy stance. According to a Reuters poll of economists, the Fed will keep rates unchanged until at least July, later than earlier thought.\nIn contrast, federal funds futures, the most straightforward measure of determining where traders believe the Fed's benchmark overnight rate will be at any given time, lowered the odds of a rate cut in March on Friday, pricing in about a 46% chance, from 64% a week ago following a stronger-than-expected U.S. payrolls report.\nFutures traders still saw a 79% chance in May, according to the CME's FedWatch, but that was also down from 90% a week earlier.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell had said, in a Dec. 1 speech, that while the target rate is \"well into restrictive territory,\" the Fed is prepared to tighten policy further if deemed appropriate.\n\"There's a real disconnect between what the Fed says and what they would like to see in terms of tighter financial conditions and what the market is doing,\" said John Velis, head of U.S. macro strategy, at BNY Mellon in New York.\n\"What that means is that Dec. 13 is going to be a hawkish meeting. I don't think the Fed will announce a pivot. You may see the dots push back against market pricing for early rate cuts,\" referring to the Fed's closely followed dot plot, which comes out four times a year and graphs policymakers' rate projections.\nRecent U.S. economic numbers have shown a resilient economy despite aggressive rate hikes since March last year.\nFriday's U.S. non-farm payrolls, for example, showed a still-robust labor market, creating 199,000 new jobs in November, beating consensus expectations and rising from the previous month. The unemployment rate also slipped to 3.7%.\nU.S. inflation is slowing but is still a ways away from the Fed's 2% inflation target.\nBIG BOND RALLY\nWith investors anticipating Fed rate cuts, investors bought Treasuries, pushing 10-year yields 78 basis points (bps) lower since November, and two-year yields down roughly 49 bps.\nThe rapid decline in yields has made \"financial conditions looser than they otherwise would have been,\" said James Camp, managing director of fixed income and strategic income, at Eagle Asset Management.\nThat was a reversal from late October when the 10-year yield hit 5%. Market participants reckoned at the time that the Fed may not be as aggressive in raising rates because the bond market was doing the job for them by pushing yields higher.\n\"We now have the mirror opposite of that,\" Camp said. \"It's going to be interesting to see if there's a hawkish dialogue from the Fed because I think they need to do that if they really want the economy to continue to slow.\"\nFROM LONG TO NEUTRAL, FOR NOW\nWith asset managers betting on \"higher-for-longer\" rates at least until the summer, their portfolios have become more neutral or closer to their benchmark, from being long duration.\nDuration, expressed in years, measures how much a bond's price will move when the Federal Reserve changes interest rates.\n\"We were at the longest duration a couple of weeks ago,\" said Andrew Szczurowski, head of agency mortgage-backed securities and portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.\nSzczurowski said with the 80-90 basis point drop in yields, \"we're getting closer to neutral.\"\nThe ultimate goal, however, is still to extend duration as the Fed will eventually cut rates. When the Fed embarks on an easing cycle, longer-duration securities tend to rally.\n\"We see the beginnings of recession actually hitting in the second quarter and we expect the Fed to cut at the back half of the year,\" said Eagle's Camp.\n(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Alden Bentley and Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "Bond investors brace for Fed pushback on rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 669,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-occidental-petroleum-buy-crownrock-120851956.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details on the deal from paragraph 2 onwards)\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum said on Monday it would buy Permian basin-based energy producer CrownRock in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $12 billion.\nOccidental said it would finance the purchase with $9.1 billion of new debt, the issuance of about $1.7 billion of common equity and the assumption of CrownRock's $1.2 billion of existing debt.\nThe deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024. (Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Devika Syamnath)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Occidental Petroleum to buy CrownRock in $12 bln deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 670,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/occidental-petroleum-buy-crownrock-12-120620740.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) -Occidental Petroleum said on Monday it would buy Permian basin-based energy producer CrownRock in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $12 billion.\nOccidental said it would finance the purchase with $9.1 billion of new debt, the issuance of about $1.7 billion of common equity and the assumption of CrownRock's $1.2 billion of existing debt.\nThe deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024.\n(Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Devika Syamnath)\n",
        "title": "Occidental Petroleum to buy CrownRock in $12 billion deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 671,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/singapores-shein-holds-talks-lse-120559670.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Fast fashion firm Shein has held talks with the London Stock Exchange about the possibility of a public listing in the United Kingdom, Sky News reported on Monday, citing sources.\nShein's chairman, Donald Tang, met executives from the LSE and other stakeholders in the UK economy during a visit to London last week, according to the report.\nShein and London Stock Exchange Group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\nLast month, Reuters reported that the China-founded firm had confidentially filed to go public in the United States.\nGoldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have been hired as lead underwriters of the initial public offering (IPO), and Singapore-based Shein could launch its new share sale in 2024, the sources said at the time.\nThe company founded in mainland China in 2012 was valued at more than $60 billion in a May fundraising, down by a third from a funding round last year.\n(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Anil D'Silva)\n",
        "title": "Singapore's Shein holds talks with LSE on possible listing -Sky News"
    },
    {
        "id": 672,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-surging-real-borrowing-costs-063521970.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s real borrowing costs are expected to stay high in 2024 as deflation pressures linger, posing yet another threat to growth in the world’s second-biggest economy.\nCalculations by Bloomberg News show those rates — adjusted for inflation and reflective of the actual cost of borrowing funds — have topped 4% and may even be near 5%, which would be the highest level since 2016. That’s because consumer and producer prices have fallen at a much faster pace than the country’s average loan rate, a figure largely based on changes in benchmark rates set by the People’s Bank of China and major lenders.\n“China’s real interest rates are quite high, and are still rising,” said Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Group Ltd. Along with keeping company borrowing costs elevated, he added that the high rates mean “residents are more inclined to save.”\nThat bodes ill for the economy, considering weak business confidence and a population that’s more likely to save than spend have already been challenges this year. The benchmark prime rate on one-year loans is 3.45% — roughly 150 basis points lower than what real loan rates are actually estimated to be near.\nThe problem is there aren’t many signs that suggest real interest rates will see a reversal. China’s consumer price index in November recorded its steepest drop in three years. The nation’s widest measure of prices, the GDP deflator, was negative for two consecutive quarters this year for the first time since 2015.\nDeflation is dangerous because it risks creating a downward spiral, with consumers holding off on buying anything on the expectation that prices will keep falling. Businesses uncertain about future demand may also lower production and investment. Several economists see pressures persisting into next year: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists forecast annual CPI will rise just 0.5% in 2024, while Nomura Holdings Inc. analysts see it increasing 0.6%. Some, including economists at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, see prices potentially declining.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says ...\n“Without strong catalysts to counter the property slump — a major driver of the deflationary downdraft — we see a 50% chance that CPI deflation will persist at least through the first half of 2024. Stronger policy support is needed to stimulate demand.”\n— Eric Zhu, economist\nRead the full report here.\nOn the policymaking side, authorities face several limitations to their ability to support the economy by making big interest rate cuts. Top leaders have already signaled they’ll be more cautious about monetary easing going forward, suggesting the size of any interest rate cuts in 2024 are likely to be quite small as the focus turns to fiscal stimulus as a means of economic support.\nThis year, the PBOC trimmed policy rates twice — a reflection of a restrained approach to stimulus in recent years as policymakers try to preserve their room for action and avoid building up debt within risky sectors, such as property. Cutting rates can also weigh on profit margins for banks, and those margins are already under pressure. The outlook for the yuan, meanwhile, remains uncertain as long as the Federal Reserve keeps rates high. The US central bank isn’t expected to start cutting rates until well into next year.\n“Real interest rates are important, but obviously what the PBOC can do is rather limited,” said Wei He, China economist at Gavekal Dragonomics. “It’s impossible for the PBOC to match the changes in CPI for interest rates because that would mean substantial changes to rates, which is very much against its methodology.”\nGavekal’s He said the central bank may continue to make moderate cuts to policy rates into next year if the property sector worsens — though such trims would only amount to around 10-to-20 basis points. Any cut would require banks to also lower their deposit rates as they try to preserve their profitability.\nThere are other monetary policies that may be in play, too. Mo Ji of DBS Bank Ltd. flagged a possible 25-basis point reduction to the reserve requirement ratio for banks in the first quarter, which would free up more long-term cash in the economy. She also sees banks lowering their LPRs by 10 basis points later in 2024.\nEventual easing by the Fed would also likely open a bit more room for rate cuts, since a weaker dollar would mean less pressure on the yuan. Still, Macquarie’s Hu pointed to the need for policies — particularly on the fiscal side — that would help drive inflation up.\n“Macroeconomic policies — not just monetary policy — should be more proactive,” he said. “Given the current circumstance, fiscal policy may be more important. But the end goal is the same, and that is reflation.”\n--With assistance from Wenjin Lv.\n",
        "title": "China’s Real Borrowing Costs Are Surging Near Highest Since 2016"
    },
    {
        "id": 673,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fear-lower-credit-rating-lingers-100000769.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- As a deeply divisive re-write of Chile’s constitution comes to an end, interest rates fall and economic growth returns it seems that Chile’s bond market is regaining its mojo. But there may be one final sting in the tail from the last three years of social, political and economic turbulence.\nAll 14 analysts and traders in a Bloomberg survey expect rating firms to downgrade their outlook on Chilean bonds, or lower the rating some time next year as the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio rises.\n“As things stand, downward pressure on our sovereign risk rating is likely to persist, first with adjustments to the outlook, and then, over time, negative rating actions,” said Andres Perez, chief economist for Latin America at Banco Itau. “Fitch is likely to revise our outlook in the near term.”\nAny downgrade would dampen confidence in the sustainability of a rebound in Chilean bonds. The yield gap with US Treasuries has narrowed more than any other A-rated country in the world this year, dropping 38 basis points through Dec. 6, as inflation slowed and fiscal stability returned after a splurge in spending during the pandemic, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. But the continuation of that outperformance is under threat.\nS&P moved Chile to a negative outlook in October citing political risks — though a one notch downgrade would still leave it comfortably four notches above junk. Moody’s and Fitch are yet to change their stable outlooks, but both ratings are already lower than S&P’s.\nUnder Pressure\n“A downgrade would put upward pressure on the spreads at which sovereign bonds operate at a global level,” said Sebastian Ide, head of the trading desk at Banco de Chile.\nInvestor concerns are focused on Chile’s debt burden, which has persistently deepened, reaching 37.2% of GDP in the second quarter of 2023, more than doubling in 10 years. Next year’s budget envisages a fiscal shortfall of 1.9% of GDP, down from a 2.3% deficit expected this year. The problem is, many investors are skeptical they will achieve that.\n“The rise in spending in the 2024 fiscal budget law is at the limit of being prudent,” Perez said. “In the medium-term, stabilizing gross public debt below 45% of GDP over time will require a significant restraint on spending growth, substantially below the 5.5% annual average of the 2010-2019 period.”\nThe government sees gross debt and deficit figures leveling off starting in 2025, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 41%.\nOverly Optimistic\nHermann Gonzalez, macroeconomic coordinator of the Catholic University’s Latin American Center for Economic and Social Policies, sees next year’s deficit level “unlikely” as it’s based on above market-consensus growth projections.\nThe deficit envisages economic expansion of 2.5%, compared with the 2% latest forecast in a Bloomberg survey.\n“We are going to maintain a deficit, we are going to continue increasing the debt and economic growth projections are very weak,” Gonzalez said. “So it means less income and greater pressure on public accounts if GDP doesn’t grow as much as the government expects.”\nChile’s GDP rose 0.6% in the third quarter from the year earlier, its first annual expansion since the same three months of last year. Still, economic activity fell 0.1% in October from the month before, signaling the country’s recovery remains uneven.\nPolitical risks\nPolitical instability is also weighing on the market. Chileans go to the polls on Dec. 17 to vote on a second proposal to change the constitution. The previous rewrite was rejected in a referendum last year.\nShould people vote against the proposals, the government has said it won’t push for a third re-write of the charter.\nAn end to the divisive debate over the constitution inherited from the former dictator Augusto Pinochet may pave the way for the government to redouble efforts to pass pension reforms.\n“We have been discussing a pension reform over the past three administrations, yet we have not made significant progress,” Perez said. “It has become increasingly difficult to build consensus based on technical criteria, generating headwinds for our risk rating.”\nStandard and Poor’s says that if the political impasse isn’t resolved, they will lower Chile’s rating, Finance Minister Mario Marcel told a seminar on Wednesday. Yet the recent accord over mining taxes in congress indicate that agreements on more fundamental reforms are possible, he added.\n“We clearly have a challenge here,” Marcel said. “Is it insurmountable? I don’t think so.”\nECONOMIC CALENDAR:\n--With assistance from Sebastian Boyd.\n",
        "title": "Fear of a Lower Credit Rating Lingers Over Chile’s Bond Market"
    },
    {
        "id": 674,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-tucker-carlsons-streaming-goes-220415116.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Updates headline, adds details on launch, management team)\nBy Aditya Soni and Helen Coster\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Tucker Carlson's new subscription-based streaming video service featuring interviews and commentary went live on Monday, priced at $9 per month, as the former Fox News host looks to capitalize on his popularity among conservative viewers.\nAccess to both free ad-supported and paid video content will be available on The Tucker Carlson Network website, according to a statement. Carlson's non-subscriber video content will continue to be available on X, formerly called Twitter, with audio versions available as a podcast.\nCarlson parted ways with Fox News in April, after parent company Fox Corp settled for $787.5 million a lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over false claims of election fraud.\nSince June, Carlson has been releasing videos on Elon Musk's X social media platform. His interview on Aug. 23 with former U.S. President Donald Trump, who had opted out of a Republican primary debate on Fox News the same night, drew over 74 million views on X, according to statistics on the platform.\nCarlson and his team had explored launching the streaming service through X, but the social media company was not able to move quickly enough to build the technology needed for the service, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.\nNeil Patel will be the new venture’s chief executive officer, according to the statement. Patel was chief policy adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney and with Carlson co-founded the conservative Daily Caller news site, of which he remains publisher.\nJustin Wells, Carlson’s former executive producer at Fox, will serve as president, overseeing all programming and content. (Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru and Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Tucker Carlson's streaming service goes live, charges $9 per month"
    },
    {
        "id": 675,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lawyers-hampshire-casino-owner-fight-215535238.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A former state senator and casino owner accused of buying luxury cars with a fraudulently obtained COVID-19 relief loan kept financial records that were “sloppy at best” and nefarious at worst, an auditor testified Monday. But his attorney argued that the state is trying to destroy his business based on a sloppy investigation.\nAndy Sanborn, a Republican from Bedford, did not attend the hearing he requested to appeal the state Lottery Commission’s August decision to permanently revoke his gaming operator’s license. His attorney said Sanborn was at a Boston hospital, accompanied by his wife, Laurie, a leader in the New Hampshire House.\nSanborn owns the Concord Casino within The Draft Sports Bar and Grill in Concord and is seeking to open another, much larger, charitable gaming venue a few miles (kilometers) away. But the commission argues that his license should be revoked for four reasons, though it only needs one. It said he improperly obtained federal funds, misrepresented how he spent the money, paid himself large sums as rent and failed to keep accurate records overall.\n“This case is about the public’s confidence in charitable gaming. It’s about accountability,” said Senior Assistant Attorney General Jessica King. “At its core, the evidence will show that Mr. Sanborn was co-mingling funds, mislabeling personal expenses as business expenses and running a financially-based business without regard to important regulations put in place as safeguards in this high risk industry.”\nAccording to the investigation, Sanborn fraudulently obtained $844,000 in funding from the Small Business Administration between December 2021 and February 2022. Casinos and charitable gaming facilities weren’t eligible for such loans, but Sanborn omitted his business name, “Concord Casino,” from his application and listed his primary business activity as “miscellaneous services.”\nHe's accused of spending $181,000 on two Porsche race cars and $80,000 on a Ferrari for his wife. Sanborn also paid himself more than $183,000 for what he characterized as rent for his Concord properties, investigators said.\nIn his opening statement, Sanborn’s attorney said the rent payments reflected the casino’s expansion to multiple floors of its building, and that the commission reached conclusions about business expenses based on internal documents that hadn’t yet been adjusted for final reporting. But the main problem, Mark Knights said, is that the state’s entire case is built on allegations about the COVID-19 relief loan that it hasn’t proven.\nSanborn had his doubts that the business was eligible, he said, but relied on the advice of a consultant. That doesn’t make it fraud, Knights added.\n“It’s an incomplete story that has yawning gaps in the evidence that are the result of an incomplete and, frankly, sloppy investigation,” he said.\nThe state’s only witness was Lottery Commission auditor Leila McDonough, who said she was extremely concerned about irregularities in Sanborn’s record keeping. Compared to other casino owners, he didn’t seem to take compliance with state regulations seriously, she testified.\n“He’s been the most difficult and challenging to work with. He doesn’t seem to think that rules and laws apply to him,” she said.\nOn cross-examination, McDonough acknowledged describing Sanborn as cooperative in 2021 and saying that he appeared willing to fix any issues identified by her audit.\nAt the time the allegations were announced in August, officials said federal authorities had been notified and that the state had begun a criminal investigation.\n",
        "title": "Lawyers for New Hampshire casino owner fight fraud allegations at hearing"
    },
    {
        "id": 676,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walgreens-cut-junk-moody-healthcare-200556099.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. had its senior unsecured credit rating cut to junk by Moody’s Investors Service, with the credit grader citing the drugstore chain’s high debt relative to earnings and risks associated with its push to offer more healthcare services.\nThe downgrade to Ba2 — two steps into high-yield — reflects “Walgreens’ stubbornly high financial leverage, weak interest coverage and pressured free cash flow that Moody’s believes will be sustained over the next 12-18 months,” senior credit officer Chedly Louis wrote in a note Tuesday.\n“We are disappointed by Moody’s decision today and the limited timeframe given to demonstrate the results of our deleveraging efforts and planned actions to improve underlying business performance,” a representative for Walgreens said in a statement.\nWalgreens shares fells as much as 2.9% following the downgrade, erasing an earlier gain.\nWalgreens still carries the lowest investment-grade rank from S&P Global Ratings, and it isn’t rated by Fitch Ratings. Companies that are cut to junk by two credit graders are deemed “fallen angels” and have their debt move to high-yield indexes.\nAlthough Walgreens paid down debt during its 2023 fiscal year and says it will continue to do so in 2024, the cost of the new strategy and a weaker consumer environment will likely cause the company’s debt load to peak around 6 times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at the end of the 2024 fiscal year, according to the note, before recovering in 2025.\nMoody’s said in October that it was considering downgrading the company. Its current outlook on Walgreens is stable.\n(Updates with additional details throughout.)\n",
        "title": "Walgreens Cut to Junk By Moody’s on Healthcare Strategy Push"
    },
    {
        "id": 677,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/extreme-cold-still-poses-reliability-215244689.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 11 (Reuters) - The North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC) anticipates that \"freezing conditions\" still remain a reliability concern for power generators, it said in a report released on Monday.\n\"Low temperatures and freezing conditions also caused generators to derate units and in some cases caused forced outages due to equipment failure in the freezing conditions,\" the North American grid regulator said in the report dated Nov. 6.\nReferring to Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, it said that higher-than-expected demand and forecasting errors led to grid operators implementing rolling blackouts to prevent cascading outages which \"may result in major disruptions and have very real human consequences.\"\nIn May, NERC had issued its highest severity level alert for the first time to increase the readiness of operators and users of power grids ahead of winter.\nIn response, around 62 operators of power plants said their capacity was susceptible to the same issue this winter that sent it offline last winter. Most of these were wind farms referring to the issue of blade icing.\n\"Quantification of the risk presented by wind farms in winter months warrants additional investigation,\" NERC said.\nLast month, NERC said in its winter outlook that more than half of the U.S. and parts of Canada, home to around 180 million people, could fall short of electricity during extreme cold again this winter due to lacking natural gas infrastructure.\nAlong with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, NERC also urged lawmakers to fill a regulatory blind spot to maintain reliable supply of natural gas during extreme cold weather that was highlighted by an inquiry into power outages during Winter Storm Elliott in December 2022. (Reporting by Daksh Grover and Deep Vakil in Bengaluru Editing by Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "Extreme cold still poses reliability challenge for N. American power generators -NERC"
    },
    {
        "id": 678,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-looking-nvidia-ai-chips-215020196.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the US is looking into the specifics of three new artificial intelligence accelerators that Nvidia Corp. is developing for China, after vowing earlier this month to restrict any new chips that give the Asian country AI capabilities.\n“We look at every spec of every new chip, obviously to make sure it doesn’t violate the export controls,” she said in an interview Monday with Bloomberg News during a visit to Nashua, New Hampshire.\n“We talk to Nvidia regularly, and I should say they’re a good partner,” she added. “We have a close working relationship with them. They share information.”\nNvidia, based in Santa Clara, California, is in the process of developing China-specific chips after the US tightened export controls to block the export of semiconductors the company had earlier designed for China. The new processors abide by the stricter China guidelines that Commerce announced earlier this fall, Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang told reporters in Singapore last week.\nIn response to Raimondo’s latest remarks, Nvidia said it was working with the US government following its clear rules and looking to “offer compliant data center solutions to customers worldwide.”\nRaimondo warned companies this month that the US can and will further tighten controls to capture new technologies that could give Beijing an edge. “If you redesign a chip around a particular cut line that enables them to do AI, I’m going to control it the very next day,” she said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.\nThe Commerce Department declined to comment on whether it plans to restrict Nvidia’s new chips but reiterated that it will continually update rules to respond to an evolving threat.\n--With assistance from Ian King.\n",
        "title": "US Is Looking Into Nvidia’s AI Chips for China, Raimondo Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 679,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-reading-inflation-tea-leaves-214841183.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\n(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nInflation data from India and Japan dominate the Asian calendar on Tuesday, with investors expecting contradictory signals - a significant cooling in Japanese wholesale inflation, and the first rise in Indian consumer inflation since July.\nThese indicators come just hours ahead of the latest reading of U.S. CPI inflation, and a few days after figures from Beijing showed that China's slide into deflation accelerated at a surprisingly fast rate in November.\nChina's yuan slid to a three-week low against the dollar on the back of that news, and Japan's yen fell sharply on Monday after a media report citing sources said Bank of Japan officials are in no rush to scrap negative interest rates this month as they have not seen enough evidence of persistent wage growth.\nTheir patience will be justified if the consensus forecast for Tuesday's wholesale inflation report is borne out. Economists expect annual wholesale inflation to slump to 0.1% from 0.8% in October.\nThat would be the lowest since February 2021, and a remarkable reversal from above 10% just over a year ago.\nAnnual consumer price inflation in India, meanwhile, is seen rising to 5.7% in November from 4.87% in October on the back of higher food prices, which would be the first increase since July and further above the central bank's target of 4%.\nAs 2023 draws to a close, disinflationary forces across the Asia & Pacific region are mostly intensifying although, with headline inflation still above target in many countries, central banks are in no hurry to cut interest rates.\nThe Reserve Bank of Australia is one. It delivered a 'hawkish pause' on interest rates earlier this month, and rates traders are only pricing in one quarter percentage point rate cut next year. And not until the fourth quarter too.\nRBA Governor Michele Bowman speaks on Tuesday morning and investors - and the Aussie dollar - will be keen to see if she maintains that hawkish stance, or if it softens at all.\nInvestor sentiment was pretty neutral on Monday - U.S., Chinese and global stocks edged up but Asian stocks slipped, while bond yields and the dollar index were little changed on the day - but Japanese markets were more eye-catching.\nThe yen lost around 1% against most major currencies, and the Nikkei jumped 1.5%. Japanese markets have been on edge since investors interpreted remarks from BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda last week as paving the way for a more rapid exit from ultra-loose monetary policy.\nPart of that reversed on Monday. What's in store Tuesday?\nElsewhere, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters on Monday that the Biden administration is in discussions with Nvidia about sales of some artificial intelligence chips to China but not its most advanced semiconductors.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Tuesday:\n- India CPI inflation (November)\n- Japan wholesale inflation (November)\n- RBA governor Michele Bullock speaks\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Reading inflation tea leaves from India, Japan"
    },
    {
        "id": 680,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bp-escalates-venture-global-lng-214507563.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc asked US energy regulators to intervene in its dispute with Venture Global LNG Inc. over liquefied natural gas cargoes, escalating a feud that’s roiled the market for the super-chilled fuel.\nThe London-based supermajor accused Venture Global of violating its contract by selling cargoes from its plant at Calcasieu Pass in Louisiana through one-off deals rather than supplying customers signed up for long-term deals, according to a letter BP sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday.\nVenture Global began operations at the plant in March 2022 but hasn’t been shipping gas to BP and other energy giants that agreed to deals of 10 years or more, saying the contracts aren’t in effect yet because the facility remains in startup, or commissioning, phase. Instead, the company has sold cargoes into the spot market, where prices are significantly higher.\nRead More: Shell, BP Call On US-EU Task Force to Intervene in LNG Dispute\nVenture Global “has consistently thrown a veil of secrecy around its operations by refusing to follow the FERC’s regulations,” BP’s wrote in its letter.\nVenture Global vowed to file a formal response “in due course,” according to spokesperson Shaylyn Hynes.\n“The complaint that BP filed with FERC has no merit and is another attempt — after Repsol tried and failed — to use a federal energy regulator to advance its own interests in a commercial dispute,” Hynes wrote in an email. “BP’s repeated efforts to publicize that dispute show the weakness of its contractual position.”\nThe delayed shipments have emerged as a mounting point of contention between Venture Global, the developer of key US LNG export terminals, and some of the world’s largest energy companies. It comes as Europe is eager for more fuel heading into winter and as the US is poised to become the biggest global exporter of LNG. Customers including BP, Shell Plc and Repsol SA have initiated arbitration proceedings over the delayed contract start.\n(Adds Venture Global’s response starting in fifth pargraph.)\n",
        "title": "BP Escalates Venture Global LNG Feud With Complaint to US Regulators"
    },
    {
        "id": 681,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-asia-reading-inflation-214500561.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\nDec 12 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nInflation data from India and Japan dominate the Asian calendar on Tuesday, with investors expecting contradictory signals - a significant cooling in Japanese wholesale inflation, and the first rise in Indian consumer inflation since July.\nThese indicators come just hours ahead of the latest reading of U.S. CPI inflation, and a few days after figures from Beijing showed that China's slide into deflation accelerated at a surprisingly fast rate in November.\nChina's yuan slid to a three-week low against the dollar on the back of that news, and Japan's yen fell sharply on Monday after a media report citing sources said Bank of Japan officials are in no rush to scrap negative interest rates this month as they have not seen enough evidence of persistent wage growth.\nTheir patience will be justified if the consensus forecast for Tuesday's wholesale inflation report is borne out. Economists expect annual wholesale inflation to slump to 0.1% from 0.8% in October.\nThat would be the lowest since February 2021, and a remarkable reversal from above 10% just over a year ago.\nAnnual consumer price inflation in India, meanwhile, is seen rising to 5.7% in November from 4.87% in October on the back of higher food prices, which would be the first increase since July and further above the central bank's target of 4%.\nAs 2023 draws to a close, disinflationary forces across the Asia & Pacific region are mostly intensifying although, with headline inflation still above target in many countries, central banks are in no hurry to cut interest rates.\nThe Reserve Bank of Australia is one. It delivered a 'hawkish pause' on interest rates earlier this month, and rates traders are only pricing in one quarter percentage point rate cut next year. And not until the fourth quarter too.\nRBA Governor Michele Bowman speaks on Tuesday morning and investors - and the Aussie dollar - will be keen to see if she maintains that hawkish stance, or if it softens at all.\nInvestor sentiment was pretty neutral on Monday - U.S., Chinese and global stocks edged up but Asian stocks slipped, while bond yields and the dollar index were little changed on the day - but Japanese markets were more eye-catching.\nThe yen lost around 1% against most major currencies, and the Nikkei jumped 1.5%. Japanese markets have been on edge since investors interpreted remarks from BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda last week as paving the way for a more rapid exit from ultra-loose monetary policy.\nPart of that reversed on Monday. What's in store Tuesday?\nElsewhere, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters on Monday that the Biden administration is in discussions with Nvidia about sales of some artificial intelligence chips to China but not its most advanced semiconductors.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Tuesday:\n- India CPI inflation (November)\n- Japan wholesale inflation (November)\n- RBA governor Michele Bullock speaks\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID ASIA-Reading inflation tea leaves from India, Japan"
    },
    {
        "id": 682,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-wall-st-notches-214301625.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates to U.S. market close)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended in positive territory and gold slid on Monday, as investors looked ahead to crucial inflation data and the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting.\nIn a busy week for central banks, the yen weakened for a second straight day as expectations faded for the Bank of Japan to shift to a less dovish policy.\nAll three major U.S. stock indexes gained momentum as day progressed, ending the session at their highest close of the year.\nGold dropped to a near three-week low as the dollar firmed.\n\"There's a lot we don't know about this week: we don't know what inflation is going to be, we don't we don't know the Fed is going to do and we don't know what retail sales are going to do,\" said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director at U.S. Bank Asset Management Group. \"And on the back of all that investors seem to be feeling OK about the market.\"\nThe U.S. Labor Department's closely watched Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, due on Tuesday, is expected to show inflation still cooling but staying well above the Fed's 2% annual target.\nThe Federal Open Markets Committee's (FOMC) two-day monetary policy meeting will end on Wednesday with its interest rate decision and the release of its summary economic projections.\nWhile the Fed is largely expected to let the Fed funds target rate stand at 5.25%-5.50%, market participants will parse the central bank's dot plot and summary economic projections to assess its likely path forward.\nInterest rate decisions are also expected from the European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday and the Bank of England (BoE) on Thursday.\n\"We've had coordinated central bank policies for some time, locking arms as they battle inflation and send rates to high levels,\" Haworth added. \"But they could start to break ranks. Inflation seems to be falling faster and the economy weakening more in Europe than in the U.S.\"\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 157.06 points, or 0.43%, to 36,404.93, the S&P 500 gained 18.07 points, or 0.39%, at 4,622.44 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 34.64 points, or 0.24%, to 14,432.49.\nEuropean shares notched modest gains ahead of critical U.S. economic data and interest rate decisions from major central banks.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.30% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.29%.\nEmerging market stocks lost 0.15%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.21% lower, while Japan's Nikkei rose 1.50%.\nU.S. Treasury yields were little changed after weak 3- and 10-year note auctions.\nBenchmark 10-year notes last rose 1/32 in price to yield 4.2409%, from 4.245% late on Friday.\nThe 30-year bond last fell 2/32 in price to yield 4.3285%, from 4.326%.\nThe greenback edged higher against a basket of world currencies ahead of Tuesday's CPI report, while the yen slid on waning expectations for a less dovish monetary policy from Bank of Japan.\nThe dollar index rose 0.07%, with the euro up 0.01% to $1.0762.\nThe yen weakened 0.87% to 146.20 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2554, up 0.06% on the day.\nOil prices rose slightly as investors balanced concerns over OPEC+ production cuts against worries of softening demand in the coming year.\nU.S. crude advanced 0.1% to settle at $71.32 per barrel, while Brent ended 0.3% higher at $76.03 per barrel.\nGold slid to a near three-week low as focus shifted to Tuesday's CPI report. Spot gold dropped 1.1% to $1,980.91 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Wayne Cole and Lawrence White; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Richard Chang and Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Wall St notches new 2023 closing highs, gold slides ahead of CPI, Fed"
    },
    {
        "id": 683,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/raimondo-vows-strongest-possible-action-204202569.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that the US will take the “strongest possible” action to protect its national security when asked how the Commerce Department will respond to a recent chipmaking breakthrough in China.\n“Every time we see something that’s concerning, we investigate it vigorously,” Raimondo said in an interview Monday with Bloomberg News, adding that the development is “deeply concerning.”\nRaimondo wouldn’t confirm a formal investigation is underway into Huawei Technologies Co. and its chipmaking partner, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., even though her department’s Bureau of Industry and Security has said it is probing the “purported” 7-nanometer chip in a smartphone that Huawei debuted in late August.\n“The investigations take time,” she said during a visit to Nashua, New Hampshire. “You know, we need them to stick. We need to gather information. So at this point, all I will say is that was concerning and we will take whatever action is the strongest possible in order to protect America.”\nEarlier: US Probes Made-in-China Chip as Tensions Flare Over Technology\nRaimondo is under increasing pressure to act from Republicans who say that the SMIC chip demonstrates a clear violation of US sanctions against Huawei — and that the US should respond by fully cutting off both companies from their American suppliers.\nWhen asked about the Huawei phone during congressional testimony in October, Raimondo said that BIS needs more resources to enforce its controls — a request she repeated last weekend at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.\nThe US has blocked the sale of certain American technology to Huawei since 2019. Over the past few years, the Biden administration has also implemented sweeping controls on the export of advanced computing chips — and the tools use to make them — to the world’s second-largest economy.\nOfficials in Washington have written those export controls in coordination with their counterparts in the Netherlands and Japan, which are home to the world’s leading producers of chipmaking equipment: ASML Holding NV and Tokyo Electron Ltd. But it took several months to get Amsterdam and Tokyo on board with the China curbs, giving China time to stockpile equipment ahead of an anticipated crackdown.\nBloomberg News reported in October that SMIC produced the chip for Huawei using ASML’s so-called immersion deep ultraviolet machines, in combination with tools from other companies.\nRead More: Controversial Chip in Huawei Phone Produced on ASML Machine\nAsked whether the US is coordinating with the Netherlands in probing the SMIC chip, Raimondo again declined to confirm that an investigation is underway.\n“But I would say as a matter of course, we would talk with our allies in doing this investigatory work,” she said. “We would talk with our allies, we would talk with companies, we will talk with our sources on the ground, etc.”\n“We are in pretty regular contact with the Netherlands and with ASML because they are our partners in these export controls,” she continued. “I have been talking to them pretty regularly, not just about this investigation.”\n",
        "title": "Raimondo Vows ‘Strongest Possible’ Action on Huawei’s Chip Breakthrough"
    },
    {
        "id": 684,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lucid-cfo-steps-down-latest-214029677.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Lucid Group Inc.’s chief financial officer stepped down from the maker of luxury electric vehicles, an abrupt shakeup atop a company struggling to boost output.\nSherry House resigned from her position effective immediately to pursue unspecified opportunities, the company said in a statement Monday. Lucid’s current vice president of accounting and principal accounting officer, Gagan Dhingra, was named interim CFO while the company searches for a permanent replacement.\nShares of Lucid fell 3.9% as of 4:30 p.m. in after hours trading in New York. The stock tumbled about 33% this year through Monday’s close, after plunging 82% in 2022.\nThe departure adds to a volatile year for Lucid, which has cut production expectations more than once and reduced headcount. The Newark, California-based company has sought to break out of a pack of EV startups vying to take on Tesla Inc. Lucid has struggled to ramp output of its high-end sedans from its sole plant in Arizona.\nLucid hired House in May 2021 from Waymo, the autonomous driving unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc. The EV maker then listed in July that year following a reverse merger with a blank check company.\n",
        "title": "Lucid’s CFO Steps Down in Latest Blow to Beleaguered EV Maker"
    },
    {
        "id": 685,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-stocks-eye-early-gains-222132628.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Stocks kicked off the week on a cautious note, with traders refraining from big bets ahead of key economic data and meetings from major central banks that will test the market’s optimism on rate cuts in 2024.\nIn less than 24 hours, Wall Street will get a sense on whether the disinflation trend is continuing, with the consumer price index for November. The report will be released a day before the last scheduled Federal Reserve decision of 2023, with officials widely expected to hold rates and announce their Summary of Economic Projections. The question is whether the Fed will try to temper policy easing expectations after investors aggressive dovish repricing.\n“A lackluster start to the week, but there’s so much to come over the next few days — which could determine how markets end the year and start 2024,” said Craig Erlam at Oanda. “The Fed decision on Wednesday is unlikely to be controversial, but the forecasts, dot plot and press conference that accompany it may well be.”\nTo Greg Marcus at UBS Private Wealth Management, the recent strength in stocks was largely based on expectations of a soft landing and rates coming down in 2024. The Fed will likely cut rates next year, but that may be because the economy is slowing, in which case markets would look different than they do now, Marcus added.\nThe S&P 500 fluctuated around 4,600 after notching its the longest weekly advance since 2019. Big tech came under pressure, with Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. down at least 2%. Treasury 10-year yields climbed five basis points to 4.27%. The dollar rose. Bitcoin dropped below $42,000 following a more than 150% rally this year.\nUS consumers’ near-term inflation expectations dropped in November to the lowest level since April 2021, according to a Fed Bank of New York survey released Monday.\nGrowing speculation that the Fed is done hiking rates and will start easing policy by mid-2024 recently fueled a sharp drop in Treasury yields while rekindling investors’ risk appetite. The S&P 500 has added roughly $4 trillion in market value since late October.\nThat said, a closer look reveals investor concerns about the week ahead, with a measure of expected equity volatility showing expectations of more pronounced swings in coming days. At one point last week, the gap reached the widest since March for such a period — signaling rising demand to hedge against turbulence.\nTo Matthew Weller at Forex.com and City Index, some investors might might expect the potential for some volatility around the CPI data, but with the Fed seemingly committed to leaving rates higher for longer, we may not see as much movement as we have around past reports.\n“Ultimately, regardless of what this week’s US inflation report shows, Jerome Powell and company will want to see at least a few more months of job and inflation data before tweaking the current monetary policy settings,” he noted.\nAs the market adjusts to the Fed potentially holding rates higher for longer, Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said that any pullback under that premise would be deemed a head fake, with prices moving in one direction before quickly reversing.\n“If the market trades down, it is a good opportunity to rebalance or buy the dip” she noted. “It’s too early to be underweighting the risk premium of equities.”\nThe S&P 500 will hit a record high in 2024 as the US avoids sinking into a recession, although a weaker consumer will mean the index gains less than this year’s 20% surge, according to Bloomberg’s latest Markets Live Pulse survey.\nA median of 518 respondents expect the S&P 500 to climb to 4,808 points next year — topping its previous closing peak of 4,797 hit in January 2022 — and the 10-year Treasury yield to drop to 3.8% from this year’s high of 5%. More than two thirds of respondents indicated they don’t see a hard economic landing as the top risk to markets and majority expects Fed interest rate cuts to begin before July.\nOne of Wall Street’s biggest bulls estimates that the S&P 500 will hit 5,200 points next year to set a fresh record. The target implies nearly 13% of gains from last Friday’s close.\n“We look for 2024 to be a year of transition as markets navigate what we expect will be the Fed’s pivot from a restrictive monetary policy setting to an easier stance,” Oppenheimer Asset Management chief strategist John Stoltzfus said.\nThe S&P 500 is likely to hit a record high next year, underpinned by “consistent” sector-level earnings growth and a broadening of the rally beyond mega cap tech stocks, according to Citigroup Inc.’s Scott Chronert, who expects the gauge to finish 2024 around 5,100 points.\nTo David Kostin at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., US growth stocks will outperform value peers next year as economic growth remains modest and rates do not rise much further.\nUS company earnings are likely to weaken in the fourth quarter before a rebound in 2024, Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson said. The strategist highlights a “steep downward revision” to consensus fourth-quarter estimates, and adds that he is less optimistic than other strategists about the magnitude of margin expansion next year.\nElsewhere, natural gas futures plunged the most in nine months as forecasts shifted warmer for the US into early next year, signaling lackluster demand as production hits fresh records. Oil steadied after concerns that supplies are overtaking demand triggered the longest weekly losing streak in five years.\nBank of Japan officials see little need to rush into scrapping the world’s last negative interest rate this month as they have yet to see enough evidence of wage growth that would support sustainable inflation, according to people familiar with the matter.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Emily Graffeo, Sunil Jagtiani, Farah Elbahrawy, Sagarika Jaisinghani, Kasia Klimasinska, Jessica Menton, Elena Popina and Carly Wanna.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street Holds Back on Big Bets Before CPI Test: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 686,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ev-maker-lucid-says-cfo-212152927.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Lucid Group on Monday said Sherry House would be stepping down as the company's finance chief, effective immediately, to pursue other opportunities.\nThe luxury electric car maker said Gagan Dhingra, who is vice president of accounting, would additionally serve as interim CFO while it searches for a replacement.\nShares dropped more than 3% in extended trading following the news.\n(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "EV maker Lucid says CFO Sherry House to step down"
    },
    {
        "id": 687,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-us-yields-little-changed-210751057.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* U.S. three-year auction shows weak results * U.S. 10-year auction outcome mixed * Investors now focus on U.S. CPI, expect lower print * Fed decision in focus as well, seen on hold for some time * Rate futures price in first cuts in May 2024 (Adds new comment, bullets, results of three-year, 10-year auctions, U.S. inflation outlook, updates prices) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Monday after lackluster three- and 10-year note auctions on the same day ahead of inflation data and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision this week. The Treasury Department will sell $21 billion in 30-year reopened bonds on Tuesday, following Monday's auction of $50 billion in reopened three-year notes and $37 billion in 10-year notes. Investors were reluctant to buy Treasuries in the auctions given thinner liquidity with the U.S. consumer price data and the Fed policy meeting on the horizon this week. Also this week, market participants widely expect the Fed to hold rates steady on Wednesday but do not anticipate it to signal a shift from its tightening policy stance. According to a Reuters poll of economists, the Fed will keep rates unchanged until at least July, later than earlier thought. \"The Fed is going to be as reticent as possible to give the market too much fuel to rally,\" said Ellis Phifer, managing director, fixed income capital markets, at Raymond James in Memphis, Tennessee. \"I don't expect a recession until the second half of next year. The Fed is going to continue to try to stay on hold for as long as possible and to continue to talk that way too.\" The fed funds futures market has priced in the first likely rate cut in May at 77%, according to the CME's FedWatch tool, after several weeks of expectations for easing in March. Investors are also keeping an eye on U.S. CPI data due out on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters expected headline CPI for November to show no increase from the previous month, while the year-on-year figure is seen slipping to 3.1% from 3.2% in October. The core CPI figure is to have risen 0.3% after gaining 0.2% in October. Yearly core CPI is estimated at 4% for the year to November. Goldman Sachs, in a research report, forecast further disinflation in 2024 from rebalancing in the auto, housing rental and labor markets, with a small offset from a delayed acceleration in healthcare. In afternoon trading, the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was flat at 4.24% Monday's 10-year auction resulted in a higher-than-expected yield of 4.296% at the bid deadline, suggesting investors demanded a slightly better premium. The bid-to-cover ratio, another demand metric, was solid, however, at 2.54, higher than November's ratio of 2.45. A closely-tracked part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve, between two- and 10-year notes, was at minus 48.79 basis points. This gap has historically predicted upcoming recessions, forecasting eight of the last nine. The curve modestly widened its inversion on Monday after weeks of steepening. A steeper curve reflects market expectations that the Fed is at the end or near the end of its tightening cycle. On the shorter-end of the curve, the two-year yield, which typically reflects rate expectations, was little changed at 4.724%. Post-auction, U.S. three-year yields were also flat at 4.465%. The U.S. three-year note sale posted a high yield of 4.490%, above the forecast rate at the 1:00 p.m. EDT bid cut-off, again suggesting soft interest as investors demanded a higher rate. The bid-to-cover ratio was weak as well at 2.42, the lowest since February. December 11 Monday 3:22PM New York / 2022 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 5.2425 5.3975 0.000 Six-month bills 5.1775 5.4013 0.010 Two-year note 100-71/256 4.7248 -0.002 Three-year note 100-110/256 4.4655 -0.001 Five-year note 100-140/256 4.2514 -0.004 Seven-year note 100-148/256 4.2779 -0.008 10-year note 102-28/256 4.2371 -0.008 20-year bond 103-40/256 4.508 0.005 30-year bond 107-4/256 4.3294 0.003 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES-US yields little changed after weak auctions, ahead of CPI, Fed decision"
    },
    {
        "id": 688,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/insight-storm-hitting-chinese-ports-210000816.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nIMF, Oxford launch PortWatch to track supply chain hits\n*\nAround half of companies reporting physical risks - CDP\n*\nEven fewer disclosing potential financial impacts\nBy Katy Daigle and Simon Jessop\nDUBAI, Dec 12 (Reuters) - As Typhoon Doksuri aimed toward mainland China, major southeast ports were forced to turn away dozens of vessels for days.\nThe storm, supercharged by the warm July waters of the Pacific, delivered Beijing's worst flooding in more than 50 years, shuttering factories, ruining crops, collapsing homes and displacing tens of thousands of people. China's losses from natural disasters in July and August stood at an estimated $10 billion.\nBut that official Chinese damage tally reflected only a fraction of the costs wrought by the typhoon. Rebuilding flood-hit areas and climate-proofing infrastructure will cost far more – with China issuing 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) of sovereign bonds to help.\nBeyond that amount, Chinese exports and imports were weaker than expected in July, at least in part from the storm, said economist Robin Koepke at the International Monetary Fund.\nSuch disasters will become more frequent, increasingly testing the world's 1,340 major ports and global shipping routes.\nDespite the increasing risk, companies and financial systems remain unprepared for the disruptions to come due to patchy data, short-term pressures and an over-reliance on insurance, more than two dozen sources told Reuters.\nMany companies are not reporting the risks and in some cases are not even aware of it, according to data shared exclusively with Reuters by CDP, the world's biggest corporate disclosure platform for environmental issues.\nAbout 80% of the near 5,000 companies to report in 2023 said they were exposed to climate risks, yet only 53% reported physical risks such as typhoons could damage their operations. Even fewer – about 40% – disclosed the potential financial impacts. Countries at this year's U.N. climate conference in Dubai are grappling with an enormous deficit of up to $366 billion per year in how much money is available for adapting to climate change — including climate-proofing infrastructure like ports.\n\"Physical climate and natural hazard risks have barely been factored into financial markets,\" said Rowan Douglas, CEO, Climate Risk and Resilience at insurance broker Howden.\n\"But it is critical that they are — and fast,\" Douglas said.\nSUPPLY CHAIN STRAIN\nIn the case of Doksuri, the damage wouldn't have been limited to China, the IMF's Koepke said.\nThose port disruptions would have cascaded further to affect trading partners as far as Malta, in the Mediterranean, and Djibouti, the East African coastal gateway to landlocked Ethiopia.\nAs the front doors to the global economy, ports are especially vulnerable - handling about 50% of global trade while being exposed to worsening storms and rising seas.\nExtreme weather is already costing more than $7.5 billion a year in port infrastructure damage and lost revenues, according to risk analysis researcher Jasper Verschuur at Oxford University. When factoring for the hits to global trade, the damage estimate shoots up to just over $100 billion a year.\nThe same weather, seen even more broadly, is risking at least $120 billion per year in global economic activity, as those cargo disruptions ripple out to affect manufacturing and export activities.\nTo help governments and companies prepare for these hits, a team from the IMF and Oxford last month launched a storm monitoring system called PortWatch - offering real-time warnings and analysis of the possible economic consequences, including to downstream countries in disrupted supply chains.\n\"It doesn't behoove anyone to disclose those risks,\" said Alexander Martonik, who heads the business solutions team for financial services and insurance at ESRI, which provided the satellite and data mapping technology that underpins PortWatch.\nAlerts to potential disruption can let manufacturers plan for delayed shipments or help to calm jittery financial markets.\nBut \"when everyone has the same information, there's more transparency, it's more proactive investments that can help overall minimize disruptions before they occur,\" Martonik said.\nFor water-related risks to infrastructure companies, including port managers, 55% said they were vulnerable but only 45% reported on those risks this year - and just 33% provided financial impact estimates, the CDP data show.\nFINANCIAL BLIND SPOT\nIn coming years, the financial pressure on companies, and by extension the world's economy, will only become more acute.\nData from analysis firm Sustainalytics shared exclusively with Reuters looked at the potential cost to companies in different sectors based on two climate scenarios: capping global warming at 2 degrees Celsius or maintaining business as usual.\nDirect cumulative losses due to physical climate risks would average $285 million per company by 2050 even in the more benign scenario, while the higher emissions scenario would see this rise to $352 million, the data show.\nWithin sectors, the impact varied: energy companies, for example, could each expect an average hit of $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion from damaged assets, with utilities at $931 million to $1.2 billion.\nFor the entire energy sector, those losses through 2050 would tally to $423 billion in the worst-case scenario. All sectors combined are looking at losing nearly $2 trillion, the data show.\nThe likeliest cause of damage? In all sectors, flooding and coastal inundation pose the biggest threats, as many companies have operations centered around coastal cities and ports.\n\"I don't think that financial institutions are doing a good job in understanding the risks,\" said Ommid Saberi, who heads the building resilience index at the World Bank's private finance arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).\nThere is \"a level of due diligence happening\" on direct investments, but it is based largely on historical conditions and not on the projections of how climate change will play out, Saberi said.\nNOT SO INSURED\nMonths after Typhoon Doksuri tore across China, one Chinese television company knew it had a problem.\nThe company, Beijing Gehua CATV Network Co, flagged to the stock market in October that it had suffered asset losses from the storm that totaled 44.81 million yuan ($6.24 million). Most of those losses came from damage to fixed assets, including fiber optic cables, server room equipment, office buildings and inventory.\nThe company's insurance plan only partly covered the losses, Gehua said in October.\nThe disaster \"would have certain impact on the company's 2023 operating results,\" it said, cautioning investors \"to pay attention to investment risks.\"\nGehua did not reply to Reuters' requests for comment.\nDespite the certainty of such examples increasing, business experts warn that many companies do not have plans to climate-proof their business.\nOf the world's 2,500 largest companies, 59% do not have a plan for adapting to climate impacts — a statistic that has not changed in three years, according to data from S&P Global Sustainable1 shared with Reuters.\nCompanies that do have climate adaptation plans don't necessarily have timelines for those plans, even as climate change escalates, the data show.\nThat leaves them overly reliant on insurance, experts said - a problem as some insurance carriers begin to balk at climate-risky regions, for example home insurance near California's fire-prone forests.\n\"The insurance bodies always have a horizon interest of one year, so they insure the properties always one year, one year, one year,\" the IFC's Saberi said.\nThat quick-turn timeline can present a conflict for companies and banks that broker longer-term loans. \"The financial institutions provide financing for five years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years,\" Saberi said.\n___ For daily comprehensive coverage on COP28 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here. ($1 = 7.1786 Chinese yuan renminbi)\n(Reporting by Katy Daigle and Simon Jessop; Additional reporting Yiming Shen in Shanghai and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Data graphics by Prinz Magtulis in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "INSIGHT-Storm hitting Chinese ports is a wakeup call for climate risk to markets"
    },
    {
        "id": 689,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-yen-falls-japans-negative-205624943.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 3 p.m. EST/2000 GMT) By Karen Brettell NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The Japanese yen weakened against the dollar on Monday for a second straight day, giving back most of a rally last week on expectations of less dovish monetary policy, and as investors awaited U.S. inflation data and three major central bank meetings. The Japanese currency surged on Thursday after Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda, who on the same day met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, said the central bank had several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory. Bloomberg, however, reported on Monday that BOJ officials have not yet enough evidence that wage growth is enough to justify ending its ultra-loose monetary policy this month. “This is the right reaction. Ueda’s words last week weren’t actually any sort of concrete statement that they were going to end that negative interest rate,” said Helen Given, FX trader, at Monex USA in Washington. The dollar rose as high as 146.58 yen and was last at 146.14 yen, up 0.85% on the day. The yen has given up almost all of its rally on Thursday, when it reached 141.6 yen against the dollar. The dollar rose 0.13% against a basket of currencies to 104.08. The euro was unchanged on the day at $1.0762, close to Friday's 24-day low of $1.0724. Sterling gained 0.06% to $1.2555, after hitting a 15-day low of $1.2504 on Friday. Traders will watch U.S. consumer price inflation data on Tuesday for clues on the likely path of Federal Reserve policy. It is expected to show that headline inflation was unchanged in November, for an annual increase of 3.1%, down from 3.2% in October. A New York Fed survey showed that the path U.S. consumers expect inflation to take over the next year softened in November to the lowest level in more than two years, amid retreating projections of higher gasoline and rental costs. The dollar jumped on Friday after jobs growth in November beat economists’ forecasts, pushing back expectations for the first Fed rate cut to May, from March. Central banks will then take the markets’ focus, with Fed officials due to give their updated economic and interest rate projections at the conclusion of the U.S. central bank’s two-day meeting on Wednesday. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is also likely to reduce expectations of rate cuts being likely in the first half of the year. “His speeches, in particular since the last cycle, have focused on that the remaining risk is going to be to the upside - so he’s still biased towards more tightening rather than this loosening that markets are starting to expect,” said Given. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England will also set rates on Thursday. Meanwhile, China's yuan fell to a three-week low after data showed deflation in the country worsened in November. Data over the weekend showed China's consumer prices fell at the fastest rate in three years in November while factory-gate deflation deepened, indicating increasing deflationary pressure as weak domestic demand casts doubt over the country's economic recovery. The yuan hit a three-week low in both the onshore and offshore markets, with the former last at 7.1750 per dollar. The Australian dollar, often used as a liquid proxy for the yuan, fell 0.17% to $0.6566. The dollar gained 0.39% against the Norwegian krone to 10.95 , after earlier reaching 10.99, the highest since Nov. 14. Analysts are divided over whether Norway's central bank will continue to raise interest rates this week, with a narrow majority predicting an unchanged cost of borrowing, a Reuters poll showed on Monday. In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin tumbled more than 7% to $40,542. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 3:00PM (2000 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 104.0800 103.9600 +0.13% 0.570% +104.2600 +103.9200 Euro/Dollar $1.0762 $1.0761 +0.00% +0.43% +$1.0779 +$1.0742 Dollar/Yen 146.1400 144.9500 +0.85% +11.49% +146.5700 +144.8000 Euro/Yen 157.28 156.02 +0.81% +12.10% +157.6800 +155.9200 Dollar/Swiss 0.8783 0.8801 -0.19% -5.00% +0.8816 +0.8779 Sterling/Dollar $1.2555 $1.2548 +0.06% +3.82% +$1.2591 +$1.2534 Dollar/Canadian 1.3569 1.3587 -0.13% +0.15% +1.3604 +1.3550 Aussie/Dollar $0.6566 $0.6578 -0.17% -3.67% +$0.6583 +$0.6551 Euro/Swiss 0.9453 0.9467 -0.15% -4.47% +0.9487 +0.9446 Euro/Sterling 0.8570 0.8572 -0.02% -3.10% +0.8588 +0.8550 NZ $0.6126 $0.6121 +0.07% -3.53% +$0.6132 +$0.6105 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 10.9500 10.9070 +0.39% +11.57% +10.9850 +10.9220 Euro/Norway 11.7847 11.7401 +0.38% +12.30% +11.8063 +11.7371 Dollar/Sweden 10.4914 10.4553 +0.28% +0.81% +10.5126 +10.4548 Euro/Sweden 11.2907 11.2592 +0.28% +1.27% +11.2972 +11.2547 (Reporting by Karen Brettell; additional reporting by Harry Robertson in London; editing by Barbara Lewis and Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Yen falls as Japan's negative rates expected to persist"
    },
    {
        "id": 690,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-latin-american-assets-204839180.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* New Argentina president warns of fiscal shock * Chilean peso, Peruvian sol lead currency declines * Stocks in Chile fall more than 1% * Latin American stocks down 0.6%, currencies drop 0.3% (Updated at 2:45pm ET/1945 GMT) By Siddarth S and Lisa Pauline Mattackal Dec 11 (Reuters) - Most stocks and currencies in Latin America slipped on Monday as investors looked ahead to key U.S. data and meetings of the Federal Reserve and other regional central banks for the last interest rate policy cues of the year. The broader MSCI's gauge for Latin American currencies fell 0.3% against a firmer dollar, while MSCI's Latin American stocks index dipped 0.6%. The U.S. dollar rose as investors scaled back bets of early interest rate cuts ahead of the release of U.S. inflation data on Tuesday and the Federal Reserve's policy decision on Wednesday. The central banks of Mexico , Brazil and Peru also hold policy meetings later in the week. \"We’ll get policy updates from the BCB, Banxico, and the BCRP, but there may be little room for surprise,\" said Juan Manuel Herrera, senior economist at Scotiabank. Investors will watch the central bank meetings closely, particularly from the Federal Reserve, for more clues on the path forward for interest rates, particularly as many Latin American economies have begun cutting borrowing costs to stimulate economic growth. Emerging market hard-currency government debt spreads over U.S. Treasuries on the JP Morgan Emerging Market Bond Indices(EMBI) Global Diversified Index fell to 394 basis points, its tightest since April 2022. Elsewhere, Argentina's stocks and currency in the official market fell after the country's new president, Javier Milei, warned in his maiden speech that a sharp, painful fiscal shock was necessary to fix the country's worst economic crisis in decades. The peso fell to 365.9 against the dollar in the official market, while it traded at 980 to the dollar in the parallel black market. Argentina's benchmark S&P Merval stock index rose 3.4%. \"Markets have been very positive on Milei's plan and they're expecting a lot of fiscal tightening,\" said Rachel Ziemba, the founder of Ziemba Insights, adding that she thought markets were still waiting to see which of his campaign promises would be met as well as the sequencing of fiscal cuts. Leading declines in Latin American currencies, the Chilean peso and Peruvian sol dropped 1.2% and 1%, respectively, tracking lower copper prices and a stronger dollar. Chile and Peru are the world's two largest copper producers. Equity losses in the region were also led by a 1.4% drop in Chile's benchmark stock index. Mexican stocks edged up 0.1%, but the peso fell 0.3% ahead of the central bank monetary policy meeting on Thursday, while Brazil's real was about flat on the day. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2000 GMT: Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 973.56 -0.15 MSCI LatAm 2465.71 -0.55 Brazil Bovespa 126815.31 -0.22 Mexico IPC 54453.76 0.11 Chile IPSA 5886.34 -1.41 Argentina MerVal 973609.82 3.374 Colombia COLCAP 1143.83 -0.13 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.9336 -0.01 Mexico peso 17.3988 -0.30 Chile peso 881.6 -1.18 Colombia peso 3973.12 0.27 Peru sol 3.7626 -0.95 Argentina peso 365.9500 -0.51 (interbank) Argentina peso 980 1.02 (parallel) (Reporting by Siddarth S and Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao and Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Latin American assets slip ahead of busy central bank week"
    },
    {
        "id": 691,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/carl-icahn-reduces-firstenergy-stake-204545377.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Activist investor Carl Icahn cut his position in FirstEnergy Corp., the Ohio utility owner that has been embroiled in a federal corruption scandal, and relinquished a board seat he controlled.\nThe Icahn Group has trimmed its stock holdings in FirstEnergy below the 1.5% threshold that entitled the billionaire investor’s firm to hold board seats under an agreement between the companies, according to a filing. Andrew Teno, a portfolio manager at the investment firm, resigned from the board on Friday, according to the filing. Icahn Group declined to comment.\nFirstEnergy in an emailed statement thanked Teno for his contributions as a board member and said it has a “solid strategy” in place.\nIcahn Enterprises LP held a 2.5% stake in the utility at the end of September, a roughly 14 million-share position valued at more than $500 million at current prices. The firm disclosed a nearly 19 million-share stake in the first quarter of 2021.\nIcahn had focused on helping Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy move past a corruption case involving a $1 billion state bailout for nuclear power plants. In June 2021, FirstEnergy paid a $230 million penalty and admitted to conspiring with public officials and others to pay millions of dollars in bribes. The utility then gave Icahn two board seats to avoid a potential proxy fight.\nRead more: FirstEnergy Gets Fourth CEO in 3 Years After Corruption Scandal\nFirstEnergy shares have fallen about 11% this year and traded at $37.28 at 3:36 p.m. in New York. The stock fallen below $23 on an intraday basis in July 2020 amid the state bribery scandal and a push to repeal the subsidies for the nuclear power plant.\n--With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy.\n",
        "title": "Carl Icahn Reduces FirstEnergy Stake, Gives Up Board Seat"
    },
    {
        "id": 692,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-wall-st-edges-203338801.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates to 14:45 EST)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) -\nU.S. stocks moved higher and gold slid on Monday, as investors looked ahead to crucial inflation data and the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting.\nIn a busy week for central banks, the yen weakened for a second straight day as expectations faded for a less dovish policy pivot from the Bank of Japan.\nAll three major U.S. stock indexes turned higher as the session progressed, and while their gains remained muted, the benchmark S&P 500 briefly touched the year's highest intraday level.\nGold dropped to a near three-week low as the dollar firmed and Treasury yields rose.\n\"There's a lot we don't know about this week: we don't know what inflation is going to be, we don't we don't know the Fed is going to do and we don't know what retail sales are going to do,\" said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at CFRA Research in Seattle. \"And on the back of all that investors seem to be feeling OK about the market.\"\nThe Labor Department's closely watched Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, due on Tuesday, is expected to show inflation still cooling but staying well above the Fed's 2% annual target.\nThe Federal Open Markets Committee's (FOMC) two-day monetary policy meeting will end on Wednesday with its interest rate decision and the release of its summary economic projections.\nWhile the Fed is largely expected to let the Fed funds target rate stand at 5.25%-5.50%, market participants will parse the central bank's dot plot and summary economic projections to assess its likely path forward.\nInterest rate decisions are also expected from the European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday and the Bank of England (BoE) on Thursday.\n\"We've had coordinated central bank policies for some time, locking arms as they battle inflation and send rates to high levels,\" Haworth added. \"But they could start to break ranks. Inflation seems to be falling faster and the economy weakening more in Europe than in the U.S.\"\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 96.73 points, or 0.27%, to 36,344.6, the S&P 500 gained 13.15 points, or 0.29%, at 4,617.52 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 34.64 points, or 0.24%, to 14,418.00.\nEuropean shares notched modest gains ahead of critical U.S. economic data and interest rate decisions from major central banks.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.30% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.22%.\nEmerging market stocks lost 0.15%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.22% lower, while Japan's Nikkei rose 1.50%.\nU.S. Treasury yields pared gains after 3- and 10-year note auctions.\nBenchmark 10-year notes last rose 3/32 in price to yield 4.2333%, from 4.245% late on Friday.\nThe 30-year bond last fell 4/32 in price to yield 4.3258%, from 4.326% late on Friday.\nThe greenback edged higher against a basket of world currencies ahead of Tuesday's CPI report, while the yen slid with fading hopes for a Bank of Japan pivot in December.\nThe dollar index rose 0.05%, with the euro unchanged at $1.0761.\nThe yen weakened 0.83% to 146.13 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2558, up 0.10% on the day.\nOil prices rose slightly as investors balanced concerns over OPEC+ production cuts against worries of softening demand in the coming year.\nU.S. crude advanced 0.13% to settle at $71.32 per barrel, while Brent settled at $76.03 per barrel, up 0.25% on the day.\nGold slid to a near three-week low as the dollar firmed in advance of Tuesday's CPI report.\nSpot gold dropped 1.1% to $1,980.80 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Wayne Cole and Lawrence White; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Wall St edges higher, gold slides ahead of CPI, central bank decisions"
    },
    {
        "id": 693,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/muni-market-mega-rally-likely-201505666.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. says the municipal-bond market’s rip-roaring rally is probably unsustainable.\nUS state and local debt posted a historic return of more than 6% in November and another 0.7% already in the first part of December. Those types of gains are very unusual for the traditionally staid muni market where investors are accustomed to monthly returns less than 1%.\nAfter the rally that began in November, US state and local debt has gotten expensive compared to US Treasuries. BlackRock’s muni team said in a note that the “trajectory of the rally is likely unsustainable” and noted the high valuations.\nStill, the team led by Peter Hayes, James Schwartz, and Sean Carney still sees “opportunity” in the debt. “The asset class is entering a favorable seasonal period and will likely benefit from limited supply over the next few months,” they said in the note. “In addition, an improved outlook for fixed income should strengthen demand and promote more consistent inflows in 2024.”\nThe muni-Treasury ratio, a key gauge of relative value, has slid dramatically since November, signaling that munis are getting more expensive in comparison. The 10-year muni-Treasury ratio fell below 60% on Monday, the lowest point since mid-2021, indicating that municipal bonds are the richest compared to Treasuries in more than two years.\nRelated: Muni Market Rally Drives Local Debt to Look Expensive Again\nOthers in the muni market are also taking note of the higher valuations. Barclays Plc strategists led by Mikhail Foux said in a Dec. 8 note that they “remain a bit cautious looking ahead to 2024.”\nThe current valuations leave “little cushion” to absorb a surge in Treasury yields, the group said. They noted the firm’s rate strategists expect Treasury yields to be meaningfully higher next year.\n“After such a strong performance, we think there is very little juice left,” they said.\n",
        "title": "Muni Market’s Mega Rally ‘Likely Unsustainable,’ BlackRock Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 694,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-steadies-glut-fears-drove-000420807.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil steadied after concerns that supplies are overtaking demand triggered the longest weekly losing streak in five years.\nWest Texas Intermediate was trading little changed near $71 a barrel as investors look for the next big signal on demand and supply. Oil futures had slid for seven weeks in a row amid signs of swelling supplies, with the latest production cuts announced by the OPEC+ alliance failing to halt the slide.\n“The potential for further short-term weakness is there,” said Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst at City Index and Forex.com. While the most severe phase of the market decline is in the past, “we must see a clearer reversal pattern before turning tactically bullish on oil again.”\nSpreads between monthly contracts, a critical barometer for supply and demand, continue to indicate weakness in the oil market. Three-month spreads for both Brent and West Texas Intermediate are showing a discount for barrels for nearer-term settlement versus those further in the future, a bearish structure known as contango.\nTraders will be monitoring reports on market fundamentals from the International Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the US Energy Department later this week, as well as the Federal Reserve’s final rate decision of the year. A forecast that the year-end travel season will be the busiest in the US since 2000 is partially brightening the outlook for demand.\nOil has dropped by more than a fifth since late September as output surges in the US and other key producers, while forecasters predict slower Chinese demand growth and see lingering risks of a US recession.\nAt the same time, production cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia, and pledges to prolong them if necessary, have failed to stem the slide. Citigroup Inc. said OPEC+ will need to extend the measures through next year just to keep prices in a $70 to $80 range.\nConsumers, including airlines and utilities, have taken advantage of the recent rout to lock in cheaper barrels. A flurry of call spreads traded in Brent, which limits the impact to buyers of a rebound in crude prices.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Steadies After Glut Concerns Spur Longest Drop in Five Years"
    },
    {
        "id": 695,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-seen-slowing-balance-sheet-195114493.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve will need to start hitting the brakes on the unwind of its balance sheet as the outlook for the central bank’s reserves grows increasingly murky, according to Wrightson ICAP.\nFor the past 18 months, the Fed has been letting Treasuries of up to $60 billion and agency debt holdings of up to $35 billion mature every month. A more cautious approach could lead the central bank to slow the pace of quantitative tightening or QT after the Fed’s June gathering with the central bank then reducing the monthly cap for Treasuries allowed to run-off to $30 billion in the third quarter of 2024, the research firm’s economist Lou Crandall said. The unwind of mortgage-backed securities he expects will continue at the current pace for the time being.\nFed policymakers consider bank reserves — currently $3.5 trillion — to be abundant. Yet a confluence of factors — from month-end funding pressures to a pile of Treasuries sitting on dealer balance sheets amid a wealth of supply — helped pushed the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or SOFR, to its highest-ever recorded level last week. Those market jitters underscored the sensitivity of funding markets to bank balance sheets — and in turn the Fed’s own policy plans.\n“The stylized balance sheet scenarios discussed by the Fed over the past couple of years have assumed that normal dynamics would tend to erode the supply of reserves over time,” Crandall wrote in a note to clients Monday. “However, very little about the Fed’s balance sheet or about front-end dynamics is normal right now.”\nEven before last week’s sudden surge in the key benchmark rate for overnight funding markets, investors were closely watching the Fed’s QT. That’s because the path of the central bank’s own pile of reserves is critical for the level of liquidity within the banking system more broadly — that in turn shapes the all-important money markets that companies and banks tap for financing every day.\nThe Fed’s continued tightening has come as more than $1.2 trillion has drained from the central bank’s overnight reverse repo facility — where money-market funds earn interest on excess cash — since June. RRP balances are currently $839 billion and the concern is that once the facility is empty, the Fed will have to halt QT.\nRead more: Repo-Market Spikes Conjure Memory of September 2019 Turmoil\nThat’s why Wrightson also sees a chance the Fed will choose to stop its balance sheet runoff before the RRP is entirely drained. That way any surplus cash sitting in the facility can be redeployed into the repo market in the event there’s a spike in funding markets.\nA more “gradual trajectory” of balance sheet normalization would provide the Fed greater flexibility and more time to gauge the impact of QT on money markets, according to Crandall.\n",
        "title": "Fed Seen Slowing Balance-Sheet Unwind Starting Around June, Wrightson Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 696,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-talks-nvidia-ai-chip-194051164.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By David Shepardson\nNASHUA, New Hampshire (Reuters) - The Biden administration is in discussions with Nvidia Corp about permissible sales of artificial intelligence chips to China but emphasized that it cannot sell its most advanced semiconductors to Chinese firms.\nU.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, speaking in an interview with Reuters on Monday, said Nvidia \"can, will and should sell AI chips to China because most AI chips will be for commercial applications.\"\nShe added: \"What we cannot allow them to ship is the most sophisticated, highest processing power AI chips, which would enable China to train their frontier models.\"\nRaimondo said she spoke a week ago to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and he was \"crystal clear. We don't want to break the rules. Tell us the rules, we'll work with you.\"\nRaimondo said the department was working with Nvidia. \"They want to do the right thing. Obviously they want to sell as many chips as possible.\"\nNvidia declined to comment. Last week, Huang said the company was working closely with the U.S. government to ensure new chips for the Chinese market were compliant with export curbs.\nThe California-based artificial intelligence chip designer has commanded more than 90% share of China's $7 billion AI chip market, but analysts have said new U.S. curbs on chip exports are likely to create opportunities for Chinese rivals to make inroads.\nReuters last month reported Nvidia had told customers in China it was delaying the launch of a new China-focused AI chip until the first quarter of next year.\n\"Our plan now is to continue to work with the government to come up with a new set of products that comply with the new regulations that have certain limits.\"\nNvidia warned during its November earnings that it expects a steep drop in fourth-quarter sales in China in the wake of the new U.S. rules.\n(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Franklin Paul and Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "US in talks with Nvidia about AI chip sales to China - Raimondo"
    },
    {
        "id": 697,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-talks-nvidia-ai-193716836.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds comments, Nvidia declining to comment)\nBy David Shepardson\nNASHUA, New Hampshire, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is in discussions with Nvidia Corp about permissible sales of artificial intelligence chips to China but emphasized that it cannot sell its most advanced semiconductors to Chinese firms.\nU.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, speaking in an interview with Reuters on Monday, said Nvidia \"can, will and should sell AI chips to China because most AI chips will be for commercial applications.\"\nShe added: \"What we cannot allow them to ship is the most sophisticated, highest processing power AI chips, which would enable China to train their frontier models.\"\nRaimondo said she spoke a week ago to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and he was \"crystal clear. We don't want to break the rules. Tell us the rules, we'll work with you.\"\nRaimondo said the department was working with Nvidia. \"They want to do the right thing. Obviously they want to sell as many chips as possible.\"\nNvidia declined to comment. Last week, Huang said the company was working closely with the U.S. government to ensure new chips for the Chinese market were compliant with export curbs.\nThe California-based artificial intelligence chip designer has commanded more than 90% share of China's $7 billion AI chip market, but analysts have said new U.S. curbs on chip exports are likely to create opportunities for Chinese rivals to make inroads.\nReuters last month reported Nvidia had told customers in China it was delaying the launch of a new China-focused AI chip until the first quarter of next year.\n\"Our plan now is to continue to work with the government to come up with a new set of products that comply with the new regulations that have certain limits.\"\nNvidia warned during its November earnings that it expects a steep drop in fourth-quarter sales in China in the wake of the new U.S. rules. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Franklin Paul and Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US in talks with Nvidia about AI chip sales to China - Raimondo"
    },
    {
        "id": 698,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-2023-rally-frays-during-052605413.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin posted its steepest drop in almost four months as traders moved to lock in profits following a more than 150% rally this year, triggering large liquidations of bullish bets.\nThe largest token sank as much as 7.5% on Monday, the biggest intraday decline since Aug. 18. It pared some losses to trade 7% lower at $40,943 at 2:08 p.m. in New York. Most major cryptocurrencies fell, with an index of the largest 100 digital assets sliding the most since November.\n“Market leverage had risen materially,” said Sydney-based Richard Galvin, co-founder of Digital Asset Capital Management. “The current fall looks like a market deleveraging as opposed to any fundamental news catalyst.”\nCoinglass data show that about $405 million worth of crypto trading positions betting on higher prices were liquidated on Dec. 11 — the highest tally since at least mid-September.\n“This move downward was broadly signaled by large growth in open interest and positive funding rates in perpetual swaps indicating a growth of bullish leverage in the market,” said Darius Tabatabai, co-founder at decentralized exchange Vertex Protoco.\nBitcoin has been on a tear this year on expectations that regulators will give the green light for the first US exchange-traded funds investing directly in the token, widening the potential base of crypto investors. Bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in 2024 have also helped fuel the rally.\nAwaiting the Fed\nInvestors are braced this week for US inflation data and the Fed’s final policy meeting of 2023, both of which could test aggressive wagers on rate cuts. Global stocks were mixed on Monday as a dollar gauge ticked up, a sign of cautious sentiment.\n“It makes sense to see some profit taking,” said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia Pty. He expects falls toward the $37,500 to $40,000 range to be “well-supported” by dip buyers.\nBitcoin has jumped more than 150% year-to-date, energizing a wider recovery in digital-asset prices from a $1.5 trillion rout in 2022. The token remains well below its pandemic-era record of nearly $69,000 set just over two years ago.\nA “less hawkish” message from the Fed would likely cause a “re-testing” of Bitcoin’s recent high near $45,000, according to Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets.\n--With assistance from Sidhartha Shukla and David Pan.\n(Adds intraday comparison in second paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Bitcoin’s Largest Decline in Four Months Frays Startling Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 699,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cigna-stock-surges-after-company-reportedly-backs-away-from-humana-talks-announces-10-billion-buyback-192852744.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Cigna (CI) stock popped on Monday, rising as much as 16%, following a report from The Wall Street Journal that said the company had abandoned efforts to merge with rival Humana (HUM) while announcing plans to repurchase $10 billion worth of its own shares.\nShares of Humana fell as much as 2% on Monday.\n\"We believe Cigna's shares are significantly undervalued and repurchases represent a value-enhancing deployment of capital as we work to support high-quality care, improved affordability, and better health outcomes,\" Cigna CEO David Cordani said in a press release announcing the new buyback plans.\nA report late last month from the Journal said the two companies were discussing a potential deal, news which sent shares of Cigna and Humana down 8% and 5%, respectively, the following day.\nSome also eyed the deal with skepticism due to the Biden Administration's crackdown on mergers and acquisitions.\nStill, Cigna believed its deals would have been achievable despite tough regulations, the Journal said. The company was also considering selling its Medicare advantage business to ward off antitrust concerns.\nIn a note to clients on Monday, Jefferies analysts David Windlay and Steven Couche praised Cigna for walking away from the deal with Humana.\nThe analysts said that their deal model didn't foresee earnings per share accretion until year three following the merger. The firm also speculated Cigna CEO Cordani didn't have the necessary support from investors for a successful merger with Humana.\n\"Regardless of the reason, taking advantage of a negative reaction to deal reports by directing almost all [free cash flow] toward buybacks is music to [Cigna] holders' value-sensitive ears,\" the analysts wrote.\nThe additional $10 billion of stock buybacks announced by Cigna on Monday brings their total planned repurchases to $11.3 billion. Cigna's market cap stood at around $88 billion as of Monday afternoon.\nThe company also plans to use \"the majority of its discretionary cash flow for share repurchase in 2024,\" according to the press release, and to repurchase at least $5 billion of common stock between now and the end of the first half of 2024. The company also reaffirmed its 2023 annual guidance on Monday.\n\"As we look at the broader landscape and the strategic opportunities before us, we will remain financially disciplined with a clear focus on executing against our strategy, delivering value for our shareholders, and investing in our future,\" Cordani said in a release. \"In light of the current environment, we will consider bolt-on acquisitions aligned with our strategy, as well as value-enhancing divestitures.\"\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Cigna stock surges after company reportedly backs away from Humana talks, announces $10 billion buyback"
    },
    {
        "id": 700,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-flags-early-2024-192659723.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds reaction from nonprofit director)\nDec 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) unit is planning to propose a long-awaited rule aimed at curbing money laundering in real estate in early 2024.\nThe regulator is also aiming to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require investment advisers flag suspicious transactions to regulators.\nTHE TAKE\nThe proposal, which FinCEN was previously slated to unveil this year, is expected to require real estate professionals report the identities of the beneficial owners of companies buying real estate in cash to the regulator.\nAnti-corruption advocates have been pushing for years for regulators to close a loophole they say allows criminals to hide money in U.S. real estate.\nTHE CONTEXT\nWhile banks have long been required to understand the source of customer funds and report suspicious transactions, no such rules exist nationwide for the real estate industry. Criminals have for decades anonymously hidden ill-gotten gains in real estate, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier this year.\nThe existing regulatory regime for real estate is easy to skirt, anti-corruption advocates have said.\nKEY QUOTE\nThe proposal \"will be will be an important step toward bringing greater transparency to this sector,\" the agency said in a statement.\n\"Treasury is also considering next steps with regard to addressing the illicit finance risks associated with the U.S. commercial real estate sector.\"\nKEY QUOTE\n\"This long-delayed step would plug a gaping loophole in our anti-money laundering rules to make sure that drug traffickers, Russian oligarchs, and environmental criminals can't hide their wealth in U.S. real estate,\" said Ian Gary, executive director the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition. (Reporting by Chris Prentice and Luc Cohen, editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US flags early 2024 for new rule targeting real estate money laundering"
    },
    {
        "id": 701,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-is-expected-to-hold-rates-steady-wednesday-wall-street-will-be-listening-for-any-hints-of-cuts-192553604.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady this Wednesday during the central bank’s last policy meeting of the year.\nIt is also expected to caution against making rate cuts anytime soon, defying the expectations of some on Wall Street who expect that easing to happen as early as March.\nMarket observers are eager for any sign that the most aggressive rate-hiking campaign since the 1980s is over.\n\"Raising the Fed funds rate is off the table,\" Wilmer Stith, bond portfolio manager for Wilmington Trust, said. \"The issue is how long are we going to be at 5%?\"\nLuke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust, predicts the Fed will hint it may have reached the peak on rate hikes.\n\"I expect there will be some couched language that says we've reached a level of restrictiveness and continuing to turn towards the question of how high for how long,\" he said.\nThe Fed last hiked rates in July and has elected to keep interest rates unchanged the past two policy meetings in a range of 5.25%-5.50%, a 22-year high.\nInflation, which the Fed is trying to cool, continues to drop closer to the central bank’s 2% target. The Fed’s favored inflation measure — the core Personal Consumption Expenditures index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices — clocked in at 3.5% for the month of October, down from 3.7% in September and 4.3% in June.\nInflation has now fallen below where the Fed expected it to end the year. Officials will get a fresh reading Tuesday from another gauge, the consumer price index.\nWhile many Fed officials are feeling more comfortable that rates are likely at the right level to bring down inflation, most are still keeping the option of another rate hike on the table and suggesting rates will remain elevated for some time. One has even said more hikes are still expected.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell is also expected this Wednesday to strike a hawkish tone, similar to the message conveyed in his address at Spelman College earlier this month when he warned investors not to assume the Fed is finished raising rates and will soon turn to cutting.\n\"It would be premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance, or to speculate on when policy might ease,\" he said on December 1, adding that the central bank is prepared to \"tighten policy further if it becomes appropriate to do so.\"\nOne reason Powell may choose to talk tough on inflation this week, Fed observers say, is because financial conditions have loosened recently after long-term bond yields soared rapidly this fall.\nThe yield on the 10-year Treasury hit 5% in October but has come back down to around 4.25%— exactly where it was in early September. Meanwhile the stock market is also roaring higher. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is up nearly 20% this year and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) has gained nearly 38%.\n\"Powell is going to err on the side of being a little hawkish,\" said Stith. \"They're going to try to build more of a wall up that conveys we're higher for longer.\"\nThis Wednesday Fed officials could temper expectations for rate cuts in 2024 when an updated version of interest rate expectations is released. The so-called dot plot could show fewer rate cuts for next year, which members already curtailed in September.\nForecasts on inflation, GDP growth, and unemployment will also be released.\nWall Street is pricing in a near 100% chance rates are left unchanged Wednesday while also pricing in the chance for a rate cut as soon as March.\nTilley, the chief economist chief economist at Wilmington Trust, expects a full percentage point of rate cuts starting next spring.\nHe also expects Fed officials to pencil in three-quarters of a percentage point of more rate cuts in 2024 but stopping short of a full percent so as not to loosen financial conditions further.\nGoldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius is another observer who now predicts that falling inflation will prompt the Fed to begin cutting in the third quarter next year, earlier than he previously thought.\nHatzius expects nearly a full percentage point in rate cuts next year, but said Fed officials will pencil in two rate cuts next year and 125 basis points of rate cuts in 2025.\nNot all observers agree on what the Fed will do next year. James Fishback, founder and chief investment officer at hedge fund Azoria Partners, said the market is \"way ahead of its skis\" in terms of pricing rate cuts in 2024.\nFishback maintains that half a percentage point of rate cuts next year was conditioned on the Fed hiking at Wednesday’s meeting. Officials penciled in one more rate hike this year in September, which they aren't expected to execute.\nFishback said holding rates at the current level can act as a form of tightening.\n\"By December of next year, the market has priced in over 100 basis points of cuts,\" he said. \"If the Fed simply holds the line and cuts once, they will have delivered in essence three rate hikes relative to market expectations, exerting more tightening pressure on the economy.\"\nStith also said he thinks inflation is still too high for the Fed to move off the current level of rates any time soon.\n\"The market is always coming back to the narrative of 'if we're going to have a slow growth or no growth at all, the Fed is gonna come in and rescue the economy,'\" he said.\n\"That's where I think the market's expectations are somewhat misplaced, particularly given where inflation is and where the Fed is just trying to get inflation to go.\"\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Fed is expected to hold rates steady Wednesday. Wall Street will be listening for any hints of cuts."
    },
    {
        "id": 702,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-publics-downbeat-view-economy-191111988.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Howard Schneider\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Whether it's the \"collective trauma\" cited by the American Psychological Association (APA) or the bad \"vibes\" noted by internet analysts, there has been a clear break between the U.S. economy's performance and public attitudes about it, according to new research from the Chicago Federal Reserve.\nResearchers at the regional Fed bank studied measures of consumer and business sentiment and found a schism occurred in the spring of 2020 when the onset of the coronavirus pandemic posed mortal risk to the entire country and reordered the economy in ways that are still not fully understood.\nJacob S. Herbstman, a research assistant at the Chicago Fed, and Scott A. Brave, a senior economist at the bank, found the post-pandemic years have seen \"a decline in the average level of optimism\" for any given set of economic outcomes - a mood shortfall that could influence the country's economy as well as its politics.\n\"Historically, a tight link existed between consumer and small business sentiment in the U.S. and economic conditions\" with measures like the unemployment rate and income able to explain much of the variation in household and business surveys conducted by the University of Michigan, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the Conference Board, they wrote. \"That link appears to have been severed after the pandemic recession,\" an explanation for why a sub-4% unemployment rate and wage gains that are outpacing inflation have not registered more deeply with the public.\nThe researchers don't pinpoint a reason for the shift, though their top culprits are the price level - not so much the rate of inflation but the fact that prices remain higher than they were - or the possibility that lower rates of unemployment have come to be expected as the norm.\nThe shock of the pandemic could itself play a role, and U.S. central bank officials have been closely attuned in the aftermath of the crisis to how expectations about the economy and particularly inflation have performed.\n'MAJOR STRESSOR'\nAttitudes about the economy can influence economic behavior, something the Fed was particularly worried about last year when rising prices and broad talk of recession sparked concerns about the country talking itself into a downturn - a moment economics commentator Kyla Scanlon dubbed the \"vibecession,\" and which Robert Shiller, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, connected to his theories about the power of economic narratives.\nThe ill feelings may cut even deeper than that. In its Stress in America 2023 report last month, the APA said the country was \"recovering from collective trauma\" that may be rooted in the pandemic but has sources far beyond it, including economic ones.\n\"The COVID-19 pandemic, global conflicts, racism and racial injustice, inflation, and climate-related disasters are all weighing on the collective consciousness of Americans,\" the group said.\nSurvey responses showed about two-thirds of respondents cited health, money and the economy as top day-to-day sources of stress. It also showed big jumps since 2019, before the pandemic, in the share of people citing the economy as a \"major stressor.\" About half of those aged 18 to 44, for example, saw the economy that way before the pandemic, versus more than 70% now.\nWith their prime earning years still to come, along with important decisions about education, family formation and home purchases, members of that age group are important to the macroeconomy, while the competition to motivate and earn the support of younger voters is seen as critical to the outcome of the presidential election next November.\nThat leaves less than a year for the economic mood to shift if, as the Fed expects, inflation continues to fall, but alongside weaker wage and job growth.\nRecent reports on sentiment have shown an improvement, in fact. The outlook for inflation has gotten better, and the University of Michigan's preliminary reading of consumer sentiment in December jumped by the most in about two and a half years.\n\"Consumer sentiment soared 13% in December, erasing all declines from the previous four months, primarily on the basis of improvements in the expected trajectory of inflation,\" Joanne Hsu, the director of the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers, said in a statement accompanying the data on Friday.\n(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "US public's downbeat view of economy is real, Chicago Fed research shows"
    },
    {
        "id": 703,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-flags-early-2024-rule-185638545.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) unit is planning to propose a long-awaited rule aimed at curbing money laundering in real estate in early 2024.\nThe regulator is also aiming to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require investment advisers flag suspicious transactions to regulators.\nTHE TAKE\nThe proposal, which FinCEN was previously slated to unveil this year, is expected to require real estate professionals report the identities of the beneficial owners of companies buying real estate in cash to the regulator.\nAnti-corruption advocates have been pushing for years for regulators to close a loophole they say allows criminals to hide money in U.S. real estate.\nTHE CONTEXT\nWhile banks have long been required to understand the source of customer funds and report suspicious transactions, no such rules exist nationwide for the real estate industry. Criminals have for decades anonymously hidden ill-gotten gains in real estate, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier this year.\nThe existing regulatory regime for real estate is easy to skirt, anti-corruption advocates have said.\nKEY QUOTE\nThe proposal \"will be will be an important step toward bringing greater transparency to this sector,\" the agency said in a statement.\n\"Treasury is also considering next steps with regard to addressing the illicit finance risks associated with the U.S. commercial real estate sector.\"\n(Reporting by Chris Prentice and Luc Cohen, editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "US flags early 2024 for new rule targeting real estate money laundering"
    },
    {
        "id": 704,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fastweb-develop-native-italian-trained-184344612.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "MILAN (Reuters) - Italian telecoms operator Fastweb said on Monday it plans to build an artificial intelligence large-language model (LLM) which is trained in native Italian to help its corporate and public administration customers develop AI tools.\n\"A group of generative AI experts will work through deep learning systems to develop an LLM based on large sets of data in the Italian language\", Fastweb said.\nFastweb said it will install a large-scale NVIDIA AI-powered supercomputer in its top data centre in the northern Italian region of Lombardy and also make such technology available to third-parties through its cloud services.\n\"This new LLM will be a nation-specific platform for the development by Fastweb and third parties of an extensive range of generative AI application\", it added in a statement.\n(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "Fastweb to develop native Italian trained AI language model"
    },
    {
        "id": 705,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/smiledirectclub-shuts-down-months-filing-182316573.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — SmileDirectClub is shutting down — just months after the struggling teeth-straightening company filed for bankruptcy protection.\nIn a Friday announcement, SmileDirectClub said it had made an “incredibly difficult decision to wind down its global operations, effective immediately.”\nThat leaves existing customers in limbo. SmileDirectClub's aligner treatment through its telehealth platform is no longer available, the Nashville, Tennessee, company said while urging consumers to consult their local dentist for further treatment. Customer care support for the company has also ceased.\nCustomer orders that haven't shipped yet have been cancelled and “Lifetime Smile Guarantee” no longer exists, the company said. SmileDirectClub apologized for the inconvenience and said additional information about refund requests will arrive “once the bankruptcy process determines next steps and additional measures customers can take.”\nSmileDirectClub also said that Smile Pay customers are expected to continue to make payments, leading to further confusion and frustration online. When contacted by The Associated Press Monday for additional information, a spokesperson said the company couldn't comment further.\nSmileDirectClub filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of September. At the time, the company reported nearly $900 million in debt. On Friday, the company said it was unable to find a partner willing to bring in enough capital to keep the company afloat, despite a monthslong search.\nWhen SmileDirectClub went public back in 2019, the company was valued at about $8.9 billion. But its stock soon tumbled and plummeted in value over time, as the company proved to be unprofitable year after year and faced multiple legal battles. In 2022, SmileDirectClub reported a loss of $86.4 million.\nSmileDirectClub, which has served over 2 million people since its 2014 founding, once promised to revolutionaize the oral care industry by selling clear dental aligners (marketed as a faster and more affordable alternative to braces) directly to consumers by mail and in major retailers. But the company has also seen pushback from within and beyond the medical community.\nLast year, District of Columbia attorney general’s office sued SmileDirectClub for “unfair and deceptive” practices — accusing the company of unlawfully using non-disclosure agreements to manipulate online reviews and keep customers from reporting negative experiences to regulators. SmileDirectClub denied the allegations, but agreed to a June settlement agreement that required the company to release over 17,000 customers from the NDAs and pay $500,000 to DC.\nThe British Dental Association has also been critical about SmileDirectClub and such remote orthodontics — pointing to cases of advanced gum disease provided with aligners, misdiagnosis risks and more in a Sunday post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.\n“It shouldn’t have taken a bankruptcy to protect patients from harm,\" the British Dental Association wrote, while calling on U.K. regulators for increased protections. “Dentists are left to pick up the pieces when these providers offer wholly inappropriate treatment.”\n",
        "title": "SmileDirectClub shuts down months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection"
    },
    {
        "id": 706,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-expects-multi-billion-chips-181640956.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "NASHUA, New Hampshire (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Monday she expects to make around a dozen semiconductor chips funding awards within the next year, including multi-billion dollar announcements that could reshape U.S. chips production.\nShe announce the first award Monday -- $35 million to a BAE Systems facility in Hampshire to produce chips for fighter planes from the $52.7 billion \"Chips for America\" semiconductor manufacturing and research subsidy program approved by Congress in August 2022. \"Next year we'll get into some of the bigger ones with leading edge fabs,\" Raimondo told reporters. \"A year from now I think we will have made 10 or 12 similar announcements, some of them multi-billion dollar announcements.\"\n(Reporting by David Shepardson)\n",
        "title": "US expects to make multi-billion chips awards within next year"
    },
    {
        "id": 707,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-illumina-files-registration-statement-181538403.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds background on Grail deal throughout)\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Illumina said on Monday it had filed a registration statement with the U.S. securities regulator related to a potential divestiture of Grail, even as it challenges a European Union order to divest the cancer test maker in court.\nSubmission of the registration statement \"is an important next step in evaluating divestiture options for GRAIL\", Illumina said.\nIllumina in October said it would divest Grail in 12 months, according to the terms of the European Commission's order, if the life sciences company does not win its challenge in court.\nThe $7.1 billion deal was opposed by EU antitrust regulators on concerns Illumina would have an incentive to stop Grail's rivals from accessing its technology to develop competing blood-based early cancer detection tests.\n(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Illumina files registration statement for potential Grail divestiture"
    },
    {
        "id": 708,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-tells-early-cybertruck-reservation-holders-to-prepare-for-delivery-180428993.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk warned the production ramp for its Cybertruck would be painful.\nBut despite Musk's caution, it seems that for early Cybertruck customers Christmas might be coming a bit early.\nSome early Cybertruck reservation holders configured their trucks after being invited to do so and just a few days later were sent \"prepare for delivery\" emails as recently as Dec. 10, according to a new report from EV blog Electrek.\nElectrek noted several prospective owners posted these updates on the Cybertruck Owners Club website after receiving the email. The outlet noted, however, that reservation holders for prior Tesla vehicles who received similar emails waited a few months for delivery.\nAn online tracker on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum shows delivery windows beginning as early as December.\nMost of these invites seem to be orders to configure the limited edition, $120,000 \"Foundation Series\" truck, though reservation holders appear to be able to configure the AWD and Cyberbeast versions as well.\nStill, these early deliveries don't indicate Tesla will be making a significant dent in the 1 million+ reservations the company has taken for the Cybertruck.\nMusk said it will take 12 to 18 months of \"blood, sweat, and tears\" to achieve volume production of 250,000 units by 2025.\nNonetheless, Tesla noted in its third quarter earnings report that it currently has installed capacity to produce 125,000 Cybertrucks at Giga Austin. CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson wrote at the time this should \"reassure investors concerned about the ramp-up of the highly-anticipated new model.\"\nIn the configuration email sent from Tesla to customers, there are strings attached for anyone who had plans to flip their new Cybertruck on the open market.\nTesla reintroduced a clause in its purchase agreement for the Cybertruck dictating that an owner \"will not sell or otherwise attempt to sell the Vehicle within the first year\" following the delivery date, or will owe Tesla $50,000 in damages or the value received from the sale, whichever is larger.\nTesla said it will seek \"injunctive relief\" to prevent transfer of the vehicle or obtain damages, according to contract screenshots on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum. In the event an owner has to sell the Cybertruck due to \"unforeseen\" circumstances, Tesla may purchase the vehicle back at its sole discretion.\nTesla had previously included this clause in purchase agreements, but removed it following backlash.\nOther brands like Ford (F), with its GT supercar, and GM (GM), with its Cadillac Escalade V and Chevrolet Corvette Z06, have in the past put limitations and penalties on reselling their in-demand enthusiast cars.\nPras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Tesla tells early Cybertruck reservation holders to 'prepare for delivery'"
    },
    {
        "id": 709,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-judge-hear-meta-privacy-175709001.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A judge overseeing a lawsuit brought by Meta Platforms, owner of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, said he would hear arguments in late January on a request that he temporarily stop the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from unilaterally reopening a 2019 privacy agreement.\nThis latest dispute between Meta and the FTC began in May, when the agency said the company had misled parents about how much control they had over who their children had contact with in the Messenger Kids app, among other issues.\nThe agency proposed tightening a 2019 consent agreement, that had forced Facebook, which became Meta in 2021, to pay a $5 billion penalty. The proposed changes include a prohibition on Meta from making money off young users, including in its virtual reality business. It would also expand restrictions on facial recognition technology.\nMeta has asked for the FTC process to be paused until a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the reopening is resolved. Judge Randall Moss of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said he would hear briefings on the preliminary injunction on Jan. 29.\nThe new lawsuit is part of a battle between Meta and the FTC as the agency works to promote privacy and competition among Big Tech firms who in turn seek to halt any changes that could hurt profits.\nIn November, Meta filed a separate appeal against a judge's ruling that it should be an FTC judge, not a district judge, who decides whether the consent agreement should be tightened.\nSeparately, the agency has an antitrust fight with Meta. It asked a federal court in 2020 to order the company to sell Instagram, which it bought for $1 billion in 2012, and WhatsApp, which it bought for $19 billion in 2014. That case has no trial date.\n(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "US judge to hear Meta privacy dispute with FTC next month"
    },
    {
        "id": 710,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morgan-stanley-wilson-sees-big-094542940.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- US company earnings are likely to weaken in the fourth quarter before a rebound in 2024, according to Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson.\nThe strategist highlighted a “steep downward revision” to consensus fourth-quarter estimates, and added that he is less optimistic than other strategists about the magnitude of margin expansion next year. “We see earnings risk persisting in the near term before a broader recovery takes hold as next year evolves,” he wrote Monday in a note to clients.\nThe strategist has been negative on stocks for most of the year even as markets rallied alongside economic resilience and expectations that the Federal Reserve has completed its interest rate-hiking cycle. He said in October that a year-end rally was unlikely, but the S&P 500 Index has gained about 11% since then.\nWilson told Bloomberg Television on Monday that monetary policy and fiscal spending are likely to normalize in 2024, but not until the second half of the year. Until then, “it’s going to be very challenging for us to see an acceleration of growth,” he said.\nAgainst that backdrop, Wilson said quality and large-cap defensive stocks are likely to continue to outperform until the current market cycle ends, either with a hard landing or “some new exogenous shock or driver for positive growth.”\nOnly then can investors expect a broader and more sustainable stock rally, according to Wilson, who called a no-landing scenario a “fantasy.”\n“The status quo of decelerating growth and falling inflation typically is not good for equities,” he said.\nEstimates for fourth-quarter S&P 500 profits have fallen 5% since the previous reporting season began, Wilson said. Typically, consensus estimates for the current year’s earnings-per-share decline by nearly 5% through the course of the year and, if that precedent holds, US corporate EPS should fall to around Wilson’s estimate of $229 by the end of 2024, he added.\nData compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show the same trend of falling estimates for the fourth quarter, with Wall Street now expecting year-over-year earnings growth of 1.5% in the period. Meanwhile, consensus estimates are for S&P 500 EPS to climb 11% to $246 next year, a more bullish outcome than predicted by Wilson. The strategist said, however, that he was “very bullish” on earnings in 2025.”\nRead more: Morgan Stanley Sees Bullish Opportunities for US Assets in 2024\nWilson remains focused on pricing power and will be monitoring this week’s producer prices data for signs that pricing trends are either stabilizing or decelerating further, especially after NFIB business survey data indicated that companies are now planning to raise prices into 2024. “This optimism may be an early sign pricing power is set to stabilize, though the PPI data will be important to watch for confirmation,” he said.\nContinued evidence of cooling producer prices would be welcome by US corporates to help bolster their pricing power and lift margins. The last earnings season marked the end of the first US profit recession since the pandemic and all eyes will be on whether the recovery can continue next year.\n(Updates with Wilson’s comments on Bloomberg Television.)\n",
        "title": "Morgan Stanley’s Wilson Sees Drop in Near-Term Profit Views"
    },
    {
        "id": 711,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/consolidated-communications-investor-frischer-opposes-171628715.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Consolidated Communications investor Charles Frischer said on Monday he plans to vote against the broadband services provider's $3.1 billion take-private deal with an investor consortium, becoming the latest shareholder to oppose the sale.\nThe $4.70-per-share all-cash offer from the group comprising Searchlight and British Columbia Investment Management reflects \"a fraction of the company's true value,\" said Frischer, who along with his wife owns a stake of about 1.22% in Consolidated.\n\"I agree with Wildcat Capital Management LLC's determination to vote against the sale of the company and intend to vote against the transaction as well,\" Frischer said.\nWildcat Capital Management, which has a stake of around 2.6% in Consolidated, had last month voiced its opposition against the sale that was agreed in November, months after the investor consortium had first submitted an offer to buy the company.\nMattoon, Illinois-based Consolidated, whose shares were down 1.5% in morning trading on Monday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nIn a letter to the board, Frischer also questioned a $15.9 million \"break-up\" that Searchlight will get if the majority of investors other than the suitor reject the deal.\nSearchlight Capital is the largest investor in Consolidated Communications with a stake of 34%.\n(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "Consolidated Communications investor Frischer opposes $3.1 billion take-private deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 712,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canadas-secure-energy-divest-assets-170934922.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 11 (Reuters) - Waste management firm Secure Energy Services said on Monday it will divest some assets in Western Canada for a total of C$1.15 billion ($847.21 million) to fulfill Competition Tribunal's conditions for its merger with Tervita.\nThe latest deal with Waste Connections is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024 after regulatory approval. It has agreed to pay Secure C$1.075 billion in cash and about C$75 million in certain adjustments.\nSecure Energy said it was ordered by the Canadian Competition Tribunal to divest facilities owned by waste management services firm Tervita following their merger in 2021.\nFollowing the completion of the deal, Waste Connections will acquire Secure Energy's portfolio of 30 energy waste treatment, recovery, and disposal facilities in Western Canada, with a combined annual revenue of around C$300 million.\nAdjusting for the impact of the sale, Secure lowered its 2024 capital spend forecast and said it now expects to spend C$60 million on sustaining capital and C$15 million on settling the firm's retirement obligations, down from a previous forecast of C$85 million and C$20 million, respectively.\n($1 = 1.3574 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Vallari Srivastava; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "Canada's Secure Energy to divest assets for C$1.15 bln on Competition Tribunal's ruling"
    },
    {
        "id": 713,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-sachs-hires-wells-fargo-170357246.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Saeed Azhar\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs has hired former Wells Fargo executive Paul Camp as its new head of transaction banking, according to a memo seen by Reuters.\nThe bank had fired several executives in the transaction banking unit in September after they violated the firm's communications policy, according to a memo seen at the time by Reuters.\nThe executives included the head of the unit Hari Moorthy, sources had told Reuters.\nCamp, who will also become a Goldman partner, most recently served as head of global treasury management at Wells Fargo, and prior to that he was CEO of treasury services at BNY Mellon, according to the memo.\nBefore the appointment, the Wall Street giant had assigned its treasurer, Philip Berlinski, to take over day-to-day management of the business alongside Akila Raman and Luc Teboul.\nFinancial firms have faced increasing scrutiny over employee communications in recent years. U.S. regulators have so far fined dozens of Wall Street firms collectively more than $2 billion for failing to keep tabs on employees' use of \"off-channel\" communications including text messages and WhatsApp.\nGoldman Sachs was among the first wave of big banks to receive stiff penalties from regulators for such recordkeeping failures.\nGoldman Sachs said in the memo the latest appointment underscores the firm's commitment to growing its transaction banking business.\nTransaction banking is a small part of Goldman Sachs' revenue, having only opened in 2020. It posted revenue of $233 million in the first nine months of the year, compared with firm wide revenue of $35 billion in the same period.\nRival JPMorgan and Citigroup are much larger players in the space.\n(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and David Evans)\n",
        "title": "Goldman Sachs hires Wells Fargo executive to lead transaction banking"
    },
    {
        "id": 714,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/consolidated-communications-investor-frischer-opposes-170231394.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 11 (Reuters) - Consolidated Communications investor Charles Frischer said on Monday he plans to vote against the broadband services provider's $3.1 billion take-private deal with an investor consortium, becoming the latest shareholder to oppose the sale.\nThe $4.70-per-share all-cash offer from the group comprising Searchlight and British Columbia Investment Management reflects \"a fraction of the company's true value,\" said Frischer, who along with his wife owns a stake of about 1.22% in Consolidated.\n\"I agree with Wildcat Capital Management LLC's determination to vote against the sale of the company and intend to vote against the transaction as well,\" Frischer said.\nWildcat Capital Management, which has a stake of around 2.6% in Consolidated, had last month voiced its opposition against the sale that was agreed in November, months after the investor consortium had first submitted an offer to buy the company.\nMattoon, Illinois-based Consolidated, whose shares were down 1.5% in morning trading on Monday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nIn a letter to the board, Frischer also questioned a $15.9 million \"break-up\" that Searchlight will get if the majority of investors other than the suitor reject the deal.\nSearchlight Capital is the largest investor in Consolidated Communications with a stake of 34%. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "Consolidated Communications investor Frischer opposes $3.1 bln take-private deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 715,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-goldman-sachs-hires-wells-165942313.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds detail paragraphs 3-4, background 5-7)\nBy Saeed Azhar\nNEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs has hired former Wells Fargo executive Paul Camp as its new head of transaction banking, according to a memo seen by Reuters.\nThe bank had fired several executives in the transaction banking unit in September after they violated the firm's communications policy, according to a memo seen at the time by Reuters.\nThe executives included the head of the unit Hari Moorthy, sources had told Reuters.\nCamp, who will also become a Goldman partner, most recently served as head of global treasury management at Wells Fargo , and prior to that he was CEO of treasury services at BNY Mellon, according to the memo.\nBefore the appointment, the Wall Street giant had assigned its treasurer, Philip Berlinski, to take over day-to-day management of the business alongside Akila Raman and Luc Teboul.\nFinancial firms have faced increasing scrutiny over employee communications in recent years. U.S. regulators have so far fined dozens of Wall Street firms collectively more than $2 billion for failing to keep tabs on employees' use of \"off-channel\" communications including text messages and WhatsApp. Goldman Sachs was among the first wave of big banks to receive stiff penalties from regulators for such recordkeeping failures.\nGoldman Sachs said in the memo the latest appointment underscores the firm's commitment to growing its transaction banking business.\nTransaction banking is a small part of Goldman Sachs' revenue, having only opened in 2020. It posted revenue of $233 million in the first nine months of the year, compared with firm wide revenue of $35 billion in the same period.\nRival JPMorgan and Citigroup are much larger players in the space. (Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and David Evans)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Goldman Sachs hires Wells Fargo executive to lead transaction banking"
    },
    {
        "id": 716,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-fdic-special-committee-taps-165915012.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 11 (Reuters) - A special committee at the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's governing board has tapped the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP to conduct an independent review of sexual harassment allegations and the agency's workplace culture, the top bank regulator announced Monday.\nThe review follows a series of Wall Street Journal reports last month according to which the FDIC had failed to eradicate toxic and misogynist workplace behavior that caused women to quit the agency.\n\"The team at Cleary Gottlieb will be led by Joon H. Kim, the former Acting U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jennifer Kennedy Park, and Abena Mainoo,\" the special committee said in the statement.\nCleary Gottlieb replaces the firm Baker Hostetler, which had initially been selected by the FDIC prior to the formation of the special committee, which comprises FDIC board members Michael Hsu, the acting comptroller of the currency, and Republican Jonathan McKernan.\nMcKernan and FDIC Vice Chair Travis Hill last month insisted that Chair Martin Gruenberg recuse himself from overseeing the review. (Reporting by Douglas Gillison Editing by Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "US FDIC special committee taps Cleary Gottlieb for sexual harassment probe"
    },
    {
        "id": 717,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-airlines-urge-brazil-petrobras-164308491.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds Petrobras' comment in paragraphs 6, 7)\nBy Gabriel Araujo\nSAO PAULO, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Airline lobby group IATA has urged the Brazilian government and state-run oil company Petrobras to tweak the way jet fuel is charged in the country in order to reduce costs, calling kerosene prices in the South American nation \"excessively high.\"\nThe International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a statement on Monday that local prices \"do not reflect the reality of an oil producing country,\" adding that fuel costs were one of the main challenges faced by the sector in Brazil.\nPetrobras is Brazil's largest oil producer and responsible for most of the country's refining activity. It tweaks jet fuel prices at the beginning of each month based on factors such as global oil prices and foreign exchange rates.\n\"Petrobras' monopolistic position and additional administrative costs charged by suppliers result in artificially inflated jet fuel prices,\" IATA's head in the Americas, Peter Cerda, said.\nBrazil's mines and energy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nPetrobras, meanwhile, pointed to the fact it had lowered kerosene prices at its refineries by an average 6% starting Dec. 1, which means prices have been reduced by a total 19.6% so far this year.\n\"It is important to highlight that the Brazilian market is open to free competition and there are no legal, regulatory or logistical restrictions for other companies to act as producers or importers of jet fuel,\" the oil giant added in a statement.\nHigh fuel prices have long been a subject of complaint from local airlines, with Azul Chief Executive John Rodgerson saying last month that Brazil had \"the most expensive fuel in the world.\"\nJet fuel represents roughly 40% of total costs of an airline in Latin America's largest economy, while the global average is 30% at times of \"exceptionally high global fuel prices,\" according to IATA.\nThe group has also complained about heavy taxes levied on kerosene in Brazil, saying they \"negatively impact competitiveness in the sector.\"\nAzul, Gol and Latam are Brazil's largest airlines. (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Airlines urge Brazil, Petrobras to lower jet fuel prices"
    },
    {
        "id": 718,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-argentine-peso-falls-163356631.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* New Argentina president warns of fiscal shock * Argentine peso falls against dollar * Chilean peso, Peruvian sol lead currency declines * Stocks in Chile fall more than 1% * Latin American stocks, currencies drop 0.6% By Siddarth S Dec 11 (Reuters) - Argentina's stocks and currency in the official market fell after the country's new president, Javier Milei, warned of an economic shock, while broader South American assets fell as investors awaited key U.S economic data. Milei, a libertarian economist, took office on Sunday and warned in his maiden speech that there was no alternative to a sharp, painful fiscal shock to fix the country's worst economic crisis in decades. The peso fell to 365.95 against the dollar in the official market, while it traded at 945 to the dollar in the parallel black market. Argentina's benchmark S&P Merval stock index fell 0.4%. Milei's government will lay out its economic measures on Tuesday, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said on Monday. \"Markets have been very positive on Milei's plan and they're expecting a lot of fiscal tightening,\" said Rachel Ziemba, the founder of Ziemba Insights, adding that she thought markets were still waiting to see which of his campaign promises would be met as well as the sequencing of fiscal cuts. The broader MSCI's gauge for Latin American currencies fell 0.6% against a firmer dollar by 1546 GMT. Argentina is facing its worst economic crisis in two decades, marked by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and depleted central bank reserves. The dollar rose after a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report on Friday pushed investors to scale back bets of early interest rate cuts ahead of the release of U.S. inflation data on Tuesday and the Federal Reserve's policy decision on Wednesday. Leading the declines in Latin American currencies, the Chilean peso and Peruvian sol dropped 1.1% and 0.5%, respectively, tracking lower copper prices and a stronger dollar. Chile and Peru are the world's two largest copper producers. MSCI's Latin American stocks index declined 0.6%, led by a 1.6% drop in Chile's benchmark stock index . Mexican stocks slipped 0.1%, but the peso fell 0.5% ahead of a central bank monetary policy meeting on Thursday. Emerging market hard-currency government debt spreads over U.S. Treasuries on the JP Morgan Emerging Market Bond Indices(EMBI) Global Diversified Index fell to 394 basis points, its tightest since April 2022. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1546 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging 972.79 -0.23 Markets MSCI LatAm 2463.15 -0.65 Brazil Bovespa 126931.2 -0.13 9 Mexico IPC 54340.49 -0.1 Chile IPSA 5873.44 -1.63 Argentina MerVal 938980.0 -0.303 7 Colombia COLCAP 1148.25 0.26 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.9453 -0.35 Mexico peso 17.4506 -0.59 Chile peso 880.3 -1.03 Colombia peso 3985 -0.03 Peru sol 3.7701 -1.14 Argentina peso 365.9500 -0.51 (interbank) (Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Argentine peso falls after Milei's economic warning; Latin American assets lag"
    },
    {
        "id": 719,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-bonds-tread-water-162808551.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates with comment, refreshes prices)\nBy Stefano Rebaudo and Amanda Cooper\nLONDON/MILAN, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Euro zone yields held steady on Monday, stabilising after big price swings last week, as investors stayed on hold ahead of U.S. inflation data on Tuesday and policy decisions from many major central banks later in the week.\nBorrowing costs on both sides of the Atlantic jumped on Friday after a robust read of the U.S. labour market led money markets to modestly scale back expectations for rate cuts in 2024.\nDespite that, the benchmark 10-year Bund yield closed on Friday showing its biggest two-week fall since mid-March, as traders mostly stuck with their bets the European Central Bank will cut rates early next year.\nBarring the mid-March fall – when bond yields tumbled on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) - the Bund yield headed at one point on Friday for its largest biweekly drop since the end of July 2011. By late afternoon on Monday, it was flat at 2.26%, having risen 7.5 bps on Friday.\nMoney markets are pricing in 135 basis points of rate cuts from the ECB in 2024, down from around 145 bps late on Thursday. They were pricing 80 bps worth of cuts at the end of November.\nAnalysts have brought forward their expectations for future cuts after weak inflation data and the aggressive shift in market pricing on rates, but they expect central banks to keep monetary policy unchanged this week.\nGoldman Sachs forecast the Federal Reserve would cut rates for the first time in the third quarter of 2024, and expected the ECB to cut by 25 bps at each meeting starting April next year.\nOUTLOOK UNCERTAIN\nCiti analysts expect ECB policymakers to push back against the recent market repricing of the rate outlook \"to be quite soft\" at this week policy meeting, and \"a quantitative tightening (QT) discussion/decision\" to widen the spread between 10-year Italian bond yields and the euro short-term rate by 5-15 bps, while being \"relatively neutral\" on bonds.\nECB President Christine Lagarde said late last month the central bank might discuss an early end to reinvestments of its 1.7 trillion euro Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP), which would reduce excess liquidity.\n\"We remain sceptical that the ECB will deliver rate cuts as early as the market expects, as the outlook for underlying inflation remains uncertain,\" PIMCO portfolio manager Konstantin Veit said.\nVeit added ECB policymakers might start discussing changes to PEPP reinvestments at the December meeting, but actual details might only filter through in the first quarter of 2024.\nMuch like the ECB, the Bank of England looks set to keep rates unchanged and to stick to its tough line against talk of interest rate cuts in Britain next week, even as other leading central banks signal that they might be approaching a turning point in their fight against inflation.\nThe Fed will meet on Wednesday, while the ECB and the BoE will meet on Thursday.\nItaly's 10-year yields, the benchmark for the euro area periphery, were up 0.8 bps at 4.063%. The spread between Italian and German 10-year yields – a gauge of the risk premium investors ask to hold bonds of the most indebted countries – was at 178 bps after falling to 170 bps.\nMarkets will watch the Bank of Japan policy meeting next week. The yen surged late last week as investors weighed up the chances the BOJ could drop its negative interest-rate policy as early as January.\nAnalysts have warned a sharp rise in domestic yields could suck money back to Japan and out of global assets, including euro area and U.S. sovereign bonds. (Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo; Editing by Alex Richardson and Alison Williams) ;))\n",
        "title": "Euro zone bonds tread water ahead of U.S. data, central bank meetings"
    },
    {
        "id": 720,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-sachs-rejigs-private-credit-150524996.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s asset management arm is reshuffling senior executives in its $110 billion private credit unit as it seeks to double the size of the business in the medium term, according to its global head of asset and wealth management.\n“We think it’s the biggest opportunity set across the alternative space,” said Marc Nachmann.\nThe revamp will see Greg Olafson become global head of private credit from his current role as co-president of alternatives, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg. Olafson will now spend all of his time on private credit — an area of expertise for him — as the bank focuses more resources and attention on the sector.\nJames Reynolds will become the bank’s global head of direct lending — the biggest portion of private credit, typically involving debt financing companies that are below investment grade, the memo said. Kevin Sterling will become global head for investment-grade private credit and asset finance. Reynolds and Sterling are currently co-heads of private credit.\nGoldman has long led Wall Street rivals like JPMorgan Chase & Co, Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc. in the burgeoning $1.6 trillion market and is rare for maintaining a sizable private credit division that dates back to before the 2008 financial crisis. Its strategy has been to house the franchise within its asset-management arm, raising third-party capital rather than deploying its own balance sheet.\nThe latest changes come as Goldman seeks to retain that advantage — and as its rivals scramble to respond to the rise of a new asset class that competes directly with their leveraged finance business.\nGoldman was one of the lenders to the record-setting private loan backing the buyout of Adevinta ASA, where the private equity bidders bypassed Wall Street banks in favor of private credit financing.\nExecutive Departures\nA number of high-profile senior executives have departed Goldman in the past year amid a round of restructuring at the asset management arm. Earlier this summer, Julian Salisbury, formerly chief investment officer of Goldman’s asset- and wealth-management division, left for a similar role at Sixth Street. Salisbury’s co-head, Luke Sarsfield, also left the firm.\nMike Koester, who was co-head of alternatives alongside Olafson, departed the firm earlier this year to co-found 5C Investment Partners, and was joined by Tom Connolly, who was once Goldman’s co-head of private credit with Olafson. Connolly left last year.\nIn the latest changes, Alex Chi and David Miller will retain their roles as co-heads of Americas Direct Lending and co-CEOs and co-presidents of the BDC complex, according to the memo seen by Bloomberg. Beat Cabiallavetta will also continue to serve as global head of hybrid capital.\nRead more: Goldman’s Investment Chief Exits After Changes Roil Key Unit\n(Add details throughout. An earlier version of the story corrected the spelling of Luke Sarsfield.)\n",
        "title": "Goldman Reshuffles Private Credit in Bid to Double Assets"
    },
    {
        "id": 721,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/near-term-expected-us-inflation-160154388.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Michael S. Derby\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - The path U.S. consumers expect inflation to take over the next year softened in November to the lowest level in more than two years, amid retreating projections of higher gasoline and rental costs, a New York Federal Reserve survey showed on Monday.\nConsumers expect inflation to be at 3.4% a year from now, down from an expectation of 3.6% in October and the lowest reading since April 2021, the regional Fed bank said in its latest Survey of Consumer Expectations. The report said that inflation at the three- and five-year horizons was steady at 3% and 2.7%, respectively.\nAmid the near-term retreat in expected inflation, respondents to the New York Fed survey also projected smaller rises in the cost of gasoline and rent. The rise in fuel costs is seen at 4.5% a year from now, down from the expected 5% in October, while rent was seen at 8%, a drop from an expected increase of 9.1% in October. The year-ahead expected rise in rent was the lowest since January 2021.\nThe New York Fed released the survey a day before the start of the U.S. central bank's final two-day policy meeting of 2023. Financial markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to leave its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the 5.25%-5.50% range. The main reason the Fed is likely to hold rates steady owes to falling real world inflation pressures, as inflation moves back toward the central bank's 2% target.\nThe softening in expected inflation will likely buttress Fed officials' desire to stand pat on rates, as the central bank collectively believes that where inflation is expected to go imposes a strong gravitational pull on where it is now.\nThe New York Fed finding of easing inflation expectations is further supported by data released on Friday by the University of Michigan, which also found a sharp retreat in where the public sees inflation in a year, at 3.1% in December from 4.5% in November.\nIn a press conference following the U.S. central bank's last policy decision in early November, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that amid the inflation surge of the last few years, readings showing relatively contained inflation expectations have given policymakers confidence it could return to its 2% target.\n\"It's just clear that inflation expectations are in a good place,\" Powell said at the time, adding that \"the public does believe that inflation will get back down to 2% over time, and it will - they're right.\" New York Fed President John Williams said last month that retreating year-ahead expected inflation readings are flirting with the range they were in between 2014 and 2019, which was a time of tepid inflation gains.\nThe New York Fed report also found what it deemed \"mixed\" expectations for the job market, with projections of moderating income gains and more concern about losing one's job, even as there was less worry about a rising unemployment rate. The regional Fed bank also said household financial assessments were mostly unchanged in November, both in terms of current views and expectations.\n(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "Near-term expected US inflation at more than 2-year low, NY Fed says"
    },
    {
        "id": 722,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-wall-street-subdued-160056966.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates to 10:45 EST)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were muted and gold slid on Wednesday, as investors bided their time ahead of crucial inflation data and the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting.\nThe three major U.S. stock indexes were mixed, with the Dow Jones edging higher and the Nasdaq nominally lower and the S&P 500 essentially unchanged.\nGold dropped to a near three-week low as the dollar firmed and Treasury yields moved higher.\nOn Tuesday, the Labor Department is expected to release its closely watched Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which is expected to show inflation continues to cool but remains well above the Fed's 2% annual target.\n\"This is typical market action prior to big releases,\" said Jay Hatfield, portfolio manager at InfraCap in New York. \"There’s considerable uncertainty CPI, to a lesser to degree PPI and the Fed.\"\nAlso on Tuesday, the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) is due to convene for its two-day monetary policy meeting, which will culminate on Wednesday with its interest rate decision and the release of its summary economic projections.\n\"When something big is about to happen, usually nobody makes any big bats either direction, and that's what's happening today,\" Hatfield added.\nWhile the Fed is largely expected to let the Fed funds target rate stand at 5.25%-5.50%, market participants will parse the central bank's dot plot in order to assess the central bank's expected path forward.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63.43 points, or 0.17%, to 36,311.3, the S&P 500 gained 2.43 points, or 0.05%, to 4,606.8 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 34.64 points, or 0.24%, to 14,369.34.\nEuropean shares were slightly higher as market participants stood pat in advance of critical U.S. economic data and interest rate decisions from the Fed and other major central banks.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.29% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.04%.\nEmerging market stocks lost 0.24%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.29% lower, while Japan's Nikkei rose 1.50%.\nU.S. Treasury yields extended last week's rise as investors prepped for two auctions as well as the Fed's policy meeting, which could determine whether a monetary policy shift is on the horizon.\nBenchmark 10-year notes last fell 7/32 in price to yield 4.2698%, from 4.245% late on Friday.\nThe 30-year bond last fell 15/32 in price to yield 4.3526%, from 4.326% late on Friday.\nThe greenback edged higher against a basket of world currencies ahead of Tuesday's CPI report, while the yen slid amid fading hopes for a Bank of Japan pivot in December.\nThe dollar index rose 0.16%, with the euro down 0.16% to $1.0744.\nThe Japanese yen weakened 1.01% versus the greenback at 146.41 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2557, up 0.09% on the day.\nOil prices were slightly higher as investors balanced concerns over OPEC+ production cuts against worries of softening demand in the coming year.\nU.S. crude fell 0.11% to $71.15 per barrel and Brent was last at $75.82, down 0.03% on the day.\nGold slid to a near three-week low as the dollar firmed in advance of Tuesday's CPI report.\nSpot gold dropped 1.0% to $1,982.49 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Wayne Cole and Lawrence White; Editing by Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Wall Street subdued, gold slides ahead of CPI, Fed"
    },
    {
        "id": 723,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-ahead-inflation-views-drop-160000948.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- US consumers’ near-term inflation expectations dropped in November to the lowest level since April 2021, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey released Monday.\nMedian year-ahead inflation expectations declined for a second month to 3.4%, down from 3.6% in October. Expectations for what inflation will be at the three-year and five-year horizon held steady at 3% and 2.7%, respectively.\nThe pullback in consumers’ near-term inflation views reflected a number of factors. The expected price changes for gasoline slipped, and those for both rent and a college education fell to the lowest since January 2021. Inflation views among those over age 60 retreated to a nearly three-year low.\nConsumers’ views about the labor market worsened somewhat. The mean perceived probability of losing one’s job in the next 12 months increased by nearly a percentage point to 13.6%. The probability of finding a job after becoming unemployed decreased to a seven-month low of 55.2%. Those in the Midwest expressed the least confidence about their chances of finding new employment.\nAmericans are also increasingly reluctant to move. The odds of changing one’s primary residence over the next 12 months dropped in November to the lowest in data back to mid-2013, the survey showed.\nThat said, several measures of household finances did improve in the month. Consumers said they were less likely to miss a minimum debt payment over the next three months, and respondents were more optimistic about their year-ahead financial situation.\nThe figures come just a day before the release of the US consumer price index, a closely watched measure of inflation, and the start of the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting. Economists forecast consumer prices will be unchanged in November from the prior month, helped by retreating gasoline costs.\n",
        "title": "US Year-Ahead Inflation Views Drop to Lowest Since April 2021"
    },
    {
        "id": 724,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weak-returns-2023-ipos-still-214941782.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Despite having a reputation of being lackluster, investors may look back more fondly at the 2023 class of initial public offerings for a rare attribute among recent debutants — not losing them money.\nCompanies which raised more than $500 million in IPOs this year have gained an uninspiring 2.1%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By contrast, firms that went public in 2020 and 2021, at the peak of the market and at lofty valuations, are on average trading 30% below their IPO prices, with three quarters of them underwater, the data show. That’s despite a market rally this year lifting the S&P 500 index 20%.\nThe reputation set in the first day or first week of trading after a listing tends to stick. Still, investors are tempering their initial judgments on early trading as the year-end approaches and the industry reflects on IPOs such as the year’s largest, Arm Holdings Plc’s $5.2 billion deal — which dipped below its offer price in its debut month, and was up 27% as of Monday’s close.\n“To be clear, the trading of those IPOs have not been terrible — we simply hit this end-of-the-year phenomenon,” said Alex Wellins, co-founder of Blueshirt Group, which advises technology companies on their public listing plans.\nBirkenstock Holding Plc, which raised about $1.5 billion, broke through its $46 IPO price at the end of November and has been trading above it since; and Klaviyo Inc. is hovering around its $30 offer price. Instacart, however, is still trading nearly 19% below the mark.\nClose to 160 companies listed on US exchanges this year, raising $25.4 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Almost three-quarters raised less than $100 million, and only seven raised more than $500 million.\nThe 2021 class, on the other hand, saw a record number of listing candidates and a much more varied group, in terms of industry and size. About 1,100 companies went public in a year that saw a combined $337.4 billion in IPO volume. But as a vintage, 2021 is notorious for being the best as well as being the worst, as only 18 of the 91 IPOs above the $500 million threshold have surpassed their respective offer prices.\nElectric car maker Rivian Automotive Inc. lost almost 76%, while Bumble Inc., which climbed as much as 85% on its first day of trading in February 2021, is now 67% below its offer price, according to Bloomberg calculations.\nThere are a few bright spots: Language learning app Duolingo Inc. bucked the downward trend and has more than doubled its $102 IPO price, and infrastructure product distributor Core & Main Inc. has gained about 90% since its listing in July that year.\nFor some investors such as hedge funds that are often looking for quick gains from IPOs, early trading days set the tone. Blueshirt’s Wellins said Birkenstock’s almost 13% slump on its first day of trading in October added frost to the already somewhat chilly reception for Arm, Instacart and Klaviyo.\n“At that point investors really just threw up their hands and said, ‘Hey, we’re shutting the books on the year. We’re not going to take a chance on IPOs’,” according to Wellins.\n“IPOs are highly sensitive to market sentiment. This is largely because the stocks themselves don’t have much of a trading history,” said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist with Renaissance Capital.\n“New listings are the first to be dumped during a selloff, but they also make a stronger comeback during a rally,” Kennedy said. “When investors are optimistic about growth and looking for oversold stocks, IPOs are a natural place to look.”\nBarring market upheaval in December and January, Wellins sees the potential for US IPOs to start coming back as soon as the first quarter.\n“There are at least 50 companies that are essentially ready to go,” Wellins said.\n",
        "title": "Weak Returns From 2023 IPOs Still Beat Pandemic-Era Debutants"
    },
    {
        "id": 725,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uaw-files-unfair-labor-charges-211720317.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By David Shepardson\n(Reuters) - The United Auto Workers union said Monday it filed unfair labor practice charges against Honda Motor, Hyundai Motor and Volkswagen citing aggressive anti-union campaigns to deter workers from organizing.\nThe UAW said last month it was launching a first-of-its-kind push to publicly organize the entire nonunion auto sector in the U.S. after winning new record contracts with the Detroit Three automakers.\nLast week, the UAW said more than 1,000 factory workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee, assembly plant have signed union authorization cards, or more than 30% of workers.\nThe UAW filed charges over actions by Honda in Indiana, Hyundai in Alabama, and Volkswagen in Tennessee.\nA Honda worker said management illegally told workers to remove union stickers from hats, the UAW said. Hyundai illegally polled employees about their support for the UAW and confiscated union materials and barred their distribution in non-work areas, the union charged.\nHonda and Hyundai did not immediately comment.\nThe UAW said VW threatened and coerced employees \"from exercising rights to engage in protected activity by prohibiting employees from discussing unionization during working time and restricting employees from distributing union materials.\"\nVolkswagen said on Monday it \"respects our workers' right to determine who should represent their interests in the workplace... We take claims like this very seriously and will investigate accordingly.\"\nThe Detroit-based UAW said last month workers at 13 nonunion automakers were announcing simultaneous campaigns across the country to join the union, including at Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, Hyundai, Rivian, Nissan, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.\nThe UAW's deals with General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis included an immediate 11% pay hike and 25% increase in base wages through 2028, cuts the time needed to reach top pay to three years from eight years. Many foreign automakers have recently boosted pay and benefits in response.\n(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "UAW files unfair labor charges against VW, Honda, Hyundai"
    },
    {
        "id": 726,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-wall-street-closes-210033470.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nMacy's up as investors mount $5.8 bln buyout bid\n*\nCigna surges on report it's ditching Humana deal; share buyback\n*\nNike higher after Citigroup says \"buy\"\n(Updated at 4:00 p.m. ET/ 2100 GMT)\nBy Chuck Mikolajczak\nNEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks registered modest gains on Monday but managed to close at new highs for the year, ahead of major market catalysts this week that include inflation readings and the Federal Reserve's policy announcement, which will strongly influence investor expectations on the path of interest rates.\nMarket watchers increasingly believe the central bank is done with its interest rate hike cycle and could potentially cut rates in the first half of next year. These expectations have helped fuel a rally in equities in recent weeks that sent each of the three major indexes to their highest closing levels of the year.\nWhile markets had been pricing in a better than 50 percent chance of a rate cut in March by the Fed last week, data on Friday showed job growth accelerated and the unemployment rate dipped, while a separate report showed consumer inflation expectations had dropped. The data raised hopes the inflation could continue to decelerate without the economy falling into a recession and expectations for a March cut softened.\nInvestors will eye the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data due on Tuesday, which is expected to show headline inflation remaining unchanged in November, followed by the Producer Price Index (PPI) and the last interest rate decision of the year from the Fed on Wednesday.\n\"I don't think there is any reason to react ahead of either of those three events, it's just in wait-and-see mode. The trend is just going to stay higher,\" said Ken Polcari, managing partner at Kace Capital Advisors in Boca Raton, Florida.\n\"Certainly if the CPI number comes in softer, if it's weaker than what the expectation is that will be quite bullish because it will just speak to the slowing inflation, Goldilocks kind of landing story.\"\nAccording to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 18.52 points, or 0.40%, to end at 4,622.89 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 29.87 points, or 0.21%, to 14,433.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 158.97 points, or 0.44%, to 36,406.84.\nMarkets have almost fully priced in the central bank keeping rates steady at Wednesday's announcement, but questions remain as to the timing of the first rate cut, with expectations of a March cut of at least 25% basis points (bps) around 43% and a nearly 75% chance for May, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.\nLater in the week, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BOE), are also due to make policy announcements.\nSemiconductors climbed more than 3% with the PHLX semiconductor index touching its highest intraday level since Jan. 2022, led by a surge of in Broadcom, after Citigroup resumed coverage on the chipmaker with a \"buy\" rating.\nCigna jumped after the health insurer ended its attempt to negotiate the acquisition of rival Humana, according to sources, and announced a $10 billion share buyback plan. Humana shares slipped.\nNike gained to help buoy the Dow after brokerage Citigroup upgraded its stock to \"buy\" from \"neutral\".\nAmong other movers, Macy's shot up after an investor group consisting of Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital made a $5.8 billion offer to take the department store chain private, according to a source.\n(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Aurora Ellis)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Wall Street closes at fresh yearly highs as inflation data, Fed eyed"
    },
    {
        "id": 727,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citadel-securities-revenue-jumps-1-202802920.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Citadel Securities third-quarter revenue rose more than 8% as the privately held market-making firm seeks to grab more of Wall Street’s trading business.\nThe firm run by Chief Executive Officer Peng Zhao generated $1.8 billion in the period, up from $1.66 billion a year earlier, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The figure has exceeded $1 billion for 15 straight quarters, the people said, asking not to be identified disclosing private information.\nInterest-rate hikes, recession fears and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine generated trading windfalls in 2022, then started to subside. But last quarter saw a return of dramatic market swings as the Federal Reserve’s push to quell inflation with higher interest rates spurred demand for trading services. The biggest five US banks pulled in more than $26 billion in trading revenue during the third quarter, up 1.3% from a year earlier. JPMorgan Chase & Co. took in the most at $6.6 billion.\nFounded by billionaire Ken Griffin, Citadel Securities matches buyers and sellers in the equity and fixed-income markets. It generated about $7.5 billion in revenue last year, using algorithms to capture and profit from tiny differences in prices. The firm serves asset managers, banks, broker-dealers, hedge funds, government agencies and public pension programs.\nA representative for Miami-based Citadel Securities declined to comment on its recent performance.\nThe new figures were disclosed as part of an ongoing loan transaction the company is in the process of selling to debt investors.\nThe firm brought in about $940 million of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization during the third quarter, a 20% increase from a year earlier, the people said. Following the loan transaction, the company’s total cash on the balance sheet will stand at roughly $3.9 billion, with total debt at around $3.9 billion.\nCitadel Securities launched a $400 million loan on Monday with proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes including trading capital, Bloomberg reported. The new debt, which holds the lowest rung of investment-grade ratings, will be added to the company’s existing $3.54 billion term loan. Bank of America Corp. is leading the transaction and institutional investors must decide if they will participate by Wednesday.\nThe firm came into prominence in the era of meme stocks, and is responsible for about a third of all US retail stock trades. It’s ramping up its presence across fixed income beyond interest-rate swaps and Treasuries to serve institutional investors in corporate debt trading.\nWhile revenue and earnings were down on a year-over-year basis in the first half of 2023, the third quarter is showing improvement due to the increase in market volatility. Net trading revenue was $4.5 billion from January through the end of September, down about 23% from the same period in 2022, the people said. The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was around $2 billion in those three quarters, down about 41% from 2022.\nRead More: Citadel Securities Trading Revenue Slides 35% on Muted Market\n",
        "title": "Citadel Securities Revenue Jumps to $1.8 Billion on Volatility"
    },
    {
        "id": 728,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wework-resolves-landlord-objections-bankruptcy-195012698.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Dietrich Knauth\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - WeWork has resolved landlords' objections to its bankruptcy financing agreement, saying on Monday that it had agreed to reserve a portion of any future loans in an account that will be used for rent payments.\nU.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Sherwood, who is overseeing the SoftBank backed company's Chapter 11 proceedings, approved the compromise during a court hearing in Newark, New Jersey. The deal allows SoftBank to redirect up to $682.5 million into new credit facilities used to backstop the shared office space provider's rent obligations.\nSoftBank had already posted the funds as collateral for WeWork's rent costs, but the redirected funds will give SoftBank more flexibility to extend and replace expiring credit agreements, avoiding a scenario in which landlords attempt to collect on the posted collateral.\nWeWork is not borrowing any new money as part of the approved financing, the company's attorney Ciara Foster said in court. But if it does bring in new money, through a future loan or asset sale, some of the future funds would be reserved to pay landlords, Foster said.\nSherwood thanked WeWork and its landlords for reaching an agreement that was \"good for the case,\" while acknowledging that WeWork's landlords still face significant financial risk.\n\"The landlords are a huge player in this,\" Sherwood said. \"Some will do well and some might not.\"\nSome of WeWork's landlords had objected last week, saying that the new financing agreements should not grant additional \"perks\" to SoftBank for money it had already posted as collateral. The landlords had argued that the new agreements would give SoftBank millions in additional lending fees and expenses, as well as new rights to be repaid first from certain assets like WeWork's litigation claims.\nDouglas Rosner, an attorney representing a group of 18 landlords affiliated with Beacon Capital Partners LLC, Boston Properties, and other backers, said that WeWork and SoftBank had revised the financing agreement to address landlords' concerns.\nWith the dispute on financing resolved, WeWork must now provide more information to landlords about its future business plans, so that landlords can decide whether WeWork's desired rent concessions are \"an investment worth making,\" Rosner said.\nWeWork has said it will seek to negotiate rent costs down in its bankruptcy, and it will cancel leases from landlords unwilling to make concessions. WeWork has already canceled about 70 leases since filing for bankruptcy, and it will seek court permission to cancel additional leases in the coming weeks, attorney Steven Serajeddini said Monday.\nWeWork, once valued at $47 billion, expanded at breakneck speed but racked up steep losses before filing for bankruptcy protection on November 7.\nThe company, which filed for Chapter 11 with about $18.66 billion in liabilities, struggled to achieve profitability as a rise in work-from-home trends following the pandemic soured demand for its shared office spaces.\n(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "WeWork resolves landlord objections to bankruptcy financing"
    },
    {
        "id": 729,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/occidentals-12-billion-crownrock-deal-an-aggressive-move-amid-big-oils-permian-consolidation-180824210.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Occidental Petroleum's (OXY) announcement that it will buy privately held oil and gas producer CrownRock for $12 billion marks the latest move in a consolidation trend that is sweeping across the Permian Basin.\nCrownRock owns 94,000 net acres in the Permian Basin of West Texas. The acquisition will add to Occidental’s production by about 170 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.\nOccidental's stock rose about 1% on Monday on the news.\nThe Permian Basin, known for lower extraction costs, has become a hotspot for takeovers in recent months as the oil majors gobble up production assets.\nIn October Chevron (CVX) said it would acquire Hess in a $53 billion deal. The agreement followed Exxon Mobil's (XOM) announcement to buy Pioneer Natural Resources for $60 billion.\n“People are definitely going to run out of inventory over the next several years,” Pioneer's CEO Scott Sheffield predicted during the company's earnings call on Aug. 2. That “should lead to extreme consolidation.”\nOccidental faces one key risk in the CrownRock acquisition: it will need to issue about $9 billion in debt in order to finance the deal.\n“The CrownRock assets are generally perceived to be of high quality, but investors are likely to question the merits of adding leverage to the Occidental balance sheet at this point in the cycle,” Peter McNally, global head of sector analysts at Third Bridge Group, said in a note.\n“Mergers and acquisitions continue to be a big part of the story in US energy, but the two other recent mega transactions were done without increasing financial leverage,” he added. The analyst maintains a Buy rating on the stock and a $72 price target.\n“It's an aggressive move but OXY is getting good assets, and should reduce its break-even cost,” Stewart Glickman, energy equity analyst at CFRA Research, told Yahoo Finance.\n“The risk is that it is adding about $10B in debt. Unless crude oil collapses (which I do not expect to happen), OXY should get the time it needs to sell off noncore assets and reduce debt again,” he added.\nThis is the largest takeover by Occidental since its purchase of Anadarko in 2019, backed by a $10 billion commitment from Warren Buffett’s Hathaway. \nBerkshire Hathaway is the largest stakeholder in Occidental. During an interview with CNBC on Monday, Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub said Berkshire was not involved in the CrownRock deal.\nOccidental also announced it will boost its dividend per share by $0.04 to $0.22. The stock is down about 6% year-to-date. Last year the stock rose a whopping 117%, making it the best-performing S&P 500 company of 2022.\nInes is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Occidental's $12 billion CrownRock deal an 'aggressive move' amid Big Oil's Permian consolidation"
    },
    {
        "id": 730,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moves-goldman-sachs-appoints-olafson-170316306.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds context in paragraph 1, memo details in paragraph 3)\nBy Saeed Azhar and Tatiana Bautzer\nNEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs appointed Greg Olafson its global head of private credit as it aims to expand a business that has $110 billion of assets under management, according to a memo seen by Reuters.\nThe Wall Street giant also appointed James Reynolds as global head of direct lending and Kevin Sterling as global head of investment grade private credit and asset finance, according to a memo from Marc Nachmann, the bank's global head of asset and wealth management.\nThe leadership moves aim to \"capitalize on the significant growth of the private credit industry,\" Nachmann wrote. Goldman has been active in private credit for three decades and expects that growth to accelerate.\nThe appointments were reported earlier by Bloomberg News. (Writing by Tatiana Bautzer in New York; Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Mark Porter, Lananh Nguyen and Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "MOVES-Goldman Sachs appoints Olafson as global head of private credit -memo"
    },
    {
        "id": 731,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-fund-vista-rides-argentina-155942790.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The situation facing Argentina’s Javier Milei has “quickly become quite interesting” as the president softens his rhetoric and prepares to contend with the country’s fractured opposition, according to Brazilian hedge fund manager Vista Capital.\nRio de Janeiro-based Vista, which oversees 4.5 billion reais ($909 million), built a modest position in ADRs of Argentine banking stocks in the run-up to Milei’s victory over Sergio Massa last month. It has left its holdings unchanged since then, according to a person familiar with the situation, asking not to be named discussing non-public information.\nThe fund’s small exposure to the troubled country contributed to a 2% monthly gain in November, according to an investor note. That’s more than double the benchmark CDI overnight rate’s 0.92% advance in the span.\n‘Sensible’\n“Post-vote Milei has proved more political and sensible than many watchers anticipated,” the fund wrote, adding that the fact he’s still underestimated “further enhances our drive” to deepen the analysis on the investment thesis.\nVista declined to comment beyond the letter.\nSince defeating Massa, Milei has shifted focus away from some of his most controversial campaign pledges, including a plan to dollarize the economy. Signs of moderation spurred a sharp rally in assets, with the $103 million Global X MSCI Argentina ETF posting its best month on record in November.\nRead More: Traders Buy Argentina ETF at Fastest Pace in Almost a Decade\nFor a new administration looking to deliver on its mandate, the first year tends to hold the most promise — something Milei may take advantage of, Vista said. His administration is expected to unveil its first economic measures on Tuesday.\nAmong Brazilian hedge funds, Vista has honed a reputation for profiting off of the wild swings in commodities markets. Its flagship fund now tops all 170 rivals tracked by Bloomberg in the past three months, up 13.6% after fees. Year to date, the fund is up 7.8%, lagging the 12.4% gain for the benchmark CDI overnight rate.\n",
        "title": "Hedge Fund Vista Rides Argentina Gain, Says Milei Underestimated"
    },
    {
        "id": 732,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-bofa-appoints-334-managing-154300287.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds detail in paragraph 2-3, background in paragraphs 4-6)\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Bank of America on Monday promoted 334 employees to become managing directors, a cohort that was 8% smaller than in the previous year.\nThe new promotions included 75 investment bankers and 64 employees from the trading division.\nFor the fourth consecutive year, more than half of the group is comprised of women and people of color, a bank spokesperson said.\nThe second-largest U.S. lender expects to outperform rivals on investment banking fees in the fourth quarter, its CEO Brian Moynihan said last week.\n\"We'll be at about $1 billion in fees this quarter,\" reflecting a low single-digit decline, Moynihan told investors at a conference. The industry-wide investment banking fee pool is expected to drop by 10% to 15%, he said.\nIndustry executives said\ndealmaking conditions\nhave begun to improve, with some predicting a better outlook for strategic mergers and acquisitions at the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference last week. (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru and Saeed Azhar in New York; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Lananh Nguyen and Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-BofA appoints 334 new managing directors, down 8% from last year"
    },
    {
        "id": 733,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tencent-game-threat-seen-overdone-020000009.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The $8 billion wipeout in NetEase Inc.’s market value over the past three weeks on concerns of competition from a new Tencent Holdings Ltd. game ignores the company’s strong market position in China.\nBulls believe that NetEase will rebound, thanks to the massive popularity of its Eggy Party, as well as a promising pipeline of new titles. They also note that the company is a “pure play” in games, which are more recession-proof than other consumer segments where Tencent is exposed.\nHong Kong-listed shares of NetEase are down 10% from a November high on the perceived threat from Tencent’s Dream Star, which is due to be released Friday. NetEase is still up 45% this year, far outpacing Tencent as well as Chinese technology and global game peers.\n“We believe NetEase is macro-defensive with its solid longevity legacy games and track record of new games,” Julia Pan, an analyst at UOB Kay Hian Hong Kong Ltd., wrote in a note. Moreover, party games are the fastest-growing genre, and Eggy Party has “dominated” the segment, Pan said.\nAnalysts have unanimous buy ratings on NetEase’s Hong Kong-listed shares, with an average price target implying a gain of 30% over the next year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stock’s put-to-call ratio based on total open interest has been falling this month, suggesting that options traders are also becoming more bullish on the stock.\n‘Party Royale’\nReleased in May 2022, Eggy Party remains among the top app downloads in China. Its so-called “party royale” format is popular with more casual users, especially young women. Players of the game control egg-like characters that compete in a variety of minigames and obstacle courses.\nTencent’s heavy investment in Dream Star spawned concern of a repeat of its 2018 success with “battle royale” game Peacekeeper Elite, which quickly stole players away from NetEase’s Knives Out. Experts say the situation is different for Eggy Party, which has already achieved critical mass with more than 100 million monthly active users.\n“Party games as a genre are gaining traction in China, and the arrival of Dream Star should help expand the total addressable market rather than simply eating into Eggy Party’s user base,” said Xiaofeng Zeng, vice president at Niko Partners, a gaming consultancy company.\n‘Macro-Defensive’\nEconomic conditions may also favor NetEase, which got 80% of its revenue from games in the latest quarter versus 30% at Tencent. With spending on games seen as resilient to downturns, NetEase may be less sensitive to China’s economic headwinds than large internet peers that rely on e-commerce or advertising.\nNetEase also has more games on the way to cushion any loss in popularity for Eggy Party, which is estimated to have contributed a mid-to-high single-digit percentage of the company’s third-quarter sales. Upcoming releases include Condor Heroes and Where Winds Meet.\n“We see another buying opportunity emerging, mainly due to the overblown concerns about Eggy Party competition,” Morgan Stanley analysts including Alex Poon wrote in a note. “We expect its share price will regain momentum as NetEase announces the launch dates for multiple strong game titles.”\nTech Chart of the Day\nOracle Corp. shares fell as much as 8.8% in premarket trading on Tuesday, after the software company reported adjusted second-quarter revenue that was weaker than expected. This would be the biggest single-day drop since September, when Oracle flagged slowing cloud sales growth.\n--With assistance from Zheping Huang and Subrat Patnaik.\n(Updates to add chart section.)\n",
        "title": "Tencent Game Threat Seen Overdone in NetEase’s $8 Billion Selloff"
    },
    {
        "id": 734,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/illumina-slams-eu-over-extending-101123476.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Foo Yun Chee\nLUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Illumina on Tuesday slammed EU antitrust regulators for over-extending their powers when they scrutinised the U.S. life sciences company's $7.1 billion for Grail even though the deal was outside the scope of EU merger rules.\nThe case underlines the European Commission's determination to apply a rarely used power called Article 22 to examine so-called killer acquisitions, in which large companies buy smaller rivals in order to shut them down, even if the deals are below the EU merger revenue threshold.\nThe tougher EU regulatory approach has triggered concerns among companies and start-ups looking for a buyout from bigger rivals.\nIllumina took its fight to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) after it lost its challenge at a lower tribunal last year against the EU competition authority's 2021 decision to review the deal that it subsequently blocked last year.\n\"Does the EU merger regulation confer on the Commission the power to control mergers which fall below both the thresholds set out in the merger regulation...? We say the answer is clearly no, it does not,\" Illumina's lawyer Daniel Beard said before the panel of 15 judges.\n\"Article 22 is a derogation, not a catch all. It is to be construed strictly,\" he said.\nCommission lawyer Nicholas Khan dismissed Illumina's arguments.\n\"Ilumina and Grail's arguments are... essentially a policy manifesto about what they think should be the jurisdictional limits of EU merger control,\" he said.\n\"Illumina's arguments are simply a demand to rewrite the merger regulations.\"\nIf it loses its appeal, Illumina, which closed the deal prior to the EU veto, has said it will divest Grail within a year.\nThe Commission is set to review U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm's bid for Israeli auto-chip maker Autotalks and the Deutsche Boerse-owned European Energy Exchange's (EEX) acquisition of Nasdaq's European power trading and clearing business using its Article 22 power.\nThe cases are C-611/22 P and C-625/22 P Grail v Commission and Illumina.\n(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Jan Harvey)\n",
        "title": "Illumina slams EU for over-extending power to assess Grail deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 735,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/illumina-fights-eu-bring-7-040000242.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Illumina Inc.’s struggle to save its $7 billion acquisition of cancer-test provider Grail Inc. enters the final stages on Tuesday in a court challenge to the European Union’s power to probe deals that once flew under the radar.\nA hearing at the EU’s Court of Justice is Illumina’s last chance to convince judges that the European Commission over-reached by blocking a combination that lacked any discernible footprint in the 27-nation EU. A final ruling is expected in the coming months.\nWhile the appeal is pivotal for Illumina’s hopes of reviving its stalled purchase, it will also throw up key questions about the new EU deals-vetting policy that’s most recently been used on Qualcomm Inc.’s purchase of Israeli chipmaker Autotalks and a Deutsche Boerse AG unit’s buyout of Nasdaq Inc.’s European power trading business. The change was put in place in 2021 to pick up takeovers of low- or zero-revenue targets that previously escaped a proper review — a source of frustration particularly over Big Tech’s appetite for snapping up fledgling rivals.\n“This is a hugely important case,” said Stijn Huijts, a lawyer at Geradin Partners in Brussels. “If the commission’s approach is upheld, it has within a short window, and without legislative changes, established a position where problematic deals that fall below any European notification threshold can be called in for review.”\nIllumina has been pushing back against close antitrust scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic of its bid to re-purchase Grail — spun off from the DNA-sequencing giant in 2016 to develop a blood test to detect 50 types of cancer in early stages.\nFor Illumina, only a win will do. Defeat at the EU court in Luxembourg would lead it to abandon all hope of resurrecting the deal, regardless of the outcome of a parallel challenge at a US appeals court over the Federal Trade Commission’s April order to sell off Grail.\nMuch is at stake for the EU commission’s competition arm, led again by Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager after she returned from a failed job application for the European Investment Bank.\nThe Brussels-based watchdog pointed to a lower EU court it said already fully backed the EU commission’s policy. But lawyers still see scope for a pushback if the top court takes a different view.\n“If the commission loses, it will surely call for changes to the system,” said Huijts.\nThe cases are: C-611/22 P Illumina v. Commission, C-625/22 P Grail v. Commission.\n",
        "title": "Illumina Fights EU to Bring $7 Billion Grail Bid Back From Brink"
    },
    {
        "id": 736,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-european-shares-climb-ahead-100254675.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)\n*\nUK pay growth slows more than expected\n*\nCarl Zeiss Meditec jumps on positive forecast\n(Updated at 0920 GMT)\nBy Khushi Singh and Ankika Biswas\nDec 12 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Tuesday following benign UK wage data and ahead of a key U.S. inflation report later in the day, in a week packed with major central bank interest rate decisions.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.2% as of 0920 GMT, holding its highest level since February 2022.\nAll eyes will now be on the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report at 1330 GMT, with the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting also kicking off during the day.\nBritish wage growth slowed by the most in almost two years, but pay is probably still rising too fast for the Bank of England to relax its tough stance against cutting interest rates.\nUK's benchmark index, however, gained 0.8% to hit a near two-month high, outperforming its regional peers.\nPolicy decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of England on Thursday are also on the watch list as investors ramp up bets of a peak in policy tightening and eventual rate cuts as data increasingly point to both inflation and economic slowdown.\n\"I'm expecting all the central banks to remind markets they could still hike if they want to,\" said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at brokerage GCFX.\n\"The last thing they want to do is to signal they've won the inflation battle prematurely, because that will just allow markets to run positive on risk.\"\nCarl Zeiss Meditec jumped 7.2% after the medical technology firm reported higher annual revenue and a more optimistic forecast.\nItaly's Banco BPM gained 3.1% after pledging to moderately grow profits through 2026.\nSaab gained 3% after Citigroup upgraded the Swedish defence group's stock to \"buy\" from \"neutral\", while Hydro rose 2.9% after J.P. Morgan raised the Norwegian aluminium maker's stock to \"overweight\" from \"underweight\".\nNokia fell as much as 2.6%, before turning positive, after the Finnish telecom equipment maker lowered its 2026 comparable operating margin target.\nThe healthcare sector was also down 0.3%, pulled down by a 2.4% fall in Novo Nordisk, the producer of blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy.\nA study on Monday showed patients on Eli Lilly's weight-loss drug Zepbound substantially regained weight nearly a year after stopping treatment.\nHargreaves Lansdown slumped 7.2%, the worst hit on the STOXX 600, after Britain's market watchdog expressed concerns about the amount of interest and fees charged by some investment platforms.\nNordic Semiconductor fell 4.5% after the Norwegian fabless chipmaker said CEO Svenn-Tore Larsen would step down after 22 years. (Reporting by Khushi Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Shounak Dasgupta)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-European shares climb ahead of US inflation data, UK's FTSE outperforms"
    },
    {
        "id": 737,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thai-stocks-brink-bear-market-095717786.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Thai stocks fell, nearing bear market territory, as the ongoing selloff by foreign investors and slower economic growth weighed on sentiment.\nThe benchmark SET Index dropped 0.5% to close at 1,373.92 on Tuesday. That brings losses from a Feb. 2022 high to nearly 20%. The gauge is among the world’s worst performers this year.\nLocal equities have continued to see heavy selling by international funds amid concerns over a potential rise in government debt due to a cash handout plan. They have withdrawn about $5.6 billion from Thai stocks in 2023, the highest outflow among emerging Asian peers, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.\n“There is lack of any fresh news to support the Thai stock market as domestic consumption remains very weak,” said Narongdach Juntarapaisarn, an investment strategist at Aira Securities Co. “There is also some uncertainty around the government’s proposed cash handout plan, which is expected to face some delay. So there is very limited upside recovery for the Thai market.”\nDisappointing economic growth in the third quarter also added to the bleak outlook for Thailand. Slower-than-expected gross domestic product for the three months through September prompted the Bank of Thailand to cut growth forecasts for this year and next.\nWhile Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s $14 billion stimulus program is expected to boost consumption next year, growth may still trail the central bank’s initial projections.\nSome analysts say the decline offers good buying opportunity, given that Thai stocks have dropped more than their fundamentals.\nThe gauge is trading at 14.1 times forward earnings estimates, compared to its five-year average of 16.1 times.\nAlthough all the “negative factors are priced in,” momentum remains weak, Nariporn Klangpremchitt, an analyst at Thananchart Securities, wrote in a note. The “lack of supporting factors and continued selling orders increases pressure on the Thai market to underperform the region.”\n(Updates with analyst comments, closing price and chart.)\n",
        "title": "Thai Stocks on Brink of Bear Market as Foreign Selling Continues"
    },
    {
        "id": 738,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-steady-near-lowest-since-000105587.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil edged higher as an attack on a tanker in the Red Sea raised fears of disruptions to shipping due to the Israel-Hamas war.\nGlobal benchmark Brent traded above $76 a barrel after a vessel was struck by a missile from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen, the US military said. The incident is the latest by the Iran-backed militants, who have shown their support for Hamas by launching missiles and drones at ships.\nCrude remained close to the lowest level since June, however, as surging production from non-OPEC countries, particularly the US, raised fears of a glut. There’s also skepticism that OPEC+ alliance members will fully adhere to the group’s latest round of voluntary reductions.\nOil has fallen for the last seven weeks, the longest such run since 2018, and is down by around a fifth since late September. Chinese consumption growth is forecast to slow next year and there’s a chance of a US recession. Citigroup Inc. said OPEC+ will need to extend its output curbs through the whole of next year just to keep prices in a $70 to $80 a barrel range.\n“If OPEC+ delivers on its voluntary supply cuts and dents the current build in global oil stockpiles, it would likely see oil prices find some fundamental support,” said Vivek Dhar, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Yet, “the trajectory of global oil demand remains contested too,” he said.\nTimespreads continue to signal that supply is running ahead of demand, with the futures curve for Brent and WTI in bearish contango structures — when later contracts trade at premiums to prompt ones — through to the middle of next year. Brent’s six-month spread was 14 cents a barrel in contango, compared with more than $4 in the opposite backwardation pattern for most of October.\nTraders will be monitoring several reports due this week. The Energy Information Administration releases its short-term outlook on Tuesday, followed by OPEC a day later and the International Energy Agency on Thursday. The Federal Reserve ’s final rate decision of the year is due Wednesday.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Edges Higher After Tanker Struck by Missile in Red Sea"
    },
    {
        "id": 739,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uber-carrefour-nergies-partner-ev-092456564.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 12 (Reuters) - Uber and Carrefour are teaming up to allow drivers of the ride-hailing company to access the French supermarket chain's charging points for electric vehicles, the companies jointly announced on Tuesday.\nUber is investing 300,000 euros ($323,400) to allow its VTC (tourist vehicle with driver) drivers using EVs to charge their cars at Carrefour Énergies' stations in France, the companies said in a statement.\nVTC drivers using Uber's application will also have access to preferential rates on Carrefour's charging network from Jan. 1, they added.\n($1 = 0.9276 euros) (Reporting by Olivier Sorgho; editing by Jason Neely)\n",
        "title": "Uber and Carrefour Énergies partner on EV charging points"
    },
    {
        "id": 740,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-sovereign-bond-yields-090602238.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Stefano Rebaudo\nDec 12 (Reuters) - Euro zone benchmark Bund yield neared an 8-month low on Tuesday ahead of U.S. inflation data due later in the session and after British figures showed a weakening labour market.\nU.S. payroll data released on Friday ended a bond rally and a sharp repricing of expectations for future policy rates, which led money markets to discount up to 150 basis points of European Central Bank rate cuts in 2024.\nGerman wholesale prices fell by 3.6% in November compared to last year.\nGermany's 10-year government bond yield, the euro area's benchmark, dropped by 5 basis points (bps) to 2.21%. It hit 2.166% on Friday, its lowest since April 6, before rising to 2.286% on Monday.\nBond prices move inversely with yields.\nBritish wage growth slowed by the most in almost two years, official data showed on Tuesday, driving 10-year yields down 11.5 bps to 3.96%.\nMoney markets are pricing 135 basis points of rate cuts from the European Central Bank (ECB) in 2024, down from around 150 bps on Dec. 6. They were pricing cuts of 80 bps at the end of November.\nInvestors are braced for two days packed with central bank policy meetings. The Federal Reserve decision on rates is due late on Wednesday, while the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will meet on Thursday.\n\"While the Fed is likely to lean dovish tomorrow in statement wording, forecasts, and dots, today's U.S. CPI release could yet set up for a hawkish sounding Powell at tomorrow's presser,\" Jamie Searle, European rates strategist at Citi, said in a research note.\n\"Bunds still look 'cheap' (to the tune of 16 bps) in our fair value regression dominated by inflation risk premium and the policy outlook,\" he added.\nAnalysts forecast rates to be unchanged and a cautious counter-reaction against the recent dovish repricing of policy rates from the ECB.\n\"We expect the ECB to push back against hopes for a first cut in March 2024 already,\" said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank.\nMoney markets discounted a 70% chance of a cut in March after fully pricing it on Dec. 5.\n\"We expect the ECB to ditch the promise to reinvest maturing Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) bonds until at least the end of 2024 by saying that reinvestments will be curtailed and eventually stopped over the course of 2024 already,\" Berenberg's Holger added.\nECB president Christine Lagarde deemed PEPP reinvestments the first line of defence against any fundamentally \"unwarranted\" widening of yield spreads within the eurozone, as the central bank could use them to buy the sovereign bonds of most indebted countries.\nItaly's 10-year yields, the benchmark for the euro area periphery, were down 7.5 bps at 3.98%. The spread between Italian and German 10-year yields – a gauge of the risk premium investors ask to hold bonds of the most indebted countries – was at 178 bps after falling to 170 bps.\nInvestors await the outcome of the negotiations for the reform of the European Union fiscal governance – the Stability and Growth Pact – as too tight post-pandemic budget rules could challenge the resilience of the yield spreads of EU's most indebted countries.\nFrance is determined to reach a deal by the end of the year, but France and Germany still differ on how to sustain investment when the budget deficit is above EU limits and other countries. (Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo, editing by Barbara Lewis) ;))\n",
        "title": "Euro zone sovereign bond yields approach 8-month low ahead of US data"
    },
    {
        "id": 741,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-traders-betting-rally-key-085557077.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China stock investors pinning their hopes on a market rebound following a key annual economic meeting will likely be disappointed, if history is a guide.\nThe performance of the onshore benchmark CSI 300 Index tends to worsen a week after the release of the readouts from the Central Economic Work Conference compared to the prior week, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. In six of the past ten years, the gauge has either narrowed gains, widened declines or flipped from advances to losses after the outcomes of the key meeting were unveiled.\nExpectations are high that the nation’s leaders will discuss setting a new economic expansion target similar to this year’s aim of about 5%. Such an ambitious goal would require an even greater focus on timely stimulus to tackle concerns related to the country’s persistent property slump, waning foreign interest and a gloomy job market.\nThe CSI 300 gauge is down 11% in 2023 and set for an unprecedented third straight year of losses.\n",
        "title": "China Traders Betting on Rally After Key Meet May Be Dismayed"
    },
    {
        "id": 742,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sterling-flatlines-uk-wage-growth-085500686.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Harry Robertson\nLONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The pound struggled for direction on Tuesday after data showed British wage growth slowed in October but remained elevated, with investors focused on upcoming U.S. inflation figures.\nSterling was last up 0.07% at $1.2564, while the euro was up 0.19% at 85.9 pence.\nThe pound fell slightly after data showed that British earnings excluding bonuses were 7.3% higher than a year earlier in the three months to October, down from 7.8% in September. Economists expected a fall to 7.4%.\n\"Sterling has drifted a little lower in the aftermath of the softer-than-expected wage data,\" said Chris Turner, global head of markets at lender ING.\nThe Bank of England sets interest rates on Thursday and Turner said the data opened up \"the risk that some of the three hawks who voted for a hike in November switch to favouring a hold now\".\nEconomists and traders think the Bank will almost certainly hold interest rates at 5.25%. But they will be listening closely for hints about when borrowing costs might start to fall.\nInvestors on Tuesday were mainly focused on U.S. inflation data for November, due out at 1330 GMT (8.30 a.m. ET), which comes before the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement on Wednesday.\nThe European Central Bank is due to set monetary policy on Thursday. Both institutions are expected to hold rates steady.\nSterling touched a three-month high of $1.2733 per dollar at the end of November as U.S. bond yields fell sharply on hopes the Fed will start cutting rates early next year. The euro fell to a three-month low against the pound on Monday at 85.5 pence.\nMarket players think the BoE is likely to hold rates a little longer than both the Fed and the ECB, raising the appeal of sterling.\nYet Ashley Webb, UK economist at Capital Economics, said Tuesday's wage data would likely boost bets that the BoE may cut rates \"as soon as the middle of next year\". He said the data \"leaves our forecast for rate cuts to start late in 2024 looking a bit more challenging\".\nThe dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six peers, was last down 0.18% at 103.87.\n(Reporting by Harry Robertson; editing by Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "Sterling flatlines as UK wage growth slows, focus on US inflation"
    },
    {
        "id": 743,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/france-cac-40-eyes-record-084902882.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- France’s blue-chip CAC 40 index is set to close at a record high, as rising expectations of interest rate cuts next year triggered a brisk year-end rally from the likes of cosmetics giant L’Oreal SA to industrial company Schneider Electric SE.\nThe Paris benchmark, home to companies such as LVMH, Hermes and Sanofi SA, gained as much as 0.3% to 7,577.50 points, surpassing the previous highest close reached in April. It follows Germany’s DAX and Italy’s FTSE MIB, which have both bounced back fully from a summer correction.\nLuxury groups including LVMH, L’Oreal and Hermes have accounted for over a quarter of the CAC’s 17% year-to-date advance. While cosmetics firm L’Oreal is this year’s top boost to the index, Schneider Electric and Air Liquide SA come second and third as the rally broadened to several equity sectors, unlike a luxury-heavy boost seen in April.\nWhile shares in high-end goods makers pulled back in summer due to worries from faltering economic recovery in the key Chinese market, the sector has staged a tentative rebound since October. The industry is still seeing strong growth as its wealthy clients are less sensitive to a downturn in the economy. Shares in LVMH are up 12% since mid-October, Hermes has rallied 18% and even beaten-down Kering has climbed nearly 2%.\nThe latest leg of the rally has come amid mounting wagers on interest-rate cuts, with the European Central Bank priced to start lowering rates in the first-half of 2024. The index has risen more than 11% from late October low joining global peers.\n“My take is that lower yields, fueled by disinflation, are the biggest drivers for the CAC 40’s new record,” said Amelie Derambure, senior multi-asset portfolio manager at Amundi in Paris.\n“This is a broad rally lifting stock markets both in Europe and in the US and it’s not specific to France,” she added, noting most sectors, from industrials to retailers were benefiting from upbeat investor sentiment.\nRead more: Strategists Have Bad News for Europe Equity Bulls About 2024\nDerambure is not convinced the rally can be sustained too long without evidence of resilient economic growth, but “short-term, there’s a nice period to play with,” she added.\n--With assistance from Kit Rees.\n(Adds context on luxury stocks in para 4, updates shares throughout.)\n",
        "title": "France’s CAC 40 Eyes Record Close as Rate Cut Bets Fuel Rise"
    },
    {
        "id": 744,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/xiaomi-accuses-huawei-exec-misrepresenting-083648025.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Yelin Mo and Brenda Goh\nBEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi said on Tuesday a senior Huawei executive had seriously misrepresented facts when he claimed that rival firms were not fully respecting patents.\nYu Chengdong, who runs Huawei's consumer products and auto businesses, referred to \"dragon bone\" technology when he complained about patent infringement at a company event last week.\nAlthough he did not mention Xiaomi by name, Xiaomi touted its \"dragon bone\" hinge technology when it launched the new version of its foldable phone, the Xiaomi MIX Fold 3, and his remark was widely interpreted as taking aim at Xiaomi.\nXiaomi, China's No. 5 smartphone maker, said its hinge technology had been developed completely independently.\n\"We urge Yu to follow 'basic scientific and rigorous standards' and stop unfairly criticising competitors or misleading the public in the future,\" the statement said.\nIt added that its patent has additional components when compared to the patent referenced by Yu and that the patent referenced by Yu was not made public until June 2021, months after Xiaomi had made public statements about its \"dragon bone\" technology.\nHuawei, China's sixth-biggest smartphone maker, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nThe spat comes amid intense competition in China's smartphone market with both companies having recently redoubled their efforts in the high-end segment.\nXiaomi and Huawei have quarrelled before. In 2018, they sparred over the specifications of their smartphone cameras, with Huawei's Yu and Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun trading barbs.\n(Reporting by Yelin Mo and Brenda Goh; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "Xiaomi accuses Huawei exec of misrepresenting facts in smartphone patent spat"
    },
    {
        "id": 745,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/renault-sell-part-nissan-stake-075246087.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Renault SA is selling around 5% of its stake in partner Nissan Motor Co., offloading the stock as part of a share buyback by the Japanese carmaker.\nThe move is part of a plan to reduce Renault’s interest in Nissan with the disposal valued at around €765 million ($824 million), the French company said Tuesday. Renault will record a capital loss of €1.5 billion on the disposal, it said.\nRenault last month transferred its 28.4% stake in Nissan into a trust to pave the way for a reduction of its holding, as part of a plan to rebalance the companies’ equity ties and improve their strained partnership.\n",
        "title": "Renault to Sell Part of Nissan Stake Valued at €765 Million"
    },
    {
        "id": 746,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-wage-growth-slows-further-072635362.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- UK wage growth slowed at the sharpest pace in almost two years, a further sign that the labor market is cooling in response to a flagging economy.\nAverage earnings excluding bonuses rose 7.3% in the three months through October compared with a year ago, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. That’s down from an upwardly revised 7.8% in the period through September. Economists had expected a figure of 7.4%.\nThe figures will bolster arguments that the Bank of England may have done enough to rein in inflationary pressures coming from the labor market after delivering the most aggressive series of interest-rate increases since the 1980s.\n“While momentum has weakened, the labor market is still tight,” said Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK. “The Bank of England will remain alert as continued tightness could cause a setback in its battle against inflation, particularly if strong wage growth contributes to persistence in domestic inflation.”\nThe softer-than-forecast wages data led the pound to briefly pare gains versus the dollar before resuming its 0.2% advance to $1.2583.\n“While annual growth in earnings remains high in cash terms, there are some signs that wage pressure might be easing overall,” Darren Morgan, ONS director of economic statistics, said. “However, as inflation has been falling more quickly, pay continues to grow in real terms.”\nThe central bank is forecast to keep rates at a 15-year high of 5.25% for a third straight meeting this week. However, with wage growth still more than double the 3.5% deemed compatible with their 2% inflation target, policy makers are expected to push back against market speculation that rates could be cut as early as June.\nThose expectations have built as inflation cools and the economic outlook worsens, not only in the UK but in other major economies where elevated interest costs are eating into the spending power of consumers.\nChancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt endorsed the figures as a sign inflation is easing, one of the key measures the government has put at the heart of its agenda.\nHunt said it was “positive” to see inflation falling and real wages growing. “At the Autumn Statement, I announced an ambitious set of measures to get more people into work and boost economic growth,” he said.\nRecent questions over the reliability of the UK labor market statistics have complicated the task facing the BOE as it tries to assess just how quickly the labor market is loosening. It’s left policy makers relying on a range of indicators, including a key REC-KPMG survey that shows firms bearing down on pay costs and hiring last month.\nFor now, the ONS is producing “experimental” estimates for unemployment, employment and inactivity after it was forced to suspend its Labour Force Survey due to a falling response rate.\nBased on these figures, the jobless rate was unchanged at 4.2% in the three months through October. The number of people in work rose 50,000 from the three months through July and inactivity — those neither in a job nor looking for one — was unchanged from the previous period.\nBeyond slowing pay growth, the broader job figures pointed a cooling labor market. Vacancies fell by 45,000 on the quarter to 949,000, the 17th consecutive fall and the longest consistent period of decline on record. Vacancies are still 140,000 above pre-pandemic levels, however.\nHousehold finances were given a boost by regular real pay rising 1.2% in the three months through October, the fastest gains when adjusted by inflation in just over two years. However, pay is still clawing back the losses from a period of painfully high price growth.\nThe ONS said there were 131,000 working days lost to labor disputes in October 2023, three-fifths of which where in health and social care as doctors went on strike. The industrial action involved 49,000 workers, the lowest number since June 2022.\n--With assistance from Harumi Ichikura, Joel Rinneby, Eamon Akil Farhat, Irina Anghel and Aline Oyamada.\n(Updates with detail from the report, comment and market reaction.)\n",
        "title": "UK Wage Growth Slows in Further Sign the Economy is Cooling"
    },
    {
        "id": 747,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-looking-nvidia-ai-chips-215020196.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the US is looking into the specifics of three new artificial intelligence accelerators that Nvidia Corp. is developing for China, after vowing earlier this month to restrict any new chips that give the Asian country AI capabilities.\n“We look at every spec of every new chip, obviously to make sure it doesn’t violate the export controls,” she said in an interview Monday with Bloomberg News during a visit to Nashua, New Hampshire.\n“We talk to Nvidia regularly, and I should say they’re a good partner,” she added. “We have a close working relationship with them. They share information.”\nWhen asked about the US actions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Tuesday they “undermine the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and will not be conducive to the stability of the global and industrial supply chains.”\nShe added at a regular press briefing in Beijing that the moves contradicted “the principles of market economy and fair competition.”\nNvidia, based in Santa Clara, California, is in the process of developing China-specific chips after the US tightened export controls to block the export of semiconductors the company had earlier designed for China. The new processors abide by the stricter China guidelines that Commerce announced earlier this fall, Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang told reporters in Singapore last week.\nIn response to Raimondo’s latest remarks, Nvidia said it was working with the US government following its clear rules and looking to “offer compliant data center solutions to customers worldwide.”\nRaimondo warned companies this month that the US can and will further tighten controls to capture new technologies that could give Beijing an edge. “If you redesign a chip around a particular cut line that enables them to do AI, I’m going to control it the very next day,” she said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.\nThe Commerce Department declined to comment on whether it plans to restrict Nvidia’s new chips but reiterated that it will continually update rules to respond to an evolving threat.\n--With assistance from Ian King and Philip Glamann.\n(Updates with remarks from China’s Foreign Ministry.)\n",
        "title": "US Looking Into Nvidia’s AI Chips for China, Raimondo Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 748,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-astrazeneca-buy-rsv-vaccine-071944311.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details on deal throughout)\nDec 12 (Reuters) - Drugmaker AstraZeneca on Tuesday agreed to buy vaccine developer Icosavax in a deal valued at up to $1.1 billion to bolster its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine portfolio.\nThe deal values Icosavax at $15 per share in cash at closing, plus a non-tradable contingent value right for up to $5 per share in cash if certain milestones are met.\nThe upfront payment of $15 apiece represents a premium of about 43% to U.S.-listed Icosavax's last close.\n(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-AstraZeneca to buy RSV vaccine maker Icosavax for $1.1 bln"
    },
    {
        "id": 749,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-court-denies-musks-request-070929311.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - A U.S. district court on Monday denied Elon Musk's request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Twitter investors that accuses him of driving down the social media platform's stock price in the months before he bought it in October 2022.\nThe court for the Northern District of California allowed certain claims by the investor suit regarding Musk's statements, including his tweet about the deal being \"temporarily on hold\", although a portion of the plaintffs' claims were rejected.\nThe law firm representing Musk, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nMusk led the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which he has rebranded X.\n(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Urvi Dugar; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "US court denies Musk's request to dismiss investor suit on Twitter buyout"
    },
    {
        "id": 750,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/novo-banco-explores-wizink-consumer-070000139.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro and Andres Gonzalez\nLONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Portuguese lender Novo Banco is exploring a potential tie-up in Portugal with Madrid-based consumer finance provider WiZink, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.\nThis could result in a joint venture where Novo Banco funds WiZink-originated loans, with WiZink owner Varde Partners retaining some control of the new entity, one of sources said.\nNovo Banco, which was born out of Portugal's failed Banco Espirito Santo and is majority-owned by private equity group Lone Star, is competing in the final stages of a sale process for WiZink's Portuguese operations, the other source said.\nIt is being advised by Alantra Partners, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.\nThere is no certainty that a deal will materialise and another bidder may yet buy the WiZink asset, they added.\nA spokesperson said Novo Banco is constantly evaluating deal opportunities, but declined to comment on a tie-up with WiZink.\nAlantra, Lone Star, Varde and WiZink declined to comment.\nReuters reported in September that Varde Partners had appointed Deutsche Bank to review strategic options for WiZink's Portuguese arm, which provides credit cards and smaller loans and originates from the former local operations of Barclays.\nNovo Banco was formed in 2014 through the restructuring of Banco Espirito Santo, with the state still holding a 25% stake in Portugal's fourth-largest bank, which says it has a market share of nearly 10% and 43 billion euros in assets.\nThe Portuguese bank aims to be operationally ready next year for a potential initial public offering (IPO), its CEO Mark Bourke told Reuters last month. (Reporting by Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro and Andres Gonzalez in London; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "Novo Banco explores WiZink consumer tie-up in Portugal –sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 751,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-wall-street-journal-063406840.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 12 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\n- \"Fortnite\" maker Epic Games has prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over Alphabet's Google, which alleged the Play app store operated as an illegal monopoly, in a ruling that if it holds could upend the entire app store economy.\n- Star Bulk Carriers and Eagle Bulk Shipping said they agreed to merge in an all-stock deal that would create the world’s fourth-biggest commodities carrier and make it more attractive to large investors.\n- The U.S. special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump on federal charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat asked the Supreme Court on Monday to launch a fast-track review of the former president's claim he cannot be tried on those charges.\n- Rudy Giuliani’s legal and financial woes could worsen this week, with a District of Columbia jury considering whether the former Trump lawyer should pay tens of millions of dollars for falsely accusing two Georgia election workers of rigging the November 2020 presidential election.\n- Hasbro is cutting nearly 20% of its workforce as weak sales for toys and games persist into the critical holiday shopping period.\n- Private-equity firm GPB Capital Holdings, facing civil fraud allegations since early 2021, will be liquidated by a court-appointed receiver, signaling the end of a long wait for roughly 17,000 investors whose capital has been tied up since at least 2018.\n(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST- Wall Street Journal - Dec 12"
    },
    {
        "id": 752,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jd-com-founder-channels-jack-005725162.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- JD.com Inc. founder Richard Liu urged staff to address deep-seated issues within his e-commerce company, in an internal memo that echoed a call to arms issued by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma last month.\nLiu was responding to an employee’s post on a JD.com forum over the weekend, in much the same way Ma addressed and amplified an Alibaba staffer’s views about rising competition. The unidentified employee listed a litany of problems from poor merchant support to an overly pricey item list, according to posts confirmed by a JD spokesperson. The billionaire founder, apologizing for typing while in a car, agreed with that assessment and called for change.\n“I feel our brother has said it all too well,” Liu wrote. “Every word hit upon the company’s pain points, they’re all existing problems. We need to change, or there’s no way out for our company.”\nJD and Alibaba have long been the leaders in China’s e-commerce arena, but have rapidly ceded ground to up-and-comers from PDD Holdings Inc. to ByteDance Ltd.’s Douyin. JD’s shares have slid more than 50% this year, outstripping Alibaba’s roughly 19% decline and a far cry from PDD’s 75% rally.\nRead More: JD.com’s Revenue Beats Estimates After Discounts Drive Sales\nThis month, eight-year-old PDD surpassed Alibaba in market value for the first time to become China’s most valuable e-commerce firm — a wake-up call for the twin incumbents of the country’s online retail arena.\nMa, the once outspoken billionaire who faded out of the spotlight after Beijing targeted Alibaba in an anti-monopoly investigation, broke his silence in November to urge corrective action while lauding Temu-owner PDD.\nJD.com is adopting discounts and lower prices to try and turn the tide at a time consumers are cutting back on big-ticket spending. But growth remains anemic as China struggles with an uncertain post-Covid recovery.\n“We often say that in battles we should only be the first, but we have always been defensive and never think about how to take the initiative!” Liu wrote.\nRead More: Jack Ma’s Biggest E-Commerce Rival Is Coming for Amazon, Walmart\n(Updates with JD spokesperson’s confirmation from the second paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Billionaire JD Founder Channels Jack Ma in Call for Change"
    },
    {
        "id": 753,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-boj-wants-markets-ready-062948858.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Leika Kihara\nTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's central bank chief faces a key test of his communication skills at next week's monetary policy meeting, where he is expected to keep alive prospects of an end to negative rates while hosing down excitement that such a move is imminent.\nLess than a year into the job, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda has already wrong-footed markets twice in comments about the future of policy, most recently last week when bond yields and the yen surged on expectations of a near-term shift in rates.\nIt has been more than 16 years since Japan's last interest rate hike and financial markets have developed a hypersensitivity to any hint of an end to ultra-loose monetary settings, making it difficult for the BOJ to signal changes without triggering destabilising bond yield spikes.\nHowever, as the economic case for an end to accommodative policy builds, the BOJ's priority now more than ever is to avoid surprising markets, three sources familiar with its thinking say. That means Ueda - unlike his predecessor who shocked markets with abrupt policy shifts - will try to drop some hints in advance.\n\"There's nothing good about surprising markets especially when central banks are weaning out stimulus,\" one of the sources said, a view echoed by another source.\nThat heightens the importance of what Ueda will say at his news conference after the BOJ's two-day meeting ending on Tuesday, where the board is seen making no major changes to its ultra-loose policy setting.\nMore than 80% of economists polled by Reuters in November expect the BOJ to end its negative rate policy next year with half of them predicting April as the most likely timing. Some see the chance of a policy shift in January.\nUeda faces a tricky balancing act. With inflation exceeding its 2% target for well over a year, the BOJ wants to keep alive market expectations of a near-term shift.\nBut the BOJ also needs to avoid any explicit language or hints that commit it to specific timing, which means keeping some ambiguity in its messaging.\nThe BOJ's current strategy is to emphasise the prerequisites for an exit, but hold off pre-announcing the expected timing, the sources said.\nThe delicate challenge of communicating without committing means Ueda could offer an array of ambiguous comments that risk being misinterpreted and causing unwanted market volatility, some analysts say.\nA more transparent way of communicating would be to tweak or ditch a dovish forward guidance on policy that promises to ramp up stimulus as needed, though many in the BOJ rule out the option given uncertainty over the economic outlook, the sources said.\nThe BOJ's communication is also constrained by a disconnect between its dovish policy bias and hawkish forecasts predicting inflation will stay near its 2% target until early 2026.\nBlaming the inflation overshoot on cost-push pressures, Ueda has stressed the need to wait for inflation to be driven more by domestic demand and stronger wage growth, in normalising policy.\nBut the governor himself acknowledged that this was a tough sell, telling parliament last week it was \"hard to explain all this in a convincing way.\"\nAs well as creating market volatility, messaging missteps also undermine the effectiveness of central bank communication, an essential part of the policy transmission process.\nNaomi Muguruma, senior market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, plans to focus on how Ueda describes progress the BOJ has made in scrutinising the price outlook.\n\"The key is how much the BOJ will try to signal the chance of a policy change in January,\" she said. \"In any case, markets will probably remain volatile given the risk of Ueda's comments being taken out of context again.\"\n(Reporting by Leika Kihara. Editing by Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-BOJ wants markets ready for a policy shift - just not so soon"
    },
    {
        "id": 754,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nokia-lowers-2026-profit-margin-062851754.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia said on Tuesday it had revised down its comparable operating margin target to at least 13% by 2026 from at least 14% previously, after losing a deal with a U.S. telecom carrier.\nNokia said it still sees a path to achieving the previous target but considering current market conditions in its mobile networks business, it deemed the revision prudent.\nThe company took a hit after AT&T chose Ericsson to build a telecom network using a new cost-cutting technology called Open radio access network (ORAN) that will cover 70% of its wireless traffic in the United States by late 2026.\nHowever on Tuesday, Nokia and Deutsche Telekom (DT) announced a deal to use ORAN in Germany, marking a return of the Finnish company into DT's commercial networks.\nThe project is already underway and will be extended from the first quarter of next year.\n(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Anna Ringstrom, editing by Louise Rasmussen)\n",
        "title": "Nokia lowers 2026 profit margin target, wins Deutsche Telekom contract"
    },
    {
        "id": 755,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-nokia-lowers-2026-profit-062401211.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds detail on outlook in paragraph 2, background in paragraph 3, new deal in paragraph 4-5)\nSTOCKHOLM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia said on Tuesday it had revised down its comparable operating margin target to at least 13% by 2026 from at least 14% previously, after losing a deal with a U.S. telecom carrier.\nNokia said it still sees a path to achieving the previous target but considering current market conditions in its mobile networks business, it deemed the revision prudent.\nThe company took a\nhit\nafter AT&T chose Ericsson to build a telecom network using a new cost-cutting technology called Open radio access network (ORAN) that will cover 70% of its wireless traffic in the United States by late 2026.\nHowever on Tuesday, Nokia and Deutsche Telekom (DT)\nannounced\na deal to use ORAN in Germany, marking a return of the Finnish company into DT's commercial networks.\nThe project is already underway and will be extended from the first quarter of next year.\n(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Anna Ringstrom, editing by Louise Rasmussen)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Nokia lowers 2026 profit margin target, wins Deutsche Telekom contract"
    },
    {
        "id": 756,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-york-times-business-062227223.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 12 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\n- Hasbro, the toymaker behind popular brands like Peppa Pig, Transformers and Magic: The Gathering, said on Monday that it would eliminate roughly 1,110 jobs, or nearly 17 percent of its work force, as the company continued to grapple with weak sales.\n- A federal judge in Texas on Monday upheld a ban that prevented state employees from using TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-form video app, on government devices and networks, rejecting a challenge by lawyers who argued that the prohibition had violated the First Amendment.\n- A jury ruled on Monday that Google had violated antitrust laws to extract fees and limit competition from Epic Games and other developers on its Play mobile app store, in a case that could rewrite the rules on how thousands of businesses make money on Google’s smartphone operating system, Android.\n- The United Automobile Workers union accused Honda , Hyundai and Volkswagen on Monday of unfair labor practices, asserting that they had interfered with efforts by employees to build support for the union at U.S. plants. (Compiled by Bengaluru Newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST- New York Times business news - Dec 12"
    },
    {
        "id": 757,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jgb-yields-slide-receding-boj-061718777.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Kevin Buckland\nTOKYO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond yields fell on Tuesday amid waning bets for an imminent hawkish policy tweak by the Bank of Japan (BOJ), with the declines gathering pace following a smooth auction of five-year notes.\nThe 10-year JGB yield slid 4.5 basis points (bps) to 0.730% as of 0600 GMT. The five-year yield fell 5 bps to 0.305%.\nAnalysts said demand at the auction was \"solid\", with some investors covering short positions after speculation cooled for the BOJ to end negative rates as soon as its Dec. 18-19 policy meeting.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda had spurred a sudden ramp up in hawkish bets with comments on Thursday in parliament that the central bank had several options on which interest rates to target once it pulls short-term borrowing costs out of negative territory.\nOn Monday, however, Bloomberg News reported that policy makers see little need to rush into scrapping negative interest rates.\n\"People have stopped talking about it,\" said Shoki Omori, chief Japan desk strategist at Mizuho Securities, referring to an end to negative rates next week.\nAt the same time, \"there could be some wording changes to forward guidance - that's possible - that depending on the situation, they could hike in January\", he added.\nElsewhere on the curve, the two-year JGB yield fell 1 bp to 0.075%. The 20-year yield sank 4 bps to 1.50%, and the 30-year yield dropped 3.5 bps to 1.72%.\nBenchmark 10-year JGB futures rose 0.37 yen to 145.28. (Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "JGB yields slide on receding BOJ bets, solid 5-year note sale"
    },
    {
        "id": 758,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/market-wall-street-eyes-waning-060551689.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Paritosh Bansal\n(Reuters) - U.S. short-term financing markets saw a three-day spike in interest rates at month-end. That's left Wall Street wondering whether the financial system is running out of cash.\nA spike in repurchase agreements, or repo, where investors borrow against Treasury and other collateral, can be a sign that cash is getting scarce. Markets need a minimum amount of liquidity to function smoothly.\nEventually, the elevated level of the interest rate, called the Treasury GCF Repo Index, between Nov. 30 and Dec. 4 was explained by factors other than cash scarcity, such as month's end book-closing by banks and hedge fund trading, interviews with more than half a dozen bank executives and market participants show.\nBut it set Wall Street abuzz. The U.S. Federal Reserve is draining hundreds of billions from the financial system by selling bonds in a process called quantitative tightening (QT) to normalize monetary policy after the pandemic-era stimulus. That has caused concern that cash levels could be approaching a tipping point, the executives said.\nOne problem for the market is that there is no consensus on how much cash in the system is too little, and so there is no telling when that level might be breached. Estimates vary widely, adding to the jitters.\nTell Alessio, treasurer at regional lender Cadence Bank, said while they have access to ample liquidity they are watching for the threshold below which market functioning could be disrupted.\n\"We actively monitor the repo markets for leading indicators of what that lower boundary is,\" Alessio said in an email.\nThe interviews with bank executives, some of whom requested anonymity to speak freely, also provide a flavor of a Fed survey of senior finance officers. The executives work at banks that combined oversee several hundred billion dollars of assets.\nIn the survey, the Fed polls for information such as the lowest comfortable level of reserves (LCLOR), below which the financial system starts to get impacted. The Fed did the last survey in September but has not released results, leaving only data from May in the public domain.\nTwo sources at a major U.S. bank said their LCLOR was up by 20% to 30% above what they were before the March banking crisis. Their reasons ranged from market volatility to tighter regulation.\nThe May survey found that the crisis had led some banks to raise reserves. Three of four mid-sized bank executives said their cash levels have returned to normal after increasing many-fold in March and April, while one said it had higher levels. They all said they were being more conservative in business.\nRaj Singh, CEO of BankUnited, said his bank had increased cash levels to $2 billion during the banking crisis, but had brought it down to pre-March levels of around $400 million by the summer.\nAmalgamated Bank CFO Jason Darby said they had increased coverage of the riskiest portion of their uninsured deposits to over 200% from 185% after March. Such deposits come from its newer customers, who have been with the bank for less than five years.\n\"It feels like the events of March are literally only yesterday,\" Darby said. \"That's the way we've been thinking about trying to manage our business conservatively.\"\nHOW MUCH IS NEEDED?\nEstimates of the minimum amount of bank reserves needed range from about $2.5 trillion to $3.3 trillion. Such reserves currently total nearly $3.5 trillion; another $820 billion or so is held by entities like money market funds.\nOne treasurer at a mid-sized bank calculated the threshold to be around $2.9 trillion to $3 trillion, while an executive at a large bank said it might be in the middle- to higher-end of the range in the short term.\nThe large bank executive said a survey of financial officers showed most expected to hit the threshold around the middle of next year. But it also underscored the uncertainty: Some expected it could be breached as early as February or March.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell has said the bank sees no reason to change the pace of QT. \"It's hard to make a case that reserves are even close to scarce at this point,\" he said last month.\nIn broad strokes, financial system liquidity is the sum of reserves held by banks and money parked overnight with the Fed by money market funds and others, called a reverse repo. The levels are affected by the Fed's balance sheet and the Treasury Department's general account, where it keeps cash to pay the U.S. government's bills.\nThe last time the financial system found out liquidity had dipped too low was in 2019, when bank reserves hit around $1.5 trillion. The Fed had to step in.\nSince then, the threshold has likely increased, in part due to the growth in economic activity and tighter regulations, the executives said.\nAN ESTIMATE\nThe mid-sized bank's treasurer said he looks at the ratio of cash held by domestic banks and their assets, setting his lowest comfortable level at around 9%.\nThe treasurer draws from 2019, when the ratio fell well below that for a sustained period and markets were affected. It again breached 9% ahead of the March crisis.\nThe ratio is now above 10%. Roughly $200 billion to $230 billion of cash drain would bring it down by a percentage point, the treasurer estimated.\nBut before bank reserves get hit, the system has a buffer in the Fed's reverse repo facility, leading to questions about whether that can be drained to zero. A New York Fed survey shows Wall Street expects the Fed to stop QT when the facility hits $625 billion.\nMeanwhile, more tests to liquidity are likely in the coming weeks, keeping Wall Street on edge.\nYear-end cash needs still have to be sorted. Early next year, the Treasury will lay out plans for debt issuance that would eat into cash. Then, the tax season will be upon us with more cash needs, said John Velis, forex and macro strategist for the Americas at BNY Mellon.\n\"That's another thing to keep in mind as a wild card,\" he said.\n(Reporting by Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Megan Davies and Anna Driver)\n",
        "title": "In the Market: Wall Street eyes waning cash pile with anxiety"
    },
    {
        "id": 759,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-epic-legal-defeat-threatens-060401137.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Google’s legal defeat at the hands of Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. threatens to roil an app store duopoly with Apple Inc. that generates close to $200 billion a year and dictates how billions of consumers use mobile devices.\nThe loss — handed down by a San Francisco jury on Monday — is a blow to the two companies’ business model in apps, where they charge commissions of as much as 30% to software developers who typically have few other options.\nEpic has spent years railing against the practice and got a federal jury to agree that Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit had acted unfairly as a monopoly. The case is likely to accelerate the weakening of app store rules, which have already come under fire from regulators and lawmakers around the world.\n“The dominoes are going to start falling here,” Tim Sweeney, chief executive officer of Epic, said in an interview after the verdict. “The end of 30% is in sight.”\nThough Apple won a similar case against Epic in 2021, that ruling was made by a single judge. The nature of the Google suit — where a jury sided unanimously with Epic — let actual consumers weigh in on the world of smartphone apps. In under four hours of deliberations, they found that Google had engaged in anticompetitive conduct, harmed Epic and illegally forced its own billing system on developers.\nThe battle began in 2020, when Fortnite was kicked off the Apple and Google Play app stores because the game developer had secretly installed its own payment system. The idea was to bypass the up-to-30% revenue share that the two tech giants take from in-app purchases and subscriptions on their platforms. In response, Epic sued both companies.\nGoogle also has drawn criticism for making side deals with big developers like Spotify Technology SA where it offers lower commissions. In Monday’s decision, the jury found that Google shouldn’t require Android app developers to use its billing system for software sold through its store — and that it shouldn’t offer custom agreements to certain developers.\n“The immediate aftereffect is we will see a shift in the marketplace where big tech companies will have to make accommodations — whether it is more access, better terms, more options for developers — to stave off legal exposure,” said Paul Swanson, a partner at Holland & Hart who specializes in technology and antitrust law.\nRead More: Google Loses Antitrust Fight With Fortnite Maker Over App Store\nThe case also underscores a sentiment among many consumers that major technology companies have gained too much power. Google also faced scrutiny from a Justice Department judge this fall over its power in search, though the outcome of that trial won’t be clear for months.\nEpic’s Sweeney predicted that — as Google starts making changes to its operations and public pressure mounts — its app store peer will be forced to act as well. “The same thing will start happening with Apple,” he said.\nAnd that will ultimately help consumers, Sweeney said. “The economics is real,” he said. “When you remove a 30% tax from an ecosystem, consumer prices will get better. Or quality will get better and selection will increase.”\nDuring the case, Epic highlighted agreements Google reached with top game developers, including Activision Blizzard Inc. and Nintendo Co., for smaller fees. Every developer should now demand one of those deals, Sweeney said.\nThere’s a fortune at stake for both Apple and Google. In-app spending is forecast to reach $182 billion next year and $207 billion in 2025, according to research firm Sensor Tower.\nAlready, the Digital Markets Act in the European Union will spur changes. For the first time, Apple will need to allow third-party app stores and billing systems in the region.\nEven before that law takes effect next year, the two companies have been making adjustments. Apple now lets so-called reader apps — such as software for cloud storage, watching video and reading books — link to outside websites to let users pay. That bypasses Apple’s revenue cut.\nBoth Apple and Google also have changed their policies to take a commission on subscription apps. And Apple has been forced to let dating apps in the Netherlands bypass its billing system.\nBut the Epic win against Google has the potential to bring major changes to the companies’ home country. That includes shifting internet software back to a more open environment, rather than the app stores’ closed ecosystems, according to Stanford Law professor Mark Lemley.\n“The last two decades have seen a profound shift away from the open internet towards walled gardens,” Lemley said. “That is one of the things that has kept the internet market so concentrated. This verdict just knocked a big hole in the garden wall.”\nThough Apple won nine out of 10 counts against Epic when that decision was made in 2021, one issue is still up in the air: whether Apple should let all third-party developers point customers to websites to pay for purchases, bypassing Apple’s fees. It may now be harder for the iPhone maker to avoid that fate.\nGoogle, which plans to appeal its verdict, said it “will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners and the broader Android ecosystem.” Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.\nApple has said it doesn’t have any side deals with developers, though it offers discounted rates to some video streaming partners like Amazon.com Inc. During the trial, Epic’s lawyers said Google also didn’t properly retain some internal records relevant to the case.\n“I don’t think there’s much of a debate that the monopoly finding with Google holds true with Apple too,” said Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, a trade association for digital content companies. “The distinction that will be pored over is whether or not Apple abused that.”\n--With assistance from Leah Nylen and Malathi Nayak.\n",
        "title": "Google’s Epic Legal Defeat Threatens $200 Billion App Store Industry"
    },
    {
        "id": 760,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citi-explores-deal-structures-battered-200000985.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. is exploring entirely new deal structures it says have the potential to entice risk-averse investors to emerging markets via a controversial corner of climate finance.\nThe market for carbon credits, which has yet to be regulated, has untapped applications that — if done right — would help mobilize capital for climate projects, according to Jay Collins, vice chairman of banking, capital markets and advisory at Citi. He said initiatives announced at the COP28 climate summit to clean up the carbon offset market are paving the way for banks like Citi to start constructing such deals.\nThere have been “integrity issues, governance challenges and uncertainty in the market,” Collins said in an interview last week in Dubai. But “we are seeing movement here at COP28, and I’m very bullish in the long run on this business.”\nA rehabilitated carbon offset market would allow banks to redraw the structure of a project’s so-called capital stack — namely the ranking of equity and debt according to risk — by using carbon credits as loss-absorbing capital, he said.\nCiti is among an increasing number of global banks that’s now building out desks to finance carbon offset projects, trade credits and advise corporate buyers in the hope of latching on to growth in a market that BloombergNEF estimates may reach $1 trillion. Other banks dedicating resources to carbon finance include JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc.\nCollins said carbon credits have the potential to become “one of the tools” in so-called blended finance models, whereby private investors are offered assurances they’ll be spared any initial losses as an incentive to get them to join higher-risk deals. Normally, such de-risking is done using guarantees, grants or loans from public institutions at below-market rates. Collins said carbon credits could play a similar role.\nThe instruments have the potential to become “a catalytic layer of value in the capital stack” that can help mobilize more climate funding for emerging and developing countries (EMDC), “particularly for mitigation projects,” he said.\nHow Do Carbon Credits Work?\nA carbon credit is a piece of paper representing a ton of reduced or avoided CO2 pollution delivered by projects that, for example, protect trees or build wind farms. The credits are bought by companies seeking to offset their emissions, as well as banks and commodities houses looking to trade or repackage them. The instruments exist in two main markets, namely the regulated compliance market and the unregulated so-called voluntary market.\n“A voluntary carbon credit can be blended into a green transaction as a first-loss layer,” Collins said. It would act “like a grant or cash equivalent, making more EMDC green transactions bankable.”\nFor now, banks entering the offset market are hoping that progress on the sidelines of the COP28 talks in Dubai will restore confidence in carbon credits, following a string of controversies.\nMany of the credits generated have drawn criticism from climate scientists for their failure to live up to the environmental claims made by those selling them. And last month, the world’s top seller of carbon credits parted ways with its chief executive following months of allegations that the company overstated the climate impact of products that it sold.\nBut at the COP28 summit in Dubai, several initiatives were launched in an attempt to repair the market’s reputation. Six carbon credit registries announced they’re joining forces to establish consistent carbon accounting approaches, and a group of standards bodies said they’d work together to align principles. The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission also unveiled its proposed guidance for carbon offset derivatives contracts. And John Kerry, US climate envoy, has thrown his support behind the market.\n“There’s a lot of progress,” said Collins. “It’s not perfect yet, but it’s a big deal.”\nThough climate scientists have long warned against relying on offsets as a way for companies to reach their climate targets, they acknowledge that some — such as those generated by projects that suck CO2 out of the atmosphere – are needed to tackle residual or hard-to-abate emissions.\nFor now, the vagaries of the carbon market have left those trading the products facing sizable losses. Last year, Dutch trading house ACT Commodities Group BV had to destroy about 1.5 million credits after realizing they were valueless. Vitol SA, the world’s largest independent commodity trader, was left with 75 million stranded credits, equivalent to twice Switzerland’s annual CO2 emissions.\nBut with stricter guardrails, Collins said there’s a unique opportunity for carbon credits to transform the architecture of climate finance. The instrument may prove “critical to getting to the large quantum of funding necessary,” he said.\nMichael R. Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent company of Bloomberg News, is the UN secretary general’s special envoy for climate ambition and solutions. Bloomberg Philanthropies regularly partners with the COP Presidency to promote climate action.\nBloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, partners with South Pole to purchase carbon credits to offset global travel emissions.\n",
        "title": "Citi Explores New Deal Structures in Battered CO2 Offsets Market"
    },
    {
        "id": 761,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-changxin-memory-delays-ipo-055533533.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 11 (Reuters) -\nChinese chip maker Changxin Memory Technologies Inc (CXMT) is delaying its initial public offering (IPO) and will consider raising funds at a valuation of 140 billion yuan ($19.51 billion), Bloomberg News reported on Monday.\nChangxin completed a shareholder restructuring around the middle of 2023 to prepare for the potential listing, the report said, citing people familiar with the situation. The company however decided to wait for a more favorable market after communications with regulators and prospective investors, the report added.\nCXMT did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.\nThe chipmaker, owned by state-backed parent Innotron Memory Co, is China's leading maker of DRAM memory chips. Bloomberg reported in April that CXMT's IPO would target a valuation of more than $14.5 billion.\nReuters reported in May that CXMT had appointed investment banks CICC and China Securities as sponsors for its planned domestic IPO. ($1 = 7.1770 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi and Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru)\n",
        "title": "China's Changxin Memory delays IPO, eyeing valuation of $19.5 bln - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 762,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-uk-labour-data-takes-053335230.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee\nUK labour market data on Tuesday will take centre stage as Europe wakes up, with traders trying to gauge just how much inflationary pressure remains in Britain's economy ahead of a Bank of England meeting on Thursday.\nThe spotlight will then turn to U.S. inflation later in the day as the Federal Reserve kick starts its two-day policy setting meeting that will make or break expectations around rate cuts next year.\nWages in Britain, excluding bonuses, in the three months to October are expected to slow to a 7.4% rise, analysts estimate, compared with a 7.7% rise in September. The data will likely keep the central bank on guard for inflationary pressures.\nWhile the BOE is expected to keep rates steady on Thursday, the focus is on when and how fast it will cut rates. Traders expect the British central bank to cut rates at a slower pace than the Fed.\nInvestors have slightly dialled back their expectations of the Fed cutting rates early next year. Markets are now pricing in a 45% chance of a rate cut in March compared with 57% a week earlier, according to CME FedWatch tool.\nAnd that brings us to 2023's final central bank bonanza, with investors bracing for policy decisions from the European Central Bank, Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank apart from the BOE and the Fed.\nAll that has meant investors have been cautious this week, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.5%, while the dollar drifted lower, with the yen recouping some of its steep overnight losses. [FRX/]\nFutures indicate European bourses are set for a muted start.\nIn corporate news, \"Fortnite\" maker Epic Games has prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over Alphabet's Google in a ruling that if it holds could upend the entire app store economy.\nFrench drugmaker Sanofi will be in focus after it announced it was terminating a deal to exclusively license a drug that Maze Therapeutics is developing to treat Pompe disease because of objections from the U.S. government.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Tuesday:\nEconomic events: UK ILO unemployment rate for Oct; data on UK average earnings in the three months to October\n(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: UK labour data takes the stage before US inflation"
    },
    {
        "id": 763,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-europe-uk-labour-053000740.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee\nUK labour market data on Tuesday will take centre stage as Europe wakes up, with traders trying to gauge just how much inflationary pressure remains in Britain's economy ahead of a Bank of England meeting on Thursday.\nThe spotlight will then turn to U.S. inflation later in the day as the Federal Reserve kick starts its two-day policy setting meeting that will make or break expectations around rate cuts next year.\nWages in Britain, excluding bonuses, in the three months to October are expected to slow to a 7.4% rise, analysts estimate, compared with a 7.7% rise in September. The data will likely keep the central bank on guard for inflationary pressures.\nWhile the BOE is expected to keep rates steady on Thursday, the focus is on when and how fast it will cut rates. Traders expect the British central bank to cut rates at a slower pace than the Fed.\nInvestors have slightly dialled back their expectations of the Fed cutting rates early next year. Markets are now pricing in a 45% chance of a rate cut in March compared with 57% a week earlier, according to CME FedWatch tool.\nAnd that brings us to 2023's final central bank bonanza, with investors bracing for policy decisions from the European Central Bank, Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank apart from the BOE and the Fed.\nAll that has meant investors have been cautious this week, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.5%, while the dollar drifted lower, with the yen recouping some of its steep overnight losses.\nFutures indicate European bourses are set for a muted start.\nIn corporate news, \"Fortnite\" maker Epic Games has prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over Alphabet's Google in a ruling that if it holds could upend the entire app store economy.\nFrench drugmaker Sanofi will be in focus after it announced it was terminating a deal to exclusively license a drug that Maze Therapeutics is developing to treat Pompe disease because of objections from the U.S. government.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Tuesday:\nEconomic events: UK ILO unemployment rate for Oct; data on UK average earnings in the three months to October\n(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID EUROPE-UK labour data takes the stage before US inflation"
    },
    {
        "id": 764,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/raimondo-warns-us-chips-push-051719410.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned that US efforts to build out the domestic semiconductor industry could be delayed by years if companies are required to go through standard environmental reviews, signaling climate regulations may clash with national security goals.\nProjects under construction by Micron Technology Inc., Intel Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. — who’ve together pledged up to $195 billion in US investment — are among those that could be affected by lengthy reviews that Raimondo and a bipartisan group of lawmakers had tried to avoid.\nRaimondo in October urged Congress to approve a measure exempting federally-funded chips projects from such environmental permitting, which she said could force construction to stop for “up to years.” Asked whether that was still her assessment after House Republicans killed the exemption measure last week, she said “yes, potentially.”\nRead more: US Bid to Speed Up Chip Projects Blocked by Speaker Johnson\n“Obviously we want to do everything always to protect the environment,” Raimondo said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Nashua, New Hampshire. “But this is a national security priority, and we need to move quickly.“\nThe Commerce Department on Monday announced its first award from the 2022 Chips Act, which set aside subsidies worth $100 billion to revitalize domestic chipmaking and reduce reliance on Asian supply chains that Washington worries has left America vulnerable.\nOver the next year, Raimondo said she expects to make as many as a dozen additional announcements — including to large advanced chipmaking facilities that cost tens of billions of dollars to build.\nBut those facilities also come with risks to the environment, as the semiconductor sector’s carbon footprint is set to double by 2030. They have water demands equivalent to small cities, and can consume as much electricity as small countries. They also use process gases that drive greenhouse gas emissions, and rely on toxic so-called forever chemicals.\nChips Act applicants had to submit an A-Z environmental questionnaire to Commerce — and the vast majority of such projects that win funding will now go through permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act. NEPA is triggered by the amount of federal money involved, among other factors.\nThat review could force a lengthy construction stoppage at sites key to the US effort, which is already under significant pressure from Beijing as China races to build its own chipmaking capabilities.\nRaimondo said Commerce has a small NEPA team that’s focused on streamlining the process for particular facilities, like TSMC’s in Arizona or Intel’s in Ohio. Commerce is also urging governors’ offices to designate a point person for state-level permitting, Raimondo has previously said.\n“We’re gonna do everything we can to parallel process,” she told Bloomberg on Monday, including encouraging companies to staff up for NEPA review.\n“That’s the single most important thing we can do — get the companies to hire consultants and lawyers,” she said. “The sooner you start, the sooner it finishes.”\nSome companies have already begun the NEPA paperwork, she said, given that such reviews were always on the table if they received Chips Act subsidies. But they had hoped for a reprieve from Congress, particularly after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the NEPA exemption provision over the summer.\nManish Bhatia, Micron’s executive vice president of global operations, said of the measure that he’s “still hopeful that everyone wants this to happen.” Micron is building sprawling semiconductor sites in Idaho and New York, both of which have their own permitting regimes in addition to the federal process.\nLeading artificial intelligence chip supplier Nvidia Corp, meanwhile, said its supply chains are unaffected by last week’s permitting showdown. That’s because the American firm outsources production to companies largely based in South Korea and Taiwan.\nMany environmentalist groups, meanwhile, consider NEPA to be a bedrock climate law and opposed a 2022 law that made semiconductor projects eligible for expedited review. Now, a new coalition of leading labor and environmental groups wants chipmakers to enter formal community benefit agreements that address a range of sustainability and other issues.\nThe coalition seeks a “baseline commitment to building the industry in a way that is far more sustainable than it was decades ago,” Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous said in an interview — and “each year a commitment to evolving to become more and more sustainable.”\n",
        "title": "Raimondo Warns US Chips Push Faces Long Delays in Permit Process"
    },
    {
        "id": 765,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jd-com-founder-says-firm-050842993.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Casey Hall and Sophie Yu\nSHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - The founder of JD.com told staff he acknowledged the e-commerce giant was too large and inefficient and vowed to instil change, in response to a staff complaint about problems with the platform amid intensifying competition.\nRichard Liu made the comments in an internal staff forum in response to a post by an employee, local media reported. A person with knowledge of the matter confirmed the accuracy of his comments to Reuters on Tuesday.\nThe unidentified staff member had over the weekend posted a thousand word-long article, criticising JD for having an overly complex promotion mechanism and how its low-price strategy was being implemented haphazardly. Liu then responded, acknowledging problems and saying they were due to his \"poor management\".\n\"The current organisation is huge, bloated and inefficient, and it does take time to change it,\" Liu said in his comment, urging staff to join him in changing the company together.\n\"This is a routine exchange, and it demonstrates our management's confidence, as well as the entire team's collaboration, in addressing problems and overcoming challenges,\" a JD spokesperson said on Tuesday.\nHis post comes only a fortnight after Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma similarly responded to an employee post on Alibaba's intranet exhorting the company to \"reform for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow\" in the face of increased competition, according to a person familiar with the matter.\nAlibaba did not reply to a request for comment on Ma's post.\nJD.com and rival Alibaba have long been China's top e-commerce firms, but both have seen increasing competition this year from lower-priced rivals PDD Holding's Pinduoduo and ByteDance's Douyin as wary consumers, faced with macroeconomic headwinds in China, hold tight to their purse strings.\nJD.com, which has announced a strategy focused on offering low prices to draw in customers, has seen its share price decline 50% so far this year, meanwhile PDD Holdings has seen its shares gain 75% in the same period.\nAlibaba Group, which is in the midst of the largest restructuring in its 24-year history, has seen its shares lose 70% of their value since a regulatory crackdown initiated in late 2020.\n(Reporting by Casey Hall in Shanghai and Sophie Yu in Beijing; Editing by Brenda Goh and Kim Coghill)\n",
        "title": "JD.com founder says firm is 'bloated', as China e-commerce giants face pressure"
    },
    {
        "id": 766,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-consumer-group-seeks-stronger-050456778.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Leroy Leo\n(Reuters) - Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen on Tuesday filed a petition with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeking to require makers of Botox and several similar injections to include stronger warnings about the risk of a potentially fatal muscle-paralyzing disease.\nThese injections, which use various versions of botulinum toxins to contract specific muscles by blocking certain nerve signals to erase wrinkles, already have a 'black box' warning in their labels about the risks of the intended effect spreading to other areas. The consumer group asked the FDA to make it clear that these adverse effects could happen even at recommended dosages.\nThe new petition seeks a stronger warning on the label of six toxin-based injections including market leader Botox from AbbVie, Revance Therapeutics' Daxxify, Evolus' Jeuveau, Supernus Pharmaceuticals' Myobloc, Galderma's Dysport and Xeomin from Merz Therapeutics.\nPublic Citizen also asked the FDA to remove promotional statements that claim there are no definitive serious side-effects of distant spread of toxin effect associated with the toxins.\nThe request comes after the advocacy group analyzed over 5,400 reports of deaths, life-threatening events and other serious side effect related to Botox and rival toxin-based wrinkle treatments between January 1989 and March 2021 that were recorded in FDA's adverse events database.\nThe FDA maintains the database to help it identify unusual or emerging side effect trends that may require further investigation or actions, such as adding warnings to a product.\nThe group is asking the FDA to add clear warnings about systemic iatrogenic botulism, a condition that can cause progressive muscle paralysis if the toxin used in these products spreads beyond the intended treatment site.\nThe FDA said it will review the petition and respond directly to Public Citizen. Merz said it closely tracks the FDA adverse event database, and submits safety reports to the agency on a regular basis, while Revance and Evolus declined to comment. The other companies did not respond to requests for comment.\nAn earlier petition by Public Citizen in 2008 based on an analysis of 180 reports led to the FDA adding the current black box warning about the risk of Botox's effect spreading to other areas of the body.\nThe group is now asking the FDA to add a clearer warning about the risk of botulism from Botox and other treatments. The term \"botulism\" is only mentioned in the labeling of Botox and related drugs once, toward the end of the prescribing information, it said.\nThe 5,400 reported adverse events may be an understatement, the advocacy group's health services researcher Azza AbuDagga said, citing a study that found less than a tenth of adverse events related to drugs are reported.\nThe group is also asking the FDA to make it clear in labels that botulism cases associated with recommended doses of the products need prompt administration of botulinum antitoxins to avoid disease progression.\n(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "US Consumer group seeks stronger warnings on Botox, similar treatments"
    },
    {
        "id": 767,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-must-cement-qt-plans-050000140.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank’s window to begin phasing out its last active crisis tool is closing, with a failure to act likely to flummox markets down the line.\nRapidly retreating inflation is feeding expectations that interest rates will be lowered as early as March — well before officials currently plan to start winding down the €1.7 trillion ($1.8 trillion) of bonds bought under the pandemic-era PEPP initiative.\nWithout a change to that timetable, the end of PEPP reinvestments — a tightening step — would almost certainly come in the midst of a rate-cutting cycle. To avoid such a policy clash, which could leave investors uncertain on the ECB’s goals, several Governing Council members want a faster withdrawal.\nThe topic may feature this week when the ECB holds its final meeting of 2023.\n“Looking purely at what PEPP was introduced to do — to fight the economic fallout of the pandemic — it makes no sense to keep it alive,” said Nick Kounis, head of macro research at ABN Amro. “At the same time, flexible reinvestments are a nice tool to have looking at the challenges we face.”\nEconomists including Goldman Sachs’s Jari Stehn, Barclays’s Mariano Cena and Societe Generale’s Anatoli Annenkov are among those predicting the ECB will accelerate its exit from PEPP, in a similar way to how it kicked off so-called quantitative tightening by undoing its APP program.\nThat could mean an announcement on Thursday that reinvestments will be reduced from about the end of the first quarter, with more details on the process communicated when officials next gather on policy in January — moves that firms including UBS AG don’t see rattling markets unduly.\nThe ECB would then roll over only about half the proceeds from bonds maturing through June, before discontinuing reinvestments altogether from July — six months earlier than currently planned.\nSuch a schedule would ensure that one of PEPP’s most important features — flexible reinvestments that allow the ECB to ease stress in parts of the euro-zone bond market — stays in place during the typical early-year rush by governments to issue debt.\nIt would also largely gel with the rates outlook of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who predict June will see the first of three quarter-point cuts in 2024. Those would take the deposit rate to 3.25%, from a record 4% now.\nWhile President Christine Lagarde said last month that PEPP would be discussed “in the not-too-distant future,” she insisted that no rate cut should be expected “in the next couple of quarters.”\nLatvia’s Martins Kazaks has cautioned that Europe’s economic outlook doesn’t warrant a reduction in rates in the first half of 2024. Greece’s Yannis Stournaras has said a cut may be justified by the third quarter.\nAt that time, an expedited retreat from PEPP would mean rolloffs are well under way. That would allow the ECB to focus on interest rates as the primary policy tool, leaving balance-sheet shrinking to run on autopilot in the background.\nGoverning Council Klaas Knot said in September that he wouldn’t want to lower borrowing costs while simultaneously announcing faster QT.\n“It’s very important that the process of rolling off your asset purchases is well in train and well announced beforehand,” he said. Starting the process or announcing an intensification “could be at odds with the main monetary-policy direction one tries to communicate.”\nNot all his colleagues, though, are convinced the ECB must stick to this sequence — or should bring forward the end of reinvestments at all.\nFrance’s Francois Villeroy de Galhau sees “no reason to tie our hands on a specific order,” while Stournaras warned that reneging on a pledge could hurt “our credibility and, therefore, the effectiveness of our policies.”\nAs for market fallout, Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel has called reinvestment amounts “relatively small,” arguing that stopping them wouldn’t be “such a big deal.”\nEmmanouil Karimalis at UBS said there’s no need to worry about demand once the ECB stops buying bonds. Halving rollovers between March and June and ending them in July would keep net supply of government debt steady at 4.4% of total output next year.\nItalian bonds are perceived as the most vulnerable to changes in QT, as they’ve been among the asset-purchase programs’ main beneficiaries.\nBut Piet Christiansen, chief strategist at Danske Bank, said the recent gradual narrowing of the spread between Italian and German 10-year yields — to a two-month low of 170 basis points in late November — is investors’ way of signaling that they’re ready for flexible PEPP reinvestments to end.\nAll that, coupled with hopes that the 2% inflation target may be reached before the second half of 2025 — as currently envisaged — and a mild recession for the 20-nation euro-zone economy set the stage for movement on PEPP this week.\n“This will be the venue for the ECB to formally open discussions on concluding reinvestments,” strategists at BNP Paribas including Camille De Courcel said in a report to clients. “Economic forecasts seem unlikely to give much fodder to the hawks, leaving it up to verbal pushback — something we expect to be done informally.”\n",
        "title": "ECB Must Cement Its QT Plans to Avoid Confusing Markets"
    },
    {
        "id": 768,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unchanged-consumer-prices-fed-room-050000294.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A monthly Bureau of Labor Statistics report due Tuesday is set to show consumer prices were unchanged again in November, giving the Federal Reserve room to consider lower interest rates in the months ahead, according to Bloomberg Economics.\nThe consumer price index should benefit from a decline in energy prices last month, even if prices excluding food and energy rose faster than in October, Bloomberg economists Anna Wong and Stuart Paul said Monday in a preview of the figures.\n“Short-term inflation expectations have come down sharply on lower energy prices in recent months,” Wong and Paul said. “That makes more room for the Fed to consider rate cuts as downside risks for activity and upside inflation risks become more balanced.”\nInflation has generally moderated in recent months at a faster pace than many forecasters inside and outside the Fed had expected, helping to fuel bets on rate cuts early next year.\nRead More: Fed Starts to Confront the Next Big Question: Why to Cut Rates\nWhile Fed officials have welcomed those developments, they’ve also cautioned that the path to their 2% inflation target may get bumpier in the coming months.\nThe Bloomberg economists predicted core goods prices registered declines in November for a sixth straight month, aided by a drop in used-car prices, though they added that “slow inventory rebuilding following the resolution of the United Auto Workers strike could temporarily slow the disinflation process for new cars.”\nThey also see a continued moderation in rental inflation in 2024, citing it as “the key driver of disinflation” in the year ahead.\nRead More: US PREVIEW: Flat CPI Will Give Fed Room To Consider Rate Cuts\n“We expect to see core CPI inflation clocking just below 3%” in the first half of 2024, Wong and Paul said. “Unless the labor market cools more rapidly, chances are that inflation will stall at that level. Our baseline is that the economy is cooling — and the disinflation seen right now will persist as a result.”\n",
        "title": "Unchanged Consumer Prices to Give Fed Room to Consider Rate Cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 769,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/short-selling-ban-curbs-foreign-044645672.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Participation by global funds in trading in South Korea’s $1.8 trillion stock market has declined since the surprise return of a ban on short selling.\nForeign investors have accounted for 18% of total market turnover by value so far in December, on course for the lowest monthly level of the year, according to exchange data compiled by Bloomberg. Local funds’ share of turnover also dipped while retail investors have extended their dominance of Korean trading.\n“There isn’t much incentive to trade as actively as before for long-short hedge funds, as they cannot place new short positions,” said Cho Junkee, a market analyst at SK Securities Co. Similar dropoffs in turnover by domestic and foreign institutions occurred under the nation’s previous short-selling bans, he added.\nRead: Why South Korea Banned Short Selling and What’s Next: QuickTake\nIndividual investors have accounted for 71% of turnover this month up from about 60% in October. Complaints of unfairness by retail traders were seen as part of the motivation for regulators to reimpose the ban in early November. The nation had previously imposed such halts to curb volatility.\nOfficials say the latest prohibition on short-selling — which runs through next June — was needed to stop illegal forms of the trading tactic. Critics argue that it makes price formation more difficult and lowers the market’s perception among international investors and index makers including MSCI Inc.\n--With assistance from Hongcheol Kim.\n",
        "title": "Short-Selling Ban Curbs Foreign Investor Stock Trading in Korea"
    },
    {
        "id": 770,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-jpmorgan-outsource-500-billion-042403421.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Selena Li\nHONG KONG (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase is set to outsource the operations of its local custody business in Hong Kong and Taiwan with Citigroup, HSBC and Standard Chartered in the race for the mandate, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.\nThe Wall Street bank, the world's third-largest global custodian, is in the process of selecting another bank to take over the local custodian operations in Hong Kong and Taiwan, said the sources.\nFinancial details of the deal were not immediately known.\nLocal custody business takes care of transactions and runs the book for clients when they access certain market. Global custody, in contrast, manages cross-border investments with a vast network and holds the relationship with clients.\nJPMorgan has around $520 billion worth of client assets under custody (AUC) as a local custodian in those two North Asian markets, said a third source with direct knowledge of the matter.\nThe bank will continue to provide global custody services in those two markets.\nThe bank is aiming to complete the transition in Hong Kong and Taiwan to another bank by the end of next year, the third source said.\nThat move would mark its exit from the local custodian business in the Asia Pacific region, said the first two sources.\nJPMorgan in recent years exited lower-margin local custodian business from other markets in Asia Pacific including Australia and South Korea. Falling custodian assets had made it less lucrative, the two sources said.\nAll sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media.\nSpokespersons for JPMorgan, HSBC, Citi, and Standard Chartered declined to comment.\n(Reporting by Selena Li; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Stephen Coates)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-JPMorgan to outsource $500 billion custody business in Hong Kong, Taiwan - sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 771,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alphabet-loses-antitrust-fight-epic-003443600.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Google lost an antitrust court fight to Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. that threatens to upend the mobile app economy and could end up costing the technology giant billions of dollars in revenue.\nGoogle Play willfully wields monopoly power through the Alphabet Inc. unit’s anticompetitive conduct, a federal court jury found Monday after deliberating less than four hours following a nearly monthlong trial in San Francisco.\nEpic largely lost a similar challenge to Apple Inc.’s app store two years ago and both companies have asked the US Supreme Court to review their dispute.\nUS District Judge James Donato, who oversaw the San Francisco trial, will decide whether Google must open the door for payment and app distribution methods outside its own app store. As in its trial against Apple, Epic didn’t seek monetary damages from Google, only a change in its app store policies.\nGoogle, whose shares slipped 0.4% in extended trading, said it plans to challenge the verdict.\n“Android and Google Play provide more choice and openness than any other major mobile platform,” said Wilson White, Google’s vice president of Government Affairs & Public Policy. “The trial made clear that we compete fiercely with Apple and its App Store, as well as app stores on Android devices and gaming consoles.”\nTim Sweeney, chief executive officer of Epic, flashed a slight smile as he sat in the front row of the public seating area of the courtroom after the verdict was read out. He quickly hailed the ruling in a post on social network X.\nIn an interview, Sweeney said the company will seek “actual changes in practice” to Google’s app store, but declined to offer more specifics on the remedy Epic plans to ask for next year. “We can’t say there’s a victory when the court has ruled in our favor but nothing has changed,” he said.\nStanford University law professor Mark Lemley said the verdict “has the potential to be a very big deal — not just for Epic, which will get the ability to sell directly on Android phones — but for the entire internet.”\n“The last two decades have seen a profound shift away from the open internet towards walled gardens,” he said. “That is one of the things that has kept the internet market so concentrated. This verdict just knocked a big hole in the garden wall.”\nLawyer Paul Swanson, a partner at Holland & Hart who specializes in technology and antitrust law, said “a sweeping verdict like this is going to be hard for Google to undo in post-trial proceedings or on appeal.”\nThe verdict came at the same time as Google has been defending itself in an even higher-stakes antitrust case by the US Justice Department targeting the company’s search business.\nRead More: Pichai Juggles Defending Back-to-Back Google Monopoly Trials\nEpic sued Google three years ago, claiming the tech company monopolized the Android app distribution market for more than a decade by striking side deals with rivals and using its resources to thwart competition.\nIn its defense, Google contended that its partnerships help phones that run on the Android operating system better compete against smartphone market rival Apple’s iPhone.\n“Epic wants you to give them a deal that they don’t have and they haven’t been able to get anywhere else,” Jonathan Kravis, a lawyer for Google, told the jury in his closing argument. “A deal that would effectively let them use the Play Store for free.”\nEpic was the only stakeholder to challenge Alphabet at trial after the Mountain View, California-based company recently reached settlements with consumers, state attorneys general and Match Group Inc., all of whom had targeted Google Play policies in complaints.\nRead More: Google Play Trial Thrust Android Empire Building Into Spotlight\nThe trial featured testimony from both Sweeney and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, along with a handful of high-ranking executives from Google and several antitrust law experts.\nSweeney, whose net worth is estimated at $6.2 billion, is a long-time advocate of open software ecosystems. He has accused Apple and Google of being a “duopoly” in the app distribution marketplace and enriching themselves by charging developers excessively high fees to list games.\nNine jurors, three women and six men, were shown numerous documents as evidence, including confidential internal Google email communications and presentations, which revealed the inner workings of its efforts to build out Google Play and its Android mobile operating system business.\nJurors found that Google unreasonably restrained trade by sharing Google Play revenue with mobile device manufacturers so its own store was the default store on Android smartphone home screens. Google also made million-dollar deals with game makers including Activision Blizzard before it was acquired by Microsoft Corp. — which Epic argued dissuaded the game companies from launching their own stores.\nThe panel also concluded that Google limited trade through its developer agreements that Epic contended make it challenging for users to directly download apps from the web to mobile devices. The accords also stopped developers from telling Android phone users that their products and services may be available at a lower price on their websites.\nWhy App Store Fees Are Drawing Fire Worldwide: QuickTake\nAlphabet had countersued Epic, alleging the game maker breached its contract and acted in bad faith when it tried to set up its own app store in 2020 as an end-run around the Google Play billing system.\nBut after testimony by Epic executives at trial admitting that they tried to sidestep the Play store, Donato decided that jurors would skip ruling on Google’s counterclaims.\nThe case is In Re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, 21-md-02981, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).\n--With assistance from Aisha Counts and Leah Nylen.\n",
        "title": "Alphabet Loses Antitrust Fight With Epic Games Over Google Play"
    },
    {
        "id": 772,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-chipmaker-seeks-funds-19-041723941.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Changxin Memory Technologies Inc. is delaying its initial public offering and will instead consider raising funds at about a 140 billion yuan ($19.5 billion) valuation, becoming the latest Chinese company to call off a debut because of volatile market conditions.\nChangxin had completed a shareholder restructuring around the middle of 2023 to prepare for the potential listing, according to people familiar with the situation. But it decided to await a more favorable market after communications with regulators and prospective investors, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.\nA financing round will allow the chipmaker — one of China’s biggest manufacturers of the memory essential to computers and smartphones — to continue expanding capacity in anticipation of a rebound in global tech demand in 2024.\nLike Huawei Technologies Co., Changxin is among a select few firms that embody Beijing’s ambitions to match the US technologically, particularly in the semiconductors that underpin most advances from AI to self-driving cars. Memory chips, an industry now dominated by Samsung Electronics Co., SK Hynix Inc. and Micron Technology Inc., could serve as a launchpad for more advanced semiconductor development down the road.\nRead More: Chinese Chip Rival to Samsung Seeks IPO at $14.5 Billion Value\nChangxin had planned to file for an IPO on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style STAR board this year, Bloomberg News reported in April. The Hefei-based company hasn’t targeted a funding amount because Changxin has only just begun to sound out investor interest, the people said. A deal could fail to materialize if the company fails to drum up enough demand for its shares, they said. A representative for Changxin didn’t respond to requests for comment.\nStill, Chinese investors have warmed to the perceived beneficiaries of Beijing’s efforts to cultivate a world-class tech industry and shake off a dependency on American products. That’s despite the inherent risk: Washington has slapped sanctions on Changxin’s main rival, Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., impeding its ability to access the American components it needs to make its chips.\nLast month, a little-known startup that shares several shareholders and the same general manager with Changxin raised 39 billion yuan from state-backed investors including China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund.\nThat investment in Changxin Xinqiao Memory Technologies Inc. was one of the largest investments by the flagship semiconductor fund, better known as Big Fund, after Beijing began a probe into its former heads for corruption about a year ago.\nChangxin could move swiftly to revive its IPO plans should market conditions brighten, the people said. But it’s not alone in rescheduling a potential mega listing this year.\nSwiss seed and pesticide company Syngenta announced last month it would postpone its $9 billion Shanghai IPO to the end of 2024, citing market volatility. It follows a decision by China’s securities regulator in August to slow the pace of IPOs as Chinese stock indexes are struggling amid an economic downturn.\nRead More: China Invests $5.4 Billion in Two-Year-Old Memory Chipmaker\n--With assistance from Gao Yuan.\n",
        "title": "China Chipmaker Seeks Funds at $19.5 Billion Value as IPOs Cool"
    },
    {
        "id": 773,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sam-altman-defends-ai-thrust-041547268.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Sam Altman is back on the conference circuit and touting AI’s benefits to humanity, days after regaining the lead at the world’s best-known artificial intelligence startup.\nIn his first public appearance since Altman regained control of OpenAI after a surprise ouster attempt, the co-founder and chief executive officer defended his exploratory approach to developing AI. “It’s going to lift the world up,” he said, stressing potential advances in fields from health-care to education. And he described how he’s always been fascinated by fictional rogue AIs like the Terminator — but that companies like OpenAI needed to push the boundaries to realize the technology’s potential.\n“All those thoughts about the ways that this could go wrong, you don’t need much imagination because we grew up with that in the media,” Altman said in an onstage interview at a forum hosted by rights organization Operation Hope in Atlanta on Monday. “That’s why we work so hard on safety. But we also believe you cannot build this safely in a vacuum.”\nThat’s why OpenAI is attempting to build the technology openly and deploy widely, instead of within some secretive lab, he added. Altman said he understood the anxieties around AI being used to build bioweapons or hacking into computer systems, but “you gotta deploy.”\nRead More: Sam Altman Won the War for OpenAI. Now Comes Winning the Peace\nDuring the 35-minute conversation, Altman didn’t directly address his surprise firing and reinstatement, or the plans for OpenAI’s new board and system of governance.\nConcern around the speed with which OpenAI was developing ChatGPT and other products was the central issue during an attempted coup that stunned Silicon Valley last month. Altman’s co-founder and the board fired the entrepreneur, only to reinstate him days later after investors and employees revolted. Despite the exit of most of the previous board members, there are signs that differences with co-founder Ilya Sutskever haven’t been ironed out.\nThe episode shone a spotlight on the potential dangers of a technology that could reshape vast swathes of industry, while also enhancing military capabilities.\n“This time it’s different,” Altman said, talking about AI’s rapid evolution when compared with previous technological revolutions from the mobile phone to the internet. “And it’s a little scary, to be sure.”\nAltman said OpenAI had “jumped into this tornado that has not stopped.” He announced that he and John Hope Bryant, the founder of the Hope organization, will co-chair a new AI ethics council based out of Atlanta.\n“People have a lot of anxiety, and I get that,” Altman told Bryant onstage. “They need a person to project that onto, and unfortunately for a while I’m going to be that person. And that’s all right.”\nRegulate AI? How US, EU and China Are Going About It: QuickTake\n",
        "title": "Sam Altman Defends AI Thrust Days After Retaking OpenAI’s Helm"
    },
    {
        "id": 774,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-says-morally-obligated-continue-034358561.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) — US automaker Tesla Inc on Monday said it has a \"moral obligation\" to continue improving its Autopilot driver assistant system and make it available to more consumers based on data that showed stronger safety metrics when it was engaged.\nIn response to a Washington Post investigation of serious crashes involving Autopilot on roads where the feature could not reliably operate, the company said its data showed it was saving lives and preventing injuries.\nThe Post report said the newspaper had identified at least eight crashes between 2016 and 2023 where Autopilot could be activated in situations it was not designed to be used, and said Tesla had taken few definitive steps to restrict its use by geography despite having the technical capability to do so.\nAutopilot is \"intended for use on controlled-access highways\" with \"a center divider, clear lane markings, and no cross traffic,\" the Post said, adding Tesla's user manual advises drivers the technology can also falter on roads if there are hills or sharp curves.\nThe Post investigation \"leverages instances of driver misuse of the Autopilot driver assist feature to suggest the system is the problem\", Tesla said in a post on social media platform X, adding that Autopilot was about 10 times safer than the U.S. average and 5 times safer than a Tesla without the technology enabled.\nThe company also reiterated that the driver remained responsible for control of the vehicle at all times and is notified of this responsibility.\nThe Post said regulatory bodies like the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had not adopted rules to limit the technology to where it is meant to be used despite opening investigations into the software after identifying more than a dozen crashes in which Tesla vehicles hit stationary emergency vehicles.\nNHTSA did not respond immediately to a request for comment from Reuters outside normal business hours. The agency told the Post it would be too complex and resource-intensive to verify that systems like Autopilot were used within the conditions for which they are designed, and it potentially would not fix the problem.\nLast month, a Florida judge found \"reasonable evidence\" that Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and other managers knew the automaker's vehicles had a defective Autopilot system but still allowed the cars to be driven unsafely.\nThe ruling came as a setback for Tesla after the company won two product liability trials in California this year over the Autopilot system.\n(Reporting by Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Tesla says it has 'moral obligation' to keep improving Autopilot after crashes"
    },
    {
        "id": 775,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investors-chinas-lagging-markets-play-030616690.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Summer Zhen\nHONG KONG (Reuters) - Investors in Chinese stocks next year will be seeking out businesses with global reach or other insulation from an economic downturn, after three straight years of China underperforming world markets.\nCompanies in defensive sectors such as health, medical innovation and exporters in the electric vehicles supply chain and advanced manufacturing, as well as multinationals such as e-commerce firm PDD Holdings, will top the list.\nThat's despite sell-side analysts turning bullish on China's broader market for next year, with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs forecasting Chinese equities to outperform the S&P 500.\n\"Since economic recovery is slower than expected, we lowered exposures which are sensitive to macro cycles,\" said Wang Qing, chairman at Shanghai Chongyang Investment Management.\nChongyang is instead buying defensive high-dividend stocks, medical innovators with global competitiveness, and advanced manufacturing backed by Beijing, Wang said, declining to list any investments by name.\nThis follows China's blue chip CSI300 index sinking to five-year lows and losing 12% over 2023 against a 15% gain for global stocks as the Chinese economy struggled with a property crunch and a slow recovery from COVID-19.\nHong Kong's Hang Seng fared even worse, sliding more than 18% to trade on a forward price-to-earnings ratio below six, against 21 for the S&P 500.\nPerformance over the last 10 months crushed the optimism that infused the beginning of the year, with four straight months of foreign outflows in the second half of the year totalling a net 138 billion yuan ($19 billion) withdrawn from Chinese equities via the Stock Connect scheme.\n\"Investors (have) struggled to think what the next growth driver for China will be,\" said Caroline Yu Maurer, head of China and specialised Asia strategies at HSBC Asset Management.\nGoldman analysts target 4,200 for the CSI300 by the end of 2024, up 23% from Monday's close at 3,419. Morgan Stanley forecasts the blue chip index at 3,850 at the end of next year and the Hang Seng - which finished Monday at 16,201 - at 18,500, up 14%.\nIn contrast, Goldman sees the S&P 500 up less than 2% from current levels to 4,700 by the end of next year. Morgan Stanley sees it falling to 4,500. [MKTS/GLOB]\nEXPORTERS AND MULTINATIONALS\nReal estate is casting the longest shadow. The sector that once accounted for a quarter of China's economy is reeling from a series of developer failures and a crisis of confidence that fund managers want to see resolved before they commit capital.\nMoody's slapped a downgrade warning on China's credit rating last week, in part due to the property malaise. Shares of Country Garden, once China's biggest private property developer and now battling to service its debt, are down 73% this year.\nThe Hang Seng index of mainland developers is down 44%.\nWith the property shock ricocheting through the economy and dampened consumption, Morgan Stanley estimates the number of MSCI China companies missing analyst earnings expectations in the third quarter was the most since 2018.\nNew York hedge fund Indus Capital Partners is among several investors turning away from exposure to China's domestic demand.\nWe see value in \"some exporters and multinationals, and cheap (state-owned enterprises) aligned with and otherwise not of great concern to the government,\" said Indus partner John Pinkel, without naming specific companies.\nThe stock of PDD, which owns U.S.-based shopping app Temu, for example, is up 75%. Discount retailer Miniso also has a global footprint and its shares are up 80% this year.\nGlobal asset manager Invesco is overweight on Chinese assets in its Asian portfolios, and strategist David Chao highlighted the attractiveness of global expansion, citing the success of Japanese companies abroad while growth slowed at home.\nTo be sure, there are bargain hunters.\nWenli Zheng, a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price, says shipmakers have record orderbooks and the timing is ideal to buy good but perceived economically sensitive companies that are trading cheaply, such as Kanzhun, a recruiter, or mall operator China Resources Mixc Lifestyle.\nJefferies said it has turned \"tactically positive\" on China given an appreciating yuan and cheap valuations, and LSEG data shows sellside analysts think Chinese firms will see their strongest earnings expansion in seven years in 2024.\nYet BofA Securities' November survey of 265 Asia fund managers found a majority are either waiting for improvement or looking elsewhere, suggesting no rush to add to their exposure to China.\n($1 = 7.1872 yuan)\n(Reporting by Summer Zhen; Additional reporting by Samuel Shen in Shanghai; Editing by Tom Westbrook and Tom Hogue)\n",
        "title": "Investors in China's lagging markets to play defence in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 776,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-reliance-working-terms-india-030144765.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "BENGALURU (Reuters) - Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company, and Walt Disney Co are finalising details of a non-binding term sheet to merge their Indian media operations, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday citing executives involved in the deal.\n(Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)\n",
        "title": "Disney, Reliance working on terms of India media operations merger - ET"
    },
    {
        "id": 777,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shoppers-spend-almost-twice-long-024304591.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Shoppers are spending almost twice as long on Temu, the online shopping juggernaut backed by Chinese heavyweight PDD Holdings Inc., than they are on the apps of major rivals like Amazon.com Inc., according to research firm Apptopia.\nOn average, users spent 18 minutes per day on the Temu app in the second quarter, compared with 10 minutes for Amazon and 11 minutes for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s AliExpress, based on Apptopia’s device-level analysis. Among younger users, the time spent on Temu was 19 minutes, it said.\nTime spent on Temu, or user engagement, continues to rise, extending its increase through October to about 22 minutes and widening the gap with shopping giants like Amazon, Walmart Inc. and Target Corp., according to the report.\nThat puts Temu’s engagement “in a league of its own,” it said.\nRead more: Jack Ma’s Biggest E-Commerce Rival Is Coming for Amazon, Walmart\nTemu is keen to convert one-time bargain-hunting buyers into repeat customers that will drive sustainable sales growth.\nThe addictive app is core to the strategy. It allows users to play games to win rewards, including spinning a roulette-like wheel to win a coupon — which goes up in value if you buy something within 10 minutes. The Temu app is available in more than 40 countries, though none have taken to it like customers in the US, where it’s Apple Inc.’s top app most days this year and sales have well and truly surpassed bargain-shopping giant Shein.\n",
        "title": "Shoppers Spend Almost Twice as Long on Temu App Than Key Rivals"
    },
    {
        "id": 778,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-launches-security-probe-geographic-111423291.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China is probing potential security risks related to geographical information going overseas, vowing to “cut off the evil hands” that steal data, another sign President Xi Jinping is tightening his grip on data flows.\nAn article posted on a Ministry of State Security’s social media account on Monday said software used in “important industries” was collecting and sending such data overseas. Some of the information included state secrets, the article added, pointing to pipeline networks and military facilities.\nThe spy agency also said certain foreign organizations and individuals have spied on China using geographic information system software, which is used in a range of industries such as engineering and can analyze data about the location of buildings, streets and more on the Earth’s surface.\nThe campaign came on the heel of October, when the spy agency announced it was cracking down on weather stations with foreign links it said posed a security threat. It separately warned about genetic data and the risk that bioweapons could be developed to target individuals of a particular race.\nChina has ramped up its focus on national security and data flows over Xi’s decade-plus in power, raising concern among foreign companies that they could run afoul of the law. Beijing enacted a sweeping data security law in 2021 to ramp up control over information flows, expanded an anti-espionage law to crack down on spying, and is more recently updating its state secrets law.\nThe MSS also warned in its post that some citizens lack awareness of data security and have been posting the high-precision geographical coordinates of sensitive areas on maps. These coordinates could help restore the country’s key transport, energy and military sites, the MSS said, which could severely undermine military security.\n“Geographic information data is high-value intelligence and is the focus of intelligence theft by overseas spy agencies,” MSS said.\nThe article didn’t name any foreign entities or GIS softwares. Some of the popular softwares, such as MapInfo Pro and ArcGIS, are developed by US companies. China has also introduced its own products including MapGIS and SuperMap.\n(Updates with details throughout)\n",
        "title": "China Launches Security Probe Into Geographic Data Going Abroad"
    },
    {
        "id": 779,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bofa-warns-china-property-slump-013624408.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s property downturn is set to last for years, and a drought of deals in the sector is unlikely to end soon due to a lack of investor confidence in the world’s second-largest economy, a senior Bank of America Corp. banker said.\n“The real estate sector in China will likely entail a multi-year recovery timeframe,” said Martin Siah, co-head of real estate investment banking for the Asia-Pacific region. “It would be too quick to expect a swift resolution to the real estate deals issue,” he said in an interview.\nWhile the US investment bank isn’t active in China’s real estate market, Siah said there has been a lack of transactions across the board from equity capital markets to mergers and acquisitions. “It’s hard to do deals, especially in China,” he said, adding that both domestic and outbound transactions are difficult to execute.\nThat assessment underscores the pessimism among market watchers about the pace of recovery for China’s embattled developers, despite a slew of steps from policymakers to shore up confidence, including pushing banks to increase financing for the sector. The property slump was among the factors that prompted a recent downgrade of the nation’s credit outlook by Moody’s Investors Service.\n“Investment confidence needs to return and will take time,” said Siah.\nInstead, he is positive about Japan real estate, pointing to attractions like healthy inflation and corporate reforms. That has helped attract a flurry of investors from Blackstone Inc. to Sweden’s EQT AB.\nFor funds seeking to redeploy capital from China due to geopolitical risks, “there aren’t that many other sizable economies” to choose from in Asia, Siah said, giving the example of India’s real estate sector, where it takes time to deploy big-ticket funds. But Japan still has “a few more legs,” he said.\nMore broadly, Siah expects real estate transactions in the Asia-Pacific region to rebound next year as central banks begin to moderate interest-rate hikes and give more clarity on future decisions.\nM&A deals in the Asia-Pacific real estate sector have fallen about 39% to $102.3 billion so far this year compared to 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Real estate M&A in China has fallen 9% on year, and is down 60% compared with 2020, when the government began a clampdown on excess debt at property developers, the data show.\nSingapore REITs\nSiah, who is also Bank of America’s country executive for Singapore, said he’s positive on the financial hub’s “heavily oversold” real estate investment trust sector, despite it being “amongst one of the most oversold REIT markets in the world since the start of last year.”\nA FTSE benchmark of Singapore-listed REITs has fallen about 20% since the end of 2021, which Siah attributed to their larger exposure to US and Chinese real estate.\nBut he called time on future mergers in the sector, which have totaled nearly S$60 billion ($45 billion) since the first tie-up in 2018, according to Siah. “We don’t expect this wave will continue because such share mergers are highly susceptible to share price volatilities.”\n--With assistance from Abhishek Vishnoi and Fion Li.\n(Updates with China real estate M&A data in the ninth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "BofA Warns China Property Slump to Hit Deals; Favors Japan"
    },
    {
        "id": 780,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-steadies-near-42-000-012456771.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin traded near $42,000 after a turbulent stretch that lopped almost 8% from the largest digital asset and stirred predictions of more volatility heading into year-end.\nThe token posted the drop from Saturday through Monday, the worst three-day performance since mid-August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The retreat from almost $45,000 dragged down wider crypto markets too.\nSome observers blamed edgy speculators paring positions ahead of a Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting that may test aggressive wagers on interest-rate cuts in 2024. But most struggled to find a definite trigger, describing the pullback as an expected consolidation given Bitcoin’s 152% year-to-date jump.\nThe token revived this year from a 2022 rout as investors grew increasingly confident that regulators will soon allow the first US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. That may herald greater demand for the virtual currency.\nRead more: Why Crypto Is Counting on Spot Bitcoin ETFs: QuickTake\n“Crypto finally saw some profit-taking after a dizzying surge over the past few weeks,” said Caroline Mauron, co-founder of digital-asset derivatives liquidity provider Orbit Markets. “We expect to see further idiosyncratic volatility in the crypto asset class in the run-up to the ETF decision deadline in early January, which could be exacerbated by poor liquidity during the holiday period.”\nThe crypto industry is awaiting the outcome of applications from BlackRock Inc. and others to start US spot Bitcoin ETFs. Bloomberg Intelligence expects a batch of funds to win Securities & Exchange Commission approval by next month.\nAnother prop for sentiment is the so-called Bitcoin halving due in 2024, which will cut in half the amount of tokens that Bitcoin miners receive as reward for their work. The quadrennial event is part of the process of capping Bitcoin supply at 21 million tokens. The coin hit records after the last three halvings.\nThose bullish narratives took a back seat on Monday. Coinglass data show that about $455 million worth of crypto trading positions betting on higher prices were liquidated on Dec. 11 — the highest tally since at least mid-September.\n“There were a number of market signals where we could see that Bitcoin was meeting its overhead resistance from a technical trading perspective,” said Greg Moritz, co-founder at crypto hedge fund AltTab Capital. “I don’t think this is indicative of any fundamental change. If anything, it’s a little bit of a buying opportunity from our perspective.”\nBitcoin climbed about 1% to $41,737 as of 9:07 a.m. in Singapore on Tuesday. Smaller tokens like BNB and Avalanche also pushed higher. A gauge of the top 100 crypto coins posted a modest advance.\n—With assistance from Yueqi Yang.\n",
        "title": "Bitcoin steadies near $42,000 after token's worst stretch since August"
    },
    {
        "id": 781,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/idg-weighs-976-million-deal-012017081.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- IDG Capital is considering buying shares in Chery Holding Group Co. from existing shareholders for as much as 7 billion yuan ($976 million), people familiar with the matter said, potentially giving the buyout firm exposure to one of the few unlisted major carmakers in China.\nBeijing-based IDG is raising funds from investors for the potential transaction, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.\nAny deal would come as Chery Group looks to simplify its shareholding structure considering it’s revived plans to list its unit Chery Automobile Co. in China, the people said. As part of the restructuring, Chery Group’s shareholders could opt to swap their stakes for shares in Chery Auto, they added.\nChery Auto is exploring filing for an initial public offering as soon as next year and may seek a valuation of as much as 150 billion yuan, according to the people.\nDeliberations are ongoing and may not lead to any transactions, the people said. Details of the potential Chery Auto’s IPO could also change, they added. Representatives for Chery and IDG Capital didn’t respond to requests for comment.\nChery Auto is one of China’s last few carmakers that isn’t publicly-listed. It’s also the most important asset for Chery Group, which has other business dealings in financial services and real estate. Chery Auto Chairman Yin Tongyue floated the listing plan at a conference in 2009.\nFounded in 1997, Chery Auto sells cars under brands Chery, Tiggo and Arrizo in China and abroad, according to its website. It has research and development centers in China, Germany, the US and Brazil. The company has sold close to 1.7 million vehicles in the first 11 months this year, according to state media Xinhua News.\nChery Auto is also among China’s largest car exporters. The company plans to set up subsidiaries to sell directly to customers in the UK, Germany and France. It’s investing $400 million to build a factory in Argentina with a goal of producing 100,000 vehicles a year there by 2030 and has announced plans to set up factories in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. In Vietnam, it’s looking to start mass production in the first phase of an $800 million plant by the end of 2025.\n--With assistance from Linda Lew.\n",
        "title": "IDG Weighs $976 Million Deal for Chery Auto’s Parent Stake, Sources Say"
    },
    {
        "id": 782,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yen-hands-back-gains-dollar-011224871.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Tom Westbrook and Alun John\nSINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) -The dollar ticked lower on Tuesday and the yen regained some ground it had lost in the past two sessions as traders turned their focus to U.S. inflation data later in the day and a slew of central bank meetings ahead.\nThe dollar was 0.47% lower at 145.54 yen. The pair has had a volatile few days, with the yen surging on remarks taken as hawkish from the Bank of Japan before falling back on a news report downplaying the prospect of an imminent policy change.\n\"There is talk of a pivot by the Bank of Japan to higher rates and there is some speculation it could come as soon as next week,\" said ANZ economist Tom Kenny.\n\"A hike now seems premature with a backdrop of weak consumer spending,\" he said, though trends in inflation and wages suggest sustainable inflation and ANZ anticipates Japan starting its journey out of super-accommodative negative rates by April 2024.\nThe euro ticked up 0.22% to $1.0788, and sterling was steady at $1.2556. The dollar index which tracks the greenback against six peers down 0.2% at 103.86.\nHigher iron ore prices and a rebound in Chinese property shares helped nudge the Australian and New Zealand dollars higher\nForty years to the day after its float, the Aussie gained 0.3% higher to $0.6588. The currency started around $0.9000 and has averaged $0.7550 since 1983. It used to be used by global investors as a liquid proxy for commodities, and now for exposure to China, Australia's largest trading partner. [AUD/]\nThe New Zealand dollar rose 0.44% to $0.6148.\nEYES ON CPI\nU.S. inflation data, due at 1330 GMT, will frame Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy decision.\nThe dollar has been slipping since October's benign U.S. inflation report but found footing on upbeat jobs data published on Friday. The Fed is considered certain to hold rates at 5.25%-5.50% this week, putting the focus on policymakers' so-called dot plots on the rate outlook and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nEconomists polled by Reuters expect headline inflation to have been flat for November, and core inflation to keep steady at an annual pace of 4% - well above the Fed's 2% target.\n\"It feels like a 'risk on' morning as everyone hopes for a soft CPI number to convince us that the hawkish comments from Fed policy makers are just hawkish comments,\" said Kit Juckes head of FX strategy at Societe Generale.\n\"Everyone is just waiting for the numbers.\"\nMarkets are pricing in substantial rate cuts from central banks next year, and see a roughly 50% chance the first Federal Reserve rate cut will come as soon as March, according to the CME's Fedwatch tool.\nOfficials at the Fed, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank at least publicly continue to about an extended rate plateau however.\nLater in the week, the ECB, BoE, Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank all meet, with Norway considered the only possible hiker. There is also a risk the SNB could dial back its support for the franc in FX markets.\nThe franc made an almost nine-year high on the euro last week and traded a little softer than that at 0.9461 francs to the common currency on Tuesday.\n(Reporting by Tom Westbrook in Singapore and Alun John in London; Editing by Sonali Paul and Kim Coghill)\n",
        "title": "Dollar drifts down as US inflation data looms"
    },
    {
        "id": 783,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-yen-hands-back-gains-010658863.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "SINGAPORE, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The yen nursed losses on Tuesday as traders walked back expectations for a Japan rate hike, while the dollar was waiting on U.S. inflation data and a slew of central bank meetings. The dollar rose about 0.9% on the yen overnight. At 145.96 yen it is about 3% above a low touched last week after remarks on the challenging outlook from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda were taken as a hint that a policy shift was imminent. Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing sources, that BOJ officials see little need to rush out of negative rates, triggering a reversal of the yen's rally and gains in Japan's stock and government bond markets. \"Wages growth is still weak,\" Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Kristina Clifton pointed out in a note. \"We do not expect the BOJ to end negative interest rates until Q2 24 at the earliest ... The wide differential between U.S. and Japanese 10-year government bond yields can continue to support dollar/yen.\" Other currency pairs were broadly steady with the euro at $1.0765 as the market focus turns on U.S. inflation data, due at 1330 GMT, and beyond it to Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy decision. Sterling held at $1.2555. The Australian dollar , floated four decades ago on Tuesday, was kept to $0.6564 and the New Zealand dollar to $0.6122. The dollar has been sliding since October's benign U.S. inflation report but found a footing on upbeat jobs data published on Friday. The Fed is considered certain to hold rates at 5.25%-5.50% this week, putting the focus on the so-called dot plots for rates and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference. Expectations for a March cut have ebbed, though May is seen as a better-than 3/4 chance. Economists polled by Reuters expect headline inflation to have been flat for November, and core inflation to keep steady at an annual pace of 4% - well above the Fed's 2% target. \"Overly exuberant 'pivot zealots' may be set up for stumbles over the markets-Fed expectations gap,\" said Mizuho economist Vishnu Varathan. \"Of particular interest will be where the median rate forecast for 2024 lands,\" he said in a note. \"Markets are banking on more emphatic cuts of (about) 100bp whereas the Fed may be more stoic with more measured reductions.\" The European Central Bank, Bank of England, Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank then all meet on Thursday, with Norway the only one considered a possible hiker. There is also a risk the SNB dial back its support for the franc in FX markets. The franc made an almost nine-year high on the euro last week and traded a little softer than that at 0.9455 francs to the common currency on Tuesday. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 0049 GMT Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Euro/Dollar $1.0766 $1.0765 +0.01% +0.48% +1.0766 +1.0764 Dollar/Yen 145.7650 146.1950 -0.27% +0.00% +146.1600 +145.7350 Euro/Yen 156.94 157.31 -0.24% +0.00% +157.3400 +156.8800 Dollar/Swiss 0.8779 0.8787 -0.08% +0.00% +0.8785 +0.8780 Sterling/Dollar 1.2562 1.2555 +0.00% +3.82% +1.2562 +1.2555 Dollar/Canadian 1.3571 1.3574 -0.01% +0.00% +1.3579 +1.3572 Aussie/Dollar 0.6570 0.6568 +0.04% -3.62% +0.6570 +0.6564 NZ Dollar/Dollar 0.6125 0.6124 +0.02% -3.54% +0.6126 +0.6120 All spots Tokyo spots Europe spots Volatilities Tokyo Forex market info from BOJ (Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Sonali Paul)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Yen hands back gains, dollar waits on CPI"
    },
    {
        "id": 784,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-netflix-down-thousands-users-004323689.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds Netflix comment in paragraph 2)\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Streaming giant Netflix is down for thousands of users in the U.S. on Monday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.\nNetflix, in an emailed statement, said that it is facing \"unexpected technical issues\" for some members.\nDowndetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including users, showed about 7,000 reports of outages as of 19:17 ET, down from nearly 17,000 reports earlier.\n(Reporting by Chandni Shah and Disha Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Netflix down for thousands of users - Downdetector"
    },
    {
        "id": 785,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-business-mood-darkens-activity-003949733.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian business confidence fell to its lowest since the pandemic in November as sales and profits softened, a survey showed on Tuesday, while price pressures picked up amid a lack of spare capacity.\nThe survey from National Australia Bank (NAB) showed its index of business conditions fell 4 points to +9 in November, still above average but well off the highs seen earlier this year.\nThe confidence index slid 6 points to -9 which, barring the pandemic, was the worst reading since 2012.\n\"For the consumer exposed sectors, you really need to go back to the global financial crisis to see confidence this weak in retail and recreation & personal services,\" said NAB's chief economist Alan Oster.\nConsumers have been much more downbeat than business this year, as high inflation and rising borrowing costs ate into spending power. Yet, strong population growth and government spending on infrastructure had helped insulate many firms.\nThe Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted rates to a 12-year high of 4.35% in November, but held steady this month.\n\"We will be closely watching to see if the weakness in confidence is sustained and whether a trend emerges in conditions, but for now it points to ongoing soft growth in Q4,\" Oster added.\nThe survey's measure of sales fell 6 points to a still healthy +13, while profitability dropped 5 points to +6. Employment remained firm at +8.\nCapacity utilisation remained high at 83.9%, which saw labour costs accelerate to a 2.2% quarterly rate in November. Purchase costs, final output prices and retail inflation all picked up in the month.\n\"The hope is that with activity slowing the easing in price pressures becomes more evident in early 2024,\" Oster said.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Australia business mood darkens as activity slows -survey"
    },
    {
        "id": 786,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-boeing-deepens-strategy-cuts-001824713.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Valerie Insinna and Tim Hepher\n(Reuters) -Boeing Co has embarked on deeper-than-expected cuts in its strategy ranks, halving the number of planners working within key divisions as it refocuses energies on tackling industrial pressures, people familiar with the matter said.\nThe move is the latest evidence of renewed industrial priorities after Boeing on Monday named Stephanie Pope to the new role of chief operating officer, putting the 51-year-old Global Services head in line to succeed Dave Calhoun as CEO.\nBoeing has been grappling with supply disruption at a time when it is saddled with almost $40 billion of debt stemming from the COVID-19 travel slump and an earlier 737 MAX safety crisis.\nBut some critics worry the increased operational focus is diverting attention from Boeing's long-term future at a crucial stage for the industry, with redundancy notices due to go out to affected strategists this week, according to the sources.\nIn November, Boeing said Marc Allen, who had once been seen as a future CEO, would step down as chief strategy officer with part of his planning team redeployed to divisions.\nIn a Nov. 16 memo, Calhoun said this involved \"enabling and empowering our business units\", with strategists \"directly joining the business units they support\".\nHowever, sources said those units were facing cuts of at least 50% in the number of strategists who work day to day inside Boeing Global Services and Stan Deal's Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The total number of employees affected was unknown.\nIn a sign of the speed of the shake-up, some strategists are being told not to go back to work when the 60-day notices land, though they will receive job search advice, the sources said.\nAt Defense, plans are evolving more slowly as it first combines the division's strategy and business development, but cuts of 50% or more are also expected there, the sources said.\nBoeing confirmed the internal Defense combination but declined to comment on the number of job cuts across the company. Sources say it has some 200 strategists in total, most of whom are embedded inside divisions rather than headquarters.\n\"We are directly aligning our strategy teams to the business units they support,\" a spokesperson said, adding this was part of broader steps taken over several years to simplify corporate structure and focus resources on the business.\nBoeing shares rose 1.4% on Monday.\nFUTURE TECHNOLOGIES\nStrategy is a perennial chess game in aerospace due to the company-sized bets and time needed to master new technology.\nThe decision to cut core strategy teams has already drawn criticism from analyst and long-time Boeing skeptic Richard Aboulafia. On Monday, he said this and Pope's appointment favor the harvesting of past investments over future technologies.\n\"If it doesn't have these things, how does it know where it wants to be in five or 10 years?\" he said.\nNot everyone was as pessimistic. One source familiar with the company said its divisions had long seen the strategy department as a costly rival and predicted it would gradually reshape itself.\nAnother argued company-wide choices about new technologies could be coordinated the CEO level as they had in the past, without the need for a standalone strategy department.\nJefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu on Monday welcomed the greater operational focus visible in Pope's appointment.\nThe shake-up comes as the industry studies its crystal ball on the future of single-aisle jets, the aerospace cash cow, marking one of the biggest strategic choices for a generation.\nAlthough successor models are over a decade away, Europe's Airbus has already aired a key component of its potential strategy by suggesting it may request public support - a mechanism that helped trigger a 17-year trade war with Boeing.\nCalhoun has tempered expectations of a new Boeing airplane until the mid-2030s, saying it must be 20%-30% more efficient. Shares are up 30% this year as Boeing conserves resources in favor of paying off $39 billion in debt.\nEven so, sources say it never fully halted work on a 737 replacement. But Boeing's storied Product Strategy team will now sit under Product Development, which oversees the pipeline of existing and planned future projects and tomorrow's production systems, Boeing confirmed in response to a Reuters query.\n\"One hopes the strategy changes are not about abandoning the future of the company in terms of the need to develop new programs (and) respond to the changing environment, particularly decarbonization,\" said Agency Partners analyst Nick Cunningham.\n\"On the other hand, you could argue that it's just realistic.\"\n(Reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris and Valerie Insinna in Washington; Editing by David Gaffen, Christopher Cushing and Jan Harvey)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-Boeing deepens strategy cuts as operations take center-stage -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 787,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/netflix-down-thousands-users-downdetector-000743263.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Streaming platform Netflix is down for thousands of users in the U.S. on Monday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.\nDowndetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including users, said there were more than 17,000 reports of outages, as of 18:41 ET.\n(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "Netflix down for thousands of users- Downdetector"
    },
    {
        "id": 788,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shari-redstone-weighs-sale-stake-233542585.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Shari Redstone is contemplating the sale of her interest in the Paramount Global movie and TV empire, a deal that could lead to more than $13 billion in asset sales, including the CBS network.\nRedstone has held talks with Hollywood producer David Ellison, the son of billionaire Larry Ellison, and RedBird Capital Partners, about an acquisition of her family’s stake in the business, according to people familiar with the matter.\nA buyer of Redstone’s stake could generate $13.5 billion by selling Paramount’s TV networks, including CBS and Showtime, according to Wells Fargo & Co.’s Steven Cahall.\nThe remaining businesses, including the Paramount Pictures film studio and production operations behind shows like the hit TV series Yellowstone, could be worth $19 billion, or around $23 a share, he said.\nShares of Paramount closed Monday at $16.24 a share.\nProceeds from asset sales would be used to reduce Paramount’s $15.6 billion in long-term debt by two-thirds. Cahall’s analysis also envisions new owners closing the Paramount+ streaming service, which is projected to lose $1.6 billion this year.\nWhether a sale actually occurs is in the hands of Redstone, who is Paramount’s chairperson and controls 77% of the voting shares through a family holding company, National Amusements Inc.\nRepresentatives of Redstone, Ellison and RedBird all declined to comment. The websites Deadline and Puck reported on the talks last week.\nActivision Blizzard Inc. CEO Bobby Kotick, who is leaving that company at the end of the month, has also held talks with Redstone about a potential sale, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The newspaper also said Paramount is considering layoffs of 1,000 workers early next year. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on any job cuts.\nParamount, like a lot of legacy media companies, is coping with a shift in viewing away from traditional TV networks toward streaming. Advertising on broadcast and cable channels has been weak, while the new streaming services lose money as they launch in new markets and invest in programming.\nPosition: ‘Untenable’\nParamount’s current position is “untenable,” according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Laurent Yoon. Its streaming business is too small to compete with rivals like Netflix Inc.\nA restructuring is needed, Yoon said, but for current management that would be “like performing an open-heart surgery on themselves, and they could use some help.”\nEllison has backed Paramount films such as Top Gun: Maverick and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. His Skydance Media was valued at more than $4 billion in a financing last year. Ellison’s interest may also attract other investors, such as private equity firms and rival media companies, according to Yoon..\nIn November, Paramount adopted a severance plan for its top executives in the event they are terminated due to an acquisition of the company.\nA deal is far from certain, however. Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar said in a research note that a change in Paramount’s ownership is “tough to get behind.”\nThere’s a relatively small pool of buyers for Paramount’s businesses, and other media assets, such as Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., may also be up for sale, according to Venkateshwar.\n“We continue to be skeptical of a deal ultimately being realized,” he said.\n--With assistance from Lucas Shaw.\n(Updates with potential job cuts, Kotick interest in ninth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Shari Redstone Weighs Sale of Stake in Paramount Global"
    },
    {
        "id": 789,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-japan-wholesale-inflation-slows-000154265.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds detail throughout)\nTOKYO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Japan's wholesale prices rose 0.3% in November from a year earlier, data showed on Tuesday, slowing sharply from the previous month in a sign of easing cost-push pressure in the world's third-largest economy.\nThe rise in the corporate goods price index (CGPI), which measures the prices companies charge each other for their goods and services, compared with the median market forecast for a 0.1% increase and followed a 0.9% gain in October.\nThe data underscored the Bank of Japan's view that wholesale inflation will continue to slow on falling commodity prices and the base effect of last year's sharp rise in fuel costs. (Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Japan wholesale inflation slows sharply in November on easing cost pressure"
    },
    {
        "id": 790,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hasbro-cuts-1-100-jobs-235759558.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — Toy maker Hasbro said Monday it is cutting about 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, as the malaise in the toy business extends through another holiday shopping season.\nThe nearly century-old Rhode Island-based company behind Monopoly, Play-Doh and My Little Pony toys disclosed the layoffs in a memo to employees published in a regulatory filing. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.\nThe company said that the reductions are on top of 800 job cuts that have been taken so far in 2023 as part of moves announced last year to save up to $300 million annually by 2025. As of year-end 2022, the company said it had 6,490 employees.\nLike many toy companies, Hasbro is struggling with a slowdown in sales after a surge during pandemic lockdowns when parents were splurging on toys to keep their children busy. Last holiday season, many toy companies had to slash prices to get rid of merchandise due to weak demand. And the challenges have continued. Toy sales in the U.S. were down 8% from January through August, based on Circana’s most recent data.\n“The market headwinds we anticipated have proven to be stronger and more persistent than planned,\" Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks wrote in the memo. “While we have made some important progress across our organization, the headwinds we saw through the first nine months of the year have continued into holiday and are likely to persist into 2024.”\nCocks had said the toymaker will “focus on fewer, bigger brands; gaming; digital; and our rapidly growing direct to consumer and licensing businesses.”\nShares in Hasbro Inc. fell almost 6% in after-market trading Monday.\n",
        "title": "Hasbro cuts 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, prompted by the ongoing malaise in the toy business"
    },
    {
        "id": 791,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rba-plans-launch-retail-payments-222000096.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s central bank expects to launch a “holistic review” of the country’s retail payments regulation once reforms that allow it to regulate buy-now-pay-later and mobile wallet providers come into effect next year, Governor Michele Bullock said.\n“This will be an opportunity to consult widely on current regulation as well as on areas where regulation might be required in the interests of safety, competition and efficiency,” Bullock said in a speech in Sydney on Tuesday. “This will help us to set our regulatory priorities in the expanded regulatory perimeter.”\n“As part of the review, we look forward to engaging constructively with industry on these issues,” Bullock added.\nThe review is part of the RBA payment systems board’s strategic priorities for 2024 which also include strengthening the resilience of the country’s payments infrastructure.\nAnother priority is to “shape the future of money,” Bullock said, referring to a central bank digital currency. The RBA is now planning a project that will examine how different forms of digital money and infrastructure could support the development of tokenized asset markets in Australia, she added.\nResponding to an audience question after her speech, Bullock reiterated that she was “still not convinced” about the use case for a retail CBDC, pointing out that tokenized assets are likely the next “sensible step.”\nIn her final speech of the year, Bullock didn’t reference the economy or monetary policy, having left interest rates at a 12-year high of 4.35% last week. However, asked during the Q&A whether Australia was lagging the rest of the world in its fight against inflation, Bullock pushed back.\n“I don’t think we are falling behind at all,” Bullock said. “We are trying to make sure that we slow the economy enough to bring inflation down to our target band. We think we can do that in the next couple of years and we can do that while preserving the employment gains that we’ve won through the pandemic and coming out of the pandemic.”\nThe remarks come as the RBA has moved cautiously in the current campaign with its 4.25 percentage points of hikes still 1 point below that delivered by the US and New Zealand.\nThe impact of the RBA’s hikes is being felt the most by Australia’s heavily indebted households as surging borrowing costs force them to cut back on other discretionary spending. That was also reflected in the latest GDP reading for the three months to September when the economy surprisingly slowed.\nBullock acknowledged that it had been a “hard year” for people dealing with rising borrowing costs and inflation while expressing optimism that the situation will improve in 2024.\nAustralia’s central bank meets next on Feb. 6 and by then will have had a chance to see the inflation reading for the final three months of this year to assess whether it needs to do more.\nThe RBA has signaled further tightening might be needed to cool inflation which remains well above its 2-3% target. Financial market pricing implies the RBA is now done with hikes, though the cash rate is expected to remain around current levels until late next year.\n(Adds comments from Q&A and chart.)\n",
        "title": "RBA Plans Retail Payments Review Under New Expanded Remit"
    },
    {
        "id": 792,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/south-korean-auto-battery-firms-231156023.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Heekyong Yang\nSEOUL (Reuters) - Under pressure from clients eager to diversify away from China, South Korean makers of automotive batteries have pledged to develop a more affordable type of battery chemistry favoured by their Chinese rivals.\nBut LG Energy Solution (LGES), SK On and Samsung SDI say it will be hard to go full steam ahead with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries as they can't yet compete on price, executives and company officials familiar with their business strategies said.\nFeeding their worries is slowing growth in electric vehicle sales and the potential for changes in U.S. subsidies should President Joe Biden lose the 2024 election, they said.\nThe firms - which until two years ago had solely pushed nickel-based lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles - are also reluctant to undermine their efforts to develop cheaper nickel-based batteries, the sources added.\nSouth Korean battery makers have long argued that nickel-based batteries are better due to greater energy density that provides longer driving ranges as well as being smaller and lighter.\nBut global automakers are now pressuring them to develop LFP batteries, according to the sources.\n\"Our automotive customers have told us: 'We would like to buy batteries from your firm - LFP batteries for our smaller cars and nickel batteries for our more premium cars',\" said an executive at a major Korean battery maker.\nSix battery industry sources spoke to Reuters for this article. They were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.\nThe three firms said in statements to Reuters that they planned to build LFP batteries which are better than existing products, enhancing energy density and other features. Samsung SDI also said it plans to secure LFP cost competitiveness through product design and by improving processes and facilities.\nLFP batteries made by Chinese suppliers like CATL and BYD are roughly 20% cheaper than nickel counterparts, analysts say.\nAutomakers are not only eager to cut costs, but those looking to sell in the United States want to take advantage of electric vehicle subsidies made available under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act.\nNew U.S. rules, however, further limit the amount of Chinese content in batteries eligible for credits from next year, forcing automakers to pin their hopes on sourcing LFPs from non-Chinese suppliers.\nFor example, Ford Motor, which uses LFP batteries made by CATL in China in its Mustang Mach-E SUV, has said the model currently in dealer showrooms was unlikely to qualify for federal tax credits from January.\nAt present, none of the three major South Korean suppliers - which account for nearly half of global automotive battery supply excluding the Chinese market - make LFP automotive batteries. LGES does, however, manufacture other types of LFP batteries.\nTALL ORDER\nAll three firms have recently said they are accelerating LFP development. LGES and Samsung SDI are targeting mass production in 2026, while SK On says it has completed development and is in talks with customers about commencing supply.\nBut matching their Chinese rivals in cost will be a tall order, the sources said.\n\"While we are aware of the growing need for our own LFP battery production, we have to do it in a way that works for us and our clients, meaning we need to price LFP batteries competitively with Chinese products and we also need to make a profit,\" the executive at the major battery firm said.\nBuilding an LFP supply chain will take time. For a start, there are no makers of cathodes for LFP batteries in South Korea, so the three firms will have to source those cathodes from China.\nChung Wonsuk, an analyst at Hi Investment & Securities, estimates any Korean-made LFP batteries would likely be 17% more expensive than Chinese products and that could jump to 40% if the batteries were produced in the U.S. due to higher labour and infrastructure costs.\nOver the past year, the three South Korean battery firms have announced a combined $44 billion in investments to expand production capacity - mainly in the U.S. to qualify for subsidies.\nAggressively investing to build or retool plants for LFP production could be difficult in the next two to three years, the sources said, especially given slower EV sales that are partly due to a spike in auto financing costs for consumers.\n\"We might not see blockbuster investment announcements like we have had in the past few years,\" said an executive at another Korean battery firm.\nGeneral Motors, Ford and Tesla, which all source batteries from South Korean firms, have recently said they will delay EV-related spending, citing slower sales.\n\"Recently, automaker customers have slowed their battery orders to manage their EV inventories...this is the first time the battery sector has faced such a pause since the EV renaissance of the past few years,\" the first executive said.\nKorean battery makers are also conscious that Donald Trump, the leading Republican candidate in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, plans to sharply cut EV subsidies.\n\"Making batteries in the U.S. doesn't really generate much profit in the first place,\" said Cho Hyunryul, a senior analyst at Samsung Securities.\n\"If U.S. subsidies were significantly reduced, then South Korean battery makers might consider...diverting their resources to other regions.\"\n(Reporting by Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Additional reporting by Joe White in Detroit; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "South Korean auto battery firms take on Chinese rivals but with trepidation"
    },
    {
        "id": 793,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hawaiian-electric-pushes-ahead-plan-230536734.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Nicole Jao\nNEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Electricity provider Hawaiian Electric on Monday said it was advancing a plan to replace six fossil-fuel generators at a major power plant with renewable energy sources as it transitions to cleaner power generation.\nThe plan, proposed in April, will add more around-the-clock renewable power generation. It was selected as part of a competitive procurement process overseen by Hawaiian's Public Utilities Commission, according to the announcement.\nHawaiian Electric plans to replace the old generators dating as far back as 1947 with fuel-flexible units and will contribute to Hawaii's goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045, the company said.\nThe announcement comes as the utility company faced intense scrutiny for prioritizing its green transition over fire prevention efforts after the deadly wildfires in Maui in August, which claimed the lives of more than 114 people.\nElectricity generated from the new units is intended to support Waiau Power Plant's renewable energy sources, including wind, solar and battery storage, when they are down or unable to meet system demand.\nWaiau Power Plant is the second-largest power production facility on O'ahu, Hawaii.\nThe 253-megawatt(MW) power generation project still needs final approval from Hawaii Public Utilities Commission. (Reporting by Nicole Jao; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)\n",
        "title": "Hawaiian Electric pushes ahead with plan to retire aging fossil-fuel generators"
    },
    {
        "id": 794,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-uaw-files-unfair-labor-230205059.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds comments from UAW President Shawn Fain)\nBy David Shepardson\nDec 11 (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers union said Monday it filed unfair labor practice charges against Honda Motor, Hyundai Motor and Volkswagen citing aggressive anti-union campaigns to deter workers from organizing.\nThe union's filings with the National Labor Relations Board and a video address Monday evening by UAW President Shawn Fain are the latest steps by the union to draw attention to its effort to organize workers at Tesla and foreign-owned U.S. auto plants.\nIn his video address, Fain acknowledged the challenges facing UAW organizing efforts at employers that have successfully resisted the union for decades. The UAW wants to see support from 70% of a plant's workforce before pushing for an organizing vote, Fain said.\nFain said he met last week with workers at Toyota Motor's Georgetown, Ky assembly plant. The UAW president said no single company is the union's first priority. \"They're all the target,\" he said.\n\"We will use every tool in our tool box\" to overcome company opposition to unionization efforts, Fain said.\nThe UAW said last month it was launching a first-of-its-kind push to publicly organize the entire nonunion auto sector in the U.S. after winning new record contracts with the Detroit Three automakers.\nLast week, the UAW said more than 1,000 factory workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee, assembly plant have signed union authorization cards, or more than 30% of workers.\nThe UAW filed charges over actions by Honda in Indiana, Hyundai in Alabama, and Volkswagen in Tennessee.\nA Honda worker said management illegally told workers to remove union stickers from hats, the UAW said. Hyundai illegally polled employees about their support for the UAW and confiscated union materials and barred their distribution in non-work areas, the union charged.\nHonda said in a statement it \"encourages our associates to engage and get information on this issue. We have not and would not interfere with our associates’ right to engage in activity supporting or opposing the UAW.\"\nThe UAW said VW threatened and coerced employees \"from exercising rights to engage in protected activity by prohibiting employees from discussing unionization during working time and restricting employees from distributing union materials.\"\nVolkswagen said on Monday it \"respects our workers' right to determine who should represent their interests in the workplace... We take claims like this very seriously and will investigate accordingly.\"\nThe Detroit-based UAW said last month workers at 13 nonunion automakers were announcing simultaneous campaigns across the country to join the union, including at Tesla, Toyota , Volkswagen, Honda, Hyundai, Rivian, Nissan , BMW and Mercedes-Benz.\nThe UAW's deals with General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis included an immediate 11% pay hike and 25% increase in base wages through 2028, cuts the time needed to reach top pay to three years from eight years. Many foreign automakers have recently boosted pay and benefits in response. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Stephen Coates)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-UAW files unfair labor charges against VW, Honda, Hyundai"
    },
    {
        "id": 795,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rogers-sells-600-million-cogeco-221359726.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Canadian wireless company Rogers Communications Inc. sold its stake in a rival telecommunications operator to Quebec’s largest pension manager, raising more than $600 million to repay debt in an effort to keep its investment-grade rating.\nRogers is selling its shares in the Cogeco group to Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec. The private deal will allow Rogers to cut its leverage ratio to 4.7 times by the end of the year, compared with 4.9 times at the end of September.\nRogers held large stakes in Cogeco Inc. and operating unit Cogeco Communications Inc. for many years in the hope of acquiring it one day, but the Audet family, which controls both entities, rebuffed its overtures — including a hostile bid in 2020.\nInstead, Rogers purchased Shaw Communications Inc. for about C$20 billion. After that deal closed, Rogers was downgraded by S&P Global Ratings to BBB-, the lowest rung above junk. It’s similarly rated by Moody’s Investors Service, Fitch and DBRS Morningstar.\n“This sale further demonstrates our commitment to strengthen our investment grade balance sheet and aggressively reduce our debt leverage ratio,” Tony Staffieri, Rogers’ chief executive officer, said in a statement.\nCaisse de Depot won’t hang on to all of the Cogeco shares it’s buying from Rogers. Cogeco will repurchase some and, in the end, the Quebec pension fund will wind up with a 16.1% stake in Cogeco Communications, a seller of internet, cable television and wireless services within Canada.\n“Given the current prices of our stocks, which we believe are undervalued, buying back shares represents an attractive use of our capital to build shareholder value,” Cogeco CEO Philippe Jette said in a statement. S&P cut its outlook on Cogeco Communications to negative.\nShares of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications have fallen by 18% and 26%, respectively, since the beginning of year in Toronto trading.\n(Updates with details about CDPQ, quote from Cogeco CEO Jette and share prices, beginning in the sixth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Rogers Sells $600 Million Cogeco Stake to CDPQ to Pare Debt"
    },
    {
        "id": 796,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/irs-tax-demands-money-victims-224822800.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- US officials will take money away from victims of the fraud-tainted crypto firm, FTX Trading Ltd. unless a judge rejects the government’s demand for $24 billion in unpaid taxes, the bankrupt company said in a court filing.\nThe two sides will be in court Tuesday arguing over the best procedures to determine how much of the Internal Revenue Service claim is legitimate. FTX wants to set a quick schedule to estimate the claim; the IRS has argued that its audit is ongoing, so asking a judge to estimate how much FTX might owe in taxes is inappropriate.\n“This Alice in Wonderland argument has no support in the law,” FTX said in its filing.\nGoing forward with a court-supervised estimation process will show that FTX lost money in the three-years it operated, so it could not possibly owe IRS any substantial amount, the company said in court papers filed Sunday. And any money that it could be forced to pay would harm victims of FTX, the company said.\nFederal officials will eventually amend the $24 billion claim to reclassify at least some as lower-priority, unsecured debt, the US said in court papers.\n“The government is not looking for a windfall, only to determine the correct amount of the tax liabilities,” federal lawyers said in the filing.\nLast month, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of orchestrating a massive fraud that led to the collapse of his FTX exchange. The company filed for bankruptcy last year after Bankman-Fried agreed to turn over control of his empire to restructuring professionals. Since then, the advisers have been tracking down assets and trying to untangle a complex web of debt owed to various creditors, including customers who put cash and crypto on the trading platform.\nFTX’s administrators have so far recovered about $7 billion in assets, including $3.4 billion of crypto, according to court documents.\nThe case is FTX Trading Ltd., 22-11068, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.\n",
        "title": "IRS Tax Demands Would Take Money From Victims of FTX Bankruptcy"
    },
    {
        "id": 797,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/credit-veteran-nick-pappas-start-223451423.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Nick Pappas, a veteran credit specialist who has held senior roles at Michael Hintze’s CQS and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., is starting his own debt fund focused on European investments.\nPappas is planning to launch Faros Point Capital Management with at least $200 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Faros point has received backing from a group of US college endowments and plans to close the fund to new capital within the next six months or sooner if it reaches about $500 million, said the people, asking not to be identified as the details are private.\nThe fund will focus on opportunistic credit investments in European public and private markets, according to an investor presentation seen by Bloomberg News.\nFaros Point is targeting 20% net annualized returns, according to the presentation. The team will include Michelle Cruz Peverley as head of partner relations and strategy, as well as two senior research analysts who previously worked at CQS, the document shows.\nA representative for Faros Point declined to comment.\nPappas was global head of credit at CQS, where he spent more than three years after joining in 2017 from BlueMountain Capital Management. Prior to that, he led leveraged finance for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Goldman Sachs, and was co-head of US credit at Deutsche Bank AG.\nHe joins a small group of credit traders who have succeeded in convincing clients to back them in an industry that’s increasingly dominated by multi-strategy hedge funds, or those where groups of traders invest across asset classes.\nFormer Citadel traders Jonas Diedrich and Dave Sutton started trading with client assets of $1.85 billion on July 1 for their London-based Ilex Capital Partners, while distressed debt specialist Michael Sutton is teaming up with a former Deutsche Bank colleague for one of the biggest European hedge fund launches of the year.\nStill, more than 2,500 hedge funds have been shuttered over the past five years, exceeding launches during the period, according to data compiled by Hedge Fund Research Inc.\nFaros Point — named after the Greek word for lighthouse in a nod to Pappas’s heritage — will be based in London.\n",
        "title": "Credit Veteran Nick Pappas to Start Own Investment Fund"
    },
    {
        "id": 798,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-bristol-myers-pay-800-221307232.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds new details in paragrapds-2-4)\nDec 11 (Reuters) - Bristol Myers Squibb said on Monday it will pay $800 million up front and up to $8.4 billion to a unit of Sichuan Biokin Pharmaceutical Co to develop and commercialize one of its cancer treatments outside China.\nUnder the terms of the agreement, SystImmune will be solely responsible for development and commercialization of the drug in mainland China, while Bristol Myers outside the country.\nBristol Myers said it will pay SystImmune up to $500 million in contingent near-term payments to co-develop an antibody-drug conjugate that it said has shown promise with a range of solid tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer.\nSystImmune will be eligible for additional payments of up to $7.1 billion contingent upon the achievement of certain development, regulatory and sales performance milestones.\n(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Bristol Myers to pay $800 mln up front to Chinese drugmaker to develop cancer drug"
    },
    {
        "id": 799,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hasbro-lay-off-20-workforce-220507268.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Hasbro is laying off about 20% of its workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.\n(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Hasbro to lay off 20% of workforce - WSJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 800,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/german-investor-expectations-unexpectedly-rise-101547602.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s investor outlook unexpectedly improved for a fifth month, signaling hope that Europe’s biggest economy may be stabilizing as inflation retreats.\nAn expectations index by the ZEW institute rose to 12.8 in December from 9.8 in November — defying economists’ prediction for a drop. A measure of current conditions also increased.\n“Despite the current budget crisis, the assessment of the situation and economic expectations for Germany have once again increased slightly,” ZEW President Achim Wambach said in a statement. “That’s helped by the fact that the proportion of respondents who expect the ECB to cut rates in the medium term has doubled.”\nAfter a record tightening cylce, the European Central Bank is probably done raising interest rates, with investors instead focusing on when policymakers will start lowering them. President Christine Lagarde is likely to be quizzed on the prospect of a cut as soon as March when she speaks Thursday after her institution’s final meeting of the year.\nThe economic situation is less encouraging: Germany is almost certainly in its first recession since the pandemic. Economists anticipate that a third-quarter contraction will be followed by another in the current period. The Bundesbank has said output will only start to expand next year as household incomes recover and things look better in the important manufacturing sector.\nThe latter had a bad start to the fourth quarter, with industrial production falling for a fifth month in October. Manufacturers — Germany’s economic backbone — are particularly affected by expensive energy, higher interest rates and weak global demand.\nThe weakness has also begun to spill over into the labor market, which has so far surprised with its resilience in a period of monetary tightening. In November, the unemployment rate soared to the highest since 2021.\nThe mess over Germany’s budget isn’t helping the situation. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and top officials in his governing coalition are attempting to seal an agreement on a revised plan for 2024 after a decision by the country’s top court a month ago upended the government’s decades-old practice of using the special pots to fund investments.\n--With assistance from Joel Rinneby and Kristian Siedenburg.\n(Updates with ECB in fourth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "German Investor Expectations Unexpectedly Rise for 5th Month"
    },
    {
        "id": 801,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/illumina-fights-eu-bring-7-040000242.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Illumina Inc.’s struggle to save its $7 billion acquisition of cancer-test provider Grail Inc. entered the final stages in a court challenge to the European Union’s recent eagerness to probe deals that once flew under the radar.\nAt a hearing at the EU’s Court of Justice, lawyers for Illumina and Grail attacked the European Commission for “orchestrating a plan to assume jurisdiction” over a combination that lacked any discernible footprint in the 27-nation EU.\n“Never before had it wanted to review a merger where the target has no presence whatsoever in the EU and yet because of the commission’s overreach, we are indeed in the undesired situation,” Grail lawyer Javier Ruiz Calzado told a 15-judge panel. A final ruling is expected in the coming months.\nWhile the appeal is pivotal for Illumina’s hopes of reviving its stalled purchase, it throws up key questions about the new EU deals-vetting policy that’s most recently been used on Qualcomm Inc.’s purchase of Israeli chipmaker Autotalks and a Deutsche Boerse AG unit’s buyout of Nasdaq Inc.’s European power trading business. The change was put in place in 2021 to pick up takeovers of low- or zero-revenue targets that previously escaped a proper review — a source of frustration particularly over Big Tech’s appetite for snapping up fledgling rivals.\nThe EU’s new policy “runs counter to the principles of legal certainty, proportionality and subsidiarity” and “allows a form of what might be called competence creep,” said Daniel Beard, a lawyer representing Illumina. Beard accused regulators of keeping the firms in the dark, through an “intentional silence” and “secretive process, which the parties had no idea about.”\nRead More: Vestager Has Deals in Sight for EU Killer-Acquisition Crackdown\nIllumina has been pushing back against close antitrust scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic of its bid to re-purchase Grail — spun off from the DNA-sequencing giant in 2016 to develop a blood test to detect 50 types of cancer in early stages.\nThe commission dismissed most claims on Tuesday as inadmissible.\n“Illumina and Grail’s arguments are essentially a policy manifesto about what they think should be the jurisdictional limits of EU merger control,” Nicholas Khan, a lawyer for the EU regulator, told the court.\nFor Illumina, only a win will do. Defeat at the EU court in Luxembourg would lead it to abandon all hope of resurrecting the deal, regardless of the outcome of a parallel challenge at a US appeals court over the Federal Trade Commission’s April order to sell off Grail.\nMuch is also at stake for the EU commission’s competition arm, led again by Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager after she returned from a failed job application for the European Investment Bank.\n“This is a hugely important case,” said Stijn Huijts, a lawyer at Geradin Partners in Brussels. “If the commission’s approach is upheld, it has within a short window, and without legislative changes, established a position where problematic deals that fall below any European notification threshold can be called in for review.”\n“If the commission loses, it will surely call for changes to the system,” said Huijts.\nThe cases are: C-611/22 P Illumina v. Commission, C-625/22 P Grail v. Commission.\n(Updates with arguments from the court hearing starting in third paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Illumina Fights EU to Bring $7 Billion Deal Back From Brink"
    },
    {
        "id": 802,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-prosecutors-seek-11-sentence-162159170.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Jody Godoy\n(Reuters) - Nikola founder Trevor Milton should receive around 11 years in prison for defrauding investors in the electric- and hydrogen-powered truck maker, prosecutors in New York said on Tuesday.\nMilton was convicted at trial in October 2022 on two counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud. Prosecutors said Milton targeted retail investors with false claims about Nikola's technology starting in 2019.\nHe is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18 at a hearing where investors may appear to speak about their losses on the company, whose market cap soared to above $30 billion in June 2020.\nProsecutors on Tuesday asked U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos to give Milton a \"substantial sentence\" in line with an 11-year recommendation from the probation department.\nThey compared Milton to Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison last year for defrauding investors in her blood testing startup.\n\"Just as Holmes lied about Theranos-manufactured blood analyzers, Milton lied about the operability of the Nikola One semitruck,\" they said.\nMilton has urged the judge to resist comparing him to Holmes, saying Nikola is a \"real company with real products,\" unlike Theranos. He has asked for probation, saying his statements came from a \"deeply-held optimism\" in the company he founded in 2014.\nProsecutors said at trial that Milton used social media and news-media interviews to make false and misleading claims, including that Nikola built an electric- and hydrogen-powered \"Badger\" pickup from the \"ground up.\"\n(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "US prosecutors seek 11-year sentence for Nikola founder Trevor Milton"
    },
    {
        "id": 803,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fiat-start-selling-electric-500-161434225.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "MILAN (Reuters) - Fiat will start selling its fully-electric 500e small car in North America in the first quarter of next year, parent Stellantis said on Tuesday, adding it would be its first such retail offering in the region.\nA very popular model in Europe, the battery electric (BEV) 500 is powered by a 42-kWh, high-voltage, lithium-ion battery system, with an estimated range of 149 miles (240 kilometres).\nThe car is assembled in the Mirafiori complex in Turin, Italy, and will be exported to North America.\nIts suggested selling price in North America is $32,500, with a further $1,595 in delivery costs, the group said in a statement.\nNo sales targets were provided.\nStellantis, the world's third largest automaker by sales, was created in early 2021 through the merger of Fiat-Chrysler and Peugeot parent PSA. Its other brands include Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Citroen and Maserati.\nAs part of its business plan, the Franco-Italian group has plans for 100% of its European passenger car sales and 50% of its U.S. passenger car and light-duty truck sales to be BEVs by 2030.\n(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari)\n",
        "title": "Fiat to start selling electric 500 model in North America early in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 804,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boeing-within-range-airplane-delivery-160306645.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Valerie Insinna\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing deliveries rose to 56 airplanes in November as the company rebounded from a 737 manufacturing defect, putting the planemaker within striking distance of its annual targets.\nDeliveries for last month were the highest since June and included 45 737 MAXs and one P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, Boeing said, confirming a Reuters report from last week.\nThe company also delivered two 777 freighters, two 767s, and six 787 Dreamliners.\nBoeing now sits eight Dreamliners away from its annual delivery goal of at least 70 units, and 24 narrowbody 737s away from its revised target for at least 375 single-aisle jets.\nIf Boeing delivers 49 737s in December - a number the company beat in the same month of 2022 - it will hit its original goal of at least 400 narrowbody jets.\nChief Financial Officer Brian West said in October that 737 deliveries would pick back up in November and December after resolving a supplier error, which required Boeing to conduct lengthy inspections of 737s coming off the production line and in its inventory.\nThe company booked 114 gross orders in November, dominated by a deal with Emirates for 90 widebody 777Xs announced during the Dubai Airshow last month. Unidentified customers canceled a total of 10 737 orders, leaving Boeing with 104 net orders for the month.\nBoeing's gross orders since the start of January rose to 1,085 units, or 945 net orders after factoring in cancellations and conversions and 1,207 net orders after accounting adjustments.\nThe company's backlog increased to 5,324 in November.\nAirbus has won 1,512 orders so far this year or a net total of 1,395 after cancellations, the company said last week.\n(Reporting by Valerie Insinna; Editing by Michael Perry)\n",
        "title": "Boeing within range of airplane delivery goal after strong November"
    },
    {
        "id": 805,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ken-griffins-citadel-return-7-154256010.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Billionaire Ken Griffin's Citadel is planning to give back about $7 billion in profits to investors after a year of double-digit returns, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.\nIts flagship multi-strategy Wellington fund returned 14.8% this year through November, a second source said.\nLast year, Citadel also returned roughly $7 billion in profits to its investors after posting gains of over 30%. Griffin's firm usually hands back money to clients as a way to keep its size compatible with the investment opportunities it sees on the horizon.\nCitadel, which will start 2024 with $58 billion in assets under management, has outperformed many of its peers in recent year.\nIsrael Englander's Millennium Management is up 9.7% in the first nine months of 2023, one of the sources said. The hedge fund declined to comment on the matter.\nOn Tuesday, Griffin, the world's most successful hedge fund manager in terms of earnings, announced he and billionaire David Geffen donated $400 million to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Griffin has donated over $2 billion to charity during his lifetime, to causes from education to COVID-19 vaccines.\n(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York and Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)\n",
        "title": "Ken Griffin's Citadel to return about $7 billion in profit to investors -source"
    },
    {
        "id": 806,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-latam-assets-slip-153519959.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* US Nov CPI unexpectedly rises * Brazil's Nov CPI cools * Mexico's Oct industrial output rises * Argentina set to roll out economic measures * Stocks fall 0.4%, FX off 0.1% By Siddarth S Dec 12 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies slipped on Tuesday as U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly rose in November that dialed back expectations of early rate-cuts next year, while the Brazil's annual inflation in November cooled further. MSCI's gauge of Latin American currencies slipped 0.1% against a steady dollar, while MSCI's Latin American stocks index fell 0.4% by 1513 GMT. The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) edged up 0.1% last month after being unchanged in October. On an annual basis, the CPI increased 3.1% after rising 3.2% in October. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI would be unchanged on the month and gain 3.1% on a year-on-year basis. The inflation offered further evidence that the Fed was unlikely to pivot to interest rate cuts early next year and sets the stage for the monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, where the central bank is expected to hold rates steady. \"Although the Fed has probably done enough tightening in this cycle, these figures, and particularly when viewed in light of last week’s employment report, very much lay the ground for this week’s FOMC meeting to deliver the now familiar message that a further rate rise remains on the table should it be needed,\" said Stuart Cole, chief macro economist at Equiti Capital. Brazil's CPI as measured by the benchmark IPCA index rose 4.68% in the 12 months through November, down from 4.82% in the previous month and below the 4.70% forecast by economists polled by Reuters. The CPI readings places it inside the range of 1.75% to 4.75% targeted by the central bank for the first time since August, although still significantly above the 3% middle point of the official goal. The Brazilian real fell 0.3%, while the benchmark Bovespa stock index declined 0.5%. Investor focus will be on Argentina as the new government will lay out its economic \"shock\" therapy plans on Tuesday in a bid to rein in triple-digit inflation and rebuild foreign currency reserves, with markets and ordinary Argentines on tenterhooks about the impact. The Argentinian peso in the official market stood at 366.45 to the dollar, hovering around levels seen in the previous session, while in the parallel black market it was last seen at 990 to the dollar. Mexican industrial output rose 0.6% in October from September and was 5.5% higher on an annual basis, data showed. The peso was muted. Oil producer Colombian peso weakened 0.8% to the dollar tracking oil prices on concerns over excess supply and slowing demand growth. Chile's central bank is expected to lower its benchmark interest rate by another 50 basis points to 8.5% at its monetary policy meeting next week, a poll of analysts released by the bank showed on Tuesday. The Chilean peso inched down 0.1%. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1513 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging 976.02 0.29 Markets MSCI LatAm 2451.22 -0.45 Brazil Bovespa 126287.2 -0.5 7 Mexico IPC 54439.12 0.08 Chile IPSA 5875.17 -0.19 Argentina MerVal 977155.0 0.034 4 Colombia COLCAP 1147.41 0.53 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.9565 -0.47 Mexico peso 17.3789 -0.02 Chile peso 882.5 -0.10 Colombia peso 3991.42 -0.85 Peru sol 3.7738 -0.30 Argentina peso 366.4500 -0.11 (interbank) Argentina peso 990 1.01 (parallel) (Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru, Editing by Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Latam assets slip on surprise US CPI; Brazil's inflation cools"
    },
    {
        "id": 807,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-fund-associations-sues-sec-153114053.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Three hedge fund associations sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday in a bid to vacate two new rules aimed at boosting transparency of short-selling, arguing they conflict.\nThe case, filed in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is the second brought by the hedge fund groups against the SEC in recent months, and comes amid a broader push by Wall Street to fight a raft of new financial regulations in court. (Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York and Michelle Price in Washington)\n",
        "title": "Hedge fund associations sues the SEC in bid to vacate short-selling rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 808,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/foxconn-invest-additional-1-7-152329713.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) -Apple supplier Foxconn plans to invest an additional 139.11 billion rupees ($1.67 billion) in India's Karnataka state, the state government said in a statement on Tuesday.\nThe Taiwan-based company, which assembles around 70% of iPhones and is the world's largest contract manufacturer, has been diversifying production away from China following COVID-19 disruptions and geopolitical tensions.\nIt has rapidly expanded its presence in India over the past year by investing heavily in manufacturing facilities in the south of the country.\nIn Karnataka state itself, the company announced in August an investment of $600 million in two projects to make casing components for iPhones and chip-making equipment.\nFoxconn is also expected to start manufacturing iPhones in the southern state by April 2024 - a project expected to create around 50,000 jobs.\nThe government did not elaborate on the latest plans for the additional investment in Karnataka, and Foxconn did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.\n($1 = 83.3900 Indian rupees)\n(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil; Writing by Kanjyik Ghosh and Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "Foxconn to invest additional $1.7 billion in India's Karnataka state"
    },
    {
        "id": 809,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/argentina-roll-first-crisis-measures-120114480.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo will deliver a recorded speech Tuesday evening to outline emergency measures from President Javier Milei’s new government meant to halt the nation’s slide deeper into crisis.\nThe announcement will come after 5 p.m. local time on Milei’s second full day in office, according to the government’s chief spokesman, Manuel Adorni.\nMilei outlined a somber vision for rapid policy change in his Sunday inauguration address, though Caputo hasn’t detailed the extent of the measures yet. Adorni didn’t provide any other details about Caputo’s broadcast at his Tuesday morning press conference in Buenos Aires.\nThe government closed Argentina’s export registry Monday, a technical step that often foreshadows a currency devaluation or major policy change. The central bank also confirmed that there would be limited transactions in the country’s official exchange market until the government implemented its own policies.\nLocal businesses are bracing for the worst with inflation already above 140% annually. Supermarkets and grocery stores are receiving price hikes north of 20% from suppliers in recent days, while gas stations have boosted prices by a similar amount.\nIn his inauguration address, Milei said private estimates for monthly inflation from December to February range between 20% to 40%.\n",
        "title": "Argentina to Roll Out First Crisis Measures in Evening Broadcast"
    },
    {
        "id": 810,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-steady-near-lowest-since-000105587.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil edged lower as continuous pressure from robust supplies globally countered curbs by the OPEC+ alliance.\nGlobal benchmark Brent traded near $76 a barrel. Futures last week dipped to a multi-month low on soaring output from producers outside of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies.\nSpreads between monthly contracts continue to indicate oversupply, with the front end of the Brent futures curve this week closing at the weakest level since June.\nFutures gained earlier Tuesday as the dollar softened, making commodities priced in the currency more attractive. There was also another attack on a vessel off the coast of Yemen, as the threat to shipping in the region grows.\nOil has dropped for the past seven weeks, the longest losing run since 2018, and is down by about a fifth from a peak in late September. Forecasts for slowing Chinese consumption growth and lingering risks of recession in the US are also endangering the outlook into the first quarter next year.\n“Sentiment remains negative,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at broker PVM Oil Associates Ltd. “The fundamental backdrop is discouraging” and “there is no help coming from the demand side of the oil equation.”\n--With assistance from Yongchang Chin.\n",
        "title": "Oil Slips as Oversupply Concerns Offset Production Curbs"
    },
    {
        "id": 811,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-lawmakers-call-us-regulator-151422231.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Updates with Albertsons comment)\nBy Abigail Summerville\nNEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Six U.S. lawmakers wrote to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday expressing their opposition to the proposed $24.6-billion acquisition of grocery chain operator Albertsons by peer Kroger Co, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.\nKroger and Albertsons have said they expect to complete their merger by early 2024, once the FTC completes its antitrust review.\nSenators Elizabeth Warren, Mazie Hirono, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker and representatives Summer Lee and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in the letter that Kroger's proposal to divest 413 stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers would not address harms to consumers, workers, and the grocery industry if the merger is allowed.\nThe lawmakers are arguing that store divestitures as a remedy to mega mergers often fail to maintain competitive conditions, because companies have an incentive to ensure that the businesses they spin off do not succeed.\nC&S, which secured financial backing from SoftBank Group Corp for its deal with Kroger, operates primarily as a supplier rather than a grocery-store operator. It currently has around two dozen stores under the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly brands.\nOther lawmakers, including congressmen Greg Landsman, Brian Fitzpatrick and Josh Gottheimer have sent letters to the FTC in support of the deal.\n“Albertsons Cos. merging with Kroger will expand competition, lower prices, protect union jobs, and enhance customers’ shopping experience,” a representative for Albertsons said in a statement.\nThe only parties that would benefit if the deal is blocked would be Amazon, Walmart and other large, non-union retailers, whereas a combined Kroger and Albertsons would ensure that neighborhood supermarkets can better compete with these retailing giants, the representative continued.\nThe FTC declined to comment. Kroger did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nKroger has said that it will not close any stores, distribution centers or manufacturing facilities or lay off any frontline associates as a result of the merger. (Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Franklin Paul)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Lawmakers call on US regulator to thwart Kroger-Albertsons deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 812,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wrapup-1-us-consumer-inflation-151211387.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nConsumer price index increases 0.1% in November\n*\nCPI advances 3.1% on year-on-year basis\n*\nCore CPI rises 0.3%; up 4.0% on year-on-year basis\nBy Lucia Mutikani\nWASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly rose in November as a decline in the cost of gasoline was offset by increases in rents, offering more evidence that the Federal Reserve was unlikely to pivot to interest rate cuts early next year.\nThe report from the Labor Department on Tuesday also showed prices for used cars and trucks rebounded last month after five straight monthly decreases, helping to boost underlying inflation. Americans also paid more for healthcare and motor vehicle insurance.\nThe slightly firmer inflation readings followed in the wake of data last Friday showing job gains accelerated in November and the unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from nearly a two-year high of 3.9% in October. Officials from the U.S. central bank were due to gather for a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday.\n\"Ongoing housing price pressures and their outsized influence on inflation overall tell a large part of the story of why calls for early and rapid Fed monetary policy easing should be viewed with significant scrutiny,\" said Kurt Rankin, senior economist at PNC Financial in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.\n\"The Fed will not cut rates until inflation's drivers are well and truly tamed.\"\nThe consumer price index (CPI) edged up 0.1% last month after being unchanged in October, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Gasoline prices decreased 6.0% after dropping 5.0% in the prior month. But natural gas cost more as did electricity.\nFood prices rose 0.2% after gaining 0.3% in October. Grocery food prices ticked up 0.1% amid rises in the costs of cereals and bakery products as well as fruits and vegetables. Meat, fish and eggs, however, cost less.\nIn the 12 months through November, the CPI increased 3.1% after rising 3.2% in October. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI would be unchanged on the month and gain 3.1% on a year-on-year basis. The annual increase in consumer prices has slowed from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022. Inflation remains above the Fed's 2% target.\nFollowing the data, financial markets continued to push back expectations of a rate cut to May from March, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, a process that was set in motion following last Friday's upbeat news on the labor market.\nThe Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged on Wednesday, with economists confident that its policy tightening campaign is over. The central bank has raised its policy rate by 525 basis points to the current 5.25%-5.50% range since March 2022.\nU.S. stocks were slightly lower in early trading. The dollar fell against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury prices were mixed.\nCORE INFLATION PICKS UP\nExcluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI increased 0.3% in November after climbing 0.2% in the prior month. The so-called core CPI was lifted by rents, which increased 0.5%. Owners' equivalent rent, a measure of the amount homeowners would pay to rent or would earn from renting their property, also rose 0.5% after increasing 0.4% in October.\nRental inflation could, however, moderate considerably next year as the rental vacancy rate increased to more than a two-year high in the third quarter, and there is a large stock of apartment buildings in the pipeline.\nUnderlying inflation was also lifted by a 1.6% surge in prices of used cars and trucks, which is likely temporary. Wholesale prices for used motor vehicles briefly rose amid worries about the impact of the 1-1/2-month United Auto Workers strike that began in September and ended in late October.\nHealthcare costs accelerated 0.6% after climbing 0.3% in October, boosted by increases in the cost of physicians' services and prescription medication.\nConsumers, however, got relief from cheaper apparel, with prices declining 1.3%. Prices for household furnishings and operations fell as did the cost of communication, recreation, airline fares and new motor vehicles.\nThe core CPI increased 4.0% on a year-on-year basis in November after advancing by the same margin in October. Shelter costs, which surged 6.5%, accounted for nearly 70% of the year-on-year rise in the core CPI.\n(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "WRAPUP 1-US consumer inflation lifted by rising rent costs in November"
    },
    {
        "id": 813,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kkr-advanced-talks-3-billion-150834828.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- KKR & Co. is in advanced talks on a potential acquisition of Iris Software, in what would rank as the year’s biggest buyout of a private European software company, people with knowledge of the matter said.\nThe investment firm has pulled ahead of other bidders and is negotiating final terms of an agreement with Iris’ private equity owner Hg, the people said. A deal could value the UK firm at around £3 billion ($3.8 billion), according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.\nIris supplies software for the UK accounting, payroll, human resources and education sectors. The transaction would mark a rare private equity buyout in the tech sector, which has been battered this year as investors face the squeeze from higher rates.\nKKR is lining up debt financing for the acquisition from direct lending funds, comprising a £1.1 billion unitranche loan with a £350 million delayed draw term loan on top of that, the people said. Pricing on the unitranche loan is expected to be about 575 basis points over the Sterling Overnight Index Average, or Sonia, the people said.\nThere’s no certainty the talks will lead to an agreement, and another buyer could still emerge. Representatives for KKR, Hg and Iris declined to comment.\n--With assistance from Kat Hidalgo, Ruth David and Vinicy Chan.\n",
        "title": "KKR in Advanced Talks on £3 Billion Deal for Iris Software, Sources Say"
    },
    {
        "id": 814,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-komatsu-develop-hydrogen-fuel-150531540.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Nick Carey\n(Reuters) - General Motors and Komatsu said on Tuesday they will jointly develop a hydrogen fuel cell power module for the Japanese construction machinery maker's 930E electric drive mining truck.\n\"Mining trucks are among the largest, most capable vehicles used in any industry, and we believe hydrogen fuel cells are best suited to deliver zero emissions' propulsion to these demanding applications,\" Charlie Freese, executive director of Hydrotec, the No.1 U.S. automaker's fuel cell unit, said in a statement.\nThe two companies said they aim to test a prototype of the hydrogen fuel cell-powered 930E mining truck, which has a nominal payload of 320 tons, in the middle of the decade.\nGM and Komatsu said that as these mining vehicles usually operate at just one mine throughout their lifetime, that should make it easier to roll out hydrogen refueling infrastructure to service a vehicle fleet.\nInterest in hydrogen fuel cells to power trucks and vans has grown as fleet operators seek a more practical alternative to electric vehicles. Hydrogen's main challenge is infrastructure, which is too scant to support fleets today.\nWhile most of the world's combustion engine cars and short-distance vans and lorries should be replaced by battery electric vehicles (BEVs) over the next two decades, fuel-cell proponents and some long-haul fleet operators say batteries are too heavy, take too long to charge and could overload power grids.\nThe same applies for heavy vehicles like mining trucks, which would require enormous batteries to move any distance.\nLast week, GM and Autocar Industries said they will jointly develop hydrogen-powered heavy vehicles - such as cement mixers, dump trucks and refuse trucks - the first of which should go into production in 2026 at Autocar's plant in Birmingham, Alabama.\n(Reporting by Nick Carey, Editing by Louise Heavens)\n",
        "title": "GM, Komatsu to develop hydrogen fuel cells for electric mining truck"
    },
    {
        "id": 815,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gas-prices-fell-6-in-november-leading-inflations-cooldown-145447439.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Falling gasoline prices played a key role in cooling November's inflation numbers, released on Tuesday morning.\nThe latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.1% year over year in November, a slight deceleration from October's 3.2% annualized increase, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.\n“The energy index fell 2.3 percent over the month as a 6.0% decline in the gasoline index more than offset increases in other energy component indexes,” said the BLS press release.\nGas prices, which were the biggest month-over-month decliner within the energy category, have been dropping since the late-summer surge, with last month's CPI posting a 5% decline.\nCompared to a year ago, energy is down. Gasoline prices, natural gas prices, and fuel oil have decreased 8.9%, 10.4% and 24.8% respectively.\nWhile falling energy prices slowed price acceleration, the cost of shelter offset energy's price declines, pushing the entire index up 0.1% between October and November.\nMeanwhile \"Core\" inflation, which strips out the volatile costs of food and energy, showed prices rose 4.0% over the prior year in October.\nThe national average of gasoline sat at $3.14 per gallon on Tuesday, down from $3.37 a month ago, according to AAA data, and represents the lowest levels of 2023.\n\"We've seen oil prices slide over the last week, and they're taking gasoline and diesel down with it. So across the board energy is getting cheaper for the consumer,\" Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates told Yahoo Finance last week.\nThe declines came despite a deepening of production cuts announced by OPEC+ delegates earlier this month.\nOn Tuesday West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was fell by more than 2%, trading just below $70 per barrel. Brent (BZ=F) crude was also lower hovering above $74.50 per barrel.\nInes Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre.\n",
        "title": "Gas prices fell 6% in November, leading inflation’s cooldown"
    },
    {
        "id": 816,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-fed-seen-policy-hold-144105958.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates markets in paragraphs 2-3, adds analyst quote in paragraph 4, more context starting in paragraph 5)\nDec 12 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is seen holding off on any interest-rate cuts until at least May of next year, after a government report on Tuesday showed consumer prices unexpectedly edged back up in November.\nFutures contracts tied to the Fed policy rate now reflect bets the U.S. central bank will lower the policy rate to a range of 5%-5.25% in May, with further cuts to come later in the year.\nBefore the report, which showed the consumer price index rose 0.1% last month from October, traders had been more convinced that cooling inflation would allow the Fed to end its hold on the policy rate earlier. But after the report they slashed what had been a nearly 50% chance seen of a March rate cut to about 40%.\n\"After all the hopes and chatter around near-term rate cuts, today’s CPI report is a little bit of a mood dampener,\" said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.\nTraders continue to bet on a total of about four rate cuts next year as the Fed reduces borrowing costs in line with what's expected to be easing inflation. The Fed targets 2% inflation; the CPI's year-over-year increase came in at 3.1% in November.\nFed policymakers gather Tuesday and Wednesday for their last meeting of the year, and are universally expected to leave rates where they are in the 5.25%-5.5% range. They'll also publish projections which will show their own views about the likely future path of rates. (Reporting by Ann Saphir. Michael S. Derby, Lindsay Dunsmuir, Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Fed seen on policy hold until May as inflation edges up"
    },
    {
        "id": 817,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sterling-little-changed-us-inflation-143522505.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates at 1417 GMT)\nBy Harry Robertson\nLONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The pound struggled for direction on Tuesday after data showed U.S. inflation slowed slightly in November and that British wage growth cooled in October.\nSterling was last up 0.07% at $1.2563, having traded at around that level for most of the day. The euro was last up 0.22% at 85.93 pence.\nU.S. consumer prices rose 3.1% in the year to the end of November, data showed on Tuesday, down slightly from a 3.2% rate in October. Month-on-month, prices rose 0.1%.\nCurrencies bounced around but ended up broadly where they were before the release, with the data almost completely in line with analyst expectations.\nThe pound fell slightly in the morning session in Europe after data showed that British earnings excluding bonuses were 7.3% higher than a year earlier in the three months to October, down from 7.8% in September. Economists expected a fall to 7.4%.\nThe Bank of England sets interest rates on Thursday and the data opened up \"the risk that some of the three hawks who voted for a hike in November switch to favouring a hold now,\" said Chris Turner, global head of markets at lender ING.\nEconomists and traders think the bank will almost certainly hold interest rates at 5.25%. But they will be listening closely for hints about when borrowing costs might start to fall.\nThe Federal Reserve is due to set interest rates on Wednesday, before the European Central Bank on Thursday. Both institutions are also expected to hold rates steady.\nSterling touched a three-month high of $1.2733 per dollar at the end of November as U.S. bond yields fell sharply on hopes the Fed will start cutting rates early next year. The euro fell to a three-month low against the pound on Monday at 85.5 pence.\nMarket players think the BoE is likely to hold rates a little longer than both the Fed and the ECB, raising the appeal of sterling.\nYet Ashley Webb, UK economist at Capital Economics, said Tuesday's wage data would likely boost bets that the BoE may cut rates \"as soon as the middle of next year\". He said the data \"leaves our forecast for rate cuts to start late in 2024 looking a bit more challenging\".\nThe dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six peers, was last down 0.14% at 103.92.\n(Reporting by Harry Robertson; editing by Christina Fincher and Angus MacSwan)\n",
        "title": "Sterling little changed after US inflation and UK wage data"
    },
    {
        "id": 818,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gogoro-e-scooter-bikes-india-142441704.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Aditi Shah\nNEW DELHI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Gogoro has started manufacturing electric scooter bikes in India and will set up around 100 battery swap stations by mid-2024, its CEO said on Tuesday, marking its entry into one of the world's fastest-growing vehicle markets.\nGogoro has already committed to investing $1.5 billion in western Maharashtra state including in a factory where it will build its CrossOver e-scooter in partnership with Foxconn, Horace Luke told reporters in New Delhi.\nIt has begun production of the e-scooter which will first be sold to delivery fleet operators and bike taxis, with a variant for personal use to be launched next year, said Luke, adding it will also export these vehicles from India.\n\"We think the timing is right to come to India. It's very strategic and very important to us,\" he said, ahead of the vehicle's launch.\nIndia's e-scooter market is small and makes up 4% of total two-wheeler sales in the country but it is growing rapidly with companies like Softbank-backed Ola Electric, Ather and incumbent TVS Motor launching new products.\nThe federal government wants electric models to make up 70% of all new two-wheeler sales by 2030 and is offering cash incentives to buyers. Several state governments like Delhi are also mandating fleet operators to shift to electric only over time to curb pollution.\nGogoro's swap model allows a customer to replace the scooter's discharged battery for a fully charged one, making it ideal for deliveries and taxis where riders need to refuel quickly to avoid losing business.\nSelling to fleets first will also allow Gogoro to scale its swapping stations in a \"predictable\" manner and build a base load, making it a more viable business proposition, said Luke.\nIn about five years, Luke expects half the sales of his company's e-scooters to come from fleet operators and half from personal buyers, and about 20% of the vehicles produced in the country to be exported to neighbouring Nepal, Southeast Asia and other regions.\n(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Frances Kerry)\n",
        "title": "Gogoro to make e-scooter bikes in India, rolls out battery swap network"
    },
    {
        "id": 819,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-wall-st-set-141056746.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nAlphabet slips after Epic Games wins antitrust lawsuit\n*\nOracle slides on downbeat Q3 revenue forecast\n*\nU.S. November CPI in-line with estimates\n*\nFutures: Dow up 0.07%, S&P off 0.06%, Nasdaq up 0.06%\n(Updated at 9:02 a.m. ET/ 1402 GMT)\nBy Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian\nDec 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set for a dull start on Tuesday as the latest inflation reading turned investors cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, even as it raised expectations that interest rates have peaked.\nConsumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.1% on an annual basis in line with estimates from economists polled by Reuters. Core prices, excluding volatile items like food and energy costs, also matched expectations, rising 4% annually.\nOn a month-on-month basis, consumer prices rose 0.1% last month, compared with estimates of it remaining unchanged.\n\"This report was pretty close to being in line. It doesn't really change the narrative that the Fed is probably going to share about how progress has been made on taming the monster of inflation. But there's still work to be done,\" said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.\nMoney markets have almost fully priced in a rate-hike pause at the end of the Fed meeting, with traders seeing a 54% chance of at least a 25-basis-point cut in March 2024, as per CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nThe two-day Fed's monetary policy meeting will begin later in the day.\nExpectations that the U.S. central bank would start easing them from next year have lifted the three main stock indexes to their highest close for the year on Monday.\nThe European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also scheduled to deliver their policy verdicts later this week.\nGoogle-parent Alphabet underperformed its megacap peers, down 1% in premarket trading, after \"Fortnite\" maker Epic Games prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over the company.\nAt 9:02 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 27 points, or 0.07%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 2.75 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 9 points, or 0.06%.\nAmong other movers, Oracle fell 9.4% as the cloud services provider forecast third-quarter revenue below estimates on slowing demand for its cloud service.\nLucid was down 3% after the electric-vehicle maker's CFO Sherry House stepped down.\nAirbnb fell 2.3% after Barclays downgraded the rental firm to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight\". (Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Arun Koyyur)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Wall St set for dull start after tame inflation data"
    },
    {
        "id": 820,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-exchange-kucoin-shut-york-140416888.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Luc Cohen\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - KuCoin, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has agreed to block New York users from its platform and pay $22 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the state as part of its push to rein in digital assets companies.\nAttorney General Letitia James sued Seychelles-based KuCoin in March, accusing the platform of failing to register with the state before letting investors buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its platform.\n\"Crypto companies should understand that they must play by the same rules as other financial institutions,\" James said in a statement on Tuesday.\nThe settlement, in which KuCoin also agreed to stop trading securities and commodities in New York, comes as U.S. regulators and law enforcement agencies crack down on fraud, money laundering and inadequate investor protections in the cryptocurrency space.\nIn October, James' office sued cryptocurrency firms Genesis Global, its parent company Digitial Currency Group and Gemini for allegedly defrauding investors of more than $1 billion. DCG called the lawsuit baseless.\nHer office in June reached a $1.8 million settlement with Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx for operating illegally because it failed to register with the state.\nLast month, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on federal charges of stealing billions of dollars from that cryptocurrency exchange's customers, while rival Binance's founder agreed to plead guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money laundering laws.\nKuCoin's $22 million payment includes a $5.3 million payment to the state and the refunding of $16.7 million worth of cryptocurrency to 177,800 New York investors.\nKuCoin trails Binance, Coinbase and Kraken among cryptocurrency spot exchanges on factors including traffic, liquidity and trading volumes according to the data company CoinMarketCap.\n(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Stephen Coates)\n",
        "title": "Crypto exchange KuCoin to shut in New York, pay $22 million to settle lawsuit"
    },
    {
        "id": 821,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dc-transit-sees-cuts-thousands-140004734.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Subway riders in Washington are facing a tougher commute next year with the agency that runs the public transit system serving the nation’s capital forecasting thousands of layoffs and service cuts to plug a $750 million budget hole.\nThat’s the future the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority will present in an updated financial plan to its board on Thursday, according to a Monday briefing with reporters. WMATA, which serves more than 600,000 daily customers, runs the metro and buses in the District of Columbia and the surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia.\nThe agency says it will have to cut its 12,000 person work force by nearly 20% or about 2,300 people, a reduction that would lead to dirtier stations, a drop in safety and security measures and reliability issues across its network. On top of the staffing cuts, WMATA is considering slashing service, including eliminating or reducing service on 108 of its 135 bus lines. The rail system, which currently runs until midnight most days, will cease operations at 10 p.m. impacting as much as six million customer trips, the agency said.\nIt’s “no secret we have massive budget challenges,” Randy Clarke, the agency’s general manager and chief executive officer said during a briefing Monday. One slide displayed during the presentation described the grim outlook: “Balancing Budget with Severe Service Cuts Would Make Metro Unrecognizable.”\nHe said that a “healthy” metro is needed to support the workings of the DC, Maryland and Virgina area, known as the DMV.\nThe prospect illustrates the struggles public transit systems are facing across the country as office workers largely embrace a hybrid schedule. In DC, where less than half of employees have returned to the office, the struggles are particularly acute. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin last week urged President Joe Biden to mandate a full return to office policy for federal employees to help boost revenue for WMATA.\nThe agency is expecting a $750 million shortfall starting next summer that is anticipated to balloon to $1.2 billion by fiscal year 2035, according to projections. To close the upcoming budget hole for the fiscal year that starts in July, the agency plans on transferring $193 million from preventative maintenance to fund operations. After identifying cost cutting and internal efficiency measures, the budget will be balanced through roughly $433 million of service reductions, layoffs and fare hikes.\nRead more: US Subways and Buses Risk Service Cuts as Federal Money Ends\nClarke said that there is a sense of urgency in the region to find a funding solution and called on the federal government to allocate more dollars to help with operations.\nThe agency has $17 billion of capital needs over the next six years, but will only be able to satisfy about two-thirds of that. Some of the projects that will be impacted by the delays include transitioning to electric buses, adding new stations to various rail lines and building a new bus garage.\n",
        "title": "DC Transit Sees Service Cuts, Thousands of Layoffs During Deficit"
    },
    {
        "id": 822,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-exchange-kucoin-shut-york-140000981.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Luc Cohen\nNEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - KuCoin, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has agreed to block New York users from its platform and pay $22 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the state as part of its push to rein in digital assets companies.\nAttorney General Letitia James sued Seychelles-based KuCoin in March, accusing the platform of failing to register with the state before letting investors buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its platform.\n\"Crypto companies should understand that they must play by the same rules as other financial institutions,\" James said in a statement on Tuesday.\nThe settlement, in which KuCoin also agreed to stop trading securities and commodities in New York, comes as U.S. regulators and law enforcement agencies crack down on fraud, money laundering and inadequate investor protections in the cryptocurrency space.\nIn October, James' office sued cryptocurrency firms Genesis Global, its parent company Digitial Currency Group and Gemini for allegedly defrauding investors of more than $1 billion. DCG called the lawsuit baseless.\nHer office in June reached a $1.8 million settlement with Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx for operating illegally because it failed to register with the state.\nLast month, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on federal charges of stealing billions of dollars from that cryptocurrency exchange's customers, while rival Binance's founder agreed to plead guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money laundering laws.\nKuCoin's $22 million payment includes a $5.3 million payment to the state and the refunding of $16.7 million worth of cryptocurrency to 177,800 New York investors.\nKuCoin trails Binance, Coinbase and Kraken among cryptocurrency spot exchanges on factors including traffic, liquidity and trading volumes according to the data company CoinMarketCap. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Stephen Coates)\n",
        "title": "Crypto exchange KuCoin to shut in New York, pay $22 mln to settle lawsuit"
    },
    {
        "id": 823,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-bond-forecasters-2023-rally-110000546.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The most accurate US bond forecasters of 2023 say the strong year-end rally won’t stretch into 2024.\nGoldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Praveen Korapaty, the bank’s chief interest-rate strategist, and Joseph Brusuelas, the top economist at tax consulting firm RSM, both predict that the 10-year Treasury yield will climb to about 4.5% by the end of next year. BMO Capital Markets’ Scott Anderson sees it ending 2024 only little changed from where it’s been hovering — around 4.2%.\nThe three were the only ones among the 40 economists and strategists surveyed by Bloomberg who correctly predicted that the benchmark Treasury rate would rise over 4% to end this year near its current level.\nThey now say traders are falling into the same trap they did heading into the last two years: underestimating the economy’s strength and the likely persistence of inflation pressures. Signs of a slowdown in both helped drive the US bond market last month to its biggest gain since the mid-1980s, with yields tumbling sharply on speculation the Fed will cut its benchmark rate by over a full percentage point in 2024, starting in the first half of the year.\n“Markets are pricing too much policy easing too soon,” said Korapaty.\nThe calls aren’t particularly worrisome, given that they would mean the debt market would effectively steady after being hammered by losses in 2021, 2022 and most of this year. But they highlight the risk that markets are prematurely dismissing the chance the Fed will keep rates elevated until inflation is safely reined in. The average forecast of those surveyed by Bloomberg is that 10-year yields will slide to 3.9% by the end of 2024.\nBMO’s Anderson said the low rates of the pre-pandemic era are unlikely to return soon due to economic shifts that have increased the so-called neutral interest rate, or the level that doesn’t affect the pace of growth. That means policymakers would need to keep rates higher than they once did just to avoid stimulating the economy. The Fed concludes its next meeting Wednesday and may provide insight into where it’s headed.\n“Our longer-term forecast on the Fed over the next five years is that the Fed funds rate won’t be moving back down to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon,” he said.\nWhat Bloomberg Strategists say:\nRate markets priced for deep cuts in early 2024 may get a shock if the Federal Reserve reiterates that it will keep interest rates at their peak well into next year. Fed sentiment remains neutral, which we expect to be maintained, as consumer financial conditions aren’t tight. Click here for the full report.\n—Ira Jersey, Will Hoffman, Rates Strategists\nWith inflation remaining above the Fed’s 2% target and few signs of a recession in sight, Goldman Sachs’s economists see a half-point cut by the Fed next year, starting in the third quarter. That’s roughly half as much as the futures market has been pricing in.\nWhile Korapaty isn’t ruling out the risk of an economic contraction, he said there’s a slightly bigger risk that yields may rise above his base-line scenario of 4.55% if inflation prove sticky or the spreading adoption of artificial intelligence leads to a productivity boom.\nHe said that last year most of his peers were too pessimistic about the economy. They were also blindsided by other factors, like de-globalization and large government spending on green energy, that he said contributed to stickier inflation and higher interest rates globally.\n“They failed to forecast this kind of regime shift,” Korapaty said.\nRSM’s Brusuelas, along with colleague Tuan Nguyen, were also more accurate than most others this year, predicting that 10-year yields would end 2023 at 4.5%.\nBrusuelas sees limited room for bond yields to fall next year because the resilient labor market indicates inflation will likely be slow to pull back to the Fed’s target. A government report on Tuesday will likely show that the consumer price index rose at a 3.1% pace in November, a five month low, according to the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey.\nEven if consumer price increases continue to slow gradually, a 2.5% inflation rate, plus 2% economic growth, suggest 10-year yields should be around 4.5%, he said.\n“I’m not in the recession camp,” said Brusuelas. A structural labor shortage – due to baby-boomer retiring and more stringent immigration — means inflation will “run a bit hot for the next couple of years,” he added.\n",
        "title": "Best Bond Forecasters of 2023 Say the Rally Is Doomed to Fizzle"
    },
    {
        "id": 824,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-consumer-prices-unexpectedly-rise-134452319.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly rose in November while underlying inflation pushed higher, offering more evidence that the Federal Reserve was unlikely to pivot to interest rate cuts early next year.\nThe consumer price index edged up 0.1% last month after being unchanged in October, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. In the 12 months through November, the CPI increased 3.1% after rising 3.2% in October.\nEconomists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI would be unchanged on the month and gain 3.1% on a year-on-year basis. The annual increase in consumer prices has slowed from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022. Inflation remains above the Fed's 2% target.\nThe report followed data last Friday showing job gains accelerated in November and the unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from nearly a two-year high of 3.9% in October. The strong employment report prompted financial markets to push back expectations of an interest rate cut to May from March, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.\nOfficials from the U.S. central bank were due to gather for a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. The Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged on Wednesday, with economists confident that its policy tightening campaign is over.\n\"(Fed Chair Jerome) Powell will likely continue to guide that rate cuts are not yet being considered but will not substantially push back on market pricing,\" said Veronica Clark, an economist at Citigroup in New York.\nThe Fed has raised its policy rate by 525 basis points to the current 5.25%-5.50% range since March 2022.\nExcluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI increased 0.3% in November after climbing 0.2% in the prior month. The so-called core CPI was lifted by a rebound in prices of used cars and trucks.\nHigh rents continued to keep underlying inflation elevated. Rental inflation could moderate considerably next year as the rental vacancy rate increased to more than a two-year high in the third quarter, and there is a large stock of apartment buildings in the pipeline.\nThe core CPI increased 4.0% on a year-on-year basis in November after advancing by the same margin in October.\n(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao and Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "US consumer prices unexpectedly rise in November"
    },
    {
        "id": 825,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moderna-chief-commercial-officer-steps-134044463.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Moderna said on Tuesday Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Arpa Garay has stepped down more than a year after she took on the role.\nEffective Dec. 8, Garay is no longer the CCO, but she will remain as an employee through June 2024, Moderna said.\nCEO Stephane Bancel will be responsible for sales and marketing in 2024 and will work directly with the commercial team, the company said.\nThe company forecast $4 billion in revenue next year from sales of its COVID and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)vaccines. It expects to launch the RSV vaccine in 2024.\n(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)\n",
        "title": "Moderna chief commercial officer steps down"
    },
    {
        "id": 826,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-defend-irobot-buy-dec-133702497.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Foo Yun Chee\nBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Amazon will defend its $1.4 billion purchase of robot vacuum maker iRobot at a closed EU hearing on Dec. 18, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, three weeks after EU antitrust regulators said the deal may squeeze out rival robot cleaners on its online marketplace.\nCompanies usually take the opportunity to plead their case before senior officials from the European Commission and national regulators as well as lawyers.\nThe EU competition enforcer last month sent Amazon a charge sheet laying out its concerns about the deal, after its lawyers revised their initial position against sending a document because they did not see any anti-competitive harm in the deal.\nAmazon declined to comment and reiterated comments issued after it got the EU charge sheet, namely that it can offer a company like iRobot the resources to accelerate innovation and invest in critical features while lowering prices for consumers.\nThe company may have to offer remedies to address competition concerns.\n(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Jason Neely)\n",
        "title": "Amazon to defend iRobot buy at Dec 18 EU hearing, source says"
    },
    {
        "id": 827,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moves-goldman-commodities-head-emerson-132153786.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates with company comment in second paragraph, performance in third paragraph.)\nBy Lananh Nguyen\nNEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs' head of global commodities Ed Emerson will retire in March after more than 24 years at the Wall Street giant, according to a memo seen by Reuters.\nHe will be succeeded by Xiao Qin and Nitin Jindal, who will jointly lead the firm's storied commodities business, according to a separate memo. A company spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo.\nRevenue from Goldman's commodities business has been significantly lower in the first three quarters of 2023, according to the company's earnings filings. Still, the business has been a bright spot in results in recent years.\nEmerson, 47, will become an advisory director to Goldman after he steps down. The executive joined the firm in 1999 as an analyst and climbed the ranks to become managing director in 2008, then partner in 2012.\n\"He played a critical role in advancing the firm's oil business,\" wrote Ashok Varadhan, Dan Dees and Jim Esposito, the three leaders of Goldman's global banking and markets division, in a memo. Emerson helped \"cement Goldman Sachs' position as a leading franchise in commodities,\" they added.\nHe previously ran global oil and refined products trading.\nQin leads commodities trading in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. He also runs trading for oil and refined products worldwide.\nThe executive was promoted to managing director in 2010 and partner in 2016.\nJindal manages commodities trading in the Americas and natural gas and power trading in North America. He joined Goldman as a partner in 2018. (Reporting by Lananh Nguyen; Editing by Sinead Cruise)\n",
        "title": "MOVES-Goldman commodities head Emerson to retire, succeeded by Qin and Jindal-memos"
    },
    {
        "id": 828,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-natgas-prices-fall-3-130807602.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Scott DiSavino Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures fell about 3% to a fresh near six-month low on Tuesday on record output and forecasts for milder weather and lower heating demand than previously expected that should allow utilities to leave more gas in storage than usual through late December. Analysts forecast there was currently about 7.8% more gas in storage than usual for this time of year. Front-month gas futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 6.5 cents, or 2.7%, to $2.366 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 9:42 a.m. EST (1442 GMT), putting the contract on track for its lowest close since June 14 for a second day in a row. That kept the front-month in technically oversold territory with a Relative Strength Index (RSI) below 30 for a fifth day in a row for the first time since February. With record production and ample amounts of gas in storage, futures have been sending bearish signals for weeks that prices this winter (November-March) likely already peaked in November. The premium of futures for 2029 (five years out) over 2024 rose to a record high for a third day in a row. Analysts expect prices to rise in coming years as demand for gas grows as several new U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants entering service in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. In 2024, however, analysts started to reduce their U.S. demand forecasts after Exxon Mobil delayed the planned first LNG production at its 2.3-billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) Golden Pass export plant under construction in Texas to the first half of 2025 from the second half of 2024. In the spot market, meanwhile, next-day prices at the AECO hub in Alberta dropped to their lowest since Oct. 2022. SUPPLY AND DEMAND Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states rose to 108.4 bcfd so far in December from a record 108.3 bcfd in November. On a daily basis, output was on track to drop by 2.0 bcfd to a preliminary 107.3 bcfd on Tuesday due mostly to declines in Texas and Oklahoma. If correct, that would be the biggest one-day decline since early November. Analysts, however, have noted that preliminary data is often revised later in the day. Meteorologists projected the weather would remain warmer-than-normal through Dec. 27. With the weather turning milder, LSEG forecast U.S. gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would slide from 123.7 bcfd this week to 122.8 bcfd next week. The forecast for next week was lower than LSEG's outlook on Monday. U.S. pipeline exports to Mexico, meanwhile, fell to an average of 3.8 bcfd so far in December, down from 5.6 bcfd in November and a record 6.9 bcfd in September. On a daily basis, U.S. exports to Mexico were on track to drop to a preliminary 3.5 bcfd on Tuesday, their lowest since May 2020. Analysts, however, expect exports to Mexico to rise in coming months once U.S. energy company New Fortress Energy's plant in Altamira starts pulling in U.S. gas to turn into LNG for export in December. Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose to an average of 14.6 bcfd so far in December, up from a record 14.3 bcfd in November. Week ended Week ended Year ago Five-year Dec 8 Dec 1 Dec 8 average Forecast Actual Dec 8 U.S. weekly natgas storage change (bcf): -48 -117 -46 -81 U.S. total natgas in storage (bcf): 3,671 3,719 3,419 3,404 U.S. total storage versus 5-year average 7.8% 6.7% Global Gas Benchmark Futures ($ per mmBtu) Current Day Prior Day This Month Prior Year Five Year Last Year Average Average 2022 (2017-2021) Henry Hub 2.43 2.43 5.77 6.54 2.89 Title Transfer Facility (TTF) 11.21 11.51 36.68 40.50 7.49 Japan Korea Marker (JKM) 15.75 15.98 32.34 34.11 8.95 LSEG Heating (HDD), Cooling (CDD) and Total (TDD) Degree Days Two-Week Total Forecast Current Day Prior Day Prior Year 10-Year 30-Year Norm Norm U.S. GFS HDDs 317 338 475 387 409 U.S. GFS CDDs 2 2 3 5 4 U.S. GFS TDDs 319 340 378 392 413 LSEG U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts Prior Week Current Next Week This Week Five-Year Week Last Year (2018-2022) Average For Month U.S. Supply (bcfd) U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production 108.1 108.9 109.1 102.8 94.2 U.S. Imports from Canada8 8.8 8.6 9.0 10.0 9.1 U.S. LNG Imports 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 Total U.S. Supply 116.9 117.5 118.1 112.8 103.5 U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.2 U.S. Exports to Mexico 3.9 4.0 4.8 5.2 5.0 U.S. LNG Exports 14.5 14.5 13.9 12.6 8.6 U.S. Commercial 13.2 13.9 13.3 15.4 14.6 U.S. Residential 20.9 22.5 21.5 25.8 24.7 U.S. Power Plant 33.2 32.5 33.1 30.4 28.6 U.S. Industrial 24.3 24.6 24.4 24.7 25.0 U.S. Plant Fuel 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.3 5.3 U.S. Pipe Distribution 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.9 U.S. Vehicle Fuel 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Total U.S. Consumption 99.8 101.7 100.6 104.4 101.2 Total U.S. Demand 121.4 123.7 122.8 125.6 118.0 U.S. Northwest River Forecast Center (NWRFC) at The Dalles Dam Current Day Prior Day 2023 2022 2021 % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal Forecast Forecast Actual Actual Actual Apr-Sep 82 85 83 107 81 Jan-Jul 82 85 77 102 79 Oct-Sep 83 85 76 103 81 U.S. weekly power generation percent by fuel - EIA Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Dec 15 Dec 8 Dec 1 Nov 24 Nov 17 Wind 19 12 10 11 9 Solar 3 3 3 3 3 Hydro 5 5 6 6 6 Other 2 2 2 2 2 Petroleum 0 0 0 0 0 Natural Gas 35 40 42 39 42 Coal 14 17 17 16 17 Nuclear 22 21 20 22 21 SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu) Hub Current Day Prior Day Henry Hub 2.39 2.57 Transco Z6 New York 2.07 1.99 PG&E Citygate 4.02 3.84 Eastern Gas (old Dominion South) 1.82 1.85 Chicago Citygate 2.13 2.23 Algonquin Citygate 3.08 2.35 SoCal Citygate 3.78 3.23 Waha Hub 1.57 3.23 AECO 1.17 1.37 SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour) Hub Current Day Prior Day New England 32.25 34.75 PJM West 48.50 25.25 Ercot North 23.25 16.00 Mid C 63.00 72.29 Palo Verde 45.50 33.75 SP-15 51.75 32.50 (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; editing by Grant McCool)\n",
        "title": "US natgas prices fall 3% to near 6-month low on milder forecasts"
    },
    {
        "id": 829,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-illumina-accuses-eu-over-130740914.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Recasts, adds court adviser to give non-binding opinion on March 21 in paragraph 10)\nBy Foo Yun Chee\nLUXEMBOURG, Dec 12 (Reuters) -\nIllumina on Tuesday accused EU antitrust regulators of over-extending their powers in their scrutiny of its $7.1 billion for Grail while regulators accused the U.S. life sciences company of seeking to rewrite the EU merger rule book.\nThe case underlines the European Commission's determination to apply a rarely used power called Article 22 to examine deals by large companies that may aim to shut down smaller rivals, even if the deals are below the EU merger revenue threshold.\nThe tougher EU regulatory approach however has triggered concerns among companies about legal uncertainty and start-ups looking for a buyout from bigger rivals.\nIllumina took its fight to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) after it lost its challenge at a lower tribunal last year against the EU competition authority's 2021 decision to review the deal that it subsequently blocked.\n\"Does the EU merger regulation confer on the Commission the power to control mergers which fall below both the thresholds set out in the merger regulation...? We say the answer is clearly no, it does not,\" Illumina lawyer Daniel Beard said before the panel of 15 judges.\n\"Article 22 is a derogation, not a catch-all. It is to be construed strictly,\" he said.\nCommission lawyer Nicholas Khan dismissed Illumina's arguments.\n\"Ilumina and Grail's arguments are... essentially a policy manifesto about what they think should be the jurisdictional limits of EU merger control,\" he said.\n\"Illumina's arguments are simply a demand to rewrite the merger regulations.\"\nCJEU Advocate General Nicholas Emiliou will deliver a non-binding opinion on March 21. The Court, which follows the majority of such recommendations, will rule in about six months.\nIf it loses its appeal, Illumina, which closed the deal prior to the EU veto, has said it will divest Grail within a year.\nThe Commission is set to review U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm's bid for Israeli firm Autotalks and the Deutsche Boerse-owned European Energy Exchange's (EEX) acquisition of Nasdaq's European power trading and clearing business using its Article 22 power.\nThe cases are C-611/22 P and C-625/22 P Grail v Commission and Illumina. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Jan Harvey and Jason Neely)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Illumina accuses EU of over-extending its powers in assessing Grail deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 830,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lawmakers-call-u-regulator-thwart-130312317.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Abigail Summerville\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Six U.S. lawmakers wrote to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday expressing their opposition to the proposed $24.6-billion acquisition of grocery chain operator Albertsons by peer Kroger Co, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.\nKroger and Albertsons have said they expect to complete their merger by early 2024, once the FTC completes its antitrust review.\nSenators Elizabeth Warren, Mazie Hirono, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker and representatives Summer Lee and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in the letter that Kroger's proposal to divest 413 stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers would not address harms to consumers, workers, and the grocery industry if the merger is allowed.\nThe lawmakers are arguing that store divestitures as a remedy to mega mergers often fail to maintain competitive conditions, because companies have an incentive to ensure that the businesses they spin off do not succeed.\nC&S, which secured financial backing from SoftBank Group Corp for its deal with Kroger, operates primarily as a supplier rather than a grocery-store operator. It currently has around two dozen stores under the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly brands.\nOther lawmakers, including congressmen Greg Landsman, Brian Fitzpatrick and Josh Gottheimer have sent letters to the FTC in support of the deal.\nKroger and Albertsons have said the deal will allow them to better compete with large, non-union players and achieve lower prices. Kroger also said that it will not close any stores, distribution centers or manufacturing facilities or lay off any frontline associates as a result of the merger.\nThe FTC declined to comment. Kroger and Albertsons did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\n(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York; Editing by Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "Lawmakers call on U.S. regulator to thwart Kroger-Albertsons deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 831,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-stocks-gold-rise-124643578.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates prices at 1212 GMT)\nBy Amanda Cooper\nLONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Global stocks rose on Tuesday, while gold edged up on the back of a weaker dollar, ahead of U.S. inflation figures that could set the tone for trading in a week filled with central bank meetings.\nThe U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep rates on hold Wednesday, with the spotlight squarely on comments from Chair Jerome Powell during his news conference and the central bank's economic projections.\nBefore that, the U.S. Labor Department's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report on Tuesday is expected to show inflation still cooling, but staying well above the Fed's 2% annual target, with core CPI expected to come in at 4%.\nEquities have rattled higher, while bond yields have fallen in recent weeks on the back of growing investor conviction that interest rates are about to fall quite swiftly, as the U.S. economy in particular coasts towards a soft landing.\n\"The market, in my view, now wants to enjoy a bit of a rally on the back of increasing Fed rate-cut expectations. The problem I have now is I think we've basically reached the limit of how much the Fed can cut, i.e., what's priced into the curve without introducing a significant recession risk,\" said Kallum Pickering, senior economist at Berenberg.\nCaution among investors has tempered volatility. Headline inflation has cooled more quickly than many expected, including consumers, who a year ago predicted price pressures would be running at a rate of 4.2% at this point, versus 3.2% right now, based on the University of Michigan's monthly one-year inflation expectations index.\nBut other components of the CPI report have proven far stickier. One such gauge, the owners' equivalent rent - which measures the change in the cost of shelter for homeowners - is at 6.8%, having peaked only in April this year at 8.2%, compared with the peak in the headline at 9.1% back in April 2022. Wage growth has slowed, but is still at 4%.\nThe MSCI All-World index, which is trading around four-month highs, was up 0.2%. In Europe, the STOXX 600 <.STOXX > was broadly steady close to 22-month highs, while U.S. index futures were flat on the day.\nMarkets are now pricing in a 48% chance of a rate cut in March compared with 57% a week earlier, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Futures show traders expect at least four quarter-point cuts next year.\nFAST AND LOOSE\nFinancial conditions have loosened since the Fed met in November and that will most likely influence the central bank's thinking, analysts said.\n\"The Fed will feel that it cannot afford to have financial conditions ease further, as that could potentially re-accelerate labour demand and put renewed upward pressure on the rate of consumer inflation,\" said Erik Weisman, chief economist and portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management. \"Whether the market takes the hint remains to be seen and will likely be driven by the unfolding macro data more than Fed jawboning.\"\nIn a busy week for central banks, the European Central Bank, Bank of England, Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank all meet on Thursday.\nThe yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell 5.4 basis points to 4.2% after lacklustre three- and 10-year note auctions on Monday.\nInvestors were reluctant to buy Treasuries in the auctions given thinner liquidity with the inflation data and the Fed meeting coming up.\nThe Treasury Department will sell $21 billion in 30-year reopened bonds on Tuesday, after Monday's auction of $50 billion in reopened three-year notes and $37 billion in 10-year notes.\nIn currency markets, the yen recovered some of the previous day's losses, which were triggered by a Bloomberg report that cited sources as saying Bank of Japan officials saw little need to exit their negative-rates policy straight away. The yen surged last week against the dollar, driven by brief optimism that a shift could come as early as this month.\nThe yen strengthened 0.7% to 145.15 per dollar, recouping most of Monday's 0.8% decline. The BOJ meets next week.\nThe dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six others, fell 0.3% to 103.75.\nGold edged higher after touching a three-week low in the previous session and was last up 0.4% at $1,988 an ounce, while Brent crude futures fell 0.4% to $75.70 a barrel.\n(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee; Editing by Kim Coghill, Gerry Doyle and Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, gold rise as dollar eases ahead of U.S. inflation data"
    },
    {
        "id": 832,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/first-abu-dhabi-bank-m-123823357.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Eric Shehadeh, head of mergers and acquisitions at First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, is leaving after less than seven months at the United Arab Emirates’ largest lender, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nShehadeh, who was also head of corporate development, is departing due to personal reasons, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.\nA representative for FAB declined to comment. Shehadeh didn’t immediately respond to a message on LinkedIn.\nShehadeh, who previously worked at My Money Group and GE Capital, succeeded Karim Karoui, Bloomberg reported in June. His role included supporting FAB’s regional and international expansion strategy, according to a statement at the time.\nFAB, as the bank is known, has been replenishing its ranks after the departures of several senior executives since Hana Al Rostamani took over as group chief executive officer in January 2021. Earlier this year, FAB hired Lars Kramer from ABN Amro Bank NV as its chief financial officer and Sameh Al Qubaisi as the group head of global markets.\nFormed from the merger of National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank in 2017, FAB is roughly half owned by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co. and members of the emirate’s ruling family.\n",
        "title": "First Abu Dhabi Bank’s M&A Head Leaves After Less Than 7 Months"
    },
    {
        "id": 833,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-uk-may-ban-mid-123451074.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds responses from BT in paragraph 8, Virgin Media O2 in 9-10 and TalkTalk in 11-13)\nBy Paul Sandle and Sarah Young\nLONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Britain's telecoms regulator proposed banning inflation-linked price rises in the middle of customers' broadband and mobile contracts, saying the practice was unfair on consumers and hampering competition.\nShares in London-listed telecoms companies BT and Vodafone fell 4% and 2% respectively on the proposed ban, as they would no longer be able to impose such extra charges, putting them on the hook to absorb inflationary risks.\nRegulator Ofcom, which launched a review in February, said it wanted any future price rises to be written into a contract in pounds and pence, giving consumers more certainty over what they will pay.\nTelecoms companies have included inflation-plus price rises in their contracts to cover increased costs, such as a trebling in energy bills, and investment in networks.\nThe contract terms received scant attention when inflation was low, but a sharp rise in 2022 to a peak above 11% resulted in consumers facing hikes in bills of around 14% earlier this year from providers including market leader BT.\nBoth broadband and mobile providers have tagged the extra charges onto contracts, with Ofcom saying half of mobile contracts were now subject to inflation-linked price rises, while for broadband customers it was four in ten.\n\"We have provisionally concluded that inflation-linked mid-contract price rise terms can cause substantial amounts of consumer harm by complicating the process of shopping for a deal, limiting consumer engagement, and making competition less effective as a result,\" Ofcom said.\nBT said it had always followed the regulator's guidance on pricing. It said it was assessing its options.\nA Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said: \"We have always been clear and transparent with our customers regarding any price changes and provide excellent value for connectivity that is used almost constantly.\"\nIt said it would make clear its view on how Ofcom could maintain the competitive environment that already existed for consumers, while also supporting the billions of pounds of investment operators like Virgin Media O2 make in telecoms infrastructure each year.\nTalkTalk, a value provider that uses BT's Openreach network, said it had delivered value for customers in the \"vibrantly competitive UK broadband market\" for 20 years.\n\"If Ofcom is to push ahead with tying industry's hands on CPI indexed price inflation, we urge them to urgently review similar CPI inflation for BT Openreach at a wholesale level,\" Chief Executive Tristia Harrison said.\n\"The link between the two is obvious, is essential for protecting both consumers and competition, and needs addressing.\"\nOfcom said it would consult before publishing its final decision in spring 2024. (Reporting by Paul Sandle and Sarah Young Editing by James Davey and Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-UK may ban some mid-contract mobile and broadband price hikes"
    },
    {
        "id": 834,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-brazil-inflation-drops-back-122247886.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details, background)\nSAO PAULO, Dec 12 (Reuters) -\nBrazil's annual inflation slipped back into the central bank's target range in November, confirming that an uptick seen in the previous two months due to unfavorable base affects had come to an end and inflation is likely to finish this year within the official goal for the first time since 2020.\nConsumer prices as measured by the benchmark IPCA index rose 4.68% in the 12 months through November, statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday, down from 4.82% in the previous month and below the 4.70% forecast by economists polled by Reuters.\nThat places it inside the range of 1.75% to 4.75% targeted by the central bank for the first time since August.\nThe Brazilian monetary authority will announce on Wednesday its final policy decision of 2023, with markets expecting it to deliver a fourth consecutive 50-basis-point interest rate cut to 11.75%.\nThe central bank kicked off a monetary easing cycle in August after holding its benchmark rate at a six-year high of 13.75% for nearly a year to tame high inflation, following 1,175 basis points of hikes.\nConsumer prices in Latin America's largest economy, IBGE said, rose 0.28% in November alone, below market forecasts of 0.30%. The increase was driven by higher food and beverage costs, according to the agency. (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven Grattan)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Brazil inflation drops back to target range in November"
    },
    {
        "id": 835,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kkr-nears-deal-cotiviti-valuing-005017026.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Private equity firm KKR & Co. is said to be nearing a deal to buy a stake in Cotiviti Inc. from Veritas Capital, reviving a battle between Wall Street banks and private credit lenders to provide financing for one of the year’s biggest buyouts.\nKKR is in discussions to buy a 50% stake in Cotiviti that would value the health-care technology company at between $10 billion and $11 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nThe two buyout firms are in talks with both Wall Street banks and private credit funds for $5 billion to $6 billion of debt to help finance the deal and repay existing borrowings, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. A new direct loan of that size could potentially be the largest on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nThe talks with KKR mark Veritas’s second attempt this year at selling part of Cotiviti, after a similar stake sale to Carlyle Group Inc. collapsed in April. KKR and Veritas are seeking a private loan with a payment-in-kind structure that would allow the company to pay interest with more debt on the entire financing, the people said. Debt provided by banks would require interest to be paid in cash but would likely come at a lower cost for the borrower, they added.\nA representative for KKR declined to comment, while spokespeople for Cotiviti and Veritas didn’t respond to requests seeking comment. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that KKR and Veritas were nearing a deal.\nLower Cost\nConditions in the broadly-syndicated loan and junk-bond markets — where private equity firms have traditionally looked to finance multibillion-dollar buyouts — have improved in recent months. That could make a debt package arranged by banks more attractive compared to private credit and increase competition between the two sets of lenders.\nPrivate credit firms are being asked to price the loan between 5.25 and 5.5 percentage points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, the people said. That is well below the spread of 6.25 percentage points over the benchmark that private funds had offered when the deal with Carlyle was still being contemplated in March.\nRead more: Private Equity Pays LBO Loans With More Debt to Save Cash\nLenders including Apollo Global Management Inc., Blackstone Inc., HPS Investment Partners and Oak Hill Advisors were in the pole position to provide debt financing for the Carlyle purchase. Leveraging one of the key advantages private funds still have over banks, they had offered Cotiviti the ability to pay half of the interest in kind.\n(Updates with leveraged loan price chart)\n",
        "title": "KKR Nears Deal for Cotiviti Valuing Firm at $11 Billion"
    },
    {
        "id": 836,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-commodities-head-emerson-retire-121928777.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Lananh Nguyen\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs' head of global commodities Ed Emerson will retire in March after more than 24 years at the Wall Street giant, according to a memo seen by Reuters.\nHe will be succeeded by Xiao Qin and Nitin Jindal, who will jointly lead the firm's storied commodities business, according to a separate memo.\nEmerson, 47, will become an advisory director to Goldman after he steps down. The executive joined the firm in 1999 as an analyst and climbed the ranks to become managing director in 2008, then partner in 2012.\n\"He played a critical role in advancing the firm's oil business,\" wrote Ashok Varadhan, Dan Dees and Jim Esposito, the three leaders of Goldman's global banking and markets division, in a memo. Emerson helped \"cement Goldman Sachs' position as a leading franchise in commodities,\" they added.\nHe previously ran global oil and refined products trading.\nQin leads commodities trading in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. He also runs trading for oil and refined products worldwide.\nThe executive was promoted to managing director in 2010 and partner in 2016.\nJindal manages commodities trading in the Americas and natural gas and power trading in North America. He joined Goldman as a partner in 2018.\n(Reporting by Lananh Nguyen; Editing by Sinead Cruise)\n",
        "title": "Goldman commodities head Emerson to retire, succeeded by Qin and Jindal-memos"
    },
    {
        "id": 837,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-joe-lewis-keeps-trading-121006156.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Joe Lewis, the British billionaire behind one of the world’s biggest investing fortunes, continues to buy and sell stocks at the center of US insider-trading allegations against him.\nSince being charged by US federal prosecutors in July, the Tavistock Group founder has repeatedly traded shares of Mirati Therapeutics Inc., Australian Agricultural Co. and Tango Therapeutics Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg from regulatory filings. His stakes in those companies — three of the five behind the indictment’s claims — total about $540 million.\nLewis, 86, is accused of abusing his access to corporate boardrooms to pass inside information to his friends, staff, personal pilots and romantic interests. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and there’s no suggestion of wrongdoing in his latest transactions. A representative for the billionaire’s biotech investment firm, Boxer Capital, declined to comment, while a representative for Lewis didn’t respond to a request for comment.\nRead More: Superyacht Dinners and Alleged Insider Tips Ensnare Billionaire\n“That he’s been charged does not, and should not, and cannot interfere with his normal life, his normal business, or his normal trading,” said Brad Bondi, a securities litigator and former lawyer for the US Securities and Exchange Commission. “These are just allegations that the government is making.”\nLewis is the world’s 315th-richest person with a net worth of about $7.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He made his initial fortune in the hospitality industry and currency markets. His empire also spans five-star hotels, restaurant chains and the Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.\nThe recent trades give an insight into Lewis’s business activities since he was arrested after voluntarily surrendering in New York, making him the highest-profile investor swept up in a recent insider-trading crackdown by federal prosecutors. He’s currently out on bail after pledging his 321-foot superyacht and private jet as collateral, and is next due to appear in court in early January.\n“The government has made an egregious error in judgment in charging Mr. Lewis,” his lawyer, David M. Zornow, said in a statement at the time of his arrest. “We will defend him vigorously in court.”\nBoxer Capital\nBoxer Capital, the vehicle for Lewis’s biotech bets including Mirati and Tango, has disclosed gains of 7,500% over the past two decades in regulatory filings. In that period, the San Diego-based firm allocated capital to at least 110 companies as Lewis increasingly diversified the fortune he turbo-charged with a successful bet on the British pound and Mexican peso in the 1990s.\nBoxer has more than doubled its money on at least five stocks in its current $1.9 billion portfolio, which comprises about 75 US-listed biotech firms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from filings.\nThe month after his arrest, Lewis bought $33.4 million of Mirati for $27.80 per share, resulting in gains of more than 100% after Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. agreed in October to buy the cancer drugmaker. Boxer first surfaced as a Mirati shareholder a decade ago, meaning its early investment has earned a return of more than 700%.\nAccording to prosecutors, Lewis allegedly told several people to buy Mirati shares in 2019 after hearing that it had received positive results in a clinical trial. Lewis also allegedly passed along tips about beef producer Australian Agricultural, resulting in losses for his private pilots, Patrick O’Connor and Bryan ‘Marty’ Waugh, who have also been charged. Both pleaded not guilty.\nRead More: US Probe Is Biggest Test for Tottenham Hotspur Billionaire Lewis\nA trust for Lewis and his family boosted its majority stake in Australian Agricultural in September. It now holds almost $300 million of the firm’s stock, the largest of the UK billionaire’s investments named in the insider-trading charges. Boxer Capital’s biggest position is in Mirati with a 4.5% disclosed stake worth almost $190 million following its latest purchases. The biotech-focused firm also bought and sold Tango stock between August and October.\nThose investments are likely to garner further attention if Lewis’s case goes to trial, though for now he’s free to continue trading.\n“The government has to prove these allegations,” Bondi said. “Anyone is innocent until proven guilty.”\n--With assistance from Ava Benny-Morrison.\n",
        "title": "Billionaire Joe Lewis Keeps Trading Stocks Behind US Insider-Trading Charges"
    },
    {
        "id": 838,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-pfizer-gets-ok-43-120122069.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds deal details and background throughout)\nDec 12 (Reuters) - Pfizer said on Tuesday it has agreed to donate the rights of royalties from sales of cancer drug Bavencio to address concerns from U.S. antitrust regulators related to its $43-billion deal to buy Seagen.\nPfizer said it had now received all regulatory approvals to close the deal on Thursday.\nThe drugmaker in March agreed to buy Seagen and its targeted cancer therapies as it braces for a steep fall in COVID-related sales and generic competition for some top-selling drugs.\nHowever, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sent a request for more information on the deal to the companies in July.\nWashington-based Seagen is a pioneer of antibody-drug conjugates, which work like \"guided missiles\" designed to destroy cancer while sparing healthy cells. (Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Pfizer gets OK for $43-bln Seagen deal after donating cancer drug rights"
    },
    {
        "id": 839,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/choice-hotels-launches-hostile-takeover-115914020.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Choice Hotels is launching a hostile takeover offer for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts after repeated attempts to reach a deal with the rival hotel chain were rebuffed.\nChoice Hotels said Tuesday that its exchange offer to shareholders of Wyndham remains the same as its last bid, which was $49.50 in cash and 0.324 shares of Choice common stock per Wyndham share. The exchange offer gives Wyndham shareholders the chance to choose to receive all cash, all shares or a combination of the two.\nThe offer puts the value of the deal at about $8 billion.\nThe exchange offer is set to expire on March 8, 2024 unless extended or terminated.\nChoice said it currently holds about 1.5 million shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc. shares valued at more than $110 million.\n",
        "title": "Choice Hotels launches hostile takeover bid for rival Wyndham after being repeatedly rebuffed"
    },
    {
        "id": 840,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-trader-paid-100-million-114646160.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- One of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s highest-paid executives in recent years is stepping down.\nEd Emerson, who leads the commodities-trading business, will stay on as an adviser to help with the transition, according to people with knowledge of the matter. He oversaw the resurgence of the unit — long seen as a crown jewel of the trading operation — after a lean stretch clouded its future.\nEmerson, 47, earned roughly $100 million over the previous three years, people familiar with the matter said. That compares with $77.5 million awarded to Chief Executive Officer David Solomon during the same span.\nWithin the bank, Emerson is also known as a vocal critic of Solomon’s leadership, taking issue with strategy missteps that led to billions in losses. In a recent meeting, the markets veteran told colleagues he plans to remain involved and that he’s still close with Goldman President John Waldron and trading boss Ashok Varadhan, one of the people said.\nA Goldman representative and Emerson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.\nThe trader’s standing as a top earner follows the revival arc of the business he led, which likely placed him among the highest-paid executives in US banking. The commodities unit at New York-based Goldman has played a prominent role on Wall Street since the early 1980s, when the firm acquired J. Aron & Co.\nThe unit has long been known for minting executives who would eventually run trading, investment management, human resources and even the whole company — with Lloyd Blankfein and Gary Cohn rising to become CEO and president, respectively.\nThat stature was threatened with the slowdown in the business, culminating with a disastrous 2017, when revenue from the commodities business all but vanished. That set off a furious internal debate, including whether to jettison the unit or starve it of capital that would have left it hobbled.\nWild Ride\nSolomon, 61, showed a willingness to support the business, after a firmwide review that followed his ascent to CEO in 2018. The Covid-19 pandemic triggered a wild ride for commodities, and ensuing geopolitical conflicts perpetuated that volatility. That proved to be a boon for bank trading desks.\nWall Street’s most famous commodities analyst at the time, Goldman’s Jeff Currie, even called for a new supercycle for commodities that could last a decade, even before the onset of the pandemic.\nRevenue from the desk soared past $3 billion last year, rivaling what the business generated in its prime, going back 15 years. It also dwarfed windfalls closer to $2 billion in 2020 and 2021. It has fallen off that pace this year, people with knowledge of the matter have said.\nEmerson, a Briton born in Argentina, joined Goldman Sachs in 1999 and has steadily climbed the ranks. He started out specializing in oil trading, at a time when the desk raked in billions. The biggest US banks were yet to be burdened by the kind of regulations that would force Goldman and arch-rival Morgan Stanley to shed their tag of “Wall Street Refiners” — thanks to their outsize presence in physical commodities trading.\nEmerson is among a handful of senior executives who have set up shop in Florida. In internal discussions, Emerson is known to relentlessly argue his views and sometimes clash with superiors. His bosses have been wary of dealing with him around bonus time, when he frequently pushes for higher pay for his team.\nHe’s also carved out a reputation for practical jokes at work and beyond.\nWhile atop the unit, he took a vacation to Costa Rica and littered fake snakes around the house in the middle of the night to scare his travel companions.\nRead more: A Goldman Trading Desk Dodged the Ax to Mint Billions Again\n--With assistance from Tom Metcalf.\n",
        "title": "Goldman Trader Who Was Paid $100 Million Since 2020 to Step Down"
    },
    {
        "id": 841,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/choice-hotels-commences-exchange-offer-114617568.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Budget hotel operator Choice Hotels International on Tuesday commenced an exchange offer for the shares of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and said it was preparing to nominate candidates to the board of the takeover-target.\nWyndham was not immediately available for a comment on Tuesday.\nReuters had reported about Choice preparing to challenge Wyndham's board in November.\nChoice has been attempting to break a stalemate in an about $8 billion takeover deal that would combine two of the biggest budget hotel operators in the United States.\nThis comes at a time when domestic travel is moderating in the face of high inflation, which might reduce consumer spending on travel and increase demand for budget hotels such as Choice and Wyndham.\nChoice went public with a cash-and-stock offer of $90 per share for Wyndham in October, after the latter privately rebuffed its takeover attempts. Choice had first approached Wyndham with an $80-per-share offer in April.\nWyndham rejected Choice's latest revised bid arguing that it continues to undervalue its business. It said it was concerned about the slower growth prospects of Choice's business and the high amount of debt the combined company would have.\nWyndham had also cited antitrust scrutiny from U.S. regulators as one of the reasons for turning down Choice's offer and indicated it is only willing to engage if all its concerns are addressed.\n(Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta and Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)\n",
        "title": "Choice Hotels commences exchange offer for Wyndham shares, prepares for board battle"
    },
    {
        "id": 842,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-area-benchmark-bund-yields-113703628.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds comments, background)\nBy Stefano Rebaudo\nDec 12 (Reuters) - Euro zone benchmark Bund yields fell on Tuesday ahead of U.S. inflation data due later and after British figures showed a weakening labour market.\nU.S. payroll data released on Friday ended a bond rally and a sharp repricing of expectations for future policy rates, which led money markets to discount up to 150 basis points of European Central Bank rate cuts in 2024.\nGerman wholesale prices fell by 3.6% in November compared to last year, while German investor morale improved in December.\nGermany's 10-year government bond yield, the euro area's benchmark, dropped by 4.5 basis points (bps) to 2.22%. It hit 2.166% on Friday, its lowest since April 6, before rising to 2.286% on Monday.\nBond prices move inversely with yields.\nBritish wage growth slowed by the most in almost two years, official data showed on Tuesday, driving 10-year yields down 12 bps to 3.96%.\n\"In summary, the average weekly earnings data may have been weaker, but past outturns have tended to be revised higher, other indicators of pay growth are still strong,\" said George Buckley, an economist at Nomura.\nMoney markets are pricing 135 basis points of rate cuts from the European Central Bank (ECB) in 2024, down from around 150 bps on Dec. 6. They were pricing cuts of 80 bps at the end of November.\nInvestors are braced for two days packed with central bank policy meetings. The Federal Reserve decision on rates is due late on Wednesday, while the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will meet on Thursday.\n\"While the Fed is likely to lean dovish tomorrow in statement wording, forecasts, and dots, today's U.S. CPI release could yet set up for a hawkish sounding Powell at tomorrow's presser,\" Jamie Searle, European rates strategist at Citi, said in a research note.\n\"Bunds still look 'cheap' (to the tune of 16 bps) in our fair value regression dominated by inflation risk premium and the policy outlook,\" he added.\nAnalysts forecast rates to be unchanged and a cautious counter-reaction against the recent dovish repricing of policy rates from the ECB, including a first reduction in March.\nMoney markets discounted a 65% chance of a cut in March 2024 after fully pricing it on Dec. 5.\n\"We expect the ECB to ditch the promise to reinvest maturing Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) bonds until at least the end of 2024,\" said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank.\nECB president Christine Lagarde deemed PEPP reinvestments the first line of defence against any fundamentally \"unwarranted\" widening of yield spreads within the euro zone, as the central bank can use them to buy the sovereign bonds of most indebted countries.\nItaly's 10-year yields, the benchmark for the euro area periphery, were down 7.5 bps at 3.98%. The spread between Italian and German 10-year yields – a gauge of the risk premium investors ask to hold bonds of the most indebted countries – was at 178 bps after falling to 170 bps.\nInvestors are awaiting the outcome of the negotiations for the reform of the European Union fiscal governance – the Stability and Growth Pact – as too tight budget rules could challenge the resilience of the yield spreads of EU's most indebted countries.\nFrance is determined to reach a deal by the end of the year, but France and Germany still differ on how to sustain investment when the budget deficit is above EU limits and other countries. (Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo, editing by David Evans) ;))\n",
        "title": "Euro area benchmark Bund yields approach 8-month low ahead of US data"
    },
    {
        "id": 843,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-big-oils-bid-woo-113148007.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Simon Jessop and Tommy Wilkes\nDUBAI (Reuters) - A COP28 pledge by energy majors to reduce their emissions is not enough to convince many sustainable fund managers to include the companies in their portfolios because it omits pollution from the use of oil and gas, six interviews with Reuters show.\nThe pledge by 50 of the biggest oil and gas companies at the U.N. climate talks in Dubai commits to reaching near-zero methane emissions by 2030 as well as net-zero carbon emissions in their energy use and production by 2050.\nThose Scope 1 and 2 emissions from the companies' own operations account for about 15% of the total associated with the companies. The pledge does not address Scope 3 emissions caused by the use of the fuels the companies produce that account for 85%.\nAlthough some of the energy companies had already made promises ahead of the COP28 announcement, several state-owned firms have newly joined in.\nInvestors in socially responsible, often known as ESG (environmental, social and governance), funds, said the commitments were overdue and not enough.\nAsset manager Candriam said it would stick to excluding major oil and gas companies from its socially responsible funds because none was aligned with their preferred scenario for meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change. The agreement calls for limiting global warming to within 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), and aims for a 1.5C limit.\nMeeting that goal requires cutting global emissions by 43% by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050.\n\"The transition to a low-carbon world does not mean producing the same volume of oil and gas in a more carbon efficient manner. It means shifting away from fossil fuels as the main energy source towards low-carbon energy,\" Alix Chosson, lead ESG analyst at Candriam, said.\nThe COP28 talks, hosted by OPEC-member the United Arab Emirates, have attracted a record attendance from the oil and gas industry while delegates are divided over wording on the future of fossil fuels.\n'STEP FORWARD' BUT NOT FAR ENOUGH\nESG funds have long wrestled with how to approach conventional energy producers.\nSome exclude them out of scientific principle. Others say divesting has no impact and it is better to try and persuade them to pollute less, which means making them responsible for Scope 3 emissions.\nKamal Bhatia, global head of investments at Principal Asset Management, said fossil fuel companies without energy transition strategies do not \"environmentally 100% meet the definition\" to be included in pure ESG funds.\nAt an industry dinner in Dubai last week, Leon Kamhi, head of responsibility at asset manager Federated Hermes, said the companies' pledge announced at the talks was a \"big step forward\", but not enough.\nOnly one - Italy's Eni - of the 25 biggest oil and gas companies is aligned with the Paris Agreement, according to Carbon Tracker's assessment.\nSHIFTING ECONOMICS\nAs war in Ukraine sent fossil fuel prices soaring, ESG fund holdings in the sector increased. At the same time, a cost of living crisis in many parts of the world shifted the focus away from sustainable investment and back towards the most easily achieved shareholder returns.\nThe proportion of U.S.-domiciled sustainable open-ended funds and exchange traded funds that owned oil and gas stocks hit 49% in September, against 43% three years earlier, Morningstar data show. Among conventional funds, the share with oil and gas holdings rose to 68% from 45% over the same period.\nBut as energy prices weaken, funds' exposure to oil and gas is also shrinking.\nThe average exposure to oil and gas stocks for the U.S.-domiciled funds hit 1.86% in September, versus 2% in late 2022, a faster rate of decline than for conventional funds, which had 5.3% exposure in September, according to the data.\nFunds marketed as sustainable in the European Union saw average exposure to oil and gas fall to 2.43% in September, from a peak of 3.33% in late 2022, the data show.\nSustainability-minded investors have achieved little when trying to influence oil giants as stakeholders, U.S. billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer told Reuters in Dubai.\n\"A bunch of people have bought into Exxon to try and change it, and Exxon's response was to spend [on buying a rival],\" he said, referring to ExxonMobil's $60 billion deal to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources.\n\"It's very important to recognise how hard it is to change 100-year-old corporate cultures,\" he said.\nMISSING RENEWABLES\nFor some ESG investors, the case for investing in the energy giants has been weakened by the realisation \"oil and gas companies are not going to become renewable energy companies\", Global Head of Sustainability and Transition Strategy at U.S. bank Jefferies Aniket Shah said.\nOil and gas companies have cut spending on production in favour of shareholder payouts. Of every $10 in cash spent in 2022, less than $5 went into capital expenditure, compared with $8.6 in 2008, the International Energy Agency calculates.\nBy comparison, the amount spent on low-carbon capital expenditure last year was 10 cents of every $10.\nThat has created credibility issues the COP28 commitments are unlikely to dispel.\n\"If a certain energy provider is communicating 'we are now really going for a different form of source and delivery', then the trust really has to still develop,\" said Gunther Thallinger, chair of the U.N.-convened Net-Zero Asset Owners Alliance and board director at Germany's Allianz.\n(Reporting by Simon Jessop in Dubai and Tommy Reggiori Wilkes in London; editing by Katy Daigle and Barbara Lewis)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-Big Oil's bid to woo ESG investors fails to impress"
    },
    {
        "id": 844,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-apple-offers-settle-eu-111747573.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Apple has offered to let rivals access its tap-and-go mobile payments systems used for mobile wallets in order to settle EU antitrust charges, three people familiar with the matter said.\nThe EU competition enforcer is likely to seek feedback next month from rivals and customers before deciding whether to accept Apple's offer, the people said.\n(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-Apple offers to settle EU antitrust charges on Apple Pay, sources say"
    },
    {
        "id": 845,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-futures-edge-higher-110544129.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)\n*\nFutures up: Dow 0.16%, S&P 0.06%, Nasdaq 0.16%\nDec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Tuesday as investors awaited a crucial inflation reading later in the day for cues on the monetary policy trajectory, ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the week.\nEquities have advanced in recent weeks, with the three main stock indexes also clocking their highest close for the year on Monday, buoyed by expectations that the U.S. central bank is done hiking rates and could potentially ease monetary policy next year.\nMarket participants will keenly watch consumer price index (CPI) data for November, due at 8:30 a.m. ET. The report is expected to show headline inflation remained unchanged month-on-month, with core CPI expected to advance 0.3%, according to economists polled by Reuters.\nThe data is set to come in on the heels of the Fed's monetary policy meeting during the day, with a decision on interest rates at the end of the meeting on Wednesday.\nMoney markets have almost fully priced in a rate-hike pause at the end of the Fed meeting, with traders seeing a 47.5% chance of a cut as soon as March 2024, and a 79.4% chance of a cut in May, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nThe European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also scheduled to deliver their policy verdicts later this week.\nGoogle-parent Alphabet underperformed its megacap peers, down 1.1% in premarket trading, after \"Fortnite\" maker Epic Games prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over the company.\nAt 5:26 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 57 points, or 0.16%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 3 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 26.5 points, or 0.16%.\nAmong other movers, Oracle fell 8.9% as the cloud services provider forecast third-quarter revenue below estimates on slowing demand for its cloud offerings.\nLucid was down 3.8% after the electric-vehicle maker's CFO Sherry House stepped down.\nAirbnb fell 2.9% after Barclays downgraded the short-term rental firm's shares to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight\". (Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Futures edge higher with all eyes on inflation data"
    },
    {
        "id": 846,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-disinflation-station-110157807.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan\nTuesday's consumer price inflation update may not have to wow the gallery to keep the U.S. disinflation glow alive and persuade the Federal Reserve that its job is done.\nWith Fed policymakers starting their two-day meeting on Tuesday, the November CPI release drops right on to the table in front of them.\nOn the face of it, there may be no great thud.\nAnnual headline inflation is expected to have slipped back to 3.1%, its lowest since June, and the \"core\" rate, excluding food and energy, is forecast to remain stuck at 4.0%\nBut economists say this seeming stasis may mask underlying disinflation momentum. Deutsche Bank points out that if core CPI comes in with gains of 0.3% over the month and 4.0% over the year, that would bring the six-month annualised rate as low as 2.8% - the first sub-3% reading since March 2021.\nWhat's more, inflation expectations are ebbing, supply distortions easing, oil prices are still falling year-on-year, used-car sales that were a post-pandemic irritant are plummeting, and China is struggling with persistent deflation.\nAfter the University of Michigan's December household survey showed an impressive retreat in inflation expectations last week, the New York Fed's equivalent measure chimed on Monday - showing U.S. consumers' one-year inflation outlook softening to 3.4%, its lowest in more than two years.\nLittle surprise then perhaps that U.S. Treasuries are rallying into Tuesday's big release - despite a sticky 10-year note auction on Monday.\nTen-year yields are down 4 basis points from Monday's close to trade about 4.18% in European trade.\nThe long bond also rallied into Tuesday's key report, with yields dropping 5bp ahead of a $21 billion auction of 30-year paper later in the day - even though the most recent 30-year auction struggled badly.\nHowever, the NY Fed's measure of so-called \"term premium\" demanded for holding long-term bonds has fallen back over the past week to its most negative since September.\nThe disinflation and \"peak rates\" picture and data showing U.S. employment still in rude health spurred the S&P500 to new closing highs for year on Monday - topping year-to-date gains of 20% for the first time in 2023. Stocks futures held those gains ahead of the bell on Tuesday.\nAsia and European bourses were firmer too - with MSCI's all-country index hitting four-month highs.\nThe dollar was a touch lower.\nStoking the more positive price picture overseas, British wage growth slowed by the most in almost two years -- good news for the Bank of England ahead of its policy meeting on Thursday.\nEven though annual oil price losses deepened amid mounting concern over excess supply and slowing demand, spot prices held up after news of an attack by Iran-aligned Houthis on a chemical tanker stirred Middle East tensions.\nChina's markets were firmer too, meantime, as the country's leaders started a closed-door meeting on Monday to discuss economic targets and map out stimulus plans for 2024.\nThe annual Central Economic Work Conference, during which President Xi Jinping and other top officials are expected to chart the course for the world's second-largest economy next year. This is likely to end on Tuesday.\nThe CSI 300 Real Estate Index jumped 4.2% as investors await fresh policy support. China's Country Garden Holdings is likely to avoid its first default on yuan bonds after most holders of a local note agreed not to demand repayment this week, Bloomberg News reported.\nKey developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Tuesday:\n* U.S. Nov consumer price index, Cleveland Fed CPI cut, Nov NFIB small business survey, Federal Budget statement.\n* Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee starts 2-day meeting\n* U.S. Treasury auctions $21 billion of 30-year bonds\n* U.S. corporate earnings: Johnson Controls, Frequency\nElectronics, EMCORE, Champions Oncology, MamaMancini's\n(By Mike Dolan, editing by Jane Merriman; mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Disinflation station"
    },
    {
        "id": 847,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-china-hedge-fund-expects-091426347.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A top-performing Chinese macro hedge fund expects the nation’s stock market to rally 15% next year as an economic recovery fuels a return of investor confidence.\nThe CSI 300 benchmark of onshore shares will advance as investors reassess asset prices along with an improvement in the growth outlook, Li Bei, founder of Shanghai Banxia Investment Management Center, said Tuesday at a Bloomberg Businessweek forum in Shanghai.\nLi’s bullish outlook runs counter to pessimism running high in the market, with most investors seeing little reason to buy Chinese equities. The CSI 300 has slid over 11% this year to rank among the world’s worst major equity indexes. A combination of property woes, soft consumption and a corporate earnings downcycle has contributed to the slump.\nFiscal policy has disappointed this year, but this should “reverse” in 2024, she said at the event. Other Chinese assets including the yuan are also expected to benefit from the upturn in economy, according to Li.\nThis isn’t the first time that Shanghai Banxia Investment has defended the market. Li touted a “once-in-20-year opportunity” to buy stocks in its November monthly report. In August, the fund blamed global capital for sinking stocks, and a month before that it joined a major lender in dismissing a bearish research report on Chinese banks by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.\nLi’s flagship Banxia Macro Fund has lost 22% this year through Dec. 8, but its track record has earned her the reputation of a star manager. Since its 2017 inception, the fund has returned on average 36.5% annually, ranking the best performer among multi-asset funds managing at least 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), according to Shenzhen PaiPaiWang Investment & Management Co.\nSpeaking at the same event, Wang Qing, chief economist at Shanghai Chongyang Investment, also predicted a more than 15% gain in the onshore market.\n“The weak China’s stock performance this year is due to poor economic conditions,” Wang said. “For next year, we can keep an eye on the property market as it’s the key factor for economic stabilization,” he said, adding that high-dividend stocks may provide investment opportunities in the short to medium term.\n",
        "title": "Top China Hedge Fund Expects 15% Gain in Stocks Next Year"
    },
    {
        "id": 848,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/irs-tax-demands-money-victims-224822800.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- US officials will take money away from victims of the fraud-tainted crypto firm FTX Trading Ltd. unless a judge rejects the government’s demand for $24 billion in unpaid taxes, the bankrupt company said in a court filing.\nThe two sides are scheduled to be in court Wednesday arguing over the best procedures to determine how much of the Internal Revenue Service claim is legitimate. FTX wants to set a quick schedule to estimate the claim; the IRS has argued that its audit is ongoing, so asking a judge to estimate how much FTX might owe in taxes is inappropriate.\n“This Alice in Wonderland argument has no support in the law,” FTX said in its filing.\nGoing forward with a court-supervised estimation process will show that FTX lost money in the three-years it operated, so it could not possibly owe IRS any substantial amount, the company said in court papers filed Sunday. And any money that it could be forced to pay would harm victims of FTX, the company said.\nFTX has proposed a payout plan that calls for billions of dollars to be distributed to the company’s creditors and customers who lost money. Before that proposal can go forward, the dispute with the IRS must be resolved, FTX said in a court filing. The company has asked US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey to hold a hearing in February to decide the tax dispute.\nFederal officials will eventually amend the $24 billion claim to reclassify at least some as lower-priority, unsecured debt, the US said in court papers.\n“The government is not looking for a windfall, only to determine the correct amount of the tax liabilities,” federal lawyers said in the filing.\nLast month, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of orchestrating a massive fraud that led to the collapse of his FTX exchange. The company filed for bankruptcy last year after Bankman-Fried agreed to turn over control of his empire to restructuring professionals. Since then, the advisers have been tracking down assets and trying to untangle a complex web of debt owed to various creditors, including customers who put cash and crypto on the trading platform.\nFTX’s administrators have so far recovered about $7 billion in assets, including $3.4 billion of crypto, according to court documents.\nThe case is FTX Trading Ltd., 22-11068, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.\n(Updates with request in to resolve the dispute in February. An earlier version corrected the date of a court hearing in the second paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "IRS Tax Bill Would Take Cash From Victims of FTX Bankruptcy"
    },
    {
        "id": 849,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/retirement-of-goldman-commodities-boss-caps-a-year-of-management-changes-for-wall-street-giant-185131864.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Another well-known Goldman Sachs executive is leaving his post, capping a year of high-profile management changes as the Wall Street giant navigates a series of challenges.\nThe latest movement affects Goldman’s commodities trading business. The head of that desk, Ed Emerson, will retire in March after more than 24 years, according to a memo viewed by Yahoo Finance.\nHe will be succeeded by Xiao Qin and Nitin Jindal as co-heads of global commodities, according to the memo. The 47-year-old Emerson will remain as an advisory director to the business.\nThe re-shuffling follows the departure of several key players across the Goldman franchise earlier this year, some of whom had been with the firm for decades.\nThey included Julian Salisbury, who was chief investment officer of asset and wealth management; Dina Powell McCormick, who was head of the bank's sovereign business; and Jeff Currie, the former global head of commodities research who had been with the firm for 27 years.\nAnother veteran due to exit is 28-year Goldman veteran Chris Kojima, who serves as co-head of Goldman's client solutions group with asset and wealth management. He will join a private equity firm in early 2024.\nThe reorganization across the firm comes amid scrutiny of CEO David Solomon, who is under pressure to improve Goldman's results after reporting the firm's lowest quarterly profits in three years.\nHe is trying to pull off a tricky retreat from consumer banking while re-focusing the firm on its core strengths of investment banking, trading and asset management.\n\"2023 has been an interesting year,\" Solomon said at the opening of the firm’s financial services conference last week in New York City.\nGoldman, however, is handing new responsibilities to some longtime insiders amid all of this re-shuffling.\nEarlier this fall, Goldman said one member of its top management committee, Ericka Leslie, would step down as chief administrative officer to become chief operating officer of Goldman’s global banking and markets division.\nThat division is the largest at Goldman, housing investment banking as well as trading operations.\nThe executive who previously held that role, Will Bousquette, became the next chief operating officer of the bank’s asset and wealth management division. Bousquette is succeeding 27-year Goldman veteran Laurence Stein, who will retire at the end of the year.\nEven in commodities, other executives are getting promotions. Qin and Jindal already held high-ranking positions within the commodities businesses before getting the nod to replace Emerson in 2024.\nThe unit is one of the most storied at Goldman, having produced some of the firm’s top leaders, including former CEO Lloyd Blankfein and former President Gary Cohn.\nOne of its longtime stars is Emerson, who started at Goldman in 1999 and became partner in 2012, weathering the booms and busts of Goldman’s commodities desk for close to three decades.\nHe was with the division through its record low point in 2017, when revenue fell 75% from the previous year.\nOver 2020, when oil prices surged, the commodities desk earned its highest revenue in a decade. The group topped that the next year, bringing in more than $2.2 billion.\nFor Emerson, the team’s success meant a bonus in the range of tens of millions, Bloomberg previously reported, making him one of the highest paid partners.\nBetween now and March, Emerson will also step back from various firm committees and will work to get others on those committees, a person familiar with the arrangement told Yahoo Finance.\nDavid Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto and other areas in finance.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Retirement of Goldman commodities boss caps a year of management changes for Wall Street giant"
    },
    {
        "id": 850,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/traders-trim-bets-2024-fed-145406891.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Traders trimmed their expectations for the Federal Reserve to aggressively ease monetary policy next year after a report on inflation that was largely in line with forecasts.\nSwaps traders now see about 108 basis points of Fed rate cuts in 2024, down slightly from before the data was reported, but still expect the first reduction in May. Benchmark two-year yields, which initially fell in the wake of the release, climbed and the yield curve flattened.\nWith the prospect that the Fed will pivot to reducing rates in 2024 left largely intact, investors are now turning their minds toward the next big events for the bond market: a 30-year auction at 1 p.m. in New York and the Fed’s two-day policy meeting. The central bank will announce its rate decision and officials will give their latest quarterly expectations for US rates on Wednesday.\n“The rate of annual headline inflation improved again in today’s data, but core inflation remains elevated at double the Fed’s 2% target,” said Phillip Neuhart, director of market and economic research at First Citizens Bank Wealth Management. “The FOMC will want to see further improvement in the pace of underlying inflation before being willing to reduce the federal funds rate.”\nThe so-called core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy costs, increased 0.3% last month following a 0.2% advance in October, according to government figures. From a year ago, it advanced 4% for a second month. Economists favor the core metric as a better gauge of the trend in inflation than the overall CPI.\nRead more: US Consumer Prices Pick Up in Bumpy Path Down for Inflation\nNext up, investors will have to digest an auction of coupon-bearing debt when the US Treasury reopens its sale of 30-year bonds — a maturity that received very poor demand when sold in November.\nThat auction resulted in a so-called tail of over 5 basis points, where the tail represents the spread between the yield at which the debt was sold versus the yield at the end of bidding for the sale. Separate sales on Monday also received a lukewarm response, putting traders on edge.\nAnd on Wednesday, the Fed is widely expected to keep its target rate range steady for the third straight meeting at 5.25% to 5.5% but traders are keenly focused on any signal for the future path of policy when Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks to reporters and officials update to their “dot-plot” of quarterly forecasts. Most expect officials to adjust predictions to show a total of 50 basis points of rate reductions in 2024, the same as signaled in September.\nRead more: Fed Dot Plot Offers Clues on Pace of Fed Funds Change\nThe CPI data “will not have any meaningful impact on tomorrow’s likely decision to hold rates steady, but it provides the Fed some ammunition to reiterate that rate cuts as early as March 2024 remain premature,” said Olu Sonola, head of US regional economics at Fitch Ratings.\n--With assistance from Edward Bolingbroke.\n(Updates yields throughout, adds economist comment.)\n",
        "title": "Traders Trim Bets on 2024 Fed-Rate Cuts After Inflation Report"
    },
    {
        "id": 851,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/housing-costs-still-largest-factor-in-monthly-inflation-uptick-182950035.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Housing inflation continued to be sticky last month.\nThe shelter component of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.4% in November from the previous month, up from October's 0.3% monthly gain. That made it the \"largest factor in the monthly increase in the index for all items less food and energy,\" the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday.\nShelter prices make up about a third of overall inflation. The shelter index factors in the national costs of housing for both renters and homeowners as well as lodging away from home and tenants’ and household insurance.\nThe index grew 6.5% in the 12 months through November — lower than October’s annual gain of 6.7% and March’s peak of 8.2%.\nStill, November’s results signal “the task the Fed still has ahead of itself to bring services and housing inflation to heel,” Scott Anderson, chief US economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note after the release.\nAnalysts had expected shelter costs to remain sticky ahead of Tuesday's report. But there could be relief ahead.\nDue to the mechanics of how housing is captured in the official inflation data, “we don't see the primary move downward in shelter until springtime. It's still a little early,” RSM US Chief Economist Joe Brusuelas, told Yahoo Finance ahead of the release.\nOwner’s equivalent rent, or OER, and rent hold the biggest weight in the shelter index. OER estimates what people would need to pay if they rented homes equivalent to the property they own and indirectly factors in home price growth.\nOER makes up 74% of the shelter index and contributes 24.42% to overall CPI, while rent accounts for a smaller portion of both — 22% of the shelter index and 7.5% of CPI.\nLast month, OER rose 0.5% month over month, up from October’s 0.4% increase, while rent prices were unchanged from the previous month, logging in another 0.5% gain.\nThe rent component is a notorious lagging indicator, not reflecting real-time data. The rental market has cooled in part because there’s a lot more inventory, pushing landlords to grapple with rising vacancies and having less leverage to raise rents.\nNeil Dutta, head of Economics at Renaissance Macro Research, told Yahoo Finance ahead of the release that \"the fact that those market-based rent measures are so weak does suggest that there's a pipeline of disinflation in shelter that's coming over the next several quarters.”\nSeparately, home prices — which indirectly impact OER — have continued to set record highs amid housing affordability constraints. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index increased 0.7% in September from August on a seasonally adjusted basis and logged a 3.9% annual gain for the month.\nHome prices aren’t expected to cool off anytime soon. Goldman Sachs housing economists estimate that prices will appreciate 1.8% and 2.9%, respectively, over the next two years amid low supply.\n“It’s a little bit of a question mark. [Shelter] is going to continue to trend down. It's just not clear how fast it's going to get there to the Fed's target number,” Jay Parsons, senior vice president and chief economist at RealPage, told Yahoo Finance.\nDani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @daniromerotv.\nClick here for the latest economic news and indicators to help inform your investing decisions.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Housing costs still 'largest factor' in monthly inflation uptick"
    },
    {
        "id": 852,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-bond-yields-almost-fully-182712796.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Sarupya Ganguly\nBENGALURU (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields will decline over the coming year, but by less than half as much as they have in the last seven weeks, a Reuters poll of bond strategists showed, suggesting the market is already nearly fully priced for rate cuts next year.\nSince peaking at 5.02% in October, the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note yield, which moves inversely to the price, first dropped sharply on increased safe-haven demand owing the initial outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.\nThen, growing optimism inflation will fall further and perceived dovish statements from Federal Reserve officials boosted expectations of rate cuts coming sooner, leading to a further fall in yields to a three-month low of 4.10% last week.\nThe benchmark yield has since risen to 4.19% after the latest U.S. labour market report showed the jobless rate unexpectedly dropped to 3.7%, a reminder the world's largest economy is still resilient and not in urgent need of rate cuts.\nThis recovery will hold, according to median forecasts from a Dec. 7-12 Reuters poll of 50 bond strategists, mostly from sell-side firms, who said yields will only reach 4.25% by end-February though will likely stay volatile in the interim.\nThe 10-year yield will then fall to 4.10% by end-May, before hitting 3.88% in 12 months, lower than the 4.30% and 4.00%, respectively, expected in a November poll but considerably higher than surveys conducted earlier this year.\nA smaller sample of the U.S. primary dealer banks who deal directly with the Fed provided a roughly similar result.\n\"At the beginning of November markets were pricing about 70 bps worth of rate cuts for next year and now it's 120. Much of the declines we saw recently were based on the front-loading of these expectations,\" said Zhiwei Ren, portfolio manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management.\nA separate Reuters poll of economists taken last week found the Fed will keep rates unchanged until at least July and then cut by 100 basis points in the second half of next year, later and less than currently being priced in by markets.\nA strong three-quarters majority, 23 of 31, who answered an additional question said the risk of a correction to the 10-year note yield over the next three months was high or very high.\nThis was a major shift from previous polls, where over 70% of respondents incorrectly predicted for three straight months that the 10-year note yield had peaked.\nAn important inflation release later on Tuesday is expected to show the annual rise in the consumer price index slowed to 3.1%, which could once again boost rate cut hopes.\nFed officials' communication following this week's two-day policy-setting meeting that concludes on Wednesday will decide where yields head in coming months.\nGrowing rate cut calls will also push the interest rate-sensitive U.S. 2-year Treasury note yield, currently at around 4.69%, down about 40 bps to 4.30% in six months, and then a further 50 bps to 3.80% by end-November 2024, the poll found.\nIf realised, the inversion between yields on U.S. 2-year and 10-year Treasury notes - a good predictor of previous recessions - will completely reverse by end-November.\n\"Given the locked-in low-cost financing for households and businesses and a lot of fiscal stimulus, we ended up with both sectors more insulated than expected,\" said Thomas Simons, senior economist at Jefferies, one of a few who expect a recession to begin in the first quarter of 2024 despite blowout growth recorded in the most recent one.\n(Reporting by Sarupya Ganguly; Polling by Sujith Pai and Rahul Dushyantbhai Trivedi; Editing by Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "U.S. bond yields almost fully priced in for 2024 rate cuts -strategists: Reuters poll"
    },
    {
        "id": 853,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/puma-says-decision-end-collaboration-180931848.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "HERZOGENAURACH, Germany (AP) — German sportswear giant Puma says its decision to end its collaboration with Israel's national soccer team next year was made in 2022 — before the current Israel-Hamas war started.\n“The decision is based solely on business reasons,” Puma communications chief Kerstin Neuber said Tuesday.\nPuma, which has faced calls for consumer boycotts over its contract with the Israeli soccer association, said the decision was made at the end of 2022 when the company decided to implement its “fewer-bigger-better strategy” and apply it to its marketing campaigns.\nChanges were made after a review of the company’s roster of national teams based on commercial factors and participation in major international tournaments, Neuber said.\n“While two newly signed national teams — including a new statement team — will be announced later this year and in 2024, the contracts of some federations such as Serbia and Israel will expire in 2024,” Neuber said. “These decisions were taken in 2022 in line with the regular timelines for the design and development of the team jerseys.”\n___\nAP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/Soccer\n",
        "title": "Puma says decision to end collaboration with Israel national soccer team was made in 2022"
    },
    {
        "id": 854,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-steady-near-lowest-since-000105587.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil plunged to the lowest level in five months as signs of robust supplies piled up.\nWest Texas Intermediate retreated as much as 4.3% to below $69 a barrel, the lowest since late June. Crude has slid for seven straight weeks, with even new output cuts by OPEC and its allies failing to halt the skid.\nPrices continued to be battered by fresh signs that supplies remain ample. The weekly average of Russia’s seaborne crude exports jumped to the highest level since early July, and a US government agency raised its estimate for the country’s oil output this year by 30,000 barrels a day from its projection last month.\nSpreads between monthly contracts continue to indicate oversupply, with the front end of the Brent futures curve this week closing at the weakest level since June.\n“Futures are trying to solidify a bottom from last week’s selloff,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president for trading at BOK Financial Securities. “The contango structure of back-month futures gaining on front month is setting the tone that current supplies seem ample.”\nOil is on the longest weekly losing streak since 2018 and is down by about more than a quarter from this year’s peak in late September. Forecasts for slowing Chinese consumption growth and lingering risks of recession in the US are making for a gloomy demand outlook in the first quarter.\nThis week, the International Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the US Energy Department will publish their latest monthly assessments of market fundamentals. Investors also will monitor the Federal Reserve’s final rate decision of the year.\n",
        "title": "Oil Falls to Five-Month Lows as US, Russia Bolster Glut Concerns"
    },
    {
        "id": 855,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/carlyle-weighs-4-6-billion-180918601.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Carlyle Group Inc. is exploring exit options for Acrotec Group, a maker of luxury-watch parts that could be valued at as much as 4 billion Swiss francs ($4.6 billion), people familiar with the matter said.\nThe private equity firm is interviewing banks as it considers a potential sale or listing of the Develier, Switzerland-based business, the people said. Rothschild & Co. has been chosen to oversee preparations for a potential initial public offering, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.\nCarlyle may launch an exit process for the business next year, the people said. Deliberations are in the early stages, and it could still decide to hold the asset for longer.\nRepresentatives for Carlyle and Rothschild declined to comment.\nAcrotec supplies precision components for the watch, medical-technology, automotive, electronics and aerospace markets. Carlyle agreed to acquire Acrotec from Castik Capital in December 2020.\nPrivate equity firms have held off on selling businesses for much of this year, with deal activity hampered by the gulf between the amount sellers were seeking and the price buyers were willing to pay. Now buyout shops are ramping up portfolio disposals to try to satisfy investor demand for payouts, helped by a growing sentiment that central banks are done with their cycle of interest-rate hikes.\n",
        "title": "Carlyle Weighs $4.6 Billion Exit for Switzerland’s Acrotec"
    },
    {
        "id": 856,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/risky-exchange-traded-notes-spotlight-180743934.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The arrival of a US investment strategy that offers amped-up stock leverage is putting a spotlight on an industry popular with retail traders, but prone to extreme volatility and frequent blow-ups.\nThe MAX S&P 500 4X Leveraged ETNs, which launched last week with the eye-catching XXXX ticker, promise to quadruple the daily returns of the benchmark index. That makes them the highest-leveraged trade of their kind currently available to American investors, according to CFRA Research. They charge a fee of 0.95%.\nThe issuer Bank of Montreal and MAX — BMO’s brand for leveraged and inverse products — say that the exchange-traded notes are intended only for sophisticated investors, who can actively monitor their investments and who understand the potential consequences of buying this type of vehicle.\nStill, some market-watchers urge trading caution.\n“It seems extraordinarily expensive, risky, and includes a bit of counterparty risk to boot,” Dave Nadig, financial futurist at VettaFi, said of XXXX. “All so you can day-trade faster?”\nExchange-traded notes are a different beast from their fund counterparts that individual investors are more used to. Unlike ETFs, they are unsecured debt obligations, meaning they are backed by the issuer rather than their underlying assets. Since they frequently use derivatives to amplify returns, they are vulnerable to extreme market events. A Credit Suisse ETN was at the heart of 2018’s ‘Volmageddon’ episode. The bank’s oil note was then wiped out two years later when crude prices went negative.\nThe Securities and Exchange Commission hasn’t limited the amount of leverage ETNs can offer like it did for ETFs — which are capped at two times leverage for new launches. Products offering three-times the leverage that had been launched in the past are still available.\nXXXX’s prospectus adds that the ETNs are intended to be used as “daily trading tools” and not meant to be held to maturity.\nA spokesperson for the SEC declined to comment when asked about the associated risks with such a product. BMO declined to speak about the vehicle beyond its press materials, and MAX representatives didn’t return requests for an interview.\nWall Street regulators continue to be wary of such products. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has called for far-reaching rules to curb retail-investor access to ETNs. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has also warned in the past that these products “pose risks even to sophisticated investors and can potentially create system-wide risks.” Currency ETNs with four-times leverage, issued by VelocityShares, had been previously available in the US.\nDemand Outlook\nWhile the ETN structure allows investors to generate big gains on directional debts, it can also lead to swift losses as most are designed to be held for short periods. Retail interest for leveraged products had boomed post-pandemic and have since moderated.\nStill, products offering the most amped-up returns remain popular, according to Aniket Ullal at CFRA. ETPs giving three-times leveraged or inverse returns account for roughly 70% of assets and 75% of volume among all such products in the US. In addition, five of the top 10 most-traded ETPs in the US — based on average daily trading volume over the last three months — have been leveraged bets, he found.\nBut when it comes to XXXX, the timing of its debut may not be ideal since it’s entering a market that has already staged a big rally, said Athanasios Psarofagis, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst.\n“Not sure if investors are comfortable going 4x long here,” he said. “You also have several other levered S&P products on the market from ProShares and Direxion that they need to compete with,” he said, referring to funds that trade under the tickers SSO and UPRO that also offer exposure to the benchmark index but have leverage of 2x and 3x, respectively.\n--With assistance from Katie Greifeld and Lydia Beyoud.\n",
        "title": "Risky Exchange-Traded Notes in Spotlight With Arrival of ‘XXXX’"
    },
    {
        "id": 857,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/p-gives-tether-poor-marks-175827293.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Marc Jones\nLONDON (Reuters) - Credit rating firm S&P Global has started providing risk assessments of eight of the world's top stablecoins, with the two mostly widely-used, Tether and Dai given near bottom marks.\nStablecoins are a form of cryptocurrency backed by an asset or fiat currency. They have surged in popularity but their weaknesses were exposed last year by the spectacular collapse of TerraUSD and its sister coin Luna.\nS&P's risk scale will go from 1 to 5 rather than the triple-A to default range it uses for governments and companies, but the focus is on the qualities and drawbacks much the same.\nTether, the most widely-used and Dai the fourth most widely used stablecoins, have been given \"constrained\" 4 scores in the new system while the fifth most popular TrueUSD is graded a \"weak\" 5.\n\"The assets (backing the stablecoins), for us, are the most fundamental starting point\" S&P analyst Lapo Guadagnuolo said, explaining one of the key reasons for calculating the scores was their growing use as a means of payment.\nAnother coin Frax was also assessed a 5. First Digital USD was rated a 4, while number two stable coin USD Coin was classed as a \"strong\" 2 alongside Gemini Dollar and Pax Dollar.\nSome stablecoins promise to maintain their \"pegs\" via pools of fixed-income assets of varying liquidity. Other stablecoins promise to do so via crypto-assets. Some are based on a mix of both.\nSome stablecoins also seek to reduce the risks related to their underlying assets by requiring overcollateralization and establishing mechanisms for early liquidation or support against \"adverse movement in the value of the assets\".\nWeaknesses in other areas, however such as regulation and supervision, governance, transparency or \"liquidity and redeemability\" contribute to lower scores, S&P said.\n\"Stablecoin is just a name,\" Guadagnuolo added. \"Last year Terra-luna was called a stablecoin but it was anything but.\"\n(Reporting by Marc Jones; editing by David Evans)\n",
        "title": "S&P gives Tether poor marks in new stablecoin scale"
    },
    {
        "id": 858,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-bulls-are-back-on-wall-street-174602071.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "It's OK to be a stock market bull on Wall Street again.\nAfter 2022 marked the worst year for markets since the Great Financial Crisis, consensus expectations for a recession in 2023 had many investors worried going into this year. But a blistering market rally has brought stocks close to all-time highs and put many bear cases to rest.\nAccording to a list of S&P 500 targets for 2023 compiled by Sam Ro at Tker, Wall Street's median target saw stocks trading roughly flat a year ago. For 2024, the median strategist call projects the benchmark closing at 4,775, or up about 4% from when the list was compiled on December 1.\nThat's even as the same challenges — a possible recession, further uncertainty on the Fed's rate path and concerns over the lagging impact of tighter financial conditions — linger.\nBank of America's Savita Subramanian, who initally projected stocks to trade flat in 2023, sees the S&P 500 reaching 5,000 next year. She explained the positive sentiment stems from investors having seen \"proof of concept\" throughout 2023.\n\"We've had a year of surviving higher interest rates,\" Subramanian told Yahoo Finance during a media roundtable in late November. \"And we haven't seen things come to a screeching halt.\"\nThere are still plenty of bear calls, notably from the equity strategy team at JPMorgan, who projects the S&P 500 to close 2024 at 4,200. When — and how quickly — the Federal Reserve will bring interest rates down is a big factor.\n\"Absent rapid Fed easing, we expect a more challenging macro backdrop for stocks next year with softening consumer trends at a time when investor positioning and sentiment have mostly reversed,\" JPMorgan equity strategists led by Dubravko Lakos-Bujas wrote in the team's 2024 outlook. \"Equities are now richly valued with volatility near the historical low, while geopolitical and political risks remain elevated.\"\nTo the bulls, that call is falling on tired ears.\n\"The big story here from what we can see is it just looks like the US economy is bigger than the negative pitchbook of the bears,\" Oppenheimer chief markets strategist John Stoltzfus told Yahoo Finance in a nod to economic data that has surprised to the upside throughout 2023. \"They were looking for a recession. They were look for a huge drop in jobs. They were looking for big earnings to fall of the table. Well it didn't happen.\"\nThe 'chicken little recession'\nA common thread among strategists projecting the S&P 500 will breach at least 5,000 next year is that the recession many had projected either won't come at all or has been so discussed at this point it might not really matter.\nBelski at BMO calls it the \"chicken little recession,\" a reference to the fictional character who insists the sky is falling and causes mass hysteria over it. Belski thinks if there is a downturn next year it will be a \"recession in name only.\"\n\"We will continue to take our cue from labor market trends, and unless they take a sharp turn for the worse, we are simply not concerned about the recession debate at this point,\" Belski wrote in his 2024 outlook.\nThe team at Deutsche Bank is still in the recession camp. They see economic growth slowing and \"a mild recession\" in the first half of the year. But to the firm's chief US equity strategist Binky Chadha, the risks of recession would only lead to a \"modest short-lived selloff.\"\nChadha says his team is long \"what everybody hates.\" They see opportunity in banks and cyclical consumer stocks as both have already been priced for recession. With a slowdown already reflected in prices, those stocks would sell off less if a recession hits, or \"soar\" if the economy fully rebounds.\nEarnings rebound\nThe enthusiasm from Wall Street bulls is also anchored in earnings growth that has surprised to the upside. In the most recent quarter, analysts expected earnings to increase just 0.4% compared the same period a year prior. Instead, earnings rose 4.7%, per FactSet data. \n\"The fact eight of eleven sectors are showing positive earnings growth, with four of them — Communications Services, Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary and Financials — rising double digits, that's a wake up call,\" Stoltzfus said. \"This is remarkable.\"\nAnd what's happening within those sectors is perhaps even more eye popping to Subramanian at BofA. For instance, she points to Meta (META), one of the Magnificent Seven tech stocks that led the 2023 market rally. The company declared 2023 the \"year of efficiency.\"\nIn the most recent quarter, Meta's expenses fell 7% compared to last year. The company's operating margin increased from 20% a year ago to 40% this year. The stock has followed suit, gaining about 170% this year.\n\"We saw these companies [in Communication Services] admit that they had grown too quickly, that they needed to cut costs, they needed to fire people, consolidate capacity,\" Subramanian told Yahoo Finance. \"And they did so very quickly and nimbly. And they also focused less on growth, and more on cash return.\"\nImportantly, the rally didn't reward all equities.\nSome smaller stocks in the S&P 500 that struggled amid the higher interest rate environment were removed as a part of the index's rebalancing, effectively mitigating interest rate risk in the major average, per Subramanian.\n\"A lot of attrition over the last couple of years since the Fed started hiking interest rates, has effectively cleaned up some of the debt risk in the S&P 500,\" Subramanian said. \"So companies that had a lot of refinancing risk, and were born in an era of zero interest rates, and probably couldn't hack it in today's era of 5% rates, migrated lower in market cap [and out of the S&P 500].\"\nSo after a year that was supposed to be a win for the bears, stocks are touching fresh 2023 highs, inflation is cooling faster than many initially projected and the discussion around the Fed has shifted from when the hikes will stop to when cuts begin as the bulls are barreling forward with momentum on their side.\n\"The idea of just kind of hitting a massive recession...geopolitical shocks derailing the global economy, I think a lot of those risks are behind us rather than ahead of us,\" Subramanian said. \"That makes me feel a lot more sanguine.\"\nJosh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "The bulls are back on Wall Street"
    },
    {
        "id": 859,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/video-game-expo-e3-gets-174436769.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of the highest-profile video game conventions is being shut down permanently, its organizers said Tuesday.\nThe Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, had been held annually in Los Angeles since 1995 and was a popular spot for game companies to tease their latest creations before they hit store shelves.\nThe event hosted by a trade group, the Entertainment Software Association, had already been on hiatus since the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation in June 2020. But E3 was facing trouble before the pandemic, with a host of companies either skipping the fair or staging their own events nearby.\nIt held a virtual-only event in 2021 and planned a comeback this year that was canceled after reports that industry giants Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo would not attend.\n“After more than two decades of serving as a central showcase for the video game industry, ESA has decided to end E3,\" the ESA said Tuesday in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The group said its focus going forward will be to support gong member companies and the industry's workforce.\n",
        "title": "Video game expo E3 gets permanently canceled"
    },
    {
        "id": 860,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bezos-blue-origin-plans-shepard-173940878.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Joey Roulette\n(Reuters) - Jeff Bezos' space venture Blue Origin is planning to return its suborbital New Shepard rocket to flight as soon as Dec. 18, the company said on Tuesday as it looks to resume its space tourism business.\n\"We're targeting a launch window that opens on Dec. 18 for our next New Shepard payload mission,\" Blue Origin wrote on social network X, formerly known as Twitter.\nNew Shepard, which flies cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space, has been grounded since a September 2022 uncrewed mission failed roughly a minute after liftoff from Texas, forcing the rocket's capsule full of NASA experiments to safely eject mid-flight.\n(Reporting by Joey Roulette in Washington and Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "Bezos' Blue Origin plans New Shepard rocket flight after 15-month grounding"
    },
    {
        "id": 861,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-bezos-blue-origin-plans-172743833.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds quote from Blue Origin tweet, background on grounding)\nBy Joey Roulette\nDec 12 (Reuters) - Jeff Bezos' space venture Blue Origin is planning to return its suborbital New Shepard rocket to flight as soon as Dec. 18, the company said on Tuesday as it looks to resume its space tourism business.\n\"We're targeting a launch window that opens on Dec. 18 for our next New Shepard payload mission,\" Blue Origin wrote on social network X, formerly known as Twitter.\nNew Shepard, which flies cargo and humans on short trips to the edge of space, has been grounded since a September 2022 uncrewed mission failed roughly a minute after liftoff from Texas, forcing the rocket's capsule full of NASA experiments to safely eject mid-flight. (Reporting by Joey Roulette in Washington and Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Bezos' Blue Origin plans New Shepard rocket flight after 15-month grounding"
    },
    {
        "id": 862,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oracle-reports-disappointing-sales-slowing-212119493.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oracle Corp. plunged after reporting that cloud sales growth had slowed for a second straight quarter, stoking investors’ concerns that the software maker’s expansion into a competitive market isn’t panning out as expected.\nCloud revenue rose 25% to $4.8 billion in the three months ended Nov. 30, the company said Monday. That follows a 30% gain in the previous quarter. Infrastructure growth also fell below analysts’ expectations, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Anurag Rana said, slowing from the prior three months.\nKnown for its database software, Oracle has been focused on expanding its cloud infrastructure business to more forcefully compete with the likes of Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. That initiative to rent out computing power and storage over the internet hit a snag in September when Oracle reported its first infrastructure growth slowdown after more than a year of acceleration.\nShares were down 11% at $103.15 at 10:08 a.m. in New York. They had earlier fallen by as much as 11%, the biggest intraday decline in three months.\nCompany executives attributed the slowdown to a lack of cloud server and graphics processing capacity, not customer demand. On the earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz said the company will raise capital spending to bring more data centers online. She added that the company would have been able to recognize “hundreds of millions of dollars” more in quarterly cloud sales if capacity were available.\nChairman Larry Ellison said he sees cloud infrastructure growing “over 50% for a few years.” Wall Street signaled that it had expected a pickup sooner. “It may take a few quarters for this to resolve, as backlog continues to grow, Rana said.\nStill, Oracle executives remained bullish on the business. Catz said in a statement that demand “is increasing at an astronomical rate.” Ellison said Oracle continues to spend to expand its capacity to provide computing power and other cloud services, including building 100 new data centers. “Demand is over the moon,” he said in the statement.\nFuture gains will hinge not just on customer demand, but the availability of graphics processors used in data centers to power artificial intelligence workloads, wrote Siti Panigrahi, an analyst at Mizuho, ahead of the results.\nIn the current quarter, total revenue should increase about 6.5%, Catz said on the call. Analysts, on average, estimated a 7.5% jump. Cloud sales, excluding revenue from the Cerner health unit, will gain about 27%, she said, which would be an acceleration from the fiscal second quarter. The company said it remained committed to its previous long-range financial targets for the 2026 fiscal year.\nOracle’s stock has gained 26% this year, lagging behind the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF rally of 54%.\nOracle’s fiscal second-quarter sales increased 5% to $12.9 billion, the company said Monday, falling below analysts’ expectations of $13.1 billion. Profit, excluding some items, was $1.34 a share, compared with the average estimate of $1.33.\nOf the cloud revenue, $1.6 billion came from renting out computing power and storage over the internet and $3.2 billion from applications.\nSales of Fusion software for managing corporate finance increased 21% in the quarter. Revenue from NetSuite, enterprise planning tools aimed at small- and mid-sized companies, also jumped 21%.\nAnother point of concern is that acquired health records business Cerner is growing slower than Wall Street expected. Management said in September that the company is working to shift Cerner’s legacy software business to the cloud, which means it must change the structure of contracts with many customers. Earlier this year, Oracle cut jobs in the division, which was purchased for about $29 billion in June 2022.\nHalf of all existing Cerner electronic health software customers will be on the cloud by February, Ellison said during the call. Cerner’s products are “very quickly moving from a license basis to a subscription basis,” he said.\nCatz said Cerner revenue will decline 1 to 2 percentage points in the fiscal year. After that, the unit “will no longer be a drag on Oracle growth,” she said.\n(Updates with executive quote in fourth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Oracle Plunges as Cloud Slowdown Stokes Expansion Concerns"
    },
    {
        "id": 863,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/syensqo-solvay-1-7-billion-172127048.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) increase in the combined market value of Solvay SA and its Syensqo SA business has strengthened the appeal of spinoffs, as conglomerates weigh strategic options in lieu of tapping the near-dormant initial public offerings market.\nOn Tuesday, shares of Syensqo, the chemicals maker spun off from Solvay, closed 27% above their reference price on their second day of trading, while the parent jumped as much as 18% over the two days. Their collective market value had swelled by 13% at the close, Bloomberg calculations show.\nThe gains bolster the case that conglomerates frequently use to justify separating units and divisions — that investors can value these companies more highly separately than when they’re under one corporate shell. With Europe’s market for IPOs at historically low levels, spinoffs have become popular alternatives.\nSyensqo joined three major European spinoffs this year that also ended up larger when considered together with their parent. Syensqo, Mandatum Oyj, Eurotelesites AG, and Dowlais Group Plc collectively added about $7 billion to the original $48 billion market capitalization of themselves and their parent groups, an increase of 15% in dollar terms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nInstitutional clients “tend to favor spinoffs from large groups as they typically expect these units to be better managed as stand-alone entities” said Pierre Troussel, co-head of equity capital markets for France, Belgium and Luxembourg at Societe Generale. Such companies “are typically well capitalized and can therefore float a unit without raising capital,” allowing them to “quickly extract the full value of these units.”\nA potential downside of spinoffs for companies is that no money is raised, as the new firm’s stock is handed to shareholders of the parent. On the other hand, the transaction does not depend on investor appetite for the shares, making the timing less dependent on market conditions.\nFollowing a boom in IPOs in 2021, which happened at “unreasonably high valuations,” investors turned skeptical about new listings, said Evgenia Molotova, a senior investment manager at Pictet Asset Management. Spinoffs, in contrast, are divisions of public companies already known to the markets and coming at reasonable valuations.\nSome companies still prefer IPOs to spinoffs. Renault SA is still aiming for a first-time share sale for its electric-vehicle and software arm Ampere, although it may opt for a spinoff if that doesn’t happen, Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo said last month. And some recent spinoffs in Europe have delivered less impressive performances, with Euroapi SA tumbling 63%.\nStill, more spinoffs are on the cards for 2024. Facilities management company Sodexo SA intends to move ahead with the listing of its benefits and rewards services business Pluxee on Euronext Paris early next year, and French drugmaker Sanofi SA is reviewing options for the potential split of its consumer health division, probably through a spinoff that could occur as soon as the fourth quarter of 2024.\nOther potential such deals in Europe could involve Italian automotive group Stellantis NV’s robotics arm Comau, and French IT services provider Atos SE’s cybersecurity unit Evidian.\n",
        "title": "Syensqo and Solvay’s $1.7 Billion Surge Makes Case for Spinoffs"
    },
    {
        "id": 864,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-us-yields-fall-inflation-171905436.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* U.S. yield curve widens inversion post CPI data * Fed funds futures price in first rate cut in May 2024 * Fed not likely to signal pivot from current tightening * Focus on 30-year bond auction (Adds new comment, adds 30-year auction outlook, Fed preview, updates prices) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields edged lower on Tuesday after data showed underlying inflation in the world's largest economy came in line with forecasts, reinforcing views the Federal Reserve will hold rates steady after its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. The decline in yields, however, was much steeper immediately after the release of the data. For instance, the benchmark U.S. 10-year yield dropped as low as 4.15% following the report. It was last at 4.215%, down 2.3 basis points (bps). Tuesday's report showed the core consumer price index (CPI), excluding the volatile food and energy components, increased 0.3% in November after climbing 0.2% in the prior month, meeting economists' expectations. The core was lifted by a rebound in prices of used cars and trucks. On an annual basis, core CPI rose 3.1% in November, also in line with the market consensus. The headline CPI though edged up 0.1% on a month-on-month basis in November, after being unchanged in October. \"The in-line CPI report is unlikely to change the direction of markets or the Fed,\" said Matt Peron, director of research and global head of solutions, at Janus Henderson Investors. \"Though service prices remain stubborn, the overall picture is one of slowly normalizing inflation. However, it is unlikely to allow the Fed to relax its fight and, as such, could keep an aggressive tone.\" The Fed began its two-day meeting on Tuesday and market participants widely expect the U.S. central bank to keep interest rates steady. It is unlikely, however, to signal a shift from its tightening policy stance. Post CPI-data, the fed funds futures market has priced in the first likely rate cut in May at roughly 77%, according to the CME's FedWatch tool, after several weeks of expectations for easing in March. \"I think (Fed Chair Jerome) Powell pushes back (against rate cut bets) in his press conference and ultimately the bond market is going to be in the hands of economic data going forward,\" said Andrew Szczurowski, head of agency mortgage-backed securities and portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. \"You can really get the Fed to start to soften a little bit in the coming months when we start seeing negative labor prints. But we're still a long way from that.\" In midday trading, the two-year yield, which typically reflects interest rate expectations, was down 1.5 bps at 4.711% . Following the CPI report, a closely-monitored part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve, showing the gap in yields between two- and 10-year notes, widened its inversion to as much as minus 61.80 bps, the most inverted since late September. The curve was last at minus 49.60 bps. This spread has historically predicted upcoming recessions, forecasting eight of the last nine. The curve saw weeks of steepening in November and parts of December, where the longer-term yields are higher than short-term ones, as markets priced in expectations U.S. rates have peaked and the next Fed action is a rate cut. Investors are also focused on Tuesday's auction of $21 billion of U.S. 30-year bonds, especially after the much weaker-than-expected sale of the same maturity last month. The November auction's high yield was more than five basis points higher than the forecast rate at the bid deadline. That rate miss or so-called \"tail\" was the largest since August 2011. U.S. rates analysts from BMO Capital Markets expect another tail on this auction. \"The CPI may have cleared the way for marginally higher bidding conviction, but they're looking for another tail for the long bond as there remains no shortage of volatility for investors to contend with involving tomorrow's FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) developments,\" BMO analysts wrote in a research note. December 12 Tuesday 11:41AM New York / 1641 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 5.2525 5.4127 0.016 Six-month bills 5.18 5.4088 0.008 Two-year note 100-79/256 4.7077 -0.019 Three-year note 99-226/256 4.4171 -0.025 Five-year note 100-172/256 4.2232 -0.028 Seven-year note 100-192/256 4.2492 -0.029 10-year note 102-80/256 4.2121 -0.027 20-year bond 103-104/256 4.4893 -0.019 30-year bond 107-52/256 4.3187 -0.011 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; editing by Christina Fincher, Nick Zieminski and Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES -US yields fall after inflation data; focus on 30-year bond sale, Fed"
    },
    {
        "id": 865,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-wall-street-inches-higher-171608819.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates to 12:03 EST)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks inched higher in choppy trading on Tuesday and the dollar dipped after a crucial report showed sticky U.S. inflation continues to meander along its slow, downward path as the Federal Reserve gathers for its December policy meeting.\nCrude prices tumbled over worries of softening global demand, although the U.S. economy appears robust enough to withstand the Fed's restrictive policy, for now.\nThe three major U.S. stock indexes fluttered in choppy trading before turning modestly higher, putting them on track to notch fresh closing highs.\nThe Labor Department's Consumer Price Index (CPI) unexpectedly inched higher on a monthly basis in November, but edged lower on an annual basis, stoking concerns that inflation is taking longer to return to the Fed's 2% target than many had hoped and raising the possibility that the central bank will keep policy rates in restrictive territory for longer than anticipated.\n\"There's something for everyone in this release,\" said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina.\n\"If you want to believe that inflation is reigniting, there are elements of the report that support that.\" Ladner added. \"If you want to believe inflation is cooling, you can find things in there to support that too.\"\n\"We’re getting a middling reaction to a middling number.\"\nThe Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) convenes today for its two-day monetary policy meeting, which is expected to culminate in a decision to leave the Fed funds target rate at 5.25%-5.50%.\nThe Fed is also expected to release its Summary Economic Projections and dot plot, which should shed light on the central bank's path forward.\n\"I'm expecting a dovish dot plot, but the statement will be consistent,\" said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. \"The fight against inflation has not been won and the Fed will continue to move as necessary.\"\nIn a busy week for central banks elsewhere, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also due to issue interest rate decisions on Thursday.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 139.36 points, or 0.38%, to 36,544.29, the S&P 500 gained 4.92 points, or 0.11%, to 4,627.36 and the Nasdaq Composite added 19.96 points, or 0.14%, to 14,452.45.\nEuropean shares reversed course following the CPI report, after Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 touched record highs\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.21% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.14%.\nEmerging market stocks rose 0.31%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.45% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.16%.\nTreasury yields pared losses after the core CPI number landed largely in line with expectations.\nBenchmark 10-year notes last rose 4/32 in price to yield 4.2236%, from 4.239% late on Friday.\nThe 30-year bond last fell 1/32 in price to yield 4.332%, from 4.33% late on Friday.\nThe dollar gained back some of its losses against a basket of world currencies in the wake of the inflation data.\nThe dollar index fell 0.2%, with the euro up 0.25% to $1.0788.\nThe Japanese yen strengthened 0.47% versus the greenback at 145.50 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2548, down 0.04% on the day.\nOil prices slid, turning back from earlier gains as concerns about excess supply and slowing demand overshadowed supply risks due to escalating tensions in the Middle East.\nU.S. crude fell 3.95% to $68.50 per barrel and Brent was last at $73.20, down 3.72% on the day.\nGold lost some momentum following the CPI report, turning negative.\nSpot gold dropped 0.1% to $1,980.39 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stephen Culp Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London Editing by Mark Potter and David Evans)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Wall Street inches higher after CPI report, crude slides"
    },
    {
        "id": 866,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-slashes-f-150-lightning-ev-production-to-match-customer-demand-164345409.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "The next domino to fall in Ford’s evolving electric vehicle game plan? The slowdown in production plans for the F-150 Lightning EV pickup.\nAs recently as June of this year, Ford was targeting annual production of the F-150 Lightning at its Rouge EV plant in Dearborn, Michigan of 150,000 by the end of the year - which is the installed capacity of the plant - translating to 3,200 vehicles assembled per week. Ford has now told its F-150 Lightning suppliers that it is planning to slash that output to around 1,600 Lightnings assembled per week, or half the original goal, per a memo obtained by Automotive News.\nWhen Yahoo Finance reached out to Ford for comment, the automaker said it was “matching production to customer demand.” Clearly customer demand has fallen, as consumers balk at paying higher prices for EVs compared to gas-powered cars, as well paying higher financing costs compared to only a couple years ago. For instance the F-150 Lightning Pro starts at $49,995 (before tax credits), whereas a base XL SuperCrew F-150 gas-powered truck starts at $40,780.\nThat being said, Ford reported a record month for F-150 Lightning sales in November, selling nearly 4,400 trucks in the month - a 100% jump from a year ago. However if Ford averages 5,000 Lightning trucks sold a month next year, that would mean only 60,000 trucks for the year - less than the halved production planned for 2024.\nCompetition is also heating up in the EV truck space, with Tesla’s Cybertruck beginning initial deliveries less than two weeks ago, Rivian selling more of its R1 EV adventure vehicles, and GM about to enter the fray next year with its Silverado EV pickups.\nFord had big plans for its EV transformation, as outlined in its Ford+ plan at its capital markets day in May. Since then Ford said it will “push out” around $12 billion in EV investments, and was shrinking battery capacity at upcoming plants like one in Michigan that would use CATL technology. Ford is also delaying the start of production at two of its JV battery plants it is building in Kentucky.\nDespite the effects of the UAW strike and higher labor costs—and the changing reality of the EV demand story—Ford is still targeting an 8% EBIT margin for its EV business by 2026, Ford CFO John Lawler recently said at the Barclays automotive and mobility conference in New York. For comparison, the automaker's Ford Blue traditional gas-powered business is targeting a long-term EBIT of low double-digits, with the Ford Pro commercial unit aiming for the mid-teens.\nFord is betting on continuous improvements on its current EVs, like the Lightning and Mustang Mach-E crossover, to less expensive with improved components and streamlined manufacturing processes. But the bigger bet is on its 2nd-gen EVs, which the company is forecasting will help the company be more profitable.\n“The main message is we had to design these second generation products completely different than the first-gen products,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said to Yahoo Finance at its capital markets day. Farley said 2nd-gen products like its Project T3 pickup and 3-row EV SUV will be coming in 2025 - with competitive pricing to boot.\n“We are going to see pricing pressure, and if you have not put that in your business plan and you haven't designed second-cycle products with discounting included in your run rate to get to an 8% margin in our case, then it's not going to work out,” Farley said.\nPras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Ford slashes F-150 Lightning EV production to match 'customer demand'"
    },
    {
        "id": 867,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-us-stocks-tick-higher-after-cpi-meets-estimates-162121482.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "US stocks inched higher by mid-morning trading on Tuesday as a key inflation report showed prices largely holding steady ahead of the Federal Reserve's final 2023 policy meeting.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) edged up roughly 0.3%, or nearly 100 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) traded flat. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) moved up about 0.2% after all three major gauges closed Monday at their highest levels since early 2022.\nThe Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed prices ticked up slightly at 0.1% over last month and 3.1% over the prior year in November, as Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal reported.\nInvestors are widely expecting a pause to rate hikes at the end of the central bank's two-day meeting, which starts Tuesday. But traders are easing back on their bets on a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch data.\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nWhile consumer inflation is expected to remain flat for the second straight month, the \"core\" reading — which excludes food and energy prices — could prove stickier. That would likely prompt investors to rethink when the Fed might start lowering rates.\nFollowing the report, US bond yields retreated slightly, with 10-year Treasury yields (^TNX) down roughly 2 basis points to trade near 4.22%.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Stock market news today: US stocks tick higher after CPI meets estimates"
    },
    {
        "id": 868,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-wall-street-meanders-161950963.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates to 10:49 EST)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks inched higher in choppy trading on Tuesday and the dollar dipped after a crucial report showed sticky U.S. inflation continues to meander along its slow, downward path as the Federal Reserve gathers for its December policy meeting.\nCrude prices tumbled over worries of softening global demand, although the U.S. economy appears robust enough to withstand the Fed's restrictive policy, for now.\nThe three major U.S. stock indexes fluttered in choppy trading before turning modestly higher, putting them on track to notch fresh closing highs.\nThe Labor Department's Consumer Price Index (CPI) unexpectedly inched higher on a monthly basis in November, but edged lower on an annual basis, stoking concerns that inflation is taking longer to return to the Fed's 2% target than many had hoped and raising the possibility that the central bank will keep policy rates in restrictive territory for longer than anticipated.\n\"There’s something for everyone in this release,\" said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina.\n\"If you want to believe that inflation is reigniting, there are elements of the report that support that.\" Ladner added. \"If you want to believe inflation is cooling, you can find things in there to support that too.\"\n\"We’re getting a middling reaction to a middling number.\"\nThe Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) convenes today for its two-day monetary policy meeting, which is expected to culminate in a decision to leave the Fed funds target rate at 5.25%-5.50%.\nThe Fed is also expected to release its Summary Economic Projections and dot plot, which should shed light on the central bank's path forward.\n\"I'm expecting a dovish dot plot, but the statement will be consistent,\" said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. \"The fight against inflation has not been won and the Fed will continue to move as necessary.\"\nIn a busy week for central banks elsewhere, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also due to issue interest rate decisions on Thursday.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91.41 points, or 0.25%, to 36,496.34, the S&P 500 gained 2.74 points, or 0.06%, to 4,625.18 and the Nasdaq Composite added 15.61 points, or 0.11%, to 14,448.10.\nEuropean shares reversed course following the CPI report, after Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 touched record highs\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.13% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.12%.\nEmerging market stocks rose 0.30%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.43% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.16%.\nTreasury yields drifted lower in choppy trading after the core CPI number landed in line with expectations.\nBenchmark 10-year notes last rose 3/32 in price to yield 4.2274%, from 4.239% late on Friday.\nThe 30-year bond last rose 2/32 in price to yield 4.3276%, from 4.33% late on Friday.\nThe dollar pared its losses against a basket of world currencies in the wake of the inflation data.\nThe dollar index fell 0.15%, with the euro up 0.22% to $1.0785.\nThe Japanese yen strengthened 0.44% versus the greenback at 145.55 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2553, flat on the day.\nOil prices slid, turning back from earlier gains as concerns about excess supply and slowing demand overshadowed supply risks due to escalating tensions in the Middle East.\nU.S. crude fell 3.07% to $69.13 per barrel and Brent was last at $73.82, down 2.91% on the day.\nGold lost some momentum as the dollar pared its losses following the CPI report.\nSpot gold added 0.1% to $1,982.90 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stephen Culp Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Wall Street meanders higher after CPI report, crude slides"
    },
    {
        "id": 869,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-mark-cuban-backing-1-140000489.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A climate startup backed by investors including billionaire Mark Cuban signed a preliminary deal to generate $1 billion of carbon credits by preventing deforestation across a swath of the world’s second-biggest tropical forest.\ndClimate plans to pay Democratic Republic of Congo a fee for the rights to the sequestration of 100 million tons of carbon dioxide or the equivalent on about 500,000 hectares (1.24 million acres) of peatlands for a decade, it announced Tuesday. The company will monitor the land to show that deforestation is being prevented, help Congo develop a carbon-credit registry, and sell the credits generated on the open market.\n“We will pick this particular area and make these payments contingent on that area being preserved and continuing to be preserved over the next decade,” dClimate co-founder Siddhartha Jha told Bloomberg in an interview. The credits could be worth about $1 billion over the duration of the contract, Jha said.\nProponents of carbon offsets see Congo’s forests and peatlands as one of the most important largely untapped sources of credits, which companies, governments and individuals can buy to offset their own emissions. Peatlands store carbon because the waterlogged conditions prevent organic matter from fully decomposing and releasing carbon back into the atmosphere.\nUntapped Source\nFor the credits to have environmental and market value, dClimate will need to show that they’re paying for peatland protection that wouldn’t have happened anyway. Neighboring countries like Gabon have struggled to sell carbon credits from land that hasn’t historically been under threat on the basis they don’t align with this principle of additionality.\nThe World Bank estimates Congo’s forests capture 822 million tons of greenhouse gas annually, making the country’s credits potentially worth billions of dollars if additionality can be proven. About 60% of the Congo Basin forest lies in the country.\nStill a string of investigations by climate activists and academics has raised serious questions about some of the offsetting claims attached to such credits. Research published in August in the journal Science found that only 6% of offset projects studied were linked to additional carbon reductions through preserved forests.\nConcerns about integrity mean Congo’s credits trade at only about $5 dollars on the so-called voluntary market, a huge discount from credits in the more regulated markets of the US and European Union. At that price, it doesn’t necessarily make economic sense to preserve the forest, according to Congo’s government.\nJha predicts dClimate can get $7 to $10 for its credits, because the company’s technology and the new registry will reassure investors they’re buying legitimate offsets.\nThe company will keep about 10% to 20% of credit payments as a fee, Jha said.\nThe deal, which has been under negotiation for two years, is “a stride toward balancing ecological preservation with our national growth,” Stephanie Mbombo, Congo’s special envoy for the new climate economy, said in a statement sent to Bloomberg by dClimate.\nMbombo, who is running for parliament in elections set for Dec. 20, could not immediately comment further when contacted Tuesday.\nCuban and Chainlink founder Sergey Nazarov are both investors and are on dClimate’s advisory board along with J. Peter Pham, the former US Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Cuban is worth $6.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg rich list.\nThe company hopes to start the Congo project in 2024 after signing a final contract.\n--With assistance from Natasha White.\n",
        "title": "Billionaire Mark Cuban Backing $1 Billion Congo Carbon Venture"
    },
    {
        "id": 870,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-foxconn-invest-additional-1-153839400.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds background in paragraphs 2-6)\nDec 12 (Reuters) - Apple supplier Foxconn plans to invest an additional 139.11 billion rupees ($1.67 billion) in India's Karnataka state, the state government said in a statement on Tuesday.\nThe Taiwan-based company, which assembles around 70% of iPhones and is the world's largest contract manufacturer, has been diversifying production away from China following COVID-19 disruptions and geopolitical tensions.\nIt has rapidly expanded its presence in India over the past year by investing heavily in manufacturing facilities in the south of the country.\nIn Karnataka state itself, the company announced in August an investment of $600 million in two projects to make casing components for iPhones and chip-making equipment.\nFoxconn is also expected to start manufacturing iPhones in the southern state by April 2024 - a project expected to create around 50,000 jobs.\nThe government did not elaborate on the latest plans for the additional investment in Karnataka, and Foxconn did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.\n($1 = 83.3900 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil; Writing by Kanjyik Ghosh and Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Foxconn to invest additional $1.7 bln in India's Karnataka state"
    },
    {
        "id": 871,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/argentina-roll-first-crisis-measures-120114480.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo will deliver a recorded speech Tuesday evening to outline emergency measures from President Javier Milei’s new government meant to halt the nation’s slide deeper into crisis.\nThe announcement will come after 5 p.m. local time on Milei’s second full day in office, according to the government’s chief spokesman, Manuel Adorni. Grocers have increased prices and banks are offering sharply weaker retail exchange rates ahead of an expected currency devaluation.\nMilei outlined a somber vision for rapid policy change in his Sunday inauguration address, though Caputo hasn’t detailed the extent of the measures yet. Adorni didn’t provide any other details about Caputo’s broadcast at his Tuesday morning press conference in Buenos Aires.\nThe government closed Argentina’s crop export registry Monday, a technical step that often foreshadows a currency devaluation or major policy change. The central bank also confirmed that there would be limited transactions in the country’s official exchange market until the new government implemented its own policies.\nCurrently, one dollar is worth about 365 pesos at the official rate. But lenders are already moving ahead of the government. Banco Santander Rio was processing retail transactions Tuesday at 500 pesos per dollar through its online banking site, while Banco BBVA Argentina was operating at 540 pesos, according to a person familiar with the matter. The so-called blue-chip swap rate, which mirrors what’s offered on the black market, was at about 1,030 pesos per dollar.\nLocal businesses are bracing for the worst with inflation galloping above 140% annually. Supermarkets and grocery stores have received price hikes north of 20% from suppliers in recent days, while gas stations have boosted prices by a similar amount. Shoppers in some parts of the capital were paying 25% more for food on Tuesday.\nIn his inauguration address, Milei said private estimates for monthly inflation from December to February range between 20% to 40%. November data from the national statistics agency is due Wednesday.\nOn Monday, the new president and his foreign minister, Diana Mondino, met with Chinese officials in Buenos Aires. Milei, who during the campaign described the Asian nation as an “assassin,” has sent a letter to President Xi Jinping seeking his help in renewing a currency swap line that served as a key source of funding for the previous government, according to a La Nacion newspaper report citing unidentified sources.\n(Updates with banks offering weaker retail rates, China meeting beginning in 2nd paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Argentina to Roll Out Crisis Measures in Evening Broadcast"
    },
    {
        "id": 872,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chile-prepares-open-lithium-assets-151954114.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Wealth Minerals Ltd. is lining up funding for lithium drilling and testing in Chile as the Vancouver-based firm waits for the government there to disclose rules for new production areas.\nFinancing probably will take the form of a convertible bond in the coming weeks with the participation of German chemicals giant BASF SE, said Chief Executive Officer Henk van Alphen. Wealth recently signed an agreement with BASF for offtake.\nA more than 80% plunge in lithium prices this year isn’t putting off investors, Van Alphen said in an interview. Prices for the metal have slumped as supply expands and the electric-vehicle supply chain runs down inventory. “I don’t think people are overly worried about it — and if you look at EV sales, they are actually doing quite well,” he said.\nRead More: Lithium Carbonate Price Falls 14%: Battery Metals Wrap\nWealth has already applied for operating permits and is about to unveil a direct extraction provider for what is envisaged as a $500-$600 million mine in the Ollague salt flat near the Bolivian border, producing 20,000 tons a year. It also has holdings in the Atacama flat, the world’s richest brine deposit.\nBut like dozens of would-be producers, the firm is waiting for Chile to decide which areas will be made available and whether it will have to give up a majority stake to Codelco or work with Enami as a minority partner. The two state-owned companies will represent the state under a new public-private model, details of which are still being defined.\n“We’re relying on the government to show us what the future looks like,” Van Alphen said. “But they are definitely keenly interested in getting something over the finish line here.”\n",
        "title": "As Chile Prepares to Open Lithium Assets, This Canadian Miner is Ready to Pounce"
    },
    {
        "id": 873,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-wall-st-slips-151319461.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)\n*\nAlphabet slips after Epic Games wins antitrust lawsuit\n*\nOracle slides on downbeat Q3 revenue forecast\n*\nU.S. November CPI in line with estimates\n*\nIndexes down: Dow 0.04%, S&P 0.29%, Nasdaq 0.27%\n(Updated at 9:45 a.m. ET/1445 GMT)\nBy Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian\nDec 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes slipped on Tuesday following inflation data that was in line with estimates ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision later in the week, while losses in energy stocks also weighed.\nConsumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.1% on an annual basis in line with estimates from economists polled by Reuters. Core prices, excluding volatile items like food and energy costs, also matched expectations, rising 4% annually.\nOn a month-on-month basis, consumer prices rose 0.1% last month, compared with estimates of it remaining unchanged.\nTraders pared earlier bets that the Fed could start interest rate cuts as soon as March and are now pricing the U.S. central bank's May meeting as the likeliest start for rate reductions.\n\"The Fed has been very clear they feel the risk of cutting rates too soon outweighs the risk of keeping them elevated for a longer period of time,\" Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E*Trade, said.\n\"Today's number aside ... the trends still point to a slowing economy and cooling inflation. That means lower rates are still on the 2024 horizon, just not as near as some people may be hoping.\"\nExpectations that the U.S. central bank would start easing monetary policy from next year lifted the three main stock indexes to their highest close for the year on Monday.\nThe two-day Fed monetary policy meeting is currently underway. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also scheduled to deliver their policy verdicts later this week.\nSeven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were in the red, with the energy sector leading declines by 1.6% as crude prices slid over 2%.\nAt 9:45 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 14.06 points, or 0.04%, at 36,390.87, the S&P 500 was down 13.23 points, or 0.29%, at 4,609.21, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 39.46 points, or 0.27%, at 14,393.03.\nAmong megacap stocks, Google-parent Alphabet lost 1.1%, after \"Fortnite\" maker Epic Games prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over the company.\nOracle fell 10.4% as the cloud services provider forecast third-quarter revenue below estimates on slowing demand for its cloud service.\nAmgen rose 0.8%, limiting losses on the blue-chip Dow, after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the drugmaker's shares to \"outperform\" from \"sector perform\".\nLucid was down 9.1% after the electric-vehicle maker's CFO Sherry House stepped down.\nAirbnb fell 3% after Barclays downgraded the rental firm's shares to \"underweight\" from \"equal weight\".\nDeclining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.49-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 2.28-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.\nThe S&P index recorded 33 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 40 new highs and 61 new lows. (Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Wall St slips as investors assess November inflation data"
    },
    {
        "id": 874,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yellen-encouraged-signs-improvement-china-150738287.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday said she is encouraged by signs of improvement in U.S. relations with China and progress on areas of cooperation.\n\"We are in regular conversations with our Chinese counterparts,\" Yellen said at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council Summit, noting that the world's two largest economies need to cooperate on global challenges such as restructuring unsustainable debt burdens in various countries, and on climate change challenges. \"I feel encouraged by signs that things are getting better.\" (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, writing by Ann Saphir)\n",
        "title": "Yellen: encouraged by signs of improvement with China"
    },
    {
        "id": 875,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/buy-now-pay-later-company-144927772.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Arriana McLymore and Lisa Baertlein\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Buy now, pay later company Affirm said it is teaming up with a major provider of retail-branded gift cards to let shoppers purchase digital gift cards for the holiday season and pay for them with installment payments spread over as many as 12 months.\nAffirm's partnership with privately held Blackhawk Network, one of the largest distributors of retailers' pre-paid gift cards, comes as Affirm and other buy now, pay later (BNPL) firms are soaring in popularity.\nU.S. shoppers spent $15.9 billion from October to December using BNPL, a 17.5% increase from last year, according to Adobe Analytics. Top categories for BNPL purchases are electronics, apparel, grocery and home furniture.\nBNPL loans allow customers to receive items within days of ordering them online. Shoppers can typically pay in four-installments that range from monthly to biweekly increments or pay within a 30-day period.\nSan Francisco-based Affirm announced on Tuesday that shoppers can now buy gift cards - among the most popular purchases during the holiday season - from Nordstrom, REI and Bath & Body Works with Affirm. Shoppers buy the cards through Affirm.com or its app. They can use the gift cards online and in physical stores.\nAffirm shoppers can purchase gift cards for between $25 and $500, depending on the retailer. Shoppers can choose four-installment payment plans for zero interest or they can opt for monthly payments that include interest rates between 0% and 36% based on credit and eligibility checks.\nAffirm said it has been testing its service for gift card purchases for a month. \"We did have a goal of getting it tested and wrapped in time for holiday because the most popular days for gift card (purchases) are right before Christmas,\" Wayne Pommen, Affirm's Chief Revenue Officer, told Reuters.\nThe gift cards essentially give Affirm a way to expand its BNPL service, which is typically marketed online, into physical retail stores. Affirm CEO Max Levchin in November told analysts that the company is expanding into other segments after being in an \"e-commerce cage for a very long time.\"\nAffirm said shoppers' total charges are provided upfront and there are no late or hidden fees. Neither Affirm nor Blackhawk would say what fees they collect from retailers participating in the program.\nThe company isn't the first BNPL brand to allow gift card purchases. Stockholm-based Klarna also lets shoppers purchase digital gift cards through its app.\nBlackhawk earns revenue when shoppers activate their gift cards and collects management, transaction and technology fees from its enterprise clients who want to be on its digital gift-card mall, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.\n(Reporting by Arriana McLymore in New York City; Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "Buy now, pay later company Affirm pushes further into retail gift cards"
    },
    {
        "id": 876,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-ev-sales-hit-record-141127890.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Nick Carey\nLONDON (Reuters) - Global sales of battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV) rose 20% versus a year ago as strong growth in North America and China offset lower sales in Europe, according to market research firm Rho Motion.\nSales of BEVs and PHEVs hit a fresh monthly record of 1.4 million units, up from 1.1 million in November 2022.\n\"Sales have continued to rise despite a lot of negative sentiment in the market and we're expecting sales to remain strong in December,\" data manager Charles Lester told Reuters.\nAfter years of accelerating growth, some automakers fear that electric car sales in Europe and elsewhere could be heading for slowing demand as drivers wait for better, cheaper models that are two to three years down the road.\nGlobally, BEVs made up 70% of sales and PHEVs made up the remaining 30% in November, Rho Motion said.\nChina posted a 25% increase in sales and were up 43% in the United States and Canada, while Europe saw sales drop 3% versus the same month in 2022.\nThe drop in Europe reflects a strong end of the year in 2022 as Germans bought electric cars before a reduction in government subsidies kicked in, Rho Motion said.\nLester said that as Germany is reducing its BEV subsidies and France is narrowing its own subsidies - to favour European-made electric cars over Chinese ones - sales in Europe should remain strong because automakers will still need to meet emissions targets heading into 2025.\nHe added that France's targeted subsidies are \"going to have a bigger impact\" on vehicles like Renault's Dacia Spring, which is made in China for the European market than on China's BYD, because BYD cars \"are only just starting to be sold\" in France.\n(Reporting By Nick Carey; Editing by Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "Global EV sales hit new record in November - Rho Motion"
    },
    {
        "id": 877,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citi-explores-deal-structures-battered-200000985.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. is exploring entirely new deal structures it says have the potential to entice risk-averse investors to emerging markets via a controversial corner of climate finance.\nThe market for carbon credits, which has yet to be regulated, has untapped applications that — if done right — would help mobilize capital for climate projects, according to Jay Collins, vice chairman of banking, capital markets and advisory at Citi. He said initiatives announced at the COP28 climate summit to clean up the carbon offset market are paving the way for banks like Citi to start constructing such deals.\nThere have been “integrity issues, governance challenges and uncertainty in the market,” Collins said in an interview last week in Dubai. But “we are seeing movement here at COP28, and I’m very bullish in the long run on this business.”\nA rehabilitated carbon offset market would allow banks to redraw the structure of a project’s so-called capital stack — namely the ranking of equity and debt according to risk — by using carbon credits as loss-absorbing capital, he said.\nCiti is among an increasing number of global banks that’s now building out desks to finance carbon offset projects, trade credits and advise corporate buyers in the hope of latching on to growth in a market that BloombergNEF estimates may reach $1 trillion. Other banks dedicating resources to carbon finance include JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc.\nRead More: The World’s Leader in Carbon Capture Shows Why It’s a Long Shot\nCollins said carbon credits have the potential to become “one of the tools” in so-called blended finance models, whereby private investors are offered assurances they’ll be spared any initial losses as an incentive to get them to join higher-risk deals. Normally, such de-risking is done using guarantees, grants or loans from public institutions at below-market rates. Collins said carbon credits could play a similar role.\nThe instruments have the potential to become “a catalytic layer of value in the capital stack” that can help mobilize more climate funding for emerging and developing countries (EMDC), “particularly for mitigation projects,” he said.\nHow Do Carbon Credits Work?\nA carbon credit is a piece of paper representing a ton of reduced or avoided CO2 pollution delivered by projects that, for example, protect trees or build wind farms. The credits are bought by companies seeking to offset their emissions, as well as banks and commodities houses looking to trade or repackage them. The instruments exist in two main markets, namely the regulated compliance market and the unregulated so-called voluntary market.\n“A voluntary carbon credit can be blended into a green transaction as a first-loss layer,” Collins said. It would act “like a grant or cash equivalent, making more EMDC green transactions bankable.”\nFor now, banks entering the offset market are hoping that progress on the sidelines of the COP28 talks in Dubai will restore confidence in carbon credits, following a string of controversies.\nMany of the credits generated have drawn criticism from climate scientists for their failure to live up to the environmental claims made by those selling them. And last month, the world’s top seller of carbon credits parted ways with its chief executive following months of allegations that the company overstated the climate impact of products that it sold.\nBut at the COP28 summit in Dubai, several initiatives were launched in an attempt to repair the market’s reputation. Six carbon credit registries announced they’re joining forces to establish consistent carbon accounting approaches, and a group of standards bodies said they’d work together to align principles. The US Commodities Futures Trading Commission also unveiled its proposed guidance for carbon offset derivatives contracts. And John Kerry, US climate envoy, has thrown his support behind the market.\n“There’s a lot of progress,” said Collins. “It’s not perfect yet, but it’s a big deal.”\nThough climate scientists have long warned against relying on offsets as a way for companies to reach their climate targets, they acknowledge that some — such as those generated by projects that suck CO2 out of the atmosphere – are needed to tackle residual or hard-to-abate emissions.\nAccording to Thierry Deau, chief executive of Paris-based sustainable investment manager Meridiam and chair of FAST-Infra Group, a blended finance initiative, the extent to which a project is bankable is “all about the work that you put in to structure it.” Sustainability “is a complex area, and bankability is a complex area,” so the goal is “simplifying” all that for investors in secondary markets, he said in Dubai.\nFor now, the vagaries of the carbon market have left those trading the products facing sizable losses. Last year, Dutch trading house ACT Commodities Group BV had to destroy about 1.5 million credits after realizing they were valueless. Vitol SA, the world’s largest independent commodity trader, was left with 75 million stranded credits, equivalent to twice Switzerland’s annual CO2 emissions.\nBut with stricter guardrails, Collins said there’s a unique opportunity for carbon credits to transform the architecture of climate finance. The instrument may prove “critical to getting to the large quantum of funding necessary,” he said.\nMichael R. Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent company of Bloomberg News, is the UN secretary general’s special envoy for climate ambition and solutions. Bloomberg Philanthropies regularly partners with the COP Presidency to promote climate action.\nBloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, partners with South Pole to purchase carbon credits to offset global travel emissions.\n(Adds comment from Meridiam CEO in third-to-last paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Citi Explores New Deal Structures in Battered Offsets Market"
    },
    {
        "id": 878,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-bond-forecasters-2023-rally-110000546.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The most accurate US bond forecasters of 2023 say the strong year-end rally won’t stretch into 2024.\nGoldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Praveen Korapaty, the bank’s chief interest-rate strategist, and Joseph Brusuelas, the top economist at tax consulting firm RSM, both predict that the 10-year Treasury yield will climb to about 4.5% by the end of next year. BMO Capital Markets’ Scott Anderson sees it ending 2024 only little changed from where it’s been hovering — around 4.2%.\nThe three were the only ones among the 40 economists and strategists surveyed by Bloomberg who correctly predicted that the benchmark Treasury rate would rise over 4% to end this year near its current level.\nThey now say traders are falling into the same trap they did heading into the last two years: underestimating the economy’s strength and the likely persistence of inflation pressures. Signs of a slowdown in both helped drive the US bond market last month to its biggest gain since the mid-1980s, with yields tumbling sharply on speculation the Fed will cut its benchmark rate by over a full percentage point in 2024, starting in the first half of the year.\n“Markets are pricing too much policy easing too soon,” said Korapaty.\nThe calls aren’t particularly worrisome, given that they would mean the debt market would effectively steady after being hammered by losses in 2021, 2022 and most of this year. But they highlight the risk that markets are prematurely dismissing the chance the Fed will keep rates elevated until inflation is safely reined in. The average forecast of those surveyed by Bloomberg is that 10-year yields will slide to 3.9% by the end of 2024.\nBMO’s Anderson said the low rates of the pre-pandemic era are unlikely to return soon due to economic shifts that have increased the so-called neutral interest rate, or the level that doesn’t affect the pace of growth. That means policymakers would need to keep rates higher than they once did just to avoid stimulating the economy. The Fed concludes its next meeting Wednesday and may provide insight into where it’s headed.\n“Our longer-term forecast on the Fed over the next five years is that the Fed funds rate won’t be moving back down to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon,” he said.\nWhat Bloomberg Strategists say:\nRate markets priced for deep cuts in early 2024 may get a shock if the Federal Reserve reiterates that it will keep interest rates at their peak well into next year. Fed sentiment remains neutral, which we expect to be maintained, as consumer financial conditions aren’t tight. Click here for the full report.\n—Ira Jersey, Will Hoffman, Rates Strategists\nWith inflation remaining above the Fed’s 2% target and few signs of a recession in sight, Goldman Sachs’s economists see a half-point cut by the Fed next year, starting in the third quarter. That’s roughly half as much as the futures market has been pricing in.\nWhile Korapaty isn’t ruling out the risk of an economic contraction, he said there’s a slightly bigger risk that yields may rise above his base-line scenario of 4.55% if inflation prove sticky or the spreading adoption of artificial intelligence leads to a productivity boom.\nHe said that last year most of his peers were too pessimistic about the economy. They were also blindsided by other factors, like de-globalization and large government spending on green energy, that he said contributed to stickier inflation and higher interest rates globally.\n“They failed to forecast this kind of regime shift,” Korapaty said.\nRSM’s Brusuelas, along with colleague Tuan Nguyen, were also more accurate than most others this year, predicting that 10-year yields would end 2023 at 4.5%.\nBrusuelas sees limited room for bond yields to fall next year because the resilient labor market indicates inflation will likely be slow to pull back to the Fed’s target. A government report on Tuesday showed that while the consumer price index slowed to a 3.1% annual pace in November, the underlying core gauge — which excludes volatile food and energy prices — held at 4%.\nEven if consumer price increases continue to slow gradually, a 2.5% inflation rate, plus 2% economic growth, suggest 10-year yields should be around 4.5%, he said.\n“I’m not in the recession camp,” said Brusuelas. A structural labor shortage – due to baby-boomer retiring and more stringent immigration — means inflation will “run a bit hot for the next couple of years,” he added.\n(Updates to add CPI report in antepenultimate paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Best Bond Forecasters of 2023 Say Rally Is Doomed to Fizzle"
    },
    {
        "id": 879,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-shares-set-climb-key-224001746.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Wall Street had a hard time finding solid ground after underwhelming inflation data reinforced speculation Federal Reserve will be in no rush to declare “mission accomplished.”\nWhile the report hasn’t altered bets the Fed will be on hold Wednesday, it does bring into question the market’s aggressive pricing of a dovish pivot. Traders have slightly trimmed their wagers on rate cuts next year, with the first one still projected to happen in May. And the figures also spurred speculation that Jerome Powell will possibly try to throw cold water on traders’ policy-easing buoyancy.\nFollowing the last Fed decision, Powell reminded investors that inflation progress will “come in lumps and be bumpy.” And the fact that the consumer price index just matched estimates — and ticked up a bit — underscores the choppy nature of getting prices back in line — particular in the service sector, which the Fed has zoned in on as the last mile in its inflation fight.\n“After all the hopes and chatter around near-term rate cuts, today’s CPI report is a little bit of a ‘mood dampener’,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. “Simply put, this isn’t enough inflation deceleration to reassert or justify the market’s policy easing expectations, particularly at a time when the labor market is still so solid. Tomorrow, Powell should push back at the recent market narrative.”\nAfter whipsawing in the immediate aftermath of the report, Treasury two-year yields were little changed around 4.7%. The S&P 500 fluctuated near the 4,600 mark. The dollar came well off session lows.\nTo Krishna Guha, vice chairman at Evercore, the CPI data will chime with policymakers’ sense that the disinflation process will continue to advance gradually and with the potential for noise along the way.\n“Powell will have to ‘walk a fine line’ by recognizing the ground gained towards the normalization of the economy while pushing back on the idea of early rate cuts,” according to TD Securities strategists Oscar Munoz and Gennadiy Goldberg. “We expect the chairman to lean against the Committee’s likely dovish guidance — with guarded hawkishness in the post-meeting presser.”\nBarring a meaningful deterioration of the economy and labor market, the Fed won’t be easing policy until they’re certain inflation is on a clear and sustainable path toward the 2% objective, the TD strategists noted. “Today’s report is unlikely to provide that certainty just yet.”\n“The market remains steadfast in its belief that the Fed will cut rates as early as this spring, although the Fed may want to keep its options open if its campaign to quell inflation hasn’t completed the more difficult ‘last mile’,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global Strategist for LPL Financial.\nMichelle Cluver, portfolio strategist at Global X, says the market focus will now shift to on whether there is an update to the number of cuts reflected in the “dot plot” for next year.\n“This inflation print is a baby step in the right direction, and no one can argue about that, but the longer inflation remains elevated and the higher the chances of seeing second-round effects.”\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n",
        "title": "Stocks, Bonds, Dollar Drift on ‘Mood Dampener’ CPI: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 880,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brazil-court-okays-bankruptcy-protection-214551810.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A Sao Paulo judge on Tuesday approved bankruptcy protection for SouthRock Capital, which runs all Starbucks coffee shops and TGI Fridays restaurants in Brazil, according to a court filing.\nSouthRock had filed for protection from creditors in late October.\nSouthRock said in a statement that with the approval, it will continue to restructure operations with the aim of protecting employees, stores and customers.\nThe bankruptcy protection process only includes its Starbucks and TGI Fridays stores, as well as some restaurants located in airports, SouthRock press office later said.\nStores from sandwich maker Subway and Italian food chain Eataly, brands also exclusively operated by SouthRock in Brazil, are not in bankruptcy protection, the press office added.\nSouthRock has about 140 Starbucks stores in Brazil and nine TGI Fridays, according to a list of restaurants it operates available on its website, although the company press office did not confirm the numbers.\n(Reporting by Andre Romani, Patricia Vilas Boas and Paula Arend Laier; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "Brazil court okays bankruptcy protection for TGI Fridays, Starbucks operator"
    },
    {
        "id": 881,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/what-googles-courtroom-loss-to-epic-games-could-mean-for-the-tech-world-215757619.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "A California jury found Monday that Google (GOOG, GOOGL) acted as a monopoly and abused the power of its app store, a decision that could threaten a Silicon Valley revenue engine and change the relationship between tech giants and software developers.\nThe decision was a victory for \"Fortnite\" game developer Epic Games, which claimed that Google had abused the dominance of its Android operating system app distribution and in-app billing markets. Google, Epic alleged, used its Google Play app store to extract exorbitant fees from third-party app makers.\nA separate phase of the trial to decide what remedies Epic is entitled to will take place in January. Those remedies could potentially upend the lucrative distribution model that acts as a solid source of revenue for Google.\nEpic made similar antitrust claims against Apple (AAPL) in a separate lawsuit, but a federal judge rejected all but one of its claims in that case and an appeals court upheld that decision. Apple has asked the Supreme Court to take up the case.\nBoth cases center on what level of control tech giants should have over the third-party developers who make games sold in their app stores. Billions are at stake, as many consumers use these stores to download games and other apps to their mobile devices.\nBecause the arguments in both cases are so similar, the outcome in the Google trial was \"kind of a surprise to me and a lot of folks,\" Paul Gallant, TD Cowen’s TMT policy analyst, told Yahoo Finance.\nThe greatest impact, Gallant said, may be on the other antitrust challenges facing Google in other courtrooms. The Justice Department is challenging Google’s market dominance in the online search market and the market for online advertising technology, in two separate cases.\n“The judges and juries may look at this decision and go yeah maybe we can rule against Google as well because we won’t be the first ones to…declare them to be a monopoly.”\nThe fight between Epic, Google and Apple began in 2020 when Epic tried to circumvent the giant's app stores. It began allowing players to make in-game purchases at a 20% discount, sidestepping the 30% fee for in-app or in-game purchases.\nGoogle and Apple responded by kicking Fortnite out of its app stores, arguing that Epic had violated their terms of service. Epic then sued both companies.\nApple has made some changes since the legal battle began. In 2021, it restructured its App Store fees by dropping commissions from 30% to 15% for companies that make less than $1 million in revenue per year.\nSubscription services remained unchanged, with developers paying 30% for the first year of a subscription, and 15% for each subsequent year. Free apps remained free, with Apple taking no commission from developers for downloads.\nWhile the Epic defeat is a blow to Google, the Play Store is still nowhere near as important to the company as its Search business is. That segment generates the vast amount of Google's overall revenue via advertising sales.\n\"It is a setback for Google,\" Gallant said, \"but it is not game changing.\"\nIn a research note following the news, Needham analyst Laura Martin downplayed the potential risks to Google because an appeal will delay any negative impact to 2025.\n\"If the Supreme Court gets involved, it would push the timeline out further,\" Martin wrote.\nThe analyst also said her contacts expect Google to win any appeal against the ruling.\nIn a statement Epic Games called the ruling a win for developers and consumers.\n\"It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation,\" the company said in the statement.\nGoogle said it planned to appeal the jury’s decision.\n\"Android and Google Play provide more choice and openness than any other major mobile platform,\" said Wilson White, a Google vice president of government affairs and public policy.\n\"The trial made clear that we compete fiercely with Apple and its App Store, as well as app stores on Android devices and gaming consoles. We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem.\"\nAlexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "What Google's courtroom loss to Epic Games could mean for the tech world"
    },
    {
        "id": 882,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-markets-buoyant-fed-vigil-215247190.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\n(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nAsian markets will likely tread water on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision, guidance and economic projections later in the day, and they appear to be up to the task.\nStocks rose across the board on Tuesday, including Asian and emerging indexes, while bond yields, the dollar and key measures of volatility fell. This should support risk appetite in Asia on Wednesday as investors await the signals from Washington.\nThe regional economic calendar highlights include Japan's quarterly 'tankan' business sentiment survey, Indian trade, South Korean unemployment, New Zealand current account data and the minutes from the Bank of Thailand's last policy meeting.\nJapan's manufacturers' business sentiment likely edged higher in the three months to December and service-sector sentiment is also seen firm, supported by upbeat inbound demand, according to a Reuters poll.\nThe closely watched survey comes as the Bank of Japan figures out when and how to move away from decades of ultra-loose policy, end 'yield curve control', and finally raise interest rates.\nIt's a tricky path, and for markets, a volatile one. Japanese bond yields on Tuesday had one of their biggest falls this year, while the yen rose.\nIf the yen has been rising lately, China's yuan is back on the slide, as expectations mount that China will have to inject more stimulus into the flagging economy.\nWhether that is lower interest rates, lower reserve requirements or fiscal support, it will weigh on the currency, at least initially.\nBeijing will take steps to boost domestic demand and drive an economic recovery next year, state media said on Tuesday, citing the annual Central Economic Work Conference held from Dec. 11-12.\nTop leaders gathered at the forum to set economic targets for 2024. They don't have their challenges to seek - the huge property sector is in crisis, local government debt is soaring, growth is flagging, and the economy is flirting with deflation.\nHopes for policy stimulus may be weighing on the yuan, but they're lifting stocks - the blue chip CSI 300 share index rose on Tuesday for a third day, its best run since late October and only the second time in six months it is up three days in a row.\nAsian markets may also draw support on Wednesday from Tuesday's slide in the Wall Street 'fear index', the options-based VIX index of implied volatility on the S&P 500. It fell below 12.00 for the first time since January 2020.\nIt may not be the cleanest gauge of investors' perception of upcoming risk for U.S. stocks and global stocks more broadly, but as long as it languishes at these levels, broader risk appetite should remain fairly well-supported.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Wednesday:\n- Bank of Thailand minutes\n- Japan tankan survey (Q4)\n- India trade (October)\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Markets buoyant, Fed vigil almost over"
    },
    {
        "id": 883,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-asia-markets-buoyant-214500011.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\nDec 13 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nAsian markets will likely tread water on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision, guidance and economic projections later in the day, and they appear to be up to the task.\nStocks rose across the board on Tuesday, including Asian and emerging indexes, while bond yields, the dollar and key measures of volatility fell. This should support risk appetite in Asia on Wednesday as investors await the signals from Washington.\nThe regional economic calendar highlights include Japan's quarterly 'tankan' business sentiment survey, Indian trade, South Korean unemployment, New Zealand current account data and the minutes from the Bank of Thailand's last policy meeting.\nJapan's manufacturers' business sentiment likely edged higher in the three months to December and service-sector sentiment is also seen firm, supported by upbeat inbound demand, according to a Reuters poll.\nThe closely watched survey comes as the Bank of Japan figures out when and how to move away from decades of ultra-loose policy, end 'yield curve control', and finally raise interest rates.\nIt's a tricky path, and for markets, a volatile one. Japanese bond yields on Tuesday had one of their biggest falls this year, while the yen rose.\nIf the yen has been rising lately, China's yuan is back on the slide, as expectations mount that China will have to inject more stimulus into the flagging economy.\nWhether that is lower interest rates, lower reserve requirements or fiscal support, it will weigh on the currency, at least initially.\nBeijing will take steps to boost domestic demand and drive an economic recovery next year, state media said on Tuesday, citing the annual Central Economic Work Conference held from Dec. 11-12.\nTop leaders gathered at the forum to set economic targets for 2024. They don't have their challenges to seek - the huge property sector is in crisis, local government debt is soaring, growth is flagging, and the economy is flirting with deflation.\nHopes for policy stimulus may be weighing on the yuan, but they're lifting stocks - the blue chip CSI 300 share index rose on Tuesday for a third day, its best run since late October and only the second time in six months it is up three days in a row.\nAsian markets may also draw support on Wednesday from Tuesday's slide in the Wall Street 'fear index', the options-based VIX index of implied volatility on the S&P 500. It fell below 12.00 for the first time since January 2020.\nIt may not be the cleanest gauge of investors' perception of upcoming risk for U.S. stocks and global stocks more broadly, but as long as it languishes at these levels, broader risk appetite should remain fairly well-supported.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Wednesday:\n- Bank of Thailand minutes\n- Japan tankan survey (Q4)\n- India trade (October)\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID ASIA-Markets buoyant, Fed vigil almost over"
    },
    {
        "id": 884,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-banking-regulator-leaves-mortgage-213217569.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s banking regulator maintained the stress test it imposes on mortgage borrowers, keeping pressure on the nation’s prospective home buyers.\nThe stress test for uninsured mortgages, officially known as the minimum qualifying rate, will remain the greater of 5.25% or the bank’s contract rate plus 2 percentage points, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said in a statement Tuesday.\n“The minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages has produced a more resilient residential mortgage financing system characterized by low default and delinquency rates,” Peter Routledge, the superintendent, said in the statement. “This discipline contributes to the resilience of Canada’s financial system.”\nCanadian regulators imposed a mortgage stress test during a long period of falling interest rates to ensure borrowers could handle potentially higher borrowing costs when the housing market was booming. Property values fell as the central bank aggressively hiked rates to bring inflation to heel, and transactions have slowed markedly.\nStill, Canada’s struggling housing market has so far caused relatively little financial distress for borrowers, which can in part be attributed to the stress test.\nMortgage rates are now around 7%, and though markets and economists expect the Bank of Canada’s next move to be a cut, some in the real estate industry have been calling for an end to the stress test to alleviate eroded housing affordability, which is at decades-low levels.\n“The minimum qualifying rate provides a buffer for home buyers and protects Canadians from changing economic circumstances, including increased interest rates and unforeseen personal circumstances,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in statement.\n--With assistance from Christine Dobby.\n",
        "title": "Canada’s Banking Regulator Leaves Mortgage Stress Test Unchanged"
    },
    {
        "id": 885,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-glencore-climate-plan-2024-131804843.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details, background)\nLONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Glencore will publish an updated climate action transition plan in March 2024, it said on Wednesday, after some investors rejected its climate progress report and it agreed to buy Canadian miner Teck Resources' steelmaking coal business.\nMore than 30% of Glencore's investors, including major shareholder BlackRock, rejected the company's climate report at its annual meeting in May, demanding more clarity on how it will meet its commitments to cut emissions.\nAround 29% of shareholders also backed a resolution seeking more disclosure on progress in scaling back its production of thermal coal, the most polluting of its resources.\nIn November, Glencore agreed to buy Teck's steelmaking coal unit, paving the way for an eventual spin-off of its entire thermal and metallurgical coal business within 24 months of the deal's close.\nGlencore on Wednesday said it will address the climate-related aspects of the acquisition, without giving details.\nIt also said it will continue to engage with shareholders and other stakeholders, as well as monitor external developments.\nMany of the world's biggest listed companies published their first climate action plans to cut emissions in 2020, in a bid to help reach the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of capping temperatures within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels. (Reporting by Clara Denina, Eva Mathews; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Glencore to update climate plan in 2024 after investor pressure"
    },
    {
        "id": 886,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/swedish-court-appeal-sends-tesla-130435242.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "COPENHAGEN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - A Swedish court of appeal said on Wednesday it had overturned a legal ruling that allowed Tesla to collect license plates directly from the manufacturer, and sent the case back to a lower court for renewed examination.\nThe U.S. car maker has sought the court's permission to collect the license plates from the producer in order to circumvent Swedish postal workers who have blocked the delivery in sympathy with striking Tesla mechanics. (Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)\n",
        "title": "Swedish court of appeal sends Tesla license plate case back to lower court"
    },
    {
        "id": 887,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/switch-selling-covid-19-drugs-125242074.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Pfizer released a financial outlook for next year that that doesn't match with Wall Street expectations as sales of COVID-19 products slide. Shares tumbled more than 7% before the opening bell Wednesday.\nIn October, the drugmaker reported quarterly losses of more than $2 billion as falling sales of COVID-19 products clipped revenue. Sales of Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid and the vaccine Comirnaty slid 97% and 70%, respectively, during the quarter as Pfizer and other pharma companies switched to selling on the commercial market rather than to governments.\nOn Wednesday, the company said that it expects full-year revenue in 2024 of between $58.5 billion to $61.5 billion, short of the $62.7 billion that Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey of industry analysts by FactSet.\nThe New York drug maker's profit expectations are well below what many had been expecting. Pfizer expects to post per-share earnings of between $2.05 and $2.25 next year. Wall Street was projecting earnings of around $3.17 per share.\n",
        "title": "Switch from selling COVID-19 drugs on market rather than to governments continues to sting at Pfizer"
    },
    {
        "id": 888,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-markets-greet-argentinas-tough-124423714.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates prices, adds IMF reaction in paragraph 9 and Barclays comment in para 11)\nBy Libby George\nLONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Markets welcomed, with caution, the first details of President Javier Milei's plans to shock Argentina's beleaguered economy back on track.\nHis administration swept to office with promises of drastic economic changes to tackle negative reserves, inflation above 100% and years of economic stagnation.\nBonds edged higher as investors cheered the changes unveiled late on Tuesday by Economy Minister Luis Caputo, including a more than 50% cut to the official peso rate, slashed energy subsidies and cancelled public works tenders.\n\"The news is positive,\" said Argentina expert Bruno Gennari at KNG Securities. \"It is a massive fiscal effort, with 3 ppts of GDP of spending cuts and 2.2% of additional revenues.\"\nInternational sovereign dollar bonds gained more than 2 cents and U.S.-listed shares of Argentinian state oil company YPF rose around 1% in premarket trading.\n\"Non-deliverable\" FX forwards moved sharply, showing bets that the peso's value would continue to dive.\nSix-month forwards were pricing a level of 1,022 per dollar and 1-year forwards a level of 1,687.\nThe peso also lost ground on crypto exchanges, a proxy for the black market. The price of one tether - a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar - was around 1,147.50 Argentine pesos at 1210 GMT, according to the crypto exchange Binance, down from a high of 1,175.90.\nThe IMF, which had previously hardened its view on the state of its $44 billion program with Argentina, also welcomed the \"bold\" changes that it said could help stabilize the economy and spur growth.\nJimena Blanco, chief analyst with Verisk Maplecroft, said the government was trying to temper an otherwise-guaranteed economic crash landing.\n\"He promised a very tough pill to swallow and he's delivering that pill,\" she said. \"The question is how long will popular patience last in terms of waiting for the economic situation to change.\"\nIn a note, Barclays bank said the \"governability\" of the reforms would be the key challenge, as they could sharply accelerate inflation and spark a recession.\nArgentina has artificially controlled the peso since 2019, creating a wide gap between the official exchange rate, which was at 366 per dollar before Caputo's announcement that it would move to 800, with plans for a monthly 2% devaluation.\nThe parallel rates were just above 1,000 per dollar earlier this week.\nCaputo also unveiled a 2.9% of GDP cut to government spending, with nearly 1 percentage point of it coming from cuts to energy and transport subsidies, and outlined some new taxes. (Reporting By Libby George. Additional reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bangalore and Rodrigo Campos in New York; Editing by Nick Macfie, Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Markets greet Argentina's 'tough pill' to fix economy with cautious optimism"
    },
    {
        "id": 889,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/swedish-labour-union-stop-collecting-123927461.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Sweden's Transport Workers' Union said on Wednesday it will stop collecting waste at Tesla's workshops in Sweden as of Sunday Dec. 24 in a sympathy action with other workers on strike.\nThe electric vehicle producer faces a backlash in the Nordic region from unions and some pension funds over its refusal to accept a demand from Swedish mechanics for collective bargaining rights covering wages and other conditions.\n\"This type of sympathy action is very rare. We are using it now to protect the Swedish collective agreements and the safety of the Swedish labour market model,\" President of the Swedish Transport Workers' Union, Tommy Wreeth, said in a statement.\n\"Tesla can't ignore the norm on the Swedish labour market,\" he added.\nThe strike will begin unless Tesla signs a collective bargaining agreement with Swedish union IF Metall, the Transport Workers' Union said.\n(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)\n",
        "title": "Swedish labour union to stop collecting Tesla waste in Sweden"
    },
    {
        "id": 890,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asset-manager-bayview-explores-sale-123000976.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By David French and Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Credit investment firm Bayview Asset Management told Reuters it has put its insurance arm Oceanview Holdings up for sale, in what could be the latest chapter of dealmaking in North America's life insurance and annuities sector.\nThe sale process comes amid strong appetite from private equity firms and other asset managers for the fee revenue that comes from managing life insurance assets. There are now fewer opportunities to snap up such assets because high interest rates make it easier for insurers to generate enough returns without divesting them.\nAs a result, buyers are increasingly seeking to acquire the insurers themselves.\n\"Recently, several parties have made unsolicited indications of interest to purchase Oceanview at a significant premium to book value. Bayview has engaged an adviser to evaluate what potential transactions, if any, should be considered,\" a Bayview spokesperson said.\nThe spokesperson declined to comment on the potential deal price, and did not name the adviser. People familiar with the matter said Oceanview has a book value around $1 billion, and so the offers at a premium would value it higher.\nNew York-based Bayview created Oceanview in 2018, funding it initially with $1 billion in equity capital.\nOceanview currently consists of a U.S. annuities provider with close to $8 billion in assets and a reinsurance company.\nDealmaking in this space has been robust. Life insurer National Western Life Group agreed in October to sell itself to Prosperity Life for $1.9 billion, while Brookfield Reinsurance said in July it would pay $4.3 billion to acquire annuities provider American Equity Life.\nReuters reported in August that Monument Re, a Bermuda-based consolidator of old life insurance portfolios, had appointed bankers to explore strategic options. (Reporting by David French in New York and Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro in London Editing by Marguerita Choy)\n",
        "title": "Asset manager Bayview explores sale of insurance arm Oceanview"
    },
    {
        "id": 891,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-bond-yields-drop-122817914.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates at 1200 GMT)\nBy Harry Robertson\nLONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond yields fell on Wednesday as investors waited for the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision, with weak economic data from Britain and the euro zone bolstering bets that central banks will soon cut borrowing costs.\nGermany's 10-year yield, the benchmark for the bloc, was last down 5 basis points (bps) at 2.181%, not far off a seven-month low of 2.166% touched last week. Yields move inversely to prices.\nBritish economic data was weighing on UK bonds and spilling over to euro zone markets, said Peter Schaffrik, chief European macro strategist at RBC Capital Markets.\nFigures showed that the UK economy shrank 0.3% in October from a month earlier, below economists' expectations for a zero growth reading. Britain's 10-year bond yield was down 9 bps at 3.876%.\n\"This morning it's really - it was the case yesterday already - mainly about the UK (bonds) outperforming,\" Schaffrik said.\nItaly's 10-year bond yield was last 6 bps lower at 3.954%. It hit a 10-month low of 3.917% last week.\nAlthea Spinozzi, fixed income strategist at Saxo Bank, said data that showed euro zone industrial production slumped again in October was also boosting bonds.\n\"Fears of a recession are deepening, and speculations that the ECB will need to tilt dovish to support the economy are increasing,\" she said. \"Bond futures are pricing for five rate cuts by the end of next year.\"\nJussi Hiljanen, rates strategist at SEB, said a strong U.S. 30-year bond auction on Tuesday was another factor contributing to the rally.\nEuro zone bond investors are keeping a close eye on the fiscal situation in Germany after a court ruling threw the government's budget plans into disarray.\nGovernment sources told Reuters on Wednesday that the coalition had agreed on a budget for 2024. Officials said the government would plug a hole through savings and subsidy cuts, allowing it to stick to debt restrictions next year.\nGermany's two-year bond yield was down 3 bps at 2.698%, while Italy's was 2 bp lower at 3.324%.\nInvestors think the Fed is almost certain to leave interest rates in the 5.25% to 5.5% range at 2 p.m. ET (1900 GMT). They will scrutinise the so-called dot plot, which charts officials' views of where rates are likely to stand over the next few years.\nMarket participants in the U.S. and Europe are betting that the Fed and European Central Bank will slash interest rates by more than 100 bps each next year, after large drops in inflation in recent months.\nThe ECB and Bank of England set interest rates on Thursday and are also expected to hold rates steady, at 4% and 5.25% respectively.\nWagers on rate cuts have driven a momentous rally in global bonds since the start of November, but push-back from officials at the central bank meetings could reverse some of those gains.\n\"We do think there's a decent chance that we do get a bit of a turnaround, particularly if the central banks don't embrace the market pricing,\" Schaffrik said.\nThe gap between Germany and Italy's 10-year bond yield was last slightly narrower at 176 bps. (Reporting by Harry Robertson; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Alex Richardson)\n",
        "title": "Euro zone bond yields drop as economic gloom thickens"
    },
    {
        "id": 892,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-swedish-labour-union-stop-121635689.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds quote, detail on strike)\nCOPENHAGEN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Sweden's Transport Workers' Union said on Wednesday it will stop collecting waste at Tesla's workshops in Sweden as of Sunday Dec. 24 in a sympathy action with other workers on strike.\n\"This type of sympathy action is very rare. We are using it now to protect the Swedish collective agreements and the safety of the Swedish labour market model,\" President of the Swedish Transport Workers' Union, Tommy Wreeth, said in a statement.\n\"Tesla can't ignore the norm on the Swedish labour market,\" he added.\nThe strike will begin unless Tesla signs a collective bargaining agreement with Swedish union IF Metall, the Transport Workers' Union said. (Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Swedish labour union to stop collecting Tesla waste in Sweden"
    },
    {
        "id": 893,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-us-futures-inch-up-as-final-2023-fed-decision-looms-121207237.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "US stock futures ticked higher on Wednesday, eyeing a bid for fresh 2023 highs, as investors braced for the Federal Reserve's last interest-rate decision of the year.\nFutures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose roughly 0.1%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) were up about 0.2%. The indexes ended Tuesday at their highest since early 2022, with the Dow notching its third highest close ever.\nThe focus is firmly on the Fed's policy decision due Wednesday afternoon, with investors on alert for signs of an end to interest-rate hikes in Chair Jerome Powell's comments.\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nThe central bank is overwhelmingly expected to keep rates on hold — a view that Tuesday's consumer inflation report did little to change. The debate now centers on whether the Fed believes it has done enough in dampening inflation to start cutting rates before the summer.\nElsewhere, oil hovered around its lowest levels since June as worries about oversupply persisted and the market weighed the COP28 deal to transition away from fossil fuels. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) and Brent crude futures (BZ=F) both steadied after Tuesday's losses, trading around $69 a barrel and $73 a barrel, respectively.\nIn individual corporates, Tesla (TSLA) shares slipped slightly after the EV maker recalled over 2 million cars to fix an Autopilot safety flaw and said some of its Model 3 vehicles will lose a US consumer tax credit.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Stock market news today: US futures inch up as final 2023 Fed decision looms"
    },
    {
        "id": 894,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-pinching-hungarys-popular-christmas-121107182.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — On a cold night in Hungary's capital, shoppers at one of Europe's most famous outdoor Christmas markets browsed through food stalls of steaming local specialties and sipped from paper cups of hot mulled wine. A holiday light show played on the facade of the St. Stephen’s Basilica.\nBut despite the Christmas cheer, a cost-of-living crisis in the Central European country means that many Hungarians and tourists alike are getting sticker shock at the beloved annual markets.\nA bowl of Hungary’s trademark goulash soup for $12. Stuffed cabbage for more than $18. A sausage hot dog for $23. Such were the prices on Monday at the bustling Budapest square. In a country where the median net wage is below $900 per month, the ballooning costs have left some Hungarians feeling that the markets aren't priced for them.\n“This isn’t designed for Hungarian wallets,” said Margit Varga, a first-time visitor from the southern city of Pecs. “The prices are simply unreal, regardless of whether it's for tourists or for Hungarians.”\nThe price of food at the popular Advent Bazilika market, and at the nearby market on Vorosmarty Square, have caused a wave of coverage in local media in recent weeks. Some outlets compared prices to similar markets in wealthier Vienna, less than three hours away by train, and found some Budapest food items to be more expensive.\nAmi Sindhar, a 29-year-old visitor from London, said she'd recently visited a Christmas market in Cologne, Germany, and found that food at the Budapest market was \"a lot more expensive.”\n“The atmosphere is great here, but the food prices...,” she said after finishing a cup of mulled wine with friends. “I think it’s a shame for the locals ... When there’s a beautiful market like this, you want the locals to be able to go as well as all the tourists.”\nWhile Christmas markets are generally targeted toward foreign visitors and often carry a premium for their festive atmosphere, other factors in Hungary are inflating costs.\nThe economy ended four straight quarters of contraction in September, and skyrocketing prices have plagued the country for the last two years. Hungary had the highest inflation in the 27-nation European Union for most of 2023, peaking at over 25%.\nFood prices in particular have seen a dramatic increase. Hungary began the year with grocery prices surging nearly 50% compared to a year earlier, according to the EU statistical office Eurostat. While the rate of growth has slowed significantly in recent months, the high costs have persisted.\nLajos Hild, a retiree who visited the Advent Bazilika market on Monday, said he couldn't get used to what it costs to sample some Christmas favorites.\n“When I was a child and I went to buy chestnuts, I could have bought the whole stand, along with the seller, for a quarter of the price that they cost now,” he said.\nIn an effort to broaden options for less wealthy visitors, food sellers at both of Budapest's Christmas markets are required to offer a rotating daily menu for 1,500 forints ($4.25). To wash it down, a cup of hot mulled wine goes for around $3.80.\nStill, Sindhar, the tourist, said she worried some locals still might find themselves priced out of the holiday experience.\n“I would imagine that there’s quite a discrepancy between how much they’re earning ... compared to if they were to come to the market,\" she said.\n",
        "title": "Inflation is pinching Hungary's popular Christmas markets. $23 sausage dog, anyone?"
    },
    {
        "id": 895,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-country-garden-remitted-funds-120025846.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Changes sourcing, adds details and background)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Embattled Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings has remitted more than 800 million yuan ($111.42 million) to repay onshore bondholders, a company filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange late on Tuesday showed.\nBondholders of a total of 8 million notes, each with a principal of 100 yuan chose to exercise the put option by Nov. 28, while Country Garden has wired funds that fully repaid the principal and interest, the filing showed.\nThe repayment comes as Country Garden has defaulted on its $11 billion offshore bonds and is working on a plan to restructure the debt.\nThe company in September won approval from creditors to extend the maturities of eight onshore bonds worth 10.8 billion yuan by three years. ($1 = 7.1799 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Xie Yu in Hong Kong and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru, Editing by Louise Heavens)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Country Garden has remitted funds to repay yuan bond in full -filing"
    },
    {
        "id": 896,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blistering-treasuries-rally-silences-deficit-120000248.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- For most of the summer, the chatter in the bond market about swelling US deficits — and the depressing effect it was having on the price of Treasuries — was incessant.\nFew, if any, were more vocal on the topic than Ed Yardeni, the godfather of the bond vigilantes. Investors, Yardeni said back in August, “are quite concerned.” The price action seemed to underscore the angst. By October, the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond had soared above 5% for the first time in 16 years.\nThen, almost just as quickly as they rose, yields plunged — all the way back down to near 4%. So what happened to all the hand-wringing about reckless government spending and the ballooning national debt? Sure, the bond rally was sparked by a different development — speculation the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates next year — but still, the tough vigilante talk disappeared rather abruptly.\nYardeni is unfazed. Deficit concerns, he argues, don’t manifest themselves in the market consistently, day after day. When something pulls investors’ attention elsewhere — like the mounting evidence that the economy is slowing — they will backburner those worries. The jitters remain, though, Yardeni says.\nThe “vigilantes will be back,” Yardeni, the founder of Yardeni Research Inc., said in an interview. The surge in government spending in recent years and the jump in interest rates is creating a dangerous fiscal mix, he said. “This is not an issue that will go away unless it’s fixed. If anything, the deficit outlook is probably worse than is being anticipated.”\nThere are plenty of skeptics out there who saw the summer rout in Treasuries as something of a one-off event. Prominent in this camp is Steven Major, a perennial bond bull at HSBC Holdings. While he acknowledges that he didn’t anticipate the market impact this year of the bond-supply increase, he’s adamant that over time the deficit is a sideshow.\n“Supply can have a short-term impact, when there is an imbalance with demand,” Major said, “but over the longer-run it is not the main driver of bond yields.”\nThe selling intensified in August after Fitch Ratings stripped the US of its AAA credit rating. There was nothing novel about the rationale — primarily, the swelling deficits — and yet the move re-sharpened investors’ focus, at least briefly, on the magnitude of the spending imbalance.\nFitch estimates the government will post a deficit equal to more than 6% of gross domestic product this year, a number larger than any posted in the six decades before the global financial crisis. That it comes amid a year of strong economic growth — which tends to lift revenue and hold down expenses — makes it all the more jarring.\nAt least to Yardeni and like-minded types. He says he can tell the supply concerns haven’t truly gone away because his clients now closely monitor bond auctions for signs of strong or weak demand.\n“In the past, you could leave supply out of the pricing model,” he said. “But now, you have to be aware of how the auctions are going; you have to be aware of the political developments; you have to have a sense of where the deficit is actually going.”\nREAD MORE: Why Bond Vigilantes Are Stirring as US Deficit Swells: QuickTake\nYardeni heaped praise on Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, for her handling of the auctions. He called her decision to scale back the size of longer-maturity bond sales while ramping up issuance of short-term T-bills “clever.” The move, while not without risk, further juiced the bounce-back rally over the past two months.\nThere’s been a “realization that the Treasury can fine tune, it can manipulate the bond market by simply reducing the supply of long bonds for a while,” he said. “The market seems to have settled down pretty well here.”\n",
        "title": "Blistering Treasuries Rally Silences Deficit-Obsessed Vigilantes"
    },
    {
        "id": 897,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pfizers-2024-revenue-forecast-below-115153987.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Pfizer on Wednesday forecast 2024 revenue that was below Wall Street expectations, and increased its target for cost cuts by $500 million.\nThe U.S. drugmaker expects its annual revenue to be in the range of $58.5 billion to $61.5 billion compared with analysts' average estimate of $63.07 billion.\n(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)\n",
        "title": "Pfizer's 2024 revenue forecast below Wall Street estimate"
    },
    {
        "id": 898,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-vertexs-non-opioid-neuropathic-114932027.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details on trial in paragraphs 2 & 3)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Vertex Pharmaceuticals said on Wednesday its drug, VX-548, was successful in reducing nerve pain in patients in a mid-stage trial.\nTreatment with the drug resulted in a statistically significant reduction in weekly average of daily pain intensity, as measured on a scale at 12 weeks.\nThe trial studied the non-opioid pain drug in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, a type of nerve damage caused by high blood sugar. (Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Vertex's non-opioid neuropathic pain treatment succeeds in mid-stage trial"
    },
    {
        "id": 899,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mubadala-ares-partner-1-billion-114025134.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Mubadala Investment Co. and Ares Management Corp. said they will partner with Aldar Properties on a $1 billion private credit fund to invest in real estate across the UK and Europe.\nMubadala will hold a 50% stake in the new platform, while Aldar will have a 30% holding, according to a statement. Ares will own the remaining 20% and it will provide an investment team to manage deal origination and monitor the portfolio.\n“Mubadala has strong and strategic relationships with both Ares and Aldar, and this new platform leverages the collective strengths of each party to invest in the private real estate credit market in the United Kingdom and Europe,” Omar Eraiqaat, deputy chief executive officer of disruptive investments at Mubadala, said in the statement.\nAldar, an Abu Dhabi-based property developer, is also planning to invest $100 million into an existing strategy that Mubadala and Ares established in 2021. The firms now expect that strategy — which is known as the Ares European Real Estate Debt strategy — will be upsized to $2 billion over time. Including anticipated leverage, the total available capital for the strategy is expected exceed $5 billion.\n“Private credit is an increasingly important element of real estate finance in mature markets,” Talal Al Dhiyebi, group CEO of Aldar, said in the statement. “With the rising prevalence of non-bank lending, as credit conditions tighten and stricter capital requirements are implemented, we see a substantial opportunity for Aldar as a strategic real estate investor.”\nSovereign wealth funds are increasingly pushing into the $1.6 trillion private credit market, which has been gaining traction over the past few years as investment banks and traditional debt investors pulled back from leveraged debt amid fears around rate rises and an economic slowdown. Last month, Mubadala said it would be an anchor investor in a new special situations fund set up by Starz Real Estate.\n“The global opportunity for flexible private real estate lenders continues to grow as we see ongoing retrenchment of traditional sources of capital,” Phil Moore, a partner and head of European real estate debt at Ares. “We look forward to further pursuing attractive lending opportunities and executing on our debt investment strategy in Europe alongside Mubadala and Aldar.”\n",
        "title": "Mubadala, Ares Partner on $1 Billion Private Credit Real Estate Fund"
    },
    {
        "id": 900,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/country-garden-surprises-creditors-full-113649514.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Country Garden Holdings Co.’s onshore unit said it repaid in full an 800 million yuan ($111 million) bond with a put option due Wednesday.\nCountry Garden Real Estate Group added in a filing to Shenzhen’s stock exchange Wednesday night that the debt would be delisted Thursday.\nWith the unexpected decision for full repayment, the distressed Chinese developer will avoid what would otherwise be its first default on a local yuan bond.\nBloomberg News reported earlier that Country Garden Holdings’ representatives told some holders of the bond that it had remitted funds to fully repay the note’s principal outstanding and interest. China’s former top developer did not provide any reason for the decision, according to people who asked not to be identified as the matter is private.\nMore: How Country Garden Plays Into China’s Property Mess: QuickTake\n--With assistance from Philip Glamann.\n(Updates with company statement.)\n",
        "title": "Country Garden Surprises Creditors With Full Yuan Bond Repayment"
    },
    {
        "id": 901,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/small-businesses-know-regulations-going-113231921.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — Regulations are a double-edged sword. They’re created to improve business dealings, discourage unfair or illegal business activity, and protect workers. But, for small business owners, they often mean more red tape, higher costs and possible penalties for failing to comply.\n″For a small business, you have a higher cost per employee when it comes to complying with regulations than your larger business competitors,” said Tom Sullivan, vice president of small business policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.\nHeading into 2024, there are several regulations that should be on small business owners’ radar.\nRegistering with FinCEN\nSmall businesses will need to register with an agency called the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in 2024, as part of an act passed in 2021 called the Corporate Transparency Act.\nThe act was intended to get a look inside shell companies and crack down on attempts by “criminals, organized crime rings, and other illicit actors to hide their identities and launder their money through the financial system,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in 2022.\nBusinesses with more than 20 employees and more than $5 million in sales can qualify for exemptions. But that leaves an estimated 32 million small businesses that aren’t exempt. The owners and part-owners of those businesses must register personal information with FinCEN, such as a photo ID and home address.\nDespite legal challenges, the regulation is set to take effect in 2024. Deadlines have been extended, however. The deadline for existing businesses has been changed to Jan. 1, 2025, from Jan. 1, 2024.\nBusinesses that are created after Jan. 1 will have only 90 days to comply, extended from 30. The cost of not complying could be steep: Penalties can run as high as $10,000.\nA reprieve from reporting digital transactions over $600 to IRS\nIn November, the Internal Revenue Service again delayed a requirement that payments of over $600 via third-party providers like payment apps such as Venmo and Zelle and online marketplaces have to be reported.\nThe requirement, part of the American Rescue Act, was delayed last year but set to take effect for the 2023 tax year. Now, the IRS says businesses won’t have to report that revenue for 2023, either. They’re planning a threshold of $5,000 for the tax year 2024 as part of a phase-in to eventually implement the $600 reporting threshold.\nThe move was made after feedback from the tax community and other third parties and “prevents unnecessary confusion,” said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel.\nNew reporting requirement for small business loans\nIt’s notoriously difficult for small businesses to secure loans because they often don’t have the profit or track record needed to assure banks of their ability to pay back the money. Women and minority-owned businesses especially find it difficult to get loans.\nIn an effort to have less discrimination and more transparency around the loan process, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this year said it would require banks to start reporting demographics and income of small business loan applicants.\nThe aim is to create a database similar to what the mortgage industry has. Bank regulators have for decades collected data on residential mortgage applicants — including race, geography, whether the loan was approved and the interest rate — under a 1970s era law known as the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. The data collected under HMDA has long been used by regulators and the public to look for potential signs of banks discriminating against borrowers, also known as redlining.\nBut small business advocacy organizations say these requirements will slow down the loan process and could make it even more difficult for small businesses to get loans, not easier.\nThe regulations will “bury small businesses and financial institutions with costly and time-consuming paperwork, expose small-business borrowers and lenders to increased litigation and privacy risks, drive more small banks out of business, and limit competition in the financial lending space,” said Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council president and CEO Karen Kerrigan.\nDue to ongoing litigation, the CFPB has stayed deadlines for compliance with the small business lending rule for the moment. Still, it’s something to keep an eye on in 2024.\nNational Labor Relations Board joint-employer rule\nIn October, the National Labor Relations Board issued a revised joint employer rule, expanding the definition of a “joint employer.” This means that two companies that are both responsible for some decisions about employees – such as a franchiser and franchisee, although the rule goes beyond franchises – can both be held liable for unfair labor practices. The rule only applies to labor relations. It applies to every business that falls under the National Labor Relations Act, which is most private-sector businesses.\nUnions and workers’ groups say the new rule will benefit and help protect workers. But small business advocacy groups say it’s unfairly burdensome to small businesses.\nThe rule was scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 26, but pending Congressional and legal challenges, the National Labor Relations Board extended the effective date of the new joint-employer rule to Feb. 26, 2024.\nWages and overtime\nMore than 20 states will have minimum wage increases in 2024. For example, Nebraska’s minimum wage will rise by $1.50 to $12 on Jan. 1, and Florida’s will go up by $1 to $13 on Sept. 30.\nAlso worth keeping on the radar: The Department of Labor in August announced a proposed rule that would let 3.6 million more workers qualify for overtime. The proposed regulation would require employers to pay overtime to salaried workers who are in executive, administrative and professional roles but make less than $1,059 a week, or $55,068 a year for full-time employees. That salary threshold is up from $35,568.\nKerrigan of the SBE Council said she expects when the final rule is out it will face legal challenges, because raising the threshold would have a big impact on so many businesses. The comment period closed on Nov. 7 so the Labor Department could issue the final rule any time in 2024.\n“That’s going to have a lot of disruption for small businesses in terms of cost, but also the models they may use in their workplace in terms of career growth models, compensation models, etc.,” she said.\n",
        "title": "What small businesses need to know about new regulations going into 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 902,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-airbnb-pay-576-mln-112818035.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details in paragraph 2, background in paragraph 3)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Vacation rental platform Airbnb said on Wednesday it will pay 576 million euros ($620.58 million) to the Italian Revenue Agency to settle outstanding host income tax obligations for the 2017-2021 tax years.\nAirbnb Ireland did not admit any liability as part of the agreement, which did not include assessments for 2022 and 2023, Airbnb said in a regulatory filing.\nLast month, a judge in Italy ordered the seizure of 779.5 million euros from Airbnb's European headquarters in Ireland for alleged tax evasion. ($1 = 0.9282 euros) (Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram and Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Airbnb to pay 576 mln euros to settle some outstanding Italy tax obligations"
    },
    {
        "id": 903,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/airbnb-pay-576-million-euros-111840970.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Vacation rental platform Airbnb said on Wednesday it will pay 576 million euros ($620.58 million) to the Italian Revenue Agency to settle outstanding host income tax obligations for the 2017-2021 tax years.\n($1 = 0.9282 euros)\n(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)\n",
        "title": "Airbnb to pay 576 million euros to settle some outstanding Italy tax obligations"
    },
    {
        "id": 904,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/futures-edge-higher-feds-final-111046494.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Wednesday, with the spotlight squarely on the year's final monetary policy meeting where the Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged.\nThe recent slew of reports, including the consumer price index (CPI) data on Tuesday, have cemented expectations that interest rates have peaked, with traders also estimating potential rate cuts next year.\nThe upbeat sentiment also led Wall Street's main indexes to close at fresh 2023 highs on Tuesday.\nAll eyes are now on the producer price index (PPI) data for November, scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, before the central bank's interest rate decision at the end of its two-day meeting, due at 2:00 p.m. ET.\nFocus will also be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments after the policy announcement and the release of the \"dot plot\", which could provide a glimpse into monetary policy trajectory.\n\"We expect Powell to push back on the aggressive rate cuts priced in. While the slowdown in inflation would be a welcome, we think it's too soon for the Fed to declare victory over inflation,\" said Mohit Kumar, chief economist Europe, at Jefferies.\n\"Powell is likely to keep a balanced tone, stressing the data-dependent nature of Fed's decision-making, and argue that it would be too soon to discuss rate cuts.\"\nMoney markets have almost fully priced in the Fed holding rates at the current level of 5.25%-5.50% later in the day. Traders now see possible monetary easing next year, estimating a 76.6% chance of at least a 25-basis-point rate cut in May 2024, according to the CME's FedWatch tool.\nThe European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also scheduled to deliver their policy decisions later this week.\nMeanwhile, nearly $5 trillion in U.S. stock options are due to expire on Friday, set to be the largest on record, which strategists said is likely to keep market volatility in check.\nAt 5:29 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 37 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.75 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 21.75 points, or 0.13%.\nAmong single stocks, Tesla slid 1.5% before the bell as the electric-vehicle maker will lose up to $7,500 federal tax credit for some Model 3 vehicles.\nTake-Two Interactive Software added 4.3% as the video-game maker is set to be included in the Nasdaq 100 index, effective December 18.\nFord slipped 0.6% after Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the automaker to \"neutral\" from \"outperform\".\n(Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "Futures edge higher with Fed's final verdict of the year on tap"
    },
    {
        "id": 905,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-driverless-vehicles-limited-routes-110745513.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Abhirup Roy\nSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A quest for lower costs and efficiently moving goods and groups of people is pushing demand for driverless technology in trucks and shuttles, even as robotaxis battle renewed doubts after an October accident involving a General Motors Cruise car.\nPittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Aurora and California startup Gatik are among companies developing self-driving technology for vehicles that operate on set routes and have largely managed to avoid the public ire robotaxis have faced on busy city streets.\nThis has helped these companies, which mainly develop autonomous technology to equip vehicles, win large new customers like IKEA and Walmart, as well as local governments.\nGatik won grocer Kroger and processed food maker Tyson Foods as clients this year. The company operates traditional midsized trucks fitted with its autonomous technology that deliver goods on routes that avoid hospitals and schools, and it has been hiring aggressively and plans to deepen its presence in several states.\nAurora said it is on track to start hauling freight without a driver between Dallas and Houston by the end of next year.\n\"We still think trucking is poised to be the first true scaling rollout of autonomous technology,\" said Don Burnette, CEO of Kodiak Robotics, which runs long-haul autonomous trucks between Houston and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.\nBurnette said Kodiak was on track next year to start getting on the road without the safety drivers who currently stay behind the wheel.\nLimiting the risk of deploying across a densely populated city, Michigan-based driverless shuttle operator May Mobility aims to complement or replace human-driven transit systems within a specific area of a city. It has struck deals with local authorities.\nBuilding and commercializing driverless vehicles, especially robotaxis, has been harder and costlier than initially imagined and has prompted regulatory concerns, investor anxiety and public criticism. Detractors complain that robotaxis have disrupted traffic and put people at risk due to erratic driving or abrupt stops in the middle of busy roads.\nThe outcry has intensified since an Oct. 2 accident involving a pedestrian who was dragged 20 feet (6.1 m) by a Cruise robotaxi after being struck by another vehicle. The company has paused all trips except a small pilot and hired a law firm to help it conduct a safety review.\nCruise has said it was \"committed to rebuilding trust\" with regulators.\"\nDespite recent setbacks for driverless technology this year and more regulatory focus expected ahead, some companies have managed to win investments.\nMay Mobility and Aurora raised money. Stack AV - launched by founders of defunct self-driving startup Argo AI which was backed by Ford and Volkswagen - has attracted investments from SoftBank.\nROUGH RIDE\n\"There's been a shift towards trucking in terms of the work being done in autonomy,\" said David Bruemmer, a board adviser at the Autonomy Institute, an industry consortium that helps research and deploy autonomous infrastructure.\nSelf-driving trucks and shuttles that are low-speed and which operate on pre-defined routes, for use in industries such as port logistics, are seen as more valuable services and less risky, he said.\nStill, the autonomous trucking industry has not been immune to challenges.\nSeveral startups have struggled to continue funding their quest to develop heavy driverless trucks, slashing jobs and shutting shops.\nTruckers and labor unions have called for a ban on self-driving trucks - some of which weigh over 80,000 pounds (36,287 kg) - saying they were unsafe and would lead to job losses.\nThe concerns found legislative support in California with a bill to prevent heavy-duty driverless trucks from operating in the state, until Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed it in September.\n\"Sentiment in the AV (autonomous vehicle) industry is negative,\" Gatik CEO Gautam Narang said. More regulatory scrutiny and discussions around safety are expected in light of the Cruise incident, he said, and more companies will struggle next year and only a few will remain standing.\nIn July, Alphabet's Waymo - Cruise's rival - pushed back its autonomous trucking efforts indefinitely.\nWaymo, which runs robotaxis in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona, has \"taken a measured and incremental approach in introducing our technology to the public,\" the company's chief product officer, Saswat Panigrahi, told Reuters via email. Waymo plans to soon deploy fully autonomous robotaxis in Austin, he said.\n(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-Driverless vehicles on limited routes bump along despite US robotaxi scrutiny"
    },
    {
        "id": 906,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-chip-firm-powered-us-110412568.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Alexandra Alper and Eduardo Baptista\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Chinese chip designer, part-owned by the country's top sanctioned chipmaker, is purchasing U.S. software and has American financial backing, relationships that underscore the difficulty Washington faces applying new rules meant to block American support for Beijing's semiconductor industry.\nThe company, Brite Semiconductor, offers chip design services to at least six Chinese military suppliers, a Reuters examination of company statements, regulatory filings, tenders and academic articles by People's Liberation Army (PLA) researchers and institutions found.\nIts second largest shareholder and top supplier, chipmaker SMIC, was placed on the so-called U.S. entity list over alleged ties to Beijing's military, effectively barring it from receiving some goods from U.S. suppliers.\nDespite those relationships, Brite boasts funding from a U.S. venture capital firm backed by Wells Fargo and a Christian university, and has continued access to sensitive U.S. technology from two California-based software companies, Synopsys and Cadence Design, documents showed. Reuters has found no evidence that Brite's relationships with U.S. firms violate any regulations.\nThe Biden administration, with bipartisan support, has taken pains to stop the flow of technology and investment to Bejing's chip sector, unveiling rules last October to halt some U.S. exports of chips and chipmaking tools to China and in August announcing a ban on certain new U.S. investments in the industry. It has also added dozens of Chinese companies to the entity list, many over ties to China's military.\nBrite did not respond to requests for comment. The Commerce Department and the White House declined to comment. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not comment on Brite but accused the United States of \"blatant economic coercion and bullying in the field of technology.\"\nAlthough not an apparent breach of any U.S. rules, Brite's access demonstrates the challenges facing Washington's bid to keep U.S. equipment and money from being used to advance China's military ambitions, and suggests the U.S. will struggle to succeed unless it targets many more companies that have slipped under its radar.\nRepublican Senator Marco Rubio, an influential China hawk and member of the foreign relations committee, characterized Reuters' findings on Brite as \"concerning.\"\n\"Companies connected to China’s military supply chain should not have access to American technology and investment. The Biden Administration’s haphazard approach to export controls and investment restrictions clearly is not working,\" he said.\nOthers said Brite illustrates Beijing's ability to use low-profile companies to skirt American export bans on big-name Chinese firms.\n\"Brite is a classic example of how a US-China joint venture could end up funneling valuable semiconductor technology to SMIC and the PLA,\" said Martijn Rasser, managing director of Datenna, an open-source intelligence company.\nChina's defense ministry and SMIC did not respond to questions about their relationships with Brite.\nMILITARY LINKS\nSemiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), which holds a 19% stake in Brite, has long been in Washington's crosshairs. The Trump administration added it to a list of \"military end users\" in November, 2020.\nNext, SMIC was added to the \"entity list\" over its apparent ties to the Chinese military industrial complex. SMIC has previously denied any ties to China's military, saying that it manufactures chips and provides services \"solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses.\"\nBrite Semiconductor, founded in 2008 as a joint venture between U.S. venture capitalists and Chinese firms, has longstanding ties to SMIC.\nSMIC was Brite's largest shareholder until last year. That stake turned Brite into \"a bridge between China's no. 1 foundry SMIC\" and other companies with chip design needs, according to a presentation on its website. The 2021 presentation also notes that SMIC's Co-CEO serves as Brite's current chairman of the board.\nNearly 85% of the funds Brite Semiconductor paid to all suppliers for goods and services last year went to SMIC, according to its October IPO prospectus.\nBeyond its links to SMIC, Brite sells its chip design services to Shanghai-based ComNav Technology, which makes satellite navigation systems for the Navy and the Strategic Support Force, the PLA unit that oversees information, electronic, and cyber warfare, according to a Reuters review of articles authored by PLA researchers and military tenders.\nBrite accounted for over 71% of ComNav's total prepaid procurement bill, payments to suppliers made in advance, at the end of last year, according to a prospectus filed by ComNav in June.\nComNav relied on Brite to outsource the packaging, testing and manufacturing for a chip used in ComNav's K8 high-precision GPS product series, designed for machine control, robotics, and drones, among other uses, according to its website.\nComNav's K8 system was used by two PLA researchers according to a Reuters review of Chinese-language academic literature published in the past two years.\nComNav did not respond to requests for comment.\nACCESS TO U.S. TECH\nChinese tech companies with links to the Chinese military often get added to the entity list, but Brite has never faced such restrictions, public records show.\n\"It sure seems like they would be a candidate for an entity listing,\" said Emily Kilcrease, a former trade official now at the Center for a New American Security, after reviewing Reuters' findings.\nThe United States has created new obstacles for U.S. suppliers to send technology to Chinese companies involved in the production of advanced chips, even when they are not entity listed.\nAfter SMIC was added to the entity list, Brite's U.S. suppliers needed to get a U.S. license before shipping it items used for designing chips to be made at SMIC. And new rules released last year would have barred Brite from receiving such items if they were meant to be used in designing advanced chips to be made at Chinese manufacturers.\nBrite has maintained its relationships with suppliers of top chip design software Cadence and Synopsys, Brite's October prospectus for its Shanghai exchange IPO shows. Reuters was not able to determine whether the U.S. companies received licenses to ship equipment to Brite, as the new rules require. Both companies said they are in compliance with U.S. regulations.\nFrom January to June of this year, the company spent 14 million yuan ($2 million) on software from Synopsys, making the U.S. company one of its top 5 suppliers. And last year, Cadence ranked as one of Brite's top five suppliers, with Brite spending 11.8 million ($1.6 million) yuan on its chip design software, according to the prospectus.\nBoth Synopsys and Cadence said they are in full compliance with U.S. export controls and did not confirm or deny their relationships with Brite, although Synopsys mentions its business dealings with Brite on its website.\nFINANCIAL TIES\nThe White House unveiled an executive order last August targeting U.S. investment in advanced Chinese chipmaking and other tech industries, fearing the capital and know-how could end up helping Beijing bolster its military.\nNorwest Venture Partners, whose stake in Brite is 99.7% backed by funds from Wells Fargo Bank, is the largest U.S. investor in Brite.\nNorwest participated in at least four capital raises worth over $66 million and held a board seat until 2020, giving it insight into and partial control over Brite's business strategies. Its stake could be worth nearly $34 million, based on the IPO valuation Brite is seeking. Wells Fargo declined to comment.\nNorwest said its initial investment was made 15 years ago and has been \"held in compliance with applicable laws.\" \"The regulatory environment is changing, and we’re committed to following new regulations as they become effective,” the firm added.\nBiola University, a Christian college in California, also has a 5.43% stake in Brite. Promod Haque, a managing partner at Norwest who sat on Brite's board until 2019, according to his LinkedIn page, has also served on Biola's board of trustees since 2007.\nHaque did not respond to requests for comment on his links to Brite and Biola.\nBiola declined to comment on its investment in Brite.\nNorwest and Biola University will not run afoul of new rules fleshing out the restrictions on investments in China because those measures will not hit pre-existing investments, lawyers who are experts in foreign investment regulations said.\nBrite's relationship with SMIC may also affect its financial future in China. Brite, which saw revenue growth of 36% last year to 1.3 billion yuan ($178.83 million) is seeking to list its shares on the Shanghai stock exchange, the prospectus showed.\nBut in October, the exchange suspended the process, seeking more information about Brite's independence from SMIC. At issue is whether SMIC is taking advantage of its role as Brite's top supplier and part owner to overcharge Brite.\nThe exchange, which is set to review Brite's listing on December 18, asked Brite to clarify why SMIC sold it wafers, or silicon discs, at a higher-than-average price. Brite said in a filing on Monday that wafers are highly customized products whose prices are affected by the size of a purchase and supply and demand.\nThe Shanghai stock exchange did not respond for a request for comment on Brite's IPO process.\nRegardless of the stock exchange's final decision, Brite will likely continue to enjoy access to U.S. technology and investment, despite SMIC's addition to the entity list.\n\"It is time to reimagine the economic policy toolkit that we have,\" said Greg Levesque, CEO of security firm Strider Technologies, which examines open source data to find foreign technology that is at risk of being stolen by China. \"We are really good at putting names on lists, but we need to be more aggressive in identifying and combating this behavior,\" he added.\n(Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; additional reporting by Echo Wang in New York, Stephen Nellis in San Francisco, Michael Martina in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Anna Driver)\n",
        "title": "China chip firm powered by US tech and money avoids Biden's crackdown"
    },
    {
        "id": 907,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-fed-nods-dots-eyed-110302256.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan\nAs Wall St waited optimistically for the Federal Reserve's latest nods and winks on future policy, Argentina took a hatchet to its peso while China's stocks resumed sliding after another underwhelming government economic plan.\nAs promised, Argentina's new government late Tuesday slashed government spending, cut whole departments and devalued the official peso exchange rate by more than 50% to 800 per dollar - though it still sits stronger than where informal and black market rates put the unit above 1,000.\nThe long-flagged moves from new President Javier Milei - in office just two days - aimed to cut across a spiral of debt and hyperinflation and were announced by his economy minister Luis Caputo. The International Monetary Fund welcomed the moves and Argentina's sovereign dollar bonds were marginally higher.\nThe drama in Buenos Aires was a distraction from Wednesday's main U.S. event, where Fed policymakers decide policy, publish their latest economic forecasts and Fed boss Jerome Powell speaks to the press.\nNo change is expected in the main rate of course, but markets will be keenly focused on Powell's emphasis and how much easing is included in policymakers' rate projections for next year - the so-called \"dot plot\".\nThe last update in September had one final hike left in 2023, which is now unlikely to materialise, and then two quarter point cuts from there by the end of next year. Most expect those two cuts to remain - but from current levels.\nFutures markets, however, have more than 110 basis points of cuts still pencilled in for 2024 - though chances of a first cut as soon as March have slipped back below 50% since the slightly sticky November consumer price readout on Tuesday.\nAlthough headline annual inflation rates fell back to 3.1% for the first time since June and core rates stayed at 4.0% as anticipated, higher rent components saw the monthly rate tick 0.1% higher.\nProducer price inflation data due on Wednesday before the Fed decision should prove more benign - with core annual PPI expected to fall to just 2.2%, its lowest in almost three years and below rates recorded for most of the two years before the pandemic hit.\nUnderscoring the disinflation in input costs, U.S. crude oil prices fell again on Tuesday to their lowest since June - down almost 30% in just 10 weeks and clocking year-on-year declines still close to 10%.\nAll of which has stock and bond markets bulled up again into the Fed meeting.\nHelping the tone was a well-received 30-year Treasury auction late Tuesday, healing wounds associated with a dire reception for the previous long bond sale in November.\nA 12-year-high so-called pricing \"tail\" - where the highest yields at which the bonds are sold top pre-auction indications - disappeared once again.\nAt 4.28%, 30-year yields were almost 10 bp down from Monday's peak. The dollar was higher across the board, touching one-month highs against China's offshore yuan.\nAnd Wall St stocks ploughed on - hitting new 20-month highs, up more than 13% in six weeks and less than 4% from all-time highs for the S&P500. Futures were higher again before Wednesday's bell.\nImplied volatility continued to crater - dropping below 12 at one point for the first time since January 2020.\nOverseas stocks were more mixed - higher in Europe ahead of the European Central Bank and Bank of England policy decisions on Tuesday, but lower in Asia where storm clouds continue to hover over China.\nThe blue-chip CSI 300 Index fell back 1.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.9% as investors were disappointed by the lack of specific property market supports in the government's latest economic stimulus plans.\nChina's Central Economic Work Conference will next year focus on efforts to spur domestic demand, state media said, but the lack of focus on the smouldering real estate bust is a concern for many.\nIn Britain, data showed the economy contracted more than forecast in October, raising the risk of a recession and testing the BoE's resolve to stick to its tough anti-inflation line.\nAnd representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP28 climate summit on Wednesday to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change, a first-of-its-kind deal signalling the eventual end of the oil era.\nKey developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Wednesday:\n* Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee decides policy and publishes latest quarterly economic projections; press conference from Fed Chair Jerome Powell\n* U.S. Nov producer price index\n* U.S. corporate earnings: Adobe, Nordson\n(By Mike Dolan, editing by Mark Heinrich mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Fed nods and dots eyed, peso halved"
    },
    {
        "id": 908,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-americas-fed-nods-110116426.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 13 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan\nAs Wall St waited optimistically for the Federal Reserve's latest nods and winks on future policy, Argentina took a hatchet to its peso while China's stocks resumed sliding after another underwhelming government economic plan.\nAs promised, Argentina's new government late Tuesday slashed government spending, cut whole departments and devalued the official peso exchange rate by more than 50% to 800 per dollar - though it still sits stronger than where informal and black market rates put the unit above 1,000.\nThe long-flagged moves from new President Javier Milei - in office just two days - aimed to cut across a spiral of debt and hyperinflation and were announced by his economy minister Luis Caputo. The International Monetary Fund welcomed the moves and Argentina's sovereign dollar bonds were marginally higher.\nThe drama in Buenos Aires was a distraction from Wednesday's main U.S. event, where Fed policymakers decide policy, publish their latest economic forecasts and Fed boss Jerome Powell speaks to the press.\nNo change is expected in the main rate of course, but markets will be keenly focused on Powell's emphasis and how much easing is included in policymakers' rate projections for next year - the so-called \"dot plot\".\nThe last update in September had one final hike left in 2023, which is now unlikely to materialise, and then two quarter point cuts from there by the end of next year. Most expect those two cuts to remain - but from current levels.\nFutures markets, however, have more than 110 basis points of cuts still pencilled in for 2024 - though chances of a first cut as soon as March have slipped back below 50% since the slightly sticky November consumer price readout on Tuesday.\nAlthough headline annual inflation rates fell back to 3.1% for the first time since June and core rates stayed at 4.0% as anticipated, higher rent components saw the monthly rate tick 0.1% higher.\nProducer price inflation data due on Wednesday before the Fed decision should prove more benign - with core annual PPI expected to fall to just 2.2%, its lowest in almost three years and below rates recorded for most of the two years before the pandemic hit.\nUnderscoring the disinflation in input costs, U.S. crude oil prices fell again on Tuesday to their lowest since June - down almost 30% in just 10 weeks and clocking year-on-year declines still close to 10%.\nAll of which has stock and bond markets bulled up again into the Fed meeting.\nHelping the tone was a well-received 30-year Treasury auction late Tuesday, healing wounds associated with a dire reception for the previous long bond sale in November.\nA 12-year-high so-called pricing \"tail\" - where the highest yields at which the bonds are sold top pre-auction indications - disappeared once again.\nAt 4.28%, 30-year yields were almost 10 bp down from Monday's peak. The dollar was higher across the board, touching one-month highs against China's offshore yuan .\nAnd Wall St stocks ploughed on - hitting new 20-month highs, up more than 13% in six weeks and less than 4% from all-time highs for the S&P500. Futures were higher again before Wednesday's bell.\nImplied volatility continued to crater - dropping below 12 at one point for the first time since January 2020.\nOverseas stocks were more mixed - higher in Europe ahead of the European Central Bank and Bank of England policy decisions on Tuesday, but lower in Asia where storm clouds continue to hover over China.\nThe blue-chip CSI 300 Index fell back 1.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.9% as investors were disappointed by the lack of specific property market supports in the government's latest economic stimulus plans.\nChina's Central Economic Work Conference will next year focus on efforts to spur domestic demand, state media said, but the lack of focus on the smouldering real estate bust is a concern for many.\nIn Britain, data showed the economy contracted more than forecast in October, raising the risk of a recession and testing the BoE's resolve to stick to its tough anti-inflation line.\nAnd representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP28 climate summit on Wednesday to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change, a first-of-its-kind deal signalling the eventual end of the oil era. Key developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Wednesday: * Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee decides policy and publishes latest quarterly economic projections; press conference from Fed Chair Jerome Powell * U.S. Nov producer price index * U.S. corporate earnings: Adobe, Nordson\n(By Mike Dolan, editing by Mark Heinrich mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID AMERICAS-Fed nods and dots eyed, peso halved"
    },
    {
        "id": 909,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-to-navigate-a-fed-pause-get-out-of-cash-now-110001332.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Cash has been king this year.\nThat is, many investors have seen attractive interest rates for the first time in their adult lives. That has drawn them into short-term instruments commonly referred to as “cash” like CDs and Treasury bills.\nNow may be the time to pivot. Even though the Fed isn’t expected to start cutting interest rates until sometime next year, the best yields for cash may be in the past. Now, while the Fed is on pause, is the best window for equity and bond returns relative to cash, says Gargi Chaudhuri, head of investment strategy at BlackRock iShares Americas.\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\n“Get out of cash now,” Chaudhuri told Yahoo Finance Live. “Take advantage of some of these incredible things in the fixed income markets, especially in the belly of the curve. Take advantage of the companies that are still available to you at reasonable prices.”\nOf course, the latter assumes upside to stocks in 2024, but on that front, there’s been plenty of optimism to go around. (And individual stock picks can certainly go up even if the overall market suffers).\nThat jump from cash to equities and bonds could provide a further tailwind.\n“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some flows out of cash into stocks and bonds, mainly because we’ve seen such a pileup in cash and some investors taking on cash could be more rate sensitive,” said Callie Cox, US investment analyst at eToro. “Once we see the flow of rate cuts, cash goes to spend or people invest. Either way, that’s got to be good for the economy and risk assets.”\nLately the main question for markets has become how long the Fed’s “pause” period will last, and whether cuts will begin early or later next year. That could affect a number of investment decisions, including the ideal window of time for investors to turn from cash to other assets.\nMeanwhile, we’ll see how quickly fat-yielding savings accounts will come back down to the lean levels of the past several decades.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "How to navigate a Fed pause: 'Get out of cash now'"
    },
    {
        "id": 910,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hospitals-creeping-toward-recovery-grapple-110000536.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- During the depths of the pandemic, hospital operator Main Line Health managed to keep all of its beds open and avoid layoffs. But the suburban-Philadephia system struggled like the rest of the industry with spiraling costs and shortages, and had to bring in 250 outside nurses to cope with pressing demand.\nToday, most of those agency nurses are gone and a bump in payments from private insurers points to better fortunes for Main Line and its four hospitals. Things “are a little better and they will get better this year,” President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Lynch said.\nYet even as the bottom line looks set to improve, Lynch frets over pressures old and new, including expenses that remain significantly higher. “Inflation is literally out of control,” he said in an interview. It’s a familiar story.\nAfter years of tight finances made more acute by the pandemic, many hospitals across the US are finally beginning to feel a measure of relief. Some of the worst strains from Covid-19 — from staff shortages to spiking expenses and a steep drop in elective procedures — are easing and in many cases, profitability is creeping up.\nOne major ratings firm, Moody’s Investors Service, has upgraded its outlook for nonprofit hospitals to stable from negative, pointing to factors like moderating labor costs and higher reimbursements from insurers. For the roughly 300 nonprofit providers it tracks, the worst seems to be over. But serious challenges remain, and not everyone is ready to call a turnaround.\nBoth Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings held to their negative outlooks, saying improving revenues aren’t making up for higher costs, and both expect downgrades to continue to outpace upgrades. About a third of hospitals expect covenant challenges this year, according to consultant Kaufman Hall, compared with about a quarter currently. And the gap between weaker and stronger performers is widening, industry watchers say.\nMoody’s even thought twice before changing its outlook. “We had that debate ourselves,” assistant vice president-analyst Matt Cahill said. “Things are looking better than they were, but we’re still not out of the woods yet.”\nInvestors are feeling more bullish on the sector, too, as returns — which had trailed the broader muni market — have bounced back amid a rebound in all of US fixed income.\n“We believe that the sector is clearly in recovery mode,” said Scott Frail, head of public finance at Truist Securities.\nThat’s allowed hospitals to step up borrowing for deferred projects.\n“As fundamentals continue to rebound, we feel that the sector may offer outperformance,” said Jonathan Mondillo, head of North American fixed income at Abrdn.\nMondillo noted the sector’s key role in the economy, which “could insulate issuers and investors” in the event of a broader slowdown. Health-care spending comprised about 18% of US domestic product, or $4.3 trillion, in 2021, according to federal data. Hospitals made up almost a third of that.\nOver the years, like many of its peers, Main Line lost business to outpatient centers for procedures like colonoscopies and infusions. At the same time, new expenses for cybersecurity and violence prevention — including $1 million for a rollout this year of wearable panic buttons for staff — have added new burdens. Main Line’s hospital beds are full — partly due to closures in the area — but patients are older and sicker and thus more expensive to treat.\nFederal funds have helped, but not enough, said Lynch, whose system has about 55% Medicare patients and 10% Medicaid. Neither cover the cost of care, with Medicare only reimbursing about 75 to 80 cents on the dollar, he said. The hospital is on track to hit $80 million in losses in the current fiscal year, while last year brought a loss of $125 million, double the initial forecast.\nHealth care’s status as an essential service makes Vanguard Group Inc. “broadly favorable on the long-run prospects” of the sector, said Paul Malloy, head of municipal bonds. “We think it’s an important part of the muni market,” he said in an interview, though he noted that “we’re always a little bit cautious” on single-site or smaller hospital systems.\nThose smaller and rural systems, which often treat an older population and are more dependent on government reimbursements, will continue to struggle, as will hospitals with a disproportionate number of publicly-and-uninsured patients.\nThat points to more distress, even as larger systems rebound. “We are still seeing significant activity within the health-care sector,” said Felicia Gerber Perlman, head of the restructuring practice at law firm McDermott Will & Emery.\nHospitals are used to adapting to up-and-down cycles, said Kevin Neuman, a principal at consulting firm Novo Advisors. To combat staffing shortages for example, some started to provide housing, while others have cut costs by eliminating executive positions like chief operating officer.\n“It will slowly come back,” he said. “There will also be new technologies and new ways of doing things.”\nMackinac Straits Health System, a rural Michigan hospital an hour from other providers, is seeing some years-long initiatives paying off.\nPatient visits have rebounded, and a move into new services including pharmacy that predated the arrival of Covid-19 is boosting revenues and allowed the system to post small positive operating margins since 2018. Use of outside nurses, though still elevated, is half what it was at the peak of the pandemic. Federal funds helped during the worst days, and a $12 million state grant awarded last year will help fund an outpatient spinal robotic surgery program and a new office building.\n“We’ve certainly turned the corner,” CEO Karen Cheeseman said.\nMain Line’s Lynch sees improvement, too, and said he’s “pretty confident” the system can get to breakeven or profitability in 2025. But permanently higher costs and flaws in the way the system is financed mean continued struggles, he said.\n“The fundamental root cause of the problem is under-reimbursement from the government,” he said.\n",
        "title": "Hospitals Creeping Toward Recovery Grapple With ‘Out of Control’ Costs"
    },
    {
        "id": 911,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/insight-china-chip-firm-powered-110000646.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Alexandra Alper and Eduardo Baptista\nWASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - A Chinese chip designer, part-owned by the country's top sanctioned chipmaker, is purchasing U.S. software and has American financial backing, relationships that underscore the difficulty Washington faces applying new rules meant to block American support for Beijing's semiconductor industry.\nThe company, Brite Semiconductor, offers chip design services to at least six Chinese military suppliers, a Reuters examination of company statements, regulatory filings, tenders and academic articles by People's Liberation Army (PLA) researchers and institutions found.\nIts second largest shareholder and top supplier, chipmaker SMIC, was placed on the so-called U.S. entity list over alleged ties to Beijing's military, effectively barring it from receiving some goods from U.S. suppliers.\nDespite those relationships, Brite boasts funding from a U.S. venture capital firm backed by Wells Fargo and a Christian university, and has continued access to sensitive U.S. technology from two California-based software companies, Synopsys and Cadence Design, documents showed. Reuters has found no evidence that Brite's relationships with U.S. firms violate any regulations.\nThe Biden administration, with bipartisan support, has taken pains to stop the flow of technology and investment to Bejing's chip sector, unveiling rules last October to halt some U.S. exports of chips and chipmaking tools to China and in August announcing a ban on certain new U.S. investments in the industry. It has also added dozens of Chinese companies to the entity list, many over ties to China's military.\nBrite did not respond to requests for comment. The Commerce Department and the White House declined to comment. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not comment on Brite but accused the United States of \"blatant economic coercion and bullying in the field of technology.\"\nAlthough not an apparent breach of any U.S. rules, Brite's access demonstrates the challenges facing Washington's bid to keep U.S. equipment and money from being used to advance China's military ambitions, and suggests the U.S. will struggle to succeed unless it targets many more companies that have slipped under its radar.\nRepublican Senator Marco Rubio, an influential China hawk and member of the foreign relations committee, characterized Reuters' findings on Brite as \"concerning.\"\n\"Companies connected to China’s military supply chain should not have access to American technology and investment. The Biden Administration’s haphazard approach to export controls and investment restrictions clearly is not working,\" he said.\nOthers said Brite illustrates Beijing's ability to use low-profile companies to skirt American export bans on big-name Chinese firms.\n\"Brite is a classic example of how a US-China joint venture could end up funneling valuable semiconductor technology to SMIC and the PLA,\" said Martijn Rasser, managing director of Datenna, an open-source intelligence company.\nChina's defense ministry and SMIC did not respond to questions about their relationships with Brite.\nMILITARY LINKS\nSemiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), which holds a 19% stake in Brite, has long been in Washington's crosshairs. The Trump administration added it to a list of \"military end users\" in November, 2020.\nNext, SMIC was added to the \"entity list\" over its apparent ties to the Chinese military industrial complex. SMIC has previously denied any ties to China's military, saying that it manufactures chips and provides services \"solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses.\"\nBrite Semiconductor, founded in 2008 as a joint venture between U.S. venture capitalists and Chinese firms, has longstanding ties to SMIC.\nSMIC was Brite's largest shareholder until last year. That stake turned Brite into \"a bridge between China's no. 1 foundry SMIC\" and other companies with chip design needs, according to a presentation on its website. The 2021 presentation also notes that SMIC's Co-CEO serves as Brite's current chairman of the board.\nNearly 85% of the funds Brite Semiconductor paid to all suppliers for goods and services last year went to SMIC, according to its October IPO prospectus.\nBeyond its links to SMIC, Brite sells its chip design services to Shanghai-based ComNav Technology, which makes satellite navigation systems for the Navy and the Strategic Support Force, the PLA unit that oversees information, electronic, and cyber warfare, according to a Reuters review of articles authored by PLA researchers and military tenders.\nBrite accounted for over 71% of ComNav's total prepaid procurement bill, payments to suppliers made in advance, at the end of last year, according to a prospectus filed by ComNav in June.\nComNav relied on Brite to outsource the packaging, testing and manufacturing for a chip used in ComNav's K8 high-precision GPS product series, designed for machine control, robotics, and drones, among other uses, according to its website.\nComNav's K8 system was used by two PLA researchers according to a Reuters review of Chinese-language academic literature published in the past two years.\nComNav did not respond to requests for comment.\nACCESS TO U.S. TECH\nChinese tech companies with links to the Chinese military often get added to the entity list, but Brite has never faced such restrictions, public records show.\n\"It sure seems like they would be a candidate for an entity listing,\" said Emily Kilcrease, a former trade official now at the Center for a New American Security, after reviewing Reuters' findings.\nThe United States has created new obstacles for U.S. suppliers to send technology to Chinese companies involved in the production of advanced chips, even when they are not entity listed.\nAfter SMIC was added to the entity list, Brite's U.S. suppliers needed to get a U.S. license before shipping it items used for designing chips to be made at SMIC. And new rules released last year would have barred Brite from receiving such items if they were meant to be used in designing advanced chips to be made at Chinese manufacturers.\nBrite has maintained its relationships with suppliers of top chip design software Cadence and Synopsys, Brite's October prospectus for its Shanghai exchange IPO shows. Reuters was not able to determine whether the U.S. companies received licenses to ship equipment to Brite, as the new rules require. Both companies said they are in compliance with U.S. regulations.\nFrom January to June of this year, the company spent 14 million yuan ($2 million) on software from Synopsys, making the U.S. company one of its top 5 suppliers. And last year, Cadence ranked as one of Brite's top five suppliers, with Brite spending 11.8 million ($1.6 million) yuan on its chip design software, according to the prospectus.\nBoth Synopsys and Cadence said they are in full compliance with U.S. export controls and did not confirm or deny their relationships with Brite, although Synopsys mentions its business dealings with Brite on its website.\nFINANCIAL TIES\nThe White House unveiled an executive order last August targeting U.S. investment in advanced Chinese chipmaking and other tech industries, fearing the capital and know-how could end up helping Beijing bolster its military.\nNorwest Venture Partners, whose stake in Brite is 99.7% backed by funds from Wells Fargo Bank, is the largest U.S. investor in Brite.\nNorwest participated in at least four capital raises worth over $66 million and held a board seat until 2020, giving it insight into and partial control over Brite's business strategies. Its stake could be worth nearly $34 million, based on the IPO valuation Brite is seeking. Wells Fargo declined to comment.\nNorwest said its initial investment was made 15 years ago and has been \"held in compliance with applicable laws.\" \"The regulatory environment is changing, and we’re committed to following new regulations as they become effective,” the firm added.\nBiola University, a Christian college in California, also has a 5.43% stake in Brite. Promod Haque, a managing partner at Norwest who sat on Brite's board until 2019, according to his LinkedIn page, has also served on Biola's board of trustees since 2007.\nHaque did not respond to requests for comment on his links to Brite and Biola.\nBiola declined to comment on its investment in Brite.\nNorwest and Biola University will not run afoul of new rules fleshing out the restrictions on investments in China because those measures will not hit pre-existing investments, lawyers who are experts in foreign investment regulations said.\nBrite's relationship with SMIC may also affect its financial future in China. Brite, which saw revenue growth of 36% last year to 1.3 billion yuan ($178.83 million) is seeking to list its shares on the Shanghai stock exchange, the prospectus showed.\nBut in October, the exchange suspended the process, seeking more information about Brite's independence from SMIC. At issue is whether SMIC is taking advantage of its role as Brite's top supplier and part owner to overcharge Brite.\nThe exchange, which is set to review Brite's listing on December 18, asked Brite to clarify why SMIC sold it wafers, or silicon discs, at a higher-than-average price. Brite said in a filing on Monday that wafers are highly customized products whose prices are affected by the size of a purchase and supply and demand.\nThe Shanghai stock exchange did not respond for a request for comment on Brite's IPO process.\nRegardless of the stock exchange's final decision, Brite will likely continue to enjoy access to U.S. technology and investment, despite SMIC's addition to the entity list.\n\"It is time to reimagine the economic policy toolkit that we have,\" said Greg Levesque, CEO of security firm Strider Technologies, which examines open source data to find foreign technology that is at risk of being stolen by China. \"We are really good at putting names on lists, but we need to be more aggressive in identifying and combating this behavior,\" he added.\n(Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; additional reporting by Echo Wang in New York, Stephen Nellis in San Francisco, Michael Martina in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Anna Driver)\n",
        "title": "INSIGHT-China chip firm powered by US tech and money avoids Biden's crackdown"
    },
    {
        "id": 912,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-software-autopilot-control-issue-105920551.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Tesla will roll out an over-the-air update to 2.03 million vehicles to fix an autopilot control issue, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Wednesday.\nIn situations when Autosteer is engaged and the driver does not maintain responsibility for vehicle operation and is unprepared to intervene or fails to recognize when Autosteer is canceled or not, there may be an increased risk of a crash, the NHTSA said.\nTesla will roll out the update to certain Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles as a remedy, the agency said.\nThe electric automaker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)\n",
        "title": "Tesla to update software for autopilot control issue in 2 million vehicles - NHTSA"
    },
    {
        "id": 913,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-tesla-software-autopilot-control-105537114.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details on the control issue in paragraph 2)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Tesla will roll out an over-the-air update to 2.03 million vehicles to fix an autopilot control issue, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Wednesday.\nIn situations when Autosteer is engaged and the driver does not maintain responsibility for vehicle operation and is unprepared to intervene or fails to recognize when Autosteer is canceled or not, there may be an increased risk of a crash, the NHTSA said.\nTesla will roll out the update to certain Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles as a remedy, the agency said.\nThe electric automaker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Tesla to update software for autopilot control issue in 2 mln vehicles - NHTSA"
    },
    {
        "id": 914,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-steadies-tumbling-almost-4-000917031.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil extended its overnight plunge as rising Russian flows and higher US output added to concerns that supply is running ahead of demand.\nGlobal benchmark Brent traded below $73 a barrel after shedding almost 4% on Tuesday, while West Texas Intermediate was near $68. The weekly average of Russia’s seaborne crude exports jumped to the highest level since early July, while the US raised its estimate for output over this year.\nTimespreads continue to indicate an oversupplied market. Brent and WTI futures are in bearish contango structures through to the middle of 2024, with prompt barrels at discounts to later ones. WTI’s 12-month spread dipped into contango on Tuesday for the first time in a year.\nCrude has retreated by about a quarter since late September, with a recent plan by OPEC+ to deepen output cuts failing to stem the slide amid skepticism that the group’s members will fully adhere to the voluntary reductions. Adding to the bearish outlook, Chinese crude consumption growth is forecast to slow next year, and there’s also the possibility that the US will enter a recession.\nOil is facing “a US-led bump in non-OPEC supply and doubts over OPEC compliance colliding with some prospects of demand softening,” said Vishnu Varathan, Asia head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore.\nUS crude oil production in 2023 is forecast at 12.93 million barrels a day, an increase of 300,000 barrels a day from the previous estimate, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly outlook. Separately, the American Petroleum Institute reported oil stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub rose by 1.4 million barrels, according to people familiar with the figures.\nThe Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries releases its monthly market report later Wednesday, while the Federal Reserve is set to make its final rate decision of the year. On Thursday, the Paris-based International Energy Agency will publish its monthly outlook.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Extends Declines as US, Russia Add to Signs of Ample Supply"
    },
    {
        "id": 915,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walgreens-revive-discussions-7-billion-165923057.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is reviving discussions on a potential exit from its UK drugstore chain Boots, people with knowledge of the matter said, nearly 18 months after a sale process was scrapped.\nThe company has been holding early talks about ways to separate Boots, which could be valued in a deal at about £7 billion ($8.8 billion), according to the people. It’s studying a London initial public offering as one possibility, the people said.\nShares of Walgreens jumped as much as 2.9% on Tuesday, hitting the highest intraday level in two months. The shares closed down 0.3% to $22.93 in New York trading, giving the company a market value of about $20 billion after falling 39% this year.\nA Boots stock offering would be a big boost to the London stock market, which has been hit by a steady flow of companies opting to list elsewhere. UK IPO fundraising has fallen more than 50% this year to about $1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nAny process would only start next year at the earliest, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Walgreens reached a deal in November to offload Boots pension risks to Legal & General Group Plc, removing a stumbling block that had complicated previous efforts to divest the business.\nEffort Abandoned\nWalgreens invited bids for Boots last year as it sought to hone its focus on North America, where it’s been adding more health-care services. It abandoned the effort in June 2022 after failing to secure the desired valuation for the business amid a turbulent credit market.\nDuring that last process, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. had teamed up with Apollo Global Management Inc. on a bid for Boots, which is the biggest UK pharmacy chain. They were competing with a separate consortium backed by TDR Capital and Britain’s billionaire Issa brothers, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.\nWalgreens could also opt to invite fresh offers for Boots, though higher interest rates would make it more difficult for private equity firms to pay top dollar. Deliberations are still at a preliminary stage, and there’s no certainty they will lead to a transaction.\nA representative for Walgreens declined to comment.\nTurnaround Push\nWalgreens is in cost-cutting mode and has brought on new Chief Executive Officer Tim Wentworth to attempt to turn around the business. On Monday, Walgreens had its senior unsecured credit rating cut to junk by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the drugstore chain’s high debt relative to earnings.\nBoots runs a sprawling network of more than 2,000 stores across the UK, as well as private-label brands like No7 Beauty Co. and operations in a smattering of other countries. Walgreens said earlier this year that it will close 300 Boots stores in the UK, mainly those in close proximity to other outlets, as it seeks to focus investment on its best performing locations.\n--With assistance from Ryan Gould, Fiona Rutherford, Katie Linsell, Vinicy Chan and Swetha Gopinath.\n(Updates with closing share price in third paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Boots Owner In Talks to Offload £7 Billion UK Pharmacy Chain"
    },
    {
        "id": 916,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-china-nov-bank-loans-102231256.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds analyst comment in paragraph 6-7, 11)\nBy Joe Cash and Kevin Yao\nBEIJING, Dec 13 (Reuters) - New bank lending in China jumped less than expected in November, even as the central bank keeps policy accommodative to support a feeble recovery in the world's second-largest economy.\nThe People's Bank of China (PBOC) is expected to deliver more modest policy easing in the coming weeks, following a pledge this week by top leaders to step up policy adjustments to support the economic recovery in 2024, analysts said.\nChinese banks extended 1.09 trillion yuan ($151.73 billion) in new yuan loans in November, up from October's 738.4 billion yuan but missing analysts' expectations, according to data released by PBOC on Wednesday.\nLast November, banks issued 1.21 trillion yuan in new loans.\nAnalysts polled by Reuters had predicted new loans would rise to 1.3 billion yuan in November, amid expectations of front-loading by lenders.\n\"Broad credit growth continued to rise in November thanks to a pick-up in government bond issuance, but it still came in below expectations,\" Capital Economics said in a note.\n\"We think further policy support is on the way, but this is unlikely to drive a substantial acceleration in credit growth.\"\nThe PBOC has told several banks to bring forward some of the loans they plan to extend in early 2024 to late this year and to not overdo lending in the first quarter, sources said last month.\nHousehold loans, including mortgages, grew by 292.5 billion yuan in November, after contracting by 34.6 billion yuan in October. Weak consumer confidence, fuelled in part by a deepening property crisis and high unemployment, have weighed heavily on the economy this year.\nCorporate loans rose to 822.1 billion yuan from 516.3 billion yuan in October.\n\"There is still some room for cutting the reserve requirement ratio and interest rates to help maintain stable liquidity in the banking system and promote reductions in financing costs,\" Wen Bin, chief economist at Minsheng Bank, said in a note.\nPOLICY PLEDGE\nCentral bank chief Pan Gongsheng has pledged to keep monetary policy accommodative to support the post-pandemic recovery, but also urged structural reforms to reduce reliance on infrastructure and property for growth.\nThe Politburo, a top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party, said on Friday that fiscal policy would be moderately strengthened and will be \"flexible, moderate, precise, and effective\" to help spur the economic recovery.\nAs part of support measures, the PBOC has cut interest rates on some loans and pumped out more cash in recent months, in contrast to other major economies which have tightened policy to tackle inflation.\nIn September, the PBOC cut banks' reserve requirement ratio for the second time this year, and analysts expect another cut in the coming weeks.\nBroad M2 money supply rose 10.0% from a year earlier, central bank data showed, missing analyst forecasts for 10.1% growth in the Reuters poll, and compared with 10.3% in October.\nOutstanding yuan loans grew 10.8% in November from a year earlier compared with 10.9% growth in October. Analysts had expected an 11% increase.\nAnnual growth of outstanding total social financing (TSF), a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, quickened to 9.4% in November from 9.3% in October.\nTSF includes off-balance sheet forms of financing that exist outside the conventional bank lending system, such as initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales.\nIn November, TSF fell to 2.45 trillion yuan from 1.85 trillion yuan in October. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected November TSF of 2.6 trillion yuan. (Reporting by Joe Cash and Kevin Yao; editing by Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-China Nov bank loans rise less than expected, more easing expected"
    },
    {
        "id": 917,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quotes-argentina-devalues-peso-cuts-101608881.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds further reactions from paragraph 3)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Argentina will weaken its peso by more than 50% to 800 per dollar, cut energy subsidies and cancel public works tenders as part of an economic shock therapy aimed at fixing the South American country's worst crisis in decades.\nBelow are reactions from some analysts and international agencies to Tuesday's announcement:\nVERISK MAPLECROFT:\n\"Caputo focused on delivering on the key campaign pledges of ‘taking the chainsaw’ to the public sector and ‘reordering’ the economy to lay the foundations for future growth.\"\n\"The reordering of economic variables, together with inflationary inertia and accumulated inflation that had been artificially contained through price controls mean that triple digit inflation will continue to hit consumers in 2024.\"\n\"But by bringing the official FX rate closer in line to the financial, black market, and export-specific rates inherited from the Fernandez administration, Caputo has taken a decisive step towards FX rate convergence, which could be accomplished within the administration’s first six months in office.\"\nBANCTRUST & CO:\n\"All in all, we expect bonds to react positively to yesterday’s announcements. The fiscal adjustment is not only sizeable but it also appears to be feasible from a political point of view. The lack of FX unification can hinder disinflation but we think that this will be the second step when seasonally abundant dollar inflows resume with the soybeans harvest from May onwards.\"\nJ.P. MORGAN:\n\"We believe an evolution of the policy template by second quarter 2024, would be likely required, once international reserves start to be replenished by soybean exports.\n\"First of all, the fact that the fiscal adjustment relies in a relevant manner on a higher tax collection may induce some doubts, particularly due to the temporary nature of some taxes as well as the need for Congress approval.\n\"Second, the still hefty correction lower of real expenditure still needs to be assessed through the prism of social tolerance. A new FX correction may be required to finally migrate into a unified exchange rate system, without capital and financial account restrictions other than macro-prudential.\"\nGOLDMAN SACHS:\n\"Our first impression of the announcement is positive. Fiscal profligacy is the root of Argentina’s macroeconomic problems and moving swiftly with the fiscal adjustment is utmost important.\n\"We acknowledge, however, that some of the announced policies remain vague and many lacked quantitative details. The exchange rate, in turn, was highly overvalued and a significantly more competitive exchange rate should allow the central bank to accumulate international reserves that currently stand at critical levels.\n\"Inflation, however, is likely to accelerate in the coming months as the pass-through of the weaker exchange rate is transmitted to consumer prices. For this reason, it will be critical to know what exchange rate policy the central bank will follow going forward to avoid a renewed overvaluation of the currency.\n\"This was clearly absent in today’s policy announcement. Another major absent measure was the treatment of the central bank’s remunerated liabilities. In our view, addressing the central bank’s balance sheet should be another pillar of any macroeconomic adjustment plan.\"\nINTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND:\n\"These bold initial actions aim to significantly improve public finances in a manner that protects the most vulnerable in society and strengthen the foreign exchange regime. Their decisive implementation will help stabilize the economy and set the basis for more sustainable and private-sector led growth.\n\"Following serious policy setbacks over the past few months, this new package provides a good foundation for further discussions to bring the existing Fund-supported program back on track.\" (Compiled by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore, Rodrigo Campos in New York and Libby George in London; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "QUOTES-Argentina devalues peso, cuts spending in economic shock therapy"
    },
    {
        "id": 918,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-industry-output-falls-100549339.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone industrial production declined by more than expected in October, with the sharpest drop for capital goods such as machinery, reinforcing survey indications that the single-currency area is in a recession.\nThe European Union's statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday that industrial production in the 20 countries sharing the euro fell by 0.7% month-on-month in October for a 6.6% year-on-year drop.\nEconomists polled by Reuters had expected declines of 0.3% in the month and 4.6% from a year earlier.\nThe month-on-month fall was chiefly the result of a 1.4% decline of output of capital goods, as well as 0.6% falls for intermediate and non-durable consumer goods, such as food and clothing.\nProduction of energy was up 1.1% and of durable consumers goods by 0.2%.\nIrish industrial output fell by the most, down 7.0%, while that of Greece was 6.0% higher than in September.\nThe euro zone economy contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter and expectations are that it will decline again at the end of 2023, confirming a recession. Surveys of purchasing managers have pointed to declines in business activity in October and November.\nFor Eurostat release, click on:\nhttps://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/news/euro-indicators\n(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop)\n",
        "title": "Euro zone industry output falls by more than expected in October"
    },
    {
        "id": 919,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/traders-trim-bets-2024-fed-145406891.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The bond market’s bold bet on US interest-rate cuts is set for its biggest test yet.\nAfter loading up on wagers that the Federal Reserve will lower rates by more than 100 basis points in 2024, investors are waiting on tenterhooks to hear Chair Jerome Powell speak Wednesday and see central-bank officials’ so-called dot-plot outlining the path of US monetary policy.\nWhile traders trimmed their expectations for cuts in the wake of an inflation report on Tuesday — and recent positioning data suggests some are now more neutral on Treasuries than a few weeks ago — the market remains heavily invested in a Fed pivot. If the message is instead one of higher-for-longer rates, a rapid unwind of those bets will likely follow, spreading pain across the market.\n“If we get a message from the Fed that the timing” of expected rate cuts “is simply going to shift, but there is maybe three or four cuts in the cards over the next 18 months, the market can deal with that — and it will deal with that well,” David Lebovitz, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, said on Bloomberg Television. “What will give the market indigestion is if the Fed sends a hawkish signal that we will not get those three or four cuts.”\nTraders were broadly positioned long heading into this week, although some signs have been emerging of a de-risking and liquidation of these wagers. Long positions — predominately built into the front-end of the curve — will face the most risk on Wednesday if Powell forcefully tries to tamp down cuts that are currently priced into the market.\nBenchmark two-year yields, those most closely tied to the outlook for US central-bank rates, held at 4.73% during Asian trading on Wednesday, after dropping to as low as 4.63% on Tuesday.\nTraders have dialed back the scale of the Fed’s expected rate cuts next year after government data on Tuesday showed the so-called core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy costs, increased 0.3% last month. From a year ago, it advanced 4% for a second month. Economists favor the core metric as a better gauge of the trend in inflation than the overall CPI.\nRead more: US Consumer Prices Pick Up in Bumpy Path Down for Inflation\nLong-term yields pushed slightly lower again on Wednesday after solid demand at the previous day’s closely watched 30-year bond auction. That eased some of the persistent worries about the market’s ability to absorb the swelling supply of US government debt.\nTen-year Treasury yields were down one basis point at 4.19% and 30-year rates down a similar amount at 4.30%. Similar-dated Australian yields dropped four basis points to 4.29%.\nRead more: Treasury 30-Year Auction Stops Through Slightly, Aiding Market\nThe 30-year debt received a so-called bid-to-cover ratio of 2.43, up from 2.24 at the November auction. The sale was a welcome improvement from an offering of similar debt last month that saw very poor demand. It was also an improvement from Monday when sales of other maturity Treasuries received lukewarm responses.\nDespite the volatility in rates, many investors see yields as attractive given their still very high levels, especially with widespread conviction that the Fed’s most aggressive tightening cycle in decades is likely over.\n“We are really in a path from the Fed of either a slow cut or a quick cut next year,” Rob Waldner, head of macro research at Invesco said on Bloomberg Television Tuesday. “And both are pretty good for bonds. We think we are in a slow growth, disinflationary, environment.”\n--With assistance from Edward Bolingbroke, William Selway, Garfield Reynolds and Stephen Kirkland.\n(Updates yields in sixth and ninth paragraphs.)\n",
        "title": "Bond Market’s Big Rate-Cut Wager Faces a Reckoning From the Fed"
    },
    {
        "id": 920,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/next-fight-over-apple-google-100000562.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Jurors took less than four hours to find Alphabet Inc.’s Google unfairly wields monopoly power in its Android app store, a lightening fast win by Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. that’s galvanizing efforts to rein in the power that Google and rival Apple Inc. wield over mobile ecosystems.\nGoogle has said it plans to appeal, but key legislation in Europe, investigations in the US and UK and an expected wave of follow-on lawsuits will keep pressure on the tech giants’ app store duopoly.\nBillions of dollars are at stake: in-app spending is forecast to reach $182 billion next year and $207 billion in 2025, according to research firm Sensor Tower. And competitors are ready to steal a piece of it: Microsoft Corp. said last month that it’s already in talks to launch a mobile app store focused on gaming.\nEpic’s earlier case against Apple’s App Store policies was mostly unsuccessful, with a federal judge ruling the iPhone maker’s practices don’t violate federal antitrust law. She did determine that under California law, Apple can’t restrict app owners from telling consumers that other payment systems exist and inviting them to access the apps outside of Apple’s system. An appeals court upheld both parts of the trial judge’s decision; Epic and Apple have appealed to the Supreme Court.\nDifferent Outcomes\nThe divergent outcomes between the Google Play and the Apple cases only appear contradictory, said Phillip Shoemaker, the former head of Apple’s App Store. Apple tightly controls the iPhone, only allows its own apps to be preinstalled on devices and has never allowed other app stores. Android, meanwhile, is open-source and has always allowed direct downloads and alternative app stores.\nThat required Google to enter business deals with other companies to ensure its Play Store was the favored access point for apps on Android devices. Those side deals made it look like Google was playing favorites, while Apple was consistent in its rules, Shoemaker said.\nApple also successfully argued that iOS is a closed system to improve the safety and security for users, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jennifer Rie. Google argued its payments were needed to compete against Apple — but those payments – and a bevy of documents outlining its strategy — ultimately were key to Epic winning the case, Rie said.\nThe knockout blow was that Google paid competitors not to compete, said Rie. “At the end of the day, whether the jury understood the technicalities of antitrust law or not, what they saw was a company that is really big, bribing and bullying” just as Epic alleged, she said.\nJury Trials\nThe different outcomes – and the fact that a judge ruled for Apple while a jury found against Google – may embolden future efforts to bring app store challenges before a jury, said Vanderbilt Law School’s Rebecca Haw Allensworth.\n“This is the same case against the same conduct, but it’s judge versus jury,” said Allensworth, who focuses on antitrust and tech platforms. The Epic case “illustrates that judges can sometimes fail to take off their legalistic hats. But the average person understands what competition is for and can call it like they see it.”\nThe Justice Department recently pushed to have one of its major antitrust cases – a lawsuit challenging Google’s advertising technology business – heard by a jury in lieu of a judge. “A little bit of common sense brought to questions of antitrust law can have a different outcome,” Allensworth said.\nChief Executive Officer Tim Sweeney said Epic’s suit should serve as a template for other developers to follow against both Google and Apple.\n“There are dozens of major developers who have resources to litigate,” Sweeney said in an interview following the verdict. “And I think the same thing will start happening with Apple.”\nDigital Markets Act\nNew European Union antitrust rules to rein in Big Tech platforms that come into full effect in early March will also play a role in curbing power over the app store market.\nUnder the Digital Markets Act, it will be illegal for the most powerful firms to favor their own services over those of rivals and companies must allow users to download apps from rival platforms. Both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store were designated as services that fall under the law, though Apple is appealing its inclusion.\nApple said it expects to make changes to the App Store as a result of the bloc’s new rules despite the pending appeal.\nPlatforms that violate the DMA’s long list of rules risk fines of as much as 10% of their worldwide annual sales. This could rise to 20% in the event of repeat infringements and the commission could even demand a company be broken up in the case of systemic violations.\nShoemaker, who left Apple in 2016 and is now CEO of startup Identity.com, said the iPhone maker will likely feel pressure to make similar changes in the US. “There is going to be a groundswell to push Apple to do the same thing here,” he said.\nOpen App Markets Act\nNot long after news of the verdict broke, lawmakers began calling for legislation that would require Apple and Google to open up their app stores. A bill, the Open App Markets Act, had advanced in both chambers of Congress last year, but never made it to the floor. With Epic’s win and a change in leadership in the House, advocates are pushing for the legislation again.\nThe verdict “underscores the urgency for reform in app store policies,” said John Bergmayer, legal director of advocacy group Public Knowledge, which includes Google and Microsoft among its funders.\nKey lawmakers from both parties are in favor of a measure, though the chances of passing legislation in the near term are narrow with campaigns gearing up for the 2024 election.\n“We must take the next step in Congress to finally update our consumer laws for the digital age,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democrat who heads the Senate’s antitrust panel.\nAntitrust Enforcers\nIn the UK, competition enforcers are pursuing an investigation into Apple and Google’s dominance of the mobile browser market after a separate study concluded they have a “vice-like grip” over operating systems, app stores and web browsers on mobile devices. Apple initially won a decision in March halting the probe, but an appeals court revived the investigation last month. The market probe remains on hold while Apple considers an appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court.\nThe Justice Department has been quietly investigating Apple’s App Store practices since 2019. DOJ prosecutors attended every day of the Epic trial and have been closely following the appeals. The agency also sent some of its own lawyers to Brussels to monitor how the companies are implementing the EU’s new platform rules.\nThe Justice Department isn’t expected to act until after the Supreme Court decides on whether to hear Epic and Apple’s appeals. With the justices likely to rule on those petitions as soon as January, the DOJ probe could result in a lawsuit next year.\n--With assistance from Malathi Nayak.\n",
        "title": "What’s Next in the Fight Over Apple and Google’s App Stores"
    },
    {
        "id": 921,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-deal-force-uber-deliveroo-095220134.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- European Union negotiators backed a deal to reclassify millions of people working for ride-hailing and food-delivery apps as employees in a set of rules that could cost the industry billions of euros each year.\nThe provisional deal will require platforms to give full status to the estimated 5.5 million workers who meet at least two out of five conditions that indicate their relationship with the apps fits that of an employee rather than someone who’s self employed, the EU said in a statement on Wednesday.\nThose conditions include: limits on worker pay, performance supervision, control of the distribution of tasks, control over working conditions and hours, and rules around appearance and conduct, including restrictions on freedom to organize.\nThe status of delivery couriers and drivers using apps, such as those offered by Uber Technologies Inc. and Deliveroo Plc, has been a point of controversy worldwide. While many of the apps say they offer riders flexibility and the freedom of self employment, some labor activists have said that they offer too few protections.\n“This is a revolutionary agreement and the first legislative framework for digital platform workers,” said Elisabetta Gualmini, the lead author in the parliament. “We have better rights for the least protected workers in the world and we have fair competition for platforms.”\nThe deal will also require platforms to tell workers when they’re being monitored or managed by algorithms, which can result in a lack of transparency for workers about how decisions are made and how their personal data is used, the statement said. Platforms won’t be allowed to process certain kinds of personal data including private conversations and information that can be used to infer race, political opinions, migration or health status.\nAn Uber spokesperson said the company supports efforts to “improve working conditions and mandate protections for platform workers in Europe” but said it hoped for “legal clarity” as the final text emerges.\nThe European Commission had proposed a version of the rules in 2021 to give gig workers stronger protections associated with employment contracts such as sick pay and eligibility for unemployment benefits. The industry would’ve been on the hook for an additional €4.5 billion ($4.9 billion) euros per year based on the number of eligible workers at the time, according to the commission’s own estimates.\nStill, there are fears that stricter employment rules will push the delivery platforms to cut back. A similar law passed in Spain two years ago prompted Deliveroo to pull out of the country and other food-delivery apps to reduce their operations.\nWednesday’s provisional agreement must still be endorsed and adopted by the European Council and parliament. Member states will then have two years to incorporate the rules, the EU said.\n",
        "title": "EU Deal to Force Uber, Deliveroo Treat Some Drivers as Employees"
    },
    {
        "id": 922,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-nov-bank-loans-rise-094218388.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details)\nBEIJING, Dec 13 (Reuters) - New bank lending in China jumped less than expected in November from the previous month, even as the central bank keeps policy accommodative to support a feeble recovery in the world's second-largest economy.\nChinese banks extended 1.09 trillion yuan ($151.73 billion) in new yuan loans in November, up from October's 738.4 billion yuan but missing analysts' expectations, according to data released by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Wednesday.\nLast November, banks issued 1.21 trillion yuan in new loans.\nAnalysts polled by Reuters had predicted new loans would rise to 1.3 billion yuan in November, amid expectations of front-loading of some loans by lenders.\nThe PBOC has told several banks to bring forward some of the loans they plan to extend in early 2024 to late this year and to not overdo lending in the first quarter, sources said last month.\nHousehold loans, including mortgages, grew by 292.5 billion yuan in November, after contracting by 34.6 billion yuan in October. Weak consumer confidence, fuelled in part by a deepening property crisis and high unemployment, have weighed heavily on the economy this year.\nCorporate loans rose to 822.1 billion yuan from 516.3 billion yuan in October.\nCentral bank chief Pan Gongsheng has pledged to keep monetary policy accommodative to support the post-pandemic recovery, but also urged structural reforms to reduce reliance on infrastructure and property for growth.\nAs part of support measures, the PBOC has cut interest rates on some loans and pumped out more cash in recent months, in contrast to other major economies which have tightened policy to tackle inflation.\nIn September, the PBOC cut banks' reserve requirement ratio for the second time this year, and analysts expect another cut in the coming weeks.\nBroad M2 money supply rose 10.0% from a year earlier, central bank data showed, missing analyst forecasts for 10.1% growth in the Reuters poll, and compared with 10.3% in October.\nOutstanding yuan loans grew 10.8% in November from a year earlier compared with 10.9% growth in October. Analysts had expected an 11% increase.\nAnnual growth of outstanding total social financing (TSF), a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, quickened to 9.4% in November from a year earlier and from 9.3% in October.\nTSF includes off-balance sheet forms of financing that exist outside the conventional bank lending system, such as initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales.\nIn November, TSF fell to 2.45 trillion yuan from 1.85 trillion yuan in October. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected November TSF of 2.6 trillion yuan. (Reporting by Joe Cash and Kevin Yao; editing by Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "China Nov bank loans rise to 1.09 trln yuan, miss forecasts"
    },
    {
        "id": 923,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-argentina-top-amundi-emerging-093003721.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Europe’s biggest money manager is counting on Donald Trump’s return and Javier Milei’s “shock therapy” to pay off big for bond investors in Ukraine and Argentina, in a bet that right-wing populism will determine the most compelling stories in emerging markets next year.\nAfter elections in countries from Turkey to Argentina marked turning points for traders in 2023, Paris-based Amundi SA is parsing the implications of political watersheds for the year to come. Argentinian and Ukrainian dollar securities are already among top performers in the emerging world this year, against the backdrop of a dovish shift by major central banks that’s propelled a rally in the world’s riskiest bonds.\n“We are very positive on Argentina and Ukraine,” said Yerlan Syzdykov, Aumndi’s global head of emerging markets. “These are our top picks where we believe that there’s still significant value despite the setbacks on the battlefield for Ukraine.”\nAmundi is already putting some of its $2 trillion under management into Ukraine’s international bonds, betting that pressure from the US will push the government in Kyiv into talks with its invader Russia, Syzdykov said. The prospect of Trump winning next year’s US election could make a deal unavoidable, he said.\n“We believe that next year is going to be the year where finally we’ll be able to stop this war,” he said, adding that a post-conflict focus on reconstruction and European Union membership would be “unequivocally very positive” for Ukraine’s assets.\nIt’s a risky call, not least because neither Ukraine nor Russia have showed interest in peace talks, and Ukraine’s path to EU membership is littered with obstacles. And there are concerns that if Ukraine makes concessions, Russia may not stop there.\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has refused to negotiate until Russia withdraws from occupied territories. In August 2022, the government froze payments on its $20 billion of foreign debt for 24 months, and it’s an open question as to how it will be restructured when the pause ends.\nThe Kremlin, for its part, has cited Ukraine’s deepening integration with the West as a justification for its 2022 invasion. There are also disputes within the EU over backing Ukraine, with Hungary opposing funding and warning the bloc to drop membership talks from its agenda or face “devastating consequences.”\nNor, for that matter, is Trump’s return at the end of 2024 a sure thing.\n“Although the US elections are indeed in November, the markets (and politicians) will start pricing the results much sooner, putting pressure to find a negotiated solution,” Syzdykov said. “There is also an internal demand for peace talks that will only grow and the political class will have to adjust.”\nAmundi’s other big hard-currency bet is equally risky: Argentina, where it’s adding to bullish positions it has in sovereign and provincial debt and some corporate bonds. That’s based on a bet that Milei, the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” who swept to the presidency last month, will deliver radical fiscal adjustments.\n“We’re already long,” Syzdykov said of Argentina, a serial defaulter, in an interview before the government announced the start of its “shock therapy” on Tuesday, including a 54% devaluation of the peso. “Of course there will be moments when there will be frustration with the pace of reforms potentially. So we will use that as an opportunity to add.”\nRead More: Milei’s Shock Therapy Already Leaves Investors Craving More\nAmundi Asset Management, which has about €28 billion ($30 billion) of its €40 billion allocation to emerging markets in fixed-income securities, is picking through other global markets as central banks including the Federal Reserve look set to end their most aggressive monetary tightening campaign in a generation. Emerging assets have swung dramatically in 2023, blindsiding traders as 10-year US yields briefly topped 5% and China struggled to rev up growth.\nThe fund has outperformed 75% of peers in emerging-market bonds this year, returning 7.7% in dollar terms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Syzdykov said most of that performance has come in the last quarter and it expects high single-digit returns again for the asset class in 2024.\nIn local-currency debt, Amundi says Brazil and Mexico are its “main overweights” as it shorts Asia versus Latin America on interest-rate and inflation divergences. “More of the returns that we’re predicting for local currencies will come from some of the idiosyncratic stories,” Syzdykov said.\nAmundi isn’t yet sold on the prospects of a turnaround for local debt in Turkey, saying approaching municipal elections in March make for “risky timing” should President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put politics ahead of economics.\n“We’re not yet there for us to have full confidence of being long Turkish assets,” Syzdykov said. “Around the time of the elections, I think investors will start looking at Turkey more seriously with a view to returning.”\nAmundi also has a long bet on Indian assets but isn’t yet buying more in the short term, Syzdykov said. “Over the next decade, this is probably our top pick from the country perspective, both equity and fixed income,” he said.\nSyzdykov is also cautiously bullish on Kazakhstan, in part as a commodity-heavy proxy for Russia since the latter was kicked out of most emerging-market indexes. “We’re going to see how the situation develops on the oil side given that Kazakhstan is quite dependent on oil and gas,” he said, noting opportunities also in uranium, as well as green and nuclear investments and trade with China.\nAcross emerging markets globally, it’s risks in the “geopolitical area” that remain hard to price, Syzdykov said, singling out a possible escalation between China and Taiwan. Elections in Taiwan next month could play out in ways that may prompt China to impose an economic blockade of the self-governed island, he said, calling such a scenario “absolutely plausible.”\nAnother risk that markets might be overlooking is the possibility of looser fiscal policies in the US amounting to a “big fiscal stimulus,” which is also dependent on whether or not US voters elect Trump again.\n“The risk on the fiscal side coming from Trump — that’s something that probably we’re not really pricing in,” he said. “This could be something that the market will start pricing in next year and that will really change the scenario for both inflation and interest rates.”\n--With assistance from Netty Ismail and Selcuk Gokoluk.\n",
        "title": "Ukraine and Argentina Top Amundi Emerging-Market Favorites List"
    },
    {
        "id": 924,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-indias-mahindra-mahindra-others-092943686.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details, background throughout)\nBENGALURU, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Indian automaker Mahindra and Mahindra said on Wednesday that the company, along with external investors, will spend 8.75 billion rupees ($105 million) in its two-wheeler unit, Classic Legends, over the next two to three years.\nThe 'Scorpio' car manufacturer, will invest 5.25 billion and the remaining will come from existing shareholders and new investors, Mahindra said in an exchange filing.\nMahindra owns 60% of Classic Legends, which manufactures two-wheelers such as Jawa, Yezdi, and BSA.\nIt is not immediately clear who the other investors are.\nThe investment comes at a time when the Indian premium motorcycle market is seeing aggressively priced models from international companies like Harley-Davidson and Triumph through domestic partnerships with Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto.\nWhile Classic Legends has revived heritage brands like Yezdi and Jawa, they have not been able to penetrate the premium segment, which is largely dominated by Eicher Motor's Royal Enfield.\nClassic Legends will use the investment to build a strong business in the fast-growing premium motorcycle segment in India, Mahindra said, without elaborating. ($1 = 83.3650 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-India's Mahindra and Mahindra, others to invest $105 mln in two-wheeler unit"
    },
    {
        "id": 925,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-bond-yields-fall-092233404.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Harry Robertson\nLONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond yields ticked lower on Wednesday as investors waited for the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision, where the focus will be on officials' views about the path of borrowing costs next year.\nGermany's 10-year yield, the benchmark for the bloc, was last down 3 basis points (bps) at 2.199%, not far off a seven-month low of 2.166% touched last week. Yields move inversely to prices.\nWeak British economic data weighed on euro zone yields on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Peter Schaffrik, chief European macro strategist at RBC Capital Markets.\nFigures showed that the UK economy shrank 0.3% in October from a month earlier, below economists' expectations for a zero growth reading. Britain's 10-year bond yield was down 6 bps at 3.911%.\n\"This morning it's really - it was the case yesterday already - mainly about the UK (bonds) outperforming,\" Schaffrik said.\nItaly's 10-year bond yield was last 3 bps lower at 3.983%. It hit a 10-month low of 3.917% last week.\nInvestors think the Fed is almost certain to leave interest rates in the 5.25% to 5.5% range at 1900 GMT (2 p.m. ET). They will scrutinise the so-called dot plot, which charts officials' views of where rates are likely to stand over the next few years.\nMarket participants in the U.S. and Europe are betting that the Fed and European Central Bank will slash interest rates by more than 100 bps each next year, after large drops in inflation in recent months.\nThe ECB and Bank of England set interest rates on Thursday and are also expected to hold rates steady, at 4% and 5.25% respectively.\nWagers on rate cuts have driven a momentous rally in global bonds since the start of November, but push-back from officials at the central bank meetings could reverse some of those gains.\n\"We do think there's a decent chance that we do get a bit of a turnaround, particularly if the central banks don't embrace the market pricing,\" Schaffrik said.\nGermany's two-year bond yield, which is sensitive to ECB rate expectations, was down 2 bps at 2.706%.\nThe gap between Germany and Italy's 10-year bond yield was last slightly narrower at 177 bps.\nEuro zone bond investors are keeping a close eye on the fiscal situation in Germany after a court ruling threw the government's budget plans into disarray.\nGovernment sources told Reuters on Wednesday that the coalition had agreed on a budget for 2024 although did not provide details.\nGermany's economy will contract by 0.5% in 2024 because of uncertainty caused by the budget crisis, German economic institute IW predicted on Wednesday.\n(Reporting by Harry Robertson; Editing by Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "Euro zone bond yields fall as investors wait for Fed rate forecasts"
    },
    {
        "id": 926,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-uk-payments-regulator-proposes-091810979.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Writes through with more detail)\nBy Iain Withers\nLONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Britain's payments regulator on Wednesday provisionally proposed a cap on cross-border interchange fees charged by Mastercard and Visa on transactions made between the UK and European single market.\nThe Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) said a cap would protect businesses from overpaying, after it published interim findings of a market review on interchange fees charged since Brexit, when the bloc's longstanding cap ceased to apply in Britain.\nUK lawmakers had piled pressure on the PSR to consider re-introducing a cap in Britain, and the watchdog said last year it would conduct two market reviews, but that an outcome could take years.\nThe PSR said the review focused on charges set by Mastercard and Visa, as they account for 99% of debit and credit card payments in the UK.\nThe watchdog said both companies had likely raised fees to an \"unduly high level\", costing UK businesses an extra 150-200 million pounds ($190-250 million) last year due to fee increases.\n\"In short, at this stage, we do not think this market is working well,\" PSR managing director Chris Hemsley said in a statement.\nUnder the proposals, the PSR would impose an initial time-limited cap of 0.2% on UK-European Economic Area debit transactions and 0.3% on credit transactions. A lasting cap would then be imposed once further analysis is carried out.\nA spokesperson for Visa said the company strongly disputed the findings of the PSR's interim report and said the proposed remedies were \"not justified\".\n\"Accepting reliable, secure, and innovative digital payments represents enormous value to UK businesses, especially when selling overseas,\" the spokesperson said.\n\"These interchange rates apply to less than 2% of UK card payments - European (EEA) cardholders buying online from a UK seller - and reflect the fact that these transactions are more complex and carry far greater risk of fraud.\"\nMastercard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nThe PSR is inviting feedback on the proposals until the end of January, with a final report due in the first quarter of 2024.\nA government commissioned report last month said Britain needs a \"digital alternative\" to relying on Visa and Mastercard regardless of what the PSR does, echoing longstanding ambitions in the EU for a \"home grown\" alternative to the American duo that has yet to emerge.\n($1 = 0.7990 pounds) (Additional reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Sinead Cruise)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-UK payments regulator proposes cap on Mastercard, Visa cross-border fees"
    },
    {
        "id": 927,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-lawmakers-countries-agree-bill-090323226.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "BRUSSELS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - European Union lawmakers provisionally agreed on Wednesday on a bill aimed at giving workers at online companies such as Uber and Deliveroo employee benefits, which if adopted would be a global first.\nThe new rules will prevent workers from being wrongfully classified as self-employed, and therefore not eligible for benefits, by introducing \"presumption of employment\".\nMeeting two out of five indicators of control, or direction, will trigger the assumption the worker is employed by the company.\n\"Currently, at least 5.5 million persons performing platform work may be wrongly classified as self-employed ... and are missing out on important labour and social protection rights,\" the European Parliament said in a statement.\nThe rules were originally announced in late 2021 and if adopted will be a global first. They are part of a raft of legislation intended to ensure a level playing field between online and traditional businesses.\nThe proposals had been previously criticized by Delivery Platforms Europe, whose members are Bolt, Deliveroo, Delivery Hero, Glovo, Uber, and Wolt.\nThe rules will also reduce the use of algorithms in decision making, with human oversight required over issues such as the suspension of a worker's account, or dismissal. It will also give gig workers more insight into how algorithms used by online companies work and how their behaviour affects decisions taken by the systems.\nUnder the new rules, digital platforms will also be unable to trick the system by using employment intermediaries, as workers performing the service via an intermediary will need to benefit from the same level of protection as those employed directly.\nThe agreed text will now have to be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council to enter into force. (Reporting by Piotr Lipinski; Editing by Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "EU lawmakers, countries agree on a bill on gig workers' rights"
    },
    {
        "id": 928,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/three-arrows-su-zhu-probed-090110052.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Three Arrows Capital co-founder Su Zhu for the first time faced questioning in a Singapore court about the crypto fund’s collapse, giving liquidators their best chance yet to gather information as they seek to recoup billions of dollars for creditors.\nThe two-day court hearing this week required Zhu to respond to lawyers for the liquidator, Teneo, people familiar with the matter said. The lawyers sought details including how the fund failed and the whereabouts of assets, the people said, asking not to be named as the proceedings were private.\nThe questioning was approved at court in the city-state earlier, the people said, after Zhu was arrested at the airport in Singapore on Sept. 29 and jailed for four months for failing to cooperate with the task of winding up Three Arrows. Zhu is set to be released this month based on standard provisions for good behavior, the people said.\nZhu, who appeared in the High Court on Wednesday dressed in a slim suit and closely-cut hair, acknowledged the questioning ahead of its morning commencement when asked by a Bloomberg News reporter. His legal representative didn’t respond to requests for comment, nor did the court or the prison service. A spokesperson for Teneo declined to comment.\nThree Arrows imploded in 2022 as leveraged bets blew up, stoking a $2 trillion crypto rout as well as a spate of other collapses in the sector. Liquidators have accused Zhu and the fund’s other founder, Kyle Davies, of failing to cooperate meaningfully with their probe and are seeking to recover $1.3 billion from the two men. Teneo estimates creditors are owed roughly $3.3 billion overall.\nThe proceedings between Zhu and Teneo’s representatives are a civil matter. Zhu and Davies haven’t faced any criminal charges in Singapore. Details obtained from the questions in court will be shared with creditors under the aim of maximizing recoveries, according to the people.\nZhu has previously said that his and Davies’ good-faith efforts to cooperate with liquidators “was met with baiting.” In email correspondence submitted to a New York bankruptcy court by the liquidators, counsel to Davies and Zhu have said that court orders the liquidators have obtained are “baseless.”\nSingapore’s central bank in mid-September imposed nine-year prohibition orders on both men for transgressions at Three Arrows, faulting the fund for risk management failings and providing false information.\nThree Arrows was viewed as among the largest and most successful crypto hedge funds before it collapsed. It shifted registration to the British Virgin Islands after having previously operated out of Singapore. A British Virgin Islands court appointed Teneo in June last year to liquidate the fund’s assets.\nZhu and Davies are among the onetime darlings of crypto’s pandemic-era bull run whose reputations subsequently evaporated as boom turned to bust, exposing risky practices. Liquidators are in touch with authorities around the world in their effort to locate Davies, a person familiar with the matter said in October.\n",
        "title": "Three Arrows’ Su Zhu Probed in Singapore Court as Liquidators Step Up Hunt for Assets"
    },
    {
        "id": 929,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/private-credit-data-black-hole-085304247.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bank regulators are nervous about a lack of data on risks that could be building up in private credit and other areas outside the traditional banking sector, according to the head of the European Banking Authority.\n“We are concerned about lending that’s coming out of the non-bank financial sector mainly because for us it’s a relative black hole,” Jose Manuel Campa, who leads the EBA, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “We don’t have a lot of information.”\nFirms from outside the banking industry have increasingly stepped in to fill a gap left by traditional lenders who were subjected to stricter regulation in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. While watchdogs are cracking down on some segments of what they call non-bank financial intermediation, their efforts on private credit have been slowed by the perceived lack of transparency of such firms.\nSpeaking on Wednesday in London, Campa said that the Financial Stability Board, which brings together regulators from around the world, is working on the issue. The FSB has said it will make advances in addressing “excessive leverage” in NBFIs next year.\nRead More: Bank of England Joins Warnings on Red-Hot Private Credit Market\nThe EBA head stopped short of calling for new regulatory powers to rein in private credit.\n“We need to have at least more information to make sure that there’s no financial stability risks which are being built up there,” said Campa. There is also a risk of “spillovers” into the traditional banking sector, he said.\nAnother area where banks face possible “contagion” is commercial real estate, said Campa. He cited issues arising from a “potential mismatch” between the liabilities of investments funds and their liquid assets, which pose a risk to banks lending to the funds.\nRead More: Most European Banks Are Wary of Commercial Real Estate Lending\n--With assistance from Anna Edwards and Tom Mackenzie.\n",
        "title": "Private Credit Data ‘Black Hole’ Spooks European Bank Watchdogs"
    },
    {
        "id": 930,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eisai-launch-alzheimers-drug-leqembi-084939460.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "TOKYO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Eisai said on Wednesday its Alzheimer's drug Leqembi will launch in Japan on Dec. 20 following its inclusion on the National Health Insurance price list.\nIntravenous treatment of the drug, co-developed with U.S. partner Biogen, will cost about 2.98 million yen ($20,438) per patient per year, based on a Japanese health ministry panel ruling the same day.\nPeak annual sales are expected to be 98.6 billion yen ($676.22 million), chief executive Haruo Naito told a briefing.\nThe drug is priced at about $26,500 in the United States, where it gained full approval in July. Leqembi was given the nod by Japanese regulators in September.\nEisai is aiming to have 4,000-5,000 patients on the drug in Japan in fiscal 2024. In the United States, the company expects 10,000 patients by the end of March.\nLeqembi is an antibody designed to remove sticky deposits of a protein called amyloid beta from the brains of Alzheimer's patients.\nThe drug is the first treatment shown to slow progression of the disease for people in the earlier stages of Alzheimer's. ($1 = 145.8100 yen) (Reporting by Rocky Swift Editing by Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "Eisai to launch Alzheimer's drug Leqembi in Japan on Dec 20"
    },
    {
        "id": 931,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bain-capital-buys-controlling-stake-200022920.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bain Capital has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Eleda, a Swedish infrastructure projects and services firm, from the private equity firm Altor.\nThe transaction values Eleda at about €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) including debt, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.\nAltor will retain a minority stake, according to a statement Wednesday. Eleda’s founders, Johan Halvardsson and Peter Condrup, and its management team will “substantially reinvest” in the company, the statement showed.\nA representative for Bain Capital declined to comment on the valuation.\nStockholm-based Eleda invests in infrastructure projects including water and sewerage, power distribution, district heating, roads, data centers, railways and electric vehicle charging stations. The business, much of it related to so-called green transition projects, generates more than 15 billion Swedish kronor ($1.4 billion) of revenue.\nAltor created Eleda in April 2020 through the merger of three infrastructure services platforms. At the time of the merger the company had about SEK 6 billion of turnover.\nCitigroup Inc. was financial adviser to Altor and the founders. Rothschild & Co. acted for Bain Capital.\n(Updates to add advisers in seventh paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Bain Capital Buys Controlling Stake in Swedish Infrastructure Firm Eleda"
    },
    {
        "id": 932,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fitch-says-china-2024-outlook-081500903.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BEIJING, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday that its outlook for China in 2024 was neutral, but the country would continue to see headwinds from subdued external demand, property sector challenges and local government debt.\nFitch forecast mainland China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth would moderate to 4.6% from just over 5% in 2023, adding it \"forecast growth to be broadly stable and generally at levels above those of rating peers.\"\nGovernment advisers previously told Reuters they would recommend economic growth targets for 2024 ranging from 4.5% to 5.5%, with the majority favouring a target of about 5% - the same as this year.\nPolicy support, in particular fiscal policy, is likely to be judiciously deployed to limit downside risks, according to Fitch Ratings. However, \"such support may keep fiscal deficits wide and put further upward pressure on the debt ratio.\"\nIn a rare mid-year adjustment, China in October raised its 2023 budget deficit target to 3.8% of GDP from the original 3%.\nA senior Communist Party official said at a forum on Wednesday that China should set its 2024 fiscal deficit at an appropriate level, after top leaders pledged to step up policy adjustments to support an economic recovery next year.\nFitch said debt issued by local government financing vehicles (LGFVs), typically investment companies that raise money and build infrastructure projects on behalf of local governments, might continue to migrate gradually on to the sovereign balance sheet because of pressures from the country's property market slowdown.\nChina's cabinet has restricted the ability of local governments in 12 heavily indebted regions to take on new debt and placed limits on what new state-funded projects they can launch, Reuters reported in October, citing people familiar with the matter.\nRatings agency Moody's last week lowered the outlook on China's A1 debt rating to \"negative\" from \"stable\", saying costs to bail out local governments and state firms and control its property crisis would weigh on the country's economic recovery.\nFitch affirmed China's credit rating at A+ with a \"stable\" outlook in August. (Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Fitch says China 2024 outlook neutral, but debt challenges mount"
    },
    {
        "id": 933,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russian-rouble-steadies-strongest-since-080358821.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "MOSCOW, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble steadied near a more than one-week high on Wednesday, with the market looking ahead to an expected interest rate hike later this week as the supply of foreign currency from exporters showed signs of rising after an early December dip.\nMost analysts polled by Reuters expect Russia to raise interest rates by 100 basis points to 16% on Dec. 15. Inflation pressure exacerbated by labour shortages and lending growth is expected to force the central bank to extend its monetary tightening cycle to one last hike.\nAt 0730 GMT, the rouble was 0.1% stronger against the dollar at 89.91, hitting 89.73 earlier in the session, its strongest point since Dec. 1.\nIt had gained 0.2% to trade at 96.99 versus the euro and firmed 0.3% against the yuan to 12.49 .\nThe rouble's gains are facilitated by expectations of a rate hike on Friday and the growth of foreign currency supply from exporters, said Bogdan Zvarich, chief analyst at Banki.ru. Lower oil prices may act as a deterrent, he added.\nThe rouble weakened in early December after the passing of a favourable month-end tax period that usually sees exporters convert foreign exchange revenue to pay local liabilities.\nIt had previously registered seven weeks of gains, rebounding from more than 100 to the dollar thanks to reduced capital outflows since Russian President Vladimir Putin's October introduction of forced conversion of some foreign currency revenue by exporters.\nThe market is also likely to pay close attention to a speech by Putin on Thursday. Putin, who last week said he would run again for election next year, faces numerous economic challenges, but the West's limited success in imposing an oil price cap is easing pressure for now.\nBrent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was down 0.6% at $72.79 a barrel.\nRussian stock indexes were mixed.\nThe dollar-denominated RTS index was up 0.1% to 1,056.9 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 0.1% lower at 3.015.9 points. (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Sharon Singleton)\n",
        "title": "Russian rouble steadies at strongest since early December"
    },
    {
        "id": 934,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-thai-stocks-hit-080218388.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit hit near 1-month lows * Thai stocks fall more than 1%; Argentina devalues peso by 50% (Updated at 0647 GMT) By John Biju Dec 13 (Reuters) - Most Asian currencies and stocks retreated on Wednesday, with Thai shares hitting a more than three-year low, as investors awaited updated interest rate projections from U.S. Federal Reserve officials after their final policy meeting of the year. Stocks in Thailand fell 1.1% to hit their lowest level since Nov. 18, 2020, while those in South Korea lost 1%. The Philippine peso, Malaysia's ringgit and the South Korean won declined between 0.5% and 0.7%. The peso and the ringgit both hit their lowest levels since Nov. 16. The broad focus in markets was on the Fed, which is due to announce its rate decision at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday. Market expectations are for policymakers to keep rates on hold, but investors will be waiting to see the Fed's view on the timing of possible rate-cuts even as data overnight showed U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly rose in November. The slightly firmer inflation readings followed data last week showing job gains accelerated in November. \"The sticky U.S. CPI data slightly dampened rate cut expectations. Against this backdrop, investors are tempted to trim their position for Fed's dovish shift tonight and risk assets in Asia dipped,\" Ken Cheung, chief Asia FX strategist at Mizuho Bank, said. Investors in emerging market assets will also be watching developments in Argentina, where new Economy Minister Luis Caputo said the government will weaken the peso over 50% versus the dollar, cut energy subsidies, and cancel tenders of public works in efforts to fix the country's worst crisis in decades. Back in Asia, data in India showed retail inflation in November rose at its fastest pace in three months, bolstering bets that the central bank will not ease interest rates anytime soon. That contrasted with price trends in other Asian countries such as Thailand, Philippines and South Korea where data last week showed inflation cooling in November. Jeff Ng, head of Asia macro strategy at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, wrote that due to the sizable inflation threat, central banks may not be in a rush to reduce policy rates next year. \"We anticipate modest to no policy rate cuts for many Asia central banks,\" he said. Stocks in Manila fell 0.2%. The Philippine central bank's policy decision on Thursday is also on investors' radar, with expectations that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will leave interest rates unchanged. HIGHLIGHTS: ** China should set appropriate fiscal deficit in 2024 -senior party official ** Taiwan's central bank is expected to leave its policy rate unchanged on Thursday ** S.Korea to scrap foreign registration rule for share trading from Thurs -regulator Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0647 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCK STOCK DAILY YTD % X S S YTD % DAILY % % Japan -0.23 -10.0 <.N2 0.25 26.18 6 25> China EC> India +0.00 -0.80 <.NS -0.56 14.83 EI> Indones -0.16 -0.48 <.JK -0.51 3.48 ia SE> Malaysi -0.49 -6.48 <.KL 0.02 -3.21 a SE> Philipp -0.61 -0.32 <.PS 0.18 -4.00 ines I> S.Korea -0.66 -4.45 <.KS -0.97 12.26 11> Singapo -0.19 -0.30 <.ST 0.02 -4.56 re I> Taiwan -0.04 -2.58 <.TW 0.10 23.56 II> Thailan -0.42 -3.39 <.SE -1.08 -18.5 d TI> 5 (Reporting by John Biju in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Subhranshu Sahu)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Thai stocks hit 3-year low, Asian FX retreat before Fed decision"
    },
    {
        "id": 935,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/payments-regulator-proposes-cap-mastercard-075634799.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's payments regulator on Wednesday provisionally proposed a cap on cross-border interchange fees charged by Mastercard and Visa on transactions made between the UK and European single market.\nThe Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) said a cap would protect businesses from overpaying, after it published interim findings of a market review on interchange fees charged since Brexit, when the bloc's payments rules ceased to apply in Britain.\nThe PSR said the review focused on charges set by Mastercard and Visa, as they account for 99% of debit and credit card payments in the UK.\nThe watchdog said both firms had likely raised fees to an \"unduly high level\", costing UK businesses and extra 150-200 million pounds due to fee increases.\nUnder the proposals, the PSR would impose an initial time-limited cap of 0.2% on UK-European Economic Area debit transactions and 0.3% on credit transactions. A lasting cap would then be imposed once further analysis is carried out.\nA spokesperson for Visa said the company strongly disputed the findings of the PSR's interim report and said the proposed remedies were \"not justified\".\n\"Accepting reliable, secure, and innovative digital payments represents enormous value to UK businesses, especially when selling overseas,\" the spokesperson said.\n\"These interchange rates apply to less than 2% of UK card payments - European (EEA) cardholders buying online from a UK seller - and reflect the fact that these transactions are more complex and carry far greater risk of fraud.\"\nMastercard did not immeditately respond to a request for comment.\nThe PSR is inviting feedback on te proposals until the end of January.\n(Reporting by Iain Withers, editing by Sinead Cruise)\n",
        "title": "Payments regulator proposes cap on Mastercard, Visa cross-border fees"
    },
    {
        "id": 936,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-economy-shrinks-october-signaling-072551505.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The UK economy shrank more than expected in October as elevated borrowing costs took their toll, setting the stage for another quarter of stagnation that is widely forecast to persist through 2024.\nGross domestic product fell 0.3%, the first drop since July and following a gain of 0.2% in September, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. Economists had forecast a fall of 0.1%.\nServices, industrial production and construction were all weaker than expected, with the three sectors contracting together for the first time since July.\nThe pound fell to the day’s low after the data, which reinforced bets on interest-rate cuts next year. Markets currently price three quarter-point cuts and a 60% chance of a fourth.\nIt marks a sharp reversal from slightly better than expected figures for much of this year and adds to the impression that Britain is stuck in a long-running stagnation. With the full impact of Bank of England interest-rate increases yet to be felt, the economy is forecast to eke out a small gain at best in the fourth quarter, with some even predicting the start of a shallow recession.\n“2023 UK GDP figures paint a picture of sluggishness, bleakness, and lackluster economic performance,” said Douglas Grant, CEO of Manx Financial Group.\nThe ONS said there were some cross-industry themes driving the drop in October including the weather. It was “provisionally the equal-sixth wettest October on record for the UK in a series from 1836,” according to the Met Office. This affected construction, retail, pubs and tourism.\nBusinesses also suggested to the ONS that the school half-term holidays — part of which fell into November for some local authorities this year — may also have led to less activity in recreation.\nConsumer-facing services fell by 0.1% in October, leaving output in the sector 5% below pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. Other services combined were 7.2% above. The largest negative contributions in October 2023 came from other personal service activities, which fell by 2.3%.\nThe “broad based” nature of the weakness suggested it was more than just wet weather holding back the economy, said Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics.\nThat “indicates that the ongoing drag from higher interest rates is more than offsetting any boost from the rise in real wages,” he said. “Whether or not the economy contracts, the big picture is that it remains very subdued and that’s probably going to be the story for 2024.”\nHuman health grew 0.5%. There were three days of coordinated industrial action by junior and senior doctors in October, resulting in 118,026 appointments being rescheduled. This was less than the four days of strikes in September that saw 129,913 appointments moved. The number of Covid-19 vaccinations also increased during the month as the latest immunization campaign peaked.\nManufacturing fell by 1.1%, with widespread falls in 10 of the 13 subsectors.\nGDP in October as a whole was just 2% higher than in February 2020, before the pandemic struck.\nThe BOE expects almost no growth at all next year, while the Office for Budget Responsibility is a little more optimistic with a forecast of 0.7%. Bloomberg Economics reckons the economy is already in a recession that will last through the middle of next year.\nThe lackluster outlook and easing inflation pressures are encouraging traders to bet the BOE will cut interest rates as early as June. The central bank is expected to hold the benchmark at a 15-year high of 5.25% on Thursday.\nIt also suggests Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s beleaguered Conservative government is facing a bleak economic backdrop for a general election expected to be held next year. Sunak has made growing the economy one of his five key promises, a commitment that rests on whether GDP expands in the fourth quarter.\nThe figures are the latest indication that the economy is increasingly feeling the effects of 14 consecutive rate hikes from the BOE in its battle against inflation.\nThe economy avoided a contraction in the third quarter thanks only to a strong trade performance. Domestic demand shrank, and the hit from higher interest rates will only intensify next year when an estimated 1.4 million households are set to refinance their mortgages.\n--With assistance from Harumi Ichikura, Joel Rinneby and Irina Anghel.\n(Updates with detail from the report.)\n",
        "title": "UK’s Economy Shrinks in October, Signaling Weak End to Year"
    },
    {
        "id": 937,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-uk-economy-shrinks-boe-071140713.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Recasts, adds details and background throughout)\nLONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Britain's economy shrank in October, official data showed on Wednesday, a day before the Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates at a 15-year high to curb still-high inflation despite the toll they are taking on growth.\nGross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.3% from September, the Office for National Statistics said.\nA Reuters poll of economists had pointed to no change in GDP.\nIt was the first time since July that GDP had shrunk on a month-by-month basis.\nIn the three months to October, GDP flat-lined, the ONS said, weaker than the Reuters poll forecast of a 0.1% increase.\nBritain's economy avoided a contraction in the July-to-September period - when it also showed no change - but some analysts think it remains at risk of a shallow recession in late 2023 and early 2024 after the BoE's increases in interest rates.\nThe central bank is widely expected to keep Bank Rate at 5.25% on Thursday and signal once again that it is not close to cutting them.\nThe ONS data on Wednesday showed Britain's dominant services sector shrank by 0.2% in October while manufacturing and construction contracted by 1.1% and 0.5% respectively.\n(Reporting by William Schomberg; Editing by Kate Holton and Andy Bruce)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-UK economy shrinks as BoE readies new rates decision - ONS"
    },
    {
        "id": 938,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zara-owner-inditexs-nine-month-063826717.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "MADRID (Reuters) - Zara owner Inditex said on Wednesday its net profit jumped 32.5% jump in February-October, but the fast fashion giant's sales growth in the nine-month period slowed down from a year ago amid tougher times for consumers.\nThe world's biggest fashion retailer said its net profit rose to 4.1 billion euros ($4.42 billion) in line with analysts, most of whom are still betting on the company's ability to sell fashion faster and drawing more aspirational shoppers.\n($1 = 0.9276 euros)\n(Reporting by Corina Pons, editing by Inti Landauro)\n",
        "title": "Zara owner Inditex's nine-month profit soars 32.5%, sales growth slows down"
    },
    {
        "id": 939,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jgb-yields-track-us-peers-062311646.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Brigid Riley\nTOKYO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond (JGB) yields fell for the third-straight day on Wednesday, tracking their U.S. peers down ahead of an auction for 20-year JGBs.\nThe 10-year JGB yield was last down 5 basis points (bps) at a session low of 0.685%, slipping further from a near one-month high of 0.800% hit on Friday.\nJGBs yields were weighed down by a decline in U.S. Treasury yields, which dipped overnight. The U.S. 10-year yield last around 4.2% during Asian trading hours.\nThe two-year JGB yield edged down 2 bps to 0.045%, while the five-year yield fell 4 bps to 0.270%.\nThe largest drop came in the superlong end, where the 20-year JGB yield declined 7.5 bps to 1.425% ahead of an auction for the bond scheduled for Thursday.\n\"The poor auction results for 30-year JGBs (last week) was a shock, so there's a sense that a little caution is necessary regarding this 20-year (bond auction),\" said Hiroshi Namioka, chief strategist at T&D Asset Management.\nThe bid-to-cover ratio, which compares total bids to the amount of securities sold and acts as a measure of demand, at this month's 30-year auction was the lowest since 2015.\nThe 30-year JGB yield fell 8 bps to 1.645%.\nThe 40-year JGB yield was last 9.5 bps lower at 1.875%.\nExpectations that the BOJ could exit from negative interest rates at its December monetary policy meeting caused a jump in JGB yields last Thursday, but those expectations have largely faded as media reports this week suggested the bank isn't in a hurry to move just yet.\nEyes will now be on BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda at next week's monetary policy meeting, where he is expected to keep alive prospects of an end to negative rates while hosing down excitement that such a move is imminent.\n(Reporting by Brigid Riley; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)\n",
        "title": "JGB yields track US peers down ahead of 20-year bond auction"
    },
    {
        "id": 940,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-nikkei-ends-higher-chip-062211293.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates with closing levels)\nTOKYO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose for a third straight session on Wednesday, as Advantest and other chip-related stocks tracked overnight Wall Street gains.\nThe Nikkei rose 0.25% to close at 32,926.35, while the broader Topix inched up 0.07% at 2,354.92.\n\"The Japanese market was lifted by the momentum of Wall Street, with the Dow on course to mark a record high,\" said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department at Tachibana Securities.\n\"Investors wanted to buy more to boost the Nikkei but caution ahead of the Federal Reserve policy decision capped appetite.\"\nU.S. stocks closed at fresh highs of the year on Tuesday, after inflation data did little to alter views for the timing of a rate cut by the Fed, as investors awaited the central bank's last policy decision of the year on Wednesday.\nFed officials are expected to give updated economic and interest rate projections later in the day, following a meeting where markets expect rates to stay on hold.\nChip-making equipment maker Advantest jumped 5.19%, while chip maker Renesas Electronics climbed 3.75%. Chip-testing making equipment maker Tokyo Electron rose 4.71%.\nUshio surged 12.27% after the maker of LED chips said it would team up with Applied Materials to develop technology for the advanced semiconductor packaging market.\nComputer maker Fujitsu fell 3.66%, weighing on the Topix the most, after state-backed Japan Investment Corp (JIC) said it would join Dai Nippon Printing and Mitsui Chemicals to buy out Shinko Electric Industries , Fujitsu's chip-packaging unit. Shinko fell 1.23%.\nOf the 225 components on the benchmark Nikkei, 149 stocks fell, 75f rose and one was flat.\n(Reporing by Junko Fujita; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "Japan's Nikkei ends higher as chip shares track Wall Street gains"
    },
    {
        "id": 941,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-ticks-traders-wait-060617570.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 0540 GMT)\nBy Kevin Buckland\nTOKYO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The dollar ticked up slightly versus major rivals on Wednesday, as traders braced for the conclusion of a Federal Reserve policy meeting that could provide clues on when the U.S. central bank will begin lowering interest rates.\nChina's yuan edged down after an agenda-setting meeting of the country's top leaders failed to deliver strong stimulus measures to shore up economic growth.\nNew Zealand's dollar slumped after softer-than-expected inflation data suggested its central bank may not have to follow up on its threat to hike rates.\nThe U.S. dollar index, which gauges the currency against six leading counterparts, added 0.1% to 103.86 as of 0540 GMT, recouping a little of its 0.31% drop overnight.\nThe dollar rose 0.07% to 145.555 yen, following a 0.5% decline in the previous session. It rose slightly against the euro to $1.0789, after losing about 0.28% on Tuesday. It also edged up against sterling to $1.2554.\nFed officials will give updated economic and interest rate projections later in the day following a meeting where analysts and investors expect rates to stay on hold, and investors will focus on how the central bank sees the economy holding up.\nIn particular, investors will be watching to see if Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushes back against the prospect of interest rate cuts in the first half of 2024.\nRecent signs have pointed to a soft landing, but data overnight showed consumer prices unexpectedly rising in November.\nTraders currently price in a quarter point rate cut in May.\n\"The Fed hasn't said they are cutting rates, they have said they are data dependent, but the market is already acting like rate cuts are baked in,\" said James Kniveton, senior corporate FX dealer at Convera.\n\"If the Fed does push back tonight on those rate cut expectations, the dollar index may have an opportunity move back into the October range of 105-107.\"\nLater this week the European Central Bank, Bank of England, Norges Bank and the Swiss National Bank will also decide policy, with Norway considered the only one which could potentially raise rates. There is also a risk the SNB could dial back its support for the franc in FX markets.\nThe Bank of Japan's (BOJ) policy meeting comes next week, and the yen has been volatile on speculation the central bank is drawing close to ending its negative rate policy. Rising hopes this may occur next Tuesday were dashed after Bloomberg reported this week that BOJ officials see little need to rush to the exit.\n\"If history is any guide, USD/JPY will trade heavily into next week's BoJ and regardless whether there is a (policy) tweak, USD/JPY will likely rebound in the wake of their meeting,\" Richard Franulovich, head of FX strategy at Westpac, wrote in a client note.\n\"Markets have been underwhelmed with every policy tweak and (BOJ Governor Kazuo) Ueda has dressed up each adjustment in a dovish narrative.\"\nNew Zealand's dollar slid 0.61% to $0.6097, and earlier touched $0.6094 for the first time since Nov. 28.\nThe Aussie edged down slightly to $0.65555.\nThe spot yuan was changing hands at 7.1831 per dollar, 69 pips weaker than the previous late session close.\nElsewhere, leading cryptocurrency bitcoin continued to consolidate around $41,000 after pulling back from the highest since April 2022 at $44,729, reached on Friday.\n(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Michael Perry and Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar ticks up as traders wait on Fed for rate cut timing clues"
    },
    {
        "id": 942,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/at1s-back-brink-challenges-remain-060258470.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Dhara Ranasinghe and Yoruk Bahceli\nLONDON (Reuters) - A $275 billion market for high-risk bank debt has bounced back from a shock bondholder wipeout during the Credit Suisse rescue this year, but a bigger than expected slowdown in some major economies could test the market's revival.Additional Tier One bonds -- AT1s -- were thrown into chaos in March after $17 billion of Credit Suisse AT1s were wiped out as part of a forced merger with UBS.\nThat raised questions about the future of the bonds which were introduced after the 2008 financial crisis to act as a shock absorber for banks, converting into equity if capital levels fall too low.\nBut confidence has returned as regulators from Europe to Asia reassured investors, who typically are attracted to these bonds because of their higher yields.\nBanks, from Barclays to Societe Generale, have rushed to sell AT1s. The icing on the cake, was a $3.5 billion UBS AT1 sale early last month which attracted orders worth some $36 billion.\nIn the following two weeks, European banks issued more AT1s than in the roughly previous nine months combined, according to M&G Investments.\nNovember was the strongest month for AT1s since January, with Invesco's $1.1 billion exchange-traded fund for such debt jumping 4.6%. It slid 12% in March.\nThat drew a line under March's Credit Suisse wipeout, in which the Swiss regulator had upended the long-established seniority of bondholders over shareholders, meaning shareholders got some money back while AT1 bondholders got nothing.\nThis prompted hundreds of claims against the Swiss regulator and it led to a 50% reduction in the amount and number of AT1 debt sales over the following nine months versus the same period of 2022, according to M&G.\nDemand for these bonds has bounced back but may lose steam, as attention shifts towards an uncertain outlook for the global economy and the potential impact on the banking sector.\nCredit ratings agency Moody's reckons sluggish global growth, a higher risk of borrowers defaulting on loans, and pressure on profitability mean banks face a negative outlook in 2024.\n\"We expect a high risk of recession in the U.S., European growth is also likely to be lackluster,\" said Puneet Sharma, head of market strategies at Zurich Insurance Group, on the AT1 outlook. \"In such an environment, it is hard to just say banks are out of the woods completely,\" he said.\nJoost Beaumont, ABN AMRO's head of bank research said: \"AT1s are closest (in performance) to equities and for next year we expect higher funding costs for banks.\"\n\"Banks' loan-loss provisions are likely to rise because the economic backdrop is very weak and markets also price rate cuts, so profitability will be nowhere near what it was this year.\"\nOPPORTUNITIES, DOUBTS\nFor now, the backdrop for AT1 sales remains favourable, investors said, given a risk-on environment and rate cut hopes.\nAnalysts estimate some $30 billion of AT1s face \"call\" dates next year -- when a bank can but does not have to repay a bond. The ability to issue more bonds is typically seen as a sign of robust financial health.\nMark Geller, global head of banks debt capital markets at Barclays, said while it took time for AT1s to recover, the investor base has seen the traditional make-up of hedge funds, private banks and \"real money\" investors -- asset managers which invest for the longer term -- return.\n\"Where we sit today versus where we were prior to the market volatility in March, and actually for the AT1 product over several years, the investor base has been remarkably consistent,\" he said.\nA Japan Financial Services Agency official said that while the Credit Suisse episode had temporarily delayed AT1 sales by Japanese banks earlier, the regulator did not see \"major concerns\" now for the banks.\nBut challenges remain.\nAustralia's regulator in September published a paper on the challenges of using AT1s and plans to consult on any proposed changes to guidance next year.\nMore than half of AT1 bonds in Australia are held by retail investors, which means that forcibly converting the securities to equity or writing them off \"could undermine confidence in the financial system\", the regulator said at the time.\n\"It's the riskiest part you can go to in the corporate bond world, and following the events in March, I can see some clients that burned their fingers potentially excluding these securities from their investment universe,\" said Vontobel Fixed Income Boutique portfolio manager Christian Hantel.\nUBS's recent debt sale included a clause that will help prevent AT1 bondholders from suffering a Credit Suisse-style wipeout.\nSwitzerland's reputation may take time to heal.\n\"We are seeing more allocations into AT1s in Europe,\" said Jerome Legras, head of research at Axiom Alternative Investments, adding: \"My impression, is that there is still a significant change in the perception of risk towards Swiss authorities.\"\n(Additonial reporting by Harry Robertson in LONDON, Scott Murdoch in SYDNEY, Makiko Yamazaki in TOKYO; editing by Jane Merriman)\n",
        "title": "AT1s back from the brink, but challenges remain"
    },
    {
        "id": 943,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/focus-ev-charger-station-firms-060000744.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Nick Carey and Paul Lienert\nLONDON/DETROIT, Dec 13 (Reuters) -\nElectric vehicle charging companies in Europe and the U.S. have started fighting over the best spots for fast public chargers, and industry watchers predict fresh rounds of consolidation as more big investors enter the fray.\nMany current EV charger companies are backed by long-term investors, and more are expected to launch. Looming bans in various countries on cars powered by fossil fuels have made the sector more attractive to infrastructure investors like M&G's Infracapital and Sweden's EQT.\n\"If you look at our customers, it's like a land grabbing game now,\" Tomi Ristimaki, CEO of Finnish EV charger manufacturer Kempower said. \"Who gets the best locations now can guarantee electricity sales in the coming years.\"\nA Reuters analysis showed there are more than 900 EV charging companies globally. The sector has attracted over $12 billion in venture capital funding since 2012, according to PitchBook.\nAs big investors fund more consolidation, \"the fast-charging landscape will look pretty different from the landscape that exists today,\" said Michael Hughes, chief revenue and commercial officer for ChargePoint, one of the largest suppliers of EV charging equipment and software.\nCorporations from Volkswagen to BP and E.ON have invested heavily in the industry, which has seen 85 acquisitions since 2017. See graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/3QJRvKz\nThere are more than 30 fast-charger operators in the UK alone. Two new ones launched last month: Australia’s Jolt, backed by BlackRock's infrastructure fund, and Zapgo, which has received 25 million pounds ($31.4 million) in funding from Canadian pension fund OPTrust.\nIn the U.S. market, Tesla is the biggest player, but more convenience stores and fuel stations will soon join the fray and the number of U.S. fast-charging networks will more than double to 54 in 2030 from 25 in 2022, said Loren McDonald, CEO of San Francisco-based research firm EVAdoption. See graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/3we1njJ\nIt can take four years for a properly placed EV charging station to become profitable once utilization hits around 15%. Charger companies complain red tape in Europe is slowing expansion. Still, the sector is viewed as a good bet by long-term infrastructure investors like Infracapital, which owns Norway's Recharge and has invested in Britain's Gridserve.\n\"With the right locations, long-term investments in (charging companies) absolutely make sense,\" said Christophe Bordes, managing director at Infracapital.\nChargePoint's Hughes believes larger players will start looking beyond existing sites for new real estate, purpose-built for mega-facilities with 20 or 30 fast-charge dispensers, surrounded by retailers and amenities.\n\"There's a race for space,\" he said, \"but it will take longer than anybody expects to find, build and enable these new sites for the next generation of fast charging.\"\nCompetition for the best sites is becoming fierce and site hosts can switch between operators before settling on a winner.\n\"We like to say there's no such thing as a dead deal when you're talking to a site host,\" Blink Charging CEO Brendan Jones said.\n\"LOGOS WILL BE DIFFERENT\"\nFirms are also competing for exclusive contracts with hosts.\nFor instance, UK's InstaVolt - owned by EQT - has deals with companies like McDonald's to build charging stations at their locations.\n\"If you can win that partnership, it's yours until you blow it,\" InstaVolt CEO Adrian Keen said.\nWith EQT's \"deeper pockets,\" InstaVolt plans 10,000 chargers in the UK by 2030, has active chargers in Iceland, and has launched operations in Spain and Portugal, Keen said. Consolidation could start in the next year or so, he added.\n\"That might open up opportunities in the markets we're in, but also open the door to a new market for us,\" Keen said.\nUtility EnBW's charging unit has 3,500 EV charge points in Germany, about 20% of that market. It is investing 200 million euros ($215 million) annually to hit 30,000 charging points by 2030, leaning on local staff to fend off competition for sites.\nThe unit has also formed charging network partnerships in Austria, the Czech Republic and northern Italy, vice president of sales Lars Walch said.\nWhile consolidation is coming, there will still be room for multiple operators, Walch said.\nNorway, a leading EV market, has suffered from short-term \"over-deployment\" this year as companies raced to build out charging stations, Recharge CEO Hakon Vist said. The market added 2,000 new charge points to hit a total of 7,200, but EV sales were down 2.7% through October this year.\nRecharge has around 20% market share in Norway, just behind Tesla.\n\"Some companies will find they're too small to meet customers' requirements and leave or sell,\" Vist said.\nOthers are launching companies knowing they could acquire others or be acquired themselves.\nNew UK entrant, OPTrust-backed Zapgo plans to target under-served parts of England's Southwest, offering landlords a slice of charging revenue to get good locations. It plans 4,000 chargers by 2030, said CEO Steve Leighton, who predicted consolidation \"will all come down to money\" later this decade.\n\"The funders who've got the deepest pockets will be running that consolidation,\" Leighton said, adding OPTrust \"is big, but one of the larger infrastructure funds might come along and want to pick Zapgo up at some point.\"\nThe U.S. market will shift as convenience store chains like Circle K and Pilot Company, and retail giants like Walmart invest massively in charging stations, EVAdoption's McDonald said.\n\"Like all industries started by a bunch of small startups, over time the big guys jump in and ... they consolidate,\" McDonald said. \"At the end of this decade, the logos are going to be very different.\" ($1 = 0.9307 euros) ($1 = 0.7967 pounds)\n(Reporting By Nick Carey and Paul Lienert, editing by Ben Klayman and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "FOCUS-EV charger station firms battle for prime locations in Europe, US"
    },
    {
        "id": 944,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-thai-stocks-hit-054820124.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit hit near 1-month low * Thai stocks hit over 3-year low * Argentina devalues peso by 50% By John Biju Dec 13 (Reuters) - Most Asian stocks retreated on Wednesday with those in Thailand hitting an over three-year low, while currencies were on the defensive as markets awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's final policy decision of the year and its monetary easing timeline. Stocks in Thailand slid 0.8% to their lowest level since Nov. 18, 2020. Equities in Indonesia fell 0.7%, while those in South Korea retreated 0.6%. The Philippine peso and the Malaysian ringgit declined 0.5% each, both hitting their lowest level in nearly one month. The broad focus in markets was on the Fed, which is due to announce its rate decision at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday. Market expectations are for policymakers to keep rates on hold, but investors will be waiting to see the Fed's view on the timing of possible rate-cuts even as data overnight showed U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly rose in November. The slightly firmer inflation readings followed data last week showing job gains accelerated in November. \"The sticky U.S. CPI data slightly dampened rate cut expectations. Against this backdrop, investors are tempted to trim their position for Fed's dovish shift tonight and risk assets in Asia dipped,\" Ken Cheung, chief Asia FX strategist at Mizuho Bank said. Investors in emerging market assets will also be watching developments in Argentina, where new Economy Minister Luis Caputo said the government will weaken the peso over 50% versus the dollar, cut energy subsidies, and cancel tenders of public works in efforts to fix the country's worst crisis in decades. Back in Asia, data in India showed retail inflation in November rose at its fastest pace in three months, bolstering bets that the central bank will not ease interest rates anytime soon. That contrasted with price trends in other Asian countries such as Thailand, Philippines and South Korea where data last week showed inflation cooling in November. \"The inflation outlook in Asia may not allow the Asian central banks to enter rate cut cycle very soon and the narrowing yield gap between U.S. and EM Asia will favour capital inflow to Asian region,\" Cheung said. Stocks in Manila fell 0.4%. The Philippine central bank's policy decision on Thursday is also on investors' radar, with expectations that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will leave interest rates unchanged. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Thai inflation to gradually speed up to within targeted range -c.bank ** Taiwan's central bank is expected to leave its policy rate unchanged on Thursday ** Japan's business mood hits near 2-year high, keeps BOJ exit in focus Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0419 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCKS STOCKS DAILY YTD % X DAILY YTD % % % Japan -0.14 -9.97 <.N2 0.11 25.99 25> China EC> India +0.01 -0.79 <.NS -0.10 15.35 EI> Indones +0.01 -0.31 <.JK -0.66 3.33 ia SE> Malaysi -0.45 -6.44 <.KL 0.01 -3.22 a SE> Philipp -0.51 -0.22 <.PS -0.42 -4.58 ines I> S.Korea -0.62 -4.41 <.KS -0.56 12.72 11> Singapo -0.20 -0.31 <.ST -0.06 -4.64 re I> Taiwan -0.03 -2.58 <.TW 0.05 23.49 II> Thailan -0.22 -3.20 <.SE -0.78 -18.31 d TI> (Reporting by John Biju in Bengaluru Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Thai stocks hit 3-yr low, Asian FX on back foot before Fed"
    },
    {
        "id": 945,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-europe-powell-naughty-053000305.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Rae Wee: The Federal Reserve's rate decision on Wednesday is all but a done deal, so that leaves Chair Jerome Powell's language and the central bank's dot plot of future policy as the main focus.\nThe world's most powerful central banker has a tightrope to walk, with Tuesday's U.S. inflation print doing little to alter views for the timing of rate cuts next year.\nSome investors are hoping Christmas comes early in the form of a Fed pivot, and Wall Street on Tuesday notched fresh 2023 highs\nIt's up to Powell then to convince markets - or not - that it is \"premature to conclude\" that the Fed's job is done.\nMarket pricing shows a 75% chance of a cut in May, according to the CME FedWatch tool, and analysts at Goldman Sachs over the weekend brought forward their forecast of a first cut to the third quarter of next year from the fourth quarter previously.\nIn Asia, China said it will step up policy adjustments to support an economic recovery in 2024 following an agenda-setting meeting of the country's top leaders, though those signals failed to excite investors and Chinese stocks declined .\nStill, with all eyes on Powell, tonight's events could be make or break for world stocks, which are up more than 1% for the month thus far.\nDecember has historically been a good period for stocks, save for last year where the MSCI world equity index lost 4% and 2018, when it fell 7% during the month. The Fed hiked rates four times that year.\nThe European Central Bank (ECB), the Bank of England (BoE), the Swiss National Bank and Norges Bank are next in line after the Fed, with steady outcomes expected for all on Thursday, though by just a margin for Norway.\nECB hawk Isabel Schnabel told Reuters last week the central bank can take further interest rate hikes off the table given a \"remarkable\" fall in inflation, while British wage growth slowed by the most in almost two years, welcome news for the BoE.\nInvestors will first have to cross Wednesday's hurdle before knowing if policymakers across the globe will take cues from the Fed.\nThe ball's in Powell's court.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Wednesday:\n- UK GDP estimates (October)\n- Euro zone industrial production (October)\n- Federal Reserve policy decision\n(By Rae Wee. Editing by Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID EUROPE-Powell: Naughty or nice?"
    },
    {
        "id": 946,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-japan-survey-shows-manufacturers-051139120.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BANGKOK (AP) — The Bank of Japan’s quarterly survey on business sentiment shows large Japanese manufacturers have grown more optimistic in the past several months, the third straight quarter of improvement even while other data showed the economy in a contraction.\nThe central bank's “tankan” survey, released Wednesday, measured business sentiment among major manufacturers at plus 12, up from plus 9 in October and plus 5 in June.\nThe tankan survey, conducted every three months, measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the number of companies saying business conditions are negative from those replying they are positive. It's considered a leading indicator of future trends in the world's third-largest economy.\nThe survey showed sentiment among major non-manufacturers rose 3 points to plus 30 from plus 27 in the previous survey. It was the seventh consecutive quarter of improvement and the most positive result in about three decades.\nA recovery of foreign tourism and a resurgence of business activity and domestic travel after the bleak days of the pandemic have contributed to a rebound in retail and leisure activities.\nHowever, high borrowing costs in the U.S. and other major markets have crimped demand for Japanese exports, dragging on growth.\nUpdated data released on Friday showed Japan’s economy shrank by 2.9% year-on-year in the July-September quarter, worse than estimated earlier.\n“The continued improvement in the ‘tankan’ suggests that the drop in Q3 GDP was just a blip, but we still expect GDP growth to slow sharply next year,” Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics said in a note to clients.\nThe tankan’s projection of business sentiment three months from now among large manufacturers showed they expect conditions to deteriorate, falling 4 points to plus 8. Non-manufacturers also were pessimistic, with the forecast falling 6 points to plus 24.\nThe Bank of Japan's stance on its monetary policy is keenly watched, with many market observers increasingly expecting it will shift away from its longstanding negative interest rate policy in coming months.\nNo major moves are expected at a policy meeting that will wrap up on Dec. 19. Recent price data suggest an easing of inflationary pressures and that could leave the central bank less likely to change gears and raise interest rates out of concern that the economy may slow further.\n",
        "title": "Bank of Japan survey shows manufacturers optimistic about economy, as inflation abates"
    },
    {
        "id": 947,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/europe-real-estate-facing-176-050000065.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A wall of real estate debt is coming due across Europe in the next four years and more than a quarter of it may not be refinanced, according to CBRE Group Inc.\nBetween the estimated €640 billion ($690 billion) of loans provided in the years 2019 through 2022 and the amount now available to refinance them, there’s a gap of as much as €176 billion, an analysis by the broker showed. That’s because property values have shrunk and debt has become both scarce and more expensive, CBRE said in a report Wednesday that examined the scale of the potential shortfall in the years 2024 through 2027.\nBanks have reined in lending in the face of plummeting asset values and a rise in the number of troubled property loans on their balance sheets. That’s compounding the already difficult environment for borrowers who have found their relative indebtedness rise as asset values fall. While some have been able to inject new equity to secure fresh loans, others are having to sell, if they can.\n“European real estate markets have experienced a challenging period over the last two years,” the report’s authors including Tasos Vezyridis wrote. “Market conditions have been especially challenging for leveraged investors.”\nLoans against office buildings account for almost half of the forecast shortfall, CBRE’s data show. The deficit for retail properties is smaller but as a percentage of the debt originated, high-street stores have the largest gap at 30%.\nThe forecast gap is based on current pricing and debt availability but that could narrow over the period if rates stabilize and central banks start to cut as currently expected. That would lead to some recovery in capital values and improved financing terms, reducing the gap by about 35%, according to CBRE’s analysis.\n",
        "title": "Europe Real Estate Facing €176 Billion Debt Refinance Shortfall"
    },
    {
        "id": 948,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/novo-outshined-smaller-obesity-rival-050000073.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) — A blockbuster weight-loss drug has turned Novo Nordisk A/S into a pop culture phenomenon as well as Europe’s most valuable company, but on its home turf the stock has been outgained by a much smaller rival.\nZealand Pharma A/S has so far risen 63% in market value on the Copenhagen stock exchange this year compared with 40% for its larger and much more famous peer. Analyst estimates indicate the stock could outperform Novo again in 2024.\nZealand is “a key beneficiary of the obesity thematic within health care both from an investor and industry perspective,” Rajan Sharma, an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said in a Dec. 6 note. Sharma said he sees plenty of factors that could move the shares next year.\nWhile the companies sit just a few miles from each other and both work on tackling obesity, Zealand differs in that one of its drugs employs a different mechanism. Another factor for the Zealand stock’s success may be that it caters to a different investor profile: those with small- and mid-cap mandates who can’t invest in Novo and Eli Lilly & Co.\n“One of the reasons why Zealand has done so well is that it’s unique because it’s probably the only small/mid-cap investment case in Europe if you want to get in on obesity,” Suzanne van Voorthuizen, an analyst at Van Lanschot Kempen NV who has covered the stock for about five years, said in an interview.\nZealand changed its strategy in early 2022, slimming down its organization and focusing on the development of its obesity drugs. It has four such candidates in its pipeline, with the one furthest in the clinical phase, Survodutide, developed in partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH.\nEven if Novo and Lilly as first movers take the lion’s share of the obesity market, the crumbs left for others entering later, like Zealand, may still be significant. Michael Shah of Bloomberg Intelligence estimates the weight-loss market may jump 32-fold to $80 billion by the next decade.\nMost weight-loss drugs, including Novo’s Wegovy, are based on the GLP-1 gut hormone. While two of Zealand’s products target that hormone, it is also developing a treatment based on an amylin analog. That’s been one of its drivers on the stock market even though the product is at an early stage.\n“The amylin analog could become a big thing for Zealand because it’s a differentiated asset for obesity and they still own all the economics,” van Voorthuizen said. “It’s promising that you do get weight loss, but potentially better safety or at least a very different profile from using a different mechanism.”\nZealand’s also working hard to explain the science behind its drug candidates to investors. It hosted an R&D event on Dec. 5, calling obesity the “greatest health-care challenge of our time” and bringing in some of the world’s foremost endocrinologists and metabolic researchers to take questions from analysts. Daniel Drucker, one of the co-discoverers of GLP-1, noted 40 years of research underpinning the biology.\n“Key data readouts across our three clinical programs this year have increased confidence in our pipeline and positioned Zealand to become a significant player in addressing the evolving global obesity health crisis,” Zealand Chief Executive Officer Adam Steensberg said by email, in response to a question about the company’s progress on the stock exchange.\nAccording to data tracked by Bloomberg, eight of nine analysts have buy ratings on Zealand and the average 12-month price target implies a 17% gain. Analysts covering Novo see only a 10% gain, on average, over the next year.\nZealand’s shares have also been helped by the announcement that it later this month will join the Stoxx Europe 600 index. The stock will also enter the OMX Copenhagen 25 index for the first time on Dec. 18.\nLinks between the companies are strong. Several of Zealand past and present managers have an employment history at Novo, including CEO Steensberg. The two companies also last year signed a license and development deal on a treatment for severe hypoglycemia in people with diabetes.\nWhile Zealand has outpaced Novo and most pharmaceutical shares this year, it still has a long way to go before it would reach the size of its Danish peer. Zealand’s market value of 19.2 billion kroner ($2.8 billion), at less than 1% of Novo’s, is also eclipsed by the giant’s quarterly profit of 22.5 billion kroner.\n—With assistance from James Cone and Madison Muller.\n",
        "title": "Novo outshined by smaller obesity rival on Danish stock market"
    },
    {
        "id": 949,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-melt-fed-accelerates-pivot-215046389.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\n(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nAsian markets are poised for lift off on Thursday, fueled by the dovish tilt from the Federal Reserve's final policy meeting of the year which lifted Wall Street - the Dow surged to a fresh all-time high - and slammed Treasury yields and the dollar.\nThe Fed kept its key fed funds target range unchanged at 5.25% to 5.50%, as expected, so the real meat for inventors was in the revised Staff Economic Projections and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nIn short, the pivot toward cutting rates next year was clearer than markets had priced - Fed officials' median rate outlook for the end of 2024 is now 50 basis points lower than it was three months ago.\nRates futures markets quickly moved to price in a near certain probability that the first move will be a quarter point cut as early as March. The two-year yield plunged more than 25 basis points and the 10-year yield sank as low as 4% - both at their lowest level in months.\nThere's every chance that the 'melt up' in stocks and bonds spills over into Asian markets on Thursday - emerging market assets trading late on Wednesday, like Brazilian and Mexican equities and currencies, rose sharply.\nInvestors in Asia on Thursday also have plenty of local news and events to digest, including central bank policy meetings from the Philippines and Taiwan, Indian wholesale inflation figures, Australian unemployment and New Zealand GDP.\nEconomists polled by Reuters expect the Philippine central bank to keep rates on hold at 6.50% through the first half of next year, and begin easing policy in the third quarter.\nTaiwan's central bank, meanwhile, is expected to leave its policy rate unchanged at 1.875% for all of next year, only beginning its easing cycle in the first quarter of 2025.\nEconomic growth in New Zealand likely slowed significantly in the third quarter, according to a Reuters poll, while figures are expected to show a sharp slowdown in job growth in Australia in November with the unemployment rate inching up to 3.8% from 3.7%.\nThe annual rate of wholesale price inflation in India, meanwhile, is expected to have climbed to 0.08% last month from -0.52% in October.\nIf any Asian country's markets could do with a bit of relief, it is China, where stocks tanked on Wednesday after investors gave a clear thumbs down to proposals and pledges from Chinese leaders gathered in Beijing to boost the economy and fight off deflation.\nThe CSI 300 index of blue chip shares fell 1.7%, its fifth biggest fall this year, and the benchmark Shanghai index also fell more than 1%.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Thursday:\n- Philippines interest rate decision\n- New Zealand GDP (Q3)\n- Australia unemployment (November)\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind:'Melt up' as Fed accelerates pivot"
    },
    {
        "id": 950,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-feds-powell-not-ready-214027307.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(New throughout, adds details)\nBy Michael S. Derby\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that central bank officials have yet to decide when they will end their balance sheet reduction effort even as they are now actively contemplating interest rate cuts next year.\n\"We are not talking about altering the pace of Q.T. right now,\" Powell said at his press conference following the Fed's policy decision. Q.T. refers to quantitative tightening, or the contraction of the Fed's bond-holdings.\nPowell spoke after a Fed meeting that kept interest rates steady at between 5.25% and 5.5%, with officials penciling in three quarters of a percentage points' worth of cuts in the new year. The Fed, which targets 2% inflation, is weighing lower rates due to abating inflation pressures.\nThe Fed has been trimming its balance sheet since last year in an effort to complement rate hikes. The Fed has been shedding just shy of $100 billion per month in Treasury and mortgage securities, taking its holdings from just shy of $9 trillion in the summer of last year to $7.7 trillion now.\nThe Fed bought bonds aggressively to stabilize markets and stimulate growth during the pandemic. Taking liquidity back out is part of its process of returning monetary policy to a normal footing.\nThe challenge for markets is that even as rate cuts loom, the Fed's plan to shrink holdings until financial sector liquidity is ample enough for it to retain full control over short-term rates\ndoes not say much about when this process might end\n.\nAt the press conference, Powell noted that interest rate policy and balance sheet actions are operating independently under most scenarios, which means the Fed could lower rates but still press forward on shrinking its balance sheet.\nMany in markets are looking to the Fed's reverse repo facility as a barometer of the fate of the Q.T. process. This facility, which takes in cash largely from money market funds, is seen as a proxy for excessive liquidity, and has fallen from $2.6 trillion at the end of 2022 to $823 billion Wednesday. Some suspect that when reverse repos hit zero, as some in the Fed reckon is likely, that will be time for the Fed to end Q.T.\nThat Q.T. can go on at a time of rate cuts owes to the reason why monetary policy might ease. Fed rate cuts next year appear to be a bid to keep policy at a steady potency at a time when inflation is falling. (Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Fed's Powell not ready to say when balance sheet wind-down ends"
    },
    {
        "id": 951,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-dow-hits-record-213800584.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates to U.S. market close)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged to a sharply higher close on Wednesday and benchmark Treasury yields slipped to their lowest level since August after the Federal Reserve flagged the end of its tightening cycle and struck a dovish tone for the year ahead.\nAll three major U.S. stock indexes jumped to fresh closing highs for the year after the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) left its fed funds target rate unchanged at 5.25%-5.50%.\nThe Dow notched a record closing high, confirming the blue-chip industrial average has been in a bull market since Sept. 30, 2022, by common definition.\nIn its\naccompanying statement\n, the Fed acknowledged that inflation has eased and implied that the rate tightening cycle might be over. Its dot plot, which forecasts the potential path forward for monetary policy, hinted that lower borrowing costs could be in the cards in 2024.\n\"The Fed delivered an early holiday present this year,\" said Greg Bassuk, CEO at AXS Investments in New York. \"Investors are embracing change in Fed sentiment toward a more dovish stance. It really underscores the trade that investors have been making over the last few weeks; that rates are set to decline in the coming year.\"\nEconomic data showed U.S. producer prices (PPI) were unchanged in November, further evidence that inflation continues to meander down toward the Fed's average annual 2% target.\n\"Some of the factors we believe that drove this change in sentiment is this week's CPI and PPI data showing more consistency in inflation's downward trajectory,\" Bassuk added. \"This allowed the Fed to gain greater confidence that its hawkish moves have begun to achieve their objectives.\"\nIn a busy week for central banks, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will announce policy decisions on Thursday.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 512.3 points, or 1.4%, to 37,090.24, the S&P 500 gained 63.39 points, or 1.37%, at 4,707.09 and the Nasdaq Composite added 200.57 points, or 1.38%, at 14,733.96.\nEuropean shares ended a subdued session with a nominal loss as investors largely avoided risky bets ahead of the Fed decision.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.06% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.22%.\nEmerging market stocks lost 0.07%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.03% lower, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.25%.\nTreasury yields tumbled after the Fed decision, with yields on 10-year notes dropping to their lowest since August, and two-year yields, which reflect rate expectations, touching their weakest level since early June.\nBenchmark 10-year notes rose 50/32 in price to yield 4.0183%, from 4.206% late on Tuesday.\nThe 30-year bond rose 71/32 in price to yield 4.1795%, from 4.304% late on Tuesday.\nThe dollar reversed its gains against a basket of world currencies, dropping after the central bank projected interest rate cuts in 2024.\nThe dollar index fell 0.93%, with the euro up 0.81% to $1.0879.\nThe Japanese yen strengthened 1.72% versus the greenback at 142.99 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2624, up 0.50% on the day.\nOil prices bounced back after tumbling to near six-month lows on Tuesday in the wake of a larger-than-expected weekly withdrawal from U.S. crude storage and as an attack on a tanker in the Red Sea threatened Middle East oil supplies\nU.S. crude rose 1.25% to settle at $69.47 per barrel, while Brent settled at $74.26 per barrel, up 1.39% on the day.\nGold jumped in opposition to the weakening greenback, breezing past the $2,000 per ounce level.\nSpot gold added 2.2% to $2,023.86 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additonal reporting by Rae Wee in Singapore and Alun John in London; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Richard Chang and Andrea Ricci)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Dow hits record closing high, Treasury yields sink on dovish Fed"
    },
    {
        "id": 952,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-credit-suisse-entities-pay-213729336.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Recasts throughout; adds background, detail, effort to reach firm for comment)\nWASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse Securities and two affiliated firms have agreed to pay over $10 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges they provided prohibited services to mutual funds, the regulator said on Wednesday.\nIn 2022, a New Jersey court banned the Credit Suisse entities from certain activities in resolving a case of alleged violations of state laws. The firms continued to offer the services despite the ban until June 2023, the SEC said.\nWithout admitting or denying the SEC's findings, Credit Suisse agreed to pay civil penalties of $3.3 million and more than $6.7 million in disgorgement and interest.\nA spokesperson for UBS, which acquired Credit Suisse this year, did not respond immediately to a request for comment. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Chris Prentice in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Credit Suisse entities to pay $10 million over prohibited mutual fund services"
    },
    {
        "id": 953,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-jimmy-haslam-being-investigated-195319838.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Jimmy Haslam is under investigation by federal prosecutors looking into whether he offered illicit payments to executives at Pilot Travel Centers, a lawyer for the company said.\nBrad Wilson, a lawyer for Pilot, said during a court hearing Wednesday in a civil suit between Haslam and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that the chain’s officials recently learned of the probe.\nIn court filings last month, Berkshire said that Haslam, a minority owner of Pilot, had offered the payments to Pilot executives to have them manipulate the books to get a higher buyout of his remaining stake from Berkshire.\nHigher earnings would increase the value of the 20% of the company Haslam has the right to offer to sell to Berkshire in January, according to court filings.\nLiz Cohen, a spokesman for Haslam, didn’t immediately return an email Wednesday seeking comment on news of the investigation into the promised payments.\nThe civil case is Pilot Corp. v. Abel, 2023-1068, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).\n",
        "title": "Billionaire Jimmy Haslam Is Being Investigated Over Pilot Payments, Lawyer Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 954,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-us-yields-dive-fed-213028313.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* U.S. 10-year yields sink to lowest since August * U.S. five-year yields hit lowest since July * U.S. two-year yield drop to weakest since June * U.S. yield curve turns steeper, narrows inversion (Adds new comment, more daily milestones, SEC decision on Treasuries clearing, updates prices) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields plummeted on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, as expected, but flagged in its new economic projections that its tightening policy is ending and rate cuts loom next year. The U.S. benchmark 10-year yield fell to its lowest since August, and last traded 18 basis points (bps) lower at 4.02% . It posted its biggest one-day fall since November. The U.S. two-year yield, which reflects interest rate expectations, slid to the lowest since early June, last down 29.4 bps at 4.54%. It had its biggest one-day decline since mid-March. U.S. five-year yields sank as well to their lowest since mid-July, and were last down 24.6 bps at 3.977%, posting their biggest daily drop since March. In a statement, Fed officials said inflation \"has eased over the past year,\" and noted that it would watch the economy to see if \"any\" additional rate hikes are needed. A near-unanimous 17 of 19 Fed officials project that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024 than it is now - with the median projection showing the rate falling three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 5.25%-5.50% range. \"While the committee retains the option of additional hikes, the message from the Fed is pretty clear: the hiking cycle is over unless there is a significant surprise, and the risks of a cut are greater than those of a hike in the next several months,\" said Eric Winograd, senior economist, at AllianceBernstein, in New York. \"While I think the magnitude of the market response is exaggerated, the direction is correct: the Fed for the first time this cycle opened the door to rate cuts across a reasonable forecast horizon, and that is significant.\" U.S. fed funds futures have boosted the chances of a rate cut in March to 77% after the Fed decision, according to LSEG's FedWatch. The market has also priced in more than 100 bps of easing next year. A widely tracked metric of the U.S. Treasury yield curve, showing the gap in yields between two- and 10-year notes , became steeper, reducing its inversion to minus 41.50 bps. Analysts called the yield curve move a bull steepener, in which short-term interest rate posted sharper falls than longer-dated ones. This reflects expectations the Fed will soon start cutting rates. In his press, Fed Chair Jerome Powell confirmed what the central bank rate projections and statement conveyed: that the question about timing rate cuts is coming into view. He was also well aware of the risks of cutting rates too late. \"Powell ... somewhat surprisingly refrained from pushing back against market pricing for cuts,\" said Matthew Ryan head of market strategy, at global financial services firm Ebury. He added that there's a \"decent chance we see as many as three or four rate reductions through year-end.\" Earlier, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to adopt rules for the $26 trillion U.S. Treasury market aimed at stemming the buildup of systemic risk by requiring more trading to be cleared centrally. The SEC, however, exempted some transactions by hedge funds. \"Clearing brings transparency to the market and reduces counterparty risk,\" said Chris Slusher, head of rates, at risk management adviser Derivative Path. \"So those are important benefits, but on the other hand, what we found in the derivatives market, clearing increases costs and it often has the impact of leading to the further concentration in the market among dealers.\" December 13 Wednesday 4:13PM New York/2113 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 5.235 5.3936 -0.021 Six-month bills 5.1225 5.3463 -0.062 Two-year note 100-209/256 4.4349 -0.296 Three-year note 100-158/256 4.1541 -0.277 Five-year note 101-196/256 3.979 -0.248 Seven-year note 102-30/256 4.023 -0.222 10-year note 103-220/256 4.0239 -0.182 20-year bond 105-124/256 4.3358 -0.142 30-year bond 109-172/256 4.1803 -0.124 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Additional reporting by Matt Tracy; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Andrea Ricci and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES-US yields dive as Fed signals end of rate hikes"
    },
    {
        "id": 955,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-holds-rates-steady-again-191040831.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for a third meeting and gave its clearest signal yet that its aggressive hiking campaign is finished by forecasting a series of cuts next year.\nOfficials decided unanimously to leave the target range for the benchmark federal funds rate at 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest since 2001. Policymakers penciled in no further interest-rate hikes in their projections for the first time since March 2021, based on the median estimate.\nFollow the reaction in real time on Bloomberg’s TOPLive blog\nFed officials expect to lower rates by 75 basis points next year, a sharper pace of cuts than indicated in September’s projections. While the median forecast for the federal funds rate at the end of 2024 was 4.6%, individuals’ expectations varied widely.\nEight officials saw fewer than three quarter-point cuts next year, while five anticipate more.\nA tweak to the post-meeting statement on Wednesday also highlighted the shift in tone, with officials noting they will monitor a range of data and developments to see if “any” additional policy firming is appropriate. That word was not present in the November statement from the US central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee.\nIn another shift, the committee also acknowledged that inflation “has eased over the past year but remains elevated.” In addition, most participants now see the risks to price growth as broadly balanced.\nTreasury yields plunged, while the S&P 500 index rose and the Bloomberg dollar index declined. Swaps contracts indicated more easing in 2024 than previously, showing more than 125 basis points of rate cuts. Odds of a March rate cut rose to about 60%.\nChair Jerome Powell will hold a press conference with reporters at 2:30 p.m. in Washington.\nInflation Forecasts\nThe updated projections also showed lower inflation forecasts for this year and next, with the Fed’s preferred price gauge excluding food and energy now seen increasing 2.4% in 2024. Policymakers lowered their forecast for economic growth slightly for next year while keeping unemployment projections unchanged.\nPolicymakers anticipate further reductions in the fed funds rate to end 2025 at 3.6%, according to the median estimate of 19 officials.\nThe Fed’s long-awaited pivot, following 5.25 percentage points of rate hikes, reflects a marked slowing of price pressures since mid-year and a cooling of the labor market. The challenge for Fed officials now is to decide when to start cutting rates, which if done too soon would endanger inflation’s return to the Fed’s 2% goal.\nOfficials have vowed to keep rates elevated long enough to ensure inflation returns to target. Market participants don’t anticipate that will take very long, encouraging bets of rate cuts as soon as March.\nComments from Governor Christopher Waller, one of the most vocal supporters of the central bank’s actions to tamp down inflation, helped fuel that speculation. He said in November the central bank would be willing to consider lowering the policy rate as inflation comes down, something he said could happen in three to five months.\nYield Pullback\nThe pullback in Treasury yields in recent weeks has erased much of the run-up seen through the summer and into October. At the time, policymakers suggested the significant tightening in financial conditions could help lessen the need for further interest rate hikes.\nThe stark reversal has already begun to ripple through the economy in the form of lower mortgage rates, sparking renewed demand in recent weeks to refinance and purchase homes. It’s also gotten cheaper for companies to borrow — something they’re already taking advantage of.\nIn comments earlier this month, Powell pushed back against market expectations for a rate cut in the first quarter of next year.\n“It would be premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance, or to speculate on when policy might ease,” Powell said Dec. 1, right before the Fed’s pre-meeting communication blackout period.\nHe and other policymakers have noted the path to 2% inflation will likely be “bumpy,” emphasizing the need for sufficient evidence price growth is firmly headed lower before easing policy.\nThe central bank has now gone 12 meetings without a dissenting vote — the longest stretch since a 17-meeting period from 2003 to 2005.\n--With assistance from Olivia Raimonde, Chris Middleton and Liz Capo McCormick.\n(Updates with market reaction in seventh paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Fed Holds Rates Steady Again and Pivots Toward Cuts in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 956,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sec-says-credit-suisse-entities-212520686.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday that Credit Suisse Securities (USA) and two affiliated Credit Suisse entities had agreed to pay over $10 million to settle charges they provided prohibited mutual fund services.\nWithout admitting or denying the SEC's findings, the Credit Suisse entities agreed to pay more than $6.7 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and civil penalties totaling $3.3 million, the SEC said.\n(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "SEC says Credit Suisse entities to pay $10 million over prohibited mutual fund services"
    },
    {
        "id": 957,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-drops-fed-signals-212125303.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 1520 EST) By Karen Brettell NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The dollar tumbled against the euro and yen on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled in new economic projections that U.S. interest rate increases have come to an end and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024. A near unanimous 17 of 19 Fed officials project that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024, with the median projection showing the rate falling three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 5.25%-5.50% range. No officials see rates higher by the end of next year. The Fed kept interest rates steady for the third meeting in a row, as was widely expected. \"The Fed turned decisively dovish this afternoon, waving a red flag in front of market bulls hoping for an easing in policy,\" said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay in Toronto. Traders are now pricing in a 72% probability of a rate cut in March, up from 49% earlier on Wednesday, and a 94% likelihood by May, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool. The U.S. dollar index dropped to 102.89, down 0.83% on the day, and the lowest since Nov. 30. The euro rose 0.80% to $1.0882 and hit $1.08970, the highest since Dec. 1. The single currency is on track for its largest one-day percentage gain since Nov. 14. The greenback fell 1.67% to 143.03 Japanese yen, the lowest since Dec. 8.. Some analysts had expected that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell would push back against market pricing, and indicate that a rate cut would be unlikely in the first half of the year. Powell said the central bank was likely done raising interest rates, but kept open the option to act again if needed, noting that \"the economy has surprised forecasters.\" He also noted that the question of when it will be appropriate to cut rates is coming into view. \"The Powell Pause may only last until the May meeting. The critical question is whether the Fed will be cutting because it can or because it has to,\" said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. With inflation ebbing but still above the Fed's 2% target and a resilient labor market many analysts see the economy remaining solid for months to come. However, the U.S. central bank may also cut rates to maintain the level of restrictive policy it is aiming for. If the Fed holds rates steady as inflation eases the gap between the two rates, known as the real interest rate, can make monetary conditions more restrictive than policymakers intend. With the Fed meeting now concluded, investors will turn to a host of international central bank meetings on Thursday. These include the European Central Bank, Bank of England, Norges Bank and Swiss National Bank. The Norwegian central bank is considered to be the only one that could potentially raise rates. There is also a risk the SNB could dial back its support for the franc in currency markets. The Bank of Japan also meets next week. The yen has been volatile on speculation that the BOJ is drawing close to ending its negative rate policy. But hopes this may occur next Tuesday were dashed after Bloomberg reported this week that BOJ officials see little need to rush to the exit. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was last up 2.87% at $42,642. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 3:20PM (2020 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 102.8900 103.7600 -0.83% -0.580% +104.0300 +102.7700 Euro/Dollar $1.0882 $1.0795 +0.80% +1.55% +$1.0897 +$1.0774 Dollar/Yen 143.0250 145.4650 -1.67% +9.10% +145.9900 +142.6400 Euro/Yen 155.63 156.98 -0.86% +10.94% +157.4800 +155.4000 Dollar/Swiss 0.8706 0.8753 -0.53% -5.84% +0.8780 +0.8692 Sterling/Dollar $1.2619 $1.2563 +0.45% +4.35% +$1.2634 +$1.2501 Dollar/Canadian 1.3505 1.3590 -0.61% -0.31% +1.3608 +1.3495 Aussie/Dollar $0.6663 $0.6559 +1.58% -2.26% +$0.6673 +$0.6542 Euro/Swiss 0.9472 0.9448 +0.25% -4.27% +0.9479 +0.9437 Euro/Sterling 0.8621 0.8592 +0.34% -2.52% +0.8629 +0.8586 NZ $0.6199 $0.6135 +1.05% -2.37% +$0.6211 +$0.6085 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 10.7780 10.9620 -1.71% +9.79% +11.0080 +10.7700 Euro/Norway 11.7299 11.8297 -0.84% +11.78% +11.8693 +11.7192 Dollar/Sweden 10.3068 10.4305 -0.42% -0.97% +10.4642 +10.2890 Euro/Sweden 11.2158 11.2627 -0.42% +0.59% +11.2862 +11.2128 (Reporting By Karen Brettell; Additional reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed and Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar drops as Fed signals coming rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 958,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-stocks-tread-cautiously-ahead-223135983.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Wall Street is gearing up for what’s expected to be the most-important Federal Reserve decision of the year, with traders awaiting any signals on whether the market’s aggressive dovish bid is now overdone.\nStocks, bonds and the dollar saw mild moves amid bets the Fed will hold rates Wednesday and try to put a lid on expectations for rate cuts of over 100 basis points in the next 12 months. How the Fed frames its outlook for policy ending next year and 2025 via its “dot plot” could inject some uncertainty into the market that has run well ahead of the central bank’s forecasts.\nThe Federal Open Market Committee is set to keep rates in a range of 5.25% to 5.5% — a 22-year high. The decision is due at 2 p.m. Washington. Chair Jerome Powell will speak 30 minutes later. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the median Fed projection will show two rate cuts next year and five more in 2025.\nAhead of the decision, data showed producer-price gains slowed as energy costs fell. Consumer prices Tuesday underscored a drop in the annual rate of inflation — even as monthly gains picked up. Taken together, the numbers reinforce the notion that inflation is trending back toward the Fed’s target.\nThe S&P 500 wavered near its highest since January 2022. Treasury two-year yields dropped below 4.7%. The greenback was little changed.\n“It will likely take Chairman Powell to throw some meaningful cold water on the ‘rate cut’ narrative today to slow this rally down. However, if (repeat, if) he does indeed do that, the markets are overbought enough that it could create a surprising decline.”\n“We believe the markets are priced for near-term disappointment. We struggle to embrace the consensus logic calling for 12% profit growth and more than 100 bps in rate cuts in 2024. Recent data on inflation, employment, and Jerome Powell’s persistent messaging are inconsistent with the market’s optimism.”\n“The Fed is approaching the point at which it will need to adjust its rhetoric to prepare investors, policymakers, and the public for cuts in the policy rate around the middle of next year.”\nTreasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it would make sense for the Fed to consider lowering interest rates as inflation eases to keep the economy on an even keel.\n“As inflation moves down, in a way, it’s natural that interest rates come down somewhat because real interest rates would otherwise increase, which would tend to tighten financial conditions,” Yellen said Wednesday in an interview on CNBC.\nMark Haefele at UBS Global Wealth Management, says that while he expects rates to come down in 2024 — supporting both equity and bond markets — the speed of recent gains is likely to moderate.\n“In particular, we now only see modest upside for global and US equities. With economic growth set to slow, quality stocks are likely to outperform in our view, the firm’s chief investment officer noted.\nEven a slight pushback from the Fed on interest-rate cuts could unravel the relentless stock rally since late October.\n“We have this cohort modeled to sell S&P 500 in every scenario over the next week,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. derivatives and flow specialist Cullen Morgan wrote in a note to clients. It follows a warning from his colleagues last week that dangerously high optimism on stocks means there are “no longer any bears left.”\nThe outlook for US stocks is poised to be better than many assume heading into 2024 even if the economy is showing signs of slowing as key models suggest, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.\nHistorically, the S&P 500 Index has delivered strong returns the year after BI’s Economic Regime Model first falls below .03, or the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators (LEI) declines more than 7.6% from a year earlier — as both did in October, according to data compiled by BI.\n“The impressive market momentum continues to provide a tailwind through year end, assuming the FOMC release doesn’t dramatically shift expectations,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. “Increasingly, the macro backdrop reinforces that optimism, with easing inflation, improving financial conditions, and gradually improving sentiment.”\nElsewhere, traders ramped up bets on interest-rate cuts by the Bank of England next year after soft GDP data reinforced the view that policymakers won’t be able to keep monetary policy tight for so long. For the first time in the current cycle, markets fully priced 100 basis points of monetary easing in 2024, which would take borrowing costs to 4.25%.\nOil rose as a strong drawdown in US stockpiles helped thaw a market frozen by concerns about excess supplies.\nRead: Crude Inventories Fall Ahead of Year-End Taxes: EIA Takeaways\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Jan-Patrick Barnert, Michael Msika and Jessica Menton.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street Braces for Big Test of Dovish Fed Bets: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 959,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-cftc-oks-crypto-firm-211442189.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday voted to approve a plan from a Chicago cryptocurrency derivatives exchange and brokerage to also act as its own registered clearinghouse.\nThe approval of the plan by Bitnomial, an exchange founded in 2014, marks the first time the commodities regulator has voted to allow a vertically-integrated market structure. Bitnomial also has exchange and broker licenses. Two Democratic and two Republican commissioners voted to OK the firm's application, while the third Democratic commissioner dissented.\n\"Now that the licensing process is complete, we can shift our focus to expanding Bitnomial's product offering and customer base,\" the firm's founder and CEO Luke Hoersten said in a statement.\nThe CFTC approval also marks a win for an industry beset by scandal. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, in November agreed to pay over $4.3 billion to settle U.S. charges it violated laws designed to prevent illicit finance. Its former CEO Changpeng Zhao faces up to 18 months in prison. A few weeks earlier, a jury found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of fraud.\nThe White House and a slew of other regulators have criticized vertical integration in the crypto sector for creating potential conflicts of interest.\nAt the same time, federal agencies are facing industries that are quick to turn to the courts when matters are decided against them. Last month, an events betting platform sued the CFTC for rejecting its plan to allow investors to bet on U.S. elections.\nCFTC Chair Rostin Behnam, who voted in favor of Bitnomial's application, said in Wednesday's meeting: \"We have to apply the rules fairly and equally to all registrants. Otherwise, in my view, that is a complete dereliction of duty and a very scary direction of government we would head in.\"\n(Reporting by Chris Prentice; Additional reporting by Hannah Lang; Editing by Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "US CFTC OKs crypto firm Bitnomial's vertical integration plan"
    },
    {
        "id": 960,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-hits-record-high-while-210433264.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. shares closed at a record high on Wednesday amid a broad rally in technology stocks spurred on by bets that the Federal Reserve will soon begin cutting interest rates as inflation slows.\nThe iPhone maker’s shares climbed 1.7% to $197.96, surpassing its previous closing record set in July. The gain leaves the stock up 52% for the year, for a market capitalization of about $3.08 trillion, cementing Apple’s position as the world’s most valuable company.\nApple has rallied with other technology stocks over the past month as US Treasury yields have dropped amid signs that inflation is cooling and the economy remains resilient. That view was reinforced on Wednesday when central bankers held interest rates steady for a third meeting and forecast a series of cuts next year. The 10-year Treasury fell to the lowest since August during the session and is close to sliding below 4%.\nThe recent surge for Apple is a big reversal from October when the stock closed at the lowest in about five months amid concerns about revenue growth and sales in China.\nApple has seen revenue fall every quarter in fiscal 2023 relative to the same period the year before. Last month, it forecast that sales in the holiday quarter will be about the same as last year, disappointing some investors.\nWall Street projects that the company’s revenue growth will re-accelerate in 2024 as demand for smartphones, laptops and computers rebounds, according to the average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.\n—With assistance from Mark Tannenbaum.\n",
        "title": "Apple Hits Record High While Big Tech Stocks Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 961,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-cftc-oks-crypto-210331639.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates with details, background in paragraphs 3-7)\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday voted to approve a plan from a Chicago cryptocurrency derivatives exchange and brokerage to also act as its own registered clearinghouse.\nThe approval of the plan by Bitnomial, an exchange founded in 2014, marks the first time the commodities regulator has voted to allow a vertically-integrated market structure. Bitnomial also has exchange and broker licenses. Two Democratic and two Republican commissioners voted to OK the firm's application, while the third Democratic commissioner dissented.\n\"Now that the licensing process is complete, we can shift our focus to expanding Bitnomial's product offering and customer base,\" the firm's founder and CEO Luke Hoersten said in a statement.\nThe CFTC approval also marks a win for an industry beset by scandal. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, in November agreed to pay over $4.3 billion to settle U.S. charges it violated laws designed to prevent illicit finance. Its former CEO Changpeng Zhao faces up to 18 months in prison. A few weeks earlier, a jury found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of fraud.\nThe White House and a slew of other regulators have criticized vertical integration in the crypto sector for creating potential conflicts of interest.\nAt the same time, federal agencies are facing industries that are quick to turn to the courts when matters are decided against them. Last month, an events betting platform sued the CFTC for rejecting its plan to allow investors to bet on U.S. elections.\nCFTC Chair Rostin Behnam, who voted in favor of Bitnomial's application, said in Wednesday's meeting: \"We have to apply the rules fairly and equally to all registrants. Otherwise, in my view, that is a complete dereliction of duty and a very scary direction of government we would head in.\" (Reporting by Chris Prentice; Additional reporting by Hannah Lang; Editing by Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US CFTC OKs crypto firm Bitnomial's vertical integration plan"
    },
    {
        "id": 962,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-dow-ends-record-210028188.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nPowell says Fed is \"not likely\" to hike further\n*\nUS Nov PPI softer than expected\n(Recasts to reflect close, adds market details)\nBy Caroline Valetkevitch\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones industrial average hit its first record closing high since January 2022 and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended sharply higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled that its interest rate-hiking policy of the last two years is at an end and that it sees lower borrowing costs in 2024.\nIn its policy statement, the Fed also left interest rates steady, as expected, and a near-unanimous 17 of 19 Fed officials projected that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024.\nIndexes were flat ahead of the announcement, and quickly gained ground after the news.\nStocks sharply extended gains as Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during a press conference that the Fed is \"not likely\" to hike further and that the Fed is \"very focused on not making the mistake of keeping rates too high for too long.\"\nThe Dow record confirms that the index has been in a bull market since tumbling more than 20% through its closing low in September 2022, according to a common definition.\nThe rally was broad-based with all major S&P 500 sectors ending higher, and rate-sensitive S&P 500 real estate and utilities sectors gaining the most. The small-cap Russell 2000 index also rallied.\n\"The statement is telling us that the Fed is seeing what the markets have already started to discount, that you're going to have inflation back to normal without a recession,\" said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta.\n\"We kind of hoped it was going to be this, but we didn't really think it was.\"\nFollowing the statement, U.S. interest rate futures raised the odds of a May rate cut to 90% versus 80% just before the announcement, according to LSEG's Fedwatch.\nAccording to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 62.65 points, or 1.35%, to end at 4,706.35 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 198.42 points, or 1.37%, to 14,731.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 515.79 points, or 1.41%, to 37,093.73.\nStocks have been rising in the past several weeks on the view that the Fed is likely done hiking rates and will shift to rate cuts next year.\nEarlier in the day, the Labor Department's report showed the Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand rose 0.9% on an annual basis in November. Economists polled by Reuters had estimated a 1% advance. On a month-on-month basis, producer prices were unchanged, against an estimated 0.1% increase.\nAmong the day's decliners, Pfizer dropped to a 10-year low, after the drugmaker forecast 2024 revenue below Wall Street's expectations.\n(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York Additional reporting by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California, and Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru Editing by Pooja Desai and Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Dow ends at record high as Fed says it sees lower borrowing costs in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 963,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moves-bofas-former-head-wealth-210000091.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Lananh Nguyen\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Bank of America executive Keith Banks, who ran several of its major businesses, will retire at the end of February after more than four decades in finance, the company said on Wednesday.\nBanks currently serves as vice chair and chief investment officer for the lender's pension and benefits plan investments. In his 23-year tenure at BofA and its legacy companies, the executive led global wealth and investment management, as well as private banking.\nAs a regular commentator on economic trends and markets, Banks said he learned the most during periods of turmoil. Those included the 1987 stock market crash, when he was a newly promoted equity researcher, and the 2008 financial crisis, when he had \"a front row seat\" as a BofA executive.\n\"I always try to be a student of my own successes and failures, and try to raise the bar,\" Banks said. (Reporting by Lananh Nguyen in New York)\n",
        "title": "MOVES-BofA's former head of wealth, private bank Keith Banks to retire"
    },
    {
        "id": 964,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bp-former-ceo-forfeits-32-165534027.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc’s former Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney will forfeit as much as £32.4 million ($40.6 million) in pay after resigning in September because he lied about his personal relationships with other employees.\n“Mr Looney knowingly misled the board,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. “The board has determined that this amounts to serious misconduct.”\nThe 53 year-old Irishman stepped down on Sept. 12 over his failure to fully disclose past relationships with colleagues. He was replaced on an interim basis by Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss, who has been recused from all decision-making related to Looney, the company said.\nThe former CEO will receive no further salary, pension allowance or benefits from the date of his dismissal and will not be paid any annual bonus for the financial year 2023, according to the statement. Looney becomes the second FTSE 100 boss to lose their bonus in the past month, following NatWest Group Plc’s decision to slash the pay of ex-chief Alison Rose by £7.6 million after her resignation.\nBP continues to search for a permanent replacement for Looney, with headhunters to carrying out an external search as well as considering internal candidates. Auchincloss has fended off speculation that BP has become a takeover target in its weakened state, saying its strategy remains in place.\n",
        "title": "BP’s Former CEO Forfeits £32 Million Pay on Misleading Board"
    },
    {
        "id": 965,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/judge-deciding-googles-fate-epic-205601734.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Mike Scarcella\n(Reuters) - The judge who could rewrite the future of Google's app business is a competition law expert who once defended technology companies and other defendants in antitrust cases.\nU.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco will decide what changes to impose on Alphabet's Google Play store, after a jury on Monday agreed with \"Fortnite\" maker Epic Games that Google illegally barred competing Android app stores and forced developers to use its payment system for in-app transactions.\nDonato, a 2014 Obama appointee, will consider arguments from both sides next month, when Epic is expected to propose ways to undo Google's alleged monopoly.\nDonato said near the end of the month-long trial that there was \"more than enough evidence\" for jurors to rule for Epic.\nGoogle has denied wrongdoing and said it will appeal the verdict. Donato's decision on Google's penalties also will likely be tied up in appeals.\nDonato declined an interview request through a court representative.\nBefore his appointment as a judge, Donato, 63, was an antitrust specialist at corporate law firms Shearman & Sterling and Cooley.\nMany of his clients were technology companies and medical device manufacturers, including chipmaker Nvidia and Tyco Healthcare, now Covidien.\nIn one case, Donato was a lead lawyer for United Airlines in an unsuccessful private lawsuit challenging the company's $8.5 billion merger in 2010 with Continental.\nHe represented the airline alongside fellow antitrust lawyer Katherine Forrest, who went on to be one of Epic's attorneys in the Google case until she switched law firms in January.\nThe Epic case also reunited Donato with a former Stanford Law School classmate: Google's president of global affairs Kent Walker.\nDonato grilled Walker during the trial over Google's deletion of internal chat logs, which the jury was later told would have aided Epic's case. Google has said it took \"robust steps to preserve relevant chats.\"\nThe judge later called Google's conduct surrounding the chat logs \"the most serious and disturbing evidence I have ever seen in my decade on the bench.\"\nDonato has had blunt words for both defendants and plaintiffs before.\nHe once questioned what he called \"sweetheart\" corporate settlements in a price-fixing prosecution. In 2021, he refused to approve a $650 million Facebook consumer privacy settlement until lawyers in the case proposed better ways to alert potential beneficiaries.\nThis year he castigated plaintiffs attorneys who had clashed in an antitrust case against Facebook, threatening to appoint new leaders for the case.\nDonato will next weigh in on Epic's fight with Google at a Jan. 11 hearing, when the two sides are slated to discuss next steps in the case.\n(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "Judge deciding Google's fate in Epic case is antitrust veteran"
    },
    {
        "id": 966,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/joe-manchin-says-horrible-hydrogen-193649292.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- High-stakes Treasury Department guidance for claiming hydrogen production tax credits under US President Joe Biden’s climate law has drawn the ire of Senator Joe Manchin, who said the “horrible” rules will make it too hard to qualify.\nThe rules, which Manchin said are expected to be issued next week, have been the subject of intense lobbying and deliberations across the Biden administration amid a fight over what sources of power can fuel the energy-intensive hydrogen production process.\n“We are fighting it,” said Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, who helped craft the hydrogen tax credit provisions of the climate law. “It doesn’t do anything the bill does. They basically made it 10 times more stringent for hydrogen.”\nThe Treasury Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\nHydrogen is seen as a critical fuel for decarbonizing steel, cement and other heavy industries, and the tax credit is viewed as an essential incentive to spur its development. But environmentalists warn that unless there are strict rules requiring hydrogen to be produced with new clean-power sources operating on the same grid and during the same time, it could drive further demand for fossil-fuel based electricity — and unleash more greenhouse gas emissions.\nRead More: Hydrogen Industry Signals Alarm Over Proposed US Tax Credits\nA previously leaked draft of the rules included requirements sought by some environmentalists that would limit the $3-per-kilogram credit to hydrogen-production operations powered by wind, solar or other clean-power projects built within the last three years, according to people familiar with the plan.\nThe guidance in the Treasury Department draft also calls for hydrogen projects to be supplied with new, clean-power sources operating on the same grid on an annual basis through 2027, then on a hourly basis starting in 2028, the people said.\nManchin, who provided the pivotal vote supporting the Inflation Reduction Act, has since clashed frequently with the Biden administration over its implementation.\n“I’m in meetings right now making sure they know what’s going at them if they go down this crazy road,” Manchin said. “People are gong to be damaged. They are going to be held up in courts.”\n",
        "title": "Joe Manchin Says ‘Horrible’ Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules Coming Next Week"
    },
    {
        "id": 967,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/millennium-partner-among-six-money-183829225.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Six portfolio managers have left billionaire Izzy Englander’s multistrategy hedge fund Millennium Management, according to a person familiar with the matter.\nPartner Sebastien Mourot is among the departures, along with senior portfolio manager Nick Tan, portfolio managers Roland Beunardeau and Jens Wauters, and two associate portfolio managers, Nacer Bengelloun and Murat Bostan. All were based in Millennium’s London office.\nMillennium declined to comment, while none of the portfolio managers immediately responded to a request for comment.\nThree of the employees who left had a technology, media and telecommunications focus, while Bengelloun covered consumer discretionary and Tan specialized in industrials and materials.\nMillennium employs hundreds of trading teams that operate independently, pursuing a variety of strategies tied to equities, fixed income, commodities and quantitative investing.\nFrequent departures and hirings are common at multistrategy hedge funds, which have tight risk limits and little tolerance for losses — a strategy that has produced steady returns and attracted investors in recent years.\n",
        "title": "Millennium Partner Among Six Money Managers to Leave Hedge Fund"
    },
    {
        "id": 968,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oils-rapid-fire-mergers-may-end-the-decade-with-10-oil-companies-202702173.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "On the heels of Occidental Petroleum's agreement to buy oil and gas producer CrownRock, industry watchers anticipate more consolidation is coming.\n\"What it says is that there are assets out there that you can buy more attractively than your own company stock,\" Cole Smead, CEO of Smead Capital Management told Yahoo Finance after the $12 billion deal was announced.\nThe takeover of Midland, Texas-based CrownRock differs from other recent mega-deals in that it's financed with debt, and it involves a privately held company.\n\"There's not a ton of deals like this from a private to public, but there's a lot of public-to-public,\" Smead said. \"We're probably going to end the 2020's with 10 oil companies in America.\"\nIn October Chevron (CVX) announced it would acquire Hess (HES) for $53 billion and Exxon Mobil's (XOM) agreedto acquire Pioneer Natural Resources for $60 billion.\nAll three major deals involve energy players with footprints in the Permian Basin. The area, known for technologically advanced production at lower costs, has become a hotspot for takeovers as the oil majors gobble up assets in search of more output.\n\"We expect the trend to continue in 2024 and that consolidation will put more assets into the market as portfolios are optimized creating growth opportunities for companies across the size spectrum,\" said Jeff Robertson, managing director with Water Tower Research, in a note to investors.\n\"Companies with strong balance sheets could capitalize on acquisition opportunities to high-grade their asset bases,\" Robertson added.\nThe energy sector is on pace to end the year as the second largest under-performers, behind Utilities.\nThe S&P 500's (^GSPC) Energy Select ETF (XLE) is down roughly 7% year-to-date, compared to overall benchmark's 21% gain.\nThe decline is a stark difference to last year's performance, when oil and gas related stocks rose to all-time highs amid record profits and soaring crude prices.\nAmong the large companies that announced mergers this year, Chevron is down roughly 20%, while ExxonMobil is 10% lower.\nOccidental Petroleum, the top gainer in the S&P 500 last year, is down about 10% since the start of 2023.\n-\nInes is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre\n",
        "title": "Oil's rapid consolidation is likely to continue"
    },
    {
        "id": 969,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/threads-run-tests-posts-available-202411813.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Meta Platforms' Threads is starting a test where posts from accounts on the microblogging platform will be available on Mastodon and other services that use the ActivityPub protocol, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday.\nMeta had announced plans to make Threads compatible with open, interoperable social networks when the app was launched in July.\n\"Making Threads interoperable will give people more choice over how they interact and it will help content reach more people,\" Zuckerberg said.\nMastodon, which prides itself on its decentralised, user-driven structure, is like Threads, an alternative to Elon Musk's social media platform \"X\", formerly Twitter.\nMastodon runs on a framework called ActivityPub that allows users to build independent social media experiences.\n\"Our plan is to work with ActivityPub to provide you the option to stop using Threads and transfer your content to another service,\" the company said in July.\nThreads, which crossed 100 million sign-ups within five days of its launch, is also set to roll out in Europe in December, according to media reports.\n(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Threads to run tests to make posts available on other social media platforms"
    },
    {
        "id": 970,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-steadies-tumbling-almost-4-000917031.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil rose as a drawdown in US stockpiles helped thaw a market frozen by concerns about excess supplies.\nWest Texas Intermediate rose 1.3% to settle above $69 in a relief rally catalyzed by overselling on Tuesday and a bullish oil inventory report Wednesday. US crude stockpiles fell for a second week while total oil and product inventories declined by the most since October, the Energy Information Administration said. Thinning liquidity ahead of the holiday period has exacerbated price movements, with US trading volumes below the 30-day average in three of the last four sessions.\n“All and all, this is pretty bullish,” Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth, said of the inventory drawdowns. “Is it enough to spark a ‘true believers’ rally? No. But maybe gives shorts some pause on pressing further.”\nStill, key market gauges continue signaling oversupply, with crude futures retreating 25% since September. Nearby contracts are trading below later dated ones — a bearish structure known as contango — and some spreads are at the weakest since late 2020. The weekly average of Russia’s seaborne crude exports jumped to the highest level since early July, while the US raised its estimate for 2023 output.\nA move by OPEC and it allies to extend and deepen output cuts has failed to stem oil’s slide, with investors skeptical that the cartel will succeed in tightening the market. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, meanwhile, continues to forecast a significant shortfall in oil supplies next quarter, an outlook at odds with its own efforts to rein in production.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Rises as Large US Stockpile Drawdown Gives Bears Pause"
    },
    {
        "id": 971,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-perus-central-bank-inflation-201814552.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds new forecast, inflation data)\nLIMA, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Peru's inflation rate could converge to the central bank's target sooner than expected, the head of the bank said on Wednesday, arguing that the rate of rising prices in the Andean nation is now under control.\n\"We expect it to return to the (target) range, if not in December, in the first quarter or in April next year,\" central bank head Julio Velarde said, hinting at an earlier-than expected easing of inflation.\nThe central bank had previously said inflation would converge to target in April.\nPeru's annual inflation rate\nslowed to 3.64% in November\n, bringing the rate or rising consumer prices closer to the central bank's target range of between 1% to 3%.\nThe bank will announce on Thursday any changes to its benchmark interest rate\nafter cutting it to 7%\nlast month.\n\"The important thing is that we have raised the interest rate much less than the rest of the region and we are getting inflation to return faster (to the target) than the other countries,\" said Velarde. (Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by David Alire Garcia)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Peru's central bank: inflation may hit target sooner than expected"
    },
    {
        "id": 972,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/feds-powell-not-ready-balance-201508771.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Michael S. Derby\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the central bank still is unsure when it will end the process of shrinking the size of its balance sheet, even as it moves toward cutting its short-term interest-rate target.\n\"We are not talking about altering the pace of Q.T. right now,\" Powell said at his press conference following the Fed's policy decision. Q.T. refers to quantitative tightening, or the contraction of the Fed's bond-holdings.\nPowell said the outlook for the Fed balance sheet operates separately from the central bank's interest rate policy. (Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "Fed's Powell not ready to say when balance sheet wind-down ends"
    },
    {
        "id": 973,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-us-stocks-surge-200614152.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates to 14:50 EST)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged on Wednesday and benchmark Treasury yields slipped to their lowest level since August after the Federal Reserve flagged the end of its tightening cycle and struck a dovish tone for the year ahead.\nAll three major U.S. stock indexes jumped sharply, on track to reach fresh closing highs for the year, after the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) left its Fed funds target rate unchanged at 5.25%-5.50%.\nIn its\naccompanying statement\n, the U.S. central bank acknowledged that inflation has eased and implied that the rate tightening cycle might be over and hinted that lower borrowing costs could be in the cards in 2024.\n\"The Fed delivered an early holiday present this year,\" said Greg Bassuk, CEO at AXS Investments in New York. \"Investors are embracing change in Fed sentiment toward a more dovish stance, it really underscores the trade that investors have been making over the last few weeks; that rates are set to decline in the coming year.\"\nEconomic data showed U.S. producer prices (PPI) were unchanged in November, further evidence that inflation continues to meander down toward the Fed's average annual 2% target.\n\"Some of the factors we believe that drove this change in sentiment is this week's CPI and PPI data showing more consistency in inflation's downward trajectory,\" Bassuk added. \"This allowed the Fed to gain greater confidence that its hawkish moves have begun to achieve their objectives.\"\nIn a busy week for central banks, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will announce policy decisions on Thursday.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 372.14 points, or 1.02%, to 36,950.08, the S&P 500 gained 51.59 points, or 1.11%, at 4,695.29 and the Nasdaq Composite added 167.40 points, or 1.15%, at 14,700.80.\nEuropean shares ended a subdued session with a nominal loss as investors largely avoided risky bets ahead of the Fed decision.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.06% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.05%.\nEmerging market stocks rose 0.03%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.08% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.25%.\nTreasury yields tumbled after the Fed decision, which opened the door to interest rate cuts in 2024.\nBenchmark 10-year notes rose 51/32 in price to yield 4.0145%, from 4.206% late on Tuesday.\nThe 30-year bond rose 76/32 in price to yield 4.1709%, from 4.304% late on Tuesday.\nThe dollar reversed its gains against a basket of world currencies, dropping after the central bank signaled an end to its tightening cycle.\nThe dollar index fell 0.81%, with the euro up 0.85% to $1.0884.\nThe Japanese yen strengthened 1.56% versus the greenback at 143.22 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2621, up 0.48% on the day.\nOil prices bounced back after tumbling to near six-month lows on Tuesday in the wake of a larger-than-expected weekly withdrawal from U.S. crude storage and as an attack on a tanker in the Red Sea threatened Middle East oil supplies\nU.S. crude rose 1.25% to settle at $69.47 per barrel, while Brent settled at $74.26 per barrel, up 1.39% on the day.\nGold advanced in opposition to the weakened greenback.\nSpot gold added 1.8% to $2,014.59 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additonal reporting by Rae Wee in Singapore and Alun John in London; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-US stocks surge, Treasury yields fall as Fed signals end to tightening cycle"
    },
    {
        "id": 974,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-natgas-prices-1-200209948.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds latest prices) By Scott DiSavino Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures edged up about 1% on Wednesday from a six-month low in the prior session on raised demand forecasts for this week, and as record amounts of gas flowed to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants. That price increase came despite record output and forecasts for mild weather and lower heating demand next week that should allow utilities to pull less gas from storage than usual through at least late December. Analysts forecast there was currently around 7.8% more gas in storage than usual for this time of year. Front-month gas futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.4 cents, or 1.0%, to settle at $2.335 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). On Tuesday, the contract closed at its lowest since June 12. Despite the small price increase, the front-month remained in technically oversold territory with a Relative Strength Index (RSI) below 30 for a sixth day in a row for the first time since February. A lack of big price moves in recent weeks has cut historic or actual 30-day close-to-close futures volatility to 45.9%, the lowest since September 2021. Historic daily volatility hit a record high of 177.7% in February 2022 and a record low of 7.3% in June 1991. Historic volatility has averaged 71.5% so far this year, versus a record high of 92.8% in 2022 and a five-year (2018-2022) average of 57.9%. With record production and ample gas in storage, futures have been sending bearish signals for weeks that prices this winter (November-March) likely already peaked in November. Analysts have said they expect prices to climb in coming years as demand for the fuel grows as new LNG export plants enter service in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But for 2024, some analysts have reduced their U.S. demand forecasts after Exxon Mobil delayed the start of first LNG production at its 2.3-billion-cubic-feet-per-day (bcfd) Golden Pass export plant under construction in Texas to the first half of 2025 from the second half of 2024. SUPPLY AND DEMAND Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states rose to 108.4 bcfd so far in December from a record 108.3 bcfd in November. Meteorologists projected the weather would remain warmer than normal through at least Dec. 28. With the weather remaining mild, LSEG forecast U.S. gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would slide from 125.0 bcfd this week to 122.2 bcfd next week. The forecast for this week was higher than LSEG's outlook on Tuesday, while its forecast for next week was lower. Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose to an average of 14.6 bcfd so far in December, up from a record 14.3 bcfd in November. The U.S. is on track to become the world's biggest LNG supplier in 2023, ahead of recent leaders Australia and Qatar. Much higher global prices have fed demand for U.S. exports due in part to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine. Gas was trading around $11 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe and $15 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia. Week ended Week ended Year ago Five-year Dec 8 Dec 1 Dec 8 average Forecast Actual Dec 8 U.S. weekly natgas storage change (bcf): -54 -117 -46 -81 U.S. total natgas in storage (bcf): 3,665 3,719 3,419 3,404 U.S. total storage versus 5-year average 7.7% 6.7% Global Gas Benchmark Futures ($ per mmBtu) Current Day Prior Day This Month Prior Year Five Year Last Year Average Average 2022 (2017-2021) Henry Hub 2.30 2.31 5.77 6.54 2.89 Title Transfer Facility (TTF) 11.22 11.02 36.68 40.50 7.49 Japan Korea Marker (JKM) 15.62 15.75 32.34 34.11 8.95 LSEG Heating (HDD), Cooling (CDD) and Total (TDD) Degree Days Two-Week Total Forecast Current Day Prior Day Prior Year 10-Year 30-Year Norm Norm U.S. GFS HDDs 320 317 475 387 411 U.S. GFS CDDs 1 2 3 5 4 U.S. GFS TDDs 321 319 378 392 415 LSEG U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts Prior Week Current Next Week This Week Five-Year Week Last Year (2018-2022) Average For Month U.S. Supply (bcfd) U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production 108.1 108.8 109.0 102.8 94.2 U.S. Imports from Canada8 8.8 8.6 8.9 10.0 9.1 U.S. LNG Imports 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 Total U.S. Supply 116.9 117.5 117.9 112.8 103.5 U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.2 U.S. Exports to Mexico 3.9 3.9 4.8 5.2 5.0 U.S. LNG Exports 14.5 14.6 14.0 12.6 8.6 U.S. Commercial 13.2 13.9 13.0 15.4 14.6 U.S. Residential 20.9 22.5 20.7 25.8 24.7 U.S. Power Plant 33.2 33.7 33.7 30.4 28.6 U.S. Industrial 24.3 24.7 24.3 24.7 25.0 U.S. Plant Fuel 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.3 5.3 U.S. Pipe Distribution 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.9 U.S. Vehicle Fuel 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Total U.S. Consumption 99.8 103.1 99.9 104.4 101.2 Total U.S. Demand 121.4 125.0 122.2 125.6 118.0 U.S. Northwest River Forecast Center (NWRFC) at The Dalles Dam Current Day Prior Day 2023 2022 2021 % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal Forecast Forecast Actual Actual Actual Apr-Sep 83 82 83 107 81 Jan-Jul 81 82 77 102 79 Oct-Sep 82 83 76 103 81 U.S. weekly power generation percent by fuel - EIA Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Dec 15 Dec 8 Dec 1 Nov 24 Nov 17 Wind 13 12 10 11 9 Solar 3 3 3 3 3 Hydro 5 5 6 6 6 Other 2 2 2 2 2 Petroleum 0 0 0 0 0 Natural Gas 40 40 42 39 42 Coal 16 17 17 16 17 Nuclear 21 21 20 22 21 SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu) Hub Current Day Prior Day Henry Hub 2.37 2.39 Transco Z6 New York 2.10 2.07 PG&E Citygate 4.04 4.02 Eastern Gas (old Dominion South) 1.86 1.82 Chicago Citygate 2.16 2.13 Algonquin Citygate 4.00 3.08 SoCal Citygate 4.15 3.78 Waha Hub 2.00 1.57 AECO 1.22 1.17 SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour) Hub Current Day Prior Day New England 38.25 34.25 PJM West 39.50 48.50 Ercot North 21.00 23.25 Mid C 59.08 63.00 Palo Verde 43.25 45.50 SP-15 49.00 51.75 (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US natgas prices up 1% on higher demand, record LNG feedgas"
    },
    {
        "id": 975,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/refile-feds-powell-fed-likely-193823776.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Refiling to fix typographical error in headline)\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday said the central bank was likely done raising interest rates, but kept open the option to act again if needed.\n\"While we believe our policy rate is at or near its peak for the tightening cycle, the economy has surprised forecasters,\" Powell said a press conference following the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting.\n\"We are prepared to tighten policy further if appropriate,\" Powell said, adding that while Fed officials \"do not view it as likely to be appropriate to raise interest rates further, neither do they want to take the possibility off the table\" if it's needed. (Reporting by Michael S. Derby; editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "REFILE-Fed's Powell: Fed likely at or near peak of rate hike cycle"
    },
    {
        "id": 976,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/luxury-slowdown-prompts-fears-inventory-193747803.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Mimosa Spencer\nPARIS (Reuters) - Early holiday shopping season discounts from high-end fashion retailers like Bergdorf Goodman on New York's Fifth Avenue raised concern that a lacklustre Christmas could lead to inventory gluts – potentially dragging labels into a discounting spiral that would cheapen their image.\nThe latest U.S. credit card data from Barclays released on Wednesday showed that spending on luxury goods remained negative in November, down 15% year-on-year after a decline of 14% in October.\nThat performance \"doesn't bring much optimism\" for the fourth quarter, with the weak trends in the U.S. reason for caution about the performance of luxury brands over the period, Barclays analysts said.\nCredit card data from Citi, also released on Wednesday, showed purchases of luxury fashion were down 9.6% year-on-year in November, after an 11.4% decline in October, with steeper declines in department stores and online, down 13% in November year-on-year.\nRetailers entered the season with too much inventory, said Olivier Abtan, consultant with Alix Partners, noting that last year’s purchasing orders were made before the sector began to cool off after a months-long, post-pandemic splurge.\n“They’ve already begun the season with overstock, compared to normal levels,” said Abtan.\nShare prices of LVMH, Kering and Burberry were down 12%, 23% and 33%, respectively, since early August, while shares in e-commerce operator Farfetch have lost the bulk of their value and were down 90%.\n“We know that the U.S. consumer is going to keep being reasonable, and retailers have to adapt,” said Caroline Reyl Head of Premium Brands at Pictet Asset Management, which owns shares of LVMH.\nConflict in the Middle East added geopolitical uncertainty to a luxury industry outlook already clouded by inflation, with shoppers in the U.S. and Europe tightening their purse strings while expectations for a strong post-pandemic rebound in China were derailed by a property crisis.\nThe lower spending comes at the all-important end-of-year season, with November and December accounting for 25% of annual sales.\n“It’s not going to be a good Christmas for luxury brands,” said Abtan.\nBut department stores could feel the pinch from slowing demand for the next six to 12 months, predicted Citi analysts, a potential challenge for luxury brands generating a significant amount of sales outside of their own networks of boutiques.\nDepartment stores -- particularly in the U.S. -- are known for aggressive discounting, drawing shoppers to stores, but offering lower prices can erode the attractiveness of fashion brands and encourage people to hold back for future deals.\nLeading global brands like Hermes, privately owned Chanel and LVMH's Louis Vuitton and Dior maintain a tight grip on retail operations, selling mainly through their own stores which allows them to avoid discounts and fully control their brand image.\nSuch direct-to-consumer sales by high-end labels have increased from 40% of the personal luxury goods market in 2019 to 52% in 2023, according to Bain.\nAnalysts say fashion houses are overall much better equipped than during the crisis of 2008 and 2009, when the spending slowdown was sudden.\nSince the previous crisis, labels have applied artificial intelligence to predict sales volumes and adjust production, while they have also fine-tuned their proportion of seasonal and more permanent styles.\nThe end of this year will be “a season for bargain seekers but not the markdown season of the century,\" predicted luxury consultant Mario Ortelli.\nTechnology has played a \"decisive role\" to avoid overstock issues, said Mathilde Haemmerle, partner at Bain. She cites macro indicators, historical sales of similar products, trends scraping on social networks as variables examined through AI to better anticipate sales volumes.\nThe bigger labels are also more agile, having cut their development time in half over the past 15 years by streamlining production and regrouping certain stages of production, according to Abtan.\n“That’s a game changer,” said Abtan.\n(Reporting by Mimosa Spencer; Editing by Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "Luxury slowdown prompts fears of inventory pile-up over key holiday season"
    },
    {
        "id": 977,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/argentina-bonds-rise-two-high-135817109.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Argentine bonds climbed to the highest in two years after President Javier Milei’s government unveiled the first batch of shock-therapy measures intended to revive the economy.\nBenchmark overseas notes due in 2035 added 1.3 cents to 34.9 cents on the dollar, the strongest level since September 2021, according to indicative price data compiled by Bloomberg. Other securities also climbed, bolstered by speculation that the country may have a path to jump-starting growth, as painful as the process may be for ordinary Argentines.\nThe “shock therapy” package announced by Economy Minister Luis Caputo late Tuesday included devaluing the peso by more than 50%, along with massive cuts to government spending equivalent to almost 3% of gross domestic product. Caputo outlined plans to halve the number of ministries, cut transfers to provinces and suspend public works projects. Transport and energy subsidies would be slashed, with slight increases to some social programs to try to blunt the impact.\nRead More: Argentina Devalues Peso by 54% in First Batch of Shock Plans\n“Investors are taking the announcements as the first steps on the right direction,” said William Snead, a strategist at BBVA in New York. “There is a lot of enthusiasm — but the next couple of months will be key. Inflation will spike and lower spending should have an economic impact, then a reality check is due.”\nThe drastic measures are intended to salvage an economy battered by years of mismanagement and overspending. Argentina is headed to its sixth recession in a decade with inflation raging above 140%, and more than 40% of the population is mired in poverty.\nProvincial bonds were little changed Wednesday, with notes from Entre Rios due in 2028 near 76 cents on the dollar, while 2029 bonds from Cordoba hovered around 77 cents.\nArgentine gains could be limited by concern among some investors that the moves outlined last night don’t go far enough, as well as speculation that Milei will have difficulty pushing his ideas through Congress.\nHours after his televised comments, the Economy Ministry said Argentina is targeting a slow weakening of the peso going forward, about 2% per month.\n“The initial focus on fiscal measures will provide comfort,” said Alejo Costa, chief Argentina strategist at Banco BTG Pactual SA. However, investors will soon “demand additional details to understand the full implications of the measures.”\n",
        "title": "Argentina Bonds Rise to Two-Year High After Milei Debuts Shock Plan"
    },
    {
        "id": 978,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/audit-deal-chinese-ipos-us-192009371.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A landmark audit deal struck a year ago that saved hundreds of Chinese companies in the US from being booted off American stock exchanges has done little to revive the flow of initial public offerings between the two countries.\nThis week marks the first anniversary of an agreement to open Chinese auditor books to US regulators after a decades-long standoff. Months later, the delisting threat for internet giants such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and PDD Holdings Inc. is diminished, with both sides continuing to cooperate even as the US has levied penalties on auditors in mainland China and Hong Kong.\nEven with US-listed Chinese firms remaining in place and a handful of new entrants trying their hand, not one Chinese IPO raised more than $200 million so far this year. It’s a far cry from 2021 when a dozen companies each raised more than that figure, led by Didi Global Inc.’s ill-fated $4.4 billion listing, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nWhen Beijing opened a cybersecurity probe into the ride-hailing giant just days after its mega IPO, it was the beginning of a crackdown not only on Didi, which delisted in less than a year, but on Chinese business in general. More than $1 trillion in market value was wiped out, and with the auditing dispute adding to the regulatory uncertainty, the effect was to slam the door on sizable IPOs abroad.\nRead More: Xi Jinping’s Capitalist Smackdown Sparks a $1 Trillion Reckoning\nBy the time signs emerged that it was over, rate hikes and volatility put a damper on first-time share sales globally, and China’s weak post-pandemic recovery didn’t help either.\nChinese Startups\nFor many Chinese startups seeking a blockbuster first-time share sale, the prospect of a US listing is still their best hope.\nAt least 37 Chinese firms filed for a US listing this year, including Geely-backed electric vehicle maker Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Ltd., MRO procurement service platform ZKH Group and Tencent Holdings Ltd.-backed pet clinic operator New Ruipeng Pet Group, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report in November.\nZeekr is exploring the possibility of a planned US IPO in February, Bloomberg News has reported. The high-end brand, which has yet to turn a profit, has been looking for an appropriate listing window after gauging investor demand in November, people familiar with the matter have said.\n“US IPOs are still favored because of less stringent profitability requirements than Hong Kong,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Lu Yeung said via email. What’s more, many Chinese IPO candidates raised money from US private equity and venture capital firms that prefer an overseas exit, he added.\nToned Down Curbs\nArguably the biggest hurdle left for prospective US IPO candidates to clear is the Chinese regulatory environment, which though opaque, has brightened considerably. China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country’s securities regulator, toned down curbs on overseas listings in February, so long as the firms meet requirements regarding the use of personal data and state secrets.\n“Our conversations have been very positive and profitable with the CSRC in terms of the way that they want to approach it, and the message to us is that they are not trying to prevent companies who choose to list overseas from listing overseas,” said Robert McCooey, vice chairman and head of APAC listings at Nasdaq Inc.\nChinese companies have got through the review, and the exchange operator is cautiously optimistic that will continue, Nasdaq’s McCooey said.\n“If the window is open, we will see deals,” said Gary Dvorchak, managing director of the Blueshirt Group. With the geopolitical risk, most of the potential buyers of US-listed Chinese IPOs are primarily region-specific funds, which makes for a smaller pool of investors, he added.\n“They won’t get the valuations that their US peers will get, but it will be good enough for them to sell stocks and raise capital,” Dvorchak said.\nMuch hinges on whether the détente between the two countries can persist. Last month, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced hefty penalties against the Chinese and Hong Kong affiliates of PwC and a third Chinese auditor. Should either country move to withdraw cooperation, any resumption in cross-border IPOs would likely be the first victim.\n",
        "title": "A Year After Audit Deal, Chinese IPOs in US Are Small and Rare"
    },
    {
        "id": 979,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-drops-fed-officials-191421743.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The dollar dropped against the euro and yen on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled in new economic projections that the historic tightening of U.S. monetary policy engineered over the last two years is at an end and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024. A near unanimous 17 of 19 Fed officials project that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024 than it is now - with the median projection showing the rate falling three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 5.25%-5.50% range. No officials see rates higher by the end of next year. The U.S. dollar index dropped to 103.31, the lowest since Dec. 7. The euro rose to $1.8475, the highest since Dec. 5, and the greenback fell to 144.19 Japanese yen, the lowest since Dec. 8.. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 2:08PM (1908 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 103.4400 103.7600 -0.30% -0.048% +104.0300 +103.3100 Euro/Dollar $1.0829 $1.0795 +0.31% +1.05% +$1.0848 +$1.0774 Dollar/Yen 144.3500 145.4650 -0.73% +10.14% +145.9900 +144.1900 Euro/Yen 156.34 156.98 -0.41% +11.44% +157.4800 +156.2700 Dollar/Swiss 0.8733 0.8753 -0.21% -5.54% +0.8780 +0.8728 Sterling/Dollar $1.2564 $1.2563 +0.02% +3.90% +$1.2584 +$1.2501 Dollar/Canadian 1.3554 1.3590 -0.26% +0.04% +1.3608 +1.3545 Aussie/Dollar $0.6620 $0.6559 +0.91% -2.90% +$0.6630 +$0.6542 Euro/Swiss 0.9458 0.9448 +0.11% -4.42% +0.9469 +0.9437 Euro/Sterling 0.8616 0.8592 +0.28% -2.58% +0.8626 +0.8586 NZ $0.6161 $0.6135 +0.48% -2.92% +$0.6174 +$0.6085 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 10.8370 10.9620 -1.25% +10.30% +11.0080 +10.8200 Euro/Norway 11.7403 11.8297 -0.76% +11.88% +11.8693 +11.7351 Dollar/Sweden 10.3822 10.4305 +0.05% -0.25% +10.4642 +10.3590 Euro/Sweden 11.2684 11.2627 +0.05% +1.07% +11.2862 +11.2440 (Reporting by Karen Brettell; editing by Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar drops as Fed officials forecast rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 980,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-dot-plot-shows-central-bank-will-cut-interest-rates-by-075-in-2024-190734687.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged in a range of 5.25%-5.5% at its final meeting of the year on Wednesday. But central bank officials predicted changes to come with interest rates expected to tick down to 4.6% next year.\nAlong with its policy announcement, the Fed released updated economic forecasts in its Summary of Economic Projections (SEP), including its \"dot plot,\" which maps out policymakers' expectations for where interest rates could be headed in the future.\nFed officials see the fed funds rate peaking at 4.6% in 2024, down from the Fed's previous September projection of 5.1%. That suggests the Fed will cut rates cuts by 0.75% next year.\n17 officials predict a rate cut next year with 5 officials seeing a decrease of more than 0.75% while just 2 see no cut. No officials see rates ticking higher in 2024. This month's expectations for rates next year were also less widely distributed compared to September's projections.\nThe forecast was also revised lower for 2023 to match the Fed's hold. As recently as September, officials had forecast one more rate hike this year. At the end of 2022, officials had projected interest rates would peak at 5.1% in 2023.\nThe SEP indicated the Federal Reserve sees core inflation peaking at 2.4% next year — lower than September's projection of 2.6% — before cooling to 2.2% in 2025 and 2.0% in 2026.\nOfficials see unemployment rising to 4.1% in 2024, matching the previous forecast. Unemployment is expected to remain at that level through 2026.\nThe Fed also sees a deceleration in economic growth, with the economy forecast to grow 1.4% next year — down from September's 1.5% projection — before picking up slightly to 1.8% in 2025 and 1.9% in 2026.\nAlexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Fed 'dot plot' shows central bank will cut interest rates by 0.75% in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 981,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/federal-reserve-holds-interest-rates-at-22-year-high-signals-3-cuts-next-year-190138859.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "The Federal Reserve maintained its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday in a range of 5.25%-5.50%, the highest in 22 years, but signaled it will likely cut interest rates by a total of 75 basis points, or 0.75%, in the year ahead.\nIn September, the Fed's forecasts had suggested the central bank would cut interest rates by 0.50%. The Fed has moved in 25-basis-point increments over the last year, indicating the central bank now expects to cut interest rates three times in 2024.\nThese projections come as the central bank now expects inflation to fall to 2.4% next year — down from 2.5% forecast in September — and drop further to 2.2% by 2025.\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nWednesday's policy statement tweaked language leaving room for rate hikes.\n\"In determining the extent to which any additional policy firming may be appropriate,\" the statement read, \"… the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.\"\nEarlier statements had not included \"any\" before the mention of additional rate hikes, suggesting the central bank is now biased against further interest rate increases. This policy meeting marks the third meeting in a row the central bank has held rates at current levels.\nFed Chairman Jerome Powell said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon that \"we added the word 'any' as an acknowledgement that we are likely at or near the peak rate for this cycle.\"\nHe added, though, that \"participants did not want to take the possibility of further hikes off the table, so that’s what we were thinking.\"\nPowell reiterated several times at his press conference that the Fed still needs to see more evidence that inflation is moving down to its 2% goal and made it clear the economy could still move in surprising directions next year.\n\"Nobody is declaring victory,\" he said. \"That would be premature.\"\nWhile \"there is little basis for thinking that the economy is in a recession now,\" he added, \"there is always a probability that there will be a recession in the next year, and it’s a meaningful probability no matter what the economy is doing.\"\nThe Fed chair also declined to provide any guidance on when the Fed might cut rates. Some on Wall Street are expecting a cut as early as March.\nBut he made it clear that Fed officials are beginning the conversation of when to dial back policy restraints. He said it was a \"topic of discussion\" at the central bank’s meeting Wednesday and \"this will be a topic for us looking ahead.\"\nPowell, responding to a question from Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger, made it clear the Fed wouldn’t wait until inflation gets all the way down to 2% to start cutting.\n\"It would be too late,\" he said. \"You would want to be reducing restriction on the economy before you get to 2% … so you don’t overshoot.\"\nThere were other clues about the current thinking of Fed officials in Wednesday's policy statement.\nAcknowledging progress in inflation, officials changed long-held language in the statement to note that inflation has \"eased over the past year, but remains elevated.\" Previously, the central bank had merely referred to inflation as \"elevated.\"\nOfficials also acknowledged in their statement the slowdown in the economy since the torrid pace of over 5% in the third quarter. The Fed sees the economy growing 1.4% next year, down a tenth from the 1.5% forecast in September.\nFed officials still see the unemployment rate rising to 4.1% next year.\nRecent readings on inflation do show it dropping closer to the central bank’s target. The Fed’s favored inflation measure — the core Personal Consumption Expenditures index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices — clocked in at 3.5% for the month of October, down from 3.7% in September and 4.3% in June.\nThe Consumer Price Index on a core basis showed inflation rose 4% in November, the same clip as in October.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Federal Reserve holds interest rates at 22-year high, signals 3 cuts next year"
    },
    {
        "id": 982,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/traders-ramp-bets-boe-rate-093911040.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Traders ramped up bets on interest-rate cuts by the Bank of England next year after soft GDP data reinforced the view that policymakers won’t be able to keep monetary policy tight for so long.\nFor the first time in the current cycle, markets fully priced 100 basis points of monetary easing in 2024, which would take borrowing costs to 4.25%. A first quarter-point cut is expected in June and there’s a 64% chance of an earlier move in May, according to swaps tied to the central bank meeting dates.\nThe latest shift in pricing brings BOE expectations closer to those for the Federal Reserve, which is seen lowering borrowing costs by at least one percentage point next year. The US central bank announces its policy decision later on Wednesday, with UK officials following on Thursday.\n“The potential is that the Bank of England cuts rates more than the forward curve is anticipating,” said Andrew Pease, global head of investment strategy at Russell Investments. If the economy turns out to be “as bad as everyone thinks, the BOE will react more aggressively,” he said.\nThe UK economy shrank more than expected in October, setting the stage for another quarter of stagnation that is widely forecast to persist through 2024.\nAt the same time, wage growth is slowing at the sharpest pace in almost two years, bolstering arguments that the BOE may have done enough to rein in inflationary pressures after delivering the most aggressive series of rate increases since the 1980s.\nOthers weren’t convinced policymakers will be so aggressive with their easing next year, as officials have highlighted lingering concerns about inflation. The BOE guidance is that rates will need to remain at the highest level in 15 years for the foreseeable future.\n“While some market participants may be tempted to front load rate cuts in 2024, we think that the BOE would await more evidence that UK inflation in particular has continued to fall before discussing any easing measures,” said Valentin Marinov, head of G10 FX strategy at Credit Agricole CIB.\nThe risk of disappointment after tomorrow’s decision didn’t stop investors from piling into UK bonds after the GDP data. The yield on 10-year gilts fell as much as 11 basis points to 3.86% on Wednesday, with the real yield reaching the lowest since May.\nThe pound, in the meantime, weakened as the expected interest-rate gap between the UK and the US shrank. The currency fell as much as 0.4% to $1.2510.\n“It won’t be too long before the BOE’s narrative shifts from inflation to growth concerns — and that suggests there is scope for pound weakness in the coming weeks,” said Peter Kinsella, global head of FX strategy at Union Bancaire Privee. The pound-dollar pair could fall toward $1.20 in the coming weeks, he said.\n--With assistance from James Hirai and Sujata Rao.\n(Adds detail on rates pricing in second paragraph, investor comment in fourth.)\n",
        "title": "Traders Bet BOE Will Cut Interest Rates Agressively Next Year"
    },
    {
        "id": 983,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-funds-sec-mandate-centrally-150000494.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds and brokerages are getting new requirements from the Securities and Exchange Commission to centrally clear far more of their US Treasuries trades in a major structural overhaul for the $26 trillion market.\nThe SEC will vote Wednesday to require that all transactions involving repurchase agreements use clearinghouses, which serve as a backstop by sitting between buyers and sellers. In a partial win for hedge funds, they would be exempt from having to centrally clear their cash Treasuries trades. Still, the new rules could bolster oversight of highly leveraged strategies such as the so-called basis trade — which use the repo market and that US officials say can pose broad dangers.\nRead More: What’s the Basis Trade? Why Does It Worry Regulators?: QuickTake\nThe new regulation is a signature policy effort for Chair Gary Gensler, who has argued that central clearing reduces risks and that trading by private funds is too opaque. He has also said only a fraction of Treasuries transactions goes through clearinghouses, even as they have become a fixture in other assets.\nAlthough there hasn’t been a major blowup in the Treasuries market since the pandemic-sparked chaos of early 2020, concerns over liquidity persist. Massive Federal Reserve buying of the government debt helped stabilize the market.\nFor government securities dealers and brokers, the SEC’s new central clearing mandate would apply to Treasuries transactions in both the cash and repurchase markets, according to the SEC. In a repo agreement, one party provides securities as collateral to another in exchange for cash.\nThe SEC had proposed last year that hedge funds also would have to centrally clear Treasuries trades in the cash market. It’s unclear whether the decision to drop that from the final rule will satisfy critics, who called the original plan unworkable and said it may force companies to exit the market. Hedge funds are already challenging multiple SEC regulations.\nRead More: Hedge Funds Facing Tighter SEC Clearing Rules for\nGensler has said central clearing for Treasuries is a way to reduce risks of instability for the broader financial system.\nThe SEC chief has expressed particular concern with the basis trade, which involves using leverage to profit from the price gap between Treasury futures and the underlying cash market. Borrowing in the repurchase market using Treasuries as collateral has soared in recent years to almost $3 trillion.\nExecutives at Citigroup Inc. and CME Group Inc., among others, have voiced support for the popular trade, which they say provides needed liquidity for government bonds.\nRecent Spikes\nSome in the industry are likely to welcome the new SEC mandate. Recent spikes in repo lending rates caused a stir in the overnight funding market, unsettling some traders.\nSome Wall Street strategists have said that they see more benefits to expanding central clearing to just the repo side of Treasuries, whereas the cost of centrally clearing cash Treasuries might outweigh the benefits.\nThe SEC plans to give clearinghouses until March 31, 2025 to update their procedures and infrastructure to comply with the rule. Market participants would have to start clearing their cash Treasuries trades by Dec. 31, 2025, and their repo transactions by June 30, 2026, according to the SEC.\nCurrently, only one clearinghouse exists for Treasuries, the Fixed Income Clearing Corp., a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. The DTCC has urged the SEC to require more parties to centrally clear their Treasuries transactions.\n",
        "title": "Hedge Funds to Get New SEC Mandate to Centrally Clear US Treasuries Trades"
    },
    {
        "id": 984,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/xs-wild-messy-2023--and-whats-next-182955935.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "It’s been quite an eventful year for the social network formerly known as Twitter — and not in a good way.\nSure, X got a new name and CEO, Linda Yaccarino. But the platform seems to be fighting a thousand battles on a thousand fronts.\nWe’ve seen an advertiser exodus due to owner Elon Musk’s controversial posts, including sharing antisemitic content and unbanning Alex Jones. The company’s valuation has plummeted. Musk is at war with some of X’s biggest advertisers. And in November traffic from Android and iPhone users was down 12.4% year-over-year, according to data.ai.\nIt’s been…a lot.\n“If I were to sum up the year for Twitter, now, X in one word, it's decimation,” explained Forrester research director Mike Proulx. “It's decimation of the Twitter brand, it's decimation of the company's primary revenue stream, it's decimation of the company's valuation.”\nAnd things aren’t looking any better going into 2024.\nMusk’s year as Twitter CEO kicked off in March when The Information and The New York Times reported that the company’s valuation had fallen from the $44 billion he paid for the company in 2022 to just $20 billion. In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that Fidelity, an investor, had cut its valuation of Twitter to $15 billion. Good thing Musk is the world’s richest person.\nOutside X’s valuation, Musk also had to contend with the fallout from his own posts. Throughout the year he made inflammatory comments about race, accused the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of impacting Twitter’s revenue and generating antisemitism on the platform.\nIn November, left-leaning Media Matters for America issued a report saying that ads on X for companies including Apple, IBM, and others appeared next to Nazi content, which sent advertisers fleeing. Musk is now suing Media Matters claiming it manipulated the platform to get ads to appear next to the objectionable content.\nThe same month, Musk appeared to show support for an antisemitic post from another user, drawing condemnation from the White House and the ADL, among others, and possibly precipitating his trip to Israel.\nMusk doesn’t seem too interested in winning back advertisers either. After apologizing for his tweet during an interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit, he cursed out advertisers for leaving X, specifically calling out Disney CEO Bob Iger.\nWith larger advertisers ditching X, the company is looking to woo smaller advertisers, The Financial Time reports.\n“It has become clear with the most recent bout with advertisers that…Main Street big brands are done advertising on the platform,” Proulx said. “The days of getting lots of sponsorship and ad revenue from major brands have come to an end.”\nThe company is also leaning further into subscription revenue, offering premium features like access to x.AI’s Grok chatbot and no ads. Those options, however, require a Premium+ subscription, which will set you back $16 per month or $168 per year.\nMusk’s wild year will likely keep X from ever becoming a massive success like rivals Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. The company was already struggling to draw users under its prior regime, but Musk’s outbursts will only hurt any efforts to turn that around. And upstarts like Meta’s Threads could further cut into X’s market share.\n“Twitter's biggest vulnerability at the moment is that the space is unstable and during this time of instability, someone could come in with a new model and garner trust…get users there…network effects can kick in quite quickly,” explained NYU Stern School of Business professor of technology, operations, and statistics Vasant Dhar.\nEven if Threads isn’t winning, it’s a platform waiting to capitalize if X trips and falls further.\nAnother fix? Musk has said he plans to make X a kind of everything app similar to China’s WeChat, but after laying off thousands of employees it’s unclear how he’ll be able scale.\n“X as a business is going to be around for the next 5 to 10 years. I don't think it's at risk of going under,” explained Deepwater Asset Management managing partner Gene Munster. “I just think the opportunity to appeal to everyone has…been taken off the table.”\nAnd on top of that, all of this is hurting Tesla (TSLA).\nStill, there’s always hope for X. Despite it all, people are still tweeting. Or X-ing. 2024 might still be a year of opportunity.\nDaniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "X's wild, messy 2023 — and what's next"
    },
    {
        "id": 985,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cop28-success-marks-just-tiny-181018904.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- This year’s COP28 in Dubai is concluding with a pleasant surprise: an agreement among 200 nations to transition away from fossil fuels. It marks the culmination of two weeks in which tensions flared over the future of coal, oil and gas. While the text isn’t final, it’s already being hailed as a “turning point” in the climate fight.\nThe future of fossil fuels was the most critical issue on the COP28 docket, but just one of many under discussion. To help cut through the noise, BloombergNEF in November identified 10 areas where governments needed to make progress at COP28 in order to take a meaningful step toward the goals of the Paris Agreement. Each area is scored out of 10 based on how much headway was made in Dubai, and assigned a weighting based on importance and urgency.\nOverall, COP28 scored a 3.8 out of 10. That was down slightly from a score of 3.9 on Nov. 30, the first day of the conference, when BNEF assigned scores based on expected progress. It was also 0.1 points higher than the score for last year’s COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, but 2.2 points below the score for COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.\nThe best-performing areas on BNEF’s scorecard included a $100 billion climate finance pledge and an energy transition package, both of which scored 7 out of 10. The $100 billion commitment was most likely met for the first time in 2022, and more than 100 countries agreed at COP28 to triple the deployment of renewable energy by 2030. While negotiators ultimately backed off of a commitment to “phase down” fossil fuels, the final agreement does commit to transitioning away from fossil fuels for the first time ever.\nFinal texts and last-minute negotiations are still being worked out in Dubai, but here’s how the rest of BNEF’s line items are shaping up:\n1.5C-aligned 2030 emissions goals\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 1\nThe proposed agreement makes clear that countries’ Paris Agreement pledges should set “ambitious, economy-wide emission reduction targets” that cover all greenhouse gases, sectors and categories. (Notably, the call for higher ambition is not just reserved for developed countries, but all nations.) But even if all current pledges are fulfilled, countries are still not on track to limit warming to 1.5C or even 2C.\nEffective stocktake on global Paris progress\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 4\nThe global stocktake, the first to take place since the Paris Agreement, assesses countries’ progress toward those goals. The planet is currently on track for 2.1C to 2.8C of warming — down from 4C before the adoption of the Paris Agreement, but far off the 1.5C to 2C target established back in 2015. The latest science says emissions would need to fall 43% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels to keep global warming at 1.5C.\nFossil-fuel phasedown agreed\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 6.5\nThe so-called “UAE Consensus” falls short of the specific fossil fuel “phase out” or “phasedown” most countries wanted, but commits to transitioning away from all fossil fuels for the first time, and in a just and orderly fashion. The reference to fossil fuels “carries significant weight” and serves as “a clear indication of the direction governments and industry must follow to build a net zero world,” said Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli, a senior lecturer in environmental law at King's College London.\nEnergy transition package agreed\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 7\nThe final text includes agreements to triple the deployment of renewable power and double the rate of efficiency gains by the end of the decade. In practice, tripling renewables by 2030 will be hard but achievable based on a recent BloombergNEF report. Meeting such a target would require a doubling of the rate of renewables investment to an average of $1.18 trillion per year through 2030, compared with $564 billion in 2022. It would also entail nearly three times as much power-grid investment in 2030 as was spent in 2022, and deploying 16.1 times as many batteries by the end of the decade as were installed at the end of last year.\nDetailed adaptation goal plan\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 4\nCOP28 negotiators agreed on countries creating national adaptation plans by 2030, an important step, but a major funding problem still lingers. “The adaptation finance gap is growing. If I would give it a score card, I would say it's a failing scorecard,” says Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center for Adaptation, a UN-formed body that acts as a “solutions broker” for figuring out how to finance adaptation projects.\nOn track for 2025 adaptation finance target\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 3\nIn the agreement made at COP26 in Glasgow, wealthier countries pledged to double adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025, from $20 billion to $40 billion. It isn’t clear how this will be met, and the COP28 agreement doesn’t make much progress towards it. Even if that target is reached, it isn’t enough — what’s needed is probably 10 times that, says Verkooijen. The COP28 agreement acknowledges this, but doesn’t answer the question of how to solve it, beyond agreeing to prepare a report by next year’s COP.\n$100 billion pledge achieved\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 7\nClimate finance has been a contentious topic at COP28, and developed countries missed a 2020 deadline for providing $100 billion in climate finance annually to developing economies. Still, data showed that in 2021 developed countries hit $89.6 billion in funding, and they seem likely to have made good on the $100 billion target as of 2022. The repeated failure to meet that goal damaged trust among less developed countries, so finally reaching it is a big moment.\nLoss and damage fund ready to go\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 6\nIn the conference’s early days, nearly 200 nations agreed on how to run a fund to help vulnerable countries deal with more extreme weather, and rich nations pledged at least $260 million to start the program. The announced contributions clear a $200 million minimum needed to launch operations, setting the stage to start disbursing money early next year. But the amount pledged is just 0.0001% of the estimated $4 trillion per year in climate loss and damage, says Joyce Kimutai, a research associate at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. “This pittance for developed nations will hardly make a difference for developing nations who are being battered by climate-related disaster after disaster,” she says.\nOn track to agree to new finance target\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 2\nThe draft emphasizes the need for finance and technology transfer as “critical enablers of climate action.” Among those disappointed with the outcome, many developing countries raised the issue of the lack of finance to meet the more ambitious goals set out in the COP28 deal. “This COP has largely disappointed on all fronts,” said Arunabha Ghosh, chief executive of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water. Specifically he called out the “failure to instate effective financial mechanisms, obliging historical emitters to contribute.”\nHigh-quality carbon offset system ready to go\nFinal BloombergNEF score: 1\nThe approval of rules to kick-start a new UN-overseen carbon market was delayed on Wednesday, creating disappointment for investors who were looking for further clarity. “We missed an opportunity” to “set a high bar on environmental integrity, safeguards, and human rights,” said Andrea Bonzanni, international policy director at the International Emissions Trading Association.\nIronically, now comes the hard part. In coming weeks and months, climate negotiators and world leaders will need to translate the agreements into actual policy. They’ll come together again for COP29 in Azerbaijan.\n“An agreement is only as good as its implementation. We are what we do, not what we say,” COP28 President (and chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.) Al Jaber said on Wednesday. “We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible actions.”\n--With assistance from Jess Shankleman, Alfred Cang, Akshat Rathi, John Ainger and Jennifer A Dlouhy.\n",
        "title": "COP28’s Success Marks Just a Tiny Upgrade on COP27 Results"
    },
    {
        "id": 986,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lucid-assembled-near-800-cars-180336946.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Pesha Magid\nRIYADH (Reuters) - Lucid Group has assembled almost 800 cars in its Saudi Arabian factory since its opening, with its main focus on training more than 200 local employees, the EV maker's Middle East managing director said on Wednesday.\nCalifornia-based Lucid opened its first plant outside the United States in September, with an initial capacity to produce 5,000 EVs a year, after the Saudi government pledged to buy up to 100,000 vehicles from it over 10 years.\n\"The car is fully built in Arizona ... then it gets de-assembled... then the car gets shipped here as a kit, and that kit is then put back together,\" Faisal Sultan, who is also Lucid's Global Vice-President, told Reuters.\nWorkers in the factory in Jeddah re-attach the battery, put the trim and tyres back on and re-test the vehicle, he added.\nSaudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns an over 60% stake in Lucid, invested billions in the company, as part of the government's plans to establish a hub for the EV industry.\nLucid has recorded an accumulated $9.5-billion loss as of September and posted losses every year since its started.\n\"It (the Saudi factory) is a small operation for us. The reason why we have kept it this way is that we want to take baby steps in our approach of training people,\" said Sultan.\n\"You are doing roughly 16, 17 to 20 vehicles a day, rather than an hour, you can spend time with them to really train them,\" he said.\nLucid is preparing the staff, half of whom are Saudis, for the opening of a complete build unit (CBU), a factory capable of manufacturing a car, in 2026, for which construction has begun.\nThe CBU's opening depends on supply chains and workforce development, Sultan said, adding: \"It has to make business sense at the end of the day for us to open that factory, but construction continues.\"\nLucid hopes the plant would help encourage key parts suppliers to establish presence in the kingdom.\n\"We cannot have operations up and running and not be efficient by bringing parts from all over the world.\"\n(Reporting by Pesha Magid; Editing by Aziz El Yaakoubi and Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "Lucid has assembled near 800 cars in Saudi plant, focused on training -VP"
    },
    {
        "id": 987,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-sweetens-3-billion-private-175644660.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Private lenders led by Blackstone Inc. sweetened terms on Guidehouse Inc.’s existing debt ahead of the company’s sale to Bain Capital Private Equity, a maneuver that successfully held off banks vying to finance the buyout.\nVeritas Capital is selling Guidehouse, a consulting firm, to Bain in a deal valued at $5.3 billion. Such a change of control normally means existing debt is replaced, but Guidehouse’s private credit lenders fought to remain involved in the business instead, according to people familiar with the matter.\nBlackstone and fellow lender HPS Investment Partners slashed the interest rate on Guidehouse’s $3.075 billion loan and $250 million revolver to dissuade Bain from refinancing the debt with banks, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Cutting the rate to 5.5 percentage points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate from 6.25 percentage points brought the facility closer to what banks offered, the people said.\nTo make their offer even more attractive, Blackstone and HPS agreed to purchase the stakes of other private credit managers who wanted to get out of the reshaped debt package, the people added.\nRepresentatives for Bain, Blackstone and HPS declined to comment. Veritas and Guidehouse didn’t respond to requests for comment.\nThe concessions amount to another win for private credit lenders in their ongoing battle against bank underwriters. Competition between the two groups has intensified in recent months as better conditions in the broadly-syndicated loan and junk-bond markets have made bank financing more attractive. Private lenders are fighting back by pitching more flexible terms that banks can’t match.\nBanks and direct lenders are again fighting over who will finance a buyout of Cotiviti, a skirmish revived after KKR & Co. made a bid for the business following a failed process by Carlyle earlier this year. Buyout funds are in talks with both banks and private credit funds for the $5 billion to $6 billion of debt, Bloomberg reported.\nPIK Option\nGuidehouse’s private lenders also added the option to pay 2 percentage points of interest with additional debt, called payment in-kind, for as long as two years, according to the people. In addition, they extended its maturity from 2028 to 2030.\nIn exchange for the concessions, the lenders were able to add new call protections, which promise a higher payoff should Guidehouse want to repay the loan early, said the people. Bain is also injecting new equity into the company as part of the buyout, the people said.\nHPS will maintain a $500 million preferred equity investment in the business, according to the people. The instrument pays interest entirely in-kind at a rate of 13.75%, but was amended to step down to 12.75% if Guidehouse lowers its overall leverage over time, one of the people said.\nThe Guidehouse debt will stay in place through the change of control thanks to a provision called portability. LevFin Insights first reported the size of the new loan and its portability provision.\n",
        "title": "Blackstone Sweetens $3 Billion Private Loan to Fend Off Banks"
    },
    {
        "id": 988,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-autopilot-does-why-being-174532283.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Tesla introduced Autopilot software in October of 2015 with CEO Elon Musk heralding it as a profound experience for people.\nOther automakers such as Mercedes, Audi and Volvo already were offering what amounted to fancy cruise control — keeping cars in their lanes and a distance from traffic in front of it.\nBut Musk had an innovation: Autopilot, he said, could change lanes on its own. “It will change people's perception of the future quite drastically,” Musk said while cautioning that drivers still have to pay attention.\nEight years later, U.S. auto safety regulators pressured Tesla into recalling nearly all the vehicles it has sold in the country because its driver monitoring system is too lax. The fix, with more alerts and limits on where the system can operate, will be done with a software update.\nHere's how Autopilot has evolved over the past eight years and why it's being recalled:\nWHAT IT DOES NOW\nBasic Autopilot can steer, accelerate and brake automatically in its lane by using two features called Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control. Another level called Navigate on Autopilot suggests lane changes and makes adjustments to stop drivers from getting stuck behind slow traffic. Autosteer is intended to be used on limited-access highways. But there's another feature called Autosteer on City Streets. Tesla owners also are testing what the company calls “Full Self-Driving” software. Despite their names, the company says the systems are there to assist drivers, none can drive themselves, and human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.\nTHE PROBLEM\nStudies show that once humans start using automated technology, they tend to trust it too much and zone out. Crashes started to happen, with the first fatality in June of 2016 when a Tesla Model S drove beneath a tractor-trailer crossing in front of it, killing the driver in Williston, Florida. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated and blamed the driver and Tesla for not spotting the truck. It closed the probe without seeking a recall, but criticized the way Tesla marketed Autopilot. Tesla's monitoring system measured hands on the steering wheel, but some drivers found it easy to fool. And more Teslas started crashing into emergency vehicles parked on highways. In 2021, NHTSA opened a new investigation focusing on 322 crashes involving Tesla's Autopilot. The agency sent investigators to at least 35 Tesla crashes in which 17 people were killed.\nTHE RECALL\nOn Wednesday, the agency announced that Tesla had agreed to recall more than 2 million vehicles dating to 2012. The agency said Tesla's driver monitoring system is defective and “can lead to foreseeable misuse of the system.” Tesla disagreed with the conclusion but decided to do a software update to strengthen monitoring. The added controls include more prominent visual alerts, simplifying how Autosteer is turned on and off, and additional checks on whether Autosteer is being used outside of controlled access roads and when approaching traffic control devices. In some cases it could limit where the system can operate. Critics say detecting hands on the steering wheel isn't enough and that all Teslas should have cameras that monitor a driver's eyes.\n",
        "title": "What Tesla Autopilot does, why it's being recalled and how the company plans to fix it"
    },
    {
        "id": 989,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-apple-now-requires-judges-174351540.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds Google statement in paragraph 6)\nBy Raphael Satter\nWASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Apple has said it now requires a judge's order to hand over information about its customers' push notification to law enforcement, putting the iPhone maker's policy in line with rival Google and raising the hurdle officials must clear to get app data about users.\nThe new policy was not formally announced but appeared sometime over the past few days on Apple's publicly available law enforcement guidelines. It follows the revelation from Oregon Senator Ron Wyden that officials were requesting such data from Apple and Google, the unit of Alphabet that makes the operating system for Android phones.\nApps of all kinds rely on push notifications to alert smartphone users to incoming messages, breaking news, and other updates. These are the audible \"dings\" or visual indicators users get when they receive an email or their sports team wins a game. What users often do not realize is that almost all such notifications travel over Google and Apple's servers.\nIn a letter first disclosed by Reuters last week, Wyden said the practice gave the two companies unique insight into traffic flowing from those apps to users, putting them \"in a unique position to facilitate government surveillance of how users are using particular apps.\"\nApple and Google acknowledged receiving such requests. Apple added a passage to its guidelines saying such data was available \"with a subpoena or greater legal process.\" The passage has now been updated to refer to more stringent warrant requirements.\nApple did not issue an official statement. Google said in a statement it had always required judicial approval to hand over this kind of information.\nWyden said in a statement that Apple was \"doing the right thing by matching Google and requiring a court order to hand over push notification related data.\" (Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by David Gregorio and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Apple now requires a judge's consent to hand over push notification data"
    },
    {
        "id": 990,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/openai-axel-springer-ink-deal-145333092.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Axel Springer SE is granting ChatGPT-maker OpenAI the right to use content from its news outlets to develop artificial intelligence models and respond to queries from users.\nAs part of the deal announced Wednesday, San Francisco-based OpenAI will pay Axel Springer for articles and other content from publications that include Politico, Business Insider, and European properties Bild and Die Welt, the companies said in a joint statement.\nFinancial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the deal.\nOpenAI will use the Berlin-based publisher’s news content to generate answers for users’ questions in its popular AI tool ChatGPT. The responses will include attribution and links to the full articles “for transparency and further information,” the companies said.\n“We want to explore the opportunities of AI empowered journalism – to bring quality, societal relevance and the business model of journalism to the next level,” said Axel Springer Chief Executive Officer Mathias Döpfner.\nThis isn’t the first deal between OpenAI and news publishers. In July, the Microsoft Corp.-backed startup struck a deal with the Associated Press to license its archive of news stories to develop its AI models. That same month, OpenAI signed a $5 million deal with the American Journalism Project, an organization that supports local publishers, to experiment with ways outlets can use AI in news.\nStill, as publishers grapple with the right strategy toward generative AI, some fear their news content is being used to build AI models without proper compensation, and others see risks in using the technology, which is prone to fabrication, to produce news. Some European media, like Radio France, have blocked OpenAI’s tools over data collection concerns. The Figaro in France said it would never use generative AI to help write stories.\n--With assistance from Benoit Berthelot.\n",
        "title": "OpenAI, Axel Springer Ink Deal to Use News Content in ChatGPT"
    },
    {
        "id": 991,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/starbucks-labor-report-demanded-shareholders-172419617.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Starbucks should better communicate its commitment to workers’ collective bargaining rights and train its employees to respect those rights, according to an independent assessment released Wednesday.\nStarbucks’ shareholders voted in March to conduct the assessment to see whether Starbucks was adhering to its own human rights standards amid a contentious effort to unionize its U.S. stores.\nSince 2021, at least 370 of Starbucks’ 9,600 company-owned U.S. stores have voted to unionize with Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. Starbucks opposes unionization, and the company and Workers United haven’t yet agreed to a contract at any of those stores.\nStarbucks opposed the independent assessment, saying it was unnecessary, but 52% of shareholders approved it. The Seattle company hired Thomas Mackall, a lawyer and labor relations expert, to complete the assessment.\nIn his report, Mackall found that the unionization effort took Starbucks by surprise, and it didn't have good training or guidance in place for employees on how to engage with the union.\nMackall noted that the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board has filed at least 130 unfair labor practice charges against Starbucks, which generally involve managers making illegal threats or promises to unionizing workers or retaliatory discipline or discharges of pro-union employees. Starbucks disputes those charges.\nMackall said there is no evidence that Starbucks trained managers to violate labor laws. And he said the company has consistently told employees that it respects their right to organize. But he said the company should step up training for managers so they understand and are compliant with U.S. labor laws.\nMackall said he also found that employee discipline and discharge rates are similar at union and non-union stores. But the union campaign has heightened scrutiny of Starbucks’ actions, he said, so the company must ensure it applies standards consistently.\nMackall also said Starbucks’ Global Human Rights Statement – which it adopted in 2020 – “does not provide meaningful behavioral guidance or a clear basis for compliance” with Starbucks’ stated recognition of workers’ collective bargaining rights. Mackall said the company should revise the statement to more clearly define its commitment.\nMackall recommended that Starbucks try to restart labor talks with Workers United, which have been stalled since May. Starbucks took that advice last week, issuing an open letter to the union to restart talks.\n“With each side pointing fingers, substantive dialogue will not move forward,” Mackall wrote. “Starbucks should redouble its efforts to change this.”\nIn a letter Wednesday, Starbucks' board of directors said it also plans to take “meaningful action” based on Mackall's conclusions.\nIn its own statement Wednesday, Workers United said the report acknowledges “deep problems in the company's response to workers' organizing.”\n“The report shows Starbucks has a long way to go to shift policy and deconstruct the massive anti-union apparatus that remains in place and is active today,” the union said.\nBut the union also said it was ready and willing to return to the bargaining table.\n",
        "title": "Starbucks labor report — demanded by shareholders — calls for better training on union issues"
    },
    {
        "id": 992,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fitch-downplays-rating-impact-chile-171938932.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Fitch Ratings Inc. reaffirmed its A- credit rating on Chile, dismissing concern that this weekend’s referendum on a new constitution will lead to changes in the economic model.\nThe firm also left its stable outlook on the rating, four days before voters head to the polls to decide the fate of a second attempt to rewrite the charter in as many years. The new text is more moderate than the first draft that was rejected in a vote in September last year, and broadly preserves the current economic freedoms, Fitch noted.\n“The proposed constitution would not impair Chile’s economic model or significantly increase government spending,” Fitch said in the statement accompanying the decision. “If it is rejected, we do not expect the government to launch a new process, especially as other issues have taken greater importance such as crime and immigration.”\nStill, Fitch said President Gabriel Boric’s failure to pass a broad tax reform to address spending pressures is a risk as it “could result in renewed social discontent and/or fiscal slippage.” Despite that, Chile is in a better fiscal position than its peers.\n“Chile’s ratings are supported by a relatively strong sovereign balance sheet, with government debt/GDP well below peers, solid governance indicators and a track record of credible macroeconomic policies centered on an inflation-targeting regime and flexible exchange rate,” the agency said in a statement.\nRead more: Fear of Lower Credit Rating Lingers Over Chile’s Bonds\nAll 14 analysts and traders in a Bloomberg survey last month expected rating firms to downgrade their outlook on Chilean bonds, or lower the rating some time next year as the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio rises.\n",
        "title": "Fitch Downplays Rating Impact From Chile Constitution Referendum"
    },
    {
        "id": 993,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-gig-worker-rules-sort-171603978.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "LONDON (AP) — In a bid to improve working conditions for people who deliver food and offer rides through smartphone apps, the European Union gave provisional approval Wednesday to rules that determine who should get the benefits of full-time employees and restrict the way online platforms use algorithms to manage their workers.\nThe European Parliament and the EU's 27 member countries agreed on a platform worker directive that has been years in the making. It aims to boost protections and benefits for the growing number of gig economy workers, while raising accountability and transparency for apps that rely on independent contractors.\nGig economy workers and platforms have fallen between the cracks of existing employment legislation, so the directive is designed to clear up those gray areas. It still needs to be ratified by lawmakers and member states, which will then have two years to transpose it into their local laws.\nThe new rules “ensure platform workers, such as drivers and riders, receive the social and labor rights they are entitled to, without sacrificing the flexibility of the platform business model,” said Nicolas Schmit, the bloc's executive commissioner for jobs and social rights.\nThe negotiators say the rules will help clear up employment status of as many as 5.5 million people who have been wrongly classified as gig workers but are actually employees entitled to benefits.\nA platform that meets at least two criteria will be deemed an “employer” and people working for that company will be reclassified as “workers” with the right to a minimum wage, paid vacation, pensions and unemployment and sickness benefits.\nThe criteria include whether an app limits their pay electronically, supervises work performance, controls working conditions and restricts hours, determines the allocation of tasks, or dictates a worker’s appearance and conduct.\nUnder the rules, algorithms used to assign jobs to gig workers also will have to be overseen by humans to make sure they comply with working conditions. Workers will be able to appeal any automated decisions, such as being dismissed or having their accounts suspended.\nThere will be more insight into automated monitoring and decision-making systems, which will be prevented from using certain types of personal data, such as the emotional or psychological state of workers or predictions on actual or potential union activity.\n",
        "title": "New EU gig worker rules will sort out who should get the benefits of full-time employees"
    },
    {
        "id": 994,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-vehicle-sales-rise-1-171537045.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - U.S. new vehicle sales are expected to rise just 1% to 15.7 million units next year, car shopping website Edmunds said on Wednesday, as demand is likely to come under pressure from high interest rates even as vehicle supply improves.\nElectric-vehicle market share is expected to rise slightly to 8% of total new vehicle sales in 2024, from 6.9% in 2023 to date through November, Edmunds added.\n\"While the year ahead holds the promise of further increased inventory and enticing deals that consumers have eagerly awaited, 2023's high interest rates are expected to linger, provoking conflicting market dynamics,\" said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds' head of insights.\nHowever, according to automakers, pent-up demand from the pandemic remains strong.\nCompanies led by General Motors and Toyota Motor have reported robust new vehicle sales so far this year due to improved demand and easing supply-chain problems that allowed them to ship more units to dealers.\nEdmunds said its data suggested that new vehicle pricing has peaked, as improved inventory has driven incentives back into the market.\nBut shoppers seeking options for affordable models will have a tougher time as those vehicles are selling quicker than their more expensive counterparts, Edmunds added.\nThe transition to full EVs has slowed and hybrids are the more comfortable choice for the majority of Americans who are seeking electrified options, it said.\n(Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)\n",
        "title": "US new vehicle sales to rise 1% in 2024 - report"
    },
    {
        "id": 995,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/starbucks-audit-finds-company-isn-140000257.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Starbucks Corp., contending with unionizations at hundreds of its US stores, should bolster guidance on how it disciplines workers and measures compliance with collective bargaining rights, a third-party assessment of the company’s labor practices found.\nThe assessment — which shareholders requested in March, against the company’s recommendation — found no evidence of an “antiunion playbook” suggesting “surreptitious means of interfering with employees’ freedom to choose.” It also ascribed “missteps” in how Starbucks has engaged with unionized workers mostly to the company’s lack of preparation for a wave of organizing, and to mistakes by local staff with no experience dealing with unions.\nStill, Starbucks could enhance its human-rights commitment, which includes a promise to respect labor organizing, and create materials that more clearly outline just how its staff can comply.\nAs written, the commitment “does not provide meaningful behavioral guidance or a clear basis for compliance regarding freedom of association and effective recognition of the right of collective bargaining,” according to the report prepared by Thomas Mackall, a consultant and former labor-relations executive.\nThe report also found that discharges at unionized stores happen at the same rate as at nonunionized stores, but that Starbucks could bolster the framework and standards for staff discipline given the “special attention” that terminations at unionized stores face.\nStarbucks can also give better training on how managers should communicate with unionized workers, after US labor prosecutors have found that “store-level managers or supervisors have stepped out of bounds in many instances,” according to the report.\n“Even well-intentioned managers operating in a delicate environment can have difficulty navigating the nuanced boundaries between that which is lawful and appropriate and that which is not,” according to the report.\nStarbucks issued the assessment days after the Seattle-based company said it had reached out to the union representing hundreds of its stores in an attempt to end an impasse over contract talks.\nRegional directors of the US National Labor Relations Board have issued more than 100 complaints against the company, alleging illegal antiunion tactics including closing stores, firing activists, and refusing to fairly negotiate at unionized cafes. Starbucks has denied wrongdoing, saying the union is the party refusing to negotiate in good faith.\nA second union representing some Starbucks workers has also accused the company of failing to negotiate fairly, a charge that Starbucks contests.\n--With assistance from Josh Eidelson.\n",
        "title": "Starbucks Audit Finds Company Isn’t Using ‘Antiunion Playbook’"
    },
    {
        "id": 996,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-coinbases-international-exchange-launch-170701634.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds analyst comment in paragraph 4, 5, background in paragraphs 5, 8; updates shares)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Coinbase will start offering spot crypto trading services on its international exchange from Thursday, the company said, as it expands beyond the U.S.\nSpot trading on the international exchange, currently geared toward derivatives, will roll out in phases, starting with bitcoin and ether against USDC stablecoin from Dec. 14 for institutional clients, the company said in a blog post.\nBloomberg News first reported the development.\n\"The timing of the announcement is prudent,\" CFRA Research analyst Michael Elliott said.\nCoinbase \"should be able to utilize the launch to gain experience and gauge demand for spot products.. potentially benefiting COIN long-term as they eventually look for U.S. approval.\"\nBitcoin has more than doubled in value this year to hit a 20-month high last week as anticipation of a spot bitcoin exchange traded fund improved trader sentiment and revived broader trading volume.\nCoinbase's shares, up fourfold so far this year, edged 0.5% higher on Wednesday.\nIn June, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Coinbase for allegedly selling unregistered securities, which the company has denied. The lawsuit is part of a broader U.S. crackdown on the industry following some high-profile collapses including FTX.\n(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Sriraj Kalluvila)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Coinbase's international exchange to launch spot crypto trading"
    },
    {
        "id": 997,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-us-yields-fall-markets-170011107.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields slid on Wednesday after producer prices in the world's largest economy came out weaker than expected, supporting expectations the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates steady later in the session and continue to hold off tightening policy in the foreseeable future. The Fed is widely expected to keep its target rate at a range of 5.25% to 5.50% at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday. But it is unlikely to signal a shift from its rate-hiking stance, analysts said \"There are bond vigilantes in the market that will force the Fed to ease more than four or less than six times next year,\" said Stan Shipley, managing director and fixed income strategist at Evercore ISI in New York. \"The Fed is going to push back against that. They are not in a rush to tighten more. But I expect the Fed to say that they are not taking hikes off the table just yet.\" Wednesday's data showing U.S. producer prices were unexpectedly unchanged in November amid cheaper energy goods reinforced the overall view that the Fed is not in any rush to do anything right now, except to hold rates steady. The U.S. core producer price index (PPI) was also muted. The unchanged reading in the PPI for final demand in November followed a revised 0.4% drop in October. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI gaining 0.1% last month. Analysts said the PPI numbers were trending in the right direction. The PPI report followed data on the U.S. consumer price index that was mixed overall, with the headline CPI edging up 0.1% in November and the core rising 0.3%, in line with expectations. On an annual basis, core CPI rose 4.0% in November, meeting the consensus forecast, but still elevated. In late morning trading, the benchmark 10-year yield fell 5.1 basis points (bps) to 4.154%. On the shorter end of the curve, the two-year yield slid 6.3 bps to 4.667%. A widely tracked part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve, showing the gap in yields between two- and 10-year notes , became steeper, reducing its inversion to minus 51.60 bps. A steepening curve reflects expectations the Fed will soon end its tightening policy and start cutting rates sometime after. Ahead of the Fed decision, the fed funds futures market has priced in the first likely rate cut in May at roughly 81%, according to the CME's FedWatch tool, after several weeks of expectations for easing in March. Late on Tuesday, the rate cut probability in May was about 75%. Also on Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to adopt rules for the $26 trillion U.S. Treasury market aimed at stemming the buildup of systemic risk by requiring more trading to be cleared centrally. The SEC, however, exempted some transactions by hedge funds. \"Clearing brings transparency to the market and reduces counterparty risk,\" said Chris Slusher, head of rates, at risk management adviser Derivative Path. \"So those are important benefits, but on the other hand, what we found in the derivatives market, clearing increases costs and it often has the impact of leading to the further concentration in the market among dealers.\" Dec. 13 Wednesday 11:27 AM New York/1627 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 5.2575 5.4171 0.002 Six-month bills 5.16 5.3865 -0.022 Two-year note 100-97/256 4.6696 -0.061 Three-year note 99-254/256 4.3778 -0.053 Five-year note 100-224/256 4.1776 -0.049 Seven-year note 101-24/256 4.1919 -0.053 10-year note 102-196/256 4.1566 -0.049 20-year bond 104-48/256 4.4311 -0.047 30-year bond 108-44/256 4.2638 -0.040 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES-US yields fall as markets await Fed decision; producer prices also weigh"
    },
    {
        "id": 998,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-apple-hit-eu-antitrust-165134992.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details from the report and background)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Apple is expected to be hit by a ban on its App Store rules that govern some music-streaming services and a potential hefty fine from European Union regulators, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.\nEU authorities are putting the finishing touches to a decision that would prohibit Apple's practice of blocking music services from pushing their users away from App Store to alternative subscription options, the report said, citing people familiar with the investigation.\nThe decision is slated for early next year and Apple could face a fine of as much as 10% of its annual sales, Bloomberg reported.\nThe probe was sparked by a complaint nearly four years ago from Sweden's Spotify Technology, which claimed it was forced to ramp up the price of its monthly subscriptions to cover costs associated with Apple's App Store rules.\nThe European Commission filed a chargesheet against Apple earlier this year, saying the conditions are unnecessary and mean customers may end up paying more.\nApple and representatives from the European Commission did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.\nApple shares were marginally up in afternoon trading.\n(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Apple to be hit by EU antitrust order in fight with Spotify - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 999,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-treasurys-yellen-sees-consistent-163652104.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Andrea Shalal\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday said she saw a consistent pattern of inflation falling over time and noted turbulence in the job market had really settled down.\n\"Inflation has come down meaningfully. We're not all the way there. There's further to go for the Fed to reach its 2% objective,\" Yellen told CNBC in an interview, expressing confidence that inflation would be in the 2% range by the end of 2024. \"We're getting a lot closer.\"\nThe U.S. November Consumer Price Index rose 3.1% on an annual basis.\nYellen repeated her view that the U.S. economy was heading for a soft landing and said she saw a reasonable chance that growth would continue in 2024. She said she did not view the risk of a recession as \"particularly high.\"\nShe said a recent survey showed an uptick in consumer confidence and that consumers were beginning to understand that inflation was coming down, with real earnings also going up.\n\"So gradually over time, I think people will feel better about the economy,\" she said, although she said consumers were still conscious of higher prices for rents and other items.\nOn the bright side, rental costs had stopped going up and gasoline prices were down, Yellen said.\nShe said she expected the pace of consumer spending to slow somewhat to a \"more normal level,\" and growth was likely to remain solid although it was unlikely to reach the high level it hit in the third quarter.\nYellen, a former Fed chair, said she trusted the Federal Reserve to make monetary policy, but said it was \"in a way natural\" for interest rates to ease somewhat as inflation came down.\n\"They have two risks to manage. One is that inflation doesn't come down back to their target as they envisioned, and the other is that the economy becomes too weak,\" she said, adding, \"I'm going to leave that call to them.\"\n(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, writing by David Ljunggren, Editing by Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "US Treasury's Yellen sees consistent pattern of inflation coming down"
    },
    {
        "id": 1000,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/washington-nba-nhl-teams-arena-163549321.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Two professional sports teams in the nation’s capital — basketball’s Washington Wizards and hockey’s Washington Capitals — would move across the Potomac to Virginia at a proposed $2 billion sports and entertainment district that Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and the teams’ owners announced Wednesday.\nThe plan calls for a new arena and offices for Monumental Sports & Entertainment in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood, as well as a performing arts center, a convention center, a sports media center, hotels and retail and residential space. JBG Smith would develop the district, Youngkin said in a statement.\nThe proposal still needs approval by Virginia’s General Assembly. The teams would begin playing at the new site in 2028, the company said in a statement. If approved, the proposal calls for construction to begin in 2025.\nA new Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority would be created by legislation that would sell bonds secured by Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s annual rent, arena parking revenues, naming rights, and incremental taxes generated by the development, Youngkin said. The company would contribute $403 million, according to the governor’s statement. The city of Alexandria will contribute $56 million toward the construction of the performing arts venue and $50 million toward underground parking development. The land and buildings will be owned by authority and the company would need to agree to a 40-year lease.\n“This once-in-a-generation historical development will be the best place to play nice to live, work, raise a family, and watch hockey and basketball,” Youngkin said at a Wednesday press conference with Monumental Sports & Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Ted Leonsis.\nThe proposed move was reported Tuesday by ESPN and other media.\nOnce completed, the entertainment and sports complex would generate an estimated $12 billion in economic impact for Virgina and Alexandria and would create more than 30,000 jobs over the next several decades, the governor said.\nWashington Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday announced an effort to keep the teams in downtown, offering $500 million in new financing for the Wizards and Capitals current home at Capital One Arena in the downtown.\n",
        "title": "Washington’s NBA, NHL Teams to Get New Arena in $2 Billion Deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 1001,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/starbucks-did-not-anti-union-163115647.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Starbucks did not engage in any anti-union practices during its contract negotiations with union employees at its U.S. stores, a report based on a third-party inquiry showed on Wednesday.\nThe coffee chain appointed labor relations expert Thomas Mackall in March on a request by shareholders to look into its labor practices following complaints to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by some employees and labor groups.\nThey had accused Starbucks of engaging in \"union-busting\" activities when workers sought better wages, staffing and schedules.\nThe inquiry conducted from July to September called on Starbucks to improve the way it engages with unionization and revise its Global Human Rights Statement, but said there were no sign that it interfered with the freedom of employees to unionize.\n\"The assessment was direct and clear that while Starbucks has had no intention to deviate from the principles of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, there are things the company can, and should, do to improve its stated commitments,\" said Mellody Hobson, independent chair of Starbucks.\nThe NLRB and the union did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.\nStarbucks last week reached out to the union representing more than 9,000 of its employees at about 360 of its U.S. stores, where the company proposed to resume with a set of representative stores in January.\n(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)\n",
        "title": "Starbucks did not use 'anti-union playbook' against employees - report"
    },
    {
        "id": 1002,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yellen-expects-inflation-fall-range-162803863.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it would make sense for the Federal Reserve to consider lowering interest rates as inflation eases to keep the economy on an even keel.\n“As inflation moves down, in a way, it’s natural that interest rates come down somewhat because real interest rates would otherwise increase, which would tend to tighten financial conditions,” Yellen said Wednesday in an interview on CNBC.\nThe impact of interest rates on the economy depends on their level in relation to the inflation rate. As inflation decreases, policy rates become more restrictive if they remain steady.\n“My expectation is that inflation will continue to come down,” Yellen said, adding that she anticipated inflation will fall into a range near 2% by the end of 2024.\nRead More: Fed Starts to Confront the Next Big Question: Why to Cut Rates\nYellen spoke a day after government data showed US consumer prices moved up slightly in November compared to the prior reading.\nThe consumer price index rose 3.1% last month from a year earlier, while core inflation, which excludes food and energy costs, advanced 4% for a second month. Economists favor the core metric as a better gauge of the trend in inflation.\nAs Yellen spoke, Fed officials were beginning the second day of their policy meeting. The central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates steady later today for the third consecutive time.\n“The Fed has to think about what path of financial conditions they regard as consistent with keeping the economy on a soft-landing path,” Yellen said.\n“But they have two risks to manage. One that inflation doesn’t come down back to their target as they envision it, and the other is the economy becomes too weak,” she said. “I’m going to leave that to them.”\n",
        "title": "Yellen Expects Inflation to Fall in Range of 2% by End of 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1003,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gms-long-time-product-development-162627642.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - General Motors said on Wednesday Doug Parks, who leads the automaker's global product development team, would retire after nearly four decades with the company during which he played a key role in its electrification strategy.\nDuring his tenure, Parks has overseen teams that are responsible for developing GM's EV architecture and the engineering group behind its self-driving unit, Cruise.\nGM also named Ken Morris, currently vice president, global vehicle and propulsion teams; and Josh Tavel, currently global VP of customer care and aftersales, to new leadership roles in its product development team, which will now be under its president, Mark Reuss.\nThe changes are effective Jan. 2 and come at a time when GM has been struggling to launch its next-generation EVs amid lower-than-expected demand and deals with a crisis at Cruise.\nGM CEO Mary Barra had previously said she was \"disappointed\" with EV production this year due to difficulties with battery module assembly.\n\"We've spent years preparing GM to transition to an all-electric future, and Doug's leadership has been pivotal,\" Barra said in a statement on Wednesday.\n(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Anil D'Silva)\n",
        "title": "GM's long-time product development chief set to retire"
    },
    {
        "id": 1004,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/signa-prime-seeks-600-million-161553038.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The largest unit in the troubled real estate group founded by Rene Benko is urgently seeking €600 million ($647 million) of financing from funds as it prepares to file for insolvency.\nUnder the terms of a deal proposed by Signa Prime, investors would provide €300 million of so-called debtor-in-possession financing by Tuesday, with the remainder made available at a later stage of the process, according to people familiar with the matter. The cash would finance the company’s restructuring under an insolvency process known as self-administration in Austria.\nSigna had already turned to investors including Mubadala Investment Co., Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Attestor Capital and Elliott Investment Management as it looked for a rescue loan before the umbrella organization of the group filed for insolvency. Talks to raise new money were hampered by the complexity of the debt structure, which includes a range of financial instruments and cross-unit guarantees.\nA spokesperson for Signa didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\nWith investors ranging from sovereign wealth funds to banks to insurers, the unwinding of Signa Prime’s corporate structure could take time. While Prime owns several coveted assets, lofty valuations for a number of the properties could also mean there is still pain in store in the cleanup.\nSigna Prime is the unit that holds many of the group’s flagship assets such as stakes in the Selfridges department store properties and Berlin’s KaDeWe. The unit also has a variety of yet-to-be completed luxury developments such as Hamburg’s Elbtower.\nSigna Holding, the main shareholder in Signa Prime, already filed for insolvency in self-administration last month. As part of the restructuring, Signa Holding has to repay creditors at least 30% of their claims within two years of an agreement with creditors.\nThe companies for which Prime’s debtor-in-possession financing would apply include Signa Warenhaus Immobilien Holding, Galeria Holding GmbH and Signa Prime Capital Invest GmbH, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News. The loan would be due at the end of 2025 with the possibility to further extend the maturity by a maximum of one year.\nSigna Prime had financial liabilities of €10.8 billion at the end of 2022, according to corporate filings.\n--With assistance from Marton Eder, Giulia Morpurgo and Bruce Douglas.\n(Updates with details throughout.)\n",
        "title": "Signa Prime Seeks €600 Million As It Readies for Insolvency"
    },
    {
        "id": 1005,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-us-stocks-inch-161254057.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates to 10:48 EST)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks moved higher in muted trading and Treasury yields slipped on Wednesday as economic data affirmed inflation is cooling and investors bided their time ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision.\nThe S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were modestly higher while the Dow was essentially flat after notching 2023 closing highs in the previous session, while crude regained some ground in the wake of Tuesday's slide.\nEconomic data showed U.S. producer prices (PPI) were unchanged in November, providing further evidence that inflation continues to meander down toward the Fed's average annual 2% target.\nThe Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) is widely expected to leave the Fed funds target rate at 5.25%-5.50% when it wraps up its two-day monetary policy meeting at 2 p.m. EST.\nBut its summary economic projections, including its dot plot, will be parsed for clues regarding the central bank's intentions over the coming year, including the timing and frequency of any rate cuts.\n\"It’s wait-and-see until the Fed, which is the last piece of big news of the year and people get a bit of a breather,\" said Thomas Martin, Senior Portfolio Manager at GLOBALT in Atlanta.\n\"Then we’ll see just how well positioned (investors) think they are after 2 o’clock,\" he added.\n\"It’s all about what the dots are going to show and whether there will be a change in the statement that goes from a tightening bias to a neutral bias.\"\nIn a busy week for central banks, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will announce policy decisions on Thursday.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13.33 points, or 0.04%, to 36,591.27, the S&P 500 gained 10.41 points, or 0.22%, to 4,654.11 and the Nasdaq Composite added 49.36 points, or 0.34%, to 14,582.76.\nEuropean shares rose, with a boost from chemical manufacturers, although investors shied away from risky bets ahead of the Fed decision.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.17% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.18%.\nEmerging market stocks lost 0.45%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.35% lower, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.25%.\nTreasury yields fell after producer prices cooled more than expected, supporting expectations that the Fed has reached the end of its tightening cycle.\nBenchmark 10-year notes rose 13/32 in price to yield 4.1585%, from 4.206% late on Tuesday.\nThe 30-year bond rose 20/32 in price to yield 4.2682%, from 4.304% late on Tuesday.\nThe dollar inched up against a basket of world currencies .\nThe Japanese yen strengthened 0.13% versus the greenback to 145.26 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2525, down 0.29% on the day.\nOil prices bounced back after tumbling to near six-month lows on Tuesday, driven by concerns of oversupply and waning demand.\nU.S. crude rose 1.17% to $69.41 per barrel and Brent was last at $73.78, up 0.74% on the day.\nSpot gold added 0.1% to $1,980.53 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additonal reporting by Rae Wee in Singapore and Alun John in London; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-US stocks inch up, Treasury yields dip ahead of Fed announcement"
    },
    {
        "id": 1006,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/swedish-lender-europe-safest-bank-160527181.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Swedish lender Svenska Handelsbanken AB has been crowned the safest commercial bank in Europe. Short sellers seem to think otherwise.\nHandelsbanken is the second most-shorted bank in the Bloomberg Europe 500 Banks and Financial Services Index after Italy’s Mediobanca, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The Stockholm-based lender’s large exposure to Sweden’s ailing real estate market partly explains why some investors are taking a dim view of it, several analysts have said.\nThe short interest contrasts with Handelsbanken’s distinction as being named the ‘safest commercial bank’ in Europe by the trade publication Global Finance Magazine. The ranking is based on an assessment of lenders’ credit ratings, the magazine said in September.\nBut that designation is seen by some as shaky given Handelsbanken has the largest exposure to Swedish real estate among the Nordic banks. Rating firm Moody’s Investors Service has said it may cut the bank’s credit rating owing to its relatively high sensitivity to the ailing sector. Such a move would be the lender’s first downgrade by the firm in over a decade.\nMuch of the threat to Handelsbanken rating stems from Sweden’s commercial real estate market, which has been hit hard by rising funding costs and falling valuations as central banks have hiked interest rates at a rapid pace. Next year alone, roughly $12 billion worth of bonds and hybrid debt issued by Swedish real estate companies will come up for refinancing.\nIn addition, the Swedish economy faces some of the bleakest economic prospects in the European Union, with forecasters increasingly anticipating a two-year recession. Bankruptcies in October hit the highest level for the month since at least 1999, led by a crashing construction sector.\n“We feel confident in our credit quality,” a Handelsbanken spokeswoman said by email. “Investors who are taking a short position in the share don’t have to believe that the share price will fall. Over the past six months, our stock price has performed better than other comparable banks on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.”\nOther observers agree with the more sanguine view on Handelsbanken. The lender’s prudent lending standards suggest it won’t suffer significant losses on its property loans, according to Erik Eikeland, a portfolio manager at Stockholm-based asset manager Alcur Fonder AB.\n“We are not very worried” about Handelsbanken’s lending, Eikeland said by email. The bank “has a conservative approach and offers secured loans at low loan-to-value levels.”\nSo far, Handelsbanken has remained relatively unscathed from the turmoil in the Swedish property market. The lender set aside next to no credit provisions in the third quarter, signaling it’s not concerned about worsening asset quality. Instead it reported the highest quarterly profit in its history.\nSome investors are still skeptical, and Handelsbanken’s shares have underperformed its Nordic peers over the past twelve months.\nThe lender’s loans to the property industry warrant “a more cautious view on impairments,” Jefferies analyst Alexander Demetriou said by email. He has an underperform recommendation on the lender.\n--With assistance from Jonas Ekblom.\n(Adds company statement in seventh paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Swedish Lender Is Europe’s ‘Safest Bank’—And One of the Most Shorted"
    },
    {
        "id": 1007,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/auto-file-tesla-autopilot-recall-160000542.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 13 - Joe White Global Autos Correspondent joe.white@thomsonreuters.com Greetings from the Motor City! We’ve had a busy day in the World of Cars – and that’s without counting the declaration from Dubai that the end of the age of oil and combustion vehicles is coming someday. Maybe. Usually, companies and regulators wait until the Friday before a big holiday to get bad news out of the way. But everything’s happening earlier this year – including a recall of more than 2 million Teslas to revise their Autopilot/Autosteer software. Is that really such bad news for Tesla? Keep reading. There’s plenty more. First, a quick note: The Auto File will be taking a break after Friday. Starting on Jan. 2, it will appear on Tuesdays and Fridays. If this was forwarded to you, please feel free to subscribe. It’s free. And now, away we go! Today –\n* Tesla’s not-so-bad Autopilot recall\n* Driverless delivery startups keep it simple\n* EV charging industry drives toward consolidation Tesla’s Autopilot recall U.S. auto safety regulators have pushed Tesla to recall more than 2 million vehicles and revise software to make it harder for drivers to keep Autopilot engaged when they are not paying attention or are operating outside the system’s design envelope.\nTesla did not agree with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s conclusion, after more than two years of investigation, that any action was necessary, according to a NHTSA document. But the company agreed to send an over the air software fix to resolve the investigation. Tesla and NHTSA did not give details on how that software update will change the driver experience of using Autopilot. The recall and NHTSA’s framing of its findings look like a win for Tesla overall, Reuters colleague David Shepardson reports. Regulators did not conclude that Autopilot is fundamentally unsafe – as lawyers for accident victims and some safety advocates outside the agency have charged. NHTSA instead said drivers are responsible for the operation of their Teslas when Autopilot is engaged – the same position Tesla has taken to defend its technology. Regulators found fault with “the prominence and scope” of controls and warnings designed to prevent driver misuse of Autopilot – which the agency (and Tesla) describe as a “Level 2 advanced driver assistance system. That is, a technology similar to advanced cruise control systems offered on scores of models from other manufacturers.\nTesla spread foam on the media runway ahead of the announcement with a lengthy post on Elon Musk’s X.com arguing that the company has a “moral obligation” to push forward with automated driving technology. The tweet repeated Musk’s assertions that Teslas operating on Autopilot are ten times safer than the average U.S. vehicle. The regulatory investigations, Justice Department inquiries and litigation over Autopilot are not over. But the scorecard for today looks like a win for Tesla which can keep selling Autopilot, as well as what it calls a more advanced “Full Self Driving” system. Revising and pushing out a software upgrade isn’t free, but it costs far less than a mechanical repair or disabling Autopilot altogether. Federal regulators have now formally adopted Tesla’s view that drivers are responsible for using Autopilot safely. Essential Reading\n* A climate summit deal to phase out fossil fuels\n* Is AI a real business? - Breakingviews\n* New vehicle prices are coming down. Very slowly. South Korea battles Chinese iron\nSouth Korea’s big battery makers, suppliers to the Detroit Three and other legacy automakers, are under pressure to produce lithium-iron batteries, LFP for short, that can match the performance and low cost of LFP batteries made in China by CATL. Automakers serving the United States need LFP batteries to reduce costs and overcome consumer reluctance to pay premium prices for electric vehicles. Ford and GM have both said they would buy LFP batteries from China in the short term. But long term, U.S. automakers need LFP batteries to come from Anywhere But China because vehicles with Chinese batteries don’t qualify for Inflation Reduction Act EV tax credits – as Ford and Tesla have reminded would-be buyers in recent days. South Korean battery industry sources told Reuters colleague Heekyong Yang that while they are racing to get automotive LFP batteries into production, it is not certain they can match the cost benchmarks set by CATL and other Chinese rivals. Chinese producers also control key links in the LFP supply chain. SK On, Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution are also wary of getting caught with excess LFP battery capacity if U.S. EV sales continue to fall short of previous, bullish expectations. Charging toward a shakeout The fragmented EV charging industry is heading toward consolidation as big investors, including global oil companies, buy startups struggling to compete with Tesla’s Supercharger network, Reuters colleagues Nick Carey and Paul Lienert report. The shakeout in the U.S. and European EV charging sector is getting turbocharged by intense competition for prime charging station locations. Gas stations may be going out of style with climate diplomats, but they are sitting on the high-traffic corners where EV charging stations would go. A measure of just how ripe this industry is for a good shake: A Reuters analysis finds there are 900 EV charging companies vying for land and a now-shrinking pool of capital.\nVenture capital firms have pumped nearly $12 billion into EV charging startups – but the investment wave peaked in 2022 and has fallen sharply this year as rising interest rates forced recalculation of risk. The U.S. government has $7.5 billion earmarked for EV charging infrastructure. But that money is dripping out slowly. The first charging station funded by the Biden infrastructure bill opened just this week. UAW revs up its organizing campaign United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is revving up his campaign to organize all non-union U.S. autoworkers, using some of the same tactics he employed to push Detroit’s automakers to agree to 25% wage increases. The UAW hit Honda, Hyundai and Volkswagen with unfair labor practice charges, accusing the companies of illegal efforts to thwart employee organizing efforts. The companies denied the charges. But the Biden administration and federal labor regulators are on notice that the UAW expects their support. Fain relaunched his social media video series on Monday with an appeal to non-union auto workers that used the record pay raises won at the Detroit Three as the main selling point. The UAW president also set a high bar for success. The UAW will not hold organizing votes at non-union factories until 70% of workers sign cards showing support for joining up, Fain said. That makes sense. The UAW can ill afford another failed organizing attempt. A careful road to driverless vehicle success Driverless vehicle startups including automated semi developer Aurora Innovation, middle-mile delivery company Gatik and shuttle operator May Mobility are weathering the latest storm over AV safety by sticking to fixed routes, serving business or government customers and staying out of the headlines, Reuters colleague Abhirup Roy reports. The high-profile robo-taxi industry is taking a beating after a driverless car vs. pedestrian accident involving General Motors’ Cruise operation in San Francisco. B2B operations such as Aurora, Kodiak Robotics and Gatik have kept chugging along. Their formula: Limit operations to well defined, well-mapped routes in states such as Texas where regulators are friendly and anti-AV advocacy groups are not as powerful as they are in San Francisco, Cruise’s home base. That does not mean AV truck operators have a clear path to commercial, profitable deployment. Truckers and unions want a ban on driverless trucks – which they see as job killers. Investors have pulled away from AV truck company shares. Several operators, including Alphabet’s Waymo One AV truck unit, have shut down or suspended operations indefinitely. The coming year will be critical. Aurora and Kodiak are aiming to launch human-free driverless operations on Southwestern U.S. highways. Fast Laps GM is shaking up leadership in its vehicle development operations following a year of struggling to launch its next-generation electric vehicles and their “Ultium” batteries. Retiring executive vice president of product development Doug Parks will be replaced by two executives: One overseeing vehicle engineering, safety and motorsports and another responsible for “key areas critical to accelerating the company’s electrification strategy, including battery development and manufacturing engineering activities.” Problems with manufacturing engineering were one factor behind the EV output miss this year. Swedish unions will stop collecting trash from Tesla stores, the latest escalation of the brawl between Nordic unions and their supporters and Elon Musk over his refusal to deal with unionized Swedish mechanics. U.S. car dealers will be prohibited from charging “junk fees” and using bait-and-switch sales tactics under new rules approved by the Federal Trade Commission. The U.S. auto dealer lobby has objected and signaled it will continue to fight the rules. Renault booked a 1.5 billion euro loss on a sale of Nissan shares connected to the restructuring (and unwinding) of the alliance between the automakers. The auditing firm that conducted a review of human rights compliance at Volkswagen’s factory in China’s Xinjiang province is now distancing itself from a report that found no evidence of human rights abuses. Indonesia is opening the door to imported electric vehicles, so long as the company is planning investments in the country. Indonesia has rich deposits of nickel, an EV battery mineral, and has been courting Tesla and other EV manufacturers. GM’s fuel cell business will supply technology to Komatsu for development of a hydrogen-fueled mining truck. GM also has a deal to supply its fuel cell systems to heavy truck maker Autocar. Auto File is published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.\n(Editing by Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "Auto File: Tesla’s Autopilot ‘recall’ win"
    },
    {
        "id": 1008,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/prep-school-loomis-chaffee-muni-160000809.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- This week an exclusive Connecticut prep school is selling a small bond issue with a big story.\nIt’s about the growing demand for admission to elite institutions from parents striving to give what many view as the gateway to the good life for their children.\nThe Loomis Chaffee School was chartered in 1874 and has alumni including KKR & Co. co-founder Henry Kravis and George Shultz, secretary of state during the Reagan Administration. It’s seeking to raise $13.9 million in revenue bonds via the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority.\nApplications for the private high school hit 2,456 for the 2023-2024 school year, an all-time high, while the acceptance rate fell to 17%, a record low, according to the bond offering documents.\nAbout 15 years ago that acceptance rate was 45%.\n“While the School has always been in demand, over the last five years the School has experienced increased interest and as such has been more selective in its admission process,” Loomis Chaffee said in the documents.\nThe fierce competition for a limited number of seats typifies the experience of the handful of boarding and day schools that have tapped the municipal market in order to pay for campus improvements this year.\n“This demand is really driven by affluent families across the United States, as well as a consistently growing pool of wealthy families in international markets such as Asia and South America,” said Patrick Ronk, an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, which rates the Loomis Chaffee bonds A1. Such families “place a high importance on having their children receive an exclusive education and the social and professional network that comes with it.”\nLoomis Chaffee charges $68,420 for boarding and $52,100 for day students and enrolled 735 pupils for the 2023-24 school year. The school plans to use the financing to pay for a new dormitory and make campus improvements.\nThe increasing competition for spots at elite colleges only adds to the prep school draw as standardized tests are now often optional or not required, according to Justin Marlowe, research professor at the University of Chicago and director of the Center for Municipal Finance.\n“As admissions rates at selective colleges continue to decline, parents see prep schools like Loomis Chaffee as even more valuable,” he said in an email.\nLoomis Chaffee has a 4:1 student-faculty ratio and average class size of 11 students, according to the documents, and “offers over 60 varsity, junior varsity and third-level teams across 32 different sports.”\nSuch schools attract “robust levels of philanthropic support” to invest in their facilities, which are “far beyond like what most K-12 students across the country are able to access,” according to Moody’s Ronk.\nA representative for Loomis Chaffee didn’t respond to a request for comment.\n",
        "title": "Prep School Loomis Chaffee’s Muni Deal Showcases Soaring Demand"
    },
    {
        "id": 1009,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-pharma-why-the-drug-industry-faces-a-3-front-battle-with-the-ftc-medicare-and-the-white-house-154030948.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The Federal Trade Commission had its first win earlier this week in its crusade to block drug company deals: Sanofi (SNY) on Monday ended its up-to-$735 million licensing deal with Maze Therapeutics.\nIt was a victory for FTC Chair Lina Khan, who is starting to make good on her threats to take a closer look at smaller deals — which is necessary, the agency believes, to slow down growing monopolies in the pharma business.\nBut the win was more than a move to block Sanofi’s ability to scale in the Pompe disease therapy market. The collapse of the deal is the latest example of how the pharmaceutical industry is battling the US government on a number of fronts, including the White House's move to license drugs that were developed with federal funding, the FTC's scrutiny of deals, and the Medicare drug pricing talks.\nThe announcement by the Biden Administration to license drugs is an attempt to reduce the cost of certain drugs in the US.\nThe \"march-in rights\" as they are known, established by the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, allows the government to exercise intellectual property rights on patents developed with the use of federal funds or by the government. The most recent example of such government research being used in a commercial product is the work from the NIH that eventually lead to the Moderna (MRNA) COVID-19 vaccine — which Moderna eventually paid the government rights for, after it lost a legal battle.\nRobin Feldman, a professor and director of the Center for Innovation at UC Law San Francisco, said \"the government is flexing muscles that it has rarely flexed in the past.\"\nRutgers Law School professor Michael Carrier said if the government is able to march in, \"This is a shot that would be heard around the world. The US is the country in the world where pharma perhaps cares the most about protecting its IP rights; in many cases it's the largest market.\"\nA key reason of concern: This is the first time ever the government has used increasing drug costs as a reason to trigger march-in rights. That's a significant change from the stance of prior administrations.\nAnd as expected, the industry trade group, PhRMA, isn't thrilled.\n\"If government bureaucrats are allowed to take away patent protections at any time, there is no incentive for biopharmaceutical manufacturers to collaborate with the government or universities, returning us to the pre-Bayh-Dole era where promising new technologies sat on the shelf benefitting no one,\" the organization said in a statement.\nGlobally, though, the White House announcement was welcome news.\nShortly after a request for comment from Yahoo Finance, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X that he welcomed the announcement, and that governments should use all legal tools to promote broader access to medicines.\nThe FTC's track record of blocking deals isn't great. It previously tried, unsuccessfully, to block Amgen’s (AMGN) $28 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics, as well as Pfizer’s (PFE) $43 billion acquisition of Seagen. (Pfizer received approval this week and will close the deal Thursday.)\n\"Ultimately, [Khan] is losing all those cases. They’re not actually doing something that changes the nature of the industry,\" said Craig Garthwaite, director of healthcare at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.\nBut the end of the Sanofi/Maze deal validates the FTC's strategy: putting the spotlight on the acquisition of smaller, earlier-stage companies by Big Pharma — a longtime growth strategy in the industry.\nSmaller firms are nimble and can conduct early-stage research that isn't weighed down by a large company bureaucracy. These companies provide larger firms the opportunity to to bolster pipelines. Pfizer, for example, has acquired three companies in the past year, including Seagen, to help fill a $17 billion loss expected by patent expirations by 2030.\nCritics contend that such deals show that Big Pharma doesn't do much R&D, and therefore shouldn’t be charging high prices on drugs.\nBut said Garthwaite, \"The infrastructure to actually take a drug from Phase 2 to Phase 3 ... run the clinical trial well ... is an exceptionally expensive fixed cost structure. We don't want 40 firms to spend that money.\"\nMedicare\nMedicare officials have targeted 10 drugs that they will start price negotiations for in the coming year. There are already concerns about the impact on the bottom line.\nAnalysts were largely not surprised by the first drugs targeted — see the lack of stock movement the day of the announcement. The industry is waiting to undergo negotiations, and investors are waiting to see how much of a price cut the government eventually demands.\nCompanies have pushed back with nearly a dozen lawsuits, claiming that the process is unconstitutional.\nIn response to the drug pricing negotiations, companies have already said they are reconsidering deals that could land them on the target list, and anticipating which blockbusters could land on future lists.\nFor example, Novo Nordisk (NVO), which found itself surprisingly on the list for one of its insulin products, is also looking at the fallout if its blockbuster weight loss and diabetes drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic, end up a target of Medicare.\nUC Law's Feldman says that all these government actions \"send a message to the pharmaceutical industry: Get your house in order, or we will make things very difficult for you.\"\nBut the long-term odds of success on these three fronts aren't great, experts told Yahoo Finance.\nGarthwaite said that policymakers are being short-sighted in their efforts, and called the Biden administration's efforts \"crass.\"\n\"The real lack of access is if the product doesn’t exist. It’s a luxury in some ways to be able to debate the existing price of a product,\" he said.\nRutgers' Carrier and James Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International and an expert on intellectual property rights, warn the efforts may not have the desired impact.\n\"It sounds like a three-front war that they could lose dramatically. But I would just focus on the modest nature of these [efforts],\" Carrier said.\nIn addition, the strategies by the Biden administration could easily be ended by future administrations.\nUltimately, though, the legal system may decide the winner. UC Law's Feldman anticipates the patent battle, much like the Medicare lawsuits, could morph into a larger legal battle.\n\"If [the US government] actually decide to land a punch, I would expect this to go to the Supreme Court,\" she said.\nAnjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. Follow Anjalee on all social media platforms @AnjKhem.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest health industry news and events impacting stock prices\n",
        "title": "Big Pharma: Why the drug industry faces a 3-front battle with the FTC, Medicare — and the White House"
    },
    {
        "id": 1010,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exxon-pay-oil-traders-cash-153511551.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. introduced a new compensation policy that would pay some traders cash bonuses, a significant change within the US energy giant as it looks to expand its trading operations.\nUnder the new structure shared internally last week, traders will be divided into two categories: so-called system traders who buy and sell physical commodities in support of the company’s operations, and traders who take on risk to boost company profits. Only the latter will be eligible for performance bonuses. The bonuses will be all cash and will be paid out starting in December 2024. Details of the changes were described by people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing internal matters.\nThe new plan was keenly anticipated by traders at Exxon, where compensation has been a point of contention as the Texas oil giant builds out its global trading business. Until now, Exxon has paid traders regular salaries topped up with small stock awards for top performers, a convention that has frustrated new hires accustomed to being awarded large cash bonuses tied to performance, as is commonplace across the industry.\nRead: Exxon’s Meager Bonuses Make Attracting More Traders Difficult\n“We strive to deliver competitive pay that will attract, reward and retain talented employees in support of the company´s business objectives,” said Exxon spokesperson Emily Mir. “Specific to select trader job roles, our compensation program is directly informed by company results, global trading results and individual performance.”\nThe new plan comes six months after the company consolidated all of its trading desks into a single unit, which is now led by former human-resources chief Tracey Gunnlaugsson. Exxon also recently opened a new office in central London that will house traders and associated staff.\nRead: Exxon’s New Trading Team Will Avoid Speculative Bets, CEO Says\nExxon has been trying to build out its trading business since 2018 but has faced several hurdles including cost cutting during the pandemic, and cultural differences between some traders and the conservative management style.\nPure traders such as Trafigura Group, Vitol Group as well as European oil majors BP Plc and Shell Plc have made bumper profits due to increased market volatility in recent years, providing an incentive for Exxon’s expansion.\nHowever, the company will build its trading division at a “controlled and thoughtful” pace, Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said in April. “This is not about going out and taking speculative positions,” he said. “This is about going out and optimizing” the company’s vast global footprint of plants, ships and storage terminals.\n",
        "title": "Exxon Will Pay Some Oil Traders Cash Bonuses in Expansion Plan"
    },
    {
        "id": 1011,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-gms-long-time-product-153355908.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details, background throughout)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - General Motors said on Wednesday Doug Parks, who leads the automaker's global product development team, would retire after nearly four decades with the company during which he played a key role in its electrification strategy.\nDuring his tenure, Parks has overseen teams that are responsible for developing GM's EV architecture and the engineering group behind its self-driving unit, Cruise.\nGM also named executives Ken Morris and Josh Tavel to new leadership roles in its product development team, which will now be under its president, Mark Reuss.\nThe changes are effective Jan. 2 and come at a time when GM has been struggling to launch its next-generation EVs amid lower-than-expected demand and deals with a crisis at Cruise.\nGM CEO Barra had previously said she was \"disappointed\" with\nEV production this year\ndue to difficulties with battery module assembly.\n\"We've spent years preparing GM to transition to an all-electric future, and Doug's leadership has been pivotal,\" Barra said in a statement on Wednesday. (Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-GM's long-time product development chief set to retire"
    },
    {
        "id": 1012,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australian-unemployment-hits-1-1-004312735.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s jobless rate rose to the highest level in 1-1/2 years in November as an increase in people seeking work outweighed a surge in hiring.\nUnemployment rose to 3.9%, the highest level since May 2022, from an upwardly revised 3.8% a month earlier, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed Thursday. The participation rate climbed to a record 67.2% in November as the economy added 61,500 roles, easily outpacing estimates for an 11,500 gain.\n“We have continued to see employment growth keeping pace with high population growth through 2023,” said Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labor statistics. “The combination of strong growth in both employment and unemployment in November saw the employment-to-population ratio return to a record high.”\nThe Australian dollar climbed to 66.87 US cents at 11:36am in Sydney from 66.67 cents just before the release while yields on the policy-sensitive three-year bonds also increased.\nThe figures underscored the economy’s surprising resilience to the Reserve Bank’s 4.25 percentage points of rate hikes since May 2022. But they jar with a business survey earlier this week that showed confidence plunged to an 11-year low with forward indicators also softening.\nGovernor Michele Bullock reckons the labor market is now “not as tight as it was,” noting that some leading indicators such as job vacancies have begun to ease from high levels. Against that backdrop, today’s data is likely to surprise the RBA.\n",
        "title": "Australian Unemployment Hits 1-1/2 Year High Despite Job Gains"
    },
    {
        "id": 1013,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imf-chief-says-rules-infrastructure-003856690.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "SEOUL (Reuters) - The head of International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday that crypto currencies need to be regulated with rules and infrastructure because they pose risks to financial stability.\n\"The challenge is that high crypto asset adoption could undermine macro-financial stability,\" the IMF's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said at a conference in Seoul on digital currencies.\nShe said that high crypto asset adoption could affect the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission, capital flow management measures and fiscal sustainability due to volatile tax collection.\n\"Our goal is to make a more efficient, interoperable and accessible financial system by providing rules to avoid the risks of crypto, and infrastructure by leveraging some of its technologies,\" Georgieva said at the joint conference with the South Korean government and the central bank.\nRules are not meant to \"return us to a pre-crypto world, nor to squash innovation,\" she said, adding that \"good rules can spur and guide innovation.\"\n(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "IMF chief says rules, infrastructure needed to prevent crypto risks"
    },
    {
        "id": 1014,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dollar-takes-dive-fed-signals-002501439.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Brigid Riley\nTOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar was under pressure on Thursday after the Federal Reserve's latest economic projections indicated that the interest-rate hike cycle has come to an end and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.\nBoth the euro and Japanese yen jumped in response, with the European Central Bank (ECB) preparing to announce its policy decision later on Thursday and the Bank of Japan coming up next week.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell said at Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that the historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view.\" Policymakers were nearly unanimous in their projections that borrowing costs would fall in 2024.\n\"This is a huge development for markets as we head into the new year and provides much-needed clarity. And clarity in this instance meant risk-on,\" said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.\nThe news from the FOMC meeting will likely overshadow upcoming economic data before personal consumer expenditures data is published next week, leaving room for \"further downside potential for the US dollar,\" he added.\nThe U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was last 102.87 after dipping as low as 102.77 overnight.\nMarkets are now pricing in around a 75% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared with 54% a week earlier.\nWhile recent economic releases have strengthened expectations that the Fed can achieve a soft landing for the U.S. economy, Powell kept open the option to act again if needed, noting that \"the economy has surprised forecasters.\"\nMarket focus now shifts to a parade of central bank decisions, including the ECB and the Bank of England (BoE), Norges Bank and Swiss National Bank.\nWith the ECB expected to hold rates steady, there will be more focus on forecasts for GDP and inflation, \"and whether and how convincingly (ECB President Christine) Lagarde pushes back on pricing for cuts, with 100 (basis points) priced by September,\" National Australia Bank Senior Economist Taylor Nugent wrote in a note.\nThe euro was mostly flat at $1.0882 after surging on Wednesday. Sterling was last trading at $1.2623.\nThe Norwegian central bank is considered to be the only bank that could potentially raise rates. There is also a risk the SNB could dial back its support for the Swiss franc in currency markets.\nElsewhere, the yen sat significantly higher around 142.80 yen per dollar following the greenback's overnight tumble.\nExpectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could end negative interest rates at its monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18-19 caused the Japanese currency to jump last week, but those hopes have largely died down after Bloomberg reported on Monday that BOJ officials see little need to rush.\nPressure will be on BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda next week when he's expected to keep alive prospects of an exit while dampening anticipation of an imminent move.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was up at $42,904.\n(Reporting by Brigid Riley; editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "Dollar takes a dive after Fed signals rate cuts next year"
    },
    {
        "id": 1015,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australias-nab-jarden-wealth-combine-002049578.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - National Australia Bank said it had agreed to combine its New Zealand wealth advice and asset management unit with that of Jarden Wealth and Asset Management, forming a new entity with about NZ$29 billion ($17.99 billion) of funds under advice and administration.\nThe new entity, to be called FirstCape, would also hold NZ$15 billion of funds under management, NAB said on Thursday.\nThe combination would bring together NAB's JBWere New Zealand and BNZ Investment Services business with Jarden's Wealth Solutions and Harbour Asset Management to create an advice and asset management business for clients in New Zealand, NAB said.\nThe combination also allows NAB to expand product offerings by its unit Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) under the voluntary retirement plan, KiwiSaver Scheme.\nNAB, Jarden Wealth and Pacific Equity Partners would be the shareholders of FirstCape. NAB and Jarden would each receive a cash payment along with a retained shareholding of 45% and 20%, respectively.\nPacific Equity Partners would acquire a 35% stake in FirstCape and its investment would be used to fund the payments to NAB and Jarden Wealth.\nNAB said the combination would result in a gain on sale within statutory net profit, but will not have an impact on the lender's core capital levels.\nMalcolm Jackson, the current chief executive of Jarden's Wealth and Asset Management business, would be named the CEO of FirstCape.\nThe management team of the new entity would also comprise of executives from JBWere New Zealand, BNZ, Jarden Wealth and Harbour Asset Management teams.\nShares of NAB were up 1% at A$30.06 at 2329 GMT.\n($1 = 1.6124 New Zealand dollars)\n(Reporting by Echha Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "Australia's NAB, Jarden Wealth combine NZ wealth & asset management units"
    },
    {
        "id": 1016,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasdaq-hit-error-affecting-thousands-001158952.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Nasdaq Inc. was hit by a system error Wednesday that impacted thousands of stock orders, leading some to be canceled, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nThe exchange operator told market participants it’s investigating an order-entry issue that caused inaccuracies and delays, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. Nasdaq’s electronic communication channel, which processes so-called financial information exchange or “FIX” messages, was affected, the people said.\nThe incident, starting around 2:30 p.m. New York time, involving “certain FIX/RASH order entry ports,” Nasdaq said in an emailed statement that didn’t elaborate on the cause.\n“We are working to reach a prompt resolution to deliver the correct execution reports,” it said. The impacted entry ports will be closed for the rest of the day. The “closing cross was completed and all other markets are operating normally,” it added.\n",
        "title": "Nasdaq Hit by Error Affecting Thousands of Trades, Nixing Some"
    },
    {
        "id": 1017,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-banks-drop-top-five-235926698.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese brokerages fell from the top of the global equity-underwriting league tables this year as offerings slowed in mainland markets, a consequence of the country’s tightened regulations amid an economic slump.\nGoldman Sachs Group Inc. reclaimed the title of the busiest equities underwriter worldwide from Citic Securities Co., which slid down to the sixth spot in this year’s league table compiled by Bloomberg. China International Capital Corp. dropped out from the top five.\nA flood of share offerings seen in 2022 across bourses in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing dramatically slowed this year, mirroring the country’s slumping economy and stock markets. The pace of decline in China’s underwriting business accelerated since late August, when Beijing introduced measures to slow initial public offerings and shift investors’ attention back to secondary trading markets.\nProceeds from China’s onshore IPOs fell 33% on-year to $55 billion so far in 2023, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. Additional share sales in mainland China are down 55% during the period, versus a 11% average increase globally.\nChinese investment banks could lose underwriting market share to global peers as regulators turn cautious in approving new listings onshore in order to focus on stabilizing the secondary market, Sharnie Wong, an Bloomberg Intelligence analyst in Hong Kong, said in a note.\nThe ranking consists of underwriting for equities and equity-linked instruments issued globally, such as share placements and convertible bonds. Goldman topped Bloomberg’s global equities and equity-linked league table from 2019 to 2021.\nCitic Securities declined to comment.\nChinese companies raised a record amount through IPOs last year, defying a global slump and bringing hopes to bankers in Asia that the end of Covid Zero policy would boost activity even further. But rising woes tied to the country’s economic recovery, followed later by stricter rules for new offerings, led to a slowdown in listings.\nThe China Securities Regulatory Commission announced late August it would temporarily slow down the pace of IPOs in the country. Chinese authorities also lowered the stamp duty on stock trades.\nWhile the measures weighed on new share sales, it did little to stem the markets’ declines. The CSI 300 benchmark for onshore equities is down about 13% this year, extending a 22% slump in 2022.\nIn Hong Kong, the situation is even worse. IPO proceeds are down 60%, heading to the worst full-year performance in over two decades. The Hang Seng Index is poised for its fourth yearly decline.\nStill, China’s domestic market remains large and active despite the slump. The country hosted 192 debuts that raised at least $100 million this year, versus 43 in the US, 29 in Europe and only 16 in Hong Kong.\nIf approvals for new share sales in the mainland remain hard to obtain in 2024, Hong Kong may end up hosting more IPOs that were initially expected to happen in the mainland, according to Ernst & Young’s Asia-Pacific IPO Leader Ringo Choi.\n“With the tightening of A-share IPO policies phasing in, companies planning to go public should re-examine their short to medium-term development, be on the lookout for opportunities for mergers and acquisitions, and also seek overseas listing opportunities in a timely manner,” Choi said in a note.\n“Consequentially more companies are expected to change their listing venue to Hong Kong,” he added.\n",
        "title": "Chinese Banks Drop Out of Top Five Global Equity Underwriters"
    },
    {
        "id": 1018,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-joins-global-rally-stocks-234036803.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Asian equities joined a global rally in stocks and bonds on signs the Federal Reserve will cut rates next year, reigniting a bullish pulse across markets as inflation eases.\nAustralian shares opened higher and Japanese equity futures rose after a rally on Wall Street pushed the S&P 500 to the highest level in nearly two years and to within 2% of its peak. Apple Inc shares touched a new high, helping push the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record and the Nasdaq 100 to a gain of more than 50% this year.\nThose moves followed dovish signs from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, which held rates steady but indicated through its “dot plot” that officials anticipate cutting rates 75 basis points in 2024 — a sharper pace of cuts than indicated in September.\n“The Fed has delivered an early Christmas present to markets,” said Kellie Wood, deputy head of fixed income at Schroders Plc in Sydney. “The next move is a cut and markets are now anticipating a faster and sharper easing cycle.” Wood anticipates “strong performance across all markets,” on Thursday in a broad risk-on rally.\nTreasuries rose sharply Wednesday, dragging two-year yields down 30 basis points — the most since March — to around 4.4%. Swap contracts show bets of 140 basis points of easing in the next 12 months. Australian and New Zealand bonds rallied in early Thursday trading. The dollar fell to its lowest since August.\nSlowing producer-price gains as energy costs fell in a report released prior to the Fed meeting. That follows Tuesday’s consumer price data that showed a decrease in the annual rate of inflation — further signs that prices are trending back toward the Fed’s target.\nREAD: Investors See Asian Stocks, Bonds and Currencies Boosted by Fed\nThe weaker greenback sent the yen higher. Japan’s currency strengthened to levels not seen since August and advanced further early Thursday.\n“A textbook dovish pivot response in stocks and the US dollar should bode well for Asian equities,” said Chamath De Silva, a senior fund manager at BetaShares Holdings in Sydney. “The exception might be Japan, which will have to deal with big yen strength”\nElsewhere, Australian unemployment is anticipated to rise slightly in data to be released. Japan core machine orders and industrial output data is also due. Monetary decisions of the Philippines and Taiwan are due later Thursday.\nInvestors in the region will also be gauging the impact of news that Country Garden Holdings Co.’s onshore unit had repaid an 800 million yuan ($111 million) bond due Wednesday — an unexpected move for the distressed developer to avoid its first default on a local yuan bond.\nWest Texas Intermediate, the US crude benchmark, edged higher but remained around $70. Bitcoin held to a muted advance to trade close to $43,000, and gold was steady above $2,000 per Troy ounce.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Georgina McKay and Matthew Burgess.\n",
        "title": "Asia Joins Global Rally as Stocks, Bonds Up on Fed: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 1019,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/occidentals-deal-crownrock-no-anadarko-233720346.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Sabrina Valle\nHOUSTON (Reuters) - Occidental Petroleum's plan to pay off debt from its acquisition of CrownRock should result in a reduced financial burden within a year of closing, credit rating firms said, a contrast to its traumatic takeover of Anadarko Petroleum in 2019.\nThe proposed $12 billion acquisition of CrownRock got a thumbs down by some Wall Street analysts haunted by the 2019 Anadarko deal that saddled Occidental in $40 billion debt months ahead of an oil market price collapse.\nBut Occidental's second big, debt-financed deal in four years has more manageable risks, the credit firms said. Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service reaffirmed Occidental's investment grade credit ratings this week. S&P Global Ratings also confirmed its previous non investment grade.\nThe impact \"will be modest within a year of closing,\" said Moody's Vice President James Wilkins. Occidental's repayment target \"is credible, with reasonable line of sight for accelerated debt repayment,\" despite some execution risk, wrote Fitch Ratings.\nMore than 80% of the deal price will be funded by additional debt, which will push the company's total to 1.7 times pre-tax earnings, from 1.3 times currently, Jefferies investment firm said.\nThe borrowings brings the oil firm's debt load close to $28 billion as of the close of the deal, S&P said. That figure excludes about $8.5 billion in outstanding preferred shares that pay an 8% dividend to Berkshire Hathaway, which some analysts count as debt.\nOccidental CEO Vicki Hollub said the oil company could extinguish about half of the new debt's principal within a year through a combination of asset sales, free cash from operations and a temporary freeze on share buybacks.\n\"Despite the $10.3 billion of debt Occidental will take on as part of the transaction, we believe its competitive position will benefit from the addition of CrownRock,\" said S&P Global rating analysts led by Carin Dehne-Kiley.\nS&P Global says Occidental will likely be able to achieve the goal to reduce debt to $15 billion by the end of 2026.\nThe oil producer expects to receive $1 billion of free cash flow in a year after closing from the 170,000 barrels per day of oil and gas obtained from CrownRock production.\nSince the deal announcement, Occidental shares have risen about 1% to $57.22.\nFitch expects notes that a sustained drop in prices would be a key risk for repayment given its lack of oil hedging.\n(Reporting by Sabrina Valle; Editing by Stephen Coates)\n",
        "title": "Occidental's deal for CrownRock is no Anadarko redux, say ratings firms"
    },
    {
        "id": 1020,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cedar-fair-investor-cries-foul-233059072.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Abigail Summerville\nDec 13 (Reuters) - One of Cedar Fair's largest investors has sent a letter to the U.S. amusement park operator to complain that the company is stripping shareholders from a say on its planned $8 billion merger with Six Flags Entertainment Corp.\nNeuberger Berman, which owns about 3% of Cedar Fair, told Reuters it wrote to the company on Dec. 4 to complain that it structured the deal so that shareholders will not get to vote on it as Six Flags shareholders will.\nThis was achieved, according to Neuberger, by having Six Flags pay out a $85 million special dividend that shrunk its size and allowed Cedar Fair to be deemed the acquirer in the transaction. Had it been deemed the acquisition target, change-of-control provisions in Cedar Fair's bylaws would have required it to hold a shareholder vote on the deal.\nNeuberger Berman also said the breakup fee structure discourages Cedar Fair from exploring offers from other parties. It added that Cedar Fair shareholders who enjoyed tax benefits because the company was structured as a partnership will lose out because the combined entity will be taxed as a corporation.\nCedar Fair declined to comment. Six Flags did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\nNeuberger Berman managing director Doug Rachlin said Cedar Fair responded to his letter by holding a call with him last week to hear him out, but that the company has taken no actions since.\nThe tie-up, which was agreed to last month, will unit Cedar Fair's properties, which have a license to use Peanuts characters such as Snoopy and Charlie Brown, with Six Flags' amusement and water parks, which license Warner Bros and DC Comics characters, such as Bugs Bunny and Batman.\nThe companies say that the appeal to visitors of the combined park portfolio will boost revenue and cash flow, helping the parks compete with rivals like SeaWorld Entertainment and Disney's theme parks.\nSince news of the planned deal broke in early November, Cedar Fair shares have climbed about 14%.\nNeuberger Berman has been an investor in Cedar Fair for almost three decades.\nIn 2010, it and other investors successfully opposed a takeover of Cedar Fair by private equity firm Apollo Management. The investors said Apollo's offer undervalued the company. (Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York Editing by Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "Cedar Fair investor cries foul over $8 billion Six Flags merger"
    },
    {
        "id": 1021,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-fund-fraud-probe-raises-233000831.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- An alleged fraud in China that ensnared financial firms including a major hedge fund has set off alarms across the industry, with investment managers, regulators and brokerages racing to improve risk monitoring.\nThe matter concerns the investment of about 1 billion yuan ($139 million) in products that were issued by Chinasoft New Momentum Asset Management Co. but managed by other hedge funds. In response to local reports of the suspected scam, the company said last month that some of the products faced “repayment difficulties” due to a breach of contract by the underlying manager, Shenzhen Huisheng.\nChina’s securities regulator said last month that it’s investigating whether Shenzhen Huisheng and other private funds engaged in wrongdoing such as reporting false information, vowing to strictly deal with any violations of the law.\nUse of the multi-layered investment structure, which is set to be banned under proposed rules released in April, has raised questions in China’s 6 trillion yuan hedge fund industry over the level of due diligence by money managers and asset custodians. It also underscores why officials are seeking to tighten regulation after the sector grew sevenfold and saw thousands of hedge funds emerge in the past decade.\n“The case dealt a huge blow to the industry,” said Qi Xinyang, a portfolio manager at fund of hedge funds Beijing Shichuang Tiancheng Asset Management.\nThe matter, which has attracted little attention outside China, involves funds being passed through several layers of managers, according to local news reports. New Momentum, which oversees more than 10 billion yuan, invested about 1 billion yuan with Shenzhen Huisheng, which then invested with another peer called Hangzhou Yuyao instead of managing the money itself, the National Business Daily reported, citing an unidentified investor in the New Momentum product. Hangzhou Yuyao then put the cash into products of four other managers, including one that lost its license last year, the report said.\nThe idea of having invested into an unlicensed manager is “incomprehensible,” Qi said.\nA similar situation allegedly involving Hangzhou Yuyao has also afflicted investors in a trust firm. Two listed companies said their investments totaling 420 million yuan into Hangzhou Yuyao through Guotong Trust Co., are facing losses. Guotong Trust said in a statement on its website that those were single-investor products designed in accordance with client requirements and it had warned about potential risks in the underlying assets.\nBeijing-based New Momentum declined to comment. Shenzhen Huisheng and Hangzhou Yuyao couldn’t be reached for comment.\nWhile the scope of losses remains unclear, the repercussions are being widely felt. Multiple securities firms have redeemed New Momentum products, and some brokerages have advised clients to withdraw from other funds of hedge funds if they decline to provide so-called “Level 4” valuation tables that show underlying holdings, Cailian reported, without naming the firms.\nSome banks that distribute hedge funds’ investment products have urged custodians to provide written statements guaranteeing the safety of client money, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Custodians pushed back against the requests, judging that the risk outweighs the fees from looking after the assets, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing private talks.\nStill, several larger brokerages see opportunities after the fraud inquiry fueled a surge in demand for safer custodian services that they had already been honing.\nChina Merchants Securities Co., the largest custodian of hedge funds, last month formally launched its “Channel+” platform that can generate tailor-made risk assessment reports.\nCitic Securities Co. has also stepped up marketing of its newly unveiled proprietary ARGOS platform that it says can help investors steer clear of “all sorts of investment traps” by better tracking assets.\nChina International Capital Corp.’s wealth management unit, which allocates client money to hedge funds, tried to appease investor concerns with an article on Nov. 30 detailing how it “sweeps mines.”\nMarket Share\n“Top hedge funds will choose custodian brokerages with strong comprehensive service capabilities and complete systems,” Guosen Securities Co. analysts wrote in a Dec. 6 report. Merchants Securities “will benefit” and its share of the private fund market will rise thanks to its advantages in prime brokerage services, they said.\nMerchants Securities said in a reply to Bloomberg News that demand is already increasing for its “Channel+” services, which it started to develop two years ago. The number of users is growing, and requests for tailored risk-control reports such as “desensitized” valuation tables and derivatives holdings analysis have risen, it said, without providing numbers.\nMore hedge funds will have to share details on holdings with distributors and investors, but some custodians are becoming more able to desensitize the data, reducing the risk of leaking strategy secrets, Qi said. Distributors will be more selective with hedge funds’ choice of custodians, he added.\nThe China Securities Regulatory Commission released draft rules on Dec. 8 expanding mandatory custodian requirements to all contractual funds, products that mainly invest in single assets, overseas assets and over-the-counter derivatives, and those that use leverage.\n“The custodian market, which is already concentrated at the top players, will only become more concentrated,” Qi said.\n",
        "title": "Hedge Fund Fraud Probe Raises Alarms for China Risk Managers"
    },
    {
        "id": 1022,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adobe-signals-ai-longer-expected-213728142.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Adobe Inc. gave a lukewarm outlook for sales in 2024, disappointing investors who expected new generative artificial intelligence tools would boost the software company’s results.\nRevenue will be about $21.4 billion in the fiscal year ending in December 2024, the company said Wednesday in a statement. Profit, excluding some items, will be as much as $18 a share. Analysts, on average, estimated sales of $21.7 billion and adjusted profit of $18 a share.\nWall Street expects Adobe to be one of the first software giants to benefit from the excitement over generative AI technology, which responds to prompts by producing unique text or images. In recent months, the company has announced a new version of its AI model, Firefly, raised prices, and focused its October user conference on the technology. The company cited “significant upsell of our new Firefly” with large customers, according to remarks prepared for a conference call after the results.\nHowever, that enthusiasm was dashed by the annual outlook. Shares declined about 6% in extended trading after closing at $624.26 in New York. The stock had jumped 85% this year as “investors appear very comfortable with Adobe’s ability to monetize generative AI,” Keith Weiss, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote ahead of the results.\nNew annual recurring revenue for Adobe’s digital media unit, which includes signature creative software such as Photoshop and Illustrator, will be $1.9 billion, the company said. That compares with an average analyst estimate of $2.02 billion.\nIn the fiscal fourth quarter, sales increased 12% to $5.05 billion. Profit, excluding some items, was $4.27 a share.\nThe digital media unit posted sales that gained 13% to $3.72 billion in the period ended Dec. 1. Revenue from the unit that includes marketing and analytics software rose 10% to $1.27 billion.\nAdobe announced more than a year ago that it planned to buy design software startup Figma Inc. The acquisition has been stalled by global regulatory reviews. Late last month, Adobe was working on remedy proposals to appease European regulators, while the US Justice Department was said to be preparing a lawsuit to block the deal.\nThe company said it “strongly disagrees” with the findings released by the UK’s competition regulator last month, and that it expects a decision soon from the Justice Department.\nSeparately, Adobe disclosed in a filing that the US Federal Trade Commission has been investigating the company’s subscription cancellation practices for more than a year. Settling this matter “could involve significant monetary costs or penalties and could have a material impact on our financial results and operations,” Adobe said.\n",
        "title": "Adobe Signals AI Will Take Longer Than Expected to Boost Results"
    },
    {
        "id": 1023,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ubs-steps-efforts-recover-cash-231933309.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Swiss lender UBS Group AG has stepped up efforts to recoup hundreds of millions in cash bonuses that Credit Suisse paid to retain dealmakers before the lender's collapse, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.\nUBS has contacted hundreds of bankers and offered some multi-year payment plans amid efforts to claw back a chunk of the 1.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.38 billion) in restricted cash bonuses, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter and documents seen by it.\nThe amount that UBS is seeking to recover is less than 651 million Swiss francs, the report said.\nUBS earlier in the year took over Credit Suisse, in the biggest bank merger since the global financial crisis and it was orchestrated by the Swiss state to avert Credit Suisse's collapse.\nSince swallowing up its stricken rival, UBS has embarked on a more than $10 billion cost-cut plan, and has said it will axe 3,000 jobs in Switzerland alone.\nUBS did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\n($1 = 0.8709 Swiss francs)\n(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "UBS steps up efforts to recover cash from Credit Suisse defectors - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 1024,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hong-kong-holds-rate-fed-231840575.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority held its base rate at 5.75% on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve maintained its own interest rate and gave its clearest signal yet that its aggressive hiking campaign is finished.\nHong Kong’s borrowing costs have surged in the last two years as the Fed aggressively raised rates to fight inflation. The city’s base rate moves in lockstep with the Fed because the local currency is pegged to the greenback.\nWhile Fed Chair Jerome Powell said officials are prepared to hike again if price pressures return, he indicated policymakers are now turning their focus to when to cut rates as inflation continues its descent toward their 2% goal.\nSee: Fed Pivots to Rate Cuts as Inflation Heads Toward 2% Goal\nQuarterly projections showed Fed officials expect to lower rates by 75 basis points next year, a sharper pace of cuts than indicated in September.\n",
        "title": "Hong Kong Holds Rate as Fed Signals Cuts Next Year"
    },
    {
        "id": 1025,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brazil-central-bank-lowers-rate-230157746.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s central bank cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point and cued more reductions of the same size into 2024 as inflation eases toward target while the global economic outlook improves.\nPolicymakers led by Roberto Campos Neto lowered the Selic to 11.75% late on Wednesday as expected by all analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Board members have now reduced borrowing costs by 2 percentage points since August.\nIn a statement accompanying the decision, policymakers wrote that headline inflation continues to slow down. At the same time, several measures of core prices that exclude volatile items like food and energy are closer to target.\n“If the scenario evolves as expected, the Committee members unanimously anticipate further reductions of the same magnitude in the next meetings,” board members wrote, repeating the guidance given at their previous decision.\nBrazil central bankers are forging ahead with plans to ease monetary policy with “serenity” and “moderation” as annual inflation is seen ending the year within the target range for the first time since 2020. At the same time, economic activity is slowing, and falling US Treasury yields have reduced pressure on the real, thus mitigating possible cost-of-living threats.\nRead more: Brazil’s Inflation Slows, Keeping Central Bank Easing on Tap\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says\n“Brazil’s central bank delivered a well-telegraphed 50-basis-point rate cut and took a slightly more dovish tilt in its post-meeting statement. The decision and communication reinforce our projection for half-point cuts at first three meetings of 2024. The path from there will depend largely on the domestic fiscal performance, the outlook for the BCB board profile from 2025 and the Federal Reserve. We expect the central bank to bring the policy rate down to 9% by the end of 2024.”\n— Adriana Dupita, Brazil and Argentina economist\n— Click here for full report\nLess Adverse\nBrazil’s announcement came hours after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for a third meeting and gave its clearest signal yet that its aggressive hiking campaign is finished by forecasting a series of cuts next year.\nIn their statement, Brazil central bankers wrote that the global economy is less adverse than in their previous meeting. They cited falling long-term interest rates in the US and incipient signs of lower core inflation in some countries.\nAt the same time, “the Committee judges that the environment continues to require caution from emerging market economies,” policymakers wrote.\n“This was a hawkish statement for financial markets, particularly after the reaction that we saw from the Federal Reserve, which was especially dovish,” said Natalie Victal, chief economist at SulAmerica Investimentos. “It’s a statement that keeps a high bar to accelerating the pace of easing.”\nNo Hurry\nLocally, Latin America’s largest economy has remained largely resilient to high rates. Gross domestic product unexpectedly grew in the third quarter on strong family consumption, low unemployment and higher government spending.\nStill, recent gauges of activity point to a slowdown in the final months of the year. The services sector shrank by 0.6% in October, marking the third straight monthly decline, the national statistics agency reported earlier Wednesday.\n“Regarding the domestic scenario, the set of indicators on economic activity remains consistent with the scenario of deceleration expected by Copom,” central bankers wrote in their statement.\nPolicymakers also face lingering uncertainty on the government’s fiscal plans. With Congress nearing recess, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad is working against the clock with legislators to approve bills that would raise public revenue — a condition for the government to deliver on the pledge to eliminate next year its primary fiscal deficit, which excludes interest payments.\nBrazil’s annual inflation eased to 4.68% in November. By comparison, starting next year policymakers will target price growth at 3%, with a tolerance range of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.\nIn their statement, board members reiterated that fiscal targets are key in anchoring consumer price expectations, and that Brazil’s disinflation process has been slow. Still, some analysts are betting on an even longer easing cycle.\n“The statement shows a Copom that’s convinced it has a lot of space to keep cutting rates,” said Caio Megale, chief economist at XP Investimentos. “But, they aren’t in a hurry and don’t have the need to cut more quickly now. They prefer to act with more certainty.”\n--With assistance from Giovanna Serafim.\n(Re-casts story, adds details from central bank statement starting in third paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Brazil Central Bank Lowers Rate by Half Point, Sees More Cuts of Same Size"
    },
    {
        "id": 1026,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/risky-frontier-stock-markets-beating-230000428.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The eye-popping gains in some Asian equity minnows this year may broaden out to include larger frontier peers, as improving macroeconomic conditions bode well for earnings.\nThe equity benchmarks of Pakistan, Laos and Sri Lanka are the biggest gainers in the region in 2023. A loan deal with the International Monetary Fund has helped spark a rally of more than 60% in the KSE-100 Index this year, while easing interest rates are supporting a 28% surge in the Colombo All-Share Index.\nThe sharp gains in the minnows are raising hopes that the rally may extend to markets such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, amid signs global investors are becoming comfortable with riskier assets even as a debt crisis brews across the wider frontier region. Lower borrowing cost in some of these markets also supports their bullish case.\n“The rally in Asian frontier markets will continue and broaden in 2024, as dovish monetary policies and economic recovery will drive a rebound in earnings,” said Ruchir Desai, a Hong Kong-based fund manager at Asia Frontier Capital Ltd. The AFC Asia Frontier Fund has outperformed 98% of its peers this year, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.\nThe 12-month forward earnings estimates for members of the MSCI Frontier Asia Index — which consists of stocks from economies that are smaller and riskier than emerging markets — have risen more than 8% this quarter. Valuations are also attractive, with the gauge trading at 9.8 times forward earnings, well below the five-year mean of 13.8 times, data compiled by Bloomberg show.\nPakistan may see more inflows as local asset managers turned into net buyers this month, said Ali Raza, head of international equity trading at BMA Capital Management. Foreigners turned into net purchasers of the South Asian nation’s shares in November after two months of outflows.\nStill, the outlook for these economies is uncertain as many of their governments are slashing spending to stay solvent, which may affect investments and businesses.\nRead: World’s Poorest Countries Buckle Under $3.5 Trillion in Debt\nBut progressive debt restructuring and fiscal recovery should buoy sentiment going forward. Bangladesh, like Pakistan, could benefit from lower oil prices and reduced leverage while Vietnam’s market will be supported by rate cuts similar to Sri Lanka’s case, said Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, an analyst at Aletheia Capital in Singapore.\nWhile the frontier gauge is up 5.1% this year, the gains barely make up for the 44% slump in 2022, the most on record. Vietnam dominates that gauge with a weighting of nearly 80%.\n“As earnings improve and macro adjustments take place, such strong rallies could take place in Bangladesh and Vietnam in 2024,” Desai of Asia Frontier said.\n--With assistance from Chiranjivi Chakraborty.\n",
        "title": "Risky Frontier Stock Markets Are Beating Everybody Else in Asia"
    },
    {
        "id": 1027,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zealand-economy-unexpectedly-contracted-third-215101417.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand’s economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter as high interest rates curbed consumer spending and investment. The local dollar fell.\nGross domestic product declined 0.3% in the three months through September after increasing a revised 0.5% in the previous quarter, Statistics New Zealand said Thursday in Wellington. Economists expected 0.2% growth. From a year earlier, the economy shrank 0.6% — the weakest since a pandemic-led contraction in 2021.\nThe economy is cooling in the wake of the Reserve Bank’s aggressive monetary policy tightening, which was designed to damp demand and curb rampant inflation. While the central bank has held the Official Cash Rate at 5.5% since May, it has signaled the risk of a rate hike next year amid record immigration.\nNew Zealand’s dollar declined after the GDP release, buying 61.75 US cents from 62 cents beforehand.\nThe RBNZ expected the economy to grow 0.3% in the third quarter.\n",
        "title": "New Zealand Economy Unexpectedly Contracted in Third Quarter"
    },
    {
        "id": 1028,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-havaianas-maker-alpargatas-picks-222109252.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds more details on incoming CEO in paragraphs 2-3)\nSAO PAULO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Brazil's Alpargatas , the owner of the flip-flop brand Havaianas, said on Wednesday its board had elected Liel Miranda to take over as the firm's CEO, starting in February.\nThe incoming boss \"will play an important role in continuing the transformation process that began in 2023, with a focus on simplification and efficiency,\" the shoemaker said in a statement.\nThe executive had previously led the Brazilian unit of snack maker Mondelez International in addition to being chief at cigarette company Souza Cruz, owned by British American Tobacco.\nMiranda will replace Luiz Fernando Edmond, who has held the position on an interim basis since April when former CEO Roberto Funari departed. Edmond will remain on the company's board.\n(Reporting by Andre Romani and Peter Frontini; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle and Kylie Madry)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Havaianas-maker Alpargatas picks former Mondelez exec as new CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 1029,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brazil-central-bank-cuts-rates-221952202.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Marcela Ayres\nBRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points on Wednesday for the fourth time in a row and signaled that it would keep cutting rates at that pace beyond its next meeting in January.\nThe bank's rate-setting committee, known as Copom, unanimously lowered the Selic policy rate to 11.75%, in line with the forecast of all 41 economists polled by Reuters.\nThe widely expected rate cut followed easing inflation, which the central bank recognized in its policy statement.\n\"Headline consumer inflation, as expected, remains on a path of disinflation, and various measures of underlying inflation are closer to the inflation target in recent releases,\" wrote policymakers.\nIn the 12 months through November, inflation slowed to 4.68%, falling within the range of 1.75% to 4.75% targeted by the central bank for the year, but above the 3.25% center of the target.\nStill, Copom's statement signaled a steady pace for rate cuts ahead, adding that board members \"unanimously anticipate further reductions of the same magnitude in the next meetings.\"\nCentral bank chief Roberto Campos Neto had previously indicated that policymakers saw no benefits in signaling future policy actions beyond their next meeting in January, for which they had already flagged another cut of 50 basis points.\nIn public remarks, he called for caution in analyzing variables such as perceptions of a more challenging global outlook and progress in Congress on measures to stabilize the country's public finances.\nPresident Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government has stuck to a goal of erasing its primary deficit in next year's budget bill, but several measures aimed at hitting that ambitious target still require approval from Congress.\nFollowing the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on Wednesday to hold rates and signal lower borrowing costs next year, Copom said the global environment \"remains volatile and is less adverse than in the previous meeting.\"\n(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Brad Haynes)\n",
        "title": "Brazil central bank cuts rates by 50 bps, signals same beyond January"
    },
    {
        "id": 1030,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-carrier-global-sell-commercial-221825897.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details throughout)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Carrier Global said on Wednesday it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its global commercial refrigeration business to its joint venture partner Haier for an enterprise value of $775 million.\nThe air conditioner maker, which is looking to streamline its portfolio, said the enterprise value also includes about $200 million of net pension liabilities.\nCarrier said it expected net proceeds from the transaction to exceed $500 million and intended to use them to reduce debt.\nLast week, U.S. industrial firm Honeywell said it would buy Carrier's security unit for $4.95 billion in cash to bulk up its building safety business.\n(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Carrier Global to sell commercial refrigeration business to Haier"
    },
    {
        "id": 1031,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-stocks-tread-cautiously-ahead-223135983.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Wall Street’s great cross-asset rally got an extra dose of encouragement as dovish Federal Reserve signals pushed the S&P 500 closer to its all-time high while sinking bond yields.\nTraders cheered a tweak to the Fed’s “dot plot,” with officials expecting to lower rates by 75 basis points next year — a sharper pace of cuts than indicated in September. The S&P 500 topped 4,700, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record and the Nasdaq 100 extended this year’s surge to over 50%. Two-year yields sank 30 basis points — the most since March — to around 4.4%. The dollar fell to a four-month low. Swap contracts show bets on 140 basis points of easing in the next 12 months.\nAfter what was arguably the most-important Fed decision of 2023, Jerome Powell said inflation easing without an unemployment spike is good news, while reiterating that policy has moved well into restrictive territory. In a move that was applauded by several market observers who referred to it as being “sensible,” the Fed chair continued to say that officials are proceeding carefully as inflation may have eased, but it’s too high.\n“Jerome Powell seems to be done taking the punch bowl away,” said David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation. “Traders expected caution coming into this release but instead it was dovish because the Fed acknowledged inflation has eased. It’s a big change in the language that indicates policymakers see less need to aggressively tighten.”\n“For those expecting a hawkish pause, they didn’t get that at all. The Santa Claus rally has come early this year, or perhaps is just getting started. The bears are running for cover and may have to go into hibernation.”\n“The narrative from the investor community has broadly shifted from estimating the last Fed hike to predicting the first Fed cut. While most of the work was done through an update to the economic projections, including the dot plot, Chairman Powell has certainly set a dovish tone at this meeting. The reality is the Fed’s prescription to cool inflation has been working and the Fed now views the current Fed funds rate will be too restrictive for the economy in 2024.”\n“Yes, inflation has been moving in the right direction, but the Fed maintained its hawkish tone in today’s statement, even though they anticipate cutting rates three times next year. Investors should expect more of the same in the New Year. Having waited this long for their policies to begin slowing the economy and cooling inflation, the Fed isn’t going to throw caution to the wind just because the finish line finally appears to be in sight.”\nAhead of the decision, data showed producer-price gains slowed as energy costs fell. Consumer prices Tuesday underscored a drop in the annual rate of inflation — even as monthly gains picked up. Taken together, the numbers reinforce the notion that inflation is trending back toward the Fed’s target.\nEarlier Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said it would make sense for the Fed to consider lowering interest rates as inflation eases to keep the economy on an even keel.\n“As inflation moves down, in a way, it’s natural that interest rates come down somewhat because real interest rates would otherwise increase, which would tend to tighten financial conditions,” Yellen said Wednesday in an interview on CNBC.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Vildana Hajric and Emily Graffeo.\n",
        "title": "S&P 500 Tops 4,700 as Dovish Fed Signs Sink Yields: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 1032,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-regulators-investigating-adobe-cancellation-221432367.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Adobe Inc. said US regulators are probing the company’s cancellation rules for software subscriptions, an issue that has long been a source of ire for customers.\nThe company has been cooperating with the Federal Trade Commission on a civil investigation of the issue since June 2022, Adobe said Wednesday in a filing. A settlement could involve “significant monetary costs or penalties,” the company said.\nUsers of Adobe programs including Photoshop and Premiere have long complained about the expense of canceling a subscription, which can cost more than $700 annually for individuals. Subscribers must cancel within two weeks of buying a subscription to receive a full refund; otherwise, they incur a prorated penalty. Some other digital services such as Spotify and Netflix don’t charge a cancellation fee.\nDigital subscriptions have been a recent focus for the FTC. It proposed a rule in March that consumers must be able to cancel subscriptions as easily as they sign up for them. “Too often, companies make it difficult to unsubscribe from a service, wasting Americans’ time and money on things they may not want or need,” President Joe Biden said in a social media post at the time.\nAdobe said the FTC alerted the company in November that commission staff say “they had the authority to enter into consent negotiations to determine if a settlement regarding their investigation of these issues could be reached. We believe our practices comply with the law and are currently engaging in discussion with FTC staff.”\nAdobe is also working with regulators to smooth over concerns about its proposed $20 billion acquisition of design software maker Figma Inc. The company said separately Wednesday it “strongly disagrees” with findings released by the UK’s competition regulator last month. In February, Bloomberg News reported that the US Justice Department was preparing a lawsuit against the deal. Adobe said Wednesday that the Justice Department doesn’t have a formal timeline to decide whether to act against the purchase, but the company expects a decision “soon.”\nRead More: Adobe Signals AI Will Take Longer Than Expected to Boost Results\nAlso Wednesday, Adobe gave a fiscal year sales forecast that fell short of analysts estimates. The shares declined about 6% in extended trading after closing at $624.26 in New York.\n--With assistance from Leah Nylen.\n",
        "title": "US Regulators Are Investigating Adobe Cancellation Rules"
    },
    {
        "id": 1033,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bofas-former-head-wealth-private-220938816.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Lananh Nguyen\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America executive Keith Banks, who ran several of its major businesses, will retire at the end of February after more than four decades in finance, the company said on Wednesday.\nBanks currently serves as vice chair and chief investment officer for the lender's pension and benefits plan investments. In his 23-year tenure at BofA and its legacy companies, the executive led global wealth and investment management, as well as private banking.\nAs a regular commentator on economic trends and markets, Banks said he learned the most during periods of turmoil. Those included the 1987 stock market crash, when he was a newly promoted equity researcher, and the 2008 financial crisis, when he had \"a front row seat\" as a BofA executive.\n\"I always try to be a student of my own successes and failures, and try to raise the bar,\" Banks said.\n(Reporting by Lananh Nguyen in New York)\n",
        "title": "BofA's former head of wealth, private bank Keith Banks to retire"
    },
    {
        "id": 1034,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/credit-suisse-units-pay-10-215659298.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Three Credit Suisse entities agreed to pay $10 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission probe into whether they improperly provided services to mutual funds before the Swiss bank was acquired by UBS Group AG.\nThe SEC said Wednesday that Credit Suisse needed a waiver to continue advising or serving as an underwriter to mutual funds after agreeing to a settlement with the state of New Jersey in October 2022. The waiver wasn’t requested until after UBS announced it would buy Credit Suisse earlier this year, the regulator said.\nThe bank’s purchase by UBS was announced in March in a deal brokered by the Swiss government. UBS was later granted the necessary waiver to advise mutual funds. The units are now wholly owned subsidiaries of UBS.\nUBS didn’t admit or deny wrongdoing as part of the settlement. “Following the identification and notification of this matter to the SEC, this settlement marks another important step in our efforts to proactively resolve Credit Suisse litigation and legacy matters,” the lender said in a statement.\n",
        "title": "Credit Suisse Units Pay $10 Million to End SEC Mutual Fund Probe"
    },
    {
        "id": 1035,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-pembina-pipeline-buy-enbridges-215213979.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details on deal in paragraph 2-4)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Pembina Pipeline said on Wednesday it would buy Enbridge's interests in the Alliance Pipeline, Aux Sable and NRGreen joint ventures for C$3.1 billion ($2.30 billion).\nAlliance delivers liquids rich natural gas sourced in Northeast B.C., Northwest Alberta and the Bakken region to Chicago.\nAux Sable operates NGL extraction and fractionation facilities in both Canada and the U.S., with extraction rights on Alliance, offering connectivity to key U.S. natural gas liquids hubs.\nPembina said the deals are expected to be completed in the first half of 2024. ($1 = 1.3504 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Pembina Pipeline to buy Enbridge's JV interests for $2.30 bln"
    },
    {
        "id": 1036,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-rate-futures-lift-march-215140314.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. interest rate futures on Wednesday increased the chances of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve starting next March, with a 77%probability after the U.S. central bank's new rate projections signaled the end of its tightening campaign.\nBefore the release of the U.S. central bank's latest policy statement and economic projections, the probability of easing in March was around 40%. Rate futures also priced in more than 100 basis points in cuts next year, according to LSEG's FedWatch.\nThe Fed on Wednesday kept its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range, but said in its policy statement that inflation \"has eased over the past year,\" and noted that it would watch the economy to see if \"any\" additional rate hikes are needed.\nA near-unanimous 17 of 19 Fed officials project that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024 than it is now - with the median projection showing it falling three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 5.25%-5.50% range.\n\"The policy statement was relatively little changed from the last two renditions, but the subtle edits carry significant weight,\" Tom Simons, U.S. economist at Jefferies in New York, said in a note.\n\"The addition of the word 'any' ahead of potential policy firming suggests less confidence that more firming will be needed. Given the recent progress in the data towards the dual-mandate goals, it seems like the writing is on the wall for this hiking cycle.\"\nIn his press conference after the end of the latest two-day policy meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell confirmed what the \"dot plot,\" or the distribution of Fed officials' rate projections, conveyed: that the U.S. central bank was likely done raising rates.\nOver the last two weeks the rate futures market had mostly faded rate cuts in March after a string of fairly solid economic data, led by a still-robust U.S. jobs report for November.\nIn addition, the U.S. consumer price index last month remained elevated, with the headline CPI edging up 0.1% and the CPI excluding food and energy items rising 0.3%, in line with expectations. The year-on-year core CPI was 4.0%, still too hot for the Fed's comfort.\n(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "US rate futures lift March rate cut bets after Fed flags end of tightening"
    },
    {
        "id": 1037,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-asia-melt-fed-214500815.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\nDec 14 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nAsian markets are poised for lift off on Thursday, fueled by the dovish tilt from the Federal Reserve's final policy meeting of the year which lifted Wall Street - the Dow surged to a fresh all-time high - andslammed Treasury yields and the dollar.\nThe Fed kept its key fed funds target range unchanged at 5.25% to 5.50%, as expected, so the real meat for inventors was in the revised Staff Economic Projections and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.\nIn short, the pivot toward cutting rates next year was clearer than markets had priced - Fed officials' median rate outlook for the end of 2024 is now 50 basis points lower than it was three months ago.\nRates futures markets quickly moved to price in a near certain probability that the first move will be a quarter point cut as early as March. The two-year yield plunged more than 25 basis points and the 10-year yield sank as low as 4% - both at their lowest level in months.\nThere's every chance that the 'melt up' in stocks and bonds spills over into Asian markets on Thursday - emerging market assets trading late on Wednesday, like Brazilian and Mexican equities and currencies, rose sharply. Investors in Asia on Thursday also have plenty of local news and events to digest, including central bank policy meetings from the Philippines and Taiwan, Indian wholesale inflation figures, Australian unemployment and New Zealand GDP.\nEconomists polled by Reuters expect the Philippine central bank to keep rates on hold at 6.50% through the first half of next year, and begin easing policy in the third quarter.\nTaiwan's central bank, meanwhile, is expected to leave its policy rate unchanged at 1.875% for all of next year, only beginning its easing cycle in the first quarter of 2025. Economic growth in New Zealand likely slowed significantly in the third quarter, according to a Reuters poll, while figures are expected to show a sharp slowdown in job growth in Australia in November with the unemployment rate inching up to 3.8% from 3.7%.\nThe annual rate of wholesale price inflation in India, meanwhile, is expected to have climbed to 0.08% last month from -0.52% in October. If any Asian country's markets could do with a bit of relief, it is China, where stocks tanked on Wednesday after investors gave a clear thumbs down to proposals and pledges from Chinese leaders gathered in Beijing to boost the economy and fight off deflation.\nThe CSI 300 index of blue chip shares fell 1.7%, its fifth biggest fall this year, and the benchmark Shanghai index also fell more than 1%.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Thursday:\n- Philippines interest rate decision\n- New Zealand GDP (Q3)\n- Australia unemployment (November)\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID ASIA-'Melt up' as Fed accelerates pivot"
    },
    {
        "id": 1038,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-vir-biotechnology-cut-75-214045051.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds share movement in paragraph 2, and details on reduced cost structure in paragraph 3)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - Vir Biotechnology said on Wednesday it will cut about 12% of its workforce, or about 75 positions, and close some facilities as part of its cost cut measures.\nShares of the immunology company fell 2.2% in aftermarket trading after Vir also said it was closing its research and development facilities in Missouri and Oregon in 2024.\nThe company said it expects a reduced cost structure of at least $40 million annually as a result of these changes. (Reporting by Christy Santhosh; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Vir Biotechnology to cut about 75 jobs, shut some facilities"
    },
    {
        "id": 1039,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-still-planning-end-gas-213653535.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By David Shepardson\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Motors CEO Mary Barra said Wednesday the Detroit automaker still plans on moving to all electric vehicle sales by 2035 even as it has recently delayed some EV production.\n\"Our plan is to only be selling EVs, light-duty EVs at that time but of course we're going to be responsive to where the customer is at but we have a plan to do that,\" Barra told reporters after an appearance at the Washington Economic Club.\nGM in October said it was abandoning a goal of building 400,000 EVs from 2022 through mid-2024 as it delays production of electric pickup trucks at its plant in Michigan's Orion Township by a year. GM also in October scrapped a $5 billion plan to jointly develop affordable EVs with Honda Motor.\nThe Biden administration is pursuing aggressive vehicle emissions regulations and Barra said they must be achievable.\n\"I think we're in a good position with the number of EVs that we have that we're launching,\" Barra said Wednesday. \"I think we just need to make sure that the regulations stay aligned with where the customer is, the charging has to be there.\"\nThe American Automotive Policy Council, representing GM, Ford Motor and Stellantis, in October urged regulators to halve its proposed fuel economy increases from 4% to 2% annually for trucks, saying the proposal \"would disproportionately impact the truck fleet.\"\nU.S. automakers separately have warned fuel economy fines would cost GM $6.5 billion, Stellantis billion and Ford $1 billion. Reuters reported in June GM paid $128.2 million in fines covering 2016 and 2017, the first time the automaker had paid fuel economy penalties.\nAutomakers also have raised alarm at the Energy Department's proposal to significantly revise how it calculates the petroleum-equivalent fuel economy rating for EVs. Barra met with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and raised the issue, sources told Reuters.\nGM said in October it could support the administration's fuel economy proposal if the Energy Department rescinded its petroleum-equivalent proposal.\n(Reporting by David Shepardson)\n",
        "title": "GM still planning to end gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035 -- CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 1040,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-names-amazon-google-as-top-picks-for-2024-stocks-213237837.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "This year was all about the mega cap stocks — led by the “Magnificent 7” — which dominated market action as hype surrounding artificial intelligence and concerns over rising rates prompted investors to flock to proven tech companies.\nLooking ahead to the new year, JPMorgan is making the case that there's still money to be made in these high flyers, naming some of this year's big winners as the best buys for 2024.\nAmazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOGL) will outperform again, according to JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmouth. He and his team expect both companies to benefit from a resilient consumer and recent bets on generative AI, as company-specific fundamentals become a \"bigger factor\" next year.\nIn a note to clients, Anmuth wrote: “For the consumer-driven Internet sector, consumer spending has proven resilient across virtually all sub-sectors and we believe corporates have a more constructive outlook than a year ago.”\n“We generally prefer companies with solid growth, proven profitability profiles, and reasonable valuation given the current interest rate environment,” Anmuth added.\nAnmuth and his team see Amazon — dubbed their \"best idea\" — rallying 28% from Tuesday’s close, thanks in part to accelerating revenue growth in its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS). JPMorgan expects new workload deployment, easier year-over-year comparisons and growing contribution from generative AI investments to fuel AWS’s momentum.\nAmazon's share price is up 73% year to date, far outpacing S&P 500's 23% gain.\nAt its re:Invent conference earlier this month, Yahoo Finance’s Allie Garfinkle spoke to a number of executives about Amazon’s push into generative AI, an initiative that CEO Andy Jassy has said represents \"tens of billions\" in potential revenue over the coming years.\nFor Google, improving ad growth, increasing margins after cost cuts, and a new AI push are among reasons to be bullish on the stock.\n“While still early, we believe Gemini Ultra represents significant innovation and should start to close the Gen AI gap as it rolls out in early 2024,” Anmuth wrote. Earlier this month Google unveiled Gemini, its much-hyped generative AI model and competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4.\n“We believe Google has weaker sentiment and is less owned than other mega-caps,” Anmuth added. He downplayed risks stemming from Google’s antitrust trials, arguing the impact could be \"less onerous than feared.\"\nThe search giant's stock is up nearly 50% on the year.\nAnother top pick is Uber (UBER), as demand for mobility and food delivery continues to rise, particularly in newer verticals like groceries. Other internet themes Anmuth's team identified include more balanced growth in streaming as it shifts to ad-supported models, continuing trend towards e-commerce, and online travel returning to normalized growth after a booming recovery.\nOther stocks among the team’s top Internet plays for 2024 are dating apps group Match (MTCH), smart TV maker VIZIO (VZIO), and online insurance marketplace EverQuote (EVER).\nSeana Smith is an anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Smith on Twitter @SeanaNSmith. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email seanasmith@yahooinc.com.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "JPMorgan names Amazon, Google as 'top picks' for 2024 stocks"
    },
    {
        "id": 1041,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/african-online-retailer-jumia-cease-213000328.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Nqobile Dludla\nJOHANNESBURG, Dec 13 (Reuters) - African e-commerce firm Jumia Technologies will close its food delivery business in all seven countries in which the unit operates by the end of the year to focus on growing its core online retail business, it said on Wednesday.\nJumia is aggressively cutting costs in order to turn profitable, including head count reductions, exiting everyday grocery items and reducing delivery services not related to its e-commerce business.\nThe move is in line with Jumia's \"strategy to optimize its capital and resource allocation and to continue its path to profitability,\" the retailer said, adding that Jumia Food is not suitable to the current operating environment and macroeconomic conditions.\nJumia Food represents about 11% of Jumia's general merchandise value for the nine months ended Sept. 30, and has not been profitable since its inception.\n\"It's a segment that's very difficult across the world, with very challenging economics and big losses. It's also a segment that is extremely competitive across the world and Africa,\" Chief Executive Officer Francis Dufay told Reuters.\n\"The economics are tough in this market because the costs are very high and there is plenty of competition so there is downward pressure on the commissions that we make and upward pressure on marketing costs because everyone is fighting for customers.\"\nJumia currently operates its food delivery business in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Ivory Coast\nThe first Africa-focused tech start-up to list on the New York Stock Exchange said a number of employees currently dedicated to the food delivery business will transition to the core e-commerce business in these countries.\nJumia has been trimming its losses, with the latest figures showing that it reduced its third-quarter losses by 67% from a year earlier. (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "African online retailer Jumia to cease food delivery business"
    },
    {
        "id": 1042,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gas-prices-will-soon-fall-below-3-analyst-predicts-212444817.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Expect gasoline prices to keep sliding over the next month to dip below a national average of $3 per gallon, one analyst says.\n\"I think the die has been cast for prices over the next 30 to 45 days,\" Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at OPIS, told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday.\nOn Wednesday, the national average for gasoline sat at $3.12 per gallon, down from $3.37 one month ago, according to AAA data.\n\"We'll move beneath the December 2022 low of $3.0961 per gallon over the weekend, and the next stop will be just under $3 per gallon,\" Kloza said.\nTwenty-four states across the Midwest and Gulf Coast are already seeing averages below the $3 level.\nThe average price in California, where prices are most expensive compared to the rest of the country, registered at $4.68 per gallon on Wednesday, down from $5.07 one month ago.\nThe price declines comes amid lower seasonal demand and increased production from refineries that have come back online from maintenance.\nInventories are also piling up. Government data released last week showed gasoline stockpiles rising by more than 5 million barrels versus estimates of 1.3 million.\nCrude oil, which is used in refining fuels, is down roughy 25% since its peak in late September. That's despite a deepening of production cuts announced by OPEC+, a consortium of oil producers, earlier this month.\nInes Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Gas prices will soon fall below $3, analyst predicts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1043,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/major-us-stock-indexes-fared-211754876.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Stocks rallied and Treasury yields fell sharply after the Federal Reserve indicated that the cuts to interest rates Wall Street craves so much may be coming next year.\nThe Dow jumped to a record high close above 37,000 points. Broader indexes also rose. The S&P 500 climbed 1.4% and the Nasdaq composite also added 1.4%.\nWall Street has been mostly charging higher since October, largely on hopes that cuts to interest rates are on the way. Rate cuts can relax pressure on the economy by lowering borrowing costs, and they can goose prices for all kinds of investments.\nOn Wednesday:\nThe S&P 500 rose 63.39 points, or 1.4%, to 4,707.09\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 512.30 points, or 1.4%, to 37,090.24.\nThe Nasdaq composite rose 200.57 points, or 1.4%, to 14,733.96.\nThe Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 66.24 points, or 3.5% to 1,947.51.\nFor the year:\nThe S&P 500 is up 102.72 points, or 2.2%.\nThe Dow is up 842.37 points, or 2.3%.\nThe Nasdaq is up 329.99 points, or 2.3%.\nThe Russell 2000 is up 66.69 points, or 3.5%.\nFor the year:\nThe S&P 500 is up 867.59 points, or 22.6%.\nThe Dow is up 3,942.99 points, or 11.9%.\nThe Nasdaq is up 4,267.48 points, or 40.8%.\nThe Russell 2000 is up 186.26 points, or 10.6%.\n",
        "title": "How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday, 12/13/2023"
    },
    {
        "id": 1044,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/scotiabank-plans-focus-north-america-151341970.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Nova Scotia plans to go after a larger share of customers’ wallets as it refocuses its business on North America, shifting capital away from operations in Latin America that have delivered poor returns.\nScotiabank has established a new transformation office to deliver on strategic priorities that include better productivity and moving away from a volume-based approach to customer acquisition in favor of one aimed squarely at profit, Chief Executive Officer Scott Thomson said during an investor day Wednesday.\n“There are clear realities that have impacted our relative performance,” he told a room of about a hundred investors and analysts at the lender’s headquarters in Toronto. “First and foremost, we are behind in winning primary relationships, with approximately 16% of clients using Scotiabank for their day-to-day banking needs.”\nThomson, who became CEO in February and has spent the months since then formulating the fresh approach and recruiting new leaders for key divisions, outlined why he believes Scotiabank has lagged behind its peers on shareholder returns over the past decade.\nIn Canada, the bank’s loan-to-deposit ratio is too high, meaning it has to rely on costlier wholesale funding, he said. Meanwhile, the lender has less market share than its rivals in most product lines, other than mortgages and auto loans, and it has fewer deposits and clients per branch.\nThe company is the Canadian bank with the largest international footprint, but businesses in Latin America — particularly Peru, Chile and Colombia — have too many clients with only one banking product, Thomson said, and its capital-markets business there is flagging due to relatively lower fee pools in the region.\nThe bank will now allocate 90% of incremental capital to the “priority businesses of Canada, the US, Mexico and the Caribbean,” the CEO said. The lender’s Mexican business is a top-five bank in that market, Thomson said, highlighting the opportunity to tap into C$1.6 trillion ($1.2 trillion) in annual trade flows among Canada, the US and Mexico. It also plans to go after more capital markets business in those three countries, where fee pools are higher.\nScotiabank said in a slide presentation that it plans to “selectively allocate” capital to its Peruvian and Chilean businesses and will either turn around or exit its operations in Colombia, without allocating any further incremental capital there.\n“Let me be as clear as I can be: if we don’t see a path to improvement, we’re going to redeploy that capital as fast as we can,” said Francisco Aristeguieta, group head of international banking. “But we’ve got to give a chance for these plans to happen.”\nAside from Colombia, the bank would consider exiting operations in Central America as well as international consumer finance, which leans heavily toward single-product customers, he said.\nEarnings Growth\nThe bank aims to bring its productivity ratio to about 50% over the medium term, Thomson said, and plans to get to positive operating leverage in 2024, a year when the company has previously said it expects only “marginal” earnings growth. Scotiabank also said it wants to increase its personal and commercial deposits by C$200 billion by 2028.\nThomson was hired as CEO as an outsider — he was previously a board member and is the former CEO of industrial-equipment firm Finning International Inc. — and said Wednesday that such a move wouldn’t be repeated when Scotiabank’s next top executive is chosen.\n“It would be a failure on my part if I did not have the next CEO from within the ranks of the bank,” Thomson said. He also pledged to improve the firm’s workplace culture, promising to make it a “psychologically safe environment where we all belong.”\nAris Bogdaneris, the newly appointed group head of Canadian banking, said Scotiabank needs to gain share in credit cards and insurance and sell more of its mutual funds through its approximately 950 domestic branches. The provinces of Quebec and British Columbia are particular targets for the bank.\nTo help attract 1 million new multiproduct customers over five years, Bogdaneris said he wants to expand the company’s online “challenger” bank Tangerine to attract more than just digital deposits. He also touted Scotiabank’s Scene+ loyalty program, which has 14 million members and offers perks such as discounts with the Canadian grocery company Empire Co., as a potential driver of new customers.\nThe lender is planning a program to improve the productivity of salespeople in both personal and commercial banking, Bogdaneris said, and will invest in its mobile technology.\nVeritas Investment Research analyst Nigel D’Souza said he liked Scotiabank’s updated plan for its emphasis on Canadian banking, wealth management and capital markets over international banking.\n“However,” he said in an email, “strategic targets for return on equity and growth suggest a long journey ahead with the investor day as the first small step towards improving the bank’s performance.”\nScotiabank shares gained 1.8% to C$62.03 in Toronto trading Wednesday. They’ve slumped 6.6% this year, more than the 0.9% decline for the S&P/TSX Commercial Banks Index.\n(Updates with strategy on capital markets, comments from international banking executive, analyst reaction and share price starting in ninth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Scotiabank to Focus on North America in Strategy Makeover"
    },
    {
        "id": 1045,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-media-giant-vivendi-examine-210353854.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nCanal Plus and Havas arm implicated in this plan\n*\nAlso investment arm that holds its Lagardere stake\n*\nVivendi says it has suffered 'conglomerate discount'\n(New throughout, adds details on plans and background on Vivendi)\nBy Sudip Kar-Gupta\nPARIS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - French media company Vivendi said it had decided to examine splitting up some of its activities into several entities, each of which would then be listed on the stock market, in order to boost their growth and development.\nVivendi - in which France's billionaire Bollore family holds the biggest individual stake - said the businesses that could be spun off in this way included its TV unit Canal Plus, advertising arm Havas and an investment company holding its stake in French company Lagardere.\n\"The investment company would actively support the strategic development of its portfolio companies and would focus on value creation and capital return to its shareholders, through an effective portfolio rotation and a targeted reinvestment policy,\" said Vivendi in a statement.\nIt added that this plan would help it overcome what Vivendi said was a 'high conglomerate discount' regarding its valuation.\nIn October, Vivendi had reported a\nrise in its third quarter revenues\n, driven by growth at Canal Plus and Havas.\nVivendi is also the biggest shareholder in Telecom Italia. Vivendi is expected to\nchallenge legally Telecom Italia\n's 19 billion euros ($20.7 billion) sale of its prized fixed-line grid to U.S. fund KKR.\nShares in Vivendi closed up 0.7 percent on Wednesday, giving it a market capitalisation of roughly 9 billion euros.\n($1 = 0.9190 euros) (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Media giant Vivendi to examine spinning off some units onto stock market"
    },
    {
        "id": 1046,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-latam-assets-jump-210257795.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "* Fed signals end to rate hikes * Argentina's peso drops more than 50% at open, Merval touches fresh intraday high * Brazilian central bank decision due * Latin American stocks up 2.7%, currencies rise 0.7% (Updated at 3:10 pm ET/2010 GMT) By Siddarth S and Lisa Pauline Mattackal Dec 13 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies jumped on Wednesday, snapping a two-day decline, after the Federal Reserve signaled an end to U.S. interest rate hikes and projected cuts in 2024, while Argentina's peso fell more than 50% against the dollar on wariness about President Javier Milei's new economic measures. The broader Latin American currencies index jumped 0.7%, while MSCI's gauge for South American equities ticked up 2.7% to its highest since early August. The Fed held interest rates steady and signaled in new economic projections that its aggressive rate hiking cycle may be at an end. Some policymakers projected lower borrowing costs in 2024 and investors increased bets on rate cuts next March. \"The Fed believes they have the soft landing in the bag, clearly, markets believe them now ... the Fed's stance could keep the rate cut trade rolling through the end of the year,\" said Callie Cox, investment analyst at eToro. Emerging market assets, which benefit from increased risk appetite and higher returns when U.S. borrowing costs are lower, have risen in the fourth quarter as investors have priced in rate cuts next year. Elsewhere, Argentina's government allowed the peso to fall more than 50% on the official market, and was last seen at 800 to the dollar as markets cautiously welcomed the first details of President Javier Milei's \"shock therapy\" for the country's economy. Argentina's central bank said it will hold its benchmark interest rate at 133% and impose a new \"crawling peg\" that steadily weakens the peso 2% each month after a planned sharp devaluation. \"The large devaluation poses upside risks to inflation in the near term, although the extent of any pass-through may be mitigated by tight monetary and fiscal policies,\" said Stuart Culverhouse, chief economist and head of fixed income research at Tellimer. Argentina's Merval index jumped to a fresh intraday record of 1,084,545 units, before pulling back to fall 0.6% on the day. Brazil's benchmark Bovespa index rose 2.5% and the real ticked up 0.6% ahead of a crucial policy meeting in which the central bank is expected to deliver a fourth consecutive 50-basis-point interest rate cut. Mexico's peso gained 0.5%, while the country's benchmark index jumped 1.3% to its highest since July 31. Emerging market debt and stock portfolios drew in $43.4 billion from foreign investors in November, the largest net amount since January, data from the Institute of International Finance showed. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2010 GMT: Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 975.73 -0.09 MSCI LatAm 2522.41 2.64 Brazil Bovespa 129600.90 2.53 Mexico IPC 55133.90 1.28 Chile IPSA 6020.41 1.81 Argentina MerVal 1003483.68 -0.647 Colombia COLCAP 1161.98 1.11 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.9234 -0.08 Mexico peso 17.2150 0.51 Chile peso 869.7 0.59 Colombia peso 3975 0.28 Peru sol 3.7801 -0.42 Argentina peso 799.9500 -54.18 (interbank) Argentina peso 1040 2.88 (parallel) (Reporting by Siddarth S, Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Latam assets jump as Fed flags end to rate hikes; Argentina peso down 50% after devaluation"
    },
    {
        "id": 1047,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-dow-industrials-hit-intraday-202842301.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds detail on bull market, background on Fed decision)\nDec 13 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its first record high since January 2022 on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.\nThe Dow was up 1.12% at 36,986.89 points.\nEnding Wednesday's session at its current level would also mark the Dow's first-record high close since January 2022, and would confirm that it has been in a bull market since tumbling more than 20% through its closing low in September 2022, according to a common definition.\nWall Street surged after the Fed held interest rates steady, with a near-unanimous 17 of 19 Fed officials projecting that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024.\nThe S&P 500 was up 1.3% and the Nasdaq jumped 1.4%.\nWhile most U.S. stock investment funds benchmark their performance against the S&P 500, the Dow is widely followed by Main Street investors. (Reporting by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California Editing by Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Dow industrials hit intraday record high on rate optimism"
    },
    {
        "id": 1048,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-dow-surges-to-record-stocks-soar-after-fed-previews-rate-cuts-194520322.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "US stocks ripped higher on Wednesday, eyeing a bid for fresh 2023 highs, as investors dissected the Federal Reserve's last interest rate decision of the year.\nThe benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) all popped over 1% in the wake of the decision. The Dow briefly touched above 37,000 and is headed for its highest close ever.\nThe Fed held its benchmark interest rate in a range of 5.25%-5.50%, the highest in 22 years, on Wednesday. The move had been widely anticipated by investors.\nAlso in the Fed's release was the central bank's Summary of Economic Projections, which includes central bankers projections for interest rates next year. The Fed now sees 75 basis points of rate cuts coming in 2024, which accounts for one more rate cut than had been projected in September.\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nElsewhere, oil rose to come off the lowest levels since June as the market weighed the COP28 deal to transition away from fossil fuels. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) and Brent crude futures (BZ=F) both added roughly 1%, trading around $69 a barrel and $74 a barrel, respectively.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Stock market news today: Dow surges to record, stocks soar after Fed previews rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1049,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/smiledirectclub-shutting-down-where-does-195850545.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — Just months after filing for bankruptcy, SmileDirectClub announced it was shutting down its global operations and halting its teeth-aligner treatments.\nThat leaves existing SmileDirectClub customers with a lot of questions and few available answers. The company is offering no more customer care support and few details about possible refunds are available yet. Multiple dental organizations and orthodontists also caution patients about safety concerns arising from “direct-to-consumer” dentistry.\nHere's what you need to know.\nWHAT IS THE COMPANY AND WHY IS IT CLOSING SHOP?\nSmileDirectClub — which served over 2 million people since its 2014 founding — once promised to revolutionize the oral-care industry by selling clear dental aligners that were marketed as a faster and more affordable alternative to braces. It sold its aligners directly to consumers by mail and in major retailers.\nWhen SmileDirectClub's stock began trading on the stock market in 2019, the company was valued at about $8.9 billion. But the stock plummeted in value over time as the company proved to be unprofitable year after year. In 2022, SmileDirectClub lost $86.4 million.\nWith its stock price tumbling, SmileDirectClub was pressured to spend on acquiring customers to demonstrate its business could grow, said Eric Snyder, chairman of bankruptcy at the Wilk Auslander law firm.\n“And then you combine that with the legal battles they had (and pushback) from orthodontics industry ... all those things together just made it really hard for them to stay competitive,” he added. “They’ve been losing just tremendous amounts of money over the last couple of years.”\nSmileDirectClub filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September while reporting nearly $900 million in debt. And at the end of last week, it confirmed it was shutting down operations after being unable to find a partner willing to bring in enough capital to keep the company afloat.\nWHAT ABOUT EXISTING CUSTOMERS?\nIn a Friday FAQ about it shutting down operations, SmileDirectClub confirmed that its telehealth aligner treatment is no longer available.\nThat leaves existing customers in limbo. Customer orders that haven’t shipped yet have been canceled and “Lifetime Smile Guarantee” no longer exists, the company said. SmileDirectClub added that Smile Pay customers are expected to continue to make payments, leading to further confusion and frustration online.\nCustomer-care support has also ceased. SmileDirectClub apologized and urged consumers to consult their local dentist or orthodontist for further treatments. The Nashville, Tennessee, company said that more details about refund requests will arrive “once the bankruptcy process determines next steps and additional measures customers can take.”\nWhen contacted by The Associated Press for additional information, a spokesperson said the company couldn’t comment further.\nNow that SmileDirectClub is out of business, must to liquidate, Snyder noted. He said he's skeptical about compensation making its way to customers — but notes that people who signed up or made payments after the company's September bankruptcy filing will likely be prioritized.\n“Unfortunately, I think they’re going to be out of luck. ... (But) if there’s any money, it’ll go to the newest customers,” Snyder said. And even when a company goes out of business, consumers still paying off services they already received will still owe that amount, he noted.\nSnyder also doesn't expect there to be further legal implications around the end of the “Lifetime Smile Guarantee,” for example, noting that such warranties are \"only as good as the life of the company offering it.\"\nIt's unclear how many active customers SmileDirectClub had before shutting down, but American Association of Orthodontists President Dr. Myron Guymon speculates that tens of thousands of people could be affected.\n“That's got to be very frustrating for them to have spent time and money in a treatment, and then all of a sudden the rug gets shoved out underneath their feet,\" Guymon said.\nHe and others advised those people to seek the care of a professionally trained orthodontic specialist, such as those listed on AAO's website.\nWHAT ARE ORTHODONTISTS SAYING?\nOver the years, dental associations around the world have been urging caution or expressing opposition to direct-to-consumer aligners — what some call “DIY\" dentistry.\nThese types of aligner treatments don't require in-person visits to a dentist or orthodontist, but typically ask consumers to take molds of their teeth or a digital scan instead. This can lead to key aspects of a patient’s oral condition being overlooked and potentially lead to health consequences, some experts say.\n“It’s very easy to cause harm if you’re not properly monitoring the case,\" Dr. Thikriat Al-Jewair, chair of the Department of Orthodontics at the University of Buffalo, said. “I cannot overstate the importance of seeing an orthodontist to monitor the care. (Moving teeth) is a very complex process and also very individualized.\"\nAl-Jewair added that many former direct-to-consumer aligner patients end up coming to orthodontic practices for reevaluation. In these cases, she said, gum disease, bite problems and other issues often arise.\nIt’s important to note that SmileDirectClub isn’t the only direct-to-consumer aligner provider on the market today. The treatment's appeal and perceived benefits boil down to convenience and affordability — still, Al-Jewair notes, previous demographic research has found that the majority of patients seeking direct-to-consumer aligners came from higher economic backgrounds.\nSmileDirectClub has previously specified that each of its customers' treatment plans and health histories were reviewed by licensed doctors, who could also request additional information or reject some for the company's teledentristy care. But this kind of business model, which again isn't isolated to one company, still brings up concerns for organizations like the AAO, Guymon noted. He added that not by requiring an initial in-person evaluation, supervising doctors are not always identified to patients.\n“Our concern has always been that the lack of direct supervision, the lack of a patient-doctor relationship (and the fact) that the patient didn’t know who to call if they had problems, was not in the public’s best health and interests,\" he said.\nThat doesn't mean there isn't a place for telehealth in the dental world, Guymon and others said, noting that remote monitoring between treatments, for example, can help patients with convenience and some cost barriers of orthodontic care.\n\"We absolutely support teledentistry and many of our members use it, but just within certain safety guidelines,\" said Trey Lawrence, AAO’s VP, general counsel and head of the association’s advocacy team. “Patients can check in with their dentist (remotely), but also maintain knowing who your dentist is and being seen in-person before you start something more permanent, like orthodontic treatment.”\n",
        "title": "SmileDirectClub is shutting down. Where does that leave its customers?"
    },
    {
        "id": 1050,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-flags-end-rate-hikes-193032494.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday and signaled in new economic projections that the historic tightening of U.S. monetary policy engineered over the last two years is at an end and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.\nMARKET REACTION:\nSTOCKS: The S&P 500 extended gains and was recently up 0.66%\nBONDS: The U.S. Treasury 10-year yield tumbled and recently stood at around 4.08%, the lowest level since August. The 2-year yield fell and was recently at 4.537%, its lowest level since mid-June.\nFOREX: The dollar index was down 0.5%\nCOMMENTS:\nMICHAEL BROWN, MARKET ANALYST, TRADERX, LONDON\n\"No surprise in terms of rates with the Fed funds rate remaining unchanged, though a marginally more dovish than expected dot plot doesn’t exactly provide the pushback on market pricing and looser financial conditions that most had been expecting.\"\n\"The economic assessment remains broadly unchanged with incoming data having done little to materially alter the outlook. Ultimately, while markets have undergone a knee-jerk dovish repricing, this is unlikely to be a game-changer in terms of the outlook, with the debate for 2024 still likely focusing on the reasoning for a cut (soft landing or growth slump?) over the magnitude of such a move.\"\nKARL SCHAMOTTA, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, CORPAY, TORONTO\n\"By raising the bar to further tightening and telegraphing at least three rate cuts in 2024, the Fed turned decisively dovish this afternoon, waving a red flag in front of market bulls hoping for an easing in policy.\"\n\"Perhaps more importantly, officials appear convinced a \"soft landing\" is in the offing, with inflation subsiding, growth remaining strongly positive, and unemployment remaining essentially changed through the course of 2024. The conditions are in place for a melt-up in financial markets, and a further easing in credit conditions across the economy.\"\nTOM MARTIN, SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER, GLOBALT INVESTMENTS, ATLANTA\n“The statement is telling us that the Fed is seeing what the markets have already started to discount, that you're going to have inflation back to normal without a recession.”\n“We kind of hoped it was going to be this, but we didn't really think it was. I think there was a lot more tacit expectation that at the least the statement and the dot plot weren’t going to be quite this clear.”\nBRIAN JACOBSEN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ANNEX WEALTH MANAGEMENT, MENOMONEE FALLS, WISCONSIN\n“The FOMC is becoming a motley crew. The divide isn’t so much about whether to cut in 2024, but rather how much and when. The Powell Pause may only last until the May meeting. The critical question is whether the Fed will be cutting because it can or because it has to. If the Fed is only tracking inflation lower, that’s bullish, but the more likely scenario is that they cut because growth stalls and they have to cut.”\n(Compiled by the Global Finance & Markets Breaking News team)\n",
        "title": "Fed flags end of rate hikes, sees lower borrowing costs in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1051,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-us-yields-tumble-fed-191725924.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields dropped on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, as expected, but flagged in its new economic projections that its tightening policy is ending and rate cuts are on the horizon next year.\nU.S. benchmark 10-year yields fell to their lowest since August, and were last down 12.7 basis points (bps) at 4.08% .\nU.S. two-year yields, which reflect rate expectations, slid to their weakest level since mid-June, last down 18.9 bps at 4.54%.\nA near-unanimous 17 of 19 Fed officials project that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024 than it is now - with the median projection showing the rate falling three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 5.25%-5.50% range. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES-US yields tumble after Fed rate forecasts flag rate cuts in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1052,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/traders-price-higher-rate-cut-190945574.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Traders priced in higher odds of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts next year after central bankers published new, lower forecasts for monetary policy.\nSwap contracts referencing Fed meeting dates repriced to levels consistent with about 130 basis points of easing over the next 12 months, compared with about 116 basis points earlier Wednesday.\nThe December contract’s rate fell to about 4.06%, compared with a current effective fed funds rate of 5.33%. Treasury yields for two- to 10-year notes declined at least 10 basis points and as much as 15 basis points on the day.\n",
        "title": "Traders Price in Higher Rate-Cut Odds for 2024 on New Forecast"
    },
    {
        "id": 1053,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-set-hit-eu-antitrust-162104449.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. faces a potentially hefty fine as well as a ban on App Store rules it allegedly used to thwart music-streaming rivals, in the European Union’s latest crackdown on Big Tech.\nEU regulators are putting the finishing touches to a decision on Apple’s practice of blocking music services from pushing their users away from the App Store to alternative, cheaper, subscription options, according to people familiar with the investigation. The decision is slated for early next year, they added.\nAs part of the upcoming decision, Apple runs the risk of a potential fine of as much as 10% of its annual sales — although EU penalties seldom reach that level and orders for companies to change their business models can be more hard-hitting.\nThe probe was sparked by a complaint nearly four years ago from Sweden’s Spotify Technology SA, which claimed it was forced to ramp up the price of its monthly subscriptions to cover costs associated with Apple’s alleged stranglehold on how the App Store operates. The European Commission homed in on Apple’s so-called anti-steering rules in a formal charge sheet in February, saying the conditions were unnecessary and meant customers faced higher prices.\nAt a private June hearing in the EU case, Apple’s stance was that it already addressed any possible competition concerns, according to a person familiar with the US firm’s thinking. In early 2022, Apple began allowing Spotify and other music services to direct users to the web in their apps to sign up for subscriptions. This bypasses Apple’s revenue cut of up to 30% and gives consumers more pricing and subscription options.\nA few months earlier, the company had agreed for the first time to allow apps to advertise lower prices for subscriptions outside of the App Store. For example, Spotify or another developer could email customers to inform them of cheaper prices if they sign up online rather than through the App Store.\nBut Spotify hit back at Apple’s efforts, saying in June that the restrictions still existed and the changes were “just for show.”\nThe EU crackdown on App Store rules has run alongside another probe focused on how Cupertino, California-based Apple controls tap-to-pay technology on its devices. But the company is in talks to settle that case, according to people familiar with the investigation. Across the Atlantic there has been a similar focus on app store abuses. This week, jurors found that Google unfairly wields monopoly power, in a win for Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc., which has also complained about Apple’s App Store policies.\nMargrethe Vestager — who returned to her role as EU antitrust czar after a failed bid for the top job at the European Investment Bank — has a history of taking on Apple and other Silicon Valley giants. She’s slapped Alphabet Inc.’s Google with fines of more than €8 billion ($8.6 billion) and also ordered Apple to repay €13 billion in allegedly unfair tax breaks from Ireland.\nThe Brussels-based commission declined to comment on its forthcoming decision. Apple didn’t respond to questions from Bloomberg on the case. Spotify declined to immediately comment.\nRead More: Apple Defies EU Over Antitrust Charges in Spotify Probe\nAside from attacking firms for their past abuses, the commission, the EU’s antitrust arm, has also pushed through sweeping new rules to head off competition violations by tech firms before they take root. The Digital Markets Act enters into full force in March 2024, and lays out a series of dos and don’ts.\nUnder the DMA, it will be illegal for the most powerful firms to favor their own services over those of rivals. They’ll be barred from combining personal data across their different services, prohibited from using data they collect from third-party merchants to compete against them, and will have to allow users to download apps from rivals platforms.\nApple, Meta Platforms Inc. and TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. have all asked the EU courts to double check whether some of their services should come under the scope of the DMA — seen as hitting the heart of some of their most profitable business models.\n--With assistance from Stephanie Bodoni and Mark Gurman.\n(Updates with details of Apple’s App Store policies starting in fifth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Apple Set to Be Hit by EU Antitrust Order in App Store Fight With Spotify"
    },
    {
        "id": 1054,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/traders-ramp-bets-boe-rate-093911040.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Traders ramped up bets on interest-rate cuts by the Bank of England next year after soft GDP data reinforced the view that policymakers won’t be able to keep monetary policy tight for so long.\nFor the first time in the current cycle, markets fully priced 100 basis points of monetary easing in 2024, which would take borrowing costs to 4.25%. A first quarter-point cut is expected in June and there’s some easing priced in for May, according to swaps tied to the central bank meeting dates.\nThe latest shift in pricing brings BOE expectations closer to those for the Federal Reserve, which is seen lowering borrowing costs by at least one percentage point next year. The US central bank announces its policy decision later on Wednesday, with UK officials following on Thursday.\nThe pound on Wednesday weakened as the expected interest-rate gap between the UK and the US shrank. The currency fell as much as 0.5% to $1.2500, the lowest since Nov. 23.\n“The potential is that the Bank of England cuts rates more than the forward curve is anticipating,” said Andrew Pease, global head of investment strategy at Russell Investments. If the economy turns out to be “as bad as everyone thinks, the BOE will react more aggressively,” he said.\nThe UK economy shrank more than expected in October, setting the stage for another quarter of stagnation that is widely forecast to persist through 2024.\nAt the same time, wage growth is slowing at the sharpest pace in almost two years, bolstering arguments that the BOE may have done enough to rein in inflationary pressures after delivering the most aggressive series of rate increases since the 1980s.\nOthers weren’t convinced policymakers will be so aggressive with their easing next year, as officials have highlighted lingering concerns about inflation. The BOE guidance is that rates will need to remain at the highest level in 15 years for the foreseeable future.\n“While some market participants may be tempted to front load rate cuts in 2024, we think that the BOE would await more evidence that UK inflation in particular has continued to fall before discussing any easing measures,” said Valentin Marinov, head of G10 FX strategy at Credit Agricole CIB.\nThe risk of disappointment after tomorrow’s decision didn’t stop investors from piling into UK bonds after the GDP data. The yield on 10-year gilts fell as much as 14 basis points to 3.82% on Wednesday.\n“It won’t be too long before the BOE’s narrative shifts from inflation to growth concerns — and that suggests there is scope for pound weakness in the coming weeks,” said Peter Kinsella, global head of FX strategy at Union Bancaire Privee. The pound-dollar pair could fall toward $1.20 in the coming weeks, he said.\n--With assistance from James Hirai, Sujata Rao and Anya Andrianova.\n(Updates with pound move in fourth paragraph and yield in penultimate paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Traders Bet BOE Will Cut Interest Rates Aggressively Next Year"
    },
    {
        "id": 1055,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-joins-global-rally-stocks-234036803.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Stocks and bonds rallied after the Federal Reserve signaled interest-rate cuts next year, reigniting a bullish pulse across markets as inflation eases.\nA global gauge of stocks gained for a sixth straight session after the S&P 500 ended Wednesday within 2% of its record high and climbed further in Asian futures trading on Thursday. Apple Inc and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both hit record highs.\nEuropean equity futures advanced alongside stock indexes in Australia, South Korea and China. Japan was the region’s outlier, declining while the yen strengthened against the dollar — by as much as 1% — as an index of the greenback fell to a four-month low.\nThose moves followed dovish signs Wednesday from the Fed, which held rates steady and forecast that their next moves would be cuts. The dot plot showed 75 basis points of reduction in 2024 — a sharper pace of cuts than indicated in September. Traders are now awaiting the Bank of England and European Central Bank meetings due later today to determine whether developed-market peers are at the cusp of a global easing cycle.\n“The Fed has delivered an early Christmas present to markets,” said Kellie Wood, deputy head of fixed income at Schroders Plc in Sydney. “The next move is a cut and markets are now anticipating a faster and sharper easing cycle.” Wood anticipates “strong performance across all markets” on Thursday in a broad risk-on rally.\nTreasuries staged a sharp rally following the meeting that extended in Asian trading. The 10-year yield fell below 4% for the first time since August. Swap contracts show bets of 140 basis points of easing in the next 12 months.\nGlobal corporate bond spreads — the difference in yield between Treasuries and company debt — tightened to levels last seen in February 2022, in a further sign of bullish sentiment. Spreads in Asia tightened Thursday toward a record low touched last week.\nUS data prior to the Fed meeting on Wednesday showed slowing producer-price gains as energy costs fell. That follows Tuesday’s consumer price data that showed a decrease in the annual rate of inflation — further signs that prices are trending back toward the Fed’s target.\nREAD: Wall Street Traders Go All-In on Great Monetary Pivot of 2024\nDollar Weakness\nFalling Treasury yields weighed on the dollar and buttressed the yen, which traded at levels not seen since August. The New Zealand and Australian dollars also rallied, despite yields for their respective government bonds declining.\nThe currencies of Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia all firmed around 1% or more against the dollar in a sign of strength among emerging markets currencies.\n“A textbook dovish pivot response in stocks and the US dollar should bode well for Asian equities,” said Chamath De Silva, a senior fund manager at BetaShares Holdings in Sydney. “The exception might be Japan, which will have to deal with big yen strength.”\nThe 10-year Treasury yield could tumble to the low 3% range next year, DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach predicted on CNBC following the Fed meeting. Respondents to Bloomberg’s latest Instant Markets Live Pulse survey see modest gains for stocks and bonds in 2024 and highlighted the prospect rates may not fall as sharply as markets currently predict.\nREAD: Investors See Asian Stocks, Bonds and Currencies Boosted by Fed\nElsewhere, Australia added more jobs than expected in November. Monetary decisions of the Philippines and Taiwan are due later Thursday.\nCountry Garden Holdings Co. shares rose on Thursday after a unit of the distressed developer unexpectedly repaid an 800 million yuan ($111 million) bond, allaying default concerns.\nA dovish move from the Fed “gives a lot of flexibility in terms of PBOC pursuing its monetary policy,” as the Chinese central bank is an easing cycle, said William Yuen, investment director for Invesco, on Bloomberg Television. Invesco is overweight in Chinese stocks in its Asia ex-Japan strategies and likes e-commerce retails and services businesses, Yuen said.\nIn the US, exchange operator Nasdaq Inc. was hit by a system error Wednesday around the time of the Fed’s policy decision that led to some stock orders being cancelled, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nWest Texas Intermediate, the US crude benchmark, edged higher but remained around $70. Bitcoin pared a Wednesday advance to trade close to $43,000, and gold was slightly higher above $2,000 per Troy ounce.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Georgina McKay and Matthew Burgess.\n",
        "title": "Stocks, Bonds Rally as Dollar Retreats After Fed: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 1056,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-revises-fed-call-now-070133809.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists revised their outlook for the Federal Reserve in 2024, now anticipating a faster and steeper set of interest-rate cuts.\nGoldman’s economics team, led by Jan Hatzius, highlighted the disinflationary signal seen in Wednesday’s producer price data, which showed gains slowing to less than 1% in November. Combined with downward revisions to previous months, the implication is a softer pace of increases for the Fed’s preferred price gauge, they said.\n“We now forecast three consecutive 25 basis-point cuts in March, May, and June to reset the policy rate” from a level that Fed officials will likely soon see as too high, the Goldman economists wrote in a note.\nHatzius and his colleagues then see a quarterly pace of rate reductions, culminating in a target range of 3.25% to 3.5%. The current range, retained in Wednesday’s Fed policy decision, is 5.25% to 5.5%.\nFed policymakers projected three rate cuts for 2024, one more than Goldman’s team had anticipated.\n",
        "title": "Goldman Revises Fed Call, Now Seeing ‘Earlier and Faster’ Cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1057,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-bollore-eyes-vivendi-breakup-085704905.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Vivendi SE is considering splitting up its media and entertainment empire into several companies to better take advantage of each unit’s strength.\nSince listing Universal Music Group two years ago, the French company said it has “endured a significantly high conglomerate discount,” reducing its valuation and limiting growth opportunities for its subsidiaries, according to a statement on Wednesday.\nVivendi shares rose 9.9% to €9.84 at 9:23 a.m. in Paris trading, giving the company a market value of €10.1 billion. The shares earlier gained as much as 12%, the biggest intraday rise since Sept. 2021.\nA separation would “unleash the development potential” of all its activities, Vivendi said, and be structured around three businesses: film and TV production arm Canal+; advertising and communications branch Havas; and publishing group Lagardère, which are seeing strong growth marked by “numerous” investment opportunities.\nBloomberg Intelligence analyst Matthew Bloxham said the move would represent “a U-turn from the current strategy of seeking closer integration among its disparate collection of media assets.” Vivendi has tried to create synergies between its activities, turning intellectual property like Paddington Bear into films, books and marketing campaigns in an effort to build a European empire to rival Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co.\nVivendi said it would tap its “usual” banks and advisers to study a potential breakup and that any plan would need to bring value to all stakeholders and account for tax consequences. The company didn’t say exactly when it would make a decision.\nInvestors have been watching to see whether French billionaire Vincent Bolloré — Vivendi’s controlling shareholder, who’s been likened to fellow media mogul Rupert Murdoch — tries to raise his stake in the company to win greater control over the media business and take it in new directions. The 71-year-old had already started reshaping Vivendi through the 2021 initial public offering of Universal Music.\nA split would allow Vivendi to pursue acquisitions via distribution of shares in its markets, as well as making the separate units M&A targets. “A standalone Havas would be an attractive bid target and could even trade at a premium,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Daniel Kerven wrote in a note.\nRead more: Billionaire ‘French Murdoch’ Builds Own Right-Wing Media Empire\nKnown as a ruthless corporate raider, Bolloré worked to internationalize his media group over the past decade. Since taking control of Canal+ about eight years ago, Bolloré has made the once-struggling unit a Netflix-like platform by acquiring rivals in Europe, Africa and Asia.\nHavas also has an international footprint, with an outsize presence in the US. Vivendi has been focused in the past year on finalizing its acquisition of media rival Lagardere, which owns Hachette, the world’s third-largest publishing house, and a global travel retail business.\nIf the split goes through, Bolloré has a war chest to pursue further operations as a controlling shareholder of various media groups after his family holding, Bollore SE, divested its transport and logistics business.\n(Corrects headline to show Vivendi is weighing a breakup)\n",
        "title": "Billionaire Bollore Eyes Vivendi Breakup, Shares Jump"
    },
    {
        "id": 1058,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-hits-four-month-093910560.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates at 0922 GMT)\nBy Samuel Indyk and Brigid Riley\nLONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The dollar dropped to a fresh four-month low on Thursday after the Federal Reserve indicated that its interest-rate hike cycle has ended and that lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.\nOn a busy day for policy announcements in Europe, the Norwegian crown strengthened after a rate hike, while the Swiss franc was little changed after the Swiss National Bank held rates. The Bank of England and European Central Bank announce policy later in the day.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell said at Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that the historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view\". Policymakers were nearly unanimous in their projections that borrowing costs would fall in 2024.\n\"Every vehicle of Fed communication – the statement, the dots, and Powell's press conference – was unambiguously dovish,\" said RBC strategist Blake Gwinn.\n\"This shift was perhaps most obvious when Powell admitted that the committee discussed the appropriate timing of cuts at the meeting.\"\nThe U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped as far as 102.42, its lowest since mid-August. It was last down 0.3% at 102.57.\nMarkets are now pricing a more than 85% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared with 40% a day before. Traders are pricing in a one-in-five chance that the Fed cuts rates next month.\nThe SNB kicked off Europe's busy day of central bank announcements by holding rates steady at 1.75%, as expected. The franc remained weaker against the euro but a touch stronger against the softer dollar after the announcement, as the central bank acknowledged that inflationary pressure has decreased slightly over the past quarter.\nThe Norwegian crown meanwhile rose against both the euro and dollar after the Norges bank unexpectedly raised rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%, adding that it would likely stay at that level for some time.\nEyes were now turning to announcements from the BoE and ECB which are both likely to keep interest rates unchanged, with markets watching for communication around possible easing of policy in 2024.\n\"Policymakers from both central banks have made attempts to row back against recent market moves but so far with only limited effect,\" noted Lloyds Banking Group economist Hann-Ju Ho.\n\"It is their guidance on next year's policy actions that will command attention.\"\nThe yen continued to strengthen in the wake of the greenback's tumble, climbing to its highest since July 31 at 140.95 yen per dollar. It was last up around 0.9% at 141.58 per dollar.\nThe dovish FOMC meeting may have caught some traders who were bearish on yen and bullish on the dollar by surprise, prompting them to quickly unwind positions, said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.\nJapanese exporters who haven't yet increased hedge ratios are likely rushing to make adjustments as well, he added.\nExpectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could end negative interest rates at its monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18-19 have largely died down, but the BOJ could make tweaks to its statement, such as language that the bank will not hesitate to ease further if necessary, said Yamamoto.\nThat kind of change could \"be regarded as one step toward normalisation...so that could be positive for the Japanese yen,\" he said.\nThe Australian dollar, meanwhile, hit over a four-month high at $0.6728 after domestic net employment jumped by 61,500 in November, compared to an increase of around 11,000 that markets had been forecasting.\nThe kiwi rose over 1% versus the greenback to as high as $0.6249, despite data showing the New Zealand economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was down 0.3% at $42,772.\n(Reporting by Samuel Indyk and Brigid Riley; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Lincoln Feast and Nick Macfie.)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar hits four-month low as Fed signals 2024 rate cuts, NOK stronger after rate hike"
    },
    {
        "id": 1059,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-traders-great-monetary-003006861.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- After clashing in recent years, Wall Street traders and the Federal Reserve are – for once – broadly in sync: The great monetary pivot is near as central bankers engineer a once-unthinkable soft landing in the world’s largest economy.\nThat’s the big-picture takeaway after the Fed gave its clearest signal yet that its historic policy tightening campaign is over by projecting more aggressive interest-rate cuts in 2024 – in the process igniting one of the biggest post-meeting rallies in recent memory.\nVirtually no corner of financial markets was left out of Wednesday’s cross-asset advance: Global shares spiked higher. Front-end Treasuries posted their best day since March. World currencies surged against the dollar and corporate bonds rallied.\nIn their exuberance, traders largely declared victory for Jerome Powell’s bid to secure a disinflationary trajectory in a still-expanding business cycle – adding fresh ammo to recent advances in safe and risky assets alike.\n“This is a massive paradigm shift on Wall Street, with the most aggressive rate-hiking cycle in decades coming to an end,” said Adam Sarhan, founder of 50 Park Investments. “The Fed is no longer dealing with inflation as public enemy No. 1.”\nOf course, there’s no guarantee that Wednesday’s rally will last. Markets have piled into rate-cut wagers numerous times over the past two years, only to be caught flat-footed when the Fed didn’t change tack.\nOfficials unanimously agreed to leave the target range for the benchmark federal funds rate at 5.25% to 5.5%, and Powell said officials are prepared to hike again if inflation picks up.\nIt’s not hard to imagine a couple of unexpected inflation or jobs prints over the coming months prompting traders to reverse course. And yet there were few on Wall Street bothered by such concerns Wednesday afternoon.\nPowell’s remarks have “basically added fuel to the fire,” former New York Fed President and Bloomberg Opinion contributor William Dudley said on Bloomberg TV. “Powell talks about the long lags of monetary policy, but financial conditions are much, much more accommodative than they were just a few months ago.”\nRead More: Powell Cut Plan Will Fuel 2024 Stock, Bond Gains: MLIV Pulse\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to a record, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.4% on Wednesday. The percentage of members in the gauge now trading above their 50-day moving averages stands at roughly 89%, the most since July. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 index of small caps surged more than 3.5%, the most in a month. Further afield, Latin American equities gained the most since early August.\nThe yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped below 4% for the first time since August on Thursday in Asia, while the rate on 2-year notes slid five basis points — extending its plunge of more than 30 basis points in the previous session. On Wednesday, front-end Treasuries posted their best day since the height of the regional bank crisis in March.\n“We’re having a party today,” said Kathy Jones, Charles Schwab’s chief fixed-income strategist. “In my 2024 outlook I was pretty positive on fixed income for next year. I was thinking we’d get to 4% on the 10-year, three cuts from the Fed, maybe 3.5 with a recession, and here we sit and we haven’t started the year.”\nEvery group-of-10 currency advanced versus the dollar on Wednesday too, with the gains continuing in Asia on Thursday. The Hungarian forint and South African rand — currencies often seen as proxies for risk appetite in emerging markets — surged.\nETFs tracking investment-grade corporate debt, junk bonds and commodities also advanced.\nIn all, Wednesday marked the best Fed day across assets in almost 15 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nMarkets around the world will quickly have a slew of further opportunities to bet on potential monetary pivots, with European Central Bank and Bank of England meetings on Thursday. And with the Fed’s quarterly projections showing the central bank expects to lower rates by an arguably modest 75 basis points next year, the debate may now become: Have traders gone too far, too fast?\nDoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach doesn’t think so, saying Wednesday on CNBC that he expects yields on 10-year Treasuries to fall to into the low 3% range by next year.\n“We’re going to see the yield curve de-inverting,” Gundlach said. “We will still have bonds rallying. We’ve broken down the trend lines and there’s a lot of room below it.”\n--With assistance from Emily Graffeo, Katie Greifeld, Lu Wang and Michael Mackenzie.\n(Update with Treasuries and currency trading in Asia on Thursday.)\n",
        "title": "Wall Street Traders Go All-In on Great Monetary Pivot of 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1060,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-rate-cut-pushback-hinge-053444186.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- After ramping up borrowing costs for more than a year, all eyes will now be on how forcefully the European Central Bank pushes back against bets on interest-rate cuts.\nThe extent of its resistance will hinge on fresh projections for the euro-zone economy — arriving on the heels of a surprisingly steep slump in inflation. That outlook may also help the ECB decide whether to hasten its exit from quantitative easing by phasing out reinvestments under the €1.7 trillion ($1.8 trillion) pandemic-era PEPP initiative.\nEconomists polled by Bloomberg all see the deposit rate being left at 4% on Thursday. But with price growth already nearing 2% and the region facing a first recession since Covid, the focus is now firmly on when officials will begin unwinding their unprecedented monetary tightening, especially after the Federal Reserve’s pivot on the matter on Wednesday. Markets see a first ECB cut as early as the spring.\nInterest Rates\nEconomists in a separate Bloomberg survey predict June will see the first of three quarter-point cuts next year — taking the deposit rate to 3.25%. They anticipate another three steps of that magnitude in 2025.\nTraders are more dovish — wagering on that volume of easing coming in 2024 alone and kicking off as soon as March.\nLagarde is unlikely to validate either of these views, even after inflation sank to 2.4% in November — the lowest since mid-2021. Instead, she’ll probably explain that price pressures are set to tick up again, rendering such discussions premature.\nThe overall picture may only become clear when the full extent of wage deals and governments’ fiscal plans emerge after the first quarter.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says...\n“Given the risks around the inflation outlook, the ECB is probably unhappy with interest-rate swaps pricing in a rate cut in March. Lagarde may make that clear in the press conference. Bloomberg Economics’ view remains that the first cut will come in June and the risks are skewed toward earlier action.”\n—David Powell, senior euro-area economist. Click here for full preview\nThe most economists and investors can maybe expect is a signal that — barring any economic shocks — further rate hikes are off the table.\nEconomic Projections\nUpdated quarterly projections for growth and inflation will shape any guidance on the policy path, with analysts polled by Bloomberg expecting the new outlook to have a stronger-than-usual impact on ECB messaging.\nFollowing recent hard data, a previous forecast for consumer prices to advance 3.2% in 2024 will almost certainly need to be trimmed — as will the call for gross domestic product to increase 1%.\nIn September, the ECB saw inflation reaching its 2% goal in the second half of 2025. But even if it looks able to hit that target more quickly, it will be wary of declaring victory ahead of time.\nExecutive Board member Isabel Schnabel summed the situation up, describing progress on inflation as “remarkable” while urging officials to remain vigilant.\nPEPP\nThe idea of halting reinvestments before the current end-2024 deadline has been kicked around by the Governing Council’s more hawkish members for months. Lagarde putting the issue on the agenda suggests support is building in the dovish camp, too.\nBringing forward the withdrawal from PEPP would help avoid market confusion down the line: Without a change in the timetable, the tightening step would almost certainly come in the midst of a rate-cutting cycle.\nTwo-thirds of respondents in a Bloomberg survey predict the ECB will accelerate its schedule. Of those, most see roll-offs starting in the second quarter.\nEconomists at Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Societe Generale are among those arguing that the ECB may employ a strategy similar to the one it used to phase out an older quantitative-easing program.\nThat would entail rolling over only about half the proceeds from bonds maturing between March and June, before discontinuing the practice from July.\nSuch a timeline would ensure that one of PEPP’s most important features — flexible reinvestments that allow the ECB to soothe stress in parts of the euro-zone bond market — stays in place during the typical early-year rush by governments to issue debt.\nOther Issues\nLagarde is likely to strengthen her call for governments to agree on new European fiscal rules after complaining in the past that she’s “uncomfortable” with the lack of progress. A budget impasse in Germany, the region’s largest economy, is making it harder still to predict how much public spending to expect.\nShe may also be quizzed on her views about a European Union proposal to tax profits generated by frozen Russian central-bank assets. Lagarde has warned Brussels in the past that such a move could threaten financial stability and the liquidity of the common currency.\n--With assistance from Harumi Ichikura and Joel Rinneby.\n(Updates with Fed in third paragraph)\n",
        "title": "ECB Rate-Cut Pushback to Hinge on New Forecasts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1061,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vietnams-vinacapital-explores-sale-renewable-093004701.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Yantoultra Ngui and Phuong Nguyen\nSINGAPORE/HANOI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Vietnamese investment management firm VinaCapital is considering the sale of SkyX Solar in a deal that could value the Ho Chi Minh City-headquartered solar rooftop power developer at over $100 million, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.\nThe potential sale comes at a time when renewable companies and assets have become increasingly attractive as investors look to tap growth in the sector driven by global drive to transition to zero-emission economies.\nVinaCapital is in talks with a financial advisor to explore the sale of the renewable company it started in 2018, said the sources, who declined to be named as the discussions were private.\nIt was not immediately clear how much VinaCapital is looking to sell in SkyX as the sources said discussions were under way.\nParis-headquartered renewable energy company EDF Renewables invested in SkyX in 2021, according to a statement at that time which didn't disclose financial details of the deal.\n\"As the leading investment manager in Vietnam, VinaCapital is routinely approached by third parties who would like to participate in our investments, including in SkyX, which has become a leading C&I (commercial and industrial) rooftop solar power developer in Vietnam,\" VinCapital said in an email to Reuters.\n\"We review and evaluate any such proposals, and make announcements as appropriate,\" it added.\nSkyX did not immediately respond to request seeking comment on Thursday.\nSkyX is on track to grow over 100 megawatt-peak of operating projects by the end of 2023, according to a report by VinaCapital.\nFounded in 2003, VinaCapital currently has $4 billion of assets under management, according to its website, including a closed-end fund listed on the London Stock Exchange.\nLast month, its technology investment arm VinaCapital Ventures invested in Singapore-based cyber insurtech company Protos Labs.\n(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore and Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "Vietnam's VinaCapital explores sale of renewable energy firm SkyX Solar - sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 1062,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-eu-top-court-scraps-092755384.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds response from Amazon in paragraph 4)\nBRUSSELS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Europe's top court on Thursday scrapped an EU order for Amazon to pay 250 million euros ($273 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg, part of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's crackdown against sweetheart deals between multinationals and EU countries.\n\"The Court of Justice confirms that the (European) Commission has not established that the tax ruling given to Amazon by Luxembourg was a State aid that was incompatible with the (EU's) internal market,\" the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said.\nIts decision is final.\n\"We welcome the Court’s ruling, which confirms that Amazon followed all applicable laws and received no special treatment. We look forward to continuing to focus on delivering for our customers across Europe,\" said an Amazon spokesperson.\nThe case is C-457/21 P Commission v Amazon.com and Others.\n($1 = 0.9169 euros) (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-EU top court scraps 250 mln euro tax order vs Amazon"
    },
    {
        "id": 1063,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-ai-startup-01-ai-092104117.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Yelin Mo, Josh Ye and Kane Wu\nBEIJING/HONG KONG, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Beijing-based AI startup 01.AI is raising up to $200 million in fresh capital, two sources familiar with the matter said, building on a valuation of $1 billion reached last month on the back of surging global interest in open-source AI models.\nIt is one of several Chinese startups that opened, or plan to open, to public use their large language models (LLM), alongside larger firms Meta and Alibaba in a scramble to gain users and catch up with market leader OpenAI.\nOne of the sources said 01.AI, officially launched by Lee Kai-fu, Google China's former chief, in July after a three-month incubation period, hit a valuation of $1 billion early in November.\nThe other source said the company was seeking additional investments from U.S. dollar-based investors.\nAll the sources cited in this report sought anonymity, as the fundraising details were not public.\nThe company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n01.AI drew recognition in the open-source LLM community in November, when its Yi-34B model became the first Chinese LLM to top the leaderboard of Huggingface, a platform for tech firms to share LLMs, which then get rated for performance and popularity.\nRiding the interest in generative artificial intelligence (AI) has helped such startups raise significant funds from investors after promising to make their AI models open.\nFor example, the valuation of Zhipu AI, founded in 2019 has crossed $1 billion, Chinese media have said.\nEight-month-old Baichuan Technology attained a valuation of $1.2 billion after its last fundraising in October, said a third source who had direct knowledge of the exercise.\nOPEN-SOURCE SKEPTICS\nThe movement to open-source LLMs has been criticised by OpenAI, maker of hit chatbot ChatGPT, which has kept the codes of its models under tight wraps, invoking the risk of abuse by malicious actors that could bring danger to society.\nIn China, tech giant Alibaba's cloud arm has been active in making its LLMs open-source. Its latest LLM Qwen-72B recently topped Huggingface's leaderboard, becoming the second model from China to do so.\nQwen-72B is the latest, and most powerful, of eight AI models Alibaba has made open in the last four months. The company says Qwen-72B can outperform OpenAI’s flagship GPT4 in handling Chinese, going by some industry benchmarks.\n\"Building up an open-source ecosystem is critical to promoting the development of LLM and AI applications building,\" Jingren Zhou, the chief technology officer of Alibaba Cloud, told Reuters.\nHunger for AI applications is growing across a wide range of industries, developers and businesses, he added.\n\"Alibaba Cloud aspires to become the most open cloud and make generative AI capabilities accessible to everyone.\"\nThe company is also supporting smaller open-source AI LLM startups, including 01.AI, with which it is collaborating on aspects such as model training and deployment processes.\nAliCloud earlier committed funding in the current round, the sources said.\nAliCloud did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Yelin Mo in Beijing, Josh Ye and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Brenda Goh and Clarence Fernandez)\n",
        "title": "Chinese AI startup 01.AI looks to raise $200 mln -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 1064,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moves-chinas-newest-refiner-yulong-091434888.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "SINGAPORE, Dec 14 (Reuters) - China's newest refiner and petrochemical producer Yulong Petrochemical Corp has hired a former trading executive of state major PetroChina as general manager for its newly-established Singapore trading unit, according to five persons familiar with the matter.\nXia Hongwei, a veteran with PetroChina's trading vehicle PetroChina International (PCI) who served as the managing director of PCI's Singapore operation for nearly 20 years till late 2019, was hired by Yulong to lead the refiner's oil and petrochemicals trading business in Singapore.\nYulong Petrochemical (Singapore) Pte was incorporated in November, according to Singapore's Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, which lists Yulong Petrochemical's Hong Kong unit as its shareholder.\nA Yulong representative did not immediately comment. Xia confirmed his move but did not comment further.\nYulong Petrochemical, based in China's refining hub Shandong province, is 51% owned by private Chinese aluminium smelter Shandong Nanshan Group, 46.1% owned by state-controlled Shandong Energy Group and the rest by two local entities.\nThe company is building a $20-billion complex in Longkou, Yantai city comprising a 400,000 barrels-per-day crude oil refinery and two units producing a combined 3 million metric tons a year of ethylene.\nYulong, which is expected to start operating the new plant in the second half of 2024, recently entered a preliminary agreement with Saudi Aramco for the Middle Eastern oil giant to buy a 10% stake in the company and supply crude oil under a long-term deal.\n(Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Florence Tan; Editing by Susan Fenton)\n",
        "title": "MOVES-China's newest refiner Yulong hires ex-PetroChina trading exec as Singapore GM"
    },
    {
        "id": 1065,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-central-bank-set-boost-090331373.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China's central bank is expected to ramp up liquidity injections while leaving the key interest rate unchanged when it rolls over maturing medium-term policy loans on Friday, a Reuters survey showed.\nAmong thirty-two market participants polled this week, 29 or 91% expected the People's Bank of China (PBOC) to keep the borrowing cost of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans unchanged, while the remaining three projected a marginal interest rate cut.\nThe interest rate on the MLF loans currently stands at 2.5%.\nAdditionally, 26 or 81% of all respondents predicted that the central bank would inject fresh funds to exceed the maturing 650 billion yuan ($91.11 billion) worth of the MLF loans on Friday.\n\"We look for an outsized MLF to buffer liquidity demand emanating from bond sales and loans; if there is no outsized MLF, then a reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cut is probably needed,\" said Frances Cheung, rates strategist at OCBC Bank.\nOver recent months, China has started to unleash fresh stimulus to shore up the economy. In a surprise move, Beijing in late October approved 1 trillion yuan of sovereign bond issuance for this year - its first such budget deficit expansion in a fiscal year in 23 years - and passed a bill to allow local governments to frontload part of their 2024 bond quotas.\nThe PBOC injected a net 600 billion yuan of cash via MLF loans into the banking system in November, the biggest monthly increase since December 2016.\nExpectations of an interest rate reduction has increased slightly as China has been facing heightened deflationary pressure, with consumer prices falling the fastest in three years in November while factory-gate deflation deepened.\n\"The main barrier to PBOC rate reductions since the middle of this year has been the strength of the dollar,\" said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics.\n\"However, U.S. yields have fallen and the renminbi has strengthened recently. The currency has now returned to levels that the PBOC is more comfortable with, which should open the door to a resumption of rate cuts.\"\nWith China's economy sputtering and the U.S. dollar surging until recently, the yuan has had a volatile year, having weakened 6.14% to the dollar at one point before giving back some of the losses on views that U.S. interest rates have peaked.\nOn Wednesday, the Federal Reserve took a decidedly dovish tilt by flagging rate cuts were on the way next year.\nThe yuan strengthened 2.55% in November, its best month this year, but it is still down about 3.3% year-to-date.\nChina will step up policy adjustments to support an economic recovery in 2024, state media said, following the annual Central Economic Work Conference held from Dec. 11-12, during which top leaders set economic targets for next year.\n\"This signals that the Chinese leadership wants to put more weight on the economy than it did earlier this year,\" said Tommy Wu, senior China economist at Commerzbank.\n\"Monetary policy will continue to be about providing sufficient but not excessive liquidity. This means any rate cuts and stimulus measures will likely be modest.\"\n($1 = 7.1341 Chinese yuan)\n(Reporting by Wu Fang and Winni Zhou in Shanghai, Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "China's central bank set to boost liquidity injection but keep key rate unchanged"
    },
    {
        "id": 1066,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-top-court-rejects-250-090312847.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's top court on Thursday scrapped an EU order to Amazon to pay 250 million euros ($270 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg, part of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's crackdown against sweetheart deals between multinationals and EU countries.\n\"The Court of Justice confirms that the Commission has not established that the tax ruling given to Amazon by Luxembourg was a State aid that was incompatible with the internal market,\" the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said.\nIts decision is final.\nThe case is C-457/21 P Commission v Amazon.com and Others.\n($1 = 0.9267 euros)\n(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)\n",
        "title": "EU top court rejects 250 million EU tax order to Amazon"
    },
    {
        "id": 1067,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/snb-focused-maintaining-cash-access-090000787.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "BERN, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank is focused on maintaining access to cash so that its use by consumers and companies remains unrestricted, Vice Chairman Martin Schlegel said on Thursday.\n\"Any threat of a downward spiral within the cash system should be countered at an early stage,\" said Schlegel in a speech after the central bank made its latest interest rates decision.\nThe Swiss National Bank is in the process of assembling a broad-based group of experts, Schlegel said, with the aim of identifying challenges to cash distribution and developing solutions.\nThe Swiss National Bank and the Federal Finance Administration held a first roundtable on cash in October. (Reporting by Noele Illien, Editing by Miranda Murray)\n",
        "title": "SNB focused on maintaining cash access - vice chairman"
    },
    {
        "id": 1068,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-wins-top-eu-court-084914109.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. won a dispute at the European Union’s top court against a €250 million ($272 million) bill for allegedly illegal tax breaks.\nThe EU’s Court of Justice in a binding ruling on Thursday dismissed the European Commission’s appeal, saying EU regulators had “not established” that a tax arrangement between Amazon and Luxembourg “was a state aid that was incompatible with the internal market.”\nThe ruling is yet another painful defeat for EU Competition Chief Margrethe Vestager, who’s led a decade-long campaign against special tax treatment doled out to big companies by member states.\nShe slapped Apple Inc. with a record €13 billion order in a landmark case that now hinges on a final ruling from the EU’s top court. A court adviser last month said judges should topple the iPhone maker’s earlier court success.\nOverall, the European Commission has had a mixed success in the bloc’s courts, as companies challenged their tax orders. But judges have at least backed the regulator’s novel policy of using state-aid law to attack unfair tax aid.\nThe case is: C-457/21 P, Commission v. Amazon.com and Others.\n",
        "title": "Amazon Wins Top EU Court Clash Over €250 Million Tax Bill"
    },
    {
        "id": 1069,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-defense-tech-start-ups-083656109.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- On December 2, Palantir Technologies Inc. chief executive Alex Karp took a few minutes during a talk about the US military to chastise European governments. While US allies in Europe agreed to increase military budgets in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Karp complained that they had mostly given contracts to local providers while boxing out American firms like his.\n“They’re making terrible investments in tech,” Karp said at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in California. “I’ve screamed at people in Europe. But it’s not going to change.”\nHis comments didn’t come as a surprise to anyone who had been following the company closely. A month earlier, Karp griped during an earnings call about the French, who recently begun building their own version of Palantir’s policing product, Gotham. Worse, Germany’s top court had restricted it on privacy grounds. “It’s, like, insane,” Karp told investors.\nHis firm, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, is at the forefront of a new wave of companies that use cutting-edge drones, software, sensors and weaponry — and the battlefield data they generate — to take on traditional defense contractors. Alongside Anduril Industries Inc., a California-based firm currently in talks with investors about securing a $10 billion valuation, Palantir has trumpeted multi-million dollar deals with the Pentagon and other government agencies. With European investors significantly trailing the US in defense tech investment, Anduril and Palantir’s success on the continent was all but assumed.\nInstead, they’ve struggled in Europe, where countries have smaller defense budgets, different security priorities, and rising concern about sovereignty. Palantir warned investors in November that growth in continental Europe “remains challenging,” and Anduril recently reshuffled its regional leadership. In emailed remarks, Anduril said it is “committed” to the European market, and Palantir declined to comment on its business in Europe beyond Karp’s comments to investors.\nAt the same time, these defense tech companies are looking further east, to the threat of conflict in Taiwan.\nUkrainian Prospects\nWhen war broke out in Ukraine, Palantir and Anduril expanded aggressively in Europe, expecting that countries’ interest in modernizing their militaries would translate into splurging on Silicon Valley’s latest wares. “That hasn’t come true,” said Ulrike Franke, a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations.\nOne issue, explained Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey in an interview last week with Bloomberg Television, is that European nations still prefer to secure tech from local suppliers, even if the offerings are pricier or “years behind” those sold by American companies. Giving up that bias is a “difficult pill to swallow for these countries,” he said.\nAnother is that military procurement processes tend to favor incumbents, and tech companies that break through in Europe often have relevant connections. Two German start-ups that recently signed contracts with that country’s military — the software provider Helsing AI and drone-maker Quantum Systems — had preexisting defense industries ties.\nAnduril staff landed in Ukraine two weeks after Russia’s invasion to help Ukraine’s military deploy the company’s autonomous drones. Luckey visited later that summer, posting on social media that “having the best technology” could have prevented the war. “The right time to take arms is before the killing starts,” he wrote.\nPalantir offered software that analyzes satellite imagery and drone movements for free to the Ukrainian government, and a significant number of staff temporarily relocated to the war zone. In April, the firm signed an agreement with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General to provide data processing services to facilitate investigations into Russian war crimes, and has also forged a partnership with the government to assist with post-war reconstruction efforts.\nThe US defense tech sector has ballooned in recent years as the US military has seeded new companies in an effort to modernize its weaponry, and venture capitalists have followed suit, pouring $135 billion into defense tech startups from 2016 to 2022, according to PitchBook. Defense technology companies have also bucked the trend of diminished fundraising rounds this year. US defense systems developer Shield AI raised $200 million at the end of October at a valuation of $2.7 billion, and drone startup Skydio managed to pull in $230 million at a $2.2 billion valuation in February. On the other side of the Atlantic, Helsing raised €209 million in funding in September.\nSince Russia’s invasion, many of these fledgling companies spotted an opportunity to showcase their work. Waves of startups rushed into Ukraine with drones, sensors, satellites and artificial intelligence software.\nBut as the war drags on, tech providers haven’t seen their initial outreach in Ukraine evolve into contracts with other European nations or meaningful revenue from allied countries. So far, Palantir has earned just north of $1 million from the United States Defense Department for its work in Ukraine, and donated the rest of its services.\nUkrainian officials have also shown a thinning patience for Silicon Valley treating the country as a testing ground. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukrainian vice prime minister for innovation and development of education, recently dismissed most vendor pitches the government receives as “R&D projects.”\nMany startups used Ukraine as a “marketing opportunity” more than a venue to understand battleground needs, said Alexander Harstrick, a managing partner with J2 Ventures, a defense investment firm. “They sort of crossed over the border, dropped some stuff and left.”\nPalantir’s Problem\nBreaking into other European markets has proven particularly difficult. The EU is increasingly interested in developing homegrown tech champions, and NATO set up a €1 billion fund this year to support European defense startups. Much of the military spending that has been approved since the Ukraine invasion comes with an emphasis on “sovereignty” — which translates into minimizing dependence on American tech and backing away from Pentagon priorities.\nData security is a major part of this. Earlier this year, Germany’s highest court implemented stringent rules that restricted the country’s law enforcement from using data tools like Gotham, Palantir’s domestic policing product, on privacy grounds. France’s intelligence services recently began developing its its own version of the software for €40 million, prompting a rebuke from Karp on the November earnings call. “You can’t rebuild it for $1 billion,” he said. “You need us.”\nThe company has stronger ties in the UK, where it’s worked with the British Armed Forces for more than a decade. So far, however, revenue has been modest. Its largest deal yet, a $12.5 million contract with the UK Ministry of Defence, only lasted one year and ended in May. When Palantir won a contract in November with the UK’s National Health Service for as much as $602 million over seven years, data privacy advocates expressed concern about the firm’s track record. The company has faced repeated criticism from civil liberties groups over its data-mining practices and links to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.\n“Palantir has a reputation problem,” said Franke. “People think they are not particularly trustworthy.”\nIn response to questions about data security, a spokesperson for Palantir said, “Customer data is held wherever the customer wants it held. Monitoring cyberattacks is also done in the jurisdiction of choice for customers. No data data needs to be sent or processed outside.”\nAnduril too has had better luck in the UK. Earlier this year, it teamed up with Britain’s Home Office to test its autonomous surveillance towers — the equipment deployed on the US-Mexico border — on tracking migrants crossing the Channel from France. In November, the UK defense ministry awarded the startup a 31-month, £17 million ($21.3 million) contract to “explore future capabilities.”\nStill, Anduril has lost two senior executives in Europe and the UK since September, a sign that multiple observers said indicated weaker-than-expected traction. The company now appears to be trying to turn that around. In November, it named Richard Drake, a former executive at British defense contractor Babcock International Group Plc., as its new general manager for the UK and Europe. Drake is charged with doubling Anduril’s presence in the UK to 80 over the next two years and creating products with UK-sovereignty at the core, the company said. This means ensuring Anduril’s products are all designed, engineered and manufactured in the UK and are sourced within UK supply chains.\nAsked to name any major contracts in Europe, a representative for the firm said only that it has “actively engaged” with a number of US allies in the region.\nIn a statement, Greg Kausner, Anduril’s senior vice president of global defense, said that the company “is committed to the European market because the US is a global power, and the cornerstone of international security remains the transatlantic alliance.”\nBut with the European market proving harder to crack than anticipated, some US defense tech providers are now looking to what they regard as the site of the next potentially lucrative geopolitical conflict — the South China Sea.\nLooking East\nWhile conversations about foreign military support for Taiwan remain extremely sensitive, there are indications that the defense tech sector’s attention is turning to the region.\nOn the recent earnings call, Palantir’s Karp replied, “absolutely” but didn’t provide further details when asked if his firm had any plans to aid “our allied partners in Asia.” Harstrick, the investor, noted that defense startups are particularly concerned about potential cybersecurity threats from China.\nIn an interview on Bloomberg Television, Anduril’s Luckey was more blunt. “Everything that we’re doing, what the [US Department of Defense] is doing, is preparing for a conflict with a great power like China in the Pacific,” he said.\nOne sign of this lies in hiring. In Sydney, Anduril’s Asia-Pacific headquarters, the company is recruiting for roles in manufacturing and maritime engineering, among other sectors, to add to its 70-person team. The company has already had to change offices three times in a year to accommodate growth.\nAt a security conference in Sydney last April, Luckey said Anduril hadn’t shipped any equipment to Taiwan, but noted that this was due to “bureaucratic” hurdles, not a lack of interest. Reflecting on the geopolitical situation in Taiwan, Luckey drew an ominous parallel, describing a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy not long before Russia’s invasion.\n“I want to make sure we’re not in the position we were in Ukraine,” he said. “We were asked to help them with a problem and we weren’t able to respond, and all of a sudden there’s an invasion. We’re feeling like idiots for not pushing harder.”\n--With assistance from Edward Ludlow.\n(Updates to reflect recent defense tech fundraising.A previous version of this story said that Germany had banned Palantir’s Gotham software. Corrected to reflect that Germany did not ban the software —it’s top court deemed the way the software was used by police in two states was unconstitutional.)\n",
        "title": "US Defense Tech Start-Ups Are Being Shut Out of Europe's Defense Market"
    },
    {
        "id": 1070,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-taiwan-c-bank-cuts-083039009.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nTaiwan central bank cuts economic growth forecast for 2023\n*\nCentral bank holds key rate at 1.875%, as widely expected\n(Recasts, adds details in paragraphs 5-6)\nTAIPEI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Taiwan's central bank cut its 2023 economic growth forecast for the export-reliant economy due to sluggish global demand, but as expected, it kept rates on hold on Thursday as inflationary pressures ease.\nThe central bank, in a unanimous decision, left the rate at 1.875%, where it has sat since March, extending a pause in its current round of tightening which began in March of last year. It raised rates five times by a total of 75 basis points to rein in price pressures.\nIn a Reuters poll, 28 out of 29 economists had predicted the central bank would stand pat.\nThe move follows the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and indicated that its tightening cycle is likely over, flagging rate cuts next year.\nTaiwan's central bank again cut its 2023 estimate for economic growth to 1.4% from a forecast of 1.46% in September, but predicted a rebound in 2024 with growth of 3.12%, compared to a previous forecast of 3.08%.\nThe central bank also slightly raised its consumer price index (CPI) forecast for this year to 2.46% from a previous prediction of 2.22%, but said it saw it falling to below 2% next year. (Reporting by Faith Hung, Liang-sa Loh, Yimou Lee and Emily Chan; Additional reporting by Sarah Wu; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Taiwan c.bank cuts GDP outlook, stands pat on rates"
    },
    {
        "id": 1071,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/swiss-national-bank-keeps-interest-083003394.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BERN, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank held its policy interest rate steady at 1.75% on Thursday, kicking off a busy day for central banks around Europe, which are also expected to pause following their monetary policy tightening campaigns after inflation ebbed.\nThe Swiss central bank, which over the last 18 months had raised rates from negative 0.75% before pausing in September, also kept its interest rate on sight deposits at 1.75%.\nThe decision to hold interest rates had been expected by all 31 economists surveyed in a Reuters poll.\n(Reporting by John Revill Editing by Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "Swiss National Bank keeps interest rate at 1.75% as expected"
    },
    {
        "id": 1072,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-asian-currencies-stocks-082237170.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "* Thai baht jumps nearly 2% * Stocks in S.Korea, India rise more than 1% each * Philippine cenbank keeps benchmark rate unchanged (Updated at 0712 GMT) By John Biju Dec 14 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian currencies and stocks joined a rally in global markets on Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve flagged a likely end to its tightening cycle and signalled reduced borrowing costs are coming next year. The South Korean won and the Indonesian rupiah rose more than 1% each, while Thailand's baht jumped nearly 2%. Stocks in South Korea, Thailand, India and Indonesia gained more than 1% each. The Philippine peso was largely unchanged at 55.67 per dollar after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) kept interest rates unchanged for a second straight meeting. Equities in the Philippines rose 2.5% and were on track for their best day since early February. \"They are definitely not in any hurry to be looking at easing interest rates,\" said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ. \"Even if the Fed were to cut interest rates next year, I doubt very much the BSP will immediately follow suit, given that inflation in the Philippines is still somewhat elevated.\" \"We are anticipating the peso to underperform the rest of the regional currencies next year.\" Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the historic monetary tightening is likely over as inflation falls faster than expected, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view.\" Markets are now pricing in around a 75% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared with 54% a week earlier. Amid expectations of a fall in U.S. yields, the differential between U.S. and Asia rates will narrow, benefiting higher yielding Asian currencies, according to Ray Sharma-Ong, investment director of multi-asset at fund manager abrdn. \"We expect currencies such as KRW, TWD and THB\" to perform well, he said, referring to the South Korean won, Taiwan dollar and the Thai baht. \"We also expect Asia equity markets to improve as U.S. growth moderates while Asia growth remains resilient,\" he said. The Taiwan dollar advanced 0.7% while equities climbed 1.1%. Investors in emerging Asian assets also monitored developments in Argentina where the government allowed its peso to plunge over 50%, cut energy subsidies and cancelled public works tenders as part of an economic shock therapy aimed at fixing the South American country's worst crisis in decades. HIGHLIGHTS: ** India's 10-year benchmark yields fall 4.8 basis points to 7.211% ** Japan's central bank to sit tight on policy, may drop hints on pivot ** World Bank cuts Thai growth forecast to 2.5% this year, 3.2% next year Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0712 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCK STOCK DAILY YTD % X S S YTD % DAILY % % Japan +0.78 -7.53 <.N2 -0.73 25.26 25> China EC> India +0.08 -0.74 <.NS 1.14 16.90 EI> Indones +1.07 +0.48 <.JK 1.25 4.58 ia SE> Malaysi +0.79 -5.72 <.KL 0.44 -2.74 a SE> Philipp +0.72 +0.00 <.PS 2.47 -2.37 ines I> S.Korea +1.67 -2.66 <.KS 1.34 13.76 11> Singapo +0.26 +0.77 <.ST 0.72 -3.84 re I> Taiwan +0.67 -1.94 <.TW 1.05 24.87 II> Thailan +1.88 -1.35 <.SE 1.27 -17.5 d TI> 9 (Reporting by John Biju in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Subhranshu Sahu)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Asian currencies, stocks jump after Fed signals policy pivot next year"
    },
    {
        "id": 1073,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-today-asian-shares-081522374.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Thursday after a powerful rally across Wall Street sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record high as the Federal Reserve indicated that interest rate cuts are likely next year.\nThe European Central Bank and Bank of England were expected to keep their interest rate policies unchanged, as were the central banks of Norway and Switzerland.\nIn Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell as the yen gained sharply against the U.S. dollar, since a weaker dollar can hit the profits of Japanese exporters when they are brought back to Japan.\nThe Nikkei fell 0.7% to 32,686.25 while the dollar slipped from about 145 yen to 142.14 yen, near its lowest level in four months. The value of the dollar tends to mirror expectations for interest rates, which affect returns on certain kinds of investments as well as borrowing.\nToyota Motor Corp.'s shares fell 3.8% and Sony Corp. lost 1.1%. Honda Motor Co. shed 5%.\nElsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 1.1% to 16,408.26.\nThe Shanghai Composite slipped 0.3% to 2,958.99 after a World Bank report forecast that the Chinese economy will post 5.2% annual growth this year but that it will slow sharply to 4.5% in 2024. The report said the recovery of the world's second largest economy from the setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic was still “fragile.”\nAustralia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.7% to 7,377.90 and the Kospi in Seoul advanced 1.3% to 2,544.18. India's Sensex was up 1.3% and the SET in Bangkok also gained 1.3%.\nOn Wednesday, the Dow jumped 512 points, or 1.4%, to 37,090.24. The S&P 500 rose 1.4% to within reach of its own record, closing at 4,707.09. The Nasdaq composite also gained 1.4%, to 14,733.96.\nWall Street loves lower rates because they relax pressure on the economy and goose prices for all kinds of investments. Markets have been rallying since October as investors began hoping that cuts may be on the way.\nRate cuts particularly help investments seen as expensive or that force their investors to wait the longest for big growth. Some of Wednesday’s bigger winners were bitcoin, which rose nearly 4%, and the Russell 2000 index of small U.S. stocks, which jumped 3.5%.\nApple was the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500, rising 1.7% to its own record close. It and other Big Tech stocks have been among the biggest reasons for the S&P 500’s 22.6% rally this year.\nThe Federal Reserve held its main interest rate steady at a range of 5.25% to 5.50%, as was widely expected. That's up from virtually zero early last year. It's managed to bring inflation down from its peak of 9% while the economy has remained solid.\nIn a press conference Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said its main interest rate is likely already at or near its peak. He acknowledged, however, that inflation is still too high. Powell said Fed officials don’t want to wait too long before cutting the federal funds rate, which is at its highest level since 2001.\n“We’re aware of the risk that we would hang on too long” before cutting rates, he said. “We know that’s a risk, and we’re very focused on not making that mistake.”\nPrices at the wholesale level  were just 0.9% higher in November than a year earlier, the government reported Wednesday. That was softer than economists expected.\nTreasury yields tumbled in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 3.96% early Thursday from 4.21% late Tuesday. It was above 5% in October, at its highest level since 2007. The two-year yield, which moves more on expectations for the Fed, sank to 4.43% from 4.73%.\nIn other trading, benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 39 cents to $69.86 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It picked up 86 cents to $69.47 on Wednesday.\nBrent crude, the international standard, was up 50 cents at $74.76 per barrel.\nThe euro rose to $1.0886 from $1.0876.\n",
        "title": "Stock market today: Asian shares are mostly higher after the Dow hits a record high, US dollar falls"
    },
    {
        "id": 1074,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-economy-forecast-slow-sharply-080949803.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BANGKOK (AP) — China’s economy will slow next year, with annual growth falling to 4.5% from 5.2% this year despite a recent recovery spurred by investments in factories and construction and in demand for services, the World Bank said in a report issued Thursday.\nThe report said the recovery of the world’s second-largest economy from setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic, among other shocks, remains “fragile,” dogged by weakness in the property sector and in global demand for China’s exports, high debt levels and wavering consumer confidence.\nThe estimate that growth would be around 5% this year but then fall in coming months was in line with other forecasts. Growth is expected to slow further in 2025, to 4.3% from 4.5% next year, the World Bank said.\nThe economy has yoyoed in the past few years, with growth ranging from 2.2% in 2020 to 8.4% in 2021 and 3% last year. Stringent limits on travel and other activities during the pandemic hit manufacturing and transport. Job losses due to those disruptions and to a crackdown on the technology sector, combined with a downturn in the property industry, have led many Chinese to tighten their purse strings.\nMost of the jobs created during China's recovery have been low-skilled work in service industries with low pay, it noted. Chinese also are cautious given the threadbare nature of social safety nets and the fact that the population is rapidly aging, putting a heavier burden for supporting elders on younger generations.\n“The outlook is subject to considerable downside risks,” the report said, adding that a prolonged downturn in the real estate sector would have wider ramifications and would further squeeze already strained local government finances, as meanwhile softer global demand is a risk for manufacturers.\nThe report highlights the need for China to pursue broad structural reforms and said moves by the central government to take on the burden of supporting cash-strapped local governments also would help improve confidence in the economy.\nChina's leaders addressed such issues in their annual Central Economic Work Conference earlier this week, which set priorities for the coming year, but state media reports on the gathering did not provide specifics of policies.\nReal estate investment has fallen by 18% in the past two years and more needs to be done to resolve hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid debts of overextended property developers, the report said.\nIt said the value of new property sales fell 5% in January-October from a year earlier while new property starts dropped more than 25%. The slowdown was worst in smaller cities that account for about 80% of the market in the country of 1.4 billion people.\nSome of that weakness has been offset by strong investment in manufacturing, especially in areas such as electric vehicles and batteries and other renewable energy technologies and in strategically important areas such as computer chips that are receiving strong government support.\nBut to sustain solid growth China needs a recovery in consumer spending, which took a nosedive during the omicron wave of COVID-19 and has remained below par since late 2021, the report said.\nIt noted that gains from more investments in construction in a country that already has ample modern roads, ports, railways and housing projects — and also massive overcapacity in cement, steel and many other manufacturing sectors will give the economy less of a boost than could be achieved with more consumer spending.\n",
        "title": "China's economy is forecast to slow sharply in 2024, the World Bank says, calling recovery 'fragile'"
    },
    {
        "id": 1075,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-tobaccos-transition-under-fire-080001490.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Emma Rumney\nLONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Big tobacco firms shifting to new nicotine products, including Philip Morris International (PMI) and British American Tobacco, have the most to lose if tobacco alternatives face the same rules as cigarettes, investors and analysts said.\nThe World Health Organization on Thursday urged governments to apply tobacco-style controls to vapes, saying they are getting new users hooked on nicotine.\nThat could spell trouble for tobacco companies developing alternative nicotine products, as tighter restrictions and growing awareness of health risks squeeze their cigarette businesses.\nPMI, the world's largest tobacco company by market value, has led the shift to smoking alternatives, helping its price-earnings ratio - a key market gauge of company valuations - rise substantially compared with rivals.\nIt also means it has the most to lose if tough regulations extend to nicotine products more broadly, said Pieter Fourie, manager of Sanlam's Global High Quality Fund, which holds tobacco stocks.\n\"Maybe that advantage doesn't remain,\" he said of PMI's higher valuation.\nThe investment case for companies like Imperial Brands would be less affected by such changes, he added.\nImperial reset its strategy in 2021 to focus on its core tobacco business, lowering its aspirations for new nicotine products after missing several sales targets and also losing market share in its core cigarette division.\nFAST SHIFTS UNLIKELY\nBritish American Tobacco is investing heavily in alternative products, focused on vaping and oral nicotine, and wants 50% of its revenues to come from these by 2035. PMI's target is two-thirds of net revenues from \"smoke-free\" products by 2030.\nPMI has poured the vast majority of some $10.5 billion it has invested in \"smoke-free\" products into heated tobacco products, where devices heat up tobacco without burning it, in an attempt to avoid harmful chemicals produced via combustion.\nThe WHO's vape recommendations come ahead of a biennial conference for 183 governments party to a global tobacco control treaty, set for next year, where countries are set to discuss new nicotine products including vapes and heated tobacco.\nThe U.N. agency has no authority over national nicotine regulations and only provides guidance. While the treaty is binding, it's unlikely governments party to it will adopt new rules on alternatives as part of the agreement any time soon.\nThat's because the treaty is developed by consensus, and governments have very different views on how to approach the new nicotine products.\nSome nations like the United Kingdom have put vapes at the heart of public health efforts to reduce the death and disease caused by smoking. Elsewhere, in large markets like India, vapes and heated tobacco products are banned altogether.\nCountries that do adopt WHO guidance voluntarily tend to do so at different speeds, said Brett Cooper, managing partner at equity research firm Consumer Edge. That makes fast, global shifts in regulating new nicotine products unlikely.\nStill, any moves towards stricter regulations put tobacco companies at a disadvantage versus today, Cooper said, while caution from the WHO makes it harder for them to lobby for more favourable regulations globally.\nREDUCED COMPETITION\nBoth Cooper and Fourie pointed out that consumer demand for nicotine is unlikely to fade any time soon.\n\"Unless you actually make nicotine a banned substance, then these companies have a future market opportunity,\" agreed Steve Clayton, head of equity funds at Hargeaves Lansdown, which holds tobacco company stocks.\nControlling new nicotine products has also proven difficult in many nations.\nIn the United States, manufacturers from China have flooded the market with illegal flavoured vapes in recent years, capitalising on poor enforcement after regulators tried to clamp down on e-cigarettes.\nAustralia, where vapers need a prescription to obtain nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, has also struggled with a flood of illegal products.\nThat has left tobacco companies competing with an onslaught of smaller players which often flout the rules.\nClayton and Chris Beckett, head of research at Quilter Cheviot, another tobacco investor, said that more regulations - with proper enforcement - could actually give the major tobacco companies an advantage.\nIt would raise barriers to entry and reduce competition, helping tobacco companies replicate the advantages they have with cigarettes, Beckett said, including the ability to charge high prices.\n\"Translate a similar sort of environment from combustible cigarettes to vaping and heated tobacco, and you end up with incumbent Big Tobacco having very large market shares and a very profitable business,\" Beckett said.\n(Reporting by Emma Rumney; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)\n",
        "title": "Big Tobacco's transition under fire as WHO targets vaping"
    },
    {
        "id": 1076,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/philippine-central-bank-keeps-key-074109886.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Philippine central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a second straight meeting as inflation slowed, even as policymakers retained their hawkish bias amid lingering risks to the price outlook.\nThe Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas maintained the target rate at 6.50% on Thursday, as seen by 23 of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. One predicted a quarter-point increase.\n“The Monetary Board continues to see the need to keep monetary policy settings sufficiently tight to allow inflation expectations to settle more firmly within the target range,” Governor Eli Remolona said after the decision.\nWhile inflation moderated to 4.1% in November, just shy of the upper band of the BSP’s 2%-4% goal, the central bank still sees risks to the inflation outlook. That rules out an easing anytime soon, despite the US Federal Reserve signaling a pivot to rate cuts next year.\nThe peso held on to its gain, with the currency up 0.6% to 55.70 against the dollar. It has risen 1.6% this quarter.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says...\nBSP’s hold on rates, hawkish tone and view that inflation risks are tilted to the upside drive home the message — it is too soon to start thinking about rate cuts.\n— Tamara Mast Henderson, economist\nFor the full note, click here\nWhile the central bank slightly lowered its risk-adjusted inflation outlook for 2024 to 4.2% from 4.4% seen previously, the BSP said it will monitor the effect of its previous 450 basis points of tightening as it percolates into the economy. Policymakers would monitor the response of households and firms to tighter financial conditions, it said.\nRemolona had previously flagged price risks including from the El Nino weather phenomenon that’s expected to persist through the first half of 2024 and potentially drive up food costs.\nEl Nino could crimp farm output while a resurgence of oil prices could spark fresh risks in a country that imports almost all of its fuel needs and is among the world’s biggest buyers of rice.\nA seasonal pick-up in overseas remittances during the year-end holidays will likely help the local currency extend its gains, putting the peso on track to outperform many peers in the region this year. That bolsters the BSP’s space to stand pat.\n--With assistance from Cecilia Yap, Cliff Venzon, Tomoko Sato and Karl Lester M. Yap.\n(Updates with details throughout.)\n",
        "title": "Philippine Central Bank Keeps Key Rate Steady, Stays Hawkish"
    },
    {
        "id": 1077,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-demand-growth-india-taper-031137636.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil demand growth in the key Asian market of India is set to slow next year as the spurt in consumption that followed the pandemic fades, echoing a slowdown in China and presenting a fresh headwind for prices.\nConsumption will expand 150,000 barrels a day in 2024, down from about 290,000 barrels a day seen from 2021 to 2023, according to Rystad Energy Head of Oil Trading Mukesh Sahdev. The drop will return growth near the pace seen from 2011 to 2019, he said. The International Energy Agency, meanwhile, sees growth halving to 100,000 barrels a day, according to its November report.\nOil prices have tumbled this quarter on persistent concerns that global supplies are outpacing demand. The drop comes despite plans for deeper output cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, with production expanding elsewhere, including in the US. At the same time, crude demand growth is expected to slow next year, casting a pall over the outlook.\nIndia is the third-biggest crude consumer, and a vital market for producers from the Middle East as well as from Russia, with Moscow boosting flows after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. India’s economy has been expanding at a rapid clip — the economy grew 7.6% in the third quarter — lifting demand for gasoline, diesel and other products. While overall oil consumption is at record, the rate of expansion will ease as the one-off lift following the pandemic passes.\nIt is a similar picture in China, the world’s biggest crude importer. In 2024, the country will consume an additional 500,000 barrels a day, according to the median of estimates from 12 industry consultants and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg this month. That’s less than a third of the increase in 2023.\nThe more challenging outlook — coupled with skepticism about the ability of OPEC+ to deliver on planned cuts — has weighed on Brent crude, the global benchmark. After nearing $98 a barrel in late September, prices are now on course for a third consecutive monthly drop. Futures were last near $75.\nConsultancy FGE is also among those forecasting a slower pace of Indian demand growth in the new year. Dylan Sim, a senior analyst, sees consumption expanding by 20,000 barrels a day less than in in 2023.\n",
        "title": "Oil Demand Growth in India to Taper in 2024 After Bumper Years"
    },
    {
        "id": 1078,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dollar-sinks-four-month-low-064442745.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 6:30 GMT)\nBy Brigid Riley\nTOKYO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The dollar dropped to a fresh four-month low on Thursday after the Federal Reserve's latest economic projections indicated the interest-rate hike cycle has ended and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.\nThe yen jumped in response, briefly breaking below 141 yen versus the greenback for the first time since late July.\nMeanwhile, the Aussie and New Zealand dollar surged to new multi-month highs after Australian employment data blew past forecasts.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell said at Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that the historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view.\" Policymakers were nearly unanimous in their projections that borrowing costs would fall in 2024.\n\"This is a huge development for markets as we head into the new year and provides much-needed clarity. And clarity in this instance meant risk-on,\" said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.\nThe U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped as far as 102.42, it's lowest since mid-August. It was last down 0.31% at 102.56.\nThe FOMC meeting will likely overshadow upcoming economic data before personal consumer expenditures data is published next week, leaving room for \"further downside potential for the US dollar,\" Simpson said.\nMarkets are now pricing in around a 75% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared with 54% a week earlier.\nThe yen continued to strengthen in the wake of the greenback's tumble, climbing to its highest since July 31 at 140.95 yen per dollar. It was last up around 1% at 141.46 yen.\nThe dovish FOMC meeting may have caught some traders who were bearish on yen and bullish on the dollar by surprise, prompting them to quickly unwind positions, said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.\nJapanese exporters who haven't yet increased hedge ratios are likely rushing to make adjustments as well, he added.\nExpectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could end negative interest rates at its monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18-19 have largely died down, but the BOJ could make tweaks to its statement, such as language that the bank will not hesitate to ease further if necessary, said Yamamoto.\nThat kind of change could \"be regarded as one step toward normalisation...so that could be positive for the Japanese yen,\" he said.\nFocus now shifts to a parade of central bank decisions, including the European Central Bank and the Bank of England (BoE), Norges Bank and Swiss National Bank.\nThe Norwegian central bank is considered to be the only bank that could potentially raise rates. There is also a risk the SNB could dial back its support for the Swiss franc in currency markets.\nThe euro rose 0.25% to $1.09015, while sterling was last trading at $1.2642, up 0.19% on the day.\nThe Australian dollar, meanwhile, hit over a four-month high at $0.6728 after domestic net employment jumped by 61,500 in November, compared to an increase of around 11,000 that markets had been forecasting.\nThe kiwi rose 1.04% versus the greenback to $0.6238, despite data showing the New Zealand economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter.\nIn cryptocurrencies, bitcoin rose 0.39% to $43,057.\n(Reporting by Brigid Riley; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lincoln Feast.)\n",
        "title": "Dollar sinks to four-month low after Fed signals rate cuts next year"
    },
    {
        "id": 1079,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-wall-street-journal-063325044.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 14 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\n- Tesla is recalling more than two million vehicles over government contentions that its Autopilot system can be misused by drivers, in the midst of a yearslong probe by the top U.S. auto-safety regulator into crashes involving the driver-assistance technology.\n- Chinese property giant Country Garden will sell a stake in a commercial center operator for about $428 million, using the proceeds to help restructure offshore debt.\n- The U.S. Treasury Department named two new deputies to help lead its sanctions enforcement and anti-money-laundering units, the agency said Wednesday.\n- U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan is set to arrive in Israel on Thursday for the Biden administration’s latest bout of high-stakes diplomacy in the Middle East, amid mounting disagreements between President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\n- General Motors' driverless-car business Cruise said nine employees departed following a review of the company’s handling of an Oct. 2 incident that resulted in serious injuries to a pedestrian.\n- Pembina Pipeline said on Wednesday it would buy Enbridge's interests in the Alliance Pipeline, Aux Sable and NRGreen joint ventures for C$3.1 billion ($2.30 billion).\n($1 = 1.3470 Canadian dollars) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST- Wall Street Journal - Dec. 14"
    },
    {
        "id": 1080,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-rises-lowest-since-june-234015256.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil advanced from a five-month low on positive demand signals including a drop in US inventories and signs the Federal Reserve is preparing to cut interest rates.\nWest Texas Intermediate rose toward $70 a barrel, after climbing 1.3% on Wednesday from its lowest since late June. Global benchmark Brent was near $75. US crude stockpiles declined for a second week, according to the Energy Information Administration.\nThe Fed held interest rates steady for a third straight meeting and gave the clearest signal yet that its aggressive tightening campaign is finished. Chair Jerome Powell indicated policymakers are now turning their focus to when to cut borrowing costs as inflation continues to slow. Treasuries surged and an index of the dollar weakened to a four-month low, making commodities priced in the greenback more attractive for international buyers.\n“The dovish takeaway from the FOMC meeting has been a surprise to some, who were expecting the Fed to maintain a tough stance,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist for IG Asia Pte. That triggered risk-on sentiment, “which oil prices were able to ride on,” he said.\nCrude is still down by more than a quarter from a high in late September on a surge in exports from non-OPEC countries and fears the demand outlook is worsening. In addition, the market is skeptical whether deeper voluntary supply cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will be fully adhered to.\nTraders will be eyeing the International Energy Agency’s monthly report due later Thursday, the last in a trio of major market outlooks this week. OPEC continued to forecast a significant shortfall in oil supplies next quarter, an outlook at odds with its own efforts to rein in production.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Rises From Five-Month Low on Fed Pivot, Inventory Drawdown"
    },
    {
        "id": 1081,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/european-stock-futures-rally-fed-060551066.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- European equity futures jumped after the Federal Reserve pivoted toward reversing its steep interest-rate hikes ahead of a decision by the region’s own central bank.\nContracts on the Euro Stoxx 50 gained 1.2% by 5:27 a.m. in London. The UK’s FTSE 100 futures climbed 0.9% while futures on Germany’s DAX Index were also higher.\nThe Fed held interest rates steady for a third meeting on Wednesday, and while Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers are prepared to resume rate increases should price pressures return, he and his colleagues issued forecasts showing that a series of cuts would be likely next year. As a result, Treasuries surged and stocks jumped, while traders boosted bets on a March reduction to a near certainty.\nRead more: Wall Street Traders Go All-In on Great Monetary Pivot of 2024\n“The Fed is aiming to maintain a delicate balance, bringing inflation down to its 2% target while minimizing the damage to the labor market,” said Richard Flax, chief officer at Moneyfarm. As markets grow confident of a March cut, “jobs reports and inflation data over the coming months will prove to be a key barometer for future action.”\nFor the European Central Bank, economists polled by Bloomberg all see the deposit rate being left at 4% later today. Markets see a first cut as early as the spring, but that’s a lot sooner than policymakers would like. President Christine Lagarde will brief reporters in Frankfurt half an hour after the ECB’s announcement. The Bank of England also announces a rates decision on Thursday.\nEuropean stocks are rallying for a second month amid optimism about central bank easing. But the advance in shares has pushed the Stoxx 600’s relative-strength index to above 70 — a level typically seen as overbought. Gains in The Euro Stoxx 50 index have run so hot this week that technical indicators showed it’s at the most overbought level since 1999.\n",
        "title": "European Stock Futures Rally on Fed Pivot Before ECB Decision"
    },
    {
        "id": 1082,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-down-people-talking-rate-060533064.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The inflation plaguing European shoppers has fallen faster than expected. The economy is in the dumps. That has people talking about interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank, perhaps as soon as the first few months of next year.\nNo rate move is expected at the bank's policy meeting Thursday, and analysts say ECB President Christine Lagarde is highly unlikely to confirm any plans to cut. She may even warn that it’s too early to declare victory over inflation despite how it's improved.\nLike the ECB, the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks are running into market expectations that they will trim rates to support flagging economic growth now that price spikes have eased. But central bankers just finished drastic rate rises and want to ensure inflation is firmly contained.\nInflation in the 20 countries that use the euro currency surprisingly fell to 2.4% in November. That is not too far from the ECB's goal of 2% considered best for the economy and a far cry from the peak of 10.6% in October 2022.\nBut wages are still catching up with inflation, leaving consumers feeling less than euphoric even as European city centers deck themselves in Christmas lights.\nIn Paris, travel agent Amel Zemani says Christmas shopping will have to wait for the post-holiday sales.\n“I can’t go shopping this year, I can’t afford Christmas gifts for the kids,\" she said. “What do they want? They want sneakers. I’m waiting for the sales to give them the gifts then. And they understand.”\nSteven Ekerovich, an American photographer living in the French capital, said that while \"Paris was lagging easily 50% behind the rest of the major cosmopolitan cities in pricing, it’s catching up fast. Rents, food, clothing. So, you have got to be careful now.”\nEurope's falling inflation and economic stagnation — output declined 0.1% in the July-to-September quarter — mean the ECB may be the first major central bank to pivot to rate cuts, said Frederik Ducrozet, head of macroeconomic research at Pictet Wealth Management.\nBut the expectations vary, from Deutsche Bank’s prediction that March is a possibility to Pictet’s view that June is most likely. Lagarde has emphasized that decisions will be made based on the latest information about how the economy is doing.\n“It remains to be seen how strong Lagarde will be able to push back against market pricing. She is more likely to stress the ECB’s data dependence, refraining from committing to any specific sequencing,” Ducrozet said in a research note.\nExpectations of a March rate cut may be “excessive euphoria,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank, cautioning that inflation could rise again before falling further. He doesn't see a rate cut before September.\nCentral banks, including the Fed that met Wednesday and the Bank of England also meeting Thursday, drastically raised rates to stamp out inflation that occurred as the economy rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic, straining supply chains, and as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove food and energy prices higher.\nHigher interest rates combat inflation by increasing the cost of borrowing throughout the economy, from bank loans and lines of credit for businesses to mortgages and credit cards. That makes it more expensive to borrow to buy things or invest, lowering demand for goods and easing prices.\nFacing an energy crisis that fueled record inflation, the ECB raised its benchmark rate from below zero to an all-time high of 4% between July 2022 and this July.\nBut higher rates also have held back economic growth. For example, apartment construction projects are being canceled across Germany, the biggest European economy, because they no longer make business sense amid higher interest costs.\n___\nAP video journalist Alex Turnbull contributed from Paris.\n",
        "title": "With inflation down, people are talking rate cuts. The European Central Bank may say not so fast"
    },
    {
        "id": 1083,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-england-set-hold-interest-060323850.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England is set to join its peers in the U.S. and Europe in keeping borrowing rates unchanged at its policy meeting Thursday despite mounting worries over the state of the British economy.\nThe central bank is expected to keep its main interest rate at a 15-year high of 5.25%, where it has stood since August. Holding that high rate follows two years of hikes that targeted a surge in inflation, first stoked by supply chain issues during the coronavirus pandemic and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which pushed up food and energy costs.\nIts decision comes during a busy pre-Christmas bout of central bank activity, with the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank also set to keep their main borrowing rates on hold at multiyear highs.\nThe Bank of England is widely thought to be further away from cutting rates than the Fed or the ECB, with inflation in the U.K. higher than in the U.S. or across the 20 European Union countries that use the euro currency.\nThe Bank of England has managed to get inflation down from a four-decade high of over 11% — but there's still a way to go for it to get back to its 2% target. Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, stood at 4.6% in the year to October, still too high for comfort.\nWhile the interest rate increases have helped in the battle against inflation, the squeeze on consumer spending, primarily through higher mortgage rates, has weighed on British economic growth.\nFigures on Wednesday showing that the British economy contracted by 0.3% in October from a month earlier have fueled concerns about the near-term outlook on growth, especially as many households have yet to feel the impact of higher mortgage rates.\n“The poor performance on the U.K. economy in October will inevitably reignite speculation about whether the country is back in recession,\" said James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation. “But what’s not beyond doubt is that Britain is a stagnation nation — the 0.5% growth over the past 18 months is the weakest outside of a recession on record.”\nHigh interest rates and low economic growth are hardly the ideal backdrop for the governing Conservative Party in next year's general election, which opinion polls suggest it will lose to the main opposition Labour Party.\n",
        "title": "Bank of England is set to hold interest rates at a 15-year high despite worries about the economy"
    },
    {
        "id": 1084,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/anz-appeals-court-decision-over-055829075.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Australia's ANZ Group said on Thursday it had appealed against a Federal Court decision that found the lender guilty of not disclosing that its underwriters had bought nearly one-third of a share issue worth A$2.5 billion ($1.68 billion) in 2015.\nThe Federal Court in October found the country's third-largest bank guilty of breaking disclosure laws by failing to notify the market that between A$754 million and A$791 million of the shares were acquired by its underwriters instead of being placed with investors.\nThe Australian Securities and Investments Commission in September 2018 sued ANZ over the issue, while the competition regulator in June 2018 filed criminal cartel charges against the lender and its two investment banks, Citigroup Inc and Deutsche Bank AG.\nThe Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, however, withdrew its lawsuit in February 2022, citing there was \"no longer reasonable prospects of conviction\".\nA civil penalty of A$900,000 was also levied against ANZ as a result of the court decision in October.\nANZ said on Thursday it does not intend to provide any further comment at this time.\n($1 = 1.4901 Australian dollars)\n(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Subhranshu Sahu)\n",
        "title": "ANZ appeals court decision over troubled 2015 share placement worth $1.7 billion"
    },
    {
        "id": 1085,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-anz-appeals-court-decision-054915388.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Updates with details and background from paragraph 2)\nDec 14 (Reuters) - Australia's ANZ Group said on Thursday it had appealed against a Federal Court decision that found the lender guilty of not disclosing that its underwriters had bought nearly one-third of a share issue worth A$2.5 billion ($1.68 billion) in 2015.\nThe Federal Court in October found the country's third-largest bank guilty of breaking disclosure laws by failing to notify the market that between A$754 million and A$791 million of the shares were acquired by its underwriters instead of being placed with investors.\nThe Australian Securities and Investments Commission in September 2018 sued ANZ over the issue, while the competition regulator in June 2018 filed criminal cartel charges against the lender and its two investment banks, Citigroup Inc and Deutsche Bank AG.\nThe Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, however, withdrew its lawsuit in February 2022, citing there was \"no longer reasonable prospects of conviction\".\nA civil penalty of A$900,000 was also levied against ANZ as a result of the court decision in October.\nANZ said on Thursday it does not intend to provide any further comment at this time.\n($1 = 1.4901 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Subhranshu Sahu)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-ANZ appeals court decision over troubled 2015 share placement worth $1.7 bln"
    },
    {
        "id": 1086,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-asian-currencies-stocks-054055054.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "* S.Korean won, Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah rise over 1% each * Philippine stocks hit highest since late Sept * Taiwan, Philippine policy meetings in focus By John Biju Dec 14 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian currencies and equities joined a rally in global markets on Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated that its tightening cycle is likely over and flagged rate cuts next year, bolstering investor appetite for riskier assets. South Korea's won, Thailand's baht, and Indonesia's rupiah rose more than 1% each. The Malaysian ringgit advanced 0.9%. Stocks in South Korea and Thailand jumped more than 1% each. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the historic monetary tightening is likely over as inflation falls faster than expected, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view.\" Markets are now pricing in around a 75% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared with 54% a week earlier. With expectations of lower U.S. yields, the rate differential between U.S. and Asia rates will narrow, benefiting higher yielding Asian currencies, according to Ray Sharma-Ong, investment director of multi-asset at fund manager abrdn. \"We expect currencies such as KRW, TWD and THB\" to perform well, he said, referring to the South Korean won, Taiwan dollar and Thai baht. \"We also expect Asia equity markets to improve as U.S. growth moderates while Asia growth remains resilient.\" The Philippine peso jumped 0.8% and stocks climbed 2.2% to its highest level since late-September ahead of a policy decision from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged. The country's central bank had said last week that it was necessary to keep monetary policy settings \"sufficiently tight\", despite easing inflation in November, highlighting its wariness on price pressures. \"One factor that could be supportive for PHP, however, would be BSP's consistent hawkish commentary. A rate hike by the BSP at a time of global easing could be one reason we would see PHP appreciate more aggressively than our baseline forecast,\" Nicholas Mapa, senior economist, at ING in the Philippines wrote. The Taiwanese central bank is also expected to leave policy rates unchanged later on Thursday. The Taiwan dollar advanced 0.9% while equities climbed 0.8%. Investors in emerging Asian assets also kept watch on developments in Argentina where its government allowed its peso to plunge over 50%, cut energy subsidies and cancel public works tenders as part of an economic shock therapy aimed at fixing the South American country's worst crisis in decades. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Thailand's 10-year benchmark yields fall 5 basis points to 2.78% ** Japan PM overhauls cabinet in bid to weather financial scandal ** Hong Kong central bank leaves interest rate unchanged, tracks Fed Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0343 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCK STOCK DAILY YTD % X S S YTD % DAILY % % Japan +1.32 -7.03 <.N2 -0.98 24.95 25> China EC> India +0.16 -0.66 <.NS 0.00 15.58 EI> Indones +1.07 +0.48 <.JK 0.64 3.94 ia SE> Malaysi +0.94 -5.58 <.KL 0.39 -2.79 a SE> Philipp +0.75 +0.04 <.PS 2.19 -2.64 ines I> S.Korea +1.81 -2.53 <.KS 1.09 13.49 11> Singapo +0.38 +0.90 <.ST 0.83 -3.73 re I> Taiwan +0.85 -1.77 <.TW 0.75 24.49 II> Thailan +1.80 -1.44 <.SE 1.13 -17.7 d TI> 0 (Reporting by John Biju in Bengaluru Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Asian currencies, stocks jump as Fed flags policy pivot next yr"
    },
    {
        "id": 1087,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asian-stocks-wall-053625066.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds comment in paragraphs 11-12, updates prices)\nBy Xie Yu\nHONG KONG, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Asian stocks broadly rallied on Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve flagged the end of its tightening cycle and struck a dovish tone for the year ahead.\nU.S. Treasury yields slid to a fresh four-month trough, while the dollar continued to slide.\nMSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shot up 1.8%, its biggest one-day percentage jump in a month.\nMainland Chinese blue chips edged up by 0.2%, while Hong Kong's benchmark advanced 1.2%. Australian shares were up 1.6%.\nHowever, Japan's Nikkei slid 0.7%, weighed down by the yen's sharp rally.\nThe Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and U.S. central bank chief Jerome Powell said its historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over with inflation falling faster than expected.\nA near-unanimous 17 of 19 Fed officials project that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024 than it is now - with the median projection showing the rate falling three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 5.25%-5.50% range. U.S. fed funds futures boosted the chances of rate cuts starting as soon as in March after the Fed decision, according to LSEG's FedWatch. The market has priced in more than 150 bps of easing next year.\n\"It was a very aggressive pivot,\" said Ben Luk, global macro strategist at State Street Asia Limited.\n\"The Fed has followed market expectation in terms of allowing for one more rate cut to be added into both the 2024 and the 2025 (outlooks),\" he said.\nThat aggressive pivot will have a mixed impact in Asia, with tech shares to benefit more while markets including Japan will have a dampening effect as its currency strengthens with a weakening U.S. dollar, he added.\n\"Overall, the meeting was a bit more dovish than we expected,\" said Christian Scherrmann, U.S. economist at DWS.\n\"However, we would like to remind that they are not yet on autopilot to the runway and that the timing of the first rate cuts still depends on the evolution of the incoming data and, in particular, of inflation,\" he added.\nIt is a busy week for central banks, with the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss National Bank all announcing policy decisions on Thursday. The Bank of Japan's turn comes on Tuesday.\nU.S. stocks surged to a sharply higher close on Wednesday and benchmark Treasury yields slid to their lowest level since Aug. 10.\nU.S. stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were up 0.4% on Thursday, while the 10-year Treasury yield pushed down further to as low as 3.9845%, breaking below the psychological 4% mark.\nThe U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell a further 0.25% to 102.62.\nThe euro gained 0.2% to $1.0899.\nThe yen sat significantly higher, with the dollar sliding 0.7% to 141.82 yen.\nSpot gold was up 0.23% at $2,030.99 per ounce, after rising 2.4% on Wednesday.\nOil prices rose, extending gains from the previous session.\nBrent futures rose 23 cents, or 0.31%, settling at $74.49 a barrel by 0345 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 11 cents, or 0.16%, and settled at $69.58 a barrel.\n(Reporting by Xie Yu; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks follow Wall Street higher; yields and dollar down"
    },
    {
        "id": 1088,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-bonds-india-bond-yields-053141485.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Bhakti Tambe\nMUMBAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Indian government bond yields fell sharply, with the benchmark 10-year yield hitting a nearly one-month low, after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled the end of policy tightening and projected three rate cuts in 2024.\nThe 10-year benchmark bond yield was at 7.2151% as of 10:50 a.m. IST, at the lowest level since Nov. 17, after ending the previous session at 7.2581%.\n\"The 10-year U.S. yield is trading below 4% so that led to the sharp downward movement in local yields. The 10-year India bond yield will see strong resistance at 7.20%,\" a foreign bank trader said.\nThe 10-year U.S. yield fell to its lowest since August, driven by the near-unanimous projection of 17 out of 19 Fed officials that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024.\nThe 10-year U.S. yield plunged 17 basis points (bps) on Wednesday, hovering around 3.9825% during Asian trading hours.\nThe median projections now indicate a decline of three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 5.25-5.50% range for the Fed funds rate. The Fed has increased its policy rate by 525 basis points to the current range since March 2022.\n\"People are not writing down rate hikes\" in their latest economic projections, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said following the end of the central bank's final policy meeting of the year on Wednesday.\nU.S. fed funds futures have boosted the chances of a rate cut in March to 77% after the Fed decision, according to LSEG's FedWatch. The market has also priced in more than 100 bps of easing next year.\nLast week, the Reserve Bank of India maintained its key repo rate at 6.50% for the fifth consecutive meeting, signalling continued tight monetary policy as it monitors inflation risks.\nMarket participants also await Friday's weekly debt auction for further cues. New Delhi aims to raise 330 billion rupees ($3.96 billion) via bonds. ($1 = 83.3125 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bhakti Tambe;Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)\n",
        "title": "INDIA BONDS-India bond yields edge lower on dovish US Fed"
    },
    {
        "id": 1089,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-europe-dovishness-infectious-053000565.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Vidya Ranganathan.\nFed Chairman Jerome Powell has swerved in the figurative game of chicken the central bank has been playing with markets for months, and investors are jubilant.\nU.S. stocks have rallied hard and the 10-year Treasury yield is below 4% for the first time in four months.\nFor, even though investors had anticipated Powell would hint at peak policy, his pivot was powerful, making clear the Fed is \"not likely\" to hike further and that the Fed is \"very focused on not making the mistake of keeping rates too high for too long\". Fed funds futures extended their rally in Asia and now imply an 85% chance of a first cut in March, with a staggering 156 basis points of easing priced in for all of 2024.\nThe dovish mood is proving infectious as investors prep for rate cuts across much of the developed world. The European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank and Norges Bank all meet on Thursday and steady outcomes are expected except for Norway, where there might be a hike given the weakness of the crown.\nThe ECB meeting was shaping up to be an eventful one even before the Fed spoke, given that inflation has slowed. After the overnight developments, markets expect any pushback by ECB hawks against market pricing for cuts starting in March will be muted.\nThe Dec 2024 EURIBOR futures jumped to their highest since January and now imply more than 100 basis points of easing by September.\nThe market has priced in rate cuts by the BOE, too, in 2024 . The SNB is the least likely to be dovish; on the contrary, it is likely to consider intervention to restrain the franc, which hit a nine-year high on the euro last week. .\nThe S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit fresh closing highs for the year, and Nasdaq is up 40.7% for the year.\nAsian stock markets are less euphoric, as a rising yen weighs on Japanese stocks while Chinese markets remain somewhat disenchanted with the Central Economic Work Conference's focus on risks rather than stimulus.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Thursday:\nCentral bank policy decisions: ECB, BOE, SNB, Norges Bank\nDebt auctions - Reopening of UK 30-year government debt\n(By Vidya Ranganathan; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID EUROPE-Is dovishness infectious?"
    },
    {
        "id": 1090,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/germanys-sefe-seeks-us-approval-051503702.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 14 (Reuters) - The German state-owned Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE) has become the third company to seek approval from the U.S. energy regulator for liquefied natural gas (LNG) developer Venture Global to begin construction on its CP2 LNG project in Louisiana.\nSEFE's letter to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), dated Monday, highlighted the role of the CP2 LNG project in securing Europe's energy supply.\nIn June, SEFE, via its unit Wingas, signed a 20-year deal to buy 2.25 million tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG from Venture Global's proposed 20 MTPA CP2 project in Louisiana.\nThe appeal to FERC follows a similar request from two Japanese energy companies, Inpex Corp and JERA, seeking approval for construction by Venture Global for the project.\n\"SEFE's long-term LNG purchased from CP2 LNG will now be vital to Germany's energy security in the new environment where gas pipeline supplies from Russia have stopped,\" the company said in the letter.\nThe letter reiterated that Venture Global has already enabled the reliable supply of three LNG cargoes to SEFE so far in 2023, which arrived during a \"critical period of Germany's gas crisis\".\nAside from the FERC approval, the CP2 LNG project is also awaiting export authorization from the Department of Energy before construction can commence.\nVenture Global LNG, which started early site work on CP2 in the spring of 2023, has contracts for nearly half the plant's capacity of 20 MTPA and expects the rest to be sold before the end of 2023.\nThe company is embroiled in contract arbitration cases with several customers over its insistence it does not have to provide contracted cargoes while its Calcasieu Pass export plant, also in Louisiana, is undergoing commissioning. (Reporting by Tina Parate in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)\n",
        "title": "Germany's SEFE seeks US approval for Venture Global's CP2 LNG project"
    },
    {
        "id": 1091,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/woodside-santos-proposed-52-billion-051133517.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Scott Murdoch and Lewis Jackson\nSYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's Woodside Energy and rival Santos are unlikely to announce any agreement on a proposed A$80 billion ($52 billion) tie-up to create a global oil and gas giant until at least February, said a person with direct knowledge of the talks.\nWoodside and Santos last week confirmed speculation they were in preliminary discussions to create a joint entity that would have assets stretching from Australia to Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Senegal and Trinidad and Tobago.\nBankers are currently getting data and details on both companies, and work on a potential deal has only just started, the person said on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.\nThere is no fixed due diligence period or timetable at the moment, the person added.\nMany Australians take holidays in December and January, the peak of the southern hemisphere summer, making it harder to complete transactions during the period.\nSantos is being advised on the deal by Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, while Morgan Stanley is advising Woodside, sources confirmed.\nSantos and Goldman Sachs declined to comment, while Woodside and the other banks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\nA second person with direct knowledge of the talks said only about 5% of the progress needed has been made so far, and Woodside has been driving the talks between both companies.\nWoodside's first approach to Santos was made shortly after Santos' investor day on Nov. 22, the first person said.\nPerth-based Woodside, the larger of the two companies, has said the talks with Adelaide-based Santos were confidential and there was no certainty an agreement would materialise. Its market capitalisation stands at A$56.91 billion, while Santos is valued at A$22.1 billion.\nIn an end-of-year video message to staff on Wednesday, Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said Woodside had approached his company \"a number of times\" over the past year or so about a deal, according to a company source who confirmed comments first reported by the Australian Financial Review.\nINVESTORS SEEK VALUE\nThe proposed tie-up comes amid a wave of consolidation in the global energy sector, which has seen oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron paying more than $50 billion each to acquire two U.S. producers.\nSantos and its advisers have started reaching out to shareholders to get their perspective on a potential deal.\n\"We've been speaking to bucketloads of investment bankers,\" said Matthew Haupt, a portfolio manager at long-time Santos shareholder Wilson Asset Management.\n\"They're all trying to work out a successful price for Santos, the least Woodside can pay that will still make Santos shareholders happy.\"\nMacquarie analysts said on Thursday that Woodside would need to offer between A$8.70 to A$9 per share for Santos based on synergies unlocked from the merger. The longer it took Woodside to convince its shareholders of the deal's merits, the greater the risk it would fail, as happened during its 2015 bid for Oil Search, they added.\nSantos shares were trading 3% higher at A$7.53 on Thursday afternoon.\nDiscussions with Santos come less than 18 months after Woodside acquired BHP Group's oil and gas business, and as it grapples to get final approvals for its A$16.5 billion Scarborough liquefied natural gas (LNG) venture in Western Australia, its biggest growth project.\nThe proposed all-stock Santos deal would give Woodside the advantage of even more considerable scale, both people said, adding it was very hard for the company to find an appropriate acquisition target elsewhere in the world given the industry consolidation already underway.\nSantos, meanwhile, is fighting a legal challenge against its flagship Barossa gas project that has stalled the $3.2 billion investment for over a year and rattled investors. The company has also flagged soaring capital spending.\nA combined Woodside-Santos would be expected to have access to cheaper funding and more exposure to international investors.\n(Reporting by Scott Murdoch and Lewis Jackson in Sydney; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Woodside, Santos proposed $52 billion tie-up unlikely to be sealed until at least Feb -source"
    },
    {
        "id": 1092,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/retailer-group-files-official-complaint-050718952.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "LONDON (Reuters) - Retail industry association EuroCommerce has lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission over a French law that limits supermarkets' ability to discount certain consumer products in France.\nEuroCommerce argues the law, dubbed \"Descrozaille\" after the French lawmaker who proposed it, infringes European Union rules on free movement of goods and services within the single market. In a statement on Thursday the group called on the European Commission to \"urgently take action\".\nChristel Delberghe, director general of EuroCommerce, said the law prevents retailers and wholesalers from buying products at a pan-European level, thereby impacting their ability to offer lower prices to shoppers.\nA spike in inflation has heightened tensions between supermarket chains and consumer goods firms in Europe over the price of branded products, with retailers like France's Carrefour accusing some packaged food and drink firms of unjustified price rises.\nPricing negotiations between grocers and consumer goods firms are also breaking down more often.\nIn France, Carrefour and other retailers have criticised the Descrozaille law, which sets a 34% limit on discounts supermarkets can offer on beauty, hygiene, and care products.\nCarrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard has said the law, meant to protect small suppliers, will in reality limit retailers' bargaining power and benefit multinationals. The law is set to come into effect in March 2024.\n(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "Retailer group files official complaint to EU about French pricing law"
    },
    {
        "id": 1093,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/country-garden-surprises-creditors-full-113649514.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. took steps to prevent its debt crisis from worsening, paying off a yuan note ahead of schedule and selling a stake in a mall operator.\nThe distressed builder’s onshore unit, Country Garden Real Estate Group Co., repaid in full an 800 million yuan ($111 million) bond with a put option that expired Wednesday, it said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. It also sold an investment in Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management Group Co. for 3.07 billion yuan to raise cash for offshore debt restructuring.\nThe latest moves by China’s former top builder injected a sense of relief among investors, following a dollar bond default in October that roiled financial markets. They also came hot on the heels of a top housing official’s pledge to avoid a cascade of debt defaults by developers, among the strongest commitments yet to ease the industry’s unprecedented cash crunch.\n“Country Garden is keen to maintain its reputation of not defaulting onshore to mitigate the negative impact on the market,” said Ting Meng, senior credit strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “For the offshore bonds, all eyes are on its debt restructure plan.”\nCountry Garden’s shares rose as much as 9.1% in Hong Kong on Thursday, before paring the gains to less than 3%. At around HK$0.80 a share, it remains a penny stock. A Bloomberg Intelligence stock gauge of Chinese developers jumped close to 3% earlier. The firm’s dollar bonds still trade at deeply distressed levels of 7-8 cents on the dollar, Bloomberg-compiled prices show.\nThe firm said in a statement explaining its stake sale in Zhuhai Wanda that it’s working to resolve liquidity pressure and seeking a “comprehensive solution” to its offshore debt risks.\nThe Guangdong-based developer overtook rival China Evergrande Group as the epicenter of the property crisis after its October default. Its potential debt workout, which promises to be one of the biggest restructuring exercises in the world’s No. 2 economy, is attracting close scrutiny. Among dozens of builders that have fallen into distress following Beijing’s crackdown on excessive leverage, few have managed to work out a deal with creditors.\nWhile Country Garden may have succeeded in averting a bigger crisis for now, the challenges of pulling off an offshore debt deal and reviving property sales are keeping investors on edge. Though policymakers have stepped up efforts this year to arrest a housing slump and ease developers’ funding woes, home sales have plunged in 18 of the past 22 months.\nIncreased willingness by large developers to repay debt and a more supportive narrative by policymakers have eased “worries of a collapse of investment-grade property bonds and shaken out some equity short position,” said Zerlina Zeng, senior credit analyst at Creditsights Singapore LLC. However, “the fact that Country Garden repaid the onshore bond in full and on time but left offshore debt unresolved showed that offshore dollar bondholders are deeply subordinated in the payment waterfall.”\nAt least several holders of the yuan note received payment Thursday morning, said people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity discussing private matters. After the latest yuan note repayment, the developer has around $13 billion of bonds outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nHelmed by one of China’s richest women, Yang Huiyan, Country Garden’s sheer size has made it important to the economy, where the property market along with related industries accounts for about 20% of gross domestic product. Along with Evergrande, whose default in 2021 opened the door to record nonpayments from other builders, it has come to symbolize the nation’s broader real estate crisis.\nAuthorities recently widened the rescue campaign by mulling a potential list of 50 developers eligible for financing, and an unprecedented proposal to allow banks to offer unsecured loans to qualified builders, among other measures. Country Garden is included in the so-called white list, Bloomberg reported last month.\n“Country Garden may have already received government’s backing though it has not been confirmed,” said Hong Hao, chief economist of Grow Investment Group. “It’s in line with the government’s intention to meet all reasonable financing demand for developers regardless of their ownership,” Hong said, adding that gains in property stocks may not sustain if sales continue to be weak.\n--With assistance from Philip Glamann, Alice Huang, Jing Jin and Pearl Liu.\n(Updates with analyst quotes)\n",
        "title": "Country Garden Staves Off Worsening of Debt Crisis With Payment"
    },
    {
        "id": 1094,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-japans-political-scandal-may-042551127.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Leika Kihara\nTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's political scandal looks set to wipe out heavyweights of the ruling party's once-mighty faction favouring big monetary stimulus, easing the path for the Bank of Japan in pulling the economy out of decades of ultra-low interest rates.\nPrime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday announced he would make changes to his cabinet as he seeks to stem the fallout from a fundraising scandal that has further dented public support for his embattled administration.\nThe political upheaval comes at a critical moment for the BOJ, which is planning an exit from ultra-low interest rates on rising inflation and signs of broadening wage hikes. Most market players predict an end to Japan's negative rates sometime next year.\nWhile the BOJ is legally independent from government interference in deciding monetary policy, political pressure has historically had a significant influence on its decisions.\nOnce led by former premier Shinzo Abe, who was shot and killed during an election campaign last year, the faction known as \"Seiwa-kai,\" or so-called \"Abe faction,\" has retained huge influence on policymaking including under Kishida's administration.\nThe faction consists of many advocates of massive fiscal and monetary stimulus. Among them is ruling party heavyweight Hiroshige Seko, who has repeatedly called for big fiscal spending and made clear his strong preference for ultra-loose policy to continue.\nIn 2013, Abe hand-picked former BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda to deploy a massive asset-buying programme as part of his \"Abenomics\" stimulus policies. The BOJ continues to buy huge amounts of assets, and added a negative interest rate policy and a bond yield control in 2016 to keep borrowing costs low.\n\"Monetary easing will eventually end. But Governor (Kazuo) Ueda has said an exit will come after achieving the bank's 2% inflation,\" Seko told reporters in September after the governor's hawkish comments pushed up the yen and bond yields.\nSeko and Koichi Hagiuda, another ruling party executive, are likely to resign, as well as Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and three other ministers belonging to the faction, according to domestic media.\n\"It's natural to believe that Ueda would now have a freer hand in guiding policy,\" said a government official with knowledge on economic policy-making.\nNO ONE TO NEGOTIATE\nHowever, the blow dealt to Kishida's administration could leave the BOJ without an effective counterpart to negotiate and collaborate such a major policy shift that would have a huge impact on the economy and global financial markets.\nPeople close to Kishida say his administration broadly endorses governor Ueda's efforts to phase out his predecessor's radical stimulus, which is blamed for boosting imported goods prices and households' cost of living via a weak yen.\n\"With the diminishing influence of the Abe faction, calls for ultra-loose monetary policy to support expansionary fiscal policy will likely disappear,\" said former BOJ official Shigeto Nagai, who is now head of Japan economics at Oxford Economics.\nThere is some uncertainty on how the political turmoil could affect the timing of an exit from negative rates.\nThe ensuing policy paralysis, some observers warn, could delay negotiations between the BOJ and the government necessary to ensure that any exit from easy policy would not destabilise markets and the economy.\n\"The focus now will be how long the Kishida administration can last,\" said political analyst Atsuo Ito. \"Kishida has no strength to carry out anything that would drastically alter the status quo on policy.\"\nYet, the BOJ would now have a clearer path to an exit from low rates, some analysts say.\nHiroshi Namioka, chief strategist and fund manager at T&D Asset Management, said the waning influence of the Abe faction reinforces his bet the BOJ will end negative rates in January.\n\"The views of politicians were something the BOJ took into consideration to some extent, when guiding policy.\"\n(Reporting by Leika Kihara, Additional reporting by Takaya Yamaguchi, Kentaro Sugiyama, Tetsushi Kajimoto and Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-Japan's political scandal may clear path for easy policy exit"
    },
    {
        "id": 1095,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-central-bank-sit-tight-041901142.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Leika Kihara\nTOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's central bank is likely to end the year as one of the world's most dovish, as policymakers look for clues on whether the economy can weather overseas risks and achieve a sustained price and wage growth.\nWith consumption showing signs of weakness and next year's wage outlook still uncertain, the Bank of Japan is widely expected to maintain its ultra-loose policy settings next week.\nMarkets are instead focusing on any hints Governor Kazuo Ueda may offer at his post-meeting briefing on the timing of an exit from negative interest rates.\n\"Next year's wage talks will likely turn out fairly strong, but the BOJ probably needs a bit more time to determine whether inflation becomes driven more by domestic demand,\" said Shigeto Nagai, head of Japan economics at Oxford Economics.\n\"The most likely timing of an exit is in April, after which the BOJ will probably guide short-term rates in a range of zero to 0.1%,\" said Nagai, a former BOJ official.\nAt a two-day meeting ending on Tuesday, the BOJ is expected to make no major changes to its policy that guides short-term interest rates at -0.1% and the 10-year bond yield around 0%.\nWhile the BOJ's quarterly \"tankan\" survey underscored the strength of Japan's corporate sector, some policymakers point to weak signs in consumption and global economic uncertainties as factors that warrant maintaining the status quo.\n\"We're seeing some positive signs on the wage outlook. But we've yet to see evidence that wages will indeed rise broadly,\" said a source familiar with the BOJ's thinking, a view echoed by two other sources.\nUeda has repeatedly said the BOJ should keep ultra-easy policy until the recent cost-driven inflation turns into price rises driven more by robust consumption and higher wages.\nBut a sharply changing global monetary policy environment may complicate the BOJ's decision with U.S. and European central banks signalling that they are done hiking rates.\nThe Federal Reserve on Wednesday flagged the chance of several rate cuts next year which, coupled with a rate hike in Japan, could sharply reverse the yen's downtrend.\nWhile BOJ officials play down the impact the Fed's move could have on their policy decisions, any spike in the yen could hurt big manufacturers' profits and discourage them from hiking wages, some analysts say.\nThere is no consensus within the BOJ on the timing of an exit with the nine-member board divided on how long they should wait in determining that Japan will see inflation durably achieve the bank's 2% target, accompanied by solid wage gains.\nMore than 80% of economists polled by Reuters in November expect the BOJ to end its negative rate policy next year with half of them predicting April as the most likely timing. Some see the chance of a policy shift in January.\n\"The key is how much the BOJ will try to signal the chance of a policy change in January,\" said Naomi Muguruma, senior market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.\n(Reporting by Leika Kihara. Editing by Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "Japan's central bank to sit tight on policy, may drop hints on pivot"
    },
    {
        "id": 1096,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toronto-exchange-owner-buys-etf-035633095.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- TMX Group Ltd., the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange and other trading venues, agreed to buy an index provider to the exchange-traded fund industry, expanding deeper into financial data.\nTMX will pay $848 million to buy the 78% of VettaFi Holdings LLC that it doesn’t already own, financing the deal with bank debt, according to a statement late Wednesday.\nNew York-based VettaFi was formed last year from the union of several businesses, including S-Network Global Indexes and Alerian, two companies that develop indexes that can be used by ETF issuers to follow a variety of investment strategies. There’s $31 billion of assets linked to VettaFi indexes, according to the company’s website.\nIt also owns research tools and products such as an online ETF database and websites aimed at financial advisers.\nFor TMX Group, it’s a sizable deal that extends a strategy of selling an array of information and financial data in the pursuit of growth as traditional lines of business stall, such as cash equities trading. It’s a plan that bears some resemblance to the one followed by London Stock Exchange Group Plc.\nTMX’s equities and fixed-income sales fell 1% in the first nine months of year, while derivatives revenue rose just 3%.\nVettaFi will fit into the company’s global solutions, insights and analytics segment — now its largest, representing about a third of revenue. The implied valuation of the deal is about 15.4 next year’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.\nTMX bought 22% of VettaFi earlier this year. In total, it will have paid a little more than $1 billion for the whole business once the takeover closes, expected next month.\n",
        "title": "Toronto Exchange Owner Buys ETF Index Firm in Financial-Data Strategy"
    },
    {
        "id": 1097,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasdaq-hit-error-affecting-thousands-001158952.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Nasdaq Inc. worked to fix a system error that impacted thousands of stock orders, leading some to be canceled and incorrect clearing information to be submitted.\nThe exchange operator told market participants Wednesday it’s investigating an order-entry issue that caused inaccuracies and delays, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Nasdaq’s electronic communication channel, which processes so-called financial information exchange or “FIX” messages, was affected, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.\nThe incident, starting around 2:30 p.m. New York time, involved “certain FIX/RASH order entry ports,” Nasdaq said in an emailed statement.\nNasdaq worked to fix the issue, but was unable to fully resolve it before the end of the day. A decision was then made after the close to shut down the FIX/RASH order handling system, block all new orders and cancel any open orders back to customers.\nAlso, incorrect clearing records were submitted, according a later statement. Nasdaq reversed trades for orders originating from the FIX/RASH system during the impacted period and resubmitted the corrected trades for the Nasdaq Stock Market. BX and PSX trades will be corrected on a T+1 timeframe, it said.\n“Nasdaq is confident that this corrective action fully addresses the issue” and is ready for Thursday trading, the statement said.\n(Updates with details from fourth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Nasdaq Reverses Some Stock Orders After Glitch Hits Trades"
    },
    {
        "id": 1098,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/low-cost-e-commerce-player-035242347.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Casey Hall\nSHANGHAI (Reuters) - PDD Holdings' international facing discount e-commerce platform, Temu, filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District of Columbia court on Wednesday alleging rival Shein employed \"Mafia-style intimidation\" to coerce suppliers that also worked with Temu.\nAccording to the filing, Boston-based company WhaleCo Inc, which operates in the U.S. as Temu, alleges China-founded, Singapore-based rival Shein misused intellectual property legislation to stop merchants and suppliers working with Temu.\nIt also claimed Shein \"falsely imprisoned\" vendors who dealt with Temu by detaining merchant representatives in Shein's offices for many hours, confiscating their electronic devices and threatening them with penalties for doing business with Temu.\nShein did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the lawsuit on Thursday.\nBoth firms, which have roots in China, have seen their businesses boom in the U.S. market in recent years as inflation and cost-of-living pressures have helped attract consumers to low-cost e-commerce offerings, such as Shein's $5 T-shirts and Temu's $3 earphones.\nThe bulk of suppliers for both companies are in China and a spokesperson for Temu confirmed the alleged infractions involved Chinese vendors.\n\"We sued Shein because recently their actions have escalated. They began to illegally detain merchants, forcibly asking for their phones, stealing our merchant accounts and passwords, stealing our business secrets, and simultaneously forcing merchants to leave our platform,\" the spokesperson said.\nThe lawsuit also alleges that Shein poached Temu's key marketing and advertising personnel. It did not specify where they were based.\nThis is not the first time the fierce rivals have traded barbs in legal suits filed in U.S. courts. Both companies withdrew actions filed against one another in October without giving a reason.\nShein's previous U.S. lawsuit against Temu alleged Temu told social media influencers to make disparaging remarks about the fast-fashion retailer, and tricked customers into downloading the Temu app using \"imposter\" social media accounts.\nIn July, Temu filed its own lawsuit in Boston federal court, accusing Shein of violating U.S. antitrust law in its dealings with clothing manufacturers.\nLast month, Shein confidentially filed to list publicly in New York in what could be a $90 billion float, renewing scrutiny of its business practices and supply chain.\n(Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Brenda Goh and Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Low-cost e-commerce player Temu files new lawsuit against rival Shein"
    },
    {
        "id": 1099,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toronto-stock-exchange-operator-tmx-031558978.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - TMX Group, the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange, said on Wednesday it had acquired an around 78% stake in U.S. data analytics company VettaFi Holdings for $848 million (C$1.14 billion).\nIn January, the group took a 21% stake in the New York City-based firm, which values the total deal at $1.03 billion.\nThe deal will be financed through bank debt of up to $1 billion in term loans, and will add to TMX's adjusted earnings per share in the first year of the deal, excluding synergies, the company said in a statement.\n\"From a strategic standpoint, this acquisition accelerates TMX's long-term global expansion, and increases the proportion of revenue derived from our Global Solutions, Insights and Analytics division, and from recurring sources,\" said John McKenzie, CEO of TMX Group.\nAs part of the deal, the operator will also assume $100 million of VettaFi's debt.\nVettaFi provides a database of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), analytics and indices, and the exchange operator's analytics business.\n(1 Canadian dollar = $0.7422)\n(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sonia Cheema)\n",
        "title": "Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX buys remaining stake in VettaFi for $848 million"
    },
    {
        "id": 1100,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-bonds-india-bond-yields-024709530.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Bhakti Tambe\nMUMBAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Indian government bond yields are likely to open lower in the early trading session on Thursday, tracking a plunge in U.S. peers, after the U.S. Federal Reserve's indication that its policy tightening is over and rate cuts are looming.\nThe 10-year benchmark bond yield is expected to open in the 7.18-7.23% range, following its previous closing at 7.2581%, a trader with a primary dealership said.\n\"The Fed was substantially dovish and that surprised markets. The global euphoria could lead to breakout in key 7.20% level at the open but unlikely to sustain at those levels because domestic factors haven't changed much,\" said Yogesh Kalinge, vice president at A.K. Capital Services.\nThe 10-year U.S. yield fell to its lowest since August, led by a near-unanimous projection of 17 out of 19 Fed officials that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024.\nThe median projections now indicate a decline of three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 5.25-5.50% range for the Fed funds rate.\n\"People are not writing down rate hikes\" in their latest economic projections, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said following the end of the central bank's final policy meeting of the year.\nThe Fed has increased its policy rate by 525 basis points to the current range of 5.25%-5.50% since March 2022.\n\"Fed's rate cut signals would not alter the Reserve Bank of India's rate cut expectations,\" Kalinge said. However, the outlook for RBI rate cuts in Jul-Sept is likely to become bullish, he added.\nLast week, the RBI kept its key repo rate unchanged at 6.50%, for the fifth consecutive meeting.\nMeanwhile, oil prices increased following a larger-than-expected weekly drawdown from U.S. crude storage and Fed policy outcome.\nKEY INDICATORS: ** Brent crude futures 0.6% higher at $74.69 per barrel, after rising 1.4% in previous session ** The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield at 3.9732%, two-year yield at 4.3513% (Reporting by Bhakti Tambe; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)\n",
        "title": "INDIA BONDS-India bond yields seen lower after Fed strikes dovish tone"
    },
    {
        "id": 1101,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/temu-files-lawsuit-against-shein-023943101.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese-owned online marketplace Temu sued fast-fashion rival Shein in the US over what it called “intensified” anticompetitive practices, reviving a legal fight between the e-commerce upstarts after both had dropped earlier lawsuits against each other.\nWhaleco Inc., which operates as Temu, accused Shein of hatching a “desperate plan” to undercut its business in a 100-page filing to the US District Court for the District of Columbia — nearly triple the length of its original lawsuit. The Wednesday complaint alleged that Shein filed tens of thousands of copyright takedown notices against Temu, forced fashion suppliers into exclusive agreements, and threatened or even detained Temu merchants. It detailed allegations about how Chinese suppliers who listed products on both platforms got called into Shein’s offices in Guangzhou and forced to provide phone passwords and transaction records related to Temu.\n“Temu has discovered that Shein’s anticompetitive behavior has not only persisted but intensified,” the lawsuit said. “Shein’s persistent and increasingly aggressive use of anticompetitive conduct, coercion, and threatening behavior necessitates this lawsuit.”\nRepresentatives for Shein didn’t respond to a request for comment. A Temu representative said the latest move was a result of Shein’s escalating anticompetitive behavior. “Their actions are too exaggerated; we had no choice but to sue them,” the spokesperson said.\nRead More: Jack Ma’s Biggest E-Commerce Rival Is Coming for Amazon, Walmart\nThe two rising stars, both of Chinese origin, pose a growing threat to e-commerce giants from Amazon.com Inc. to Walmart Inc. and fast-fashion incumbents like H&M and Zara. In October, Temu and Shein both dropped previous lawsuits that pulled the curtain back on the combative competition between the two often-secretive companies.\nTemu, owned by Chinese heavyweight PDD Holdings Inc., said its entry into the US market in late 2022 contributed to a decline of more than $30 billion in the valuation of Shein, which had exceeded $100 billion. “So Shein hatched a desperate plan to eliminate the competitive threat posed by Temu,” the lawsuit alleged.\nShein has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in the US, targeting a valuation of as much as $90 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.\nBesides copyright infringement and supplier bullying, Temu’s new lawsuit accused Shein of seeking to “whitewash its stained reputation” by shifting its headquarters to Singapore — despite maintaining most of its business operations and employees in China. It’s a tactic that could backfire given that Temu is owned by PDD, founded eight years ago in Shanghai.\nTemu Takes on Amazon and Walmart: The Big Take\nThe filing also contends that Shein poached several of Temu’s key marketing executives to replicate its game and promotional strategies, including one woman who may have begun working for Shein before she officially quit Temu. It accused Shein of signing agreements with suppliers that prevented them from doing business with rival marketplaces like Temu, and issued penalties for not allowing Shein to offer prices lower than competitors.\nThe latest suit comes as Temu has widened its gap with Shein in US transactions since surpassing it in May. That lead has widened every month since, reaching nearly triple Shein’s observed sales in November, according to data from Bloomberg Second Measure, which analyzes consumers’ card transactions.\nTemu-parent PDD’s market capitalization even exceeded that of Chinese e-commerce pioneer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in recent weeks, in part because of Temu’s success abroad.\nRead More: Shoppers Spend Almost Twice as Long on Temu App Than Key Rivals\n--With assistance from Daniela Wei.\n",
        "title": "Temu Files New Lawsuit Against Shein After ‘Intensified’ Clash"
    },
    {
        "id": 1102,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bmw-gains-test-license-l3-023252039.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "BEIJING (Reuters) - BMW Group has received a test license for L3 autonomous driving on high-speed roads in Shanghai, the German automaker said on Thursday.\n(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Tom Hogue)\n",
        "title": "BMW gains test license for L3 autonomous driving in Shanghai"
    },
    {
        "id": 1103,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/samsung-c-t-pushed-changes-022807372.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Samsung C&T Corp. shareholder Whitebox Advisors is pressuring the South Korean conglomerate to adopt a clear capital allocation plan after two other investors voiced public criticism, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nWhitebox Advisors, which has a stake of about $100 million, has had private discussions with Samsung C&T and believes it’s trading at about a 68% discount to its net asset value, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. The company could close the gap by putting in an executive compensation structure that aligns with shareholder returns, the people said.\nSamsung C&T’s shareholder return policy does little to address the glaring and expanding discount between the company’s assets and its share price, the people added.\nWhitebox Advisors declined to comment. Samsung C&T responded, saying it “continues to listen to the diverse opinions of shareholders and strives to increase corporate value.”\nShares of Samsung C&T rose as much as 2.6% Thursday in trading in Seoul. They have gained 16% this year, giving the company a market value of about 25 trillion won ($19 billion).\nThe complaints from Whitebox Advisors, which has invested in the company since 2017, came after two other investors publicly criticized Samsung C&T’s performance this year. City of London Investment Management Co. and activist investor Palliser Capital issued letters to the company.\nActivist investor Elliott Investment Management launched a proxy campaign against the company in 2015, opposing a merger with Cheil Industries Inc. Samsung C&T narrowly won the campaign before the heir of the conglomerate, Jay Y. Lee, was convicted of bribery charges in 2017.\nElliott later took the matter to court, saying a previous government administration in Seoul had intervened in the merger by siding with the conglomerate. Elliott was awarded $53.6 million in damages in June.\nRead more: South Korea Told to Pay Elliott Damages in Samsung Fight (2)\nSamsung C&T has businesses in engineering, construction, trading and investment, fashion and resorts.\nWhitebox Advisors, an alternative asset manager, launched a campaign in 2020 against another South Korean conglomerate, LG Corp., to stop a spinoff of its international business and other assets. The separation was approved with the blessing of LG’s largest shareholder. LG announced a 500 billion won share buyback last year.\n--With assistance from Daedo Kim.\n(Updates with Samsung C&T response in fourth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Samsung C&T Pushed to Make Changes by Third Activist Investor"
    },
    {
        "id": 1104,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/buffett-backs-occidental-deal-590-021800707.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has bought nearly $590 million of Occidental Petroleum Corp. stock this week, after the Texas oil company agreed to buy private Permian producer CrownRock LP in one of the biggest energy deals of the year.\nThe purchases were made in five tranches after the deal was announced on Dec. 11, according to a regulatory filing published late Wednesday. Berkshire has been buying Occidental stock steadily over the last three years and is now the company’s largest shareholder with a stake of just over 27%.\nRead More: Occidental Jet Visits Buffett’s Hometown Amid Potential Oil Deal\nBerkshire first invested in Occidental in 2019 to finance its $55 billion purchase of Anadarko Petroleum. Occidental Chief Executive Officer Vicki Hollub didn’t need Buffett’s help to fund the $10.8 billion CrownRock acquisition but Berkshire’s purchases this week will likely be seen as a sign of support for the deal.\n",
        "title": "Buffett Backs Occidental Deal With $590 Million Stock Purchase"
    },
    {
        "id": 1105,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/argentina-december-inflation-substantially-higher-015101271.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's December inflation rate will \"clearly be substantially higher than in November,\" Economy Minister Luis Caputo said in a televised interview Wednesday, as Javier Milei's newly elected government grapples with an economy in crisis.\nMonthly inflation in the Latin American nation hit 12.8% in November alone, the highest monthly figure this year, according to statistics agency data released earlier Wednesday.\nOn Tuesday, Caputo announced a slate of economic measures which include a more than 50% devaluation of the peso's official exchange rate and cuts to energy and transportation subsidies.\nMilei warned in his Sunday inauguration speech that a monthly inflation rate of 20% to 40% was expected from December to February.\nThe cuts to Argentina's energy subsidies could go into effect in February or March next year, Caputo added in the interview with local TV channel Todo Noticias.\n(Reporting by Eliana Raszewski; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Sarah Morland)\n",
        "title": "Argentina December inflation to be 'substantially higher' m/m, minister says"
    },
    {
        "id": 1106,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/berkshire-hathaway-buys-nearly-10-013850113.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway has acquired nearly 10.5 million shares of Occidental Petroleum so far this week for about $588.7 million, according to a filing at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.\nThe purchases bring Berkshire's stake in Occidental to about 27%. The company also holds preferred shares and warrants to acquire another 83.8 million Occidental shares for $4.7 billion, or $56.62 apiece.\nThe shares and warrants were obtained as part of a deal that helped Occidental finance its 2019 purchase of Anadarko Petroleum. If exercised, the warrants would bring Berkshire's total ownership to 33%.\nOccidental closed at $57.22 on Wednesday.\nBerkshire last bought Occidental shares on Oct. 25 and acquired a 25.8% stake worth approximately $14.4 billion.\nBerkshire owns dozens of businesses including several energy operations, the BNSF railroad and Geico car insurance, and hundreds of billions of dollars of stocks including Apple.\n(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Sonia Cheema)\n",
        "title": "Berkshire Hathaway buys Occidental Petroleum shares worth about $588.7 million"
    },
    {
        "id": 1107,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australian-unemployment-hits-1-1-004312735.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Australian employment growth easily outpaced expectations in November, sending the local currency higher and underscoring the Reserve Bank’s recent concern about the persistent strength of domestic demand.\nThe economy added 61,500 roles, more than five times the 11,500 forecast, government data showed Thursday. At the same time, unemployment climbed to 3.9%, the highest level since May 2022, as the participation rate jumped to a record 67.2% in November.\n“Australia’s jobs market overall remains resilient,” said Callam Pickering, APAC economist at global job site Indeed Inc. “There are a lot of jobs available to be filled, with skill and talent shortages still common across most industries. This will support employment growth in the near-term but may not be sufficient to stop the unemployment rate from rising, as we’ve seen recently.”\nThe Australian dollar briefly broke above 67 US cents before trading at 66.92 cents at 12:28 pm in Sydney while yields on the policy-sensitive three-year bond also gained.\nThe figures underscored the economy’s surprising ability to absorb the RBA’s 4.25 percentage points of interest-rate hikes since May 2022. Yet they jar with a business survey earlier this week that showed confidence plunged to an 11-year low with forward indicators also softening.\nGovernor Michele Bullock reckons the labor market is now “not as tight as it was,” noting that some leading indicators such as job vacancies have begun to ease from high levels. Against that backdrop, today’s data is likely to surprise the RBA and encourage it to maintain a tightening bias.\nStill, annual jobs growth edged down to 3.2% from 3.6% at the start of the year. Economists expect the pace of gains to slow with the jobless rate seen climbing to 4.25% next year.\n“Overall growth rates in employment and hours worked are now similar over the past 18 months,” said Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labor statistics. “The narrowing gap between these two growth rates suggests that the labor market is now less tight than it has been.”\nBullock delivered her first rate increase as governor last month, hiking to a 12-year high of 4.35% and ending four straight pauses. She left rates unchanged last week with money market bets implying the central bank is now done hiking and an easing cycle is likely to begin around mid-2024.\nThe RBA’s monetary policy board next meets on Feb. 5-6.\n(Updates markets, adds economist’s comment, chart.)\n",
        "title": "Australian Jobs Beat Estimates, Sending Currency Higher"
    },
    {
        "id": 1108,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rpt-insight-china-chip-firm-010000699.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Repeats story with no change to text)\nBy Alexandra Alper and Eduardo Baptista\nWASHINGTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - A Chinese chip designer, part-owned by the country's top sanctioned chipmaker, is purchasing U.S. software and has American financial backing, relationships that underscore the difficulty Washington faces applying new rules meant to block American support for Beijing's semiconductor industry.\nThe company, Brite Semiconductor, offers chip design services to at least six Chinese military suppliers, a Reuters examination of company statements, regulatory filings, tenders and academic articles by People's Liberation Army (PLA) researchers and institutions found.\nIts second largest shareholder and top supplier, chipmaker SMIC, was placed on the so-called U.S. entity list over alleged ties to Beijing's military, effectively barring it from receiving some goods from U.S. suppliers.\nDespite those relationships, Brite boasts funding from a U.S. venture capital firm backed by Wells Fargo and a Christian university, and has continued access to sensitive U.S. technology from two California-based software companies, Synopsys and Cadence Design, documents showed. Reuters has found no evidence that Brite's relationships with U.S. firms violate any regulations.\nThe Biden administration, with bipartisan support, has taken pains to stop the flow of technology and investment to Bejing's chip sector, unveiling rules last October to halt some U.S. exports of chips and chipmaking tools to China and in August announcing a ban on certain new U.S. investments in the industry. It has also added dozens of Chinese companies to the entity list, many over ties to China's military.\nBrite did not respond to requests for comment. The Commerce Department and the White House declined to comment. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not comment on Brite but accused the United States of \"blatant economic coercion and bullying in the field of technology.\"\nAlthough not an apparent breach of any U.S. rules, Brite's access demonstrates the challenges facing Washington's bid to keep U.S. equipment and money from being used to advance China's military ambitions, and suggests the U.S. will struggle to succeed unless it targets many more companies that have slipped under its radar.\nRepublican Senator Marco Rubio, an influential China hawk and member of the foreign relations committee, characterized Reuters' findings on Brite as \"concerning.\"\n\"Companies connected to China’s military supply chain should not have access to American technology and investment. The Biden Administration’s haphazard approach to export controls and investment restrictions clearly is not working,\" he said.\nOthers said Brite illustrates Beijing's ability to use low-profile companies to skirt American export bans on big-name Chinese firms.\n\"Brite is a classic example of how a US-China joint venture could end up funneling valuable semiconductor technology to SMIC and the PLA,\" said Martijn Rasser, managing director of Datenna, an open-source intelligence company.\nChina's defense ministry and SMIC did not respond to questions about their relationships with Brite.\nMILITARY LINKS\nSemiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), which holds a 19% stake in Brite, has long been in Washington's crosshairs. The Trump administration added it to a list of \"military end users\" in November, 2020.\nNext, SMIC was added to the \"entity list\" over its apparent ties to the Chinese military industrial complex. SMIC has previously denied any ties to China's military, saying that it manufactures chips and provides services \"solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses.\"\nBrite Semiconductor, founded in 2008 as a joint venture between U.S. venture capitalists and Chinese firms, has longstanding ties to SMIC.\nSMIC was Brite's largest shareholder until last year. That stake turned Brite into \"a bridge between China's no. 1 foundry SMIC\" and other companies with chip design needs, according to a presentation on its website. The 2021 presentation also notes that SMIC's Co-CEO serves as Brite's current chairman of the board.\nNearly 85% of the funds Brite Semiconductor paid to all suppliers for goods and services last year went to SMIC, according to its October IPO prospectus.\nBeyond its links to SMIC, Brite sells its chip design services to Shanghai-based ComNav Technology, which makes satellite navigation systems for the Navy and the Strategic Support Force, the PLA unit that oversees information, electronic, and cyber warfare, according to a Reuters review of articles authored by PLA researchers and military tenders.\nBrite accounted for over 71% of ComNav's total prepaid procurement bill, payments to suppliers made in advance, at the end of last year, according to a prospectus filed by ComNav in June.\nComNav relied on Brite to outsource the packaging, testing and manufacturing for a chip used in ComNav's K8 high-precision GPS product series, designed for machine control, robotics, and drones, among other uses, according to its website.\nComNav's K8 system was used by two PLA researchers according to a Reuters review of Chinese-language academic literature published in the past two years.\nComNav did not respond to requests for comment.\nACCESS TO U.S. TECH\nChinese tech companies with links to the Chinese military often get added to the entity list, but Brite has never faced such restrictions, public records show.\n\"It sure seems like they would be a candidate for an entity listing,\" said Emily Kilcrease, a former trade official now at the Center for a New American Security, after reviewing Reuters' findings.\nThe United States has created new obstacles for U.S. suppliers to send technology to Chinese companies involved in the production of advanced chips, even when they are not entity listed.\nAfter SMIC was added to the entity list, Brite's U.S. suppliers needed to get a U.S. license before shipping it items used for designing chips to be made at SMIC. And new rules released last year would have barred Brite from receiving such items if they were meant to be used in designing advanced chips to be made at Chinese manufacturers.\nBrite has maintained its relationships with suppliers of top chip design software Cadence and Synopsys, Brite's October prospectus for its Shanghai exchange IPO shows. Reuters was not able to determine whether the U.S. companies received licenses to ship equipment to Brite, as the new rules require. Both companies said they are in compliance with U.S. regulations.\nFrom January to June of this year, the company spent 14 million yuan ($2 million) on software from Synopsys, making the U.S. company one of its top 5 suppliers. And last year, Cadence ranked as one of Brite's top five suppliers, with Brite spending 11.8 million ($1.6 million) yuan on its chip design software, according to the prospectus.\nBoth Synopsys and Cadence said they are in full compliance with U.S. export controls and did not confirm or deny their relationships with Brite, although Synopsys mentions its business dealings with Brite on its website.\nFINANCIAL TIES\nThe White House unveiled an executive order last August targeting U.S. investment in advanced Chinese chipmaking and other tech industries, fearing the capital and know-how could end up helping Beijing bolster its military.\nNorwest Venture Partners, whose stake in Brite is 99.7% backed by funds from Wells Fargo Bank, is the largest U.S. investor in Brite.\nNorwest participated in at least four capital raises worth over $66 million and held a board seat until 2020, giving it insight into and partial control over Brite's business strategies. Its stake could be worth nearly $34 million, based on the IPO valuation Brite is seeking. Wells Fargo declined to comment.\nNorwest said its initial investment was made 15 years ago and has been \"held in compliance with applicable laws.\" \"The regulatory environment is changing, and we’re committed to following new regulations as they become effective,” the firm added.\nBiola University, a Christian college in California, also has a 5.43% stake in Brite. Promod Haque, a managing partner at Norwest who sat on Brite's board until 2019, according to his LinkedIn page, has also served on Biola's board of trustees since 2007.\nHaque did not respond to requests for comment on his links to Brite and Biola.\nBiola declined to comment on its investment in Brite.\nNorwest and Biola University will not run afoul of new rules fleshing out the restrictions on investments in China because those measures will not hit pre-existing investments, lawyers who are experts in foreign investment regulations said.\nBrite's relationship with SMIC may also affect its financial future in China. Brite, which saw revenue growth of 36% last year to 1.3 billion yuan ($178.83 million) is seeking to list its shares on the Shanghai stock exchange, the prospectus showed.\nBut in October, the exchange suspended the process, seeking more information about Brite's independence from SMIC. At issue is whether SMIC is taking advantage of its role as Brite's top supplier and part owner to overcharge Brite.\nThe exchange, which is set to review Brite's listing on December 18, asked Brite to clarify why SMIC sold it wafers, or silicon discs, at a higher-than-average price. Brite said in a filing on Monday that wafers are highly customized products whose prices are affected by the size of a purchase and supply and demand.\nThe Shanghai stock exchange did not respond for a request for comment on Brite's IPO process.\nRegardless of the stock exchange's final decision, Brite will likely continue to enjoy access to U.S. technology and investment, despite SMIC's addition to the entity list.\n\"It is time to reimagine the economic policy toolkit that we have,\" said Greg Levesque, CEO of security firm Strider Technologies, which examines open source data to find foreign technology that is at risk of being stolen by China. \"We are really good at putting names on lists, but we need to be more aggressive in identifying and combating this behavior,\" he added.\n(Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing; additional reporting by Echo Wang in New York, Stephen Nellis in San Francisco, Michael Martina in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Anna Driver)\n",
        "title": "RPT-INSIGHT-China chip firm powered by US tech and money avoids Biden's crackdown"
    },
    {
        "id": 1109,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/credit-suisse-disbands-china-onshore-005946651.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse dismissed its entire wealth management team in China, scrapping its ambition to become one of the biggest foreign money managers in the country as UBS Group AG decided not to take on the staff, people familiar with the matter said.\nThose let go included at least 20 relationship managers and investment consultants as well as Wang Jing, the chief executive officer of Credit Suisse’s securities venture, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Some support roles were also affected, they said, without being specific on numbers. The division at one point had about 40 staff, one of the people said.\nSpokespeople at UBS and Credit Suisse declined to comment.\nThe dismissals come as Credit Suisse is trying to find a buyer for its securities business in China, which now consists of investment banking and brokerage operations after the wealth unit closed. UBS, which has yet to merge Credit Suisse’s entities in China, needs to sell the securities venture because it already controls one in the country and can’t hold two licenses for the same business.\nThe job reductions at the wealth unit started in October as UBS felt Credit Suisse’s strategy of selling wealth products through bank branches was incompatible with its current model, one of the people said.\nRead more: Credit Suisse Faces Fresh China Setback After Executive Exodus\nWang was hired more than three years ago from China Merchants Bank Co. to develop Credit Suisse’s wealth footprint on the mainland, and was made CEO of the securities business last year after a reshuffle and an exodus of senior management.\nCredit Suisse’s push to build a wealth management business in China started to fall apart after it delayed the launch of its locally incorporated bank last year, the second postponement since the project was conceived in 2020. The firm had planned to build a branch network to distribute wealth products and fuel its money management business, joining other Wall Street firms that have poured billions into China. As recently as 2021, Credit Suisse had plans to triple its headcount in China within three years.\nThe local bank project was delayed by a sluggish licensing process and was questioned by some senior Credit Suisse executives as China’s economy was reeling from Covid lockdowns and a crackdown on private enterprise, people familiar have said.\nWang, the former head of private banking at China Merchants Bank, was seen as a key hire by former Asia CEO Helman Sitohang. She had helped build the Shenzhen-based lender into the nation’s biggest manager for high net worth clients during her more than two decades stint.\nRead more: UBS’s Khan Faces New Tests and Ex-Colleagues at Credit Suisse\nCredit Suisse won approval in 2020 to take full control of a securities venture it had run with Founder Securities since 2008. The firm last year agreed to buy the remaining 49% stake from Founder for $160 million. The deal was scrapped after UBS acquired Credit Suisse in a rescue brokered by Swiss authorities, people familiar said.\nUBS CEO Sergio Ermotti reiterated the firm’s commitment to China during a September visit to Beijing, while acknowledging the geopolitical situation has changed. UBS has “very limited” direct exposure to China real estate since the bank is mainly in the country to help people manage their wealth, he said in an interview.\nWall Street firms have seen their business slow in China amid a sluggish economy and dearth of deals. UBS had seen strong growth, with mainland China revenue more than doubling to almost $1 billion in 2021 from 2019, Bloomberg reported last year. The bank employed about 1,400 people in China as of January.\nRead more: UBS Invites Bidders for Credit Suisse’s China Brokerage Business\nAcross Asia, UBS is cutting hundreds of wealth-management jobs after completing the Credit Suisse takeover, Bloomberg News reported in September. The lender was set to eliminate roles that included relationship managers in Hong Kong and Singapore, the majority within Credit Suisse teams, the people said.\nStill, the merger gives UBS the largest wealth team in Asia, with assets that top rivals including HSBC Holdings Plc. Global wealth chief Iqbal Khan is betting Asia will continue to generate lucrative fees from rich clients.\n",
        "title": "Credit Suisse Disbands China Onshore Wealth Unit, Dozens Depart"
    },
    {
        "id": 1110,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/day-one-argentina-overhaul-milei-005324704.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Day one of the grand experiment to cure Argentina’s crisis-ravaged economy handed President Javier Milei a victory.\nHis government’s moves to devalue the peso 54% and slash the budget were received well on Wall Street, where traders bid up the country’s bonds, and, more importantly, at home, where there were no signs of panic among inflation-wary Argentine shoppers and investors.\nIn what will prove a crucial measure of Milei’s ability to rein in inflation running over 160%, the devaluation of the peso in the tightly-controlled official currency market triggered no spillover effect in the country’s myriad black markets. That stability was an indication that Argentines believe, at least for now, Milei’s plan has a decent shot of working.\nThe plans are “a series of electrifying, lightning-bolt measures that are music to the ears for avid followers of successful emerging market stabilization plans,” Pedro Siaba Serrate, an economist at Portfolio Personal Inversiones in Buenos Aires, wrote in a note.\nArgentines appear willing to endure the short-term pain because Milei is promising relief to come — if everyone can just buckle down for the trials ahead, the thinking goes, redemption is on its way. And the population is desperate for relief as the country heads to its sixth recession of the past decade with poverty rates topping 40% after years of mismanagement.\nRead more: Milei Begins Shock Therapy With Few Details\nMilei’s plan — announced in a somewhat chaotic manner overnight — cut the peso’s value to 800 per dollar from about 365. He called for trimming government outlays by the equivalent of 3% of gross domestic product. Subsidies for transport and energy will be reduced, and there will be less federal support for the provinces.\nThere’s no doubt it will be painful for most people, as already fuel refiners have hiked prices by some 40%, according to a report in La Nacion.\nBut at this point, Argentines see it as the best bet for normalizing the economy.\nAdministration officials held a meeting with local banking executives in a bid to provide reassurance. Central bank President Santiago Bausili told them that his short-term goal is to accumulate dollar reserves, with a broader aim of eliminating exchange restrictions down the line, according to people who attended the meeting but asked not to be identified.\nRead more: What Dollarization Offers Countries Like Argentina: QuickTake\nBausili also told them that he won’t break contracts or breach previous commitments with the banks, and there won’t be any changes imposed to notes that have already been sold. The central bank chief expects more dollars to flow into the country in 2024 from agricultural exports and foreign investment, the people said.\nThe central bank’s press office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\nThose reassurances helped keep the peso steady in the so-called blue-chip swap market Argentines use to skirt currency controls. So the official rate’s tumble left the parallel rate about 23% weaker, down from a gap near 65% in the days after Milei was elected.\nEliminating that spread is a crucial step in the normalization of an economy that’s been hamstrung by byzantine restrictions for years. Once it’s gone, Milei can allow the peso to float freely and eventually even carry out his dream of adopting the dollar as the country’s local currency.\nSome analysts and investors warned, however, that the optimism may be overdone. Alejo Costa, the chief strategist at BTG Pactual in Buenos Aires, said it was far too early to celebrate the tighter exchange rates.\n“These plans always cause a reduction in the exchange gap on the first day,” Costa said. “Then it starts to grow.”\nFor now, though, it seems most Argentines and investors are maintaining a sense of optimism, recognizing that the shock therapy proposed by Milei might be exactly what the country needs.\n“The best analogy I would use is that they put all the meat on the grill, which is an age old Argentine saying, which means that you just throw the sink at this thing,” said Walter Stoeppelwerth, a senior strategist at Montevideo-based brokerage Gletir. “If you wait, you give time for your opposition, enemies to regroup and to mount a significant problem.”\n",
        "title": "On Day One of Argentina Overhaul, Milei Scores Crucial Victory"
    },
    {
        "id": 1111,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasdaq-hit-system-error-affecting-005239053.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Nasdaq was hit by a system error on Wednesday that impacted thousands of stock orders and led to some being canceled, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.\n(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)\n",
        "title": "Nasdaq hit by system error affecting thousands of stock orders - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 1112,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-country-garden-unit-sells-003715589.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Beleaguered Chinese property developer Country Garden said on Thursday its unit Gold Ease Global agreed to sell its 1.79% stake in Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management Group for 3.07 billion yuan ($428.02 million).\n($1 = 7.1725 Chinese yuan renminbi)\n(Reporting by Archishma Iyer; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "China's Country Garden unit sells stake in commercial centre business for $428 million"
    },
    {
        "id": 1113,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toshiba-says-president-shimada-remain-002750666.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba on Thursday said chief executive Taro Shimada will remain in the post after the company goes private, while a majority of the board will come from private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners (JIP).\nJIP, which is leading a consortium to buy out the industrial conglomerate, will send four of its executives to Toshiba's new seven-member board, including its co-founder and CEO Hidemi Moue. Moue will chair the board.\nJapanese financial services firm Orix and Chubu Electric Power will each send an executive to the board, Toshiba said. Orix invested 200 billion yen ($1.4 billion) and Chubu 100 billion yen in the $14 billion Toshiba buyout.\nToshiba's new management team will be joined by a senior adviser at Toshiba's main lender Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.\nThe appointments will take effect on Dec. 22. Toshiba shares will be delisted on Dec. 20.\n(This story has been refiled to fix the date changes take effect to Dec. 22, not Dec. 20, in paragraph 5)\n($1 = 142.3700 yen)\n(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura and Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Gerry Doyle)\n",
        "title": "Toshiba to retain Shimada as CEO, get 4 board members from JIP"
    },
    {
        "id": 1114,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-grids-face-greater-risks-000019015.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Nicole Jao\nNEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. power grids will face more vulnerability than previously thought in coming years as peak demand increases and old generators retire, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation(NERC) said in a webcast on Wednesday.\nThe group painted a bleak picture for some power markets in the U.S., as wide-scale electrification spurs demand to grow at a faster pace than new generation capacity additions, and as old facilities retire. Those markets could face capacity shortfalls as a result, NERC said.\n\"New environmental regulations and incentives are likely to drive even higher levels of retirements than what we've accounted for,\" said Mark Olson, NERC's manager for reliability assessments.\nMore areas are at risk over the next 10 years than previously reported, Olson added.\nThe Biden administration's commitment to shift to carbon-free electricity generation by 2035 has spurred electrification of transportation, heating and other sectors and accelerated the retirements of fossil-fuel based generators.\nGeneration capacity is projected to grow moderately for the next 10 years as old units retire, NERC's 2023 Long-term Reliability Assessment shows.\nHowever, peak electricity demand during both summer and winter months is expected to accelerate in many areas, driven by electrification and adoption of electric vehicles and data centers.\nEnergy markets managed by grid operators Midcontinent ISO and SERC Reliability Corp, which together spans across 18 Midwestern and Southern states and parts of Canada, are at high risk of experiencing capacity shortfalls in the coming years, NERC said.\nOther regions, including New York, New England, Texas and California are anticipated experience reliability issues during periods of prolonged cold and hot temperatures or when wind and solar output are low, it added.\nIncreases in energy demand from cryptocurrency mining, data centers, smelters and manufacturing may also pose reliability issues in the coming years, NERC said.\nOngoing supply chain issues with transformers and other critical grid components and insufficient capacity of black start generators, which help restart power grids after a collapse, are emerging issues can threaten system reliability in the future.\nTransmission systems can help alleviate power supply issues but delays in planning continue stifle the expansion of new projects.\n“NERC’s latest assessment paints another grim picture of our nation’s energy future as demand for electricity soars and the supply of always-available generation declines,” said Jim Matheson, CEO of National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, in a statement. (Reporting by Nicole Jao; Editing by Aurora Ellis)\n",
        "title": "U.S. grids face greater risks as generators retire, demand rises - NERC"
    },
    {
        "id": 1115,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australian-competition-watchdog-approves-woolworths-234350043.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Australia's competition watchdog said on Thursday it will not oppose Woolworths' acquisition of a 55% stake in specialty pet retailer Petstock Group.\nThe Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), after a review of Woolworths' stake purchase proposal for Petstock, had flagged in November that the pet retailer's acquisitions between 2017 and 2022 raised significant competition concerns.\nThe regulator had said the acquisitions, including Best Friends Pets, Pet City, Animal Tuckerbox and Pet and Aquarium Warehouse in Eltham, Victoria, could have breached the competition act.\nThe ACCC said on Thursday it had ordered Petstock to divest a package of sites and assets, including 41 retail stores.\n\"We consider Woolworths' proposed acquisition of a 55 per cent interest in Petstock is unlikely to substantially lessen competition,\" ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.\nWoolworths said Petstock's divestiture will lead to an adjustment to the previously disclosed offer price of A$586 million ($390.51 million), to about A$438 million.\nPetstock did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for a comment.\n($1 = 1.5006 Australian dollars)\n(Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "Australian competition watchdog approves Woolworths' stake buy in Petstock"
    },
    {
        "id": 1116,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mortgage-rates-expected-to-fall-in-2024-but-affordability-remains-a-concern-232710254.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "As the Federal Reserve continues its fight against inflation, the outlook on where mortgage rates will end up in the new year is looking far less grim.\nEconomists predict rates could land anywhere from 5.7% to 6.8% depending on how quickly inflation cools and whether the Federal Reserve manages to put an end to one of its most intense rate hike campaigns in decades.\nWhile the modest improvement in rates may give some folks on the sidelines relief, affordability challenges will continue to burden most buyers in the market.\n\"We expect the mortgage rates to turn the corner. In fact, they have been dropping pretty swiftly in recent weeks, [and] we expect that decline to continue as we move into 2024,\" Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said during the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2024 Forecast Summit.\n\"We’re not going to see a big turnaround,\" Hale noted regarding affordability, \"but I do think we’re going to see a baby step in the right direction.\"\nRead more: Mortgage rates at 20-year high: Is 2023 a good time to buy a house?\nAn unrelenting fight against inflation, a string of sudden prominent bank failures in the spring, and spiking fears of a recession all snaked through the economy – and didn’t spare the housing market.\nIn an effort to bring down inflation to 2%, the Federal Reserve has raised its short-term benchmark interest rate 11 times since March 2022, putting upward pressure on mortgage rates. The current rate of 5.25% to 5.50% is its highest in 22 years.\nThe effects rippled across the housing market, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. Market investors moved in anticipation of most Fed hikes, which caused mortgage rates to jump nearly to 8% as recently as a month ago.\nThough the central bank hasn’t reached its inflation target, recent progress has some experts predicting that the Fed may soon be done with its aggressive rate hike campaign. As of Dec. 13, the Fed has paused rates over three consecutive meetings.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell said during a conference call Wednesday that an appropriate level of the federal funds rate would be 4.6% at the end of 2024. The central bank also indicated it expects three rate cuts next year.\n\"The bond market has already pivoted to say that the Federal Reserve will be cutting interest rates next year and consequently, the 30-year interest rates are now approaching 7% compared to 8% just one month ago,\" said Yun, who believes mortgage rates will settle in the mid-6% range next year.\nAccording to Yun, three factors could influence any Fed decision to cut rates. First, it’s the job market — which has been softening each passing month.\n\"Jobs are being added, but you can see it’s becoming lighter and lighter, and the Federal Reserve certainly does not want to see that number turn negative,\" Yun said.\nSecond, the Fed may extend help to community banks, which have been suffering from high rates as their special credit line ends in March. Lastly, Yun expects that a slowdown in market rents should be a key driver of improvements in inflation.\nAll eyes will be on Fed policymakers as they continue working to cool down inflation next year, Hale noted. While mortgage rates have improved some since the Fed’s last FOMC meeting – coming down to 7%, they still remained at their highest level in over 20 years.\n\"We expect the decline to move into 2024 and see mortgage rates at about 6.5% at the end of 2024 – and to average about 6.8% for the calendar year,\" Hale said.\nAt Fannie Mae, an expert survey panel predicted that rates would eventually settle around 5.7% next year.\nStill, some economists anticipate that rates could increase early in 2024 – before leveling off. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) expects rates to be around 7% starting next year, gradually declining to 6.1% by the year-end and sinking to as low as 5.5% in 2025.\nA separate housing forecast by Redfin also predicts rates to hover around 7% in the first quarter before slowly dropping to 6.6% by the end of 2024, with the Fed cutting its key rate two or three times starting this summer.\n\"Mortgage rates are likely to remain well above pandemic-era record lows because financial markets increasingly believe the country will avoid a recession in 2024,\" Redfin analysts wrote.\nAs mortgage rates are expected to moderate going into 2024, experts say that may support some recovery in purchasing activity.\nThe Mortgage Bankers Association expects origination volume to total $2 trillion in 2024 and $2.3 trillion in 2025 – an increase driven by purchase applications. Refinance activity will remain lower, as it will take significantly lower rates to bolster activity back into that market.\nLower mortgage rates also kept most homeowners handcuffed to their properties this year – keeping inventory of existing homes tight and home prices elevated.\n\"Many would-be sellers note the sharp difference between current rates and the all-time lows under 3% reached just three years ago,\" Hale said in an emailed statement.\nWith home prices up more than 20% since President Biden took office, that could also reflect badly on his re-election bid, Redfin’s forecast found. A recent poll revealed that 65% of voters disapprove of Biden’s handling of the economy, with lack of affordability listed as a major factor.\nThat may convince Biden and his opponents to make \"splashy housing policy proposals\" to try to improve voter sentiment, Redfin predicted. While Democrats may focus on subsidizing down payments for first-time homebuyers, Republicans may target reducing regulations that limit development.\n\"I feel like you can't get worse than this year,\" Danushka Nanayakkara, assistant vice president of forecasting and analysis at the National Association of Home Builders, said.\nGabriella is a personal finance and housing reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @__gabriellacruz.\nClick here for real estate and housing market news, reports, and analysis to inform your investing decisions.\n",
        "title": "Mortgage rates expected to fall in 2024, but affordability remains a concern"
    },
    {
        "id": 1117,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adobe-signals-ai-longer-expected-213728142.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Adobe Inc. gave a lukewarm outlook for sales in 2024, disappointing investors who expected new generative artificial intelligence tools would quickly boost the software company’s results.\nRevenue will be about $21.4 billion in the fiscal year ending in December 2024, the company said Wednesday in a statement. Profit, excluding some items, will be as much as $18 a share. Analysts, on average, estimated sales of $21.7 billion and adjusted profit of $18 a share.\nWall Street expects Adobe to be one of the first software giants to benefit from the excitement over generative AI technology, which responds to prompts by producing unique text or images. In recent months, the company has announced a new version of its AI model, Firefly, raised prices, and focused its October user conference on the technology. The company cited “significant upsell of our new Firefly” with large customers, according to remarks prepared for a conference call after the results.\nHowever, that enthusiasm was dashed by the annual outlook. Shares declined about 6% in extended trading after closing at $624.26 in New York. The stock had jumped 85% this year as “investors appear very comfortable with Adobe’s ability to monetize generative AI,” Keith Weiss, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, wrote ahead of the results.\nNew annual recurring revenue for Adobe’s digital media unit, which includes signature creative software such as Photoshop and Illustrator, will be $1.9 billion, the company said. That compares with an average analyst estimate of $2.02 billion. The miss in the outlook for the metric, which is a measure of annual subscription sales, “is clearly the disappointment” investors are reacting to, Kirk Materne, an analyst at Evercore, wrote in a note after the earnings were released.\nThe guidance “suggests the company could take longer than anticipated to realize meaningful contribution from its generative AI products,” wrote Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Anurag Rana.\nChief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen responded on a conference call to a series of questions from analysts about the guidance. “There’s nothing we see on the horizon that would tell us — either from the economic or competition — that we’re not poised to have another great year,” Narayen said.\nSeveral analysts said Adobe is known for giving a conservative annual outlook. “We set expectations in a prudent way — there’s an opportunity to do better,” Chief Financial Officer Dan Durn said during the call.\nIn the fiscal fourth quarter, sales increased 12% to $5.05 billion. Profit, excluding some items, was $4.27 a share.\nThe digital media unit posted sales that gained 13% to $3.72 billion in the period ended Dec. 1. Revenue from the unit that includes marketing and analytics software rose 10% to $1.27 billion.\nAdobe announced more than a year ago that it planned to buy design software startup Figma Inc. The acquisition has been stalled by global regulatory reviews. Late last month, Adobe was working on remedy proposals to appease European regulators, while the US Justice Department was said to be preparing a lawsuit to block the deal.\nThe company said it “strongly disagrees” with the findings released by the UK’s competition regulator last month, and that it expects a decision soon from the Justice Department.\nRead More: Adobe Says FTC Investigating Software Subscription Practices\nSeparately, Adobe disclosed in a filing that the US Federal Trade Commission has been investigating the company’s subscription cancellation practices for more than a year. Settling this matter “could involve significant monetary costs or penalties and could have a material impact on our financial results and operations,” Adobe said.\n(Updates with comments from analysts beginning in the fifth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Adobe Signals That AI Boost Will Take Longer Than Expected"
    },
    {
        "id": 1118,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adobe-embroiled-anti-trust-issues-230207056.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Photoshop maker Adobe said on Wednesday it was facing regulatory scrutiny over its subscription models and forecast annual and quarterly revenue below estimates, sending its shares down more than 5% in after-hours trading.\nThe San Jose, California-based company said in a regulatory filing that since June 2022 it has been cooperating with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to a civil investigative demand seeking information regarding its disclosure and subscription cancellation practices.\n\"In November 2023, the FTC staff asserted that they had the authority to enter into consent negotiations to determine if a settlement regarding their investigation of these issues could be reached,\" Adobe said, adding that it is currently holding discussions with the FTC.\nThe company added that this matter could involve significant monetary costs or penalties and could have a material impact on its financial results and operations.\nAdobe's $20 billion buyout of cloud-based designer platform Figma has also been probed by Britain's competition regulator.\nThe company said on Wednesday the European Commission has provided a preliminary statement of objections and the Competition and Markets Authority has issued provisional findings of competition concerns.\n\"We strongly disagree with these findings and are responding to the respective regulators,\" Adobe said.\nThe company forecast revenue in the range of $5.10 billion to $5.15 billion for the current quarter. Analysts on average were expecting $5.19 billion, according to LSEG data.\nIts revenue forecast for fiscal 2024 was in the range of $21.30 billion to $21.50 billion, which also came in below estimates.\nIndividuals and firms have cut down on spending as they grapple with sticky inflation and higher interest rates.\nThe company hiked prices for some of its offerings starting November, further hurting demand.\nThe company reported a fourth-quarter adjusted profit of $4.27 per share, compared with estimates of $4.14.\nIts revenue for the three months ended Dec. 1 was marginally above estimates.\n(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Adobe embroiled in anti-trust issues, forecasts revenue below estimates"
    },
    {
        "id": 1119,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/french-growth-seen-0-2-160000642.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "PARIS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - France's economy is set to eke out only meagre growth in the first half of 2024 even though falling inflation will give a boost to consumers' purchasing power, the INSEE statistics agency forecast on Thursday.\nQuarterly growth was seen at 0.2% in both the first and second quarters of 2024 after flat-lining in the last three months of 2023, INSEE said in its economic outlook, trimming its estimate for this quarter from 0.2% previously.\nFor the whole of 2023, INSEE forecast 0.8% growth, short of the 1% that the government has built its budget planning around and leaving the euro zone's second-biggest economy on a fragile footing heading into 2024.\nThe little growth that was expected in the first half was expected to be driven by a rebound in part by consumer spending, itself benefiting from improved purchasing power as inflation pressures recede.\nConsumer price growth was seen falling from 3.7% in December to 2.6 by mid 2024 as food inflation, which had driven overall inflation in the first half of this year, continued to ease.\nCore inflation, which excludes volatile goods like food and energy prices, was expected to ease even more, slowing from a rate of 3.3% in December to 2.0% in June. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Angus MacSwan)\n",
        "title": "French growth seen at 0.2% in first half as inflation eases-INSEE"
    },
    {
        "id": 1120,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/clean-energy-index-rises-most-155538429.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Wilderhill Clean Energy Index rose as much as 14% over two days on Thursday as investors cheer the possibility of a soft landing in the world’s largest economy.\nThe two-day surge was the biggest since November 2022 and came after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell signaled that interest rates are at or near the peak. The rise comes after a tough year for the solar, wind and electric-vehicle charging industries, which suffered a $30 billion rout after it was pummeled by high interest rates.\n“It’s a pretty simple story,” said Rob Barnett, Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst. “These are capital-intensive businesses, so when interest rates are lower that lowers the cost of doing business, whether it’s wind or solar.”\nRead more: A $30 Billion Rout in Clean Energy Puts US Climate Goals at Risk\nAll but three stocks in the 77-member index climbed Thursday morning, led by TPI Composites Inc.’s 60% climb. The gauge includes leaders in clean-energy industries such as solar, wind and electric vehicles and includes Tesla Inc., Maxeon Solar Technologies Ltd. and ChargePoint Holdings Inc.\n",
        "title": "Clean Energy Index Rises Most in a Year With Fed Rate Cuts in Sight"
    },
    {
        "id": 1121,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-joins-global-rally-stocks-234036803.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Stocks and bonds rallied and the dollar weakened after the Federal Reserve signaled interest-rate cuts next year, unleashing a bullish pulse across markets amid optimism that inflation pressures are easing.\nNasdaq 100 futures climbed, setting up the underlying tech-heavy index for a run at a record close. S&P 500 contracts edged higher after the benchmark ended within 2% of its record high on Wednesday. Europe’s Stoxx 600 index surged as much as 1.7%. Shares in Germany and France hit fresh all-time peaks.\nThe risk-on rush follows a pivot to looser policy by the Fed, which held rates steady Wednesday and forecast that their next moves would be lower. Policymakers’ projections in the “dot plot” showed 75 basis points of reductions in 2024, but traders are even more optimistic, betting on cuts of twice that magnitude.\n“There’s been a lot of debate in recent weeks about whether investors are getting ahead of themselves, too optimistic about how quickly the Fed will cut rates — but the message from the central bank is that is not the case,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.\nTreasuries extended the sharp rally that followed the Fed meeting, with the 10-year yield falling below 4% for the first time since August. Yields on the policy-sensitive two-year note fell 10 basis points. Government bonds in the UK and Germany also jumped.\nThe dollar dropped to a four-month low, continuing its losses from Wednesday. The yen climbed by more than 1%, with the Bank of Japan tipped to be a policy outlier by scrapping the world’s last negative interest rate.\nReadings on US retail sales and initial jobless claims due later Thursday will provide an early test of the buoyant mood among investors. Traders would be concerned by any surprises in the data that cloud the view that the surge in inflation has been contained without a significant cost to employment.\nAttention turns next to today’s Bank of England and European Central Bank meetings for evidence of whether developed-market peers are on the cusp of a global easing cycle. Traders are pricing in six quarter-point ECB rate cuts in 2024 and five by the BOE.\nRead more: Wall Street Traders Go All-In on Great Monetary Pivot of 2024\nElsewhere on the monetary policy front, the Norwegian krone strengthened to the highest level against the euro since October after Norges Bank unexpectedly raised its key rate to 4.5% and said it’s likely to be kept at this level for some time to curb still too-high inflation. Meanwhile, the Swiss National Bank kept borrowing costs unchanged and dropped a reference to possible further hikes after inflation slowed below its ceiling.\nIn individual company news, Vivendi SE soared as much as 12% in Paris as French billionaire Vincent Bolloré weighs a breakup of his sprawling media and entertainment empire.\nApple Inc. edged higher in US premarket trading, after closing at a record high on Wednesday. The iPhone maker has surged 50% in 2023 and its market value is approaching that of Europe’s largest stock market: France. The combined market value of companies listed in Paris was about $3.2 trillion as of Wednesday’s close versus the technology giant’s $3.1 trillion.\nIn commodities, oil advanced from a five-month low on positive demand signals including a drop in US inventories and the potential for rate cuts by the Fed.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Georgina McKay and Richard Henderson.\n",
        "title": "Dovish Fed Spurs Stock, Bond Rally on Easing Bets: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 1122,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vivendi-consider-options-telecom-italia-152542145.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Vivendi SE is considering options for its €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) stake in former phone monopoly Telecom Italia SpA as billionaire Vincent Bolloré explores a reorganization of the French conglomerate, people familiar with the matter said.\nThe French company has spoken with advisers as it evaluates potential options including a sale of the 24% holding, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Representatives for Vivendi and Telecom Italia declined to comment.\nA sale could be part of a broader overhaul at Vivendi, which said Wednesday it’s considering splitting into three parts — pay-TV business Canal+; advertising and communications branch Havas; and a holding company with listed and unlisted stakes in culture, media and entertainment. The announcement made no mention of Telecom Italia.\nFor the Italian company, an exit by Vivendi could smooth the way for the €22 billion sale of its fixed-line phone network to KKR & Co. Vivendi, Telecom Italia’s biggest shareholder, wants to block the deal, and is finalizing legal action to halt it as soon as this week. Vivendi is set to contend that the deal doesn’t comply with Italian corporate law.\nThe value of Vivendi’s stake has been shrinking for years. Vivendi agreed to take on an initial Telecom Italia holding as part of a 2014 deal to sell its Brazilian broadband business GVT to Telefonica SA, then an investor in Telecom Italia. The Italian company’s shares have lost more than two thirds of their value since then.\nVivendi paid about €3.9 billion in 2015 and 2016 for additional shares in Telecom Italia.\nLast month, Bolloré’s son, Vivendi Chairman Yannick Bolloré, said in an interview with French daily Les Echos that the Telecom Italia stake was reclassified as a “financial holding” because the company is now focusing on media and entertainment. Vivendi Chief Executive Officer Arnaud De Puyfontaine resigned from Telecom Italia’s board in January.\nThe phone carrier’s board is set to gather Thursday to preliminarily review a plan that would keep CEO Pietro Labriola in his role and present a slate of candidates for the board, the people said, who asked not to be named when discussing private information.\nVivendi’s request to block the network sale was announced last month after Telecom Italia’s board approved the move without calling for a full shareholder meeting.\n",
        "title": "Vivendi to Consider Options for Telecom Italia Stake"
    },
    {
        "id": 1123,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-latam-stocks-hit-154404401.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "* Argentina to receive financing for debt repayment * Argentina's inflation surge to 161% * Brazil Oct retail sales slips * Mexican, Peru central bank decisions on watch * Stocks jump ~3%, FX rise 1.3% By Siddarth S Dec 14 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks hit more than one-year highs and currencies also jumped on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve opened the door for likely rate cuts, while the spotlight on Argentinian markets continued with underlying economic challenges mounting from inflation to debt repayments. The broader Latin American currencies index advanced 1.3% by 1511 GMT, while MSCI's gauge for South American equities jumped nearly 3%. The stocks index hit its highest levels since April 2022, while the currencies benchmark index marked a nearly two-week high. The Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and U.S. central bank chief Jerome Powell said the historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over as inflation falls faster than expected and with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view.\" Data on late Wednesday showed Argentina's annual inflation rate hit 161% in November, faster than expected and the highest monthly figure this year, and data is the first inflation readout since Milei took office last Sunday. \"Overall, inflation dynamics remain very challenging,\" Goldman Sachs economists said in a note. \"We believe we will likely see inflation readings above the levels seen this month in the coming months. Other economic measures announced by the Milei administration will also have a substantial impact on inflation dynamics,\" added Goldman Sachs economists. Adding fuel to the fire, Argentina's December inflation rate will \"clearly be substantially higher than in November,\" Economy Minister Luis Caputo said in a televised interview on Wednesday, as Javier Milei's newly elected government grapples with an economy in crisis. Apart from surging inflation, the South American nation also faces the brunt of dealing with $400 billion worth of debt repayments over the next two years. In latest developments, the country is set to receive financing from the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean to make a $913 million payment due to the International Monetary Fund next week, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Argentina's peso in the official market was little changed at 800.50 to the dollar, while in the parallel black market it stood at 1000 per dollar. A dovish Fed tone boosted Brazil's Bovespa index which climbed 1.0%, and the real rose 0.7%, while the country's central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points on Wednesday for the fourth time in a row meeting market expectations. However, the country's October retail sales dipped adding to an array of recent figures that point to a slowdown in Latin America's largest economy. Mexican peso edged down 0.3%, while stocks jumped 2.4% ahead of a key central bank meeting where it is expected to hold interest rates steady. Peru's monetary policy meeting is also due later in the day. Oil and copper prices got a lift following Fed's dovish stance further boosting the broader commodity-heavy regional markets. Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on annual inflation may approach 8% this year, a day before the central bank is widely expected to hike interest rates again to rein in soaring prices. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1511 GMT: Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging 993.29 2.04 Markets MSCI LatAm 2575.72 2.84 Brazil Bovespa 130862.2 1.08 1 Mexico IPC 56541.69 2.49 Chile IPSA 6107.90 1.45 Argentina MerVal 1001967. -0.151 85 Colombia COLCAP 1167.14 0.11 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.8864 0.68 Mexico peso 17.2750 -0.23 Chile peso 864.4 0.61 Colombia peso 3950 0.44 Peru sol 3.7562 0.66 Argentina peso 800.5000 -0.06 (interbank) Argentina peso 1000 7.00 (parallel) (Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru Editing by Alistair Bell)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Latam stocks hit over 1-year high on Fed's dovish narrative; Argentina's economic challenges mount"
    },
    {
        "id": 1124,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/starbucks-closed-23-us-stores-154301773.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Daniel Wiessner\n(Reuters) - A U.S. labor agency is seeking to force Starbucks Corp to reopen 23 stores that were allegedly shuttered last year to discourage a nationwide union campaign, the latest case to accuse the coffee chain of illegal labor tactics.\nA regional director with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a complaint issued on Wednesday said that eight of the U.S. stores had already unionized when they closed.\nWorkers at more than 360 of Starbucks' 9,300 U.S. stores have voted to join unions since 2021, and the company is facing more than 100 complaints at the NLRB alleging a variety of unlawful union-busting activity.\nStarbucks has denied wrongdoing and said it respects workers' rights to choose whether to unionize.\nThe company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.\nThe case will be heard by an administrative judge, whose decision can be appealed to the five-member NLRB and then to a federal appeals court.\nAn NLRB judge in July found that Starbucks had illegally shuttered a store in Ithaca, New York months after it unionized. Starbucks is appealing that decision.\nThe new complaint claims that Starbucks closed the 23 stores without prior notice to Workers United, the union behind the campaign, and without affording the union an opportunity to bargain about the decisions, according to NLRB spokesman Matthew Hayward.\nThe agency is seeking an order requiring Starbucks to immediately reopen the 23 stores and re-hire employees, bargain with unions at stores that have unionized, and provide compensation to employees who lost pay and benefits, Hayward said.\nThe complaint came on the same day that Starbucks released a report on its labor practices prepared by an independent consultant, which had been requested by shareholders.\nThe report found that while there was room for Starbucks to improve its messaging on the union campaign, the company had not adopted \"an anti-union playbook\" that involved violating U.S. labor laws.\n(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Franklin Paul)\n",
        "title": "Starbucks closed 23 US stores to deter unionizing, agency claims"
    },
    {
        "id": 1125,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-activist-investor-peltz-seeks-154042931.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds candidate names in paragraph 2, background in paragraphs 3-10)\nDec 14 (Reuters) - Activist investor Nelson Peltz is seeking two board seats at Disney, his fund said on Thursday, less than a year after abandoning an earlier bid as the media conglomerate outlined plans that addressed his criticism.\nWhile Peltz is one of the candidate nominated, former Chief Finiancial Officer of Disney James Rasulo is the other nominee, Trian Fund Management said.\nTrian owns roughly $3 billion worth of Disney stock and ranks among the industry's oldest and most respected corporate agitators.\nThe fund had said last month that during a conversation with CEO Bob Iger, Disney extended an offer for Trian to meet with the company's board but rejected the request for seats on a board that will soon have 12 members.\nPeltz had launched a battle for a board seat at Disney in January this year to rescue the entertainment giant from what he called a \"crisis\" of overspending on the streaming business, a little after Iger returned from retirement to become the CEO in a surprise comeback.\nThe activist investor ended his quest about a month later after Iger laid out plans to restructure and cut costs.\nOver the past 12 months, Disney has restructured the company and significantly reduced costs. It told investors last month it is on track to achieve about $7.5 billion in cost savings – $2 billion more than its original target.\nDisney has also said it would work to make its streaming business profitable, build ESPN into the \"pre-eminent\" digital sports brand, improve the performance of its film studios and \"turbocharge\" growth at its theme parks, through $60 billion in investment over the next decade.\nTrian said that since it gave Disney the time \"to prove it could right the ship\" in February, up to its re-engagement weeks ago, shareholders lost about $70 billion of value.\nDisney had announced the appointment of James Gorman, chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley, and Jeremy Darroch, a veteran media executive and former group chief executive of Sky, as new directors last month. (Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Activist investor Peltz seeks two Disney board seats"
    },
    {
        "id": 1126,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-stands-alone-ecb-boe-153557307.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Howard Schneider\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major European central banks on Thursday stuck with plans to keep their policy interest rates higher for longer to fight inflation that is proving stickier in some parts of the world than others, dashing any hope that a U.S. Federal Reserve pivot towards interest rate cuts marked a global turning point.\nExtending the hawkish stance that has dominated global central banking for two years the Bank of England said in a statement that the Bank Rate would remain high for \"an extended period,\" while the European Central Bank said the euro zone's benchmark rates would remain \"at sufficiently restrictive levels for as long as necessary.\"\nBoth the BoE and ECB kept their policy rates steady. But the language of their decisions contrasted with that of Fed Chair Jerome Powell who, after a policy meeting at which the U.S. central bank also remained on hold, gave the Fed's decision a dovish tilt.\n\"That's us thinking we've done enough,\" Powell said on Wednesday of new projections that showed policymakers anticipate cutting their benchmark rate by three quarters of a point by the end of 2024.\nEurope, however, is on a different path, with the BoE seeing a split 6-3 vote with three of its members favoring another rate increase, and Norway's central bank approving a surprise quarter point rate hike amid more persistent inflation.\nThe Swiss National Bank did note declining inflation in a statement analysts construed as a sign of possible rate cuts next year - something its policymakers remained silent on.\nBut in its latest policy statement, the ECB said that while the price outlook had improved over the long term, rising unit labor costs continued to pose risks and inflation \"is likely to pick up again temporarily in the near term.\"\nThough price pressures were easing, the ECB said it expected a near-term increase in inflation, and ECB President Christine Lagarde in her press conference said some components of inflation had not budged.\n\"Should we lower our guard? We asked ourselves that question. No. We absolutely should not lower our guard,\" Lagarde said, noting that some components of inflation were \"not budging.\"\n\"We did not discuss rate cuts at all,\" she said. \"No discussion. No debate...Between hike and cut there is a whole plateau.\"\nThe BoE said its headline inflation was expected to remain around 4.5% through the end of this year, still well above the 2% inflation target it shares with the Fed and ECB.\nThat's also well above new Fed projections showing core inflation ending 2023 at 3.2% with strong arguments, given recent behavior in producer prices and rents, that it will continue falling. By end 2024 Fed officials project both core and headline inflation will be 2.4%, within striking distance of their goal and low enough for Fed officials to anticipate rate reductions.\n\"We are seeing strong growth that ... appears to be moderating. We are seeing a labor market that is coming back into balance ... We're seeing inflation making real progress,\" Powell told reporters. \"These are the things we've been wanting to see ... Declaring victory would be premature ... But of course the question is 'when will it become appropriate to begin dialing back?'\"\nWith the Fed now seen as the early mover to lower rates among the major central banks, the dollar slid to a four-month low against a basket of trading partners' currencies. The BoE's and ECB's refusals to follow in the Fed's footsteps slowed the rally in British and European bonds, with benchmark yields in the regions near their highs of the day after the two announcements, though they remained lower than Wednesday's closes.\n(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Andrea Ricci)\n",
        "title": "Fed stands alone as ECB, BoE insist 'higher for longer' still needed"
    },
    {
        "id": 1127,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kroger-albertsons-bracing-ftc-decision-153005168.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos. are bracing for a US Federal Trade Commission lawsuit over their proposed $24.6 billion tie-up as soon as January as opposition builds against the supermarket mega-deal.\nProgressive lawmakers and the Teamsters union both urged the antitrust agency this week to veto the deal after its yearlong probe. The FTC has until Jan. 17 to decide on their deal under a timing agreement the companies reached with the agency, according to a court filing in a class action brought by consumers opposed to the deal. The agency’s deadline hasn’t been disclosed previously.\nThe agency has been in talks with state attorneys general, who are also reviewing the deal, and could sue to block the transaction or agree to a settlement proposed by the companies.\nEarlier: Kroger Rises on Bid to Close Albertsons Deal With C&S Store Sale\nThe divestiture is going to be a “difficult sell” with the FTC, said Bill Kovacic, a former agency chair who now teaches antitrust at George Washington University Law School. The agency has long been concerned about the adequacy of selling off stores in retail and grocery mergers, and the current FTC is very vocal on this point, he said.\n“The FTC is doing their homework,” he said. “They’ll be prepared to be in the courtroom.”\nThe merger of the two largest supermarket chains has drawn ire over concerns it would reduce consumer choices and undermine bargaining power of workers. And while the companies have proposed to sell a batch of stores to Piggly Wiggly chain owner C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. to resolve the antitrust concerns, that remedy has drawn even more fire because of the buyer’s history of reselling supermarkets shortly after acquiring them and moving work away from unionized facilities.\nThe merger will mean “lower prices and more choices for fresh food for customers and more investments in our communities,” a Kroger spokeswoman said in a statement. “If the merger is blocked, the non-union retailers like Walmart and Amazon will become even more powerful and unaccountable – and that’s bad for everyone,” she added.\nA spokesman for Albertsons said in a separate statement that the merger would “ensure that our neighborhood supermarkets, some of which have been serving their communities for over 100 years, can better compete” against Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.\nThe FTC declined to comment.\nFTC Chair Lina Khan has attended listening sessions in Colorado, Arizona and Nevada where she criticized settlements from previous supermarket mergers. Before becoming chair, Khan called the divestitures in the 2015 Albertsons-Safeway deal an instance of a “spectacular” failure on the part of antitrust enforcers.\nA combined Kroger-Albertsons would have nearly 5,000 stores across the country merging the banners of Kroger, Ralphs, and Harris Teeter with Albertsons, Safeway, Acme and Jewel-Osco, among others. That would put it on par with Walmart, which had 5,215 locations between its stores and warehouse retailer Sam’s Club as of Oct. 31.\nThe two biggest grocers in the US compete head-to-head in dozens of markets – in 2021, Kroger listed Albertsons as one of its two biggest rivals in 14 major markets, including Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver and Phoenix, and 18 smaller ones such as Anchorage, Alaska, and Santa Barbara, California.\nTo reduce the antitrust concerns, the companies agreed to divest 413 stores to C&S along with Quality Food Centers, Mariano’s and Carrs brands along with eight distribution facilities.\nThe proposed divestiture to C&S would more than triple the number of stores it operates and expand its business to the West Coast where the company has a limited presence.\nBut C&S has frequently offloaded the supermarkets it bought, said Krista Brown, a senior policy analyst at antitrust advocacy group American Economic Liberties Project. After buying more than 185 Grand Union supermarkets when that company went bankrupt in 2000, C&S later resold most of them and within six years operated only about 30 supermarkets.\n“C&S has not proven itself to be a successful operator,” Brown said. “This proposed divestment is far from creating a potential viable competitor.”\nThe Teamsters, which represent 22,000 workers at Krogers and Albertsons, also came out strongly against the proposal this week, saying it would likely cut 1,200 jobs within months.\n“C&S has driven one grocery business after another into the ground for 30 years,” said Tom Erickson, director of the union’s warehouse division. “This anti-union company has just one playbook when it comes to acquiring Teamster companies or grocery distribution contracts where our members work: close it down, bail on pensions, and move the work to one of their nonunion sites.”\nTeamsters represents many warehouse employees and truck drivers, while the United Food and Commercial Workers International, mainly represents in-store workers. UFCW also opposes the deal.\nC&S didn’t respond to requests for comment.\nC&S’s small position in the grocery market may raise red flags for the antitrust enforcers after the failure of Albertsons’ last spin-off. In 2015, the agency allowed Albertsons to buy Safeway after it sold 168 stores, the bulk of them to Washington state grocer Haggen Holdings LLC. Less than a year later, Haggen filed for bankruptcy and Albertsons bought back a number of the stores.\nSome of those same stores could be switching hands again: The grocers said they plan to sell 104 stores in Washington state to C&S.\nCalifornia is among the states most impacted by the deal: A combined Kroger and Albertsons would have 895 stores in the state, though they pledged to sell at least 66 of them to C&S. In October, California Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters his office was considering a suit, though no final decision had yet been reached.\nA group of progressive lawmakers including Senators Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, cited the Haggen bankruptcy in a letter to the FTC this week calling on the agency to block the deal. The members of Congress said the C&S divestiture wouldn’t ameliorate the harms to competition posed by the merger.\nAlaska’s lawmakers, including both Republican senators and the state’s lone Democratic representative, have also expressed concern about the deal given its impact in the state\n--With assistance from Jeannette Neumann.\n",
        "title": "Kroger, Albertsons Bracing for FTC Decision on Deal in January"
    },
    {
        "id": 1128,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/swedish-real-estate-mining-stocks-083539595.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Beaten-down corners of European stock markets, such as real estate, renewables and miners, soared after the Federal Reserve signaled a pivot toward reversing its cycle of steep interest rate hikes.\nThe Stoxx 600 Index rose 0.9% by 2:45 p.m. in London, having earlier touched its highest level since January 2022. Markets trimmed some earlier gains after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said rate cuts had not been discussed “at all” at the bank’s Thursday meeting.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell signaled on Wednesday the Fed’s historic policy-tightening campaign is over, with aggressive monetary easing likely to come. Investors are now pricing in six quarter-point cuts in 2024 by the Fed, with the BOE and the ECB also seen easing policy. Bond yields fell worldwide.\nRead more: It’s the Left-Behind Stocks Storming Ahead Now, Not Big Tech\nThe rate-cut bets sent battered real estate stocks soaring, with the likes of Fabege AB, Sagax AB and Vonovia SE among the biggest gainers. Swedish property firms, such as SBB, were also boosted by data showing core inflation in the country hitting the level since last May last year.\nAmong miners, Anglo American Plc — Europe’s worst-performing mining stock of 2023 — jumped. An index of renewable energy shares rose about 7%, led by Orsted and Vestas Wind Systems A/S, which recouped some of this year’s losses.\n“Anything small and value is currently gaining, as a reflection of how much loser financial conditions matter to these stocks,” said Florian Ielpo, head of macro research at Lombard Odier Asset Management. “This is a Fed recovery trend, and as long as the Fed does not shift direction, this trend is likely to be with us.”\nAmong other notable movers, Vivendi SE rose as much as 12% after the French firm said it’s considering splitting up its media and entertainment empire into several companies to capitalize on each unit’s strength.\nThe ECB left interest rates unchanged for a second meeting, as expected, while the Bank of England held rates at a 15-year high and said “there is still some way to go” in the fight to control inflation. Norway’s central bank pushed ahead with another hike, defying the global dovish shift.\nMarkets are pricing an ECB cut as soon as March. While its president Christine Lagarde said policymakers should not lower their guard on inflation, she at least “didn’t spoil the party” said Harry Wolhandler, head of equities at Meeschaert Asset Management in Paris.\nEuropean stocks have surged nearly 12% since late-October, taking regional benchmarks, including in France and Germany, to record highs. However, technical indicators now show the Stoxx 600 is at the most overbought level in two years, while the blue chip Euro Stoxx 50 appears the most overbought since 1999.\nRead more: Wall Street Traders Go All-In on Great Monetary Pivot of 2024\nHere’s what analysts and strategists are saying post-Fed:\nPeter Toogood, chief investment officer at Embark Group\n“A few weeks ago the Fed was saying that tightening financial conditions are doing the job for them - what now? It’s hard to square that. I personally don’t think there’s much slack in the US economy, and next year I wouldn’t be surprised to see inflation come back again. The market is too optimistic about future rate cuts but for now its party on till Christmas.”\nMarija Veitmane, senior multi-asset strategist at State Street Global Markets\n“I think that the sharp rally in risk is likely to continue. It seems that most market participants were not expecting Fed to be that dovish, so there is a lot of catching up going on today.”\nFrancisco Simon, European head of strategy at Santander AM\n“The Fed has fueled positive market reactions by reducing risks on possible rate hikes, with a clearer vision towards cuts and a positive macro scenario, with no risk of recession and inflation on the right track. The lower monetary policy uncertainty will support the valuations of risk assets, which we hope will perform well in this new, very Goldilocks scenario.”\nMichael Field, European market strategist at Morningstar\n““The market is definitely buying on the rumor today. We haven’t seen anything materialize, and yet it’s got very excited. The problem with this is that it’s kind of easy come, easy go. We saw this over the last few months as well, the same pattern where the market gets very excited and then it slowly tails off again and some of those gains just disappear. Yes, it’s lovely to have this kind of Santa rally. But, at the same time, I think some of the gains we’ve seen today could be quite fickle.”\nFabiana Fedeli, CIO of equities, multi asset and sustainability at M&G Plc\n“For me, the biggest data point that you have to look at right now is core inflation. How far is it coming down and what the behaviour of central banks will be, because if inflation doesn’t come down enough and to where it should be, the only reason why central banks would cut rates as aggressively as the market expects is because the economy is really degenerating rapidly, and that is not going to be good for risk assets”\nYou want more news on this market? Click here for a curated First Word channel of actionable news from Bloomberg and select sources. It can be customized to your preferences by clicking into Actions on the toolbar or hitting the HELP key for assistance. To subscribe to a daily list of European analyst rating changes, click here.\n--With assistance from Allegra Catelli, Michael Msika, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Julien Ponthus.\n",
        "title": "Miners, Renewables, Property Lead Post-Fed European Stock Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1129,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-euro-hits-two-week-152429408.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 0955 EST) By Karen Brettell and Samuel Indyk NEW YORK/LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The euro hit a two-week high against the U.S. dollar on Thursday as the European Central Bank pushed back against imminent interest rate cuts, a day after the Federal Reserve indicated that it is done hiking rates and is likely to cut them in 2024. The greenback tumbled broadly, meanwhile, for a second day and reached a 4-1/2 month low against the Japanese yen. The ECB held rates steady, as was widely expected, but \"was unable to \"out-dove\" yesterday's pivot by the Fed,\" said Samuel Zief, head of global FX strategy at JPMorgan Private Bank in London. \"The ECB continues to signal that rate hikes are done but their updated economic projections show no reason to hurry towards less restrictive policy,\" Zief said. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that the tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view\". The Fed's projections implied 75 basis points of cuts next year, from the current level. \"The Fed was very dovish yesterday,\" said Athanasios Vamvakidis, global head G10 FX strategy at BofA Global Research. “The strong consensus… was for a balanced tone by Powell. Instead, Powell doubled-down, with a very dovish tone.\" The dollar index was last at 101.96, down 0.88% on the day and the lowest since August 10. The euro gained 1.03% to $1.0987, the highest since Nov. 29. Fed funds futures traders are now almost completely pricing in a 25 basis points cut in March, and 150 basis points in rate reductions by Dec. 2024. “The market has been coming around to the idea that inflation won’t be sticky or problematic over the past six weeks and now central banks are confirming it,” said Adam Button, chief currency analyst at ForexLive in Toronto. “The market is running with the idea that rates will return to low levels in time - the bigger picture idea is that we’re headed back to a 2010s era of low growth and low inflation, rather than a 1970s era of volatile inflation,” he said. The greenback briefly pared losses after data showed that U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in November as the holiday shopping season got off to a brisk start, which should keep the economy on a moderate growth path this quarter. The greenback fell 0.48% against the Swiss franc to the lowest since July 27 after the Swiss National Bank held rates steady at 1.75%, as expected and acknowledged that inflationary pressure has decreased slightly over the past quarter. It also tumbled 2.54% against the Norwegian crown to the lowest since August 15 after the Norges Bank unexpectedly raised rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%, adding that they would likely stay at that level for some time. The pound rose 1.03% and was the highest since Aug. 23 after the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged and said that interest rates needed to stay high for \"an extended period\". \"The main message remains that rates will remain high for as long as it takes, which effectively is a push-back to market pricing early cuts,\" said BofA's Vamvakidis. The yen reached the highest since July 31, with the dollar last down 0.82% against the Japanese currency at 141.73. Expectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could end negative interest rates at its monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18-19 have largely been dampened, but the BOJ could make tweaks to its statement, such as language that the bank will not hesitate to ease further if necessary, said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities. That kind of change could be regarded as \"one step toward normalisation ... so that could be positive for the Japanese yen\", he said. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 9:56AM (1456 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 101.9600 102.8800 -0.88% -1.478% +102.9100 +101.9300 Euro/Dollar $1.0987 $1.0875 +1.03% +2.53% +$1.0991 +$1.0874 Dollar/Yen 141.7250 142.8950 -0.82% +8.10% +142.8900 +140.9500 Euro/Yen 155.70 155.38 +0.21% +10.99% +155.8700 +153.8800 Dollar/Swiss 0.8674 0.8717 -0.48% -6.19% +0.8731 +0.8666 Sterling/Dollar $1.2747 $1.2618 +1.03% +5.41% +$1.2754 +$1.2614 Dollar/Canadian 1.3425 1.3519 -0.69% -0.91% +1.3514 +1.3420 Aussie/Dollar $0.6712 $0.6661 +0.76% -1.55% +$0.6728 +$0.6657 Euro/Swiss 0.9529 0.9477 +0.55% -3.70% +0.9544 +0.9455 Euro/Sterling 0.8617 0.8617 +0.00% -2.57% +0.8634 +0.8587 NZ $0.6209 $0.6174 +0.57% -2.21% +$0.6249 +$0.6172 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 10.5130 10.7800 -2.54% +7.05% +10.7760 +10.5000 Euro/Norway 11.5478 11.7239 -1.50% +10.10% +11.7411 +11.4925 Dollar/Sweden 10.2195 10.3166 +0.09% -1.81% +10.3353 +10.1963 Euro/Sweden 11.2290 11.2193 +0.09% +0.71% +11.2295 +11.1710 (Reporting by Karen Brettell; editing by David Evans)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Euro hits two-week high as ECB pushes back on imminent rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1130,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-makes-zero-progress-130010542.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The world’s largest banks are showing little or no progress when it comes to their promise to help the world avoid the worst consequences of global warming.\nAccording to researchers at BloombergNEF, the ratio of spending on low-carbon infrastructure relative to fossil fuels needs to reach 4 to 1 by 2030. At the end of last year, the so-called energy-supply banking ratio, which includes debt and equity underwriting, was 0.73 to 1—slightly worse than the 0.75-to-1 ratio reported in 2021.\n“We didn’t see significant growth in the ratio of low-carbon financing to fossil fuels,” said Trina White, sustainable-finance analyst at BNEF. “Neither real-economy investment nor bank financing are anywhere close to the immediate and rapid scale-up in low-carbon capital flows and phase-down of fossil fuels that we need to see.”\nThe latest BNEF data show that last year’s investment in energy-supply sources, including low-carbon projects, increased to $2 trillion from $1.8 trillion in the prior year, while bank financing for both fossil fuels and low-carbon energy actually declined. Interest rates are seen as the reason.\n“The divergence between real-economy spending and bank financing can in large part be explained by the interest-rate environment,” White said. “In regions where borrowing costs went up, companies’ demand for bank-facilitated capital plummeted. Meanwhile, those companies—both low-carbon and fossil fuels—had lots of their own cash flows available to spend while they borrowed less.”\nThe BNEF report comes a day after the announcement at COP28 in Dubai that delegates pledged to move away from fossil fuels—though with no binding requirements and vague language aimed at appeasing petrostates. The summit’s final text also indicated that natural gas, a fossil fuel that’s somewhat less carbon-intensive than oil and coal, will continue to be a big part of the global energy economy. It also placed CO2 capture and storage alongside renewables and nuclear as key technologies that would drive the transition, though technology to make carbon capture work at scale has yet to be perfected.\nRead More: COP28 Climate Talks End With 3.8 Out of 10 Success Rating\nBNEF’s research shows that any headway made to date by banks isn’t nearly enough for the planet to reach the crucial goal of net-zero emissions by midcentury. Since the clinching of the Paris Agreement at the end of 2015, about $5.1 trillion of bonds and loans have been committed to businesses focused on hydrocarbons, compared with the $2.9 trillion arranged for renewable projects and other climate-friendly ventures, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nJPMorgan Chase & Co., the world’s largest underwriter of energy deals, had an energy-supply banking ratio (ESBR) of 0.83 in 2022. That’s worse than BNP Paribas SA and Bank of America Corp., but better than Wells Fargo & Co.’s 0.4 and Citigroup Inc.’s 0.58. BNP Paribas had the highest ESBR of the 10 largest banks, at 1.37.\nBanks have faced considerable criticism for continuing to profit handsomely from their partnership with Big Oil in the face of a planetary climate crisis. Industry executives have sought to defend themselves by saying they want to assist in the transition to a low-carbon economy by staying engaged with their oil, gas and coal clients.\nHowever, any such efforts appear to be happening at a dangerously slow pace—even in an environment where investment in energy supply, including low-carbon sources, has been increasing.\nThe BNEF data provide one of the few yardsticks for measuring progress, since hardly any major banks and asset managers provide estimates for the emissions connected with their stock and bond underwriting. But that may soon change. The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, a global alliance of banks and asset managers that develops climate accounting guidelines for financial services, this month backed a first-ever industry standard. That means banks will no longer be able to totally ignore the carbon footprint of their capital-markets activities.\nThe PCAF guidelines—though an industry initiative rather than an independent one—are designed to underpin net zero plans by calling for banks to disclose 33% of greenhouse-gas emissions associated with their bond and equity underwriting.\nRead More: Barclays, Morgan Stanley Win Backing for New CO2 Reporting Rule\nAs for the BNEF study, it examined the loans, bonds, equity and project financing that were underwritten for the energy sector and other relevant issuers. The researchers also included tax equity, which represents a growing share of renewables-project finance—particularly in the US.\nBNEF then applied what it calls an adjustment factor to estimate the amount of funding raised for low-carbon energy relative to fossil fuels. It looked at roughly 1,000 banks engaged in some form of supply underwriting.\nThe analysis found that bank financing for energy supply totaled $1.7 trillion in 2022, with $708 billion going to low-carbon energy projects and companies and $967 billion for fossil fuels. From these figures, BNEF came up with an energy-supply banking ratio of 0.73 for the industry.\nOf the 20 largest banks ranked by financing volume, none had an ESBR close to 4.0. Barclays Plc’s ratio was the highest, at 1.55. Bank of Nova Scotia’s was the lowest, at 0.32.\nRegionally, the US and China are far behind Europe. And while banks in North America accounted for the largest share of energy-supply financing, their average ESBR was roughly 0.5 at the end of 2022, compared with 2.8 for European-based banks. Chinese banks had an average ESBR of 0.6.\nThe divergence reflects “the relative paucity of oil and gas supply in Europe and the continent historically having the most favorable regulatory environment for low-carbon energy investment,” according to the BNEF report. By contrast, the US, Canada and Mexico play “a major role in the supply of energy, particularly oil and gas, for domestic and export use.”\nChina dominates coal financing. All of the 10 largest coal-underwriting banks are based in China, with 76% of the global flows concentrated in the country, according to BNEF.\n--With assistance from Saijel Kishan.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street Makes Zero Progress in Energy Finance Transition"
    },
    {
        "id": 1131,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-wall-st-advances-151100462.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nModerna up on trial success for melanoma vaccine-plus-Keytruda\n*\nAdobe slides after downbeat FY revenue forecast\n*\nApple notches record high\n*\nIndexes up: Dow 0.10%, S&P 0.46%, Nasdaq 0.63%\n(Updated at 9:42 a.m. ET/1442 GMT)\nBy Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian\nDec 14 (Reuters) -\nWall Street's main indexes rose on Thursday, with tech giant Apple notching a record high, a day after the Federal Reserve hinted an end to its aggressive rate hike campaign and signaled that borrowing costs would be lower next year.\nThe Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, with Chair Jerome Powell saying the historic tightening of monetary policy was likely over, as inflation falls faster than expected, and discussions on cuts in borrowing costs were coming \"into view\".\nThe Fed has raised its policy rate by a market-punishing 525 basis points since March 2022 in an effort to curb decades-high inflation. On Wednesday, 17 of 19 Fed officials projected the policy rate would be lower by end-2024.\nThe dovish pivot in the central bank's statement triggered a rally in equities, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index clocking fresh intra-day record highs on Thursday.\n\"Investors are feeling pretty bullish in terms of having three rate cuts penciled in for next year, which is a little bit more than the bears were expecting,\" said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance.\nMoney markets now see an 83.3% chance of at least a 25-basis-point rate cut in March 2024, up from about 50% before the policy decision, while almost fully pricing in another cut in May, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nYield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slipped further, to 3.9488%, while the dollar tumbled to fresh four-month lows.\nInvestors also parsed\nretail sales data for November\n, which rose 0.3% on a monthly basis compared with estimates of a 0.1% fall, according to economists polled by Reuters.\nAnother report showed weekly jobless claims stood at 202,000 for the week ended Dec. 9, lower than the estimated 220,000.\nMeanwhile, Apple's shares added 0.7%, rising to an intra-day record high of $199.62, surpassing its July peak.\nAt 9:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 35.43 points, or 0.10%, at 37,125.67, the S&P 500 was up 21.56 points, or 0.46%, at 4,728.65, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 92.21 points, or 0.63%, at 14,826.17.\nTen of the S&P 500's top 11 sectors advanced, led by a 2.3% rise in real estate stocks, while the small-caps Russell 2000 index surged 2.9% to its hits strongest level since early February.\nAdobe shed 7.2% after the Photoshop maker forecast annual and quarterly revenue below estimates.\nModerna jumped 15.9% after an experimental messenger RNA cancer vaccine it co-developed with Merck cut the chance of recurrence or death from melanoma by half after three years, when paired with Merck's Keytruda drug.\nOccidental Petroleum added 3.4% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired nearly 10.5 million shares of the oil giant for about $588.7 million.\nFoot Locker rose 6.9% after Piper Sandler upgraded the sportswear retailer to \"overweight\" from \"neutral\".\nAdvancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 7.87-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 4.45-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.\nThe S&P index recorded 81 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 198 new highs and 17 new lows.\n(Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Wall St advances after Fed hints at rate cuts; Apple scales record high"
    },
    {
        "id": 1132,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/johnson-controls-discloses-weak-internal-151041680.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 14 (Reuters) - Building products provider Johnson Controls has identified a weakness in its internal control over financial reporting due to a cyber incident disclosed in September, it said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.\nMeasures to address the issue will result in additional costs, the Ireland-based company said, just days after reporting a 4 cent hit to its fourth-quarter profit. The company expects another 2 cent hit in the first quarter.\n\"The overall impact of the cybersecurity incident in fiscal 2024 is not expected to be material to net income, net of insurance recoveries,\" Johnson Controls added.\nGlobal companies have suffered from a wave of cyberattacks over the last few years. The cybersecurity incident at Johnson Controls had disrupted portions of its internal information technology infrastructure and applications and subsequently delaying its quarterly results.\nEarlier this week, the company forecast fiscal 2024 adjusted profit below estimates and missed expectations for fourth-quarter earnings, pressured by weakness in the global residential construction market.\nThe company's shares were up 3.4% on Thursday amid a rise in broader markets. (Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)\n",
        "title": "Johnson Controls discloses weak internal control in financial reporting"
    },
    {
        "id": 1133,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-vw-sheds-red-flag-150629267.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds statement from VW shareholder, background)\nBy Victoria Waldersee\nBERLIN, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Index provider MSCI replaced a \"red flag\" controversy rating for Volkswagen stock with an \"orange flag\" after reviewing the results of a labour rights audit at Volkswagen's jointly-owned Xinjiang site, MSCI said on Thursday.\nThe move enables sustainability-focused investors who sold Volkswagen stock after MSCI's red rating, which indicates involvement in \"very severe\" environmental, social or governance controversies, to reassess whether to invest in the carmaker.\nTop-20 Volkswagen shareholder Deka Investment's head of sustainability and corporate governance, Ingo Speich, said Volkswagen stock remained unattractive for its sustainable funds because of what it described as \"deficits in corporate governance\".\nSpeich has previously criticised the lack of a transition plan at Volkswagen's supervisory board and said the carmaker's stock price suffers from a \"governance discount\".\nMSCI marked Volkswagen with the \"red flag\" in its social issue category in November 2022 due to allegations of forced labour in Xinjiang, prompting some investors to drop the stock from their portfolios and call for the carmaker to conduct an audit.\nLast week, Volkswagen said in a statement the management consultancy it had commissioned to audit the Xinjiang site, Loening GmbH, had found no signs of forced labour.\nStill, Loening GmbH highlighted the challenges of collecting data in China, and several of Loening's senior staff distanced themselves from the project on LinkedIn.\nThe \"orange flag\" rating indicates that a controversy classed as very severe has been \"either partially resolved, or indirectly attributed to the company's actions, products, or operations\", according to MSCI. (Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Rachel More and David Evans)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-VW sheds 'red flag' rating from MSCI after Xinjiang site audit"
    },
    {
        "id": 1134,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lagarde-says-ecb-shouldn-t-143413653.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said policymakers mustn’t get complacent following the recent slump in inflation toward 2% — signaling that investor bets on imminent interest-rate reductions may be premature.\n“We should absolutely not lower our guard,” she told reporters Thursday in Frankfurt after the ECB left borrowing costs unchanged for a second meeting. “We did not discuss rate cuts at all.”\nLagarde cited enduring upside risks to consumer prices that include corporate profitability and ongoing negotiations over wages. On the pressure around salaries, she said that “when we look at the data that we have now, it is not declining.”\nThe ECB’s rate announcement mirrored decisions during the past day by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. But while Fed Chair Jerome Powell supercharged global wagers on loosening by saying discussions on the topic have begun, Lagarde joined the BOE in offering pushback.\nHer comments came despite new quarterly projections showing a weaker economy softening the outlook for consumer prices during next year following a temporary uptick in the months ahead.\nThe ECB dropped wording that inflation is “expected to remain too high for too long,” saying instead that it will “decline gradually over the course of next year.”\nElsewhere, the spread between Italian and German 10-year yields dropped below 170 basis points after a less-radical-than-anticipated phase out of the ECB’s €1.7 trillion ($1.8 trillion) pandemic bond-buying program was unveiled.\nThe ECB said it intends to reduce PEPP reinvestments by €7.5 billion a month on average over the second half of 2024, before discontinuing them altogether as planned at year-end.\n“We believe that it’s served its purpose,” Lagarde said. “It was intended for the pandemic. It was an emergency program.”\nBehind the enthusiasm for monetary-easing wagers is a steeper-than-expected plunge in inflation, to 2.4% in November. The ECB’s latest forecasts offered further grounds for optimism, showing price gains at 2.7% next year and 2.1% in 2025. In 2026, they’re seen at 1.9%.\nAnalysts reckon the economy is suffering its first recession since Covid struck — albeit a far milder downturn. The ECB now sees gross domestic product only advancing by 0.6% this year and 0.8% next.\n--With assistance from James Hirai, Naomi Tajitsu, Alessandra Migliaccio, Alexey Anishchuk, Angela Cullen, Ben Sills, Christoph Rauwald, Craig Stirling, Daniel Hornak, James Regan, Kamil Kowalcze, Laura Malsch, Laura Alviž, Sonja Wind, William Horobin and Alice Atkins.\n(Updates with more comments from Lagarde in 10th paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Lagarde Says ECB Shouldn’t Lower Guard as Inflation Tumbles"
    },
    {
        "id": 1135,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moves-wells-fargo-names-terrell-150357034.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 14 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo said on Thursday that Frederick Terrell will join the lender's corporate and investment bank (CIB) unit as vice chairman of investment banking effective Jan. 2, 2024.\nTerrell, a veteran with 40 years of experience, joins from Centerbridge Partners, where he was a senior adviser focused on the financial services and technology sectors.\nPrior to that, Terrell spent eight years at Credit Suisse and was the executive vice chairman of investment banking and capital markets.\nIn his role at Wells Fargo, Terrell will be based in Los Angeles and focus on West Coast clients. (Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)\n",
        "title": "MOVES-Wells Fargo names Terrell as investment banking vice chairman of CIB unit"
    },
    {
        "id": 1136,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/intel-debuts-core-ultra-processors-at-ai-everywhere-event-150135483.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Intel (INTC) on Thursday took the wraps off of its new Core Ultra processors for ultrathin laptops during its AI Everywhere event in New York.\nThe chips, which are available in new laptops starting today, pack a number of big firsts for Intel including a chiplet design and neural processing unit. All of this comes as CEO Pat Gelsinger seeks to reinvigorate the semiconductor giant.\nThe Core Ultra processors will be available in three different configurations: the Core Ultra 5, Core Ultra 7, and Core Ultra 9. The Core Ultra 5 and Core Ultra 7 are available in new PCs now, while the Core Ultra 9 will land in the coming months.\nChiplets, or as Intel calls them, tiles, are a means of breaking up a single chip into different components, which can easily be swapped in and out depending on needs. The Core Ultra line has a compute tile, graphics tile, I/O tile, and SoC tile.\nAll of this is meant to make Intel’s Core Ultra chips more powerful and power efficient, as it works to claw back market share from the likes of AMD (AMD)—and keep Qualcomm (QCOM) and Apple (AAPL) off of its back.\nChiplets aren’t a new concept, though. AMD is already using them in its own chips, but it’s a big move for Intel, and could provide a boost to the company’s sales, as it seeks to prove it can innovate as fast as its rivals. Intel saw revenue of $63.1 billion in fiscal 2022 versus $79 billion in 2021.\nThe tiles themselves have a number of interesting capabilities. The compute tiles pack the chip’s performance cores, which focus on power hungry tasks, and efficiency cores, which take over when you’re running programs that are less demanding. The SoC tile, meanwhile, gets Intel’s new Low Power Island, which can run tasks that require even less power.\nThe SoC tile also comes with Intel’s NPU, which fits into the event’s AI Everywhere theme. The NPU is meant to handle some onboard AI tasks, But don’t expect to be running something like ChatGPT directly on your laptop. That kind of functionality is still incredibly process intensive, and has to be performed in the cloud.\nIt’s worth noting that AMD, Qualcomm, and Apple already offer NPUs in their processors.\nAs far as performance goes, Intel says its high-end Core Ultra 7165H chip beats out the likes of AMD’s Ryzen 7 7840U chip, Apple’s M3 chip, Qualcomm’s 8cx Gen 3 chip, and its own Core i7-1370P in terms of multithreaded performance.\nThe company also says that the Ultra 7165H uses less power than AMD’s Ryzen 7 7840U while doing everything from streaming Netflix to watching 4K video and browsing the web. Gaming performance, the company said, also gets a bump thanks to the Ultra’s onboard Arc graphics processing unit.\nThe Core Ultra line is a large part of Gelsinger’s push to return Intel to its former glory. The company has had a rough 2023 so far, swinging for 36% drop in revenue in Q1. Since then, the company has pared those declines, with revenue falling 15% in Q2 and 8% in Q3.\nThe company, like other chip makers, has been struggling to overcome a precipitous fall in computer sales after a massive burst of customer purchases at the onset of the pandemic when consumers needed new computers to work and play from home.\nBut as many of those systems begin to age, chip manufacturers are expecting consumers to once again search for new laptops and desktops, driving sales.\nIntel is also contending with Nvidia’s rise as an AI powerhouse. Santa Clara-based Nvidia has become the go-to chip developer for AI accelerators. That’s also sent its share price soaring more than 228% year-to-date as of Wednesday. Shares of AMD are up 113%, while Intel shares are up 68%.\nDaniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Intel debuts Core Ultra processors at AI Everywhere event"
    },
    {
        "id": 1137,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/intel-unveils-new-data-center-chip-with-focus-on-ai-growth-150001734.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Intel (INTC) is leaning into the AI craze with its latest generation of datacenter chips. On Thursday, the company debuted its 5th Gen Intel Xeon processors during its AI Everywhere event in New York. The chips, which the company unveiled alongside its new Core Ultra line of processors for laptops, are part of Intel’s attempt to prove it can innovate at the same pace as rivals including AMD (AMD), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Nvidia (NVDA).\nWhile the 5th Gen Xeon chip won’t replace Nvidia-style AI accelerators in terms of dedicated power, it does offer AI functionality of its own, while powering other high performance computing operations.\n“Designed for AI, our 5th Gen Intel Xeon processors provide greater performance to customers deploying AI capabilities across cloud, network, and edge use cases,” EVP of Intel’s Data Center and AI Group said in a statement.\n“As a result of our long-standing work with customers, partners, and the developer ecosystem, we’re launching 5th Gen Intel Xeon on a proven foundation that will enable rapid adoption and scale at lower [total cost of ownership].”\nIntel says the 5th Gen chips provide a 21% performance boost over their predecessors and 36% more performance per watt. Improved performance per watt means that companies can push processor intensive tasks while using less overall power. That results in an overall cost savings in the long run.\nThe chip giant estimates that companies upgrading to its 5th Gen chips will see a 77% improvement in total cost of ownership if they follow a five-year system refresh cycle.\nIntel’s Data Center and AI business is its second largest segment behind its Client Computing Group, which sells chips for consumer and business grade laptops and desktops. The Client Group accounts for $31.7 billion of Intel’s $63.1 billion in total revenue in the company’s fiscal 2022. Data Center and AI made up $19.2 billion.\nWhile both business segments have underperformed throughout 2023, they’ve steadily improved compared to the first quarter when Intel posted adjusted losses per share of $0.04.\nAI serves as a potential growth area for Intel. While Nvidia grabs all of the headlines for enabling the AI explosion, and rightfully so, Intel’s chips still serve an important role in helping to power some of the servers that use Nvidia’s products.\nBut the money, at least right now, is in AI accelerators. And Nvidia has a grip on that segment that experts say will remain tight for several years to come as competitors race to catch up to the graphics titan’s lead in not only hardware capabilities, but software as well.\nIn the meantime, Intel continues to work to fend off AMD’s server business. And while AMD’s Data Center business is smaller than Intel’s, it brought in $6 billion in fiscal 2022, it’s gaining steam.\nDaniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Intel unveils new data center chip with focus on AI growth"
    },
    {
        "id": 1138,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-natgas-prices-tick-spotlight-145234488.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 14 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures crept higher on Thursday, while the market focus shifted to the weekly storage report due later in the day Analysts forecast U.S. utilities pulled 54 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas out of storage during the week ended Dec. 8. This compares to 46 bcf during the same week a year ago and a five-year (2018-2022) average decrease of 81 bcf for this time of year. If correct, that would cut the stockpile to 3.665 trillion cubic feet (tcf), about 7.2% above the same week a year ago and 7.7% above the five-year average. Front-month gas futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange were up 2.3 cents, or 1.0%, to $2.36 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 9:31 a.m. EST (1431 GMT). LSEG forecast U.S. gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, at 125.2 bcfd this week and 125.4 bcfd next week, compared to last week's 121.4 bcfd. Next week's forecasts were higher than LSEG's outlook on Wednesday. \"There is some seasonal demand as the weather is chilly and there is also some short covering,\" said Thomas Saal, senior vice president for energy at StoneX Financial. Despite the small price gain, with production at record levels, milder weather and ample amounts of gas in storage, the futures market has been sending bearish signals for weeks that futures prices for this winter (November-March) had likely already peaked in November. The contract was down more than 21% for November and hit a six-month low on Wednesday. LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states has risen to 108.4 bcfd so far in December from a record 108.3 bcfd in November. Saal added that the \"market will remain sluggish if weather remains above normal over most of the country. If forecasts change and it gets colder, then prices will firm and maybe back up to $3.\" Some analysts have reduced their U.S. demand forecasts after Exxon Mobil delayed the start of first LNG production at its 2.3-billion-cubic-feet-per-day (bcfd) Golden Pass export plant under construction in Texas to the first half of 2025 from the second half of 2024. The U.S. is on track to become the world's biggest LNG supplier in 2023, ahead of recent leaders Australia and Qatar. Much higher global prices have fed demand for U.S. exports due in part to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine. Gas was trading around $11 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe and $15 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia. Week ended Week ended Year ago Five-year Dec 8 Dec 1 Dec 8 average Forecast Actual Dec 8 U.S. weekly natgas storage change (bcf): -54 -117 -46 -81 U.S. total natgas in storage (bcf): 3,665 3,719 3,419 3,404 U.S. total storage versus 5-year average 7.7% 6.7% Global Gas Benchmark Futures ($ per mmBtu) Current Day Prior Day This Month Prior Year Five Year Last Year Average Average 2022 (2017-2021) Henry Hub 5.77 6.54 2.89 2.34 2.30 Title Transfer Facility (TTF) 36.68 40.50 7.49 11.29 11.22 Japan Korea Marker (JKM) 32.34 34.11 8.95 15.45 15.62 LSEG Heating (HDD), Cooling (CDD) and Total (TDD) Degree Days Two-Week Total Forecast Current Day Prior Day Prior Year 10-Year 30-Year Norm Norm U.S. GFS HDDs 329.6 320 338 354 366 U.S. GFS CDDs 1.2 1 12 6 5 U.S. GFS TDDs 330.8 321 350 360 371 LSEG U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts Prior Week Current Next Week This Week Five-Year Week Last Year (2018-2022) Average For Month U.S. Supply (bcfd) U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production 102.8 94.2 108.1 108.8 108.8 U.S. Imports from Canada8 10.0 9.1 8.8 8.6 8.9 U.S. LNG Imports 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 Total U.S. Supply 112.8 103.5 116.9 117.5 117.7 U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada 3.4 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.4 U.S. Exports to Mexico 5.2 5.0 3.9 3.8 4.8 U.S. LNG Exports 12.6 8.6 14.5 14.7 14.1 U.S. Commercial 15.4 14.6 13.2 13.9 13.7 U.S. Residential 25.8 24.7 20.9 22.3 21.9 U.S. Power Plant 30.4 28.6 33.2 34.3 34.7 U.S. Industrial 24.7 25.0 24.3 24.7 24.7 U.S. Plant Fuel 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.4 5.4 U.S. Pipe Distribution 2.7 2.9 2.7 2.8 2.7 U.S. Vehicle Fuel 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Total U.S. Consumption 104.4 101.2 99.8 103.4 103.2 Total U.S. Demand 125.6 118.0 121.4 125.2 125.4 U.S. Northwest River Forecast Center (NWRFC) at The Dalles Dam Current Day Prior Day 2023 2022 2021 % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal Forecast Forecast Actual Actual Actual Apr-Sep 83 82 83 107 81 Jan-Jul 81 82 77 102 79 Oct-Sep 82 83 76 103 81 U.S. weekly power generation percent by fuel - EIA Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Dec 15 Dec 8 Dec 1 Nov 24 Nov 17 Wind 12 10 11 9 12 Solar 3 3 3 3 3 Hydro 5 6 6 6 6 Other 2 2 2 2 2 Petroleum 0 0 0 0 0 Natural Gas 40 42 39 42 40 Coal 17 17 16 17 17 Nuclear 21 20 22 21 20 SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu) Hub Current Day Prior Day Henry Hub 2.33 2.37 Transco Z6 New York 2.04 2.10 PG&E Citygate 4.22 4.04 Eastern Gas (old Dominion South) 1.74 1.86 Chicago Citygate 2.02 2.16 Algonquin Citygate 3.20 4.00 SoCal Citygate 4.25 4.15 Waha Hub 1.85 2.00 AECO 1.66 1.22 SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour) Hub Current Day Prior Day New England 35.50 38.25 PJM West 38.25 39.50 Ercot North 23.50 21.00 Mid C 62.13 59.08 Palo Verde 56.25 43.25 SP-15 54.50 49.00 (Reporting by Anjana Anil and Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "US natgas prices tick up with spotlight on weekly storage report"
    },
    {
        "id": 1139,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canadian-home-prices-fall-most-145128789.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Canadian home prices posted their biggest drop in more than a year as persistently high borrowing costs squeeze potential buyers.\nThe benchmark price of a home in Canada fell 1.1% in November from a month earlier, the biggest decline since September 2022 and the third decrease in a row, according to data released Thursday from the Canadian Real Estate Association. The benchmark price now sits at C$735,500 ($547,500), around where it was in May, the data show.\nBorrowing costs at their highest level in more than two decades have sidelined prospective buyers and piled pressure on owners struggling with higher mortgage payments, with few signs of relief coming. The Bank of Canada held its benchmark rate steady for a third consecutive meeting earlier this month and signaled that rates could rise further if needed.\nBoth economists and traders are currently expecting the central bank to begin lowering interest rates sometime in the second quarter of next year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nWith mortgage rates still high, home sales dropped 0.9% in November from the previous month, according to seasonally adjusted data.\nNew listings fell by 1.8%, after rising earlier this year, the real estate board data show. That pushed the sales-to-new listings ratio up to 49.8% from 49.4% in October, the first time that measure has increased since April, the CREA data show. Still, that ratio suggests the market remains looser than normal: its long-term average is 55.1%.\nMore sellers were putting homes on the market earlier this year, but that’s now pulled back, according to Shaun Cathcart, CREA’s senior economist.\n“Not getting offers they were willing to accept, it’s looking like many of them are also now resigned to hunker down until next year,” Cathcart said in a statement. “It’s probably a good move given that recent expectations around interest rate cuts suggest it might be a somewhat more active spring market than we thought.”\n",
        "title": "Canadian Home Prices Fall Most in 14 Months Amid Rate Squeeze"
    },
    {
        "id": 1140,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/graphic-major-central-banks-hold-144138300.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Markets think it's all over. After a lengthy and historic monetary tightening campaign to battle high inflation, major central banks are keeping high interest rates steady for now as traders price in rapid cuts ahead.\nU.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, said on Wednesday, \"we've done enough.\" The European Central Bank and the Bank of England on Thursday left rates on hold, but the BoE pushed back against rate cut bets, while Norway surprised with a rate hike.\nMajor rate setters have hiked borrowing costs by 4,015 basis points (bps) so far this cycle, with Japan the holdout dove.\nHere's how they stand, in terms of the scale of rate hikes in this cycle.\n1) UNITED STATES\nThe Fed unleashed a fresh wave of optimism in markets on Dec. 13 by holding its key rate at 5.25% to 5.5% and releasing officials' surprisingly dovish projections for 75 bps of cuts in 2024.\nPowell noted inflation was easing faster than expected and rate cuts were coming \"into view\", all but confirming a period of aggressive monetary tightening by the world's most influential central bank is over.\nMarkets raced ahead of Fed officials' forecasts to predict the funds rate would be around 150 bps lower by next December .\n2) NEW ZEALAND\nThe Reserve Bank of New Zealand held its interest rate at a 15-year high of 5.5% in November but surprised markets by upwardly revising its forecast for the peak in rates to 5.69%.\nMarkets bet the central bank is finished with hikes, with easing priced in as early as May.\n3) BRITAIN\nThe BoE pushed back against market rate-cut speculation on Thursday, leaving its key rate at a 15-year high of 5.25% and said rates would need to stay high for an \"extended period.\"\nMarkets trimmed rate cuts bets following that comment but still price in over 100 bps worth of easing next year.\n4) CANADA\nThe Bank of Canada on Dec. 6 left its benchmark interest rate on hold at a 22-year high of 5% but left the door open to another hike, saying that financial conditions have eased and it was still concerned about inflation.\n5) EURO ZONE\nThe ECB is expected to be one of the first major central bank to start cutting rates next year as the economic outlook sours.\nIt held its deposit rate steady at 4% on Thursday and signalled an early end to its last remaining bond purchase scheme, wrapping up a decade-long experiment in hoovering up debt across the euro zone.\nMarkets price in roughly 140 basis points worth of rate cuts in 2024.\n6) NORWAY\nThe Norges Bank raised its key rate by 25 bps to 4.50% in a decision that surprised markets, adding it would likely stay put for some time from here.\nWhile core inflation in November at 5.8% was below the central bank's 6.1% forecast, the Norwegian crown has traded consistently weaker than it expected, potentially stoking inflation.\n7) AUSTRALIA\nThe Reserve Bank of Australia held interest rates steady in December at 4.35% and markets expect rate cuts from mid-2024.\nAustralian inflation slowed unexpectedly to 4.9% in October and the economy barely grew in the third quarter as increased mortgage costs hit consumer spending.\n8) SWEDEN\nEconomists and traders think Sweden's central bank is likely done raising rates, after holding them at 4% in November.\nHigh borrowing costs have pressured commercial real estate firms. The IMF expects Sweden's economy to have contracted this year.\nSwedish inflation slowed to 3.6% year-on-year in November, down from 10.2% in December 2022.\n9) SWITZERLAND\nThe Swiss National Bank on Thursday held interest rates at 1.75% for a second straight meeting after inflation stayed within the central bank's 0% to 2% target for a sixth consecutive month in November.\nEconomists see the SNB holding rates until September, although money market pricing shows investors are eyeing cuts from March.\n10) JAPAN\nThe Bank of Japan's concludes a two-day meeting on Tuesday and Governor Kazuo Ueda will aim to recognise inflationary pressures without suggesting an imminent end to negative interest rates.\nMore than 80% of economists expect the BOJ to end this long-held policy next year, with many tipping a move in April.\nThe BOJ in October changed a 1% cap on Japan's 10-year bond yield to a loose \"upper bound,\" enabling long-term borrowing costs to rise gradually.\n(Reporting by Naomi Rovnick, Harry Robertson, Alun John, Yoruk Bahceli, Samuel Indyk and Dhara Ranasinghe Graphics by Kripa Jayaram, Pasit Kongkunakornkul, Riddhima Talwani, Sumanta Sen and Vineet Sachdev; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "GRAPHIC-Major central banks hold rates steady as markets eye rapid cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1141,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-nordic-dispute-sparks-angry-143829958.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s showdown with trade unions across the Nordic region is threatening to spill over to the financial markets after a group of pension funds and asset managers sent a letter to Elon Musk urging him to change course.\nNordic institutional investors managing a total of $1 trillion in assets said they are “deeply concerned” about Tesla’s attitude to worker rights in Sweden and demanded the carmaker accept collective bargaining agreements for its staff, according to a letter sent Thursday and seen by Bloomberg News. Signatories to the letter include Denmark’s Velliv Pension & Livsforsikring A/S and AkademikerPension.\nThe group of at least 15 investors called out Tesla’s sustainability credentials over its challenge to the so-called “Nordic Model” by not letting mechanics at seven of its Swedish repair shops sign up to an agreement that covers basic rights such as minimum pay and gender equality. They also pointed out how the same model has benefited Tesla in building up “a significant market share” in the region, which trumps even Germany when it comes to deliveries of cars.\nWhile the investors didn’t use the letter to threaten to sell the shares they hold in Tesla, cracks are beginning to appear elsewhere. Last week saw Danish fund PensionDanmark A/S become the first major asset manager in the region to publicly dump shares in the electric vehicle maker as a result of the conflict, selling its $69 million stake.\nThe dispute that began in October has already upended Tesla’s operations in the region as sympathy actions from other trade unions have spread to dockworkers in neighboring Denmark, Finland and Norway. From next week Tesla will have to transport its cars bound for Sweden via trucks from continental Europe.\nThe escalating blockade has extended beyond deliveries to registration plates and even trash collection at Tesla’s premises. Swedish postal workers have for several weeks refused to handle any mail or packages bound for Tesla locations, halting the delivery of license plates to dealerships.\nBut there are few signs either side of the conflict is ready to back down soon. On Thursday, Tesla published a job posting in search for a Stockholm-based public policy expert who needs to have “a proven track track record of getting regulatory changes made in the Nordics.” Chief Executive Officer Musk has previously called the situation “insane” and has been fighting back in Sweden with lawsuits to limit the conflict’s impact.\nIn the investor letter, the group asked for a meeting with Tesla’s board in early 2024 to discuss the matter. “We as Nordic investors acknowledge the decade old tradition of collective bargaining, and therefore urge Tesla to reconsider your current approach to unions,” they wrote.\nRead More: How Musk’s Anti-Union Stance Faces Test in Sweden: QuickTake\n--With assistance from Craig Trudell.\n",
        "title": "Tesla’s Nordic Dispute Sparks Angry Letter From Money Managers"
    },
    {
        "id": 1142,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alphabet-needs-show-path-ai-143716835.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc. just got a reminder of how important the perception of having a winning AI strategy is for investors.\nThe Google owner added $87 billion in market value in a single day last week after showing off the capabilities of its Gemini large language model, which it claims can rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT. To sustain those gains, Alphabet needs to show investors how prowess in that technology will translate into higher sales.\n“The whole business model depends on getting this right,” said Gene Munster, co-founder and managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, whose firm holds the stock. “If they can nail multi-modal generative AI, that will draw usage to Google, and that increased usage will protect and grow the search business.”\nShares of Alphabet rose 0.5% on Thursday.\nAlphabet has been dogged all year by concerns it has fallen behind Microsoft Corp. in the AI race. In recent months its shares have lagged behind its rival, which has been integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology into its software and cloud products. The Gemini demonstration even drew criticism from employees saying it appeared to overstate the model’s current capabilities.\nThe third quarter earnings season seemed to underscore fears about Alphabet’s position, with Microsoft touting AI’s increasing impact on Azure growth while Google Cloud results disappointed. In the stock market, the gap between the two companies has widened, with Microsoft hitting a series of records this year. Alphabet remains about 11% below its all-time high in 2021.\nStill, Alphabet’s demonstration of Gemini’s ability to generate both text and image-based responses to prompts went a long way in showing that the firm is still in the game. On Wednesday, Google unveiled Gemini Pro for businesses, allowing developers to build applications using the new AI model.\n“The early look at Gemini suggests that the anticipated demise of Google’s AI ambitions have been vastly exaggerated,” said Neil Campling, founding partner at Chameleon Global Capital. “Investors are likely to revisit the stock when they see proof of incremental revenue growth coming through in cloud services and evidence of market share gains.”\nFew dispute that Alphabet is a major player, given its years of investment and massive amounts of data, but it has struggled against the perception that it’s falling behind OpenAI.\nMicrosoft’s revenue is expected to grow at a slightly faster pace than Alphabet’s over the next few years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. However, both are seen expanding at a double-digit pace — and Alphabet’s shares are far cheaper.\nThe stock trades below 19 times estimated earnings. This is well below Microsoft, at 31 times, as well as the Nasdaq 100 Index’s multiple of nearly 25. In addition, while both Microsoft and the index are at a premium to their long-term averages, Alphabet is trading at a discount, suggesting room to expand.\n“Clearly Microsoft is winning at this point in time. It has done a better job of communicating, of executing, of putting out actual products and having those contribute to growth,” said Chris Mack, global equity portfolio manager at Harding Loevner.\n“There’s been a gap between what Alphabet is doing and the market’s perception,” he said. “The Gemini launch was it putting the market on notice that it is making AI front and center in its strategy.”\nTech Chart of the Day\nThe rally in Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, is showing no signs of easing. After closing at a record high on Wednesday, the iPhone maker’s market value is approaching that of Europe’s largest stock market: France.\n--With assistance from Subrat Patnaik and Philip Sanders.\n(Updates with market open.)\n",
        "title": "Alphabet Needs to Show Path to AI Sales in Race With Microsoft"
    },
    {
        "id": 1143,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/czech-billionaire-opens-abu-dhabi-142628998.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Czech billionaire Radovan Vitek has set up special purpose vehicles in Abu Dhabi, the latest high net worth individual to register firms in the emirate.\nThe property mogul is the sole shareholder in Rising Falcon Holding Limited and Rising Falcon Number 1 Holding Limited, according to corporate records at Abu Dhabi Global Market, the city’s international financial center. They were incorporated on Dec. 5, weeks after Vitek was targeted by short seller Carson Block.\nOn Nov. 21, Muddy Waters published a report claiming CPI Property Group SA, majority owned by Vitek, overstated the value of its assets and that the billionaire benefited from undisclosed related-party transactions. CPI pushed back against the accusations, saying it has never obscured its dealings with its owner or other related parties.\nVitek’s new Abu Dhabi entities coincide with a broader shift in wealth to the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which is home to the world’s richest family and boasts funds that manage more than $1 trillion.\nEgyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris is moving his family office to ADGM, joining a flurry of recent registrations by the richest man in crypto Changpeng “CZ” Zhao as well as India’s Adani family, hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio and Russian steel magnate Vladimir Lisin.\nREAD MORE: Abu Dhabi Is the World’s Newest Wealth Haven for Billionaires\nThe Czech tycoon’s SPVs were set up by Clara Formations Limited, a leading corporate service provider in the UAE, which has also worked for billionaires including Zhao, according to ADGM records. It isn’t publicly known what each entity contains.\nRepresentatives for Vitek and Clara declined to comment, while ADGM didn’t respond to requests for comment.\n",
        "title": "Czech Billionaire Opens Abu Dhabi SPVs After Short-Seller Attack"
    },
    {
        "id": 1144,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-brazils-gol-says-delayed-142616660.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds background, quotes after paragraph 2)\nSAO PAULO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Brazilian airline Gol on Thursday dubbed the delay in deliveries of 737 MAX aircraft by Boeing its \"main challenge,\" with Chief Executive Celso Ferrer saying the carrier's growth has been constrained by the issue.\nGol expected to have 53 MAX planes flying at this point but by September it had only 38, Ferrer said at an investor event, adding that the company was \"counting on those planes\" to renew its fleet and take the pressure off its maintenance team.\n\"The less we receive on the MAX and the new technology, the more pressure we have on our engine maintenance backlog,\" Ferrer said, noting that older planes the carrier has in its fleet were supposed to be returned.\nThe Brazilian firm flies solely Boeing 737 jets, with its 136-plane fleet including 737-700, 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 aircraft.\n\"Once we don't take delivery of the MAXs, we create two problems: less capacity and a big pressure on the maintenance side,\" Ferrer said, adding that as a result of the supply chain issues Gol's capacity remains below 2019 levels.\n\"This is constraining our growth. We are not able to grow at the pace we had planned,\" Ferrer said.\nReuters reported last week, citing sources, that Boeing had signaled to suppliers that plans to ramp up production of its bestselling 737 narrowbody jetliner would move about\ntwo months more slowly\nthan originally anticipated.\nAircraft makers have been grappling with supply chain bottlenecks and production disruptions. Gol hopes that MAX aircraft will account for 80% of its fleet by 2028. (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Mark Potter and Mark Porter)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Brazil's Gol says delayed Boeing deliveries 'main challenge'"
    },
    {
        "id": 1145,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-cheered-best-fed-140918189.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Wednesday’s sweeping rally across financial assets was something unseen in almost 15 years for a Federal Reserve policy decision day.\nFrom stocks to Treasuries, credit to commodities, everything was up after the Fed projected more interest-rate cuts in 2024. The scope and intensity can be illustrated by a measure that tracks the lowest return of the five major exchange-traded funds following these assets. With gains of at least 1%, the pan-asset advance beat all other Fed days since March 2009.\nThe everything rally extends a trend from November, when economic data fueled optimism that the central bank has managed to cool inflation without dealing a blow to the economy. Pricing pressures have eased, while the labor market and consumer consumption are holding up.\nEncouraged by the benign backdrop, traders who have sought safety in big tech stocks are branching out to other corners of the market. The Russell 2000 small-caps barometer, for instance, jumped 3.5% Wednesday, more than double the gains for the Nasdaq 100.\nStocks continued their advance Thursday while Treasury yields pulled back. Futures on the S&P 500 added 0.5% as of 9 a.m. in New York. Ten-year rates dipped below 4%, down from a high of 5% seen in October.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street Cheered Best Fed Day Since 2009 on Rate Cut Elation"
    },
    {
        "id": 1146,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-holds-rates-inflation-sinking-134327538.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold for a second meeting with inflation tumbling, but said it will step up its exit from €1.7 trillion ($1.8 trillion) of pandemic-era stimulus.\nThe deposit rate was left at a record 4% — as predicted by all 59 economists in a Bloomberg survey — with the ECB reiterating that this level will make a “substantial contribution” to returning consumer-price growth to its 2% goal.\nOfficials, meanwhile, said they’d accelerate the end of reinvestments under the PEPP bond-buying program. That will put all policy tools into tightening mode, even as fresh projections showed a weaker economy softening the inflation outlook.\n“The Governing Council’s future decisions will ensure that its policy rates will be set at sufficiently restrictive levels for as long as necessary.,” the ECB said Thursday in a statement. But it dropped wording that inflation is “expected to remain too high for too long,” saying instead that it will “decline gradually over the course of next year.”\nThe euro held steady against the US dollar, while German bonds marginally pared earlier gains. The spread between Italian and German 10-year yields dropped below 170 basis points, with some investors having anticipated more radical action on PEPP.\nTraders pulled back bets on ECB rate cuts next year, now seeing 155 basis points of easing compared with about 160 basis points earlier in the session.\nLeaving borrowing costs unchanged mirrors decisions during the past day by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. But while Fed Chair Jerome Powell supercharged global wagers on rate reductions by saying discussions on the topic have begun, ECB President Christine Lagarde is expected to join the BOE in pushing back against such expectations.\nBehind the enthusiasm for wagers on easing is a steeper-than-expected plunge in inflation, to 2.4% in November. The ECB’s latest quarterly forecasts offered further grounds for optimism, showing price gains at 2.7% next year and 2.1% in 2025. In 2026, they’re seen at 1.9%.\nProgress on inflation may also have influenced the announcement on PEPP. Several officials had expressed a preference for an earlier phase-out, before rates are lowered, to avoid sending conflicting messages to markets down the line.\nThe step means, however, that the ECB loses some capacity to tackle friction on European bond markets, as reinvestments can be deployed flexibly across jurisdictions.\nA lot will depend on the broader economy, which analysts reckon is suffering its first recession since Covid struck — albeit a far milder downturn. The ECB now sees gross domestic product only advancing by 0.6% this year and 0.8% next.\nWith the economy not crashing, though, wages and their capacity to reignite inflation will be a greater focus for the ECB. Negotiated pay in the euro area increased by 4.7% in the third quarter — the fastest pace in decades. Important bargaining rounds will only happen next year, meaning uncertainty over the path for prices is set to persist.\n--With assistance from William Horobin, James Regan, Daniel Hornak, Kamil Kowalcze, Ben Sills, Alessandra Migliaccio, Alice Atkins, Harumi Ichikura, Joel Rinneby, James Hirai, Naomi Tajitsu, Sonja Wind, Craig Stirling, Christoph Rauwald, Angela Cullen, Laura Malsch, Laura Alviž and Alexey Anishchuk.\n(Updates with statement language in fourth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "ECB Holds Rates With Inflation Sinking But Hastens Bond Exit"
    },
    {
        "id": 1147,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ev-market-skepticism-cadillac-is-undeterred-as-it-unveils-its-new-vistiq-suv-140027852.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "While General Motors (GM) has been pumping the brakes, so to speak, on its once ambitious electric vehicle plans, its luxury brand Cadillac is still moving forward with its EV rollout.\nCadillac today unveiled the VISTIQ, a three-row EV SUV that sits between its two-row LYRIQ EV SUV, and range-topper ESCALADE IQ,\nVISTIQ is the third EV Cadillac has unveiled this year. It now becomes the fifth EV confirmed for Cadillac, with all five targeted to be in showrooms by the end of next year. Cadillac’s other two EVs are the OPTIQ entry-level crossover EV, and ultra-luxury CELESTIQ, which will be hand-built in Michigan.\nCadillac did not unveil pricing or specifics like electric range. But given where it is slotted in the product portfolio, expect it to start around $75,000 with more than 300 miles of range.\nCadillac is targeting upmarket, younger families with the VISTIQ, which has a similar footprint to its gas-powered XT6 three-row SUV.\n\"[For] the family that wants to try, and potentially have for the first time, something that's both a true American icon and luxury SUV - that's the vehicle for them,” said John Roth, Cadillac’s Global VP in an interview with Yahoo Finance.\nRoth hopes the VISTIQ - with its highly desired three-row SUV layout, and Ultium EV platform, may attract new, EV-curious customers to the Cadillac brand. Said Roth: “Consumers are telling us in our latest round of data that 60% of them are looking for an EV in their next purchase. And so as you set up a product portfolio, like our Cadillac EV portfolio.”\nAnd that’s most likely the reason why Cadillac is sticking with its aggressive EV rollout—its target consumers are upmarket. This echoes what GM President Mark Reuss told Yahoo Finance back in August during the Escalade IQ launch. \"We have a lot of demand for an Escalade or an SUV that is luxury, that’s an EV. We know that,\" Reuss said at the time.\nThat being said Cadillac isn’t dust-binning its gas-powered cars—like the Escalade SUV, XT SUV line, and popular CT4 and CT5 sedans. The Blackwing high-performance versions of the CT4 and CT5 were just named to Car and Driver 's10 Best Cars list.\n“We were talking about earlier about how just recently the US crossed that 1 million mark in terms of EVs sold, but obviously, there's still a big market for traditional gas powered cars,” Roth said. “And Cadillac has that two track thing going on with our gas powered cars and led by the Blackwings, which are getting so much press these days.”\nPras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "EV market skepticism? Cadillac is undeterred as it unveils its new VISTIQ SUV"
    },
    {
        "id": 1148,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/climate-tech-firm-climeworks-sell-140000391.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Peter Henderson\nSAN FRANCISCO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Carbon capture startup Climeworks said it has agreed to sell 80,000 metric tons of carbon credits to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) over 15 years, its biggest and longest-duration deal.\nIt is an important step toward building credibility for the nascent direct air capture (DAC) industry - which uses minerals and chemicals to suck carbon dioxide out of the air - as it ramps up commitments that will help it attract new funds for expansion.\nThe deal comes on the heels of a new global agreement to combat climate change.\nOther startups have signed similar deals: 1PointFive, a unit of oil company Occidental Petroleum, agreed to sell 250,000 tons of credits over 10 years to Amazon.com, and California-based Heirloom said in September it would sell 315,000 tons of credits to Microsoft.\nClimeworks Chief Financial Officer Andreas Aepli told Reuters that purchase commitments would show project financiers a clear income stream, crucial to raising money for construction of new plants. The 15-year tenure of the project was particularly important, he added.\n\"The longer we can stretch these agreements, the longer we can get customers to commit, the more financeable these plants become,\" he said.\nClimeworks and BCG declined to give the price of the credits. Earlier this year, Climeworks sold JPMorgan Chase credits for around $800 a ton. A similar price would put the new agreement at around $64 million.\nClimeworks' largest working project removes about 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. The $800 per ton price is about eight times more expensive than what experts think is likely to spur widescale adoption, illustrating the challenges facing the technology.\nStill, the world is expected to need to capture billions of tons of greenhouse gases annually to avoid disastrous climate change, U.N. scientists have said.\nClimeworks and other DAC firms in August were winners of the first round of a U.S.-funded project to build hubs that could remove millions of tons of CO2. (Reporting by Peter Henderson; editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "Climate-tech firm Climeworks to sell carbon credits to BCG"
    },
    {
        "id": 1149,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sustainable-finance-newsletter-ferc-spotlight-140000601.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Ross Kerber\nDec 14 (Reuters) - Last May I wrote about efforts by Republican elected officials in proceedings before a U.S. utility regulator to question the role that big index funds had taken in their ownership of major utilities.\nNow it looks like those efforts might have prompted some action, based on a Sunshine Notice posted about a meeting on Dec. 19 at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). It's interesting partly because a liberal advocacy group has raised similar concerns about the growing influence of the big funds, which could soon be aired out.\nYou can read more about the matter below. This week I've also highlighted a story by myself and colleagues showing how corporations worldwide are getting into DIY Carbon Pricing, absent much formal guidance from regulators. And don't miss a smart analysis by colleagues about how sustainable fund managers aren't so impressed by a COP28 emissions-reduction pledge by oil majors.\nPlease connect with me on LinkedIn where I welcome comments and feedback. If you have a news tip, potential content, or general thoughts feel free to email me at (And yes, this newsletter usually comes out on Wednesday, but this was a busy week.)\nThis week's Most-Read\nBig Oil's bid to woo ESG investors fails to impress\nNo global carbon price? Some companies set their own\nStorm hitting Chinese ports is a wakeup call for climate risk to markets\nFERC spotlight looms for BlackRock & Vanguard Pressure on BlackRock and Vanguard over the size of their utility holdings may produce some guidance from the top U.S. energy regulator on the lingering question of whether index funds have gotten too big.\nFERC has listed as an agenda item \"Federal Power Act Section 203 Blanket Authorizations for Investment Companies\" for a Dec 19 meeting. Section 203 allows the commission to regulate changes in utility ownership.\nFERC representatives did not give more detail, but the commission has been grappling with questions about big index funds raised by liberals and conservatives alike. Tyson Slocum, a director for the liberal advocacy group Public Citizen, said he expects FERC will begin some kind of review or public discussion about the broad authorizations the commission has granted BlackRock and Vanguard to own big utility stakes.\n\"I think they're going to propose some sort of standards to qualify for blanket authorizations, which may mean they're going to place some limits on it,\" Slocum said. Together running some $16 trillion, BlackRock and Vanguard face concerns about their impact on markets and corporate governance. Each has received authorizations from FERC to exceed ownership limits, like one to Vanguard allowing it to own up to 20% of utility voting securities, with no one fund owning more than 10%.\nA group of Republican attorneys general had protested that waiver, saying Vanguard was no longer just a passive investor because of steps like supporting calls for corporate greenhouse gas disclosures. On May 10, a larger group of Republican AGs requested FERC review a 2022 authorization given to BlackRock, and they renewed their request on Dec. 6.\nFERC's four current commissioners include two Democrats and two Republicans. When I asked about the attorney generals' concerns the only response I got came from a representative of Republican commissioner Mark Christie referring me to comments he made in 2022 when granting BlackRock's authorization. Praising the views of Public Citizen's Slocum, Christie wrote that \"With regard to this Commission’s regulation of electric utilities, the important question is whether huge asset managers like BlackRock are able to exert undue pressure on regulated public utilities or their holding companies to engage in practices that may undermine their primary responsibilities of delivering reliable power to consumers at just and reasonable rates.\" Further scrutiny is warranted, he wrote.\nChristi Tezak, managing director of researcher Clear View Energy Partners, said she expects FERC next week may seek comments on questions like how it should treat cumulative passive investments by related entities such as groups of funds managed by one company, and what if any changes the commission might make to its oversight. She cautioned that FERC does not regulate the overall size of asset managers, and that no final action is likely for months or longer. \"Whatever comes out next won't be written overnight,\" she said.\nRepresentatives for the AGs who led the Dec. 6 motion, Utah's Sean Reyes and Indiana's Todd Rokita, each declined to comment on the upcoming hearing.\nBlackRock declined to comment. In a May 25 filing asking FERC to deny the AG's motion, BlackRock said it only \"encourages sound corporate governance and business practices\" at portfolio companies and does not co-ordinate proxy votes with others. Vanguard declined to comment. It had previously told FERC that its funds do not exert control over the decisions of the utilities.\nCompany News In a ruling that could upend the app store economy, Epic Games prevailed in its high-profile antitrust trial over Alphabet's Google. Epic had alleged the Play app operated as an illegal monopoly, and convinced a jury on all counts.\nMiner Glencore said it will publish an updated climate transition plan in March, under pressure after big investors including BlackRock rejected the company's climate report last May.\nJoining efforts to pressure automaker Tesla into accepting collective bargaining rights, Sweden's Transport Workers' Union said it would stop collecting waste at the company's workshops in the country.\nOn my radar There is a lot to track coming off the COP28 climate summit around how big an impact the global agreement to start reducing fossil fuel consumption actually makes, including how much help developed countries will offer the rest of the world and the role of technologies like carbon capture. We're not far off from the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland set for Jan 15-19. This year's theme is \"Rebuilding Trust\" according to its website. (Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "Sustainable Finance Newsletter - FERC spotlight looms for BlackRock & Vanguard"
    },
    {
        "id": 1150,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stellantis-reviews-rollout-european-dealer-135807110.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "MILAN (Reuters) - Stellantis is reviewing the timing and structure of a planned reorganisation of its European dealers' network after a four-country pilot programme revealed IT glitches, a spokesperson for the automaker said on Thursday.\nAs part of efforts to cut costs and support investments for electrification, the world's third-largest automaker has ended its previous contracts with European dealers and is moving towards a new distribution framework based on an \"agency model\".\nIn an agency model, carmakers take more direct control of sales transactions and prices, while dealers focus on deliveries and servicing and no longer act as the customer's contractual partner.\nIn September, Stellantis tested the model in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with an initial plan to roll it out across Europe next year for premium and light commercial vehicle brands, and for large volume brands by 2027.\nThe spokesperson said the Franco-Italian group, owner of brands including Fiat and Peugeot, now planned to advance with a market by market approach, involving all the group's brands at a time for each individual market.\n\"The pilot phase did not give the expected results on the IT side so our aim is now to reduce complexity in comparison with the previous plan,\" he said. \"This way, we're also accelerating the implementation of the whole process\".\nThe reshuffle is now scheduled to involve a new market every three months, with a 6-10 week test period for each before full implementation.\nThe process is now scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026 in the group's 10 large European markets, where it has a direct commercial base.\nThe news was first disclosed earlier on Thursday in an interview with Automotive News Europe given by Uwe Hochgeschurtz, Stellantis Chief Operating Officer for the group's 'enlarged Europe' region.\n(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Keith Weir)\n",
        "title": "Stellantis reviews rollout of European dealer rejig amid IT complexity"
    },
    {
        "id": 1151,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-low-cost-e-commerce-135649814.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds Shein response in paragraph 4)\nBy Casey Hall\nSHANGHAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - PDD Holdings' international facing discount e-commerce platform, Temu, filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District of Columbia court on Wednesday alleging rival Shein employed \"Mafia-style intimidation\" to coerce suppliers that also worked with Temu.\nAccording to the filing, Boston-based company WhaleCo Inc, which operates in the U.S. as Temu, alleges China-founded, Singapore-based rival Shein misused intellectual property legislation to stop merchants and suppliers working with Temu.\nIt also claimed Shein \"falsely imprisoned\" vendors who dealt with Temu by detaining merchant representatives in Shein's offices for many hours, confiscating their electronic devices and threatening them with penalties for doing business with Temu.\n\"We believe this lawsuit is without merit and we will vigorously defend ourselves,\" Shein said in reply to a request for comment on the lawsuit.\nBoth firms, which have roots in China, have seen their businesses boom in the U.S. market in recent years as inflation and cost-of-living pressures have helped attract consumers to low-cost e-commerce offerings, such as Shein's $5 T-shirts and Temu's $3 earphones.\nThe bulk of suppliers for both companies are in China and a spokesperson for Temu confirmed the alleged infractions involved Chinese vendors.\n\"We sued Shein because recently their actions have escalated. They began to illegally detain merchants, forcibly asking for their phones, stealing our merchant accounts and passwords, stealing our business secrets, and simultaneously forcing merchants to leave our platform,\" the spokesperson said.\nThe lawsuit also alleges that Shein poached Temu's key marketing and advertising personnel. It did not specify where they were based.\nThis is not the first time the fierce rivals have traded barbs in legal suits filed in U.S. courts. Both companies withdrew actions filed against one another in October without giving a reason.\nShein's previous U.S. lawsuit against Temu alleged Temu told social media influencers to make disparaging remarks about the fast-fashion retailer, and tricked customers into downloading the Temu app using \"imposter\" social media accounts.\nIn July, Temu filed its own lawsuit in a Boston federal court, accusing Shein of violating U.S. antitrust law in its dealings with clothing manufacturers.\nLast month, Shein confidentially filed to list publicly in New York in what could be a $90 billion float, renewing scrutiny of its business practices and supply chain. (Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Brenda Goh, Jamie Freed and Mark Potter)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Low-cost e-commerce player Temu files new lawsuit against rival Shein"
    },
    {
        "id": 1152,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/motor-racing-aramco-becomes-aston-135443174.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian energy giant Aramco has signed a new five-year agreement to become exclusive title sponsor of the Aston Martin Formula One team from next season, both parties announced on Thursday.\nThe team previously had U.S.-based IT company Cognizant as joint title sponsor with Aramco but will be known officially as Aston Martin Aramco from January. Cognizant will remain as a strategic partner.\nSaudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) recently increased its stake in British luxury carmaker Aston Martin to 20.5%.\nAramco is also a global partner of Formula One and title sponsor of a number of races.\nCanadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll owns the Formula One team and is also chair and top shareholder in the separate car company.\n\"We already enjoy an important strategic relationship (with Aramco) and their support as our title partner for the next five years is a clear demonstration of our shared ambition,\" said Stroll in a statement.\n\"Since 2022, they have played a key role in Aston Martin’s Formula One journey and their contribution will only become more significant in the years ahead.\"\nAston Martin finished last season fifth overall with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll as their drivers. The team will switch from Mercedes to Honda engines from 2026. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)\n",
        "title": "Motor racing-Aramco becomes Aston Martin's sole F1 title sponsor"
    },
    {
        "id": 1153,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-retail-sales-unexpectedly-rebound-135051339.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in November as the holiday shopping season got off to a brisk start, which should keep the economy on a moderate growth path this quarter.\nRetail sales rebounded 0.3% last month, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Thursday. Data for October was revised lower to show sales falling 0.2% instead of dipping 0.1% as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales edging down 0.1%.\nRetail sales are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation. Spending has cooled from a robust pace earlier this year amid higher borrowing costs.\nThe Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday and signaled in new economic projections that the historic tightening of monetary policy engineered over the last two years is at an end and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.\nExcluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales increased 0.4% last month. Data for October was revised lower to show these so-called core retail sales gaining unchanged instead of the previously reported 0.2% gain. Core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of GDP.\nEconomists expect inflation-adjusted consumer spending to grow at about a 2% annualized rate this quarter, slower than the 3.6% pace notched in the third quarter.\nThe Atlanta Fed is forecasting GDP to rise at a 1.2% rate in the fourth quarter, below what Fed officials regard as the non-inflationary growth rate of around 1.8%. October-December growth is also seen restrained by a wider trade deficit and slower inventory accumulation.\nThe economy accelerated at a 5.2% rate in the July-September quarter. Though growth is cooling, most economists do not expect a recession, with the labor market continuing to churn out jobs at a healthy clip.\nA separate report from the Labor Department on Thursday showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 202,000 for the week ended Dec. 9. Economists had forecast 220,000 claims for the latest week.\nThe number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, increased 20,000 to 1.876 million during the week ending Dec. 2, the claims report showed.\nThe so-called continuing claims have mostly increased since mid-September, blamed largely on difficulties adjusting the data for seasonal fluctuations after an unprecedented surge in filings for benefits early in the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\"The stable trend in initial claims is a more accurate reflection of current labor market conditions than the inflated increases in the continuing claims series since the summer,\" said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP in New York.\n(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "US retail sales unexpectedly rebound in November; weekly jobless claims fall"
    },
    {
        "id": 1154,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/retail-sales-0-3-november-134600418.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "NEW YORK (AP) — Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying.\nRetail sales rose 0.3%, in November from October, when sales were down a revised 0.2% according to the Commerce Department on Thursday. That is a little stronger than expected. Excluding car and gas sales, sales were up 0.6%.\nAt restaurants, business rose 1.6%., while sales at furniture stores rose 0.9%. Online sales rose 1%. Electronic and appliance sales, however, were down 1.1% Sales at department stores fell 2.5%. The figures aren’t adjusted for inflation.\nThe urge to spend for Americans appears to have some running room, even after a blowout summer. Consumer spending jumped in the July-September quarter.\nU.S. employment data last week showed that employers added 199,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate declined to 3.7%. Inflation has plummeted in little over a year from a troubling 9.1%, to 3.2%. While that's still above the desired level, the economy by most counts is likely to avoid the recession many economists had feared, a potential side effect of U.S. attempts to cool inflation.\nYet people remain gloomy, according to the University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment. The preliminary December figures issued Friday showed moods have improved as more people see inflation cooling.\n",
        "title": "Retail sales up 0.3% in November, showing how Americans continue to spend"
    },
    {
        "id": 1155,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-hits-four-month-134007912.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates after ECB decision at 1329 GMT)\nBy Samuel Indyk\nLONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The dollar touched a fresh four-month low on Thursday after the Federal Reserve indicated that its interest-rate hiking cycle has ended and that lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.\nOn a busy day for policy announcements in Europe, the euro held gains after the European Central Bank said policy rates would be set at sufficiently restrictive levels for as long as necessary and the pound rose after the Bank of England held interest rates in a \"finely balanced\" decision.\nMeanwhile, the Norwegian crown strengthened after a surprise rate hike and the Swiss franc was little changed after the Swiss National Bank held rates.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell said at Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that the historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view\". The Fed's projections implied 75 basis points of cuts next year, from the current level.\n\"The Fed was very dovish yesterday,\" said Athanasios Vamvakidis, global head G10 FX strategy, BofA Global Research, who was expecting the 2024 projections to show three rate cuts.\n\"This was a close call and the strong consensus in any case was for a balanced tone by Powell. Instead, Powell doubled-down, with a very dovish tone.\"\nThe U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped as far as 102.27, its lowest since Aug. 10. It was last down 0.5% at 102.37.\nMarkets are now pricing a 90% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared with around 65% a week earlier. Traders are pricing around a 20% chance that the Fed cuts rates next month.\nCENTRAL BANKS IN EUROPE OFFER MIXED OUTLOOK\nThe ECB kept interest rates at a record high, as expected, and offered no clues about whether easing of policy was around the corner, even as markets have priced rate cuts from early next year.\nThe euro, which had already been higher against the weak dollar, held gains after the announcement. It was last up 0.4% at $1.0922 before ECB President Christine Lagarde's press conference at 1345 GMT.\nThe Swiss National Bank had earlier kicked off Europe's busy day of central bank announcements by holding rates steady at 1.75%, as expected. The franc remained weaker against the euro but a touch stronger against the softer dollar after the announcement, as the SNB acknowledged that inflationary pressure has decreased slightly over the past quarter.\nThe Norwegian crown meanwhile rose against both the euro and dollar after the Norges Bank unexpectedly raised rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%, adding that they would likely stay at that level for some time.\nThe pound rose 0.8% against the dollar to $1.2725, a two-week high, after the BoE voted 6-3 to leave interest rates at 5.25%, with policymakers Meg Greene, Jonathan Haskel and Catherine Mann preferring to have raised the bank rate by 25 basis points to 5.5%.\nIn contrast to the Fed, the committee said that interest rates would need to stay high for \"an extended period\".\n\"The main message remains that rates will remain high for as long as it takes, which effectively is a push-back to market pricing early cuts,\" said BofA's Vamvakidis.\n\"It was broadly as markets were expecting, but looks hawkish compared with the very dovish Fed yesterday,\" Vamvakidis added.\nThe yen continued to strengthen in the wake of the greenback's tumble, climbing to its highest since July 31 at 140.95 per dollar. It was last up around 0.8% at 141.75 per dollar.\nExpectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could end negative interest rates at its monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18-19 have largely been dampened, but the BOJ could make tweaks to its statement, such as language that the bank will not hesitate to ease further if necessary, said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.\nThat kind of change could be regarded as \"one step toward normalisation... so that could be positive for the Japanese yen\", he said.\nThe Australian dollar, meanwhile, hit a more than four-month high at $0.6728 after domestic net employment jumped by 61,500 in November, compared to an increase of around 11,000 that markets had been forecasting.\nThe kiwi rose more than 1% versus the greenback to as high as $0.6249, despite data showing the New Zealand economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter.\n(Reporting by Samuel Indyk and Brigid Riley; editing by Nick Macfie, Kirsten Donovan and Susan Fenton)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar hits four-month low after Fed pivots, ECB leaves rates unchanged"
    },
    {
        "id": 1156,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-applications-jobless-benefits-fall-133932837.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits fell last week as the labor market continues to thrive despite high interest rates and elevated costs.\nApplications for unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 to 202,000 for the week ending Dec. 9, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Analysts were expecting around 224,000.\nAbout 1.88 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended Dec. 2, 20,000 more than the previous week.\nJobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week.\nThe four-week moving average of jobless claim applications — which flattens out some of weekly volatility — fell by 7,750 to 213,250.\n",
        "title": "US applications for jobless benefits fall again as labor market continues to thrive"
    },
    {
        "id": 1157,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-cuts-inflation-projection-recent-133153420.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "FRANKFURT, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank cut some of its inflation projections on Thursday, putting price growth back at its 2% target in around two years and likely reinforcing bets that its next move will be a rate cut, perhaps as soon as the spring. The ECB ended an unprecedented string of rate hikes in September to combat runaway inflation but price growth has been cooling faster than anyone had thought, so investors are now betting that it could start reversing course as soon as March. The euro zone's central bank now sees inflation at 2.7% next year, below the 3.2% projected three months ago, while the 2025 forecast remained at 2.1%. In the bank's first projection for 2026, inflation is seen at 1.9%. The growth outlook remained weak, however, reflecting expectations that any recovery after a poor 2023 will be slow as consumers have lost part of their real income to high inflation over the past two years. The economy of the 20-country euro zone is seen expanding by 0.8% next year after a 1.0% projection in September while in 2025, growth is seen at an unchanged 1.5%. The following are the ECB's projections for inflation and economic growth. Previous projections from September are in brackets. For 2026, the bank is releasing its initial forecast. 2023 2024 2025 2026 GDP growth: 0.6% (0.7%) 0.8% (1.0%) 1.5% (1.5%) 1.5% Inflation: 5.4% (5.6%) 2.7% (3.2%) 2.1% (2.1%) 1.9% (Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Catherine Evans)\n",
        "title": "ECB cuts inflation projection after recent dip"
    },
    {
        "id": 1158,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-opens-recall-probe-over-132524139.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. auto safety regulator said on Thursday it is opening an investigation into about 447,497 Audi A3 and Volkswagen Golf vehicles over reports alleging a fuel leak.\nThe U.S. Office of Defects Investigation is opening a recall probe to assess the remedy repair effectiveness of a previous recall issued by the company and to fully ascertain potential safety-related problems, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.\n(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru)\n",
        "title": "US opens recall probe into over 400,000 Volkswagen, Audi vehicles"
    },
    {
        "id": 1159,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-leaves-rates-unchanged-starts-132135716.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged as expected on Thursday and signalled an early end to its last remaining bond purchase scheme, wrapping up a decade-long experiment in hoovering up debt across the 20-nation euro zone.\nThe ECB raised interest rates to a record high earlier this year but unexpectedly benign inflation data over the past few months has all but ruled out further policy tightening, shifting the debate to how fast it will reverse course.\nLooking to stem these intensifying rate cut bets, the ECB did not even hint that policy easing was creeping over the horizon and instead maintained its guidance for steady rates ahead.\n\"The key ECB interest rates are at levels that, maintained for a sufficiently long duration, will make a substantial contribution to (the inflation) goal,\" the ECB said in a statement.\nMarkets on the other hand see two cuts by April and 155 basis points of easing in all of 2024, even though a host of conservative policymakers have tried to push back against those expectations in the run up to the December meeting.\nAttention now turns to ECB President Christine Lagarde's 1345 GMT news conference, where she is expected to temper rate cut bets but is unlikely to repeat her previous guidance that several quarters of steady rates are ahead.\nPulling the plug on its last bond-buying scheme, the 1.7 trillion euro Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme, the ECB said it will start tapering reinvestments from mid-2024.\nThe ECB said full reinvestment under the PEPP will end on June 30 and the portfolio will then fall by 7.5 billion euros per months until the end of the year.\nPreviously, all cash from maturing debt in the PEPP was set to be reinvested through the end of 2024 but a host of policymakers have argued the programme has fulfilled its purpose, so there was no economic logic behind keeping to the original end date.\nThe ECB's hesitation was likely because of a reluctance to give up its primary instrument for stabilising markets should investors pile undue pressure on some countries, particularly indebted nations around the Mediterranean.\nThe ECB could skew PEPP reinvestments towards certain countries and the scheme's demise leaves it with the Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI), an untested bond buying programme that has a much higher bar for deployment.\n(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Catherine Evans)\n",
        "title": "ECB leaves rates unchanged, starts pulling plug on bond buys"
    },
    {
        "id": 1160,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/call-centre-software-firm-aircall-131341349.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "PARIS (Reuters) - Aircall, a call centre software company that has been valued at around $1 billion, on Thursday named 41-year old Scott Chancellor as its new chief executive officer.\nChancellor, who was previously CEO of tech company Humu and who has also worked at Amazon Web Services, succeeds Olivier Pailhes, who co-founded Aircall. Pailhes will remain on the Aircall board of directors.\nAircall is among a cluster of tech companies, most notably Zoom, whose fortunes surged during the 2020 COVID pandemic, as many companies around the world resorted to working-from-home and hosting meetings and calls online.\nAircall, launched in Paris in 2014, is viewed as a success story from France's technology sector, although the company is now headquartered in New York.\n(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)\n",
        "title": "Call centre software firm Aircall names Scott Chancellor as new CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 1161,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sterling-strengthens-boe-says-rates-130254132.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds quote, additional context, updates prices at 1245 GMT)\nBy Alun John\nLONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Sterling firmed against the dollar and euro on Thursday, and British government bonds gave back some gains after the Bank of England held rates steady and pushed back against expectations of cuts in early 2024, in contrast to the Fed a day earlier.\nThe pound rose 0.78% to $1.2724, around a 10-day high. It also firmed versus the euro, which was down 0.32% at 85.92 pence.\nThe BoE said British interest rates needed to stay high for 'an extended period', as its Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to keep rates at a 15-year high of 5.25%, in line with economists' expectations in a Reuters poll last week.\nThe three policymakers who dissented wanted a further hike to 5.5%.\nThere was no discussion of cutting interest rates, and the BoE remains concerned that inflation in Britain will continue to be stickier than in the United States and the euro zone.\nFederal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday did little to challenge expectations of U.S. rate cuts for 2024 saying the Fed's tightening of monetary policy is likely over and a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs is coming \"into view.\"\nThat caused traders to increase bets on U.S. rate cuts and markets are now pricing around 150 basis points of easing from the Fed in 2024, a major increase from before the decision.\nA kneejerk reaction in British rate expectations after the BoE decision did not hold. Markets briefly pushed back the first fully-priced cut to June from May before the decision, though pricing was last pointing to one 25 basis point cut by May, and fully pricing in four by end 2024.\n\"The BoE seems keen to push back on markets getting carried away with cuts, which should largely be supportive for the currency,\" said Ed Hutchings, head of rates at Aviva Investors, adding that gilts could well retrace some of their very recent \"excessive gains\".\n\"Medium-term however, with weaker growth and past hikes still yet to feed through, it’s getting clearer that this interest rate hiking cycle is close to, if not, done. This should in time ultimately be supportive for gilts.”\nPrices of British government bonds, or gilts, pared their gains having earlier joined in the global bond rally on the back of rate-cut expectations.\nThe rate-sensitive two-year yield was last down 8 bps at 4.28% having earlier dropped to as low as 4.17%, its lowest since May, in sympathy with the decline across global bond yields, though yields had already been climbing back before the BoE decision.\nGermany's two year yield was down 15 bps.\nThe 10 year gilt yield was down 8 bps at 3.75%.\n(Reporting by Alun John; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "Sterling strengthens after BoE says rates to stay high, gilts pare gains"
    },
    {
        "id": 1162,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-ev-maker-zeekr-unveils-125209647.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Zeekr, the premium electric vehicle brand of Chinese automaker Geely, unveiled on Thursday lithium iron phosphate batteries it developed that support fast charging.\nZeekr becomes the latest manufacturer to launch such a battery in a competitive market, as it moves to cut dependence on external suppliers for the key component of electric vehicles, or EVs.\nAt its battery plant in the province of Zhejiang, the company said its upcoming 007 sedan would be the first model to be equipped with the batteries, which charge sufficiently within 15 minutes to reach a driving range of 500 km (300 miles), together with an 800-voltage electric system.\nZeekr's Chinese rival Nio, which has also been developing battery technologies of its own, plans to spin off its battery making unit to ease costs, Reuters reported this month.\nZeekr has used nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries from the world's largest battery maker, CATL, to power its 001 crossover and 009 multipurpose vehicles (MPV).\nCATL has also launched fast-charging batteries to be used in Li Auto's first pure electric MPV MEGA, enabling a driving range of 500 km (300 miles) with a charging time of 12 minutes.\n(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)\n",
        "title": "China EV maker Zeekr unveils fast-charging LFP battery"
    },
    {
        "id": 1163,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-government-guarantees-incur-around-124603964.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Changes sourcing, adds details)\nBERLIN, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Siemens Energy may have to pay around 500 million euros ($547 million) in fees over the next three years for 7.5 billion euros in state-backed project guarantees it secured last month, according to two people familiar with the matter.\nAt the time of the agreement, which capped weeks of major uncertainty for Siemens Energy, sources had told Reuters that the guarantees were envisaged to be in place for 2-3 years and tied to high costs.\nSiemens Energy, which was unable to get the guarantees from banks due to problems in their wind division and a subsequent credit downgrade, has since said that it would not be allowed to pay bonuses or dividends while it draws on Berlin's help.\nWirtschaftsWoche first reported the amount Siemens Energy may have to pay for the guarantees.\nA Siemens Energy spokesperson declined to comment on specific numbers, only saying that drawing on the state guarantees was considered a temporary solution, not a long-term one.\nGermany's Economy Ministry had no immediate comment. ($1 = 0.9143 euros) (Reporting by Rachel More, Christoph Steitz, Christian Kraemer and Linda Pasquini; Editing by Miranda Murray)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Government guarantees incur around $547 mln in fees for Siemens Energy - sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 1164,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-sinks-four-month-124018442.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates at 1220 GMT after Bank of England rate decision)\nBy Samuel Indyk\nLONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The dollar dropped to a fresh four-month low on Thursday after the Federal Reserve indicated that its interest-rate hiking cycle has ended and that lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.\nOn a busy day for policy announcements in Europe, the pound rose after the Bank of England held interest rates in a \"finely balanced\" decision, the Norwegian crown strengthened after a surprise rate hike and the Swiss franc was little changed after the Swiss National Bank held rates. The European Central Bank makes its policy announcement at 1315 GMT.\nFed Chair Jerome Powell said at Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that the historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view\". The Fed's projections implied 75 basis points of cuts next year, from the current level.\n\"The Fed was very dovish yesterday,\" said Athanasios Vamvakidis, global head G10 FX strategy, BofA Global Research, who was expecting the 2024 projections to show three rate cuts.\n\"This was a close call and the strong consensus in any case was for a balanced tone by Powell. Instead, Powell doubled-down, with a very dovish tone.\"\nThe U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped as far as 102.27, its lowest since Aug. 10. It was last down 0.5% at 102.36.\nMarkets are now pricing a more than 85% chance of a rate cut in March, according to CME FedWatch tool, compared with around 65% a week earlier. Traders are pricing around a 16% chance that the Fed cuts rates next month.\nCENTRAL BANKS IN EUROPE OFFER MIXED OUTLOOK\nThe SNB kicked off Europe's busy day of central bank announcements by holding rates steady at 1.75%, as expected. The franc remained weaker against the euro but a touch stronger against the softer dollar after the announcement, as the central bank acknowledged that inflationary pressure has decreased slightly over the past quarter.\nThe Norwegian crown meanwhile rose against both the euro and dollar after the Norges Bank unexpectedly raised rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%, adding that they would likely stay at that level for some time.\nThe pound rose 0.7% against the dollar to $1.2714, a 10-day high, after the BoE voted 6-3 to leave interest rates at 5.25%, with policymakers Meg Greene, Jonathan Haskel and Catherine Mann preferring to raise the bank rate by 25 basis points to 5.5%.\nIn contrast to the Fed, the committee said that interest rates would need to stay high for \"an extended period\".\n\"The main message remains that rates will remain high for as long as it takes, which effectively is a push-back to market pricing early cuts,\" said BofA's Vamvakidis.\n\"It was broadly as markets were expecting, but looks hawkish compared with the very dovish Fed yesterday,\" Vamvakidis added.\nThe ECB was also set to hold its interest rates when it announces policy later, with markets watching for communication around possible easing of policy in 2024.\nSince the last meeting, inflation has printed significantly lower than forecast, with markets questioning whether the ECB will sound more open to early policy easing.\n\"The probable answer is that the ECB will remain cautious and not want to provide further fuel for markets,\" said Lloyds Banking Group economist Hann-Ju Ho.\nThe yen continued to strengthen in the wake of the greenback's tumble, climbing to its highest since July 31 at 140.95 per dollar. It was last up around 0.8% at 141.63 per dollar.\nExpectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could end negative interest rates at its monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18-19 have largely been dampened, but the BOJ could make tweaks to its statement, such as language that the bank will not hesitate to ease further if necessary, said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.\nThat kind of change could be regarded as \"one step toward normalisation...so that could be positive for the Japanese yen\", he said.\nThe Australian dollar, meanwhile, hit a more than four-month high at $0.6728 after domestic net employment jumped by 61,500 in November, compared to an increase of around 11,000 that markets had been forecasting.\nThe kiwi rose more than 1% versus the greenback to as high as $0.6249, despite data showing the New Zealand economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter.\n(Reporting by Samuel Indyk and Brigid Riley; editing by Nick Macfie, Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar sinks to four-month low as Fed pivots, sterling extends gains after BoE"
    },
    {
        "id": 1165,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/german-public-prosecutor-brings-charges-123001618.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BERLIN, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Prosecutors in Munich said on Thursday they have brought charges against another former Wirecard board member, long-time chief financial officer Burkhard Ley.\nWirecard collapsed in June 2020 over a 1.9-billion-euro ($2.08 billion) hole in its balance sheet, shaking up Germany's business establishment and turning the spotlight on politicians who backed it as well as regulators who took years to investigate allegations against the firm.\nProsecutors accuse Ley of market manipulation, commercial and organised fraud, and breach of trust, among other things.\nAs CFO, and later as an adviser to the board, Ley, together with ex-Wirecard boss Markus Braun and other top managers, manipulated sales by helping to fabricate the alleged billion-dollar business with third-party customers in Asia, according to the prosecutors.\nThey said the incorrect figures were intended to drive up the price of Wirecard shares, while the manipulated annual financial statements served to raise money from banks. In total, the damage amounted to several hundred million euros.\nLey's lawyers rejected the accusations as unfounded and said he had left the company before the main events of the scandal unfolded.\nHe then received a \"strategic consultancy contract\", which had nothing to do with the operational processes at Wirecard, Ley's lawyer Norbert Scharf told Reuters on Thursday.\nIf the Munich Regional Court accepts the charges, Ley would be the fourth ex-Wirecard executive to have to face trial.\nWhereabouts of former chief operating officer Jan Marsalek, who was responsible for the Asian business, are unknown, while former boss Braun and two other ex-managers are on trial for falsifying accounts and organised fraud.\nThey were accused of conspiring to invent vast sums of phantom revenues through bogus transactions with partner companies to mislead creditors and investors.\nBraun has denied any wrongdoing, accusing other managers of scheming behind his back. ($1 = 0.9148 euros) (Reporting by Christina Amann and Alexander Huebner, Writing by Linda Pasquini Editing by Miranda Murray and Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "German public prosecutor brings charges against ex-Wirecard CFO"
    },
    {
        "id": 1166,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-bank-england-pushes-back-122647102.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds market and economist reaction in paragraphs 5 and 9-10)\nBy David Milliken, Andy Bruce and Suban Abdulla\nLONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The Bank of England stuck to its guns on Thursday and said British interest rates needed to stay high for \"an extended period\", a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled it would cut U.S. interest rates next year.\nThe BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to keep rates at a 15-year high of 5.25%, in line with economists' expectations in a Reuters poll last week.\nThe three dissenting votes were in favour of raising rates and there was no discussion of cutting them as the BoE remains concerned that inflation in Britain will continue to be stickier than in the United States and the euro zone.\nThe central bank also largely shrugged off data showing a slowdown in wage growth and a 0.3% fall in gross domestic product in October - which raises the prospect of a recession in the run-up to a national election expected for 2024.\nSterling jumped by half a cent against the U.S. dollar, investors pushed out expectations for a first BoE rate cut and British government bond prices pared back much of the gain they had made in the wake of Wednesday's Fed statement.\nThe BoE's policy stance - which assumes a gradual fall in interest rates to 4.25% in three years' time - is sharply at odds with the latest market expectations which see rates dropping to that level before the end of next year.\n\"Successive rate rises have helped bring inflation down from over 10% in January to 4.6% in October. But there is still some way to go. We'll ... take the decisions necessary to get inflation all the way back to 2%,\" Governor Andrew Bailey said.\nThe three policymakers who dissented wanted a further hike to 5.5%, and for most of the remainder the decision not to raise rates had been \"finely balanced\", minutes of their policy discussion showed.\nAthanasios Vamvakidis, global head of G10 FX strategy at Bank of America, said the BoE's main message about rates staying high \"effectively is a push-back to market pricing early cuts\".\nThe statement \"looks hawkish compared with the very dovish Fed yesterday\", he added.\nSTANCE UNCHANGED\nThe BoE's main policy message is unchanged from November, when it forecast it would take two years to return inflation to target.\nAlthough the near-term outlook for inflation was likely to be slightly lower than the BoE expected last month, policymakers' longer-term concerns remained.\n\"Relative to developments in the United States and the euro area, measures of wage inflation were considerably higher in the United Kingdom and services price inflation had fallen back by less so far,\" the BoE said.\nHowever, British 10-year government bond prices have fallen by a full percentage point since late October as markets bet on looser central bank policy in Britain as well as abroad.\nThe BoE noted that bond yields had fallen \"materially\" and said it would take this into account in its next quarterly forecast update in February.\nA Nov. 22 budget statement by finance minister Jeremy Hunt was likely to boost gross domestic product by a quarter of a percentage point over coming years, but have more limited inflation implications, the BoE added.\nThe only BoE policymaker to have discussed the timing of a rate cut recently has been Chief Economist Huw Pill who shortly after November's decision said the market expectations then for a first rate cut in August 2024 \"doesn't seem totally unreasonable\".\nTwo days later, Bailey said it was \"really too early\" to discuss when rates might be cut. (Additional reporting by Samuel Indyk; editing by Christina Fincher)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Bank of England pushes back against rate cut speculation"
    },
    {
        "id": 1167,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-stocks-rise-as-fed-pivot-fuels-euphoria-121738526.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "US stocks gained on Thursday, as investors continued to celebrate a dovish shift by the Federal Reserve that helped propel the Dow to a new all-time closing high.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added about 0.3%, setting the blue-chip index up to build on its record close above 37,000 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was up almost 0.6%, while contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) added 0.4%.\nThe gauges posted fresh 2023 highs in the wake of the Fed's policy decision, which signaled the Fed is unlikely to hike interest rates further and that it could cut rates three times next year.\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nThat message surprised and thrilled investors, who welcomed the Fed's forecast of further cooling in inflation and no sharp rise in unemployment. Bonds rallied alongside stocks, sending the yield on the 10-year Treasury (^TNX) down below 4% on Thursday, for the first time since August.\nMeanwhile, oil prices moved up about 1.7% to come further off the five-month low hit earlier this week. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures traded at nearly $71 a barrel, while Brent crude futures (BZ=F) rose toward $76 a barrel.\nEyes are also on central bank decisions elsewhere on Thursday, for signs of a worldwide move to easing. The Bank of England kept its interest rates steady, as did the Swiss National Bank and the European Central Bank, though Norway's policymakers raised the benchmark rate in a surprise move.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Stock market news today: Stocks rise as Fed pivot fuels euphoria"
    },
    {
        "id": 1168,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/startups-face-grim-holiday-season-120013861.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- In a year when much of the tech industry has pulled back on spending, startups have been hit particularly hard. During the pandemic boom, investors were happy to bankroll promising young companies’ growth at any cost. Now, with new funding rounds all but evaporated, the order of the day is cuts.\nMore than 250,000 workers at tech companies of all sizes were let go this year, according to job tracker Layoffs.fyi. While that includes big reductions at giants like Meta Platforms Inc. and Google, thousands came from smaller, closely held companies facing their first reckoning with a slowdown. More than 500 startups closed their doors in 2023, according to equity management firm Carta Inc. — and many of those that endured are laying off workers and looking for alternative sources of cash.\nServe Automation Inc.’s Stellar Pizza, which uses robotics technology to make pizza, is one such business. The company cut half its workforce this year and announced a crowdfunding campaign to try to raise $1.24 million, which it said would give it runway to keep operating for five more months.\n“It’s a weird time in the venture world,” co-founder Benson Tsai said in an email. “I’m fighting the good fight to keep the business alive.”\nThe tone in most of the industry has changed from the boundless optimism of the latest tech boom. When the last round of layoffs struck in 2020, startup employees, especially engineers, were nonchalant, knowing they would quickly find another job. Today the industry has become less hospitable. “Salespeople and recruiters are leaving tech entirely” to get new positions, said Roger Lee, founder of Layoffs.fyi. “Even engineers are compromising — accepting roles with less stability, a tough work environment, or lower pay and benefits.”\nAcross tech companies of all sizes, 1,150 firms have cut 256,499 employees, according to Layoffs.fyi. That follows 1,064 companies cutting 164,969 employees last year. Because job losses tend to be concentrated in the December and January months, as companies plan their budgets for the new year, the worst could still be on the horizon.\nThe whiplash of fortunes has been jarring for some founders. Sri Artham started plant-based Hooray Foods in 2019, which met with rave customer reviews for its vegan bacon. The company landed a spot on Whole Foods shelves and delighted its customers, but struggled to grow fast enough to cover costs. By around May or June this year, Hooray’s problems became existential.\nIn retrospect, Artham said he might not have spent so much when times were better on costs like San Francisco office space, though he had limited flexibility because of Hooray’s need for custom manufacturing equipment. Unable to raise more money, in September Artham announced that the startup would close. “It was disappointing that investors pulled back,” he said.\nEven companies that raised huge checks shut down this year. Homebuilder Veev brought in $400 million before announcing it would liquidate its assets in November. Digital-freight logistics company Convoy raised $260 million before ceasing operations. And digital health care service Olive won a $400 million funding round before it closed six weeks ago. In each case, the companies’ latest financings came after they’d already received hundreds of millions.\nRead More: Class of 2024 Can’t Land Jobs as Hiring in Tech, Finance Wanes\nOther startups sold themselves at fire-sale prices after previously conducting layoffs. Videoconferencing upstart Loom had two rounds of job cuts last year, and then sold in October to Atlassian Corp. for $975 million — significantly less than Loom’s previous $1.53 billion valuation. Perimeter 81, a security startup, laid off workers last December, then sold to Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. in September for $490 million. That compares with a $1 billion valuation in the startup’s funding round last year.\nMax Elder, who is in the process of filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy to wind down his 3-year-old plant-based nuggets company Nowadays, says he wishes he had stopped fighting to survive a little earlier. That way, he’d still have some of the $10 million he raised in happier times to pay the legal fees and other costs associated with shutting down a business. Although he may have a buyer for some leftover ingredients, he can’t retrieve them until he pays some back rent on the warehouse where they’re stored.\nIf it’s impossible to raise money, some startups may see a more limited upside to staying in business. With funding tight, the kind of growth enabled by VC funding can feel increasingly out of reach. “Is this a question of living or dying?” Elder asks. “Or is this a question of building something at scale?” The latter still requires a lot of cash.\n",
        "title": "Startups Face Grim Holiday Season as Layoffs, Closures Mount"
    },
    {
        "id": 1169,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quantum-computing-mysteries-very-small-120000150.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By David Lague\nDec 14 (Reuters) - The world is on the cusp of a computing revolution based on quantum mechanics – the theory in physics that describes the behavior of matter and energy at the level of atoms and subatomic particles. Quantum science has also been explained by a U.S. government scientist as the “rules that describe how really small things behave.”\nThis field is full of surprises, even for the experts. Richard Feynman, the late theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate and pioneer of quantum computing, described the field as “peculiar and mysterious to everyone – both to the novice and the experienced physicist,” because it is so different to how people experience and perceive the behavior and properties of larger objects.\nQuantum mechanics was developed gradually in the early decades of the 20th century by some of the biggest names in physics. In recent decades, a range of potential applications emerged, including computing, with research now underway in more than a dozen countries, according to a report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic & International Studies.\nFor quantum computing, a turning point came in 1994 when American mathematician Peter Shor developed an algorithm – a mathematical procedure for performing a computation – which showed that quantum computers could be used to solve problems beyond the reach of classical computers.\nCodebreaking is likely to be an important early application. These computers are expected to be able to break encryption codes in minutes rather than the thousands of years that current computers would take, according to cybersecurity experts.\n(See a related Special Report on the codebreaking threat posed by quantum computing.)\nNorth America is the epicenter of quantum computing, according to industry experts. U.S. companies building quantum processors include IBM, Amazon, Intel, Google, Quantinuum, IonQ, Microsoft, Quantum Computing Inc and Rigetti Computing. In Canada, D-Wave Systems and Xanadu Quantum Technologies have been pioneers.\nThe United States, Canada and Britain were home to the biggest number of startups in the field as of 2022, according to a recent McKinsey report.\nIn January, China's Origin Quantum Computing Technology Company, based in Anhui Province, announced it had delivered a completely homemade quantum computer to a user, according to reports in China's state-controlled media. Some of China's tech giants including Baidu and Tencent are also working on quantum computing.\nOrigin Quantum did not respond to a request for comment.\nTo be sure, substantial engineering challenges must be overcome before these computers are truly useful. So far, only small computers with a relatively small number of qubits have been built in labs around the world, according to physics researchers. These computers are very fragile and the hardware is prone to “noise” such as fluctuations in the earth’s magnetic field or other electromagnetic signals, which leads to errors. And they are still too small to solve some challenging problems, including codebreaking.\n(See a related graphic on quantum computing and codebreaking.)\nBut some of these early quantum computers are now in use for initial research in a variety of fields. Auto giant Mercedes-Benz, for example, is now using IBM quantum computers to design better batteries, according to IBM. Some technologists predict these computers could soon become even more useful. They say combining these early machines with traditional processors can lead to important improvements in solving complex problems.\nThe Boston Consulting Group (BCG) forecast in a May report that business will reap benefits from quantum computing as early as 2025. Quantum's data processing has the potential to generate income of up to $850 billion for users by about 2035, the year by which BCG expects the technology to be mature, the company said in the report.\n(Reporting by David Lague in Hong Kong Editing by Marla Dickerson)\n",
        "title": "Quantum computing and the mysteries of \"very small things\""
    },
    {
        "id": 1170,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-eu-asks-apple-google-115831901.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds more detail, background)\nPARIS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Thursday said it had asked technology giants Apple and Google to clarify their risk management regarding their online platforms for purchasing apps under new regulation known as the Digital Services Act (DSA).\n\"The Commission is requesting the providers of these services to provide more information on how they have diligently identified any systemic risks concerning the App Store and Google Play\", the EU executive said in a statement.\nThe two firms were given a Jan. 15 deadline to reply.\nThey are part of a group of over a dozen of the world's biggest tech companies facing unprecedented legal scrutiny since the DSA came into force this year, including sweeping new obligations to tackle illegal content and online security risks.\nThe EU's list of questions also concerns transparency-related issues linked to recommender systems and online advertisements, the commission said, adding that potential next steps include the opening of formal proceedings.\n(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Tassilo Hummel)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-EU asks Apple, Google to clarify app store risk management"
    },
    {
        "id": 1171,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-asks-apple-google-clarify-114908827.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "PARIS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Thursday said it had asked technology giants Apple and Google to clarify their risk management regarding their online platforms for purchasing apps under new regulation known as the Digital Services Act.\n\"The Commission is requesting the providers of these services to provide more information on how they have diligently identified any systemic risks concerning the App Store and Google Play\", the EU executive said in a statement.\n(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Tassilo Hummel)\n",
        "title": "EU asks Apple, Google to clarify app store risk management"
    },
    {
        "id": 1172,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-bonds-india-10-yr-114204424.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Bhakti Tambe\nMUMBAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Indian government bond yields ended sharply lower on Thursday, with the 10-year yield hitting a near one-month low, after the U.S. Federal Reserve projected three rate cuts in 2024.\nThe benchmark 10-year bond yield ended at 7.1969%, its lowest level since Nov. 17, after ending the previous session at 7.2581%.\n\"Fed's tone changed from \"higher for longer\" to dovish commentary, which was a good surprise for the market, which led to strong rally in both global and local bonds,\" said Debendra Kumar Dash, senior vice president of treasury at AU Small Finance Bank.\nThe 10-year U.S. yield fell to its lowest since August, driven by projection by 17 out of 19 Fed officials that the policy rate will be lower by the end of 2024.\nThe 10-year U.S. yield plunged 17 basis points (bps) on Wednesday, and was hovering around 3.9488% during Asian hours.\nThe median projections now indicate a decline of three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 5.25-5.50% range for the Fed funds rate.\nMarkets are now projecting a 77% chance of the Fed cutting rates in March, with over 100 basis points (bps) of cuts priced in for next year.\nLast week, the Reserve Bank of India maintained its key repo rate at 6.50% for the fifth consecutive meeting, signalling continued tight monetary policy as it monitors inflation risks.\n\"While the RBI will not immediately follow Fed in terms of rate cuts, we may see change in RBI's stance and liquidity measures in the next policy,\" Dash added.\nMarket participants await Friday's weekly debt auction for further cues. New Delhi aims to raise 330 billion rupees ($3.96 billion) via bonds, which includes the benchmark bond and 50-year notes. ($1 = 83.3050 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bhakti Tambe; Editing by Varun H K)\n",
        "title": "INDIA BONDS-India 10-yr bond yield plunges to near 1-month low on dovish Fed tone"
    },
    {
        "id": 1173,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-guggenheim-oil-gas-bankers-113323229.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By David French\n(Reuters) - Six U.S. oil and gas bankers who missed out on a wave of mega deals in the oil patch after leaving mergers and acquisitions powerhouse Citigroup last year to join smaller firm Guggenheim Securities are now decamping to Moelis & Co, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe merry-go-round underscores the restlessness of dealmakers who try to get hired on big, high-prestige deals while working for firms that let them keep more of the advisory fees they generate. Energy and power has been the most active sector for dealmaking this year, accounting for $460.3 billion worth of transactions globally, up 4% year-on-year, according to LSEG.\nThe six bankers which Moelis has hired from Guggenheim include Muhammad Laghari, Alexander Burpee, Benjamin Dubois, and Ryan Staha, said the sources, who requested anonymity because the moves have not yet been announced.\nThe bankers, who previously worked at Citigroup together, are on gardening leave and will start at Moelis in the next few weeks, the sources added.\nMoelis and Guggenheim declined to comment.\nDealmaking has soared among oil and gas producers in the last two months, as companies seek to boost profitability by adding more and better acreage. Exxon Mobil clinched a $60 billion deal to buy Pioneer Natural Resources and Chevron announced a $53 billion agreement to buy Hess. Occidental Petroleum said on Monday it would buy closely held U.S. shale oil producer CrownRock for $12 billion including debt.\nWhile Citigroup advised Pioneer on its sale to Exxon, neither Guggenheim nor Moelis were on these deals.\nDeal-focused investment banking boutiques like Moelis and Guggenheim typically allow their bankers to keep more of their client fees compared with big bulge-bracket banks like Citigroup, which run more diverse businesses they have to pay for.\nGuggenheim ranks 19th in LSEG's league table for U.S. oil and gas deals this year with $5.8 billion of announced transactions, having been outside the top 25 advisers in 2022. Its largest mandate was helping Civitas Resources on its $4.7 billion purchase of energy producers from private equity firm NGP, which was announced in June.\nMoelis has also been a minor U.S. player. It is currently 25th in the same league table this year, and was outside the top 25 in 2022. It has close ties, however, to a number of major international energy clients, including Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.\n(Reporting by David French in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-Guggenheim oil and gas bankers leave for Moelis after mega-deal miss -sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 1174,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/snb-calls-end-hiking-cycle-091239535.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Swiss National Bank called an end to its tightening cycle and signaled a shift in currency policy as officials kept borrowing costs unchanged after inflation slowed emphatically.\n“Monetary conditions are adequate and we do not have to hint at any change of monetary policy in the future,” President Thomas Jordan told Bloomberg TV. “Price stability is already ensured given our newest inflation forecast.”\nWith prices rising more slowing than the central bank’s 2% ceiling, the SNB left its key interest rate at 1.75% for a second consecutive meeting on Thursday. While the institution is still willing to intervene in currency markets, Jordan said that can go in both directions and the SNB is no longer focusing on sales.\nEven though the SNB doesn’t forecast inflation to rise above its 2% ceiling before at least 2026, Jordan made it clear that for the time being hikes are off the table. Instead, lowering borrowing costs could be in the cards at future meetings.\n“In three months, we will look very carefully at the new forecast,” he told Bloomberg TV. “Depending on the situation then, we will adapt monetary policy.”\nStill, market expectations suggest that a rate cut will likely come already in March. Capital Economics’s Adrian Prettejohn says in a client note that overall the SNB will reduce borrowing costs by 75 basis points next year.\nWeakest Growth\nWith Switzerland facing the weakest growth in four years for 2024, inflation down to 1.4%, and the franc close to at an eight-year high against the euro, the central bank is in a holding pattern.\nJordan said that officials will have to change tack if the franc’s exchange rate made monetary conditions too restrictive. He cautioned that all forecasts are surrounded by high uncertainty at the moment.\nThe franc whipsawed following the decision against the dollar and poked up to its strongest in nearly five months. Against the euro, it slipped to its lowest in almost two weeks.\nSNB officials’ caution to embrace the prospect of rate cuts comes amid investor bets that the Federal Reserve and other global peers will do so soon. US officials released forecasts amounting to a pivot toward eventual easing.\nEuropean counterparts are under pressure to follow suit later on Thursday. Both the Bank of England and European Central Bank are anticipated to keep borrowing costs unchanged in their last decisions of 2023. Meanwhile, Norwegian officials delivered what is probably a final rate hike.\nStill, the SNB is likely to “start selling Swiss francs before considering rate cuts,” ING analysts Charlotte de Montpellier and Chris Turner wrote in a note. “There is nothing to suggest that rate cuts will be forthcoming soon.”\nAccording to their forecasts, the outlook will remain similarly benign. They envisage inflation of 2.1% for this year, 1.9% next and 1.6% in 2025.\nSNB’s tighter policy has started to weigh on growth, as the third quarter saw slim expansion after the second was revised to contraction. The central bank expects the Swiss economy to grow around 1% this year and in a range of 0.5% to 1% in 2024.\n--With assistance from Joel Rinneby, Alexey Anishchuk, Laura Malsch, Jana Randow, William Horobin, James Regan, Harumi Ichikura and Kristian Siedenburg.\n(Updates with Jordan quotes in Bloomberg TV interview from second paragraph)\n",
        "title": "SNB Calls End to Hiking Cycle, Signals Shift in Franc Policy"
    },
    {
        "id": 1175,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/telecom-italia-launches-microchip-boost-111641686.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "ROME (Reuters) - Telecom Italia (TIM) on Thursday launched a new microchip it has designed which is intended to boost cybersecurity in fields such as mobile devices, cloud infrastructure and defence systems.\nThe announcement was made during an event in Rome attended by Italy's Industry Minister Adolfo Urso and TIM Chief Executive Pietro Labriola.\nThe microchip \"represents a new tool for strengthening technological autonomy and sovereignty within the framework of national and European cybersecurity strategies\" by providing fully encrypted communications, TIM said in a statement.\nIt is also aimed at shielding critical infrastructure such as railway tracks, power grids, water networks and dams from cybersecurity threats, the company added.\nThe secure chip was entirely designed by TIM's unit Telsy -- which develops cybersecurity services and provides encrypted communications technology to customers such as public administration -- and manufactured through a European supply chain.\nEuropean Union countries and EU lawmakers last month agreed on rules to protect laptops, mobile apps and smart household devices connected to the internet from cyber threats following a spate of such attacks and ransom demands in recent years.\n(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, writing by Federico Maccioni, editing by Keith Weir)\n",
        "title": "Telecom Italia launches microchip to boost cybersecurity services"
    },
    {
        "id": 1176,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/futures-rise-feds-dovish-pivot-111346998.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures gained on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve hinted an end to its recent aggressive rate hikes and signaled that borrowing costs would be lower next year.\nThe Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, with Chair Jerome Powell saying the historic tightening of monetary policy was likely over, as inflation falls faster than expected, and discussions on cuts in borrowing costs were coming \"into view\".\nThe Fed had raised its policy rate by a market-punishing 525 basis points since March 2022 in an effort to curb decades-high inflation. On Wednesday, 17 of 19 Fed officials projected the policy rate would be lower by end-2024.\nThe dovish pivot in the central bank's statement triggered a rally in equities on Wednesday and sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index to a record closing high.\n\"Continuing disinflationary pressures has offered the Fed room to maneuver. Further, there are signs that rate hikes are loosening the labor market,\" said Emin Hajiyev, senior economist at Insight Investment.\n\"If the Fed can bring inflation down without these measures deteriorating much further, it strongly improves the central bank’s prospect of achieving a “soft landing” and avoiding a recession.\"\nMoney markets now see a 95.2% chance of at least a 25-basis-point rate cut in March 2024, up from about 50% before the policy decision, while fully pricing in another cut in May, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nTreasury yields also fell to multi-month lows following Wednesday's events, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note last standing at 3.95%. [US/]\nThe falling yields further cushioned equities, with megacap stocks like Alphabet, Tesla and Nvidia inching up between 0.8% and 1% before the bell.\nInvestors will now parse the retail sales data for November and the weekly jobless claims number, both due at 8:30 a.m. ET, for more clues on softening inflation.\nAt 5:30 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 81 points, or 0.22%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 14 points, or 0.29%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 69.5 points, or 0.41%.\nAmong single stocks, Occidental Petroleum added 1.7% premarket after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired nearly 10.5 million shares of the oil giant for about $588.7 million.\nAdobe shed 6.0% after the Photoshop maker forecast annual and quarterly revenue below estimates.\nFoot Locker rose 3.6% after Piper Sandler upgraded the sportswear retailer to \"overweight\" from \"neutral\".\n(Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "Futures rise after Fed's dovish pivot"
    },
    {
        "id": 1177,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-us-regulator-probes-banks-111225455.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Isla Binnie and Chris Prentice\n(Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) carried out its first climate risk assessment of more than two dozen banks in recent months, laying the groundwork for heightened scrutiny of Wall Street's accounting for such threats, people familiar with the matter said.\nDubbed a \"discovery review,\" the previously unreported process involved the regulator assessing how banks are accounting for the impact of climate change on their loan books and business, as well as exploring how they manage energy finance and greenhouse gas emissions, according to the sources.\nThe exams shed light on how the OCC plans to implement guidance on climate risk for banks with more than $100 billion in assets, which it issued in October together with the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. More than 30 banks meet this threshold, according to the latest OCC data available on its website.\nIdentifying and acting on this risk has been one of U.S. President Joe Biden's key administration priorities.\nThe regulator used the discovery review to establish a baseline of banks' practices so it has a yardstick with which to assess their progress in implementing the guidance, the sources said. The OCC may take disciplinary action as early as next year against banks that do not show progress, the sources added, requesting anonymity to discuss confidential regulatory matters.\nAn OCC spokesperson acknowledged carrying out the discovery review but declined to comment on the details.\n\"The OCC's focus on and supervision of climate-related financial risk is firmly rooted in its mandate to ensure that national banks and federal savings associations operate in a safe and sound manner. The OCC's approach is focused on banks' risk management, not on setting industrial policy,\" the spokesperson said.\nThe information-gathering visits, which happened mostly in the second half of 2023, involved multiple meetings with the banks over several days, three of the sources said.\nSpecialists in risk management, operations, monitoring and audit were called to the meetings, according to the sources. Chief risk officers attended some of the meetings, two of the sources said.\nBankers handling relationships with clients, compliance and risk officers and auditors were asked about climate risk to see if they responded coherently, one of the sources added.\nOCC officials also sent lengthy requests for information on dozens of points to banks, ranging from how they would prepare for a shift to low-carbon energy to how they use data and monitor progress towards targets, the sources said.\nExaminers also wanted to know how banks' public comments on climate align with their investment plans and risk appetite, two of the sources said.\nOCC staff were at times joined by officials from the Federal Reserve Board, one source said, and in other cases by representatives of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) of the Bank of England, another of the sources added. It is not unusual for the OCC to share information with the Bank of England and other foreign regulators through memorandums of understanding to better supervise global banks.\nA PRA spokesperson declined to comment.\n'PRUDENCE DEMANDS IT'\nMichael Hsu, who became acting OCC Comptroller in 2021, was among the first banking regulators to push for the sector to assess and manage its risk to climate change.\nHsu told U.S. lawmakers in October that the OCC has worked with large banks to better understand and help them mitigate climate-related financial risks, and that it plans to monitor these frameworks in the future.\n\"They should not wait for disaster to strike before they act. Prudence demands that regulators and the industry adapt as risks emerge,\" he said.\nThe OCC appointed its first-ever Chief Climate Risk Officer in July 2021. Former banker Nina Chen, who had also worked at major non-profit The Nature Conservancy, has been serving in that role since September 2022.\nFederal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said his agency \"is not and will not be a climate policymaker.\" The U.S. central bank has taken the lead on a separate, more narrowly targeted exercise which required the six biggest U.S. banks to map out what extreme weather and the transition to cleaner forms of energy will do to their assets and investments.\nThat review included Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. This process has now wrapped up, with the Federal Reserve expected to publish aggregated findings shortly, a source familiar with the matter said.\nSpokespeople for the Fed and all the banks declined to comment.\n(Reporting by Isla Binnie and Chris Prentice in New York; Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar in New York and Pete Schroeder in Washington; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Nick Zieminski)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-US regulator probes banks' climate risk planning"
    },
    {
        "id": 1178,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-sec-face-off-111126011.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Chris Prentice\n(Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will face off with lawyers for Elon Musk in a San Francisco court on Thursday as it tries to force the billionaire to testify again for its probe of his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.\nThe SEC sued Musk in October to compel him to testify as part of an investigation into his 2022 purchase of social media giant Twitter, which he subsequently renamed X. Musk refused to attend a September interview for the probe, the SEC said.\nThe agency is examining whether Musk, the world's richest person, followed the law when filing the required paperwork with the agency about his purchases in Twitter stock, and whether his statements in relation to the deal were misleading.\nThe court hearing is the latest spat in a years-long feud between Musk and the top U.S. markets regulator, dating back to 2018 when he tweeted that he had \"funding secured\" to take the electric carmaker private.\nThe SEC has been probing Musk's Twitter takeover since April 2022, when he first disclosed he had purchased stock in the company. Musk gave the SEC documents for its probe and testified via videoconference for two half-day sessions that July, the SEC said in its filing. SEC attorneys said they have more questions for Musk after receiving new documents, and had sought additional testimony in September, but Musk would not comply.\nIn response to the SEC's October lawsuit, Musk's lawyers urged U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler to deny the SEC's request, calling the probe misguided. \"The SEC's pursuit of Mr. Musk has crossed the line into harassment,\" they wrote in a filing last month. They argued that individual SEC attorneys do not have the legal authority to issue subpoenas for testimony.\nThe SEC rejected those claims, saying agency officials have legal authority to seek additional testimony as probes evolve.\nOn Thursday, the judge is expected to hear arguments from both sides in a hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. PST (1730 GMT). The SEC will need to show that the probe falls within its authority, that it has followed procedural requirements, and that the evidence it is seeking is relevant and material.\nLegal experts have said they think the judge is likely to side with the SEC, although she could impose some conditions.\nTWITTER TAKEOVER\nMusk and the SEC have been sparring since his \"funding secured\" tweet in 2018. The SEC settled that case but the commission sued Musk again in 2019 for allegedly breaching a that settlement. The tweets also prompted a shareholder lawsuit. A jury in February found Musk was not liable for misleading investors.\nOver the years, the agency has opened multiple other probes into Musk and Tesla.\nOn April 4, 2022, Musk disclosed he had acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter. It was 11 days after the SEC's deadline for such disclosures. Musk initially indicated via that regulatory filing that he planned to be a passive stakeholder, meaning he did not plan to take over the company.\nLater that month, however, he announced plans to buy Twitter for $44 billion. He subsequently tried to get out of the deal, alleging Twitter was not disclosing the full extent of bot activity on its platform.\nAfter being sued to complete the deal, Musk closed his acquisition of Twitter in late October 2022.\n(Reporting by Chris Prentice; Additional reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Michelle Price and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "Elon Musk and SEC to face off in court over Twitter testimony"
    },
    {
        "id": 1179,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adnoc-weighs-takeover-5-billion-111059119.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is exploring a potential takeover of European chemical producer OCI NV, the latest push by the Middle Eastern energy giant to expand beyond crude, people familiar with the matter said.\nOCI and state-owned Adnoc are working with advisers and have held preliminary talks about a possible transaction, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Shares of OCI have fallen 38% in Amsterdam trading this year, giving the company a market value of about €4.4 billion ($4.8 billion).\nDeliberations are ongoing, and there’s no certainty they will lead to a transaction. Adnoc could also opt to acquire significant assets from OCI instead of acquiring the entire company, some of the people said.\nOCI, backed by Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris, has been evaluating a range of options including asset disposals as part of a strategic review and could also engage with different suitors, the people said.\nAsset Disposals\nThe Dutch company is working with advisers to gauge buyer interest in a US crop nutrient unit, Iowa Fertilizer Co., the people said. It’s seeking more than $3 billion for the unit, which makes nitrogen fertilizers like urea ammonium nitrate, according to the people.\nA spokesperson for Adnoc declined to comment. OCI said in a statement it’s in ongoing discussions with “multiple potential buyers for certain of its nitrogen assets.”\nRepresentatives for OCI didn’t respond to multiple queries on potential takeover interest. The Betaville blog wrote earlier about rumors that OCI could be involved in a major transaction, citing unverified market gossip.\nOCI said in November it had hired advisers to explore asset monetization opportunities in an attempt to reduce its holding company discount. It said at the time it was in “active discussions” on “attractive value propositions.”\nThe company announced in March it would conduct a strategic review after one of its largest shareholders, activist investor Jeff Ubben, urged it to consider asset sales to unlock value. The company has also said it’s considering the Middle East and US as possible alternative listing venues, as it seeks to assuage shareholder concerns about its stock price.\nMiddle East Venture\nUbben’s Inclusive Capital Partners had called for OCI to explore options for its Iowa unit. The business would be of great value to pure-play fertilizer producers like Nutrien Ltd. seeking nitrogen production in the US Corn Belt, Ubben said at the time.\nAdnoc and OCI already have an existing partnership in the Middle East fertilizer sector. The two companies combined their Middle East and North Africa crop-nutrient businesses in 2019 to form Fertiglobe Plc, a regional fertilizer producer to challenge U.S. and Russian exporters. Fertiglobe went public in a 2021 initial public offering, with OCI controlling 50% of the business and Adnoc owning more than 36%.\nState-owned oil producers in the Middle East are expanding in chemicals, an industry poised for long-term growth even as demand for crude is expected to decline amid the energy transition. Adnoc is putting the final touches on a deal with Austria’s OMV AG to create a petrochemical firm worth more than €30 billion, Bloomberg News has reported. The oil giant is also separately working on an acquisition of German chemicals group Covestro AG.\n--With assistance from Swetha Gopinath.\n",
        "title": "Adnoc Weighs Takeover of $5 Billion Chemical Producer OCI"
    },
    {
        "id": 1180,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-futures-rise-feds-110643305.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nFutures up: Dow 0.22%, S&P 0.29%, Nasdaq 0.41%\nDec 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures gained on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve hinted an end to its recent aggressive rate hikes and signaled that borrowing costs would be lower next year.\nThe Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, with Chair Jerome Powell saying the historic tightening of monetary policy was likely over, as inflation falls faster than expected, and discussions on cuts in borrowing costs were coming \"into view\".\nThe Fed had raised its policy rate by a market-punishing 525 basis points since March 2022 in an effort to curb decades-high inflation. On Wednesday, 17 of 19 Fed officials projected the policy rate would be lower by end-2024.\nThe dovish pivot in the central bank's statement triggered a rally in equities on Wednesday and sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index to a record closing high.\n\"Continuing disinflationary pressures has offered the Fed room to maneuver. Further, there are signs that rate hikes are loosening the labor market,\" said Emin Hajiyev, senior economist at Insight Investment.\n\"If the Fed can bring inflation down without these measures deteriorating much further, it strongly improves the central bank’s prospect of achieving a “soft landing” and avoiding a recession.\"\nMoney markets now see a 95.2% chance of at least a 25-basis-point rate cut in March 2024, up from about 50% before the policy decision, while fully pricing in another cut in May, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nTreasury yields also fell to multi-month lows following Wednesday's events, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note last standing at 3.95%.\nThe falling yields further cushioned equities, with megacap stocks like Alphabet, Tesla and Nvidia inching up between 0.8% and 1% before the bell.\nInvestors will now parse the retail sales data for November and the weekly jobless claims number, both due at 8:30 a.m. ET, for more clues on softening inflation.\nAt 5:30 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 81 points, or 0.22%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 14 points, or 0.29%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 69.5 points, or 0.41%.\nAmong single stocks, Occidental Petroleum added 1.7% premarket after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired nearly 10.5 million shares of the oil giant for about $588.7 million.\nAdobe shed 6.0% after the Photoshop maker forecast annual and quarterly revenue below estimates.\nFoot Locker rose 3.6% after Piper Sandler upgraded the sportswear retailer to \"overweight\" from \"neutral\".\n(Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Futures rise after Fed's dovish pivot"
    },
    {
        "id": 1181,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dozens-drugmakers-may-subject-rebates-110307064.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday that dozens of pharmaceutical companies will be required to pay rebates to Medicare for \"outrageous\" price hikes on prescription drugs, the White House said.\nFor the last quarter of 2023, prices of 48 Medicare Part B drugs rose faster than inflation, according to the White House, which also said some big pharmaceutical companies raised prices of certain medications every quarter through the year.\nThese drugs may be subject to inflation rebates in the first quarter of 2024 as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Biden, a Democrat, signed last year.\nThe IRA aims to save $25 billion annually by 2031 by requiring drugmakers to negotiate the prices of selected expensive drugs with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service, which oversees Medicare.\n(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey and Manas Mishra in Bengaluru, editing by Christina Fincher and Arun Koyyur)\n",
        "title": "Dozens of drugmakers may be subject to rebates over price hikes - White House"
    },
    {
        "id": 1182,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-americas-matching-feds-110007912.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan Judged by the sharp drop in the dollar, European central banks may find it hard to match the dovishness from the Federal Reserve that's seen global interest rates plummet overnight.\nThe European Central Bank and Bank of England now have to follow the fireworks, where the Fed's policymakers catapulted bond and stocks higher over the past 24 hours by indicating that as much as 75 basis points of policy rate cuts were coming down the pike next year.\nEven though Fed boss Jerome Powell publicly walked the cautious line of not declaring victory yet on inflation and refusing to rule out another rate hike if necessary - the median of Fed policymaker projections for rates in 2024 showed markets had not been too far from Fed thinking after all.\nA wide dispersion of Fed views on the policymaking Open Market Committee showed some uncertainty still, but the direction of travel was clear and a majority expect three quarter point cuts or more next year.\nEarlier in the day, news of a drop in annual \"core\" producer price inflation to 2.0% last month showed the backdrop of disinflationary process setting up the \"pivot\".\nWall St boomed and the wave of positivity swept around the world through the night.\nThe S&P500 had its best day in a month and surged more than 1% to within 2% of record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average clocked a record close and the Nasdaq 100 hit its highest since 2021. And futures pushed higher again ahead of Thursday's open.\nBut the real action was in the rates market, where Fed futures now see the first quarter-point cut in March, two cuts by May and 150 bps of easing by yearend. Two-year Treasury yields plunged almost 50 bps from Wednesday's peak to hit their lowest since May, while 10-year yields plunged below 4% for the first time since early August to as low as 3.93%.\nCuriously, and perhaps showing that markets think the Fed may be moving too fast, inflation expectations embedded in the two-year inflation-protected securities rose to their highest since June at 2.3%.\nMost major bourses around the world followed Wall St's suit, however, and gained more than 1% on Thursday, with MSCI's all-country index soaring to its highest level since April 2022.\nBut even with the ECB and Bank of England meetings up ahead on Thursday, the dollar index dropped sharply to its lowest since August.\nWhile the ECB and BOE may struggle to match such a clear easing view as the Fed, next week's Bank of Japan meeting may even see another tweak of tightening. And so the yen led the way higher to its best levels since July, near 140 per dollar.\nDespite the variations, however, bond markets everywhere were lifted around the meetings.\nTen-year German bund yields plunged to near 2% to their lowest since March, while the precipitous drop in UK gilt yields - which had started on Wednesday on news of a contraction of the British economy in October - continued to its lowest 10-year rate since May.\nIt wasn't all sweetness and light, however, and there were exceptions.\nNorway's crown surged to its best levels since August after Norges Bank raised its benchmark rate by 25 bps to 4.50% in a surprise decision and said it would likely stay put at that level for some time.\nAnd the negativity surrounding China's stock market continued regardless, with its blue chip index bucking the global trend yet again and losing 0.5% - stretching the underperformance against the MCSI all-country index this year to some 26%.\nNew bank lending in China jumped less than expected in November, even as the central bank keeps policy accommodative to support a feeble recovery in the world's second-largest economy.\nAnd geopolitical fears surrounding China's stance on Taiwan rumbled ominously in the background.\nKey developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Thursday: * European Central Bank, Bank of England, Central Bank of Mexico all make policy decisions * EU summit in Brussels, to Fri. WTO council meets in Geneva * U.S. Nov retail sales, import/export prices, weekly jobless claims, U.S. Oct business inventories and sales * U.S. Treasury auctions 4-week bills * U.S. corporate earnings: Lennar, Costco Wholesale\n(By Mike Dolan, editing by Nick Macfie mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID AMERICAS-Matching the Fed's green light"
    },
    {
        "id": 1183,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/focus-gms-barra-reboots-her-110000802.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Joseph White\nDETROIT, Dec 14 (Reuters) - General Motors CEO Mary Barra has made many bold moves during a decade on the job to lift the automaker's share price: jettisoning money-losing operations in Europe, promising to outsell Tesla in the electric-vehicle market and betting billions on developing a profitable robotaxi business.\nInvestors are unmoved. GM shares are trading close to the $33 a share at which they went public in 2010 following the company's government-financed bankruptcy. Since hitting $63 a share in November 2021, GM shares have fallen 47%.\nWarren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway sold all its GM shares without explanation during the third quarter as the price slid to a two-year low during tough contract bargaining in the U.S. with the United Auto Workers.\nNow, as she heads toward her 10th anniversary on Jan. 15, Barra is overhauling GM again. On Wednesday, GM said Barra has named new heads for key areas of vehicle development and EV manufacturing. The moves come after production technology problems caused GM to fall well short of EV output goals.\n\"We didn't execute well this year as it relates to demonstrating our EV capability and the capability of Ultium,\" Barra told investors and analysts in a Nov. 29 call, referring to the automaker's EV battery technology. \"So I'm disappointed in that.\"\nGM has begun overhauling its EV strategy, delaying planned factories and product launches, and is reconsidering whether to offer hybrids in the North American market after abandoning the technology in favor of an all-EV strategy.\nBarra and GM's board last month launched a $10 billion share repurchase program to buy back the equivalent of a quarter of the automaker's market capitalization - a bid for support from shareholders who want more of the cash generated by the company's highly profitable North American combustion truck business.\nMost shareholders, although disappointed with the company's stock performance, are happy with Barra's leadership for now.\nKyle Martin, an analyst with Westwood Group, said Barra is doing better than her rivals and is not in any trouble as the sector is challenging for everyone.\n\"At the end of the day, the market is the best arbiter,\" he said. \"That the share price has gone nowhere is an indictment of what she's doing and to be fair what her competitors are doing as well. You only need a few things to go right to really see a rebound in the stock.\"\nOfficials familiar with Barra's thinking said the CEO wants to see GM safely through the EV transition. Barra signaled that on Wednesday.\n\"In the next couple of years, it’s our years to really execute this new strategy so I’m energized,\" she said at the Washington Economic Club. \"As long as I have the opportunity to do that ... it's great,\" she added about being CEO.\nDuring a Dec. 4 onstage interview, she deflected a question about how long she plans to stay in her position.\n\"It feels like it hasn't been 10 years,\" Barra said. \"We're in the midst of this really once-in-a-generation transformation. And there's so much that can be done and so I'm more forward-looking.\"\nHISTORY-MAKING CEO\nBarra's place in GM's history is secure. The first woman to lead a global automaker, Barra has now held the top job at the automaker longer than anyone other than Alfred P. Sloan, the architect of GM's rise to become the world's largest industrial corporation during the mid-20th century.\nSloan and his immediate successors faced no serious challenges from Japanese or European automakers and no demands from regulators to abandon fundamental technology.\nCompetition and regulation have forced Barra to put sustaining profits over defending a sprawling global empire.\nBarra sold or closed GM's money-losing operations in Europe, Australia and Southeast Asian markets. GM's market share and profit in China have fallen as the world's largest auto market has shifted to EVs made by Tesla and by BYD and other Chinese automakers.\nGM is still No. 1 in U.S. sales volume, but Tesla is by far the more valuable company with a market capitalization of $775 billion to GM's $46 billion.\nLike Roger Smith, who led GM during the 1980s, Barra has tried to revive investor interest by repositioning GM as a technology enterprise.\nShe told investors in October 2021 that GM could double its annual revenue by 2030 to $280 billion by adding EVs, expanding sales of digital subscriptions, ramping up the Cruise robotaxi operation, supplying vehicles to the U.S. military and developing a new electric van delivery service.\nBut during the second half of 2023, key elements of Barra's growth strategy stalled.\nThe biggest trouble is at Cruise, which has lost $8 billion since GM acquired it in 2016. Barra has told investors Cruise could generate $50 billion a year in revenue by 2030.\nCruise's future is now uncertain after regulators charged officials with misrepresenting details of an accident in which a Cruise driverless car dragged a pedestrian 20 feet (6.1 m )before stopping.\nThe Cruise incident has put Barra back in the role of crisis manager.\nShortly after she took over as CEO in 2014, she faced a scandal over GM's mishandling of deadly ignition switches. Barra resolved that in part by commissioning an outside law firm to investigate GM's mishandling of safety recalls. She embraced the firm's scathing critique of GM's culture.\nBarra has again engaged an outside law firm and technical experts to investigate Cruise's response to the accident. Cruise's CEO, Kyle Vogt, has left the company. The unit's new leaders, including GM's chief counsel Craig Glidden, have pledged to cooperate with regulators.\nMeanwhile, GM is trying out new ways to appeal to skeptical investors. The company has hired a Meta executive as new vice president for artificial intelligence and launched a new website to showcase GM's use of AI - the new hot area for technology investors. (Reporting by Joseph White in Detroit Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington, Ben Klayman in Detroit and Jonathan Stempel in New York Editing by Matthew Lewis)\n",
        "title": "FOCUS-GM's Barra reboots her 10-year effort to lift stagnant shares"
    },
    {
        "id": 1184,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-bankruptcy-filings-on-pace-to-reach-highest-level-since-2020-103005412.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "US bankruptcy filings are picking up steam after a two-year decline.\nAccording to a report released by S&P Global Market Intelligence, there were 591 bankruptcy filings as of Nov. 30 this year, just behind 2020's tally of 603 in the same period. By comparison, there were 367 filings at this point in 2021 and 325 in 2022.\nArizona State University law professor Laura Coordes attributed the 2023 increase to higher borrowing costs and the end of federal stimulus checks. She pointed out that in 2021 and 2022, government aid was still “circulating in the economy.” That has changed.\nMeanwhile, she said, interest rates have run higher in 2023, making it more difficult for businesses with debt to refinance. She also pointed out that high inflation, particularly when it comes to energy costs, have weighed on businesses.\n“So you have this environment where programs that were supporting businesses and consumers since the pandemic are receding, and you're left with this high interest rate environment,” she said. “You're left with lenders who during the pandemic might have been more willing to forbear or to extend loan maturities, and they're not doing that as much now.”\nCompanies ranging from WeWork to Silicon Valley Bank have filed for bankruptcy protection this year. According to S&P, the consumer discretionary sector has led the way with 76 filings, followed by industrials and healthcare, both of which have seen 75 filings.\nAmong the consumer names is Bed Bath & Beyond, which filed for bankruptcy in April. Gerald Storch, founder and CEO of management advisory firm Storch Advisors and former CEO of Toys \"R\" Us, said that Bed Bath & Beyond wound up in bankruptcy court due a misguided strategy shift where \"they went away from high quality branded goods towards more private label.” He added that though home goods sales boomed during the early stages of COVID, the surge didn't last.\n“We were all stuck at home. But as soon as we can get away from home, we didn't want to buy home products anymore,” he said.\nCoordes also raised the example of the retailer David’s Bridal, which filed for bankruptcy in April for the second time in five years. She said the company suffered a combination of increased competition from online retailers, which surged during the pandemic, and high debt.\nDavid's Bridal and Bed Bath & Beyond are \"emblematic of this idea of changing consumer preferences post-pandemic, and the need to address and adapt to those preferences, while also being financially able to service your debt,\" she said. \"And I think bankruptcy has helped all of those retailers.”\nDeirdre O’Connor, managing director for corporate restructuring at legal services provider Epiq, said consumers shouldn't see bankruptcies as a bad thing. She explained that bankruptcies play a vital role in the American economy.\n\"Bankruptcy by its very nature seems to have a negative connotation, but it's not. It's a very positive evolution in that a company has a chance to rehabilitate itself to get stronger, restructure, and go back into the economy thriving and more profitable,” she said.\nBut Storch, meanwhile, warned that increased bankruptcies could portend a slowing economy and potential recession.\n“I think with rising debt in the economy and increased interest rates that we're seeing, several sectors have difficulty including housing, which is a very important part of the economy,\" he said. “And consumers who are highly leveraged won't be able to keep accumulating debt to keep spending at the level they spent in the past.”\nDylan Croll is a Yahoo Finance reporter.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "US bankruptcy filings on pace to reach highest level since 2020"
    },
    {
        "id": 1185,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-judge-tentatively-rules-musk-192651617.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(New throughout, adds judge's tentative ruling)\nBy Chris Prentice and Jody Godoy\nDec 14 (Reuters) -\nA federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday tentatively ruled that billionaire Elon Musk must testify again for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation of his $44 billion takeover of Twitter.\nDuring a hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler quickly rejected arguments by Musk's attorney that SEC officials do not have the authority to issue subpoenas, saying the agency has broad investigative powers and that no judge would \"second guess\" an SEC probe.\nShe said Musk and the SEC must agree to a date for the world's richest person to provide another day of testimony, or she would set a date.\n\"You’ve got one more four-hour deposition, one more day of depositions to survive and it’s over. It seems unlikely there’s going to be any more hassle,\" she said.\nThe SEC sued Musk in October to compel the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to testify as part of an investigation into his 2022 purchase of social media giant Twitter, which he subsequently renamed X. Musk refused to attend a September interview for the probe, the SEC said.\nThe agency is examining whether Musk followed the law when filing the required paperwork with the agency about his purchases in Twitter stock, and whether his statements in relation to the deal were misleading.\nThe court hearing is the latest spat in a years-long feud between Musk and the top U.S. markets regulator, dating back to 2018 when he tweeted that he had \"funding secured\" to take the electric carmaker private.\nThe SEC has been probing Musk's Twitter takeover since April 2022, when he first disclosed he had purchased stock in the company. Musk gave the SEC documents for its probe and testified via videoconference for two half-day sessions that July, the SEC said in its filing. SEC attorneys said they have more questions for Musk after receiving new documents, and had sought additional testimony in September, but Musk would not comply.\nIn response to the SEC's October lawsuit, Musk's lawyers urged Beeler to deny the SEC's request, calling the probe misguided. \"The SEC's pursuit of Mr. Musk has crossed the line into harassment,\" they wrote in a filing last month. They argued that individual SEC attorneys do not have the legal authority to issue subpoenas for testimony.\nThe SEC rejected those claims, saying agency officials have legal authority to seek additional testimony as probes evolve.\nOn Thursday, Beeler within minutes sided with the SEC, emphatically dismissing Musk's attorney's arguments, although she conceded the demands of long-running investigations can be \"frustrating.\"\nTWITTER TAKEOVER\nMusk and the SEC have been sparring since his \"funding secured\" tweet in 2018. The SEC settled that case but the commission sued Musk again in 2019 for allegedly breaching a that settlement. The tweets also prompted a shareholder lawsuit. A jury in February found Musk was not liable for misleading investors.\nOver the years, the agency has opened multiple other probes into Musk and Tesla.\nOn April 4, 2022, Musk disclosed he had acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter. It was 11 days after the SEC's deadline for such disclosures. Musk initially indicated via that regulatory filing that he planned to be a passive stakeholder, meaning he did not plan to take over the company.\nLater that month, however, he announced plans to buy Twitter for $44 billion. He subsequently tried to get out of the deal, alleging Twitter was not disclosing the full extent of bot activity on its platform.\nAfter being sued to complete the deal, Musk closed his acquisition of Twitter in late October 2022. (Reporting by Chris Prentice; Additional reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Michelle Price and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Judge tentatively rules Musk must testify again in SEC Twitter probe"
    },
    {
        "id": 1186,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-starbucks-closed-23-stores-190051118.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds comment from Starbucks in paragraph 5)\nBy Daniel Wiessner\nDec 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. labor agency is seeking to force Starbucks Corp to reopen 23 stores that were allegedly shuttered last year to discourage a nationwide union campaign, the latest case to accuse the coffee chain of illegal labor tactics.\nA regional director with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a complaint issued on Wednesday said that eight of the U.S. stores had already unionized when they closed.\nWorkers at more than 360 of Starbucks' 9,300 U.S. stores have voted to join unions since 2021, and the company is facing more than 100 complaints at the NLRB alleging a variety of unlawful union-busting activity.\nStarbucks has denied wrongdoing and said it respects workers' rights to choose whether to unionize.\nStarbucks in a statement on Thursday said it conducts annual reviews of its stores and routinely makes changes for a variety of legitimate reasons. \"This includes opening new locations, identifying stores in need of investment or renovation, exploring locations where an alternative format is needed and, in some instances, re-evaluating our footprint,\" the company said.\nThe complaint claims that Starbucks closed the 23 stores without prior notice to Workers United, the union behind the campaign, and without affording the union an opportunity to bargain about the decisions, according to NLRB spokesman Matthew Hayward.\nThe agency is seeking an order requiring Starbucks to immediately reopen the 23 stores and re-hire employees, bargain with unions at stores that have unionized, and provide compensation to employees who lost pay and benefits, Hayward said.\nThe case will be heard by an administrative judge, whose decision can be appealed to the five-member NLRB and then to a federal appeals court.\nThe complaint came on the same day that Starbucks released a report on its labor practices prepared by an independent consultant, which had been requested by shareholders.\nThe report found that while there was room for Starbucks to improve its messaging on the union campaign, the company had not adopted \"an anti-union playbook\" that involved violating U.S. labor laws.\nAn NLRB judge in July found that Starbucks had illegally shuttered a store in Ithaca, New York, months after it unionized. Starbucks is appealing that decision. (Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Franklin Paul and Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Starbucks closed 23 stores to deter unionizing, US agency says"
    },
    {
        "id": 1187,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-agencies-seize-illegal-185217979.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds date products confiscated in 2nd paragraph, adds background and comment from FDA)\nBy Chris Kirkham\nDec 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Protection seized more than $18 million worth of unauthorized e-cigarettes, which included popular brands such as Elf Bar, the FDA said on Thursday.\nAbout 1.4 million units were confiscated in a joint three-day operation in July at a cargo examination site at Los Angeles International Airport, according to the FDA.\nElf Bar was the most commonly used brand among youth e-cigarette users, with 56.7% of middle- and high-school vapers naming it their brand of choice, according to a national survey of youth tobacco use released last month by the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\nThe FDA announcement follows a Reuters report earlier this month detailing how the Chinese vaping firm Heaven Gifts has disregarded U.S. regulations and flooded the market with illegal flavored disposable nicotine products including Elf Bar and Lost Mary.\nThe FDA said products seized in the July operation included those brands and others, including RELX Pod and IPLAY Max.\nAsked for a breakdown of the products seized, an FDA spokesperson referred questions to Customs, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\nWhile attempting to smuggle the e-cigarettes, the items were intentionally misdeclared as toys or shoes and listed with incorrect values, according to the FDA. (Reporting by Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles and Annett Mary Manoj; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US agencies seize illegal e-cigarettes worth $18 million"
    },
    {
        "id": 1188,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/temu-alleges-shein-using-mafia-184814792.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Chinese e-commerce retailer Temu is suing rival Shein again, alleging its competitor is pushing dubious copyright infringement notices against the company and using “mafia-style intimidation” of suppliers to limit its growth in the U.S.\nIn a 100-page complaint filed Wednesday at a federal court in Washington D.C., Whaleco Inc., which operates as Temu in the U.S., claimed that Shein has been summoning suppliers it believes to be working with Temu to its offices, detaining them for hours, seizing their phones and threatening to impose penalties for doing business with its rival.\n“We believe this lawsuit is without merit and we will vigorously defend ourselves,” a Shein spokesperson said in a statement.\nIn the lawsuit, Temu alleges the actions were part of a “desperate plan” hatched by Shein to take out a competitive threat in the U.S. through various efforts, which include coercing thousands of suppliers to sign over their intellectual property rights and relying on those agreements to obtain copyright registrations in the U.S.\nThe complaint said Shein was also “instigating and supporting dubious copyright infringement lawsuits” against Temu, which is owned by popular Chinese e-commerce site Pinduoduo Inc., and foreclosing Temu’s access to suppliers through exclusivity agreements.\nTemu entered the U.S. markets last year and has grown in popularity by offering cheap goods - from apparel to home products - that are shipped from China. Shein, which was founded in China but is now based in Singapore, is known for low-cost clothing items that are mostly produced in China.\nThe two e-commerce companies have sued each other in U.S. courts before, but both dropped their lawsuits in late October without providing a reason.\nTemu’s previous lawsuit had alleged Shein was compelling clothing manufacturers to submit to unfair supply chain arrangements preventing them from working with Temu after it entered the U.S. market in 2022.\nMeanwhile, Shein’s complaint had asserted that Temu had engaged in deceptive business practices and created impostor pages that violated copyrights and trademarks.\nA congressional report published in June said both retailers were avoiding import taxes through a century-old trade rule - known as de minimis - that allows them to import packages valued at less than $800 as long as they are packaged and shipped directly to consumers. The report also offered a blistering critique of Temu's supply chains, saying there is an “extremely high risk” that it contained forced labor.\n",
        "title": "Temu alleges Shein is using 'mafia-style intimidation' of suppliers to curtail its growth"
    },
    {
        "id": 1189,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-boeing-names-insider-chris-180724322.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details of appointments in paragraph 3)\nDec 14 (Reuters) - Boeing on Thursday named insider Chris Raymond as the new head of its aftermarket business, succeeding Stephanie Pope, who was announced as the planemaker's chief operating officer on Monday.\nRaymond's appointment as CEO of Boeing Global Services is effective Jan. 1, Boeing said.\nRaymond is Boeing's chief sustainability officer, leading Boeing's efforts to reduce carbon emissions. He will be succeeded by Brian Moran, currently Boeing's vice president, global sustainability policy and partnerships. (Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru and Valerie Insinna in Washington; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Boeing names insider Chris Raymond as head of aftermarket business"
    },
    {
        "id": 1190,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boeing-names-insider-chris-raymond-174237477.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Boeing on Thursday named insider Chris Raymond as the new head of its aftermarket business, succeeding Stephanie Pope, who will take over as the planemaker's chief operating officer.\nRaymond's appointment as CEO of Boeing Global Services is effective Jan. 1, Boeing said.\n(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)\n",
        "title": "Boeing names insider Chris Raymond as head of aftermarket business"
    },
    {
        "id": 1191,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-largely-united-seeing-rate-173547666.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank policymakers are largely united in expecting to cut interest rates later than financial markets currently anticipate, according to officials familiar with their thinking.\nThe Governing Council discussions this week featured some irritation about aggressive bets on lower borrowing costs and some members were confounded by the extent of easing priced in by investors, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations were private.\nOfficials don’t expect to revise their stance before March, when the ECB will receive an update on the outlook for growth and inflation in the 20-nation euro zone, according to the people.\nA spokesman for the ECB declined to comment.\nEarly on Thursday, traders ramped up bets on ECB cuts next year following the Federal Reserve’s pivot toward looser policy. While those wagers were pared after President Christine Lagarde spoke, they still see 150 basis points of reductions in 2024 and a 60% probability of such a move starting in March.\n--With assistance from Aline Oyamada.\n",
        "title": "ECB Is Largely United on Seeing Rate Cuts Later Than Market Bets"
    },
    {
        "id": 1192,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bobby-jain-fills-seven-cio-173530717.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bobby Jain has grown his fledgling firm to about 50 people, hiring seven strategy-focused chief investment officers and filling other senior administrative roles, ahead of what could be the biggest hedge fund debut on record.\nCitadel veteran Noah Goldberg joined Jain Global as chief compliance officer and general counsel, and Gerhard Seebacher, a former co-head of fixed-income trading at Bank of America Corp., was named chairman of the global interest rates and macro business, according to people familiar with the matter.\nGoldberg spent 16 years at Citadel, most recently as senior deputy general counsel of Ken Griffin’s $63 billion hedge fund firm. Seebacher worked at Bank of America for two decades and was later a partner and portfolio manager at Brevan Howard Asset Management.\nJain Global expects to have 40 portfolio managers in place by its July launch and plans to increase that over time to as many as 73, one of the people said. It’s also looking to hire an additional 20 to 30 people in Asia.\nThe firm’s strategy CIOs will act as “player-coaches” for their teams, according to an investor document seen by Bloomberg, with responsibility for attracting and developing portfolio managers, determining risk limits and building out infrastructure. Several of them are under non-compete agreements and will join later this or next year. Bobby Jain is the firmwide CIO and chief executive officer.\nA spokesman for New York-based Jain Global declined to comment.\nJain, a former co-CIO at Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, has spent months courting Middle East sovereign-wealth funds and other potential clients as he raises capital ahead of his trading debut. Some hedge fund investors expect Jain Global could launch with as much as $10 billion, topping the $8 billion that ExodusPoint Capital Management started with in 2018.\nThe new multistrategy, multimanager hedge fund is offering a variety of fee discounts to encourage investors to commit large amounts of capital early, the document shows.\nClients who invest at least $500 million will get the sweetest deal, paying performance fees of 17% instead of the standard 20%, and anyone who commits capital early receives an additional 2% reduction.\nAll investors will get a further 2.5% fee discount during the 18 months Jain Global will take to invest all of the capital it raises. An agreement with Jain’s former employer requires him to wait until next month to solicit cash from existing Millennium clients, many of whom are likely among the hedge fund industry’s biggest backers.\nHedge Fund Alert previously reported on the terms.\nThe new firm will make human- and computer-driven bets on stocks, commodities, credit and rates. About 60% of its trades will be relative-value/arbitrage wagers.\nSuch trades often employ high amounts of leverage, and some have recently drawn regulatory scrutiny. The US Treasury Department and Securities and Exchange Commission warned that the so-called basis trade — which uses leverage to profit from the price gap between Treasury bonds and futures tied to those same bonds — could destabilize the market.\nLess than 10% of Jain Global’s assets will be in fixed-income basis trades, a person said.\nJain is looking for five types of portfolio managers. The most prominent are considered “super-senior” talent — those who own hedge funds or run large pools of capital. The next tier is money managers with about 12 to 18 years of experience who want to work with a coach to reach the next level.\nThen there are “PMs without Payouts” — who can be persuaded to join without large compensation packages. On the fourth rung are people keen to work at a startup, followed by those who will simply go where they can make the most money.\nThe structure offers a rare glimpse into how hedge fund founders like Jain think about hiring amid a talent war that’s particularly fierce among multistrategy firms, where turnover is high and individual pay packages have soared into the tens of millions of dollars.\nLike Millennium, Jain’s firm will have a stop-loss framework, meaning that if a portfolio manager loses a certain amount their allocation could be cut or they could be dismissed. It will also set limits on its net exposure to a specific stock, industry group, sector or currency.\nHere are some additional hires, according to the people:\n--With assistance from Bei Hu, Sridhar Natarajan and Lulu Yilun Chen.\n",
        "title": "Bobby Jain Fills Seven CIO Positions, Fleshes Out Senior Staff"
    },
    {
        "id": 1193,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-test-feature-limiting-advertisers-165035217.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Alphabet's Google said on Thursday it will begin testing a new feature on its Chrome browser as part of a plan to ban third-party cookies that advertisers use to track consumers.\nThe search giant is set to roll out the feature, called Tracking Protection, on Jan. 4 to 1% of Chrome users globally, that will restrict cross-site tracking by default.\nGoogle plans to completely phase out the use of third-party cookies for users in the second half of 2024.\nThe timeline, however, is subject to addressing antitrust concerns raised by UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Google said.\nThe CMA has been investigating Google's plan to cut support for some cookies in Chrome, because the watchdog is worried it will impede competition in digital advertising, as well as keeping an eye on the company's biggest moneymaking segment, advertising.\nCookies are special files that allow websites and advertisers to identify individual web surfers and track their browsing habits.\nThe European Union antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager also said in June that the agency's investigations into Google's introduction of tools to block third-party cookies - part of the company's \"Privacy Sandbox\" initiative - would continue.\nAdvertisers have said the loss of cookies in the world's most popular browser will limit their ability to collect information for personalizing ads and make them dependent on Google's user databases.\nBrokerage BofA Global Research said in a note on Thursday that phasing out of cookies will give more power to media agencies, especially those that are capable of providing proprietary insights at scale to advertisers.\n(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Jaspreet Singh and Chavi Mehta; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "Google to test new feature limiting advertisers' use of browser tracking cookies"
    },
    {
        "id": 1194,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/intel-says-dozens-pc-makers-150342048.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Stephen Nellis\n(Reuters) - Intel on Thursday said that dozens of personal computer makers are using its newest chip, as the company and its customers try to entice consumers to upgrade their machines for a new era of chatbots.\nAt a press event in New York, Intel said the new offering will be available in laptops from Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Lenovo Group and others that will go on sale on Thursday at Best Buy in the U.S. and other global retailers including China's JD.com and Australia's Harvey Norman.\nIntel's central processor units (CPUs) have long served as the brains of most personal computers. But the new chip that went by the code name \"Meteor Lake\" is Intel's first that will also contain what is called an neural processing unit (NPU), a section of the chip dedicated to handling artificial intelligence tasks.\nApple, Qualcomm and other smartphone chip makers have included NPUs in their mobile phone offerings for at least five years.\nIntel's pitch to consumers and businesses comes as it is fighting its way out of a post-pandemic PC slump where buyers who upgraded to work from home in 2020 have seen little reason to buy new equipment.\nThe Silicon Valley company is hoping that a new wave of AI applications provides some incentive to buy what Intel has dubbed the \"AI PC,\" a category it expects will comprise 80% of PCs sold within the next four years.\nDuring a demonstration of the new chip in September, the company showed some examples of AI work that it hoped would spur interest, such as transcribing voice notes without having to send data to a third-party cloud provider or generating a song in the style of pop star Taylor Swift.\n(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Intel says dozens of PC makers are using its new AI-enabled chip"
    },
    {
        "id": 1195,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/germany-basf-considers-building-lithium-143653995.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- German chemicals giant BASF SE is considering a lithium processing project in Chile as European authorities and manufacturers look to strengthen ties with key suppliers of battery metals in the energy transition.\nBASF is exploring the possibility of building a plant to turn lithium from Chilean salt flats into the cathode that goes into electric-vehicle batteries, according to people with knowledge of the matter. They asked not to be named given the proposal is at an early stage. BASF recently signed a deal with Wealth Minerals Ltd. that includes lithium offtake if the Canadian explorer obtains production contracts in Chile.\nIf the project goes ahead, Ludwigshafen-based BASF would join Chinese firms BYD Co. and Tsingshan Holding Group in developing cathode factories in Chile. In October, Tsingshan agreed to invest $233 million on a lithium iron phosphate plant that will get preferential access to local lithium. Chile entered into a similar deal with EV juggernaut BYD in April. Additional preferential lithium offtake — from Albemarle Corp.’s mine in Chile — will become available next year.\nRead More: Tesla Readies South America Incursion in Lithium-Rich Chile\nThe South American nation is looking to leverage the world’s biggest reserves of lithium to move further down the battery supply chain in the transition away from fossil fuels. At the same time, Chile’s government is mandating cleaner mining methods that appeal to German automakers and their investors. Germany’s Deputy Economy Minister Franziska Brantner said in an X post on Thursday that Chile “is an extremely important trading partner for us to promote the sustainable transformation of our economy.”\n--With assistance from Iain Rogers.\n",
        "title": "Germany’s BASF Considers Building Lithium Plant in Chile"
    },
    {
        "id": 1196,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-asian-stocks-extend-074157631.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(.) * Most currencies steady, equities rise * India stocks hit fresh all time high * Philippine, Taiwan c.banks keep benchmark rates steady By John Biju Dec 15 (Reuters) - Most Asian equities extended gains on Friday, while currencies held onto to their recent rise following a bout of U.S. Federal Reserve-fuelled optimism after a dovish policy shift and prospects of lower borrowing costs next year. Equities in India advanced 0.7% to hit a fresh all time high. Stocks in South Korea climbed 0.8% to their highest level in nearly three months, and those in Thailand jumped 1%. Currencies were steady as the dollar hovered near four-month lows after the Fed kept interest rates unchanged as expected on Wednesday and indicated the tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts coming \"into view\". Markets are now pricing in a 75% chance of a rate cut in March by the Fed, according to CME FedWatch tool. They are also pricing in 150 basis points of rate reductions by December 2024. A positive outlook on Asian currencies is still intact, especially with a Fed pivot, said Christopher Wong, FX strategist at OCBC. Equities in the Philippines jumped as much as 1% to hit their highest level since Aug. 10, and were on track for their best week since early July. The peso was largely unchanged. It had added 0.6% on Thursday after falling to a one-month low earlier in the week. It was on track to post its biggest weekly decline since late-August. While the Fed has flagged possible rate cuts next year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has said policy would have to stay \"sufficiently tight\" to bring inflation back to target. The BSP kept its benchmark interest rate steady for a second straight meeting on Thursday. The Taiwanese central bank also kept its key interest rate unchanged on Thursday but flagged it would not necessarily follow the Fed in likely cuts to interest rates next year. \"In Asia, several central banks are likely to find comfort in a softer Fed,\" Barclays analysts wrote on Friday. This is especially the case for the BSP and Bank Indonesia (BI), which follow the Fed relatively more closely, they added. Market participants are now on the lookout for a policy decision from Bank Indonesia next week. The central bank said last month it would maintain its benchmark rate at the current level into 2024 barring any major changes in global dynamics. \"Next week, we expect BI to remain on hold, with its biggest factor for a hike, the IDR, now considered less of a worry,\" Barclays analysts added, referring to the rupiah currency. The rupiah was last quoted at 15,500 per U.S. dollar, having climbed more than 1% on Thursday. HIGHLIGHTS: ** India's 10-year benchmark yields fall 1.9 basis points to 7.175% ** BOJ to phase out loose monetary policy in January, over 20% of economists say ** Indonesia trade surplus narrows to $2.41 bln in Nov, misses expectation Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0630 GMT Japan -0.11 -7.68 <.N2 0.87 26.35 25> China EC> India +0.15 -0.59 <.NS 0.68 17.79 EI> Indones +0.06 +0.52 <.JK 0.03 4.78 ia SE> Malaysi +0.11 -5.68 <.KL 0.33 -2.30 a SE> Philipp +0.05 -0.05 <.PS 0.56 -1.83 ines I> S.Korea 11> Singapo -0.07 +0.85 <.ST -0.22 -4.16 re I> Taiwan +0.21 -1.78 <.TW 0.12 25.01 II> Thailan +0.10 -0.70 <.SE 0.99 -16.5 d TI> 5 (Reporting by John Biju in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed and Mrigank Dhaniwala)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Asian stocks extend gains after Fed's dovish shift, FX steady"
    },
    {
        "id": 1197,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russian-rouble-firms-ahead-expected-072452105.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "MOSCOW, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble firmed slightly ahead of the central bank's final monetary policy meeting of the year on Friday at which it is widely expected to raise interest rates by 100 basis points to 16%.\nInflation pressure exacerbated by labour shortages and lending growth is expected to force the Bank of Russia to extend its monetary tightening cycle to one last hike.\nAt 0716 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% stronger against the dollar at 89.60, not far from a near two-week high hit in the previous session.\nIt had gained 0.3% to trade at 98.47 versus the euro and firmed 0.5% against the yuan to 12.59 .\nThe central bank will announce its rate decision at 1030 GMT and Governor Elvira Nabiullina will shed more light on monetary policy and other issues at a news conference at 1200 GMT.\n\"We do not rule out that today's hike may be the last in the current cycle and the regulator will start lowering the rate in the spring,\" said Alor Broker's Alexei Antonov. \"Perhaps some hints on this will be voiced today.\"\nExporters' forced conversion of some foreign currency revenues has been supporting the rouble since October, which has strengthened from beyond the 100 mark to the dollar since then.\nBrent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia's main export, was up 0.2% at $76.84 a barrel.\nRussian stock indexes were lower.\nThe dollar-denominated RTS index was down 1.3% to 1,041.4 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was 1.6% lower at 2,962.1 points. (Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Angus MacSwan)\n",
        "title": "Russian rouble firms ahead of expected rate hike"
    },
    {
        "id": 1198,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-hong-kong-stock-exchange-072411066.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details from Bloomberg report in paragraph 2, background in paragraphs 4-5)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX) CEO Nicolas Aguzin is set to leave the company, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.\nAguzin, whose contract is set to end in May, will not be around for another term, the report said, adding that the terms of his exit remained unclear because it's not certain if he would exit immediately or finish his contract.\nHKEX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.\nBloomberg News reported on Sunday that HKEX was considering extending Aguzin's contract until May 2025, citing people familiar with the matter.\nAguzin took the helm at HKEX in May 2021, having been recruited from JPMorgan Chase & Co. He succeeded Charles Li, who had held the position for more than a decade. (Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Subhranshu Sahu)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Hong Kong stock exchange CEO Aguzin set to leave firm - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 1199,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/column-elections-may-tweak-sequencing-070000722.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Mike Dolan\nLONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Few central bank watchers think the electoral cycle will change the course of monetary policy - but it could complicate the precise timing of interest rate moves next year.\nNow that markets seem convinced rate cuts are coming in 2024 in the U.S. and Britain, many are pondering just how elections in both countries may affect the sequencing - rather than the direction per se.\nThe Federal Reserve lit the rate-cut fuse on Wednesday as 11 of its 19 policymakers pencilled in 75 basis points or more of rate cuts next year - despite cloaking the public message with words of vigilance about above-target inflation and not declaring victory just yet.\nThe Bank of England, still dogged by inflation well over a percentage point above the U.S. equivalent, was far more reluctant to sound the rate-cut klaxon - preferring to push back against overzealous market expectations for now.\nBut markets still expect both the Fed and European Central Bank to deliver up to 150 basis points and 110 basis points of cuts, respectively, through a year that contains a U.S. presidential election in November and - according to UK bookmakers at least - a likely UK election in the fourth quarter or possibly even as soon as the second quarter.\nJealously guarding their operational independence from the political process and insisting on hard-nosed analysis that follows strict mandates, both the Fed and BoE repeatedly deny any influence whatsoever from polling dates. Maybe so.\nBut it's that very sensitivity to accusations of bias either way toward incumbent governments that may, at the margin at least, affect the timing of possible changes in credit policy just ahead of a public vote where the state of the economy, savings returns and borrowing may be influential issues.\nA boost to the \"feel-good\" economic factor just before an election, for example, could be open to accusations of bias that challenge central banks' objectivity - even if they claim to be solely data-driven. And vice versa.\nAny wider urgency behind interest rate changes may trump all that of course. And what's more, most of the impact of rate changes take time, with several months of a lag - and in many instances markets deliver effective easing or tightening well in advance of expected moves anyway.\nBut when rates are merely being recalibrated, as they are now, the timing of the voting could be cause for hesitation in the weeks and months leading to an election - if only for optics of impartiality.\n'POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES'\nA look at the Fed's long history of independence shows little clear pattern, however.\nPolicy rates were held steady for six to 12 months before the 2020, 2016, 2012 and 2000 U.S. presidential elections - only to be cut sharply after the 2000 poll and raised sharply after the 2016 vote.\nIn 2020, the depth of the coronavirus pandemic dominated policy despite the tightness of the race, but the near-zero rates before the election were kept in place for two years after Democratic President Joe Biden's victory anyway. Likewise in 2012, when post-financial crisis rates were on the floor both before and after.\nSharp cuts just after the 2000 election owed more to the looming business investment and dot.com bubble burst. Rate hikes after 2016 were rooted in long-flagged \"normalisation\" amid planned post-election fiscal boosts.\nIn all other cases over the past 45 years, the prevailing rate policy trend before the poll continued on regardless.\nNext year's U.S. presidential election looks set to be as tight as the last one - with Fed forecasts painting a picture of a \"soft landing\" for the economy in which inflation subsides without a recession or big rise in unemployment.\nBut Fed futures are currently almost fully priced for a cut at all four policy meetings between March and July, with even odds of another at the September gathering - just over six weeks before the Nov. 5 election.\nIf the Fed wanted to stall for six months ahead of the election, it could still deliver its median forecast of 75 basis points of easing by moving at the March 19-20 and April 30-May 1 meetings and holding off on a third cut until the Nov. 6-7 meeting. But if it were eventually to see the need to agree with current market expectations, then it would have to do that in 50-basis-point clips.\nFor the BoE, the independence optics may be sharper despite its public dismissal of such influence - not least as the central bank has only been operationally free for the past 26 years and recently faced questions over a political review of its mandate.\nUncertainty about the timing of UK elections makes that harder to parse, however, especially as the current government only has to give six weeks notice of a national poll. And yet that fact alone may bail the BoE out of any protracted hiatus - even if it has, perhaps coincidentally, never changed rates in the two months before an election since gaining its independence in 1997.\nRight now, even in the face of Thursday's push-back, markets see the first BoE quarter-percentage-point cut coming as soon as May, a second one by August, a third by September and another by the end of 2024. A near two-month gap between the September and November meetings could well give it some cover.\nIn the end, elections won't change the bigger monetary policy picture for long.\nThat said, many observers still insist interest rate levers matter a lot the other way around - even if not necessarily right in the lead-up to polls.\nMore broadly, Yale University economist Ray Fair reckons his models suggest Fed success in getting inflation back to the central bank's 2% target next year while keeping the economy growing could be a major boost to Democrats' electoral hopes.\n\"This is not to say that the Fed is political. The Fed's main goal at the moment is to get inflation down to 2%, not to help one political party,\" he wrote earlier this year. \"But the political consequences of its actions are huge.\"\nThe opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters\n(Editing by Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "COLUMN-Elections may tweak sequencing of 2024 rate cuts :Mike Dolan"
    },
    {
        "id": 1200,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pboc-offers-record-112-billion-015631293.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s central bank injected the most cash via one-year policy loans on record, as it seeks to support an economy suffering from a housing slump and weak demand.\nThe People’s Bank of China offered commercial lenders 1.45 trillion yuan ($204 billion) via its medium-term lending facility — 800 billion yuan more than the expected maturity this month. The net injection was more than twice the amount seen by analysts surveyed in a Bloomberg survey and was also larger than the infusion last month.\n“MLF injection is much larger than expected, so it suggests continued easy monetary policy,” said Becky Liu, head of China macro strategy at Standard Chartered. This means China won’t cut the reserve-requirement ratio for banks anytime soon, she added.\nThe continuation of funding support underscores Beijing’s difficult task of selling an additional 1 trillion yuan in the last quarter of the year to finance stimulus. Economists will be closely watching industrial production and retail sales figures due Friday for clues on the pace of recovery and whether the government will need to provide more support.\nChina’s economy has struggled this year as a rebound from restrictive Covid Zero policies proved to be weaker than expected and the property crisis deepened. Data showed both manufacturing and services activities shrank in November, bolstering a belief that more government action is needed to support a faltering recovery.\nThe rate on the one-year loans was kept unchanged at 2.5%.\n“The injections are more than enough to cover additional bond supply – with the remainder potentially being used to support loan extension,” said Frances Cheung, a rates strategist a Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. in Singapore. “Looking further ahead, China’s government bonds shall react to the potential growth recovery and we maintain a mild upward bias to the yields and yuan rates.”\n--With assistance from Qizi Sun.\n",
        "title": "PBOC Offers Record $112 Billion of Cash as Economy Struggles"
    },
    {
        "id": 1201,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-mixed-economic-data-unlikely-020020805.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s industrial production beat expectations last month, though its boost from favorable comparisons to a Covid-hit period in 2022 means that result is unlikely to quell concerns about growth next year.\nIndustrial output rose 6.6% last month from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday, versus a median estimate for a 5.7% increase. Retail sales expanded 10.1%, slower than a projected 12.5% jump.\nGrowth in fixed-asset investment was 2.9% in the first 11 months of the year, versus a forecast 3% gain. Investment in property development remained a serious drag, plunging 9.4% in the period.\nThe urban jobless rate was unchanged at 5%.\nEconomists are handling November’s data with care due to distortions from last year. Policymakers are under pressure to ramp up supportive measures for the economy, as the real estate crisis remains a major threat to China’s recovery and deflation lingers, pointing to stubbornly weak domestic demand.\nThe People’s Bank of China kept the rate on its one-year policy loan at 2.5% on Friday before the NBS release, but injected the most cash via its medium-term lending facility since records began in 2014.\nAt two recent conclaves on economic policy for next year, top leaders emphasized they will seek “progress” and strengthen fiscal policy “appropriately.” That fueled expectations they may set an ambitious growth target and expand the official budget deficit significantly again.\nMany analysts anticipate the government will set the 2024 growth target at a similar level to this year’s around 5%. That will be more aspirational due to this year’s higher base.\nAuthorities also vowed to keep credit growth in step with both economic growth and inflation targets, a sign of official concern on falling prices. Monetary easing may be on the cards next year although aggressive steps are unlikely, with economist expecting measured interest rate cuts and reductions in the amount of cash banks must keep in reserve.\n",
        "title": "China’s Mixed Economic Data Unlikely to Quash Growth Concerns"
    },
    {
        "id": 1202,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hong-kong-hires-banks-digital-040818433.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Hong Kong government has hired five banks to explore a series of digital green bond sales, following a maiden offering earlier this year.\nThe city has appointed HSBC Holdings Plc, Credit Agricole CIB, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Ltd., and UBS Group AG to form a working group to explore the possibility of a multi-series fixed rate digitally native green bond issuance, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity discussing private matters.\nThe digitally native notes would be recorded in a distributed ledger technology platform.\nThe bonds may be denominated in the dollar, euro, offshore yuan, and Hong Kong dollar, with tenors of up to two years.\nThe planned sale came after Hong Kong issued HK$800 million ($102 million) of 365-day tokenized green note in February, amid the city’s push to become Asia’s digital-asset capital. The note was Hong Kong’s first sale of digital green bonds.\n",
        "title": "Hong Kong Hires Banks for Digital Green Bonds Issuance"
    },
    {
        "id": 1203,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asian-shares-race-061741766.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated prices at 0550 GMT)\nBy Stella Qiu\nSYDNEY, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Asian shares jumped to a four-month peak on Friday as sharp declines in the dollar and U.S. yields extended a Federal Reserve-fuelled rally, but pushback on rate cuts from central banks in Europe could deal a blow to the global pivot hopes.\nEurope is also set to open higher, with EUROSTOXX 50 futures up 0.2% and FTSE futures gaining 0.3%. Both S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures edged 0.1% higher, each.\nIn Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.9% after an earlier rally to the highest since early August met some resistance due to a turnaround in Chinese shares. It is up a solid 2.8% for the week.\nJapan's Nikkei rose 1%.\nChinese bluechips gave up earlier gains to be 0.3% lower and hit a fresh five-year trough. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, however, rebounded 2.2%, driven by a more than 3% jump in Chinese real estate firms on news that Beijing and Shanghai have relaxed home purchase restrictions.\nData from the world's second-largest economy showed factory and retail sectors sped up in November, but some indicators missed expectations, suggesting the recovery is not solid yet. China's central bank boosted liquidity injections but kept the interest rate unchanged when rolling over maturing medium-term policy loans.\nReuters, citing sources, reported that Chinese leaders agreed to run a budget deficit of 3% of gross domestic product in 2024, down from the 3.8% target for this year, suggesting Beijing wants to maintain fiscal discipline.\n\"Everyone is popping the corks now and celebrating that we've got the Fed pivot. But the Fed pivot happened two months ago… It has now got to the point where I think you need to be a little bit careful,\" said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG.\n\"I think we're gonna have a nice drift higher in Asian equity markets into year end, but Japan could be an exception. And I don't think I'd be touching any of the Chinese stocks at this point of time.\"\nOn Wall Street, the Dow Jones climbed to a fresh all-time high and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq made new 2023 peaks, as markets wagered on a total of 150 basis points in monetary easing - the equivalent of six cuts - for the Fed next year.\nOvernight, a host of Europe's central banks stuck to plans to keep policy tight well into next year, dashing any hope that the Fed's pivot towards rate cuts marked a global turning point.\nThe European Central Bank said policy easing was not even brought up in a two-day meeting, the Bank of England said rates would remain high for \"an extended period,\" and Norway's central bank even hiked rates.\nThe euro jumped 1.1% overnight and the sterling surged 1.2% before holding mostly steady in Asia on Friday. That helped pressure an already frail U.S. dollar , which is down 1.9% for the week and hovered near a four-month low at 101.97 against its major peers.\nBritish bond yields retraced steep falls on Thursday and Germany's 10-year bond yield bounced off session lows. Treasuries are, however, still heading for the best week in over a year, with the benchmark 10-year yields down a whopping 30 basis points to below 4% for the first time since July.\nData also showed U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rebounded in November and jobless claims dipped, suggesting the economy is still too strong to justify the kind of rate cuts baked in next year, but markets were too jubilant to see that.\nTreasuries steadied at the end of a stellar week, with the 10-year yields up 2 basis points to 3.9465%. On a weekly basis, they are down 29.8 basis points. Two-year yields also rose 2 bps to 4.4217%, but were down 31 bps for the week.\nOil prices extended their rally on Friday in opposition to the soft dollar after the International Energy Agency (IEA) lifted its oil demand forecast for next year.\nU.S. crude rose 0.2% to $71.75 per barrel, after surging more than 3%, while Brent was also up 0.3% to $76.80 per barrel.\nSpot gold was flat at $2,036.09 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Sam Holmes and Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "GlOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares race to four-month peak as Fed pivot rally rolls on"
    },
    {
        "id": 1204,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-6-trillion-cash-hoard-060425973.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By David Randall, Saqib Iqbal Ahmed and Lewis Krauskopf\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors wondering whether markets can continue their torrid rally are eyeing one important factor that could boost assets: a nearly $6 trillion pile of cash on the sidelines.\nSoaring yields have pulled cash into money markets and other short-term instruments, as many investors chose to collect income in the ultra-safe vehicles while they awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s battle against surging inflation. Total money market fund assets hit a record $5.9 trillion on Dec. 6, according to data from the Investment Company Institute.\nThe Fed’s unexpected dovish pivot on Wednesday may have upended that calculus: If borrowing costs fall in 2024, yields will likely drop alongside them. That could push some investors to deploy cash into stocks and other risky investments, while others rush to lock in yields in longer-term bonds.\nCash has returned an average of 4.5% in the year following the last rate hike of a cycle by the Fed, while U.S. equities have jumped 24.3% and investment grade debt by 13.6%, according to BlackRock data going back to 1995.\n\"We are getting calls ... from clients who have a significant level of cash and are realizing they need to do something with it,\" said Charles Lemonides, portfolio manager of hedge fund ValueWorks LLC. \"This is the beginning of a cycle that will start to feed on itself.\"\nRecent market action shows the scramble to recalibrate portfolios may have already kicked off. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields, which move inversely to bond prices, have fallen around 24 basis points since Wednesday’s Fed meeting to 3.9153%, the lowest since late July.\nThe S&P 500 is up 1.6% since Wednesday's Fed decision and stands less than 2% below a record high. The index is up nearly 23% this year.\n\"If you think the Fed is done with the hiking cycle, then it's time to deploy cash as the opportunity is there,” said Flavio Carpenzano, fixed-income investment director at Capital Group.\nNot all the cash in money market funds may be available as \"dry powder\" to be invested in stocks and bonds. Some of it is held by institutions that might otherwise have that money in bank deposits and is needed for cash purposes, said Peter Crane, president of Crane Data, which tracks money market funds.\nHistory also shows that the bulk of cash in money markets tends to remain even as rates come down, said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial.\n\"I think you could start to see some flows come out of money markets and chase this rally, but I don't think we are going to see anything to the tune of a trillion dollars or some massive flows that some people might expect,\" Turnquist said.\nAnd while money market assets are at record highs, their size relative to the S&P 500 is smaller than it has been during past peaks.\nTotal money market fund assets as a percentage of market capitalization stand at about 15.5%, in line with the long-term median and well below the record high of 64% hit in 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.\nFor now, however, investors' appetite for risk has been easy to spot. In the options market, for example, traders are spurning protection from a near-term drop in stocks even though the price of such hedges is attractive from a historical standpoint. The Cboe Volatility Index, which reflects demand for insurance against market swings, fell to pre-pandemic lows this month.\n\"No one is interested in buying insurance,\" said Chris Murphy, co-head of derivative strategy at Susquehanna Financial Group, noting that the low level of defensive positioning leaves the market vulnerable to a sharp reversal in the event of an unforeseen negative shock.\nIndeed, the sharp rebound in equities from their October lows has made some investors wary that markets have risen too quickly.\n“There’s enough money out there that it doesn't take a lot to directionally move the markets higher,\" said Jason Draho, head of asset allocation, Americas, at UBS Global Wealth Management.\nStill, the swift gains over the past six weeks in both equities and stocks \"makes you a little concerned about where the upside is from here for the markets overall,\" he said.\n(Reporting by David Randall, Saqib Iqbal Ahmed and Lewis Krauskopf; Additional reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "Analysis-A $6 trillion cash hoard could fuel more U.S. stock gains as Fed pivots"
    },
    {
        "id": 1205,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/focus-hedge-funds-fall-victim-060000044.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\n$38 billion redeemed from top performing hedge funds\n*\nPrivate equity and venture capital costs exceed profits\n*\nPensions and endowments hold investments to avoid losses\nBy Nell Mackenzie\nLONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The best performing hedge funds are falling victim to their own success as institutional investors such as pension funds and university endowments cut back their most profitable positions to make up for pain elsewhere.\nInvestors yanked $38 billion from top performing hedge funds in the 12 months to end-October, having pulled out $14 billion in the year earlier period, data from hedge fund specialist Aurum Research shows. These hedge funds returned, on average, more than 19% and 18%, respectively, in the two 12-month periods, Aurum Research said.\nWhile it's not unusual to ditch low performing hedge funds and redeem profits seasonally, the current exodus is being driven by pension funds and universities sacrificing their strongest investments to hold on to private equity and venture capital portfolios that now cost more than they yield, more than a dozen people familiar with these deliberations say.\nTo avoid selling these investments at a likely loss, institutions would prefer to maintain them in the hope they regain value someday, the sources said.\nThe trend is set to continue into 2024, said the sources, which include family offices, fund of funds, board and trustee members of pensions and university endowments as well as private banks advising institutions and sovereign wealth funds, overseeing a combined trillions of dollars of assets.\nNo one wants to sell their private equity holdings and face the discounts likely to be applied in markets, said Michael Oliver Weinberg, who was previously a portfolio manager and board member at Dutch pension fund APG and now teaches at Columbia Business School.\n\"These pension funds and endowments have been forced to sell what they can, even outperforming liquid hedge funds to fund their capital calls,\" said Weinberg.\nFunds invested in private equity and venture capital are generally decided upfront but the actual payments, or \"capital calls\", become due a chunk at a time.\n'MASSIVE WRITE DOWNS'\nAuditors customarily review portfolios at the start of each year. Institutions, suspecting that these private equity and venture capital portfolios have dropped in value, are trying to free up cash because they face higher costs and pressure to maintain returns, several sources said.\nAny fall in the value of private equity and venture capital holdings will need to be made up.\nVeteran hedge fund investor Neil Datta said endowments, in particular, were struggling because of the high share of money they allocated to private investments in recent years.\nHow much these are worth is typically not determined on a regular basis and the high valuations they carried when interest rates were low may have shifted as rates rose and deal activity fell.\n\"Those that excelled in 2019 and '20 face massive write downs now,\" said Datta. \"Auditors will be coming in the next quarter and some of those positions will be slashed 30-40%. You'll have redemptions now as investors, in need of cash, are getting their houses in order.\"\nPrivate equity buyout and venture capital funds in the first half of 2023 asked investors to stump up $66 billion more than was paid out in profit, MSCI data shows. While full-year data is not available yet, this looks likely to be the second year running investors have paid more than they received.\nProfits from private equity are paid out when merger and acquisition (M&A) deals go well or when a company matures enough to go public.\nBut private equity firms have struggled to exit their investments as deal making dried up. Worldwide M&A deal volumes declined during the first eleven months of 2023, to the lowest amount seen in that time period in a decade, LSEG data shows.\nInitial public offering (IPO) volumes have also fallen to a 7-year low in the year to Wednesday, according to LSEG data, and distributed profits have shrunk.\nColumbia's Weinberg noted that investors had piled into private equity on an assumption of low rates, higher valuations and an exit deal.\n\"Today, rates have risen, IPO markets are dark and M&A is diminished. These investors' models expected a flow of money, in the form of profit distributions, to return. But those monies have just not come in,\" he said.\nOutflows mean tougher times for hedge funds and carry an opportunity cost for public pensions and university funding, with institutions needing investments that are paying today.\nJust keeping the lights on has become more costly, said one university board member.\n\"There are people redeeming from systematic and quantitative hedge funds that probably shouldn't and maybe don't want to, but they also don't want to sell their less liquid investments at fire sale prices,\" said Datta.\n\"The challenge is, if you expect continued volatility, you may lose potential upside by taking chips off the table.\"\n(Reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "FOCUS-Hedge funds fall victim to success in dash for cash"
    },
    {
        "id": 1206,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fosun-hospital-arm-weighs-141-051400566.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. is considering spinning off its Chinese hospital business for a funding round, which could raise about 1 billion yuan ($141 million), according to people familiar with the matter.\nShanghai Fosun Health Technology Group Co., a unit of the Hong Kong-listed drugmaker, has approached potential investors to gauge interest for the funding round, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private.\nThe hospital arm is also weighing an initial public offering in Hong Kong, the people said. A listing could happen as soon as next year and the potential funding round can help set a reference on valuation, one of the people said.\nDeliberations are ongoing and details of the fundraising plans including the funding round and IPO could still change, according to the people. Representatives for parent Fosun Group and Fosun Pharma didn’t respond to requests for comment.\nSpinning off the hospital assets is in-line with Fosun Group’s shift from buying assets to focusing on improving the value of its existing operations. One of China’s biggest conglomerates, Fosun’s broad range of businesses encompass some 100 brands and firms across sectors including retail, pharmaceuticals, health care, tourism and real estate. Such a wide scope has deterred investors who worry about a lack of focus, and that’s dragged on the valuation of Fosun’s flagship holding companies.\nIn addition to having separate platforms for fundraising, spinning off individual business units could also improve transparency of financial reporting, allowing investors and financiers to better appraise strategies and performances of the operations. S&P Global Ratings said in September it expects Fosun to explore listing more of its units.\nFosun International Ltd. is seeking a separate listing for its Portuguese hospital operator Luz Saude SA. The plan was approved by the Hong Kong stock exchange last month.\nFosun Health operates about 20 medical facilities in China with most of them in the wealthier coastal area, according to its website. It had a total of 6,448 beds and held nine internet hospital licenses in China as of June 30. The loss-making healthcare services unit had an operating revenue of about 3.1 billion yuan for the first six months in 2023, accounting for about 15% of Fosun Pharma’s total revenue, an interim financial report shows.\nShares of Fosun Pharma have fallen about 34% this year in Hong Kong, heading for the worst annual performance since 2018. The company has a market value of about $8.9 billion.\nRead More: Record Fosun Asset Sales Can’t Halt Stock Drop to Decade Low\n",
        "title": "Fosun’s Hospital Arm Weighs $141 Million Funding Round, Sources Say"
    },
    {
        "id": 1207,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-video-games-market-recovers-050708028.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Josh Ye\nHONG KONG (Reuters) - China's video games market returned to growth this year as domestic revenue rose 13% to 303 billion yuan ($42.6 billion), putting Beijing's 8-month crackdown two years ago in the rear-view mirror.\nIndustry association CGIGC said at a conference in Guangzhou on Friday the industry's domestic revenue this year reached over 300 billion yuan for the first time. It also said the number of gamers in China grew 0.61% to a record 668 million, which is more than North America's entire population.\nThe return to growth is an important turnaround for the world's biggest gaming market after China's gaming revenue shrank for the first time last year following Beijing's 8-month crackdown on the industry over gaming addiction concerns.\nGames developed in China continued to grow as Beijing emphasized the need for self-sufficiency in technology. Annual revenue from homegrown games grew to 256 billion yuan, up 15% over the previous year.\nRevenue from Chinese games in foreign markets, however, took a hit after countries like India increased scrutiny of them on national security grounds. China's overseas games revenue fell 5.65% to $16.3 billion in 2023.\nAnime-style games from China such as miHoYo's \"Genshin Impact\" gained popularity and expanded revenue, while anime-style games on smartphones posted a 31% growth to 31 billion yuan this year as compared with last year.\nThe recovery of China's gaming industry is reflected in Chinese gaming giant Tencent's return to growth this year after posting its first-ever revenue decline last year.\nTencent's rival NetEase also experienced a strong year as its shares rose more than 40% this year with help from gaming hits like \"Egg Party\".\n($1 = 7.1196 yuan)\n(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Tom Hogue)\n",
        "title": "China's video games market recovers in 2023, domestic sales surpass $42.6 billion"
    },
    {
        "id": 1208,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-video-games-market-recovers-050149222.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Josh Ye\nHONG KONG, Dec 15 (Reuters) - China's video games market returned to growth this year as domestic revenue rose 13% to 303 billion yuan ($42.6 billion), putting Beijing's 8-month crackdown two years ago in the rear-view mirror.\nIndustry association CGIGC said at a conference in Guangzhou on Friday the industry's domestic revenue this year reached over 300 billion yuan for the first time. It also said the number of gamers in China grew 0.61% to a record 668 million, which is more than North America's entire population.\nThe return to growth is an important turnaround for the world's biggest gaming market after China's gaming revenue shrank for the first time last year following Beijing's 8-month crackdown on the industry over gaming addiction concerns.\nGames developed in China continued to grow as Beijing emphasized the need for self-sufficiency in technology. Annual revenue from homegrown games grew to 256 billion yuan, up 15% over the previous year.\nRevenue from Chinese games in foreign markets, however, took a hit after countries like India increased scrutiny of them on national security grounds. China's overseas games revenue fell 5.65% to $16.3 billion in 2023.\nAnime-style games from China such as miHoYo's \"Genshin Impact\" gained popularity and expanded revenue, while anime-style games on smartphones posted a 31% growth to 31 billion yuan this year as compared with last year.\nThe recovery of China's gaming industry is reflected in Chinese gaming giant Tencent's return to growth this year after posting its first-ever revenue decline last year.\nTencent's rival NetEase also experienced a strong year as its shares rose more than 40% this year with help from gaming hits like\n\"Egg Party\"\n.\n($1 = 7.1196 yuan) (Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Tom Hogue)\n",
        "title": "China's video games market recovers in 2023, domestic sales surpass $42.6 bln"
    },
    {
        "id": 1209,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-weibo-asks-bloggers-avoid-041821472.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese microblogging site Weibo Corp. is asking some of its users not to post negative content about the economy, a move that underscores concerns about sputtering domestic growth.\nThe social media service, often compared with X, sent notices to users warning them to “avoid expressing pessimism about the economy,” according to a memo circulating online that one recipient confirmed to Bloomberg News.\nOne Weibo user focused on finance, with more than 76,000 followers, said in a Thursday night post that they were privately told to post less about the economy, and instead shared a lighthearted video about US baseball. Another Chinese markets blogger, with more than 16,000 followers, posted a separate notice asking bloggers to “avoid crossing the red lines” particularly around economic or financial topics.\nWeibo representatives did not respond to a request for comment.\nThe guidance from one of China’s most popular social media sites comes as the country’s top leaders seek to restore confidence, including by pledging to strengthen fiscal growth. In a Politburo meeting last week, top officials from the ruling Communist Party vowed to strengthen public opinion guidance on economic affairs. Mixed economic data on Friday showed that recovery after the pandemic remained slow, with weak consumer confidence and a lingering real estate crisis.\nThe Ministry of State Security said Friday that negative comments on the economy would endanger national security. “Various clichés intended to undermine China’s economy have appeared consistently, in an attempt to use false narratives to construct a ‘discourse trap’ and ‘cognitive trap’ that China is in decline,” the ministry said in a post on its official WeChat account. “This is an attempt to strategically contain and suppress China.”\nOther Chinese agencies may have begun to pull back from overly negative commentary. China International Capital Corp. analysts have been barred from sharing negative comments about the economy or markets in both public and private discussions, Bloomberg News has reported. And Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts attracted a wave of criticism in July after publishing a bearish report on Chinese banks.\nChina has in recent years stepped up controls across its cyberspace, including requiring influential users to display their real names in public, as it clamps down on dissent and false information online. Beijing-based Weibo operates in one of the world’s strictest censorship regimes. It’s one of the country’s go-to repositories for entertainment news and celebrity gossip, topics that are subject to regular scrutiny by Chinese regulators.\n",
        "title": "China’s Weibo Asks Bloggers to Avoid Badmouthing the Economy"
    },
    {
        "id": 1210,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-phase-loose-monetary-policy-040744844.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Satoshi Sugiyama\nTOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) will begin to unwind its ultra-loose monetary settings as early as January, more than a fifth of economists in a Reuters poll said, heightening expectations the controversial policy era is near an end.\nAt the same time, over 80% of economists are expecting the Japanese central bank to ditch negative interest rates by the end of next year, a key pillar of the accommodative monetary regime, the Dec. 8-14 poll showed.\nA global outlier, the BOJ is likely to end the year as one of the world's most dovish though economists are predicting it would start hiking interest rates soon. Central banks in other developed countries, on the other hand, have paused rate hikes and are even preparing to deliver cuts next year.\nWhile none of the economists in the poll predicted changes at next week's meeting, six of 28 economists, or 21%, said the BOJ would start dismantling current monetary conditions in January.\nSpecifically, four of 28 - Daiwa Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, Nomura Securities and T&D Asset Management - or 14%, said the BOJ would end its negative interest rate policy at the January 22-23 meeting. Japan's short-term deposit rate is currently set at minus 0.1%.\nMitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and ZKB predicted the BOJ would abandon its yield curve control (YCC) policy in January. Daiwa Securities foresaw the BOJ tweaking YCC again, raising the long-term interest rate guidance target and retaining the policy's framework to avoid a sharp rise in long-term interest rates.\nIt would be desirable for Ueda to issue a directive this month to BOJ leadership to begin considering lifting the negative interest rate so the market is informed in advance, said Mari Iwashita, Daiwa Securities' chief market economist.\n\"Even with the lifting of the negative rate policy, the BOJ will explain that the financial environment is still accommodative,\" Iwashita said.\nIn last month's poll, five of 26, or 19%, forecast the start of monetary tightening in January.\nBOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's said last week the central bank was facing an \"even more challenging\" situation at year-end and at the start of 2024, jolting markets as speculators ramped up bets that a policy shift was imminent.\nEND IN SIGHT\nIn total, 84% of economists predicted the negative rate policy to be over by end-2024 in their end-quarter forecast, up from 71% in November and 54% in October.\nApril remained as a top choice among economists for the negative rate policy to be scrapped, with 61%, or 17 of 28, responding as such to an extra question. Four opted for July, while three selected 2025 or later.\nIn April, the BOJ will revise the price outlook and state in its quarterly report the price target would be achieved after determining the rate of wage increases in next year's spring labour negotiations, said Moe Nakahama, research associate at Itochu Research Institute.\nThe Japanese central bank would end both the negative rate and YCC policies at the same time in April, she said.\nDuring the January-March quarter next year, 10 of 44 economists predicted the deposit rate to be between 0.00% and 0.10%.\nIn the following quarter, 28 of 42 respondents expected the rate to be either 0.00 or 0.10%, while another two - Allied Irish Banks and Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance - anticipated it to go as high as 0.25%.\nMeanwhile, nearly 90% of economists, or 23 of 26, said the BOJ would end the YCC rather than tweak it again.\nOf those 23, all except Citigroup and Mizuho Securities picked sometime in 2024. Three opted for January, one went for March, 10 selected April, one identified June and another five chose July.\n(For other stories from the Reuters global economic poll:)\n(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Polling by Vijayalakshmi Srinivasan, Veronica Khongwir and Devayani Sathyan; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "BOJ to phase out loose monetary policy in January, over 20% of economists say- Reuters poll"
    },
    {
        "id": 1211,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-factory-pmi-slides-back-032954855.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Activity in Japan’s factory sector deteriorated to a level matching a three-year low, a pessimistic data point for Bank of Japan officials to mull when they meet to decide policy next week.\nThe au Jibun Bank’s purchasing managers index of activity in Japan’s manufacturing sector dipped to 47.7 in December, the lowest since February and matching the level back in September 2020, when the economy was starting to emerge from the pandemic. The gauge has languished below the 50 mark that separates a contraction from an expansion for seven consecutive months.\nThe reading for the service sector advanced to 52, helping to boost the composite index to 50.4.\nThe data underscore the continuing divergence between conditions in the manufacturing sector versus services. The BOJ’s latest Tankan survey showed sentiment for non-manufacturers rising to a 32-year high, as firms providing accommodations, eating and drinking services benefited from surging inbound tourism and pent-up leisure demand in the wake of the pandemic.\nManufacturers have been less optimistic, as domestic demand sags due in part to the impact of persistent inflation weighing on spending patterns.\nPrime Minister Fumio Kishida’s support ratings were already weak amid simmering resentment over rising costs of living. The political slush fund scandal that enveloped a large faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party this week further dented his ratings.\nFriday’s PMI data showed new work and factory output fell in the manufacturing sector. Modest increases in sales in the service sector weren’t enough to raise the composite reading for new businesses, as manufacturing orders saw a sharp decline.\nThe weak result in the factory sector isn’t good news for Japan, which saw its deepest contraction since the pandemic in the three months through September. Optimism regarding the year ahead weakened, as expectations for business activity reached the lowest level since March 2022, according to the PMI report.\nThe mixed data cloud the outlook ahead of the BOJ’s policy meeting that concludes on Dec. 19, as authorities wait to see if companies boost wages enough to enable a virtuous wage-price cycle.\nPeople familiar with the BOJ say authorities probably won’t change policy at the next meeting. About two-thirds of economists surveyed by Bloomberg earlier this month expect the bank to scrap its negative rate by the end of April.\n",
        "title": "Japan Factory PMI Slides Back to Pandemic-Era Level Ahead of BOJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 1212,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/indonesian-tycoon-tanoto-offers-buy-001109515.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Indonesian tycoon Sukanto Tanoto has unveiled plans to buy Vinda International Holdings Ltd. shares including those from the largest shareholders of the Hong Kong-listed tissue maker.\nSukanto’s family offers to buy Vinda shares it doesn’t already own for HK$23.5 each, representing a 13.5% premium to the last closing price, according to the exchange filing on Friday. Swedish personal care product maker Essity AB and Vinda’s founder Li Chaowang have agreed to sell their shares to the family. The two biggest shareholders own a combined 72.62% stake in Vinda.\nSukanto’s family could pay a maximum HK$26 billion ($3.3 billion) should all shareholders accept the offer.\nTanoto’s main business flagship RGE Pte has operations spanning palm oil, energy as well as pulp and paper. The Indonesian tycoon has been working on a potential offer for a controlling stake in Vinda, Bloomberg News reported in October. The daughter of Tanoto has built a 7% interest in the Hong Kong-listed firm.\nEssity said in April its holding in Vinda is under strategic review. Vinda has a market value of about $3.2 billion in Hong Kong and sells tissues under brands including Tempo and Tork. It also makes products for feminine care, baby care and incontinence.\n",
        "title": "Indonesian Tycoon Tanoto Offers to Buy Tissue Maker Vinda"
    },
    {
        "id": 1213,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/argentina-still-plans-dollarize-milei-025630112.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- President Javier Milei still intends to eventually scrap Argentina’s peso after sharply devaluing the currency as part of an initial round of shock therapy, according to his economy minister.\n“The objective remains the same — to get to dollarization,” Luis Caputo told LN+ TV in his second straight night-time interview.\nCaputo, who announced the new government was slashing the value of the peso by more than half late Tuesday, declined to offer a timeline for abandoning the currency altogether but conceded it’s not a near-term goal.\n“The president always campaigned on dollarization and closing the central bank,” Caputo said. “Those rallying flags haven’t been set aside.”\nEchoing comments by central bank officials earlier in the day, the economy minister said this week’s aggressive currency devaluation was intended to start re-anchoring inflation expectations. Annual consumer price gains galloped past 160% even before Milei’s opening salvo, which also included aggressive spending cuts, amid expectations the pain will become more acute in the near term.\nMonthly inflation hit nearly 13% in November, according to data released Wednesday by the national statistics agency.\nInstead of gradually devaluing, the new government opted instead for “overshooting” to bring the official rate near those seen in parallel markets, Caputo said. The goal is to “contain this repressed inflation,” as well as expectations, and keep monthly price gains from topping 20%, he added.\nThe so-called blue chip swap, which mirrors what Argentines can get for their money on the black market, was at about 1,040 pesos per dollar on Thursday. After the initial front-loaded cut, which brought the official rate to 800 pesos from about 365 previously, Caputo reiterated the official rate will be reduced by 2% each month going forward.\n",
        "title": "Argentina Still Plans to Dollarize, Milei’s Economy Chief Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 1214,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asian-shares-hit-024622124.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updated at 0230 GMT, includes China's activity data)\nBy Stella Qiu\nSYDNEY, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Asian shares hit a four-month peak on Friday as sharp declines in the dollar and U.S. yields extended the Fed-fuelled rally, but pushback on rate cuts from central banks in Europe may deal a blow to the global pivot hopes.\nMSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rallied 1.3% to the highest since early August and was up 3% for the week. Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.2%, heading for a weekly gain of 2.5%.\nBattered Chinese bluechips rose 0.8% to pull away from a five-year low, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged 3.0%.\nChina's central bank on Friday boosted liquidity injections but kept the interest rate unchanged when rolling over maturing medium-term policy loans, matching expectations.\nData from the world's second-largest economy showed factory and retail sectors sped up in November, but some indicators missed expectations.\n\"Everyone is popping the corks now and celebrating that we've got the Fed pivot. But the Fed pivot happened two months ago… It has now got to the point where I think you need to be a little bit careful,\" said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG.\n\"I think rate cuts are priced in a little bit too generously. I wouldn't be surprised if it would be pushed back to maybe May or June more towards the middle of the year in terms of the first cut and only four cuts.\"\nOn Wall Street, the Dow Jones climbed to a fresh all-time high and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq made new 2023 peaks, as markets wagered on a total of 150 basis points in easing expectations - the equivalent of six cuts - for the Fed next year.\nOvernight, a host of Europe's central banks stuck to plans to keep policy tight well into next year, dashing any hope that the Fed's pivot towards rate cuts marked a global turning point.\nThe European Central Bank said policy easing was not even brought up in a two-day meeting, the Bank of England said rates would remain high for \"an extended period,\" and Norway's central bank even hiked rates.\nThe euro jumped 1.1% overnight and the sterling surged 1.2% before holding mostly steady in Asia on Friday. That helped pressure an already frail U.S. dollar , which is down 1.9% for the week and hovered near a four-month low at 102.03 against its major peers.\nBritish bond yields retraced steep falls on Thursday and Germany's 10-year bond yield bounced off session lows. Treasuries are, however, still heading for the best week in over a year, with the benchmark 10-year yields down a whopping 30 basis points to below 4% for the first time since July.\nData also showed U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rebounded in November and jobless claims dipped, suggesting the economy is still too strong to justify the kind of rate cuts baked in next year, but markets were too jubilant to see that.\nTreasuries trimmed some of the stellar gains on Friday, with the 10-year yields up 2 basis points to 3.9488%. On a weekly basis, they are down 29.6 basis points. Two-year yields also rose 2 bps to 4.4217%, down 30 bps for the week.\nOil prices extended their rally on Friday in opposition to the soft dollar after the International Energy Agency (IEA) lifted its oil demand forecast for next year.\nU.S. crude rose 0.3% to $71.82 per barrel, after surging more than 3%, while Brent was also up 0.3% to $76.87 per barrel.\nSpot gold was flat at $2,036.69 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares hit four-month peak as Fed pivot rally rolls on"
    },
    {
        "id": 1215,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wrapup-2-chinas-weak-property-022547003.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BEIJING, Dec 15 (Reuters) - China's property sector worsened in November as negative home buyer sentiment and indebted developers drove down sales and investment, while broader retail sector activity missed forecasts as recent stimulus struggled to revive demand.\nThe world's second-largest economy has struggled to mount a strong post-COVID recovery as distress in the housing market, local government debt risks and weakening global demand slowed momentum. While the Asian giant grew faster-than-expected in the third quarter, domestic demand has remained tepid and manufacturers have had to discount prices to find buyers.\nA flurry of policy support measures have proven only modestly beneficial, raising pressure on authorities to roll out more stimulus as analysts say different parts of the economy are running at different speeds and long-standing issues persist.\n\"Transactions are typically depressed towards the end of the year, and the property sector in general does not want to take on more leverage and house prices are still too high compared to urban incomes,\" said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China.\n\"People will just wait out this downward spiral,\" she added.\nChina's new home prices fell for the fifth straight month in November, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday, while property investment fell 9.4% January-November year-on-year, after a 9.3% drop in January-October.\nIndustrial output in the world's second-largest economy grew 6.6% in November year-on-year, faster than the 4.6% gain in October and beating expectations for a 5.6% increase in a Reuters poll. It also marked the strongest growth since September 2022.\nRetail sales rose 10.1% in November, accelerating from a 7.6% increase in October but missed analysts' expectations for a 12.5% leap mainly fuelled by the low base effect in 2022 when COVID curbs disrupted consumers and businesses.\n\"The market expected pro-growth policies to quickly bear fruit, which has not yet been effectively translated into near-term growth due to the constraints of policy transmission and business confidence,\" said Bruce Pang, chief economist at Jones Lang Lasalle.\nFixed asset investment expanded 2.9% in the first 11 months of 2023 from the same period a year earlier, missing expectations for a 3% rise. It grew 2.9% in the January-October period.\nFriday's data follows other November indicators that show the economy struggling for momentum. Imports grew for the first time in six months, but analysts attributed this to manufacturers offering unsustainable discounts and imports contracted again. Consumer prices fell at the fastest in three years and factory deflation deepened.\nThe patchy recovery has prompted analysts to warn that China may decline into Japanese-style stagnation later this decade unless policymakers take steps to reorient the economy towards household consumption and market-allocation of resources.\nPolicy advisers say the government will need to implement further stimulus should it wish to sustain an annual economic growth target of \"around 5%\" next year, which would match this year's goal.\nOn Tuesday, top leaders said they would step up policy adjustments to support economic recovery in 2024, with a focus on boosting domestic demand given the slowdown in the global economy. (Reporting by Liz Lee, Ellen Zhang and Joe Cash. Editing by Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "WRAPUP 2-China's weak property sector, retail sales keep stimulus calls alive"
    },
    {
        "id": 1216,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-central-bank-power-over-020220521.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Lewis Jackson\nSYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will give its central bank new powers to take over and if necessary, wind up, clearing and settlement providers at risk of failure, according to draft legislation released on Friday.\nIn the event of a major financial crisis or insolvency, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will be empowered to direct the operations of a distressed clearing and settlement provider to keep markets functioning and even orchestrate a breakup or sale.\nClearing and settlement firms ensure a stock, bond or derivatives trade is safely concluded with ownership and custody swapped for cash.\n\"The RBA may need to use tools to take control of a body corporate in cases where it does not have confidence that the board and management is capable of resolving a crisis satisfactorily,\" according to explanatory materials released by Treasury.\nThe draft legislation open for consultation until February also empowers the RBA to work with foreign regulators if an international firm operating in Australia gets into trouble.\nFour systematically important domestic clearing and settlements firms and two international firms currently operate in Australia.\nThe draft follows legislation passed in September to create more competition in clearings and settlement, which is dominated by stock market operator ASX Ltd.\nThe Council of Financial Regulators, a body including the RBA, securities regulator, Treasury and the prudential regulator, recommended the changes in 2020 to address financial market risks exposed by the 2008 financial crisis and COVID.\nThe draft legislation also gives the securities regulator and RBA new licensing, supervisory and enforcement powers over financial market infrastructure, an umbrella term including exchanges, derivative trade repositories and benchmark administrators.\nThese entities support roughly A$16.5 trillion ($11.05 trillion) in securities transactions and A$160 trillion in derivatives transactions each year.\n($1 = 1.4932 Australian dollars)\n(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Australia central bank to get power to take over distressed clearing and settlement providers"
    },
    {
        "id": 1217,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-shares-hit-three-month-020040736.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Stella Qiu\nSYDNEY (Reuters) -Asian shares jumped to a four-month peak on Friday as sharp declines in the dollar and U.S. yields extended a Federal Reserve-fuelled rally, but pushback on rate cuts from central banks in Europe could deal a blow to the global pivot hopes.\nEurope is also set to open higher, with EUROSTOXX 50 futures up 0.2% and FTSE futures gaining 0.3%. Both S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures edged 0.1% higher, each.\nIn Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last up 0.9% after an earlier rally to the highest since early August met some resistance due to a turnaround in Chinese shares. It is up a solid 2.8% for the week.\nJapan's Nikkei rose 1%.\nChinese bluechips gave up earlier gains to be 0.3% lower and hit a fresh five-year trough. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, however, rebounded 2.2%, driven by a more than 3% jump in Chinese real estate firms on news that Beijing and Shanghai have relaxed home purchase restrictions.\nData from the world's second-largest economy showed factory and retail sectors sped up in November, but some indicators missed expectations, suggesting the recovery is not solid yet. China's central bank boosted liquidity injections but kept the interest rate unchanged when rolling over maturing medium-term policy loans.\nReuters, citing sources, reported that Chinese leaders agreed to run a budget deficit of 3% of gross domestic product in 2024, down from the 3.8% target for this year, suggesting Beijing wants to maintain fiscal discipline.\n\"Everyone is popping the corks now and celebrating that we've got the Fed pivot. But the Fed pivot happened two months ago… It has now got to the point where I think you need to be a little bit careful,\" said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG.\n\"I think we're gonna have a nice drift higher in Asian equity markets into year end, but Japan could be an exception. And I don't think I'd be touching any of the Chinese stocks at this point of time.\"\nOn Wall Street, the Dow Jones climbed to a fresh all-time high and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq made new 2023 peaks, as markets wagered on a total of 150 basis points in monetary easing - the equivalent of six cuts - for the Fed next year. [.N]\nOvernight, a host of Europe's central banks stuck to plans to keep policy tight well into next year, dashing any hope that the Fed's pivot towards rate cuts marked a global turning point.\nThe European Central Bank said policy easing was not even brought up in a two-day meeting, the Bank of England said rates would remain high for \"an extended period,\" and Norway's central bank even hiked rates.\nThe euro jumped 1.1% overnight and the sterling surged 1.2% before holding mostly steady in Asia on Friday. That helped pressure an already frail U.S. dollar, which is down 1.9% for the week and hovered near a four-month low at 101.97 against its major peers. [FRX/]\nBritish bond yields retraced steep falls on Thursday and Germany's 10-year bond yield bounced off session lows. Treasuries are, however, still heading for the best week in over a year, with the benchmark 10-year yields down a whopping 30 basis points to below 4% for the first time since July.\nData also showed U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rebounded in November and jobless claims dipped, suggesting the economy is still too strong to justify the kind of rate cuts baked in next year, but markets were too jubilant to see that.\nTreasuries steadied at the end of a stellar week, with the 10-year yields up 2 basis points to 3.9465%. On a weekly basis, they are down 29.8 basis points. Two-year yields also rose 2 bps to 4.4217%, but were down 31 bps for the week.\nOil prices extended their rally on Friday in opposition to the soft dollar after the International Energy Agency (IEA) lifted its oil demand forecast for next year.\nU.S. crude rose 0.2% to $71.75 per barrel, after surging more than 3%, while Brent was also up 0.3% to $76.80 per barrel. [O/R]\nSpot gold was flat at $2,036.09 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Sam Holmes and Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "Asian shares race to four-month peak as Fed pivot rally rolls on"
    },
    {
        "id": 1218,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-jan-nov-property-sales-020001913.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BEIJING, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Property sales by floor area in China fell 8.0% year-on-year in January-November, compared with a 7.8% slump in the first 10 months of 2023, piling more pressure on policymakers to intensify efforts to shore up demand.\nProperty investment in the first eleven months of 2023 declined 9.4% from a year earlier, after dropping 9.3% in January-October, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Friday.\nNew construction starts measured by floor area tumbled 21.2% year-on-year, after a 23.2% slide in the first ten months.\nFunds raised by China's property developers were down 13.4% year-on-year after a 13.8% fall in January-October. (Reporting by Liangping Gao, Ella Cao, Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo. Editing by Sam Holmes and Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "China's Jan-Nov property sales fell 8.0% y/y, investment down 9.4%"
    },
    {
        "id": 1219,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-prices-track-first-weekly-014006701.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Laura Sanicola\n(Reuters) - Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Friday, on track to notch their first weekly rise in two months after benefiting from a bullish forecast from the International Energy Agency (IEA) on oil demand for next year and a weaker dollar.\nBrent futures rose 9 cents to $76.70 a barrel at 0006 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 10 cents to $71.68.\nBoth benchmarks are on track for a modest weekly gain, having been lifted by a mid-week announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it is likely to cut borrowing costs next year.\nThe dollar fell to a four-month low on Thursday after the U.S. central bank indicated interest rate hikes have likely ended and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024.\nA weak dollar makes dollar-denominated oil cheaper for foreign purchasers.\nThe European Central Bank, meanwhile, pushed back against bets on imminent cuts to interest rates on Thursday by reaffirming that borrowing costs would remain at record highs despite lower inflation expectations.\nWorld oil consumption will rise by 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, the International Energy Agency said in a monthly report, up 130,000 bpd from its previous forecast, citing an improvement in the outlook for U.S. demand and lower oil prices.\nThe 2024 estimate is less than half of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) demand growth forecast of 2.25 million bpd.\nWeek economic data from China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, has added pressure on oil prices in recent weeks.\nMonthly data on the latest Chinese retail sales, industrial production, business investment, unemployment and house prices for November will be released later on Friday.\n(Reporting by Laura Sanicola; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Oil prices on track for first weekly rise in two months"
    },
    {
        "id": 1220,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-feels-heat-feds-013809986.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Ankur Banerjee SINGAPORE, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The dollar languished near four-month lows on Friday, weighed by growing prospects of U.S. interest rate cuts next year, while the euro and pound found support as the central banks there reiterated the need for rates to stay higher for longer. In an action-packed week for central banks, traders found more clarity on when interest rate cuts were likely after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said at Wednesday's meeting that the tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts coming \"into view\". The Fed's projections implied 75 basis points of cuts next year, from the current level. That has resulted in the greenback sliding broadly against rivals, with the dollar index at 102.05, not far from the four-month low of 101.76 it touched on Thursday. The index is down 1.9% and on course for its steepest weekly decline since July. On Thursday, the European Central Bank and Bank of England pushed back against bets on imminent cuts to interest rates and reiterated their focus on the fight against inflation, helping lift the euro and pound. The euro was at $1.0983, just shy of $1.1009, a two-week high it touched on Thursday. The single currency is up 2% this week, its largest rise in four weeks. Sterling was last at $1.2752, down 0.11% on the day, having surged 1.1% and scaling a four-month peak of $1.2793 on Thursday. Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone, said the aftermath of the central bank fest is that the market has brought forward the timing of cuts expected in 2024. \"We knew 2024 was a year of normalising policy, but the timing and the start date were a growing debate,\" said Weston, adding that March is when markets expect to see most central banks to start easing their monetary policy. Markets are now pricing in a 75% chance of a rate cut in March by the Fed, according to CME FedWatch tool. They are also pricing in 150 basis points in rate reductions by Dec. 2024. The ECB have more scope than most to ease, according to Pepperstone's Weston, given low growth and a rapid decline in inflation. \"However, the pushback from (ECB President) Lagarde and co suggests conjecture on the timing of initial easing – perhaps this is a function that its desirable to keep one's currency strong to limit imported inflation.\" Meanwhile, the Japanese yen weakened 0.20% to 142.16 per dollar in Asian hours, having surged 0.7% and touching a four-and-a-half month high on Thursday ahead of the Bank of Japan's meeting next week. The Asian currency is up 2% this week and on course for its biggest weekly gain against the dollar since July. Expectations of the BOJ to exit its ultra loose monetary policy have faded with the central bank likely to end the year as one of the world's most dovish. Market focus will be on any hints Governor Kazuo Ueda may offer at his post-meeting briefing on the timing of an exit from negative interest rates. Elsewhere, the Australian dollar rose 0.06% to $0.670, while the New Zealand dollar eased 0.03% to $0.620. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 0119 GMT Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Euro/Dollar $1.0985 $1.0992 -0.05% +2.52% +1.0996 +1.0978 Dollar/Yen 142.1350 141.8250 +0.21% +8.30% +142.4600 +142.1200 Euro/Yen Dollar/Swiss 0.8675 0.8677 -0.01% -6.17% +0.8681 +0.8672 Sterling/Dollar 1.2756 1.2767 -0.09% +5.47% +1.2771 +1.2748 Dollar/Canadian 1.3407 1.3407 +0.04% -1.01% +1.3415 +1.3405 Aussie/Dollar 0.6703 0.6698 +0.06% -1.68% +0.6704 +0.6694 NZ 0.6203 0.6207 -0.06% -2.31% +0.6214 +0.6196 Dollar/Dollar All spots Tokyo spots Europe spots Volatilities Tokyo Forex market info from BOJ (Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore. Editing by Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar feels the heat as Fed's dovish pivot weighs"
    },
    {
        "id": 1221,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chipmaker-sk-hynix-grabs-korea-003533232.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. has regained its place as South Korea’s second-largest stock, riding the artificial intelligence boom to climb back ahead of slumping electric-vehicle battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd.\nSK Hynix’s market value rose to about 99.5 trillion won ($77 billion) as of Thursday’s close, compared with LG Energy’s 98.9 trillion won. SK Hynix’s memory chip rival Samsung Electronics Co. remains far and away the largest Korean stock, at nearly 440 billion won.\nA key supplier of high-bandwidth memory to Nvidia Corp., SK Hynix has seen its shares surge more that 80% so far this year. Combined with expectations for a recovery in more traditional memory chips, analyst are projecting the company will rebound to record annual revenue in 2024 after a big drop in sales and net loss this year.\nIn contrast, Tesla Inc. supplier LG Energy has dipped 3% in 2023 on a weak outlook for EV demand. LG Energy had mostly held the No. 2 spot in Korea’s stock market since its January 2022 listing.\n",
        "title": "Chipmaker SK Hynix Grabs Korea’s No. 2 Spot From EV Battery Maker LG Energy"
    },
    {
        "id": 1222,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-stop-telling-law-enforcement-001953651.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.’s Google is changing its Maps tool so that the company no longer has access to users' individual location histories, cutting off its ability to respond to law enforcement warrants that ask for data on everyone who was in the vicinity of a crime.\nGoogle is changing its Location History feature on Google Maps, according to a blog post this week. The feature, which Google says is off by default, helps users remember where they’ve been. The company said Thursday that for users who have it enabled, location data will soon be saved directly on users’ devices, blocking Google from being able to see it, and, by extension, blocking law enforcement from being able to demand that information from Google.\n“Your location information is personal,” said Marlo McGriff, director of product for Google Maps, in the blog post. “We’re committed to keeping it safe, private and in your control.”\nThe change comes three months after a Bloomberg Businessweek investigation that found police across the US were increasingly using warrants to obtain location and search data from Google, even for nonviolent cases, and even for people who had nothing to do with the crime.\n“It’s well past time,” said Jennifer Lynch, the general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that defends digital civil liberties. “We’ve been calling on Google to make these changes for years, and I think it’s fantastic for Google users, because it means that they can take advantage of features like location history without having to fear that the police will get access to all of that data.”\nGoogle said it would roll out the changes gradually through the next year on its own Android and Apple Inc.’s iOS mobile operating systems, and that users will receive a notification when the update comes to their account. The company won’t be able to respond to new geofence warrants once the update is complete, including for people who choose to save encrypted backups of their location data to the cloud.“It’s a good win for privacy rights and sets an example,” said Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the security and surveillance project at the Center for Democracy & Technology. The move validates what litigators defending the privacy of location data have long argued in court: that just because a company might hold data as part of its business operations, that doesn’t mean users have agreed the company has a right to share it with a third party.\nLynch, the EFF lawyer, said that while Google deserves credit for the move, it’s long been the only tech company that that the EFF and other civil-liberties groups have seen responding to geofence warrants. “It’s great that Google is doing this, but at the same time, nobody else has been storing and collecting data in the same way as Google,” she said. Apple, which also has an app for Maps, has said it’s technically unable to supply the sort of location data police want.\nThere’s still another kind of warrant that privacy advocates are concerned about: so-called reverse keyword search warrants, where police can ask a technology company to provide data on the people who have searched for a given term. “Search queries can be extremely sensitive, even if you’re just searching for an address,” Lynch said.\n--With assistance from Julia Love.\n",
        "title": "Google Will Stop Telling Law Enforcement Which Users Were Near a Crime"
    },
    {
        "id": 1223,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-temasek-kkr-join-silver-235417806.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte and KKR & Co. have joined a loan deal for Silver Lake Management LLC’s TEG Pty Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.\nThe unitranche loan of around A$950 million has a five-year tenor and a margin of 550 basis points, one of the people said, in line with Bloomberg’s report in November.\nAustralia-based TEG is a company that sells tickets to concerts, musicals and sporting events with operations in countries such as Australia, the UK and Singapore. The dividend recapitalization transaction would give Silver Lake Management a payout after talks to sell TEG earlier this year stalled.\nTemasek, KKR, Silver Lake and TEG declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.\nThe Australian Financial Review reported the involvement of the two firms earlier. The deal includes a $130 million revolving credit facility on top of the A$950 million loan, it said.\n--With assistance from David Ramli.\n(Updates with Silver Lake and TEG declining to comment)\n",
        "title": "Singapore’s Temasek and KKR Join Silver Lake’s TEG Loan Deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 1224,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/southwest-airlines-flight-attendants-union-233010050.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 14 (Reuters) - A union representing flight attendants of Southwest Airlines has called for a new vote to ratify the company's contract offer after their voting service provider revealed a data leak.\nThe president of Transport Workers Union Local 556, in a video on the union's Facebook page, said the vendor, True Ballot, had informed them \"their system was unsecured, leaving it open to vulnerabilities\".\nTrue Ballot, in an emailed statement to Reuters, said, \"we are now aware of the video by the Executive Board, which makes certain factual representations that are simply not true\".\nThe union has not yet set a date for a new vote but said it would conduct a \"full legal investigation\" into the matter.\nSouthwest flight attendants have been demanding higher pay and a better work-life balance in their new contracts.\n\"There is nothing to share at this time, we know as much as the union has communicated,\" Southwest Airlines told Reuters in an emailed statement.\n(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat and Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "Southwest Airlines flight attendants union to hold new contract vote"
    },
    {
        "id": 1225,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amtech-fiscal-q4-earnings-snapshot-232534150.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Amtech Systems Inc. (ASYS) on Thursday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $12 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.\nOn a per-share basis, the Tempe, Arizona-based company said it had a loss of 85 cents. Losses, adjusted for asset impairment costs and non-recurring costs, came to 18 cents per share.\nThe provider of equipment for solar panel and semiconductor makers posted revenue of $27.7 million in the period.\nFor the year, the company reported a loss of $12.6 million, or 89 cents per share, swinging to a loss in the period. Revenue was reported as $113.3 million.\nFor the current quarter ending in December, Amtech said it expects revenue in the range of $21 million to $24 million.\nIn the final minutes of trading on Thursday, the company's shares hit $4.10. A year ago, they were trading at $8.03.\n_____\nThis story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ASYS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ASYS\n",
        "title": "Amtech: Fiscal Q4 Earnings Snapshot"
    },
    {
        "id": 1226,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-gm-lay-off-1-232446289.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details on production, Ford EV production cut)\nBy David Shepardson\nDec 14 (Reuters) -\nGeneral Motors said on Thursday it is laying off 1,300 workers at two Michigan auto factories in early January.\nThe largest U.S. automaker said 945 workers will be laid off at its Orion Assembly plant, which is ending production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and being converted for electric truck production that will start in late 2025. Final production of the Bolt at Orion is set for next week, GM said.\nAnother 350 out of 1,400 total workers at its Lansing Grand River plant will be laid off due to the end of Chevrolet Camaro production, but the factory will continue producing the Cadillac CT4 and Cadillac CT5. GM said affected hourly employees will be offered positions at other factories.\nGM disclosed in October it was delaying production of electric pickup trucks at the Orion plant by a year, so the layoff affects all production workers at that plant. The Detroit automaker had been set to begin production of the electric Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in late 2024 at the suburban Detroit plant.\nGM CEO Mary Barra said they delay would enable the automaker\n\"to make engineering and other changes that will make the trucks more efficient and less expensive to produce, and therefore more profitable.\"\nGM, which has vowed to stop selling gas-powered vehicles by 2035, in October said it was abandoning a goal of building 400,000 EVs from 2022 through mid-2024.\nGM's rival Ford said in October it was temporarily cutting one shift at its plant that builds the F-150 Lightning EV.\nFord told suppliers this week it planned to produce about 1,600 electric F-150 Lightning EV trucks per week starting in January in 2024, roughly half of the 3,200 it previously had planned. (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-GM to lay off 1,300 workers at two Michigan plants"
    },
    {
        "id": 1227,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citigroup-closes-municipal-underwriting-market-231518793.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Tatiana Bautzer\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup has decided to close its municipal underwriting and market-making activities, according to a memo seen by Reuters.\n\"The economics of these activities are no longer viable given our commitment to increase the firm’s overall returns,\" said the memo, signed by Citigroup's head of markets Andy Morton and Peter Babej, interim head of banking.\nThe memo added that the bank will unwind the unit in the first quarter and that most people working there will leave. Discussions about the future of the unit led to a team of bankers leaving for Jefferies last month.\nBloomberg reported the memo earlier on Thursday.\nCiti's municipal offering business has been under scrutiny from the Texas attorney general, who in January halted the bank's ability to underwrite most municipal bond offerings in Texas, saying the bank had discriminated against the firearms sector.\n(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer, editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "Citigroup closes municipal underwriting and market-making unit- memo"
    },
    {
        "id": 1228,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-citigroup-closes-municipal-underwriting-230902044.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details of the memo, context of recent municipal market developments in paragraphs 3 to 5)\nBy Tatiana Bautzer\nNEW YORK, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Citigroup has decided to close its municipal underwriting and market-making activities, according to a memo seen by Reuters.\n\"The economics of these activities are no longer viable given our commitment to increase the firm’s overall returns,\" said the memo, signed by Citigroup's head of markets Andy Morton and Peter Babej, interim head of banking.\nThe memo added that the bank will unwind the unit in the first quarter and that most people working there will leave. Discussions about the future of the unit led to a team of bankers leaving for Jefferies last month.\nBloomberg reported the memo earlier on Thursday.\nCiti's municipal offering business has been under scrutiny from the Texas attorney general, who in January\nhalted the bank's ability to underwrite most municipal bond\nofferings in Texas, saying the bank had discriminated against the firearms sector. (Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer, editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Citigroup closes municipal underwriting and market-making unit- memo"
    },
    {
        "id": 1229,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-ipo-market-seen-brighter-230629059.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Scott Murdoch\nSYDNEY (Reuters) - Bankers in Asian equity capital markets are hopeful of a better year in 2024 after a dismal showing for IPOs this year, noting that interest rates have stabilised globally but they add that elections across the region and in the U.S. could crimp demand.\nHigh interest rates, sticky inflation and geopolitical tensions have seen share sales by Asia Pacific (including Japanese) companies sink by a fifth in value so far this year to $229 billion, LSEG data shows. That's put this year on course to be the weakest since 2012.\nThe data covers new and secondary share sales, convertible bond issues and block trades.\nBut as interest rates in many countries appear to have peaked and talk turns to rate cuts next year, equity capital market (ECM) sentiment has improved in the last few weeks, bankers said.\n\"We're in a window right now where the market has factored in a fairly benign macro outlook which could prompt issuers to come. The pipeline is strong,\" said Udhay Furtado, Citi's co-head of Asia equity capital markets.\nEvidence of the improvement in sentiment for share sales has been seen in a number of block trade deals in the region over the past few weeks. These include Bain Capital selling down $448 million worth of its shares in India's Axis Bank this month.\nFurtado said, however, that windows for companies to come to market for funds would be \"tight and tough to navigate\" as elections get underway. As political activity heats up, businesses are typically reluctant to make major deal decisions, wary of potential policy changes.\nElections in the region will kick off with Taiwan next month. Indonesian, South Korean and Indian voters will also head to the polls and the U.S. election will be held in November.\nMajor deals in the pipeline for next year include Alibaba logistics firm Cainiao's plan to raise $1 to $2 billion in a Hong Kong IPO. It would be the first major listing of an Alibaba unit.\nCompetition for IPOs in Asia is fierce with fees generated from ECM deals accounting for almost 40% of the region's investment banking wallet versus 25% globally.\nCHINA, HONG KONG\nChina is set to be the world's busiest IPO market in 2023 for the second year in a row, despite a 35% drop in the value of IPOs to $37.3 billion so far this year amid a sputtering economy. Regulators have also sought to slow the pace of mainland IPOs as they work on improving mechanisms in secondary markets.\nChina's economic woes as well as U.S.-Sino friction have generally kept foreign investors underweight on Chinese equities this year but moves by Beijing to shore up the economy appear to be having an effect.\n\"We are still seeing international investors be relatively cautious towards exposure in China, recent policy changes are providing comfort and sentiment is starting to turn a little more positive,\" said Sunil Dhuphelia, co-head of ECM for Asia ex-Japan at JPMorgan.\nNew listings in Hong Kong, which had previously long benefitted from Chinese companies rushing to raise capital in the city, have plunged 36% to about $5 billion this year and are on track for their weakest year in least 20 years, according to LSEG data.\nFor investment banks in Hong Kong, which had bulked up staff during the pandemic when rates were low, the slump has prompted widespread job cuts.\n\"Going forward, it will be very helpful for facilitating a successful listing in Hong Kong if listing applicants could have more than just a China story,\" said Richard Wang, a partner at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer who advises on M&A deals.\n(Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "Asian IPO market seen brighter in 2024 but elections cast shadows"
    },
    {
        "id": 1230,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/costco-beats-q1-earnings-estimates-with-a-potential-membership-fee-hike-looming-220402240.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Costco (COST) sported some bulked-up earnings for its fiscal 2024 Q1 results.\nFor the quarter, Costco reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.58, higher than Wall Street expectations of $3.41. Revenue came in at $57.8 billion, up 6% year over year, compared to expectations of $57.71 billion, per Bloomberg data.\nSame-store sales, excluding gas and foreign exchange, came in lower than expected, dragged down by its performance in the US. Total same store-sales jumped 3.8% last quarter, compared to 4.3% expected.\nIn the US, same-store sales growth came in at 2.0%, compared to the 2.77% expected. Canada beat estimates with a 6.4% same-store sales growth, while international stores also reported a higher-than-expected increase of 11.2%.\nCFO Richard Galanti said foot traffic is something the team is \"happily surprised\" about, building on momentum gained during the pandemic.\n\"The two years of COVID, we benefited in many ways from more members and more volumes and we've not only kept it, we're continuing now to add to those levels, so we feel very fortunate in that regard,\" he said on a call with investors.\nHe added that consumers have begun to return to buying discretionary items as well, after a tough year with high interest rates and the return of student loan payments.\nThe wholesale giant announced a special cash dividend of $15 per share, with an aggregate payment amount of $6.7 billion. This is the company's fifth special dividend in 11 years and will be paid out on Jan. 12.\nCostco's shares are up 39% year to date, handily beating S&P 500's (^GSPC) 23% gain.\nCowen analyst Oliver Chen told Yahoo Finance Live that Costco is one of its top picks, calling its private label Kirkland \"pretty legendary.\"\nMeanwhile, Oppenheimer analyst Rupesh Parikh removed the retailer from its top pick rating \"due to valuation following significant outperformance lately.\"\nDuring the quarter, the company sold over $100 million worth of 1 oz. gold bars, which went for nearly $2,000 online for members of the wholesale club as consumers looked for alternate investments.\nOn the earnings call, Galanti shared further details about e-commerce. He said the company sold \"e-gift cards on everything from restaurants to golf to airlines.\"\nThere's even a treat for well-heeled last-minute shoppers.\n\"For you last-minute shoppers out there, there is a Mickey Mantle autographed 1951 rookie card in nearly perfect condition and it's on sale online for $250,000,\" Galanti said.\nCostco's app was downloaded 2.75 million times during the quarter and now has 30.5 million users, a 10% increase year over year. Galanti said e-commerce had a \"lot of strength\" and the team is in the middle of a two-year plan to ramp up their online presence.\nThis earnings results come as CEO Craig Jelinek is stepping down from the helm, effective Jan. 1, 2024. Ron Vachris, who has served as COO and president since February 2022, will take the top spot.\n\"At the end of the day, the reality is we're staying the course,\" said Galanti, who called the transition \"pretty seamless\" given Vachris started at a Price Club (which merged with Costco) when he was 17 years old, and has been with Costco for more than 40 years.\nAt the end of November, Costco lost one of its longtime board members, Charlie Munger. The famed Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) investor had served as a director since 1997, and had long expressed his love for the business.\n\"He was a legend to me. A tremendous asset to Costco,” Jelinek told Yahoo Finance.\nWill Costco raise membership fees? Wall Street thinks it's coming soon. \nMembership fees, a key revenue stream for the wholesale retailer, came in at $1.08 billion, less than Wall Street estimates of $1.09 billion. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, the company brought in $1.51 billion in membership fee revenue.\nWhile there was no indication of a price hike yet, it could happen soon.\nThe company raises prices every five years and seven months on average. Costco last raised membership fees in June 2017, but announced the change that March.\n\"We believe a membership fee increase will likely come next summer,\" UBS analyst Michael Lasser wrote in a note to clients, citing that it did not happen in the previous fiscal year as to not \"further strain its customers, whose budgets were already pressured by inflation.\"\nNow that inflation has moderated, \"Costco may will be more likely to increase its membership fees.\"\nA Costco Gold Star membership costs $60 per year, while an Executive Membership goes for $120.\nAt the end of Q1, there were 72 million paid household members, up 7.6% from last year, and 129.5 million cardholders, up 7.1%.\nIn Q4, the company had 71 million paid household members and 127.9 million cardholders.\nWhen asked on the call if the company will raise fees, Galanti acknowledged that the retailer has \"gone a little longer than the average increase.\" All the variables — strong renewal rates, strong new sign-ups, strong loyalty — are in place for a raise.\n\"I'll use my standby answer, my answer, it's a question of when, not if,\" concluded Galanti. \"But at this juncture, we feel pretty good about what we're doing.\"\n—\nBrooke DiPalma is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Costco beats Q1 earnings estimates with a potential membership fee hike looming"
    },
    {
        "id": 1231,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-latam-airlines-expects-record-225246084.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Recasts on earnings forecasts)\nMEXICO CITY, Dec 14 (Reuters) - LATAM Airlines projected on Thursday record earnings for next year of between $2.6 billion and $2.9 billion.\nThe metric, measured in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR), would top the\nmaximum expected for this year\nof $2.5 billion.\nThe airline also expects passenger growth of between 12% and 14% next year, topping 2019's growth rate within the first quarter.\nPassenger growth, as measured in the metric of available seat kilometers, is also expected to increase between 7% and 9% in the Brazil domestic market, the carrier added.\nThe group's cargo subsidiaries expect growth of between 10% to 12% in their operations, as measured in available ton kilometers, next year.\nLATAM also estimates it will close 2024 with net leverage of between 1.8x and 2.0x, \"which represents an approximate 50% reduction from its leverage level following its successful exit from the Chapter 11 restructuring process,\" the carrier said in a statement.\n(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Sarah Morland)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-LATAM Airlines expects record earnings in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1232,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fdic-run-signature-bridge-bank-224444758.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp-run Signature Bridge Bank said on Thursday it has sold 20% of its equity stake in the venture that holds a $16.8 billion real estate loan portfolio, which it had retained in receivership of the failed bank.\nHancock JV Bidco, which is indirectly controlled by Blackstone and other investors, paid $1.2 billion for a 20% equity interest in SIG CRE 2023 Venture, wholly owned by the Signature Bridge Bank.\nSignature Bridge Bank was created after state regulators closed New York-based Signature Bank in March and the FDIC took control.\nIn September, the FDIC had announced the start of a marketing process for the nearly $33 billion Commercial Real Estate (CRE) loan portfolio it retained.\nSignature Bank's demise was the third-largest failure in U.S. banking history and came two days after authorities shuttered Silicon Valley Bank in a collapse that stranded billions in deposits.\n(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "FDIC-run Signature Bridge Bank sells 20% stake of $16.8 billion real estate portfolio"
    },
    {
        "id": 1233,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-regulators-add-artificial-222528351.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(New throughout, adds details)\nBy Pete Schroeder\nWASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) could create new risks for the U.S. financial system if the technology is not properly supervised, a panel of regulators warned on Thursday.\nThe Financial Stability Oversight Council, which comprises top financial regulators and is chaired by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, flagged the risks posed by AI for the first time in its annual financial stability report.\nWhile the group said AI could spur innovation or efficiencies at financial firms like banks, the rapidly advancing technology requires vigilance from both the companies and their watchdogs.\n\"AI can introduce certain risks, including safety and soundness risks like cyber and model risks,\" the group said in its annual report published Thursday, adding it recommended firms and their regulators \"deepen expertise and capacity to monitor AI innovation and usage and identify emerging risks.\"\nThe panel also flagged the growing role of nonbanks and private credit as meriting close attention, and said financial institutions and regulators should continue to try to better gauge risks stemming from climate change.\nSome AI tools can be hugely technical and opaque, making it hard for institutions to explain or properly monitor them for shortcomings. If companies and regulators do not fully understand AI tools, then it is possible they could miss biased or inaccurate results, the report said.\nIt also noted that AI tools increasingly rely on large external datasets and third-party vendors, which pose their own privacy and cybersecurity risks.\nSome regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sits on the panel, are scrutinizing how firms use AI, while the White House recently issued an executive order aimed at mitigating AI risk.\nElsewhere in the report, the FSOC noted that the U.S. banking system remains resilient, despite large bank failures this year. But it urged regulators to keep a close eye on uninsured bank deposits, the rapid flight of which triggered the failures. (Reporting by Pete Schroeder; Editing by David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US regulators add artificial intelligence to potential financial system risks"
    },
    {
        "id": 1234,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-relying-on-social-security-alone-could-derail-your-retirement-222424243.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Picture your retirement: traveling, relaxing, and doing all the projects you put off over a lifetime of work and family commitments while comfortably living off your Social Security check.\nCan you afford that on the monthly average retirement benefit of about $1,800? What if that benefit disappeared altogether?\nWithout action from Congress to close the current financing gap, the Social Security fund is set to run out by 2033. That means Generation X and younger are helping fund a system with their payroll taxes today that may not exist as they know it by the time they’re eligible at age 62.\nAccording to retirement expert Bob Powell, lower- and middle-income earners will be squeezed the most based on how Social Security is set up now.\n\"[Social Security] represents 85% of retirement income for those in the lowest income quintile,\" Powell said, adding it's \"about 15% for those in the highest income quintile and maybe on average about 40%.\"\nRead more: How to plan for retirement in 6 steps\nSome experts believe Social Security will survive due to political pressure.\n\"Never ever, ever will Social Security be eliminated,\" Teresa Ghilarducci of the New School for Social Research told Yahoo Finance. \"The politics for Social Security are just way too strong.\"\nBut while no politician wants the optics of leaving retirees with an empty or significantly drawn-down Social Security fund, Congress has yet to act or agree on how to fund it. That means decisions younger generations make today about their careers, investments, health, and where they live take on more importance as they determine how to fund retirement.\nIn the meantime, more Americans have become reliant on Social Security in recent decades as the program has evolved.\n\"For the middle class, it was only supposed to supplement,\" Ghilarducci said. \"But in the past 20 years, that private sector ... system has not filled in what Social Security has provided. So over the past 20 years, Social Security has gotten more important for retirees.\"\nGen X, millennials, and Gen Z will likely have to reimagine retirement without relying solely on Social Security payments. And according to Surya Kolluri, the head of the TIAA Institute, there are risks beyond the typical market and inflation swings that aren’t being factored into retirement planning.\n\"There's longevity risk people are taking on and, inside that, what I might call cognitive risk,\" Kolluri said. \"I've learned that when you get to age 85, the chances of getting deep, deep dementia or Alzheimer's disease is 1 in 3. So we're living longer, ... [and] we need income that's going to support us to address all these risks.\"\nIt's an especially vital issue for African Americans and Latinos, Kolluri said, who tend to be \"ever reliant\" on Social Security and have lower incomes compared to other demographic groups. While fintech and artificial intelligence have helped democratize access to retirement planning tools, the firehose of advice can be overwhelming and inconsistent.\n\"We've turned financial planning into a do-it-yourself affair, as if we now told the younger generations, 'Now you have to do your own dentistry,'\" Ghilarducci said. \"Most nations don't do it the way we do.\"\nSo what does the next iteration of smart retirement planning require? According to the experts, five key changes should happen.\nFirst, as complexities in financial planning grow, there is an urgent need for education that simplifies and demystifies financial planning for younger generations. At the same time, active advocacy for policy reforms to safeguard the future of Social Security is needed.\nExperts also pointed out the need for a cultural shift, where financial stability is celebrated and prioritized over ritz and Rolexes as markers of success.\nAs Powell explained: \"We need to reverse the bragging rights. The bragging rights today are I own a nice car ... versus I have a large 401(k) account.\"\nSimilarly, the experts noted that those in Gen X, Y, and Z should take personal responsibility for their retirement planning and view it as an integral and urgent part of their life journey, rather than life’s spinach that gets pushed around the plate until the end.\nLastly, the financial sector must also respond with innovative solutions tailored to the unique needs, risks, and extended lifespans of modern generations, the experts said.\nAs Kolluri pondered, \"You might be expected to have 100-year lives, and compared to your grandparents' generation, you've been accorded a longevity bonus of 17 years, 20 years, 25 years. How are you going to spend it?\"\nClick here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Why relying on Social Security alone could derail your retirement"
    },
    {
        "id": 1235,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-lay-off-1-300-222325950.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By David Shepardson\n(Reuters) -General Motors said on Thursday it is laying off 1,300 workers at two Michigan auto factories in early January.\nThe largest U.S. automaker said 945 workers will be laid off at its Orion Assembly plant, which is ending production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and being converted for electric truck production that will start in late 2025. Final production of the Bolt at Orion is set for next week, GM said.\nAnother 350 out of 1,400 total workers at its Lansing Grand River plant will be laid off due to the end of Chevrolet Camaro production, but the factory will continue producing the Cadillac CT4 and Cadillac CT5. GM said affected hourly employees will be offered positions at other factories.\nGM disclosed in October it was delaying production of electric pickup trucks at the Orion plant by a year, so the layoff affects all production workers at that plant. The Detroit automaker had been set to begin production of the electric Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in late 2024 at the suburban Detroit plant.\nGM CEO Mary Barra said they delay would enable the automaker \"to make engineering and other changes that will make the trucks more efficient and less expensive to produce, and therefore more profitable.\"\nGM, which has vowed to stop selling gas-powered vehicles by 2035, in October said it was abandoning a goal of building 400,000 EVs from 2022 through mid-2024.\nGM's rival Ford said in October it was temporarily cutting one shift at its plant that builds the F-150 Lightning EV.\nFord told suppliers this week it planned to produce about 1,600 electric F-150 Lightning EV trucks per week starting in January in 2024, roughly half of the 3,200 it previously had planned.\n(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "GM to lay off 1,300 workers at two Michigan plants"
    },
    {
        "id": 1236,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-rtx-insider-christopher-calio-222021081.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds detail on Hayes and Calio)\nDec 14 (Reuters) -\nRTX said on Thursday that Christopher Calio, the company's current chief operating officer, would succeed Gregory Hayes as the aerospace and defense firm's CEO.\nUnder Hayes, RTX - formerly known as Raytheon - became the largest defense company in the world by revenue following the 2020 merger with United Technologies.\nCalio, who became COO in March 2022, oversaw the realignment of the company into three business units -- Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace,\nRTX expects the leadership transition to be complete by May 2. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-RTX insider Christopher Calio to succeed Gregory Hayes as CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 1237,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-us-yields-stumble-multi-221654099.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* U.S. retail sales rise 0.3%, jobless claims fall * U.S. 10-year yields fall to lowest since July * U.S. two-year yields drop to weakest level since May * U.S. rate futures price in 140 bps of easing in 2024 (Updates prices; adds new comment, ECB, BOE statements) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Dec 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields sagged to multi-month lows on Thursday as bond investors braced for looming rate cuts after the Federal Reserve shifted to a dovish stance amid central bank projections for lower interest rates next year. Fed officials estimated 75 basis points (bps) of rate cuts in 2024, with 2.4% inflation at the end of next year. U.S. benchmark 10-year yields on Thursday sank to their lowest since July, at 3.885%. On the shorter end of the curve, U.S. five-year yields slid to a six-month trough of 3.849%, while two-year yields fell to their lowest since May at 4.282%. In a press briefing on Wednesday after the Fed expectedly held interest rates steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range, Chair Jerome Powell confirmed that the question of when rate cuts would be appropriate has come into view. He also noted the risk of easing too late. Bond investors were not expecting a pivot this soon as recent U.S. data showed a resilient economy despite aggressive rate hikes since March last year. \"The Fed was right to shift now,\" said Brij Khurana, fixed-income portfolio manager at Wellington Management in Boston. Powell has repeatedly said on various occasions that the target policy rate is well into restrictive territory. Khurana said one way the Fed looks at policy rates is with respect to inflation. He noted that a policy rate of 5.25%-5.50% is very high if the Fed expects inflation to end 2024 at 2.4%. \"So it's perfectly appropriate that the Fed is cutting policy rates by 75 basis points next year.\" Khurana also pointed to the fact that the current policy rate is about 3% higher than the Fed's long-run rate of 2.5%, the equilibrium level that neither stimulates nor slows the economy. Earlier, U.S. yields, which move inversely to prices, came off their lows after stronger-than-expected retail sales and initial jobless claims data suggested the Fed may hold rates steady a little longer before shifting to an easing stance. U.S. retail sales rebounded 0.3% last month. Data for October was revised lower to show sales falling 0.2% instead of the 0.1% previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales edging down 0.1%. A separate report showed initial jobless claims dropped 19,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 202,000 for the week ended Dec. 9. Economists expected 220,000 claims for the latest week. In afternoon trading, U.S. 10-year yields were last down 11.6 bps at 3.917%. The benchmark yield was down 33 bps so far this week, on track for its largest weekly decline since March 2020. Two-year yields, which reflect rate expectations, were down 9.7 bps at 4.384%. On the week, the yield has fallen 34 bps. A closely watched metric of the U.S. yield curve, showing the gap in yields between two- and 10-year notes, became steeper, narrowing its inversion to minus 35.20 bps. That is the least inverted in more than a week. The curve was last at minus 47.10 bps. The curve steepening suggested that the market is pricing in the end of the tightening cycle, with the Fed cutting rates soon after. The rate futures market priced in on Thursday a 78% chance of a Fed cut in March, according to LSEG's FedWatch. The market has also factored in about 140 bps of easing by the end of next year. Elsewhere, the European Central Bank and Bank of England maintained their tight policy stance at the end of their meetings on Thursday, and plan to keep it that way well into next year. Norway's central bank even hiked rates on Thursday. Their decisions had little impact on the U.S. Treasury market. December 14 Thursday 3:55PM New York / 2055 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 5.235 5.3928 0.002 Six-month bills 5.0925 5.3134 -0.017 Two-year note 100-234/256 4.3819 -0.099 Three-year note 100-208/256 4.0845 -0.104 Five-year note 102-36/256 3.8958 -0.107 Seven-year note 102-182/256 3.9258 -0.114 10-year note 104-208/256 3.9096 -0.123 20-year bond 107-116/256 4.1941 -0.146 30-year bond 112-128/256 4.0272 -0.157 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Kirsten Donovan; Editing by Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES-US yields stumble to multi-month lows on dovish Fed pivot"
    },
    {
        "id": 1238,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/costco-pay-special-dividend-profit-221528994.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Costco Wholesale Corp. announced a special dividend of $15 a share, while also posting profit that outpaced market estimates, as the warehouse-club chain continued a string of solid results.\nData compiled by Bloomberg show it’s the company’s first special dividend since late 2020, when the big-box retailer paid out $10 a share.\nCostco shares rose 1.1% in late trading. The stock has advanced 38% this year through Thursday’s close, outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s 23% gain over the same period.\nCostco’s first-quarter earnings were $3.58 a share, outpacing the average estimate compiled by Bloomberg. The closely watched measure of comparable-store sales rose 3.9%, excluding gas prices and currency movements, which topped the consensus estimate.\nThe results underscore Costco’s resilience as big retailers voice caution on the consumer outlook. Walmart Inc., which operates the competing Sam’s Club wholesale retailer, fell sharply in mid-November after the world’s biggest retailer reported concern that economic activity was weakening.\n",
        "title": "Costco to Pay Special Dividend as Profit Beats Expectations"
    },
    {
        "id": 1239,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rtx-insider-christopher-calio-succeed-221217633.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - RTX said on Thursday Christopher Calio, the company's current chief operating officer, would succeed Gregory Hayes as the aerospace and defense firm's CEO.\n(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "RTX insider Christopher Calio to succeed Gregory Hayes as CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 1240,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-lay-off-1-300-220921776.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 14 (Reuters) - General Motors said on Thursday it is laying off 1,300 workers at two Michigan auto factories in early January.\nThe largest U.S. automaker said 945 workers will be laid off at its Orion Assembly plant, which is ending production of the Chevrolet Bolt and being converted for electric truck production that will start in late 2025.\nAnother 350 workers at its Lansing Grand River plant will be laid off due to the end of Chevrolet Camaro production. GM said affected hourly employees will be offered positions at other factories. (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "GM to lay off 1,300 workers at two Michigan plants - automaker"
    },
    {
        "id": 1241,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elanco-animal-health-ceo-targeted-220819738.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Activist investor Ancora has built a position in Elanco Animal Health Inc. and is pushing for leadership changes at the animal-medicine maker, according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nAncora wants the Greenfield, Indiana-based company to replace Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Simmons and refresh its board, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. Ancora, which is among top 10 shareholders of the company, is also urging Elanco to improve its margins, the people said.\nIf a settlement can’t be struck, Ancora plans to nominate board directors and has recruited a slate of director candidates, the people said.\n“We engage regularly with our shareholders and welcome their feedback,” an Elanco spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “However, to date, we have had only one baseline conversation with Ancora in November. The company has returned to growth, the pipeline with a path to three potential blockbuster approvals in the first half of 2024 is nearing launch and management is focused on execution as they bring the pipeline to fruition.”\nA representative for Ancora declined to comment.\nElanco, which provides veterinary services for farm animals and pets, has been targeted in recent years by Starboard Value and Sachem Head Capital Management.\nStarboard nominated three directors to Elanco’s board in 2021 before withdrawing the nominations. It exited its investment in the company last year. In 2020, Sachem Head and Elanco reached a cooperation pact that put Managing Partner Scott Ferguson on the board. He stepped down in 2022.\nRead more: Elanco Targeted By Sachem Head in Activist’s Biggest Bet\nElanco, a division of Eli Lilly & Co. before a separation in 2018, acquired a $7.6 billion animal health business from Bayer AG in 2020. Ancora believes the company has failed to derive value from the acquisition and left the company with a challenging debt load, the people said. Elanco has about $6 billion of debt, Bloomberg’s data showed.\nSimmons has led Elanco for 15 years, since it was part of Eli Lilly. “Jeff guided the acquisition of Bayer Animal Health, deepening Elanco’s pet health business and bringing an equal balance between pets and livestock,” according to the company’s website.\nElanco shares, which have risen almost 13% this year, closed up 0.8% to $13.77 in New York trading Thursday, giving the company a market value of almost $6.8 billion. The shares are down 51% in the past two years, during which the the S&P 500 Index has posted a 1.8% gain.\nElanco announced in October it would start a process to declassify its board of directors in what it called a corporate governance enhancement plan, according to a statement. It also started allowing shareholders to amend the company’s bylaws and call special meetings under certain circumstances.\n--With assistance from Ryan Gould.\n(Updates with Elanco’s comment in fourth paragraph. Simmons’ role was corrected in an earlier version of this story.)\n",
        "title": "Elanco Animal Health CEO Targeted by Activist Investor Ancora"
    },
    {
        "id": 1242,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citi-shuts-muni-business-once-220646747.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. will shutter its municipal business, one of the most dramatic moves yet by Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser as she seeks to squeeze better returns out of the Wall Street giant.\nThe bank decided the business, which has tumbled in the rankings for underwriting state and local debt, is “no longer viable given our commitment to increase the firm’s overall returns,” according to a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg News.\nCitigroup intends to complete the wind down by the end of the first quarter, and “as a result, most of our municipal sales, trading and banking colleagues will unfortunately be leaving Citi over the next few months,” Andy Morton and Peter Babej, the firm’s top trading executives, said in the memo. The move affects about 100 employees, according to a person familiar with the matter.\nReports that Citigroup was deciding whether to exit a business it once dominated shocked the municipal market earlier this year. For decades, the bank was a powerhouse in the $4 trillion market for US state and local debt, helping on landmark projects including the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site and the installation of 65,000 streetlights around the city of Detroit.\nBut the unit’s fortunes have turned in recent years, and the division didn’t fit with Fraser’s broader goal of making Citigroup the premier bank for large, multinational corporations. Texas politicians added another blow when they froze the bank out of a number of deals there because of its firearms policies. Texas is the No. 1 market for muni sales this year, so the moves crimped the unit’s revenue and overall profitability.\nThe decision comes after months of intense deliberations inside Citigroup, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.\nOn one side were top trading executives, including Morton and Mickey Bhatia. They were keen to get out of the business because it was hurting the unit’s broader efforts to improve profitability.\nOn the other side was Ed Skyler, a key lieutenant of Fraser and head of the firm’s enterprise services and public-affairs division. To Skyler, it was important for Citigroup to keep working on financings that lead to the building of bridges, roads, schools and hospitals across America. Not only did they help the bank make inroads with lawmakers, they gave Citigroup a tangible connection to the American public.\nCitigroup has spent years trying to convince Texas officials that its policies don’t violate state law, which punishes banks if they discriminate against the firearms industry. In August, Fraser and Skyler even traveled there to meet with Governor Greg Abbott about the bank’s continued commitment to the state, where the bank has 8,500 employees.\nUltimately, though, Fraser’s aspiration to reach Citigroup’s new financial targets — whatever the cost — won out. The firm has repeatedly abandoned or missed targets over the years, and Fraser is determined to restore investor confidence in the bank’s ability to set and meet guidance. The decision to shutter the municipal business comes after she already decided to exit more than a dozen retail bank operations in overseas markets.\nHistoric Roots\nBanks often point to their work raising money for cities and states when facing scrutiny from local and federal politicians, and Citigroup was no exception.\nAt the New York-based bank’s annual shareholder meeting in 2018, which it held in Chicago, then-CEO Michael Corbat touted the fact that his bank had been a key underwriter on bond deals for the city’s O’Hare International Airport for decades.\nThe company has also promoted its work as lead underwriter on $2.6 billion of bonds for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey when it was building One World Trade Center in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks.\nThe unit can trace its roots back to Salomon Brothers, the brokerage known for its willingness to take big risks that eventually became part of Citigroup. The firm’s bankers were often a fixture in high-profile municipal finance situations: For instance, in the 1970s, they helped New York City narrowly avoid bankruptcy.\nFor years, the business was led by Ward Marsh, who took the helm in 1991. He ran the unit until his retirement in 2019, turning it into one of Citigroup’s most successful trading desks along the way.\n“They made the most money on the Street, and no one could keep up,” said George Friedlander, who spent 41 years in Citigroup’s municipal department. “They knew the market, had wonderful relationships and knew when to take risk and when to cut it back. It’s an amazing transition from there to imminently vanishing.”\nIn recent weeks, as concerns mounted about the future of the business, a team of public finance bankers focused on health care even jumped ship to rival Jefferies Financial Group Inc.\nTexas Problem\nBy early 2022, Fraser was one year into her role atop Citigroup. At an investor presentation early that year, the bank vowed it would renew its focus on higher-margin activities in its trading business. The company was also preparing to adapt to a slew of new capital requirements from regulators, which will also further weigh on the profitability of the trading unit.\nWithin weeks of the investor day, Citigroup started offering buyout packages to senior bankers, traders and salespeople in the municipal business, some of whom had decades of experience. The bank soon shuttered its muni proprietary-trading unit, which used the firm’s own cash to trade and invest in the debt.\nAlong the way, there was the bank’s growing Texas problem.\nIn 2021, Texas passed legislation that blocked government entities from contracting with banks that have policies that restrict business with the firearms industry.\nCitigroup had previously instituted a policy that would prohibit retailers that are customers of the bank from offering bump stocks or selling guns to people who haven’t passed a background check or are younger than 21. The bank temporarily halted its municipal business in Texas while it evaluated the new law.\nBut by the end of 2021, Citigroup had returned, saying it believed its policies complied with the legislation.\nBut earlier this year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office determined that the company “discriminates” against the firearms industry, halting the firm’s ability to underwrite municipal offerings in the state.\nBeing frozen out of Texas deals further crimped the unit’s revenue, hurting overall profitability. By November, Fraser had begun more seriously mulling whether it was even worth it for the bank to continue offering municipal bonds.\nCitigroup will still work with transportation and health-care entities on public-private partnerships and it will also continue its work in the private placement market. The public sector banking team will continue to work with clients to provide depository services, for example.\nThe bank will also continue to invest in muni bonds. The decision does not impact the Citi Community Capital team, which finances affordable housing projects across the US.\n“We will continue to support our municipal clients on all pending capital issuances, including execution of pipeline transactions as well as transition to other underwriters as appropriate,” the memo said.\n",
        "title": "Citi Shuts Muni Business That Once Was Envy of Rivals"
    },
    {
        "id": 1243,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lennar-quarterly-profit-rises-higher-220537670.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - U.S. homebuilder Lennar Corp said on Thursday its quarterly profit rose, as a production deficit and a chronic supply shortage resulted in sustained housing demand.\nExisting housing supply in the market remains tight as a majority of homeowners choose to stay locked in a fixed mortage rate below 5%, making them unlikely to resell and upgrade at a time when current rates are hitting a two-decade high at about 7%.\nThe \"rate-lock in\" effect has been a tailwind for homebuilders this year, even as high home prices constrain affordability for many buyers. The S&P Composite 1500 Homebuilding Sub Index is up almost 76% this year.\nThe second-largest U.S. homebuilder said net earnings attributable to Lennar was $1.36 billion, or $4.82 per share, for the three months ended Nov.30, compared with $1.32 billion, or $4.55 per share, a year earlier.\n(Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "Lennar quarterly profit rises on higher housing demand"
    },
    {
        "id": 1244,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apollo-plans-credit-product-2-220036423.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Apollo Global Management Inc. is setting up a company that will give investors exposure to asset-backed loans generated by its credit operations for an initial investment of as little as $2,500.\nApollo Asset Backed Credit Co. is a lending platform that plans to fund and structure debt securities backed by different types of loans to individuals and businesses, according to documents filed this week with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.\nThe assets backing the debt will range from personal and auto loans to royalties, residential and commercial mortgages, aircraft loans and net-asset-value loans, an increasingly popular form of financing employed by private equity funds.\nA spokesperson for Apollo declined to comment.\nThe new company will offer its shares to accredited investors, a regulatory term that refers to individuals who either have a net worth exceeding $1 million — not counting their primary homes — or have recorded more than $200,000 of income in each of the two prior years.\nApollo Asset Backed Credit is structured as an operating company rather than an investment fund, a step that may allow it to take in more money from individual retirement accounts. Apollo in June filed to create an infrastructure investment company that has a similar setup.\nApollo and other large alternative-asset managers have been racing to create investment options for individuals to bring in new sources of capital. Traditional institutional investors such as pension funds and endowments have pulled back from private equity because they have less cash available to allocate to the asset class as deals have slowed.\nRead more: Private Equity Courts a Growing Class of Mini-Millionaires\nOriginating private debt investments backed by assets such as home, aircraft and business loans is an important growth area for Apollo as it seeks to get to $1 trillion of assets under management by 2026. Last year, Apollo originated about $100 billion of credit assets across the firm and its 16 businesses.\n",
        "title": "Apollo Plans Credit Product With $2,500 Minimum Investment"
    },
    {
        "id": 1245,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-lennar-quarterly-profit-rises-215820812.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds background on earnings in paragraph 2 and 3)\nDec 14 (Reuters) -\nU.S. homebuilder Lennar Corp said on Thursday its quarterly profit rose, as a production deficit and a chronic supply shortage resulted in sustained housing demand.\nExisting housing supply in the market remains tight as a majority of homeowners choose to stay locked in a fixed mortage rate below 5%, making them unlikely to resell and upgrade at a time when current rates are hitting a two-decade high at about 7%.\nThe \"rate-lock in\" effect has been a tailwind for homebuilders this year, even as high home prices constrain affordability for many buyers. The S&P Composite 1500 Homebuilding Sub Index is up almost 76% this year.\nThe second-largest U.S. homebuilder said net earnings attributable to Lennar was $1.36 billion, or $4.82 per share, for the three months ended Nov.30, compared with $1.32 billion, or $4.55 per share, a year earlier. (Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Lennar quarterly profit rises on higher housing demand"
    },
    {
        "id": 1246,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/former-microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmer-to-next-generation-of-leaders-listen-and-get-after-it-215553697.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "You don't become the CEO of software giant Microsoft (MSFT), owner of the NBA's LA Clippers, and one of the most well-known leaders from the upper echelons of corporate America by sitting on your rear end.\nIn a nutshell, that is the leadership story of Steven \"Steve\" Ballmer.\n\"My father was an immigrant from Switzerland. I don't even know if he finished high school. He never went to college. And early on he started talking to me about going to a good school, but he had an expression that really resonated. It'll sound both silly and prescient,\" recalled Ballmer, the USAFacts founder, inside a Washington, D.C., office in a new episode of Yahoo Finance's Lead This Way.\nWhile somewhat holding back from serving up a dose of his trademark superhuman energy — which has been seen everywhere from the sidelines of LA Clippers games to Microsoft product unveilings in the 1990s — Ballmer said leaders have to decide if they are all in on something or all out.\n\"If you are going to do a job, do a job. And if you're not going to do a job, don't do a job. And, you know, it's kind of like if you're going to get into something, get after it. I'll use the word hardcore,\" Ballmer, 67, added, pointing to his father's early leadership advice.\nClearly, Ballmer has been getting after life for decades.\nHe was employee No. 30 at Microsoft, where he started as Bill Gates's assistant in 1980. By 2000, he was named the CEO at the height of the dot-com bubble.\nHis rallying cries at Microsoft product launches became legendary. Ditto his behind-the-scenes hustle and nearly unmatched love for the company.\nIt was that combination of heart and hustle that saw a host of innovations from Microsoft come to market under Ballmer. The Xbox gaming platform launched in 2001. In 2011, Ballmer helped pull together the $8.5 billion acquisition of online communication company Skype — years before remote work became a thing.\n\"I used to pride myself on my awareness and ability to think about my environment and hard work,\" Ballmer said, adding that listening to others has also been a key ingredient in his leadership journey.\nBallmer's tenure atop Microsoft wasn't without a few challenges, however.\nThe company ceded the mobile phone market to rival Apple (AAPL) and entered the search engine market late with the release of Bing in 2009.\nBallmer went on to announce his departure from Microsoft in August 2013.\nOver Ballmer's 13-year tenure as CEO, Microsoft shares lost about 30% of their value, while the S&P 500 rose roughly 22%.\nBut a challenging final few years at Microsoft didn't slow Ballmer down. Quite the contrary.\nIn May 2014, Ballmer purchased the LA Clippers for a reported $2 billion. Forbes estimated the team is now worth $4.65 billion, the fifth most valuable in the league. The team has had winning seasons each year under Ballmer's ownership, in part because of his willingness to invest in the organization.\nAnd in 2017, Ballmer launched USAFacts to share insight into how the country is being run — something not accurately reflected in typical government data, he contends.\nNext year, he will open the LA Clippers' new home, dubbed the Intuit Dome. In classic Ballmer form, he told Yahoo Finance he has been very active in the stadium's designs and overall fan experience.\nBallmer says he isn't keen on thinking about his legacy and hopes to be remembered for his leadership and philanthropic endeavors.\n\"If you say outside of my kids and my family and my friendships, what will I feel most proud about? I mean, it's going to be that I was employee 30 at Microsoft and really [helped make] Microsoft the company it is. I feel a lot of pride in having led that. And I think it creates jobs. We helped change the world. The company keeps changing the world. [There's a] good successor in place, who's taken the company to higher heights. I have a lot of pride in that. I have a lot of pride in helping Clippers fans realize kind of their enthusiasm,\" Ballmer explained.\nBrian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter/X @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to next generation of leaders: Listen and get after it"
    },
    {
        "id": 1247,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-asia-pivot-party-214500718.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\nDec 15 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nAsian markets are set to end the week on the front foot as another steep slide in the dollar and U.S. bond yields extends the Fed-fueled buying frenzy, although some investors may be tempted to take some chips off the table ahead of the weekend. The Dow climbed to a fresh all-time high on Thursday and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq made new 2023 highs, while the MSCI emerging market and Asia ex-Japan indexes both rose around 2%.\nUnless the MSCI World index slumps around 2.5% on Friday it will chalk up its seventh weekly rise in a row, its best run in six years. That should provide enough momentum to keep Asia in the green on Friday, although a batch of Chinese economic indicators and central bank decision on one-year lending rates could knock markets off course. The latest Chinese retail sales, industrial production, business investment, unemployment and house price data for November will be released, and investors will be looking for signs of growth or, in some cases, accelerating growth.\nChina's central bank, meanwhile, is expected to keep its one-year lending rate steady but increase liquidity injections.\nBut sentiment around China's economy and markets is bleak, and it will take more than a few data points to lift meaningfully. The underperformance of Chinese stocks is the main reason Asian markets have lagged their U.S. and global peers.\nSince the last week of October, in which time U.S. and global indexes have jumped 15% or more, the MSCI emerging and Asia ex-Japan indexes have risen 10%.\nThe Chinese blue chip CSI 300 index is in the red, down 13% this year, and is near a five-year low.\nThe bullish narrative global markets are running with, however, is that the U.S. economy will achieve its 'soft landing,' giving the Fed room to pivot towards rate cuts earlier and more aggressively than many had thought.\nThat was given an implicit seal of approval by the Fed itself in the revised Summary of Economic Projections.\nBut as is invariably the case, markets may have overshot. The two-year U.S. yield is down 35 basis points this week, the 10-year yield has crashed below 4% and markets are pricing in 150 bps of Fed rate cuts next year - twice as much as the Fed's median forecasts indicate. There are other reasons to warrant caution - the European Central Bank and Bank of England don't appear to be willing to follow the Fed's dovish lead, Norway's central bank raised rates on Thursday, and oil jumped more than 3% on Thursday. And next week we have the Bank of Japan's policy meeting, potentially the biggest curveball of the year.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Friday:\n- China retail sales, unemployment, house prices, business investment, industrial production (November)\n- Japan flash PMIs (December)\n- Australia flash PMIs (December)\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID ASIA-Pivot party rolls on"
    },
    {
        "id": 1248,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bobby-jain-fills-seven-cio-173530717.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bobby Jain has grown his fledgling firm to about 50 people, hiring seven strategy-focused chief investment officers and filling other senior administrative roles, ahead of what could be the biggest hedge fund debut on record.\nCitadel veteran Noah Goldberg joined Jain Global as chief compliance officer and general counsel, and Mike Scheer, who worked at one of Citadel’s stock-picking units, is starting as a portfolio manager, according to people familiar with the matter. Gerhard Seebacher, a former co-head of fixed-income trading at Bank of America Corp., was named chairman of the global interest rates and macro business, the people said.\nGoldberg spent 16 years at Citadel, most recently as senior deputy general counsel of Ken Griffin’s $63 billion hedge fund firm, while Scheer ran an industrials-focused strategy at its Surveyor Capital unit. Seebacher worked at Bank of America for two decades and was later a partner and portfolio manager at Brevan Howard Asset Management.\nJain Global expects to have 40 portfolio managers in place by its July launch and plans to increase that over time to as many as 73, one of the people said. It’s also looking to hire an additional 20 to 30 people in Asia.\nThe firm’s strategy CIOs will act as “player-coaches” for their teams, according to an investor document seen by Bloomberg News, with responsibility for attracting and developing portfolio managers, determining risk limits and building out infrastructure. Several of them are under non-compete agreements and will join later this or next year. Bobby Jain is the firmwide CIO and chief executive officer.\nA spokesman for New York-based Jain Global declined to comment.\nJain, a former co-CIO at Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, has spent months courting Middle East sovereign-wealth funds and other potential clients as he raises capital ahead of his trading debut. Some hedge fund investors expect Jain Global could launch with as much as $10 billion, topping the $8 billion that ExodusPoint Capital Management started with in 2018.\nThe new multistrategy, multimanager hedge fund is offering a variety of fee discounts to encourage investors to commit large amounts of capital early, the document shows.\nClients who invest at least $500 million will get the sweetest deal, paying performance fees of 17% instead of the standard 20%, and anyone who commits capital early receives an additional 2% reduction.\nAll investors will get a further 2.5% fee discount during the 18 months Jain Global will take to invest all of the capital it raises. An agreement with Jain’s former employer requires him to wait until next month to solicit cash from existing Millennium clients, many of whom are likely among the hedge fund industry’s biggest backers.\nHedge Fund Alert previously reported on the terms.\nThe new firm will make human- and computer-driven bets on stocks, commodities, credit and rates. About 60% of its trades will be relative-value/arbitrage wagers.\nSuch trades often employ high amounts of leverage, and some have recently drawn regulatory scrutiny. The US Treasury Department and Securities and Exchange Commission warned that the so-called basis trade — which uses leverage to profit from the price gap between Treasury bonds and futures tied to those same bonds — could destabilize the market.\nLess than 10% of Jain Global’s assets will be in fixed-income basis trades, a person said.\nJain is looking for five types of portfolio managers. The most prominent are considered “super-senior” talent — those who own hedge funds or run large pools of capital. The next tier is money managers with about 12 to 18 years of experience who want to work with a coach to reach the next level.\nThen there are “PMs without Payouts,” who can be persuaded to join without large compensation packages. On the fourth rung are people keen to work at a startup, followed by those who will simply go where they can make the most money.\nThe structure offers a rare glimpse into how hedge fund founders like Jain think about hiring amid a talent war that’s particularly fierce among multistrategy firms, where turnover is high and individual pay packages have soared into the tens of millions of dollars.\nLike Millennium, Jain’s firm will have a stop-loss framework, meaning that if a portfolio manager loses a certain amount their allocation could be cut or they could be dismissed. It will also set limits on its net exposure to a specific stock, industry group, sector or currency.\nHere are some additional hires, according to the people:\n--With assistance from Bei Hu, Sridhar Natarajan and Lulu Yilun Chen.\n(Updates to include additional hire in second paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Bobby Jain Fills Seven CIO Posts, Fleshes Out Senior Staff"
    },
    {
        "id": 1249,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-regulators-monitoring-artificial-intelligence-213452051.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that a panel of financial regulators considered the use of artificial intelligence by financial firms as a potential risk to the financial system.\nYellen said the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which is charged with monitoring broad risks to the system, had flagged the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence by the financial sector, and urged regulators to be vigilant. (Reporting by Pete Schroeder)\n",
        "title": "US regulators monitoring artificial intelligence as potential financial risk: Yellen"
    },
    {
        "id": 1250,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-wall-st-ends-213202106.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates to U.S. market close)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks pared earlier gains to close modestly higher on Thursday, while benchmark Treasury yields dropped to multi-month lows after investors rotated out of momentum growth stocks following the U.S. Federal Reserve's dovish pivot.\nThe dollar hit a two-week low against the euro and more than a four-month low against the yen.\nThe three major U.S. stock indexes gyrated, reclaiming positive territory by mid-afternoon the day after the Fed's much-anticipated policy decision to leave interest rates unchanged while saying that historic rate cuts are likely over.\n\"We had the pleasant dovish surprise from the Fed yesterday, and after a huge start to the month of December we’re seeing a little consolidation,\" said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha, Nebraska. \"But under the surface we're seeing extreme strength from small caps and mid caps while large caps catch their breath, potentially a sign this bull market is broadening out with more stocks participating.\"\nOn Wednesday, the Fed indicated its tightening phase was at an end and signaled that rate cuts are in the cards for 2024, sending the Dow to an all-time closing high.\nAll three major U.S. indexes remain on course for their seventh straight weekly gains.\nIn a busy day for central banks, the European Central Bank (ECB) also held interest rates steady but pushed back against the notion of rate cuts. The Bank of England echoed the ECB, insisting interest rates would be elevated \"for an extended time.\nElsewhere, the Swiss National Bank held rates firm but lowered inflation forecasts, while Norway's central bank surprised with a rate hike.\nOn the economic front, U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rebounded in November and jobless claims dipped, further evidence of consumer resilience, which has market participants increasingly betting on a soft landing for the U.S. economy.\n\"The soft landing that many doubted was possible is becoming more realistic every day,\" Detrick said. \"Inflation is no longer the problem it was and we still have a very healthy consumer, judging by today’s retail sales data.\"\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 158.11 points, or 0.43%, to 37,248.35, the S&P 500 gained 12.46 points, or 0.26%, to 4,719.55, and the Nasdaq Composite added 27.60 points, or 0.19%, to 14,761.56.\nEuropean shares gave back some gains, but still closed at a more than 22-month high as the dovish Fed offset the ECB's dismissal of rate cut speculation.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.87% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.00%.\nEmerging market stocks rose 2.01%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 1.98% higher, while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.73%.\nTreasury yields slid to multi-month lows as bond investors braced for rate cuts in 2024.\nBenchmark 10-year note yields dropped to 3.9152% from 4.033% late on Wednesday.\nThe 30-year bond yield eased to 4.0364% from 4.184% late on Wednesday.\nThe greenback tumbled against a basket of world currencies, while the euro gained ground after the ECB held rates steady but pushed back against imminent rate cuts.\nThe dollar index fell 0.9%, with the euro up 1.05% to $1.0987.\nThe Japanese yen strengthened 0.73% versus the greenback at 141.86 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2765, up 1.17% on the day.\nOil prices surged in opposition to the soft dollar after the International Energy Agency (IEA) lifted its oil demand forecast for next year.\nU.S. crude rose 3.04% to settle at $71.58 per barrel, while Brent settled at $76.61 per barrel, surging 3.16% on the day.\nGold prices advanced in opposition to the weakening dollar, touching a 10-day high.\nSpot gold added 0.4% to $2,035.41 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stephen Culp; editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Wall St ends higher, Treasury yields hit multi-month lows in Fed's wake"
    },
    {
        "id": 1251,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-miners-miss-us-tax-213117799.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The US has spelled out new rules for tax credits manufacturers can receive for domestically producing parts necessary for the energy transition — and there’s a clear divide for miners and processors.\nCompanies that mine lithium, nickel, cobalt, gallium or the other 46 minerals deemed critical by the US cannot receive a 10% production tax credit for extraction or acquisition of those raw materials, according to Treasury Department guidance published Thursday. The incentive also won’t be available for procuring batteries to extract the raw materials for recycling, something firms such as Redwood Materials Inc. and Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. do. The benefits are part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.\nThe credit is part of a broad number of tax breaks that manufacturers of clean-energy products will get for production costs, including labor and electricity use. Alcoa Corp. and Century Aluminum Co. are both poised to receive the full benefit of the so-called 45X tax credit, as aluminum production is a refining process that converts alumina — taken from bauxite — into the lightweight metal.\n“Guidance appears to take a restrictive view of eligible ‘production costs’ for designated critical minerals,” TD Cowen analysts wrote in a note to clients. The way the analysts see it, costs eligible for the tax credit “would be narrowly defined to those directly tied to the mineral processing.”\nThe National Mining Association, which represents more than 250 companies, said the measures fail to incentivize secure and reliable mineral supply chains and called the guidance a “misreading of the law” that will increase headwinds created by China.\n",
        "title": "US Miners Miss Out on US Tax Credit Granted to Processors"
    },
    {
        "id": 1252,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-joins-global-rally-stocks-234036803.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The rally in stocks driven by the Federal Reserve’s dovish tilt and bets on a soft economic landing lost a bit of steam Thursday amid speculation the market has run too far, too fast.\nAfter a surge that put the S&P 500 within a striking distance of its all-time high, the gauge saw a small gain as valuations and “overbought” levels suggest equities are vulnerable to a pullback. The Nasdaq 100 fell after an over 50% surge in 2023. Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — the VIX — pushed further away from an almost four-year low. Piles of derivatives contracts tied to stocks and indexes were due to mature Friday — which could amplify instability.\n“We are a little nervous about the weeks ahead,” said Callie Cox at eToro. “Stocks are in need of a serious heat check. We haven’t seen a 1% pullback in the S&P 500 since late October. The rate cut trade has been strong, but don’t be surprised if we see it cool off. It shouldn’t change your views about the favorable environment we’re in.”\nTreasuries rose, sending the 10-year yield below 4%. The dollar fell against all of its developed-market peers. The move was partly driven by gains in both the euro and the pound after Europe’s central bankers signaled they are in no hurry to join the US pivot toward interest-rate cuts.\nFrom stocks to Treasuries, credit to commodities, everything saw big gains in the previous session — when the Fed projected more rate cuts in 2024 and Chair Jerome Powell refrained from pushing back against Wall Street’s dovish trade.\nThe scope and intensity of such rally can be illustrated by a measure that tracks the lowest return of the five major exchange-traded funds following these assets. With gains of at least 1%, the pan-asset advance beat all other Fed days since March 2009.\nMatt Maley at Miller Tabak + Co. highlighted the fact that both the bond and stock markets are becoming quite overbought on a short-term basis — and could see some sort of near-term pullback before long.\n“Pick any old famous phrase you’d like: ‘Sell the news’….‘too far, too fast’….‘normal/healthy breather after a big rally’,” Maley said. “Any one of them might end up describing a pullback over the next few days, so investors will have to stay nimble. No market moves in a straight line, and after such a big rally, we could see some profit taking for a few days.”\nBloomberg’s latest Instant Markets Live Pulse survey showed investors expect the S&P 500 to rise to about 4,835 at the end of 2024, an increase compared to the last survey before the Fed decision. Still, such a gain, which amounts to about 2.5% from the current level, reflects skepticism about how much US stocks can rally after this year’s advance of over 20%.\nSimilarly modest gains are seen for the bond market: The median call in the survey was for the 10-year Treasury yield to slide to about 3.8%.\nTo Fabiana Fedeli at M&G Plc, the biggest data point to watch remains core inflation, how far it’s coming down and how central banks reacts to it, “because if inflation doesn’t come down enough and to where it should be, the only reason why central banks would cut rates as aggressively as the market expects is because the economy is really degenerating rapidly — and that is not going to be good for risk assets.”\n“Our view is that the market is pricing too fast a pace of cuts,” said Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management. “We think the experience of this rate cycle is that it pays to listen to the Fed. Our base case forecasts the Fed will refrain from further rate hikes and will start trimming rates by the middle of 2024, delivering 75bps in cuts by the end of next year.”\nSome of the biggest names in the bond world are at odds about just how far Treasuries can rally now the Fed has signaled a pivot toward rate cuts.\nJeffrey Gundlach at DoubleLine Capital says US 10-year yields will fall toward the low 3% range as the central bank is likely to slash its cash-rate target by a full two percentage points next year. Former Pacific Investment Management Co. bond king Bill Gross dismissed such euphoria, saying the yield is already about where it should be at just on 4%.\nCredit markets face a dramatic repricing in 2024 as higher capital costs slam lower-rated borrowers, according to JPMorgan Asset Management’s Oksana Aronov.\n“The interest rate reckoning took its time to arrive — I think the credit reckoning will as well,” the chief investment strategist for alternative fixed income said in an interview on Wednesday. “There is going to be a big one, just as there was a big one in interest-rate risk.”\nEconomists at some of Wall Street’s biggest banks are now calling for the Fed to roll out rate cuts earlier and faster next year, emboldened after the central bank’s last meeting of 2023 set off fireworks across financial markets.\nAt Goldman Sachs Group Inc., economists see a steady course of interest-rate cuts that begins in March. Barclays Plc is now calling for three cuts in 2024, from just one seen ahead of this week’s Fed meeting. And JPMorgan Chase & Co. bumped its view on the start of the easing cycle to June from July.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Richard Henderson, John Viljoen, Kasia Klimasinska, Lu Wang, Michael Msika, Macarena Muñoz, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Geoffrey Morgan.\n",
        "title": "Stock Bull Run Is Flashing Signs of Exhaustion: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 1253,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/venezuelan-lawmakers-back-extension-pdvsa-211608195.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "CARACAS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Venezuela's national assembly on Thursday approved a 15-year extension for a pair of joint ventures between state-owned oil company PDVSA and U.S. major Chevron.\nThe assembly is dominated by lawmakers from the ruling socialist party of President Nicolas Maduro.\nThe extensions will run from 2026 through 2041, according to a presentation to lawmakers by deputy oil minister Erick Perez on Wednesday.\nSince last year, PDVSA and Chevron have expanded operations under a special U.S. license that permits Venezuela to resume crude exports to what was its largest market, the United States. But more investment is needed to reach production levels seen before oil sanctions were first imposed in 2019.\nThe largest of the two tie-ups, Petroboscan, which is currently producing some 65,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy crude, will require $1.28 billion in investment and $3.35 billion for operational expenses during the 15-year period, according to Perez.\nThe second project, Petroindependiente, will need $10.7 million in investment and some $205 million for expenses.\nAnother 17 joint ventures have requested extensions, according to a lawmaker Angel Rodriguez, but he did not provide a timeline. (Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Editing by David Alire Garcia)\n",
        "title": "Venezuelan lawmakers back extension for PDVSA, Chevron tie-ups"
    },
    {
        "id": 1254,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-big-almost-eclipsing-france-083447200.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The rally in Apple Inc., the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, is showing no signs of easing. After closing at a record high on Thursday, the iPhone maker’s market value is approaching that of Europe’s largest stock market: France.\nThe combined market value of companies listed in Paris was about $3.2 trillion as of Wednesday’s close, versus the technology giant’s $3.1 trillion, according to an index compiled by Bloomberg. Apple is bigger than all but the six largest stock markets in the world.\nIt’s not the first time the Cupertino, California-based company eclipsed Paris in value. The duo swapped positions a number of times during last year’s second-half selloff as central banks raised interest rates to tackle inflation.\nThe French stock market itself is at a record high this week, propelled by luxury-goods companies including Louis Vuitton owner LVMH and Birkin bag manufacturer Hermes International SCA. The stocks pulled back starting in mid-summer, only to rev up again in recent weeks as evidence grew that inflation is cooling and thus interest rates may have peaked, with no sign of a recession in the US.\nIn the US, that same backdrop has driven a renewed surge in technology stocks, especially the biggest companies. Apple has soared more than 50% in 2023, adding about $1 trillion in market value. Shares rose 0.1% to close at $198.11 on Thursday, hitting a fresh all-time-high.\nThe recent surge for Apple is a big reversal from October, when the stock was pressured by concerns about revenue growth and sales in China.\n“The bears on the stock are missing the structural gross margin expansion story,” Citigroup Inc. analyst Atif Malik wrote in a note, pointing to the iPhone’s premium positioning, an acceleration in services sales and commodity price benefits. “We expect the above trends to continue next year, and view AI Phones and Vision Pro adoption as potential upside catalysts,” he said, targeting share gains to $230.\nWall Street projects that the company’s revenue will re-accelerate in 2024 as demand for smartphones, laptops and computers rebounds, according to the average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.\n(Updates stock at market close)\n",
        "title": "Apple Is So Big, It’s Almost Eclipsing France’s Stock Market"
    },
    {
        "id": 1255,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/braskem-credit-rating-cut-junk-210837670.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Latin America’s largest petrochemical firm Braskem SA was stripped of its investment-grade status at Fitch Ratings, in the latest blow to a company that’s under increasing pressure as the collapse of a salt mine it operates in Brazil’s Northeast risks engulfing part of a town.\nFitch downgraded Braskem by one notch to BB+ on Thursday, citing increased environmental, social and governance risks. The ratings firm also put the credit on watch negative.\nRead more: Sinking City Sparks Braskem Bond Rout and Ratings Warnings\nThe company is facing a 1 billion-real ($203 million) lawsuit from local prosecutors over the damage caused by geological events at its facilities. As a result of the firm’s rock salt extraction in the region, the ground is sinking in parts of the city of Maceio, forcing a state of emergency and thousands of people to evacuate.\nEcological impacts “could possibly pollute nearby landscapes, the lagoon and the soil,” while Braskem will face incremental exposure to social impacts as residents relocate to other areas, according to Fitch. “This could have a negative impact on credit profile as it damages the company’s reputation and could jeopardize” free cash flow, it said.\nThe company had been mining in Maceio for five decades and had already agreed to pay little over 14 billion reais in compensation costs since the first cracks emerged around 2018. Now, it could be set for additional impacts, analysts say.\nThe growing risks sparked a rout in Braskem bonds, with dollar notes due 2030 falling almost 10 cents to 76 cents since late November.\nFallen angel\nFitch’s move follows a similar action by Moody’s Investors Service, which cut Braskem further into junk. The Brazilian petrochemical company last week canceled its corporate credit rating issued by Moody’s, citing cost-cutting measures. In a statement to Bloomberg News, Moody’s said it will continue to cover the credit through an “unsolicited” rating.\nBraskem was one of only five Brazilian firms to be rated investment grade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The firm listed more than $10 billion of long-term debt at the end of the third quarter, including $1.5 billion of global bonds maturing in 2030, the data show.\nThe company said in a statement late Thursday that it continues to have a “solid cash position and a very long debt profile,” and reinforced “its commitment to maintaining its liquidity position and cost discipline.”\n--With assistance from Giovanna Bellotti Azevedo.\n(Updates with additional comments from Fitch, context starting in third paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Braskem’s Credit Rating Cut to Junk by Fitch Over Environmental Risks"
    },
    {
        "id": 1256,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-p-500-ends-210032720.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nAdobe slides after downbeat FY revenue forecast\n*\nApple notches record intra-day high\n(Updates with end of session)\nBy Caroline Valetkevitch and Noel Randewich\nNEW YORK, Dec 14 (Reuters) -\nThe S&P 500 closed higher on Thursday on optimism that borrowing rates will decrease next year following a dovish pivot by the Federal Reserve.\nTrading was mixed for much of the session, with Apple giving up gains after hitting an intraday record high.\nTesla shares surged, with over $37 billion worth changing hands.\nSectors that have underperformed this year also rose, including energy and real estate.\nAccording to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 12.37 points, or 0.26%, to end at 4,719.46 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 27.60 points, or 0.17%, to 14,759.54. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 162.53 points, or 0.44%, to 37,252.77.\nThe Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, with Chair Jerome Powell saying the historic tightening of monetary policy was likely over, as inflation falls faster than expected, and discussions on cuts in borrowing costs were coming \"into view.\"\nInvestors were closely watching 10-year Treasury yields, which broke below 4% for the first time since early August in the wake of the Fed statement. They were last down at 3.94%.\n\"The market by any measure and any metric is overbought and has been overbought, and a consolidation or a pause has been expected, especially after yesterday's surge,\" said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.\n\"While the market celebrates lower rates, it can question why yields are below 4%\" as investors weigh the economic outlook, she added.\nAdobe fell after the Photoshop maker forecast annual and quarterly revenue below estimates.\nU.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in November as the holiday shopping season got off to a brisk start, further alleviating fears of a recession, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday.\n(Additional reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Richard Chang)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-S&P 500 ends higher as investors bet on lower rates"
    },
    {
        "id": 1257,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/intel-chief-ready-alone-chip-203554190.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Kenneth Li and Max A. Cherney\n(Reuters) - Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger on Thursday said the company has no plans to spin out its contract chip manufacturing business.\nGelsinger has moved Intel's manufacturing unit into what is now called Intel Foundry Services (IFS) that operates as a business within Intel. IFS will break out financials beginning in the second quarter of next year, Gelsinger said.\nIntel isn't yet prepared to break out IFS into a separate entity and list it, as it did with its Mobileye autonomous driving business and plans to with the programmable chip unit in the next two to three years.\n\"The idea of the internal foundry model, we think, is the right path for us in the current environment,\" Gelsinger said in an interview with Reuters.\nIn some ways, Intel already operates two separate companies - a chip design business and a factory unit - in part to give its IFS customers confidence that Intel is a \"clean supplier\" of manufacturing capacity, Gelsinger said.\nFor the moment, there are distinct advantages by operating together, in part because most of the factory capacity is used by Intel at the moment, the CEO said.\nGelsinger made the comments about Intel's manufacturing business at an event in New York that focused on PC chips with artificial intelligence features.\nRunning AI applications from far away data centers is too costly for the likes of Microsoft and will have to be run on local PCs, Gelsinger said.\n\"There isn't any possible way that they can have a billion Windows devices hitting Azure to be running these workloads in real time,\" Gelsinger said.\nTo make the economics work, the Intel CEO said Microsoft would need to achieve a 100-to-one reduction in the amount of data flowing between the cloud giant's data centers and PCs.\n(Writing by Max A. Cherney in San Francisco; Reporting by Kennith Li in New York; Editing by Mark Porter)\n",
        "title": "Intel chief ready to go it alone on chip manufacturing"
    },
    {
        "id": 1258,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-latam-stocks-hit-203553218.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "* Banxico keeps rates on hold * Brazil's Bovespa sets fresh record intraday high * Mexican stocks at highest since 2022 * Argentina's inflation surges to 161% * Stocks jump 3%, FX up 1% (Updated at 2:45 ET/1945 GMT) By Siddarth S and Lisa Pauline Mattackal Dec 14 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies rallied on Thursday, boosted after the U.S. Federal Reserve opened the door for likely rate cuts, while Brazilian and Mexican assets rose after interest rate decisions in both countries. MSCI's gauge for South American equities jumped nearly 3% to its highest levels since April 2022, while the broader Latin American currencies index advanced 1% in its best session in over one week. Risk assets globally have cheered signals from the U.S. Federal Reserve that its rate hiking cycle is at an end, with investors pricing in rate cuts as soon as next March. \"Our view has been positive on Latin American rates, and the confirmation of the Fed pivot has precipitated some of that movement,\" said Alejandro Cuadrado, global head of FX and LatAm strategy at BBVA. Mexico's peso reversed earlier losses, gaining 0.3% and stocks jumped 3% to their highest since April 2022 after the Bank of Mexico held its benchmark interest rate at 11.25% and emphasized the need to keep rates at current levels for \"some time\" to tackle inflation. \"Banxico actually stayed pretty hawkish ... arguably in the country most impacted by the Fed,\" Cuadrado said, adding that the Fed's pivot was unlikely to significantly impact the outlook for most Latam central banks. Brazil's Bovespa touched a fresh intraday high of 131,259.81 points before paring some gains to trade up 0.8% at its highest since June 2021, while the real rose 0.1% after the central bank cut benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday. MSCI's global emerging market stocks index gained 2%. Meanwhile, Argentina's peso in the official market was little changed at 800 to the dollar, while the Merval stock index slipped 1.4% after data late Wednesday showed the country's annual inflation rate hit 161% in November, faster than expected. \"We will likely see inflation readings above the levels seen this month in the coming months. Other economic measures announced by the (Javier) Milei administration will also have a substantial impact on inflation dynamics,\" Goldman Sachs economists said in a note. Argentina is set to receive financing from the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean to make a $913 million payment due to the International Monetary Fund next week, sources told Reuters. Oil and copper prices jumped following the Fed's dovish stance, further boosting the broader commodity-heavy regional markets. Peru's sol gained 0.8% ahead of a monetary policy later in the day, while its benchmark stock index jumped 3% to an over three month high. Colombian stocks rose 1%. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1945 GMT: Latin Latest Daily % American market prices change from Reuters MSCI Emerging Markets 992.82 1.99 MSCI LatAm 2575.23 2.82 Brazil Bovespa 130554.38 0.84 Mexico IPC 56700.70 2.78 Chile IPSA 6146.59 2.1 Argentina MerVal 989131.95 -1.43 Colombia COLCAP 1178.62 1.1 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.9110 0.17 Mexico peso 17.1782 0.33 Chile peso 864.8 0.57 Colombia peso 3969.95 -0.06 Peru sol 3.752 0.78 Argentina peso 800.5000 -0.06 (interbank) Argentina peso 960 11.46 (parallel) (Reporting by Siddarth S and Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Alistair Bell and Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Latam stocks hit over 1-year high after Fed pivot; Brazil, Mexico assets jump after cenbank meetings"
    },
    {
        "id": 1259,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-tumbles-dovish-fed-203354706.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 1500 EST) By Karen Brettell and Samuel Indyk NEW YORK/LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The dollar fell to a two-week low against the euro and a more than four-month low against the Japanese yen in a broad based selloff on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday indicated that rate cuts are likely next year. The euro and pound, meanwhile, were supported by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England affirming the need to hold rates higher for longer. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that the tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming \"into view\". The Fed's projections implied 75 basis points of cuts next year, from the current level. \"The Fed was very dovish yesterday,\" said Athanasios Vamvakidis, global head G10 FX strategy at BofA Global Research. “The strong consensus… was for a balanced tone by Powell. Instead, Powell doubled-down, with a very dovish tone.\" The dollar index was last at 101.95, down 0.89% on the day. It earlier reached 101.76, the lowest since Aug. 10. Fed funds futures traders are now almost completely pricing in a 25 basis points cut in March, and 150 basis points in rate reductions by Dec. 2024. “The market has been coming around to the idea that inflation won’t be sticky or problematic over the past six weeks and now central banks are confirming it,” said Adam Button, chief currency analyst at ForexLive in Toronto. “The market is running with the idea that rates will return to low levels in time - the bigger picture idea is that we’re headed back to a 2010s era of low growth and low inflation, rather than a 1970s era of volatile inflation,” he said. The greenback briefly pared losses after data showed that U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in November. The euro gained 1.08% to $1.0991, the highest since Nov. 29. It is on track for its biggest daily percentage gain since Nov. 14. The ECB kept rates steady and pushed back against bets on imminent cuts to interest rates on Thursday by reaffirming that borrowing costs would remain at record highs despite lower inflation expectations. “The ECB was unable to “out-dove” yesterday's pivot by the Fed. The ECB continues to signal that rate hikes are done but their updated economic projections show no reason to hurry towards less restrictive policy,” said Samuel Zief, head of global FX strategy at JPMorgan Private Bank in London. The pound rose 1.11% and earlier reached the highest since Aug. 22 after the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged and said that interest rates needed to stay high for \"an extended period\". It is also on pace for the best day since Nov. 14. \"The main message remains that rates will remain high for as long as it takes, which effectively is a push-back to market pricing early cuts,\" said BofA's Vamvakidis. The greenback fell 0.63% against the Swiss franc and hit the lowest level since July 27 after the Swiss National Bank held rates steady at 1.75%, as expected and acknowledged that inflationary pressure has decreased slightly over the past quarter. It also tumbled 2.28% against the Norwegian crown to the lowest since August 15 after the Norges Bank unexpectedly raised rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%, adding that they would likely stay at that level for some time. It is looking at the largest drop since Jan. 6. The yen reached the highest since July 31, with the dollar last down 0.68% against the Japanese currency at 141.94. Expectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could end negative interest rates at its monetary policy meeting on Dec. 18-19 have largely been dampened, but the BOJ could make tweaks to its statement, such as language that the bank will not hesitate to ease further if necessary, said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities. That kind of change could be regarded as \"one step toward normalisation ... so that could be positive for the Japanese yen,\" he said. The Australian dollar, meanwhile, hit a more than four-month high at $0.6728 after domestic net employment jumped by 61,500 in November, compared to an increase of around 11,000 that markets had been forecasting. It was last up 0.54% at $0.6696. The kiwi reached $0.6249, the highest since July 27, despite data showing the New Zealand economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter. It was last up 0.52% at $0.6206. Bitcoin edged up 0.25% to $42,994. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 3:00PM (2000 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 101.9500 102.8800 -0.89% -1.488% +102.9100 +101.7600 Euro/Dollar $1.0991 $1.0875 +1.08% +2.58% +$1.1009 +$1.0874 Dollar/Yen 141.9400 142.8950 -0.68% +8.25% +142.8900 +140.9500 Euro/Yen 156.00 155.38 +0.40% +11.19% +156.0500 +153.8800 Dollar/Swiss 0.8661 0.8717 -0.63% -6.33% +0.8731 +0.8632 Sterling/Dollar $1.2756 $1.2618 +1.11% +5.49% +$1.2793 +$1.2614 Dollar/Canadian 1.3410 1.3519 -0.81% -1.03% +1.3514 +1.3395 Aussie/Dollar $0.6696 $0.6661 +0.54% -1.76% +$0.6728 +$0.6657 Euro/Swiss 0.9520 0.9477 +0.45% -3.79% +0.9544 +0.9455 Euro/Sterling 0.8615 0.8617 -0.02% -2.59% +0.8634 +0.8587 NZ $0.6206 $0.6174 +0.52% -2.26% +$0.6249 +$0.6172 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 10.5220 10.7800 -2.28% +7.34% +10.7760 +10.4500 Euro/Norway 11.5677 11.7239 -1.33% +10.23% +11.7411 +11.4925 Dollar/Sweden 10.2359 10.3166 +0.28% -1.65% +10.3353 +10.1950 Euro/Sweden 11.2509 11.2193 +0.28% +0.91% +11.2573 +11.1710 (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by David Evans and Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar tumbles on dovish Fed, euro gains as ECB talks down rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1260,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pboc-offers-record-112-billion-015631293.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s move to pump a record amount of cash into the economy coincided with renewed support for the property sector, sending a more powerful stimulus message to investors after piecemeal approaches had left them disheartened.\nThe central bank handed commercial lenders $112 billion of one-year loans on Friday, helping to allay concerns over cash scarcity amid a surge in government debt issuance. That came on the heels of a relaxation of home buying curbs in Beijing and Shanghai, an extension of policy efforts to stem an unprecedented housing downturn.\nMarket reactions suggest the policy combo offered some relief to investors, but more needs to be done. A gauge of Chinese shares in Hong Kong rallied more than 3% before paring its advance after a report that the government has agreed to run a budget deficit of 3% of the gross domestic product in 2024, while benchmarks for mainland shares closed in the red. The yuan hovered near a six-month high.\nInvestors had been looking to more forceful steps after a drip-feed of measures failed to accelerate the economy’s recovery and put a floor under the market’s slump. The latest data confirmed a patchy recovery and the need for more stimulus.\n“It’s too early to call it a turning point given that investor sentiment remains fragile and geopolitical tensions remain a potential source of risk,” said Zhong Liang Han, investment strategist at Standard Chartered Bank. The stocks advance on Friday partially points to markets needing some good news to buy China, he added.\nChinese authorities face the challenge of balancing monetary and fiscal stimulus so that just enough liquidity is added to support government bond sales without triggering a slump in the yuan. The tricky task explains why policymakers have refrained from deploying more aggressive monetary tools in recent months, such as an interest-rate cut.\n“Lack of confidence is still the key factor hindering growth, but a lower rate will help the economy,” said Serena Zhou, an economist at Mizuho Securities. “I still look for 20-basis-point cuts to interest rates and 50-basis-point cuts to the reserve-requirement ratio next year.”\nOn Friday, the People’s Bank of China offered commercial lenders a net 800 billion yuan ($112 billion) of one-year loans through the so-called medium-term lending facility. While the central bank kept the interest rate on the funding unchanged, the size of the injection came as a surprise given it was more than twice what had been expected by analysts.\nJust minutes before the cash infusion, the PBOC supported the yuan by boosting its daily reference rate to the strongest level since June. The rate, also known as the fixing, limits the onshore currency’s moves by 2% on either side.\nThe developments helped buoy what was already risk-on sentiment following a cut in down-payment ratios for first and second homes in capital Beijing and the financial hub of Shanghai. The loosening is the latest effort to stabilize the nation’s real estate market, which along with related industries accounts for about 20% of the economy.\nHowever, investors worry Friday’s positive sentiment will be shortlived, as has been the case in numerous post-stimulus stock rebounds this year. Chinese assets, especially equities, have largely maintained a downward trend as concerns over a sluggish economy, geopolitical tensions and the property crisis outweighed any policy optimism.\nData Friday also showed industrial production beat expectations but retail sales fell short and a contraction in property investment deepened.\nIllustrating caution, overseas investors turned net sellers of mainland shares in the afternoon after pumping in more than 5 billion yuan via trading links with Hong Kong earlier in the day, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.\nThe generous cash injection also reduces the odds that the PBOC will take stronger action in the near term, such as reducing the the amount of cash banks need to set aside as reserves.\nMarket watchers are still debating how China could ease its monetary policy to aid growth. While some argue Beijing should use more targeted tools, others say the central bank needs to lower the RRR to release cheaper and longer-term funding.\nWhat’s for sure is that fiscal stimulus will play a bigger role next year. In a meeting earlier this week, China’s policymakers called for “appropriately stepped up” fiscal measures, as well as “flexible” monetary policy. That echoed a message from a huddle of the party’s 24-member Politburo last week, which was seen as taking a pro-growth stance.\n“Injecting liquidity and trying to increase the supply on the financial side is helpful, but probably will not be enough if there is no willingness to spend or to invest,” said Louis Kuijs, chief economist for Asia Pacific at S&P Global Ratings. “More needs to be done apparently just looking at how dire the situation is.\n--With assistance from Wenjin Lv, Qizi Sun, Karl Lester M. Yap and Yujing Liu.\n(Adds Reuters report on budget deficit in third paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "China’s Policy Combo Gives Investors Hope for a Market Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1261,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-mixed-economic-data-unlikely-020020805.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China’s economic recovery remained beleaguered by weak demand and a lingering property crisis last month, putting more pressure on Beijing to roll out supportive policies to juice growth.\nWhile industrial output and retail sales expanded in November, according to the official data released Friday, those numbers were distorted by favorable comparisons to a year ago when Covid lockdowns throttled activity.\nIn reality, analysts said both measures of economic activity weakened last month, when compared to more typical periods. Turmoil in the property sector continued to weigh on the overall outlook, as indebted developers struggle to sell enough new homes.\n“Discounting the base effect, it’s obvious that China’s economy slowed further in November, especially in terms of retail sales and property,” said Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Group Ltd.\nInvestment in property development has plunged 9.4% so far this year, according to government figures. A slump in home prices deepened, too, with those in the secondary market falling by the most in nine years.\nChina’s onshore stocks erased increases in the morning session to trade down 0.3% as of 2:20 p.m. local time. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index pared gains to 2.3%.\nPresident Xi Jinping’s government is under pressure to ramp up supportive measures for the economy, as expectations mount for an ambitious growth goal in 2024. The nation’s post-pandemic recovery has been hampered by a lingering real estate crisis, while deflationary pressures are a sign of stubbornly weak consumer confidence.\nLast month’s data is unlikely to convince investors that the stimulus unleashed so far this year has been sufficient. For example, Hu, the Macquarie economist, said retail sales actually fell 1.9% last month from October on a sequential basis, according his calculations. That compared to double digit year-on-year growth in the official data.\nLouis Kuijs, chief economist for Asia Pacific at S&P Global Ratings, estimated growth in retail sales, industrial output and fixed-asset investment all weakened across the board in November from October, when compared to levels in 2019.\n“It’s very hard to see the economy growing significantly or people’s confidence improving significantly,” said Kuijs. “More needs to be done apparently, just looking at how dire the situation is.”\nThe weak data came as the People’s Bank of China on Friday made the biggest net injection of cash via a one-year policy tool on record. That move will give banks more money to buy government bonds issued to support infrastructure spending.\nAnalysts said the injection decreased the chances of an imminent cut to the required amount of money banks must hold, a number known as the reserve ratio requirement. Some also questioned whether the liquidity injection would bolster an economy battling downbeat corporate and consumer sentiment.\nIncreasing liquidity is not “enough if there is no willingness to spend or to invest,” Kuijs added.\nEnsuring indebted developers deliver houses to citizens — who often buy properties before they’re built — and further cuts to mortgage rates to boost sales, are two steps that could stabilize the sector. Fresh purchases could ease developers’ cash flow and break expectations of a downward spiral in home prices.\nThe focus is now on the ruling Communist Party’s plans to boost growth in 2024. At two recent conclaves on next year’s economic policy, top leaders emphasized they will seek “progress” and strengthen fiscal policy “appropriately.” That fueled expectations top leaders may set an ambitious growth target of about 5% and expand the budget deficit again.\nStill, the November data will be “sufficient” to assure China meets its official target this year, according to Xing Zhaopeng, a senior strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group.\n“Now, the biggest question to the market will be next year’s growth target, which will be disclosed in March,” he said, predicting that China’s central bank will step up efforts to address “the headwinds.”\n--With assistance from Shikhar Balwani and Yujing Liu.\n(Updates with more details, economists’ quotes.)\n",
        "title": "China’s Gloomy Economic Data Paints ‘Dire’ Growth Picture"
    },
    {
        "id": 1262,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hong-kong-hires-banks-digital-040818433.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong is considering offering green bonds managed on distributed ledger technology, the latest step in the city’s efforts to become a digital-asset hub, following its first sale of similar notes earlier this year.\nThe government has hired HSBC Holdings Plc, Credit Agricole CIB, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Ltd. and UBS Group AG to form a working group to explore the possibility of a multi-series fixed rate “digitally native” green bond issuance, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe notes would be recorded and cleared using a distributed ledger technology platform provided by HSBC, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.\nSuch technology — similar to the foundation upon which Bitcoin operates — would bring bonds as well as relevant parties and activities onto a single digital platform. That can facilitate interaction, “substantially” reduce costs and remove any settlement delays, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.\nStill relatively nascent, digital securities have gained popularity recently. Japanese issuer Hitachi Ltd. this month sold the nation’s largest digital corporate bond with a ¥10 billion ($70 million) green note. Euroclear launched a blockchain platform for digital note sales in October.\nNew risks lurk. Moody’s Investors Service cautioned that digital bond platforms are relatively new and untested, could potentially be impacted by new laws or regulations, and could be more susceptible to cyberattacks.\nThe bonds that Hong Kong is considering offering may be denominated in dollars, euros, offshore yuan and the Hong Kong dollar, with tenors of up to two years, according to the people.\nThe city issued HK$800 million ($102 million) of 365-day tokenized green notes in February, in its debut issuance.\n--With assistance from Alice Truong.\n(Adds more background throughout)\n",
        "title": "Hong Kong Weighs More Digital Green Bond Sales Amid Hub Push"
    },
    {
        "id": 1263,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/indonesian-tycoon-tanoto-offers-buy-001109515.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Indonesian tycoon Sukanto Tanoto has announced plans to buy Vinda International Holdings Ltd. shares including those from the largest shareholders of the Hong Kong-listed tissue maker.\nA unit of the family’s firm RGE Pte offered to buy Vinda shares it doesn’t already own for HK$23.50 each, representing a 13.5% premium to the last closing price, according to an exchange filing on Friday. Swedish personal care product maker Essity AB and Vinda’s founder Li Chaowang have agreed to sell their shares to the family. The two biggest shareholders own a combined 72.62% stake in Vinda.\nVinda shares rose more than 9% in Hong Kong after news of the deal. The family could pay a maximum HK$26 billion ($3.3 billion) should all shareholders accept the offer.\n“This is a very attractive offer for Essity and for our shareholders,” the company said in a statement. “We maintain a presence in Asia and in Vinda through continued licensing of Essity’s brands, with sustainability requirements for sourcing, production and collaboration in innovation and marketing.”\nThe Vinda deal builds on Tanoto’s existing pulp and paper presence, which spans factories in China to a plantation in Indonesia.\nThat business has come under scrutiny due to environmental concerns. A report earlier this year from organizations including Greenpeace alleged RGE relied on deforestation in its supply chain, despite a commitment to eliminate the practice. In response, RGE said it denied the report and all business groups operate in accordance with its sustainability framework, including an explicit ‘no deforestation’ policy.\nRGE also has operations in palm oil and energy. Tanoto has been working on a potential offer for a controlling stake in Vinda, Bloomberg News reported in October. The daughter of Tanoto has built a 7% interest in the Hong Kong-listed firm.\nClosely held RGE operates in Indonesia, China, Brazil, Spain and Canada, with more than 60,000 employees.\nEssity said in April its holding in Vinda is under strategic review. Vinda has a market value of about $3.2 billion in Hong Kong and sells tissues under brands including Tempo and Tork. It also makes products for feminine care, baby care and incontinence.\nThe deal is subject to approval by regulatory authorities and is expected to be completed mid-2024.\n--With assistance from Charlotte Yang.\n",
        "title": "Tycoon Tanoto Offers to Buy Tissue Maker Vinda for Up to $3.3 Billion"
    },
    {
        "id": 1264,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-shares-hit-three-month-020040736.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were slightly higher and the dollar rebounded on Friday as market participants caught their breath as they approached the end of a week loaded with central bank policy decisions and crucial economic data.\nThe dollar bounced back, but remained on track for its largest weekly decline in five months.\nEuphoria over the U.S. Federal Reserve's dovish pivot was dampened a bit after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams pushed back against rate cut expectations, reiterating that the central bank remains focused on bringing inflation down to its 2% target.\nThe S&P 500 was modestly higher while the blue-chip Dow was essentially unchanged. Interest rate-sensitive tech- and tech-adjacent momentum stocks boosted the Nasdaq into positive territory.\nAll three are on course to register their seventh consecutive weekly gains, which would mark the S&P 500's longest streak of weekly gains since September 2017.\n\"Markets have rallied very sharply since the beginning of November, and today's comments from John Williams were effectively saying ‘calm down people,’ we're not talking about lowering rates anytime soon,\" said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, in New York. \"But while Williams threw a little cold water on the excitement, the base case for the current rally going into the earnings season is justified.\"\nEconomic data released on Friday signaled an uptick in U.S. business activity but also showed the manufacturing sector continues to struggle.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13.42 points, or 0.04%, to 37,261.77, the S&P 500 gained 5.37 points, or 0.11%, to 4,724.92 and the Nasdaq Composite added 83.55 points, or 0.57%, to 14,845.11.\nEuropean shares reversed earlier gains, following their U.S. counterparts lower on waning Fed fervor over the possibility of looming interest rate cuts.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.10% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.12%.\nEmerging market stocks rose 0.80%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 1.15% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.87%.\nU.S. Treasury yields edged lower after the Fed's Williams reined in the rate cut fervor.\nBenchmark 10-year notes last rose 6/32 in price to yield 3.9092%, from 3.93% late on Thursday.\nThe 30-year bond last rose 22/32 in price to yield 4.0171%, from 4.054% late on Thursday.\nThe dollar rebounded against a basket of world currencies, but remained on course for its biggest weekly drop in a month after a dovish Fed contrasted with the tougher line taken by its European counterparts boosted the euro and the pound.\nThe dollar index rose 0.49%, with the euro down 0.7% to $1.0914.\nThe Japanese yen strengthened 0.13% versus the greenback at 141.70 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2699, down 0.52% on the day.\nOil prices backed down from the previous session's sharp gains.\nU.S. crude fell 0.54% to $71.19 per barrel and Brent was last at $76.09, down 0.68% on the day.\nGold dipped in opposition to the greenback's rebound but remained on track for a weekly gain.\nSpot gold % to $2,035.39 an ounce.\n(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Sam Holmes, Shri Navaratnam and Chizu Nomiyama)\n",
        "title": "U.S. stocks inch higher, dollar rebounds as rate cut fever wanes"
    },
    {
        "id": 1265,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-prices-track-first-weekly-014006701.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Erwin Seba\nHOUSTON (Reuters) -Brent crude futures turned positive during a see-saw session, in which it fell more than $1 a barrel at one point on Friday, as traders tried to reconcile signals for oil demand in the coming year.\nBrent futures fell 16 cents, or 0.21%, to $76.46 a barrel at 10:38 a.m. (1638 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 29 cents, or 0.41%, to $71.29.\nThe market tumbled earlier in the session after a New York Federal Reserve Bank manufacturing survey showed a third month of declines in new orders, which could be a sign of weaker demand for oil in the coming year.\n\"What started the sell off was the sharp drop in the New York manufacturing numbers,\" said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group.\n\"This market seems a little more sensitive to every new headline,\" Flynn added. \"They're still not sure we've found the bottom to this market.\"\nAfter the drop, traders took heart from a signalled end to U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes that demand could increase in the coming year.\nThe dollar fell to a four-month low on Thursday after the U.S. central bank indicated interest rate hikes have likely ended and lower borrowing costs are coming in 2024. The dollar index was broadly steady on Friday.\nA weaker dollar makes dollar-denominated oil cheaper for foreign buyers.\nWorld oil consumption will rise by 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, the IEA said in a monthly report.\nWhile that was up 130,000 bpd from its previous forecast, the estimate is less than half of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) demand growth forecast of 2.25 million bpd.\n\"OPEC+ production cuts are likely to keep the oil market in balance at the start of 2024 despite weaker demand, which should allay current oversupply concerns,\" Commerzbank said.\nOPEC+, which groups OPEC and allies led by Russia, in late November agreed voluntary cuts of about 2.2 million bpd lasting throughout the first quarter.\nWeak economic data from Germany, Europe's biggest economy, and China, the world's biggest oil importer, weighed on prices, however.\nThe HCOB German Flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, fell for the sixth consecutive month, declining to 46.7 in December from November's 47.8, below the 48.2 forecast by economists.\nData released by China's statistics bureau on Friday showed refinery runs in November dropped to their lowest level since the start of 2023, as margin pressure on non-state owned refiners saw them cut back production, while sluggish diesel consumption weighed on national fuel demand.\nDespite ongoing woes in China's property market, the data also showed a better-than-expected performance in industrial output and improving retail sales, lending some relief to market sentiment amid the country's anaemic post-COVID economic recovery.\n(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Additional reporting Ahmad Ghaddar and Andrew Hayley Editing by Susan Fenton and Tomasz Janowski)\n",
        "title": "Brent crude futures turn positive after falling more than $1"
    },
    {
        "id": 1266,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-nov-home-prices-fall-013655646.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BEIJING, Dec 15 (Reuters) - China's new home prices fell for the fifth straight month in November, official data showed on Friday, as the sector still struggles to elbow its way out of a weak market in the face of dampened confidence in demand and investment.\nNew home prices fell 0.3% month-on-month after a similar 0.3% dip in October, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.\nPrices fell at the fastest pace in seven months year-on-year, down 0.2% in November, compared with a 0.1% decline in October.\nChina has been ramping up measures to cushion the impact of the property downturn on its economy, but the property market has failed to stage a robust rebound.\n(Reporting by Liangping Gao, Ella Cao and Ryan Woo; Editing by Sam Holmes and Shri Navaratnam)\n",
        "title": "China's Nov new home prices fall for fifth straight month"
    },
    {
        "id": 1267,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yellen-visit-china-again-2024-010144276.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she plans to visit China again in 2024, seeking to deepen areas of cooperation and improve communication even as she vowed to continue confronting Beijing over national security concerns and human rights.\n“A significant portion of the agenda will focus on discussing difficult areas of concern with my counterpart,” Yellen said of her plans for a second trip to China as Treasury secretary. The remarks came in a speech Thursday evening in Washington to the US-China Business Council.\nYellen made clear the US would continue to pursue export controls and investment restrictions that have angered Beijing, but she also stressed it’s crucial to engage with China in ways that could prevent a wide range of potential crises — from diplomatic to financial.\n“We seek not to resolve all our disagreements nor avoid all shocks,” Yellen said. “But we aim to make our communication resilient so that when we disagree, when shocks occur, we prevent misunderstanding from leading to escalation and causing harm.”\nEach country’s ambassador read a letter from their president thanking the council for its work to support relations between the nations over the years and expressing optimism over US-China ties.\nYellen has emerged as something of a “good cop” in the Biden administration’s handling of China relations, gradually building ties with the country’s economic leadership. She visited Beijing in July and held extensive talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng last month in San Francisco, before also taking part in a meeting there between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.\nAlong the way she’s employed a strategy of compartmentalization, confronting China in certain areas while simultaneously pursuing areas of collaboration.\nYellen also emphasized the importance of using her exchanges with China to gather information about the world’s second-largest economy.\n“Understanding China’s plans, especially how China intends to respond to challenges with local government debt and the real estate market, or how it might react if unexpected weaknesses in its economy should arise, is crucial for those of us charged with policymaking in the United States,” she said.\nToward that end, Yellen said she also aims to increase exchanges between financial regulators in the US and China. For example, the countries are facilitating discussions on how each side might handle the failure of a global systemically important bank.\nInjecting an election campaign flavor to her remarks, the Treasury chief said the Biden administration has “course corrected” its broader policy toward China following the administration of former President Donald Trump.\n“The Trump administration had failed to make investments at home in critical areas like infrastructure and advanced technology, while also neglecting relationships with our partners and allies that had been forged and strengthened over decades,” she said. “The Biden Administration strategy towards China begins with investing at home and rebuilding alliances abroad.”\nYellen also reiterated criticism of Chinese policies that she said had harmed American workers and firms by creating an uneven playing field.\n“The PRC deploys unfair economic practices, from non-market tools, to barriers to access for foreign firms, to coercive actions against American companies,” she said.\nShifting away from its state-driven economic approach in industry and finance would benefit China too, Yellen added. “Too strong a role for state-owned enterprises can choke growth and an excessive role for the security apparatus can dissuade investment.”\n(Updates with Biden, Xi letters and additional Yellen comments.)\n",
        "title": "Yellen to Visit China Again in 2024, Focusing on ‘Difficult’ Topics"
    },
    {
        "id": 1268,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/temu-files-lawsuit-against-shein-023943101.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese-owned online marketplace Temu sued fast-fashion rival Shein in the US over what it called “intensified” anticompetitive practices, reviving a legal fight between the e-commerce upstarts after both had dropped earlier lawsuits against each other.\nWhaleco Inc., which operates as Temu, accused Shein of hatching a “desperate plan” to undercut its business in a 100-page filing to the US District Court for the District of Columbia — nearly triple the length of its original lawsuit. The Wednesday complaint alleged that Shein filed tens of thousands of copyright takedown notices against Temu, forced fashion suppliers into exclusive agreements, and threatened or even detained Temu merchants. It detailed allegations about how Chinese suppliers who listed products on both platforms got called into Shein’s offices in Guangzhou and forced to provide phone passwords and transaction records related to Temu.\n“Temu has discovered that Shein’s anticompetitive behavior has not only persisted but intensified,” the lawsuit said. “Shein’s persistent and increasingly aggressive use of anticompetitive conduct, coercion, and threatening behavior necessitates this lawsuit.”\nA Temu representative said the latest move was a result of Shein’s escalating anticompetitive behavior. “Their actions are too exaggerated; we had no choice but to sue them,” the spokesperson said.\nIn a statement on Thursday, a spokesperson from Shein said: “We believe this lawsuit is without merit and we will vigorously defend ourselves.”\nRead More: Jack Ma’s Biggest E-Commerce Rival Is Coming for Amazon, Walmart\nThe two rising stars, both of Chinese origin, pose a growing threat to e-commerce giants from Amazon.com Inc. to Walmart Inc. and fast-fashion incumbents like H&M and Zara. In October, Temu and Shein both dropped previous lawsuits that pulled the curtain back on the combative competition between the two often-secretive companies.\nTemu, owned by Chinese heavyweight PDD Holdings Inc., said its entry into the US market in late 2022 contributed to a decline of more than $30 billion in the valuation of Shein, which had exceeded $100 billion. “So Shein hatched a desperate plan to eliminate the competitive threat posed by Temu,” the lawsuit alleged.\nShein has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in the US, targeting a valuation of as much as $90 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.\nBesides copyright infringement and supplier bullying, Temu’s new lawsuit accused Shein of seeking to “whitewash its stained reputation” by shifting its headquarters to Singapore — despite maintaining most of its business operations and employees in China. It’s a tactic that could backfire given that Temu is owned by PDD, founded eight years ago in Shanghai.\nTemu Takes on Amazon and Walmart: The Big Take\nThe filing also contends that Shein poached several of Temu’s key marketing executives to replicate its game and promotional strategies, including one woman who may have begun working for Shein before she officially quit Temu. It accused Shein of signing agreements with suppliers that prevented them from doing business with rival marketplaces like Temu, and issued penalties for not allowing Shein to offer prices lower than competitors.\nThe latest suit comes as Temu has widened its gap with Shein in US transactions since surpassing it in May. That lead has widened every month since, reaching nearly triple Shein’s observed sales in November, according to data from Bloomberg Second Measure, which analyzes consumers’ card transactions.\nTemu-parent PDD’s market capitalization even exceeded that of Chinese e-commerce pioneer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in recent weeks, in part because of Temu’s success abroad.\nRead More: Shoppers Spend Almost Twice as Long on Temu App Than Key Rivals\n--With assistance from Daniela Wei.\n(Updates with Shein comment in fifth paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Temu Files New Lawsuit Against Shein In ‘Intensified’ Clash"
    },
    {
        "id": 1269,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fidelity-jpmorgan-buck-market-betting-234328504.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The dollar will surprise by getting stronger next year as the US economy outperforms, according to some of the world’s biggest money managers.\nFidelity International, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and HSBC Holdings Plc are going against the consensus by warning of dollar strength, while Loomis Sayles & Co. says a global economic slowdown will see traders flock to the world’s reserve currency.\nThe handful of contrarian views are based on expectations that the rest of the world will struggle more with higher interest rates than the US and lurch closer to a recession. While the Federal Reserve has indicated it plans to cut interest rates by 75 basis points in 2024, dollar bulls expect similar or even quicker reductions in other major economies from Europe to emerging markets, leading to wider rate differentials.\n“It is peculiar that the consensus thinks the US dollar will be the loser in 2024,” said Paul Mackel, global head of FX research at HSBC. “A number of scenarios point to dollar resilience but only a global soft landing delivers a clear dollar bear case.”\nA weaker dollar in 2024 is the majority view among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg across the Group-of-10 nations and emerging markets. All but one currency in the Dollar Index and the broader Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which includes EM, is expected to gain.\nThose expectations may be missing how the dollar typically benefits from flight-to-safety flows, and the relative weaker growth dynamics outside of the US.\n“We do think that Europe and the UK are closer to recession,” said George Efstathopoulos, a Fidelity money manager who is positioned for further greenback strength against the euro and sterling. “It’s clear that the dollar always get a bid when this happens” as it becomes a haven, he said.\nSome Wall Street banks also agree, with Morgan Stanley predicting that the Dollar Index — which measures it against six Group-of-10 peers — will climb to 111 by spring from around 102 now. JPMorgan strategists including Meera Chandan see the gauge rising 3% in the first half.\n“The ‘stronger for longer’ USD path incorporates US outperformance across a variety of metrics,” strategists including David Adams, Morgan Stanley’s head of G-10 FX strategy, wrote in a report published Nov. 13. These include the prospect of earlier and faster European Central Bank easing, which would keep rate differentials in the dollar’s favor, he added.\nMarket expectations for US rate cuts have surged this week following the Fed’s signaling of a pivot on Wednesday. Traders are pricing in 150 basis points of US rate cuts over the next year, up from under 100 basis points before the policy meeting. That still lags the 155 basis points of cuts seen for the ECB and trails emerging-market central banks from Mexico to Brazil.\nECB and Bank of England officials indicated on Thursday they’re still concerned about inflation and aren’t thinking of easing.\nLoomis’s Lynda Schweitzer favors the US currency as a hedge. “It’s just on a relative basis and on our view that a global slowdown is coming, we feel better about being slightly long the dollar versus other currencies,” said the money manager, who is shorting the yuan, sterling and euro. Still, in the near term, the firm has reduced its long dollar positions, she said, citing the continued resilience of the US economy.\nFor Efstathopoulos, the dollar is also attractive as a diversification given the elevated correlation between bonds and equities.\nRisk Premium\nJPMorgan contends geopolitical tensions will support the dollar as the US election takes center stage in 2024. If current polling holds, risks for the currency will be skewed to the upside given the possibility of new trade tariffs.\nAny future expansion of US tariffs on nations and trading blocs beyond China would have an outsized effect, strategists including Chandan wrote in a Nov. 27 note. A universal 10% tariff may boost its trade-weighted value by 4% to 6% as a widening trade war weighs on pro-cyclical, growth-sensitive currencies.\nWhile non-commercial net positions in the dollar — a proxy for speculative positioning — retreated from a one-year high, market participants are still overall long, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.\nRead more: US Election Risk Is Starting to Build in Global Currency Markets\nThe consensus though is still for the greenback to decline more — it gained in 2021 and 2022 and is set to end this year slightly weaker — as the Fed begins cutting interest rates.\n“The game changer top down would be a US recession,” said Monica Defend, head of Amundi Institute, part of Europe’s largest asset manager, who expects the yen to climb to 135 per dollar by year-end. “The dollar would be vulnerable to pullbacks as the Fed moves from policy tightening to policy easing,” she said.\nIt’s a view echoed by Bhanu Baweja, who forecasts that the euro could rally to at least as high as $1.15 by year-end from around $1.09 now. “Interest-rate differentials contracting against the US is probably going to be the primary force,” said the UBS Investment Bank strategist, who has priced in 275 basis points of Fed rate cuts next year.\nA rate increase in Japan — a prospect that markets are pricing in for next year — will boost the yen as higher yields increase the appeal of Japanese assets. The yen is at around 142 per dollar.\nMeanwhile, BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, is braced for the dollar to stay range-bound from here.\n“We are fairly neutral in our dollar allocation and are not positioning for a big move in either direction,” said Russ Koesterich, portfolio manager for BlackRock’s global allocation fund.\nWhat Bloomberg Strategists Say...\nWith global borrowing costs set to stay elevated for some time, it appears problematic to restrict the focus just to the expected rate of change in yields. Differentials will need to narrow a lot more to lead to a sustained dollar pivot.\nMary Nicola, Markets Live strategist\nThose writing off the continued dominance of the dollar have often ended up losing out, with calls that the greenback had peaked proving premature earlier this year. It put on an unexpected run from July to October as a string of positive US economic data undermined the case for monetary easing. The Bloomberg dollar gauge then tumbled almost 3% last month as Fed officials signaled they’re probably done with raising rates.\nYet the speed and magnitude of the dollar’s recent fall isn’t a guarantee for further dramatic weakening ahead, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Vanguard Asset Management Ltd, who forecast only a shallow decline. Before the Fed meeting, Goldman had forecast a 3% drop in the dollar index over the next 12 months, while Vanguard projected a decline of just over 1%.\n“Next year, it’s more about what the other side of the equation — what Europe, the UK, China and Japan — are doing,” said Richard Benson, co-chief investment officer at Millennium Global Investments, who predicted at the start of this year that the dollar would weaken.\n--With assistance from Edward Bolingbroke and Liau Y-Sing.\n(Updates market pricing and alters rate-cut bets in first chart.)\n",
        "title": "Fidelity, JPMorgan Buck Market by Betting on Stronger Dollar"
    },
    {
        "id": 1270,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/peru-cuts-key-rate-14-230855123.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Peru cut interest rates for a fourth straight meeting to a 14-month low with inflation now in retreat, allowing policymakers to focus on reviving an economy stuck in recession.\nThe bank lowered its policy rate to 6.75% from 7% on Thursday, as expected by 10 of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Three had forecast a bigger cut, to 6.50%.\n“We forecast that annual inflation will reach the target band within the coming months, and that annual inflation excluding food and energy will hit the target band at the end of 2023,” the bank said in a statement.\nPeru is undergoing its second-longest contraction in output in more than two decades, as political instability and bad weather take a toll on an economy that used to be Latin America’s star performer. Brazil and Chile have also eased policy in recent months, while the US Federal Reserve this week signaled that it is ready to start cutting interest rates early next year.\nMexico left its key rate unchanged at 11.25% on Thursday, while Colombia has also yet to initiate easing.\nRead more: Peru Struggles to Revive Its Days as Latin America’s Top Economy\nAnnual inflation in Peru slowed to 3.64% last month, close to the target range of 1% to 3%. Central bank chief Julio Velarde forecasts that it will be back at those levels early next year.\nThe bank is monitoring to see whether rainfall expected to be triggered by El Nino could lead to a temporary spike in food prices.\nAnalysts are bracing for a sixth straight contraction when the statistics agency reports economic activity data Friday. Finance Minister Alex Contreras said in recent weeks that the economy will start to recover early next year.\n(Adds quote from statement in third paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Peru Cuts Key Rate to 14-Month Low as Inflation Nears Target"
    },
    {
        "id": 1271,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/once-hot-china-reits-slammed-230000932.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A double whammy of China’s deepening property crisis and a stock market slump has claimed a victim — real estate investment trusts.\nREITs debuted on the country’s stock market in 2021 with much fanfare, hailed as a way to channel retail investor money into large-sized infrastructure and property projects. The idea initially caught on, making them one of the hottest investments amid the government’s infrastructure push and relatively scarce offerings.\nNot any more. A CSI gauge of 28 trusts has lost 31% this year, underperforming the benchmark CSI 300 Index by 18 percentage points. All but three of the listed REITs are trading below their debut prices, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nSome of the hardest hit include Fullgoal Capital Water Close-end Infrastructure Fund — linked to a waste-water treatment project in eastern Anhui province — which has fallen in all but one day over the past month. The CCB Principal Zhongguancun Industrial Zone Close-end Infrastructure Fund, which leases land in Beijing, has dropped nearly 50% this year.\n“The performance of REITs depends on the fundamentals of their related sectors, which are largely tied to the macro economy,” said Fu Lichun, co-founder of Beijing Yuntai Capital Co. “Their prices have gravitated to lows amid poor stock market sentiment. The fact that they are a fairly new asset class doesn’t make them exempt from downturns.”\nChina has been experimenting with REITs to tap the world’s second-largest equity market to finance projects that would’ve otherwise been funded by local governments. The allure of payouts on annual income from operational projects, and potential stock market gains, had attracted retail investors in the early months of their launch.\nIf successful, they would’ve been a win-win for both individual investors and regional governments by giving the former an affordable access to China’s gigantic infrastructure projects, while lessening the debt burden for the latter.\nYet an unprecedented downturn in the property market, weak rental demand amid a sluggish economy, and a relentless slide in equity prices have made REITs a losing bet. About half of the trusts are tied to property market performance as they lease land, office space or apartments. The rest invest mostly in infrastructure like roads and environmental facilities.\nIn September, the Zhongguancun Fund warned of sluggishness in Beijing’s office rental space amid a slowing economy, anticipating higher vacancy rates and falling prices. The HuaAn Zhangjiang Everbright Park Close-end Infrastructure Fund in October stated that one of its key tenants has surrendered its lease, leading to a drop of 39 percentage points in occupancy rate for one of its properties from a year ago.\nPolicy push for the asset class has continued despite the plunge in shares. A draft guideline issued earlier this month allows the national pension fund to incorporate such trusts into portfolios. And while the poor performance has raised awareness of the risks, some analysts believe that the slide has made them a better deal.\nREITs valuations have become attractive, and it has become apparent that there is a wide disparity between different trusts in their exposure to cyclical impact, Citic Securities Co. analysts including Ming Ming wrote last month in a 2024 outlook note. “We see opportunities to bargain hunt in the short term, and recommend affordable housing, energy and environment protection trusts.”\n--With assistance from Mengchen Lu.\n",
        "title": "Once-Hot China REITs Get Slammed as Property Slump Dents Demand"
    },
    {
        "id": 1272,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/latam-airlines-expects-record-earnings-225802750.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - LATAM Airlines projected on Thursday record earnings for next year of between $2.6 billion and $2.9 billion.\nThe metric, measured in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR), would top the maximum expected for this year of $2.5 billion.\nThe airline also expects passenger growth of between 12% and 14% next year, topping 2019's growth rate within the first quarter.\nPassenger growth, as measured in the metric of available seat kilometers, is also expected to increase between 7% and 9% in the Brazil domestic market, the carrier added.\nThe group's cargo subsidiaries expect growth of between 10% to 12% in their operations, as measured in available ton kilometers, next year.\nLATAM also estimates it will close 2024 with net leverage of between 1.8x and 2.0x, \"which represents an approximate 50% reduction from its leverage level following its successful exit from the Chapter 11 restructuring process,\" the carrier said in a statement.\n(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Sarah Morland)\n",
        "title": "LATAM Airlines expects record earnings in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1273,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/costco-pay-special-dividend-profit-221528994.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Costco Wholesale Corp. announced a special dividend of $15 a share as the warehouse club chain beat profit expectations for the fourth consecutive quarter.\nIt’s the company’s first special dividend since late 2020, when investors got $10 a share, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Costco has shown resilience even as other big-box retailers voice caution on the consumer outlook. Walmart Inc., which operates the competing Sam’s Club chain, struck a far more cautious tone when it reported earnings last month.\nThe shares rose as much as 4.1% as of 9:57 a.m. Friday in New York, setting a new all-time high. The stock has been trading near records, up 44% this year and outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s 23% gain.\nCostco’s first-quarter earnings were $3.58 a share, outpacing the average estimate compiled by Bloomberg. The closely watched measure of comparable-store sales rose 3.9% excluding gas prices and currency movements, which also topped expectations.\nThe company’s “strong value offering, high renewal rates, and club expansion plans make Costco well-positioned,” Jefferies analysts wrote in a note Friday.\n(Updates shares.)\n",
        "title": "Costco Shows Resilience With $15 Dividend, Earnings Beat"
    },
    {
        "id": 1274,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-sees-renewables-boom-forcing-220942951.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s biggest grid has slashed its forecast for the end of coal-fired power by five years, as the nation’s households drive a world-leading transition away from the dirtiest fossil fuel.\nThe last coal plant will retire in 2037-2038 under the most likely scenario, the Australian Energy Market Operator said in its draft biennial Integrated System Plan for the National Electricity Market, compared with 2042-2043 under the plan published in June 2022. Replacing the generators and meeting increasing demand means capacity will need to almost triple by 2050 with the capital cost of all required generation, storage, firming and transmission infrastructure seen at A$121 billion ($81 billion) a year, it said.\nAustralia has become a test case for the global energy transition, with an aging coal fleet and huge deployments of rooftop solar helping make it the world’s most volatile power market, according to Rystad Energy. Households are continuing to install panels at a staggering pace, which will reduce their demand but also lead to surging supply and increase the need for backup generation and storage, Thursday’s report showed.\n“The lowest-cost pathway for secure and reliable electricity is from renewable energy, connected by transmission, supported by batteries and pumped hydro, and backed up by gas-powered generation,” AEMO Chief Executive Officer Daniel Westerman said. “The transition is urgent and faces significant risks if market and policy settings, social license and supply chain issues are not addressed.”\nApart from reducing demand, rooftop solar contributed about 12% of the electricity to the grid in the first quarter of this year — more than grid-scale solar, wind, hydro or gas, the report said. Renewables accounted for almost 40% of total energy delivered through the NEM in the first half, and peaked at a 72.1% share in October.\nCoal remained Australia’s largest power source in the third quarter, at 56.3% of the total, according to the latest AEMO data, down from 58.6% a year earlier. Consultations on the draft plan will continue until February, and the AEMO will publish a final plan in June.\n",
        "title": "Australia Sees Renewables Boom Forcing Earlier Coal Plant Closures"
    },
    {
        "id": 1275,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-uranium-supplier-warns-us-215422451.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Tenex, a Russian state-owned uranium company, is warning American customers that the Kremlin may preemptively bar exports of its nuclear fuel to the US if lawmakers in Washington pass legislation prohibiting imports starting in 2028, according to people familiar with the matter.\nTenex’s US subsidiary has told electric companies including Constellation Energy Corp., Duke Energy Corp. and Dominion Energy Inc. to prepare for such an outcome, one of the people said, adding that the Kremlin has not made a final decision.\nConstellation, Duke and Dominion didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, the owner of Tenex, denied any warnings to the US customers.\n“Tenex completely refutes as inaccurate the information regarding the alleged ‘warnings’ of a potential ‘pre-emptive’ ban on enriched uranium supplies to the United States,” Rosatom’s press office said in an emailed statement.\n“Neither Tenex itself nor any of its subsidiaries have issued any such notifications to their foreign customers,” the statement said, adding that the company is fulfilling all of its contractual obligations and will continue to do so.\nA move to bar exports risks wreaking havoc in uranium markets, causing prices to spike for the nuclear reactor fuel that may be harder for smaller utilities to absorb. The outlook for an outright US ban is still unclear. A House-passed measure banning the import of enriched Russian uranium was blocked from quick-passage in the Senate Thursday, though the widely supported legislation could re-emerge.\nThe impact of a potential Russian move is also contingent on the timing. The legislation pending before Congress allows the import of Russian uranium until 2028 through waivers to give utilities time to line up alternative supplies.\nRead More: US House Passes Russia Uranium Import Ban, Sending to Senate\nRussia provided almost a quarter of the enriched uranium used to fuel America’s fleet of more than 90 commercial reactors, making it the No. 1 foreign supplier to the US last year, according to Energy Department data.\nWithout the waivers in the legislation, a 20% increase from the current enrichment spot price of $152 per separative work unit to a record high $180 per SWU is possible, according to Jonathan Hinze, president of nuclear fuel market research firm UxC LLC. Enriched uranium is measured in separative work units, or SWU, which account for the volume and enrichment density of the radioactive metal.\n“But if there is an immediate ban it could be even more extreme,” Hinze said. “There are very limited supplies available.”\n--With assistance from Josh Saul.\n(Updates with Rosatom statement in third, fourth and fifth paragraphs.)\n",
        "title": "Russia Uranium Supplier Warns US Clients to Brace for Ban"
    },
    {
        "id": 1276,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/electric-vehicles-owners-solar-rooftops-140326768.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "When Jim Selgo moved to his home in Goodyear, Arizona in 2019, he quickly had rooftop solar installed, having had a positive experience with solar at his previous home.\nLess than a year later, motivated to take more action to address climate change, he said, Selgo bought his first electric vehicle, a Nissan Leaf. He hasn't paid for electricity or gasoline since.\nWith solar, “You take advantage of what you’re producing at your own house,” he said. “Adding an EV just increases your savings and adds to the value of the whole project.”\nSelgo, a retired public school principal who now drives an electric Volkswagen ID.4 SUV, is just one of many people using solar energy to power their EVs on clean electricity, effectively, on sunshine. And it also goes the other way.\n“It’s probably more common today that you have someone who has a solar energy system who is looking at an EV, just because solar has been around longer,” said Becca Jones-Albertus, acting deputy assistant secretary for renewable energy at the U.S. Energy Department. “But we know that many EV owners are looking to install solar so that it helps with their increased electricity use and can support more economical charging at home.”\nOf 131 million U.S. households, about 4.5 million have added rooftop solar, as its benefits become more known, according to the DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Office. And 2023 set a record with more than 1 million EVs sold in the U.S.\nEVs have to plug in to charge up and run, but electricity from the grid often still comes from burning fossil fuels, negating some of the environmental benefit of going electric. Solar can fix that. It's an important point because electricity production and transportation are the largest two sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore climate change, in the U.S., according to the Environmental Protection Agency.\nResidential solar electric, or photovoltaic systems, convert the sun’s rays into electricity when they hit a solar panel. If an owner chooses to buy a set of batteries to pair with the panels, they can have an ongoing “bank” of energy to pull from. Nearly a fifth of new household solar systems in California, which dominates the rooftop solar market in the U.S., were installed with batteries in 2022.\nAutomakers are seeing this crossover interest and getting into the business several years after Tesla bought solar company SolarCity in 2016 and launched a solar roof division.\nSeveral legacy car companies are launching efforts to connect customers with energy services, including solar installation contractors. General Motors’ energy unit, GM Energy, is one example. The automaker wants to offer a one-stop-shop for customers looking for at-home charging, solar, and other energy management tech.\n“That’s where we see everything working together,” said Derek Sequeira, GM Energy’s director of EV ecosystem.\nHyundai Home helps the company's EV customers select home charging and solar solutions. Ford, too, is dabbling in this business.\nBut access to rooftop solar is not equal, so the combination is not an option for all EV owners. About half of households in the U.S. either don't have control over their roof, or find that it's not adequate because of location, space or orientation, according to the DOE solar office.\nThere is a push to address that. Community solar projects allow renters or condo owners or other communities to have a share in a small solar array. This form of solar is growing and has contributed to the overall record growth in U.S. solar capacity this year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.\nSome utilities may also not want customers to produce more solar electricity than they need, because it would mean they have to pay them back for the surplus in the form of credits.\nInstallation costs can also be prohibitive. A standard system could run a consumer $10,000 to $15,000 or more, according to the Center for Sustainable Energy, a nonprofit in San Diego, California.\nBut the cost has been coming down. In 2010, a residential rooftop installation could cost $8.70 per watt. That fell to $3.16 per watt by 2022, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.\nFederal incentives are making residential solar systems more affordable — at the same time incentives are also aiding EV affordability. The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022, allows consumers to claim 30% of what they put into their system as a credit on their next federal tax bill.\nDifferent states also offer varying rebates and incentives. Selgo said his system cost $19,500, but after receiving the 30% federal tax rebate and $1,000 from the state of Arizona at the time, he ultimately paid out around $12,500.\nJerry Schotz bought two EVs in 2021. He was interested in renewable energy and wanted to go electric for all of his household needs — including an electric lawnmower — he said, so “Solar just makes sense.” He had it installed at his home in Champaign, Illinois, last year.\n“A lot of folks use solar just to power their home, but we’re powering our home and our cars with the same solar systems,” Schotz said. “When you think about the climate, we’re no longer using fossil fuels to drive on the road.”\n__\nAlexa St. John is an Associated Press climate solutions reporter. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.\n__\nAssociated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.\n",
        "title": "Electric vehicles owners and solar rooftops find mutual attraction"
    },
    {
        "id": 1277,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/private-credit-hot-thing-roots-130009809.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg Markets) -- In the early 2000s, before I became a reporter, I worked for GE Capital, which made loans to companies owned by private equity firms. It wasn’t glamorous: I traveled to the suburbs of Milwaukee to kick the tires on a vitamin shop and oversaw a loan to a Christmas tree farm that the credit committee hated for being seasonal. When I tried to explain my job at parties, people gave me quizzical looks.\nFlash-forward to September 2023. Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire chief executive officer of investment giant Blackstone Inc., was speaking on a panel in Paris about the charms of making loans to companies—or, in the current argot, private credit. “If you can earn 12%, maybe 13% on a really good day,” he said, “what else do you want to do in life?”\nNo longer a backwater, private credit is now the buzziest corner of Wall Street. These loans to companies charge floating rates, and the Federal Reserve’s tightening campaign has lenders collecting double-digit yields where they used to get 7%. By some measures, investors in this kind of credit are earning higher returns than the buyout artists of private equity, and the market is now worth $1.6 trillion and climbing. Alongside Blackstone, financial titans including KKR, Ares Management and Oaktree Capital Management are making enormous bets. The asset management company BlackRock Inc. forecasts private credit ballooning to a $3.5 trillion market in five years.\nJust as private equity managers organize funds to buy up companies, private credit firms collect cash from investors to make corporate loans. The fees are juicy: Credit fund managers may earn an average of 3.5% of assets per year after performance fees are included, according to research from investment adviser Cliffwater. Yields are high because the loans tend to be riskier. Some go to growth-stage companies that eat through lots of cash. Many fund private-­equity-driven leveraged buyouts, which leave lots of debt on the balance sheet of the target company. You’ll notice that many of the companies in private credit—see Blackstone and KKR & Co.—are also big in private equity. It’s not unusual for one private equity firm to buy a company using debt provided by another private equity firm.\nThe private credit boom has come at a cost to investment bankers, who are losing out on the lucrative fees from raising money for risky debt. And it’s making private equity firms—many rebranding as alternative asset managers–even more pivotal in markets and the economy. About 12 million people work for private-equity-owned companies in the US. The industry is buying or rolling up businesses large and small—and now it’s collecting fees on the loans, too.\nThe upside: Companies have more places to turn when they want to borrow. Buyout shops also say they can bring better management to the companies. Critics argue that their leverage-driven model rewards flipping companies for a quick profit. And if central banks aren’t able to engineer a soft economic landing, these expensive debts could lead to a surge of defaults, bankruptcies and job cuts.\nSound familiar? Private credit is, to some extent, a new label on an old wine. It’s the newest phase of the “junk” debt revolution that started in the bond market with Michael Milken in the 1980s, spread to syndicated loans in the 1990s and turned the market loose on the staid business of lending. The history of leveraged debt is the history of the modern financialized US company—one worth revisiting as private credit kicks into high gear.\nThe Origins of Junk\nHigh-yield debt predates Milken. But he and his group at the ­investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert transformed and popularized it. Previously, a junk bond was typically the result of a mistake. A banker’s job was to divine which companies could meet their financial commitments and avoid the ones that looked risky. So bonds with low credit ratings were usually so-called fallen angels—once-safe companies that ran into trouble.\nMilken’s insight was that companies with weak credit had lower defaults than people perceived and could be profitable so long as yields were high enough. “My research showed that everything people were saying about credit was wrong,” says Milken in an interview. Armed with data spanning centuries, he spent a decade promoting lower-rated corporate debt as an investment. The 1974 recession was seismic. “From December 1974 to December 1976, investors earned a 100% return on a portfolio of ­non-­investment-grade debt,” says Milken. “That lent credibility to our research.”\nDrexel began issuing high-yield bonds in the late 1970s, and other investment banks followed suit. The rise of high-yield debt markets opened up a new avenue of financing for telecom upstarts, cable companies and hotels in Las Vegas. “When you see companies that can’t get money, and then you raise it for them, they become your friend for life,” says Lorraine Spurge, who headed capital markets at Drexel from 1983 to 1989. But the group that perhaps benefited the most from the new market were the leveraged buyout barons.\nHigh-yield bonds supported the deal of the ’80s, KKR’s takeover of tobacco company RJR Nabisco. These debt instruments were controversial; that’s one reason the junk label stuck. Investors who purchased them could well be placing their careers on the line. And they became a shorthand for the fast-money spirit of the decade, by providing the backing that enabled corporate raiders such as Carl Icahn to set their sights on ever bigger and more disruptive deals.\nMilken and the people who worked with him say they were bringing a tough-minded approach to a sleepy business. “Historically, raising money for high-grade companies was done more on the golf course than in the conference room,” says Tony Ressler, formerly responsible for new issue and syndicate at Drexel, who went on to co-found Ares. In its heyday, Drexel had half of the market for new junk debt. “We had a party on the trading floor when the high-yield bond market hit $50 billion in the late ’80s,” says Mark Attanasio, a Drexel alum who co-founded Crescent Capital Group and owns the Milwaukee Brewers.\nBut then the good times screeched to a halt. Milken and Drexel came under federal investigation tied to insider trading. Drexel pleaded guilty to six felonies and paid a $650 million fine that contributed to its collapse in 1990. Later that year, Milken also pleaded guilty to six felonies, including securities fraud but not insider trading. He served 22 months in prison and was barred from the securities industry for life. (Then-President Donald Trump pardoned him in 2020.) The high-yield bond market froze up for a while.\nA New Business for Bankers\nAcross the Pacific from Drexel’s Los Angeles office, Japan was seeing its miracle decade of economic growth come to an end. While Drexel’s fall and Japan’s bust were separate events, they combined to create an enormous headache for US commercial banks. The solution would eventually create another market for high-yield debt.\nDuring the buyout craze, big banks weren’t content to leave the profits to bond underwriters like Drexel. They made their own junk-grade loans, committing to holding a portion of them on their own balance sheets while selling off chunks to other banks. Japanese banks accounted for about 40% of such buyout-loan purchases, but then they pulled back.\nThat left Jimmy Lee and his group within Chemical Bank in a jam. In 1989 the bank held a $1.72 billion senior loan for the buyout of hospital chain American Medical International. They were struggling to sell it off. “Most of the lending appetite in what was a bank-only market disappeared,” says AGL Credit Management LP founder Peter Gleysteen, who was then Lee’s No. 2. (Lee died in 2015.) “We still had several hundred million more than we were supposed to.” They started marketing loans to insurance companies, tweaking them to pay down at maturity rather than over time, a structure insurers preferred.\nAt first an emergency measure, selling leveraged loans to institutional investors rather than to banks became a business unto itself. Chemical, which later merged into today’s JPMorgan Chase & Co., hired a trader and created a secondary exchange for the debt, making it more liquid and more similar to high-yield bonds. (The main differences are that loans are floating rate and offer better protections to lenders.) The investor base widened. Asset managers started buying them, sometimes repackaging them into collateralized loan obligations, a type of securitization. “Lee ushered in the era where banks were more distributors of credit and held on to less risk,” says Andy Gordon, who invested in leveraged loans at Chemical and is co-founder of Octagon Credit Investors. “The old saying was they weren’t in the storage business, they were in the moving business.”\nSoon enough came another buyout era, running from the early 2000s till the onset of the financial crisis. Private equity set its sights on ever bigger targets, including hospitality chain Hilton Hotels, electricity company TXU and drugstore chain Alliance Boots.\nThe Irresistible Rise of Private Credit\nUnderneath those headline-grabbing transactions was a flurry of smaller-scale buyouts. Deals for less than $1 billion or so wouldn’t get the attention of either bond investors or big leveraged loan buyers. That’s where so-called direct lenders stepped in, though at the time the business was often called merchant banking. An early iteration was dominated by GE Capital, my old employer. Using the sterling credit rating of Jack Welch-era General Electric Co., the finance arm of the conglomerate could borrow cheaply to make high-yield loans.\nGoldman Sachs Group Inc. was another early entrant, carving out a niche left by commercial and regional banks. “It was so obvious that this market was going to develop because there was a big gap between traditional bank lending and private equity,” says Alan Waxman, who wrote the business plan to build out the firm’s hybrid credit unit. (Today Waxman runs Sixth Street, a $75 billion asset manager.) Goldman Sachs is now a major private credit player via its asset management arm.\nIn 2008 the music stopped. For everyone. Although the financial crisis centered on the mortgage market, it cast a pall over all kinds of lending. Wall Street banks were stuck with hundreds of billions of dollars in “hung” debt—loans and bonds they originated for buyouts but couldn’t sell off. Fears about GE Capital and its inscrutable finances sent GE shares spiraling downward. (GE Capital was broken up into many pieces, and the direct lending unit was sold off.)\nThis sounds like it would have been the end of the leveraged corporate lending business. But in fact it set the stage for further growth of high-yield bonds, leveraged loans and private credit. Regulators clamped down on banks to make them less risky, and that limited the amount of their own money they were willing to provide or underwrite for leveraged lending. On the other hand, central banks pushed benchmark interest rates to near zero to get economies moving again. Investors were desperate for yield, and many were willing to get it by taking more risk. The public junk debt market doubled in size, then tripled. So did the leveraged loan market.\nPrivate credit was quietly evolving into its modern form. The private equity industry jumped into direct lending. Firms like Ares and Golub Capital used vehicles including publicly traded business development corporations and collateralized loan obligations to raise money for loans. They were able to lock up capital for years. Long-horizon investors such as pension funds and university endowments, following the lead of Yale University’s David Swensen, were increasingly willing to invest in private markets. “People needed to meet obligations, and they started to look at private credit as a yield enhancement to fixed income,” says Ian Fowler, co-head of the global private finance group at Barings.\nIn 2016, Doug Ostrover, Marc Lipschultz and Craig Packer— who’d been top executives at Blackstone, KKR and Goldman Sachs, respectively—started Owl Rock, a firm lending to midsize companies. Soon they were awash with $12 billion of institutional capital. “Doug teases me about how long and thorough our discussions were before I was able to make the decision to leave Goldman Sachs,” says Packer. The firm merged with Dyal Capital to become Blue Owl Capital Inc., which manages $80 billion in credit, alongside real estate and other assets.\nBlackstone pivoted in 2017. Its existing credit group shut down two profitable business lines to focus more on direct lending to private-­equity-backed companies. It also began to tap the so-called mass affluent with a fund available to individuals through financial advisers. Private credit assets soared, and the size of individual loans got bigger and bigger, too—hitting $2 billion, then $5 billion. Industry watchers say $10 billion is in view. “Private credit will continue to take share from the syndicated market,” says Alan Schrager, who runs Oak Hill Advisors’ credit business. “I predict that direct lending will likely go from 20% now to 40% in the next few years, due to refinancing debt as well as winning new private equity transactions.”\nThe competition is on the back foot. When rates spiked, many investment banks had to deal with unsold hung debt again, and the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse have traditional lenders feeling cautious. Regulators are also raising their capital requirements. “There are moments where events like the global financial crisis or the regional banking crisis opens up new white spaces for new capital,” says Ares CEO Michael Arougheti.\nCan the companies paying today’s high rates handle the mounting debt without buckling? With more money flooding into private credit, lending standards and protections for investors in new deals may be getting weaker. The modern iteration of private credit has yet to be fully tested by an economic slowdown or recession. The Federal Reserve says regulators have little visibility in the growing industry, although it believes the risk to financial stability appears low. Since private loans trade very infrequently, they can be less volatile— but it’s possible that losses could build up out of view. Armen Panossian, incoming CEO at Oaktree, says private credit is still a “no-brainer” investment. Default rates are low. But he’s looking for red flags. “For some of the older deals, there’s stress building up in portfolios that will manifest in different ways,” he says. Companies may start asking creditors to loosen the terms of loan covenants or to accept forms of payment besides cash. “And then the last step is you’ll see capital-D defaults.”\nMilken looks at private credit, leveraged loans and junk bonds as different sides of the same story. “I don’t think there are three markets—it’s one market,” he says. “As conditions change over time, companies should change their capital structures, sometimes choosing fixed income, sometimes floating rate, sometimes public markets, sometimes private.” The constant is that on Wall Street, credit is now where the action is.\n",
        "title": "Private Credit Is the Hot New Thing, But Its Roots Go Back to 1980s Junk Bonds"
    },
    {
        "id": 1278,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/charting-global-economy-fed-ecb-100000620.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England all left interest rates unchanged this week, but signaled different paths for policy going forward.\nOfficials in the US are prepared to cut interest rates in 2024, while those in Europe said they’d step up their exit from pandemic-era stimulus. Meantime, policymakers in the UK were more hawkish, with several still supporting a rate hike at Thursday’s meeting.\nHere are some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week on the latest developments in the global economy:\nUS\nThe Federal Reserve pivoted toward reversing the steepest interest-rate hikes in a generation after containing an inflation surge so far without a recession or a significant cost to employment. While Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday policymakers are prepared to resume rate increases should price pressures return, he and his colleagues issued forecasts showing that a series of cuts would be likely next year.\nUS consumer prices picked up in November on increases in housing and other service-sector costs, keeping inflation stubborn enough to thwart any Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts soon.\nEurope\nThe European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold for a second meeting with inflation tumbling, but said it will step up its exit from €1.7 trillion ($1.8 trillion) of pandemic-era stimulus. Officials, meanwhile, said they’d accelerate the end of reinvestments under the PEPP bond-buying program. That will put all policy tools into tightening mode, even as fresh projections showed a weaker economy softening the inflation outlook.\nThe Bank of England kept interest rates at a 15-year high, sticking with its message that borrowing costs will remain elevated for some time despite growing bets on a wave of cuts in 2024. Governor Andrew Bailey said in a statement released alongside the decision that “there is still some way to go” in the fight to control inflation.\nThe UK economy shrank more than expected in October as elevated borrowing costs and wet weather took their toll, setting the stage for another quarter of stagnation that is widely forecast to persist through 2024. With the full impact of Bank of England interest-rate increases yet to be felt, the economy is forecast to eke out a small gain at best in the fourth quarter, with some even predicting the start of a shallow recession.\nThe euro zone suffered a bigger-than-expected drop in industrial production in October, a sign of weakness that could mean the economy is in a recession. Such a drop at the start of the final three-month period of 2023 means that manufacturing and the rest of the economy have more ground to cover to avoid two consecutive quarters of contraction that would amount to a downturn.\nAsia\nChina’s top leaders including President Xi Jinping vowed to make industrial policy their top economic priority next year, a letdown for investors hoping to see more forceful stimulus to boost growth. The meeting’s emphasis on supporting companies to produce higher-value products above trying to spur consumer spending is unlikely to significantly juice growth in the near-term.\nSingapore is closing in on Hong Kong’s lead in real estate deals as the city-state benefits from its status as a wealth haven, while distressed property sales afflict the rival Asian financial hub.\nEmerging Markets\nBrazil’s annual inflation rate fell to within the central bank’s target range, preceding a fourth-straight cut to borrowing costs by policymakers. The country’s central bankers are forging ahead with plans to ease monetary policy with “serenity” and “moderation” as annual inflation is seen ending the year within the target range for the first time since 2020.\nArgentina’s inflation soared above 160% in November ahead of President Javier Milei’s massive currency devaluation that’s likely to accelerate price increases ever further this month. The first days of December have already seen price increases of 15% compared with a month earlier, and may end the month up around 20%, according to consulting firm C&T Asesores.\nWorld\nOutside of the major central banks, Norway’s central bank pushed ahead with a final hike in borrowing costs. Russia also raised borrowing costs. Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Switzerland, Taiwan held rates. Brazil, Peru, Ukraine, cut.\n--With assistance from Andrew Atkinson, Krystal Chia, Tom Hancock, Zhu Lin, Yujing Liu, Jana Randow, Tom Rees, Andrew Rosati, Augusta Saraiva, Catarina Saraiva, Zoe Schneeweiss, Craig Stirling, Manuela Tobias, Craig Torres, Fran Wang, Alexander Weber and Lucy White.\n",
        "title": "Charting the Global Economy: Fed, ECB, BOE Diverge on Policy Path"
    },
    {
        "id": 1279,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lvmh-luxury-changing-fortunes-set-080000018.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- For LVMH and other luxury-goods stocks, 2024 is shaping up to be 2023 in reverse.\nUnlike this year, when China’s reopening fueled a splurge on pricey handbags and jewelry before running out of steam, investors expect 2024 to start on a weak footing before a revival in the second half. As analysts at BNP Paribas put it, next year will likely be “a game of two halves” for luxury stocks such as Richemont and Gucci-owner Kering SA.\nRight now, the buoyant start to 2023 that briefly pushed LVMH past a $500 billion market value is a distant memory. Sentiment has been soured by a slew of economic numbers pointing to a fading recovery in China, whose consumers currently account for about a quarter of the estimated €362 billion ($397 billion) global luxury market and potentially 40% by 2030.\nA pick-up in demand from Chinese shoppers will be key in validating expectations of a better second half.\n“Yes, it’s volatile at the moment, said Flavio Cereda, an investment manager at GAM UK Ltd. “By the time we get to Easter, I would be surprised if we didn’t have signs that this is starting to reverse.”\nLuxury’s momentum during the pandemic has burnished its enduring appeal, prompting comparisons to the dominance of technology stocks in the US. A key attraction is the fact that iconic brands enjoy a pricing power that typically beats inflation and protects their profit margins.\nShoppers can’t find enough of the coveted handbags of Hermès International, for instance, with prices that can go for anywhere from about $8,000 to well into the tens of thousands of dollars. Its shares have shown none of the weakness of peers, rising to record levels in the past week.\nRead More: Hermès Created Europe’s Top Family Fortune After Spurning LVMH\nYet with the likes of LVMH and Richemont still more than 15% below their 2023 peak, some investors eye an opening to load up on stocks.\n“We were reluctant to invest when valuation was at the top earlier this year,” said Raphael Thuin, head of capital markets strategies at Tikehau Capital. “Given the market pullback, we are starting to redeploy in the sector.”\nStill, an unflattering first quarter is in the offing after Chinese consumers’ buying reached a peak in the comparable period this year, according to Chris Gao, an analyst at CLSA Ltd.\nThose comparisons will ease in the second half of 2024, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Deborah Aitken. Sentiment will be aided by growth in tourism and a demand pick-up from Chinese consumers, pushing spending beyond its 2019 revenue base and their global market share to 25%, she said.\nOn the flip side, shoppers who supported luxury during the super-cycle may not return, instead turning toward experiences, warns Telsey Advisory Group Chief Executive Officer Dana Telsey.\nBrokers are also taking a more sober look at the sector due to the prospect of weaker demand and an uncertain economic outlook.\nJPMorgan and Morgan Stanley recently downgraded LVMH to a neutral stance while HSBC took a hatchet to all its share price targets for the sector, saying that the industry isn’t recession-proof.\nRead More: Don’t Buy European Luxury Stocks Just Yet, JPMorgan Analysts Say\nStill, luxury companies are usually much more resilient than other consumer categories because of the strength of their brands, said GAM’s Cereda.\n“Short term, I don’t see these momentum investors coming back as there is a lack of catalysts,” said BNP Paribas Asset Management portfolio manager Olivier Rudigoz. “For long term investors however, we think it’s an industry that is very well positioned, notably toward the rising middle class of China and other emerging countries.”\n--With assistance from James Cone.\n",
        "title": "LVMH and Luxury’s Year of Changing Fortunes Set for Reverse Act in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1280,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-expands-list-critical-minerals-053719960.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Australia expanded its list of critical minerals deemed crucial to its energy transition and national security needs as the country boosts the strategically and economically important sector.\nThe government added fluorine, molybdenum, arsenic, selenium and tellurium to the list of minerals that it regards as essential to modern technologies, economies and national security, Minister for Resources Madeleine King said in a statement Saturday. Helium was removed from the list.\nOfficials also created a new strategic materials list, which includes copper, nickel, aluminum, phosphorous, tin and zinc. While these commodities are also key to the energy transition, they’re not at risk of supply chain disruption and have well-established industries, according to the statement.\nThe two lists “will help government focus on those commodities needed to create jobs, keep us secure and power our economy,” King said.\nThe US and Australia are ramping up cooperation on critical minerals and infrastructure initiatives, part of a strategy aimed at countering Chinese military and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific.\nAustralia Boosts Critical Mineral Financing by $1.3 Billion\nExcluding nickel and copper from the critical minerals list was “a wasted opportunity” and means such projects won’t be eligible for major funding, the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies said in a separate statement. Demand for nickel will be almost four times higher than current production by 2050, the industry body said.\n",
        "title": "Australia Expands List of Critical Minerals Key to Transition"
    },
    {
        "id": 1281,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-ev-maker-xpeng-plunges-193610273.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- US-traded shares of XPeng Inc. slumped Friday after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. disclosed a plan to cut its stake in the Chinese electric vehicle maker.\nXPeng shares tumbled as much as 8.6% on Friday after a Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed that Taobao China Holding Ltd., an Alibaba subsidiary, intends to sell 25 million of XPeng’s American depositary receipts. The stake was worth about $391 million, based on XPeng’s closing share price on Thursday.\n“Consistent with our capital management objectives, we sold a portion of our holdings in XPeng Inc., taking our stake from 10.2% to 7.5%,” an Alibaba spoksperson said in a statement. “We have a strategic relationship with XPeng, which is one of China’s leaders in electric vehicles. We believe in XPeng’s prospects and look forward to continued cooperation with the company.”\nXPeng said Alibaba’s plan to trim its stake is implementation of a strategy to monetize investment and not a reflection of a view change, local media Cailian reported, citing XPeng. Alibaba will remain the EV maker’s second-largest shareholder after the stake reduction, it added.\nTaobao China held about 10.2% of XPeng’s outstanding shares, according to a Dec. 6 filing. The Alibaba unit was the second-largest shareholder in XPeng after founder He Xiaopeng as of end-March, according to the Guangzhou-based EV maker’s latest annual report. Taobao is selling shares acquired in September 2019 as part of a pre-initial public offering investment, Friday’s filing showed.\nThe companies have also partnered in other areas, with XPeng’s autonomous driving capabilities backed by a computing center that it set up with Alibaba Cloud. The EV maker is also developing in-car payment features with Alibaba affiliate Alipay.\nFor XPeng, “training of the EV maker’s autopilot system may now be in question” given that Alibaba has been a key cloud provider, said Xiadong Bao, a fund manager at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management. The company could still count on other backers, including Volkswagen AG, he added.\nAlibaba shares rose as much as 4.2% on Friday, after having languished this year. Its market value was overtaken by rival PDD Holdings Inc. earlier this month, prompting founder Jack Ma to urge the company to correct its course in an internal memo.\nRead more: Jack Ma Returns to Rally Troops as Alibaba’s Troubles Deepen\nAlibaba’s plan to trim its XPeng stake shows that the internet giant is turning its focus onto its core businesses, according to Bao. “Unlocking the shareholder value and refocus on its essential business lines are really the priority for Alibaba,” he said.\nXPeng reported a wider-than-expected third-quarter loss last month, and even with the record fourth-quarter deliveries it will ship fewer than 150,000 vehicles for the year — a fraction of rivals such as BYD Co.\nRead more: Xpeng’s Gu Sees Margin Recovery After Bigger-Than-Expected Loss\nXPeng, meanwhile, has attracted other investors. In July, Volkswagen said it will invest $700 million in the firm and jointly develop EVs in China. The German automaker will eventually hold a 4.99% stake in XPeng via a capital increase and is getting an observer board seat.\n--With assistance from Lin Cheng and Lorretta Chen.\n(Updates with Alibaba and XPeng comments in the third and fourth paragraphs.)\n",
        "title": "Chinese EV-Maker XPeng Plunges After Alibaba Plans Stake Sale"
    },
    {
        "id": 1282,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-activision-pay-50-mln-010630871.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds statement from regulator)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Activision Blizzard will pay roughly $50 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit by a California regulator that alleged the videogame maker discriminated against women employees, including denying them promotion opportunities and underpaying them.\nCalifornia's Civil Rights Department (CRD) had sued the \"Call of Duty\" maker after two years of investigation over allegations that it routinely underpaid and failed to promote female employees and condoned sexual harassment.\nActivision will take additional steps to ensure fair pay and promotion practices and provide monetary relief to women who were employees or contract workers in California between Oct. 12, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2020, as part of the agreement, which is subject to court approval, the CRD said in a statement on Friday.\nThe CRD will entirely withdraw the allegations and dismiss its systemic harassment-related claims, according to the settlement agreement that was seen by Reuters.\n\"In the settlement agreement, the CRD expressly acknowledged that 'no court or independent investigation has substantiated any allegations that there has been systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard',\" the videogame maker said in a statement on Friday.\nThe company also said that no investigation substantiated that its board or chief executive acted improperly in handling instances of workplace misconduct.\nActivision, which was bought in October by Microsoft for nearly $69 billion, agreed in 2021 to pay up to $18 million to settle similar claims made by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru and Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh, Grant McCool and Leslie Adler)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Activision to pay $50 mln to settle workplace harassment lawsuit"
    },
    {
        "id": 1283,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/activision-blizzard-settles-workplace-harassment-004134557.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - \"Call of Duty\" maker Activision Blizzard will pay $46.8 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit by a California regulator that alleged widespread and systemic workplace harassment at the firm, according to the settlement agreement that was seen by Reuters.\nCalifornia's Civil Rights Department (CRD) had sued Activision over allegations that it routinely underpays and fails to promote female employees and has condoned sexual harassment.\n\"In the settlement agreement, the CRD expressly acknowledged that 'no court or independent investigation has substantiated any allegations that there has been systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard',\" the videogame maker said in a statement on Friday.\nIt said no investigation substantiated that its board or chief executive acted improperly in handling instances of workplace misconduct.\nThe CRD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\nActivision, which was bought in October by Microsoft for nearly $69 billion, agreed in 2021 to pay up to $18 million to settle similar claims made by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.\n(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Daniel Wiessner; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Grant McCool)\n",
        "title": "Activision Blizzard settles workplace harassment lawsuit in California"
    },
    {
        "id": 1284,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-court-strikes-down-ftc-000725328.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Diane Bartz and Mike Scarcella\n(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday struck down the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s order against Illumina's purchase of cancer diagnostic test maker Grail, a former subsidiary, saying the agency had applied the wrong legal standard in the antitrust case.\nThe New Orleans-based panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered reconsideration of Illumina's deal, in a 34-page order that marked a setback for FTC.\nA three-judge panel said the commission improperly held Illumina to a higher standard under U.S. antitrust law in weighing the company's defense of the acquisition.\nRepresentatives from the FTC and Illumina did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.\nSan Diego-based Illumina had filed the appeal in June after the FTC demanded that it divest Grail, with Illumina saying that the agency had denied it due process.\nGrail, valued at $7.1 billion under Illumina's deal, is seeking to market a powerful test to diagnose many kinds of cancer from a single blood test, known as a liquid biopsy.\nThe companies have battled both U.S. and European antitrust enforcers for more than two years.\nThe FTC is concerned that Illumina, the dominant provider of DNA sequencing of tumors and cancer cells that help match patients with the best treatment option, might raise prices or refuse to sell to Grail's rivals.\nThe agency filed a complaint aimed at stopping the deal in March 2021, but lost before an FTC administrative law judge. The case went back to FTC commissioners, who reinstated the case. Illumina then took it to an appeals court.\nDespite the fight with the FTC, and a similar battle in Europe, Illumina closed the acquisition of Grail in mid-2021.\nEurope has since proposed measures for Illumina to unwind its acquisition of Grail. Illumina is arguing that it does no business in Europe and therefore the EU competition enforcer has no jurisdiction.\nIllumina has pledged to continue selling its DNA sequencing services to other firms. It has offered to sign contracts to supply any of Grail's rivals and to not raise prices.\n(Reporting by Mike Scarcella and Costas Pitas; Editing by Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "US court strikes down FTC order against Illumina's purchase of Grail"
    },
    {
        "id": 1285,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-court-strikes-down-000113231.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Updates with details from ruling, case background in paragraphs 2-12)\nBy Diane Bartz and Mike Scarcella\nDec 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday struck down the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s order against Illumina's purchase of cancer diagnostic test maker Grail, a former subsidiary, saying the agency had applied the wrong legal standard in the antitrust case.\nThe New Orleans-based panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered reconsideration of Illumina's deal, in a 34-page order that marked a setback for FTC.\nA three-judge panel said the commission improperly held Illumina to a higher standard under U.S. antitrust law in weighing the company's defense of the acquisition.\nRepresentatives from the FTC and Illumina did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.\nSan Diego-based Illumina had filed the appeal in June after the FTC demanded that it divest Grail, with Illumina saying that the agency had denied it due process.\nGrail, valued at $7.1 billion under Illumina's deal, is seeking to market a powerful test to diagnose many kinds of cancer from a single blood test, known as a liquid biopsy.\nThe companies have battled both U.S. and European antitrust enforcers for more than two years.\nThe FTC is concerned that Illumina, the dominant provider of DNA sequencing of tumors and cancer cells that help match patients with the best treatment option, might raise prices or refuse to sell to Grail's rivals.\nThe agency filed a complaint aimed at stopping the deal in March 2021, but lost before an FTC administrative law judge. The case went back to FTC commissioners, who reinstated the case. Illumina then took it to an appeals court.\nDespite the fight with the FTC, and a similar battle in Europe, Illumina closed the acquisition of Grail in mid-2021.\nEurope has since proposed measures for Illumina to unwind its acquisition of Grail. Illumina is arguing that it does no business in Europe and therefore the EU competition enforcer has no jurisdiction.\nIllumina has pledged to continue selling its DNA sequencing services to other firms. It has offered to sign contracts to supply any of Grail's rivals and to not raise prices. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella and Costas Pitas; Editing by Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US court strikes down FTC order against Illumina's purchase of Grail"
    },
    {
        "id": 1286,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackrock-tpg-deal-uae-finds-120000134.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates has agreed to retain a smaller portion of the profits generated by a $30 billion venture involving BlackRock Inc., TPG Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., in an effort to lure more private money into climate finance deals.\nThe arrangement is part of a de-risking clause attached to a $5 billion strategy from Alterra, an investment vehicle launched during the COP28 summit in Dubai. In practice, the UAE’s decision to impose a ceiling on its own profits means outside investors stand to receive as much as 5 percentage points of additional returns, according to a person familiar with the terms of the deal who asked not to be named discussing nonpublic information.\nJim Coulter, founding partner and executive chairman of TPG, said the UAE’s financing structure is “pretty revolutionary.” He declined to provide figures for the terms around TPG’s funds, but said in an interview that the arrangement creates enough of a “return enhancement” to attract investors “who might not have come in otherwise.”\nThe UAE’s cap limits its returns to about 5% for some funds, according to a person familiar with the details of the arrangement. A spokesperson for Alterra said return thresholds and fund structures will vary from case to case.\nOne of the challenges facing climate finance is the lack of investments in emerging markets and developing economies, which is in part driven by the risk-return profile, the spokesperson said. The goal of the $5 billion vehicle, dubbed Alterra Transformation, is to mobilize investor capital into climate investments in the Global South, the spokesperson said.\nThe Alterra structure stands out as a “wonderful template” for scaling up climate funding, according to hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio. He was among the financial heavyweights attending COP28 who underscored the need for climate projects to generate commercially appealing returns if private investors are to get involved.\nThe financing structure is designed to “achieve capital mobilization at scale and in a way that is replicable,” the Alterra spokesperson said. “This calls for a private sector market model that targets climate impact as well as positive returns, and can leverage a wide funnel of deployment channels.”\nThe UAE deal is the latest sign that private markets are developing increasingly complex structures for climate finance. During the COP28 summit in Dubai, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. were among the Wall Street firms to say they were exploring new financing arrangements in an effort to generate bigger green profits.\nThe Global South, which includes countries such as Brazil, India and Indonesia, is increasingly recognized as the nexus for climate finance, and both policymakers and financiers in Dubai were keen to discuss innovative structures they say will get money flowing. Ideas on the table include a reform of the multilateral development banks, securitization of climate deals and scaling up voluntary carbon markets.\nBarbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who’s long called for bigger commitments from rich countries to face the fallout of climate change, said she welcomed Alterra and its financial goals. “I really do want to salute the UAE for the establishment of the Alterra fund at $30 billion, with a view to being able to scale that up,” she said during a presentation at COP28.\nThe UAE said in connection with the launch of the venture that its initial injection has the potential to grow to $250 billion by 2030. The investment vehicle will focus on private markets such as infrastructure, private equity, private debt and venture capital.\nPublic markets are “significantly overweight” green assets such as electric vehicles and solar, but that’s “not the place to finance the climate revolution,” TPG’s Coulter said. “A lot of climate innovation is happening in the private markets.”\nThe Alterra vehicle is a form of so-called blended finance, which is supposed to combine public and private funds for climate projects in emerging markets. To attract private capital, the public side generally has to offer some form of de-risking mechanism, such as accepting first losses or providing guarantees.\nThe vehicle is structured in two parts. The first — Alterra Acceleration — has $25 billion to deploy and functions as an anchor investor or co-investor in climate strategies. It’s already committed $4.75 billion to seed funds managed by BlackRock, Brookfield and TPG.\n“The catalytic component here is to have such a massive public commitment,” David Giordano, global head of climate infrastructure and chief investment officer of transition capital at BlackRock, said in an interview. “With Alterra as the equity investment, it will also facilitate debt issuance and give confidence to industrial players in emerging economies that there is capital available to finance the transition.”\nBlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, who has identified the transition to a low-carbon economy as one of five “mega forces sweeping markets and economies,” attended the unveiling of Alterra in Dubai together with TPG’s Coulter. Fink said at the COP28 summit that there needs to be a fundamental rethink of “the architecture for financing the developing world,” calling it “a must, not just an option.”\nAlterra’s $25 billion vehicle won’t be subject to any cap on returns, but Coulter said the sheer size of the allocation will help drive down clean-tech project costs, making them more appealing for outside investors.\n“That capital will take out carbon around the world and will push green technologies down the cost curve so they can be effectively deployed” at a lower cost in emerging markets, he said.\nThe second part of the UAE’s new fund — Alterra Transformation — represents the remaining $5 billion on which the UAE has agreed to cap and redistribute its returns. The money, $1.75 billion of which has been allocated to BlackRock, TPG and Brookfield, will help steer funds into developing markets facing the brunt of climate change.\nA spokesman for Brookfield, which will receive $3 billion in total from Alterra — including $1 billion for a new Catalytic Transition Fund — said that UAE’s decision to impose a cap on its returns will help “crowd in” private sector investment that wouldn’t otherwise be available for transition finance in emerging markets.\n(Adds Alterra comment in seventh paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "BlackRock, TPG Deal With UAE Finds New Way to Juice ESG Returns"
    },
    {
        "id": 1287,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-tech-hedge-funds-soar-231853457.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates with industry performance, Tiger and Coatue performance and context paragraphs 3-11)\nBy Carolina Mandl\nNEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A number of U.S. equities hedge funds focused on technology are set to post double-digit returns this year, boosted by a powerful rally in the Nasdaq and after being hard hit in 2022, according to performance numbers obtained by Reuters.\nSan Francisco-based SoMa Equity Partners' long/short fund, led by chief investment officer Gil Simon, soared 48% this year through November, according to a document, versus a 36% gain in the Nasdaq. Last year, the fund was down 33.9%.\nWhale Rock Capital's long/short rose 28%, compared with a decline of 43% last year, two sources familiar with the matter said. Tiger Global Management's long/short fund was up 27%, a third source said - it lost 56% last year.\nCoatue Management was up 20% through November, a source familiar with the return said. Last year, it was down 19%.\nThe so-called TMT hedge funds' (technology, media and telecommunications) performance comes as the Nasdaq surged 41.3% so far this year fueled by investors bets on the prospects of artificial intelligence. That compared with 2022 when the index fell 33%.\nThis year's trend has mainly benefited the so-called Magnificent Seven mega-cap growth and technology companies: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon , Nvidia, Meta Plaforms and Tesla .\nIn a letter to investors seen by Reuters, SoMa Equity told its clients it had holdings in Microsoft, Amazon and Meta. Still, those shares were not among SoMa's five top contributors to performance in the last quarter. The hedge fund profited the most from exposure to Universal Music Group NV, Wix.Com Ltd, Uber Technologies Inc, Varonis Systems Inc and Atlassian Corporation, it said.\nOn the short side, bets against consumer-led shorts related to automotive, travel and luxury spending also helped performance, according to the letter.\nOn average, TMT long/short hedge funds are up 14.2% this year through November, according to data provider PivotalPath, after tumbling 22.4% in 2022.\nThe numbers show they are on track for a \"semi-magnificent\" year as on average they were not able to recover from previous losses or beat the Nasdaq.\nJon Caplis, Chief Executive Officer at PivotalPath, which tracks over $3 trillion in hedge funds, said that TMT hedge funds started this year with a lower exposure to the Nasdaq, as they reduced their risk appetite throughout last year amid mounting losses.\n\"While the Nasdaq has roared back, gaining 36% through November, being levered down caused TMT managers on average to catch much less of this rally,\" he said. (Reporting by Carolina Mandl, in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Tech hedge funds soar, piggybacking on Nasdaq rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1288,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/panama-canal-allow-more-ship-230251364.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Panama Canal, which has been strained by drought for months, will increase the number of ships it accepts each day starting in January, thanks to better-than-expected November rains.\nAs many as 24 vessels will be permitted to pass through the system daily, up from 22 currently, the canal authority said in a statement Friday.\nA powerful El Nino has reduced rainfall in the region, sapping the canal’s water levels. The situation has forced shippers to decide whether to wait in line for days or weeks, pay millions of dollars to jump ahead in the queue, or sail an entire continent out of the way around the southern tips of Africa and South America.\nRainfall in the canal region dropped to a record low in October, prompting authorities to restrict traffic on the system for the first time. Levels on Lake Gatun, which forms a key stretch of the canal and provides fresh water for its locks, remain below expected levels.\n",
        "title": "Panama Canal to Allow More Ship Traffic in January as Rains Ease Drought"
    },
    {
        "id": 1289,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exxon-mobil-ends-talks-blackrock-225704939.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Sabrina Valle and Francesca Landini\nHOUSTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Asset manager BlackRock Inc has bowed out of talks to acquire Exxon Mobil Corp 's majority stake in Italy's main liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, three people with knowledge of the matter said. Global energy trader Vitol SA is among the bidders still in the running for the Adriatic LNG terminal, two of the people said. Italy is expected to increase its LNG imports to replace gas from Russia. The end of BlackRock talks was first reported by Italian publication Sole 24. Exxon Mobil and BlackRock declined to comment. Vitol did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Exxon in October said it had chosen BlackRock for exclusive talks. But the U.S. oil producer and the top U.S. investment management firm failed to reach an agreement and Exxon moved negotiations to the second highest bidder, the people said.\nIn March, Exxon said it was considering selling its 70.68% interest in the offshore terminal as part of its strategy to divest non-core assets.\nA subsidiary of QatarEnergy (22%) and Italian gas grid operator Snam (7.3%) owns the remaining stakes in the terminal, located about 9 miles (15 km) off the Veneto coastline.\nAt least four international groups had competed for the deal, with the entire regasification terminal said to be valued at about 800 million euros ($881 million), Reuters previously reported. (Reporting by Sabrina Valle in Houston and Francesca Landini in Milan)\n",
        "title": "Exxon Mobil ends talks with BlackRock for Italy LNG terminal sale"
    },
    {
        "id": 1290,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/epic-treasury-rally-may-running-224636479.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By David Randall\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - A surge in U.S. government bonds has helped lift stocks and heightened investors’ appetite for risk. Now some are betting that further gains may be harder to come by unless the economy severely weakens, potentially upsetting the narrative of resilient growth that has propelled markets.\nAn unexpected dovish pivot from the Federal Reserve earlier this week turbocharged the rally in Treasuries, sending benchmark 10-year yields to their lowest level since July. Yields, which move inversely to bond prices, now stand at 3.93%, some 110 basis points from a 16-year high hit in October.\nThe tumble in Treasury yields has rippled far beyond the bond market as it pulled down rates on mortgages, eased financial conditions and pushed investors into stocks and other risky investments. The S&P 500 is up nearly 15% since its October lows and has risen nearly 23% this year, putting it within striking distance of a record high.\nSome investors, however, believe much of the dovish shift from the Fed may already be reflected in Treasury prices. Deeper cuts, they say, would be more likely if a rapidly slowing economy forced the Fed to accelerate its easing - an outcome that would run counter to the “soft landing” outlook that has buoyed stocks in recent months.\n\"The market is pretty perfectly priced for a soft landing,\" said Stephen Bartolini, said lead portfolio manager of the U.S. Core Bond Strategy at T. Rowe Price. \"The bulk of the move lower is complete and if we were to push yields from here it would have to be due to expectations that the economy is slipping into recession.\"\nThe Fed’s new projections - published on Wednesday - pencil in a median 75 basis points of cuts next year, taking the fed funds rate to between 4.50% and 4.75%. Traders, by contrast, are betting rates will fall by 150 basis points, according to data from LSEG.\nTechnical factors may also make it more difficult for the bond rally to sustain itself. The swift move will likely prompt some profit-taking on the part of investors due to concerns that the trade is overcrowded, strategists at BofA Global Research said in a note Friday.\nSome Fed officials have begun pushing back against the view that a pivot is imminent. New York Fed President John Williams on Friday said the U.S. central bank is still focused on whether it has monetary policy on the right path to continue bringing inflation back to its 2% target.\n“We have seen the easy money on this Fed pivot already made,\" said James Koutoulas, chief executive officer at Typhon Capital management, who believes further gains in Treasuries may require a growth scare that sparks a scramble for safe assets. \"We expect to chop around a bit in the front of the curve until the economy materially weakens further.”\nInvestors will be watching economic data next week, including personal consumption expenditures and initial jobless claims that may sway the Fed's outlook for inflation.\nA soft landing, in which growth remains resilient while inflation slows towards the Fed’s target rate, has become the base case scenario for Wall Street firms, including BMO Capital Markets and Oppenheimer Asset Management. The firms see the S&P 500 at 5,100 and 5,200 next year, respectively, compared to its current level of 4719.\nSome investors believe yields will continue to fall. Jack McIntyre, portfolio manager for Brandywine Global, said the week’s rapid drop in yields was likely aided by bearish investors unwinding their bets after being caught off guard by the Fed’s pivot.\nShort bets against two-year Treasuries hit record levels earlier this month, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.\nThough yields might pare some of that move in the near-term, McIntyre expects the decline to resume as inflation cools, with the 10-year settling between 3.5% and 3.7% in the middle of next year.\nArthur Laffer Jr., president of Laffer Tengler Investments, is less bullish on government bonds. The swift decline in yields is already loosening financial conditions, potentially making it more difficult for the Fed to cut rates next year without risking a snapback in inflation, he said.\nLaffer pointed to data such as the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow estimate, which shows fourth quarter GDP rising by 2.6%, more than one percentage point higher than in mid-November.\nThe rally \"is overdone and the market has moved too fast,\" he said.\n(Reporting by David Randall; Additional reporting by Carolina Mandl and Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Aurora Ellis)\n",
        "title": "Epic Treasury rally may be running out of fuel as Fed pivot priced in"
    },
    {
        "id": 1291,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-fda-approves-arcutis-221937851.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details on the approved drug in paragraphs 2-4)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved Arcutis Biotherapeutics' drug for treating a skin condition called seborrheic dermatitis in individuals nine years of age and older.\nThe health regulator's nod makes roflumilast foam the first topical drug for treating moderate to severe seborrheic dermatitis with a new mechanism of action in over two decades, according to the company.\nSeborrheic dermatitis, a common, chronic and recurrent inflammatory skin disease, affects more than 10 million people in the U.S., Arcutis said.\nThe drug is a foam-based formulation of the company's roflumilast cream 0.3%, sold as Zoryve, which is approved in the U.S. as a topical treatment of plaque psoriasis in patients 6 years of age and older.\n(Reporting by Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US FDA approves Arcutis' drug to treat chronic skin disease"
    },
    {
        "id": 1292,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-bristol-myers-discontinue-trial-221802029.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds details in paragraphs 2 and 3)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Bristol Myers Squibb said on Friday it would discontinue its late-stage trial testing a treatment for a type of colon cancer.\nThe company said an independent data monitoring committee's analysis showed the trial was unlikely to meet its primary endpoints upon completion.\nThe trial was evaluating a combination therapy in patients who received previous treatment for a kind of colorectal cancer.\n(Reporting by Christy Santhosh; Editing by Maju Samuel and Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Bristol Myers to discontinue trial for colorectal cancer treatment"
    },
    {
        "id": 1293,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-drugmaker-viatris-appoints-theodora-221311013.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds appointment details throughout)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Global healthcare company Viatris on Friday appointed Theodora Mistras as its chief financial officer, effective March 1.\nThe company said the current CFO Sanjeev Narula will work closely with Mistras to support a smooth transition and will then depart the company on March 1.\nMistras most recently was the managing director of healthcare investment banking at Citigroup Global Markets and has almost two decades of leadership, advisory and capital markets experience, Viatris said.\nThe drugmaker also appointed Philippe Martin as chief research and development officer with immediate effect.\nIn October, Viatris\nsaid\nit had reached agreements to divest some of its businesses for a total of up to $3.6 billion as part of long-term strategy to streamline focus on three core therapeutic areas - ophthalmology, gastroenterology and dermatology. (Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Drugmaker Viatris appoints Theodora Mistras as CFO"
    },
    {
        "id": 1294,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-chinas-ban-apples-iphone-220744597.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds details from report throughout)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - More Chinese agencies and state-backed companies across the country have asked their staff to not bring Apple iPhones and other foreign devices to work, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.\nFor over a decade, China has been seeking to reduce reliance on foreign technologies, asking state-affiliated firms such as banks to switch to local software and promoting domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing.\nMultiple state firms and government departments across at least eight provinces have instructed employees in the past month or two to start carrying local brands, the Bloomberg News report said.\nApple did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for a comment.\nIn December, smaller firms and agencies in lower-tier cities from provinces including Zhejiang, Shandong, Liaoning and central Hebei, which houses the world's largest iPhone factory, issued their own verbal directives, the Bloomberg News report said.\nReuters reported in September that staff in at least three ministries and government bodies were told not to use iPhones at work.\nApple's shares were marginally down at $196.50 in extended trading. (Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-China's ban on Apple's iPhone accelerates- Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 1295,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-p-500-posts-220551550.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates close with volume, adds graphic)\n*\nCostco climbs after posting upbeat Q1 results\n*\nU.S. business activity picks up in December - survey\nBy Caroline Valetkevitch\nNEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended a choppy session little changed on Friday but registered a seventh straight week of gains in its longest winning streak since 2017 after this week's dovish pivot by the Federal Reserve.\nThe Dow Jones industrial average notched a record high close for the third session in a row.\nComments Friday by Fed Bank of New York President John Williams that it was too soon to be talking about rate cuts dampened some of the day's optimism.\nAlso, the rate sensitive real estate and utilities sectors fell more than 1% each, giving back some of this week's gains.\nStocks rallied after the Fed in its policy statement Wednesday signaled lower borrowing costs in 2024. An index of semiconductors rose 9.1% for the week, its biggest weekly percentage gain since May.\n\"What I think we got this week is that (Fed Chair Jerome Powell) doesn't want to overly punish the economy with (rates) being higher for longer for no good reason,\" said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.\n\"I don't know if we're going to get whatever is considered a Santa Claus rally, but it looks like all things being considered, we could drift higher from here.\"\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 56.81 points, or 0.15%, to 37,305.16, the S&P 500 lost 0.36 points, or 0.01%, to 4,719.19 and the Nasdaq Composite added 52.36 points, or 0.35%, to 14,813.92.\nFor the week, the Dow gained 2.9%, the Nasdaq climbed 2.8% and the S&P 500 added 2.5%.\nThe day also marked the expiry of quarterly derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures, also known as \"triple witching.\"\nThe day's volume was high. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 19.76 billion shares, compared with the 11.80 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.\nShares of Costco Wholesale jumped 4.4% after the retailer topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter results due to demand for cheaper groceries.\nEarlier on Friday, a survey showed domestic business activity picked up in December amid rising orders and demand for workers, which could further help to allay fears of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the fourth quarter.\nDeclining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.00-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.54-to-1 ratio favored decliners.\nThe S&P 500 posted 50 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 180 new highs and 85 new lows.\n(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Maju Samuel and Aurora Ellis)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-S&P 500 posts longest weekly winning streak since 2017; finishes flat on day"
    },
    {
        "id": 1296,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-restaurant-chain-chuck-e-215839028.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Abigail Summerville\n(Reuters) - Chuck E. Cheese, the U.S. restaurant chain that emerged from bankruptcy three years ago, is exploring a sale amid acquisition interest, according to people familiar with the matter.\nThe Irving, Texas-based company, known for its arcade games and rat mascot Charles Entertainment \"Chuck E.\" Cheese, is working with investment bank Goldman Sachs on an auction process that could attract private equity firms as well as peers such as Dave & Busters Entertainment, the sources said.\nCEC Entertainment, the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese, has told potential acquirers it expects to generate around 1.2 billion in revenue and $195 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) this year, the sources added. Based on the valuation metrics of its peers, the company could fetch well over $1 billion in a sale, according to the sources.\nThe sources cautioned that no deal is certain and asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Goldman Sachs declined to comment. CEC Entertainment and Dave & Busters did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\nPrivate equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc acquired Chuck E. Cheese in 2014 for $1.3 billion, including debt. The company filed for bankruptcy in June 2020 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic weighed on its business.\nChuck E. Cheese emerged from bankruptcy in December 2020 after ownership was passed to its creditors, including investment firms Monarch Alternative Capital and Redan Advisors, who agreed to eliminate $705 million in debt from its balance sheet.\nThe company and its franchisees operate nearly 600 Chuck E. Cheese locations and over 120 Peter Piper Pizza locations globally. It also owns virtual kitchen concept Pasqually's Pizza & Wings.\n(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-Restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese explores sale-sources"
    },
    {
        "id": 1297,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-stocks-edge-higher-treasuries-231219016.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Wall Street went all in on stocks and bonds this week after Jerome Powell the Federal Reserve affirmed it’s ready to shift to rate cuts.\nThe US central bank left its benchmark rate unchanged as policymakers pivoted away from further rate hikes, instead penciling in three rate cuts for next year. The Nasdaq 100 closed at an all-time high — it last traded at a record price two years ago. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy gauge both notched seven-week winning streaks on the back of the Fed’s about-face.\nEven pushback from New York Fed President John Williams, who told CNBC on Friday it was “premature” to be thinking about a March rate cut, failed to squelch the rally.\nThe S&P 500 ended the day unchanged while logging a 2.5% weekly climb. The Dow Jones Industrial Average benchmark advanced 0.2%, setting its third consecutive record high. US Treasuries advanced across the curve, though Friday’s trading was mixed.\n“We view his comments as an effort to guide to a slower slope of normalization over several years as well as a challenge to the strong market bets on March for the first cut,” Krishna Guha, vice chairman at Evercore ISI, said. Guha views the first rate cut as more likely to come in May or June.\nWilliams’ Atlanta counterpart, Raphael Bostic told Reuters he was only penciling in two quarter-percentage-point rate cuts in the latter half of 2024. Swaps traders were eying as many as six rates cuts for next year.\n“The S&P 500 has rallied more than 10% in less than two months so some digestion of the rally is needed,” Tom Essaye, the founder of The Sevens Report newsletter, wrote. That “likely will come in the near term, especially if Fed officials rhetorically push back on the market’s enthusiasm in the next week or two.”\nThe dollar advanced snapping a three-day slide. The yield on the 10-year bond — the benchmark for everything from mortgages to corporate debt — broke below 4% for the first time since August this week.\n“Bond yields have been markedly volatile this year as market participants try to determine what the new normal for interest rates will be,” Carol Schleif, chief investment officer of BMO Family Office wrote. “We suspect the longer term new normal for the 10-year Treasury yield to range between 4% and 4.5%.”\nTraders also had to contend with the year’s largest quarterly options and futures expiry and its potential to spark volatility. A staggering $5.4 trillion of contracts tied to stocks and indexes went off the board today, according to an estimate from Rocky Fishman, founder of derivatives analytical firm Asym 500.\nRead more: A $5 Trillion Option Expiry Looms as S&P 500 Eyes All-Time High\nEven with Williams tamping down some of the market’s ebullience, the Fed’s tone this week was more dovish than that from European peers. European Central Bank Governing Council member Madis Muller said Friday that markets are getting ahead of themselves in betting that the ECB will start cutting interest rates in the first half of next year. On Thursday, ECB President Christine Lagarde said the bank had not discussed rate cuts at all.\n“The contrast between the resilient US economy adopting a dovish stance and faltering European economies holding on to a hawkish position gives the impression that something is amiss,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote, wrote in a note to clients.\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Carly Wanna, Jan-Patrick Barnert, Kwaku Gyasi and Naomi Tajitsu.\n",
        "title": "Nasdaq 100 Caps Pivotal Fed Week at Record High: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 1298,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-keep-pressure-facebook-pay-214115154.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "OTTAWA, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Ottawa will keep pushing Meta to comply with a new law requiring large internet companies to pay Canadian news publishers for their content, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday, but the Facebook parent stood by its decision to block news sharing rather than pay.\nThe government on Friday published final regulations for the Online News Act before enforcement starts Dec. 19. The law requires technology companies with 20 million unique monthly users and annual revenues of C$1 billion ($748 million) or more to compensate Canadian news outlets for publishing links to their pages.\nAlphabet's Google and Meta are the only platforms that fall under those criteria in Canada. Google agreed last month to pay C$100 million annually to news publishers in the country. Meta, in contrast, decided to block news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada to avoid the payments.\n\"We will continue to push Meta, that makes billions of dollars in profits, even though it is refusing to invest in the journalistic rigor and stability of the media,\" Trudeau told reporters in Vancouver.\nMeta said it will stick to its decision. \"News outlets choose to use our free services because it helps their bottom line, and today's release of final regulations does not change our business decision,\" said Rachel Curran, head of public policy for Meta Canada.\nThe law, part of a global trend, is designed to address Canadian media industry concerns about declining revenue as internet companies elbow news businesses out of the online advertising market.\nMeta started blocking news sharing on Facebook and Instagram in August, saying news holds no economic value for its businesses.\nHeritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) would \"pay close attention to Facebook and Meta\" as part of its enforcement.\nPaul Deegan, CEO of industry body News Media Canada, said the government had delivered a \"durable, world-leading framework that is balanced and predictable for both news publishers and platforms,\" and called on Meta to follow Google's lead. ($1 = 1.3372 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)\n",
        "title": "Canada to keep pressure on Facebook to pay for news, Trudeau says"
    },
    {
        "id": 1299,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-probably-rate-peak-too-213403784.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank has probably concluded its hiking cycle, but it’s still too early to consider lower borrowing costs, according to Governing Council member Joachim Nagel.\n“There’s a high likelihood that after 10 rate increases we’ve reached the interest-rate plateau,” Nagel said Friday in an interview with German broadcaster ZDF. “In my view, it’s much too early to think about when rate cuts might possibly happen.”\nThe ECB kept borrowing costs unchanged for a second meeting on Thursday after inflation slowed more than anticipated over recent months. But it still only sees price pressures in the euro zone returning to the 2% target in the second half of 2025 — an outlook President Christine Lagarde says means “we should absolutely not lower our guard.”\n“We’ll decide on the basis of data what’s going to happen in the course of the year,” Nagel said, adding that right now, “inflation is still too high.”\nNagel, who also heads Germany’s Bundesbank, said the outlook for price pressures in Europe’s largest economy has improved significantly.\nThe institution’s latest forecasts — published earlier on Friday —anticipate a slowdown in inflation from 6.1% this year to 2.7% in 2024.\nEven so, “we still have some way go” until the rate has returned to the ECB’s 2% goal, Nagel said.\nThe Bundesbank also said sluggish exports dragging down industry, and restrained consumer spending and investment — damped by higher financing costs — are to blame for an economic contraction of 0.1% in Germany this year. Its latest projections show 0.4% growth in 2024 before momentum picks up in subsequent years.\n",
        "title": "ECB Probably at Rate Peak But Too Soon to Consider Cuts, Nagel Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 1300,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wrapup-1-feds-williams-douses-210915905.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Michael S. Derby and Howard Schneider\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Just days after a Federal Reserve meeting that penciled in an ample course of interest rate cuts next year, which in turn unleashed a broad rally in financial markets, one of the U.S. central bank's top policymakers pushed back on the ebullience on Friday.\n\"We aren't really talking about rate cuts right now,\" New York Fed President John Williams said in an interview with CNBC. When it comes to the question of lowering rates, \"I just think it's just premature to be even thinking about that\" as the central bank continues to mull whether monetary policy is in the right place to help guide inflation back to its 2% target, he said.\nWilliams was the first Fed official to speak in the wake of a policy meeting this week in which the central bank left its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the 5.25%-5.50% range. With rates steady, the big shift in the Fed outlook was tied to projections of an easing of monetary policy next year.\nFed officials' forecasts collectively priced in three-quarters of a percentage point in cuts in 2024, which would leave the policy rate in the 4.50%-4.75% range by the end of 2024. Those forecasts summarize the views of policymakers and are not an official Fed view, but they are nevertheless closely watched and the numbers helped spur sharp drops in bond yields while driving stock prices up.\nIn a press conference following the two-day meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday acknowledged the shift in views, explained how the forecasts work, while acknowledging \"the question of when will it become appropriate to begin dialing back the amount of policy restraint in place, that begins to come into view, and is clearly a topic of discussion out in the world and also a discussion for us at our meeting today.\"\n'CLARIFY' THE MESSAGE\nSome market observers saw in Williams' appearance an attempt to reframe the message that markets took from both the policy meeting and Powell's comments to reporters.\nWilliams' interview appears \"intended to lean against speculation on a March cut without ruling it out, and slow the sense in markets of a Fed rush towards cutting following Powell's very dovish December press conference,\" Evercore ISI analysts said.\n\"Deploying the N.Y. Fed president in this manner is standard practice when the Fed leadership wants to 'clarify' the message, but market pricing moved only modestly in response to his comments, reflecting investor conviction that the data is moving in support of earlier/deeper cuts.\"\nFutures markets briefly fluttered in the wake of Williams' comments but continued to settle on March as the point at which the central bank will start cutting rates. CME Group's FedWatch Tool maintained a strong probability of a March cut, with views fragmented on the path of cuts after that.\nIn an interview with Reuters later on Friday, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic also presented a monetary policy outlook partially at odds with the market's stance, projecting the possibility of a rate cut in the third quarter of next year.\nBostic, who will be a voting member of the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee in 2024, said he thought inflation, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures price index, would end next year at around 2.4%, which would be enough progress towards the Fed's 2% target to warrant two quarter-percentage-point rate cuts during the second half of 2024.\nWhen it comes to easing, \"I'm not really feeling that this is an imminent thing,\" Bostic said, with policymakers still needing \"several months\" to accumulate enough data and confidence that inflation will continue to fall before moving away from the policy rate's current range.\nMeanwhile, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said it is increasingly likely the central bank will need to shift its attention from inflation to employment, the other part of its dual mandate. He also told the newspaper he wouldn't rule out a rate cut in March.\nAgainst all the talk around the prospect of lowering rates, Williams reminded markets that the Fed could still go the other way.\nWhen it comes to the economy, \"the base case is looking pretty good: Inflation is coming down, the economy remains strong and unemployment is low.\" That said, \"one thing we've learned, even over the past year, is that the data can move in surprising ways,\" he said, adding \"we need to be ready to move further if inflation, the progress of inflation were to stall or reverse.\" (Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "WRAPUP 1-Fed's Williams douses Wall Street's rate-cut speculation"
    },
    {
        "id": 1301,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-latam-assets-slip-210842722.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "* Brazil, Mexico stocks touch all time highs * Colombia's industrial output, retail sales falls * Chile's referendum due on Sunday * Stocks, FX down 0.6%; set for weekly gains (Updated at 3:10 pm ET/2010 GMT) By Siddarth S and Lisa Pauline Mattackal Dec 15 (Reuters) - Latin American stocks and currencies lost ground on Friday, pausing after a frentic week where risk sentiment across the region was boosted broadly by the U.S. Federal Reserve's dovish narrative, while benchmark stock indexes in Mexico and Brazil touched fresh all time highs. MSCI's gauge for Latin American equities and its index tracking the region's currencies both dipped 0.6%. \"It's (fall in Latam stocks, FX) related mainly to the hangover following the Fed's policy shift that we saw this week,\" said Andres Abadia, Chief Latam Economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. The U.S. dollar rebounded, pressuring emerging market assets as New York Federal Reserve President John Williams dampened market exuberance over the central bank's perceived dovish pivot, saying policymakers were not presently discussing rate cuts. Elsewhere Mexican shares recorded an all-time high for the second consecutive session, touching 57,502 points and were set to close up 0.5% on the day. Gains in airport operator shares lifted the index, with Grupo ASUR jumping over 3% after announcing details of its 2024-2028 development plan on Thursday. Brazilian shares also briefly touched a fresh intraday high for the second consecutive session, jumping as high as 131,661 points. However, the index turned lower later in the day, falling 0.4% with declines in oil prices weighing on stocks. Mexico's central bank unanimously held the country's interest rate at 11.25% and pointed toward more of the same \"for some time on Thursday, while Brazil's central bank cut rates by 50 basis points as expected on Wednesday. Globally, MSCI's indexes tracking emerging market stocks and currencies are on track to close the year in the green as risk sentiment has risen over the past quarter on expectations of falling rates in the U.S. On the day, Chile's peso dropped 0.8%, while the Brazilian real shed 0.5% against the dollar. Colombia's Colcap index slid 1.4% after disappointing industrial output and retail sales data for October. Argentina's Merval index slipped 6.4%, while its currency traded at 801 to the dollar on the official market after data showed its economy contracted in the third quarter and entered a recession. Its stock index is on track to fall 1.7% in a week of volatile trading as newly elected President Javier Milei's administration announced a set of economic measures earlier this week aimed at boosting the nation's troubled economy. Peru's sol rose 0.1% despite data showing the country's gross domestic product shrank 0.82% in October versus a year earlier, below analysts' expectations. Peru's central bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 6.75%, in line with expectations, on Thursday. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2010 GMT: Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 999.91 0.75 MSCI LatAm 2572.76 -0.54 Brazil Bovespa 130336.76 -0.39 Mexico IPC 57349.73 0.55 Chile IPSA 6138.10 -0.14 Argentina MerVal 925657.93 -6.47 Colombia COLCAP 1158.18 -1.41 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 4.9406 -0.09 Mexico peso 17.2115 -0.15 Chile peso 871.9 -0.81 Colombia peso 3941.5 0.62 Peru sol 3.7471 0.13 Argentina peso 801.0500 -0.06 (interbank) Argentina peso 940 5.32 (parallel) (Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru Editing by Alistair Bell and Diane Craft)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Latam assets slip on post-Fed 'hangover', Mexican, Brazilian stocks touch all time highs"
    },
    {
        "id": 1302,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-p-500-posts-210101732.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nCostco climbs after posting upbeat Q1 results\n*\nU.S. business activity picks up in December - survey\n(Updates to close)\nBy Caroline Valetkevitch\nNEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) -\nThe S&P 500 ended little changed on Friday but registered a seventh straight week of gains in its longest weekly winning streak since 2017 after this week's dovish pivot by the Federal Reserve.\nComments Friday by Fed Bank of New York President John Williams that it was too soon to be talking about rate cuts dampened some of the optimism.\nAlso, the rate sensitive real estate and utilities sectors gave back some of their big gains tied to the Fed statement.\nStocks rallied this week after the Fed in its policy statement Wednesday signaled lower borrowing costs in 2024.\nThe Dow Jones Average industrial notched another record high closes on Friday, and an index of semiconductors had its big weeks gains since May.\n\"What I think we got this week is that (Fed Chair Jerome Powell) doesn't want to overly punish the economy with (rates) being higher for longer for no good reason,\" said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.\n\"I don't know if we're going to get whatever is considered a Santa Claus rally, but it looks like all things being considered, we could drift higher from here.\"\nAccording to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 4.52 points, or 0.10%, to end at 4,715.03 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 52.36 points, or 0.25%, to 14,798.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.59 points, or 0.10%, to 37,276.95.\nThe day also marked the expiry of quarterly derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures, also known as \"triple witching.\"\nShares of Costco Wholesale jumped after the retailer topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter results due to demand for cheaper groceries.\nEarlier on Friday, a survey showed domestic business activity picked up in December amid rising orders and demand for workers, which could further help to allay fears of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the fourth quarter. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Maju Samuel and Aurora Ellis)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-S&P 500 posts longest weekly winning streak since 2017; ends flat on day"
    },
    {
        "id": 1303,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bolivia-takes-key-step-long-125235305.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bolivia cut the ribbon on its first industrial-scale lithium plant, the dawn of what it hopes will be an export boom of the battery metal that could bring it back from the brink of economic crisis. It’s going to be a long road though.\nIn a ceremony Friday on the world’s largest salt flat, President Luis Arce opened the $100 million facility, designed to churn out as much as 15,000 tons of lithium carbonate a year to fuel electric vehicles in the global shift away from fossil fuels. To be sure, the plant is just starting a gradual ramp-up that will only reach a fifth of its capacity next year.\nFor the land-locked Andean nation, tapping into vast lithium deposits suspended in brine under the remote Uyuni salt flat offers a way to stave of a looming cash crunch as it burns through foreign currency reserves amid dwindling hydrocarbon exports.\nBut while Bolivia has much more resources of lithium than neighboring Chile, they are not yet deemed economically viable. Uyuni brine has high levels of magnesium, which make its lithium less pure and expensive to produce, and the nearest port is at least 500 kilometers and a border crossing away. A history of political and social unrest and a state-led approach to natural resources are other deterrents to private capital, as is this year’s 80%-plus plunge in prices.\n“With the amount of resources Bolivia has, it should have been a power player in lithium long ago,” BNEF metals and mining analyst Sung Choi said. “We will have to see if this time will be different.”\nRead More: Lithium Riches Lure First-Time Miner to Bolivia Salt Flat\nStill, given Bolivia’s massive potential, some foreign companies have been prepared to do business there, with new direct extraction techniques seen as key for Bolivia to circumvent its purity issues and shorten the path to production.\nThis week, state-owned YLB and the Russian Uranium One Group signed an agreement to build a direct extraction plant for $450 million, while a Chinese consortium led by Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. plans to spend $1.4 billion on plants in the country. Bolivia plans to offer more direct lithium extraction contracts.\nA Chinese group was behind construction of the carbonate facility inaugurated Friday in a ceremony attended by workers, soldiers, reporters and authorities. Dressed in a traditional poncho and Alpaca hat, President Arce spoke of a “transcendental step” in Bolivia becoming a major player in the critical mineral.\nBut the plant, which is three years behind schedule, isn’t expected to reach capacity until 2025, YLB Executive President Karla Calderon said. Initial output won’t be battery grade or continuous and will be sold on the spot market, with no date yet for signing supply contracts.\n“This news is a positive step for the lithium market overall as it could help diversify the sources of supply given really robust long term demand,” said Chris Berry, president of House Mountain Partners, an industry consultant. “Still, the onus is on the operators here to prove they can profitably produce significant quantities of lithium to tight customer specifications.”\n--With assistance from Matthew Bristow.\n(Adds comments from YLB boss in penultimate paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Bolivia Takes a Key Step in Long Road to Tapping Vast Lithium Riches"
    },
    {
        "id": 1304,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/aston-villa-parent-sells-minority-163639089.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Aston Villa F.C.’s parent holding company agreed to sell a minority stake to the investment group Atairos, saying the added capital will allow the owner of the British football club to fund future investments.\nTerms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. After the deal is completed, V Sports will continue to own 100% of Villa and continue to operate the club, according to a statement Friday.\nV Sports is owned by Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens. The company also holds a minority stake in Vitoria S.C., a Portuguese soccer club. Atairos, which is led by former Comcast Corp. executive Michael Angelakis, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Comcast has $5.1 billion invested in Atairos, according to a recent filing.\n“We are strong believers in the long-term global growth potential of the Premier League and Aston Villa’s men’s and women’s teams,” Angelakis said in the statement. “We are excited to bring our expertise in supporting businesses in the leisure, sports and live entertainment industries to elevate the club to even greater heights.”\nThe transaction is subject to Premier League approval, along with the relevant regulatory clearance and consents. The team is based in the Aston area of Birmingham.\n“This exciting partnership enhances the club’s financial footing and strengthens its ability to compete in England and in Europe,” Sawiris and Edens said. “V Sports is fully committed to further investment in Aston Villa F.C. and its men’s and women’s teams and looks forward to its continued growth and success.”\n(Adds more information about Atairos in third paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Aston Villa Parent Sells Stake to Comcast-Backed Fund"
    },
    {
        "id": 1305,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-dollar-rebounds-feds-williams-203734756.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updated at 1500 EST) By Karen Brettell NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The dollar rebounded on Friday after Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams pushed back against the market’s rate cut expectations, though the dollar index remained on track for its worst weekly performance in a month. The dollar tumbled broadly after updated interest rate projections of Fed officials released on Wednesday showed an expectation for 75 basis points in cuts in 2024. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell was also interpreted as striking a more dovish tone at the conclusion of the U.S. central bank’s two day meeting, when he said that the tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts coming \"into view.\" But Williams said on Friday that \"we aren't really talking about rate cuts right now\" at the Fed and it's \"premature\" to speculate about them. “It strikes some of the similar tones that we heard from Powell earlier this week but it kind of reinforces the fact that the Fed is still very much a data dependent bank and not really endorsing what the market’s pricing in to a degree,” said Bipan Rai, North American head of FX strategy at CIBC Capital Markets in Toronto. Rai also noted that a large part of the move in the dollar this week has been due to rebalancing positions that were heavily tilted towards the greenback and focused in specific currency pairs, such as against the Japanese yen. “This is a story about the inordinate amount of leverage and skewed positioning in the market that needed to be rebalanced more than any sort of dovish interpretation of what Powell said earlier this week,” he said. Traders are pricing in aggressive expectations for rate cuts, with the first reduction seen likely in March and 141 basis points in cuts seen by December. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on Friday that the U.S. central bank can begin reducing interest rates \"sometime in the third quarter\" of 2024 if inflation falls as expected. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee also said that the Fed may soon need to shift its focus to preventing a run-up in unemployment from fighting inflation. Data on Friday showed that production at U.S. factories rose in November, lifted by a rebound in motor vehicle output following the end of strikes, but activity was weaker elsewhere as manufacturing grapples with higher borrowing and softening demand for goods. The dollar index was last up 0.56% on the day at 102.52. It fell to 101.76 on Thursday, the lowest since Aug. 10. The index is on track for a weekly loss of 1.39%, the worst weekly performance since Nov. 19. The euro fell 0.83% to $1.0899. It reached $1.1009 on Thursday, the highest since Nov. 29. Sterling dropped 0.60% to $1.2690, after reaching $1.2793 on Thursday, the highest since Aug. 22. The euro and sterling were supported on Thursday by the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England pushing back against rate cuts. Investors are nonetheless still betting heavily on rate cuts from both central banks next year. The ECB has more scope than most to ease, according to Pepperstone strategist Chris Weston, given low euro zone growth and a rapid decline in inflation. \"However, the pushback from (ECB President) Lagarde and co suggests conjecture on the timing of initial easing – perhaps this is a function that it's desirable to keep one's currency strong to limit imported inflation.\" The euro was also dented by surveys on Friday showing that the downturn in euro zone business activity surprisingly deepened in December. The Bank of Japan is the last of the major central banks to meet this month and the question among traders and investors is whether or not it will signal its intention to ditch its policy of keeping interest rates at rock bottom next week. The dollar was last up 0.24% at 142.18 yen, after dropping to 140.95 on Thursday, the lowest since July 31. The greenback is on track to post its worst week against the Japanese currency since July 14 with a 1.94% fall. Bitcoin fell 2.1% to $42,130. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 3:00PM (2000 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 102.5200 101.9700 +0.56% -0.937% +102.6400 +101.8300 Euro/Dollar $1.0899 $1.0992 -0.83% +1.73% +$1.1004 +$1.0885 Dollar/Yen 142.1750 141.8450 +0.24% +8.44% +142.4600 +141.4500 Euro/Yen 154.97 155.98 -0.65% +10.46% +156.4900 +154.4200 Dollar/Swiss 0.8700 0.8677 +0.28% -5.90% +0.8707 +0.8654 Sterling/Dollar $1.2690 $1.2767 -0.60% +4.93% +$1.2790 +$1.2669 Dollar/Canadian 1.3371 1.3407 -0.27% -1.32% +1.3415 +1.3350 Aussie/Dollar $0.6706 $0.6698 +0.12% -1.62% +$0.6728 +$0.6664 Euro/Swiss 0.9481 0.9535 -0.57% -4.18% +0.9541 +0.9456 Euro/Sterling 0.8587 0.8610 -0.27% -2.91% +0.8617 +0.8572 NZ $0.6209 $0.6207 +0.03% -2.21% +$0.6229 +$0.6180 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 10.4570 10.5020 -0.31% +6.67% +10.5610 +10.4340 Euro/Norway 11.4013 11.5451 -1.25% +8.65% +11.5634 +11.3840 Dollar/Sweden 10.2654 10.2330 -0.56% -1.37% +10.3235 +10.2057 Euro/Sweden 11.1897 11.2527 -0.56% +0.36% +11.2789 +11.1810 (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London Editing by Mark Potter and Diane Craft )\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Dollar rebounds as Fed's Williams talks down rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1306,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kkr-buys-bmo-7-billion-203000115.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A group led by KKR & Co. has purchased a roughly $7.2 billion portfolio of recreational vehicle loans from Canada’s Bank of Montreal, as private credit lenders continue to scoop up assets from financial institutions, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg.\nBMO started exploring the sale of the super-prime portfolio earlier this year, Bloomberg reported in October, noting KKR was among the potential bidders. BMO provided seller financing to the purchasing parties, by buying $6.4 billion of bonds backed by the RV loans KKR purchased, the statement says.\nKKR bought the portfolio alongside Kennedy Lewis Investment Management and other investors. BMO will remain the servicer of the loans and will continue to originate RV debt, according to the statement.\nThe trade comes as banks sell bundles of consumer debt on their books to improve liquidity following the crisis at regional lenders earlier this year, starting with Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in March. That’s created an opportunity for private credit firms to snap up those portfolios and increase their footprint in asset-based finance, a corner of the credit markets that includes anything from consumer loans to mortgages.\n“Banks are looking for ways to transform and optimize their balance sheets, including by selling loans. This trend allows firms like ours to step in and partner with banks in these type of sales,” said Dan Pietrzak, KKR’s global head of private credit, in an interview.\nRead more: KKR Says Asset-Based Debt Among Top Private Credit Opportunities\nKKR has been one of the private credit shops that’s made inroads in asset based finance this year, taking advantage of the bank pullback. The alternative asset manager — which has roughly $47 billion in asset based finance investments under management, according to the statement — acquired a portfolio of prime auto loans from Georgia-based Synovus Financial Corp. in August. In 2021, it bought a nearly $800 million portfolio of aviation loans from CIT Group Inc.\nBMO, which is currently absorbing Bank of the West, an acquisition it completed in February, is not the only bank shedding assets.\nEarlier this year, Ares Management Corp. purchased a $3.5 billion portfolio from California-based PacWest Bancorp, backed by consumer loans, mortgages and timeshare receivables. Truist Financial Corp. unloaded a $5 billion student loan portfolio that it described as “non-core” in late June, while Western Alliance Bancorp sold roughly $3.5 billion in loans tied to commercial real estate, residential and commercial and industrial lending, as well as mortgage servicing rights and a slug of securities that were primarily collateralized loan obligations.\n“We are seeing regional banks increasingly moving away from providing the same level of capital to many specialty finance firms. The private credit market is able to step in and fill that void,” Pietrzak said.\n",
        "title": "KKR Buys BMO’s $7 Billion RV Loan Portfolio as Banks Shed Debt"
    },
    {
        "id": 1307,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-canada-macklem-says-too-172500812.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Canada’s top official said policymakers will consider cutting interest rates when inflation is “clearly” on a path to the 2% target, but added that it’s still “too early.”\nIn a speech Friday, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said that once officials are assured that price pressures are on a sustained downward track, they “will be considering whether and when we can lower our policy rate.”\n“I know it is tempting to rush ahead to that discussion. But it’s still too early to consider cutting our policy rate,” Macklem said in Toronto.\nAnswering questions from reporters after the speech, Macklem reiterated that governing council is still prepared to hike borrowing costs further if needed, but noted that officials increasingly view interest rates as high enough to bring inflation to heel.\n“The members did agree that the likelihood that monetary policy was sufficiently restrictive to achieve the inflation target had increased,” Macklem said. In his speech, he noted that his six person rate-setting council is also discussing how long interest rates need “to remain restrictive to restore price stability.”\nAfter Macklem’s speech, bond yields fluctuated before eventually climbing, with the 2-year benchmark note trading about 5 basis points higher at 3.953% as of 3:20 p.m. Ottawa time. Traders in overnight swaps pared bets for an April rate cut, but continue to price over 100 basis points of easing by October 2024.\nWhile further declines in price pressures will likely be “gradual,” Macklem said that inflation will be “getting close to the 2% target” by the end of next year, adding that “conditions increasingly appear to be in place to get us there” and that “underlying inflation pressures are easing in much of the economy.”\nRead More: Macklem Sees Inflation Closer to 2% in 2024: Key Takeaways\n“The bank is comfortable that policy rates are now tight enough to quell inflation,” said Andrew Kelvin, head of Canadian and global rates strategy at TD Securities, in a report to investors. “Central bank messages have short shelf lives at the best of times. It may only take a month or two of soft data for the Bank of Canada to actually start considering rate cuts.”\nMacklem also acknowledged that the central bank’s rate hikes are contributing to higher shelter inflation, which is currently one of the main upside contributors to headline inflation in Canada.\nLast week, the Bank of Canada held interest rates at 5% for a third straight meeting. Speaking to reporters a day after the Dec. 6 decision, Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle reiterated to reporters the central bank was “not even thinking about cutting rates.”\nMacklem’s comments reinforce that the Bank of Canada is at least starting to consider when to begin lowering interest rates, adding to a growing list of central bankers changing their views on how their monetary policy stance should normalize next year.\nOn Wednesday, the Federal Reserve held borrowing costs steady, but dot plot forecasts showed broader consensus for rate cuts in 2024. In a subsequent press conference, Chair Jerome Powell indicated policymakers are now turning their focus to when to cut rates as inflation continues its descent toward their 2% goal, prompting a sustained bond rally and stock market optimism.\nBut Europe’s central bankers aren’t ready to join the pivot. Yesterday, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the bank had not discussed rate cuts at all, saying “we should absolutely not lower our guard.” The same day, her Bank of England counterpart, Andrew Bailey, observed that “there is still some way to go” in the fight to tame consumer prices.\nCanada’s heavily indebted households hold shorter-duration mortgages that roll over more quickly than those held by their US counterparts, a big reason why economists see the northern nation as more sensitive to higher borrowing costs.\nThe Bank of Canada next sets rates on Jan. 24.\n--With assistance from Christine Dobby and Randy Thanthong-Knight.\n(Adds comments from news conference, economist reaction.)\n",
        "title": "Bank of Canada’s Macklem Says ‘Too Early’ to Consider Cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1308,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-set-first-weekly-gain-000827556.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil eked out a small gain for the week, snapping a seven-week losing streak, as signs that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate-hiking campaign is over bolstered risk assets.\nWest Texas Intermediate settled little changed above $71 a barrel in the afternoon. Gains early in the session gave way to a decline of as much as 1.8% on New York Fed President John Williams’ comments that it’s too early for officials to think about cutting rates in March. Oil later pared those losses to post its first positive week since late October.\nCrude rallied the most in about a month on Thursday, propelled by broader risk-on sentiment after Chairman Jerome Powell indicated the central bank is turning its focus to when to cut borrowing costs as inflation continues to drop.\nThat nascent rebound came after a prolonged skid that brought futures to the lowest since June. A surge in exports from non-OPEC countries, including the US, and concerns over weakening demand are pressuring prices, while market participants remain skeptical whether all OPEC members will adhere to the deeper voluntary cuts.\nThe International Energy Agency on Thursday added to the bearish outlook, slashing its estimates for global oil demand growth this quarter by almost 400,000 barrels a day as economic activity weakens. The Paris-based consumer organization continues to expect growth to almost halve next year, to about 1.1 million barrels a day.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n",
        "title": "Oil Prices Swing in Choppy Trading as Hawkish Fed Comments Rein in Crude’s Relief Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1309,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-blackrock-state-street-subpoenaed-201800474.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Changes sourcing, adds background)\nBy Makini Brice\nDec 15 (Reuters) -\nThe U.S. House Judiciary committee said it had subpoenaed BlackRock Inc and State Street Corp in its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) probe.\nBlackRock in August already drew\nscrutiny\nfrom the U.S. House committee on China that the New York-based asset manager was facilitating investments into blacklisted Chinese companies.\nBlackRock and State Street did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.\nHouse Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has earlier also sent a subpoena to asset manager Vanguard to which the company told Reuters that it is \"committed to working constructively with lawmakers and has cooperated with the Committee’s requests, including producing tens of thousands of pages of relevant documents to date\".\nBloomberg News, which first reported the development, said the panel is looking into allegations from critics of these investment firms that they colluded in committing to make the investments. (Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-BlackRock, State Street subpoenaed by House in ESG probe"
    },
    {
        "id": 1310,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/docusign-surges-report-company-exploring-200438179.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- DocuSign Inc., whose software handles electronic signatures, rallied the most in a year after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was considering a sale.\nThe company is working with advisers to explore a leveraged buyout, but the talks are in early stages, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. DocuSign’s market value was $12.8 billion as of Friday.\n“As a matter of policy, DocuSign does not comment on market rumors or speculation,” a company spokesperson said.\nA “pandemic darling,” DocuSign saw its sales and share price shoot up in 2020 as companies needed to handle more documents digitally with employees working remotely. Lately, revenue growth has slowed into single digits and “economic growth in 2024 could delay any significant improvement,” Anurag Rana, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said earlier this month.\nDocuSign, which went public in 2018, has been hurt by increasing competition from Adobe Inc.’s document business, and its valuation suffered as investors lost their taste for unprofitable software stocks. In 2022, the company named Allan Thygesen, a former Google executive, as chief executive officer, to “lead DocuSign’s next growth chapter.” The company has also undergone at least two rounds of job cuts this year, the Wall Street Journal reported in June.\nWhile the market for document services is large, DocuSign’s prospects may remain difficult in the near term as the company “struggles to find a sustainable growth trajectory in a post-pandemic era, coupled with navigating key leadership changes and a restructuring of its sales organization,” Mark R Murphy, an analyst at JPMorgan, wrote earlier this month.\nOn the news of a potential sale, shares jumped as much as 15% to $64.76, the biggest intraday increase since December 2022. The San Francisco-based company’s stock was virtually unchanged this year through Thursday’s close.\nA private equity purchaser is most likely, said Rana, of Bloomberg Intelligence. Large software companies such as Salesforce Inc. or Microsoft Corp. which could be logical acquirers, are likely too tied up with other issues to consider the deal, he added.\n(Updates with comments from company in the third paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "DocuSign Surges on Report That Company Is Exploring a Sale"
    },
    {
        "id": 1311,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-us-stocks-inch-195947360.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates as of 14:43 EST)\nBy Stephen Culp\nNEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were mixed while the dollar rebounded and Treasury yields steadied near multi-month lows on Friday as market participants caught their breath near the end of a week loaded with central bank policy decisions and crucial economic data.\nEuphoria over the U.S. Federal Reserve's dovish pivot was dampened a bit after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams pushed back against rate cut expectations, reiterating that the central bank remains focused on bringing inflation down to its 2% target.\nHaving oscillated for much of the session, the S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow were last modestly lower, while interest rate-sensitive tech- and tech-adjacent momentum stocks buoyed the Nasdaq into positive territory.\n\"We’ve been hovering around the flatline all day today,\" said Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Helena, Montana. \"After moving through some critical macroeconomic data points, including the Fed meeting, the market is digesting the news.\"\nAll three indexes are on course to register their seventh consecutive weekly gains, which would mark the S&P 500's longest streak of weekly gains since September 2017.\n\"It’s important to step back to early November when we saw the October price index print,\" Northey said. \"Since that time we’ve seen real evidence of a decelerating inflation trend, which has allowed the Fed to pivot and reconcile with views that were already reflected in the market.\"\n\"Our expectation is that trends in place over the past six weeks are likely to follow through to year end albeit at a somewhat slower pace,\" Northey added.\nEconomic data released on Friday signaled an uptick in U.S. business activity but also showed the manufacturing sector continues to struggle.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 44.91 points, or 0.12%, to 37,203.44, the S&P 500 lost 7.95 points, or 0.17%, to 4,711.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added 33.19 points, or 0.22%, to 14,794.75.\nEuropean shares ended nearly flat to cap a week of rising rate cut expectations, posting their fifth consecutive weekly gain.\nThe pan-European STOXX 600 index inched up 0.01% but MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.16%.\nEmerging market stocks rose 0.70%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 1.02% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.87%.\nU.S. Treasury yields were little changed after the Fed's Williams reined in the rate cut fervor.\nBenchmark 10-year notes fell 1/32 in price to yield 3.9315%, from 3.93% late on Thursday.\nThe 30-year bond rose 14/32 in price to yield 4.0313%, from 4.054% late on Thursday.\nThe dollar rebounded against a basket of world currencies. But the index remained on course for its biggest weekly drop in a month after the Fed's dovish pivot. In contrast, the Fed's European counterparts maintained a tougher stance, which had boosted the euro and the pound on Thursday.\nThe dollar index rose 0.63%, with the euro down 0.89% to $1.0893 on Friday.\nThe Japanese yen weakened 0.27% to 142.26 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2684, down 0.64% on the day.\nOil prices eased back from the previous session's sharp gains with U.S. crude settling 0.21% lower at $71.43 per barrel, while Brent settled at $76.55 per barrel, down 0.08% on the day.\nGold dropped 0.9% to $2,017.29 an ounce but remained on track for a weekly gain.\n(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-US stocks inch higher, dollar rebounds as rate cut fever wanes"
    },
    {
        "id": 1312,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackrock-state-street-subpoenaed-house-195141279.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Makini Brice\n(Reuters) -The U.S. House Judiciary committee said it had subpoenaed BlackRock Inc and State Street Corp in its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) probe.\nBlackRock in August already drew scrutiny from the U.S. House committee on China that the New York-based asset manager was facilitating investments into blacklisted Chinese companies.\nBlackRock and State Street did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.\nHouse Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has earlier also sent a subpoena to asset manager Vanguard to which the company told Reuters that it is \"committed to working constructively with lawmakers and has cooperated with the Committee’s requests, including producing tens of thousands of pages of relevant documents to date\".\nBloomberg News, which first reported the development, said the panel is looking into allegations from critics of these investment firms that they colluded in committing to make the investments.\n(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "BlackRock, State Street subpoenaed by House in ESG probe"
    },
    {
        "id": 1313,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gildan-largest-investor-pushes-board-194314521.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The largest shareholder of Canadian clothing manufacturer Gildan Activewear Inc. called for the reinstatement of ousted Chief Executive Officer Glenn Chamandy, adding its voice to a campaign by other large investors who want the board to reverse its succession plan.\nJarislowsky Fraser Ltd. said the company’s chairman should quit, and it heaped criticism on the board for choosing Vincent Tyra as the new CEO.\nFour major shareholders have now gone public to denounce Gildan directors’ decision to boot out Chamandy, whose family co-founded the business about 40 years ago. Combined, the four firms hold about 20% of the shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\n“The abrupt termination of Mr. Chamandy at age 61 to bring on a 58-year-old executive to lead the company into the next stage of its evolution and growth is concerning,” Charles Nadim, head of research at Jarislowsky, said in an emailed statement. The firm owns 7.2% of Gildan’s shares, Bloomberg data show.\n“We believe that the board’s press release related to Mr. Tyra’s track record is misleading to shareholders, and that the decision lacked sufficient due diligence when assessing Mr. Tyra’s performance record,” Nadim said. Tyra was a former senior executive at Fruit of the Loom.\nCooke & Bieler LP, which holds nearly 6% of Gildan’s shares, is also backing a return of Chamandy and believes that Chairman Donald Berg would have to go, portfolio manager William Weber said by phone.\nGildan shares jumped on Bloomberg’s report about Jarislowsky’s position, erasing earlier declines to trade 2.6% higher at 2:55 p.m. in Toronto.\nGildan is a manufacturer of T-shirts and other clothing items, and owns the American Apparel brand. Representatives for the company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\nMontreal-based Gildan announced Chamandy’s departure and Tyra’s appointment on Monday, sending the stock plummeting. On Thursday, two other large holders — Los Angeles-based Browning West LP and Toronto-based Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. — released letters asking the board to backtrack on its decision.\nTogether, those two firms held more than 7% of the company’s shares at the end of September. “We urge the board to reverse this inexplicable, ill-conceived and value-destructive decision,” Turtle Creek said.\nRead More: Two Funds Battle Gildan’s Board Over Sacking of CEO Chamandy\n(Updates with comment from additional shareholder Cooke & Bieler in sixth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Gildan’s Largest Investor Pushes Board to Bring Back Chamandy as CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 1314,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zeiss-meditec-buys-dutch-firm-194042919.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BERLIN, Dec 15 (Reuters) - German medical technology firm Carl Zeiss Meditec said on Friday it had bought the Dutch Ophthalmic Research Center, a developer of devices for eye surgery, for nearly 1 billion euros ($1.09 billion).\nCarl Zeiss Meditec, a subsidiary of the Zeiss Group which is known for its camera lenses, said the acquisition would further strengthen its position as the fastest growing manufacturer of ophthalmic medical devices globally.\nThe DORC's products are used by ophthalmic surgeons around the world to treat a wide range of vision-threatening conditions, it said.\nZeiss bought DORC for 985 mln euros, nearly five times the Dutch firm's expected turnover this year of some 200 million euros. ($1 = 0.9181 euro) (Reporting by Alexander Huebner; Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "Zeiss Meditec buys Dutch firm for nearly 1 bln euros"
    },
    {
        "id": 1315,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/permian-explorer-callon-mulls-options-161652172.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Permian Basin explorer Callon Petroleum Co. is considering strategic options amid takeover interest from rival oil and gas players, people familiar with the matter said, as dealmaking accelerates in the US energy industry.\nThe Houston-based company has been working with an adviser to study possibilities including a potential sale, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the information is private. Callon shares were up 5.4% at 2:36 p.m. in New York, giving the company a market value of about $2.3 billion. The stock is down 10% for the year.\nNo final decision has been made and Callon could opt to remain independent, they said. A representative for Callon declined to comment.\nOil and gas companies have been increasingly looking to consolidate in order to add scale and cut costs, underscored by Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $60 billion deal for Pioneer Natural Resources Co.\nLike Pioneer, Callon is active in the Permian of West Texas and New Mexico, the biggest and most productive oil field in the country. The Permian has long been ripe for consolidation because it’s highly fragmented thanks to the scores of shale upstarts that have begun drilling there in the past two decades.\n(Adds Callon declined to comment in third paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "Permian Explorer Callon Mulls Options Amid Buyer Interest"
    },
    {
        "id": 1316,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/table-mexicos-pemex-sets-january-192832589.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "MEXICO CITY, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Mexican state oil company Pemex revised its January term pricing formulas for crude shipped to customers in the Americas, Europe and Asia, the company's trading arm said in a statement on Friday. The following table lists adjustments to price constants for Pemex's flagship Maya heavy crude oil, as well as its Isthmus and Olmeca grades plus its new Zapoteco blend, marketed to the company's international buyers by region. Pemex launched sales of Zapoteco in September, and now includes the medium blend in its monthly adjustment to pricing formulas. DESTINATION DEC CONSTANT JAN CONSTANT ---------------- ---------------- --------------- U.S. Gulf Coast, The Americas' Atlantic Coast, The Caribbean Maya crude -10.25 -10.75 Isthmus crude -4.00 -4.00 Olmeca crude -3.15 -3.10 Zapoteco crude -5.50 -5.25 U.S. West Coast, The Americas' Pacific Coast Maya crude -8.40 -8.40 Isthmus crude -5.40 -6.95 Olmeca crude -4.85 -6.05 Zapoteco crude -4.95 -5.95 Europe and the Middle East Maya crude -8.40 -10.30 Isthmus crude -7.85 -9.65 Olmeca crude -3.05 -4.85 Zapoteco crude -8.35 -10.15 India Maya crude -10.05 -11.90 Isthmus crude -8.25 -8.05 Olmeca crude -5.55 -5.35 Zapoteco crude -10.60 -10.60 Far East Maya crude -8.10 -9.20 Isthmus crude -6.10 -7.95 Olmeca crude -1.80 -3.55 Zapoteco crude -6.30 -7.80 ---------------- --------------- --------------- (Reporting by David Alire Garcia; editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "TABLE-Mexico's Pemex sets January Maya price for international buyers"
    },
    {
        "id": 1317,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hcsc-elevance-compete-cigna-medicare-155251516.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Health Care Service Corp. and Elevance Health Inc. are competing to acquire Cigna Group’s business providing medical coverage to people aged 65 and over, people with knowledge of the matter said.\nBloomfield, Connecticut-based Cigna expects final bids for its Medicare Advantage business to be submitted next week, according to the people. The asset may fetch more than $3 billion, they said.\nOne of the US’s largest managers of pharmacy benefits, Cigna also offers comprehensive medical coverage, including through private Medicare Advantage plans sold to people over the age of 65. It’s a relatively minor player in that market, with fewer than 600,000 Medicare Advantage enrollees as of March, according to data from health researcher KFF.\nCigna’s Medicare Advantage business is on track to lose money this year and next, according to confidential numbers shared with potential buyers, the people said.\nLeaving the Medicare Advantage market could make sense given that Cigna’s business is small, competition is increasing and future regulation “is more likely to disproportionately impact smaller health plans,” analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. wrote in a research note on Friday.\nDeliberations on the sale are ongoing and there’s no certainty they’ll result in a transaction, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Other bidders could also emerge, they said. Representatives for Cigna and HCSC declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Elevance couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.\nIn November, it emerged that Cigna was in discussions with Humana Inc. about a potential merger to create a giant of US health insurance. Talks collapsed after the two sides failed to agree on price and Cigna is instead planning a “significant” increase in stock buybacks.\n--With assistance from John Tozzi.\n(Adds analyst reaction in fifth paragraph.)\n",
        "title": "HCSC, Elevance Compete for Cigna Medicare Advantage Unit"
    },
    {
        "id": 1318,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackstone-backed-finnish-real-estate-185511125.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 15 (Reuters) - Finnish real estate management company Sponda Oy said on Friday it had reached an agreement with its creditors to extend a 300 million euro loan on which it defaulted earlier this year.\nUnder the agreement Sponda, which was acquired by private equity group Blackstone Inc in 2017, secured an extension until February 2027.\nThe extension will help it to continue its asset management business as well as dispose of non-core assets located in Greater Helsinki and Tampere.\nThe loan backed a 531 million euro ($579 million) bond which was backed in turn by a portfolio of offices and stores owned by Sponda. Blackstone defaulted on the bond after seeking an extension from bondholders to repay the debt which was rejected, Reuters reported in March.\nBlackstone will now pay an interest rate of 3.95% for the loan which is 1.5 percentage points more than the original agreement and 50 basis points more than it has been paying since the loan was placed in special servicing, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.\nBlackstone did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.\n($1 = 0.9169 euro)\n(Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "Blackstone-backed Finnish real estate firm Sponda agrees loan extension"
    },
    {
        "id": 1319,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-key-questions-disney-ceo-bob-iger-will-face-in-2024-184939880.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Disney CEO (DIS) Bob Iger has not had an easy road since stepping back into the executive position more than a year ago.\nThe stock is teetering on multiyear record lows. The company's parks business is slowing, its linear TV division is declining, and its streaming business is not yet profitable. Meanwhile, activist Nelson Peltz has renewed his push to shake up Disney's board.\nHere are some of the key questions Iger will face next year as the bruised conglomerate attempts to turn itself around amid more competition than ever before.\nStreaming profitability has been a continued challenge for the industry; however, Iger has stuck with his timeline of reaching profitability in the segment by the end of 2024.\nLower content spending should help. Disney expects to spend $25 billion on content next year versus the $27 billion spent in full-year 2023 as part of broader cost-cutting efforts.\nOn the earnings call, the company said it expects free cash flow to balloon to pre-pandemic levels of approximately $8 billion in full-year 2024, assisted by that lower content spend.\nThe company also hiked streaming prices twice this past year, upping the monthly price of its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans by more than 20%. The move should help lift average revenue per user, or ARPU.\nLooking ahead, Iger said \"achieving significant and sustained profitability in our streaming business\" is one of Disney's \"key building opportunities\" for its future.\nAnother \"key building opportunity\" for Iger is \"the need to strengthen the creative output of our film studio.\"\nDisney has lagged competitors at the box office despite once being the leader in the industry. Marvel, in particular, has struggled as a franchise ever since 2019's \"Endgame.\" The company saw its latest Marvel film bomb in theaters last month.\nDisney's animation business has also underperformed, especially compared to competitors like Universal (CMCSA) and Sony (SONY). Its latest animated title \"Wish\" fell short of expectations over Thanksgiving weekend.\n\"I've always felt that quantity can be actually a negative when it comes to quality,\" Iger said recently, citing an overproduction of content amid the 2019 Disney+ debut. \"I think that's exactly what happened. We lost some focus.\"\nIger said in order to achieve maximum creative output, the company will \"[focus] heavily on the core brands and franchises that fuel all of our businesses and reducing output overall to enable us to concentrate on fewer projects and improve quality, while continuing our effort around the creation of fresh and compelling original IP.\"\nStill, analysts say it will be a long road ahead.\n\"I don't think the studio is going to be an engine that's going to help Disney grow for the next 18 months,\" Doug Creutz, analyst at TD Cowen, previously told Yahoo Finance. \"I don't think it's going to get worse, but I don't think it's going to get better either.\"\nNelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management, which ended a previous proxy battle against Disney in February after the company committed to various cost-cutting initiatives, revived its fight this fall as Disney's stock plunged to record lows.\nOn Thursday, Trian announced plans to nominate Peltz and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo to the media giant's board. The activist hedge fund cites the loss of tens of billions in shareholder value, a drop in consensus EPS estimates for the next two years, and disappointing studio content as reasons it's pushing for a board shakeup.\nRasulo is the second former Disney exec to publicly join Peltz in his push for a board shakeup. Former Marvel executive Ike Perlmutter has entrusted his stake in the company to Peltz, making up the bulk of Trian's 30 million-plus shares in the entertainment giant.\nIger spoke about the activist fight at the New York Times' DealBook Summit, saying of Peltz and Trian: \"We have to obviously contend with them in some form. I’m certain that the board will hear them out in terms of what their plans are, what their ideas are.\"\nStill, Iger said he's not focused on the battle in the near term: \"I have a lot to do. I’m not going to get distracted by any of that.\"\nHe may have to if Peltz's campaign builds momentum.\nIger said earlier this summer the company would take an \"expansive\" look at the entertainment giant's traditional TV assets, signaling they could potentially be sold.\nThe company's TV portfolio includes broadcast network ABC and cable channels FX, Freeform, and National Geographic.\nHe eventually reversed course, clarifying at last month's Dealbook summit that linear TV assets \"are not for sale.\" Still, the company is \"constantly evaluating\" their fit within the overall business, he said.\nPrior to those comments, Dana Walden, head of Disney's entertainment division, echoed similar sentiments, telling employees, \"Linear channels are very deeply embedded in our streaming strategy.\"\n\"[Consumers] want to watch live shows, sports, live events — they want to watch them in time period, and the place you can do that, for the most part, is on linear channels … The notion of a communal event still exists largely on linear,\" she said.\nThe pivot comes as linear television is in free fall with more consumers cutting the cord or dropping their cable packages.\nFormer Disney executive Kevin Mayer, who is advising Iger, said at Yahoo Finance's Invest conference last month that one upside to linear businesses lies in their profit margins, which are often in the range of 30% to 40%, sometimes more.\n\"Streaming will really never get to that profitability level,\" he said, noting even a profitable streaming company like Netflix (NFLX) will likely tap out at margins in the 25% to 30% range.\nRumors have swirled that internal candidates like Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairs of Disney Entertainment, or Josh D'Amaro, head of Disney's parks and experiences division, could be next in line.\nRumors have swirled that internal candidates like Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment, or Josh D'Amaro, head of Disney's parks and experiences division, could be next in line.\nOther possibilities include former employees Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, who left the company in 2020 after being passed over by Iger for the CEO role that ultimately went to Iger's hand-picked successor Bob Chapek. They have since returned to serve as strategic advisers amid ESPN's streaming transition.\nMayer and Staggs currently run Blackstone-backed entertainment startup Candle Media, which acquired Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company in a deal worth $900 million. Candle also owns Moonbug Entertainment, which produces the hit children's show \"CoComelon.\"\nMayer demurred when asked whether or not he'd take the CEO position, telling Yahoo Finance at the Invest conference he had \"no obvious answer.\"\nHe did, however, elaborate on why it's been challenging to find a post-Iger replacement.\n\"There's a tradition at Disney that has been difficult to do,\" he said. \"It's just hard, especially if you're a CEO as successful as Bob. I think it pains him to see the company not live up to the standards that he had set forward. So stepping back in was something I think he felt he just had to do.\"\nHe added Iger, along with the board, \"will pick a great successor.\"\n\"They have several of them in the company and then people outside the company that they could go to. I think the next one will be a good process.\"\nAlexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "5 questions Disney CEO Bob Iger will face in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1320,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-today-dow-hits-record-high-as-stocks-cap-longest-weekly-winning-streak-since-2017-181200723.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Propelled by a dovish outlook from the Federal Reserve, the Dow finished the week at a record high as US stocks capped their longest weekly winning streak since 2017.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) ticked up by about 0.2%, or about 60 points, earning the the blue-chip index another record finish. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was virtually unchanged, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained roughly 0.4%.\nMarkets rejoiced after the Federal Reserve's shift in tone this week as the central bank signaled more rate cuts in 2024 than previously forecast and acknowledged its anti-inflation campaign is gaining traction. That helped drive a rally in US stocks with the Dow reaching a record and the major indexes posting a seventh-straight winning week.\nRead more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards\nSome observers caution that markets could be getting ahead of themselves on the Fed's plans, with New York Fed President John Williams telling CNBC in an interview Friday that talk of rate cuts is \"premature.\"\nAway from Friday's moves in the stock market oil ticked higher, logging its first weekly win since October. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures settled just below at $72 a barrel while Brent crude futures (BZ=F) changed hands at about $77 a barrel. Oil price had gained more than 4% in the previous two sessions as the dollar weakened.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Stock market news today: Dow hits record high as stocks cap longest weekly winning streak since 2017"
    },
    {
        "id": 1321,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-lufthansa-resume-flights-tel-181041592.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Updates media identifier to LUFTHANSA-ISRAEL/ from LUFTHANSA-/ISRAEL; adds context)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Lufthansa will resume flights to Tel Aviv from Jan. 8, it said on Friday, after cancelling its service to Israel on Oct. 9 amid the country's escalating war with Hamas.\nThe move will make the German airline one of the first international carriers to restart flights to Israel.\nWhile the country did not close its airspace to civil flights after Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, many international airlines stopped flying to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv and to Lebanon soon after the conflict began.\nFlights to Beirut, which had also been suspended, were resumed on Friday by Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines and Eurowings, the airline added in a statement.\nFlights to Israel will be available for booking starting on Monday, Dec. 18, Lufthansa said.\nAir France-KLM, British Airways owner IAG , Ryanair and EasyJet did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on whether they would also resume flying to Israel. (Reporting by Paolo Laudani and Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Sarah Marsh and Jan Harvey)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Lufthansa to resume flights to Tel Aviv in January"
    },
    {
        "id": 1322,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-feds-bostic-sees-two-180709304.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Howard Schneider\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve can begin reducing interest rates \"sometime in the third quarter\" of 2024 if inflation falls as expected, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on Friday, pushing back against expectations of any imminent move but outlining a deliberative process that will gather steam in coming weeks.\nBostic said he expects inflation, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures price index, to end 2024 at around 2.4%, enough progress towards the U.S. central bank's 2% target to warrant two quarter-percentage-point rate cuts over the second half of next year.\n\"I'm not really feeling that this is an imminent thing,\" Bostic said in an interview with Reuters, with policymakers still needing \"several months\" to accumulate enough data and confidence that inflation will continue to fall before moving away from the policy rate's current 5.25%-5.50% range.\nBut Bostic also said he has asked his staff to begin discussing principles and thresholds to help frame the debate.\n\"We've got to figure out definitionally what the 'neighborhood' looks like\" where the inflation outlook is such that rate cuts are warranted, Bostic said. \"Over the next several weeks ... I think we are going to start talking about that.\"\n(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-Fed's Bostic sees two rate cuts in 2024, likely starting in third quarter"
    },
    {
        "id": 1323,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investors-baffled-powell-turbocharges-slide-174557312.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell confounded some on Wall Street this week by pouring lighter fluid over a market that was already betting on a pivot in monetary policy.\nBonds and share prices have surged since Powell on Wednesday let slip that policymakers had discussed interest-rate cuts, a signal that his remarks — whether he meant them to or not — have further loosened financial conditions.\nThat’s a risk to the central bank’s goal of slowing demand to rein in inflation. Even New York Fed President John Williams’ attempt to pare back market euphoria on Friday, by saying it was too early to discuss a March rate cut, fell short of undoing the week’s rally.\n“I’m baffled,” Sonal Desai, chief investment officer of fixed income at Franklin Templeton said on Bloomberg Television, referring to Powell’s post-meeting comments. “It’s completely unclear why he decided it was necessary to turbocharge the move” lower in rates, especially given that he’s previously acknowledged, as rates had been rising, the market’s role in creating appropriately tighter financial conditions.\n“So I would anticipate that, if the Fed wanted to show any degree of caution, it might try to rein the market exuberance back just a bit in coming weeks,” Desai added.\nRead more: Why Fed’s Goal of ‘Soft Landing’ Looks Closer Now: QuickTake\nGoldman Sachs Group Inc.’s financial conditions index — a measure that incorporates variables like stock prices, credit spreads, interest rates and the exchange rate — has moved down this week and is off by over 1% since late October, when yields were Treasury yields were surging.\nThe Fed on Wednesday unveiled quarterly rate projections that increased the amount of rate reductions predicted next year, relative to the prior update in September. Financial markets and Wall Street banks alike have since started to prep for earlier and faster cuts next year.\nSwaps contracts tied to Fed meetings indicate about 150 basis points of rate cuts in 2024, with a roughly 80% chance they begin in March. That’s even after Williams, who plays a key role in communicating central bank policy, said on CNBC that it was premature for officials to even think about a March reduction.\nRead more: Fed’s Williams Says Talk of March Rate Cut Is ‘Premature’\nWhile the two-year Treasury yield, most linked to the outlook for Fed policy, rose to a session high immediately after Williams’ comment, the move quickly faded. The yield is now little changed on the day at about 4.41%, on course to drop this week by over 30 basis points.\n“Some pushback in terms of rate cut timings is likely to be forthcoming from Fed officials, but the cat is out of the bag in terms of the end of rate hikes and the next phase of the cycle being characterized by monetary easing,” Chris Iggo, chief investment officer of core investments at AXA Investment Managers, said in a note published Friday before Williams’ comments. “Market momentum will be hard to shift.”\n--With assistance from Katie Greifeld and Romaine Bostick.\n",
        "title": "Investors Baffled After Powell Turbocharges Slide in US Rates"
    },
    {
        "id": 1324,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/corrected-citi-set-split-mexico-172616086.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Corrects to say Citi will separate its Mexican retail unit from its corporate and investment business)\nMEXICO CITY, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Citigroup will split its Mexico retail unit, known as Banamex, from its corporate and investment banking business in the country by the second half of 2024, the lender's Mexico head Manuel Romo said on Thursday.\nThe retail unit should then begin the process of going public in 2025, Romo said. The offering could take place in Mexico or another country, he added. (Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Sarah Morland)\n",
        "title": "CORRECTED-Citi set to split Mexico retail bank from corporate, investment unit by late 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1325,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/turkish-airlines-announces-order-220-170330005.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s national carrier, Turkish Airlines, said Friday that it is placing an order for 220 new planes from Airbus as it seeks to expand its fleet.\nIn a statement to Turkey’s public disclosures platform, KAP, Turkish Airlines announced that it will buy 150 narrow-body A321 Neo aircraft in addition to 50 wide-body A350-900 jets, 15 of the A350-1000 planes and five A350F cargo aircraft.\nThe company also would procure engine maintenance services and spare engines for the A350 aircraft from Rolls-Royce, according to the statement.\nAirbus said the latest order increases Turkish Airlines’ total order to 504 planes, adding that 212 have already been delivered.\n\"By modernizing our fleet with more efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft, we are reinforcing our leading position in global aviation and contributing to the nation’s prominence as an aviation hub,” Turkish Airlines board Chairman Ahmet Bolat said in a news release from Toulouse, France-based Airbus.\nThe airline is vying to turn its hub in Istanbul into a major center for international transport.\nTurkish Airlines spokesman was not available for further information on the deal.\n",
        "title": "Turkish Airlines announces order for 220 additional aircraft from Airbus"
    },
    {
        "id": 1326,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-flow-hedge-funds-bearish-165315974.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Carolina Mandl and Summer Zhen\nNEW YORK/HONG KONG, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Global equities long/short hedge funds' bets against U.S. stocks got squeezed in the last two days after U.S. bond yields slid, two investment banks said in notes that were sent to hedge fund clients and obtained by Reuters.\nBoth Goldman Sachs and Jefferies said long/short hedge funds, which take positions betting stocks will rise and fall, got hit hard after Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday indicated that the U.S. central bank's historic tightening of monetary policy was likely over.\nThat remark, made in a press conference after the end of a two-day Fed policy meeting, sparked a rally in stocks, with the S&P 500 index up 1.6% over the past two days. On Friday, the index was largely muted. The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury notes was little changed at 3.8998% on Friday, after sinking to its lowest level since July on the Fed's dovish pivot.\nJefferies' trading desk said that long/short hedge funds on Wednesday and Thursday had their \"second-worst two-day move ever,\" as long positions outperformed short bets. The investment bank analyzed a metric called the long/short spread that shows the performance of long versus short trades.\nGoldman Sachs said systematic equities long/short hedge funds on Thursday had their worst day in roughly eight years. \"Negative performance (was) driven by (a) squeeze in crowded shorts, momentum sell-off and rally in high beta and high volatility stocks,\" Marco Laicini, a managing director at Goldman, said in the note.\nThe investment bank's global markets team said systematic long/short funds, based on a computer-driven strategy, were down 2.8% on Thursday, the worst single day since at least January 2016.\nThe Goldman note pointed to \"crowded trades (mainly shorts), momentum and volatility among key negative drivers,\" adding that there was high volatility. Still, systematic funds are up roughly 13% on a year-to-date basis.\nGoldman and Jefferies did not immediately comment on their notes, details of which have not previously been published.\nJefferies told its clients that the pain was not limited to long/short hedge funds, with \"lots of frustrations and pain on the sidelines from systematic, macro, fundamental long/short managers alike.\" (Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York, and Summer Nell, in Hong Kong; Editing by Megan Davies and Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "HEDGE FLOW-Hedge funds' bearish bets get crushed in post-Fed meeting rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1327,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/guidelines-around-tax-credit-sustainable-163826704.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Long-awaited guidance around tax credits for aviation fuel that reduces emissions of greenhouse gases compared with conventional fuel was issued Friday by the Treasury Department.\nEnvironmentalists said they were concerned that the guidelines could pave the way for credits for fuel made from corn, sugar cane and other crops, which they consider unsustainable sources.\nProducers of sustainable aviation fuel will be eligible for tax credits ranging from $1.25 to $1.75 per gallon.\nCongress approved the credits as part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which included provisions designed to boost cleaner energy. The credits are designed to increase the supply and reduce the cost of sustainable fuel, which is far higher than regular jet fuel.\nOn a key issue, the Treasury Department accepted a model for measuring the emissions-reduction of fuels that is being developed by the Energy Department and is supported by the ethanol industry.\nHowever, Treasury said the Biden administration plans to update the Energy Department model for measuring emissions reductions by March 1, leaving the eventual outcome uncertain.\nThe Environmental Defense Fund said it would withhold final judgment on the guidelines until March, but said it worried that they could put the U.S. out of step with international standards.\n“Our initial assessment is that this would be a blank check for fuels made from sugar cane, soybean and rapeseed — none of which are sustainable or consistent with Congress' intent,” the group's senior vice president, Mark Brownstein, said in a prepared statement.\nEthanol supporters counter that the Energy Department model provides a precise way to measure the carbon-reduction benefits of agricultural feedstocks used in sustainable aviation fuel.\nAround 2% to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from aviation, according to estimates, but that share is expected to grow as air travel continues to boom. Widespread use of electric-powered airplanes is generally considered decades away.\n",
        "title": "Guidelines around a new tax credit for sustainable aviation fuel is issued by Treasury Department"
    },
    {
        "id": 1328,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/greek-yogurt-maker-chobani-buys-163621839.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Greek-yogurt maker Chobani said on Friday it had bought ready-to-drink coffee maker La Colombe for $900 million to expand its beverage business.\nChobani said it bought the Philadelphia-based company through a combination of newly issued $550 million term loan, cash on hand and in exchange of Keurig Dr Pepper's minority equity stake in the coffee brewer.\nLast year, Chobani withdrew its plans for an initial public offering in the United States after having delayed its listing plans earlier. The company has been expanding its product categories by adding products such as coffee creamers.\nLa Colombe will continue to operate as an independent brand, the companies said.\n(Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Greek-yogurt maker Chobani buys coffee company La Colombe for $900 million"
    },
    {
        "id": 1329,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-hcsc-elevance-compete-cigna-163556444.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds background throughout)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Health Care Service Corp and Elevance Health are competing to acquire Cigna Group’s business providing medical coverage to those aged 65 and over, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.\nCigna expects final bids for its Medicare Advantage business to be submitted next week, according to the report, with the business expected to fetch more than $3 billion.\nThe companies did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.\nReuters had reported in November that Cigna was exploring a sale of the business. If it goes through, it would mark a reversal of the company's expansion in the sector.\nThe health insurer was reportedly earlier in talks to merge with Humana, one of the top players in Medicare Advantage, but those discussions ended after the pair failed to agree on a price, according to multiple media reports. (Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-HCSC, Elevance compete for Cigna Medicare Advantage unit - Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 1330,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2023-was-the-year-your-streaming-bill-got-a-lot-more-expensive-165706892.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Gone are the days of cheap streaming. It's profitability time, folks.\n2023 represented a year of change for media after rising costs and debt-ridden balance sheets weighed on the sector in 2022 — and wiped off more than $500 billion in market capitalization.\nIn response, media giants enacted mass layoffs, rolled out ad-supported tiers, bundled their offerings, and, yes, raised the monthly prices of their respective subscription plans.\n\"Streaming is moving into an adolescence,\" Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen wrote in a recent note, referencing those changes. Yet, the said streaming profitability still has a long way to go with virtually all media companies, except for Netflix, losing money.\n\"Adolescence can be awkward,\" he said.\nApple (AAPL) raised prices in October, announcing that the monthly cost of streaming service Apple TV+ will go up by $3 to $9.99 for new subscribers. The company also raised prices on other subscription services like Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and its bundled offering Apple One.\nPrior to Apple's reveal, Netflix (NFLX) announced it would be raising prices in the US, UK, and France during its third quarter earnings announcement. Its Basic and Premium plans now cost $11.99 and $22.99, respectively, in the US. That's up from the prior $9.99 and $19.99 price points. Netflix’s $6.99 ad-supported plan and $15.49 Standard plan remain the same.\nDisney (DIS) hiked streaming prices on Oct. 12 for the second time this year. The price of the Disney+ ad-free plan jumped to $13.99 a month in the US, up from the prior $10.99. That's now double the $6.99 monthly cost Disney charged for the service when it first launched in 2019.\nAnd that's not all.\nWarner Bros. Discovery (WBD), which raised the price of its ad-free Max offering in January by $1 to $15.99, announced earlier this month that it would raise the price of its ad-free Discovery+ streaming platform by $2 to $8.99.\nComcast's Peacock (CMCSA) upped the cost of its ad-supported plan by $1 to $5.99 and its ad-free plan by $2 to $11.99 in August. It was the first time Peacock had raised its streaming prices.\nIn June, Paramount (PARA) launched its Paramount+ with Showtime streaming offering for $11.99 a month — $2 more than the previous price for a Paramount+ subscription. It also raised the prices of its ad-supported tier by $1 to $5.99.\nEven cable replacement services like Alphabet's YouTube TV and Disney's Hulu + Live TV have seen prices leap from prior levels.\nYouTube TV jumped to $72.99 from $64.99 in March while Hulu + Live TV with ads jumped from $69.99 to $76.99. The ad-free version now costs $89.99, up from the prior $82.99.\nAdded up, the cost of these services now rival the dreaded cable TV bundle of years past — the very thing that streaming set out to undo.\nConsumers are taking notice with subscribers canceling more of their plans to combat rising costs. According to the latest data from Antenna, US subscribers are canceling streaming services at record rates with nearly 6% of overall subscribers canceling plans in October — the highest recorded rate.\nLionsgate's Starz (LGF-A) saw the highest churn rate out of all the major streamers at 12.5% followed by Discovery+ at 9.2%, Max at 8.4%, and Apple TV+ at 7.2%. Netflix had the lowest churn rate at just 1.6%.\nSeparately, new data from Statista said Apple TV+ is expected to lose about $6 billion on its streaming video business in 2024, citing elevated churn amid its price hikes. The data comes as Apple has recently committed to beefing up its sports slate.\nTo combat some of that churn, bundles have increased in popularity.\nAlthough the concept of bundling isn't new, more distributors are now partnering with content operators to offer that flexibility, while competitors may also team up.\nEarlier this month, telecom giant Verizon (VZ) announced it will offer a $10 bundle for the ad-supported plans of both Netflix (NFLX) and Warner Bros. Discovery's Max (WBD) streaming services, yielding more than 40% in savings.\nPrior to that announcement, the Wall Street Journal reported that Paramount Global (PARA) and Apple (AAPL) are in early-stage talks to bundle their streaming services at a discount. Paramount declined to comment while Apple did not respond to Yahoo Finance's request.\n\"Everybody's trying to come up with something proprietary,\" Mark Boidman, partner and global head of media at Solomon Partners, told Yahoo Finance of the bundle. \"When you can bundle something together at an attractive price in the minds of consumers then that makes sense.\"\nMarc DeBevoise, who helped launch CBS All Access and now serves as CEO of streaming tech company Brightcove, emphasized the benefits of optionality within the bundle.\n\"[Streamers] are going to give consumers a lot of different choices over the next few years,\" he told Yahoo Finance Live. \"They are certainly looking at bundling as a way to reduce churn or a way to impact how they can retain those customers over the long term.\"\nAlexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "2023 was the year your streaming bill got (a lot) more expensive"
    },
    {
        "id": 1331,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quaker-oats-recalls-granola-products-164502898.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "CHICAGO (AP) — Quaker Oats on Friday recalled several of its granola products, including granola bars and cereals, saying the foods could be contaminated with salmonella.\nSalmonella infections can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In rare cases, the bacterial disease can be fatal.\nQuaker, which is owned by PepsiCo, said in a news release that it has not received any reports of salmonella infections related to the recalled granola products. The full list of recalled foods includes granola oats cereals and Quaker Chewy Bars, which are also sold in PepsiCo's snack mixes.\nThe affected products have been sold in all 50 U.S. states, as well as U.S. territories, Quaker said. The company is asking customers with recalled products to throw them away and contact its customer support line or visit the recall website for more information and reimbursement.\nAccording to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 1.35 million cases of salmonella infection occur in the U.S. each year, causing approximately 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths.\n",
        "title": "Quaker Oats recalls granola products over concerns of salmonella contamination"
    },
    {
        "id": 1332,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citigroup-is-dismantling-another-piece-of-the-empire-that-sandy-weill-built-154349165.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Citigroup (C) was for decades a top underwriter of state and local government debt, making the bank a major financier of roads, bridges, and airports across the US.\nNow it wants out of that business, dismantling yet another part of an empire amassed in the 1990s.\nThe decision, announced internally in a bank memo Thursday, is the latest example of how Citigroup is paring back its ambitions as it tries to revive its stock price and remove decades of bloat.\nThe municipal bond business — known for underwriting bonds that helped pay for everything from a makeover of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to the rebuilding of One World Trade Center following the 9/11 attacks — apparently was no longer delivering enough profits.\n\"The economics of these activities are no longer viable given our commitment to increase the firm’s overall returns,\" Citigroup executives Andy Morton and Peter Babej said in the Thursday memo. Morton is the company’s head of markets and Babej is interim head of banking.\nThe move, which came after months of review, will result in a wind-down of the unit by the end of the fourth quarter. Roughly 100 employees in the municipal sales, trading, and banking unit are expected to leave over the coming months.\nThere was once a time when municipal bond business was a key part of Citigroup’s billing as a \"financial supermarket\" that could offer any and all services needed by consumers, businesses, and governments.\nThe high point of this model was an era-defining 1998 merger between Citicorp and Travelers that shattered a Depression-era division between retail banking and investment banking and cemented Citigroup’s status as the world’s largest financial institution.\nThe deal, engineered by Sandy Weill, gave Citigroup the investment banking operations of Salomon Brothers, which at the time was the industry’s largest underwriter of municipal bonds and famously had a hand in helping New York City avoid bankruptcy during the 1970s.\nIn the decades since 1998, the colossus built by Weill proved to be too complex and unwieldy to manage effectively, and the 2008-2009 financial crisis dealt another blow to its sweeping ambitions. The company began to slowly unwind parts of the empire.\nThe muni bond exit is yet another step in that direction as CEO Jane Fraser tries to focus the company on serving big, multinational corporations, shed what isn't profitable, and operate more efficiently.\nShe is pulling back from consumer banking in various parts of the world, with plans to exit 14 consumer franchises in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Mexico.\nShe is also cutting jobs and reorganizing business lines as part of an internal restructuring that Fraser has called the \"most consequential\" change to how Citigroup operates in nearly two decades.\nLayoffs associated with that restructuring began in November. Citigroup CFO Mark Mason said at a Goldman Sachs conference last week that the bank anticipates a charge of \"a couple hundred million dollars\" related to these restructuring efforts.\nThe hope is that these moves will revive Citigroup’s stock. Over the past decade, it has fallen more than 2%, significantly lagging Big Bank peers and even the wider KBW US bank index (^BKX), which has risen 44% over the same period.\nDuring much of that same period, Citigroup held a dominant position in the muni world. From 2015 until 2021, it was the country's second-biggest underwriter of municipal bonds. But its ranking has slipped some in the last two years.\nNew capital requirements from regulators could make that business less profitable going forward. There are also government efforts at state levels to restrict the ability of certain banks to participate in muni bond offerings if they don’t comply with local preferences.\nIn Texas, for example, the bank found itself unable to conduct muni business after the attorney general’s office in January determined that Citigroup had \"a policy that discriminates against a firearm entity or firearm trade association.\"\nThe response followed a decision made by Citigroup to restrict its banking services to gun retailers that sold firearms to people under 21, which came as a response to the 2018 Parkland shooting in a Miami suburb.\nThe state has a law in place barring certain government contracts with companies that have anti-gun business practices.\nCitigroup said in its memo Thursday that it will still work with state and local governments on infrastructure projects via public-private partnerships and the private placement market.\nAnd the bank, according to the memo, will still purchase muni bonds and finance affordable housing projects in the US.\n\"We do think banks are likely to be less present in the muni market,\" Pimco’s head of municipal bonds David Hammer told Yahoo Finance Friday when asked about Citigroup's retreat.\nDavid Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Citigroup is dismantling another piece of the empire that Sandy Weill built"
    },
    {
        "id": 1333,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-atb-capital-liquidate-failed-151959039.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- ATB Capital Markets received a mandate to sell the remaining assets of Canadian hedge fund Traynor Ridge Capital Inc., which collapsed after the sudden death of its founder.\nThe appointment is subject to approval from an Ontario judge, Ernst & Young Inc., Traynor’s court-appointed receiver, said in documents released Friday.\nToronto-based Traynor, which was managing about C$95 million ($65.2 million) at the end of September, was shut down by the Ontario Securities Commission in October following the death of founder Chris Callahan.\nThe hedge fund manager left a number of trading firms stuck with “failed trades” — that is, brokers had executed trades on behalf of the company but couldn’t collect payments. The situation ensnared firms including Virtu Financial Inc.’s Canadian unit, Echelon Wealth Partners Inc., National Bank of Canada and JonesTrading Canada Inc., according to documents in the case.\nThe securities commission filed an order on Oct. 30 to stop Traynor from making further trades, adding that three firms were due C$85 million to C$95 million for transactions made on behalf of the fund.\nFriday’s filing of documents by Ernst & Young gives only limited information about what was inside the Traynor funds. Bloomberg has previously reported that Callahan followed arbitrage strategies and had invested in a number of small-cap firms in the cannabis sector.\nRead More: Hedge Fund Executive’s Sudden Death Exposes Firm in Deep Trouble\nThe documents suggest the fund was trading frantically in the early part of October and that it suffered significant losses in the weeks leading up to Callahan’s death. “The portfolio includes a number of securities that are illiquid and/or not publicly traded.”\nATB Capital, which is a division of provincial-government-owned ATB Financial, will receive a commission of C$350,000, of which half will be paid once the court approves the mandate. If asset sales bring in more than C$40 million, the adviser will receive 5% of the amount above that threshold, according to the notice.\n(Updates with additional information about Ernst & Young filing.)\n",
        "title": "Canada’s ATB Capital to Liquidate Failed Hedge Fund Traynor Ridge"
    },
    {
        "id": 1334,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/america-sugar-shortfall-leaves-candy-150005505.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Bonbons and candy canes may dominate the American holiday aesthetic, but US confectionery companies are feeling anything but jolly as they head into one of the sugar market’s tightest years in recent memory.\nProlonged droughts in major cane-producers Mexico and Louisiana have helped push US sugar futures to the highest ever for this time of year and forced users to turn to high-cost imports instead. Sweets-makers paying up to snag supplies are choosing to protect their margins by raising prices for consumers — and hoping shoppers don’t balk at the mark-up.\n“We just found that it was better to just pay more for sugar and pass it along to the consumer than to be completely out of sugar,” said Kirk Vashaw, chief executive officer of Dum Dums lollipop maker Spangler Candy Co. “And there’s a lot of other companies that I think thought the same thing.”\nCandy is big business in the US: Confectionery retail sales are forecast to be $48.8 billion this year, according to consumer research group Euromonitor International. With about 1,600 manufacturing sites across all 50 states, the US sector employs more than 200,000 people, the National Confectioners Association estimates — with more than double the number of indirect roles, like suppliers.\nRising food costs have been a problem ever since pandemic-era supply chain snags and labor shortages blindsided businesses in 2020. Even now, food prices for many everyday items remain at their highest levels ever — and sweets have been particularly hard hit. Consumer prices for confectionery items rose 13.4% in the 12-month period ending Nov. 25, according to data from consumer researcher NIQ, outpacing overall grocery gains.\nAlthough inflation is a problem the world over, the US sugar market has been uniquely impacted due to its protectionist regulations. US rules cap both domestic sales and the volume of foreign supplies that can be brought in under low duties; all other sugar imports past those so-called tariff-rate quotas are subject to higher taxes. The regulations are intended to protect grower profits, especially given higher US production costs, and prevent other countries from flooding the US with sugar.\n“Congress has to continually balance seeking trade opportunities outside of the US while protecting US producers from unfair practices used by other countries to prop up their own industries,” Rob Johansson, director of economics and policy analysis for the American Sugar Alliance, said in an email.\nBut critics say the rules aren’t nimble enough to keep pace with any domestic production shortfall. An October report from the US Government Accountability Office found the program cost sugar users like consumers and food manufacturers more than it benefited producers, resulting in a net economic loss of as much as $1.6 billion a year. Johansson, whose group represents a coalition of sugarcane and sugar beet producers, said the GAO report “used biased and dated information.”\nIn normal years, imports from Mexico, which get preferential treatment, and those allowed under quota limits from other countries are generally enough to fulfill US demand. But Mexican imports haven’t held up: In November, the US imported the least sugar from Mexico for that month since at least fiscal 2011, USDA data show.\nIn fact, shortfalls have become so acute this season that buyers are increasingly turning to so-called high-tier tariff imports, or the ones taxed more for surpassing the quota limits. The US Department of Agriculture forecasts that those priciest imports are approaching the record highs seen after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 destroyed much of Louisiana’s cane crop and took refineries offline.\nThe US is currently at “a high moment of anxiety when it comes to our sugar supply,” said Grant Colvin, the executive director of the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy, a coalition of sugar users who advocate for regulation reforms. “The program is designed to inflate the cost of sugar.”\nThe reauthorization of the Farm Bill in 2024 will give advocates a chance to lobby for a change in the way future import quotas are determined. But past efforts to overhaul the process have failed, and companies struggling to afford sugar aren’t just waiting for Washington.\nInstead, candy-makers are taking matters into their own hands. In addition to raising prices, some companies are trying to lock in supply costs ahead of schedule. That’s what Bryan, Ohio-based Spangler Candy did: It booked its 2024 sugar contracts this past February, months earlier than usual. CEO Vashaw said the company is likely to do the same again for 2025, since concerns over shortages have kept prices elevated.\nIf the sugar problems continue much longer, more companies might look to offshore output. It has happened before. In 2019, Spangler moved production for Sweethearts, the popular heart-shaped Valentine’s Day candy, and Necco candy wafers from Boston to Mexico after the brands’ former owner went out of business. Half of Spangler’s candy cane production was already south of the border at the time. Better automation in the US offsets the higher prices of sugar, so production costs for candy canes are similar in both countries, Vashaw said.\nAtkinson Candy Co., the 91-year-old company behind Mary Jane peanut-butter caramels, already moved production of its “Mint Twist” Christmas candies to Guatemala in 2010. Third-generation candy-maker Eric Atkinson said he has considered moving more hard candy output away from Texas if conditions don’t improve, though he hasn’t made any concrete plans.\n“One of the things that people read into that is that we are exporting jobs. And the fact of the matter is those jobs weren’t going to be there anyhow based on the price that we have to charge,” he said. “We’re maintaining a brand in the only way that we could.”\nDespite the challenges, larger candy companies have continued to see revenue growth amid strong consumer demand, offsetting sugar costs, said Renata Medeiros, director of food and agriculture client coverage at ING. But for smaller companies with less negotiating power, the impact of expensive raw materials takes a toll. US raw sugar futures eased off the contract’s record highs posted in November but are still close to double levels from a decade ago. Prices for physical refined sugar, especially purchased via the spot market, tend to be much higher than futures.\nWhen manufacturers pass on the higher raw material costs to consumers, there’s always a chance retail sales drop. So far, unit sales in the confectionery category only dipped 0.5% over the past year, the NIQ data show, suggesting buyers are still willing to shell out for small luxuries like desserts, even at higher prices. But current levels are “close to the point where significant price increases probably aren’t going to work” and could have “serious consequences” on unit sales, said Paul Steed, a former commodity price risk manager at Mars Inc.\nThe sugar issues are also hitting other users, from pastry shops to cafes. Some commercial bakers are looking to secure multiple suppliers in order to reduce supply-chain risks, the American Bakers Association said in an email.\nOver the course of last year, Brooklyn institution Junior’s raised its prices 12% to partially offset costs, but it hasn’t been enough, with margins slashed in half since the pandemic, said owner Alan Rosen. There are no alternatives to sugar, since that would compromise the quality of its 73-year-old cheesecake recipe.\n“Our costs have approximately doubled over the last years. We can’t double our prices to our consumers. It’s just virtually impossible,” Rosen said. “Our cheesecakes are truly great, but I don’t know if they’re twice as great.”\n",
        "title": "America’s Sugar Shortfall Leaves Candy-Makers Scrounging"
    },
    {
        "id": 1335,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-workers-are-still-clocking-in-to-work-at-65-143142967.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The number of older workers on the job is creeping higher.\nRoughly 1 in 5 Americans ages 65 and older (19%) were employed in 2023, four times the number in the mid-1980s. That tallies up to around 11 million workers and is on par with the number of those in that age cohort who were clocking in during the early 1960s.\nThat’s the scuttlebutt from a new report from the Pew Research Center. “Older adults have not been left behind in the US job market,” Richard Fry, a senior researcher at Pew and co-author of the report, told Yahoo Finance.\nThat lines up with my own family’s experience. My husband, 69, is employed full-time; my brother, 67, is going full steam at a company where he has worked for more than three decades; and my brother-in-law, 65, juggles a patchwork quilt of paid positions from teaching at a university to consulting to work as a corporate board member — intermixed with plenty of leisure time for biking, hiking, boating, travel, and time with family.\nThe survey also found that workers over 65 work longer hours than their predecessors and have higher levels of education. Over the course of a year, the average older worker works 1,573 hours, up from 1,213 hours in 1987. And more than 4 in 10 have a bachelor’s degree or more education, compared with 18% in 1987. That puts them about on par with workers ages 25 to 64, according to the survey.\nWhat’s more, they're raking in heftier pay per hour than older workers before them.\nThe inflation-adjusted earnings of the typical worker aged 65 or older rose from $13 an hour in 1987 to $22 an hour in 2022. And today, more than 6 in 10 are working full-time, compared with 47% in 1987.\nRead more: How to find out your 2024 Social Security COLA increase\n“We are also seeing that older workers are less likely to say they find their job stressful, reporting higher levels of job satisfaction overall compared to younger workers,” Fry added.\nTwo-thirds (67%) of workers ages 65 and older say they’re extremely or very satisfied with their job overall, compared with 55% of those 50 to 64, 51% of those 30 to 49, and 44% of those 18 to 29, according to another recent Pew survey conducted in February.\nWhy are they still working? For many older workers, my family included, it’s because they love what they do and want to stay engaged mentally and with a community. Not to be dismissed, the paycheck makes them feel valued and is a financial safety net, even if they have saved adequately for retirement.\nPolicy shifts have also encouraged people to stay on the job longer, according to the Pew research. Changes to the Social Security system, for example, raised the age which workers receive their full retirement benefits from 65 to 67.\nRead more: What is the retirement age for Social Security, 401(k), and IRA withdrawals?\n“Older workers have accounted for much of the recent growth in the labor force,” Richard Johnson, director of the Program on Retirement Policy at the Urban Institute, told Yahoo Finance.\nWorkers ages 65 and older represent about a quarter of the increase in the labor force over the past 25 years, and workers ages 55 and older represent more than three-quarters of the increase, he said.\n“Without the added contributions of older workers, the labor force would have stagnated, reducing productivity gains and lowering economic growth,” Johnson added.\nAnd the tide is not turning.\nAdults ages 65 and older are projected to be 8.6% of the labor force (those working and looking for work) in 2032, up from 6.6% in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And older adults are projected to account for 57% of labor force growth over this period.\n“That is a pretty astonishing number,” Bradley Schurman, a demographic strategist and the author of “The Super Age,” told Yahoo Finance.\n“People can cry and moan about the fact that, ‘isn't it so awful that over 65s have to be in the workforce?,’” Schurman said. “No, it's not. It's good for you. I’m not saying that people should be chained to a job that they can barely do because they're physically infirmed or mentally incompetent. But for those that have the physical and mental wherewithal, this is a good thing because you stay healthier physically and financially, and have more money in your pocket. When you have people earning for longer, they stay active consumers.”\nEven workers who retired during the pandemic have returned from the labor market sidelines to fill open slots in a bubbling job market that is only now starting to shift to a simmer.\nA recent report from T. Rowe Price found that around 7% of retirees are looking for work in retirement, while 20% say they’re already working part-time or full-time. The two main reasons for coming back into the workforce: 45% chose to work for social and emotional benefits, while a slightly larger percentage — 48% — felt they needed to work for financial reasons.\nThe biggest financial payoffs of additional years of paid work are pushing back retirement account withdrawals, continuing to save and delaying claiming Social Security benefits. If you choose to wait to tap your benefits until age 70, you earn delayed retirement credits, which come to roughly an 8% per year annual increase in your benefit until you hit 70 when the credits stop accruing.\nDespite the increase in employment for many people 65 and older, it’s not an easy skate for all older workers. “It is heartening to see that the door is still open to these older workers when they want a job or need one,” Ramona Schindelheim, WorkingNation editor-in-chief, told Yahoo Finance. “I see progress, but I still see an unmet need for many older workers and a missed opportunity for employers to capitalize on the labor right in front of them.”\nAnd the income gap between workers aged 25 to 64 and workers 65 and older is still “too wide,” she added. Older workers make 78 cents on the dollar compared to their younger counterparts. In 2023, the median annual income for workers 65 and older was $58,600, compared to $73,700 for workers aged 25 to 64, according to Pew research.\n“One of the reasons they get so much less is that the existing skills and experience older workers have are undervalued, both organizationally and financially,” Schindelheim said. “Older workers have experience in problem-solving, teamwork, and institutional memory.”\nThere are glimmers of hope that the mindset that employers have about older workers may be changing. Over 3 in 5 employers said they gave a “great deal” or “quite a bit of consideration” to job applicants age 50 and older when recruiting last year, according to a recent Transamerica Institute workplace survey.\nOf course, that doesn’t mean they hired them.\n“The headwinds encountered by older job seekers in the past are receding to a certain degree,” Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of the nonprofit Transamerica Institute and Transamerica Center for Retirement, told Yahoo Finance.\nWhile the jump in employment for workers 65 and older is notable, “many continue to struggle,” Johnson said. “Older Black and Hispanic men earn about one-third less than older white men. Many employers are still reluctant to hire older workers, so older unemployed workers spend about twice as much time out of work than younger unemployed workers.”\nKerry Hannon is a Senior Reporter and Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a workplace futurist, a career and retirement strategist, and the author of 14 books, including \"In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in The New World of Work\" and \"Never Too Old To Get Rich.\" Follow her on X @kerryhannon.\nClick here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "More workers are still clocking in to work at 65"
    },
    {
        "id": 1336,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/countdown-bitcoin-etf-decision-approaching-143000322.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- There’s likely fewer than 30 days left before the crypto world’s inevitable leap into traditional finance offers digital-money proponents a path to redemption post-FTX.\nThat’s the bullish narrative in virtual-currency land as the clock ticks down to Jan. 10 – when US regulators must finally decide whether to greenlight a physically-backed Bitcoin ETF. The Securities and Exchange Commission will by that time be required to either accept or deny an application from Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment and 21Shares, who were the first to file during this year’s batch of applicants. It could at that time also rule on other similar filings. More than 10 companies are working toward getting these ETFs — which would directly hold Bitcoin — green-lit.\nShould approval finally happen, it would mark a significant moment for the digital-assets industry, which is still in recovery mode following 2022’s massive failures, including that of the collapse of the FTX exchange.\n“This decisive date has been the center of attention for Bitcoin investors since October and will be an extremely important date to watch,” K33’s Vetle Lunde wrote in a note about the January deadline. He predicts that the funds will get regulatory blessing.\nWhile issuers have been trying to get a spot-Bitcoin product approved since 2013, excitement has built up this year in particular given the participation of Wall Street heavyweights such as BlackRock, Invesco and Fidelity in the race. Crypto fans argue that the launch of such a fund will help the digital-assets space become a bigger part of traditional finance as money managers will be able to buy with greater ease the ETFs for clients. The spot-Bitcoin ETF market has the potential to grow into a $100 billion juggernaut in time, according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates.\n“Past periods have been deemed the era of the institutionalization of Bitcoin,” Lunde said. “However, none have been anywhere near resembling 2023’s changes.”\nThat’s a point similarly echoed by Dan Morehead, founder and managing partner at Pantera Capital. “Institutional adoption has accelerated. The headline news has been the imminent approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs sponsored by large names in traditional finance – like BlackRock and Fidelity – and the leader in blockchain ETFs, Bitwise,” he wrote in a note. “Similar to the first international gold ETF in 2003 and US gold ETF in 2004, this opens a new channel for traditional capital to flow into ‘digital gold’ that might not have participated previously.”\nAll of it’s led to big gains for cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin more than doubling this year to trade above $40,000 once again. Other smaller coins have also surged. Mark Newton at Fundstrat posits that the so-called “crypto winter” — a prolonged period of bearishness and declining prices — is over.\n“Bitcoin looks to be giving off strong signals that the crypto winter that has kept most coins in bear markets over the last couple years has finally run its course,” he said.\nStill, there seems to be some sticking points for regulators, as the final ETF details look to be getting hashed out with issuers. One of the big contentions centers around in-kind versus cash redemptions for the funds, a mechanism that’s a delineating feature of ETFs.\nFor in-kind redemptions, an ETF issuer exchanges the fund’s underlying securities with a market maker to create and redeem shares rather than transacting in cash. In the second scenario, fund managers take on the responsibility for selling the securities to distribute cash to the redeeming shareholders. Regulatory officials are unlikely to allow in-kind redemptions for Bitcoin ETFs as they don’t want broker-dealers to have to handle Bitcoin, meaning that issuers are now likely working toward resolving this sticking point.\nRead more: Bitcoin ETF Redemptions Pose a Challenge: Bloomberg Crypto\nCrypto-centric exchange-traded products have seen inflows on the back of the price increases and overall industry exuberance. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (ticker BITO), which tracks Bitcoin futures, has seen more than $200 million come in so far this quarter, with its assets crossing above $1.5 billion, a record for the fund. Meanwhile, the 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) from Volatility Shares, a leveraged futures product that launched in June, crossed above $100 million in assets recently.\nAll in all, crypto-centered ETFs round out the list of the 10 best-performing non-leveraged equity ETFs in the US this year, with the best-performing — the VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP) — up more than 200%. Within the leveraged lineup, the GraniteShares 1.5x Long COIN Daily ETF (CONL) has been a standout with its roughly 500% year-to-date gain.\nStill, trading volumes, though they’ve risen amid Bitcoin-ETF speculation, remain depressed. And retail investors remain apathetic — their presence in the market has actually declined this year, according to K33. The researcher cites crypto-exchange website traffic, which has continued to come down.\n“The main excitement will be about the end of this long arduous process,” Bloomberg Intelligence’s James Seyffart said of the potential Bitcoin ETF launches. “Issuers first filed for this over a decade ago and many have spent years working with and arguing against the SEC. There has been an extreme amount of man hours put into this. So, if approval happens in January, it might be more of a relief than excitement to some.”\n--With assistance from Allyson Versprille and Katie Greifeld.\n",
        "title": "The Countdown for a Bitcoin ETF Decision Is Approaching a Critical Deadline"
    },
    {
        "id": 1337,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/familiar-names-throw-hats-2024-133000246.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The unicorns and decacorns lining up for the long-awaited return of mega-listings in 2024 are worthy candidates. They were worthy this year, too – and yet, here we are.\nFrom Reddit Inc. to Syngenta Group to CVC Capital Partners, debuts meant to restore sickly global initial public offering activity to health have been pushed back, sometimes repeatedly. Companies and investors have yet to entirely bridge the gap between their respective valuation expectations, set during boom times fueled by cheap money.\nThough bankers remain broadly upbeat about 2024, even they admit that after months of headfakes failed to sustain activity, a true return to health could take months.\n“It would be premature to say that there’s a normalized IPO market right around the corner,” said Eddie Molloy, Morgan Stanley’s co-head of equity capital markets Americas.\nNearly $130 billion has been raised through global IPOs this year, tracking for the worst since 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show. With mediocre post-debut trading in several of the year’s largest offerings giving new entrants pause, the return to a typical IPO market may drag on as late as — whisper it softly — 2025.\nWhile the coming year’s IPO activity should provide a meaningful uptick from 2023, 2025 is when “we go back to pre-Covid normals,” said Achintya Mangla, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s global head of equity capital markets.\nThe bank is taking a view over the longer-term IPO “cycle holistically as opposed to 2024 versus 2025,” he said.\nDelayed IPOs\nIt’s not unusual for companies to plan their first-time share sales well in advance. Still, the delays faced by some of the largest potential issuers go some length to explaining IPO markets in 2023.\nCVC, one of Europe’s biggest private equity firms, had been exploring an IPO for several years before preparing in October to kick off a listing in Amsterdam, people familiar with the matter said. A month later it was all off the table. With European IPO markets in a parlous state – they have raised just $13.9 billion this year, and are on track for the lowest total in at least a decade, data compiled by Bloomberg show – the risk may have been deemed too great.\nRead More: BofA Bankers See Slow IPO Market Revival, Deal Rush Some Way Off\nSyngenta started preparations even earlier, moving in 2019 only two years after its Chinese state-backed buyer completed its takeover of the Swiss giant. By 2023 the pieces appeared to be in place. Not long after, China’s securities regulator moved to cool the country’s then-robust IPO market and stabilize stocks to prevent spillover from an escalating real estate crisis. In November, Syngenta officially delayed its listing to late 2024.\nReddit tapped banks for a potential IPO as soon as March 2022, Bloomberg News reported that year. Coincidentally, that was the same month that the Federal Reserve began its rate-hiking campaign. Now, with the end of the cycle and the bond market pricing in numerous rate cuts, and a broad-based rally having pushed the benchmark S&P 500 higher by 23% this year and the Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, near the lowest since January 2020, Reddit is getting ready for a 2024 debut, people familiar with the matter have said.\nMore stable fundamentals have stirred optimism that the range of companies tapping public investors next year will spread to growth-oriented firms.\n“There will be more IPOs to come to market with the possibility that rates may have peaked,” said Jim Cooney, head of Americas ECM at Bank of America Corp. “Investors have returned to looking for growth assets and IPOs provide that option.”\nAnother factor that could draw companies to strike deals: time.\nThe valuation gap — the difference between how sponsors and management of private companies perceive themselves, sometimes based on previous valuations from pre-IPO funding rounds and what public investors are willing to pay — remains a sore point.\nStill, delayed IPOs impact investors’ internal rate of return, said Matt Warren, co-head of Americas ECM cash origination at Bank of America.\n“At some point, you have to start the monetization process to realize gains,” Warren said.\nLate-stage private companies are more “accepting that the prices of 2020-2022 are not coming back and that today’s public valuations are the new normal,” said Matthew Witheiler, who manages Wellington Management’s diversified late-stage growth equity business.\n“There’s still a gap in terms of valuation but folks have become more constructive around those aspects,” said Douglas Adams, global co-head of equity capital markets at Citigroup Inc. “Everyone is talking about 2025 as a year when we could see a significant number of IPOs given the 2024 calendar, but there are a significant number of companies evaluating accessing the market in 2024.”\nUS Pipeline\nThe pipeline of 2024 IPO candidates in the US is deep, and littered with household names from Kim Kardashian’s Skims underwear brand to e-commerce giant Shein, which has been preparing to go public in what will serve as a critical test for companies that face political scrutiny.\nRead More: Shein’s IPO Plan to Fuel Scrutiny Over Cotton, China Roots\nThough investors may be ready to take bigger risks, they won’t tolerate a repeat of 2020 and 2021, whose debutant classes are trading on average about 30% below their IPO prices.\n“We’re very conscious that the 2020 and 2021 IPO class faced challenges in generating returns,” JPMorgan’s Mangla said. “However, we’ve seen a positive shift this year. The real question is to consider what an IPO does six months, three months, and a year from the IPO?”\nAs the market creaks open, Wall Street will look to nurture companies that at least have a path to generating profits. A strong return to IPOs for firms with businesses predicated on growing at all costs is unlikely to happen any time soon.\n“While growth remains a crucial factor for the IPO market, there’s been a clear shift towards prioritizing profitability,” said Keith Canton, head of JPMorgan’s Americas ECM group.\n“As we move into Q2 and the latter half of the year, companies on the edge of profitability with a more growth-oriented approach will likely receive increased attention from IPO investors,” Canton said.\nRead More: Birkenstock Finally Tops IPO Price While Other Entrants Struggle\nElection Calendar\nThe US’s high-stakes election is far from the only potential change of leadership event on the calendar in the coming year. Though Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold onto power, leaders in the UK, Germany, Canada and Japan are facing turmoil and low approval ratings that are pressuring them to call elections as soon as 2024.\nInvestors are set to continue piling into the Middle East, which has seen a rush of IPOs into the end of the year despite fears that the Israel-Hamas war would stifle enthusiasm. In Europe, spinoffs have proven to be a rare highlight for investors wondering where the first-time share sales went.\nRead More: What’s a Spinoff? Why and How Companies Break Up\nJapan, where the plunging yen has helped the benchmark rally nearly 25% this year, has been repeatedly tipped by dealmakers as an IPO market to watch. It’s unlikely to fully offset the absence of big listings in China or Hong Kong, with banks slashing jobs amid economic malaise.\n“Asia continues to be very interesting,” Citi’s Adams said, and also singled out companies in Brazil. “We think about where there is innovation and interesting companies, and Brazil is one area where we’re spending a lot of time,” he said.\nStill, developments in the US inevitably cast a long shadow. Companies around the globe are “interested in what’s going on in the US market and how that translates globally,” Adams said.\n",
        "title": "Familiar Names Throw Their Hats in 2024 IPO Market Revival Ring"
    },
    {
        "id": 1338,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chart-of-the-week-the-light-at-the-end-of-the-feds-tunnel-gets-brighter-110050533.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The Fed has been the story of the year for investors.\nAnd this week, Jay Powell & Co. gave markets a preview of the tale they expect to tell in 2024: lower interest rates.\nAfter pushing interest rates to 22-year highs this summer, our Chart of the Week shows lower rates offering light at the end of the tunnel to investors by next spring.\nIn so many quarters the astronomical rates — the highest in memory for anyone under a certain age — have been a ball and chain. And of course, this was by design. The Fed’s rates are meant to help slow an overheated economy down.\nBut early this year, investors began sniffing out the Fed’s future changes.\nThe normally rate-sensitive tech sector — mostly the megacap “Magnificent Seven” stocks — shrugged off the Fed’s rising rates, climbing an AI-fueled rocket ship and anticipating what Powell confirmed this week.\nWith the Fed’s pivot now coming into clear focus, however, the Magnificent Seven no longer need to play Atlas to the index.\nRelief is on the way. Even for those stocks, sectors, and investors that doubted the signal markets were sending for much of the year.\nThe Fed is done. The pressure is off. A new chapter begins.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Chart of the week: Fed's 2024 plans now look even better"
    },
    {
        "id": 1339,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tokyo-gas-buy-rockcliff-2-061000789.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Tokyo Gas Co. said its subsidiary Tokyo Gas America Ltd. will purchase Rockcliff Energy II LLC for about $2.7 billion in a move to expand its US shale gas operations.\nTokyo Gas America will acquire all the shares of Rockcliff, a portfolio company of Quantum Energy Partners, through its ownership interest in TG Natural Resources, the Japanese company said in a statement. The deal was signed on Dec. 15 and is scheduled to close on Dec. 29, it said.\nThe purchase comes amid a wave of multi-billion dollar deals in the global energy industry as oil and gas producers figure out the best way to deploy windfall profits from rising resource prices.\nRecent activity includes Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s deal to buy Texas shale driller CrownRock LP, Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $60 billion purchase of Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Chevron Corp.’s $53 billion agreement to buy Hess Corp. Woodside Energy Group Ltd. is also in preliminary talks with Santos Ltd. on a tie-up that would create a dominant liquefied natural gas exporter.\nLNG Terminals\nThe construction of new LNG export terminals in the US is set to boost gas demand, the company said. Tokyo Gas is seeking to expand shale operations and has looked for assets around existing ones in Texas and Louisiana, it said.\nAfter this acquisition, the production volume of gas and natural gas liquid held by TG Natural Resources will increase by about four times to 1,300 million cubic feet per day, the company said. “The outcome from TGNR will become the base of overseas earnings,” it added.\nWhile acknowledging the risks associated with resource prices, Takashi Nakao, senior general manager at Tokyo Gas’s global business development department, said “it is cheap” in an online press conference Saturday.\nTG Natural Resources and Rockcliff have mining claims in adjacent areas, and Nakao believes they can survive in changing market conditions because they can improve their competitiveness by lowering production costs.\n(Adds more background and comments from press conference)\n",
        "title": "Tokyo Gas to Buy Rockcliff for $2.7 Billion in US Shale Move"
    },
    {
        "id": 1340,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-focus-exxons-low-us-033200248.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds Exxon comment in paragraph 12 about income tax payments)\nBy Tim McLaughlin\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil’s income tax payments to the U.S. government have dropped to 3% over the past five years – several times below the company’s 20-year average – on massive deductions passed under former President Donald Trump.\nCorporate tax experts say Exxon could enjoy low taxes for several more years, at a time when the government needs more money to fund an ambitious fight against climate change. President Joe Biden’s minimum corporate tax is off to a shaky start and calculation of the 15% tax factors in the Trump accelerated depreciation deductions that Exxon used last year.\nThat lowered its tax rate to a rock-bottom 2.5% on domestic profit of $28.3 billion, according to the \"current federal income tax expense\" Exxon disclosed in its annual report.\n“If you view the use of these tax breaks as a problem, Biden’s new minimum tax is unlikely to end that,” said Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation of Economic Policy (ITEP) in Washington D.C.\nIn sharp contrast, the most valuable companies representing major sectors of the U.S. economy paid an average tax rate on domestic profits at least seven times higher than Exxon, according to a Reuters analysis of the companies' latest annual financial reports. The group includes Apple, Meta Platforms, JPMorgan Chase, Sherwin-Williams and Union Pacific.\nExxon’s recent tax advantage reveals how the U.S. tax code hinders the Biden administration’s push to be a world leader in limiting fossil fuels. The corporate minimum tax is the main source of revenue for the president’s green energy agenda in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.\nThe Internal Revenue Service (IRS), however, has delayed a roll out of the tax, which has been roiled by complexity and confusion, said Will McBride, vice president of tax policy at the Tax Foundation, a pro-business think tank.\n“There is nothing in the (corporate minimum tax) to guarantee a 15% minimum rate,” McBride said.\nThe White House declined to comment for this story, but a spokesperson pointed to Biden's public commitment to end \"tens of billions of dollars of federal tax subsidies for oil and gas companies.\"\nSince 2003, Exxon’s current federal income tax expense – a proxy experts use to divine what companies pay on U.S. tax returns – averaged 17% for the 16 years the company generated a pre-tax profit from domestic operations, according to Exxon financial disclosures.\nBut since Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act became law in 2017, Exxon’s rate has plummeted to less than 3% in the three years when the company’s domestic operations showed a profit, the disclosures show.\nLast year, for example, Exxon’s tax rate was 2.5%, or $696 million, on record pre-tax U.S. profit of $28.3 billion. Exxon would have paid nearly $6 billion at the federal statutory tax rate of 21%.\nExxon said, however, its U.S. income tax liability for 2022 was \"several billion dollars\" and the highest amount paid in more than 10 years. The company declined to elaborate why that amount was so much higher than the current federal income tax expense figure it provided to investors.\nBefore this year, Trump’s accelerated depreciation allowed companies to immediately deduct 100% of the billions of dollars many spend each year on property and equipment, up from 50% previously. The incentives, phased down to 80% this year, extend to all sectors of the economy, but they are amplified in the fossil fuel sector due to the capital-intensive nature of extracting oil and gas.\nExxon capitalized on the deductions in 2022, for example, after spending $9.5 billion on U.S.-based capital and exploration projects, including in the Permian Basin oil and gas field and on a Beaumont, Texas refinery expansion, company financial disclosures show.\n“Sure enough, industry lobbyists are now back trying to get Congress to extend the tax break,” U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, told Reuters.\nRuss Hamilton, an accounting professor at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business, said that under normal circumstances the cumulative tax benefit from accelerated depreciation is meant to zero out over time as annual capital investments slow.\nBut if companies continue to spend money on large capital projects – like finding and developing new oil fields - payments on deferred income taxes can be postponed for years.\n“These deferred income tax liabilities can go on forever,\" said Donald Williamson, an accounting professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business.\n(Reporting By Tim McLaughlin in Boston; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and David Gregorio)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-FOCUS-Exxon's low US tax payments ruffle Biden's climate agenda"
    },
    {
        "id": 1341,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/federal-cusp-thought-impossible-defeating-011920306.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "WASHINGTON (AP) — It was the most painful inflation Americans had experienced since 1981, when “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “The Jeffersons” were topping the TV charts. Yet the Federal Reserve now seems on the verge of defeating it — and without the surge in unemployment and the deep recession that many economists had predicted would accompany it.\nInflation has been falling more or less steadily since peaking in June of last year at 9.1%. And when the Fed's preferred inflation gauge for November is reported next week, it's likely to show that in the past six months, annual inflation actually dipped just below the Fed's target of 2%, economists at UBS estimate.\nThe cost of goods — such as used cars, furniture and appliances — has fallen for six straight months. Compared with a year ago, goods prices are unchanged, held down by improved global supply chains.\nHousing and rental costs, a major driver of inflation, are growing more slowly. Wage growth has cooled, too, though it still tops inflation. Milder wage growth tends to ease pressure on restaurants, hotels and other employers to increase their prices to cover their labor costs.\n“I think it’s really good to see the progress that we’re making,” Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference Wednesday after the Fed's latest policy meeting. “If you look at the ... six-month measures, you see very low numbers.”\nOn Friday, the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency, estimated that inflation will drop to 2.1% by the end of next year.\nThere will likely be bumps on the road toward getting inflation fully under control, officials have said. Powell insisted that “no one is declaring victory.” And he reiterated that the central bank wants to see further evidence of falling inflation before it would feel confident that it is sustainably headed back to the 2% target.\nYet many economists, normally a cautious lot, are now willing to declare that inflation is nearly back under control after two-plus years in which it imposed hardships on millions of American households.\n\"It appears that inflation has returned to 2%,” said Tim Duy, chief economist at SGH Macroeconomics. “The Fed looks like it has won that battle.”\nPrices spikes are also moderating overseas, with both the Bank of England and European Central Bank keeping their benchmark interest rates unchanged this week. Though inflation is still at 4.6% in the United Kingdom, it has fallen to 2.4% in the 20 countries that use the euro currency.\nWith inflation cooling, Powell said the 19 officials on the Fed's policy setting committee had discussed the prospects for rate cuts at this week's meeting. The officials also projected that the Fed will cut its key interest rate three times next year.\nThat stance marked a drastic shift from the rate-hiking campaign the Fed began in March 2022. Beginning then, the central bank raised its benchmark rate 11 times, from near zero to roughly 5.4%, its highest level in 22 years, to try to slow borrowing, spending and inflation. The result was much higher costs for mortgages, auto loans, business borrowing and other forms of credit.\nPowell's suddenly more optimistic words, and the Fed's rate-cut projections, sent stock market indexes soaring this week. Wall Street traders now foresee a roughly 80% likelihood that the first rate cut will occur when the Fed meets in March, and they are forecasting a total of six cuts in 2024.\nOn Friday, John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a top lieutenant of Powell's, sought to pour some cold water on those expectations. Speaking on CNBC, Williams said it was “premature to be even thinking\" about whether to cut rates in March. But he also mentioned that his forecast was for inflation to move down “sustainably” to 2%.\nThe week's events represented a departure from just two weeks ago, when Powell had said it was “premature” to say whether the Fed had raised its key rate high enough to fully conquer high inflation. On Wednesday, he suggested that the Fed was almost certainly done with rate increases.\nRecent data appeared to have helped shift Powell's thinking. On Wednesday, a measure of wholesale prices came in lower than economists had expected. Some of those figures are used to compile the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, which, as a result, is expected to show much lower inflation numbers next week.\nPowell said some Fed officials had even updated their economic projections on Wednesday, not long before they were issued, in light of the lower-than-expected wholesale price report.\n\"The speed at which inflation has fallen has been like an earthquake at the Fed,\" Duy wrote in a note to clients Wednesday.\nAnd yet in the meantime, the economy keeps growing, defying widespread fears from a year ago that 2023 would bring a recession, a consequence of the much higher borrowing rates the Fed engineered. A report on retail sales Thursday showed that consumers grew their spending last month, likely encouraged by increased discounting that will also lower inflation. Such trends are supporting the growing belief that the economy will achieve an elusive “soft landing,” in which inflation is defeated without an accompanying recession.\n“We think the Fed cannot believe its luck: We are back to ‘immaculate disinflation,’ ” Krishna Guha, an economic analyst at investment bank Evercore ISI, wrote in a client note.\nEconomists credit the Fed's rapid rate hikes for contributing to inflation's decline. In addition, a recovery in global supply chains and a jump in the number of Americans — and recent immigrants — searching for jobs have helped cool the pace of wage growth.\nJon Steinsson, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said that by aggressively raising their key interest rate in about 15 months — the fastest such pace in four decades — Fed officials kept Americans' inflation expectations largely in check. Expectations can become self-fulfilling: If people expect higher inflation, they often take actions, such as demanding higher wages, that can send prices higher still.\n“They played a crucial role,” Steinsson said.\nStill, a continued decline in inflation isn't guaranteed. One wild card is rental prices. Real-time measures of new apartment leases show those costs rising much more slowly than they did a year ago. It takes time for that data to flow into the government's figures. In fact, excluding what the government calls “shelter” costs — rents, the cost of homeownership and hotel prices — inflation rose just 1.4% last month from a year earlier.\nBut Kathy Bostjancic, an economist at Nationwide, said she worries that a shortage of available homes could raise housing costs in the coming years, potentially keeping inflation elevated.\nThe Fed's rate hikes, Bostjancic said, could actually prolong the shortage. Today's higher mortgage rates may limit home construction while also discouraging current homeowners from selling. Both trends would keep a lid on the supply of homes and keep prices elevated.\nYet Fed officials appear confident in their forecasts that inflation is steadily slowing. In September, 14 of 19 Fed policymakers had said there were risks that inflation could rise faster than they expected. This month, only eight said so.\n“Their projections have mostly gone down, and they think the probability that there will be some flare-up of inflation is lower,” said Preston Mui, senior economist at Employ America, an advocacy group.\n",
        "title": "Federal Reserve on cusp of what some thought impossible: Defeating inflation without steep recession"
    },
    {
        "id": 1342,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/success-abroad-drives-rare-winners-010000914.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- In a year when Chinese stocks are among the worst-performing globally, there have been rare winners: those that have shown they can compete on the global stage.\nTake PDD Holdings Inc. Its US-listed shares have surged 80% this year as its Temu discount shopping app quickly grew into a legitimate Amazon.com Inc. challenger after a splashy Super Bowl ad in February. Budget lifestyle retailer Miniso Group Holding Ltd., which opened a flagship store in Times Square in May, is up by more than 70% amid record sales and profits.\nJack Ma’s Biggest E-Commerce Rival Is Coming for Amazon, Walmart\nSuch successes have been rare in China, with its benchmark stock gauge on track for an unprecedented third-straight year of losses. As uncertainty remains over the domestic economy heading into 2024, a number of market veterans think international prowess will continue to lift shares of select companies.\n“For many sectors, the domestic Chinese market has become a red ocean, and there is a visible corporate mindset change where more are thinking about global growth opportunities,” said Daisy Li, a fund manager at EFG Asset Management HK Ltd. “Making inroads overseas can be easier for those whose products and execution have withstood the intense competition at home.”\nGoing Global\nGlobal inflation is seen helping forays abroad by Chinese companies that offer competitive products at attractive prices. PDD is a prime example, having leveraged the success of its Pinduoduo app at home to create Temu for an overseas audience. So is Miniso, which has built a network of over 2,000 stores overseas based on its popular low-priced domestic formula.\nMost Chinese companies rely more on domestic sales than peers in developed markets. MSCI China Index members generate just 14% of sales from foreign sources, according to analysis from Societe Generale SA.\nChina’s ongoing property crisis and weak consumer spending have fueled price wars that crimp earnings, motivating companies from electric vehicle makers to bubble tea chains to try their hands abroad. The nation’s largest EV maker BYD Co. posted record profit for the third quarter, thanks partly to growth in exports.\n“It’s not just BYD — for all the Chinese car makers, if they can, they definitely want to have more overseas sales exposure,” said Ming Lee, head of Greater China auto research at BofA Securities. “First, there is a clear need to diversify single-market risk and second, overseas sales boost profitability as the same models sold overseas are usually charged around 40-60% higher than their domestic pricing.”\nStock Picks\nBofA has chosen 22 Chinese stocks that it sees as offering upside potential as a result of their global presence. Listees including PDD and PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd. have posted high-double-digit percentage gains in 2023, while other including mainland-listed shares of BYD and battery-maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. have underperformed.\nMorgan Stanley says overseas exposure was a key driver of valuations in the Chinese consumer sector in 2023, and that this should continue next year amid the uncertain macro outlook. The brokerage highlights clothing manufacturer Shenzhou International Group Holdings Ltd. and toymaker Pop Mart International Group Ltd. as stocks that should benefit.\nShein’s IPO Plan to Fuel Scrutiny Over Cotton, China Roots\nSociete Generale acknowledges there are risks from geopolitical trade barriers, such as those faced by Chinese EV makers in Europe, and adds that the weak yen might boost the attractiveness of some Japanese machinery versus China products. Still the broker notes Chinese stocks with large overseas sales exposure, such as smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp., have been outperforming.\nGoldman Sachs Group Inc. expects going global will present the next key growth drivers for China internet companies, “given the increasingly mature domestic e-commerce and games markets at high online penetrations,” analyst Ronald Keung wrote in a recent note.\n",
        "title": "Success Abroad Drives Rare Winners in Dismal China Stock Market"
    },
    {
        "id": 1343,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-court-strikes-down-000113231.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds FTC comment in paragraphs 4, 9)\nBy Diane Bartz and Mike Scarcella\nDec 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday struck down a Federal Trade Commission order against Illumina's purchase of cancer diagnostic test maker Grail , a former subsidiary, saying the agency had applied a wrong legal standard.\nThe New Orleans-based panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 34-page order that will require the FTC to reconsider the deal.\nThe three-judge panel said the agency had substantial evidence to show the deal would lessen competition as companies seek to bring to market a blood test to detect many kinds of cancer.\nAn FTC spokesperson said the panel's opinion was \"an important victory for antitrust enforcement because it clearly recognizes how vertical mergers can threaten competition.\"\nBut the panel also said the FTC failed to properly consider Illumina's pledge to continue selling its DNA sequencing services to other firms. Illumina has offered to sign contracts to supply any of Grail's rivals and to not raise prices.\n\"We are reviewing the decision,\" Illumina said in a comment issued after the ruling.\nThe court rebuffed Illumina's argument that the FTC unconstitutionally exercised its powers.\n\"Illumina's constitutional challenges to the FTC's authority are foreclosed by binding Supreme Court precedent,\" it wrote.\nThe FTC spokesperson added that the court's decision marked \"a pivotal moment for those who want to protect open, competitive markets, and a huge win for consumers in the modern economy.\"\nSan Diego-based Illumina had filed the appeal in June after the FTC demanded that it divest Grail, saying that the agency had denied it due process.\nGrail, valued at $7.1 billion under Illumina's deal, is seeking to market a powerful test to diagnose many kinds of cancer from a single blood test, known as a liquid biopsy.\nThe FTC is concerned that Illumina, the dominant provider of DNA sequencing of tumors and cancer cells that help match patients with the best treatment option, might raise prices or refuse to sell to Grail's rivals.\nThe agency filed a complaint aimed at stopping the deal in March 2021, but lost before an FTC administrative law judge. The case went back to FTC commissioners, who reinstated the case. Illumina then took it to an appeals court.\nDespite the fight with the FTC, and a similar battle in Europe, Illumina closed the acquisition of Grail in mid-2021.\nEurope has since proposed measures for Illumina to unwind its acquisition of Grail. Illumina is arguing it does no business in Europe and therefore the EU competition enforcer has no jurisdiction. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella, Diane Bartz, Costas Pitas and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Diane Craft and Tom Hogue)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 3-US court strikes down FTC order against Illumina's purchase of Grail"
    },
    {
        "id": 1344,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cnx-resources-pulls-adams-fork-233148196.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Dec 15 (Reuters) - CNX Resources said on Friday it had pulled out of the Adams Fork ammonia project and is evaluating several alternative sites in southern West Virginia for clean hydrogen projects.\nThe natural gas producer cited delays and increasing uncertainty over implementation tax credit provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and an inability to reach final commercial terms with project developers, for ending its participation in the project.\nAdams Fork was an anchor project in the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) and its construction was expected to begin in 2024.\nThe project would have initial annual ammonia production capacity of 2,160,000 metric tons, with an optional additional production capacity.\nCNX said on Friday it remains committed to ARCH2, adding that \"final investment decision remains contingent upon tax credit guidance that unambiguously supports low carbon intensity feedstock projects that will facilitate development of the regional clean hydrogen hubs, including ARCH2.\"\nThe ARCH2 project includes several partners, and the consortium was selected to develop multi-state clean hydrogen hub. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "CNX Resources pulls out of Adams Fork ammonia project"
    },
    {
        "id": 1345,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-securities-exchange-commission-responds-231530401.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Chris Prentice\n(Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday defended its overhaul of rules for private funds, responding in a court filing to a lawsuit from six private equity and hedge fund trade groups.\nThe trade lobbying groups in September sued the top U.S. markets regulator, saying the agency overstepped its authorities when adopting sweeping new expense and disclosure rules. The changes require private funds to issue a swath of new reports and to perform annual audits, as well as disclose certain fee structures.\nThe funds said the new rules were arbitrary and capricious.\nThe SEC said its filing on Friday that it had followed proper procedure in its rulemaking and that the private funds had not shown that the agency had exceeded its authority. The SEC said it was prepared to defend its case with oral arguments in court.\nSEC Chair Gary Gensler has previously said the rules will boost transparency and competition in a private funds sector accused by advocacy groups of opacity and conflicts of interest. Such funds oversee around $20 trillion in assets and have been accused by advocacy groups of opacity and conflicts of interest.\nWall Street and their trade groups have kicked off a wave of lawsuits to fight a slew of new rules from Democratic President Joe Biden's regulators. Industry executives have said firms are more willing to litigate than in the past because they see the regulations as ill-conceived and rushed.\n(Reporting by Chris Prentice and Dan Whitcomb; editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "US Securities and Exchange Commission responds to challenge to new rules by private funds"
    },
    {
        "id": 1346,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stock-short-sellers-down-223938523.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - A late-year surge in stocks is exacerbating the pain of short-sellers, who are on track for their worst collective annual loss since 2020, according to data and analytics company Ortex.\nShort sellers - who aim to profit by selling borrowed shares and buying them back later at a lower price - are down over $145 billion for the year, according to an Ortex analysis of short interest in 1,500 U.S. stocks.\nThe losses have come in the face of a rally that has ramped up in the fourth quarter on expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates and will likely pivot to cuts next year. The index is up 22.9% year-to-date and around 2% away from a record high.\n\"2023 has seen huge losses for short sellers,\" said Peter Hillerberg, co-founder of Ortex, said.\nShort interest rose by $9.8 billion for the year, suggesting that investors were reluctant to double down in their bearish bets, Hillerberg said.\nBy contrast, short interest rose by $95.84 billion in 2020, when short sellers racked up $182.65 billion in losses, Ortex data showed.\nShort interest has stayed roughly consistent throughout the year, Ortex data showed. The unweighted average short interest as a percentage of free float on the stocks tracked by the firm stands at 4.75%. That is toward the higher end of this year’s range of 4% to 4.75%.\nOn Friday, the S&P 500 finished about flat on the day but up 2.3% for the week, its seventh straight weekly gain, the longest such streak in six years.\n(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Ira Iosebashvili and Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "US stock short sellers down $145 billion in 2023 - Ortex"
    },
    {
        "id": 1347,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-williams-says-talk-march-134631842.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Two Federal Reserve officials on Friday pushed back on growing expectations in financial markets for the central bank to cut interest rates as soon as March.\nNew York Fed President John Williams said on CNBC that it’s too early for officials to begin thinking about lowering borrowing costs as they consider whether policy is restrictive enough to get inflation back to 2%.\nSeparately, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, who votes on monetary policy next year, told Reuters that he expects two rate cuts in 2024 but not starting until the third quarter.\n“We aren’t really talking about rate cuts,” Williams said on CNBC. He noted it’s “premature” to be thinking about cutting interest rates in March, and said financial markets reacted “more strongly” than what policymakers showed this week in their rate projections.\nWilliams’s message appeared to be a deliberate attempt to give the Federal Open Market Committee room to continue holding rates steady early next year if they don’t see further desired progress on inflation, said Derek Tang, an economist at LH Meyer/Monetary Policy Analytics.\n“The committee does want to have the option to not cut in March,” Tang said.\nChicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee did not rule out the possibility of an interest-rate cut in March, however, according to the Wall Street Journal. In an interview with the news outlet Friday, Goolsbee said the risks are becoming more balanced, indicating focus may need to begin shifting toward concerns about the employment side of the mandate.\nThe Fed signaled a pivot earlier this week toward reversing the steepest interest-rate hikes in a generation, with officials forecasting a series of rate cuts next year. Williams noted that Fed officials’ quarterly rate projections suggest a more gradual path of easing than what markets expect.\nPolicymakers penciled in three rate cuts for 2023, according to the median forecast, while futures traders are pricing in as many as six beginning in March.\n“It is just premature to be even thinking about that question,” Williams, who plays a key role in communicating central bank policy, said of a March rate cut. “That’s not the question in front of us.”\nWhile Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday the central bank is prepared to resume rate increases should price pressures return, he also said the topic of easing came up at their meeting this week.\nPowell’s lack of pushback during his press conference against growing investor expectations for 2024 rate cuts ignited one of the biggest post-meeting rallies in recent memory. It was the best Fed day across assets in almost 15 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\n“I’m not really feeling that this is an imminent thing,” Bostic was quoted by Reuters as saying. Policymakers still need “several months” to see enough data and gain confidence that inflation will continue to fall, Bostic said, according to Reuters.\nWilliams said on Friday that “the market in a way is reacting very strongly, maybe more strongly, than what we are showing in terms of our projections.”\n“As Chair Powell said, the question is: Have we gotten monetary policy to a sufficiently restrictive stance in order to ensure that inflation comes back down to 2%? That’s the question in front of us,” he said.\nRead More: Wall Street Traders Go All-In on Great Monetary Pivot of 2024\nYields on government 2-year Treasury yields initially jumped as Williams spoke, but then moved lower as traders continue to see high chances of a March rate cut. Stocks were little changed in mid-morning trading.\nAs New York Fed president, Williams has a permanent seat on the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed panel that sets interest rates.\n(Adds comments from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee.)\n",
        "title": "Fed Officials Push Back on Talk of Rate Cuts Early Next Year"
    },
    {
        "id": 1348,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasuries-us-shorter-term-yields-214710334.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "* Fed's Williams says too soon to talk about rate cuts * Fed's Bostic says rate cuts can begin in Q3 * U.S. rate futures pare back bets of March rate hike * U.S. 10-year yields on track for largest weekly fall since March 2020 (Adds new comment, weekly milestones; updates prices) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. shorter-dated Treasury yields rose on Friday after Federal Reserve officials dampened expectations of an imminent interest rate cut in the first quarter of next year. New York Fed President John Williams had started the ball rolling earlier. \"We aren't really talking about rate cuts right now\" at the Fed and it's \"premature\" to speculate about them, Williams said in a CNBC interview. Williams was the first Fed official to comment after the U.S. central bank on Wednesday held interest rates steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range and signaled a shift from its tightening policy bias. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic then came out with less dovish remarks as well, saying the U.S. central bank can begin reducing interest rates \"sometime in the third quarter\" of 2024 if inflation falls as expected.\" Bostic said he expected inflation, measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, to end 2024 at around 2.4%, enough progress towards the Fed's 2% target to warrant two quarter-point rate cuts over the second half of next year. In its interest rate projections released on Wednesday, the Fed penciled in 75 basis points (bps) of rate cuts next year based on the expectation that inflation would continue to ease. \"The market took that front-loading of cuts to a little bit of an extreme,\" said Vishal Khanduja, co-head of Broad Markets Fixed Income at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in Boston, \"The market has been pricing in six cuts but the Fed has been guiding us toward three. So I think (those Fed officials) are trying to walk back and trying to reconfirm with the market that, yes, we pivoted but we don't think such excessive pricing of cuts is required at this point.\" The rate futures market priced in on Friday a less than 70% chance of a Fed cut in March, according to LSEG's FedWatch, down from nearly 80% late on Thursday. The market also factored in about 140 bps of easing by the end of next year, unchanged from Thursday. The benchmark 10-year yield climbed to session peaks of 3.973% after Williams's remarks, before slipping. It was last down 1.5 basis points (bps) at 3.912%. On the week, the 10-year yield was down nearly 34 bps, on track for its largest weekly decline since March 2020. U.S. 30-year yields briefly rose in the wake of Williams' comments, but were last 4.5 bps lower at 4.00%. The yield fell 32 bps during the week, its worst weekly performance since March 2020 as well. On the shorter end of the curve, U.S. two-year yields, which reflect interest rate expectations, also hit the day's highs of 4.487% following Williams' remarks. The yield was last up 6.1 bps at 4.459% , with the a weekly decline of 26 bps. A closely-watched metric of the U.S. yield curve, showing the gap in yields between two- and 10-year notes widened its inversion to minus 54.80 bps, as Williams' and Bostic's comments pushed out some bets on early rate cuts next year. \"There is a case to be made for waiting longer than March before cutting rates,\" said Thierry Albert Wizman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie in New York. \"It's going to take a little bit of time to absorb the weakness in the hard data that we will see in the first quarter.\" Friday's data showing a pick-up in business activity in December pushed yields a little higher, but the impact was brief. S&P Global said its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, increased to a five-month high of 51.0 this month from 50.7 in November. December 15 Friday 3:50PM New York / 2050 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 5.235 5.3904 0.008 Six-month bills 5.1175 5.3379 0.025 Two-year note 100-200/256 4.4511 0.052 Three-year note 100-176/256 4.1282 0.027 Five-year note 102-10/256 3.9175 0.007 Seven-year note 102-160/256 3.9393 -0.005 10-year note 104-208/256 3.9092 -0.021 20-year bond 107-136/256 4.1883 -0.035 30-year bond 112-224/256 4.0072 -0.047 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Christina Fincher and Ken Ferris)\n",
        "title": "TREASURIES-US shorter-term yields advance after Fed officials temper rate cut bets"
    },
    {
        "id": 1349,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-rethinks-2024-outlooks-214325576.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Wall Street investors and analysts spent months strategizing how to position for 2024. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shredded their best-laid plans in a matter of minutes this week.\nEven the most ardent stock and bond bulls were caught off guard by the central bank’s decision to signal the end of its historic monetary-tightening campaign with a dovish 2024 pivot. In the aftermath, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq 100 surged to records, while bonds soared, credit boomed and risky assets around the world rallied.\nThe dramatic moves upended countless outlooks. JPMorgan Asset Management’s Philip Camporeale increased the equity allocation in his stock-bond portfolio to the highest in nearly two years after Powell’s speech. John Roe at $1.4 trillion Legal & General said he’s unwinding long duration bets on inflation-protected Treasuries and reconsidering his underweight exposure to stocks. And Spencer Hakimian of Tolou Capital Management said signs the Fed will start cutting rates as soon as the first quarter prompted him to wager on a steeper yield curve.\nAs investors weigh how to approach the new year, serious questions are being raised over how much juice markets have left, and whether both stocks and bonds can continue to rally in tandem in the months to come. Would the benevolent business cycle that equity traders are pricing in really warrant the roughly six quarter-point interest-rate cuts the bond market predicts, especially with inflation still above the Fed’s 2% target? On Friday, officials already began to push back, with New York Fed President John Williams calling talk of a March rate cut premature.\n“The pivot will make us rethink our fundamental view — we’re still deciding how much,” said Roe, the head of multi-asset funds at Legal & General. “We were very surprised they’ve acted so early with inflation still above mandate consistent levels.”\nA week of so many market superlatives will make anyone rethink their world view.\nThe S&P 500 notched its seventh straight week of gains Friday, the longest in six years, as it flirted with a record high. The Bloomberg US Treasury Total Return index was up 2% through Thursday, on track for the biggest weekly gain since March 2020. Elsewhere, credit spreads tumbled, global currencies surged versus the dollar and emerging-market assets soared post-Fed.\nFor market prognosticators, this is forcing them back to the drawing board.\nAmid a tumble in the 10-year Treasury yield, JPMorgan Asset Management’s Priya Misra says she now expects the benchmark rate to fall to about 3% by then end of next year, scrapping her 3.5% target from earlier this week.\nPiper Sandler’s Michael Kantrowitz, one of the most bearish equity forecasters on Wall Street, is also rethinking his outlook.\n“A Fed pivot has clear bullish historical precedence,” Kantrowitz wrote in a note. “Thus, we believe that breadth in the market will continue to improve,” adding that “stocks can drift higher on the back of lower yields.”\nYet as more traders and strategists boost their forecasts for both stocks and bonds, some are already questioning just how wide-spread this rally can be.\n“Both stocks and bonds have run pretty hard in a very short period of time, and I wouldn’t expect that to continue in a straight line,” said Dan Suzuki, deputy chief investment officer at Richard Bernstein Advisors.\nRead More: The Stock-Bond Party Is Running Out of Punch: Conor Sen\nWhat’s more, amid all the exuberance, there are signs that investor positioning is getting stretched.\nSpeculators in 10-year Treasury futures recently flipped from short to long, with bullish positioning reaching the highest since at least 2020, according to data from JPMorgan.\nMeanwhile, discretionary investors’ exposure to stocks is hovering around levels last seen in 2021, according to Deutsche Bank.\nAnd junk-bond exchange-traded funds have seen unprecedented inflows of more than $15 billion over the past six weeks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\n“The market moved too far too fast. Powell’s aggressive reversal likely prompted capitulatory buying,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading. “The market will be more prone to disappointments now that the wall of worry has been torn down.”\nRead More: Wall Street Traders Go All-In on Great Monetary Pivot of 2024\nEquity investors appear unfazed. They’ve been piling into beaten down sectors of the market that are more sensitive to the economic cycle in recent days. This week small-caps stocks in the Russell 2000 jumped nearly 6% as real estate equities surged more than 5%.\n“We have a growing economy, a strong consumer, low unemployment and the Fed is effectively off the board,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance. “It’s about as bullish a setup as you can get.”\n--With assistance from Alexandra Semenova.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street Rethinks 2024 Outlooks After Fed-Fueled Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1350,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-stocks-toronto-shares-slip-213713783.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nTSX down 1.2%\n*\nUp 1% for the week\n*\nBoC says rates not coming down soon\n(Updates to close)\nBy Nivedita Balu\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index wrapped up the week closing out its worst day in two months on Friday, hit by weakness in energy stocks and central bank Governor Tiff Macklem's comments that interest rates were not coming down any time soon.\nThe Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 249.65 points, or 1.2%, at 20,529.15.\nThe\nBank of Canada\non Friday made clear that interest rates would not come down soon, putting it on a divergent path from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which said this week that easing could be on the timetable.\n\"The Fed is going to do what they need to do. We're going to focus on what needs to be done here in Canada,\" Macklem told a business audience in Toronto after a speech.\nEnergy was among the top decliners, down 2.5%, while real estate dropped 2.4%. Telecoms fell 3%.\nHowever, the benchmark index posted a weekly rise of 1% as the global risk appetite increased after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled earlier this week that it could look at interest rate reductions next year.\nNew York Fed President John Williams put a dent in those expectations after he pushed back on surging market expectations of interest rate cuts. Following William's comments, traders pared bets on 2024 rate reductions.\nAcross the border, Wall Street ended little changed but registered a seventh straight week of gains in its longest weekly winning streak since 2017 after this week's dovish pivot by the Federal Reserve.\n\"We've had such a big run since the 1st of November, so probably some sort of profit taking has to be expected just because there's so much of a move in the last few weeks,\" said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments.\nOn the data front, Canadian housing starts plunged 22% in November compared with the previous month, while a separate reading showed U.S. business activity picked up in December. (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Ken Ferris)\n",
        "title": "CANADA STOCKS-Toronto shares slip after central bank says rates not coming down soon"
    },
    {
        "id": 1351,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/major-us-stock-indexes-fared-211426089.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Wall Street closed out its longest weekly winning streak in six years after big gains earlier in the week on hopes for lower interest rates in the U.S.\nThe S&P 500 ended an up-and-down day little changed Friday. It still posted a solid gain for the week and its seventh straight weekly gain. The Dow added 0.2%, reaching its third all-time high in a row. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%.\nHopes for cuts to interest rates from the Federal Reserve in 2024 have sent Treasury yields tumbling this week, which releases pressure on the stock market.\nOn Friday:\nThe S&P 500 fell 0.36 points, or less than 0.1%, to 4,719.19\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 56.81 points, or 0.2%, to 37,305.16.\nThe Nasdaq composite rose 52.36 points, or 0.4%, to 14,813.92.\nThe Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 15.39 points, or 0.8% to 1,985.13.\nFor the week:\nThe S&P 500 is up 114.82 points, or 2.5%.\nThe Dow is up 1,057.29 points, or 2.9%.\nThe Nasdaq is up 409.95 points, or 2.8%.\nThe Russell 2000 is up 104.31 points, or 5.5%.\nFor the year:\nThe S&P 500 is up 879.69 points, or 22.9%.\nThe Dow is up 4,157.91 points, or 12.5%.\nThe Nasdaq is up 4,347.44 points, or 41.5%.\nThe Russell 2000 is up 223.88 points, or 12.7%.\n",
        "title": "How major US stock indexes fared Friday, 12/15/2023"
    },
    {
        "id": 1352,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasdaq-100-hits-first-record-210315098.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Nasdaq 100 Index hit a new all-time high Friday as big tech stocks rally after the Federal Reserve signaled that its aggressive rate-hikes to contain inflation are over and cuts are on the table for 2024.\nThe 100-member index rose 0.5% to 16,623.45, surpassing its November 2021 peak of 16,573.34. The move builds on the risk-on momentum that’s been in place since January and pushed the index on track for its best year since 2009.\nAn almost non-stop run in the tech-heavy index since January has challenged defensive positioning in the group following a dismal 2022, forcing investors to play catch-up. The momentum behind the gauge’s best opening six months to a year ever sparked anew in November — and accelerated further this week, when policymakers said the rate-hiking cycle is essentially over.\n“The falling interest-rate environment has provided a huge support for the long-duration Nasdaq 100 Index,” said Gary Bradshaw, a portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management in Dallas, Texas. “If you look at the fundamentals of the group, they’re strong for the big-tech names and other firms in the index, which should support a further advance.”\nThe Nasdaq 100 last hit a record shortly after Fed Chair Jerome Powell retired the word ‘transitory’ when describing inflation. Policymakers’ whatever-it-takes approach to reign in price pressures whipsawed stocks across the board the following year, but it hit the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index — which lost a third of its value — particularly hard.\nThis year’s revival has come on the heels of optimism over artificial intelligence that’s fueled a triple-digit rally in the Magnificent Seven gauge of tech titans. Optimism that the Fed’s “dot plot” now indicates a sharper pace of rate cuts in 2024 compared to September only added fuel to the momentum.\n“Technology is still the leader for US equities,” said Mary Ann Bartels, chief investment strategist at Sanctuary Wealth. “AI is going to be transformative in terms of productivity growth. Earnings are just broadly starting to turn mildly higher even though technology companies have held up well, so as long as we remain in a scarce earnings environment, growth will likely continue to outperform value next year.”\nThe Nasdaq 100 is no stranger to long stretches with no records — it went without one for more than 15 years following the dot-com bust. Before its record close on Friday, the gauge posted an 11% gain in November, its best month since July 2022.\n",
        "title": "Nasdaq 100 Hits First Record in Two Years With Rate Cuts in Play"
    },
    {
        "id": 1353,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasury-30-yield-falls-4-205406203.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The US 30-year yield fell below 4% to the lowest level since July as bond investors continued to assess the implications of the Federal Reserve’s recent policy shift.\nThe 30-year Treasury bond’s yield declined as much as 3.6 basis points to 3.99%, extending its retreat from a multiyear high of 5.18% reached in October. Fed policy makers Dec. 13 published new quarterly forecasts for the US benchmark interest rate they control showing they anticipate lowering it more next year than they did in September.\nFive- to 10-year Treasury yields fell back below 4% in the initial reaction to the Fed’s communications following its last monetary policy deliberations of 2023. The only fixed-rate Treasury tenors that still yield more than 4% are two- and three-year notes — most closely tied to the central bank’s policy rate, which remains 5.25%-5.5% — and the 20-year bond, for which there’s less investor interest.\nTreasury yields remain high by recent historical standards, the 30-year having briefly traded below 1% during 2020 when the Fed’s interest rate was 0% and the central bank was buying Treasury securities to further support the US economy.\n",
        "title": "Treasury 30-Year Yield Falls to 4% in Fallout From Fed Shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 1354,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-blackstone-backed-finnish-real-204757050.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details in paragraph 5 and Blackstone statement in paragraph 6 and)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - Finnish real estate management company Sponda Oy said on Friday it had reached an agreement with its creditors to extend a 300 million euro ($327.09 million) loan on which it defaulted earlier this year.\nUnder the agreement Sponda, which was acquired by private equity group Blackstone Inc in 2017, secured an extension until February 2027.\nThe extension will help it to continue its asset management business as well as dispose of non-core assets located in Greater Helsinki and Tampere.\nThe loan backed a 531 million euro bond which was backed in turn by a portfolio of offices and stores owned by Sponda. Blackstone defaulted on the bond after seeking an extension from bondholders to repay the debt which was rejected, Reuters reported in March.\nBlackstone secured better terms than previously rejected with a margin increase of 150 basis points, according to a person familiar with the matter.\n“As we have said from the outset, the extension [of the loan] is in the best interest of all parties involved, and Sponda is best placed to complete the orderly disposal of these non-core assets as the transaction market recovers,\" Blackstone said in a statement. ($1 = 0.9172 euros)\n(Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bengaluru and Anne Kauranen in Helsinki; Additional reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Blackstone-backed Finnish real estate firm Sponda agrees loan extension"
    },
    {
        "id": 1355,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-mexico-govt-financing-focus-202838383.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates with additional detail from statement)\nMEXICO CITY, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Mexican government will strengthen its public debt management strategy in 2024, focusing on the internal market and continuing to refinance debt as a new administration is set to come into office late in the year, the finance ministry said on Friday.\nThe government will only turn to external credit as a complement to the internal market when conditions are advantageous, the ministry said in a statement.\nLong-term nominal and real fixed rate debt will be prioritized, the ministry added, with the debt refinancing meant to reduce payments for the next administration.\nExternal debt is set to make up 15.3% of Mexico's total debt in 2024, the ministry said.\nThe finance ministry also said it would continue to insure its revenues from oil sales against price crashes in a highly opaque deal anticipated by traders. It is the world's largest oil hedging program and its cost in recent years has exceeded $1 billion. (Reporting by Kylie Madry; Additional reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Mexico gov't financing to focus on internal market, refinance debt ahead of new administration"
    },
    {
        "id": 1356,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/argentina-economy-grew-during-election-201004564.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Argentina’s economy expanded in the third quarter amid a volatile election cycle as exports, capital investment and consumer spending picked up while imports slowed due to a dollar shortage.\nGross domestic product grew 2.7% in the third quarter compared to April-June period, according to official government data published Friday. Activity contracted 0.8% from a year ago, slightly below the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.\nRead More: ARGENTINA REACT: 3Q GDP Rise Staves Off Recession, Not Malaise\nExports drove growth, picking up 2.1% on a quarterly basis. Consumer spending, partly aided by the former government’s generous campaign spending and handouts, also nudged up despite surging inflation.\nWhile Argentina largely defied the most bearish forecasts for growth this year, the economy is still on pace to contract 1.4% for all of 2023, according to the central bank’s most recent survey of economists. Even new President Javier Milei is warning citizens the outlook ahead for 2024 is more daunting after his administration devalued the peso 54% overnight, initiated spending cuts and scrapped price control programs.\nEconomists surveyed by the central bank see GDP falling 2.4% in 2024 with inflation over 189% by the end of next year.\n",
        "title": "Argentina’s Economy Grew During Election Cycle With Export Gains"
    },
    {
        "id": 1357,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-p-500-slips-200012253.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nCostco climbs after posting upbeat Q1 results\n*\nU.S. business activity picks up in December - survey\n*\nIndexes: Dow down 0.1%, S&P 500 down 0.2, Nasdaq up 0.2%\n(Updates to 2:30 p.m. ET/1930 GMT, adds NEW YORK dateline)\nBy Caroline Valetkevitch\nNEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 edged lower Friday afternoon after Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said it was too soon to be talking about rate cuts, but the S&P 500 was still on track for a seventh straight week of gains.\nThat would be the benchmark index's longest weekly winning streak since September 2017.\nStocks rallied this week after the Fed in its policy statement Wednesday signaled lower borrowing costs in 2024.\nThe real estate sector was down the most of the S&P 500 sectors on the day, followed by utilities, with both groups giving back some of their big gains tied to the Fed statement.\nAn index of semiconductors was up 0.4% and is up about 9% for the week.\nThe recent gains put the S&P 500 up about 23% for the year to date.\n\"What I think we got this week is that (Fed Chair Jerome Powell) doesn't want to overly punish the economy with (rates) being higher for longer for no good reason,\" said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.\n\"I don't know if we're going to get whatever is considered a Santa Claus rally, but it looks like all things being considered, we could drift higher from here.\"\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53.06 points, or 0.14%, to 37,195.29, the S&P 500 lost 8.42 points, or 0.18%, to 4,711.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 34.89 points, or 0.24%, to 14,796.45.\nThe expiry of quarterly derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures, also known as \"triple witching\", could potentially add to market volatility late in the day.\nShares of Costco Wholesale rose 4.4% after the retailer topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter results due to demand for cheaper groceries.\nEarlier on Friday, a survey showed domestic business activity picked up in December amid rising orders and demand for workers, which could further help to allay fears of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the fourth quarter.\nDeclining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.43-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.72-to-1 ratio favored decliners.\nThe S&P 500 posted 48 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 149 new highs and 69 new lows. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Maju Samuel and Aurora Ellis)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-S&P 500 slips, but benchmark on track for 7th week of gains"
    },
    {
        "id": 1358,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/honeywell-buy-carrier-security-business-144305361.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Honeywell International agreed to acquire the security business of Carrier Global Corp. for an enterprise value of about $5 billion, which marks the biggest deal since 2015 for the maker of jet engines and gas detectors.\nThe acquisition broadens Honeywell’s product offerings in security controls for buildings, which was an area lagging behind the larger market positions the company has in property management systems and fire systems, Honeywell Chief Executive Officer Vimal Kapur said in a Bloomberg TV interview with David Westin.\n“This deal strengthens our capability in security, which is I believe a high-growth category,” Kapur said in the interview. “So it fits right in the heart of our building automation business and prepares it for a higher growth rate in the future.”\nIt also marks the first major acquisition under Kapur, who took over as the company’s CEO in June. The new security business will add about $700 million to the building technologies unit, which had sales last year of $6 billion.\nHoneywell fell 1.6% to $194.61 in New York Friday. Carrier’s shares rose 4.5% to $55.27.\nInvestors have been pushing Honeywell to juice its growth through more and larger deals. This latest bolt-on addition is the largest since its $5.4 billion purchase of Elster Group under former CEO Dave Cote, which was announced in 2015 and closed in early 2016.\nThe purchase price is about 13 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and the deal is expected to close in the third quarter next year. After counting cost savings. the deal will be accretive to cash earnings per share in the first year and have cash returns of 10% after five years, Kapur said.\n“It really hits all the metrics,” Kapur said. “Not only is it a strong fit in the strategy, it hits all our financial goals.”\nWhen including cost-savings and the tax benefits, the deal will likely add about 3% to 4% to earnings, said Deane Dray, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, in a note to clients.\n“The business brings an attractive growth and margin profile that will be accretive to Honeywell with valuable software content and strong sources of recurring revenue,” Dray said.\nCarrier had been looking for a buyer of the business as it focuses on heating and cooling equipment. The proceeds from this transaction will be used to pay down debt after the company in April agreed to buy Viessmann Climate Solutions, a German maker of heating systems, for €12 billion ($13 billion) in cash and stock.\nEvercore Inc. is serving as financial adviser to Honeywell. Skadden, Arps Slate, Meagher & Flom, Simmons & Simmons and Womble Bond Dickinson are providing external legal counsel.\n--With assistance from Ryan Beene and David Westin.\n(Company corrects amount of added revenue in fourth paragraph; story originally published Dec. 8.)\n",
        "title": "CORRECT: Honeywell to Buy Carrier Security Unit for $5 Billion"
    },
    {
        "id": 1359,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citigroup-muni-market-exit-sows-195617504.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- For years, small investment banks have been pulling out of the business of underwriting municipal bonds, leaving the job of raising money for US state and local governments dominated by Wall Street’s giants.\nNow, there’s concerns that the big banks may start dropping away, too.\nCitigroup Inc.’s announcement Thursday that it is shutting down its municipal-bond division highlighted the pressures on a corner of finance contending with diminished fees, a debt-sales slowdown and pushback from local Republican politicians intent on drawing banks into America’s culture wars. Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser indicated that underwriting state and local debt was, effectively, too big a drag on the bottom line, unable to compete with more lucrative lines of work. UBS Group AG made a similar decision in October.\nCitigroup’s departure is unlikely to have any immediate repercussions, since others will almost certainly fill the void, at least temporarily.\nBut it underscores the steady shift of capital away from the business. That’s raised concerns that a further retreat could make it more costly for local governments to finance infrastructure or increase the risk of a liquidity squeeze as big banks that backstop the market pull out. Broker dealers have already retreated sharply from that role as buyer of last resort, reducing their holdings of state and local government bonds sharply since the 2008 credit crisis.\n“Over the next five to seven years, we are going to need more firms, not fewer, just to process all the bonds,” said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics, predicting that debt sales will rise as interest rates slide and governments step up borrowing for public works. “Citi leaving now is not just that firm walking away from this business upside – it also means the incremental cost to borrowers in the future will be higher.”\nA spokesperson for Citigroup referred Bloomberg to the memo released on Thursday.\nCitigroup has been a major force in the municipal-bond market and as recently as 2021 was the second-biggest underwriter, accounting for roughly 10% off all the new securities that were sold. It worked on landmark projects including the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site and the installation of 65,000 streetlights around the city of Detroit and was the envy of rivals.\nBut its longtime chief, Ward Marsh, left in 2019. Layoffs, retirements, and other departures shrank the public finance department to about 120 people, down from around 400 employees at one point, according to two former employees who declined to be identified. As the Fed’s rate hikes depressed debt sales, it continued to lose market share, sliding to the seventh biggest this year.\nStill, the decision to shut down the business completely was a surprise, given its still prominent role. In 2022, it underwrote nearly $27 billion of long-term municipal bonds.\nWashington State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti said in a statement that the bank’s departure was unfortunate. “We’ve particularly appreciated Citi’s dependable participation in our competitive sales, where they have frequently provided the best bid,” he said.\nThe bank has also long been revered for its trading arm and its willingness to take risks during market dislocations.\n“Citi has historically been a huge liquidity provider for a lot of the names that have shown up in headlines over the last ten or twenty years,” said Nicholos Venditti, senior portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments. “It’s difficult to imagine that any combination of regional broker dealers, even cumulated, would have the same balance sheet power that Citi has.”\nThe decision comes as underwriting fees have been under continued pressure and banks have pulled back from trading in the securities.\nWhile banks have often utilized their role in financing public-works projects to deflect criticism of casino capitalism, Republicans more recently have seized on it to drawn them into America’s culture wars.\nCitigroup was banned from working on muni deals by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who said the bank’s policies ran afoul of its law barring work with those who are hostile to the gun industry. Due to its fast-growing population, Texas is the biggest source of new municipal bonds, accounting for 16% of overall issuance in 2023.\nRead more: Citi Again Faces Texas Ban Over Gun Law, Whipsawing Muni Work\nEven though it’s exiting the underwriting business, Citigroup will still be a buyer of municipal bonds, like other banks who invest in the securities. The Wall Street giant holds nearly $10 billion of state and municipal debt securities, according to regulatory filings. The vast majority of that is classified as held-to-maturity.\nBut the expectation on muni desks is that Citigroup will unload the inventory it holds as a broker-dealer. That won’t likely have a major impact, since such dealers have steadily cut back their holdings and support of the market after the financial crisis ushered in new regulations.\nStill, Citigroup still served as an important liquidity provider and was “one of our first phone calls when we were doing business,” said Jason Appleson, head of municipals at PGIM Fixed Income.\n“It’s going to hurt,” Appleson said. “People will step up and fill the void in some way, but I don’t think it’s going to be fully plugged.”\n--With assistance from Jenny Surane, Joe Mysak, Martin Z. Braun and Shruti Date Singh.\n",
        "title": "Citigroup’s Muni-Market Exit Sows Fears of a Wall Street Retreat"
    },
    {
        "id": 1360,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-e-signature-company-docusign-193858776.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds shares in paragraph 2, updates company's response in paragraph 4)\nDec 15 (Reuters) - DocuSign is working with advisers to explore a sale, which could be one of the largest leveraged buyouts in recent times, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.\nShares of the company rose nearly 15% to $64.53 following the news.\nThe company, which provides electronic signature products, could attract interest from private equity firms and technology companies, the report said.\nDocuSign declined to comment on the WSJ report.\nThe company has a market capitalization of $11.44 billion, based on its last closing price, according to data from LSEG.\nDiscussions are in early stages and there are no guarantees a deal will be reached, the WSJ report said.\n(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-E-signature company DocuSign to explore sale - WSJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 1361,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crude-stocks-top-us-storage-191730997.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Arathy Somasekhar\nHOUSTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Oil inventories at the top U.S. storage hub rebounded last month after nearing operational lows, thanks to improved pricing at the hub that pulled in barrels from Texas' Permian basin and higher Canadian crude flows, analysts said.\nU.S. crude stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub fell to their lowest level in 14 months in October on strong refining and export demand, raising concerns about the quality of the oil and the potential to fall below minimum operating levels.\nHowever, a recent influx of crude from Canada and the Permian basin has pushed Cushing inventories higher for eight straight weeks to 30.8 million barrels. Working capacity is around 78 million barrels.\n\"When Cushing nears operations' bottom, prices at the storage hub elevate compared to Midland and Houston, attracting barrels into Cushing,\" said Dylan White, an oil markets analyst with consultants Wood Mackenzie.\nOil flows on Plains All American's Basin pipeline from West Texas to Cushing doubled to 537,000 barrels per day, or 98% of utilization of pipeline capacity, in November from October, according to Wood Mackenzie data.\nPipeline operators typically reduce outflows from Cushing and boost inflows on the lines they control to ensure minimum levels of crude in their tanks, adding to inventory levels at the hub.\nRestocking also was aided by crude oil flowing from Canada as oil producers there ramped up output in hopes of an expansion on the Trans Mountain pipeline, which has since been delayed.\nPipelines from Western Canada were 99% full in November compared with 97% in October, Wood Mackenzie data showed.\nStocks at Cushing are likely to build further in the last two weeks of the year as companies push barrels to Cushing from Gulf Coast to avoid year-end inventory taxes in Texas.\nPrices for crude to be delivered between February and December 2024 are trading higher than prompt prices, a structure called contango, that signals excess supply and typically increases storage levels.\n\"We see the contango structure causing storage build first and most aggressively in Cushing and then maybe in other locations,\" Wood Mackenzie's White added. (Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "Crude stocks at top US storage hub rebuild after nearing tank bottoms"
    },
    {
        "id": 1362,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/this-week-in-bidenomics-the-fed-gets-onboard-184104740.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Every president wants reelection help from the Federal Reserve. Donald Trump routinely bashed the central bank for not doing enough to goose the Trump economy. Richard Nixon famously strong-armed Fed Chair Arthur Burns to stimulate the economy in the election year of 1972, contributing to inflation later in the decade.\nPresident Biden has been studiously silent about the Fed, after promising to be the anti-Trump and respect the Fed’s independence. Yet Biden must be grinning as the Fed pivots from tight monetary policy to possible loosening, with what might turn out to be perfect timing for Biden, politically.\nThe Fed sent stocks surging on Dec. 13, when it concluded its last meeting of 2024 by signaling that interest rate hikes are over and rate cuts might be coming in 2024. Investors had been waiting for this moment for months. It means the Fed is finally starting to feel that its battle against inflation is succeeding. The data seems to agree: The overall inflation rate has dropped sharply from a peak of 8.9% in 2022 to 3.1% in the latest report. Most economists expect that trend to continue.\nThere’s growing consensus that a “soft landing” is now underway. “Fed officials are forecasting a soft landing, with growth downshifting and inflation gradually returning to target with minimal damage to the labor market,” Oxford Economics explained in a Dec. 13 report.\nBiden needs a break, and this could be it. Voters are unimpressed with the strong job market and they remain jumpy about inflation. Confidence levels have begun to tick upward, but they’re still at recessionary levels. That’s very odd, given that the unemployment rate is a super low 3.7%. Biden's approval rating dropped as inflation rose, and it's been stuck at a low 40% or so. The message is clear: Voters feel stung by two years of elevated price hikes, and they blame Biden.\nIf the current trajectory holds, consumers should feel some relief in 2024. Many economists think inflation turned out to be “transitory” after all, instead of a whole new regime of stagflation or worse in which price rises consistently outstripped income gains. The transition from high inflation back to normal is turning out to take two or three years, but that’s better than no transition and a permanent decline in living standards.\nDrop Rick Newman a note, follow him on Twitter, or sign up for his newsletter.\nInterest rates have already dropped, as the bond market anticipates an end to Fed hiking and a softening economy. The average mortgage rate peaked at 7.8% in October, and is now just under 7%. Rates aren’t going back to the anomalously low levels of 2021, but borrowers will have it a little easier next year than this year. The clogged housing market will eventually loosen up and home affordability will gradually improve.\nThere’s another thing going Biden’s way: energy prices. Oil prices are 25% lower than they were in September, and gasoline is in the comfort zone, at around $3 per gallon. That’s despite oil production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia during the last year. American production is at new record highs, making up some of the difference. Energy inflation pushes up the cost of food and other products, while energy deflation has the opposite effect.\nTrump supporters and other Biden critics might feel like the Fed is putting its thumb on the scale in an effort to help Biden defeat Trump in 2024. (Assuming those are the two general election candidates.)\nBut there’s no evidence of that.\nSome economists think the Fed waited too long to signal a softer stance, while others think the Fed might be easing up too soon. But, on balance, the timing of the Fed’s pivot from tight to untight seems about right. Plus, the Fed can always hike more if inflation resurges. And it’s worth keeping in mind that the Fed mounted extraordinary easing efforts in 2020, when Trump was running for reelection amid the COVID outbreak.\nWhile a Goldilocks economy may now be the baseline outlook for 2024, there’s always something that could go wrong. A year ago, many economists were convinced a recession was coming within 12 months. They were utterly wrong. So they could be just as wrong now about the soft landing, which could end up being bumpier.\nIt’s clear the economy is slowing, with growth of 5.2% in the third quarter now skidding to around 1%. That’s close to what economists consider stall speed. It’s possible the Fed did raise rates too much or too quickly, choking off growth too much. Energy prices are volatile and wars in Ukraine and the Middle East could escalate in ways that spook markets.\nEven so, the economic outlook for Biden may be the rosiest since he took office. Getting the politics to align with that is up to him.\nRick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @rickjnewman.\nClick here for politics news related to business and money\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "This week in Bidenomics: The Fed gets onboard"
    },
    {
        "id": 1363,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-bank-canada-diverges-fed-183224945.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Recasts with comments by central bank governor)\nBy David Ljunggren and Dale Smith\nOTTAWA, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada on Friday made clear that interest rates were not coming down any time soon, putting it on a divergent path from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which said this week that easing could be on the timetable.\nThe Canadian central bank raised rates by a quarter point in both June and July to a 22-year high and has left them on hold in the three policy-setting meetings since. Inflation slowed to 3.1% in October, down from a peak of more than 8% last year, but it has remained above the bank's 2% target for 31 months.\n\"The Fed is going to do what they need to do. We're going to focus on what needs to be done here in Canada,\" Governor Tiff Macklem told a business audience in Toronto after a speech.\n\"We have not started having that discussion (about cutting rates), because it's too early to have that discussion. We're still discussing whether we raise interest rates enough and how long they need to stay where they are.\"\nU.S. central bank chief Jerome Powell on Wednesday said the historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over, with a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs coming into view.\nRoyce Mendes, head of macro strategy at Desjardins Group, noted the Bank of Canada would not release its updated economic forecasts until Jan 24.\n\"It's likely Canadian policymakers will wait until then to make any major changes in communications. We're, therefore, not too surprised Macklem isn't moving in lockstep with Powell,\" he said in a note.\nIn his speech, Macklem expressed increasing optimism it could bring inflation back down to target but warned Canadians the next few quarters would be difficult as high interest rates restrict the economy.\n\"The 2% inflation target is now in sight. And while we're not there yet, the conditions increasingly appear to be in place to get us there,\" he said.\nMacklem reiterated it was still too early to talk about rate cuts and that the bank would only consider such a move once it became clear inflation was on a sustained downward track.\nThe European Central Bank this week said policy easing was not even brought up in a two-day meeting, the Bank of England said rates would remain high for \"an extended period\".\nMoney markets expect the bank to begin easing as soon as April and for rates to fall 125 basis points in 2024.\nThe Bank of Canada says inflation should hit the 2% target by end-2025 but Macklem said future declines were likely to be gradual, given there would be \"some push and pull\" on inflation and \"bumps along the way\".\nIn particular, a housing shortage is putting upward pressure on shelter price inflation, helping counter a slowing economy.\n\"I expect 2024 to be a year of transition ... with the cost of living still increasing too quickly, and with growth subdued, the next two to three quarters will be difficult for many,\" said Macklem, adding the jobless rate was likely to rise further.\nMacklem said the period of weakness would pave the way to a more balanced economy, with growth and jobs picking up later next year.\nThe central bank held its key overnight rate at 5% on Dec 6 and left the door open to another hike, saying it was still concerned about inflation while acknowledging an economic slowdown and a general easing of prices. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Alistair Bell)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Bank of Canada diverges from Fed, says rates not coming down soon"
    },
    {
        "id": 1364,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/solar-stocks-pop-after-fed-signals-rate-cuts-180858477.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Market optimism for rate cuts has sent renewable energy stocks higher over the past three sessions.\nThe solar and wind energy benchmarks Invesco Solar ETF (TAN) and Global X Solar ETF (RAYS) have jumped 17% and 12% respectively since Wednesday when the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady but projected three cuts in 2024.\nThe expectation of lower interest rates is a major tailwind for renewable energy stocks going into 2024, as the cost of capital will become less expensive.\n“If rates fall in 2024, as our economists and strategists are predicting, we could see a meaningful improvement in clean energy valuations,” wrote Morgan Stanley's analysts earlier this month.\nThe prices of solar panels, battery storage, and inverters, which increased over the last couple of years, are also showing signs of deflation ahead.\nSolar stocks have gotten decimated this year amid high interest rates spurred by the Federal Reserve to tame inflation. Customers have been reluctant to spend on installations, and companies' investment projects have gotten more expensive.\nA policy change that lowered solar energy incentives in California also impacted the industry in the US. The state slashed the subsidy awarded to rooftop panel owners sending excess power to the grid.\nBut analysts are bullish on some individual names going into 2024.\nLast week Morgan Stanley analysts upgraded solar panel maker First Solar (FSLR) to Overweight, raising their price target from $214 to $237 per share.\n“We believe First Solar offers one of the strongest risk-adjusted earnings profiles within our US Clean Tech coverage with its sold-out position through 2026,” Morgan Stanley equity analyst Andrew Percoco and his team wrote in a note to clients, referring to the thin-film module manufacturer's backlog.\nInes Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Solar stocks pop after Fed signals rate cuts"
    },
    {
        "id": 1365,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-natgas-prices-climb-180046705.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds latest prices) By Scott DiSavino Dec 15 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures climbed about 4% to a one-week high on Friday on forecasts for higher demand next week than previously expected and as record amounts of gas flow to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants. That price increase came despite record gas production and forecasts for mild weather and lower heating demand in two weeks that should allow utilities to keep pulling less gas from storage than usual through the end of December. Analysts forecast there was currently around 8.7% more gas in storage than usual for this time of year. Front-month gas futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose 9.9 cents, or 4.1%, to settle at $2.491 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since Dec. 8. That gain - the third daily price increase in a row - pushed the front-month out of technically oversold territory for the first time in eight days. The contract, however, was still down about 3% this week, putting it down for a sixth week in a row for the first time since February. Record production and ample gas in storage weighted on futures prices for weeks and prompted some traders to forecast that prices already peaked this winter (November-March) in November. Investor interest in trading gas has increased in recent weeks with open interest in NYMEX futures on Dec. 13 at a 26-month high of 1.423 million contracts and shares outstanding in the U.S. Natural Gas Fund (UNG) at a record 197.9 million contracts. UNG is an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) designed to track the daily price movements of gas. Analysts, meanwhile, said they expect U.S. prices to rise in coming years as new LNG export plants enter service in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to meet rising global demand for the fuel. But expected delays at LNG export plants being built by Exxon Mobil/QatarEnergy at Golden Pass in Texas and Venture Global LNG at Plaquemines in Louisiana have caused some analysts to reduce their forecasts for U.S. as demand and prices in 2024. SUPPLY AND DEMAND Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states rose to 108.5 bcfd so far in December from a record 108.3 bcfd in November. Meteorologists projected the weather would remain mostly warmer than normal through at least Dec. 30. But even though the weather will remain mild, LSEG forecast U.S. gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would rise from 125.1 bcfd this week 127.7 bcfd next week with the usual seasonal cooling at this time of year before sliding to 124.1 bcfd during the last week of the year when many businesses and government offices shut for the Christmas holiday. The forecast for next week was higher than LSEG's outlook on Thursday. Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose to an average of 14.5 bcfd so far in December, up from a record 14.3 bcfd in November. Week ended Week ended Year ago Five-year Dec 15 Dec 8 Dec 15 average Forecast Actual Dec 15 U.S. weekly natgas storage change (bcf): -80 -55 -82 -107 U.S. total natgas in storage (bcf): 3,584 3,664 3,337 3,297 U.S. total storage versus 5-year average 8.7% 7.6% Global Gas Benchmark Futures ($ per mmBtu) Current Day Prior Day This Month Prior Year Five Year Last Year Average Average 2022 (2017-2021) Henry Hub 2.40 2.39 5.77 6.54 2.89 Title Transfer Facility (TTF) 10.83 11.13 36.68 40.50 7.49 Japan Korea Marker (JKM) 15.33 15.46 32.34 34.11 8.95 LSEG Heating (HDD), Cooling (CDD) and Total (TDD) Degree Days Two-Week Total Forecast Current Day Prior Day Prior Year 10-Year 30-Year Norm Norm U.S. GFS HDDs 334 330 475 387 416 U.S. GFS CDDs 1 1 3 5 4 U.S. GFS TDDs 335 331 378 392 420 LSEG U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts Prior Week Current Next Week This Week Five-Year Week Last Year (2018-2022) Average For Month U.S. Supply (bcfd) U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production 108.1 108.9 108.6 102.8 94.2 U.S. Imports from Canada8 8.8 8.6 8.7 10.0 9.1 U.S. LNG Imports 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 Total U.S. Supply 116.9 117.5 117.3 112.8 103.5 U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.2 U.S. Exports to Mexico 3.9 3.8 4.6 5.2 5.0 U.S. LNG Exports 14.5 14.7 14.9 12.6 8.6 U.S. Commercial 13.2 13.8 14.1 15.4 14.6 U.S. Residential 20.9 22.3 22.8 25.8 24.7 U.S. Power Plant 33.2 34.2 34.9 30.4 28.6 U.S. Industrial 24.3 24.6 24.8 24.7 25.0 U.S. Plant Fuel 5.3 5.4 5.4 5.3 5.3 U.S. Pipe Distribution 2.7 2.7 2.8 2.7 2.9 U.S. Vehicle Fuel 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Total U.S. Consumption 99.8 103.2 104.9 104.4 101.2 Total U.S. Demand 121.4 125.1 127.7 125.6 118.0 U.S. Northwest River Forecast Center (NWRFC) at The Dalles Dam Current Day Prior Day 2023 2022 2021 % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal % of Normal Forecast Forecast Actual Actual Actual Apr-Sep 82 83 83 107 81 Jan-Jul 81 81 77 102 79 Oct-Sep 81 82 76 103 81 U.S. weekly power generation percent by fuel - EIA Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Dec 15 Dec 8 Dec 1 Nov 24 Nov 17 Wind 11 12 10 11 9 Solar 3 3 3 3 3 Hydro 6 5 6 6 6 Other 2 2 2 2 2 Petroleum 0 0 0 0 0 Natural Gas 41 40 42 39 42 Coal 17 17 17 16 17 Nuclear 20 21 20 22 21 SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu) Hub Current Day Prior Day Henry Hub 2.39 2.33 Transco Z6 New York 1.74 2.04 PG&E Citygate 3.85 4.22 Eastern Gas (old Dominion South) 1.64 1.74 Chicago Citygate 2.12 2.02 Algonquin Citygate 2.02 3.20 SoCal Citygate 3.60 4.25 Waha Hub 1.94 1.85 AECO 1.25 1.23 SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour) Hub Current Day Prior Day New England 28.25 35.50 PJM West 32.50 38.25 Ercot North 22.00 23.50 Mid C 51.00 62.13 Palo Verde 52.25 56.25 SP-15 54.50 54.50 (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; editing by Diane Craft )\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-US natgas prices climb 4% to one-week high with rising demand"
    },
    {
        "id": 1366,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-funds-bearish-bets-crushed-171031461.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Carolina Mandl and Summer Zhen\nNEW YORK/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Global equities long/short hedge funds' bets against U.S. stocks got squeezed in the last two days after U.S. bond yields slid, two investment banks said in notes that were sent to hedge fund clients and obtained by Reuters.\nBoth Goldman Sachs and Jefferies said long/short hedge funds, which take positions betting stocks will rise and fall, got hit hard after Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday indicated that the U.S. central bank's historic tightening of monetary policy was likely over.\nThat remark, made in a press conference after the end of a two-day Fed policy meeting, sparked a rally in stocks, with the S&P 500 index up 1.6% over the past two days. On Friday, the index was largely muted. The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury notes was little changed at 3.8998% on Friday, after sinking to its lowest level since July on the Fed's dovish pivot.\nJefferies' trading desk said that long/short hedge funds on Wednesday and Thursday had their \"second-worst two-day move ever,\" as long positions outperformed short bets. The investment bank analyzed a metric called the long/short spread that shows the performance of long versus short trades.\nGoldman Sachs said systematic equities long/short hedge funds on Thursday had their worst day in roughly eight years. \"Negative performance (was) driven by (a) squeeze in crowded shorts, momentum sell-off and rally in high beta and high volatility stocks,\" Marco Laicini, a managing director at Goldman, said in the note.\nThe investment bank's global markets team said systematic long/short funds, based on a computer-driven strategy, were down 2.8% on Thursday, the worst single day since at least January 2016.\nThe Goldman note pointed to \"crowded trades (mainly shorts), momentum and volatility among key negative drivers,\" adding that there was high volatility. Still, systematic funds are up roughly 13% on a year-to-date basis.\nGoldman and Jefferies did not immediately comment on their notes, details of which have not previously been published.\nJefferies told its clients that the pain was not limited to long/short hedge funds, with \"lots of frustrations and pain on the sidelines from systematic, macro, fundamental long/short managers alike.\"\n(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York, and Summer Nell, in Hong Kong; Editing by Megan Davies and Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "Hedge funds' bearish bets get crushed in post-Fed meeting rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1367,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-p-500-dow-170439396.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)\n*\nCostco climbs after posting upbeat Q1 results\n*\nDarden Restaurants slips on downbeat forecast\n*\nU.S. business activity picks up in December - survey\n*\nIndexes: Dow up 0.04%, S&P flat, Nasdaq up 0.46%\n(Updated at 11:40 a.m. ET/1640 GMT)\nBy Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian\nDec 15 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow were subdued in choppy trading on Friday after comments from a policy maker dampened recent optimism about potential rate cuts next year, though the benchmark index was set for its longest weekly winning streak in over six years.\nNew York Federal Reserve President John Williams pushed back on surging market expectations of interest rate cuts, saying the U.S. central bank is still focused on whether it has monetary policy on the right path to continue bringing inflation back to its 2% target.\nThe comments came after the Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, acknowledging slowing inflation and indicated lower borrowing costs were on the horizon, causing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to notch its second straight record high close on Thursday.\n\"They (Fed) didn't really emphasize (the wage environment) as much of a risk to their inflation forecast as was expected. What you saw with that was a change in expectations for Fed actions,\" said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager of equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company.\n\"(The market) has been probably more volatile as a result of this and as John Williams walked those comments back a bit.\"\nMoney markets, however, still see a 76.1% chance of at least a 25-basis point rate cut as soon as March and are pricing in a 96.6% chance of another cut in May, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.\nDespite the session's move on Friday, the dovish turn of events this week caused equities to rally, with the benchmark S&P 500 eyeing its longest weekly winning streak since September 2017.\nOn Friday, a survey showed domestic business activity picked up in December amid rising orders and demand for workers, which could further help to allay fears of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the fourth quarter.\nLater in the day, the expiry of quarterly derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures, also known as \"triple witching\", could potentially stoke market volatility, although stock swings have been muted recently.\nAt 11:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 13.18 points, or 0.04%, at 37,261.53, the S&P 500 was up 0.45 points, or 0.01%, at 4,720.00, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 67.48 points, or 0.46%, at 14,829.04.\nSix of S&P 500's 11 sectors were in the red, with utilities and rate-sensitive real estate stocks leading declines.\nPropping up the tech-heavy Nasdaq were megacaps such as Microsoft, Nvidia and Amazon.com, adding between 1.1% and 1.5%.\nIntel rose 4.1% after BofA Global Research upgraded the chipmaker's shares to \"neutral\" from \"underperform\", while Broadcom advanced 3.4% to hit a record high of nearly $1,150.\nCostco Wholesale rose 3.9% after the retailer topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter results due to demand for cheaper groceries.\nDarden Restaurants slipped 1.2% after the Olive Garden owner forecast annual same-store sales below estimates.\nDeclining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.27-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq\nThe S&P index recorded 48 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 138 new highs and 54 new lows. (Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow ease as Fed official's comments dampen rate-cut cheer"
    },
    {
        "id": 1368,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-china-stock-bulls-000000671.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- For the China bulls on Wall Street, 2023 is a year to forget.\nGlobal investment banks turned almost unanimously optimistic on the market around this time last year, only to be confounded by a 14% drop in the MSCI China Index.\nNow, as policymakers ramp up efforts to arrest a housing slump and extend funding support for the broader economy, hopes are building again that 2024 will be better. But it’s a case of once bitten, twice shy. This time around, expectations are much more modest.\n“It’s like we’ve stood still in time for 12 months. The thing that changed, though, is people’s perceptions. They have gone from very optimistic to very pessimistic,” said Steve Wreford, a portfolio manager at Lazard Asset Management Ltd. “Being optimistic a year ago was the wrong thing to do. And I wonder if maybe now being pessimistic is also the wrong thing to do.”\nWhat a difference a year can make. Back in late 2022, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley were predicting at least 10% annual gains for the MSCI gauge as Beijing dismantled stringent Covid controls. A Bank of America Corp. survey showed funds were rushing to boost exposure to Chinese shares in anticipation of a robust economic reopening.\nReality bit hard. While US, Japanese and Indian stocks rallied this year, those in China have languished to make it the world’s worst-performing major market. Equities onshore are poised to see a record fifth straight month of foreign outflows in December.\nIn hindsight, Wall Street’s misplaced optimism likely resulted from an under-appreciation of the magnitude of headwinds ranging from weak consumption to prolonged housing woes as well as geopolitical tensions, and an overestimation of authorities’ willingness to ramp up fiscal spending in an indebted economy. But it also reflects the difficulties in navigating a market where policymaking has become increasingly opaque and unpredictable.\nAs an initial reopening rally fizzled and hopes for a bazooka stimulus program evaporated, some of the China bulls started adjusting to the new reality. JPMorgan was among the first to act, dialing back its view around the middle of the year. Morgan Stanley followed suit in August by downgrading China to equal-weight.\nREAD: China Stock Bulls Hit Reset Button After $1.5 Trillion Rout\nGoldman Sachs waited until November to cut its recommendation on Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks to neutral, citing modest earnings growth. The bank remains overweight mainland Chinese shares.\n“We did call for risk-on in April. Unfortunately that did not work. So that was the wrong call,” said Wendy Liu, JPMorgan’s chief Asia and China equity strategist. “Since May 2023, we became a lot more cautious on the growth downside,” and as people’s expectations for a strong stimulus were belied, she said.\nMorgan Stanley’s chief Asia and emerging market equity strategist Jonathan Garner said the bank has been “effectively cautious on China” for most of the time since early 2021, while Goldman Sachs did not respond to a request for comment.\nPolicy Response, Consumers\nTo some China bulls, including strategists at non-US banks like HSBC Holdings Plc’s Herald van der Linde, China’s economic slowdown and its property troubles had been well anticipated. What surprised him the most was that policymakers’ response was “very slow and cautious,” he said. “That was the most difficult to forecast.”\nOthers blame the market’s dismal performance on the absence of “revenge spending” by Chinese consumers.\n“They went through a very traumatic experience with Covid. They were locked up much more” than elsewhere, said Rajeev De Mello, a global macro portfolio manager at GAMA Asset Management, who reduced his China holdings as the reopening rally faded. “So probably the households are more cautious.”\nLooking ahead to 2024, most Wall Street banks remain sanguine on Chinese stocks even as many have toned down their forecasts and are expecting just single-digit gains for the MSCI China gauge.\nIronically, their argument looks remarkably similar to last year’s: further policy support, improved earnings momentum and cheap valuations. And there’s little guarantee that they will be right this time: while Beijing has notably intensified efforts to ease funding woes among the country’s cash-strapped property developers, deflation remains a threat and top leaders have signaled continued reluctance to adopt more forceful stimulus.\nAs the MSCI China index posted its first advance in four months amid a global equities surge in November, Liu of JPMorgan said she expects the “relief rally” to continue into early 2024, backed by an easing of Sino-US tensions and an improvement in revenue growth.\nVan der Linde’s team expects China to outperform and drive regional stocks higher in 2024. “We’re sticking to our guns for the moment,” he said. “The global macro is starting to work in China’s favor now. While the call wasn’t completely right over the last six months, the same reasons probably now start to be all in place.”\nSome other investors say analyzing China’s market by fundamentals is less meaningful than before, because the regulatory environment has become more capricious and policymaking less transparent in recent years.\n“I think a lot of people in the West have stopped looking at corporate earnings for Chinese stocks,” said Jian Shi Cortesi, a fund manager at GAM Investment Management. The market is “very much driven by news flow, and most investors do not have the time or effort to really look deep into it.”\nREAD: China Is Becoming a Data Black Hole, Short Seller Aandahl Says\n--With assistance from Iris Ouyang, Tassia Sipahutar and April Ma.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street’s China Stock Bulls Seek Redemption After a Humbling Year"
    },
    {
        "id": 1369,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/activision-blizzard-pay-54-million-210458236.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "LOS ANGELES (AP) — Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay about $54 million to settle discrimination claims brought by California's civil rights agency on behalf of women employed by the video game maker.\nThe settlement, which is subject to court approval, resolves allegations that the maker of Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft and other video games “discriminated against women at the company, including denying promotion opportunities and paying them less than men for doing substantially similar work,” the California Civil Rights Department announced late Friday.\nAllegations of workplace discrimination helped drag down Activision’s stock price in 2021, paving the way for Microsoft's eventual takeover bid in January 2022. The software giant, which owns the Xbox gaming system, closed its $69 billion deal to buy Activision in October after fending off global opposition from antitrust regulators and rivals.\nCalifornia's civil rights agency sued Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard in July 2021, alleging that female employees faced constant sexual harassment, that few women were named to leadership roles and that when they were, they earned less salary, incentive pay and total compensation than male peers.\nEmployees spoke up about harassment and discrimination, signing petitions criticizing the company for its defensive reaction to the lawsuit and staging a walkout.\nUnder the terms of the settlement, women who worked for the company between Oct. 12, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2020, either as hires or independent contractors, may be eligible for compensation. About $45.75 million of the settlement amount has been set aside for such payouts, the state agency said.\nActivision Blizzard also agreed to take steps to ensure “fair pay and promotion practices” at the company.\n“We appreciate the importance of the issues addressed in this agreement and we are dedicated to fully implementing all the new obligations we have assumed as part of it,” Activision Blizzard said in a statement Saturday.\nThe company also noted that the California Civil Rights Department agreed to file an amended complaint that withdraws sexual harassment allegations.\nThe settlement agreement declares that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations” of systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard, nor claims that the company's board of directors and CEO acted improperly or ignored or tolerated a culture of harassment, retaliation or discrimination.\nIn September 2021, Activision settled sexual harassment and discrimination claims brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, agreeing to create an $18 million fund to compensate people who were harassed or discriminated against.\nAnd earlier this year, the company agreed to pay $35 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it failed to maintain controls to collect and assess workplace complaints with regard to disclosure requirements and violated a federal whistleblower protection rule. In paying the settlement, Activision neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s findings and agreed to a cease-and-desist order.\n",
        "title": "Activision Blizzard to pay $54 million to settle California state workplace discrimination claims"
    },
    {
        "id": 1370,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-isn-t-ready-requiem-210000824.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- All eyes will be on the Bank of Japan when it sets policy on Tuesday, as Governor Kazuo Ueda continues to inch toward ending the world’s last negative interest-rate regime.\nChances are it won’t happen this time. People familiar with the matter indicate that Japanese authorities aren’t in a hurry to move while they await hard evidence of sustainable inflation.\nBOJ watchers will therefore scour the statement and comments by Ueda for hints on the outlook for wage hikes and the prospects for better pay spurring spending and demand-led inflation.\nAny bullish rumblings will underpin growing expectations that the BOJ will raise its rate no later than April, as predicted by two-thirds of economists surveyed by Bloomberg earlier this month.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says:\n“We have argued that Ueda would move gingerly toward exiting the stimulus program he inherited, using a policy review and deliberate signaling to prepare the market well in advance. This process has clearly begun – but is a long way from over.”\n—Taro Kimura, senior Japan economist. For full analysis, click here\nOn the surface, the BOJ’s mission may seem a little awkward after the US Federal Reserve telegraphed rate cuts in 2024.\nIt’s important to remember that the BOJ has no intention of introducing restrictive settings. If and when Ueda ends the negative rate, the governor will emphasize that policy remains broadly stimulative.\nElsewhere, the latest evidence of price pressures from the US to the UK, a rate hike in Turkey, and cuts in borrowing costs from Hungary to Chile may keep investors focused in the last full working week of the year for much of the world.\nClick here for what happened last week and below is our wrap of what’s coming up in the global economy.\nUS and Canada\nThe US will get its last major inflation reading of the year with the personal consumption expenditures report, the Fed’s preferred gauge.\nThe PCE price index is seen stalling for a second month in November, while the core measure that strips out food and energy prices will probably rise 0.2%.\nBoth metrics are expected to ease on an annual basis, further supporting expectations for a soft landing in the wake of the Fed’s pivot toward rate cuts.\nThere’s also a flurry of real estate data on tap, with homebuilder sentiment, housing starts and both new- and existing-home sales all coming. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic is scheduled to speak on Tuesday.\nTurning north, Statistics Canada is set to release a raft of economic data before closing up shop for the holidays. It will reveal whether inflation continued to slow in November after decelerating to a 3.1% annualized pace the previous month.\nSeparate reports on retail trade and gross domestic product for October will offer further insight into Canada’s softening economy.\nAsia\nThe BOJ gets an update on national inflation trends on Friday, with the pace of gains for prices excluding fresh food seen moderating to 2.6% in November.\nElsewhere in the region, Malaysia’s consumer-price index for November is due the same day.\nThe rest of the week’s slate is heavy on trade. Having dropped for 13 straight months, Singapore’s non-oil exports for November are due on Monday.\nNew Zealand’s trade balance comes Tuesday, with Japan’s trade account and Taiwan’s export orders for November a day later. Taiwan reports on unemployment on Friday.\nThe Reserve Bank of Australia releases minutes from its December meeting on Tuesday, and South Korea’s central bank publishes an account of its November meeting the same day. The BOJ releases minutes of its October meeting on Friday.\nEurope, Middle East, Africa\nWith the Bank of England having just pushed back against market bets anticipating rate cuts, data on Wednesday will showcase the challenge faced by officials targeting annual consumer-price growth of 2%.\nWhile inflation is expected to have slowed in November, economists still anticipate that it remained above 4% — while the core measure is seen staying above 5%.\nIn the euro zone, Germany’s Ifo index on Monday will indicate whether business sentiment is improving at a time when the economy is trudging through a possible recession.\nIn the wake of last week’s European Central Bank decision, where President Christine Lagarde also sought to temper wagers on an imminent rate cut, a few other officials are scheduled to make appearances in the run-up to Christmas.\nAmong them is chief economist Philip Lane, who’ll speak in Dublin on Wednesday and Thursday after chairing a panel at a conference on fiscal policy hosted by the ECB earlier in the week.\nIn Eastern Europe, Hungary’s central bank may deliver its final rate cut of the year on Tuesday, as drastically slowing inflation and the arrival of European Union funds widen room for monetary easing.\nOn Thursday, the Czech central bank decision is expected to be a close call on whether it too should start cutting borrowing costs.\nIn Turkey the same day, monetary officials may continue extreme tightening. They’ve already raised the key rate by almost 32 percentage points since June to counter soaring inflation and encourage foreign investors to return. The consensus is for a move of roughly 250 basis points.\nAlso on Thursday, Egyptian monetary authorities make their first decision on borrowing costs since a presidential election that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is all but assured of having won.\nLatin America\nEarly Tuesday, Brazil’s central bank posts the minutes from its Dec. 13 decision to deliver a fourth straight half-point cut, which trimmed the key rate to 11.75%.\nEconomists surveyed by the central bank see 250 basis points of easing in 2024 but much less space for cuts in 2025 and 2026.\nBrazil’s central bank also publishes its quarterly inflation report, which will serve up technical assessments, scenario analyses and updated economic forecasts.\nOn the inflation front, Mexico posts mid-month inflation prints that are once again expected to trend lower after a modest re-acceleration in November. Mexico, along with Argentina and Colombia, will also report October economic activity data.\nSticky inflation readings in Colombia have economists divided over whether Banco de la República begins to unwind a record tightening cycle on Tuesday. Minutes of the gathering will be published late Friday.\n--With assistance from Robert Jameson, Laura Dhillon Kane, Molly Smith, Piotr Skolimowski, Vince Golle and Paul Wallace.\n",
        "title": "BOJ Isn’t Ready for a Requiem to the Negative-Rate Era"
    },
    {
        "id": 1371,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/private-equity-way-defer-m-200000757.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Private equity giants are turning to a new take on an old solution to higher debt costs for M&A deals: borrow all of the money they can and defer paying it back.\nKKR & Co. is asking private credit funds for a so-called payment-in-kind feature that would allow it to push off all cash interest payments if and when it purchases a 50% stake in health care analytics company Cotiviti Inc. The company is looking for $5 billion to $6 billion of debt for the deal.\nWhile direct lenders have yet to agree to KKR’s ask, their willingness to keep talking with the firm underscores how much more willing lenders have become this year to consider PIK debt. One of the draws is that the loans now have better claims on collateral, a recent innovation that’s made it far more palatable for debt providers.\nAny deal could serve as a model for other buyout firms with portfolio companies that are struggling with interest rate costs after the Federal Reserve and other central banks began hiking rates last year.\nThose layering PIK debt onto buyouts see it as a temporary solution to deal with any liquidity issues until interest rates moderate, easing the burden. For lenders, the risk is that companies won’t be generating enough earnings to make interest payments when they finally need to.\nThe loans vary in length, but some of the big buyout ones have been for two years, according to market participants.\n“It’s quite a nice lever for borrowers,” said Colin Harley, partner at White & Case. “Private equity firms love the extra optionality” from PIK toggles, which allow companies to pay either cash on the borrowings or add more debt, but “ultimately having PIK and accruing more debt will dilute equity returns.”\nUse of the debt feature has become more popular since Carlyle Group Inc., in pursuit of the same stake in Cotiviti that KKR is now chasing, shocked credit market participants by lining up a $5.5 billion unitranche loan, a blend of first-lien and subordinated debt, a portion of which could be subject to PIK provisions.\nCarlyle eventually abandoned the buyout attempt, and the loan ultimately never happened. In KKR’s case, any similar deal may never come to fruition as Wall Street banks are in a better position for now to win the financing mandate.\nRead more: Private Equity Pays LBO Loans with More Debt to Save Cash\nStill, the new trend’s spreading to Europe too. Buyout firms are asking private credit lenders for unitranche financing that would allow them to delay all their interest expense, according to people with knowledge of the matter who aren’t authorized to speak publicly.\nIn a recent twist, Wall Street banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. are now trying to pave the way for PIK to become common in leveraged loans. While selling new debt with that feature is still a bridge too far for that market, bankers are hoping that loan investors will accept PIK payments for existing loans where the borrower wants to defer payments, known as amend and extend deals.\n“Using PIK in A&E would help borrowers whose debt costs have gone through the roof, and where rising rates would put huge pressure on the company’s cash position,” said Luke McDougall, partner at law firm Paul Hastings.\n",
        "title": "Private Equity’s New Way to Defer M&A Debt Costs: Credit Weekly"
    },
    {
        "id": 1372,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/teamsters-authorize-strike-anheuser-buschs-190540698.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 16 (Reuters) - The Teamsters union said on Saturday that 99% of its members had voted to authorize a strike at brewer Anheuser-Busch's U.S. breweries.\nThe union is seeking an agreement that would improve wages, protect jobs and secure healthcare and retirement benefits for 5,000 of its members at Anheuser-Busch's 12 U.S. breweries.\nThe current agreement expires on Feb 29, 2024. (Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis)\n",
        "title": "Teamsters authorize strike at Anheuser-Busch's US breweries"
    },
    {
        "id": 1373,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-us-fda-approves-arcutis-221937851.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds Chief Commercial Officer's comment in paragraph 9)\nBy Pratik Jain\nDec 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved Arcutis Biotherapeutics' drug for treating a skin condition called seborrheic dermatitis in individuals nine years of age and older.\nShares of Arcutis jumped 20% in extended trade to $2.94.\nThe health regulator's nod makes roflumilast foam the first topical drug for treating moderate to severe seborrheic dermatitis with a new mechanism of action in over two decades, according to the company.\nSeborrheic dermatitis, a common, chronic and recurrent inflammatory skin disease, affects more than 10 million people in the U.S., Arcutis said.\nThe drug is a foam-based formulation of the company's roflumilast cream 0.3%, sold as Zoryve, which is approved in the U.S. as a topical treatment of plaque psoriasis in patients 6 years of age and older.\nThe drug met its primary study goal in the late-stage trial with a success rate of 79.5% on the 5-point assessment scale compared with 58.0% in those treated with the vehicle, which is similar to a placebo.\nThe formulation, designed to overcome the challenges of delivering topical drugs in hair-bearing areas of the body, also showed meaningful improvement over the vehicle arm in disease symptoms, including itch, scaling, and redness.\nArcutis said it plans to commercially launch Zoryve by the end of January.\nChief Commercial Officer Todd Edwards had earlier said that two of the top three U.S. pharmacy benefit managers are expected to cover the product on approval.\nGuggenheim analyst Seamus Fernandez estimates revenue of $30.8 million and $94 million in 2024 and 2025, respectively, for the seborrheic dermatitis indication.\nA low dose version of the roflumilast cream to treat atopic dermatitis in adults and children down to age 6 is under the FDA's review, with the regulator set to make a decision in July.\n(Reporting by Pratik Jain, Arunima Kumar and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Krishna Chandra Eluri)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 3-US FDA approves Arcutis' drug to treat chronic skin disease"
    },
    {
        "id": 1374,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-shifting-views-on-the-economy-in-2023-155030605.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "Note: A version of this article was published on Tker.co.\nStocks rallied last week, with the S&P 500 rising 2.5% to close at 4,719.19. The index is now up 22.9% year to date, up 31.9% from its October 12, 2022 closing low of 3,577.03, and down 1.6% from its January 3, 2022 record closing high of 4,796.56.\nInflation continues to dominate conversations about the markets and the economy.\nBut the nature of those conversations have shifted significantly over the past year. This evolution can be seen in how the Federal Reserve’s language has changed from meeting to meeting.\nAt the Fed’s December 2022 policy meeting, Chair Jerome Powell warned: \"Inflation remains well above our longer-run goal of 2%. … It will take substantially more evidence to give confidence that inflation is on a sustained downward path.\"\nAt the time, inflation rates had begun to come down from their mid-2022 highs — but confidence wasn’t particularly high that they would come down to comfortable levels in the near term. Everyone agreed interest rates would be hiked further in 2023. And many economists were convinced that the cost of defeating inflation was a recession.\nFast forward to present day after four more interest rate hikes. At their December 2023 meeting this past week, Powell acknowledged, \"We're seeing inflation making real progress.\"\nIndeed, inflation rates have come down significantly. The core PCE price index — the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation — has cooled to 2.4% on an annualized rolling three-month basis. TKer would go as far as to argue inflation is no longer a crisis.\nImpressively, the economy absorbed higher interest rates and realized lower inflation without having to go into recession. To get a sense of how surprising this was, check out: TKer's 2023 chart of the year\nToday, we are no longer talking about more rate hikes. Rather, we are now talking about expectations for rate cuts in 2024.\nDisruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to bottlenecks across the global supply chain. With supply lagging demand, inflation picked up in 2021 and into 2022.\nAs more and more people were able to go back to work, supply chains eased and supply gradually caught up with demand. This helped ease inflation, even as economic growth persisted — suggesting the goldilocks soft landing scenario that TKer described in January.\nMore recently, the massive tailwinds that have defined excess demand have faded significantly. Specifically, excess savings are nearing depletion, job openings are coming into balance with unemployment, and business investment orders have leveled off.\nFor more on fading tailwinds, read: The economy has gone from very hot to pretty good\nAnd while economic normalization has been good news for inflation, it also means demand is not as hot as it used to be.\nNormalization also means debt delinquencies are coming up from unusually low levels and could eventually mean metrics like the unemployment rate and layoff rate also come off from unusually low levels.\nFor more on emerging challenges, read: Be mindful of the warning signs\nThe pandemic era economy has been an unusual one. The initial disruptions were unprecedented. With the unusually strong positive developments over time came unusually problematic challenges like inflation rates surging to levels the world hasn’t seen in 40 years.\nAnd the pace and nature of the economic recovery has been almost unimaginable.\n\"I have always felt,\" Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on December 13, \"since the beginning, that there was a possibility, because of the unusual situation, that the economy could cool off in a way that enabled inflation to come down without the kind of large job losses that have often been associated with high inflation and tightening cycles. So far, that's what we're seeing.\"\nAs things normalize, we can expect areas of strength to fade, which could present new challenges. But we should also expect new positives to emerge as unusual headwinds like high inflation dissipate.\nFor TKer’s early discussions on these big shifts, read: Attitudes are on the cusp of shifting in 3 major ways and Attitudes have shifted in 3 major ways\nThere were a few notable data points and macroeconomic developments from last week to consider:\nThe Fed keeps rates unchanged, signals rate cuts. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve kept monetary policy tight, leaving its target for the federal funds rate unchanged at a range of 5.25% to 5.5%.\nFrom the Fed’s policy statement: \"Recent indicators suggest that growth of economic activity has slowed from its strong pace in the third quarter. Job gains have moderated since earlier in the year but remain strong, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated.\"\nHowever, the Fed’s economic projections suggested that the central bank could cut rates three times in 2024.\nThat said, inflation still has to cool more and stay cool for a little while before the central bank is comfortable with price stability. So even though there may not be more rate hikes and rate cuts may be around the corner, rates are likely to be kept high for a while.\nFor more on why the Fed is getting less hawkish, read: The end of the inflation crisis\nInflation cools. According to BLS data released Tuesday, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in November was up 3.1% from a year ago. This was down from the 3.2% rate in October. Adjusted for food and energy prices, core CPI was up 4.0%, the lowest since September 2021.\nOn a month-over-month basis, CPI was up just 0.1% as energy prices fell 2.3%. Core CPI was up a modest 0.3% as good prices fell and services prices rose.\nIf you annualize the three-month trend in the monthly figures, CPI was rising at a 2.2% rate and core CPI was climbing at a 3.4% rate.\nWhile many broad measures of inflation continue to hover above the Fed’s target rate of 2%, they are way down from peak levels in the summer of 2022. And the trend suggests they could continue to move lower.\nFor more, read: The end of the inflation crisis\nInflation expectations improve. From the New York Fed’s November Survey of Consumer Expectations: \"Median one-year ahead inflation expectations declined by 0.2 percentage point in November to 3.4%. This is the lowest reading since April 2021. Median inflation expectations at the three- and five-year ahead horizons remained unchanged at 3.0% and 2.7%, respectively.\"\nGas prices continue to fall. From AAA: \"According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand increased from 8.47 to 8.86 million b/d last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks increased slightly to 224 million bbl. Typically, higher demand would push pump prices higher, but lower oil prices have pushed prices lower. If oil prices remain low, drivers can expect pump prices to do the same during the holiday season. Today’s national average of $3.10 is 25 cents less than a month ago and 11 cents less than a year ago.\"\nFor more on energy prices, read: The other side of the surging oil price story\nMortgage rates continue to decline. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 6.95%. From Freddie Mac: \"Potential homebuyers received welcome news this week as mortgage rates dropped below seven percent for the first time since August. Given inflation continues to decelerate and the Federal Reserve Board’s current expectations that they will lower the federal funds target rate next year, there will likely be a gradual thawing of the housing market in the new year.\"\n📉 Rent is coming down. From Redfin: \"The median U.S. asking rent declined 2.1% year over year in November to $1,967 — the biggest annual drop since February 2020 — and fell 0.6% from October.\"\nFor more on home prices, read: Why home prices and rents are creating all sorts of confusion about inflation\nConsumers are spending. Retail sales increased 0.3% in November to a record $705.7 billion.\nCategories leading growth included restaurants and bars, sporting and hobby, online, and furniture. Gas stations, department stores, and electronics saw declines.\nFor more on personal consumption activity, read: People are spending\nCard data suggest consumer spending is holding up in December. From BofA: \"Total card spending per HH was up 1.3% y/y in the week ending Dec 9, according to BAC aggregated credit and debit card data. Spending on holiday items fell 1.5% y/y in the week ending Dec 9. … However, in the 16 days since Thanksgiving, spending on holiday items was up 0.8% compared to the same period last year.\"\nFor more on what’s driving spending, read: People have money\nUnemployment claims fall. Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell to 202,000 during the week ending December 9, down from 220,000 the week prior. While this is up from a September 2022 low of 182,000, it continues to trend at levels associated with economic growth.\nFor more on the labor market, read: The hot but cooling labor market in 16 charts\n📉 Small business optimism ticks lower. The NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index declined in November.\nImportantly, the more tangible \"hard\" components of the index continue to hold up much better than the more sentiment-oriented \"soft\" components.\nKeep in mind that during times of stress, soft data tends to be more exaggerated than actual hard data.\nFor more on this, read: What businesses do > what businesses say\nIndustrial activity picks up. Industrial production activity in November rose 0.2% from October levels, with manufacturing output climbing 0.3%.\nNear-term GDP growth estimates are cooling. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model sees real GDP growth climbing at a 2.6% rate in Q4.\nFor more on the forces bolstering economic growth, read: 9 reasons to be optimistic about the economy and markets\nWe continue to get evidence that we are experiencing a bullish \"Goldilocks\" soft landing scenario where inflation cools to manageable levels without the economy having to sink into recession.\nThis comes as the Federal Reserve continues to employ very tight monetary policy in its ongoing effort to bring inflation down. While it’s true that the Fed has taken a less hawkish tone in 2023 than in 2022, and that most economists agree that the final interest rate hike of the cycle has either already happened or is near, inflation still has to cool more and stay cool for a little while before the central bank is comfortable with price stability.\nSo we should expect the central bank to keep monetary policy tight, which means we should be prepared for tight financial conditions (e.g., higher interest rates, tighter lending standards, and lower stock valuations) to linger. All this means monetary policy will be unfriendly to markets for the time being, and the risk the economy slips into a recession will be relatively elevated.\nAt the same time, we also know that stocks are discounting mechanisms — meaning that prices will have bottomed before the Fed signals a major dovish turn in monetary policy.\nAlso, it’s important to remember that while recession risks may be elevated, consumers are coming from a very strong financial position. Unemployed people are getting jobs, and those with jobs are getting raises.\nSimilarly, business finances are healthy as many corporations locked in low interest rates on their debt in recent years. Even as the threat of higher debt servicing costs looms, elevated profit margins give corporations room to absorb higher costs.\nAt this point, any downturn is unlikely to turn into economic calamity given that the financial health of consumers and businesses remains very strong.\nAnd as always, long-term investors should remember that recessions and bear markets are just part of the deal when you enter the stock market with the aim of generating long-term returns. While markets have had a pretty rough couple of years, the long-run outlook for stocks remains positive.\nNote: A version of this article was published on Tker.co.\n",
        "title": "The shifting views on the economy in 2023"
    },
    {
        "id": 1375,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-maintaining-americas-ballooning-debt-could-be-as-big-a-challenge-in-the-years-ahead-as-the-debt-itself-143054458.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "At the center of Washington’s effort to manage America’s debt are regular sales of new Treasury bills. For all involved, these are ideally little-noticed happenings.\nBut weak demand for some recent auctions is raising concerns about how smoothly the government will be able to finance its ballooning debt in the years ahead with higher interest rates and record debt levels on the horizon for the foreseeable future.\nAny serious problems are likely a while off, with multiple bids often still on the table for every bond the Treasury aims to sell. But questions about precisely why this current volatility is happening are complicating the debate about reforms that might be needed in years ahead.\nPart of the answer is clearly a supply-and-demand issue as a flood of new Treasury bills ($20.8 trillion in issuances so far in 2023) enter a more unstable market.\nThe main reason for weaker demand is that traditional bond buyers seem increasingly inclined to look elsewhere for safety following a series of downgrades of US creditworthiness. Aggressive monetary policy tightening that pushed interest rates to a 22-year high is also opening new opportunities for investors to find higher returns elsewhere.\nBut beyond the current market forces, there is a growing debate about the structure of the bond market itself and whether the \"plumbing\" of how America’s government makes its books work is up to the task. The concern is whether a confluence of all these factors could lead to economically calamitous failed auctions in the years ahead.\n\"It's a matter of national economic security,\" says Darrell Duffie, a Stanford professor whose research on dealer balance sheets points to the potential of a lessening of \"Treasury market functionality\" in the years ahead.\nHis work — complete with a presentation this summer at the Jackson Hole Symposium — has gained the attention of officials in Washington as he’s likened the problem to a long-delayed but deeply needed public works project.\n\"This is the method by which the government funds itself,\" he noted in a recent interview. \"And if you don't fix it soon, then you're inviting a disaster.\"\nFor the Treasury Department’s part, Janet Yellen and her aides have monitored the mechanical issues but downplay any link between existing structural issues and the volatility of 2023.\n\"It is worth emphasizing again that the recent increases in term premiums and volatility do not appear to be because of technical market functioning issues; rather liquidity conditions have held up well,\" Treasury Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang told a roomful of market participants last month at the 2023 Treasury Market Conference.\nThe administration has also launched an interagency working group to track Treasury market functionality with senior officials from Treasury, the Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission, and more gathering regularly.\nThis group, a Treasury official told Yahoo Finance, is focused on \"efforts to enhance the resilience of this critically important market are broad based and long term in nature.\"\nWhat all sides agree is that a further ratcheting up of Treasury market volatility — no matter the underlying cause — could be felt all across the economy.\nMark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, says the scenarios get scary quickly and could \"quickly engulf the stock market and mortgage rates and lending rates and it could have much significant, broader implications.\"\nHe notes that some current signals have \"all the earmarks of a problem,\" likening the current situation to a yellow flare that could be upgraded to red if things continue without reforms.\nTreasury market stability has periodically moved to the front burner in recent years, including a COVID-era liquidity crisis known as a \"dash for cash\" that required the Fed to intervene.\nThis time around, the SEC is currently in the process of pushing two changes to try and address at least some of the technical issues.\nOne SEC push, which was finalized just this week, would push more bond trading to what are known as central clearing platforms.\nThese platforms, advocates say, make markets safer because of the additional backing they mandate for trades between market makers.\nCommissioner Jaime Lizárraga lauded the changes in a statement, noting they would \"help prevent market disruptions, reduce the need for Federal Reserve interventions, and strengthen market confidence.\"\nDuffie hails the changes around central clearing platforms as a key step forward but warns they alone \"won't be enough to break the back of the problem.\"\nAnother idea under consideration is a proposed rule aimed largely at the hedge funds that have taken an increasingly prominent role in bond markets. The change would require some firms to register as broker-dealers and be subject to tougher capital and liquidity requirements if they want to keep playing in the market. It was first proposed this March.\nIn a new letter released Friday, Senate Banking Committee ranking member Tim Scott (R-S.C.) raised concerns that the reforms could exacerbate the plumbing issues and may cause some some to exit the Treasury markets entirely.\n\"Fewer participants in the Treasury markets will also lead to a potentially dangerous reduction in liquidity in those markets,\" he wrote.\nThis rule is still being debated and is widely expected to be refined in the months ahead to address Wall Street concerns about exactly which firms will be subject to the new requirements.\nAt issue is whether a wide swath of market participants would fall under the new requirements or if it could be more targeted to a smaller sliver of firms that act as large-scale liquidity providers but are not currently subject to the provisions.\nA broader issue — both outside experts and Treasury officials agree — is transparency in the bond markets.\nTransparency comes up often among experts, with Zandi citing the opaqueness of the market as a structural risk. \"If something goes wrong [you could see a quick succession of failures] and that only happens in opaque markets that are not transparent,\" he says.\nTreasury officials have often focused on transparency as a priority and are moving forward on gradual changes to the market. \"We’ve been steadily walking down this path,\" Liang said recently, citing a policy change this year from weekly to daily reports of things like secondary market trade counts and average prices.\nThe recent change marks a notable uptick in transparency with more granular public dissemination of secondary market trading data possible in the months ahead following a review process.\nProfessor Duffie says even more muscular fixes might be needed — especially around price transparency.\nThe current system could discourage traders, he says, because buyers must rely on dealers for price quotes with no point of comparison.\n\"You might end up not trading as much as you would if you could see the prices,\" he says, calling such a move \"another positive for market liquidity.\"\nAs for further changes to the system, Liang told market participants in October that \"we’ll consider possible next steps for additional transparency\" after studying the effects of current changes.\nEither way, this plumbing issue is likely to only grow in prominence in coming months.\n\"This is suddenly on our radar much more than it was before,\" said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a recent interview noting the concerns that small tremors in this arena could escalate quickly.\nShe adds that \"shifts could happen very abruptly so I sit on the edge of my seat in a way that I never have before about how the Treasury issuances are going to go.\"\nBen Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.\nClick here for politics news related to business and money\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Why maintaining America’s ballooning debt could be as big a challenge in the years ahead as the debt itself"
    },
    {
        "id": 1376,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/floundering-weed-stocks-test-wall-150000464.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The case for investing in cannabis companies is, in theory, the strongest it’s ever been. Weed shops are popping up on street corners across the US at a frantic pace, while the 2024 presidential election offers an impetus for drug reform.\nAnd yet the stocks underlying the industry are floundering, with even the bulls growing tired of waiting. An index tracking the shares of 100 marijuana-related companies has tumbled more than 15% so far this year, after touching an all-time low in October.\n“The fundamentals don’t matter much at all, unfortunately,” said Dan Ahrens, managing director of Advisorshares Investments LLC. “They will again, but right now these companies and their stock prices are extremely tied to federal reform.”\nEven though 24 states, two territories and Washington DC have all legalized weed for recreational use, the plant remains a Schedule I substance on a federal basis — on the same tier as heroin and LSD. Federal decriminalization has been a goal among Democrats, though there’s been relatively little progress under President Joe Biden’s administration.\nOn Wall Street, the lingering red tape is impossible to overlook. Because of marijuana’s status, cannabis companies are taxed so heavily that they struggle to make enough cash. Their shares — and the exchange-traded funds that track them — are also largely kept off of major marketplaces like the New York Stock Exchange, instead trading over the counter or on smaller Canadian exchanges.\nThat’s all but wiped out optimism among stock pickers who’d expected industry legitimization progress to unleash an epic windfall.\nThe highs and lows are clear in prices of pot stocks over the years: Tilray Brands Inc.’s US shares trade at just about $2 each, a tiny fraction of what they were worth in 2018, when the stock hit a high of about $214. Curaleaf Holdings Inc. has wiped out roughly $10 billion of shareholder value since a 2021 peak. And Canopy Growth this week resorted to plans for a one-for-10 reverse stock split in a desperate bid to ensure the stock trades at $1-or-more per share.\nTo Will Hershey, chief executive and co-founder of Roundhill Financial Inc., it’s a disappointment. When he launched an exchange-traded fund tracking US cannabis companies — ticker WEED — last year, the outlook was that 2023 would be a better year for beaten-down pot stocks.\n“The whole idea was that we were going to have more progress than we’d seen on the regulatory front,” he said. “As long as these companies have to list on the small Canadian exchanges and have to operate with really burdensome tax regimes, the story is less interesting.”\nHis WEED fund hit an all-time low in August and has slumped 62% since it started trading on April 20, 2022.\nLast Hope\nThere is, of course, still a chance that Democrats renew the push to reschedule and decriminalize cannabis, especially as they seek to win over voters ahead of Biden’s reelection campaign in 2024.\nThe next catalyst on investors’ radar is the potential reclassification of marijuana. Pot stocks jumped for one of their best weekly performances this year in September after the US Drug Enforcement Administration said it would review its classification of cannabis, an action taken after nudging by Biden’s team.\n“Rescheduling is a major, fundamental catalyst that could result in better equity performance,” said Needham & Co. analyst Matthew McGinley.\nOf course, any action by the DEA would likely face legal challenges. And, even in a scenario that sees reclassification and relief from taxes, the boost would be disparate, said Kris Inton, an analyst at Morningstar who covers cannabis companies.\nMultistate operators have the most to gain if they face softer tax rules, from Cresco Labs Inc. and Trulieve Cannabis Corp. to Green Thumb Industries Inc.. Larger Canadian companies such as Tilray, Canopy Growth and Cronos Group Inc. would see less impact from rescheduling because they currently only sell THC products in the US, Inton said.\nPlus, it would only be one step in the right direction. Most on Wall Street agree that beyond rescheduling, it would take both legislation — like the SAFER Banking Act, which would make banking and financial services more accessible for the industry — and legalization at the federal level for the industry to flourish.\nThe SAFER Banking Act, however, will expire if it’s not voted on by the end of the legislative session in January, meaning it would have to be reintroduced yet again. Any swift action from Congress seems unlikely as House Speaker Mike Johnson has voted against cannabis reform in the past.\nAdvisorshares’ Ahrens is still betting that federal reform is somewhere on the horizon, pointing to the expansion of states that have legalized cannabis for adult-use. His US cannabis-focused ETF, nicknamed MSOS, is down roughly 73% from its launch in 2020.\n“We think it’s closer than ever,” he said. “But we also expected it about two-and-a-half to three years ago.”\n",
        "title": "Floundering Weed Stocks Test Wall Street’s Faith in 2024 Rebound"
    },
    {
        "id": 1377,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fate-of-pandemic-darling-stocks-doordash-is-taking-off-while-zoom-remains-in-limbo-140048275.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "As the old adage goes, what goes up must come down.\nThe pandemic proved to be a boon for a wide range of companies, from Zoom (ZM) to Peloton (PTON) to DoorDash (DASH). But once the hype faded, some companies translated their burst of popularity to a long-term business, while others are looking like one-hit wonders with dying fads.\nThe most famous pandemic darling remains Zoom, which vaulted from a moderately successful company to becoming a verb. In October 2020, Zoom's stock shot to a record $559 a share. Today, its shares are trading at around $72.\nThe company has been struggling as people return to business as usual with in-person work and socializing, said Dave Mawhinney, executive director at Carnegie Mellon's Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.\n\"Zoom faces intense competition from other video conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Cisco WebEx, and so on,” Mawhinney pointed out. “To remain successful long term, it needs to be 'compellingly better' or 'compellingly cheaper' than alternatives.\"\nIt's a test that Zoom has failed, Mawhinney argues, as its products have not been significantly better or cheaper. When the company reported its results for 2020, it boasted a 326% jump in revenue (to $2.65 billion), while its net income rocketed to $671.5 million, from $21.7 million the year prior.\nTwo years later, Zoom is sporting a revenue of $4.39 billion for 2022, a 7% year-over-year increase, while its net income has dropped to $103.7 million.\nZoom represents a broader problem for pandemic-era successes: securing what it gained during the lockdowns.\n\"Zoom didn't invest that much in advertising during the pandemic, perhaps for obvious reasons. But now Zoom is investing a lot in marketing and sales, almost threefold compared to the 2021,\" said Pablo Hernandez-Lagos from Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business.\nSo far, additional marketing hasn’t stopped the bleed for Zoom. This month, the company was dropped from the Nasdaq 100 in favor of DoorDash, whose stock has shot up 110% this year.\n\"With demand for delivery broadening beyond restaurants during the pandemic, DoorDash launched convenience (April 2020), DashMarts (August 2020), grocery (August 2020), and alcohol (September 2021) and acquired Wolt (May 2022),\" wrote Andrew Boone of Citizens JMP Securities.\n\"To that end, we believe demand for these newer businesses is scaling, helping to improve unit economics ... DoorDash has optimized each of these launches, which supports persistent contribution margins and higher profitability going forward.\"\nRival Uber (UBER) is a top pick for JP Morgan, according to a client note by JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth. His team projects continuing demand for food delivery in 2024, particularly in newer categories like groceries.\nShiftKey, a startup that focuses on flexible healthcare work, offers insight into what sustainable post-pandemic success can look like. Its platform connects healthcare professionals, like nurses, with open shifts at nearby hospitals.\nThe company experienced a meteoric rise during the pandemic and has since held on to that boom.\n\"We started in a position where we were serving a very focused area of the country. We were born and bred in Dallas, Texas,\" said ShiftKey CEO Mike Vitek. The company now operates in over 120 markets across the US.\nDuring COVID, ShiftKey's scheduled hours grew by 20 times, and those scheduled hours are now 24 times of what they were pre-COVID. The company, valued at a reported $2 billion, closed a $300 million funding round last January amid a difficult VC market.\nThe lesson for public companies is this: If the pandemic changed something permanently, or revealed something essential, you'll be okay. Otherwise, you're in limbo. Coming from a place of strength, for example, facilitated a continued upward trajectory, as was the case for Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT).\n\"Microsoft … finally acquired Blizzard, and really shored up Teams as an enterprise,\" said Carnegie Mellon professor Ari Lightman. \"And the pandemic's when you started to see the setup for the surging of Nvidia — even before the craziness of generative AI, they were pushing some really amazing chipsets that were competing with Intel.\"\nThere are some pandemic losers who may turn into winners, Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, told Yahoo Finance. Take real estate tech company Opendoor (OPEN), which buys and sells residential properties online. Its stock catapulted to over $34 per share in 2021. But in 2022, the company was losing more than $1.3 billion and entrenched in an existential cost-cutting push; its shares dropped to as low as $1.02.\n\"I think Opendoor is going to find a way to be an important part of the homebuying decision now ... They're gonna return to growth next year and likely be profitable at the end of next year and no one's doing what they are,\" Munster said.\nDespite the losses, Opendoor nearly doubled its revenue in 2022 to $15.6 billion. Over the last 12 months, its shares are up 222%.\nPeloton, on the other hand, is in a tricky spot, said Munster. Its stock is down 24% this year and 96% from its high in December 2020. While demand swelled during the lockdown, permanent changes in people’s exercise habits are tough to come by.\n\"I don't think they're a real long-term growth story … Ultimately I think Apple buys Peloton,” Munster predicted. “It's just a very hard business to get to grow.”\nIn the end, as the pandemic retreats, it has revealed who had the most sustainable businesses when the pandemic began.\n\"Crises are usually seen as, think of a wave that wipes out old sand and leaves the rocks, so it leaves the fundamental needs of our society,\" said Hernandez-Lagos.\nAllie Garfinkle is a Senior Tech Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @agarfinks and on LinkedIn.\nClick here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Fate of pandemic darling stocks: DoorDash is taking off while Zoom remains in limbo"
    },
    {
        "id": 1378,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/qa-the-emotional-factor-of-money-management-133043914.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "You think you have money woes.\n“I’ve been laid off from a good, high-paying job, I’ve had horrible credit. I’ve had negative balances in my bank accounts and have been so broke that I had a car repossessed,” writes Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, a money coach, in her new book “Bounce Back: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Resilience.” “I’ve been through a ridiculously costly divorce.”\nKhalfani-Cox doesn’t stop there. She racked up $100,000 in credit card debt, faced housing discrimination, poor health issues, and the loss of an older sister who passed away suddenly.\nOh boy.\nDespite all of those setbacks, she took back control of her finances, and today, the personal finance expert and author of the New York Times bestseller “Zero Debt” is out to help other people take practical steps to solve their day-to-day money difficulties and build financial security.\nHere's what Khalfani-Cox recently told Yahoo Finance about how even when the odds are against you, with determination, skill, and resilience, nearly anything is possible.\nEdited excerpts:\nPost-pandemic, a lot of people have had major financial challenges — especially this last year or so. We had layoffs in different sectors. Inflation was a big concern, affecting people's ability to save.\nCredit card interest rates started going up a lot. And, of course, debt became a big challenge. We’re at a record level of consumer debt in this country. Many people are just trying to make ends meet.\nRead more: Credit card fees explained: 8 types you should know\nThese particular setbacks, which I call the Dreaded Ds, can be interrelated or layered in nature and hit folks with these one–two punches.\nI define the 10 Dreaded Ds as downsizing from a job, divorce, death of a loved one, disability, disease, disasters (natural or man-made), debt, damaged credit, dollar deficits (which really just means I'm broke), and discrimination, which can also pack a punch emotionally and financially.\nCorrect. People need not only financial strategies for how to come back, but also emotional strategies to find that grit and that perseverance. When something potentially painful or problematic happens to you externally, you have an opportunity, in the midst of all that, to have a transition happen within you.\nEven during your lowest point, when you've gone through a divorce, been through debt, lost a job and so forth, the opportunity is there for growth, for learning. It can be a stepping stone to something better. You're not defined by your failures, setbacks, past mistakes or other adversity.\nMindset is crucial to well-being. Physicians will tell you that if somebody has had illness, injury or chronic condition, they tend to do better if they have a positive outlook.\nLikewise with your financial well-being. If you have an expectation of a better future, the hope in your mind, the faith, or the promise that things can get better, you’re more likely to act on those positive thoughts in a way that is helpful to you as opposed to detrimental to you.\nOtherwise, you're locked in this cycle of either inaction, or a negative spiral, where you're feeling hopeless that nothing you can do can change things in any way.\nIt really is. I would say 80% of financial management is emotional. People forget when we talk about this subject of personal finances that there is the personal part of it.\nFrom the little things to the big things, our emotions absolutely drive our decision-making. Once you start to be aware of that, you can start to monitor it.\nYou shouldn't make major decisions, or spending choices, when you're in a euphoric state on a high because you're like, ‘woo-hoo, let's go for it.’ When you're feeling depressed, or anxious, or worried, that's also not a time to make major financial decisions. Better to do it when you're in that emotion neutral zone.\nYour mental health and your personal well-being are about knowing how to practice self-care, knowing how to create connection and community, knowing the importance of reaching out for help, and knowing which resources to tap. You must understand that it's normal to struggle and to go through those feelings.\nWhat works is having the right emotional preparation and mindset to make better financial decisions. Practicing mindfulness, even simple things like counting your breaths for 30 to 60 seconds and cultivating gratitude can help shift your focus.\nDoing things that bring you joy can boost your resilience. Incorporating exercise and relaxation techniques into your daily routine can help you reduce stress.\nYou have to do the work. To bounce back from a job loss, for example, you need to reflect on what you actually liked about your old job, what you didn’t like at all and be honest about it. What were the things that dragged you down emotionally on that job? What are the deal breakers for you as you look forward to a new position?\nIt’s a person's capacity to save, spend, borrow and plan. If you're able to save for your near-term obligations and save for the future, that's an indication of your financial health. If you're able to borrow at prime rates because you have a good credit score, for example, or if you're able to not have to take on an excessive amount of borrowing, that's an indication of financial health.\nRead more: The best high-yield savings account rates for December 2023\nThe 20% rule is a budgeting rule that I have used for two decades with coaching clients…and anybody who will listen. I have never met a single person who has accurately told me their level of spending. Even the best of budgeters undercalculate because of impulse purchases – we all get seduced by these, and we buy stuff on a whim and have emergencies or unexpected events, for example. So always pad your anticipated budget expenses by 20%.\nYour rainy day fund is your short-term fund. It is different in size and scope, duration and purpose from the longer-term emergency fund. So the rainy day fund can be anywhere from like $500 bucks to maybe $1,500 bucks tops. You really just need this money to throw at a problem and make it go away. Say, you ran over a nail in your car and needed a new tire, it’s the cash on hand to deal with that straightaway.\nAn emergency fund, on the other hand, is designed to take care of all of your living expenses and your bills over a three-month or longer span. If your living expenses are $4,000 a month, $5,000 a month, ideally you'd like to have $12,000 or $15,000 — three months worth put aside in that emergency fund.\nRead more: What is an emergency savings fund?\nAn emergency account requires some building, but that's what you want to strive for. The purpose of having that is if you're faced with any of those awful Dreaded Ds, like a downsizing from a job where you have no income coming in, and you need money to cover all of your bills. That emergency fund will cover that. You're not going to amass this overnight. It may require some sacrifices and lifestyle adjustments.\nYou don't have to be ashamed or reluctant to reach out for help for any personal or financial problem you might be experiencing, or have experienced, and are still struggling with.\nUnfortunately, a lot of people who go through the Dreaded Ds suffer in silence. That has long-term ramifications, and it can take them years to recover.\nMy hope is that anybody who's been through a divorce, who's been through a layoff, who's been through any of the unfortunate natural disasters that we've seen in recent years, that my advice and resources will give them inspiration and a blueprint with real-life case studies, myself included, for how you can recover and and bounce back – even when it feels like the most awful time of your life.\nKerry Hannon is a Senior Reporter and Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a workplace futurist, a career and retirement strategist, and the author of 14 books, including \"In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in The New World of Work\" and \"Never Too Old To Get Rich.\" Follow her on X @kerryhannon.\nClick here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Q&A: The 'emotional' factor of money management"
    },
    {
        "id": 1379,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-boon-add-extra-zip-130000782.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Emerging-market bonds and currencies have powered ahead this month on optimism over the Federal Reserve’s pivot to interest-rate cuts. Falling oil prices are set to deliver a further boost.\nBrent crude’s slide of more than 20% from its September peak suggests inflation is set to slow even further in developing nations in coming months, which will provide another reason to buy their bonds. Emerging-market currencies are also poised to gain as finances of net-oil importers improve.\n“Oil is always going to be an important piece for emerging markets’ inflation or disinflation,” said Manpreet Gill, chief investment officer for Africa, Middle East and Europe at Standard Chartered in Dubai. When there’s disinflation, local-currency bonds are the place to look because one gets more direct exposure to local rates and the currency, he said.\nA Bloomberg index of emerging-market local-currency debt has returned 5.6% this quarter, while an MSCI gauge of developing-nation currencies has advanced 3.4%, both on course for the best quarterly performance in a year.\nThe bulk of recent gains in developing-nation assets has been due to optimism the Fed is finished raising rates. Traders moved to price in as much as six quarter-point cuts from the US central bank next year following a dovish shift in tone at the Fed’s Dec. 12-13 meeting. That saw the dollar tumble, and risk assets rally.\nInflation ‘Peaked’\nFalling oil prices may spur further gains in EM assets by adding to downward pressure on inflation. Consumer-price-index data across developing nations as a whole have been undershooting economists’ forecasts since December 2002, based on a Citibank surprise index.\n“It’s clear that emerging-market inflation peaked last year, and oil disinflation has led to a continuation of the deceleration,” said Jennifer Taylor, head of emerging-market debt at State Street Global Advisors in London.\nWhile slowing inflation has convinced traders to bet on rate cuts from the Fed and other major central banks next year, policymakers in a number of emerging-market economies have already started easing. Brazil, Chile and Peru have collectively cut their benchmark rates by more than 500 basis points in 2023.\nThe high volatility in market pricing for global rates means 2024 may still be far from plain sailing for emerging-market bonds.\nDisinflation will continue to be interesting to markets, but at some point investors will start focusing on growth dynamics once more, said Kieran Curtis, director of investment at Abrdn in London.\n“There will be some countries where I think investors will start to question when the central bank needs to move from tight to stimulative,” he said. There are “others where we’re looking at a move back from tight to neutral, and some where we’re not really looking at a move away from tight policy,” he said.\n‘Usual Suspects’\nSome of the major beneficiaries of lower crude prices will be net oil importers, including many nations in Asia.\n“Currencies from the usual suspects such as India, Philippines, Korea and Thailand may stand to gain the most from the oil-price pullback given their net import reliance on crude,” said Vishnu Varathan, Asia head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore. Thailand and India may even leverage further on downstream petrochemical profitability as crude input costs decline, he said.\nDeclining crude prices are also set to boost emerging-market currencies due to the fact the US has become a net oil exporter since the Covid pandemic, according to Bank of America.\n“Higher commodity prices are now associated with weaker EM FX, and stronger dollar, the opposite of what happened in 2010-2019,” strategists at the bank including David Hauner in London wrote in a research note this month.\n--With assistance from Colleen Goko.\n",
        "title": "Oil Boon Will Add Extra Zip to Rally in Emerging-Market Assets"
    },
    {
        "id": 1380,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-frackers-back-haunt-opec-130000683.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- OPEC’s one-time nemesis — US shale — is rearing its head just months after the sector was all but written off as a threat to the cartel’s sway over worldwide oil markets.\nDrillers from the Permian Basin in West Texas to the Bakken Shale of North Dakota have ramped up oil production well beyond what analysts foresaw, pushing output to a record just as OPEC and its allies put the brakes on supplies in a bid to arrest price declines.\nThis time last year, US government forecasters predicted domestic production would average 12.5 million barrels a day during the current quarter. In recent days, that estimate was bumped to 13.3 million; the difference is equivalent to adding a new Venezuela to global supplies.\nThat growth is reverberating around the world, calling into question the OPEC+ group’s strategy of curbing supplies to prevent the potentially catastrophic price impacts of a glut. It also makes clear that the legions of companies that pump oil from US shale fields still wield enough power to bedevil the cartel’s efforts.\n“The US clearly played a huge role in the global market in 2023, including pressuring OPEC+ to curtail their output,” Wood Mackenzie Ltd. analyst Ryan Duman said during an interview.\nThe Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, abetted by its Russian ally, overtly sought to check the influence of North American shale as early as 2014, when the group flooded world markets with crude in a bid to recapture market share from the ascendant US oil sector. The move aggravated an existing supply glut and triggered a 65% plunge in crude prices that took 14 months to bottom out.\nThat collapse sent a jolt through the economics of US shale, ending years of breakneck production growth. And although the expansion eventually resumed, it was thrown into reverse by the global pandemic in early 2020. The shale industry emerged from that setback with a resolve to prioritize returning cash to investors instead of chasing production gains.\nMeanwhile, in the years since the 2014-2016 selloff, the OPEC+ alliance, as it came to be known, worked to enforce supply quotas among member nations as part of a broader strategy of balancing global supply-and-demand to maintain robust prices.\nThat self discipline helped stabilize the market in 2020, and again this year in the face of slowing demand and a glut of oil. But OPEC+’s latest cuts announced at the end of November haven’t stopped crude from slipping further. And all the while, US shale — plus production in places like Brazil and Guyana — has crept higher. Further action by OPEC+ may be needed to shore up the market: Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told Bloomberg earlier this month that the group can “absolutely” maintain discipline beyond the first quarter of 2024 if required.\nWhat Bloomberg Intelligence Says\nThe OPEC+ 1 million barrels-a-day voluntary output cut won’t inspire much confidence as smaller members have little incentive to abide by its terms and larger ones may not reduce exports due to seasonality. ... US shale growth and a recovery in Iranian and Venezuelan output could effectively offset all the additional proposed cuts through 1Q.\n— Fernando Valle and Salih Yilmaz, BI analysts\nRead the full report here.\nPart of what makes the US crude surge surprising is that companies managed to increase production even as the number of drilling rigs at work fell roughly 20% this year. That productivity gain has confounded many analysts and researchers who have long relied on the so-called rig count as a predictor of future crude output.\nExplorers are squeezing crude out of new wells more efficiently because of innovations in everything from electric-pump technology to new strategies for deploying workers while fracking wells to minimize downtime. A key example has been the replacement of the iconic, decades-old pumpjack with high-tech underground gear as tall as a three-story building that sits inside a well to push more crude to the surface.\nOn a recent windswept morning in the Permian Basin of West Texas, Diamondback Energy Inc. drilling chief Yong Cho stood in a control room part-way up a 180-foot (55-meter) rig as a crew went to work on a fresh well. The company has reduced the time it takes to drill an average well by about 40% over the last three years, thanks in part to boring slightly smaller holes, adjusting the solution that’s pumped down shafts to power drills, and subtle refinements in the steel-and-polycrystalline-diamond-tipped bits.\n“In 2019, the average well took me 19.5 days,” Cho said during an interview afterward. “Now it takes me 11.5 days.”\nBut a shale well isn’t finished when the drilling is done. A separate array of workers and gear is called upon to frack it so that crude can begin to flow. It’s the last and most-expensive part of oil production, and frackers have achieved similar efficiency gains, shortening the process by three days to little more than a week per well, according to Kimberlite International Oilfield Research.\n“Every year we’re seeing more efficiency,” Chevron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth said during a recent talk at the Council on Foreign Relations. “And you’re seeing, through a number of acquisitions and consolidations, companies that have the scale to bring these capabilities to bear in a way that just drives further efficiency and industrial kind of progress there.”\nAnalysts had expected US producers to increase output modestly this year. That’s partly because after years of heavily investing in production and being burned by downturns, companies pledged to keep spending in check and focus on returning cash to shareholders.\nThe role of private producers may have also caused forecasters to underestimate oil production because their activity is harder to model than publicly-listed peers who report earnings every quarter.\nOut of the 10 fastest growing producers by volume since the pandemic, seven of them were private companies, according to S&P Global. Mewbourne Oil Co. and Endeavor Energy Resources LP led the charge, adding more barrels to the market than Exxon Mobil Corp. since 2019.\nThere are indications that US drillers may once again exercise more restraint when it comes to expanding budgets. Annual growth in industry spending is estimated to be just 2% in 2024, down from this year’s 19% growth rate and a fraction of the record 44% increase of two years ago, according to Evercore ISI.\n“It’s not drill, baby, drill like it was during the shale boom,” Angie Gildea, who leads KPMG’s US energy practice, said in an interview. “It’s meaningful but measured growth.”\n--With assistance from Mitchell Ferman, Grant Smith, Devika Krishna Kumar, Lucia Kassai, Will Kennedy and Joe Ryan.\n",
        "title": "US Frackers Are Back to Haunt OPEC’s Price Strategy"
    },
    {
        "id": 1381,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elliott-granted-permission-appeal-over-111609269.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Hedge fund Elliott Associates was granted permission to appeal its loss in court against the London Metal Exchange over a nickel squeeze, extending the legal battle over the latter’s decision last year to cancel billions of dollars worth of trades.\nElliott applied to the English Court of Appeal and was granted permission to appeal the judgment that went in the LME’s favor last month, according to a filing from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd., the parent company of London Metal Exchange. The timing of the appeal, which it plans to contest, is yet to be determined, according to the disclosure Sunday.\nRead More: LME Wins Nickel Crisis Case as UK Rules Against Elliott\nThe LME suspended its nickel market on March 8, 2022, and controversially canceled $3.9 billion of trades after prices surged in an unprecedented squeeze centered around a large short-position held by nickel tycoon Xiang Guangda.\nThe crisis shook the metals industry and has thrust the LME into the global spotlight, with critics ranging from the International Monetary Fund to Citadel Securities founder Ken Griffin.\n",
        "title": "Elliott Granted Permission to Appeal Over Court Loss to LME"
    },
    {
        "id": 1382,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ubs-ceo-tells-paper-hes-102039919.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "VIENNA (Reuters) - The chief executive of Swiss banking giant UBS, Sergio Ermotti, is not convinced central banks have got inflation under control, he said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday.\nFederal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last week that interest-rate increases were likely over in the United States and lower rates were coming into view but central banks have stuck to plans to keep policy tight well into next year.\nSeven sources told Reuters the European Central Bank would need to see how inflation and other data pan out between now and, at the earliest, its March 7 meeting before considering the kind of \"dovish\" pivot the Fed performed.\n\"One thing I've learned is that one must not try to make predictions on the coming months - it's nearly impossible. That said, at this stage I am still not convinced that inflation is really under control,\" Ermotti told Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche when asked about the economic outlook.\n\"The trend seems favourable but we must see if it continues. If inflation approaches the 2% targets in all major economies, central banks' policies could loosen a bit. In this environment, it is very important to remain agile,\" he added.\nUBS has said it will slash 3,000 jobs in Switzerland to cut costs following its takeover of Credit Suisse - the biggest bank merger since the global financial crisis, orchestrated by the Swiss state to avert Credit Suisse's collapse.\n\"We will do our best, based on a principle of meritocracy. Use retirements, early retirements, natural departures. Three thousand people at Credit Suisse did not commit errors, no doubt far fewer,\" Ermotti said.\n\"In fact, the hardest part will be making these choices, firing people who are in no way responsible for what happened,\" he added.\n(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Alison Williams)\n",
        "title": "UBS CEO tells paper he's not convinced inflation is under control"
    },
    {
        "id": 1383,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-says-basel-3-090000476.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Wall Street’s biggest banks are warning that existing assumptions around much-needed green finance will no longer hold if the US goes ahead with stricter capital requirements.\nThe Basel 3 Endgame, as the planned rules have been dubbed, marks the final implementation stage in the US of regulations created after the financial crisis of 2008. Banks will need to set aside more capital, which will make it costlier for them to provide finance. Proposed in July by a group of US authorities that includes the Federal Reserve, the rules will “fundamentally alter” how banks in the world’s biggest economy approach risk, EY says.\nJPMorgan Chase & Co. estimates the plan would leave it facing a 25% capital bump, which would “for sure” affect its ability to allocate funds to green projects, according to Chief Operating Officer Daniel Pinto. And Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon says the bank’s capital requirements would “quadruple” for certain clean energy projects.\nThe upshot is that Wall Street will have to rethink existing climate financing structures, said John Greenwood, co-head of Americas structured finance at Goldman.\n“Given all the things that commercial banks are facing in the context of Basel,” the financial structures of existing climate deals are starting to look a bit “antiquated,” Greenwood said in an interview. That’s particularly true of a climate-funding model known as blended finance, whereby deals are de-risked by the public sector in order to lure private capital. Those enticements are now going to need to take banks’ extra capital costs into account, he said.\nThe eight biggest US banks currently have capital requirements ranging from $9 to $13 for every $100 in risk-weighted assets. Under the new rules, they would need to add roughly $2 more.\n“With the incremental capital needed to fund the green transition, banks will look to work alongside other corners of private finance that perhaps aren’t subject to the same regulations,” Greenwood said. “What we’re seeing now in terms of new investment in energy and infrastructure is really a need for how do we crowd in and support institutional investors, given the constraints that commercial banks have under Basel.”\nIt’s the latest reality check from a finance industry that spent much of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai reminding the world that it will only participate in the green transition if the returns are appealing. “You have to make a profit,” hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio said at COP28. And private capital can’t get involved if there isn’t “a commercial return,” Shriti Vadera, chair of Prudential Plc, said in Dubai.\nRead More: Hedge Fund Titan Ray Dalio Gets Profits Back on Green Agenda\nAccording to Jeff Berman, New York-based partner and US financial services regulatory group lead at law firm Clifford Chance, Wall Street is now “looking at a trade-off between the safety and soundness of the banking system, and the goals of climate policy.”\nThe clear message from bankers is that achieving a commercial return will be harder once capital requirements go up. That means a lot of finance is set to move away from banks and into the murkier realm of shadow banking, where risk levels aren’t monitored as closely, according to the industry.\n“Policymakers should be concerned with a resulting shift away from regulated entities to less-regulated and less transparent markets and institutions,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in a Senate hearing earlier this month.\nGoldman’s Solomon says financing will happen in corners of the market over which “regulators have far less visibility,” meaning risks could build up and “ultimately lead to financial shocks.”\nRead More: Why Bigger ‘Capital Cushions’ Have Banks On Edge: QuickTake\nMultilateral development banks agree that green finance models may need to be adjusted because of the regulatory environment.\nOdile Renaud-Basso, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said Basel 3 presents “a good excuse” for global banks to back away from climate finance. “But there are maybe some elements that we need to look into because emerging market risk is seen as variable and the approach isn’t very conducive for placement,” she said.\nWall Street has spent the past months warning of the impact of stricter capital rules on everything from mortgages to small business loans. The United Nations climate summit was just the latest venue for bankers to spread their message.\nIn a research paper distributed at COP28, Citigroup Inc. said regulators should “consider the implications of structures such as Basel 3, which can inadvertently hinder investment into infrastructure projects and markets that could make a meaningful difference to climate and development finance.”\nThe Basel 3 rules make financing green infrastructure difficult for banks, Jay Collins, Citigroup’s vice chairman of corporate and investment banking, said in an interview. That’s because it’s typically funded at the project level and tends to be long-term and illiquid, which is the kind of lending the Basel rules deter.\n“As long as there is so much policy noise and regulatory fog, the multifold increase in climate investment won’t happen,” Collins said.\nRead More: Citi Explores New Deal Structures in Battered Offsets Market\nHendrik du Toit, CEO of South Africa-based asset manager Ninety One, said his concern is that American and European financiers are already too risk-averse, and any additional hindrance will end up hitting the emerging markets most in need of climate finance.\n“Western capital is too conservative,” he said during a panel discussion in Dubai. “It’s buying dollar cash, US dollar bonds, and it’s comfortable sitting at home. We have to change that. There are returns to be had” in emerging markets\nThe risks associated with climate finance were underscored this year, as higher interest rates and supply-chain bottlenecks dragged down key green sectors. The S&P Global Clean Energy Index is down almost 30% in 2023, compared with a 23% gain for the S&P 500.\nCitigroup’s Collins said the numbers speak for themselves. The Basel rules mean “global banks will continue to struggle to meet regulatory capital return hurdles on green infrastructure,” he said.\n--With assistance from Alastair Marsh.\n",
        "title": "Wall Street Says Basel 3 ‘Endgame’ Will Upend Climate Finance"
    },
    {
        "id": 1384,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ozempic-maker-obesity-fueled-gains-081500218.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A frenzy around obesity drugs made Novo Nordisk A/S Europe’s biggest stock-market success story of 2023. Repeating the trick won’t be so easy.\nShares of Novo, which makes the diabetes drug Ozempic and weight loss medicine Wegovy, have risen 42% this year, as investors latched on to the growth potential of a market that some analysts predict could reach $100 billion by 2030. The rally made it Europe’s biggest company and pushed the Danish firm’s value past the size of its domestic economy.\nBut 2024 is a different ball game. Analysts see just 9% upside on average in the next 12 months, while about one-third of respondents to Bloomberg’s recent Markets Live Pulse survey expect weight-loss stocks to become laggards next year. Among Novo’s challenges: rising competition, issues with producing enough of its blockbuster drugs, and a valuation that’s getting stretched.\n“They’re an excellent R&D company and they’re very well managed,” but too much is priced in, said Nick Cameron, a portfolio manager at Antipodes Partners, which doesn’t own Novo. “We can’t make the valuation work at these levels.” The comments echo those of GAM Investments director Niall Gallagher, who cut his holdings of the stock amid the “hype” surrounding the class of drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists.\nNovo trades at about 30 times analysts’ estimated earnings for the next 12 months, more than double the valuations of European big pharma peers like Roche Holding AG and Sanofi. Still — they’re cheaper than shares in Eli Lilly & Co., the maker of rival drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, which trade at about 46 times projected earnings.\n“A lot of people are talking about whether Lilly and Novo have run their course,” said Ailsa Craig, co-lead manager of the International Biotechnology Trust. “Have the huge sales numbers been factored into their valuations now and is it sort of a bubble? That’s a big debate.” The IBT doesn’t hold shares in Novo or Lilly.\nNovo is set to maintain its dominance of the market in 2024, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. But more competition is looming: Zepbound, which is cheaper than Wegovy, is now available in US pharmacies and is expected to get European authorization early next year. Other companies are also getting in on the action, with Zealand Pharma A/S and partner Boehringer Ingelheim undertaking late-stage trials on their own asset, and data due next year on an obesity pill made by Amgen Inc.\nRead: Obesity-Drug Sales Poised to Nearly Double in 2024: Bloomberg Intelligence\nBut even if things get more challenging, many think Novo’s overall trajectory remains positive.\n“The potential for weight-loss drugs is still very big as currently they are only prescribed to a tiny portion of the eligible patient population,” said Gregoire Biollaz, senior investment manager at Pictet Asset Management. The company can reinvest its cash to defend its leading position in the market, he added.\nA new catalyst could propel the shares to even-greater heights. There are early signs that GLP-1 drugs could help with a wide range of ailments, including addiction and even Alzheimer’s disease. Novo’s next-generation obesity drug, CagriSema, is in advanced clinical trials, and has the potential to help patients shed as much as 25% of their body weight. The company has also said that it is hunting for deals to beef up its pipeline.\nRipple Effects\nIntron Health analyst Naresh Chouhan sees several reasons for more upside. Wegovy prescriptions covered by Medicaid are an under-appreciated opportunity which could be worth as much as $6 billion to the company, while the use of Ozempic to treat kidney failure may also be a catalyst, he said.\nWhatever happens with Novo, it’s likely to have an impact on a multitude of other industries — from grocery giants like Walmart Inc., which has said it’s seeing the medications impact demand for food, to consumer staples firms like Nestle SA, which is working on products to complement weight loss. Exercise-related stocks, medical device companies and other drugmakers may also see ripple effects.\nBut for some, this year’s excitement around Novo is losing steam, particularly as strategists are predicting a muted performance for the broader European market in 2024. There are few key catalysts for Novo over the next 12 months, Jefferies analyst Peter Welford wrote in a recent note, reiterating an underperform rating. “We envisage sentiment to change.”\n--With assistance from James Cone and Naomi Kresge.\n",
        "title": "Ozempic Maker’s Obesity-Fueled Gains Seen Slowing After Banner Year"
    },
    {
        "id": 1385,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/automaker-nissan-expands-research-ties-080829268.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BEIJING (AP) — Nissan Motor Co. is expanding its research ties with a leading Chinese university as it and other foreign car companies try to claw back market share in the important Chinese market.\nThe Japanese automaker announced Sunday that it would launch joint research next year with Tsinghua University on reaching Generation Z — defined for this project as those born between 1995 and 2009 — and on the social responsibility of automakers in battery recycling, charging stations and other electric vehicle-related issues.\nThe major auto companies were caught flat-footed by a boom in electric vehicles in China that has given rise to new Chinese competitors that have gobbled up market share at home and are now moving into Southeast Asia, Europe and other overseas markets. Nissan’s sales in China plunged 34% in the six months from April to September compared with a year earlier.\n“Market conditions in China have become extremely tough,” Masashi Matsuyama, the head of Nissan's Chinese investment company, said at a news conference in Beijing.\nNissan plans to develop 10 further new-energy vehicles for the Chinese market, four under its own brand by 2026 and the other six for Chinese joint venture partners. The company is aiming to launch the first Nissan-branded model in the second half of next year.\nThe automaker is also stepping up its electric vehicle offerings in other markets. Nissan, which has an alliance with French automaker Renault SA, announced last month that it would retool a factory in Great Britain to make electric versions of its two best-selling vehicles.\nChina's electric vehicles have become a trade issue for the European Union, which has launched an investigation into Chinese government subsidies to determine whether they have given China-based manufacturers an unfair competitive advantage.\nNissan and Tsinghua University have been research partners for several years. They established a joint center in 2016 to study electric vehicles and autonomous driving for the Chinese market.\n",
        "title": "Automaker Nissan expands research ties in China as part of bid to regain market share"
    },
    {
        "id": 1386,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russians-see-egg-prices-soar-074514252.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The price Russians pay for eggs has surged amid reports of shortages in some regions, prompting criticism from President Vladimir Putin and government action to secure supplies of the staple ingredient that’s used in many favorite holiday dishes.\nEgg prices have risen at a rate of more than 4% for four weeks in a row, according to Federal Statistics Service data. Since the start of the year, they have become 42% more expensive, according to Bloomberg calculations using that data.\nRussian media have reported long lines of shoppers waiting to buy eggs in regions from Kuban in southern Russia to Novosibirsk, around 2,000 miles to the east in Siberia, an echo of Soviet-era food shortages. Retailers have also limited the quantity of eggs sold per person and have started to sell them individually to people unable to pay for a whole carton, according to those reports.\nThe spike in prices drives home the impact of Russian inflation on consumers’ pocketbooks, and is so acute that Putin was asked about it at his marathon news conference and live call-in event on Thursday. He criticized the government’s “failure” for taking steps too late to increase the supply.\nThe timing couldn’t be worse, coming ahead of both the New Year and Christmas holidays where many traditional dishes rely on eggs as a key ingredient, and the Russian leader’s campaign for a fifth term in presidential elections scheduled for March.\nThe government is trying to address the situation. Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov instructed regional officials to inspect egg producers, his office said in a statement on Telegram.\nThe Federal Antimonopoly Service has also proposed that businesses limit mark-ups on eggs to 5% until March, RBC news service reported earlier this month, citing the agency’s letter to retailers.\nPerhaps most significantly, the government on Wednesday approved a suspension of duties on imports of 1.2 billion eggs from so-called friendly countries. “This decision will help to balance the domestic egg market and ensure supply growth,” the Economy Ministry said in a statement.\nPutin blamed the government for taking too long to lift the import levies.\n“Imports weren’t opened in time for the needed amount,” he said in response to a question at his news conference on the price of eggs. “I regret and apologize in this regard,” he said, adding, “I promise the situation will be corrected soon.”\nRussians have faced accelerated consumer inflation across a range of goods for much of this year. The central bank has repeatedly pointed to excess demand that is outpacing the country’s ability to expand supply, helping to fuel price growth that’s running at almost double its 4% target.\nRead more: Russia November Inflation Hit Central Bank’s Worst-Case Forecast\nThat may be part of what is happening with eggs. On the one hand, as many goods have become more expensive, Russians appear to be switching to cheaper, substitute products, sending demand for them soaring and driving up prices.\nAt the same time, according to data from the statistics service, egg production decreased in October from a year ago, and in the first 10 months of the year added only 1% annually.\nThat explanation was endorsed by Putin, who said at his news conference that demand for the “relatively cheap protein” increased, “but production volumes did not.”\n",
        "title": "Russians See Egg Prices Soar Ahead of Holidays and Elections"
    },
    {
        "id": 1387,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chanos-turns-bullish-us-gaming-055059869.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Short-seller Jim Chanos has switched to a bullish stance on the US gambling industry’s prospects, he told the Financial Times in an interview.\nThe hedge fund manager, who is best known for his bearish bet against Enron Corp., said he had reassessed his pessimism about online sports betting despite previously shorting DraftKings Inc. in May 2021. He exited his short position in July last year, booking a $10 million profit.\n“The betting numbers have continued to be strong in the US, stronger than we thought they’d be,” he told the FT. “The thing that we underestimated — that I think is going to be a benefit for all these companies for a while anyway — is what bad betters the US gamblers are.”\nHe said he had witnessed growth in riskier forms of betting, in which operators can boost margins, during the 2022-2023 National Football League season.\nSuch wagers have “really bad-odds bets for [gamblers] . . . so it’s become a better business than we thought it would be and we saw that during last year’s football season and that’s why we covered our short,” he told the paper.\nChanos said last month that he will shut his hedge funds after almost four decades as its business model has come under pressure and interest in fundamental stock pickers have declined.\nTo view the source of this information, click here\n",
        "title": "Chanos Turns Bullish on US Gaming Due to Bad Bettors, FT Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 1388,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trader-vitol-builds-fuel-station-040000930.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Vacationers filling up with gasoline in Brisbane or Durban this holiday season have a good chance of pulling into a station that’s part of the growing fuel-retailing empire of the world’s biggest independent oil trader.\nVitol Group, a closely held company known for cutting oil deals from Kurdistan to Benghazi, made purchases this year that mean it either owns or has a share of over 8,800 gas stations worldwide. Those acquisitions give it a portfolio to rival some oil majors and will make the firm Africa’s No. 2 fuel retailer.\nWhile Big Oil is pulling back from some downstream operations, the trading house is doubling down — betting fossil-fuel demand in emerging markets will remain robust, even as electric vehicles make headway in developed nations.\nThat’s giving Vitol, which made $15.1 billion in profit last year, both an outlet for the products it trades and physical assets to bolster its margins long after energy-market volatility subsides. A growing chunk of the world’s energy infrastructure is moving into private hands, including the trading company that’s owned by about 350 of its top employees.\n“We want to have footprints on the ground and footfall on the ground,” Chris Bake, a member of Vitol’s executive committee said in an interview. “And in order to be able to survive on very skinny margins as we do in the commodity space, you need to have a very integrated platform.”\nVitol has held investments in downstream oil for more than a decade, but this year’s acquisitions will add roughly 30% more fueling stations to its network.\nIn February, Vitol’s Vivo Energy agreed to buy a 74% stake in South Africa’s Engen Ltd., valuing the company at about $2 billion. Subject to government approvals across several countries, the tie-up would take Vivo’s African network to more than 3,900 Shell and Engen-branded fuel stations.\nIn Turkey, Vitol’s Petrol Ofisi A.S. will operate over 2,700 fuel stations after agreeing to buy BP Plc’s gas station network in the country as well as a stake in an oil terminal. That’s alongside around a 30% stake in Australia’s Viva Energy Group Ltd., which also operates a refinery in Geelong near Melbourne. Vitol also has stakes in Pakistan’s Hascol Petroleum Ltd. and European refiner-retailer Varo Energy.\nThe deals come as more established players are seeking bigger returns from upstream projects. For Exxon Mobil Corp., that means buying shale and infrastructure companies, while selling refineries and retail units.\nEnergy majors are still the biggest distributors of oil products to consumers globally, with BP operating over 20,000 retail sites, according to its website. But others are gradually whittling down their portfolios; Italy’s Eni SpA now owns about 5,000 stations, while Spain’s Repsol SA has just over 4,600.\nVitol’s dealmaking reflects a continuing trend for trading houses to become more like energy producers, according to Adam Perkins, a partner Oliver Wyman Inc.’s energy and natural resources practice. In addition, a big sales network “is something the traders value incredibly highly,” he said.\nOil Bet\nVitol’s latest investments are also a bet on the longevity of oil demand in countries where vehicle fleets are unlikely to go electric anytime soon. That’s not to say the trader is ignoring charging stations — Varo, Viva and Vivo all have projects underway.\nRead More: COP28 Ends With Deal on Transition Away From Fossil Fuels\nBut while fuel stations are forecast to close in places like Europe as sales slump, automotive oil consumption in emerging markets is expected to grow significantly. Fuel sales in African countries are expected to grow by more than a fifth by 2030, according to analysts at Citac Africa Ltd.\n“Africa being a growth continent and expected to have solid GDP growth and solid transportation growth makes it more of a target as compared to a country that’s likely to be full of Teslas in 10 years time,” Vitol Chief Executive Officer Russell Hardy said, when announcing the Engen deal.\nVitol isn’t the only trader making the play. Trafigura Group has a large fuel network through it’s Puma Energy business, controlling stations across several African countries and in Latin America.\nAnd this year’s deals may not be the last investments by Vitol in the sector.\n“There are a few areas in Africa where we don’t have a footprint today and there are some other geographies where we would look at,” Bake said. “But we want to have critical mass and we want to be able to drive value.”\n--With assistance from Paul Burkhardt.\n",
        "title": "Trader Vitol Builds Fuel Station Network to Rival Oil Majors"
    },
    {
        "id": 1389,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nissan-set-joint-ev-research-020841425.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "BEIJING (Reuters) - Nissan Motor said on Sunday it would establish a joint research centre with China's leading Tsinghua University next year, focussing on research and development of electric vehicles (EVs), including charging infrastructure and battery recycling.\n(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski)\n",
        "title": "Nissan to set up joint EV research with China's Tsinghua University"
    },
    {
        "id": 1390,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/focus-indias-love-homegrown-single-013002289.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "*\nIndia's single malts reshaping $33 billion spirits market\n*\nPernod, Diageo launch Indian whiskies as local brands expand\n*\nGlobal awards, greater wealth, COVID curbs spur boom\nBy Arpan Chaturvedi, Aditi Shah and Aditya Kalra\nINDRI, India Dec 17 (Reuters) - Oak casks, once used to store bourbon and wine, are stacking up in a distillery near New Delhi, filled with ageing whisky as workers churn out almost 10,000 bottles a day of Indian single malt Indri, recently named the world's best whisky.\nSugarcane and mustard fields, not peat bogs, ring the distillery, where the two-year-old Indian brand's owner Piccadily is ramping up production and building a three-hole golf course to lure connoisseurs and tipplers in the whisky-loving nation.\nAs India comes into its own as a maker, not just consumer, of whisky, its single malts are reshaping the country's $33 billion spirits market.\nEstablished global brands such as Glenlivet, made by France's Pernod Ricard, and Talisker by Britain's Diageo fight for shelf space with local rivals Indri, Amrut and Radico Khaitan's Rampur.\nUnlike many Asian countries where beer dominates alcohol sales, India is predominantly a whisky-drinking nation. Global awards, increased affluence and a mass of drinkers trying new brands while cooped up during COVID-19 have rocked India's whisky landscape, industry executives and analysts say.\nAditya Prakash Rao for years drank foreign brands but now increasingly buys Indian malts for himself and for gifts during festive seasons.\nIndian whisky gives Rao a sense of national pride - and goes well with Indian food - the lawyer said. \"Nothing beats Indian malts in pairing with our kind of food, which is spicy. I love it.\"\nIndri's $421 Diwali Collector's Edition won \"Best in Show\" at the Whiskies of a World Awards blind tasting in San Francisco in August, beating Scottish and U.S. rivals.\nIn response to the drink-India trend, global brands that have focussed on single malts aged in Scotland are looking to Indian whiskies to tap the boom in one of the world's biggest whisky markets.\nWith Bollywood stars and Indian music, Pernod on Wednesday uncorked its first made-in-India single malt, the $48 Longitude 77, with plans to expand sales to Dubai and then the rest of the world.\n\"We are extremely bullish about this category. It has seen unprecedented growth,\" said Kartik Mohindra, Pernod India's chief marketing officer.\n'CATEGORY OF THE FUTURE'\nDiageo, Pernod's larger rival, last year launched its first Indian single malt, Godawan - named after a large, endangered Indian bird - that sells in five foreign markets, including the United States.\n\"We seem to be moving from whisky in India to Indian whisky - within India and globally,\" said Vikram Damodaran, Diageo's India chief innovation officer.\nPernod's Glenlivet, long India's top-selling single malt, despite growing 39% by volume last year, was dethroned last year by Amrut, which spiked 183%, Euromonitor data shows.\nIndian single malts soared 144% in 2021-22, beating the 32% growth in Scotch, data from IWSR Drinks Market Analysis shows. For the period until 2027, it predicts, consumption of Indian malts is set to grow 13% a year compared to Scotch at 8%.\nIndri maker Piccadily Distilleries hopes to expand capacity by 66% to 20,000 litres (5,300 gallons) a day by 2025, reaching beyond the 18 foreign markets that make up 30% of its sales, said founder Siddhartha Sharma.\nIt plans to double the number of casks to 100,000 at the sprawling distillery in a farm belt 160 km (100 miles) north of India's capital.\nThe local brands are not cheap: Indri starts at $37 a bottle, Amrut $42 and Rampur $66 in shops near New Delhi. In comparison, Pernod's Glenlivet retails from $40 to $118, depending on age.\nAt the Longitude 77 launch, Pernod served CEOs, diplomats, celebrity chefs and other invited guests the new single malt and cocktails made with it, combined with local ingredients like Kashmiri saffron and Alphonso mangoes.\nRadico expects Rampur sales to double each year and will focus more on expanding the domestic market, as foreign sales contribute 75% of its business, said Sanjeev Banga, president of international business.\nThe biggest endorsement of the category, he said, \"is that you have both Diageo and Pernod coming up with an Indian single malt.\"\n\"Otherwise, they were only talking about their mainstream foreign brands,\" Banga said. \"They realise this is a category of the future.\" (Reporting by Arpan Chatruvedi and Aditi Shah in Indri, Haryana and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by William Mallard)\n",
        "title": "FOCUS-India's love of homegrown single malts shakes up Pernod, Diageo"
    },
    {
        "id": 1391,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-rally-fades-bank-japan-214720496.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\n(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nAsia kicks off the last full trading week of 2023 on Monday, with the U.S. Federal Reserve-fueled surge in risk appetite from last week losing steam and investors gearing up for the last major central bank meeting of the year from Japan.\nThe Bank of Japan's policy decision on Tuesday is the main event in Asia this week, and investors also have rate decisions from the People's Bank of China and Bank Indonesia, Reserve Bank of Australia meeting minutes, and Japanese consumer price inflation to navigate.\nInvestor sentiment appears to be mixed. The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index last week rose 3% for its best week since July, outperforming the MSCI World index, which rose 2.6%. Still, the MSCI World is up seven weeks in a row, a winning streak not seen for six years.\nInterest rate futures markets are pricing in 150 basis points of rate cuts from the Fed next year, despite pushback from some Fed officials. The recent slide in bond yields and the dollar could continue to support risk assets this week.\nBut the rally in stocks and bonds has been pretty remarkable, and with the holiday season fast approaching investors may be tempted to reduce exposure and take profit.\nEspecially with the BOJ decision and guidance on Tuesday. None of the 28 economists in a Reuters poll predicted any changes to policy at this meeting, but six reckon the BOJ will start dismantling ultra-loose conditions in January.\nOver 80% of economists expect the BOJ to ditch negative interest rates by the end of next year. This might be a stretch, given the BOJ's ability to surprise and the fact that 12 months is a very long time.\nWhenever the BOJ does start raising rates, however, it will be moving against the global tide - markets expect the Fed, European Central Bank, Bank of England and several other major central banks to be cutting rates to some extent next year.\nOne central bank leaning towards easing policy rather than tightening is the PBOC, which is battling against deflation and sub-par growth. But there appears to be no clear appetite from the Beijing to significantly ease policy.\nChina's CSI 300 index of blue chip stocks fell 1.7% last week, its fifth consecutive weekly loss. The index is down 4.4% in December, on track for a fifth monthly loss in a row for the first time since the index was launched in December, 2004.\nEconomic indicators last week showed that key November data were weaker than expected and the pace of deflation accelerated. As a result, China's economic surprises index has now slipped into negative territory and is at its lowest since mid-October.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Monday:\n- Indonesia trade (November)\n- Australia business sentiment (November)\n- Germany Ifo business sentiment index (December)\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Rally fades, Bank of Japan looms into view"
    },
    {
        "id": 1392,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-asia-rally-fades-214500880.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Jamie McGeever\nDec 18 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.\nAsia kicks off the last full trading week of 2023 on Monday, with the U.S. Federal Reserve-fueled surge in risk appetite from last week losing steam and investors gearing up for the last major central bank meeting of the year from Japan.\nThe Bank of Japan's policy decision on Tuesday is the main event in Asia this week, and investors also have rate decisions from the People's Bank of China and Bank Indonesia, Reserve Bank of Australia meeting minutes, and Japanese consumer price inflation to navigate.\nInvestor sentiment appears to be mixed. The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index last week rose 3% for its best week since July, outperforming the MSCI World index, which rose 2.6%. Still, the MSCI World is up seven weeks in a row, a winning streak not seen for six years.\nInterest rate futures markets are pricing in 150 basis points of rate cuts from the Fed next year, despite pushback from some Fed officials. The recent slide in bond yields and the dollar could continue to support risk assets this week.\nBut the rally in stocks and bonds has been pretty remarkable, and with the holiday season fast approaching investors may be tempted to reduce exposure and take profit.\nEspecially with the BOJ decision and guidance on Tuesday. None of the 28 economists in a Reuters poll predicted any changes to policy at this meeting, but six reckon the BOJ will start dismantling ultra-loose conditions in January.\nOver 80% of economists expect the BOJ to ditch negative interest rates by the end of next year. This might be a stretch, given the BOJ's ability to surprise and the fact that 12 months is a very long time.\nWhenever the BOJ does start raising rates, however, it will be moving against the global tide - markets expect the Fed, European Central Bank, Bank of England and several other major central banks to be cutting rates to some extent next year.\nOne central bank leaning towards easing policy rather than tightening is the PBOC, which is battling against deflation and sub-par growth. But there appears to be no clear appetite from the Beijing to significantly ease policy.\nChina's CSI 300 index of blue chip stocks fell 1.7% last week, its fifth consecutive weekly loss. The index is down 4.4% in December, on track for a fifth monthly loss in a row for the first time since the index was launched in December, 2004.\nEconomic indicators last week showed that key November data were weaker than expected and the pace of deflation accelerated. As a result, China's economic surprises index has now slipped into negative territory and is at its lowest since mid-October.\nHere are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Monday:\n- Indonesia trade (November)\n- Australia business sentiment (November)\n- Germany Ifo business sentiment index (December)\n(By Jamie McGeever; Editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID ASIA-Rally fades, Bank of Japan looms into view"
    },
    {
        "id": 1393,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/private-credit-rebounds-crypto-sector-210000995.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- More companies are tapping blockchain-based private credit as they hunt for financing in a world of elevated interest rates, sparking a partial revival in a sector that slumped amid last year’s crypto crisis.\nActive private loans via digital ledgers are up 55% since the start of 2023 to about $408 million as of Nov. 28, according to RWA.xyz, a platform that tracks the debt. That’s still lower than a near $1.5 billion peak last June — and a fraction of the booming $1.6 trillion traditional market for private credit.\nWhile borrowing costs vary deal-by-deal, some blockchain protocols charge less than 10% whereas traditional providers are seeking double-digit rates in the current environment, based on figures from RWA.xyz and private-credit lenders.\nChampions of digital ledgers say they make deals and repayments transparent since blockchains are open to public scrutiny, and that software called smart contracts can monitor for stress and automatically recall loans or collateral.\n“Increased transparency and liquidation mechanisms onchain have reduced the risk of lending,” said Agost Makszin, co-founder of Lendary (Asia) Capital, an alternative investment management group. “This has likely resulted in lower borrowing rates compared with traditional private credit, which is often slower and has a longer liquidation process.”\nTraditional private credit has been labeled too opaque by the likes of bond giant Pimco and the European Central Bank. The industry has tripled in size since 2015, providing loans for smaller companies, buyout financing, real estate and infrastructure. Investors are clamoring for exposure to the asset class.\nIn the blockchain version, protocols such as Centrifuge, Maple Finance and Goldfinch can pool or provide access to investor funds, typically using the Ethereum blockchain and stablecoins like USDC that are pegged to the dollar. Borrowers use the funds under terms codified in smart contracts.\nProtocols can take steps such as structuring loans or collateralizing them with real-world assets to bolster investor confidence. RWA.xyz data shows that the consumer, auto and fintech sectors account for the bulk of active loans by value, followed by real estate, carbon projects and crypto trading.\n“We’ll try and leverage the fact that we use the blockchain and smart contracts to manage our loans, take out costs and fund loans quicker, to try and get a competitive edge,” said Maple Finance’s co-founder Sidney Powell.\nTurbulent History\nMaple Finance was among the digital-asset outfits buffeted by last year’s $1.5 trillion crypto rout. The crash bankrupted a slew of businesses — including Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire — and wiped out leveraged positions within the crypto ecosystem that were chasing too-good-to-be-true speculative yields without due care for risk.\nThe debacle sullied the idea of crypto lending, even if the losses stemmed from so-called decentralized lending across digital-asset projects rather than from real-world enterprises. The total value of decentralized lending has climbed 120% year-to-date to about $22 billion but remains far below the record high of $54 billion hit in April 2022, DefiLlama data show.\nThe digital-asset industry is recovering from last year’s turmoil but has other problems, such as uneven access to banks, which are wary of crypto’s role in illicit activity. The skepticism complicates the task of shifting between tokens and fiat currency. Traditional finance is also uncertain about digital ledgers and potential security risks since blockchains are relatively new and complex.\nAnother obstacle is that the crypto lending market lacks a credit rating system, unlike traditional finance, which prevents a full understanding of risks, said Tom Wan, a researcher at digital-asset fund provider 21.co.\nReceivables Financing\nActivity has still picked up. At the start of 2023, Maple Finance and AQRU enabled Intero Capital Solutions LLC to initially access $3 million in stablecoins from a blockchain-based credit pool. Later in the year, Goldfinch provided $1.35 million in stablecoins, its first callable loan, to fintech firm Fazz in Singapore. Callable loans allow lenders to demand principal repayment at regular intervals.\nIntero specializes in receivables financing and pledged its US federal tax rebates as collateral. The deal allowed the firm to “access capital quickly and at a favorable loan rate, in an immutable, transparent and predictable transaction environment, which would not always be the case with liquidity sourced from the private credit markets,” its co-founder Tom de la Rue said.\nOne difference between blockchain-based private credit versus traditional non-bank lending is that the former contains more fixed-rate offerings, whereas the latter is usually variable, according to Charlie You, co-founder of RWA.xyz. Digital ledgers curb manual back-office layers that can add to costs, he added.\n“Some of these cost savings are passed on to issuers,” said You. “It also enables lower principal sizes to be issued that could not be done by traditional means, particularly if the financing structure is complex.”\nWhether private credit will ever flow across blockchains in big amounts is an open question. While tokenization — creating digital representations of real-world assets — could lead to more collateral for lending, much depends on whether the crypto sector can repair its tarnished reputation.\n--With assistance from Sidhartha Shukla.\n",
        "title": "Private Credit Rebounds in the Crypto Sector With a 55% Jump in 2023"
    },
    {
        "id": 1394,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trade-fed-pivot-wall-street-210000884.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The best way to play the Federal Reserve’s pivot toward monetary easing is to load up on shorter maturity debt that still provides a 4%-plus yield.\nThat’s the overarching sentiment in the Treasury market as the Fed — with inflation falling — gears up to lower rates and support a soft landing. Meanwhile, a chunk of the nearly $6 trillion parked in money-market mutual funds has new reason to move into Treasury notes as investors fear rates on cash-like investments could soon plunge.\nAdd to that a strong conviction that the economy may avoid the recession that was once seen as virtually inevitable, and investors’ lack of appetite for longer-term securities as they expect the yield curve to steepen back to its more typical upward slope. The consensus on Wall Street is clear: The two-year Treasury is the sweet spot on the yield curve, offering an attractive yield of around 4.4% that’s higher than any other maturity.\n“The Fed gave us their 2024, 2025 expectations for where rates go, and they go lower,” said Lindsay Rosner, a portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Investors should aim for “a mixture of two and fives,” she said, as “out the curve is not where we see much value.”\nLong-term debt is set to underperform, as traders want to be compensated for the added risk they see embedded in these securities. Among their concerns: a continued onslaught of issuance to finance the persistently high US government deficit as well as tail risks that inflation could reignite next year.\nIt’s easy to see why the two-year note appeals from a look at the yield curve. It first inverted this cycle over a year-and-a half ago, resulting in long-term rates trading below those on debt with shorter tenors. A groundswell of investors is wagering it will flip back to a more usual pattern sometime next year. At present, the 10-year note yield is about 50 basis points below that on debt with two years to maturity. As recently as July, the gap stood at over 100 basis.\nSixty-eight percent of respondents to Bloomberg’s Instant Markets Live Pulse survey after the Fed meeting predicted the curve would turn positive sometime in the second half of 2024 or thereafter. Meanwhile, 8% said that would happen in the first quarter and 24% in the second.\nBig investors, including Jeffrey Gundlach at DoubleLine Capital LP, Bill Gross — Pacific Investment Management Co.’s former bond king — and billionaire investor Bill Ackman predict that the curve will disinvert. Gundlach says US 10-year yields will fall toward the low 3%-range next year, while Gross and Ackman believe a positive slope could surface by the end of 2024.\nFed policymakers on Wednesday penciled in no further interest-rate hikes and left the target range at between 5.25% to 5.5%. Officials’ quarterly projections also showed 75 basis points in cuts next year, with the federal funds rate dropping to 3.6% by the end of 2025. From there, it would decline to 2.9% a year later.\nBrandywine Global Investment Management LLC is among the investors already positioning for that. “Cash is great and you should have been moving out the curve,” said portfolio manager Jack McIntyre. He prefers to “bypass 2 years and buy 5-years and further out,” because there is some risk around whether “the Fed is going to stick a soft landing.”\nThe sudden shift in the bond market has highlighted the sense that 5% Treasury yields — as seen in October — were too good to pass up, extending a rally for many fixed income funds that not so long ago were expecting another poor performance this year. A Bloomberg Treasury index is up 3.6% this year through Dec. 14, after losing an unprecedented 12.5% last year and 2.3% in 2021.\nBearishly positioned players however lost out, a trend highlighted on Friday after New York Fed President John Williams said talk of a potential rate cut by March is “premature.” After an upward spike in yields, buyers quickly stepped in and left rate cut expectations little changed. Swaps show a roughly 80% chance that the Fed lifts rates as early as March. In total, the market expects 1.64 percentage points of easing by the end of 2024.\nIn Europe, investors are also trying to figure out how to trade the pivot even as central banks there pushed back on market expectations. For the euro-area central bank, traders see six quarter-point cuts in 2024, while in the UK, bets are on 115 basis points of easing next year, which translates into four quarter-point cuts with a fifth hanging in the balance. That’s 40 basis points more than a week ago.\nSo long as forthcoming data supports that narrative, overall sentiment in the bond market will likely remain bullish, with any back ups in yield being bought.\nStill, there are potential pitfalls along the way, said Michael de Pass, global head of rates trading at Citadel Securities LLC. “Certainly all markets really seem to be pricing a soft landing to perfection at this stage and any deviation from that narrative leaves the risk of a repricing,” he said.\n--With assistance from Aline Oyamada.\n",
        "title": "To Trade the Fed’s Pivot, Wall Street Turns to Short-Dated Debt"
    },
    {
        "id": 1395,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-illumina-divest-cancer-test-203805212.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details from Illumina's statement in paragraph 2, background in paragraph 3-7)\nDec 17 (Reuters) - Illumina said on Sunday that it would divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail after the companies battled both U.S. and European antitrust enforcers for more than two years and faced fierce opposition from activist investor Carl Icahn.\nThe divestiture will be executed through a third-party sale or capital markets transaction, San Diego-based Illumina said in a statement, adding that it would finalize the terms by second quarter of 2024.\nGrail, valued at $7.1 billion under Illumina's deal, is seeking to market a blood test that can diagnose many kinds of cancer, known as a liquid biopsy.\nThe move follows a ruling by the U.S. appeals court on Friday that struck down a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) order against Illumina's purchase of Grail, a former subsidiary. The court said the agency had applied a wrong legal standard.\nThe FTC was concerned that Illumina, the dominant provider of DNA sequencing of tumors and cancer cells that help match patients with treatments most likely to benefit them, might raise prices or refuse to sell to Grail's test rivals.\nEurope had proposed measures for Illumina to unwind its acquisition of Grail. Illumina argued that it does no business in Europe and therefore the EU competition enforcer has no jurisdiction.\nIllumina's acquisition of Grail also came under pressure from investors, including billionaire Icahn, who led a successful board challenge in May. Icahn in October sued Illumina, accusing the company of breaching its fiduciary duties in the Grail deal.\nNeither Grail nor Icahn immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment.\n(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama and Diane Bartz; Additional reporting by Svea Herbst-BaylissEditing by Deepa Babington and Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Illumina to divest cancer test maker Grail"
    },
    {
        "id": 1396,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/illumina-divest-cancer-test-maker-195014865.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Illumina said on Sunday that it would divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail.\n(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru, editing by Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "Illumina to divest cancer test maker Grail"
    },
    {
        "id": 1397,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/feds-preferred-inflation-gauge-and-nike-earnings-what-to-know-this-week-182521859.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "A fresh reading of the Fed's preferred inflation measure will put the market rally to the test in the week ahead.\nThe November release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index is slated for Friday as economists project inflation will continue to track lower. The economic calendar will also feature updates on housing, consumer confidence, and the final reading of third quarter economic growth.\nOn the corporate side, Nike (NKE), FedEx (FDX), General Mills (GIS), Micron (MU) and Carnival (CCL) are set to report quarterly results.\nThe S&P 500 will open Monday having closed seven-straight weeks higher, its longest stretch since 2017. Stocks surged after the latest Federal Reserve meeting left investors expecting more interest rate cuts next year than previously anticipated.\nThe past week saw the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC), the S&P 500 (^GSPC), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) all rose above 2% while the Dow Jones breached 37,000 for the first time ever.\nKey to the Fed's call for more rate cuts in 2024 is the central bank's belief that inflation is falling faster to its 2% target than previously hoped. In the Fed's latest Summary of Economic Projections (SEP), the central bank revealed it now sees core PCE, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, declining to 2.4% next year. It had previously expected inflation to close 2024 at 2.6%.\n\"Inflation keeps coming down,\" Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during a press conference on December 13. \"The labor market keeps getting back into balance. And it's so far so good, although we kind of assume that it will get harder from here, but so far it hasn't.\"\nPowell noted inflation remains above the Fed's 2% goal and just how far inflation sits above that target will be revealed on Friday with the latest PCE print.\nEconomists expect annual \"core\" PCE — which excludes the volatile categories of food and energy — to have clocked in at 3.4% in November. Over the prior month, most economists expect \"core\" PCE at 0.2%.\n\"November PCE inflation should show a noticeable step down,\" Bank of America US economist Michael Gapen wrote in a research note on Friday. \"We expect a rise of only 0.1% at the core.\"\nHe added: \"Altogether, it should put another arrow in the Fed’s quiver that inflation pressures are moderating.\"\nIn company news, quarterly reports from Nike, FedEx, General Mills, and Carnival will all provide looks at the state of consumer spending, which many see slowing down into 2024.\nNike and FedEx specifically will also provide investors an early look at holiday shopping demand as their reported quarters ended on November 30 and their guidance for the current quarter will reflect the full holiday season.\n\"We think the wholesale space in the US remains under pressure,\" UBS analyst Jay Sole wrote in a research note previewing Nike's earnings. \"Inventories are still high and consumers are becoming more price sensitive. The incremental learning vs. 90 days ago is retailers are taking longer than expected to clear inventory.\"\nHe continued: \"We think tough macro trends will continue as inflation continues to negatively impact consumers, pandemic-era savings are depleted, and higher interest rates weigh on consumer spending.\"\nIndices and ETFs to watch\nBroadly, the stock market rally will also be in focus. The S&P 500 is within striking distance of its all-time high after the Dow recently set its own new record.\nThe market's shift to price in more interest rate cuts in 2024 sent interest-rate sensitive sectors soaring over the past week.\nJosh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.\nClick here for the latest economic news and indicators to help inform your investing decisions.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Fed's preferred inflation gauge and Nike earnings: What to know this week"
    },
    {
        "id": 1398,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-3-things-that-defined-the-automakers-big-year-173046181.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "You can't say it was an uneventful year for Tesla (TSLA). A lot of has happened, both good and bad, that produced an interesting 2023 for the brand, to say the least —and sets up an intriguing 2024 ahead for the EV stalwart. (And this isn’t even including CEO Elon Musk’s various outside endeavors and his, shall we say, sketchy statements on X.)\nWhile investors may have enjoyed a sizable 100% return on the stock so far this year, future returns are far from certain — and the heavily traded (and shorted) Tesla stock tends to experience outsize moves throughout the year. Just look at the 15% drawdown since the stock hit its 52-week high back in July.\nWith that said, let’s get to the top three things that affected Tesla, and its stock, this year — and what may be coming for investors in 2024.\nPrice cuts roil the industry — and Tesla’s margins\nFollowing a round of big price cuts in the important market of China (and the turmoil it caused there for early customers), analysts and potential buyers were waiting for the discounts to expand. And they did.\nIn addition to cutting prices for the Model 3 and Model Y in several European countries, Tesla cut prices for those cars in a big way in the US — likely in the name of boosting demand and to bring these cars under the price caps for the Inflation Reduction Act’s EV tax credit ($55K for sedans, $80K for SUVs and trucks).\nFor example, Tesla’s Model Y Long Range started the year at $65,990; currently the price on Tesla’s website is $48,990 — a cut of nearly 26%. The Model 3 RWD sedan went from $46,990 to $38,990, a drop of 17%. Ford in the US and other EV makers cut prices in response to Tesla's deep price cuts.\nWedbush analyst Dan Ives said the the cuts are the “right medicine at the right time.” But margins were the victim in Tesla’s move to gain more ground and increase volume in the EV battleground.\n“Tesla took prices down earlier in the year. They didn't really get much out of it; I would say it stopped the bleeding,” Gary Black, Future Fund managing partner, told Yahoo Finance. Black, whose Future Fund lists Tesla as its second-biggest position, didn’t think the price cuts were a smart move, and has in the past advocated for advertising to boost sales. With the price cuts, Tesla’s gross margin dipped from a high of 25.1% in Q3 2022 to around 18% in Q3 of this year.\n“On the other hand, [Tesla’s] volumes for the year are going to come in at about 40% [higher] from where they were a year ago. Investors are going to have to see the price cuts stop, and then you will see gross margins bottom in either the third quarter or fourth quarter,” he said.\nOn the eve of Memorial Day weekend, Ford CEO Jim Farley announced he would be joining Tesla CEO Elon Musk for a Twitter Spaces discussion, where the two would talk about \"accelerating EV adoption\" and make an announcement.\nThat announcement turned out to be a big one: Starting next year, Ford EVs will have access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in North America via a Tesla-supplied adapter. Then starting in 2025, all new Ford EVs will ship with Tesla’s NACS (North American Charging Standard) charging connector, as opposed to the CCS standard that most other EV automakers have been using.\nOthers caved as well. A stunned GM reversed course and signed its own charging deal with Tesla a week later. Soon the likes of BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Toyota struck their own deals to join the the Supercharger network, the biggest in the nation.\n\"The main upside for Tesla is that it helps increase Supercharger revenue (and utilization). Compared to cars this is low capital and steady revenue, and opening it up to non-Tesla vehicles effectively turns it into a standalone business unit,\" Guidehouse energy analyst Mike Austin said to Yahoo Finance at the time.\n\"Tesla isn't just a car company, it's an energy provider, and as such, the more customers the better,\" EV charging expert and “State of Charge” host Tom Moloughney told Yahoo Finance. \"As long as Tesla continues to install Superchargers as it has been, the Supercharger experience will remain the best charging experience in the industry, even if other OEMs also join in.\"\n“I think it's good for the other [automakers] and Tesla, too,” Future Fund’s Black added, claiming that the streamlined experience and ubiquity of the Superchargers on America’s roads will be a competitive advantage for Tesla, despite opening up the network. “Once you're inside the Supercharger [station], the long-term bet is the next EV they're going to buy is going to be a Tesla.”\nFollowing its debut four years ago, Tesla finally delivered its first Cybertrucks to long-waiting customers at the end of November. While hurdles like the pandemic and supply chain issues hurt Tesla’s Cybertruck production process, the fact it made it to production was a small miracle according to CEO Elon Musk, though the road ahead isn’t without roadblocks either.\nOn Tesla’s Q3 conference call, Musk said it would take a year to 18 months before the Cybertruck would be cash-flow positive and that by 2025 he expected a production run rate of 250,000 units a year. Musk added that Tesla would face \"enormous challenges\" in reaching volume production of the Cybertruck.\nGary Black sees the Cybertruck’s arrival as a huge catalyst for Tesla’s business, and the stock — despite the near-term issues.\n“Cybertruck is huge - last time we saw this level of innovation is when they launched Model Y and it created a halo effect for the whole Tesla franchise,” Black said. “You saw volumes explode in 2021 after Model Y came out — went up 87% after being up 37% in the prior year. You're going to see a similar halo effect this time; people are lining up to go into the stores, they can't get a Cybertruck unless you ordered it four years ago.”\nCanaccord Genuity analyst George Gianarikas was also impressed.\n“Overall, we came away still convinced that this vehicle will change the streets — excite some, repulse others,” Gianarikas wrote in note to investors after the event. “As far as some speculation that Cybertruck will mirror tech failures like the Microsoft Zune, Apple Newton, or Google Glasses...nah. Think again. We think this car will sell — particularly relative to our estimates of 200k units in 2025 and 500k in 2027.”\nBlack also believes the eventual ramp-up of the Cybertruck will boost Tesla’s bottom line, due to higher profitability.\n“The Cybertruck is priced above the rest of the Tesla franchise,” Black says. “You're not going to see many Cybertrucks delivered in 2023; we're expecting maybe a hundred thousand in 2024. Once you get to 2025, 2026, that's when you're going to start seeing the margin increase because of Cybertruck [sales climbing].”\nAfter another year in the books, investors and Tesla fans are wondering what 2024 will hold for them. While by no means a prognosticator or someone who owns a crystal ball, Black says there are a few things to keep an eye on.\nBlack has already mentioned the gross margin effect and possible bottoming, which some analysts think has already happened. Black says to keep an eye out for 2024, when he sees gross margin rising from approximately 16% to 17% and change next year. And of course he’s noted the “halo effect” that the Cybertruck will produce for Tesla’s other vehicles.\nBut there’s more. Black believes Tesla will reveal more details of its next-gen car, and will be a game changer. “The $25,000 vehicle — to me, that's where Tesla can get up to 5 million units,” he said. “You're going into the 'mass market' market. Tesla is viewed as a luxury brand; everybody's going to want that, and they're going to get a $7,500 credit for that if they buy it inside the US.” The effect of the federal EV tax credit could make this Tesla next-gen vehicle ubiquitous, Black believes.\nFinally, Fed Chair Jay Powell and the FOMC are going to provide a huge boost for Tesla, if the central bank’s 2024 projections for interest rates stay intact.\n“We saw the Fed pivot, for lack of a better word; they're going to start taking rates down in the spring. We can see that from the dot plot; that helps long duration growth stocks the most, meaning high P/E stocks, where the earnings and cash flows are a couple of years out. You're discounting earnings at a lower rate — that helps Tesla.”\nLast but not least, there is CEO Elon Musk. The man with the soaring vision and drive to push his engineers and workers to the limit to achieve huge gains for what many consider the most advanced EVs on the planet.\nBut he has a way, to say the least, of sticking his foot in his mouth — and tarnishing his companies by virtue of his mere presence.\nBlack believes Tesla's brand has taken a hit this year because of Musk's comments. And even Tesla bulls like him have to acknowledge the collateral damage done by Musk to Tesla.\n\"It doesn't help the Tesla brand. Whether we like it or not,\" said Black. \"Musk is part of the Tesla brand. He's one of the few CEOs, when people think about the brand, they also think about the CEO.\"\nPras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.\nClick here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Tesla: 3 things that defined the automaker's big year"
    },
    {
        "id": 1399,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-goolsbee-says-too-early-163510171.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said it’s too early to declare victory in the central bank’s inflation fight, and decisions on interest-rate cuts will be based on incoming economic data.\n“We’ve made a lot of progress in 2023, but I still caution everyone, it’s not done,” Goolsbee said Sunday in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation. “And so the data is going to drive what’s going to happen to rates.”\nGoolsbee has been more optimistic than most policymakers about the prospects of a soft landing for the US economy, lauding inflation progress this year while noting that it’s still far from the Fed’s 2% goal.\n“We’ve got to get inflation down to target,” he said Sunday. “Until we’re convinced that we’re on path to that, it’s an overstatement to be counting the chickens.”\nPolicymakers left rates unchanged for a third consecutive time on Dec. 13 and signaled that they expect to cut rates three times next year, according to their median rate forecast released after the Fed’s meeting.\nChair Jerome Powell also said officials discussed the topic of rate cuts at the gathering, setting off a market rally. Stocks hit records, bond yields plummeted and investors priced in even more cuts next year than they had previously projected.\nTwo Fed officials tried to temper market expectations on Friday, saying that it was still too early for policymakers to think about lowering borrowing costs.\n“We aren’t really talking about rate cuts,” New York Fed President John Williams said on CNBC, adding that talk of a March cut was “premature.”\nGoolsbee on Friday didn’t rule out the possibility of a rate cut in March, however, according to the Wall Street Journal. In an interview with the news outlet Friday, he said the risks are becoming more balanced, indicating focus may need to begin shifting toward the Fed’s mandate to promote maximum employment.\nPolicymakers will receive fresh data on their preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, on Friday. A separate inflation measure released last week showed consumer prices picked up in November on increases in housing and other service-sector costs.\n",
        "title": "Fed’s Goolsbee Says Too Early to Declare Victory Over Inflation"
    },
    {
        "id": 1400,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cybersecurity-and-cloud-networking-stocks-are-the-ones-to-watch-for-2024-says-barclays-162018459.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "The technology sector is set to outperform again in 2024, with cybersecurity and cloud networking stocks among those best positioned, according to Barclays.\nA major catalyst: artificial intelligence.\nBut it’s not necessarily a rinse-and-repeat for Wall Street. Investors should look beyond chipmakers like Nvidia (NVDA) to some of the tech industry’s lesser-known plays, and here's why: Year two of the generative AI boom will likely serve as a reality check for the industry as companies focus on expanding use cases and mitigating risk.\n“It will be about using AI in different ways,” Barclays senior technology hardware and networking analyst Tim Long told me at the Barclays Global Technology conference last week. “We have yet to really see the rest of the build-out.”\nHigher interest rates and fears of a spending pullback slowed the group’s momentum this year. Heading into the final two weeks of the year, the industry has lagged the broader tech rally year to date, with the Nasdaq CTA Cybersecurity Index (^NQCYBR) rising 39% compared to the Nasdaq 100’s (NDX) 53% gain.\nThe gap in performance may be set to narrow soon as companies spend more to protect against the threats posed by AI. Research firm Gartner forecasts corporate spending on cybersecurity to climb 14% next year to $215 billion.\nThe environment feels \"more stable,\" explained Barclays senior software analyst Saket Kalia, who sees cloud security and secure access service edge (SASE) as top investment themes for 2024. His top picks include CrowdStrike (CRWD) and Gen Digital (GEN).\n“CrowdStrike isn't just a great growth story within security, there's strong free cash flow support and it's diversifying its business,” Kalia added. “It reminds me of Palo Alto Networks 18 to 24 months ago ... Investors appreciate diversification and I think that's what will keep the CrowdStrike story going in 2024.”\nCrowdStrike's share price is up 150% this year.\nGen Digital, formerly NortonLifeLock and Avast, is another top pick for the Barclays team. The security and identity protection provider reported 27% revenue growth in its fiscal second quarter, driven by a year-over-year surge in bookings.\n“This company’s operating margin is nearly 60% ... and it’s trading at a really palatable valuation,” Kalia explained.\nGen Digital is among the lackluster performers of the group, with shares only rising 7% year to date.\nBeyond pure cybersecurity plays, Barclays's Long sees Arista Networks (ANET) as a top pick amid the AI craze.\n“Arista Networks is the leading AI play. They make switches and routers — the networking element of these data centers — and normally that's 10% or so of the spend in AI data centers,” Long explained.\nIn the company’s third quarter earnings call, CEO Jayshree Ullal called out demand from the new technology, noting customers have “clearly prioritized and doubled down on AI this year.“\nArtista Networks’ share price is up 95% year to date, far outpacing rivals Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Cisco (CSCO).\nSeana Smith is an anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Smith on Twitter @SeanaNSmith. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email seanasmith@yahooinc.com.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Cybersecurity and cloud networking stocks are the ones to watch for 2024, says Barclays"
    },
    {
        "id": 1401,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-export-revenue-tumble-iron-130100455.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s commodity export earnings are set to contract over the next couple of years as the prices of iron ore, liquefied natural gas and coal slump, according to government forecasts.\nFewer supply disruptions and “relatively soft” global economic growth, together with an expected strengthening in the Australian dollar, will push down revenue, the Department of Industry, Science and Resources said in a quarterly report released Monday. However, the outlook for China has improved in recent months and concerns about a hard landing in the US have eased, it said.\nEnergy and resources exports will fall to $408 billion in the year through June 2024, down 12% from a record high in the previous year, the department forecast. There will be a sharper slowdown the following year, to $348 billion in 2024-25, it said.\nAustralia’s mining sector — which accounts for more than 13% of the country’s gross domestic product — was a beneficiary of the surge in commodities prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but that supply-shock driven boom has now worn off. While the importance of traditional export mainstays like iron ore and coal is expected to diminish over time, Australia aims to boost production of minerals vital to the energy transition including lithium, nickel and copper.\nIron ore has been buoyed by Chinese measures to stabilize it’s property market, but there’s likely to be “some retreat” from current levels over the next two years, the department said. Thermal and metallurgical coal are also likely to decline, while the absence of any fallout on Middle East supply from the Israel-Hamas war has helped move oil and gas prices back to pre-conflict levels.\nThe price of lithium has plunged over the last year, but the importance of committed projects for battery metal continues to climb, the department said. They rose 75% in value in the past year to A$5 billion ($3.6 billion) and now represent 9.3% of the total, the same as iron ore, it said.\nRead More: Battery Metals Lose Luster as Surge in Supply Outpaces Demand\n“The investment outlook for Australia’s resources and energy sector remains healthy, underpinned by a mix of new energy and traditional commodities,” the department said in the report. The nation’s lithium producers remain well-placed to compete given a strong long-term demand outlook, it said.\nThe value of committed resources and energy projects — where a final investment decision has been taken — declined 9.3% over the past year to A$77 billion, reflecting an increase in project completions, according to the report. A total of 86 projects have reached FID, it said.\n",
        "title": "Australia Export Revenue to Tumble as Iron Ore, Coal Prices Drop"
    },
    {
        "id": 1402,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/european-union-investigating-musks-x-122237310.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "LONDON (AP) — European Union are looking into whether Elon Musk’s online platform X breached tough new social media regulations in the first such investigation since the rules designed to make online content less toxic took effect.\n“Today we open formal infringement proceedings against @X” under the Digital Services Act, European Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a post on the platform Monday.\n“The Commission will now investigate X’s systems and policies related to certain suspected infringements,” spokesman Johannes Bahrke told a press briefing in Brussels. “It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.”\nThe investigation will look into whether X, formerly known as Twitter, failed to do enough to curb the spread of illegal content and whether measures to combat “information manipulation,\" especially through its Community Notes feature, was effective.\nThe EU will also examine whether X was transparent enough with researchers and will look into suspicions that its user interface, including for its blue check subscription service, has a “deceptive design.”\n“X remains committed to complying with the Digital Services Act, and is cooperating with the regulatory process,\" the company said in a prepared statement. \"It is important that this process remains free of political influence and follows the law. X is focused on creating a safe and inclusive environment for all users on our platform, while protecting freedom of expression, and we will continue to work tirelessly towards this goal.”\nA raft of big tech companies faced a stricter scrutiny after the EU's Digital Services Act took effect earlier this year, threatning penalties of up to 6% of their global revenue — which could amount to billions — or even a ban from the EU.\nThe DSA is is a set of far-reaching rules designed to keep users safe online and stop the spread of harmful content that’s either illegal, such as child sexual abuse or terrorism content, or violates a platform’s terms of service, such as promotion of genocide or anorexia.\nThe EU has already called out X as the worst place online for fake news, and officials have exhorted owner Musk, who bought the platform a year ago, to do more to clean it up. The European Commission quizzed X over its handling of hate speech, misinformation and violent terrorist content related to the Israel-Hamas war after the conflict erupted.\n",
        "title": "European Union investigating Musk's X over possible breaches of social media law"
    },
    {
        "id": 1403,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wyndham-asks-shareholders-reject-choice-121156073.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Budget hotel operator Wyndham Hotels & Resorts on Monday asked its shareholders to reject Choice Hotels takeover offer, citing regulatory review of up to 24 months and lower valuation.\nLast week, Choice launched a hostile bid for Wyndham after the New Jersey-based hotel repeatedly rebuffed the overtures.\n\"We are confident Wyndham can deliver long-term shareholder value well in excess of the $85 per share offered by Choice by continuing to execute on our existing business plan\" said Stephen Holmes, chairman of the Wyndham Board.\nThe offer, valued at $7.8 billion in October, comes against the backdrop of rising demand for budget hotels from travelers looking for cheaper options due to still-high inflation.\nWyndham also added that reception from franchisees has been extremely negative. About 80% of Wyndham franchisee respondents said a tie-up would hurt their business and about 60% said they would terminate their contract in the event of a merger if they had the option, according to a survey.\nWyndham has repeatedly highlighted that the offer undervalues its business and carries regulatory risks. It has also pointed to a combined company's likely high debt level, as well as the slower growth prospects of Choice's business.\nChoice has also said it was identifying director candidates for nomination to Wyndham's board at its 2024 annual meeting and would file documents with the Federal Trade Commission to kick off a regulatory review process.\n(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)\n",
        "title": "Wyndham asks shareholders to reject Choice Hotels' offer"
    },
    {
        "id": 1404,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rpt-hedge-flow-hedge-funds-120000279.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Carolina Mandl and Summer Zhen\nNEW YORK/HONG KONG, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Global equities long/short hedge funds' bets against U.S. stocks got squeezed in the last two days after U.S. bond yields slid, two investment banks said in notes that were sent to hedge fund clients and obtained by Reuters.\nBoth Goldman Sachs and Jefferies said long/short hedge funds, which take positions betting stocks will rise and fall, got hit hard after Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday indicated that the U.S. central bank's historic tightening of monetary policy was likely over.\nThat remark, made in a press conference after the end of a two-day Fed policy meeting, sparked a rally in stocks, with the S&P 500 index up 1.6% over the past two days. On Friday, the index was largely muted. The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury notes was little changed at 3.8998% on Friday, after sinking to its lowest level since July on the Fed's dovish pivot.\nJefferies' trading desk said that long/short hedge funds on Wednesday and Thursday had their \"second-worst two-day move ever,\" as long positions outperformed short bets. The investment bank analyzed a metric called the long/short spread that shows the performance of long versus short trades.\nGoldman Sachs said systematic equities long/short hedge funds on Thursday had their worst day in roughly eight years. \"Negative performance (was) driven by (a) squeeze in crowded shorts, momentum sell-off and rally in high beta and high volatility stocks,\" Marco Laicini, a managing director at Goldman, said in the note.\nThe investment bank's global markets team said systematic long/short funds, based on a computer-driven strategy, were down 2.8% on Thursday, the worst single day since at least January 2016.\nThe Goldman note pointed to \"crowded trades (mainly shorts), momentum and volatility among key negative drivers,\" adding that there was high volatility. Still, systematic funds are up roughly 13% on a year-to-date basis.\nGoldman and Jefferies did not immediately comment on their notes, details of which have not previously been published.\nJefferies told its clients that the pain was not limited to long/short hedge funds, with \"lots of frustrations and pain on the sidelines from systematic, macro, fundamental long/short managers alike.\" (Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York, and Summer Nell, in Hong Kong; Editing by Megan Davies and Paul Simao)\n",
        "title": "RPT-HEDGE FLOW-Hedge funds' bearish bets get crushed in post-Fed meeting rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1405,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasdaq-drops-zoom-sign-pandemic-120000008.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- It’s the end of an era for the poster-child of pandemic-age stock darlings.\nZoom Video Communications will no longer be a part of the Nasdaq 100 index as of the market open on Monday. The stock has underperformed every major equity benchmark in 2023, rising just 5.7%, as fundamentals weaken and Wall Street analysts scale back expectations for growth.\nShares of the videoconferencing software company rallied almost 400% in 2020 when investors piled into names that were poised to benefit from pandemic-induced lockdowns. But growth fell off a cliff with workers returning to offices and competition intensifying from Microsoft Corp.’s Teams. Sales expansion has been in the single digits for more than a year, a far cry from the triple-digit quarters the company reported in the pandemic.\nOther high-fliers of that period, like Peloton Interactive Inc. and Teladoc Health Inc. have also not kept up with this year’s stock rally, with those names falling 23% and 13%, respectively. DocuSign, another pandemic darling, is considering a sale after its growth has slowed massively in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.\nInclusion in the Nasdaq 100 boosts a firm’s investor profile and adds to trading liquidity — factors that can potentially propel a company’s stock price higher. Six additional companies are leaving the Nasdaq 100 and seven joining as part of the annual makeover of the tech-heavy benchmark.\nA Zoom spokesperson declined to comment.\nWall Street strategists are also backing away from the company, with about 70% of analysts tracked by Bloomberg carrying a “hold” rating on the stock, compared with 41% in June 2020. Meanwhile, revenue growth is expected to stay in the low- to mid-single digits for the next few fiscal years.\nNot only has Zoom lost the spotlight of the stock market — it’s less a part of the cultural zeitgeist. The business-oriented office application became critical infrastructure in 2020 as everyone from small businesses to schools and yoga classes had to start operating remotely. Today, many of those everyday users have left the platform, denting growth and profitability.\nTo bring back growth, Zoom is offering a wider suite of applications for businesses like contact center software and persistent chat similar to Salesforce Inc.’s Slack. Zoom Phone, one of the company’s most important secondary bets, hit 7 million paid users in the quarter. Still, these non-video offerings have yet to significantly reverse revenue growth stagnation.\nZoom has said it is looking for acquisition opportunities to spark growth. The company held discussions about possibly resurrecting an acquisition of software maker Five9 Inc. after an initial multibillion-dollar agreement fell apart in 2021, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. Five9 and Zoom later said they are not pursuing a transaction.\nNot every stay-at-home stock has suffered. Video streaming companies Roku and Netflix Inc. are up up 136% and 60%, respectively. In fact, DoorDash is being added to the Nasdaq 100, after climbing 108%.\n--With assistance from Ryan Vlastelica and Jeran Wittenstein.\n",
        "title": "Nasdaq Drops Zoom in Sign Pandemic-Era Darling Trade Is Over"
    },
    {
        "id": 1406,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-ipo-market-hasn-t-115934985.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- For London, 2023 has been a year to forget for initial public offerings.\nUK stock listings this year have barely reached $1 billion, just a fraction of normal levels and on track to surpass 2022 as the lowest annual tally since the great financial crisis. Equally damaging, the majority of the companies that have come to market are now trading below their IPO prices.\nThat’s a concern as the London Stock Exchange struggles to hold onto its role as a global financial center, seven years after the UK voted to leave the European Union.\nWhile IPOs have been weak across Europe, the ailing UK bourse has also had to contend with a shrinking universe of listed companies, outages disrupting trading and its FTSE 100 Index being the worst performing benchmark in Europe this year. Now an activist investor is pushing for a FTSE 100 company, Pearson Plc, to move its listing to the US.\nOnly 11 small companies have begun trading in the UK this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. CAB Payments Holdings Plc, a processor of currency transactions and one of the biggest, has tumbled about 80% since it came to market in July. Other stocks that have listed and subsequently declined include Ocean Harvest Technology Group Plc, which produces animal feed from seaweed, down 41%, and gold miner Fulcrum Metals Plc, down 10%.\nLondon share indexes such as the blue chip FTSE 100 and the FTSE 250 “have become wallflowers in the investor dance over the past few years, and UK listed stocks still appear more unloved,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.\nRecent decliners such as CAB Payments, which plunged after a profit warning, have joined a list of high-profile London IPOs over the past few years — including Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc, Deliveroo Plc and MyProtein.com owner THG Plc — that have plunged after going public.\nThe UK market also has been losing out on some high-profile offerings. Cambridge, England-based chip designer Arm Holdings Plc and commodities clearer Marex Group both opted to list in New York rather than in London, while some companies already trading in London are leaving, or are coming under pressure to do so.\nRead more: ‘Screamingly Cheap’ British Stocks Are Again a Hard Sell in 2024\nJust this month activist Cevian Capital AB, which this year pressured Dublin-based building materials group CRH Plc to move its primary listing from London to New York, said it had singled out FTSE 100 constituent Pearson as the next company in its portfolio well suited for a move across the Atlantic. In 2022 Pearson earned 69% of its revenue in North America.\nThat said, broader trends may help the London market. A wave of private equity takeovers of UK-listed companies does imply there’s still significant value in the market, according to Streeter.\nAnd with bond investors starting to price in the prospect of rate cuts next year from the Federal Reserve in the US and potentially central banks in Europe and the UK too, despite signals from policy makers that such expectations are premature, that could help risk appetite and make IPOs more attractive.\n",
        "title": "The UK IPO Market Hasn’t Been This Slow Since the Great Financial Crisis"
    },
    {
        "id": 1407,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boe-needs-more-clarity-uk-105705370.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of England needs more clarity on how the UK labor market is performing before it can consider cutting interest rates, according to Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent.\nUncertainty about the accuracy of the official data and the scale of wage pressures “means the Monetary Policy Committee would probably want to see more evidence, across several indicators, before concluding things are on a clear downward trend,” Broadbent said in a speech at the London Business School Monday.\n“The reaction of policy is likely to be somewhat more delayed than in a world of perfect and complete information.”\nLabor market figures from the Office for National Statistics are being re-examined after a collapse in response rates to its key Labour Force Survey. Measures of official wage growth have also detached from private surveys and are adding to the confusion, Broadbent said.\nHis comments come amid growing pressure for the BOE to cut rates next year. Markets expect four quarter-point reductions between May and December, taking rates from 5.25% to 4.25%, with the possibility of a fifth. BOE officials including the Governor Andrew Bailey have pushed back against such a steep fall.\nBroadbent added: “To the extent the tight labor market is the cause of strong domestic inflation, however, then the economy would need a longer period of below-trend growth – possibly with corresponding consequences for monetary policy – to bring it back into a more sustainable position.”\n",
        "title": "BOE Needs More Clarity on UK Labor Market, Broadbent Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 1408,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-stocks-set-soft-open-220950317.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- European stocks paused their advance after officials from the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank pushed back against bets of aggressive interest rate cuts next year.\nThe Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.1%, while futures on the S&P 500 trimmed gains to 0.2%. Shares of Vodafone Group Plc jumped almost 7% after Billionaire Xavier Niel’s Iliad proposed combining its Italian business with Vodafone’s local operations.\nThe dollar was broadly steady while yields on two-year Treasuries dropped three basis points, paring Friday’s jump when New York Fed President John Williams led a chorus of officials in saying it’s too early to begin thinking about lowering borrowing costs.\nUS shares had their biggest weekly gain in a month after traders interpreted Fed signals last week as a green light to ratchet up bets on rate cuts next year. Now, a raft of central bankers are making the case that market expectation are overdone, with European Central Bank Governing Council member Bostjan Vasle joining the chorus on Monday.\n“Can risk assets keep surfing that wave? Not if the Fed starts tempering expectations of quick cuts, and/or the US economy suddenly comes to a halt,” said Vincent Chaigneau, head of research at Generali Investments. “Last Christmas, everyone and their grandma feared a recession. A year later, they all worship Goldilocks. Beware the pitfalls of the consensus.”\nAttention shifts to Japan with week with the nation’s central bank beginning a two-day policy meeting Monday. While speculation has grown the Bank of Japan will soon end the world’s last negative-rate regime, economists see April as the most likely timing for a change, with around 15% expecting Ueda to pull the plug on negative rates in January, according to a Bloomberg survey of more than 50 economists.\n“The BOJ has little need to rush into making policy changes,” Societe General economists led by Wei Yao wrote in a note. “But markets will be watching for any sign the board is willing to end negative rates or yield curve control.”\nIn commodities, gold edged higher, while crude oil erased earlier gains. Bitcoin lost 2.4% to $40,891.\nRead More: Fed’s Goolsbee Says Too Early to Declare Victory Over Inflation\nSome of the main moves in markets:\nThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.\n--With assistance from Michael G. Wilson, Pearl Liu and Cecile Gutscher.\n",
        "title": "Europe Stocks Slip as Officials Temper Pivot Talk: Markets Wrap"
    },
    {
        "id": 1409,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/storied-us-steel-acquired-more-114949937.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "U.S. Steel, the Pittsburgh steel producer that played a key role in the nation's industrialization, is being acquired by Nippon Steel in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $14.1 billion.\nThe transaction is worth about $14.9 billion when including the assumption of debt.\nThe deal's announcement comes several months after U.S. Steel rejected a $7.3 billion buyout proposal from rival Cleveland Cliffs. U.S. Steel received the offer in August and said at the time that it was reviewing “strategic alternatives” after receiving several unsolicited offers. The company said it rejected the offer because Cleveland-Cliffs was pushing it to accept the terms without being allowed to conduct proper due diligence.\nSoaring prices have helped fuel consolidation in the steel industry this decade. Steel prices more than quadrupled near the start of the pandemic to near $2,000 per metric ton by the summer of 2021 as supply chains experienced gridlock, a symptom of surging demand for goods and the lack of anticipation of that demand.\nNippon, which will pay $55 per share for U.S. Steel, said Monday that the deal will bolster its manufacturing and technology capabilities. It will also expand Nippon's production in the U.S. and add to its positions in Japan, India and the ASEAN region.\nNippon said the acquisition is anticipated to bring its total annual crude steel capacity to 86 million tons and help it capitalize on growing demand for high-grade steel, automotive and electrical steel.\n“The transaction builds on our presence in the United States and we are committed to honoring all of U. S. Steel’s existing union contracts,” Nippon President Eiji Hashimoto said in a prepared statement.\nU.S. Steel CEO David Burritt said that the deal is beneficial to the United States, “ensuring a competitive, domestic steel industry, while strengthening our presence globally.”\nThe deal, which was approved by both companies' boards, is targeted to close in the second or third quarter of 2024. It still needs approval from U.S. Steel shareholders.\nShares of United States Steel Corp. soared more than 27% before the market opened Monday.\n",
        "title": "Storied US Steel to be acquired for more than $14 billion by Nippon Steel"
    },
    {
        "id": 1410,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/higher-rates-trigger-big-retreat-114920219.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Huw Jones\nLONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Multi-trillion dollar non-banking finance saw its first major retreat last year since the global financial crisis in 2009, with the shrinkage due to higher interest rates hitting asset valuations, a global watchdog said on Monday.\nNon-banks, such as investment funds and insurers, have come under closer regulatory scrutiny after the sector, less regulated than banks in parts, grew sharply after the financial crisis as money shifted from the more heavily regulated lenders.\nThis shift raised worries about hidden pockets of leverage and \"liquidity mismatches\" at money market funds and elsewhere that could hit financial stability in a crisis through interlinkages between banks and non-banks.\nThe Financial Stability Board (FSB), which groups officials, regulators and central bankers from the G20 economies, said the non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI) sector shrank 5.5% to $217.9 trillion in 2022 from the previous year.\nThis reflected valuation losses, especially as investment funds' portfolios were \"marked to market\" to reflect much higher interest rates which have hit the value of bonds.\nNBFI, which still accounts for 47.2% of global financial assets that total $461.2 trillion, also fell due to higher rates.\n\"Banks continued to be net recipients of funding from the NBFI sector, although this funding has been decreasing since 2013. In contrast, some NBFI entities’ use of funding from banks has increased,\" the FSB said in its annual update on the NBFI sector.\n\"Enhancements in this year’s report reduced unspecified linkages across all non-bank entity types and were most notable in the case of pension funds, where identified linkages increased 25 to 30 percentage points with regard to both claims and liabilities,\" the FSB said.\nThe watchdog's \"narrower\" measure of NBFI, which has an economic function such as providing loans and facilitating credit provision and post \"bank-like\" financial stability risks, also decreased, falling 2.9% to $63.1 trillion in 2022.\n\"This decline can be almost entirely attributed to collective investment vehicles susceptible to runs,\" the FSB said.\nRegulators have begun taking a closer look at whether assets held outside the banking sector properly reflect interest rates that have risen sharply from a prolonged period at historically low levels.\nMarkets, however, have now begun pricing in interest rate cuts by central banks next year.\n(Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Ed Osmond)\n",
        "title": "Higher rates trigger big retreat in global non-bank sector"
    },
    {
        "id": 1411,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-nippon-agrees-buy-us-111308446.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Nippon Steel Corp. has agreed to buy United States Steel Corp. for $14.1 billion in cash, ending months of uncertainty about the future of the historic American metal producer.\nNippon will pay $55 in cash, the companies said in a statement. The deal is a 142% premium to US Steel’s share price on the last trading day before it announced the review and Cliffs revealed it had made a bid.\nUS Steel, a stalwart of American industry with roots stretching back more than a century, has been considering potential transactions since mid-August, after rejecting an offer from rival Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. for $7.25 billion. The announcement kicked off a dramatic few weeks in the steel market, as the influential United Steelworkers union threw its support behind Cliffs’ pugnacious chief executive, while a little-known buyer startled the industry with an even larger offer, before abruptly pulling its interest days later.\nUS Steel traces its roots back to 1901 when J. Pierpont Morgan merged a collection of assets with Andrew Carnegie’s Carnegie Steel Co. The company has undergone a dramatic shift in recent years under CEO David B. Burritt, as its investment focus pivoted away from traditional blast-furnace production of steel from iron ore, toward more modern and less-polluting plants that remelt metal scrap instead.\n(Updates with details throughout)\n",
        "title": "Japan’s Nippon Agrees to Buy US Steel for $14.1 Billion"
    },
    {
        "id": 1412,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moves-blackrock-appoints-stephen-allan-113359349.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "SINGAPORE, Dec 18 (Reuters) - U.S. investment company BlackRock on Monday said it named Stephen Allan as its private credit head of Australasia, according to a statement.\nAllan, who has nearly two decades of experience in credit deal origination and sourcing, is joining BlackRock from Nomura, it said.\nBased in Sydney, Allan will take on responsibility for leading the origination and sourcing of private credit investments in Australia and New Zealand, BlackRock said.\n\"Institutional investors and superannuation funds in Australia are looking for ways to add greater diversification to their portfolios – against a macro backdrop of rising rates and inflation,\" said Andrew Landman, BlackRock's head of Australasia.\nBlackRock's global private debt platform manages $84 billion across the asset class, it added.\n(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; editing by Jason Neely)\n",
        "title": "MOVES-BlackRock appoints Stephen Allan as private credit head of Australasia"
    },
    {
        "id": 1413,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/futures-edge-higher-treasury-yields-113034805.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday as Treasury yields slipped ahead of economic data this week that could offer insights on when the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates.\nThe main Wall Street indexes are looking to end 2023 on a high note as signs of slowing inflation and expectations that the U.S. central bank will soon ease its monetary policy attract buyers. The blue-chip Dow notched its third consecutive session of record high on Friday, while the benchmark S&P 500 marked a seventh straight week of gains in its longest winning streak since 2017.\nEconomic data this week include the Personal Consumption Expenditure index (PCE) - the Fed's favored inflation gauge - weekly jobless claims, housing starts and the final reading of the third-quarter GDP report.\nThe PCE data, the final set of inflation figures for this year, is expected to show on Friday prices eased marginally in November on a year-over-year basis.\nU.S. equity markets rallied last week after the Fed left interest rates unchanged and officials' forecasts collectively priced in three quarters of a percentage point in cuts in 2024.\nTraders are currently pricing in a 75% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates at least by 25 basis points in March, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool, even as a top Fed policymaker pushed back on the ebullience on Friday.\nAt 5:44 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 72 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.25 points, or 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 21.25 points, or 0.13%.\nMeanwhile, Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for the S&P 500, which it now sees ending 2024 at 5,100, while decelerating inflation and Fed easing would keep real yields low.\nAmong single stocks, Apple slipped 0.7% in premarket trading after Bloomberg News reported on Friday that more Chinese agencies and state-backed companies have asked their staff to not bring iPhones and other foreign devices to work.\nIllumina rose 5.4% the gene sequencing company said it would divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail after the companies battled U.S. and European antitrust enforcers for more than two years and faced fierce opposition from activist investor Carl Icahn.\nU.S.-listed shares of Nio climbed 10.7% after it said it had signed an agreement with CYVN Holdings, an investment vehicle based in Abu Dhabi, for the latter to invest $2.2 billion in the Chinese electric vehicle maker.\nUnited States Steel surged 29% after Japan's Nippon Steel said it would buy the steelmaker in a deal worth $14.9 billion including debt.\n(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "Futures edge higher as Treasury yields slip, eyes on data"
    },
    {
        "id": 1414,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-bonds-hold-gains-112852640.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates at 1107 GMT)\nBy Harry Robertson\nLONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond prices held steady on Monday after rising for three straight weeks, with a calmer mood prevailing as markets head into the holiday period.\nGermany's 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for the euro zone, was last roughly flat at 2.017%, after falling to a new nine-month low of 2.009% earlier in the session. Yields fall as prices rise, and vice versa.\nYields dropped sharply last week after the U.S. Federal Reserve appeared to call time on the global rate-hiking cycle, and began to talk about when cuts might come.\nThe European Central Bank held rates at a record 4% on Thursday and took a firmer line than the Fed, stressing that borrowing costs would stay high until inflation was tamed.\nBut investors' expectations for big rate cuts next year barely budged, with more than 150 bps of reductions priced in by the end of 2024, according to derivatives markets.\nData on Monday showed that German business sentiment unexpectedly worsened in December, adding to the gloomy picture and doing nothing to disabuse investors of their hopes for rate cuts.\nItaly's 10-year yield was down 1 basis point (bp) at 3.712% on Monday after it fell to an 11-month low of 3.7% last week.\n\"Market activity is likely to progressively ease as we head into the week before Christmas,\" UniCredit strategists said in a note to clients.\n\"We regard current market expectations that the Fed will make around 140 bps of rate cuts by the end of 2024 and the ECB doing a bit more as overdone,\" they said. \"This implies that yields at the long end are also stretched.\"\nThe closely watched gap between Italian and German 10-year borrowing costs was last at 168 bps.\nIt narrowed to its tightest since September at 164 bps last week in a sign that investors think lower interest rates should ease pressure on the euro zone's more indebted countries next year.\nECB officials do not expect to change their message on the need for higher interest rates, seven people familiar with the matter told Reuters, making any rate cut before June difficult.\nGermany's two-year bond yield was last up 1 bp at 2.506% on Monday. It fell to a nine-month low of 2.458% last week as prices surged. (Reporting by Harry Robertson, editing by Ed Osmond and Toby Chopra)\n",
        "title": "Euro zone bonds hold on to gains after three-week rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1415,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-stocks-futures-edge-higher-112817580.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)\n*\nFutures up: Dow 0.19%, S&P 0.21%, Nasdaq 0.13%\nDec 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday as Treasury yields slipped ahead of economic data this week that could offer insights on when the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates.\nThe main Wall Street indexes are looking to end 2023 on a high note as signs of slowing inflation and expectations that the U.S. central bank will soon ease its monetary policy attract buyers. The blue-chip Dow notched its third consecutive session of record high on Friday, while the benchmark S&P 500 marked a seventh straight week of gains in its longest winning streak since 2017.\nEconomic data this week include the Personal Consumption Expenditure index (PCE) - the Fed's favored inflation gauge - weekly jobless claims, housing starts and the final reading of the third-quarter GDP report.\nThe PCE data, the final set of inflation figures for this year, is expected to show on Friday prices eased marginally in November on a year-over-year basis.\nU.S. equity markets rallied last week after the Fed left interest rates unchanged and officials' forecasts collectively priced in three quarters of a percentage point in cuts in 2024.\nTraders are currently pricing in a 75% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates at least by 25 basis points in March, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool, even as a top Fed policymaker pushed back on the ebullience on Friday.\nAt 5:44 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 72 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.25 points, or 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 21.25 points, or 0.13%.\nMeanwhile, Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for the S&P 500, which it now sees ending 2024 at 5,100, while decelerating inflation and Fed easing would keep real yields low.\nAmong single stocks, Apple slipped 0.7% in premarket trading after Bloomberg News reported on Friday that more Chinese agencies and state-backed companies have asked their staff to not bring iPhones and other foreign devices to work.\nIllumina rose 5.4% the gene sequencing company said it would divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail after the companies battled U.S. and European antitrust enforcers for more than two years and faced fierce opposition from activist investor Carl Icahn.\nU.S.-listed shares of Nio climbed 10.7% after it said it had signed an agreement with CYVN Holdings, an investment vehicle based in Abu Dhabi, for the latter to invest $2.2 billion in the Chinese electric vehicle maker.\nUnited States Steel surged 29% after Japan's Nippon Steel said it would buy the steelmaker in a deal worth $14.9 billion including debt. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)\n",
        "title": "US STOCKS-Futures edge higher as Treasury yields slip, eyes on data"
    },
    {
        "id": 1416,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/feds-mester-says-next-phase-112016616.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Dec 18 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said financial markets had got \"a little bit ahead\" of the central bank on when to expect interest rate rates, the Financial Times reported on Monday.\n\"The next phase is not when to reduce rates, even though that's where the markets are at. It's about how long do we need monetary policy to remain restrictive in order to be assured that inflation is on that sustainable and timely path back to 2%,\" Mester told the FT in an interview.\n\"The markets are a little bit ahead. They jumped to the end part, which is 'We're going to normalize quickly', and I don't see that.\" (Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Alex Richardson)\n",
        "title": "Fed's Mester says next phase is to see how long its policy needs to remain 'restrictive' - FT"
    },
    {
        "id": 1417,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coal-feds-stocking-last-turned-111242158.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Howard Schneider\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve started 2023 on a grim note, with staffers calling a recession \"plausible,\" and policymakers penciling in growth near stall speed and rising unemployment as the costs of quashing inflation with rapid-fire interest rate increases.\nBut it ends with the Fed registering faster-than-expected progress on inflation that occurred with virtually no rise in the jobless rate and an economy that grew fully five times faster than the 0.5% policymakers anticipated a year ago. Rate cuts are now in the offing.\n“We were very fortunate,” over the course of the year, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told Reuters last week.\nWhat just happened?\nOver the year a series of things turned the Fed's way, sometimes unexpectedly and not necessarily due to monetary policy. Just as 2022 was a year of bad forecasts and bad breaks, including war in Europe, the 2023 economy began looking more normal after pandemic-era excesses. It redeemed, to some degree, early Fed thinking that high inflation would ease over time without the central bank squelching growth altogether.\nActions taken by the Fed included an emergency lending program for banks that helped ease financial sector tensions at a key point. There were also legitimate surprises like a rise in productivity, and other developments tied to the economy’s underlying performance, like the increase in the labor force.\n“Institutions have evolved and opportunities have become sufficiently attractive that people have come back in strong. I was not expecting that. That's very positive,” Bostic said.\nThe forecasts still weren't great through an uncertain and volatile period. But this time the surprises were mostly to the good.\nMONEY FOR NOTHING, CHIPS FOR A FEE\nFed Chair Jerome Powell stopped using the word \"transitory\" to describe inflation long ago, but last week he described, without saying it, why that belief took hold.\nThe pandemic had dumped trillions of dollars of aid into consumers' hands, stoking demand that hit a wall as the global goods supply chain became stilted by that same pandemic. Shortages of basic industrial goods like computer chips kept inventories bare and allowed rising prices to ration what was available.\nThis year saw supply pressures unwind as inventories rebuilt, perhaps to excess. Goods prices began to drag headline inflation lower, as was often the case before the pandemic.\nLabor supply also surprised to the upside. After concerns early in the pandemic that women's ability to work had been permanently scarred, the number of women in the workforce hit a record high. Rising immigration helped even out what had been a historic mismatch between the number of open jobs and the number of people looking for work. The boost in the labor force and drop in job openings have helped slow wage growth that some top economists worried was on the verge of driving inflation higher.\nHOUSEHOLDS HOLD THE FORT\nWhile the gusher of pandemic aid may have helped push up prices from high demand, the financial buffers built by households and local governments had more staying power than many economists expected. Over 2023, long after pandemic benefit programs had ended, there were still estimates of hundreds of billions of dollars left to spend.\nThat showed up in consumer spending that consistently beat expectations. Though recent data suggests demand has finally begun slowing, the surprising resilience of household spending was a key reason the Fed's initial growth forecasts proved low.\nA PRODUCTIVITY BONUS\nAll things equal, that unexpectedly strong jump in gross domestic product should be inflationary. The Fed estimates the economy's underlying growth potential is around 1.8% annually, so 2023's estimated 2.6% expansion seems out of kilter.\nBut \"potential,\" at least for now, may have been lifted by a jump in worker productivity. Rising productivity is manna for central bankers, allowing faster growth without inflation because each hour of work yields more goods and services at the same cost.\nIt is also something they are reluctant to predict or rely on. In this instance, however, it helped Powell drop what had been steady references to the \"pain\" needed to subdue inflation through rising unemployment and instead talk more openly of the relatively pain-free disinflation apparently underway.\nToday's unemployment rate is 3.7% versus 3.6% when the Fed began raising interest rates. It has been below 4% for 22 months, the longest such run since the 1960s, and roughly what prevailed just before the pandemic, a period Powell heralds frequently.\nTHE BANKING CRISIS THAT WASN'T\nA final surprise is how contained the spring's round of bank failures proved to be after the rapid collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Those tremors prompted new caution among Fed policymakers about the speed of further rate increases, and led to warnings of a deep financial fracture as banks took stock of the fact their holdings of government and mortgage securities had lost value due to Fed rate hikes.\nCertainly there was stress. But it didn't evolve into a broader crisis and stayed in line with what the Fed was trying to do anyway: Tighten credit to cool the economy.\nIndeed, following what proved to the Fed's last rate increase in July, markets began doing some of the central bank's work for it by driving borrowing costs higher than the Fed anticipated doing with its own rate.\nMarket rates are now falling, some dramatically, as the Fed pivots towards rate cuts. Will the markets go too far?\nFed officials are conscious of the time it takes for changes in financial conditions to work into the real economy. Recent weeks have seen increases in loan delinquencies and other signs of household stress, while there was also worry about the amount of corporate debt that needs to be refinanced, and the trouble that could cause companies if rates are unaffordable.\nThe Fed's \"soft landing\" scenario won't be assured unless the central bank, as Powell noted, doesn't \"hang on too long\" to its current restrictive policy.\n\"We're aware of the risk,\" Powell said last week.\nWILL THE GOOD NEWS CONTINUE?\nPowell also said he thought some of the forces working in the Fed's favor, particularly supply improvements, have \"some ways to run.\"\nInflation for the past half year has only been about 2.5%, with strong arguments for it continuing to fall.\nIn the Fed's most recently released policy documents, officials tucked in a subtle statement about their faith in the economy's return to normal. An index of risk sentiment fell towards a more balanced view, with inflation even seen by a number of officials as more likely to fall faster than to move higher.\n(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Dan Burns and Andrea Ricci)\n",
        "title": "Coal in the Fed's stocking last year turned to sugar plums in 2023"
    },
    {
        "id": 1418,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-global-shares-dip-111107166.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nEuropean stock markets open lower\n*\nS&P 500 futures up 0.2%\n*\nFocus on BOJ meeting for tightening clues\n*\nU.S. inflation data to test market doves\n(Adds quote in paragraph 4)\nBy Nell Mackenzie and Wayne Cole\nLONDON/SYDNEY, Dec 18 (Reuters) - World stocks slipped on Monday, while the dollar steadied ahead of a week including a Bank of Japan policy announcement and a key reading on U.S. inflation.\nIranian-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, which on Monday pushed up shares in big shipping companies, particularly in Europe, on the view that they may push up their rates in response, while crude oil eased modestly.\nMSCI's broadest index of world shares dipped 0.1%. European shares opened on a slide led by a decline in real estate stocks but then remained flat after shipping stocks rose across European exchanges.\nThe pan-European stock index traded largely flat by 1021 GMT, after its fifth straight weekly gain on Friday, its longest streak since April.\nBy 1023 GMT, D'Amico International Shipping B7C.MI, Hapag Lloyd HLAG.DE and Hafnia HAFNI.OL gained between 4 and 2%. Frankfurt-listed shares in Scorpio Tankers S0QA.F and Nordic American Tankers NAT.N rose 5 and 8%, respectively.\nOil prices fell towards last week's five-month low amid doubts all OPEC+ producers will stick with caps on output.\nLower exports from Russia and the attacks in the Red Sea seemed priced in to crude oil as Brent fell 64 cents to $75.93 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 61 cents to $70.82 by 1030 GMT.\nFlorian Ielpo, head of macro at Lombard Odier Investment Managers, said that in recent days he had seen less market reaction to macro economic data and more moves in stock and bond markets after remarks made by central bank policy makers.\n\"We will see this week, genuinely, how the market digests a Fed pivot,\" said Ielpo who noted that so far, stocks had risen and credit spreads widened, with a growing difference between corporate and sovereign bond yields with the same maturity.\nThe Bank of Japan's policy decision on Tuesday will likely be the main event in Asia this week. April was favoured by 17 of 28 economists as the kick-off for negative rates to be scrapped, making the BOJ one of the few central banks in the world actually tightening.\n\"Since the last meeting in October, 10-year JGB yields have fallen and the yen has appreciated, giving the BOJ little incentive to revise policy at this stage,\" said Barclays economist Christian Keller.\nNone of the analysts polled by Reuters expected a definitive move at this week's meeting, but policymakers might start laying the groundwork for an eventual shift.\nSouth Korea's main index closed 0.3% higher, showing no obvious reaction to reports North Korea had fired a ballistic missile off its east coast.\nS&P 500 futures inched up 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures added 0.2%.\nIn the United States, a reading on core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index due on Friday is forecast by analysts to rise 0.2% in November with the annual inflation rate slowing to its lowest since mid-2021 at 3.4%, according to economists polled by Reuters.\nAnalysts suspect the balance of risk is tilted to the downside and a rise of 0.1% for the month would see the six-month annualised pace of inflation slow to just 2.1% and almost at the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.\nMarkets reckon the slowdown in inflation means the Fed will have to ease policy just to stop real rates from rising, and are wagering on early and aggressive action.\nNew York Fed President John Williams did try to temper some of these expectations on Friday by saying there was no talk of easing by policy makers, but markets shrugged off his remarks.\nMARCH MADNESS\nTwo-year Treasury yields ticked up only slightly in response, around 4.41%, at its lowest since May.\nYields on 10-year notes stood at 3.90%, having dived 33 basis points last week in the biggest weekly fall since early 2020.\nFed fund futures imply a 74% chance of a rate cut as early as March, while May has 39 basis points (bp) of easing priced in. The market also implies at least 140 basis points of cuts for all of 2024.\nAnalysts at Goldman Sachs said a client note they expect five cuts in 2024 and three more cuts in 2025.\nThe market's dovish outlook for U.S. rates saw the dollar slip 0.2% against a basket of currencies last week, though the Fed is hardly alone in the rate-cutting stakes.\nMarkets imply around 150 basis points of easing by the European Central Bank next year, and 113 basis points of cuts from the Bank of England.\nThat outlook restrained the euro at $1.0921, having pulled back from a top of $1.1004 on Friday. The dollar was looking more vulnerable against the yen at 142.42, having slid 1.9% last week.\nThe drop in the dollar and yields should be positive for gold at $2,022 an ounce, though that was short of its recent all-time peak of $2,135.40. (Reporting by Nell Mackenzie and Wayne Cole; Editing by Amanda Cooper, Christopher Cushing, Jacqueline Wong and Hugh Lawson)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Global shares dip, while dollar steadies; eyes on BOJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 1419,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-sachs-faces-rocky-exit-110656128.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Saeed Azhar and Lananh Nguyen\nNEW YORK (Reuters) - Four years after Goldman Sachs introduced a credit card with Apple, the Wall Street giant faces a costly exit from a partnership that is seen by other lenders as too risky and unprofitable.\nIn searching for a buyer for its share of the partnership, Goldman will face pressure from bidders to reduce the value of its stake in order to make the price more attractive, according to two sources familiar with the matter who declined to be identified discussing potential talks.\nGoldman does not break out how much its stake is worth.\nThe expected unwinding of the Apple-Goldman partnership is another blow for CEO David Solomon's consumer strategy, which aimed to broaden the bank's revenue beyond its traditional mainstays of trading and investment banking.\nThe potential writedown on the Apple card would be the latest in a string of losses from Goldman's ill-fated foray into consumer banking, analysts said. Goldman does not break out the financial details of the card business in its results.\nGoldman Sachs declined to comment.\nProspective bidders will likely push Apple to change the terms of the deal, the two sources said.\nThey will likely seek access to Apple's proprietary credit card data, two other sources familiar with the business, said. Apple cardholders' data is not sold to third parties for marketing or advertising, according to its website.\nCredit card issuers such as Synchrony Financial, Citigroup and Capital One would be logical partners to take on the venture if terms are changed, according to the two sources and another source familiar with the situation.\nSynchrony declined to comment. Separately, its CEO Brian Doubles said at a conference this month that \"you've got to have a really good risk-return equation\" for card deals.\nCitigroup declined to comment. Capital One did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.\nApple recently sent a proposal that would enable Goldman to exit the contract in the next 12 to 15 months, The Wall Street Journal reported last month, citing people briefed on the matter.\nApple said it was focused on providing an \"incredible experience\" for customers, but declined to comment on the Goldman deal talks or terms.\n'STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES'\nAfter scaling back its retail ambitions last year, Solomon announced in February that Goldman was looking for \"strategic alternatives\" for its consumer unit.\nThe bank began talks with Apple under former Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who left in 2018, to create a credit card that would tap into the tech giant's enormous customer base. Stephen Scherr, who led Goldman's consumer division and later became its finance chief, was among its lead negotiators.\nSolomon took the helm in late 2018 and the Apple card was introduced almost a year later. By 2022, the parties had renegotiated a deal that would last until the end of the decade, according to a person familiar with the situation.\nSolomon told analysts in October that the bank was trying to get rid of the \"drag\" on earnings from its credit card business, which also includes a partnership with General Motors.\n\"Our partnerships with Apple and GM are long-term contracts,\" Solomon said at the time. \"And we don't have the unilateral right to exit those partnerships.\"\nAnalysts interpreted his comments as a signal the card operations were losing money.\nWhen Apple first shopped the deal with potential partners, other banks including JPMorgan Chase passed because their potential cut of profits was too small, according to one of the sources familiar with the matter and a separate source who was also aware of Apple's original proposal, who declined to be identified discussing private negotiations.\nJPMorgan declined to comment.\nNew credit card businesses typically lose money in their early years, in part because regulations require banks to set aside about 7% of projected sales to cover expected losses, said Warren Kornfeld, senior vice president at Moody's Investors Service.\nGoldman was responsible for setting aside the provisions for credit losses instead of sharing them with Apple, according to the two sources familiar with the business.\nThe Apple card also posed an underwriting challenge. Goldman's clients are typically wealthy individuals, and it had little experience making loans to less-affluent customers, according to analysts. As the two companies sought to boost revenue, they granted cards to customers with lower credit scores, according to one of the sources familiar with the situation.\nAs Goldman set aside more money for bad loans, the paper losses for its consumer business mounted, according to earnings filings.\nThe companies also tried to tempt new customers with the promise of \"no annual fees, foreign transaction fees, or late fees,\" Apple said on its website.\nThey also introduced high-yield savings accounts for card holders in April, enabling Goldman to gather $10 billion of deposits by August, Apple said at the time.\nActual loan losses would eventually be shared among the two partners, one of the sources familiar with the business said. The business costs were also divided, with Apple paying for marketing while and Goldman handled customer service, the person said.\n\"Goldman had no meaningful presence in the credit card business,\" said Mike Taiano, vice president at Moody’s. \"This was a big deal...they wanted to break into the card business, so they were probably willing to take less favorable economics.\"\n(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Lananh Nguyen in New York, additional reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco, Nupur Anand and Tatiana Bautzer in New York; Editing by Anna Driver)\n",
        "title": "Goldman Sachs faces rocky exit from Apple credit card partnership"
    },
    {
        "id": 1420,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wars-raise-profit-outlook-us-110622143.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Mike Stone\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - When the Pentagon pulled the world's biggest defense contractors into a meeting to tell them to ramp up production shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, one CEO hesitated, saying they did not want to be stuck with a warehouse full of rockets when the fighting stopped, according to three people familiar with the discussion.\nNearly two years later, big defense firms are singing a different tune, with several expecting strong demand in 2024 as the U.S. and its allies load up on expensive weaponry and munitions with an eye on what they perceive as more aggressive actions from Russia and China.\nThe math is simple. For example, to meet demand for missile defenses, production of Patriot interceptors for the U.S. Army - a projectile fired at an incoming missile with the aim of knocking it down - will rise from 550 to 650 rockets per year. At around $4 million each, that's a potential $400 million annual sales boost on one weapons system alone.\nSince increasing production volumes of older systems is always more profitable than the high investment costs associated with ramping up production of new systems, stronger demand will flow quickly to the corporate bottom line.\nShares of the biggest defense companies, which have handily beat the benchmark S&P 500 stock index for the last two years, are expected to keep rising, according to Wall Street estimates.\nLockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman shares are forecast to rise between 5% and 7% over the next 12 months, while the S&P is seen making limited gains.\nUS weapons stockpiles were not \"full\" before Russia invaded Ukraine, said Eric Fanning, chief executive of the U.S. Aerospace Industries Association, and \"adversaries are seeing our stockpiles starting thin and being depleted.\" As a result, demand is being driven by Chinese aggression, fear about Russian aggression and to support allies in the Middle East, he said.\nPATRIOTS AND ROCKET MOTORS\nPatriot systems production can be broken down to show how sales of basic items will impact a range of companies. To start, RTX manufactures the radars and ground systems, and Lockheed Martin manufactures the latest generation interceptor missiles.\nRTX boosted launcher and control system production to 12 units a year. A launcher and radar together cost around $400 million each.\nBoeing has said over the next few years it will increase its Huntsville, Alabama, factory production capacity for sensors that are used to guide Patriot missiles by more than 30%.\nAnother strong demand signal can be seen in the backlog of solid rocket motors which are used by the vast array of arms in high demand since Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.\nThe U.S. has two main rocket motor makers, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris Technologies, which both said they have seen demand increase.\nNorthrop said much of the increase is due to demand for its rocket motors and warheads in the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) which are heavily used in Ukraine.\nGMLRS are GPS-guided rockets with 200-pound (90kg) warheads. Lockheed Martin makes 10,000 of the missiles per year and is increasing production to 14,000. They have an average cost of $148,000 each according to Army documents and more than 6,100 have been sent to Ukraine so far, according to a Reuters analysis.\n\"Each day the munitions are being fired reinforces the need for substantive stockpiles,\" Tim Cahill, who runs Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control business - a prime contractor for Patriot interceptors and GMLRS - said in a Reuters interview. \"And I don't see that going down.\"\nAn executive at a rocket motor maker said the administration of President Joe Biden prioritized munitions in its 2024 Pentagon budget request.\nHe expected a boost to order backlogs once contracts came through following the passage of the $886 billion defense policy bill known as the NDAA, or National Defense Authorization Act. It was approved by Congress last week and Biden is expected to sign it into law.\n(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders and Grant McCool)\n",
        "title": "Wars raise profit outlook for US defense industry in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1421,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-markets-brazen-fed-pushback-110126025.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan\nDespite a tentative pushback from central banks against what some see as excessive interest rate cut bets for next year, U.S. markets retained the warm holiday glow of credit easing ahead - with one wary eye on the Bank of Japan.\nThe BOJ is the last of the G4 central banks to make its final 2023 policy decision this Tuesday - and also the most out of step. Far from the rate cut nods and winks from the Federal Reserve and others last week, there's still an outside chance the BOJ could tighten monetary policy this week.\nWhile most see an exit from negative interest rates delayed as far away as April, the central bank has been tweaking its yield curve caps all year, could nuance those again and pressure from business lobbies to 'normalize' policy soon is building.\nThat background risk kept a pall over Japanese stocks on Monday and Asia bourses were lower more broadly - amid yet another slide in Chinese and Hong Kong indexes. The yen, which surged on the dollar last week on the burst of Fed easing hopes, fell back a touch today however.\nAnd yet, fresh from notching their longest weekly winning streak in six years last week, and either at or within a whisker of record highs, Wall St stock futures looked to sustain the momentum into the new week.\nDespite Fed officials attempts on Friday to dampen market easing bets, futures markets are still gunning for as much as 150 basis points of rate cuts in 2024 starting as soon as March - twice what Fed policymakers indicated last week.\nNew York Fed boss John Williams said it was premature to be talking about rate cuts yet. Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic told Reuters he saw no easing until the third quarter and only two rate cuts all year.\nAnd yet the optimism is hard to contain, with the latest economic readouts showing a mixed picture of manufacturing and industry.\nTen-year Treasury yields plumbed below 3.90% early on Monday, some 34bps lower compared to this time last week. Two-year yields at 3.4% are down more than 30bps over the past week too.\nA big week for U.S. housing data kicks off with the NAHB U.S. homebuilder December survey on Monday, with eyes also on PCE inflation updates and a 20-year Treasury bond auction.\nThere was similar picture in Europe, where markets are also betting on 150bps of European Central Bank easing next year - starting in April - and 10-year bund yields are testing 2% for the first time since March.\nEven though German business morale unexpectedly worsened in December, according to the Ifo institute's latest survey, ECB officials have aped their Fed counterparts by prodding markets away from assuming rate cuts before midyear.\nECB policymaker and Slovenia's central banker Bostjan Vasle doubled down on that message on Monday and said the ECB will need at least until spring before it can reassess its policy outlook and that market expectations for an interest rate cut in March or April are overdone.\nThe euro was a little higher on Monday as a result. The dollar was mixed more broadly - with speculators net positioning on the dollar versus G10 currencies turning negative for the first time since September.\nCrude oil prices were lower amid generalised global demand concerns and despite more shipping worries in the Red Seas.\nKey developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Monday:\n* NAHB Dec housing index, New York Fed Dec service sector survey\n* Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee; European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane, ECB board member Isabel Schnabel all speak\n* U.S. Treasury auctions 3-, 6-month bills\n* U.S. corporate earnings: Ark Restaurants, Quipt Home Medical\n(Editing by Bernadette Baum)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Markets brazen Fed pushback, BOJ up next"
    },
    {
        "id": 1422,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-japans-nippon-steel-plans-110025095.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds detail from 2nd paragraph)\nTOKYO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Nippon Steel is planning to purchase United States Steel in a deal expected to exceed 1 trillion yen ($7.01 billion), the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday.\nA spokesperson for Nippon Steel declined to comment on the report.\nNippon Steel sees the U.S. as a growth market that can help to offset declining demand in Japan, the Nikkei daily said, adding that the company plans to make U.S. Steel a wholly owned subsidiary.\nShares in U.S. Steel were up about 3% in U.S. premarket trading. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ($1 = 142.5600 yen) (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Rocky Swift in Tokyo and Shivansh Tiwary in Bangalore; editing by Jason Neely and David Goodman )\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Japan's Nippon Steel plans to acquire US Steel for $7 bln -Nikkei"
    },
    {
        "id": 1423,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/explainer-why-boeing-apple-chipotle-amd-fedex-and-pinterest-are-trading-at-52-week-highs-110023297.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Investors are trapped in the hype bubble.\nHats are flying for Dow's hitting 37,000, with eyes toward 40,000 in 2024 (it's not that far away). Crypto is rocking. 401(k)s are probably doing pretty darn well amid the rise in equity prices. Retail sales look solid this holiday season. Inflation continues to cool.\nThings just feel good in the markets a few days before Christmas.\nAnd believe me when I tell you, the hype on growth in 2024 — for stocks and the economy — is spreading like wildfire.\nI was in a standing-room-only reveal at the Nasdaq last week for Intel's new AI-powered chips. You would think Intel was handing out free money like the Fed did during the pandemic! CEO Pat Gelsinger lit the room up with his trademark charisma — after his heavy-on-the-AI keynote, Intel's stock popped almost 5%. This all happened in under 10 minutes.\nHype bubble vibes.\nI took a glance at the Yahoo Finance 52-week high list and two takeaways emerge. Fundamentally struggling companies such as FedEx have marched toward 52-week highs. Meantime, already richly valued companies such as Chipotle are now trading at even loftier valuations.\nFundamental problems ignored. Record valuations ignored. Hype bubble vibes.\nSo what is really going on here? Is the outlook for corporate profits in 2024 so grand as to justify an everything rally?\nI truly believe it's beneficial for you — the investor — to understand the mechanics of what we are witnessing here. It will prevent you from making bad decisions on those 52-week-high stocks you just purchased because it felt like the right thing to do.\nRemember, good times in markets don't last forever.\nFor a simple dose of analysis, I phoned a friend, Truist's co-chief investment officer Keith Lerner. I have known Keith for a good while, and he is my go-to source for deep market insights. His work is some of the best in the game in part because, like me, he eats, sleeps, and breathes what he does.\n\"The most important driver/fuel behind equity rally is the 10-year US Treasury moving from a 5% to sub-4%. And part of that is because Fed chief Jerome Powell has pivoted hard from talking about still needing to raise rates to opening the door to cut rates, but also the inflation numbers have continued to trend the right way as the economy has cooled but not folded. The move down in rates has reduced pressure on some of the most interest rate sensitive areas of the market such as small caps and real estate. At the same time, forward earnings estimate for the S&P 500 continue to make record highs,\" Lerner tells me.\nHe continues, \"The market has also pivoted hard from a hard economic landing to placing greater odds that the Fed can maneuver a soft economic landing. Investors were not positioned for this outcome and with many managers underperforming, since they did not have enough exposure to the Magnificent Seven, stocks have rallied hard. And many of the beaten up are leading since they were the cheapest and many of these stocks were pricing in recession risks, which is being unwound.\"\nSo the reality is if these conditions change, markets will pull back. It's up to you to study hard to see if they are changing. Investing could be this simple.\nLerner doesn't rule out some changes in market dynamics soon.\n\"The setup for the market entering 2024 is almost the opposite of coming into 2023. Coming into 2023, the bar for positive surprises was very low — the market had a correction in December, after an already challenging year, and sentiment was very depressed. Entering 2024, we have had a very sharp rally and sentiment is much more bullish — thus, the bar for positive surprises is much higher. Also, the first part of an election year also tends to be choppier,\" Lerner adds.\nHappy holidays!\nBrian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.\nClick here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "Explainer: Why Boeing, Apple, Chipotle, AMD, FedEx, and Pinterest are trading at 52-week highs"
    },
    {
        "id": 1424,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-americas-markets-brazen-110001614.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan\nDespite a tentative pushback from central banks against what some see as excessive interest rate cut bets for next year, U.S. markets retained the warm holiday glow of credit easing ahead - with one wary eye on the Bank of Japan.\nThe BOJ is the last of the G4 central banks to make its final 2023 policy decision this Tuesday - and also the most out of step. Far from the rate cut nods and winks from the Federal Reserve and others last week, there's still an outside chance the BOJ could tighten monetary policy this week.\nWhile most see an exit from negative interest rates delayed as far away as April, the central bank has been tweaking its yield curve caps all year, could nuance those again and pressure from business lobbies to 'normalize' policy soon is building.\nThat background risk kept a pall over Japanese stocks on Monday and Asia bourses were lower more broadly - amid yet another slide in Chinese and Hong Kong indexes. The yen, which surged on the dollar last week on the burst of Fed easing hopes, fell back a touch today however.\nAnd yet, fresh from notching their longest weekly winning streak in six years last week, and either at or within a whisker of record highs, Wall St stock futures looked to sustain the momentum into the new week.\nDespite Fed officials attempts on Friday to dampen market easing bets, futures markets are still gunning for as much as 150 basis points of rate cuts in 2024 starting as soon as March - twice what Fed policymakers indicated last week.\nNew York Fed boss John Williams said it was premature to be talking about rate cuts yet. Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic told Reuters he saw no easing until the third quarter and only two rate cuts all year.\nAnd yet the optimism is hard to contain, with the latest economic readouts showing a mixed picture of manufacturing and industry.\nTen-year Treasury yields plumbed below 3.90% early on Monday, some 34bps lower compared to this time last week. Two-year yields at 3.4% are down more than 30bps over the past week too.\nA big week for U.S. housing data kicks off with the NAHB U.S. homebuilder December survey on Monday, with eyes also on PCE inflation updates and a 20-year Treasury bond auction.\nThere was similar picture in Europe, where markets are also betting on 150bps of European Central Bank easing next year - starting in April - and 10-year bund yields are testing 2% for the first time since March.\nEven though German business morale unexpectedly worsened in December, according to the Ifo institute's latest survey, ECB officials have aped their Fed counterparts by prodding markets away from assuming rate cuts before midyear.\nECB policymaker and Slovenia's central banker Bostjan Vasle doubled down on that message on Monday and said the ECB will need at least until spring before it can reassess its policy outlook and that market expectations for an interest rate cut in March or April are overdone.\nThe euro was a little higher on Monday as a result. The dollar was mixed more broadly - with speculators net positioning on the dollar versus G10 currencies turning negative for the first time since September.\nCrude oil prices were lower amid generalised global demand concerns and despite more shipping worries in the Red Seas.\nKey developments that should provide more direction to U.S. markets later on Monday: * NAHB Dec housing index, New York Fed Dec service sector survey * Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee; European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane, ECB board member Isabel Schnabel all speak * U.S. Treasury auctions 3-, 6-month bills * U.S. corporate earnings: Ark Restaurants, Quipt Home Medical\n(Editing by Bernadette Baum)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID AMERICAS-Markets brazen Fed pushback, BOJ up next"
    },
    {
        "id": 1425,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/focus-goldman-sachs-faces-rocky-110000411.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Saeed Azhar and Lananh Nguyen\nNEW YORK, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Four years after Goldman Sachs introduced a credit card with Apple, the Wall Street giant faces a costly exit from a partnership that is seen by other lenders as too risky and unprofitable.\nIn searching for a buyer for its share of the partnership, Goldman will face pressure from bidders to reduce the value of its stake in order to make the price more attractive, according to two sources familiar with the matter who declined to be identified discussing potential talks.\nGoldman does not break out how much its stake is worth.\nThe expected unwinding of the Apple-Goldman partnership is another blow for CEO David Solomon's consumer strategy, which aimed to broaden the bank's revenue beyond its traditional mainstays of trading and investment banking.\nThe potential writedown on the Apple card would be the latest in a string of losses from Goldman's ill-fated foray into consumer banking, analysts said. Goldman does not break out the financial details of the card business in its results.\nGoldman Sachs declined to comment.\nProspective bidders will likely push Apple to change the terms of the deal, the two sources said.\nThey will likely seek access to Apple's proprietary credit card data, two other sources familiar with the business, said. Apple cardholders' data is not sold to third parties for marketing or advertising, according to its website.\nCredit card issuers such as Synchrony Financial, Citigroup and Capital One would be logical partners to take on the venture if terms are changed, according to the two sources and another source familiar with the situation.\nSynchrony declined to comment. Separately, its CEO Brian Doubles said at a conference this month that \"you've got to have a really good risk-return equation\" for card deals.\nCitigroup declined to comment. Capital One did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.\nApple recently sent a proposal that would enable Goldman to exit the contract in the next 12 to 15 months, The Wall Street Journal reported last month, citing people briefed on the matter.\nApple said it was focused on providing an \"incredible experience\" for customers, but declined to comment on the Goldman deal talks or terms.\n'STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES'\nAfter scaling back its retail ambitions last year, Solomon announced in February that Goldman was looking for \"strategic alternatives\" for its consumer unit.\nThe bank began talks with Apple under former Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who left in 2018, to create a credit card that would tap into the tech giant's enormous customer base. Stephen Scherr, who led Goldman's consumer division and later became its finance chief, was among its lead negotiators.\nSolomon took the helm in late 2018 and the Apple card was introduced almost a year later. By 2022, the parties had renegotiated a deal that would last until the end of the decade, according to a person familiar with the situation.\nSolomon told analysts in October that the bank was trying to get rid of the \"drag\" on earnings from its credit card business, which also includes a partnership with General Motors.\n\"Our partnerships with Apple and GM are long-term contracts,\" Solomon said at the time. \"And we don't have the unilateral right to exit those partnerships.\"\nAnalysts interpreted his comments as a signal the card operations were losing money.\nWhen Apple first shopped the deal with potential partners, other banks including JPMorgan Chase passed because their potential cut of profits was too small, according to one of the sources familiar with the matter and a separate source who was also aware of Apple's original proposal, who declined to be identified discussing private negotiations.\nJPMorgan declined to comment.\nNew credit card businesses typically lose money in their early years, in part because regulations require banks to set aside about 7% of projected sales to cover expected losses, said Warren Kornfeld, senior vice president at Moody's Investors Service.\nGoldman was responsible for setting aside the provisions for credit losses instead of sharing them with Apple, according to the two sources familiar with the business.\nThe Apple card also posed an underwriting challenge. Goldman's clients are typically wealthy individuals, and it had little experience making loans to less-affluent customers, according to analysts. As the two companies sought to boost revenue, they granted cards to customers with lower credit scores, according to one of the sources familiar with the situation.\nAs Goldman set aside more money for bad loans, the paper losses for its consumer business mounted, according to earnings filings.\nThe companies also tried to tempt new customers with the promise of \"no annual fees, foreign transaction fees, or late fees,\" Apple said on its website.\nThey also introduced high-yield savings accounts for card holders in April, enabling Goldman to gather $10 billion of deposits by August, Apple said at the time.\nActual loan losses would eventually be shared among the two partners, one of the sources familiar with the business said. The business costs were also divided, with Apple paying for marketing while and Goldman handled customer service, the person said.\n\"Goldman had no meaningful presence in the credit card business,\" said Mike Taiano, vice president at Moody’s. \"This was a big deal...they wanted to break into the card business, so they were probably willing to take less favorable economics.\" (Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Lananh Nguyen in New York, additional reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco, Nupur Anand and Tatiana Bautzer in New York; Editing by Anna Driver)\n",
        "title": "FOCUS-Goldman Sachs faces rocky exit from Apple credit card partnership"
    },
    {
        "id": 1426,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brazilian-farmers-slow-fertilizer-buys-110000092.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Rod Nickel, Ana Mano and Sourasis Bose\nSAO PAULO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's drought is causing farmers there to delay fertilizer purchases for their upcoming corn-planting season, denting sales for global fertilizer suppliers in the world's top corn-exporting country, executives told Reuters.\nBrazil's soybean harvest is already delayed and that hold-up may push back planting for the main corn season that follows it early next year, which is likely to affect fertilizer companies like Nutrien, Mosaic and Yara. Corn is one of the most fertilizer-intensive crops.\nThe drought, related to the El Nino climate phenomenon, illustrates the volatility facing global agriculture as climate change accelerates. Fertilizer companies are already coping with lower profits, as crop and fertilizer prices sag after peaking at the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.\nBrazilian farmers usually sow less corn when they miss the ideal planting window in January or February, decreasing fertilizer demand.\nU.S.-based fertilizer producer Mosaic expects \"safrinha,\" production, a Portuguese word referring to Brazil's second corn harvest, to drop by 12% or 12.7 million metric tons, exceeding the Brazil government's view of an 11.1 million ton drop from last year.\n\"I would call it a very plausible downside scenario because of how late the crop's going to go in, how dry it currently is and how it's likely that rains will shut down before that safrinha corn matures,\" said Mosaic vice-president of market and strategic analysis Andy Jung.\nMosaic's estimated crop decline would cut Brazilian demand for potash fertilizer by about 4% or 500,000 tons, Jung said. That volume of potash is worth about $160 million at current prices.\nA loss of sales on that scale would not be financially material as Mosaic could sell to other countries, Jung said. A worst-case scenario, however, would see safrinha corn harvest fall by 25 million tons or about one-quarter, he added.\nAs of early December, farmers had purchased only 60% of their estimated fertilizer needs in the corn-producing states of Parana and Mato Grosso, compared with 80% usually at this time of year, said Guilherme Schmitz, market development director at Oslo-based Yara's Brazil unit.\nSafrinha corn represents about 75% of Brazil's national corn output depending on the year.\n\"The combination of low crop prices and the uncertainty about the weather has growers really buying on a just-in-time basis their inputs for the safrinha crop,\" said Jason Newton, chief economist at Canadian fertilizer company Nutrien.\nBrazilian potash prices have fallen to around $325 per metric ton, down 36% year over year, according to RBC, illustrating the weak demand.\nBrazilian full-year potash imports are expected to be record-high, however, based on robust shipments earlier, though some of those imports may sit in retailers' warehouses if farmers buy less.\nThe drought has also forced crop chemical producers FMC and Corteva to sell Brazilian stock at a discount because of lower-than-expected demand, said Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein.\nBoth companies may need to reduce production as rising global chemical demand may not fully offset lost Brazilian sales, he said.\n\"No doubt (the drought) could bring a reduction in the use of technology, including fertilizers, and a reduction in costs to make the harvest viable,\" said Fernando Cadore, chief of farmer group Aprosoja in Mato Grosso.\nFMC and Corteva did not respond to requests for comment.\nReduced Brazilian production could revive global corn prices and spur U.S. farmers next year to buy more fertilizer to maximize their corn production, offsetting lost Brazilian sales Mosaic's Jung said.\nEarly forecasts suggest U.S. farmers will prioritize planting of soybeans, however, a crop that needs relatively little fertilizer. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ana Mano in Sao Paulo and Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Aurora Ellis)\n",
        "title": "Brazilian farmers slow fertilizer buys as drought dampens corn-planting plans"
    },
    {
        "id": 1427,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/niel-iliad-proposes-merging-italian-091732749.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Xavier Niel’s Iliad has proposed combining its Italian business with Vodafone Group Plc’s local operations in a deal that would value Vodafone Italia at €10.45 billion ($11.4 billion) including debt.\nVodafone would initially get 50% of the share capital of the new company, together with a €6.5 billion cash payment and a €2 billion shareholder loan, Iliad said in a statement on Monday. Paving the way to full control, the deal includes an option for Iliad to buy 10% of the venture’s shares every year.\nThe proposal would value Iliad Italia at €4.45 billion, and, in addition to an initial 50% stake in the new company, Iliad would receive a €500 million cash payment and a €2 billion shareholder loan. The French company would also have control over the chief executive officer and chief financial officer appointments.\nLast year, Vodafone rejected an €11.25 billion bid for its Italian unit from an Iliad-backed consortium, saying the offer wasn’t in shareholders’ best interests. Still, Vodafone’s CEO Margherita Della Valle, who took the top job in April, is facing a declining share price and pressure to sell or merge its national units.\nVodafone shares rose 5% to 68.16 pence at 8:49 a.m. in London trading, after earlier gaining as much as 6%, the biggest intraday move since Jan. 2022. A representative for Vodafone didn’t have an immediate comment.\nRead More: Iliad, Vodafone Are Said to Revive Talks on European Tie-Ups\nThe fresh proposal came after Bloomberg reported last month that rival suitor Fastweb, owned by Swisscom AG, had explored a deal for Vodafone’s Italian unit.\nWhat Bloomberg Intelligence Says:\nIliad’s offer to merge with Vodafone in Italy implies a 7.8x trailing Ebitdaal multiple which looks worth evaluating to us, given it’s about the midpoint of the 5-11x range of comparable deals. By absorbing a disruptive challenger, with sizable synergy potential, the transaction — valued at €10.5 billion — also promises to address the low-returns challenge. The proposal allows for Iliad to acquire the unit fully via call options in five years, which may need to be renegotiated.\n— Erhan Gurses, BI telecoms analyst\nIn October, Vodafone agreed to sell its Spanish business to Zegona Communications Plc in a €5 billion deal. Niel had earlier bought a stake in Vodafone and had said that he supported the carrier’s intention to merge with rivals in markets such as the UK and Italy, as well as separate out infrastructure assets like towers and fiber optic networks.\nItaly is one of the most competitive telecommunications markets in Europe where monthly subscriptions for full-fiber landline services, which usually include unlimited Internet, priced as low as €20 to €25. That’s about a quarter of what most US consumers pay. This is in part due to Iliad, which moved into the Italian mobile market in 2018 as a no-frills challenger, sparking a price war.\nMore than a fifth of Vodafone shares are now owned by rival telecom operators. Niel has said he owns 2.5%, Liberty Global Plc owns 4.9%, and Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Telecommunications Group Co. owns 14.6%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\n--With assistance from Thomas Seal and Daniele Lepido.\n(Adds background on Fastweb deal in the sixth paragraph. A previous version of the story was corrected to say that Niel took a stake in Vodafone last year.)\n",
        "title": "Niel’s Iliad Proposes Merging Italian Operations With Vodafone Italy"
    },
    {
        "id": 1428,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-create-more-jobs-potentially-105241405.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Haripriya Suresh\n(Reuters) - Generative AI technology can create more jobs than it is expected to eliminate, Tech Mahindra's outgoing CEO said, even as its ability to wreck the job market has been discussed widely on social media sites.\n\"The use cases of Generative AI are still being defined, which means that it has the potential to create more job opportunities in the future. Undoubtedly, the possibilities are just opening, and there is more to come,\" CP Gurnani told Reuters in an interview.\nAI technologies such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard have taken the world by storm in the past year with their uncannily human-like responses and the ability to write everything from novels and poems to complex computer code.\nWhile some top industry executives have discussed the potential loss of around a third of jobs due to the impact of the technology, Gurnani, one of the longest-serving CEOs in the $245-billion Indian information technology sector, insisted that skilled people will not be replaced. He is set to retire on Dec. 19.\n\"New jobs will also get created. The market will expand,\" he said, joining the likes of Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy, who has said that coders losing jobs to Gen AI tools such as ChatGPT will \"never happen.\"\nEstimates on job losses due to generative AI vary. Recent research from the European Central Bank and the International Labour Organization said there hasn't been significant job loss due to Gen AI-enabled automation so far.\nGurnani also urged young engineers to adapt to the changing world and invest more time in independently learning new skills.\n\"Infosys or Tech Mahindra setting up learning campuses, those days are over,\" said Gurnani.\nInfosys has one of the world's largest corporate training centres in Mysuru, a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.\nFor Indian IT companies, this could signify a fundamental shift in their operational model. Traditionally, companies hired graduates from campuses and provided training before deploying them on projects.\nIn October, Infosys revealed plans to abstain from near-term campus recruitments, while cross-town rival Wipro indicated it would engage in campus hiring only after \"onboarding\" the candidates to whom it had made offers.\n(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)\n",
        "title": "AI can create more jobs than it potentially eliminates: Tech Mahindra's outgoing CEO"
    },
    {
        "id": 1429,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-business-travel-emissions-drop-105135567.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates with Boston Scientific statement)\nBy Joanna Plucinska\nLONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Almost half of 217 global firms cut their business travel carbon emissions by at least 50% between 2019 and 2022, analysis published on Monday found, as corporate air travel returned at a much slower pace since the pandemic than leisure flights.\nDespite a global rebound, business travel has been slow to return to 2019 levels, with many corporate clients turning to video conferencing or rail trips rather than flying.\nGlobal business travel firms say this trend could hit corporate relationships.\nEnvironmentalists say it represents an important step in minimizing overall emissions.\nAdvocacy group Transport and Environment has said that a 50% reduction in business travel from pre-COVID levels is needed this decade to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.\nMajor companies such as tech firm SAP, accounting firm PwC and Lloyd's Banking Group all reduced their corporate air travel emissions by more than 75% compared with 2019, the Travel Smart Emissions Tracker analysis concluded.\n\"The way forward is collaboration with more online meetings, more travel by train and less by plane,\" Denise Auclair, Travel Smart campaign manager, said in a statement.\nIn an effort to cut costs and emissions, some businesses have chosen not to return to the same levels of business travel as before the emergence of COVID-19.\nBut whether business travel carbon emissions will stay lower is unclear. A joint survey by American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) and the Harvard Business Review released in September said 84% of businesses believe in-person trips still bring \"tangible business value\".\nThe Travel Smart study found 21 of the companies it surveyed exceeded their levels of flying compared with 2019, with L3Harris, Boston Scientific and Marriott International increasing their carbon emissions by more than 69% compared with 2019.\nL3Harris and Marriott International did not respond to requests for comment.\nBoston Scientific said it would reach out to the Travel Smart Campaign to update their data, which it said were not accurate.\n\"It reflects the company's Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) disclosure for business travel prior to Boston Scientific receiving approval of its net-zero, science-based scopes 1, 2 and 3 targets,\" a spokesperson told Reuters.\nAirlines say the corporate travel decline could harm their business and economic growth, but robust post-pandemic consumer demand for flying has tempered those concerns.\nBusiness trips generated as much as half of passenger revenue at U.S. airlines before the pandemic, industry group Airlines for America estimated. This helped airlines sell high-margin premium seats and fill weekday flights.\nIn Europe, airlines like Air France have shifted their strategies, with others trying to make up for the business drop by selling more premium trips to leisure travellers. (Reporting by Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Business travel emissions drop as many firms fly less -survey"
    },
    {
        "id": 1430,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-nippon-steel-plans-acquire-104940430.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nippon Steel is planning to purchase United States Steel in a deal expected to exceed 1 trillion yen ($7.01 billion), the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday.\n($1 = 142.5600 yen)\n(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Rocky Swift; editing by Jason Neely)\n",
        "title": "Japan's Nippon Steel plans to acquire US Steel for $7 billion -Nikkei"
    },
    {
        "id": 1431,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-labor-unions-found-their-footing-in-2023-103006511.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "Labor unions enjoyed an extraordinary year in 2023.\nThe president joined a picket line for the first time in history, the public broadly supported unions through a volatile economy, and a wave of high-profile strikes won significant bargaining victories for workers, signaling a resurgence for the US labor movement.\nThe nearly 50-day strike by the United Auto Workers against the Big Three Detroit automakers won workers substantial pay increases and cost-of-living adjustments. Their tactics of wielding a more targeted “stand-up” strike — calling on certain union factories to not work instead of a simultaneous strike — also grabbed headlines and appeared to catch the automakers off guard. Auto workers also counted President Joe Biden, who joined the picket lines at a General Motors facility in Michigan, as an ally.\nEntertainment industry professionals led their own monthslong strike against Hollywood studios, eventually claiming higher pay, improved compensation for streaming productions, and guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence.\nFrom the start of the year through mid-December, workers have organized strikes nearly 400 times, according to the Labor Action Tracker from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Those labor actions pulled in hundreds of thousands of workers.\n“Workers are striking and forming unions because the US economy has churned out radically uneven income growth for decades, stemming from unbalanced bargaining power in the labor market,” said Margaret Poydock, a senior policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.\nThe growing sense of labor’s nascent power doesn't stem just from the backing of powerful political leaders and heightened media attention. It is also borne out in the data.\nThe National Labor Relations Board continues to see increased demand for action.\nThe number of unfair labor practice charges filed in fiscal year 2023 increased 10% from the year prior, according to the agency. During the same period, the NLRB saw an uptick in union representation petitions — more than 2,500 petitions were filed, accounting for a 3% gain over the previous fiscal year. The increase built on 2022’s surge, when the agency saw a 53% increase in paperwork from employees seeking to form a union.\nOngoing strikes — and the threat of new ones — have generated their own kind of leverage and momentum.\nUPS workers secured what Teamsters general president Sean O'Brien called “the most lucrative agreement the Teamsters have ever negotiated at UPS” without actually going on strike. Workers secured a five-year agreement covering more than 300,000 delivery and warehouse workers, averting what would have been the largest single strike against a company in US history and an estimated $7 billion hit to the US economy.\nUnion leaders expect the success of the strikes to generate more victories. The UAW, for instance, has said it will embark on a union drive to organize non-union plants, including those owned by Tesla and several foreign car companies.\nStill, labor’s moment in the sun comes at a time when the movement has been historically weakened.\nThe share of workers who are members of unions was 10.1% in 2022, down from 2021’s 10.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which publishes union membership data every January for the preceding year.\nThe unionization rate for 2022 was the lowest on record, according to the Bureau. But even as the rate fell, the actual number of workers belonging to unions, at 14.3 million, increased by nearly 300,000 from the year prior. The labor force saw a disproportionately large increase in the number of workers compared with the increase in the number of union members, which led to a drop in the union membership rate, the Bureau said.\nHow do historically low unionization rates square with labor’s recent popularity and amped-up organizing activity?\nExperts say low membership rates reflect the difficulties of forming unions and negotiating contracts under a legal regime that favors corporate power, rather than workers rejecting unionization and collective bargaining.\n“We are seeing a long-term decline because of employer avoidance of unions,” said Poydock, the EPI analyst.\nThe unionization effort at Starbucks (SBUX), she said, is an example of a company exploiting the labor law system. More than 300 stores have voted to unionize over several years, she noted, but workers have yet to achieve a contract.\nStarbucks referred Yahoo Finance to recent statements from its executives affirming a goal of reaching ratified contracts for union-represented stores in 2024.\nEven what experts say is corporate intransigence appears to be softening.\nStarbucks in recent weeks has taken a more accommodating approach to its union-represented stores. In a letter earlier this month to the president of the Workers United union, which represents about 350 locations in the US, Starbucks chief partner officer Sara Kelly proposed restarting stalled bargaining talks with the goal of achieving labor agreements next year.\nOther organizing drives provide examples of management avoiding an adversarial approach to labor. In an unprecedented move in the tech world, Microsoft (MSFT) pledged last week to remain neutral if US-based workers pursue unionization, making it easier for employees to organize. The deal was announced alongside the AFL-CIO union federation, which is also working with the tech giant to navigate labor issues tied to the advancement of AI.\n\"Never before in the history of these American tech giants, dating back 50 years or so, has one of these companies made a broad commitment to labor rights, formalized it, and put it in writing,\" said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler at an event unveiling the deal.\nThe recent national push to unionize, especially in areas without labor roots and among bargaining units comprised of a small number of employees, shouldn't be expected to dramatically move the data so quickly, said Ileen A. DeVault, a professor of labor history at Cornell University.\n“Is this going to instantly raise the unionization rate? No, not instantly,” DeVault said. \"It will be small and it will take a long time. But I think we are heading into something.”\nHamza Shaban is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering markets and the economy. Follow Hamza on Twitter @hshaban.\nClick here for the latest economic news and indicators to help inform your investing decisions.\nRead the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance\n",
        "title": "How labor unions found their footing in 2023"
    },
    {
        "id": 1432,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-amazon-effort-challenge-musk-103005169.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- For a harrowing hour or two after Amazon.com Inc. launched its first satellites, it appeared the company might have lost one of them. The two prototypes had entered orbit over the Atlantic Ocean at 2:24 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 6. An Amazon antenna on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius made contact with both, but during a subsequent handoff to another station, only one vehicle checked in. Amazon scanned the sky behind the first satellite for a signal from the second one but heard silence.\nThe incident threatened to kill the mood for employees who’d gathered to celebrate the launch at Postdoc Brewing, not far from Amazon’s Seattle-area space operation. The team had spent years building satellites from scratch and endured months of delays launching them. Now that they were aloft, Amazon needed to make contact to ensure their solar panels had deployed. If not, the batteries would run out and the satellites would fail, a major setback for the retail and cloud-computing giant, already a late entrant in the race to build a profitable business selling internet access from low-Earth orbit.\nInside Amazon’s Mission Operations Center, a conference room stuffed with big video displays, computers and cases of energy drinks, satellite operations chief Yonina DeKeyser and her deputies worked to piece together the scraps of data they’d collected. Between the third and fourth contacts, the guidance, navigation and control team made the call: the missing satellite was fine. The information streaming in could only have come from a pair of healthy spacecraft. Rajeev Badyal, the project’s leader, yelled in triumph.\nAt the brewery, an Amazonian looking at his phone broke through the din, raising clenched fists as he bellowed “We’re power positive!” His colleagues cheered. The team would later discover that some of Amazon’s ground-based antennas had been looking in the wrong place, mistaking the second satellite to pass for the first.\nAmazon executives tend to describe their satellite venture, Project Kuiper, in philanthropic terms, emphasizing its potential to connect people in remote or impoverished areas with education and global commerce. Less altruistically, Amazon also hopes the $10-billion-plus project can transform it into a global telecommunications giant. The company plans to sell rooftop antennas to individual internet users, cloud-computing and data-recovery services to business, and connectivity to wireless companies to link remote cell towers to their networks, starting in 2025.\nProject Kuiper is among the Seattle-based company’s biggest bets, one of just a few that have survived two years into a cost-cutting drive that has eliminated many of the speculative projects started late in Jeff Bezos’s tenure as chief executive officer. It’s an enormous undertaking in an arena that has had more bankruptcies than successful businesses. Broadband is already widely available and, in many places where it isn’t, it’s not clear people will be able to afford space-based internet. Some Amazon observers see Project Kuiper as another front in the rivalry between Bezos and fellow billionaire Elon Musk, whose SpaceX operates the Starlink constellation of internet satellites.\nAmazon is betting its system advances the state of the art, and can offer the capacity and internet speeds to compete not just with Starlink, which has a big head start, but with terrestrial telecommunications companies. At the very least, Amazon is building an alternative to Musk’s service at a time when governments and corporations alike are looking for ways to reduce their reliance on the erratic and controversial businessman.\nOver the last two months, Amazon engineers have put their maiden satellites through a battery of tests. They’ve made a video call, bought a toy rocket set from Amazon.com and tested a system of lasers designed to extend the reach of each satellite. Now comes the really hard part. To meet the terms of its license with regulators, Amazon has to build—and find a ride to space for—the equivalent of two satellites a day, every day, through July 2026.\n“Building two satellites is very hard,” Badyal said. “Building 3,000-plus is exponentially harder.”\nProject Kuiper, named for the belt of dwarf planets, ice and rock beyond Neptune, was born of a thought experiment, according to longtime Amazon consumer electronics chief Dave Limp. Bezos had periodically asked executives to ponder far-off hurdles that might slow the company down, an exercise that led Amazon to spend billions on warehouse robots and fleets of aircraft, big rigs and delivery trucks.\nAbout six years ago, Amazon’s leaders grew fixated on broadband internet. Their disparate range of businesses, including retail sites, film studios and business software, all depend on access to the web. “It became, if you wanted to grow, you had to find these hundreds of millions of people that are not currently Amazon customers,” Limp said in an interview. “Well, what’s the constraint to getting them there?”\nAmong other ideas, Amazon explored internet-broadcasting drones and balloons, approaches tried and abandoned by Facebook, now Meta Platforms Inc., and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Amazon decided to deliver the internet from satellites.\nThe idea wasn’t novel. In the 1990s, not far from the suburban Seattle garage where Bezos founded Amazon, a company called Teledesic had set out to launch a constellation of hundreds of satellites. Most communications satellites at the time rested in a geostationary orbit, which matched the Earth’s rotation, fixing each craft in place from the perspective of someone on the ground. Such satellites power the global positioning system, weather tracking and in-flight web browsing.\nTeledesic figured satellites in a much lower orbit, the domain of space stations, could take advantage of the shorter trip to the ground to better compete with terrestrial phone and internet companies. Despite backing from Microsoft Corp.’s Bill Gates and wireless mogul Craig McCaw, the company folded after the dotcom bust. Rockets were expensive, and the aerospace industry preferred to keep making bespoke satellites for governments.\nAbout a decade later, Musk took up the idea and cut out the middlemen. His rocket company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., was reducing the cost of getting to orbit, and opted to build satellites in-house. Musk hired Badyal, the future Kuiper chief, to bring that to life.\nBadyal was born in India and spent much of his childhood in Kuwait, where his architect father was posted. He came to the US for college, earning a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Oregon State University. He found work at a nearby Hewlett Packard campus, helping design the printhead that transfers ink to the page on inkjet printers. Later, he worked on the first optical mice, sparing future generations the task of cleaning a grimy tracking ball, before moving to Microsoft, where he helped create the company’s ill-fated Zune music player.\nRapid technological advances in consumer electronics made it possible for companies outside the aerospace industry to build satellites. People like Badyal, adept at navigating on-the-fly design changes and mass manufacturing, had the right tools for a new generation of satellites that could be built quickly and on the cheap. After joining the Starlink project in 2014, Badyal set up shop in exurban Redmond, Washington. The first two satellites launched on a SpaceX rocket four years later.\nIn June of 2018, Musk flew to Seattle. Soon after, Badyal and much of his team were out. Colleagues were told they’d been fired. Badyal says he and Musk simply decided to part ways. Musk put another lieutenant in charge and ordered him to strip the design down to the bare minimum in an effort to get a barebones system operating as quickly as possible. Today, SpaceX says it’s building six satellites a day. There are more than 5,000 in orbit, serving more than 2 million customers.\nIt’s a Bezos maxim that Amazon only enters new fields when it has expertise—or can acquire it quickly. Amazon’s satellite initiative was a two-page outline when Limp heard Starlink’s founding team was looking for work. He called Badyal in August 2018.\nTwo months later, Badyal and five fellow Starlink alums were at Amazon, sketching out a new constellation in a pair of conference rooms obscured by a black curtain that curious employees saw as an invitation to pop their heads through. “It was very secure,” deadpanned Naveen Kachroo, one of the first hires. When their plan—3,236 satellites crisscrossing the globe at an altitude of between 590 to 630 kilometers—became public months later, Musk called Bezos a copycat on Twitter.\nAmazon engineers designed a terminal, the gadget that customers will someday use to receive data from satellites, that they figured they could manufacture for about $750. Bezos sent them back to the drawing board. It needed to be even cheaper. Amazon’s antenna chief, Nima Mahanfar, and his team combined some antenna functions, and the company says it can now build its main, 11-inch-square terminal, for less than $400. It offers internet speeds of up to 400 megabits per second, roughly twice the median broadband speed in US homes.\nProject Kuiper employs more than 1,600 people, a mix of consumer electronics veterans and career aerospace experts. DeKeyser, the satellite operations chief, holds a master’s in aeronautical engineering and says winding up at Amazon would have been unfathomable earlier in her career. The team is the rare organization inside Amazon run mostly by people who hail from elsewhere. Chief satellite engineer Paul O’Brien, Kachroo and Mahanfar all worked on Microsoft’s Zune.\n“You have to innovate at a much faster pace” than traditional space manufacturing, said Badyal, a mustachioed, gray-haired engineer with a gravelly voice and a thing for classic cocktails. His office at Project Kuiper headquarters in Redmond, in a building that once made forklifts, overlooks a research and development lab where engineers fabricate custom aluminum parts, assemble circuit boards and test antennas in a cavernous echo-free chamber.\nAmazon’s satellites pair technology that pushes the cutting edge—including optical satellite links, more commonly called space lasers—with simple, proven components that limit cost or weight. “Kuiper is designing spacecraft that are fewer in number, bigger in size, higher in power” than SpaceX’s first generation of vehicles, said Caleb Henry, who tracks private-sector space companies for Quilty Space. “There’s a real difference in design philosophy between the two.”\nThe satellites will enter space packed inside the nose of a rocket and start their first orbit in a tumble until an automated system reorients them toward Earth. By that point, the solar panels, folded at launch, should be deploying automatically, relying on an almost century-old technology: actuators that heat a plug of wax, which expands to push on a bolt that releases the array.\nWhen a customer loads a website, the home terminal beams a signal up to a circular array of thousands of antenna modules, which look like tiny, green two-dot Legos. Bowl-shaped gateway antennas route the request down to Amazon’s ground stations, the conduit to the internet. Responsive data is fired back upward, and then down to the terminal from one of the set of arrays of Lego bricks.\nAll of this happens in milliseconds as the craft speeds by at 17,000 miles per hour (27,359 kph). By the time the satellite zooms out of sight, another should be in view. Each has its own propulsion system. Amazonians liken the power of the thruster to a flap of a dragonfly’s wings, which, fired for hours in the vacuum of space, can overcome gravity’s pull.\nAmazon at one point aimed to produce the satellites for $500,000 apiece, and keep their weight under 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds), according to two people familiar with the matter. The size and weight of Amazon’s upcoming production models couldn’t be learned. Based on Amazon’s launch vehicles, Quilty Space estimates Kuiper satellites weigh between 600 and 800 kilograms. A photo Amazon published of its prototypes en route to launch showed each enclosed in a cubical steel crate about the height of a human.\nKachroo, now Kuiper’s business development chief, says Amazon will sell connectivity directly to individual internet users, as well as through wireless and broadband service providers, depending on the country. Amazon has announced partnerships with Verizon Communications Inc. in the US, Vodafone Group Plc in Europe and Africa, and Japan’s NTT. Service tests will start in the second half of next year, and Amazon ultimately anticipates selling to tens of millions of customers.\n“We want to serve enterprise, governments, schools, hospitals, mobile operators, so we don’t have a single channel, or segment, on which we make money,” said Kachroo. Amazon, which hasn’t disclosed pricing, has licenses so far to operate in more than 15 countries, including Brazil, Canada, France, Mexico and the US.\nThe company will offer businesses and governments private connectivity through its Amazon Web Services unit, and make service quality guarantees that SpaceX has yet to offer. AWS, the largest seller of rented computing power and data storage, will in the coming years be able to offer packages of products that include internet access, a perk that Amazon’s cloud-computing rivals can’t match on their own.\nKuiper staff tend not to bring up Starlink (another Bezosism: don’t obsess over the competition), but analysts say Amazon has an opportunity to set itself apart simply by operating a satellite business devoid of Musk’s personal drama or business entanglements. Other companies are building what the industry calls megaconstellations, but Starlink’s is by far the largest and most capable.\nOfficials in Taiwan, seeking backup internet access in the event of war with China, are wary of relying on Musk, who has business ties with Beijing, Bloomberg has reported. In Ukraine, Starlink has been a lifeline following Russia’s invasion, but earlier this year it emerged that Musk refused a request from Kyiv to expand coverage to enable a Ukrainian advance. The world’s richest man has urged an end to the conflict on terms favorable to Russia, and his biographer published text messages between Musk and Ukraine’s deputy prime minister.\nSpaceX, which didn’t respond to requests for comment, also avoids the long-term contracts and exclusivity agreements that business customers tend to seek, said Lluc Palerm, an analyst with researcher NSR. “They are not perceived as the best partner in the industry,”\nIn an interview, Julie Zoller, Kuiper’s regulatory chief, didn’t specify how Amazon would navigate political entanglements, saying the company would defer to the State Department. Zoller, who started her career installing satellite gear at US military bases, did concede that Amazon doesn’t envision Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy negotiating service terms by text message. “Customers are literally saying ‘Why can’t you all go faster,’” Kachroo said. “They love the fact that there’s competition.”\nExecutives insist Kuiper is on schedule, but the company hoped to have its prototypes aloft almost a year earlier. The proof is in orbit: etched onto an aluminum body component of each craft are the names of the people working on the project as of August 2022.\nAmazon’s initial ride to space—on a new rocket built by a startup—exploded on the launch pad. Its second, the new Vulcan Centaur built by United Launch Alliance, the US space stalwart, was supposed to take off this summer before an explosion during testing. Desperate to get its satellites flying, Amazon chartered an Atlas V, a 21-year-old ULA rocket capable of carrying much heavier loads. The launch was the rocketry equivalent of hiring a city bus to take two people to the movies.\nNow Amazon has to get the rest of the satellites up there. Project Kuiper’s is the biggest commercial launch order in history, which in addition to 47 ULA launches, includes rockets from ArianeGroup and Bezos’s Blue Origin. But only one of those rockets—the Atlas, which Amazon has booked for eight more launches—has flown. Blue Origin has never sent a spacecraft to orbit, and the rocket it hopes to get there is years behind schedule. (Limp, Badyal’s old boss, left Amazon this month to lead Blue Origin.)\nEarlier this month, Amazon booked three launches with SpaceX, an awkward deal necessitated by Kuiper’s tight launch schedule and the lack of alternatives. Amazon says it has been in discussions with every major launch provider for years. It also denies the decision was influenced by a lawsuit filed by a pension fund alleging Amazon didn’t consider using SpaceX thanks in part to the Bezos-Musk rivalry—pushing up costs. Amazon says the claims are without merit.\nULA is expanding a factory in Alabama, and retrofitting a facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, to quickly stack Kuiper satellites on rockets and ferry them to the launchpad. Suppliers of rocket motors and avionics equipment are ramping up production. “It’s all on track to be done in time,” said ULA CEO Tory Bruno. “As long as we don’t have to completely change the design, we’re going to be fine.”\nHowever Amazon’s satellites get to space, Project Kuiper’s Federal Communications Commission license requires that 1,618 of them be there by July 2026, and the other half three years later. Amazon plans to build them at a dedicated manufacturing site in Kirkland, Washington, where crews are still installing machinery and doing utility work. So Amazon’s first satellites are being assembled at Kuiper’s headquarters, which is being reconfigured from a research and development facility into a crash production line.\n",
        "title": "Inside Amazon’s Effort to Challenge Musk’s Starlink Internet Business"
    },
    {
        "id": 1433,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emerging-markets-stocks-fx-open-102834998.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nMost Asian stocks down\n*\nCzech crown steady after PPI data\n*\nHungarian forint hits near 2-month low\n*\nStocks down 0.3%, FX off 0.2%\nBy Siddarth S\nDec 18 (Reuters) - Assets across emerging markets had a tepid start on Monday after cautious comments from U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers weighed down on market expectations of a dovish stance from the central bank.\nMSCI's gauge of emerging markets stocks dipped 0.3%, while a basket of currencies slipped 0.2% against the dollar by 0930 GMT.\nBoth the stocks and currencies indexes had posted weekly gains as the Fed kept interest rates steady on Wednesday and signalled likely rate-cuts next year.\nHowever, the rally was short-lived as the risk sentiment faded after Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said on Friday that it's too soon to discuss cutting the central bank's interest rate target.\nThe dollar eased 0.2% against a basket of currencies, having lost 1.3% last week.\n\"The dollar is recovering some ground after the pushback from Fed officials against rate cut bets. However, the dovish Dot Plot may work as an anchor for rates and keep the dollar soft into the end of December,\" Francesco Pesole, FX strategist at ING, said in a note.\nMost Asian stocks dipped, with Hong Kong shares leading declines of nearly 1%.\nChinese banks are putting bad loans up for sale at a record pace as regulators push for faster disposal of sour debts amid rising consumer defaults during an ailing post-COVID economic recovery.\nChina's yuan slipped 0.2% to 7.1313 per dollar as weak economic fundamentals dragged on sentiment, outweighing benefits from exporters' dollar sales towards the end of the year.\nIn Europe, Czech's crown was steady against the euro after data showed producer prices for November rose 0.8% on an annual basis missing forecasts of a 1.0% increase.\nThe Hungarian forint hit a near-two-month low and was last seen at 0.4% down against the euro ahead of a monetary policy decision on Tuesday, where the country's central bank is expected to cut interest rates by 75 basis points.\nTurkey's lira hit fresh lows of 29.0665 against the dollar.\nThe South African rand was little changed, holding onto gains from last week.\nIsrael's economy grew slower than initially thought in the third quarter, data showed on Sunday, in the wake of Israel's war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, helping to raise prospects of the start of rate cuts.\nThe Israeli shekel rose 0.4% against the dollar.\nIn South America, market focus will be on Chile, after the country's voters on Sunday rejected a new conservative constitution to replace its current text that dates back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.\n(Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)\n",
        "title": "EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks, FX open week on sombre note as Fed's rate-cut rally fades"
    },
    {
        "id": 1434,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-chinas-nio-2-2-102652892.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details; paragraphs 2,4,6,7)\nSHANGHAI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Electric vehicle maker Nio has signed a pact for an investment of $2.2 billion from CYVN Holdings, an investment vehicle based in Abu Dhabi, the Chinese company said on Monday.\nThe investment comes as Nio, with its EV sales and profitability under pressure in a price war started by Tesla , has sought to boost efficiency by cutting a tenth of the workforce and deferring non-core projects.\nThe deal, expected to close in the final week of December, would take CYVN's shareholding to 20.1% of Nio's total issued and outstanding shares, following an investment of $1 billion in July, Nio said in a statement on its website.\nThat would make CYVN the largest single shareholder of Nio, although founder and chief executive William Li retains the most voting power, with his ownership of Class 'C' ordinary shares.\nCYVN, which will subscribe to 294,000,000 newly issued Class A ordinary shares priced at $7.50 each, will also be entitled to nominate two directors to Nio's board, the company said.\nThe company, whose Nio-branded EVs compete with premium brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW in China, has been developing two new brands for mass markets that it aims to bring them to Europe from 2025, its executives have said.\nIn its drive to become more efficient, Nio is considering a spin-off of its battery production unit while continuing to develop technologies for key components on its own, Reuters has reported previously. (Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; Editing by Jason Neely and Clarence Fernandez)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-China's Nio to get $2.2 bln investment from Abu Dhabi's CYVN"
    },
    {
        "id": 1435,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-extends-weekly-gain-focus-235621521.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Oil rose following its first weekly gain since late October as major shipping lines suspended transit through the Red Sea, highlighting the risk to the vital artery for international crude trade.\nGlobal benchmark Brent traded near $77 a barrel after gaining 0.9% last week to snap a seven-week streak of declines. West Texas Intermediate was near $72. Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said it’s “closely following” tensions in the Red Sea after the US said it shot down 14 drones launched from Iran-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.\nMajor shippers MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM SA were the latest to announce over the weekend that they won’t send their vessels through the chokepoint in the face of rising threats, while Maersk Tankers A/S said it would insist its vessels have the option to avoid the route. Houthi militants have been attacking more and more merchant ships in the Red Sea — especially vessels that they claim are connected to Israel — in response to the war in Gaza.\nCrude has lost about a fifth from a high in late September and is down 10% for the year as US shale supply beat analyst expectations and amid skepticism whether all OPEC+ members will stick to pledges to reduce output. While hedge funds are now the least bullish they’ve been in data going back to 2011, Wall Street analysts see some scope for prices to rebound next year.\nGoldman Sachs Group Inc., previously among the biggest bulls, cut its forecast range for Brent in 2024 by $10 to $70-$90 a barrel in a report dated Dec. 17. That came as it boosted its outlook for US oil supply growth next year to 0.9 million barrels a day, from 0.5 million.\n“The key focus remains on supply, with US crude production hitting fresh records into the end of the year,” said Robert Rennie, head of commodity and carbon research at Westpac Banking Corp. “It’s uncertain if increased tensions in the Red Sea will have a material influence on oil prices, although the cost of logistics and shipping will rise.”\nTimespreads are still flashing signs of weakness, with Brent and WTI both in bearish contango — when later contracts trade at premiums to prompt ones — until the middle of next year. Brent’s six-month spread was most recently at 26 cents a barrel in contango, compared with $1 a barrel in the opposite, bullish backwardated structure a month ago.\nTo get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter into your inbox, click here.\n--With assistance from Elizabeth Low.\n",
        "title": "Oil Extends Weekly Gain With Focus on Red Sea Shipping Attacks"
    },
    {
        "id": 1436,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sterling-digs-vs-dollar-supported-101034154.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The pound held steady against the dollar on Monday but eased against the euro after two straight days of gains as investors considered the likelihood of interest rates remaining higher in Britain than in most other major economies next year.\nThe Bank of England last week pushed back against market pricing that shows investors see a strong chance of a first rate cut by May. A rate cut in June is now fully priced in.\nLarge speculators have added to their bullish positions in the pound in recent weeks, bringing their net long position - betting on the value of sterling rising - to its largest in about three months, according to the most recent weekly data from the U.S. financial markets regulator.\n\"Short interest has continued to fall whilst long interest has perked up, which suggests there could be further upside for the British pound in the weeks ahead,\" said City Index strategist Matt Simpson.\nSterling was steady at $1.2673 and down 0.25% against the euro at 86.19 pence, having risen for two straight trading days.\nMarkets, meanwhile, are pricing in a good chance of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the US Federal Reserve cutting rates as early as March, with cuts by May fully priced in.\nThe Bank of England is also expected to cut more slowly. About 80 basis points (bps) of cuts are priced into the UK rate futures market for 2024, while 150 bps are priced into the euro zone and U.S. derivatives markets.\nInflation has proved a lot more stubborn in the UK than in the euro zone or America. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy prices, is running at 5.7% in Britain, compared with 3.6% in the euro area and 4% in the United States.\nThe UK economy, meanwhile, is flat-lining and economic output is back at levels registered in January.\nBut the economy has avoided recession so far and a reading of business activity last week showed a surprise pick-up in growth and a small slowdown in price pressures in the services sector in early December.\nExpectations that UK rates will have to stay higher for longer than those elsewhere have acted as a tailwind for the pound for most of this year.\nSterling has been one of the best-performing G10 currencies against the dollar in 2023. With a gain of about 5% so far this year, it ranks second only to the Swiss franc, which has gained 6%. (Reporting by Amanda Cooper Editing by David Goodman)\n",
        "title": "Sterling digs in vs dollar, supported by UK rate outlook"
    },
    {
        "id": 1437,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/malaysia-top-stock-poised-more-000000670.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A blistering rally in YTL Power International Bhd. this year has scope to continue as better performance from its overseas assets brightens the earnings outlook for the Malaysian power producer.\nThe share price has more than tripled in 2023, making it the biggest gainer among local companies with a market capitalization of more than 1 billion ringgit ($214 million). Analysts are still calling for a buy in the stock, predicting that it could climb as much as 60% next year.\nYTL Power and its conglomerate parent are joining the benchmark FBM KLCI Index on Monday. YTL Corp., controlled by Malaysian tycoon Francis Yeoh and his siblings, has surged about 230% this year. Both stocks jumped in early trade on Monday before relinquishing gains.\nEarnings from YTL Power’s venture in neighboring Singapore will remain strong next year on elevated retail margins, while contribution from its Wessex Water unit in the UK is expected to improve as inflation slows, according to analysts. Both countries make up more than 90% of its group revenue.\nThere could be potential surprises to its earnings outlook too. YTL Power is expected to benefit from Malaysia’s energy transition plans, particularly in the area of renewable-energy exports. Its tie-up with Nvidia Corp. to build an artificial intelligence data center in the southern Malaysian state of Johor is adding to the optimism.\n“Having presence on both sides of the border, they definitely have a big advantage” in potential energy exports to Singapore, even though the regulatory framework has yet to be completed, said Hafriz Hezry Harihodin, an analyst at MIDF Research.\nREAD: Nvidia Data Center Tie-Up Boosts YTL Power to Record High\nYTL Power posted net income of 2 billion ringgit on the back of record revenue for the financial year ended June. Its 12-month forward earnings estimate for this quarter alone has risen nearly 28%.\nEven after soaring more than 200% in 2023 to a record high earlier this month, valuations remain undemanding. YTL Power is trading at about seven times forward-earnings estimates, compared with its five-year average of almost 13 times.\nThe company’s improving profitability is also boosting YTL Corp, which derives more than half of its revenue from the power unit. Another potential “wild card” for the main company — which also has construction, cement and hospitality businesses — is the revival of the Singapore-Malaysia high speed rail, said MIDF’s Hafriz.\nThey are “most likely” to put in a bid for the revived project, he said. Malaysia is currently accepting proposals from companies and consortium who are interested in undertaking the rail link.\n(Updates with price moves in third paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Malaysia’s Top Stock Is Poised For More Gains After 200% Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1438,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-nio-2-2-billion-100448566.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Electric vehicle maker Nio has signed a pact for an investment of $2.2 billion from CYVN Holdings, an investment vehicle based in Abu Dhabi, the Chinese company said on Monday.\nThe investment comes as Nio, with its EV sales and profitability under pressure in a price war started by Tesla, has sought to boost efficiency by cutting a tenth of the workforce and deferring non-core projects.\nThe deal, expected to close in the final week of December, would take CYVN's shareholding to 20.1% of Nio's total issued and outstanding shares, following an investment of $1 billion in July, Nio said in a statement on its website.\nThat would make CYVN the largest single shareholder of Nio, although founder and chief executive William Li retains the most voting power, with his ownership of Class 'C' ordinary shares.\nCYVN, which will subscribe to 294,000,000 newly issued Class A ordinary shares priced at $7.50 each, will also be entitled to nominate two directors to Nio's board, the company said.\nThe company, whose Nio-branded EVs compete with premium brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW in China, has been developing two new brands for mass markets that it aims to bring them to Europe from 2025, its executives have said.\nIn its drive to become more efficient, Nio is considering a spin-off of its battery production unit while continuing to develop technologies for key components on its own, Reuters has reported previously.\n(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; Editing by Jason Neely and Clarence Fernandez)\n",
        "title": "China's Nio to get $2.2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi's CYVN"
    },
    {
        "id": 1439,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/southwest-airlines-agrees-140-million-100304596.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By David Shepardson\nWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines agreed to a record-setting $140 million civil penalty over the December 2022 holiday meltdown that led to 16,900 flight cancellations and stranded 2 million passengers, the U.S. government said on Monday.\nThe U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) consent order resolves a lengthy government investigation into the massive travel disruption and provides \"a strong deterrent,\" the agnecy said.\nThe settlement includes a $35 million cash fine and a three-year mandate that Southwest provide $90 million in travel vouchers of $75 or more to passengers delayed at least three hours getting to final destinations because of an airline-caused issue or cancellation.\nThe first-of-its-kind U.S. delay compensation program, which will start by April, is part of the Biden administration's aggressive efforts to get tough on airlines as it aims to require new passenger compensation. Vouchers will be awarded \"upon request,\" Southwest said.\n\"If airlines fail their passengers, we will use the full extent of our authority to hold them accountable,\" said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.\nThe 2022 massive winter storm and subsequent chaos prompted travel horror stories: people missing funerals or long-awaited holiday gatherings, passengers with canceled flights forced to make cross-country drives of 17 or more hours across and some cancer patients could not get treatment. One senior executive told angry lawmakers bluntly: \"We messed up.\"\nSouthwest, which paid over $600 million to passengers impacted by the storm that cost it more than $1 billion, has made significant technology and consumer service upgrades and other investments including de-icing equipment across its network. The airline has seen significant operational improvements this year.\nSouthwest did not admit to wrongdoing but agreed to the settlement to avoid litigation and said Monday it was \"grateful to have reached a consumer-friendly settlement\" with USDOT and now \"can shift its entire focus to the future.\"\nThe prior largest penalty was $4.5 million imposed on Air Canada after USDOT initially sought $25.5 million. Southwest's penalty -- which includes the $35 million fine payable over three years -- is more than all penalties assessed by USDOT combined since 1996. USDOT said in January it planned to start seeking higher fines.\nAirlines have sparred with the Biden administration over responsibility for flight delays, landing slots and consumer issues. Buttigieg told Reuters in July of airlines: \"We're going to beat'em up when we think that's important to get passengers a better deal.\"\nUSDOT found Southwest violated consumer protection laws by failing to provide adequate customer service assistance \"via its call center to hundreds of thousands of customers\" as well as failing to provide prompt flight status notifications to more than 1 million passengers and prompt refunds to thousands of impacted travelers.\nUSDOT said as part of the settlement it was closing its \"unrealistic scheduling investigation\" without making any finding. The agency credited Southwest with $33 million toward the penalty for voluntarily awarding frequent flyer points to impacted passengers \"to incentivize other airlines to take similar measures\" during operational woes.\nIn May, President Joe Biden said USDOT would propose new rules requiring airlines compensate passengers with cash for significant flight delays or cancellations when carriers are responsible.\nUSDOT last year asked carriers if they would pay at least $100 for delays of at least three hours caused by airlines and none agreed.\nMost carriers - including Southwest - voluntarily committed in August 2022 to provide hotels, meals and ground transportation for airline-caused delays or cancellations but resisted providing cash compensation.\n(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)\n",
        "title": "Southwest Airlines agrees to $140 million penalty over 2022 holiday meltdown"
    },
    {
        "id": 1440,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/record-output-tax-dodge-pushes-100217439.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Georgina McCartney\nHOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil is flooding out of Texas in the final weeks of 2023, as traders find outlets abroad for record U.S. production and dodge a hefty year-end tax bill on their inventories.\nU.S. crude exports, nearly all of which leave from the U.S. Gulf coast, averaged about 4 million barrels per day (bpd) so far this year, according to U.S. government data, about 500,000 more than last year's record as oil production climbed to 13.2 million barrels per day.\nU.S. West Texas Intermediate crude's wider discount to the global benchmark Brent, currently at about $4.50 per barrel, is making U.S. oil more attractive to European and Asian refiners.\n\"Flows bound for Asia are looking to finish the year strongly, particularly for cargoes heading to China,\" said Matt Smith, an analyst with ship tracking firm Kpler.\nU.S. Gulf Coast crude inventories fell 1.2% to 247.9 million barrels last week, the third straight week of declines, in part due to strong exports. Storage utilization stood at about 63% of total working capacity along the coast, lower than average utilization in prior years.\nAnother factor driving the exodus is an end-of-year tax on oil held in storage in Texas.\nU.S. crude exports will likely average around 5 million bpd in the last two weeks of the year as that tax consideration drives barrels out of the Gulf coast, according to Kpler's Smith.\nThose that cannot move barrels on water will look to ship oil to places where the tax is lower, like the massive storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma.\nIn Oklahoma, the tax rate is around 1%, while in Texas it is around 2.50% to 2.75%, according to energy research firm Energy Aspects.\nInventories at Cushing have climbed for eight straight weeks this month to 30.8 million barrels from 21 million barrels.\n(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Josie Kao)\n",
        "title": "Record output, tax dodge pushes up crude exports from US Gulf Coast"
    },
    {
        "id": 1441,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/southwest-airlines-reaches-140-million-100105692.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines will pay a $35 million fine as part of a $140 million agreement to settle a federal investigation into a debacle in December 2022 when the airline canceled thousands of flights and stranded more than 2 million travelers over the holidays.\nMost of the settlement will go toward compensating future passengers, which the U.S. Department of Transportation considers an incentive for Southwest to avoid repeating last winter's mess.\nThe government said the assessment was the largest it has ever imposed on an airline for violating consumer protection laws.\nTransportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the settlement demonstrates his agency's resolve to make airlines take care of their passengers.\n“This penalty should put all airlines on notice to take every step possible to ensure that a meltdown like this never happens again,” he said.\nSouthwest said it was “grateful to have reached a consumer-friendly settlement\" giving the airline credit for compensation it already provided to customers. The airline said it has “learned from the event, and now can shift its entire focus to the future.”\nThe assessment stems from nearly 17,000 canceled flights a year ago, starting as a winter storm paralyzed Southwest operations in Denver and Chicago and then snowballing when a crew rescheduling system couldn't keep up with the chaos.\nEven before the settlement, the nation's fourth-biggest airline by revenue said the meltdown cost it more than $1.1 billion in refunds and reimbursements, extra costs and lost ticket sales over several months.\nThe government said in a consent decree dated Friday that Southwest “violated the law on numerous occasions,\" including by failing to help customers who were stranded in airports and hotels, leaving many of them to scramble for other flights.\nMany who called the airline's overwhelmed customer service center got a busy signal or were stuck on hold for hours.\nSouthwest also did not keep customers updated about canceled and delayed flights, failing to fulfill a requirement that airlines notify the public within 30 minutes of a change. Some said they never got an email or text notice and couldn't access Southwest's website.\nThe government also charged Southwest did not provide refunds quickly enough. People whose refund requests to a special Southwest website contained errors were not told to fix the mistakes, they simply didn't get the money. Others didn't receive immediate refunds for things like pet fees and boarding upgrades that went unused because of canceled flights, according to the department.\nIn the consent order, Dallas-based Southwest disputed many of the Transportation Department's findings and said only a small percentage of refunds were issued late, but the company said it entered the agreement just to settle the matter.\nSouthwest said the 2022 storm that produced record cold temperatures, blizzards and power outages a few days before Christmas created “unanticipated operational challenges.” The airline said it quickly began reimbursing travelers for meals, hotels and alternative transportation and also distributed frequent flyer points.\nSouthwest has added de-icing equipment and will increase staff during extreme cold temperatures at key airports, CEO Robert Jordan said.\nSouthwest had previously agreed to make more than $600 million in refunds and reimbursements. Still, the carrier disclosed in October that federal officials found its efforts fell short and the carrier could face a civil penalty over its service to customers.\nThe settlement provides that in addition to the $35 million fine, Southwest will get $33 million in credit for compensation already handed out, mostly for giving 25,000 frequent flyer points each, worth about $300, to affected customers. The company promised to give out $90 million in vouchers to future travelers.\nThe government values vouchers at 80% of their face value, so Southwest received credit for $72 million for the future vouchers, not the full $90 million to be distributed $30 million a year between April 2024 and April 2027. If Southwest pays out less than promised, it will owe the government a penalty of 80% of any shortfall.\nIn exchange for Southwest agreeing to the fine and other measures, the government stopped short of deciding whether the airline advertised a flight schedule that it knew could not be kept. Buttigieg had raised that charge publicly.\nThe Transportation Department said it reviewed thousands of consumer complaints, visited Southwest facilities and met with senior company officials during the investigation.\n",
        "title": "Southwest Airlines reaches $140 million settlement for December 2022 flight-canceling meltdown"
    },
    {
        "id": 1442,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-funds-turn-bearish-dollar-012028103.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group added its voice to a chorus of expectations of a weaker dollar after the US central bank’s clearest sign yet that interest-rate cuts are coming.\nGoldman made sweeping changes to its exchange-rate forecasts after the Federal Reserve signaled a more-rapid move to “non-recessionary” interest-rate cuts, analysts including Michael Cahill wrote in a note on Friday. For the first time since September, hedge funds and other large speculators switched to a net short position against the dollar as of Dec. 12, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.\nThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 1.2% last week and touched a four-month low after the Fed held interest rates and projected 75 basis points of reductions in 2024. Markets rushed to price in as many as six cuts, and Goldman’s economists moved to anticipate five.\n“Our new forecasts incorporate more dollar weakness than before,” the Goldman analysts wrote. “The biggest revisions to our forecasts are in the rate-sensitive currencies that would have struggled under a ‘higher for longer’ rates regime,” such as the yen, the Swedish krona and the Indonesian rupiah, they wrote.\nThe combined position for bets across major currencies shifted to a net 26,355 contracts bearish on the dollar, in the week ending last Tuesday, the CFTC data show. The biggest shifts were for the yen, with bets on dollar gains versus the Japanese currency dropping by more than 20%, and for the British pound, where wagers on dollar declines almost doubled.\nThe yen soared 2% last week against the dollar, while the krona added 1.9%. Those were the biggest gains among G-10 currencies outside of Norway’s krone, which jumped more than 4% as its central bank unexpectedly lifted its key deposit rate.\nGoldman sees the yen little changed at 142 per dollar in six months, significantly stronger than its prior estimate of 155. It also boosted projections for the Australian and New Zealand dollars by at least 9% over the same horizon.\n“We see the most ‘room to run’ from current levels in pro-cyclical currencies that should benefit from the Fed loosening its grip on financial conditions and adding to the case for a soft landing,” the strategists wrote. That group includes the British pound, the South Korean won and the South African rand.\n",
        "title": "Hedge Funds Turn Bearish on Dollar as Goldman Sees More Declines"
    },
    {
        "id": 1443,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tencent-shuts-us-video-games-095612232.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Josh Ye\nHONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Tencent has shut down one of its U.S. video games studios that has been considered a key part of its global expansion plan to become a competitive game developer for the Western market, a source familier with the matter said.\nThe Shenzhen-based company pulled the plug on U.S. game studio Team Kaiju in June and its staff have been reassigned to work on another game under Tencent, said the person, declining to be named because the information is not public.\nTeam Kaiju worked on a big-budget multiplayer game under the leadership of experienced game designer Scott Warner before it was shut. Tencent recruited Warner in 2020, which was seen as a big hire at the time as Warner was a director for hits such as “Halo 4”.\nWarner left Team Kaiju in April, according to his LinkedIn account. Team Kaiju's website is no longer active.\nTencent declined to comment.\nThe shutdown comes as the Chinese company is making a push to build studios overseas and develop games aimed at the overseas markets.\nEarlier this month Tencent unveiled its most ambitious title for consoles named the Last Sentinel, developed by about 200 peop0le at its Lightspeed LA game studio.\nTencent is widely known for developing popular mobile games such as PUBG Mobile that are popular among Chinese players and cheaper to developer.\nEurogamer.net first reported on the shutdown of the Team Kaiju.\n(Reporting by Josh Ye in Hong Kong; editing by David Evans)\n",
        "title": "Tencent shuts US video games studio Team Kaiju — source"
    },
    {
        "id": 1444,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nio-signs-receive-2-2-093425516.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "SHANGHAI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Nio said on Monday that it signed an agreement with CYVN Holdings, an investment vehicle based in Abu Dhabi, for the latter to invest $2.2 billion in the Chinese electric vehicle maker.\nThe new investment, with the closing expected in the final week of December, would increase CYVN's shareholding to 20.1% of Nio's total issued and outstanding shares, following an investment of $1 billion in July, according to a Nio statement posted on its website.\nCYVN, which will subscribe for 294,000,000 newly issued Class A ordinary shares of Nio at a price of US$7.50 per share, will also be entitled to nominate two directors to Nio's board of directors, Nio added. (Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; editing by Jason Neely)\n",
        "title": "Nio signs to receive $2.2 bln from Abu Dhabi investor CYVN"
    },
    {
        "id": 1445,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-strategists-lift-p-500-091842674.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Just one month after setting a 2024 target for the S&P 500, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists increased their forecast as the year-end rally shows no signs of abating.\nThe Federal Reserve’s dovish pivot last week, along with lower consumer prices, is an outcome that will allow real yields to fall while supporting stock valuations, a team led by David Kostin wrote in a note. “Equities were already pricing positive economic activity but now reflect an even more robust outlook,” they said.\nKostin sees the S&P 500 at 5,100 points by the end of next year, joining Wall Street peers like those at Bank of America Corp. and Oppenheimer Asset Management in expecting a fresh high in 2024. The Goldman strategist raised his forecast by almost 9% from the 4,700 level he predicted in mid-November.\nThere is also a risk that his earnings forecast of 5% year-over-year growth in 2024 may prove too pessimistic, thanks to looser financial conditions that should boost economic activity and company profits, Kostin said. The strategist previously said his team was right in predicting that the S&P 500 would show no profit growth in 2023, but was wrong to say the index wouldn’t climb this year.\nUS equities have soared this year, amid expectations of a dovish policy shift and as artificial intelligence optimism lifted technology stocks. The S&P 500 is less than 2% away from its all-time peak, while the Nasdaq 100 hit its first record in two years after the Fed signaled that its aggressive rate hikes to contain inflation are likely over and cuts are on the table for 2024.\nBut even with the rally, Kostin noted that $1.4 trillion was poured into money-market funds this year as interest rates climbed, far higher than the $95 billion that flowed into US equities. “As rates begin to fall, investors may rotate some of their cash holdings toward stocks,” he said.\nEven Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson — among the most prominent bearish voices on Wall Street this year — said the dovish pivot is a sign the Fed wants to make sure it shifts policy in time to achieve a soft landing. “This is a bullish outcome for stocks,” as the chances of avoiding an economic downturn have increased if the central bank prioritizes sustaining growth over reducing inflation to its target, he said.\nWilson said that while there is a risk of the dovish pivot allowing inflation to eventually re-accelerate, it’s still “welcome news to equity investors, especially given the bond market’s reaction to the dovish guidance.” Markets seem to be of the view the Fed is not making a policy mistake, he wrote. His 2024 target remains 4,500, implying a near 5% drop from the last close.\n--With assistance from Michael Msika.\n",
        "title": "Goldman Strategists Lift S&P 500 Forecast a Month After Setting It"
    },
    {
        "id": 1446,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-trim-us-treasury-holdings-091634381.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- China should gradually reduce its holdings of Treasuries and balance trade by boosting imports to control its exposure to US debt risks, a former adviser to its central bank said.\nAmerica’s debt levels may continue rising relative to the size of the US economy, Yu Yongding said in a speech in the southern city of Sanya on Sunday. The US has accumulated $18 trillion in net overseas debt, which is equivalent to some 70% of its gross domestic product, he said, adding that this figure could climb to 100%.\nThe appeal of American debt to other countries is also declining given the “weaponization” of the dollar by Washington, Yu said, echoing Beijing’s complaints about the US’s use of financial sanctions.\n“Therefore, China should accelerate the adjustment of its overseas asset and liability structure, improve returns on overseas net assets and lower the share of foreign exchange reserves in its overseas assets,” Yu said. The nation should trim its ownership of Treasuries by “stopping the purchase of new notes after existing holdings mature.”\nChina has more than $3 trillion in foreign currency reserves, with part of that in US Treasuries and other government-related debt. The money is mostly the proceeds of the massive trade surplus the country runs, and is kept offshore partly to get better returns and also because converting it all to yuan would drive up the currency.\nSee: China Treasuries Stockpile Grabs Spotlight as Bonds Sell Off\nThe value of Chinese holdings of Treasuries fell by the most in a year in September, according to data from the US Department of Treasury, as the bonds dropped on concern the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for a longer period. China is the second-largest foreign holder of US bonds after Japan.\nThere’s been speculation by analysts that tensions with Washington would spur Beijing to shift its foreign reserves out of US assets, though it’s unclear whether that is happening. Chinese purchases help to keep US yields anchored in an environment of higher interest rates.\n‘Accept Trade Deficits’\nChina will need “to maintain trade and international payment balances,” if it stops buying Treasuries, Yu said. “We should accept trade deficits for some period of time, and China shouldn’t be overly reliant on foreign demand for economic growth,” he added.\nBeijing should keep its monetary policy expansionary to help maintain a “relatively high” economic growth rate and secure the safety of foreign exchange reserves and overseas assets, Yu said.\nThose comments echoed an article published by Xinhua News Agency on Sunday elaborating on top leaders’ economic policy agenda for 2024.\nChina still has “relatively sufficient” room to strengthen monetary and fiscal policies next year, given its low inflation and because central government debt levels are not high, the official news agency said in a report that cited a financial official it didn’t name.\n--With assistance from James Mayger.\n(Updates with more details.)\n",
        "title": "China Should Trim US Treasury Holdings, Ex-PBOC Adviser Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 1447,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shipping-stocks-extend-rally-red-091307311.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "MILAN (Reuters) -Shipping stocks kept rising across Europe on Monday after A.P. Moller-Maersk and other top freight firms paused journeys through the Suez Canal following attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi militants in Yemen.\nTraders bet a prolonged disruption to the key route, which allows East-West trade without the time and expense of circumnavigating Africa, could boost rates.\nMaersk shares rose as much as 4.7% in Copenhagen, before paring some of those gains, and following an almost 8% surge on Friday. By 1137 GMT, Italian shipper D'Amico, Germany's Hapag Lloyd and Norwegian oil tanker Hafnia gained between 4% and 7%, also extending last week's surge.\nOn Monday, oil major BP temporarily paused all transits through the Red Sea citing security concerns.\n\"We believe that the decision to avoid the Red Sea route for crude/product cargoes will increase transport time and may put further upward pressure on freight rates if this condition persist,\" Massimo Bonisoli, an analyst at Equita, said.\nThe crude price was last up 0.7% at $77.11 a barrel, having touched an earlier session low of $75.76.\nJefferies said should ships avoid the Red Sea and sail around the Cape of Good Hope, the utilisation impact would be significant, with containers and tankers the most affected.\n\"The Suez Canal is a vital link in seaborne trade and the global merchant fleet is being stretched as ships change trade patterns. All segments are active in the region and likely will see stronger rates in the near-term,\" Jefferies analysts said.\nA tanker from the Middle East would take 17 days to get to Europe via Suez and 41 days if going around Africa, it noted, adding that military-supported convoys may be a better alternative than going around the Cape of Good Hope.\nMaersk on Friday paused all its container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice, and was joined on Saturday by the Swiss-based MSC and French shipping group CMA CGM.\n(Reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Hugh Lawson)\n",
        "title": "Shipping stocks extend rally as Red Sea traffic paused"
    },
    {
        "id": 1448,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/indias-siemens-explore-energy-business-091041081.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Siemens Ltd will explore a spin-off of its energy business at the behest of some of its stakeholders, the electrical appliances-maker said on Monday, sending its shares to a record high.\nIts board also approved the incorporation of a unit in the financial hub of Mumbai, if and when the company decides to implement the demerger, it said in an exchange filing.\nIts German affiliate Siemens Energy, one of the shareholders calling for the demerger, has been reviewing options to exit some markets and products of its struggling wind turbine business in a bid to shore up its balance sheet after swinging to an annual net loss last month.\nSiemens Energy has also been considering selling some of its 24% stake in Siemens Ltd to its former parent Siemens AG.\nGermany-based Siemens AG and its unit are also the other shareholders calling for a demerger of the Indian energy business.\nShares of Siemens Ltd, which has added nearly 50% in value so far this year, rose as much as nearly 7% after the news.\nApart from the energy segment, which includes manufacturing transformers, the Indian firm also makes home appliances, smart infrastructure, and provides cyber-security services.\n(Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)\n",
        "title": "India's Siemens to explore energy business spin-off, shares jump to record high"
    },
    {
        "id": 1449,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-german-business-sentiment-falls-090959003.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Adds quote in paragraph 3, details in from paragraphs 4)\nBy Maria Martinez\nBERLIN, Dec 18 (Reuters) - German business morale unexpectedly worsened in December, the Ifo institute said on Monday after its latest survey also showed a decline in both expectations and current conditions.\nThe Ifo institute said its business climate index stood at 86.4 versus the 87.8 forecasts by analysts in a Reuters poll, following a revised reading of 87.2 in November.\n\"As the year draws to a close, the German economy remains weak,\" Ifo president Clemens Fuest said.\nCompanies were less satisfied with their current business, with the current situation index falling to 88.5 from 89.4 in November.\nThey were also more sceptical about the first half of 2024, with the expectations component showing a decline to 84.3 in December from 85.1 in the previous month.\nThe German economy has a demand problem, Ifo's head of surveys, Klaus Wohlrabe, told Reuters.\nHe also noted that the data point to a slight contraction in gross domestic product in the fourth quarter.\nThe German economy already contracted in the third quarter. Two consecutive quarters of negative growth are considered a technical recession.\n(Reporting by Maria Martinez, Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Rachel More and Miral Fahmy)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-German business sentiment falls in December - Ifo"
    },
    {
        "id": 1450,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecb-rate-cut-bets-premature-090001973.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Balazs Koranyi\nFRANKFURT, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will need at least until spring before it can reassess its policy outlook and market expectations for an interest rate cut in March or April are premature, ECB policymaker Bostjan Vasle said on Monday.\nThe ECB left interest rates unchanged last week and guided for steady policy in coming months, even as investors piled pressure on the bank to follow the U.S. Federal Reserve in signalling rate cuts given an a string of unexpectedly benign inflation data.\nBut Vasle, Slovenia's central bank governor, pushed back on market bets and even argued that financing conditions may no longer be restrictive enough, given tumbling bond yields and expectations for 150 basis points of rate cuts in 2024.\n\"Market expectations for interest rates cuts are premature in my view, both with regard to the start of cuts and the totality of moves,\" Vasle told Reuters.\n\"The market pricing has lowered the level of restriction and this recent accommodation priced into interest rates is inconsistent with the stance appropriate to return inflation to target,\" said Vasle, who is considered among the more conservative members of the ECB's rate-setting Governing Council.\nSources close to the discussion last week told Reuters that a revision of the ECB's message before March was unlikely, making any rate cut before June difficult.\nMarkets now see a 50-50 chance of a rate cut in March while a cut is fully priced in by April and more than two moves are seen by June.\nBut Vasle argued that the ECB may need to see the back of the first quarter to even contemplate revising its stance.\n\"We will receive limited new data before the January meeting so it won’t be before March or April that we get more information about inflation, growth, fiscal policy and the labour market,\" Vasle said. \"We will need to understand the underlying trends better, and we need the new projections, too.\"\nAlthough inflation, last at 2.4%, has likely bottomed out for now, it is seen increasing again before it can drop to 2% by the second half of 2025.\n\"Inflation could increase back already at the turn of the year, and then hover in a 2.5% to 3% corridor through the first half of next year,\" Vasle said. \"So it’s appropriate to wait and observe price growth through this period and reassess our outlook.\"\nWages are also a unknown as workers who lost a chunk of their real incomes to high inflation in recent years demand compensation.\nHowever, labour markets are behaving differently than the historical norm.\nUnemployment normally rises when the central bank tightens policy and growth stalls as a result. This time, the labour market remains exceptionally tight even with the bloc near recession, as firms hoard labour in preparation for a rebound.\n\"Most of the wage formation is going to happen in the first quarter and we need to see if workers demand extra compensation or whether firms absorb some of the wage growth via margins,\" Vasle said. (Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "ECB rate cut bets premature, markets have eased too much: Vasle"
    },
    {
        "id": 1451,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-blackrock-invest-400-mln-085713163.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details throughout)\nBy Yousef Saba\nDUBAI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - BlackRock has agreed to invest up to $400 million in Dubai-based decarbonisation company Positive Zero through a diversified infrastructure fund, Positive Zero said in a statement on Monday.\nThe investment will help Positive Zero, a decentralised decarbonisation infrastructure business, with its goal of boosting energy transition projects in Gulf countries, it said.\nThe firm was set up by climate investment-focused Creek Capital late last year to coincide with the U.N. COP27 climate summit in Egypt, by merging solar company SirajPower, energy efficiency services firm Taka Solutions and on-demand battery business HYPR Energy.\nCreek Capital was co-founded by Mohammed Abdulghaffar Hussain, its chairman, and David Auriau, its managing director, according to its website. Hussain is also managing director of Dubai-based family conglomerate Green Coast Enterprises. Auriau was previously at Alstom Power and consultancy Oliver Wyman.\nEd Winter, BlackRock's head of APAC and Middle East for diversified infrastructure, said Positive Zero was well-positioned to capitalise on tailwinds driven by ambitious economic growth and energy-transition objectives set out by the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries.\nWinter's comments were made in the statement issued by Positive Zero.\nThe investment is meant to help with the goal of the UAE-hosted COP28 summit, which ended last week, to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, Hussain said in the statement.\nBlackRock did not respond immediately to a request for further comment. (Reporting by Yousef Saba; Editing by Jason Neely and Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-BlackRock to invest up to $400 mln in Dubai decarbonisation firm Positive Zero"
    },
    {
        "id": 1452,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-chinas-im-motors-seeks-085238153.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Adds context)\nSHANGHAI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - IM Motors, the electric car brand of state-owned Chinese automaker SAIC Motor, on Monday said it is applying to China's industry ministry for product entry of Level 3 autonomous driving cars.\nIM Motors, which is also backed by Alibaba Group investments, said its EVs could be among the first models approved as legitimate highly autonomous driving vehicles by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).\nChinese regulators have issued new policies to accelerate mass adoption of autonomous driving technologies after allowing companies to carry out city road tests in the past five years.\nMIIT in November issued a notice on a nationwide pilot programme on the admission and on-road operation of vehicles equipped with L3 and L4 autonomous driving capabilities, a step closer to allowing such vehicles to be sold to and used by individual buyers and fleet operators.\nChinese media outlet Caixin reported that the first batch of models could be approved in the first quarter of 2024. (Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh Editing by Jason Neely and David Goodman )\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-China's IM Motors seeks OK on L3 highly autonomous vehicles"
    },
    {
        "id": 1453,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-yen-holds-ground-ahead-084927638.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates throughout with comment, graphic; refreshes prices at 0840 GMT)\nBy Amanda Cooper\nLONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The yen stood firm on Monday as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kicked off a two-day meeting that could be crucial in determining the timing of the end of the central bank’s ultra-loose stance on interest rates.\nThe recent burst of risk appetite has given the Australian and New Zealand dollars in particular a leg up, with both nudging towards five-month highs on Monday.\nThe U.S. dollar extended last week's fall following the Federal Reserve's signal over the possibility of interest rate cuts next year.\nThe yen held steady at 142.41 per dollar, after gaining nearly 2% last week.\nThe Japanese currency has had a volatile few weeks, as markets struggle to get a grip on how soon the BOJ could phase out its negative interest rate policy, with comments from Governor Kazuo Ueda this month initially sparking a huge rally in the yen.\nThat was later reversed on news that a policy shift was unlikely to come as early as December, and investors now await Tuesday's BOJ decision for further clarity on the bank's rate outlook.\nIn any case, since hitting a multi-decade low against the dollar near 152 in November, the yen has gained around 6% in value as traders have grown increasingly convinced the BOJ's low-rates drag on the currency will not last much longer.\n\"This shift in sentiment will no doubt be welcomed by the Bank of Japan and to some extent helps them out with respect to the weakness of the yen ahead of tomorrow’s rate decision,\" CMC markets strategist Michael Hewson said.\n\"There is now less incentive for them to think about altering their current policy settings, although they might hint at starting to execute some form of shift early next year.\"\nAgainst the euro, the yen edged down 0.4% to 155.57, but still held near this month's four-month high of 153.215 per euro.\nHighlighting the degree of anticipation around the BOJ meeting was a jump in overnight volatility in the yen to its highest since July.\nRISK ON\nElsewhere, the Australian and New Zealand dollars, which can often act as barometers for investor risk appetite in the currency market, traded near their highest in five months.\nThe Aussie rose 0.35% to $0.6725, not far from last week's peak of $0.6728, while the kiwi jumped 0.5% to $0.6241.\nThe prospect of Fed lowering rates early next year kept the mood buoyant across markets. Futures show a roughly 75% chance that the first cut could come as early as March, according to the CME FedWatch tool.\nThe dollar is now facing its first yearly loss against a basket of major currencies since 2020, as the boost from the Fed's steep U.S. rate hikes and \"higher for longer\" messaging has now faded.\nThe dollar index was last down 0.16% at 102.44, having lost 1.3% last week.\nThe European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE) likewise kept interest rates steady at their respective policy meetings last week, although unlike the Fed, both pushed back against expectations of imminent rate cuts.\n\"This divergence is particularly notable given the euro zone's recent weaker economic performance and more rapid disinflation compared to the U.S. Meanwhile, the (BoE) maintains a cautious stance, showing no indication of deviating from its 'higher-for-longer' policy,\" said Monica Defend, head of Amundi Investment Institute.\nSterling rose 0.1% to $1.2692, while the euro rose 0.25% to $1.092.\nThe euro, however, remains hobbled by a gloomy outlook for growth in the euro zone, with data last week showing a downturn in the bloc's business activity deepened more than expected in December, indicating the economy is likely in recession.\n(Additional reporting by Rae Wee in Singapore; Editing by Jamie Freed, Christopher Cushing and Mark Heinrich)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Yen holds ground ahead of key BOJ test; dollar slips"
    },
    {
        "id": 1454,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unit-world-largest-nickel-producer-010431826.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Chinese battery maker REPT Battero Energy Co., a unit of the world’s top nickel producer Tsingshan Holding Group Co., rose in its first day of trade in Hong Kong on Monday after an initial public offering that priced near the bottom of the marketed range.\nShares gained as much as 7.4% to trade as high as HK$19.66. The company raised about HK$2.1 billion ($272 million) after selling 116 million shares at HK$18.30 each. They were offered at HK$18.2 to HK$20.6 apiece in Hong Kong’s fourth-largest IPO this year.\nREPT Battero is coming to market after a tepid year for new share sales in Hong Kong, where total proceeds raised slumped 58% on the yearly comparison amid rising concerns about China’s economic growth. EV battery maker CALB Co., which listed in the city in Oct. 2022 after raising $1.3 billion, is down more than 50% since the first day of trade.\nTsingshan Holding is the world’s top nickel producer and has transformed the industry, with a bet on low-grade nickel ore in Indonesia that has turned the country into a major player in the stainless steel and battery-ingredient industries. The company was at the center of a 2022 nickel short squeeze on the London Metal Exchange, with Tsingshan’s forced unwinding of huge positions triggering a price spike.\nFifteen companies that listed in Hong Kong after raising between $100 million and $500 million this year, excluding REPT Battero, rose by an average 1.9% in their debut, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\nREPT Battero will use 80% of the proceeds to expand its production capacity, particularly the construction of facilities in Wenzhou, Foshan and Chongqing. Morgan Stanley and Citic Securities are joint sponsors in the offering.\n--With assistance from Clara Ferreira Marques and Annie Lee.\n",
        "title": "Nickel Giant Tsingshan’s Battery Unit Rises in Hong Kong Debut"
    },
    {
        "id": 1455,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackrock-invest-400-million-dubai-084116134.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Yousef Saba\nDUBAI (Reuters) -BlackRock has agreed to invest up to $400 million in Dubai-based decarbonisation company Positive Zero through a diversified infrastructure fund, Positive Zero said in a statement on Monday.\nThe investment will help Positive Zero, a decentralised decarbonisation infrastructure business, with its goal of boosting energy transition projects in Gulf countries, it said.\nThe firm was set up by climate investment-focused Creek Capital late last year to coincide with the U.N. COP27 climate summit in Egypt, by merging solar company SirajPower, energy efficiency services firm Taka Solutions and on-demand battery business HYPR Energy.\nCreek Capital was co-founded by Mohammed Abdulghaffar Hussain, its chairman, and David Auriau, its managing director, according to its website. Hussain is also managing director of Dubai-based family conglomerate Green Coast Enterprises. Auriau was previously at Alstom Power and consultancy Oliver Wyman.\nEd Winter, BlackRock's head of APAC and Middle East for diversified infrastructure, said Positive Zero was well-positioned to capitalise on tailwinds driven by ambitious economic growth and energy-transition objectives set out by the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries.\nWinter's comments were made in the statement issued by Positive Zero.\nThe investment is meant to help with the goal of the UAE-hosted COP28 summit, which ended last week, to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, Hussain said in the statement.\nBlackRock had no further comment beyond Positive Zero's release.\n(Reporting by Yousef Saba; editing by Jason Neely and Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "BlackRock to invest up to $400 million in Dubai decarbonisation firm Positive Zero"
    },
    {
        "id": 1456,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/euro-zone-bond-yields-inch-083459446.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Harry Robertson\nLONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond yields ticked higher on Monday after three weeks of falls, with a calmer mood prevailing as markets head into the holiday period.\nGermany's 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for the euro zone, was last up 2 basis points (bps) at 2.034%.\nThe yield, which moves inversely to the price, hit a nine-month low of 2.012% on Friday at the end of a week in which the U.S. Federal Reserve appeared to call time on the global rate-hiking cycle, and began to talk about when cuts might come.\nThe European Central Bank held rates at a record 4% on Thursday and took a firmer line than the Fed, stressing that borrowing costs would stay high until inflation was tamed.\nBut investors' expectations for big rate cuts next year barely budged, with more than 150 bps of reductions priced in by the end of 2024, according to derivatives markets.\nItaly's 10-year yield was up 2 bps at 3.747% on Monday after it fell to an 11-month low of 3.7% last week.\n\"Market activity is likely to progressively ease as we head into the week before Christmas,\" UniCredit strategists said in a note to clients.\n\"We regard current market expectations that the Fed will make around 140 bps of rate cuts by the end of 2024 and the ECB doing a bit more as overdone,\" they said. \"This implies that yields at the long end are also stretched.\"\nThe closely watched gap between Italian and German 10-year borrowing costs was last at 170 bps.\nIt narrowed to its tightest since September at 164 bps last week in a sign that investors think lower interest rates should ease pressure on the euro zone's more indebted countries next year.\nECB officials do not expect to change their message on the need for higher interest rates, seven people familiar with the matter told Reuters, making any rate cut before June difficult.\nGermany's two-year bond yield was last up 1 bp at 2.512% on Monday. It fell to a nine-month low of 2.458% last week. (Reporting by Harry Robertson, editing by Ed Osmond)\n",
        "title": "Euro zone bond yields inch higher after three-week slide"
    },
    {
        "id": 1457,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/beleaguered-china-feed-giant-sell-083423274.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- New Hope Liuhe Co., China’s top animal feed maker and leading meat producer, is selling controlling stakes worth 4.2 billion yuan ($590 million) in two core operations to raise cash after heavy losses this year.\nThe company will sell 51% of its poultry business to state-owned China Animal Husbandry Group for 2.7 billion yuan, and 67% of its food processing unit to Hainan Shengchen Investment Co. for 1.5 billion yuan, according to filings to the Shenzhen exchange Friday. Hainan Shengchen is an investment platform under the parent company New Hope.\nNew Hope Liuhe, along with other meat producers, has been struggling to make a profit because of sluggish consumer demand as China’s recovery from the pandemic proves slower than expected. It posted a net loss of 874.9 million yuan in the third quarter, bringing losses this year to 3.86 billion yuan.\nOther companies have also been looking to sell some China operations. Cargill Inc., the top agricultural commodities trader, agreed to sell its Cargill Protein China business to private equity firm DCP Capital, a spokesperson said in May. The deal was expected to close in 2023, subject to regulatory approval.\nTyson Foods Inc., the biggest US meat company, was exploring a potential sale of its China business, people with knowledge of the matter said in August. The process was at an early stage, they said.\nCompletion of New Hope’s two deals are subject to approval by shareholders and the government, according to the exchange filing. Once finalized, they will improve capital security and reduce debt pressure. Bloomberg reported the potential sale of the poultry unit stake in June.\nNew Hope Liuhe will focus on its feed and pig business and work to reduce pig-farming costs after the deals are done, Chairman Zhang Minggui said in a separate filing Monday. The country’s pig farmers have been mostly losing money this year, as production costs increased to counter an upsurge in African swine fever, while demand is weaker than expected.\nThe company also plans to sell part of its pig-breeding operations to strategic investors by the end of this year or in the first quarter of 2024.\n",
        "title": "Beleaguered China Feed Giant to Sell Poultry Stake to Raise Cash"
    },
    {
        "id": 1458,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-im-motors-seeks-ok-083131184.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "SHANGHAI (Reuters) - IM Motors, the electric car brand of Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor, said on Monday it is applying to China's industry ministry for product entry of Level 3 autonomous driving cars.\nIM Motors, which is also backed by Alibaba Group investments, said its EVs could be among the first models approved as legitimate highly autonomous driving vehicles by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).\n(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; editing by Jason Neely)\n",
        "title": "China's IM Motors seeks OK on L3 highly autonomous vehicles"
    },
    {
        "id": 1459,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morgan-stanley-looks-offload-350-082951153.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley is looking to offload a $350 million loan it made to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.\nThe Wall Street bank is sounding out interest among potential buyers for the debt issued to the Public Investment Fund, according to a note detailing various loan sales seen by Bloomberg News.\nIt’s not disclosed what price it would be willing to accept or the reason for the sale. Morgan Stanley has been shedding some of its corporate loan exposures recently, mirroring a trend among banks for paring capital-intensive assets as interest rates rise.\nRepresentatives for Morgan Stanley and PIF declined to comment on the sale.\nThe sale is tied to a loan that PIF raised via 25 banks including Morgan Stanley in 2022, which broke the record for the largest-ever deal for general corporate purposes by a Middle Eastern borrower. Banks typically need the consent of the borrower to sell the debt.\nThe debt issue refinanced an $11 billion loan and increased PIF’s loan to $17 billion maturing in November 2029.\nThe PIF has become a global investor over the past few years and aims to increase its assets to about $1 trillion by 2025 to help the Saudi economy diversify away from oil. The fund is financed through a mixture of borrowing, cash and asset transfers from the government, and retained earnings from its investments.\n--With assistance from Matthew Martin.\n",
        "title": "Morgan Stanley Looks to Offload $350 Million Loan to Saudi Wealth Fund"
    },
    {
        "id": 1460,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/delivery-hero-close-hubs-turkey-082746346.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) -German online takeaway food company Delivery Hero said on Monday that it would close its global tech hubs in Turkey and Taiwan and adjust the headcount at its headquarters in Berlin.\nThe company has reduced the workforce of its Berlin headquarters and global service roles by around 13% this year, it said in a statement.\nDelivery Hero has been focusing on reaching profitability while maintaining growth as investor confidence in the company started to wane after a pandemic-driven boost.\n\"While we believe that this is a necessary step as our business enters the next stage of its maturity, it does mean we will be letting go of employees who have made many valuable contributions in their time with us,\" it said in a statement.\nThe company did not say in the statement how many employees would be affected.\nAccording to the company's half-year financial report, 47,208 employees were working at Delivery Hero as of June 30, 2023, down from 51,118 at the end of 2022.\n(Reporting by Michał Aleksandrowicz and Linda Pasquini, writing by Anastasiia Kozlova, Amir Orusov, Editing by Rachel More)\n",
        "title": "Delivery Hero to close tech hubs in Turkey and Taiwan, cut jobs"
    },
    {
        "id": 1461,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sensetime-plunges-death-china-ai-014204956.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- SenseTime Group Inc. plunged its most in more than a year after its co-founder’s surprise death spooked investors already grappling with the fallout from slowing growth and US sanctions.\nThe Chinese AI firm slid as much as 18% in Hong Kong before recouping some of those losses to finish Monday 11% lower.\nSenseTime disclosed that co-founder and major shareholder Tang Xiao’ou died on Friday after an illness. Born in 1968, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate and Hong Kong professor was regarded as a pioneer in China’s AI sector, helping create one of the nation’s leaders in facial and image recognition.\nHis company, earlier backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., listed in Hong Kong in one of the most highly anticipated debuts of 2021. Tang had a 21% stake in SenseTime, according to the firm’s 2022 annual report. His net worth last stood at $1.1 billion, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows.\nRead More: SenseTime Said to Mull Raising Fund for Auto, Health Care Units\nThe Chinese firm’s growth has slowed dramatically in the face of rapidly intensifying competition. The US government blacklisted the company in 2019 on allegations related to human rights violations in Xinjiang. That restricted its access to capital and crucial US tech components, compounded in recent months by new curbs on the sale of advanced AI chips and chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms.\nIts shares have fallen in recent weeks after short-seller Grizzly Research accused the firm of inflating revenues, which SenseTime has denied. Before Monday, the stock traded at HK$1.26 — less than a third of its listing price.\nTang’s sudden death may influence control of the company given the large slice of SenseTime he owns, particularly of the Class A stock he and his three co-founders hold. The outcome of his shareholding for now remains unclear, though SenseTime on Monday stressed that Tang’s death should have no material impact.\n“The direct reason (for the stock slump) is the sudden death of the co-founder,” said Willer Chen, a senior analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia. “The voting power of other co-founders and directors may change accordingly. So for sure that could affect the business.”\nSenseTime’s focus this year turned from its traditional strengths in facial recognition to generative AI. It was among the first Chinese tech firms to receive government approval to publicly roll out ChatGPT-like services.\nWhy AI Is New Flashpoint in US-China Tech Rivalry: QuickTake\nChina’s AI arena has experienced an influx of capital and talent. But rivalry is fierce as startups and big companies from Baidu Inc. to SenseTime compete to develop their own solutions. SenseTime was considering raising funds and carving out its autonomous driving and health care units, Bloomberg News reported this month.\nIn its statement, SenseTime did not specify Tang’s illness but paid tribute to his contributions.\nTang hailed from the world of academia and had long been involved in developing the artificial intelligence required for facial recognition. He got his PhD from MIT in 1996, where he studied underwater robotics and computer vision.\nTang worked for Microsoft Research Asia for a few years before co-founding Shanghai-based SenseTime in 2014 with Xu Li, then a research scientist at Lenovo Group Ltd.\n“The spirit and achievements of Prof. Tang will live on. The directors and all employees of the company are committed to completing his mission, never forgetting the company’s original aspiration, and forging ahead,” the company said in its statement.\nRead More: Chinese AI Firm SenseTime Dives After Short-Seller Takes Aim\n(Updates with shares and commentary from the second paragraph)\n",
        "title": "SenseTime Plunges After Death of China AI Firm’s Co-Founder"
    },
    {
        "id": 1462,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-ibm-buy-software-ags-081154610.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Recasts paragraph 1, adds details from the statement)\nDec 18 (Reuters) - IBM on Monday said that it would buy Software AG's enterprise technology platforms for 2.13 billion euros ($2.33 billion) to bolster its artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud offerings.\nIBM will acquire Software AG's StreamSets and webMethods platforms with available cash on hand, it said.\nThe platforms provide application integration, application programming interface (API) management, and data integration among other uses.\nSoftware AG is majority owned by private equity firm Silver Lake.\n\"The opportunity to bring the StreamSets and webMethods teams together with IBM to innovate in building the future of hybrid cloud and next-generation AI solutions for the enterprise is uniquely compelling,\" Christian Lucas, chairman of the supervisory board of Software AG said in a statement.\n($1 = 0.9158 euros) (Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-IBM to buy Software AG's enterprise tech business for $2.3 bln"
    },
    {
        "id": 1463,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/iliad-invites-vodafone-merge-italian-080313984.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "PARIS (Reuters) - Iliad said on Monday it had submitted a proposal to Vodafone to merge their Italian businesses, adding this project had the unanimous support of its board of directors.\n\"The merged business would be expected to generate revenues of around 5.8 billion euros ($6.34 billion) and EBITDA of\napproximately 1.6 billion euros for financial year ending March 2024,\" Iliad said in a statement.\nVodafone would receive 50% of the share capital of the newly merged business, together with a cash payment of 6.5 billion euros and a shareholder loan of €2.0 billion to ensure long-term alignment, Iliad added.\n($1 = 0.9154 euros)\n(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Tassil Hummel)\n",
        "title": "Iliad invites Vodafone to merge their Italian operations"
    },
    {
        "id": 1464,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vietnams-vinfast-agrees-deal-marubeni-080300648.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese electric vehicles (EV) maker VinFast said on Monday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's Marubeni Corp to recycle used EV batteries.\nVinFast will supply the used batteries and Marubeni will repurpose into what it said would be affordable Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that were easy to manufacture, the Vietnamese firm said in a statement.\nThe process would not require disassembly, processing and repackaging of the batteries, according to the deal, which it said was signed at the weekend during a regional leaders summit in Japan.\nThe agreement is part of the companies' drive to \"establish a circular economic model,\" it added.\nVinFast, founded in 2017 and backed by Vietnam's largest conglomerate Vingroup, made its Nasdaq debut late August.\n(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by Martin Petty)\n",
        "title": "Vietnam's VinFast agrees deal with Marubeni to recycle used EV batteries"
    },
    {
        "id": 1465,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/screamingly-cheap-british-stocks-again-080218658.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- After a decade of abysmal returns and a multi-billion dollar investment exodus, the wait is on to see if 2024 will be the year Britain’s stock market breaks out of its downward spiral.\nMost strategists do expect things to look up a bit for a market with the cheapest shares in the developed world. Yet a decisive turnaround looks elusive.\nFor one, they have been repeatedly disappointed — London’s FTSE All-Share index has lagged global equities in nine of the past 10 years in dollar terms. In 2023, it has inched up 2%, while euro-area and US peers notched double-digit gains. And since the 2016 Brexit vote, a total $100 billion has fled UK stock funds, Barclays estimates, citing EPFR Global.\nThe result is a “self-fulfilling” prophecy that keeps the market trapped in a cycle of outflows and losses, says Jerry Thomas, head of global equities at Sarasin & Partners.\nHe expects an uptick in 2024, as interest rates fall and investors funnel some money out of US Big Tech. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News too expect the FTSE 100 to finish next year 5.9% above its Dec. 6 closing price — on par with forecasts for the S&P 500. But the broader hurdle remains.\n“It’s difficult to find buyers for UK equities,” Thomas said. “There are constant outflows from UK equity funds, so fund managers are having to sell, depressing the market even more.”\nIt’s all taken a toll on the UK market’s value, which has dropped by a fifth in the past decade, even as a global index compiled by Bloomberg saw an 80% capitalization jump. Paris overtook London last year as Europe’s biggest bourse, while Mumbai, which surpassed it in size in 2021, is already $1.1 trillion bigger.\nMore bad news emerged Friday, as the main investor in Pearson Plc suggested the publisher ditch the FTSE 100 and list in New York.\nInvestors say they do find opportunities in the UK, where shares in giant multinationals often trade cheaper than overseas-listed peers. Priced below 10 times forward earnings — almost half where the S&P 500 trades — Britain will lure bargain hunters at some point, lightening the gloom, they expect.\nOptimists point to the prospect of Bank of England rate cuts in 2024, which would ease a brutal cost-of-living squeeze and property slump.\nSchroders Plc fund manager Matthew Bennison recently increased his holdings of UK domestic shares, predicting them to benefit from lower interest rates. Given “screamingly cheap” share valuations, “this area of the market looks poised to perform very well over the next 3-5 years,” Bennison added.\nWith borrowing costs poised to slide, Sharon Bell at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. withdrew a recommendation to short-sell British real estate shares. But she acknowledges the FTSE’s longer-term malaise.\n“The UK stock market suffers from a lack of committed domestic investors,” Bell told clients. “We think this accounts for some of the discount.”\nThat vulnerability was underscored recently by official data that showed pension funds’ holdings of UK equities had dwindled to 1.6% at the end of 2022 — a new record low.\nThe number of UK focused open-end funds and ETFs tracked by Morningstar Direct has shrunk to 463, down from 484 at the end of last year. The tally a decade ago was 542.\nMissing Tech\nChipmaker Arm Holdings Plc’s choice of New York for its stock market debut was a major blow this year for the FTSE, which is already lacking in high-performing technology shares — London accounts for just 4% of the Stoxx 600 Technology Index.\nNor does it have the engineering and luxury goods multinationals that boosted Frankfurt and Paris to record highs this year.\n“These sectors have structurally-higher earnings growth than the rest of the market, as they benefit from secular themes like artificial intelligence and electrification,” said Nataliia Lipikhina, head of EMEA equity strategy at JPMorgan Private Bank.\nFor that reason, she prefers European markets to the FTSE which is dominated by energy and miners.\nUBS Global Wealth Management too expects London’s sector composition to drag on earnings. Despite seeing some 8% upside next year for the FTSE 100, UBS Wealth has been allocating away from UK stocks, seeing its outlook as weaker than many other markets, said Kiran Ganesh, a multi-asset strategist.\nAt the end of the day, Britain has become “a somewhat isolated market in the context of a global portfolio, which investors outside of the UK don’t really need to bother with,” Ganesh added.\n--With assistance from Sagarika Jaisinghani and Sujata Rao.\n",
        "title": "‘Screamingly Cheap’ British Stocks Are Again a Hard Sell in 2024"
    },
    {
        "id": 1466,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-currency-flop-2023-top-002239798.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Three straight years of outsized declines in the yen look set to end in 2024.\nThat’s the view of market participants polled by Bloomberg, who on balance see the currency rallying next year as the Bank of Japan exits the world’s last negative interest rate regime and its global peers cut borrowing costs.\nWhile projections for a 2023 yen rebound started going wrong as early as February, forecasters see key differences this time around. A year ago traders were speculating that a new chief at the BOJ might unwind ultra-easy monetary policy. Now they’re aligned with economists who say a shift will come within months, and the central bank’s own leadership has publicly discussed the implications of a future exit.\n“The situation won’t disappoint the yen bulls on this occasion,” said Shoki Omori, a strategist at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo, who sees the prolonged slump in the currency coming to an end. “There’s not a lot of room for the BOJ to tighten policy, but they do seem determined to rip up negative interest rates.”\nThe picture outside Japan also looks clearer than it did 12 months ago. Whereas traders last year were talking about US interest rates likely peaking in 2023, projections this month from Federal Reserve policymakers point to 75 basis points of cuts in 2024.\nThe median of forecasts compiled by Bloomberg indicates the yen will strengthen to 135 versus the dollar by the end of 2024 as the wide interest gap between the US and Japan narrows. Their overly bullish projection about a year ago was for the pair to trade around 131 at end-2023.\nThe yen was down 0.2% at 142.43 at 9:16 a.m. in Tokyo on Monday.\n“The Federal Reserve ultimately rose by 100 basis points in 2023, while the Bank of Japan maintained its negative key rate, which was a major headwind for the yen,” said Spencer Hakimian, chief executive officer of Tolou Capital Management in New York. He sees the “reverse scenario” playing out in 2024 and expects the yen to reach about 135 by the end of the year.\nThe 10-year US Treasury yield, which has been a major driver of the dollar-yen’s direction this year, has dropped about 50 basis points over the past month, setting the scene for a change in the currency market.\n“It does seem that bond yields have now peaked, the Fed has finished hiking and the dollar has further to fall in 2024,” said Kit Juckes, chief foreign-exchange strategist at Societe Generale in London. “The yen should make substantial gains.”\nYet there’s still room for a lot of volatility. The yen rallied almost 4% in just one day earlier this month amid a short-lived spike in bets that the BOJ would hike rates at conclusion of its Dec. 18-19 meeting. It reversed course over the following two days before strengthening again.\nPolicy gatherings in Tokyo in January and March provide more triggers for speculation in the buildup to an April decision that is seen by a majority of BOJ watchers as the most likely time for change. While inflation has remained above the central bank’s 2% target for more than a year and half, officials appear keen for more evidence of solid wage growth, which may come during pay negotiations early next year.\n“We believe that there is sufficient longer-term structural improvement in the economy,” said Steven Barrow, the London-based head of G-10 strategy at Standard Bank, which has a one-year forecast of 125 for the yen.\nBarrow sees the currency appreciating over the longer term regardless of whether rate differentials narrow. He cited positive change in Japan including the end of deflation and the stock market rally. The benchmark Topix equity gauge has soared about 23% so far this year.\nAsset managers have trimmed their bearish bets against the yen in recent months as sentiment began to gradually shift, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission through Dec. 12. Hedge funds remain skeptical.\nDaisuke Karakama, chief market economist at Mizuho Bank Ltd., noted that Japan’s trade deficit means there will continue be people in the market looking to sell the yen, even if the broad trend is for gains. He’s among those predicting a rally and estimated the currency to reach around 132 at end-2024.\nBelow is more commentary from investors and strategists on the yen for the year ahead.\nYujiro Goto, head of Japan FX strategy at Nomura Securities Co.:\n“The Fed and the ECB may start delivering rate cuts around June, supporting the appreciation path for the yen. The US economy falling into recession would boost the chance of dollar-yen moving toward the 130-135 area, while a soft-landing scenario may limit the pair’s decline to around 140.”\nTakeshi Yokouchi, senior portfolio manager at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co.:\n“Dollar-yen is sure to face downward pressure if the major central banks start cutting rates and the BOJ shifts policy away from the negative interest rate. However, the decline is likely to be somewhat limited, unlike the yen’s rise to 100 per dollar seen in the past because the economic recovery in Japan does not seem to have the same strength.”\nHiroyuki Machida, director of Japan FX and commodities sales at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group:\n“The dollar will probably weaken due to lower US yields. Even if the BOJ won’t tighten policy amid uncertainties caused by rate cuts in the US, the yen can rise solely because of the direction of US monetary policy.”\nKenta Tadaide, chief FX strategist at Daiwa Securities Co.:\n“The Fed will probably start cutting borrowing costs around the summer of 2024 when the economy goes into recession, pushing dollar-yen below 130. The risk to this scenario is that the US achieves a soft landing, keeping favorable sentiment in the US, which maintains yen-selling pressure and keeps the dollar-yen above 140.”\nTeppei Ino, Tokyo head of global markets research at MUFG Bank Ltd.:\n“With a US presidential election coming up next year, public sentiment will likely increase about supporting economic growth, and in that case the Fed is likely to deliver cuts. The BOJ is expected to start normalizing policy in January.”\n--With assistance from Masaki Kondo, Naomi Tajitsu and Anya Andrianova.\n",
        "title": "Big Currency Flop of 2023 Is Top Pick for Year Ahead, Again"
    },
    {
        "id": 1467,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-backed-saudi-fintech-firm-080000085.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabian financial technology company Tamara, which is backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has been valued at over $1 billion in its latest equity funding round.\nTamara raised $340 million from investors including Sanabil, a unit of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, and SNB Capital, a unit of the kingdom’s largest bank, according to a statement from the fintech firm.\nMany startups in the Middle East faced a tougher fundraising environment this year as a global slowdown in venture deals that begun in 2022 spread to the region. Venture funding volumes for Middle East and North Africa based startups dropped 44% in the first nine months of the year, according to data provider Magnitt.\nTamara, one of the Middle East’s biggest buy now, pay later startups, is starting to consider an initial public offering in the next few years, Chief Executive Officer Abdulmajeed Alsukhan said in an interview.\n“An IPO in the Saudi market is something we believe is not only attainable but desirable,” said Alsukhan, who is also co-founder of the three-year-old firm. “There’s huge demand for companies like Tamara to IPO,” although a share offering is probably a few years away, he said.\nThe latest equity funding round for Tamara follows a debt raise last month that was backed by Goldman Sachs. The US bank also helped fund a debt facility for the company earlier this year.\nTamara operates in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It has over 10 million users and works with more than 30,000 merchants.\nSome of the region’s bigger startups have seen significant equity fundraising as they grow and plan share sales.\nTabby, another Saudi-based fintech company, hit a $1.5 billion valuation in a pre-IPO fundraising, the company said last month. Middle Eastern e-commerce firm Floward is working with Goldman Sachs and HSBC Holdings Plc for a planned IPO in Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg in November.\n--With assistance from Dinesh Nair and Swetha Gopinath.\n",
        "title": "Goldman-Backed Saudi Fintech Firm Tamara Hits Unicorn Valuation"
    },
    {
        "id": 1468,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/european-government-bonds-set-record-074323813.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Record amounts of trading in European government bonds continued in the third quarter, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe said on Monday, with volumes up 18% year-on-year.\nAFME said in a report that the top three quarters for highest average daily trading volumes, based on records back to 2014, have all come in 2023, a frenetic year in which fixed income markets have been driven by central banks' fight against inflation.\nThe lobby group said volumes in European - meaning European Union member state and British - bonds slipped 5% compared to the second quarter.\nEnvironmental, social and governance bonds have been a bright spot in terms of issuance. The outstanding amount of European ESG government bonds reached a record 411 billion euros ($448.98 billion) in the third quarter. (Reporting by Harry Robertson; Editing by Amanda Cooper)\n",
        "title": "European government bonds set for record year of trading volumes - AFME"
    },
    {
        "id": 1469,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ibm-buy-software-ags-enterprise-073610897.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - IBM on Monday said that it would buy Software AG's StreamSets and webMethods platforms for 2.13 billion euros ($2.33 billion) in cash.\n($1 = 0.9158 euros)\n(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "IBM to buy Software AG's enterprise tech business for $2.3 billion"
    },
    {
        "id": 1470,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unilever-sell-elida-beauty-yellow-071711790.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Consumer goods giant Unilever said it would sell Elida Beauty, its non-core beauty and personal care division, to U.S. private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners.\nThe financial terms of the deal, expected to be completed in mid-2024, were not disclosed.\n(Reporting by Anchal Rana and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)\n",
        "title": "Unilever to sell Elida Beauty to Yellow Wood"
    },
    {
        "id": 1471,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-banks-step-sales-bad-071057679.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Chinese banks are putting bad loans up for sale at a record pace, as regulators push for faster disposal of sour debts amid rising consumer defaults during an ailing post-COVID economic recovery.\nIssuance this year of securities backed by non-performing loans (NPLs) is set to jump about 40% from a year ago to a record, data from a ratings agency showed, as lenders rush to offload distressed assets linked to mortgage, credit card and consumer borrowings.\nThis week alone, six banks including China Everbright Bank and Bank of Jiangsu plan to issue 1.5 billion yuan ($210.49 million) worth of asset-backed securities (ABS) based on bad loans, according to sales prospectuses reviewed by Reuters.\nTypical buyers include fund managers, wealth management firms, specialist distressed debt investors and some hedge funds.\n\"Securitisation has become a regular tool for Chinese banks to dispose of bad loans. It's efficient, flexible, and regulators are giving relatively faster approvals for such products,\" said Kan Zhou, head of structured finance ratings at S&P Global (China) Ratings.\nIssuance is climbing \"also because in an economic downturn, there's growing supply of non-performing assets,\" he said, expecting the market to grow further next year.\nChinese authorities have blacklisted 8.57 million people who missed payments on everything from home mortgages to business loans, according to court data. The cumulative figure is up 50% from the 5.7 million defaulters at the beginning of 2020, highlighting the scars from the pandemic and its aftermath.\nAs of Dec. 17, Chinese banks had sold 42.5 billion yuan ($5.96 billion) of bond-like securities based on bad loans this year, up 37% from 2022's total and the highest since its records began in 2016, according to data from a unit of CCXI, a Chinese ratings agency.\nIn addition, 60 billion yuan worth of bad loans changed hands on the official marketplace for credit assets during the January to September period, up 61% from last year's total, data from an agency affiliated with China's banking regulator showed.\nThe booming market for bad loans underscores the challenges facing a banking sector grappling with a real estate crisis, local government debt woes and rising individual delinquencies as China's post-COVID recovery fades.\nOutstanding bad loans at Chinese banks hit 3.2 trillion yuan at the end of September, up one-third from 2.4 trillion yuan at end-2019, according to the country's banking regulator.\nSECURITISATION\nTo fend off systemic financial risks, Beijing is urging banks to accelerate their disposal of non-performing assets.\n\"Packaging bad loans into a security product to be sold to investors help reduce NPLs on banks' books, and revitalise dormant assets,\" S&P's Zhou said.\nCompared with other means of disposal, such as outright write-offs or selling to asset management companies set up specifically to deal with bad loans, issuing ABS is used more for soured personal loans.\nSenior ABS based on bad loans yielding 2% to 3.5% are attractive in China's low-interest rate environment, but investors risk a lower recovery rate if the economic situation worsens, Zhou said.\nChina Citic Bank was on Monday selling securities backed by consumer loans, while China Construction Bank plans to issue mortgage-backed ABS on Tuesday. China Guangfa Bank said it would issue ABS on Friday backed by soured credit card loans.\n($1 = 7.1263 Chinese yuan renminbi)\n(Reporting by Samuel Shen in Shanghai and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "China banks step up sales of bad loans as consumer defaults rise"
    },
    {
        "id": 1472,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-yen-holds-ground-ahead-065919285.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Updates prices at 0615 GMT)\nBy Rae Wee\nSINGAPORE, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The yen stood firm on Monday as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting, with traders awaiting a decision on whether the dovish central bank could finally unwind its ultra-loose policy settings.\nIn the broader market, the U.S. dollar started the week on the back foot, extending its fall from last week in the wake of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting which signalled the possibility of interest rate cuts next year.\nThe yen steadied at 142.25 per dollar, after gaining nearly 2% last week on the back of the dollar's decline.\nThe Japanese currency has had a volatile few weeks as markets struggle to get a grip on how soon the BOJ could phase out its negative interest rate policy, with comments from Governor Kazuo Ueda this month initially sparking a huge rally in the yen.\nThat was later reversed on news that a policy shift was unlikely to come as early as December, and investors now await Tuesday's BOJ decision for further clarity on the bank's rate outlook.\n\"The meeting will be relevant and important in terms of what the BOJ does, and there are some in the market that still expect that maybe there's a surprise,\" said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank.\nAgainst the euro, the yen edged more than 0.2% lower to 155.27, but was not too far from a four-month top of 153.215 per euro hit earlier this month. Sterling was little changed at 180.44 yen.\nRATE CUTS LOOM?\nElsewhere, the dollar edged broadly lower and was pinned near roughly five-month lows on the Australian and New Zealand dollars.\nThe Aussie rose 0.37% to $0.6727, not far from last week's peak of $0.6728, while the kiwi jumped 0.6% to $0.6244.\nThe market mood stayed buoyant on the prospect that the Fed could begin easing rates early next year, with futures pricing in a roughly 75% chance the first cut could come as early as March, according to the CME FedWatch tool.\nThe greenback, which has for most of 2022 and 2023, drawn support from a slew of aggressive rate hikes from the Fed and expectations of higher-for-longer rates, was last 0.17% lower at 102.45 against a basket of currencies.\nThe dollar index tumbled roughly 1.3% last week.\n\"The Fed has officially opened the door to the next cycle of rate cuts,\" said Franck Dixmier, global chief investment officer for fixed income at Allianz Global Investors.\n\"While the Fed may have been criticised for taking too long to raise rates, it clearly has no intention of wasting any time in lowering them.\"\nThe European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE) likewise kept interest rates steady at their respective policy meetings last week, though unlike the Fed, both pushed back against expectations of imminent rate cuts.\n\"(ECB President) Christine Lagarde has made it clear that rate cuts weren't on the table, marking a stark contrast to the Fed's approach, which remains intensely focused on the growth risks associated with maintaining higher rates for an extended period,\" said Monica Defend, head of Amundi Investment Institute.\n\"This divergence is particularly notable given the euro zone's recent weaker economic performance and more rapid disinflation compared to the U.S. Meanwhile, the (BoE) maintains a cautious stance, showing no indication of deviating from its 'higher-for-longer' policy.\"\nSterling rose 0.08% to $1.2690, while the euro gained 0.22% to $1.0916.\nThe single currency, however, continues to be weighed by a darkening growth outlook in the euro zone, with data last week showing the downturn in the bloc's business activity surprisingly deepened in December, indicating its economy is likely in recession.\n(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Jamie Freed and Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Yen holds ground ahead of critical BOJ test; dollar slips"
    },
    {
        "id": 1473,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-nikkei-ends-lower-investors-064330584.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Updates with closing prices)\nTOKYO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average ended lower on Monday as cautious investors awaited hints from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda for a possible shift in its ultra-low rates policy.\nThe Nikkei fell 0.64% to close at 32,758.98, while the broader Topix slipped 0.66% to 2,316.86.\nThe BOJ is holding a two-day policy meeting, which will conclude on Tuesday. Market players are waiting for any comments from Ueda on the timing for the policy shift, even as the consensus is that the BOJ would keep its policy unchanged at this meeting.\n\"It was hard to make buy orders today,\" said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.\n\"Investors were cautious about an overreaction of the market when Ueda makes any sensitive comments.\"\nThe market moved sharply last week after Ueda's comments fuelled speculation that the BOJ would announce the end of its negative rate policy as early as this month.\nUeda said the BOJ anticipated an \"even more challenging\" situation at the year-end and the beginning of next year, sending the yen to a multi-month high and Japanese government bond yields to surge last week.\nUniqlo-clothing shop operator Fast Retailing fell 1.18% to drag the Nikkei the most. Chip-testing equipment maker Advances fell 1.75% and staffing agency Recruit Holdings lost 3.42%.\nShipping firms jumped 5.61%.\nA market participant said the rise came amid speculation on hikes in shipping fees after two major freight firms, including MSC, said they would avoid the Suez Canal as Houthi militants in Yemen stepped up their assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.\nOnly four sectors on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry sub-sectors rose.\nOut of 225 stocks on the Nikkei, 45 rose and 179 fell, while one was flat.\n(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Eileen Soreng)\n",
        "title": "Japan's Nikkei ends lower as investors await BOJ cue on policy"
    },
    {
        "id": 1474,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-cuts-2024-brent-price-063820873.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs trimmed its price expectation for Brent crude in 2024 by $10 per barrel to between $70 and $90, saying strong production from the United States would moderate any upside in oil prices.\n\"We still look for range-bound prices and only moderate price volatility in 2024. Elevated spare capacity to handle tightening shocks should limit upside price moves,\" its analysts said in a note dated Sunday.\nThe investment bank now expects Brent to recover to a peak of $85 per barrel in June 2024, and to average at $81/$80 in 2024/2025 compared to $92 previously.\nBrent was trading around $77 as of 0526 GMT on Monday, down 20% from multi-month highs hit in September. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was around $72 a barrel. [O/R]\nContinued supply from non-Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) sources, led by the U.S, shows that several tailwinds to the U.S. production are likely to persist in 2024, Goldman Sachs added.\nAnalysts said they expect U.S. Lower 48 crude output to reach 11.4 million barrels per day (mb/d) in the fourth quarter of next year, and hiked U.S. total liquids supply 2024 growth forecast to 0.9 mb/d from 0.5 mb/d earlier.\nHowever, OPEC decision to rein in supply, a recovery in China, restocking in the U.S. and modest recession risk should limit downside risk to oil prices, the bank noted.\n\"Saudi Arabia is unlikely to 'flush' the market in 2024\", Goldman analysts said, adding \"we expect full extensions of the OPEC+ cuts announced in April 2023 (1.7 mb/d) through 2025, and of the additional 2.2 mb/d package through 2024Q2.\"\n\"We adjust our OPEC range trade to a short $70 put, long $80/90 call spread option on Brent Jun24, and still recommend long summer 2024 gasoline margins,\" they added.\n(Reporting by Tina Parate and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)\n",
        "title": "Goldman cuts 2024 Brent price forecast on strong US supply"
    },
    {
        "id": 1475,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-wall-street-journal-063045130.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 18 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\n- Gene-sequencing company Illumina said on Sunday it will divest itself of cancer blood test maker Grail, following Illumina's loss in its legal battle against U.S. antitrust regulators and facing fierce opposition from activist investor Carl Icahn.\n- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group agreed to buy Link Administration in a deal valuing the Australian financial technology company's equity at A$1.2 billion ($805.20 million).\n- Building materials supplier Adbri said it has received a takeover offer from U.S.-based CRH and the Barro Group that values its equity at around $1.41 billion.\n- The high-profile case of leading China critic Jimmy Lai opened in Hong Kong on Monday as the newspaper tycoon went on trial under the national security law imposed by Beijing.\n- U.S. Senate negotiations on linking border security to Ukraine aid stalled on Sunday, making it less likely that a vote will occur before the Christmas recess.\n- Dozens of New York Times employees have formed a group to take a stand on journalistic independence as concerns grow about the potential influence of the labor union that represents the Times and other outlets.\n($1 = 1.4903 Australian dollars) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST- Wall Street Journal - Dec 18"
    },
    {
        "id": 1476,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/arm-lays-off-over-70-042219984.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Arm Holdings Plc has recently laid off over 70 software engineers in China though it will relocate some of the roles outside of the Asian nation, according to people with knowledge of the move.\nThe British firm’s actions mirrored those of major chip companies including Qualcomm Inc. that have cut back on the global staffing level earlier this year as the semiconductor industry faces a downturn due to lackluster demand for electronics. In November, Arm gave a disappointing sales forecast amid a slump in smartphone sales.\nAbout 15 of the staff whose positions are being eliminated will be offered different roles working on China-related projects, according to one of the people, who declined to be identified discussing private matters.\nThe jobs being terminated are currently filled by contract software engineers who have worked on projects that span Arm’s business around the world, according to another one of the people.\n“In order to ensure that the China Software Ecosystem can fully maximize the benefits of Arm performance and features, Arm is restructuring its China software engineering resources to focus on direct support for local developers,” the Cambridge, UK-based company said in a statement.\nChina’s contribution to Arm’s global sales fell to about 20% from 25% as rest of the world grew much faster, Chief Financial Officer Jason Child told analysts in November.\nThe SoftBank Group Corp.-backed firm has been impacted by restrictions Washington has imposed on technology exports to Chinese companies as Arm has developed some of its proprietary designs, widely used by mobile devices, in the US.\nArm is still recovering from the turmoil of an extended dispute with the ousted head of Arm China, a joint venture owned by SoftBank and a group of Chinese investors.\nFormer Arm China Chief Executive Officer Allen Wu had refused to leave his post after being dismissed and it took investors years to retake control.\nArm China acts as the sales office for the British chip designer in the largest market for semiconductors. Earlier this year, the Chinese entity itself let go over over 100 employees, most of them working in the research and development unit to create new chip technology for the local market, the people said.\nRead More: Key Arm China Staff Quit to Create Government-Backed Startup\nArm has outsourced the work of supporting its Chinese customers to Arm China through a division called global service, which had about 200 employees at one point. It’s the employees at that department that will be let go or relocated, according to one of the people. Arm China did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.\n",
        "title": "Arm Lays Off Over 70 Engineers in China, Relocating Roles"
    },
    {
        "id": 1477,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tencent-turns-bytedance-gaming-showdown-061532975.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Josh Ye\nHONG KONG (Reuters) - Tencent Holdings is relying on one-time bitter rival ByteDance to promote its most important video game release in years, in a sign of warming relations as well as intensifying competition as China's gaming industry returns to growth.\nTencent released on Friday mobile party game \"DreamStar\" that it hopes to challenge \"Eggy Party\", a similar offering from NetEase which has become a surprise hit this year with 100 million monthly active users.\nAnalysts expect DreamStar to earn up to 6 billion yuan ($842 million) in its first year, while they forecast Eggy Party, which owes much of its success to advertising on ByteDance platforms, to earn 8 billion yuan for NetEase this year.\nIn a battle to defend its status as China's biggest gaming firm，Tencent has chosen to promote Dreamstar on ByteDance's popular advertising platforms despite the two's rancorous history in barring one another from their platforms.\nAbout 38% of Tencent ads for DreamStar were put on ByteDance's online ad service Pangolin in the last 30 days, making it the top ad service Tencent has spent on for the game, according to data tracking firm DataEye.\nIts decision to rely heavily on Pangolin is remarkable considering that Tencent has its own ad network and various promotion channels within its product ecosystem.\nTencent has put only 12% of DreamStar ads on its own ad network Youlianghui, according to DataEye.\nThe advertising layout is part of Tencent's plans for a 1.4 billion yuan investment to build out DreamStar's ecosystem to ensure its success.\nThat strategy has also seen Tencent begin to let video game live-streamers to stream on ByteDance platforms.\nZhang Daxian, China's top live-streamer who became famous through playing Tencent's \"Honor of Kings\" game, started his channel on a ByteDance platform earlier this month and previewed DreamStar, a scenario unthinkable to many fans just a year ago.\nFor years, Tencent and ByteDance were locked in a series of lawsuits against each other. In 2021, ByteDance sued Tencent for restricting users from sharing content from Douyin - TikTok's sister app in China - on Tencent's apps, citing anti-monopoly law.\nIn the same year, Tencent sued ByteDance for featuring footage of Honor of Kings on a ByteDance platform, citing copyright infringement.\nThe apparent thaw in their relationship comes as ByteDance recently decided to wind down its gaming business to focus on its core platform operations, marking a retreat from its competition with Tencent and NetEase in gaming.\nChina's video games market returned to growth this year as domestic revenue rose 13% to 303 billion yuan, putting Beijing's eight-month industry crackdown two years ago in the rear-view mirror.\n($1 = 7.1255 Chinese yuan renminbi)\n(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "Tencent turns to ByteDance in gaming showdown with NetEase"
    },
    {
        "id": 1478,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-corporate-bond-issuance-seen-060532131.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Matt Tracy\n(Reuters) - Some investors are predicting an increase in corporate bond issuance in the New Year, after bond yields slid last week, opening the door for companies to refinance existing debt or issue new debt at lower costs.\nTotal U.S. investment-grade corporate debt issuance in 2023 is expected to be similar to 2022's total of roughly $1.23 trillion, according to data from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) trade group, well below 2021 and 2020 totals of $1.47 trillion and $1.85 trillion, respectively.\nBut investors and other market participants now see issuance picking up next year following expectations of a quicker pace of interest-rate easing after last week's Federal Reserve meeting. There are $770 billion in investment-grade bonds due in 2024, according to data by Morgan Stanley.\nThe majority of corporate borrowers have been waiting for the Fed to cut rates before refinancing in the current high-rate environment.\n“This should be an extremely welcome environment for corporate issuance,\" said Blair Shwedo, head of U.S. sales and trading at U.S. Bank.\nShwedo cited the combination of buying in U.S. Treasuries and a tightening of credit spreads - or the difference in interest rates between Treasuries and corporate bonds of the same maturity - that has resulted in lower borrowing costs for companies.\nContinued spread tightening will lead to more high-grade bond supply next year, albeit mainly due to refinancing needs, according to Steven Oh, global head of credit and fixed income at asset manager PineBridge Investments.\nHigh-grade corporate bond yields have fallen 36 basis points since the Fed's meeting last week, when officials outlined a median forecast of 75 basis points in net rate cuts next year. Yields ended Friday's session at 5.20%, according to the ICE BofA U.S. Corporate Index.\nBofA Global Research analysts said in a Dec. 14 report that the drop in yields had an immediate impact on supply and demand for investment-grade bonds. \"First, it weakens the outlook for the market technicals by weighing on yield-sensitive demand while encouraging opportunistic supply,\" they wrote.\nMarkets are now pricing in a less than 70% chance of a Fed rate cut by March, earlier than previous bets and further supporting the case for a pick-up in investment-grade issuance next year.\nEven so, some market participants expect 2024's total IG issuance will align with this year and last, expressing a belief that the market is overestimating the timing and length of rate cuts next year.\n\"We don't see a big change in the outlook for forecasted supply for 2024,\" said Natalie Trevithick, head of investment-grade credit strategy at asset manager Payden & Rygel. Companies typically only refinance 6%-10% of their total outstanding debt on an annual basis, she added.\nRegardless, lower borrowing costs and growing investor appetite for riskier corporate debt have shifted the market dynamic more in favor of borrowers, according to Trevithick.\n\"The market now feels that we are at the end of the Fed hiking cycle,\" she said, \"and that has given investors a lot of comfort in terms of wanting to own (corporate bonds).\"\n(Reporting by Matt Tracy; Editing by Leslie Adler and Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "US corporate bond issuance seen increasing after yields slide"
    },
    {
        "id": 1479,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/festive-food-fizz-top-europeans-060409405.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By James Davey and Helen Reid\nLONDON (Reuters) - Supermarkets in the UK and Europe are offering more own-brand festive food from roast duck to truffle crackers as cash-strapped families spend on Christmas meals at home while cutting down on gifts and eating out.\nFestive meals are being prioritised as inflation forces households to adjust their budgets, executives and market analysts say. For some grocers, it's a chance to upsell to consumers that can afford to splash out during the holidays.\n\"The trend on groceries is strong,\" Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury's, Britain's second biggest grocer, told Reuters last month. \"We're set for a strong food Christmas.\"\nSainsbury's has broadened its own-brand \"Taste the Difference\" premium food range, adding 170 new Christmas food products including a ready meal for four of duck, potatoes and cranberry sauce for 28 pounds ($36), and canapés like mini smoked salmon terrine slices for 3.75 pounds.\nBritons expect to spend around 105 pounds more on Christmas this year than in 2022, according to Barclays research, with festive food and drink expected to be the largest contributor - rising by an average of almost 26 pounds.\nUK market leader Tesco has bought more turkeys than last year, CEO Ken Murphy said, as it expects people will go out less and spend more time at home with friends and family.\n\"I am doing a lot of hosting in the next couple of weeks, and we do prefer to do stuff at home - it's just more relaxing,\" said Robyn Asher, 55, as she shopped in a Sainsbury's supermarket in East Dulwich, London.\n\"You can drink much nicer wine at home, because the mark-up is way too much in restaurants,\" she added. In her trolley were five bottles of wine and one of champagne for her family's Christmas celebrations, to take advantage of the supermarket's offer of 25% off for six bottles.\nJames Simpson, managing director of champagne producer Pol Roger, said although champagne sales growth will likely slow overall in 2023, he anticipated strong sales over Christmas when even thrifty consumers tend to splash out and treat themselves.\nBritons have bought 3.9 million litres of champagne this year, down 9% from last year, according to Kantar data on the 52 weeks ending Nov 26.\nIn France, shoppers aim to cut their overall Christmas spending this year, with the average budget down by 19 euros compared to 2022 according to a survey by Cofidis and CSA Research. They aim to cut their spending the most on gifts.\nSupermarket chain Carrefour is trying to attract shoppers with low prices like a 0.99 euro ($1.09) chocolate advent calendar, among 60 new own-brand Christmas food products the retailer has introduced this year.\nSupermarkets have increased their range of alternatives to branded foods as a large majority (78%) of consumers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, across income groups, say they are switching to cheaper products or shopping at lower-priced retailers, according to McKinsey research.\nPolish supermarket chain Biedronka said its range of own-brand chocolates and sweets including gingerbread biscuits is at least 20% cheaper than big-brand alternatives.\nDutch supermarket Albert Heijn said its premium \"AH Excellent\" range has 200 holiday products this year, more than in 2022.\nIn Portugal, supermarket Pingo Doce has launched new items in its \"Iguarias\" (delicacies) range including a meat, chestnut and vegetable puff pastry starter for 5.49 euros and truffle crackers for 1.99 euros.\n($1 = 0.7846 pounds)\n($1 = 0.9106 euros)\n(Reporting by James Davey and Helen Reid; Additional reporting by Emma Rumney; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)\n",
        "title": "Festive food and fizz top Europeans' Christmas shopping list"
    },
    {
        "id": 1480,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asia-shares-subdued-055226657.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nAsian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4\n*\nNikkei wary of yen gains, S&P 500 futures up 0.1%\n*\nFocus on BOJ meeting for tightening clues\n*\nU.S. inflation data to test market doves\n(Updates prices)\nBy Wayne Cole\nSYDNEY, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Asia stocks slipped on Monday in a subdued start to a week where Japan's central bank might edge further away from its uber-easy policies, while a key reading on U.S. inflation is expected to underpin market pricing of interest rate cuts there.\nThe Bank of Japan (BOJ) meets Tuesday amid much chatter that it is considering how and when to move away from negative interest rates. None of the analysts polled by Reuters expected a definitive move at this meeting, but policy makers might start laying the groundwork for an eventual shift.\nApril was favoured by 17 of 28 economists as the kick-off for negative rates to be scrapped, making the BOJ one of the few central banks in the world actually tightening.\n\"Since the last meeting in October, 10-year JGB yields have fallen and the yen has appreciated, giving the BOJ little incentive to revise policy at this stage,\" said Barclays economist Christian Keller.\n\"We think the BOJ will wait to confirm the result of the 'shunto' wage negotiations next spring, before moving in April.\"\nJapan's Nikkei lost 0.7%, weighed in part by a firm yen. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3%.\nSouth Korea's main index added 0.3%, showing no obvious reaction to reports North Korea had fired a ballistic missile off its east coast.\nChinese blue chips edged down 0.3%, following five straight weeks of falls.\nS&P 500 futures inched up 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures added 0.2%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures slipped 0.3% and FTSE futures 0.1%.\nOver in the United States, a reading on core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index is forecast by analysts to rise 0.2% in November with the annual inflation rate slowing to its lowest since mid-2021 at 3.4%.\nAnalysts suspect the balance of risk is on the downside and a rise of 0.1% for the month would see the six-month annualised pace of inflation slow to just 2.1% and almost at the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.\nMarkets reckon the slowdown in inflation means the Fed will have to ease policy just to stop real rates from rising, and are wagering on early and aggressive action.\nNew York Fed President John Williams did try to rain on the parade on Friday by saying there was no talk of easing by policy makers, but markets were disinclined to listen.\nMARCH MADNESS\nTwo-year Treasury yields ticked up only slightly in response, and still ended the week down a steep 28 basis points at the lowest close since mid-May.\nYields on 10-year notes stood at 3.91%, having dived 33 basis points last week in the biggest weekly fall since early 2020.\nFed fund futures imply a 74% chance of a rate cut as early as March, while May has 39 basis points (bp) of easing priced in. The market also implies at least 140 basis points of cuts for all of 2024.\n\"We now forecast three consecutive 25bp cuts in March, May, and June, followed by a slower pace of one cut per quarter until reaching a terminal rate of 3.25-3.5%, 25bp lower than we previously expected,\" wrote analysts at Goldman Sachs in a client note.\n\"This implies five cuts in 2024 and three more cuts in 2025.\"\nIf correct, such easing would allow some Asian central banks to ease earlier, with Goldman bringing forward cuts in India, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines.\nThe investment bank also raised its forecast for the S&P 500 which it now sees ending 2024 at 5,100, while decelerating inflation and Fed easing would keep real yields low and support a price-to-earnings multiple greater than 19.\nThe market's dovish outlook for U.S. rates saw the dollar slip 1.3% against a basket of currencies last week, though the Fed is hardly alone in the rate-cutting stakes.\nMarkets imply around 150 basis points of easing by the European Central Bank next year, and 113 basis points of cuts from the Bank of England.\nThat outlook restrained the euro at $1.0909, having pulled back from a top of $1.1004 on Friday. The dollar was looking more vulnerable against the yen at 142.23, having slid 1.9% last week.\nThe drop in the dollar and yields should be positive for gold at $2,021 an ounce, though that was short of its recent all-time peak of $2,135.40.\nOil prices were trying to steady after hitting a five-month low last week amid doubts all OPEC+ producers will stick with caps on output.\nLower exports from Russia and attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea offered some support. Brent nudged up 47 cents to $77.02 a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 47 cents to $71.90.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares subdued for BOJ meeting, US inflation test"
    },
    {
        "id": 1481,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/marketmind-markets-play-wont-boj-053206505.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Wayne Cole.\nIt's been a subdued start to the week in Asia with the Nikkei leading losses and markets cautious in case the Bank of Japan (BOJ) springs a surprise at its policy meeting on Monday and Tuesday.\nThe mood was not helped by news that North Korea fired what appeared to be a long-range ballistic missile on Monday, although South Korean shares were just a fraction lower.\nAnalysts polled by Reuters doubt the BOJ will move to unwind its uber-easy policy this week, but one-fifth thought January was likely while the majority saw negative rates ending in April.\nThere have been conflicting reports about how serious the bank is considering a change, and it is possible that policy makers will discuss when and under what circumstances they will tighten. The BOJ has shocked markets before with sudden policy moves, and the risk was reflected in a jump in implied volatility for dollar/yen.\nMarkets assume it is only a matter of time before negative rates are abandoned, which would make the BOJ one of the very few major central banks in the world tightening policy next year. While some Federal Reserve officials have tried to rein in expectations on easing, futures imply a 74% chance of a first easing as soon as March, and May has almost two cuts priced in.\nIn all, around 140 basis points of easing is implied for 2024, partly on the assumption the Fed will have to ease just to stop real rates from rising as inflation cools.\nThat outlook underlines the stakes for the Fed's favoured inflation measure due out on Friday, where analysts see the balance of risks as tilted towards a soft number. A rise of only 0.1% in the core PCE would see the six-month annualised pace of inflation slow to just 2.1% and almost at the Fed's target of 2%.\nThere are also consumer price readings from Japan, Canada and the UK out this week, which will offer a glimpse of the inflationary pulse globally.\nInvestors are clearly betting the ECB will also act to offset rising real rates and have almost 34 basis points of cuts priced in for April, along with 147 for the whole year.\nSuch aggressive pricing could be tested later Monday when usually hawkish ECB board member Isabel Schnabel speaks, given it was her sudden conversion to dovishness that sent bond yields diving earlier this month.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Monday:\n- Appearance by ECB members Lane and Schnabel, Bank of England Deputy Governor Broadbent and Norway Central Bank Governor Bache\n- German Ifo survey for Dec\n- Fed's Goolsbee appears on CNBC\n(By Wayne Cole; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "Marketmind: Markets play 'will they or won't they' on BOJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 1482,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-bid-europe-markets-play-053000327.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Wayne Cole.\nIt's been a subdued start to the week in Asia with the Nikkei leading losses and markets cautious in case the Bank of Japan (BOJ) springs a surprise at its policy meeting on Monday and Tuesday.\nThe mood was not helped by news that North Korea fired what appeared to be a long-range ballistic missile on Monday, although South Korean shares were just a fraction lower.\nAnalysts polled by Reuters doubt the BOJ will move to unwind its uber-easy policy this week, but one-fifth thought January was likely while the majority saw negative rates ending in April.\nThere have been conflicting reports about how serious the bank is considering a change, and it is possible that policy makers will discuss when and under what circumstances they will tighten. The BOJ has shocked markets before with sudden policy moves, and the risk was reflected in a jump in implied volatility for dollar/yen.\nMarkets assume it is only a matter of time before negative rates are abandoned, which would make the BOJ one of the very few major central banks in the world tightening policy next year. While some Federal Reserve officials have tried to rein in expectations on easing, futures imply a 74% chance of a first easing as soon as March, and May has almost two cuts priced in.\nIn all, around 140 basis points of easing is implied for 2024, partly on the assumption the Fed will have to ease just to stop real rates from rising as inflation cools.\nThat outlook underlines the stakes for the Fed's favoured inflation measure due out on Friday, where analysts see the balance of risks as tilted towards a soft number. A rise of only 0.1% in the core PCE would see the six-month annualised pace of inflation slow to just 2.1% and almost at the Fed's target of 2%.\nThere are also consumer price readings from Japan, Canada and the UK out this week, which will offer a glimpse of the inflationary pulse globally.\nInvestors are clearly betting the ECB will also act to offset rising real rates and have almost 34 basis points of cuts priced in for April, along with 147 for the whole year.\nSuch aggressive pricing could be tested later Monday when usually hawkish ECB board member Isabel Schnabel speaks, given it was her sudden conversion to dovishness that sent bond yields diving earlier this month.\nKey developments that could influence markets on Monday:\n- Appearance by ECB members Lane and Schnabel, Bank of England Deputy Governor Broadbent and Norway Central Bank Governor Bache\n- German Ifo survey for Dec\n- Fed's Goolsbee appears on CNBC\n(By Wayne Cole; Editing by Edmund Klamann)\n",
        "title": "MORNING BID EUROPE-Markets play 'will they or won't they' on BOJ"
    },
    {
        "id": 1483,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-three-australian-buyouts-worth-052636216.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds Australian market and M&A data in paragraphs 2-4)\nBy Scott Murdoch\nSYDNEY, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Australian building products group Adbri Ltd and pension firm Link Group were among three takeover targets facing bids worth A$3.5 billion ($2.34 billion) made on Monday in a year-end rush of deals involving listed companies.\nThe spree comes as Australia's stock market experiences a late surge, with the main S&P/ASX200 Index having gained 5.6% so far this quarter as investors predict interest rates have peaked.\nTotal corporate buyout activity in Australia fell 23% in 2023 to be worth $99.48 billion, according to LSEG data.\nHowever, inbound mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity from overseas buyers jumped 58% to $40.9 billion, thanks largely to Newmont Corp buying gold miner Newcrest for $19.7 billion.\nAdbri shares jumped 31% after it said it was in exclusive talks with international building materials group CRH and major shareholder Barro Group for a A$2.1 billion takeover offer.\nThe two firms have offered A$3.20 per share for Adbri which is a 41% premium to the company's closing price on Friday.\nBarro, a family-owned private Australian group, owns 43% of Adbri, and CRH, which is London and U.S. listed, has a 4.6% interest in the takeover target through a cash-settled derivative, they said in a statement.\nAdbri's independent board committee has recommended the takeover and the two buyers will now undertake exclusive due diligence ahead of lodging a binding bid.\nLink shares jumped 27.65% Monday after it said it had received a A$1.2 billion bid from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group , Japan's largest banking group.\nMitsubishi said it held a 6.4% stake in Link and the takeover target's board recommended the bid in the absence of a superior offer emerging for the company.\nMeanwhile, dental group Pacific Smiles said a A$223 million unsolicited bid from private equity firm Genesis Capital was \"opportunistically timed\". It said its board would consider the offer before making a recommendation to shareholders.\nPacific Smiles shares rose nearly 16% on the takeover offer. ($1 = 1.4928 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Sonali Paul)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Three Australian buyouts worth $2.35 billion emerge in end-of-year deal rush"
    },
    {
        "id": 1484,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jgb-yields-creep-down-investors-051220687.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Brigid Riley\nTOKYO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond (JGB) yields inched down on Monday as investors awaited the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) monetary policy decision at the end of its two-day meeting starting Dec. 18.\nThe 10-year JGB yield fell 2 basis points (bps) to 0.685% after edging up on Friday.\nAlthough most market participants no longer expect the Japanese central bank to exit from negative interest rates this month, investors were moving cautiously ahead of the bank's decision.\nOn the superlong end, the 20-year JGB yield last fell 0.5 bps to 1.420%, while the 30-year JGB yield ticked down 0.5 bps to 1.620%.\nExpectations of an imminent change faded away after a Bloomberg report of the central bank being in no hurry to exit from its ultra-easy monetary policy, shifting the focus to when the BOJ might make a move to end it in 2024.\nMore than a fifth of economists in a Reuters poll said the BOJ will begin unwinding as early as January, with over 80% expecting the central bank to ditch negative interest rates by the end of next year.\nAll eyes will be on BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda during the press conference at the conclusion of the bank's two-day policy meeting, in which he is expected to keep alive the prospects of an end to negative rates while also hosing down some of the recent excitement. Ueda's comments are likely to include a hint as to when the central bank plans to normalise policy to avoid surprising markets in the future, said Katsutoshi Inadome, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management.\n\"If (the BOJ) does intend to make a major change in January, I think there will be some kind of indication\" on Tuesday, he said.\nThe two-year JGB yield was last 0.5 bps higher at 0.090%.\nThe five-year yield fell 1 bps to 0.300%. (Reporting by Brigid Riley; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)\n",
        "title": "JGB yields creep down as investors eye BOJ policy decision"
    },
    {
        "id": 1485,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-ramps-credit-business-india-044612067.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans to ramp up its credit business in India and sees an increasing opportunity to target the nation’s wealthy diaspora as global investors shift their focus from China to what is now the world’s fastest-growing major economy.\nThe investment bank wants to broaden the range of loans it offers through its shadow banking unit, according to Sonjoy Chatterjee, chairman and chief executive officer for Goldman in India. The firm also plans to get a license to scale up in currency trading, which would allow Goldman to deal with any counterparty such as financial investors, equity customers or a corporate customer, he said in an interview.\nGoldman joins Wall Street lenders and private equity giants chasing opportunities in an economy that is forecast to grow 7% in the year ending March. India is already home to the New York-based firm’s biggest overseas office, which houses thousands of workers from quants to software engineers. Goldman tops the league table for India deals this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\n“Indian markets have benefited from the emerging market equity flows that have shifted from China, though obviously the China story is not going to go away,” Chatterjee said.\nCredit Push\nThe credit expansion through the firm’s non-banking financial company comes on top of a private credit fund that Goldman ran on its own balance sheet in the South Asian country, he said. Most NBFCs, often referred to as shadow banks in India, can make loans but not accept deposits.\n“This will be more of what we might want to originate and syndicate, keeping only a residual portion,” he said.\nRead More: Citigroup Sets India as High Priority Market Amid China Risks\nIn wealth management, many Indian entrepreneurs have moved abroad during the pandemic, which has created a “more prominent” opportunity to serve such clients from offices in Singapore, London and Dubai, he said.\nPrivate Equity\nChatterjee, who joined Goldman Sachs as a partner in 2010 after spending 16 years at India’s ICICI Bank, said private equity firms are looking to deploy a substantial proportion of the capital they’ve raised for Asia funds in India. That in turn is likely to fuel dealmaking in the country in future.\nRead More: Goldman’s Biggest Office Beyond New York Attests to India’s Rise\n“Private capital continues to remain very hungry to invest,” he said. “When you have a large Asia fund of $8-10 billion, India is the most obvious destination.”\n--With assistance from Nasreen Seria, Manuel Baigorri and Anup Roy.\n",
        "title": "Goldman Ramps Up Credit Business in India, Targets Rich Diaspora"
    },
    {
        "id": 1486,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-today-asian-shares-042949027.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower on Monday as the Bank of Japan began a 2-day meeting that is being watched for hints of a change to the central bank’s longstanding near-zero interest rate policy.\nU.S. futures and oil prices gained.\nInvestors have been speculating for months that rising prices would push Japan's central bank to finally shift away from its lavishly lax monetary policy. But the meeting that ends Tuesday is not expected to result in a major change.\nTokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.8% to 32,708.35, while the U.S. dollar edged higher against the Japanese yen, rising to 142.20 from 142.11.\nThe BOJ has kept its benchmark rate at minus 0.1% for a decade, hoping to goose investments and borrowing to help drive sustained strong growth. One aim is to get inflation to a target of 2%. But while inflation has risen, wages have failed to keep up, and central bank Gov. Kazuo Ueda has remained cautious about major moves at a time of deep uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy.\nRenewed selling of property shares pulled Chinese stocks lower.\nHong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.9% to 16,633.98 and the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 2,938.79.\nDebt-laded developer Country Garden lost 2.4%, while China Evergrande declined 1.3%. Sino-Ocean Group Holding shed 2.2%.\nElsewhere in Asia, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.3% to 7,420.30. South Korea's Kospi added 0.2% to 2,569.40 and Bangkok's SET was down 0.2%.\nOn Friday, the S&P 500 finished down less than 0.1% at 4,719.19. But it’s still hanging within 1.6% of its all-time high set early last year, and it closed out a seventh straight winning week for its longest such streak in six years.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks a smaller slice of the U.S. stock market, rose 0.2% to 37,305.16 and set a record for a third straight day. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4% to 14,813.92.\n“As the S&P approaches record levels, market participants appear undaunted. The prevailing sentiment seems to be that there is no compelling reason to fade this rally until concrete evidence surfaces indicating significant economic or inflation headwinds,” Stephen Innes of API Asset Management said in a commentary.\nStocks overall bolted higher last week after the Federal Reserve seemed to give a nod toward hopes that it has finished with raising interest rates and will begin cutting them in the new year. Lower rates not only give a boost to prices for all kinds of investments, they also relax the pressure on the economy and the financial system.\nThe Fed’s goal has been to slow the economy and grind down prices for investments enough through high interest rates to get inflation under control. It then has to loosen the brakes at the exact right time. If it waits too long, the economy could fall into a painful recession. If it moves too early, inflation could reaccelerate and add misery for everyone.\nInflation peaked in June 2022 at 9.1%, the most painful inflation Americans had experienced since 1981.\nA preliminary report on Friday indicated growth for U.S. business activity may be ticking higher. It cited “looser financial conditions,” which is another way of describing market movements that could encourage businesses and people to spend more.\nThe Congressional Budget Office said Friday it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth slows. Unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.\nIn other trading early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil rose 34 cents to $71.77 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 15 cents to $71.43 on Friday.\nBrent crude, the international standard, picked up 31 cents to $76.86 per barrel.\nThe euro rose to $1.0912 from $1.0897.\n",
        "title": "Stock market today: Asian shares mostly lower as Bank of Japan meets, China property shares fall"
    },
    {
        "id": 1487,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-wealth-manager-hywin-offer-042821371.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - China's Hywin Wealth Management said it is reviewing its outstanding business and will provide resolution plans to investors by month-end, following missed payments on some investment products amid Chinese property-sector woe.\nHywin, whose products are primarily invested in real estate, said last week it had been unable to promptly fulfil client redemption requests.\nIn a statement on Sunday, Hywin said without elaborating that \"according to the latest regulatory policies and industry trends, Hywin has decided to withdraw.\"\nIt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\"Recently, impacted by the economic downturn, payments of some projects have been delayed, causing inconvenience to investors,\" Hywin said in the Sunday statement. \"We sincerely apologise for this.\"\n\"Hywin has set up a special task force to actively work with relevant parties on formulating plans to resolve issues,\" it said.\nHywin is a small player in wealth management with disclosed total assets of 2.37 billion yuan ($328 million) as of June-end, yet its troubles illustrate how a faltering property sector is causing strain throughout the financial system.\nThe share price of parent Hywin Holdings fell nearly 18% to a record low on Friday. It was down about 15% in Monday trade.\nShares of Shanghai Guijiu, a spirit maker connected to Hywin, also extended losses on Monday, falling 7.5% to touch their lowest price since April 2021.\nGuijiu's biggest shareholder is Shanghai Guijiu Enterprise Development with 42.88%, showed data from company information provider Qichacha. That shareholder is controlled by Han Xiao, son of Hywin controller Han Hongwei, local media reported. (Reporting by Ziyi Tang, Ryan Woo and Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "Chinese wealth manager Hywin to offer resolution plans after missed payments"
    },
    {
        "id": 1488,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-south-city-warns-t-034016347.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A Chinese developer partially owned by the southern city of Shenzhen warned it can’t pay interest due Wednesday as it races to win support from creditors to extend dollar bond deadlines, raising the risk of its first default.\nChina South City Holdings Ltd. said in a stock exchange filing that it doesn’t have the resources to pay the interest of its 9% notes due July 2024 — with $235 million of principal outstanding — by the end of a grace period Dec. 20, citing liquidity and cash flow constraints from a deteriorating operating environment.\nThe builder said holders of 69.8% of aggregate outstanding principal amount of its notes have voted in favor of its request to extend the maturity and lower the interest rates of five dollar bonds due in 2024 — which collectively have $1.35 billion of principal outstanding. That’s still short of the 75% needed for each of the five dollar bonds to successfully extend the maturity and lower the interest rates.\nAll of that is creating one of the first major tests of Chinese authorities’ support for distressed property firms after more recent vows to curb an unprecedented wave of defaults. China will “forcefully prevent developers from defaulting on their debts all at once,” said Dong Jianguo, Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, state broadcaster China Central Television reported earlier this month.\nChina South City — partially owned by the Shenzhen SEZ Construction and Development Group Co., a unit of the southern Chinese city’s local state asset regulator — was among the first in China’s property sector to receive a state bailout.\nThe Shenzhen state-owned firm bought a 29% stake in the developer in May 2022 and is now the single largest shareholder of China South City. China South City said it has been “in continuing discussions” with Shenzhen SEZ Construction and Development.\nThe developer’s extension request comes despite the bond’s keepwell clauses provided by the Shenzhen state asset regulator affiliate. Keepwell provisions are a sort of gentleman’s agreement that entails a commitment to maintain an issuer’s solvency, but stop short of a payment guarantee from the parent company.\nEarlier this month, the company offered improved terms of consent and said it will implement a mandatory redemption obligation. Under the obligation terms, the company on Jan. 31 will redeem 4% of aggregate principal amount of each series of notes outstanding on payment date respectively.\n(Updates with dollar bond principal in second paragraph)\n",
        "title": "China South City Warns Can’t Pay Bond Interest Due Wednesday"
    },
    {
        "id": 1489,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/long-dated-treasuries-enter-bull-032313493.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A vehicle used to track longer-dated US government bonds surged into a bull market, as investors seek to end three years of pain on the Federal Reserve’s willingness to consider interest-rate cuts.\nThe iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF, a popular tool for betting on long-dated debt, jumped to touch 99.35 on Friday. That’s a gain of 21% from the 16-year low reached on Oct. 23, qualifying as a bull market. The gauge is still down more than 40% since it peaked in 2020.\nWhile many investors are still focusing on shorter-dated bonds as a safer bet amid an uncertain outlook for monetary policy, the potential for steep gains at the longer end is drawing plenty of interest. The fund received $1.3 billion of new money on Friday, the biggest inflow in almost five months.\nHowever, concerns of an over-supply of issuance in long-term debt and the threat that inflation could reignite next year are weighing on some investors, as they seek compensation for the added risk. Kellie Wood, deputy head of fixed income at Schroders Plc in Sydney, said her firm has been focusing on shorter-dated notes.\n“This is totally a case of FOMO,” or a fear of missing out, Wood added. “Retail investors have been waiting to see more positive returns from fixed income before allocating after many years of negative returns.”\nREAD: Wall Street Loads Up on Short-Dated Debt to Trade Fed Pivot\nTraders who bought the 10-year US note sold on Nov. 8, would have stood to gain 5% if they offloaded the security at the end of last week, data compiled by Bloomberg show. By comparison, the two-year note auctioned in late October gained about 1.7% since then.\nThe ETF entered a bear market in February 2021 when its decline from an August 2020 peak first exceeded 20%. It previously saw rises of more than 10% from troughs in December 2021, August 2022 and March 2023, but fell short of the 20% guideline used to define the end of a bear market and the start of a new bull rally.\n",
        "title": "Long-Dated Treasuries Enter Bull Market as Fed Pivot Feeds Rally"
    },
    {
        "id": 1490,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-nikkei-falls-investors-await-031725644.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "TOKYO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average slipped more than 1% on Monday as cautious investors awaited hints from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda for a possible shift in its ultra-low rates policy.\nThe Nikkei was down 1.06% at 32,620.75 by the midday break, while the broader Topix fell 1.32% to 2,301.60.\nThe BOJ is holding a two-day policy meeting, which will conclude in the next session. Market players are waiting for any comments from Ueda on the timing for the policy shift, even as the consensus is that the BOJ would keep its policy unchanged at this meeting.\n\"It was hard to make buy orders today,\" said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.\n\"Investors were cautious about an overreaction of the market when Ueda makes any sensitive comments.\"\nThe market moved sharply last week after Ueda's comments fuelled speculation that the BOJ would announce the end of its negative rate policy as early as this month.\nUeda said the BOJ anticipated an \"even more challenging\" situation at the year-end and the beginning of next year, sending the yen to a multi-month-high and Japanese government bond yields to surge last week.\nUniqlo-clothing shop operator Fast Retailing fell 1.35% to drag the Nikkei the most. Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest fell 2.19% and staffing agency Recruit Holdings lost 3.84%.\nTokyo Electric Power Holdings lost 4.35% and was the biggest percentage loser on the Nikkei.\nShipping firms jumped 5.47% and was the only sector among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry sub-indexes that rose.\n(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Eileen Soreng)\n",
        "title": "Japan's Nikkei falls as investors await BOJ cue on policy shift"
    },
    {
        "id": 1491,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-considering-lifting-negative-rate-023841131.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- There is no doubt that the Bank of Japan is considering lifting negative interest rates in January, said Chotaro Morita, chief strategist at All Nippon Asset Management Co.\nThe BOJ focus on spring wage negotiations means that it will raise rates “around January to April no matter what anyone thinks,” said Morita, who was ranked No. 1 for bonds in the Nikkei Veritas analyst rankings for six consecutive years through 2022. “It is clear that the BOJ is considering lifting the policy in January” to ensure it has flexibility in the future, he said.\nThe BOJ is in the midst of its last monetary policy meeting of 2023, with its decision due Tuesday. A majority of forecasters expect the central bank will end the world’s last negative rate regime by April, according to a Bloomberg survey. There has been increased speculation it could happen in January after Governor Kazuo Ueda said his job could become “more challenging” from year-end and following Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino’s hypothesis for what might happen if indeed rates go positive.\nMorita, who moved this year from SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. to All Nippon Asset, said lifting the negative rates this month is indeed unlikely,” but that the BOJ may “try to communicate in some way” about its intentions.\nOvernight index swap are pricing in more than 40% of a rate hike in January.\nIf the yen appreciates rapidly against the dollar to the 120-130 range, a rate hike in January becomes unlikely, he said. Morita projects the central bank to raise rates to 0.25% in 2024, from the current level of -0.1%. The yen traded at 142.25 as of 11:25 a.m. in Tokyo.\nThere is a possibility that the BOJ may retain yield curve control after the lifting of negative interest rates, but its inflation overshoot commitment must be “modified in some way,” he said.\nThe weakening of the political faction of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who championed the ultra-monetary stimulus of Ueda’s predecessor, “may have eased the minds of BOJ policymakers” concerning making a change, Morita said.\n",
        "title": "BOJ Is Considering Lifting Negative Rate in January, All Nippon Asset Says"
    },
    {
        "id": 1492,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ftx-files-plan-end-bankruptcy-021449496.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- FTX Trading Ltd. unveiled its latest proposal for returning billions of dollars to customers and creditors, kicking off a final round of potential squabbles about how best to end the bankruptcy case of the fraud-tainted crypto firm.\nThe reorganization plan left some of the most important questions unanswered, including whether FTX will restart its defunct crypto exchange, how the company will estimate the value of some digital tokens and how much creditors can expect to get back.\nNext year, the plan will be sent to creditors for a vote — likely with key details added — before it goes to US Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey for final approval. The major creditor and customer groups that have been involved in the Chapter 11 case have agreed to the broad outlines of the plan.\nThe payout plan calls for billions of dollars to be distributed as cash after much of the firm’s cryptocurrencies have been liquidated.\nLast month, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of orchestrating a massive fraud that led to the collapse of his FTX exchange.\nThe company filed for bankruptcy last year after Bankman-Fried agreed to turn over control of his empire to restructuring professionals. Since then, the advisers have been tracking down assets and trying to untangle a complex web of debt owed to various creditors, including customers who put cash and crypto on the trading platform.\nThe case is FTX Trading Ltd., 22-11068, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.\n",
        "title": "FTX Files Plan to End Bankruptcy, Pay Crypto Creditors Billions"
    },
    {
        "id": 1493,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asia-shares-slip-020859116.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "*\nAsian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4\n*\nNikkei wary of yen gains, S&P 500 futures up 0.1%\n*\nFocus on BOJ meeting for tightening clues\n*\nU.S. inflation data to test market doves\n(Updates prices)\nBy Wayne Cole\nSYDNEY, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Asia stocks slipped on Monday in a subdued start to a week where Japan's central bank might edge further away from its uber-easy policies, while a key reading on U.S. inflation is expected to underpin market pricing of interest rate cuts there.\nThe Bank of Japan (BOJ) meets Tuesday amid much chatter that it is considering how and when to move away from negative interest rates. None of the analysts polled by Reuters expected a definitive move at this meeting, but policy makers might start laying the groundwork for an eventual shift.\nApril was favoured by 17 of 28 economists as the kick-off for negative rates to be scrapped, making the BOJ one of the few central banks in the world actually tightening.\n\"Since the last meeting in October, 10-year JGB yields have fallen and the yen has appreciated, giving the BOJ little incentive to revise policy at this stage,\" said Barclays economist Christian Keller.\n\"We think the BOJ will wait to confirm the result of the 'shunto' wage negotiations next spring, before moving in April.\"\nJapan's Nikkei lost 1.2%, weighed in part by a firm yen. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.5%.\nSouth Korea's main index was flat, showing no obvious reaction to reports North Korea had fired a ballistic missile off its east coast.\nChinese blue chips edged up 0.2%, but that follows five straight weeks of falls.\nS&P 500 futures inched up 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures were near flat. EUROSTOXX 50 futures slipped 0.4% and FTSE futures 0.2%.\nOver in the United States, a reading on core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index is forecast by analysts to rise 0.2% in November with the annual inflation rate slowing to its lowest since mid-2021 at 3.4%.\nAnalysts suspect the balance of risk is on the downside and a rise of 0.1% for the month would see the six-month annualised pace of inflation slow to just 2.1% and almost at the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.\nMarkets reckon the slowdown in inflation means the Fed will have to ease policy just to stop real rates from rising, and are wagering on early and aggressive action.\nNew York Fed President John Williams did try to rain on the parade on Friday by saying there was no talk of easing by policy makers, but markets were disinclined to listen.\nMARCH MADNESS\nTwo-year Treasury yields ticked up only slightly in response, and still ended the week down a steep 28 basis points at the lowest close since mid-May.\nYields on 10-year notes stood at 3.93%, having dived 33 basis points last week in the biggest weekly fall since early 2020.\nFed fund futures imply a 70% chance of a rate cut as early as March, while May has 39 basis points (bp) of easing priced in. The market also implies at least 140 basis points of cuts for all of 2024.\n\"We now forecast three consecutive 25bp cuts in March, May, and June, followed by a slower pace of one cut per quarter until reaching a terminal rate of 3.25-3.5%, 25bp lower than we previously expected,\" wrote analysts at Goldman Sachs in a client note.\n\"This implies five cuts in 2024 and three more cuts in 2025.\"\nIf correct, such easing would allow some Asian central banks to ease earlier, with Goldman bringing forward cuts in India, Taiwan, Indonesia and Philippines.\nThe investment bank also raised its forecast for the S&P 500 which it now sees ending 2024 at 5,100, while decelerating inflation and Fed easing would keep real yields low and support a price-to-earnings multiple greater than 19.\nThe market's dovish outlook for U.S. rates saw the dollar slip 1.3% against a basket of currencies last week, though the Fed is hardly alone in the rate-cutting stakes.\nMarkets imply around 150 basis points of easing by the European Central Bank next year, and 113 basis points of cuts from the Bank of England.\nThat outlook restrained the euro at $1.0896, having pulled back from a top of $1.1004 on Friday. The dollar was looking more vulnerable against the yen at 142.23, having slid 1.9% last week.\nThe drop in the dollar and yields should be positive for gold at $2,019 an ounce, though that was short of its recent all-time peak of $2,135.40.\nOil prices were trying to steady after hitting a five-month low last week amid doubts all OPEC+ producers will stick with caps on output.\nLower exports from Russia and attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea offered some support. Brent nudged up 36 cents to $76.91 a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 20 cents to $71.63.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares slip into BOJ meeting, US inflation test"
    },
    {
        "id": 1494,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/citigroup-china-investment-bank-plans-013803969.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc's plan to set up a wholly-owned securities business in China is taking longer than expected because the bank needs more time to comply with the country's data laws, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.\nThe bank is now looking to start the China securities business around the end of 2024 at the earliest, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.\nWhile no timetable had been set, Citigroup had internally estimated the license would be in place in mid-2023, Bloomberg reported.\nCitigroup declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters.\nCitigroup CEO Jane Fraser said in June the U.S. bank would continue to expand its Chinese business.\n(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Citigroup China investment bank plans delayed by data law -Bloomberg News"
    },
    {
        "id": 1495,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yen-cedes-ground-ahead-critical-011952328.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Rae Wee\nSINGAPORE (Reuters) -The yen stood firm on Monday as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting, with traders awaiting a decision on whether the dovish central bank could finally unwind its ultra-loose policy settings.\nIn the broader market, the U.S. dollar started the week on the back foot, extending its fall from last week in the wake of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting which signalled the possibility of interest rate cuts next year.\nThe yen steadied at 142.25 per dollar, after gaining nearly 2% last week on the back of the dollar's decline.\nThe Japanese currency has had a volatile few weeks as markets struggle to get a grip on how soon the BOJ could phase out its negative interest rate policy, with comments from Governor Kazuo Ueda this month initially sparking a huge rally in the yen.\nThat was later reversed on news that a policy shift was unlikely to come as early as December, and investors now await Tuesday's BOJ decision for further clarity on the bank's rate outlook.\n\"The meeting will be relevant and important in terms of what the BOJ does, and there are some in the market that still expect that maybe there's a surprise,\" said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank.\nAgainst the euro, the yen edged more than 0.2% lower to 155.27, but was not too far from a four-month top of 153.215 per euro hit earlier this month. Sterling was little changed at 180.44 yen.\nRATE CUTS LOOM?\nElsewhere, the dollar edged broadly lower and was pinned near roughly five-month lows on the Australian and New Zealand dollars.\nThe Aussie rose 0.37% to $0.6727, not far from last week's peak of $0.6728, while the kiwi jumped 0.6% to $0.6244.\nThe market mood stayed buoyant on the prospect that the Fed could begin easing rates early next year, with futures pricing in a roughly 75% chance the first cut could come as early as March, according to the CME FedWatch tool.\nThe greenback, which has for most of 2022 and 2023, drawn support from a slew of aggressive rate hikes from the Fed and expectations of higher-for-longer rates, was last 0.17% lower at 102.45 against a basket of currencies.\nThe dollar index tumbled roughly 1.3% last week.\n\"The Fed has officially opened the door to the next cycle of rate cuts,\" said Franck Dixmier, global chief investment officer for fixed income at Allianz Global Investors.\n\"While the Fed may have been criticised for taking too long to raise rates, it clearly has no intention of wasting any time in lowering them.\"\nThe European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE) likewise kept interest rates steady at their respective policy meetings last week, though unlike the Fed, both pushed back against expectations of imminent rate cuts.\n\"(ECB President) Christine Lagarde has made it clear that rate cuts weren't on the table, marking a stark contrast to the Fed's approach, which remains intensely focused on the growth risks associated with maintaining higher rates for an extended period,\" said Monica Defend, head of Amundi Investment Institute.\n\"This divergence is particularly notable given the euro zone's recent weaker economic performance and more rapid disinflation compared to the U.S. Meanwhile, the (BoE) maintains a cautious stance, showing no indication of deviating from its 'higher-for-longer' policy.\"\nSterling rose 0.08% to $1.2690, while the euro gained 0.22% to $1.0916.\nThe single currency, however, continues to be weighed by a darkening growth outlook in the euro zone, with data last week showing the downturn in the bloc's business activity surprisingly deepened in December, indicating its economy is likely in recession.\n(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Jamie Freed and Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "Yen holds ground ahead of critical BOJ test; dollar slips"
    },
    {
        "id": 1496,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/forex-yen-cedes-ground-ahead-011625082.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Rae Wee\nSINGAPORE, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The yen dipped slightly on Monday as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting, with traders nervously awaiting a decision on whether the dovish central bank could finally unwind its ultra-loose monetary settings.\nIn the broader market, currencies started the week on a cautious note after large swings last week mainly driven by a slew of central bank meetings, which included rate decisions from the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE).\nThe yen fell 0.2% to 142.41 per dollar in early Asian trade, reversing some of the nearly 2% gain it made last week on the back of the dollar's decline.\nThe Japanese currency has had a volatile few weeks as markets struggle to get a grip on how soon the BOJ could phase out its negative interest rate policy, with comments from Governor Kazuo Ueda earlier this month initially sparking a huge rally in the yen.\nThat was later reversed on news that a policy shift was unlikely to come as early as December, and investors now await Tuesday's BOJ decision for further clarity on the bank's rate outlook.\n\"The meeting will be relevant and important in terms of what the BOJ does, and there are some in the market that still expect that maybe there's a surprise,\" said Rodrigo Catril, senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank.\n\"We tend to lean to the idea that they're still on wait-and-see mode... for more evidence, in particular the labour market and wages growth are rising towards the 2% level, at the minimum.\n\"The best case scenario would be for the bank to set the stage for things to come in 2024, conditional on these economic outcomes being delivered.\"\nAgainst the euro, the yen edged 0.1% lower to 155.11. The Australian dollar rose 0.13% to 95.45 yen .\nRATE CUTS LOOM?\nElsewhere, the dollar stood not too far from four-month lows on the British pound and nearly five-month lows on the Australian and New Zealand dollars hit last week, after Fed officials hinted at rate cuts next year.\nSterling last bought $1.2678, while the kiwi rose 0.19% to $0.6219.\nThe greenback, which has for most of 2022 and 2023, drawn support from a slew of aggressive rate hikes from the Fed and expectations of higher-for-longer rates, tumbled roughly 1.3% against a basket of currencies last week in the wake of the Fed's policy meeting.\nThe dollar index was last 0.05% lower at 102.57.\n\"The Fed has officially opened the door to the next cycle of rate cuts,\" said Franck Dixmier, global chief investment officer for fixed income at Allianz Global Investors.\n\"While the Fed may have been criticised for taking too long to raise rates, it clearly has no intention of wasting any time in lowering them.\"\nThe ECB and BoE likewise kept interest rates steady at their respective policy meetings last week, though unlike the Fed, both pushed back against expectations of imminent rate cuts.\n\"(ECB President) Christine Lagarde has made it clear that rate cuts weren't on the table, marking a stark contrast to the Fed's approach, which remains intensely focused on the growth risks associated with maintaining higher rates for an extended period,\" said Monica Defend, head of Amundi Investment Institute.\n\"This divergence is particularly notable given the euro zone's recent weaker economic performance and more rapid disinflation compared to the U.S. Meanwhile, the (BoE) maintains a cautious stance, showing no indication of deviating from its 'higher-for-longer' policy.\"\nThe euro was last 0.07% higher at $1.0900, helped by a weaker dollar, though the single currency continues to be weighed by a darkening growth outlook in the euro zone.\nData last week showed the downturn in the bloc's business activity surprisingly deepened in December, indicating its economy is almost certainly in recession.\n(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "FOREX-Yen cedes some ground ahead of critical BOJ test"
    },
    {
        "id": 1497,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-chinas-economic-conditions-improve-004640776.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds details from readout, background in paragraphs 5-7)\nBEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters) - China's economy is expected to see more favourable conditions and more opportunities than challenges in 2024, state media said citing officials of the Chinese Communist Party's finance and economy office.\nMacroeconomic policies will continue to provide support for economic recovery, the official Xinhua said in a detailed readout of the annual Central Economic Work Conference held from Dec. 11-12, during which top leaders set economic targets for the following year.\n\"China's prices are low, central government debt levels are not high, and conditions are in place to strengthen implementation of monetary and fiscal policies,\" Xinhua said, quoting the office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission late Sunday.\nStill, blockages persist in the domestic economic cycle as demand, consumption and enterprise investment remain weak.\nNext year, the party officials said China will look to shift from a post-pandemic recovery to sustained consumption growth.\nThe International Monetary Fund last month revised upward its growth forecast for China to 5.4% this year, attributing the revision to a \"strong\" post-COVID recovery. The government has set a target of around 5%.\nThe world's second-largest economy will also cultivate new consumption growth areas such as smart homes, recreation and tourism and sports events.\nThe effects of this year's treasury bond issuance, cuts in interest rates, tax and fee cuts and other policies will continue into next year, the report said.\nChina would also continue to monitor its battered real estate market and meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate companies.\n\"With the concerted efforts of all parties, the policy objectives of real estate risk prevention and market stabilisation can be fully achieved,\" the Xinhua report said.\n($1 = 7.1179 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 2-China's economic conditions to improve in 2024 - officials"
    },
    {
        "id": 1498,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-kokusai-aims-build-66-003937886.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Japanese chip gear-maker Kokusai Electric Corp. is expanding its staff in China in anticipation of an increase in demand from the world’s largest semiconductor market in 2024.\nChief Executive Officer Fumiyuki Kanai, who presided over the company’s initial public offering in October, foresees sustained investment in capacity in China and plans to expand his local support teams there to better serve clients. Kokusai is seeking to extend the 66% rally in its stock price since its IPO less than two months ago.\nChina’s buildup is driven in part by efforts to localize chip production at a time the US is erecting higher barriers on the export of advanced chips and chip gear to a geopolitical rival. Chinese companies have poured billions into factories for so-called legacy chips that US sanctions don’t prohibit, but remain critical components in everything from smartphones to electric vehicles.\n“Countless small-scale fabrication plants are springing up like mushrooms in China,” Kanai, 67, told Bloomberg News in an interview. “The Chinese government is providing aggressive support to the industry for activities including the internet-of-things, smartphones and personal computers.”\nTapped to lead the company after KKR & Co. acquired it from Hitachi Ltd. in 2018, Kanai said he will prioritize shareholder returns, after making enough investments for production and next-generation tool development. Stock buybacks are an option the company will actively consider, he said.\nRead More: US, Europe Growing Alarmed by China’s Rush Into Legacy Chips\nChina’s investments will be across memory, logic and power chips at 28-nanometers and larger, Kanai said. The country accounts for more than 40% of the Tokyo-based company’s revenue today, an unusually high level due in part to lackluster demand elsewhere. It expects that percentage will rise to just below 50% in coming months, though China’s historical contribution to Kokusai’s revenue was about 30%.\n“We have locations in China only to provide after-sale services and have no plans to do production or research there,” Kanai said. “We will increase personnel to cover the local demand.”\nRead more: Tokyo Electron Lifts Outlook After China Chip Growth Quickens\nKokusai is a key player in what’s known as film deposition, the step in semiconductor production when a layer of chemicals is deposited on silicon wafers before they are etched with circuits. The company’s machines use batch atomic layer deposition technology, a sophisticated technique that helps with efficiently producing chips with multiple layers.\nThe company’s main customers are NAND flash memory makers — an area where demand has been slumping. The CEO agreed the memory market is challenging and said the company plans to diversify its product portfolio and perhaps make acquisitions to expand into adjacent markets. While no specific targets are on his radar, the company will focus on companies that would bring synergies with Kokusai’s current products.\n",
        "title": "Japan’s Kokusai Aims to Build on 66% Rally as China Demand Booms"
    },
    {
        "id": 1499,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rod-slam-spac-said-plan-003901874.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- A blank-check company set up by former New York Yankees all-star Alex Rodriguez is planning to merge with satellite communications provider Lynk Global Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter.\nSlam Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, signed a letter of intent to merge with Lynk, with the combined company expected to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange, according to the people, asking not to be identified as the deal hasn’t been made public. The company is expected to be valued at no less than $800 million upon the closing of the transaction, according to people.\nLynk Global is working on delivering satellite service to mobile devices from flip phones to the latest 5G handsets without the use of special equipment. So-called satellite-to-mobile services are receiving heightened attention because of their usefulness in remote areas that aren’t covered by regular towers.\nBased in Falls Church, Virginia, Lynk Global has launched three commercial satellites since 2022 and counts wireless companies including Canada’s Rogers Communications Inc. among its partners, according to its website. In a statement with Lynk Global on Thursday, Rogers said it had completed Canada’s first satellite-to-mobile call and that it planned to begin service starting in 2024.\nLynk Global’s backers include Blazer Ventures, Unshackled Ventures and Global Space Ventures.\nElon Musk’s SpaceX also plans to offer satellite-to-mobile service. It won US approval last week to run tests on signals between mobile phones and its orbiting Starlink satellites.\nRead more: SpaceX Gets US Approval to Test Direct-to-Cell Service (1)\nSlam raised capital during the heyday of SPACs with the goal of finding an acquisition target in sports, media, entertainment, health and wellness, or consumer technology. It held talks with sports card maker Panini SpA before the deal fell apart in 2021, Bloomberg News reported.\nAbout 60% of the SPAC’s investors opted to redeem their shares when it sought approval to extend a deadline to continue hunting for a target. The SPAC was left with about $200 million, compared with the $575 million that it raised in 2021.\nRead more: A-Rod’s SPAC Is Latest to Be Hit by Wave of Investors Bailing\n",
        "title": "A-Rod’s Slam SPAC Is Said to Plan Merger With Lynk Global"
    },
    {
        "id": 1500,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asia-shares-brace-boj-meeting-002816449.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Wayne Cole\nSYDNEY (Reuters) -Asia stocks slipped on Monday in a subdued start to a week where Japan's central bank might edge further away from its uber-easy policies, while a key reading on U.S. inflation is expected to underpin market pricing of interest rate cuts there.\nThe Bank of Japan (BOJ) meets Tuesday amid much chatter that it is considering how and when to move away from negative interest rates. None of the analysts polled by Reuters expected a definitive move at this meeting, but policy makers might start laying the groundwork for an eventual shift.\nApril was favoured by 17 of 28 economists as the kick-off for negative rates to be scrapped, making the BOJ one of the few central banks in the world actually tightening.\n\"Since the last meeting in October, 10-year JGB yields have fallen and the yen has appreciated, giving the BOJ little incentive to revise policy at this stage,\" said Barclays economist Christian Keller.\n\"We think the BOJ will wait to confirm the result of the 'shunto' wage negotiations next spring, before moving in April.\"\nJapan's Nikkei lost 0.7%, weighed in part by a firm yen. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3%.\nSouth Korea's main index added 0.3%, showing no obvious reaction to reports North Korea had fired a ballistic missile off its east coast.\nChinese blue chips edged down 0.3%, following five straight weeks of falls.\nS&P 500 futures inched up 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures added 0.2%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures slipped 0.3% and FTSE futures 0.1%.\nOver in the United States, a reading on core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index is forecast by analysts to rise 0.2% in November with the annual inflation rate slowing to its lowest since mid-2021 at 3.4%.\nAnalysts suspect the balance of risk is on the downside and a rise of 0.1% for the month would see the six-month annualised pace of inflation slow to just 2.1% and almost at the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.\nMarkets reckon the slowdown in inflation means the Fed will have to ease policy just to stop real rates from rising, and are wagering on early and aggressive action.\nNew York Fed President John Williams did try to rain on the parade on Friday by saying there was no talk of easing by policy makers, but markets were disinclined to listen.\nMARCH MADNESS\nTwo-year Treasury yields ticked up only slightly in response, and still ended the week down a steep 28 basis points at the lowest close since mid-May.\nYields on 10-year notes stood at 3.91%, having dived 33 basis points last week in the biggest weekly fall since early 2020.\nFed fund futures imply a 74% chance of a rate cut as early as March, while May has 39 basis points (bp) of easing priced in. The market also implies at least 140 basis points of cuts for all of 2024.\n\"We now forecast three consecutive 25bp cuts in March, May, and June, followed by a slower pace of one cut per quarter until reaching a terminal rate of 3.25-3.5%, 25bp lower than we previously expected,\" wrote analysts at Goldman Sachs in a client note.\n\"This implies five cuts in 2024 and three more cuts in 2025.\"\nIf correct, such easing would allow some Asian central banks to ease earlier, with Goldman bringing forward cuts in India, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines.\nThe investment bank also raised its forecast for the S&P 500 which it now sees ending 2024 at 5,100, while decelerating inflation and Fed easing would keep real yields low and support a price-to-earnings multiple greater than 19.\nThe market's dovish outlook for U.S. rates saw the dollar slip 1.3% against a basket of currencies last week, though the Fed is hardly alone in the rate-cutting stakes.\nMarkets imply around 150 basis points of easing by the European Central Bank next year, and 113 basis points of cuts from the Bank of England.\nThat outlook restrained the euro at $1.0909, having pulled back from a top of $1.1004 on Friday. The dollar was looking more vulnerable against the yen at 142.23, having slid 1.9% last week.\nThe drop in the dollar and yields should be positive for gold at $2,021 an ounce, though that was short of its recent all-time peak of $2,135.40. [GOL/]\nOil prices were trying to steady after hitting a five-month low last week amid doubts all OPEC+ producers will stick with caps on output. [O/R]\nLower exports from Russia and attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea offered some support. Brent nudged up 47 cents to $77.02 a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 47 cents to $71.90.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Jacqueline Wong)\n",
        "title": "Asia shares subdued for BOJ meeting, US inflation test"
    },
    {
        "id": 1501,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-markets-asia-shares-brace-002556128.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "*\nAsian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4\n*\nNikkei wary of yen gains, S&P 500 futures up 0.1%\n*\nFocus on BOJ meeting for tightening clues\n*\nU.S. inflation data to test market doves\nBy Wayne Cole\nSYDNEY, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Asia stocks got off to a cautious start on Monday in a week where Japan's central bank might edge further away from its uber-easy policies, while a key reading on U.S. inflation is expected to underpin market pricing of interest rate cuts there.\nThe Bank of Japan (BOJ) meets Tuesday amid much chatter that it is considering how and when to move away from negative interest rates. None of the analysts polled by Reuters expected a definitive move at this meeting, but policy makers might start laying the groundwork for an eventual shift.\nApril was favoured by 17 of 28 economists as the kick-off for negative rates to be scrapped, making the BOJ one of the few central banks in the world actually tightening.\n\"Since the last meeting in October, 10-year JGB yields have fallen and the yen has appreciated, giving the BOJ little incentive to revise policy at this stage,\" said Barclays economist Christian Keller.\n\"We think the BOJ will wait to confirm the result of the 'shunto' wage negotiations next spring, before moving in April.\"\nJapan's Nikkei slipped 0.8% in early trade, weighed in part by a firm yen. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.2%.\nSouth Korea's main index was flat, showing no obvious reaction to reports North Korea had fired a ballistic missile off its east coast.\nS&P 500 futures inched up 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures were near flat.\nOver in the United States, a reading on core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index is forecast by analysts to rise 0.2% in November with the annual inflation rate slowing to its lowest since mid-2021 at 3.4%.\nAnalysts suspect the balance of risk is on the downside and a rise of 0.1% for the month would see the six-month annualised pace of inflation slow to just 2.1% and almost at the Federal Reserve's target of 2%.\nMarkets reckon the slowdown in inflation means the Fed will have to ease policy just to stop real rates from rising, and are wagering on early and aggressive action.\nNew York Fed President John Williams did try to rain on the parade on Friday by saying there was no talk of easing by policy makers, but markets were disinclined to listen.\nMARCH MADNESS\nTwo-year Treasury yields ticked up only slightly in response, and still ended the week down a steep 28 basis points at the lowest close since mid-May.\nYields on 10-year notes stood at 3.93%, having dived 33 basis points last week in the biggest weekly fall since early 2020.\nFed fund futures imply a 70% chance of a rate cut as early as March, while May has 39 basis points (bp) of easing priced in. The market also implies at least 140 basis points of cuts for all of 2024.\n\"We now forecast three consecutive 25bp cuts in March, May, and June, followed by a slower pace of one cut per quarter until reaching a terminal rate of 3.25-3.5%, 25bp lower than we previously expected,\" wrote analysts at Goldman Sachs in a client note.\n\"This implies five cuts in 2024 and three more cuts in 2025.\"\nIf correct, such easing would allow some Asian central banks to ease earlier, with Goldman bringing forward cuts in India, Taiwan, Indonesia and Philippines.\nThe investment bank also raised its forecast for the S&P 500 which it now sees ending 2024 at 5,100, while decelerating inflation and Fed easing would keep real yields low and support a price-to-earnings multiple greater than 19.\nThe market's dovish outlook for U.S. rates saw the dollar slip 1.3% against a basket of currencies last week, though the Fed is hardly alone in the rate-cutting stakes.\nMarkets imply around 150 basis points of easing by the European Central Bank next year, and 113 basis points of cuts from the Bank of England.\nThat outlook restrained the euro at $1.0894, having pulled back from a top of $1.1004 on Friday. The dollar was looking more vulnerable against the yen at 142.40, having slid 1.9% last week.\nThe drop in the dollar and yields should be positive for gold at $2,016 an ounce, though that was short of its recent all-time peak of $2,135.40.\nOil prices were trying to steady after hitting a five-month low last week amid doubts all OPEC+ producers will stick with caps on output.\nBrent nudged up 72 cents to $77.27 a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 68 cents to $72.11 per barrel.\n(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Christopher Cushing)\n",
        "title": "GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares brace for BOJ meeting, US inflation test"
    },
    {
        "id": 1502,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/press-digest-financial-times-dec-001949531.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "Dec 18 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.\nHeadlines\n- Ukraine's economic recovery depends on extra allied aid, warns IMF chief\n- US concern over Mexico attracting Chinese electric vehicle factories\n- NHS to pioneer drone deliveries in bid to improve service\n- Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary on course for 100 mln-euro bonus\nOverview\n- The leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)Kristalina Georgieva is urging those who back Ukraine to provide tens of billions of dollars for the nation as soon as possible as she issued a warning, saying that any delays in delivering the extra cash may jeopardize Kyiv's precarious economic recovery.\n- The United States has conveyed to Mexico its concerns on an impending spike in Chinese investments in the nation. Three significant Chinese producers of electric vehicles are preparing to build plants close to the border with the United States at this time.\n- Zipline, a Silicon Valley-based company, plans to use drones to deliver medical supplies for the UK's National Health Service (NHS). According to the groups, this strategy will save costs while improving care for thousands of patients.\n- Ryanair's CEO, Michael O'Leary, is expected to get a bonus of 100 million euros ($108.94 million) after the low-cost carrier's stock hit a new high this week.\n($1 = 0.9179 euros) (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)\n",
        "title": "PRESS DIGEST- Financial Times - Dec. 18"
    },
    {
        "id": 1503,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/three-australian-buyouts-worth-2-001247475.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "By Scott Murdoch\nSYDNEY, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Australian building products group Adbri Ltd and pension firm Link Group were among three takeover targets facing bids worth A$3.5 billion ($2.34 billion) made on Monday in a year-end rush of deals involving listed companies.\nAdbri shares jumped 31% after it said it was in exclusive talks with international building materials group CRH and major shareholder Barro Group for a A$2.1 billion takeover offer.\nThe two firms have offered A$3.20 per share for Adbri which is a 41% premium to the company's closing price on Friday.\nBarro, a family-owned private Australian group, owns 43% of Adbri, and CRH, which is London and U.S. listed, has a 4.6% interest in the takeover target through a cash-settled derivative, they said in a statement.\nAdbri's independent board committee has recommended the takeover and the two buyers will now undertake exclusive due diligence ahead of lodging a binding bid.\nLink shares jumped 27.65% early Monday after it said it had received a A$1.2 billion bid from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group , Japan's largest banking group.\nMitsubishi said it held a 6.4% stake in Link and the takeover target's board recommended the bid in the absence of a superior offer emerging for the company.\nMeanwhile, dental group Pacific Smiles said a A$223 million unsolicited bid from private equity firm Genesis Capital was 'opportunistically timed'. It said its board would consider the offer before making a recommendation to shareholders.\nPacific Smiles shares rose nearly 16% on the takeover offer. ($1 = 1.4928 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Sonali Paul)\n",
        "title": "Three Australian buyouts worth $2.35 billion emerge in end-of-year deal rush"
    },
    {
        "id": 1504,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lithium-ends-dire-cautious-mood-000100427.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Lithium buyers are sounding cautious on the key battery metal’s prospects for next year, even after a huge plunge in prices.\nProducers have recently been in talks with clients — mostly in Asia — to hash out contracts for 2024. While sales volumes rose in the previous couple of years amid the electric vehicle boom, this time around they look like remaining flat, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. Deals are also being discussed at bigger price discounts than last year.\nThe more somber mood during the talks follows a boom and bust in the market. Lithium prices surged to a record in the two years through 2022 on the back of a buying frenzy. But the metal has crashed about 80% this year in response to a rapid expansion of production and as battery demand began to disappoint.\nThe consequences of lithium’s slide has been profound for both buyers and sellers. Shares in top producers like Albemarle Corp. and Ganfeng Lithium Group Co. plunged this year, and for now some are producing more than they can sell. For users like Tesla Inc. and Ford meanwhile, the shift to a buyers’ market will bring relief after surging battery prices hurt profits last year — though they’re now facing an ominous slowdown in EV sales.\nUntil a few years ago, the lithium sector negotiated long-term supply contracts at fixed prices. That changed as large price swings created cost headaches for battery firms and automakers. That prompted a shift to annual agreements struck in a similar way to other metals like copper during a “mating season,” with deals inked at premiums or discounts to a measure of spot prices.\nLithium talks, which tend to last from November until year-end, are still ongoing. Supply volumes being discussed are little changed from a year ago, according to the people with knowledge of some of the negotiations.\nThose deals are also being discussed at discounts of roughly 5% to 10% to an index of spot prices, the people said. That compares with smaller discounts agreed last time and premiums the year before that. Some of the discounts being proposed might only apply to supplies for part of next year and may still change.\nAsia is by far the top lithium buyer. Annual contracts account for a large amount of purchases made by most South Korean, Japanese and Chinese users.\nLithium prices are now at their lowest since 2021, a stark turnaround from last year when the auto industry fretted about long-term shortages. With new production coming onstream to overwhelm demand, users have enough inventories to tap and aren’t under pressure to lock in supplies — especially as some EV makers rethink their growth plans.\nWhile some analysts have said lithium’s rout is nearing an end, a sharp turnaround appears unlikely. Global battery demand is forecast to grow 38% next year, down from an estimated 53% this year, according to Rystad Energy.\n",
        "title": "Lithium Ends Dire Year With Cautious Mood During Contract Season"
    },
    {
        "id": 1505,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-3-trillion-debt-fueled-000005242.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- When a Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. affiliate bought Summit Health-CityMD around a year ago, the pharmacy group’s management hailed the deal as transformational for its push into primary health care.\nTwelve months later, the $8.9 billion takeover has struggled to deliver cost synergies and Walgreens’s creditworthiness has just been cut to junk for the first time since its formation.\nThe travails highlight a problem facing companies that relied on cheap credit to fund big mergers and acquisitions during the boom times: how to keep lofty M&A promises while servicing large debt loads in a new environment of higher rates and fading consumer demand.\nBloomberg News delved into company filings, bond indexes and ratings agency reports in an analysis of 75 of the largest corporate acquisitions over the past five years with a combined value of almost $1.3 trillion.\n“Weaker blue-chip firms that could secure relatively cheap funding were doing large, debt-financed M&A transactions that committed them to delevering in the short term, which didn’t materialize,” said Tim Eisert, associate professor of finance at Portugal’s Nova School of Business and Economics.\nResearch by a team including Eisert has shown that dealmaking by companies in danger of losing their investment-grade status enables them to keep that rating for a longer period of time.Read more: S&P 500 Buyback Programs Near $1 Trillion for 2023 as M&A Flags\nTipping Point\nA reckoning may now be coming for corporates that need to refinance debt if they can’t deliver on synergies or earnings growth. And there are plenty of headwinds to contend with: cash buffers built up during the Covid-19 pandemic are beginning to erode, sales are under pressure from weaker consumer spending and the risk of recession threatens future profits.\nWhen post-M&A performance disappoints, debt burdens quickly become a headache for companies and their investors. At fewer companies has this been more evident in recent times than at Bayer AG. The German pharma and agriculture conglomerate last month said it’s weighing a breakup that could undo much of its troubled $63 billion takeover acquisition of Monsanto.\nBack at Walgreens, Moody’s Investors Service this month downgraded the drugstore chain’s senior unsecured credit to junk, citing its high debt relative to earnings and risks related to its health-care services push. In October, S&P Global Inc. flagged Walgreens’s challenges in de-leveraging and sustaining strong cash flow generation after a spate of transformative M&A as it cut the company to a notch above junk.\n“We are disappointed by Moody’s decision and the limited timeframe given to demonstrate the results of our de-leveraging efforts and planned actions to improve underlying business performance,” said a spokesperson for Walgreens, who pointed to the company's move to cut debt by $2.6 billion in the past year and measures taken to lower its capital expenditure by about $600 million.\nOther companies that embarked on multibillion-dollar M&A in the past five years that have seen their creditworthiness slide to the edge of junk include cable and internet provider Rogers Communications Inc. and scent maker International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., according to Bloomberg’s analysis.\n“A rise in interest costs and weakening earnings has led to a drop in interest coverage and higher leverage ratios,” Sriram Reddy, a managing director at investment firm Man GLG, wrote in October. “It may take a few more quarters, but we do think that aggregate spreads will need to reflect this fundamental deterioration.”\nCredit investor Oaktree Capital Management has also been sounding the alarm about the deteriorating quality in the loan market for high-yield firms, arguing much of the floating rate debt was issued on the basis of aggressive earnings assumptions that haven’t been achieved.\nCost Controls\nWith higher interest rates beginning to hurt, only 7% of chief financial officers surveyed by US Bank felt “very confident” about managing the situation. This has put cutting costs and driving efficiencies high on the agenda for CFOs, who, according to the poll published in October, concede it may come at the expense of future growth.\nExecutives at Walgreens are slashing spending by closing unprofitable locations in their efforts to improve performance and the company is also reviving discussions about a potential exit from its UK drugstore chain Boots, which could be valued at about £7 billion ($8.9 billion), Bloomberg News reported this month. Walgreens had about $8.1 billion of long-term debt at the end of August, down from $10.6 billion a year earlier.\nElsewhere, Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri is looking to reduce borrowings at the combined Rogers-Shaw Communications Inc., having finally completed one of Canada’s biggest-ever corporate takeovers earlier this year. After that deal closed, Rogers was downgraded by S&P to BBB-. The company announced on Dec. 11 the sale of its minority stake in a rival telecommunications firm for more than C$800 million ($598 million), money it will use to trim its debt. Rogers said it expects its debt leverage ratio will be 4.7 times by the end of this year, and that it still plans to divest C$1 billion in other assets — mostly real estate — to bring this down further.\nIFF, which in 2019 agreed to buy DuPont de Nemours Inc.’s nutrition and biosciences division for $26 billion, last year outlined a restructuring that included a plan to bring down debt through operational improvements and non-core divestitures. A representative for IFF didn’t respond to requests for comment.\nAsset manager Insight Investment expects a difficult operating environment to make debt loads harder to manage for companies, whether interest rates remain high or begin to drop from next year. “There is a strong desire to defend an investment-grade rating,” said Adam Whiteley, head of global credit at Insight. “The next part of the cycle could be more challenging.”\nRepresentatives for Moody's and S&P declined to comment. A spokesperson for Fitch directed Bloomberg News to a ratings criteria memo posted on its website.\nFor other recent acquirers, however, the need to navigate higher interest rates and their impact on the consumer doesn’t mean shutting the door on more dealmaking.\nInterviews with seven finance executives whose firms engaged in M&A in recent years, including media and entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and German software company SAP SE, show they continue to seek opportunities. But these are far more likely to be bolt-on than era-defining transactions.\n“De-levering and funding growth are not mutually exclusive,” said Fraser Woodford, an executive vice president for treasury at Warner Bros. Discovery. “We are going to reduce debt and grow, not one or the other.” In 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery completed a $43 billion merger with AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia division. The company’s debt rating remains unchanged at BBB-.\nSAP, meanwhile, is weighing smaller deals having only recently exited the remainder of its stake in Qualtrics International Inc., the software provider it agreed to acquire for around $8 billion five years ago. “Tuck-in acquisitions are always possible,” said Dominik Asam, CFO of SAP. “With higher interest rates usually come declining valuations of M&A targets.”\nWaste Management Inc., the trash hauler whose debt- and cash-backed acquisitions in recent years have included buying Advanced Disposal Services Inc. for more than $4 billion, also remains on the lookout for deals, according to its CFO Devina Rankin.\n“If the deal is right, we believe that this interest rate environment can still be very attractive because, while elevated compared to the last 15 years or so, it's certainly still a relatively affordable debt environment,” she said.\nRead more: Corporate America Is Ignoring Jay Powell and Bingeing on Debt\nBuyers Beware\nSome fund managers, including David Brown, co-head of global investment grade at Neuberger Berman Group LLC, are cautious about mistakes previously prudent companies could be about to make with acquisitions as they adjust to the new economic environment.\n“Even though interest rates are higher, they’re more optimistic now, so that’s when you start to see activity,” he said. “That’s how you may see downgrades from single-A to triple-B.”\nCompanies have been paying average premiums of more than 40% to get acquisitions done this year, Bloomberg-compiled data show — one of the highest annual figures on record. To be sure, markets are quick to punish those that fail to justify such big bets.\n“There have been very effective deals, but a number of them have been completely value destructive,” said Jan Du Plessis, who was chairman of brewer SABMiller when it was sold in 2016 to Anheuser-Busch InBev at a massive premium.\nAB InBev investors haven’t enjoyed the rewards of that $100 billion-plus deal — still one of the largest-ever corporate transactions — with the company’s stock down roughly 50% since the start of 2016.\n“People just underestimate the challenges of cultural integration when they do these large deals,” Du Plessis said. “So often they only create value for the selling shareholders.”\nDebt-Fueled Dealings\nA look at how three deals are currently fairing• Going WellIn 2019, Duke Realty Corp.’s then CFO Mark Denien described Prologis Inc. as a 900-pound gorilla in the world of warehouses. Three years later, Prologis, drawn by Duke’s comparatively new assets in key markets such as New Jersey, acquired its rival in a roughly $26 billion deal.\nPrologis expected the deal to generate as much as $370 million in synergies, with a similar amount to potentially come over the longer term. It kept its A rating after the transaction.\n“If we can find high quality strategic assets that fit and overlap with our existing portfolio, we’ve come to believe” that “we can just run assets better on our platform,” Prologis CFO Tim Arndt said in an interview, referring to a recent deal to buy properties from Blackstone Inc.\nWhile Prologis is more “disciplined in this environment,” it’s still deploying capital, looking for investment opportunities and developing new assets, according to Arndt. “What we’re really looking for is the spread between the cost of capital and what the deployment can earn,” he said.\nKeeping leverage low by real estate standards has given Prologis the option of debt-funded acquisitions. Growth in cash flows as rents for industrial space surged in recent years means the company has struggled with “levering up to perhaps a more optimal number,” Arndt said.\n• Work in ProgressOracle Corp. caught some analysts by surprise when it landed its largest-ever acquisition in 2021. Instead of expected debt reductions, the purchase of Cerner Corp. meant the technology group was beginning to look too leveraged for its credit rating.\nMajor arbiters of creditworthiness had already been quick to cut Oracle’s score in early 2021 when the firm started spending billions of dollars more than expected on share buybacks. Then came the $28 billion-plus acquisition of Cerner, spurring another round of downgrades that left Oracle two steps above the junk threshold.\nBefore the takeover, Fitch analysts expected debt to drop to 3.2 times earnings by the end of the 2024 financial year. The latest estimates point to higher gross leverage, assuming both earnings grow and debt is repaid. In addition, there’s been some near-term headwinds to Cerner’s growth rate as customers move from license purchases to cloud subscriptions and the business is undergoing modernization.\nExecutives are working to drive profitability to “Oracle standards,” CEO Safra Catz said on an earnings call in September.\nA representative for Oracle didn’t respond to requests for comment.\n• A Bitter PillWhen Bayer concluded its deal to buy Monsanto in 2018, the chairman of the German company’s board of management Werner Baumann described the transaction as a great moment for shareholders with the “potential to create significant value.”\nThe $63 billion deal has instead been a disaster for Bayer, which has encountered an avalanche of US litigation tied to Monsanto products. It’s pledged billions of dollars to resolve lawsuits claiming that the Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, which Bayer denies, and it may have to spend more to handle a growing number of suits linked to legacy Monsanto products, such as toxic polychlorinated biphenyls.\nBayer’s shares have fallen roughly 70% since the Monsanto deal closed, wiping about $70 billion off its market value. The company is now reviewing its strategy under new CEO Bill Anderson, who has said nothing is off the table.\nAlthough Bayer’s purchase of Monsanto falls just outside the parameters of deals done in the last five years for our rankings, it deserves a mention because the firm is now rated BBB by S&P, having been at A- before the deal closed. S&P did revise its outlook on Bayer to positive earlier this year, pointing to higher earnings potential at its crop science and consumer health divisions and declining cash litigation payments.\nA spokesperson for Bayer said that regulatory and scientific assessments continue to support the safety of glyphosate — an active ingredient used in Roundup. The spokesperson declined to comment further.\n--With assistance from Sabah Meddings, Fiona Rutherford, Derek Decloet, Brody Ford and Tim Loh.\n",
        "title": "A $1.3 Trillion Debt-Fueled Boom in Deals Faces a Grim New Reality"
    },
    {
        "id": 1506,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rupiah-resilience-put-test-indonesia-000000835.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The rupiah looks poised to weaken heading into 2024, as uncertainty ahead of Indonesia’s national elections in February plays on investors’ minds.\nThe currency may trade around 15,800 a dollar in the first quarter next year, according to BNY Mellon Corp., HSBC Holdings Plc. and PT Bank Mandiri. It closed at 15,493 Friday.\nHistorically, the rupiah has underperformed peers in the run-up to the elections. The concerns this time are also stemming from a change of guard after a decade. Worries over political stability and policy continuity may weigh on the currency as the nation prepares to choose President Joko Widodo’s successor.\nRead: A Guide to Indonesia’s Elections as Candidates Lay Out Pledges\n“During the past three elections, the rupiah consistently underperformed select EM peers in the four to six weeks prior,” said Joey Chew, head of Asian FX research at HSBC. While the currency “catches up” after an election, the rebound may be delayed as opinion polls suggest a second round of voting in late June will be needed to determine a winner, delaying inflows, she said.\nThe impact is already visible on the rupiah, which has gone from being Asia’s best performer earlier in the year to weaken the most against the dollar this quarter. The rupiah has fallen nearly 0.3% during the period despite a weaker greenback. In contrast, the MSCI Emerging Market Currency Index saw a gain of about 3.5%.\nWhile foreign investors have pulled out nearly $600 million from Indonesian equities since October, inflows of about $900 million in bonds provided a cushion. The outlook, however, doesn’t appear bright, with a Bloomberg scorecard showing the nation’s sovereign debt ranking near the bottom among emerging economies.\nRunoff Poll\nThe upcoming elections may decide the rupiah’s trajectory by indicating if the new government will stick to Widodo’s policies, which helped lift the nation’s export earnings and trim the current account deficit, supporting the currency.\nJokowi, as the president is widely known, will complete 10 years in office next year. During his term, Indonesia’s fiscal deficit narrowed sharply from a record high in the pandemic, and the economy grew faster than many regional peers.\nLeading candidates, Prabowo Subianto and Ganjar Pranowo, have so far pledged to continue Widodo’s economic policies. Rival contestant Anies Baswedan has vowed to walk back some of those, including a plan to establish a new capital.\nThe official declaration of the winner will be made in March. But if no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes, a runoff poll will be held in June.\n“The main risks are from an extended lag between elections and new government formation which could still expose the rupiah to policy uncertainty,” said Aninda Mitra, head of Asia macro and investment strategy at BNY Mellon. The central bank will stay on hold through the elections “and that should provide a buffer against any political uncertainty in the months ahead,” he said.\n--With assistance from Claire Jiao.\n",
        "title": "Rupiah’s Resilience Put to Test as Indonesia Heads for Elections"
    },
    {
        "id": 1507,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-economic-conditions-improve-2024-235048741.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "BEIJING (Reuters) -China's economy is expected to see more favourable conditions and more opportunities than challenges in 2024, state media said citing officials of the Chinese Communist Party's finance and economy office.\nMacroeconomic policies will continue to provide support for economic recovery, the official Xinhua said in a detailed readout of the annual Central Economic Work Conference held from Dec. 11-12, during which top leaders set economic targets for the following year.\n\"China's prices are low, central government debt levels are not high, and conditions are in place to strengthen implementation of monetary and fiscal policies,\" Xinhua said, quoting the office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission late Sunday.\nStill, blockages persist in the domestic economic cycle as demand, consumption and enterprise investment remain weak.\nNext year, the party officials said China will look to shift from a post-pandemic recovery to sustained consumption growth.\nThe International Monetary Fund last month revised upward its growth forecast for China to 5.4% this year, attributing the revision to a \"strong\" post-COVID recovery. The government has set a target of around 5%.\nThe world's second-largest economy will also cultivate new consumption growth areas such as smart homes, recreation and tourism and sports events.\nThe effects of this year's treasury bond issuance, cuts in interest rates, tax and fee cuts and other policies will continue into next year, the report said.\nChina would also continue to monitor its battered real estate market and meet the reasonable financing needs of real estate companies.\n\"With the concerted efforts of all parties, the policy objectives of real estate risk prevention and market stabilisation can be fully achieved,\" the Xinhua report said.\n($1 = 7.1179 Chinese yuan)\n(Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Sam Holmes)\n",
        "title": "China's economic conditions to improve in 2024 - officials"
    },
    {
        "id": 1508,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-mufg-buy-australia-744-234951589.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp. said it will buy Australian data manager Link Administration Holdings Ltd. in a deal valued at about A$1.11 billion ($744 million), as Japanese lenders build on a slew of commitments to acquire higher returning assets abroad.\nThe unit of Japan’s largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., will pay A$2.10 per share, a 23.5% premium to Friday’s closing stock price, according to a statement from Mitsubishi on Monday. Link, in a separate statement, said its board unanimously recommended shareholders vote in favor of the transaction. The stock surged 27% to A$2.16 as of 10:46 a.m. in Sydney.\nThe deal comes a year after the Australian pension fund administration firm said that it could not agree to “appropriate terms” with Canada’s Dye & Durham Ltd. regarding a sale of multiple parts of its business that together had been valued at A$1.27 billion, ending a monthslong saga of transaction talks.\nSince the last takeover talks ceased, the company has been on a turnaround path, sealing the sale of its UK-based fund solutions unit to the Waystone Group after a run-in with Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority for administering a now-collapsed fund run by former star money manager Neil Woodford.\nOverseas M&A activity from Japanese banks has been notable in recent years as ultra-low interest rates at home pushed executives to seek higher returns in places from Asia to the US. Those foreign expansions helped to buoy profitability during their recent results where earnings hit an all-time high for the first half.\n(Adds Link share price in second paragraph)\n",
        "title": "Japan’s MUFG to Buy Australia’s Link in $744 Million Deal"
    },
    {
        "id": 1509,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boj-likely-keep-world-last-234501238.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep the world’s last negative interest rate intact on Tuesday, with investors set to scour comments for hints on if — and when — authorities might scrap the policy next year.\nAlmost all 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast no change in major policy settings for the short-term rate and yield curve control mechanism at the policy meeting that concludes on Dec. 19.\nWith two-thirds forecasting an end to the subzero rate by April, economists’ key focus will be whether the bank signals any progress toward achieving its inflation goal. Following the Federal Reserve’s surprise dovish turn last week, market watchers will be on guard against another potential surprise by Governor Kazuo Ueda.\nBOJ officials see little need to rush into scrapping the negative rate this month in the absence of enough evidence of wage growth to support sustainable inflation, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg earlier this month.\nMeantime, the yield curve control policy isn’t under the spotlight, as it’s widely seen to have become an insurance policy to prevent a sudden surge of bond yields ever since Ueda enhanced the mechanism’s flexibility in October.\nThis week’s meeting doesn’t coincide with the release of updated forecasts in a quarterly outlook report. That leaves the BOJ with two channels in which to convey its latest thinking: the policy statement, which usually comes around noon, and Ueda’s post-meeting press conference at 3:30 p.m.\nA series of events earlier this month reignited speculation of a potential early rate move. Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino’s generally upbeat discussion of what the impact of a hike might be was the first. Ueda further fueled the rumblings by musing that his job would become “more challenging” from the year-end. He said that before meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has highlighted the importance of policy alignment.\nWhat Bloomberg Economics Says...\n“Some investors saw recent comments by Bank of Japan officials, broaching the topic of exit scenarios, as a signal of an imminent move away from yield curve control. This is likely a mistake. We see the messaging as part of a long process of laying the groundwork for a smooth transition next year, most likely in July.”\nTaro Kimura, economist\nClick here to read the full report.\nFor Kishida, one aspect of policy alignment means supporting the yen in order to cap imported inflation. His support ratings have sagged due to simmering resentment over rising costs of living.\nKishida and his party are at the center of one new factor expected to encourage the BOJ to hold: last week’s political turmoil. Four cabinet ministers in Kishida’s administration were forced to resign Thursday after a funding scandal enveloped the biggest faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The administration’s low approval ratings took yet another hit, tumbling to the lowest for a Japanese cabinet in 14 years.\nIf he’s going to conduct the nation’s first rate hike since 2007, Ueda probably would prefer to do so when the government is stable and in a position to coordinate. In the past, exits from ultraeasy policy were derided as premature. In one case, the central bank carried out a policy reversal that ultimately proved a failure in the face of government objections.\nAround one-third of BOJ watchers expect the bank to drop a hint Tuesday laying the groundwork for normalization in coming months, while about half don’t foresee that happening.\nThe BOJ has so far refrained from giving any clear hints of the timing of a potential liftoff. That suggests Japanese authorities aren’t likely to resort to the sort of clear-cut messaging employed by the Fed and some of its peers, when officials sometimes telegraphed further rate hikes at the peak of their fights against inflation.\nIn October, Ueda suggested at a post-meeting press conference that the bank was getting slightly closer to reducing monetary stimulus by saying the certainty for hitting its inflation target had risen a little. Subtle tweaks to its macroeconomic assessments may continue to be the extent to which the bank communicates its intentions.\nThere is no need for the BOJ to give additional guidance for raising rates as market players are already broadly and rightly expecting it to happen in April, according to Hideo Hayakawa, a former BOJ executive director.\n",
        "title": "BOJ Likely to Keep World’s Last Negative Rate in Upcoming Decision"
    },
    {
        "id": 1510,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biotech-giant-illumina-unwind-takeover-231745589.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "SAN DIEGO, Calif. (AP) — Biotech giant Illumina says it will undo its $7.1 billion purchase of the cancer-screening company Grail after losing legal battles with antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and Europe.\nSan Diego-based Illumina said in a Sunday statement that it made its decision to divest Grail after a U.S. appeals court ruled Friday that the merger could violate antitrust laws.\nThe European Union in October ordered the deal to be unwound because it closed in 2021 without regulatory approval from the 27-nation bloc. The EU earlier slapped a $475 million fine on Illumina for jumping the gun on the acquisition without its consent.\nIlumina said Sunday it had already pledged to divest Grail if it was not successful with either the European Court of Justice or in the Louisiana-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the U.S. Federal Trade Commission case seeking to block the deal was most recently considered.\nThe company said the divestiture will happen through a third-party sale or capital markets transaction by the end of the second quarter of 2024.\nIllumina is a major supplier of next-generation sequencing systems for genetic and genomic analysis. Grail, based in Menlo Park, California, is a health company developing blood tests to try to catch cancer early.\n“We are committed to an expeditious divestiture of GRAIL in a manner that allows its technology to continue benefitting patients,” llumina CEO Jacob Thaysen said in a statement.\nThaysen began leading the company in September after months of tumult over the legal challenges.\n",
        "title": "Biotech giant Illumina will unwind takeover of cancer-screening company Grail"
    },
    {
        "id": 1511,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hong-kong-luxury-retailers-adjusting-230551518.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Farah Master\nHONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's luxury retailers are adapting to fewer wealthy Chinese shoppers visiting the city and a shift towards tourists flocking to Instagram-coveted spots in trendy districts rather than splashing out on pricey branded gear.\nBefore the pandemic, the Chinese special administrative region had bucked global trends of declining demand for multi-brand department stores and ultra-luxury brands largely due to its attractiveness to high-spending mainland visitors.\nBut the rise of competing shopping hubs like China's Hainan island, changing consumer preferences and a rise in online shopping have fundamentally changed demand for luxury goods in Hong Kong and are starting to reshape the city's visitor economy, according to industry experts.\n\"The focus of visitors in Hong Kong has shifted from 'shop till you drop' to a greater desire for local culture and experience-based touring,\" said Rosanna Tang, an executive director at Cushman & Wakefield.\nOvernight and same-day visitor shopping spend was at 55% and 18% of 2018 levels respectively in the first half of the year, said Tang, prompting retailers to focus more on food and beverage outlets.\nBritish luxury department store Harvey Nichols is at the forefront of the changes. Its owner Dickson Concepts said last month it would give up its lease on its flagship five-level store in the upscale Landmark mall in the city's centre after almost two decades.\n\"Chinese tourists coming to Hong Kong are no longer focused on shopping as they used to be before the pandemic,\" the company said in a statement.\nThere are also fewer visitors, with arrivals recovering to just 60% of the levels in 2018, before anti-government protests in 2019 and stringent rules during the pandemic.\nHong Kong's total retail sales are down about 20% from 2018 levels and in an effort to reduce the reliance on luxury spending by Chinese shoppers, the government and tourism sector are trying to woo visitors to nature and leisure attractions.\nBusiness chambers and companies are also trying to rebuild ties between the West and Hong Kong after Beijing's imposition of a national security law in 2020 and draconian COVID rules prompted an exodus of tens of thousands of people.\nThe government said this month that it is developing several projects from large-scale festivals to green tourism in the outlying islands and the creation of a hiking hub.\nIt remains unclear how effective that strategy will be to lure back spending. Luxury hotel occupancy is strong but on the back of the return of business travellers.\nHarvey Nichols closure comes after brands including Valentino, Burberry and LVMH's Tiffany shut some of their stores in Hong Kong, where retail rents are the highest in Asia despite having dropped about 40% since 2019.\nREPOSITIONING\nDespite the closures, Hong Kong reclaimed its position as number one in per-capita spending on luxury goods this year, ahead of Switzerland and Singapore said Euromonitor International, which expects the city to recover to its pre-COVID personal luxury goods sales levels by the middle of 2024.\nSnarled traffic has returned across commercial districts after a three-year lull, while drinkers and revellers are trickling back into the city's bar districts.\nThings will improve in the luxury sector, said Caroline Reyl Head of Premium Brands at Pictet Asset Management, which owns shares of LVMH, but it will likely be challenging to return to previous levels due to competition from the Chinese tropical island of Hainan.\n\"There was probably some over-distribution in the past,\" she said, meaning that major luxury labels over-saturated Hong Kong with their stores. \"As some luxury brands have reduced their exposure to Hong Kong, that space will be filled by other brands.\"\nLVMH-owned Louis Vuitton is among those betting on the city's future prospects.\nEven as stores remain quiet versus queues outside pre-COVID, Louis Vuitton held a star-studded fashion show alongside Hong Kong’s harbour last month to signify a luxury renaissance in the former British colony.\nChanel opened a new flashy two-storey retail space in Causeway Bay this year, while De Beers and LVMH's Bulgari both opened flagship stores in the popular Tsim Sha Tsui district.\nProperty developer Hong Kong Land, owner of the Landmark mall being vacated by Harvey Nichols, said tenant sales and footfall in its city centre malls have returned to pre-pandemic levels.\nOn a recent visit to the Landmark, crowds packed restaurants and thronged the festive display areas in the lobby. Few, however, were shopping for designer gear.\n\"It's a true shame that Harvey Nichols is leaving Landmark, but the fact of the matter is that they really have no business,\" said 67-year-old Sarah Ng, who was walking through the mall. \"It's so high-end, but they have no customers.\"\n(Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Dorothy Kam, Clare Jim, Donny Kwok and Jessie Pang in Hong Kong, Casey Hall in Shanghai and Mimosa Spencer in Paris; Editing by Jamie Freed)\n",
        "title": "Hong Kong luxury retailers adjusting to drop in high-spending Chinese tourists"
    },
    {
        "id": 1512,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/business-travel-emissions-drop-many-230507788.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "By Joanna Plucinska\nLONDON (Reuters) - Almost half of 217 global firms cut their business travel carbon emissions by at least 50% between 2019 and 2022, analysis published on Monday found, as corporate air travel returned at a much slower pace since the pandemic than leisure flights.\nDespite a global rebound, business travel has been slow to return to 2019 levels, with many corporate clients turning to video conferencing or rail trips rather than flying.\nGlobal business travel firms say this trend could hit corporate relationships, while environmentalists argue it represents an important step in minimizing overall emissions.\nAdvocacy group Transport and Environment has said that a 50% reduction in business travel from pre-COVID levels is needed this decade to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.\nMajor companies such as tech firm SAP, accounting firm PwC and Lloyd's Banking Group all reduced their corporate air travel emissions by more than 75% compared to 2019, the Travel Smart Emissions Tracker analysis concluded.\n\"The way forward is collaboration with more online meetings, more travel by train and less by plane,\" Denise Auclair, Travel Smart campaign manager, said in a statement.\nHowever, the study found 21 of the companies exceeded their levels of flying compared to 2019, with L3Harris, Boston Scientific and Marriott International increasing their carbon emissions by more than 69% compared to 2019.\nL3Harris, Boston Scientific and Marriott International did not respond to requests for comment.\nAirlines say the corporate travel decline could harm their business and economic growth, but robust post-pandemic consumer demand for flying has tempered fears.\nA joint survey by American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) and the Harvard Business Review released in September said 84% of businesses believe in-person trips still bring \"tangible business value\".\nBusiness trips generated as much as half of passenger revenue at U.S. airlines before the pandemic, industry group Airlines for America estimated. This helped airlines sell high-margin premium seats and fill weekday flights.\nIn Europe, airlines like Air France have shifted their strategies, with others trying to make up for the business drop by selling more premium trips to leisure travellers.\n(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska; Editing by Alexander Smith)\n",
        "title": "Business travel emissions drop as many firms fly less -survey"
    },
    {
        "id": 1513,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-chinese-firms-look-malaysia-230310708.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "By Fanny Potkin and Yantoultra Ngui\nSINGAPORE (Reuters) - A growing number of Chinese semiconductor design companies are tapping Malaysian firms to assemble a portion of their high-end chips, keen to hedge risks in case the U.S. expands sanctions on China's chip industry, sources said.\nThe companies are asking Malaysian chip packaging firms to assemble a type of chip known as graphics processing units (GPUs), according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.\nThe requests only encompass assembly - which does not contravene any U.S. restrictions - and not fabrication of the chip wafers, they said. Some contracts have already been agreed, two of the people added.\nThe people declined to disclose the names of the companies involved or to be identified, citing confidentiality agreements.\nSeeking to limit China's access to high-end GPUs that could fuel artificial intelligence breakthroughs or power supercomputers and military applications, Washington has increasingly placed restrictions on their sales as well as on sophisticated chip-making equipment.\nAs those sanctions bite and an AI boom fuels demand, smaller Chinese semiconductor design firms are struggling to secure sufficient advanced packaging services at home, analysts have said.\nSome of the Chinese companies are interested in advanced chip packaging services, two people said.\nAdvanced packaging of chips can significantly improve chip performance and is emerging as a critical technology in the semiconductor industry. This sometimes involves the construction of chiplets where chips are packaged tightly to work together as one powerful brain.\nAlthough not subject to U.S. export restrictions, it's an area that can require sophisticated technology which the firms worry might one day be targeted for curbs on exports to China, the two people added.\nMalaysia, a major hub in the semiconductor supply chain, is seen as well placed to grab further business as Chinese chip firms diversify outside of China for assembling needs.\nUnisem, majority owned by China's Huatian Technology, and other Malaysian chip packaging companies have seen increased business and inquiries from Chinese clients, said one source who was briefed on the matter.\nUnisem Chairman John Chia declined to comment on the company's clients but said: \"Due to trade sanctions and supply chain issues, many Chinese chip design houses have come to Malaysia to establish additional sources of supply outside of China to support their business in and out of China.\"\nChinese chip design firms also see Malaysia as a good option because the country is perceived as being on good terms with China, is affordable, with an experienced workforce and sophisticated equipment, two of the sources said.\nAsked whether accepting orders to assemble GPUs from Chinese firms could potentially provoke U.S. ire, Chia said Unisem's business dealings were \"fully legitimate and compliant\" and the company did not have the time to worry over \"too many possibilities\".\nHe noted that most of Unisem's customers in Malaysia were from the United States.\nThe U.S. Department of Commerce did not respond to requests for comment.\nOther big chip packaging firms in the country include Malaysian Pacific Industries and Inari Amertron. They did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.\nChinese companies are also interested in having their chips assembled outside China as that could also make it easier to sell their products in non-Chinese markets, said one source, an investor in two Chinese chip startups.\nA MAJOR HUB\nMalaysia currently accounts for 13% of the global market for semiconductor packaging, assembly, and testing and is aiming to boost that to 15% by 2030.\nChinese chip firms that have announced plans to expand in Malaysia include Xfusion, a former Huawei unit, which said in September it would partner with Malaysia's NationGate to manufacture GPU servers - servers designed for data centres and which are used in AI and high-performance computing.\nShanghai-based StarFive is also building a design centre in Penang, and chip packaging and testing firm TongFu Microelectronics said last year it would expand its Malaysia facility - a venture with U.S. chipmaker AMD.\nOffering an array of incentives, Malaysia has attracted multi-billion dollar chip investments. Germany's Infineon said in August it would invest 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) to expand its power chip plant there.\nU.S. chipmaker Intel announced in 2021 that it would build a $7 billion advanced chip packaging plant in Malaysia.\nChinese companies are not just choosing Malaysia. In 2021, JCET Group, the world’s third-largest chip assembly and testing company, completed an acquisition of an advanced testing facility in Singapore.\nOther countries such as Vietnam and India are also seeking to expand further into chip manufacturing services, hoping to lure clients keen to minimise U.S.-Sino geopolitical risks.\n($1 = 0.9272 euros)\n(Reporting by Fanny Potkin and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Yelin Mo in Beijing and Alexandra Alper in Washington; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Edwina Gibbs)\n",
        "title": "Exclusive-Chinese firms look to Malaysia for assembly of high-end chips, sources say"
    },
    {
        "id": 1514,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tofu-maker-shares-surge-adding-230000368.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Many of Japan’s tofu producers are struggling to stay in business, even as people eat more of the plant-based source of protein. Not Yamami Co., which is forecasting record profits thanks to automation and mass production.\nAt its newest factory at the foot of Mount Fuji, the tofu maker, one of the few that’s listed, can produce 15,000 units of the bean curd per hour. That’s several times more than its rivals, the company says. Yamami is able to tap pristine groundwater whose temperature is stable at the site — key for making tofu, an important part of Japanese cuisine for centuries.\nYamami expects to post all-time high profits and revenue in its financial year ending in June 2024. Its shares have soared 138% this year, beating all 10 of its Japanese packaged-food peers according to Bloomberg-compiled data, as well as the broad Topix and Nikkei 225 indexes. Its success stands in contrast to domestic competitors, who are suffering as high resource prices worsen their already tight margins.\n“People’s image of tofu makers is of workers coming in late at night and getting tofu out of cold water with their own hands and cutting it with a kitchen knife,” said Toru Yamana, the company’s president, in an interview with Bloomberg. “Many companies still do it like that, but that’s behind the times.”\nThe Shizuoka prefecture plant and two other factories are giving the tofu company the advantage of scale, reducing costs and allowing it to sell its products at a lower price tag than competitors. That’s helped it increase share in a market where small, often family-run tofu makers still account for significant portion of the industry’s sales.\nGovernment data indicate that Japanese households are spending almost 30% less on tofu now than in 2000, even as the volume consumed rose by 9% during the same period as they buy cheaper products.\nImport prices for soybeans used to make tofu doubled in the five years to March 2022, resulting in about 40% of mom-and-pop shops suffering losses due to higher expenses, according to Teikoku DataBank Ltd. data. The number of tofu makers in Japan has more than halved over the past 20 years, while bankruptcies in the sector are set to hit a record high in 2023, the credit information research firm says.\nYamana, 39, said his love of machines may have helped the tofu maker push ahead with automation, for a food that has a long history of being handmade.\n“I always install the biggest machines possible,” said Yamana, who took over as president from his father in 2021. “If that goes well, that will hugely improve our efficiency. But I’ve made a lot of mistakes too.”\nInitial attempts to make tofu in a big factory were met with skepticism. Bankers told Yamana’s father in 2000 that he had “no power, no profits, no outlook and no customers,” according to a presentation to investors this September.\nNow with the opening of the Mount Fuji plant that’s much closer to Tokyo than two other factories in western Japan, the Hiroshima-based company aims to compete in what’s by far the biggest market in the country. Distance is important because tofu goes bad quickly. The company said the plant posted its first monthly profit in September since it began operating in 2019.\nYamana said that while the company is focusing on expansion in the Tokyo area in the near term, one day his company could look to do business overseas. “If we are to expand, we want to make people eat tofu not because it is healthy but because it is tasty.”\n--With assistance from Kurumi Mori.\n",
        "title": "Tofu Maker’s Shares Surge by Adding Automation to Ancient Craft"
    },
    {
        "id": 1515,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-real-estate-meltdown-battering-230000975.html",
        "sentiment": "bearish",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Stock investments: down 30%. Salary package: down 30%. Investment property: down 20%. As Thomas Zhou reflects on 2023, his household finances are front of mind.\n“It’s just heart-breaking,” the 40-year-old financial worker from Shanghai said. “The only thing that still keeps me going is the thought of keeping my job so I can support my big family.”\nZhou’s predicament will resonate with many people in China, where slumps in the real estate and stock markets are wiping away household wealth. And as the world’s second-largest economy struggles to regain momentum after years of Covid-19 lockdowns, there’s also the growing threat of unemployment.\nNow, middle class households are being forced to rethink their money priorities, with some pulling away from investing, or selling assets to free-up liquidity.\nAt the heart of the decline in family wealth is China’s real estate meltdown, which having a pervasive effect on a society where 70% of family assets are tied up in property. Every 5% decline in home prices will wipe out 19 trillion yuan ($2.7 trillion) in housing wealth, according to Bloomberg Economics.\nRead more: China Says Property Market to Improve, More Policies Planned\n“It might just be the beginning of more wealth losses in coming years,” said Eric Zhu, an economist with Bloomberg Economics. “Unless there’s a big bull market, small gains in financial wealth are unlikely to offset losses in housing wealth.”\nWhile China’s official data show just a mild drop in its existing home prices, evidence from property agents and private data providers indicate declines of at least 15% in prime areas in its biggest cities.\nThe housing sector’s value may shrink to about 16% of China’s gross domestic product by 2026 from around 20% of GDP currently, according to Bloomberg Economics. This would put about 5 million people, or about 1% of urban workforce, at the risk of unemployment or reduced incomes.\nRainy Days\nFinancial investments offer little respite. Chinese shares underperformed emerging-market peers by the widest margin since at least 1998 earlier this month. Mutual funds were in the red as of the third quarter. Yields on banks’ wealth management products remain subdued and deposit rates have seen three reductions in the past year.\nThe $2.9 trillion trust industry, where wealthy Chinese investors have sought high returns from products sold by loosely regulated shadow banks, is showing cracks, with one recent scandal potentially involving tens of billions of dollars in losses.\nNet worth per adult in China slid 2.2% to $75,731 in 2022, UBS said in its August global wealth report, while total assets per adult fell for the first time since 2000 as non-financial holdings shrank due to the housing market difficulties.\nMedia worker Echo Huang watched as the value of her investment property in Ningbo, Zhejiang province fell about 1 million yuan from its 2019 peak. Now, she considers herself lucky to have sold it in May before prices dropped further.\nHuang gave the majority of the proceeds from the property sale to her parents for their retirement savings, and put the rest in demand deposits and money market funds that allow real-time redemptions. She ruled out stock investments after her current holdings more than erased all gains since 2018.\n“My company is struggling to survive, so who knows if I might get paid less or even laid off one day,” said the 39-year-old. “My main goal is stability in my assets, and I want to keep enough liquidity on hand.”\nWealth Protection\nEven high-net-worth-individuals are turning more conservative, according to a joint survey by China Merchants Bank Co. and Bain & Co. The number of the cohort citing “wealth protection” among their major money goals jumped significantly in 2023, and mentions of “wealth creation” decreased.\nPeter Bao, who works at a big technology firm in Beijing, is following a prudent investment strategy.\nHis stock holdings, mostly in US-listed Chinese shares, at one point halved to the equivalent of about 5 million yuan from a late 2020 peak. Over the past two years he’s shifted part of his assets to money market funds and fixed income products that require less analysis. He’s hoping that he’ll be able to withstand short-term volatility and potential losses.\n“There isn’t a single moment without anxiety and doubt, but there are no better options,” Bao said. “Also I need to focus on my job to protect my source of income, so I really can’t spare more time to explore other investments that are reliable.”\nNo Options\nFaced with few chances to grow her wealth, 35-year-old Dani Wang said she’s “lying flat” and hoping the domestic economy and capital markets improve by 2026.\nShe’s deleted her trading apps and has no plans to adjust her 1 million yuan in stock and equity fund positions, or even check prices. She’s also ignoring any volatility in her 50,000 yuan Dogecoin investment made at the start of 2022, which has halved.\nHangzhou-based technology industry worker Lily Liu, who manages a few million yuan of family savings, agrees. While her parents’ property-related business suffered a steep income drop, her husband’s salary bump in recent years left her with more money at her disposal.\n“I feel like my risk tolerance has reduced along with the increase in wealth,” said Liu, who is putting one of her two homes on sale, but has no idea where to invest the proceeds. “I wouldn’t bother spending more time on investments. Most likely it won’t pay off in this macro environment anyway.”\n",
        "title": "China’s Real Estate Meltdown Is Battering Middle Class Wealth"
    },
    {
        "id": 1516,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-australias-adbri-receives-1-225838772.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Adds more details on deal from paragraph 2)\nDec 18 (Reuters) -\nAustralian construction materials firm Adbri said on Monday it is in exclusive talks with CRH and the Barro Group Pty Ltd for the two companies to buy shares that Barro does not already own, in a deal worth about A$2.1 billion ($1.41 billion).\nCRH, a building materials solutions provider, and Barro, a concrete supplier, have offered A$3.20 per share - a 41% premium to the company's last closing price on Dec. 15.\nThe deal is subject to various court and regulatory approvals, including from Foreign Investment Review Board.\nBoth CRH and the Barro Group did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. ($1 = 1.4937 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Deepa Babington)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Australia's Adbri receives $1.4 billion offer from Barro Group and CRH"
    },
    {
        "id": 1517,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-canada-announce-cars-must-221838064.html",
        "sentiment": "bullish",
        "text": "(Replaces sourcing with senior government official)\nDec 17 (Reuters) - Canada expects to announce this week that all new cars will have to be zero emissions by 2035, a senior government source said, as Ottawa is set to unveil new regulations in the latest example of countries around the world pushing for electrification.\nThe new rules, known as the Electric Vehicle Availability Standard, would help ensure supply is available to the Canadian market and shorten wait times to get an electric vehicle, the source told Reuters, confirming earlier media reports.\nThe Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Quebec already have the same regulated sales targets.\nZero-emission vehicles - which include battery electric, plug-in and hydrogen models - must represent 20% of all new car sales in 2026, 60% in 2030 and 100% in 2035, the source said on condition of anonymity.\nOfficials at Canada's environment ministry declined comment. (Reporting by Costas Pitas and Allison Lampert; Editing by Sandra Maler and Lisa Shumaker)\n",
        "title": "UPDATE 1-Canada to announce all new cars must be zero emissions by 2035"
    },
    {
        "id": 1518,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bond-bulls-look-juice-2024-220000086.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Convinced the Federal Reserve pivot is finally in, some investors are on the hunt for the juiciest yields fixed income has to offer.\nThey’re finding creative ways to stoke returns, buying Austria’s century bonds, New Zealand’s quasi-sovereign securities, the debt of supranationals and Pakistan’s hard-currency notes.\nHere are some of the niche trades fund managers at TCW Group Inc., Fidelity International Ltd., MFS Investment Management and others are eyeing.\nPortfolio Diversification\nMFS Investment Management and Vontobel Asset Management AG are bullish on debt issued by supranationals — top-rated organizations backed by multiple countries to promote specific policy objectives.\n“People are digging for value opportunities in places that are not that obvious,” Pilar Gomez-Bravo, co-chief investment officer of fixed income at MFS Investment Management, said in an interview. Notes from the European Union and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism offer a cheap relative value trade as Europe inches closer to recession, she said.\nSupranationals tend to have well-diversified portfolios and give investors exposure to countries that are not directly accessible via euro bonds, according to Vontobel Asset’s Carlos de Sousa. He likes those operating in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Africa Finance Corporation and Banque Ouest Africaine de Developpement.\nInterest-Rate Sensitive\nNinety One UK Ltd. prefers “safer” positions to hold through the next year when the rate cycle turns. New Zealand’s Local Government Funding Agency securities fit the bill, according to John Stopford, head of multi-asset income at the London-based money manager.\nThe AAA and AA+ rated notes are one of the largest sovereign bond exposures after Treasuries for the asset manager. They command a premium of as much as 55 basis points to the local government bond, which will benefit as yields come down globally, he added. “There isn’t a huge cost in holding those bonds in terms of negative carry so we think it’s a pretty good story.”\nDistressed Nation Debt\nTCW Group and Mackay Shields recommend the hard currency debt of Pakistan, which secured a deal with the International Monetary Fund to avoid a sovereign default. The dollar-bond maturing in 2024 rallied the most since June.\nThe longer-dated notes have further upside as borrowing costs could fall following the Fed’s signaling of a pivot, according to David Loevinger, a managing director in the emerging markets group at TCW in New York. “If Pakistan can eventually get access to markets, they can — even if fundamentals don’t change — borrow to pay off debt coming due.”\nPrice Recovery\nFidelity International is adding duration with an Austrian bond maturing in 2120, nearly a century from now. Its Global Multi-Asset Growth & Income fund bought the securities in October at about 35 cents to the euro, a level it may not test again, according to Singapore-based portfolio manager George Efstathopoulos.\n“It can probably double if we start seeing more evidence of the global economy moving toward a recession,” he said. European growth versus rest of the world may also be weaker, likely making the bet rewarding, Efstathopoulos said. The fund may top up the position if prices continue to recover.\nContrarian Trade\nBank of America Corp. is recommending buying a basket of five-year credit default swaps across emerging markets to prepare for the worst — a shift in the narrative toward a hard landing.\nSpreads have been tight for sovereigns, meaning the market has not been buying much protection, according to Adarsh Sinha, co-head of Asia Pacific foreign-exchange and rates strategy in Hong Kong. “If everyone is wrong on US rates and the dollar, and emerging markets sell off where do you get the biggest bang for your buck? It’s an option trade where you get paid on the worst-performing option.”\n--With assistance from Ruth Carson and Malavika Kaur Makol.\n",
        "title": "Bond Bulls Look to Juice 2024 Return in Obscure Niche Trades"
    },
    {
        "id": 1519,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dimon-heir-jpmorgan-still-hazy-220000520.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Bloomberg) -- Halfway through Jamie Dimon’s special incentive to stay five more years atop JPMorgan Chase & Co., insiders are predicting more senior leadership changes to help potential successors gather experience.\nA management shuffle in mid-2021 put two talented deputies — Jennifer Piepszak and Marianne Lake — into the spotlight as the board prepared to grant Dimon a bonus if he remains chief executive officer another half-decade. But with neither the clear frontrunner, colleagues say the two consumer-banking co-heads will likely need to tackle new assignments before one is ready to run the whole company.\nMeanwhile, Piepszak has expressed reticence in the past about taking the top job, while Lake has at least entertained opportunities elsewhere, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing private talks. And Dimon shows no signs he views his retention package as a career closer.\nSuch is the endlessly evolving succession buzz atop the nation’s biggest bank, where life under 67-year-old Dimon is more profitable than ever, and life after him is just as hazy. The question of who might steward the firm is one that looms over the industry — offering its most prominent perch as well as responsibility for a $3.9 trillion balance sheet.\nThe limbo at JPMorgan compares with the crisp succession planning this year at Morgan Stanley, where longtime leader James Gorman, 65, announced he was ready to conduct a bake-off for his job. In the ensuing months, Gorman and the board reviewed a slate of viable candidates, made their pick and persuaded the others to stick around — setting up an unusually smooth handoff for Jan. 1.\nOne key difference is that Gorman said he was eager to try something new. Dimon’s passion is overseeing the behemoth he helped build.\nThis account of the state of play in JPMorgan is based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former executives and others close to the firm’s leadership.\nThough a JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment, the bank has repeatedly offered assurances that its succession planning is robust and consistently updated. As Dimon himself told investors this year: “The board is very comfortable that we’ve got really top choices here.”\nJPMorgan has already established that President Daniel Pinto, 60, is ready to take over in an emergency or accelerated handoff. He co-led the firm in 2020 when Dimon underwent heart surgery.\nThe bigger question is which person the bank might choose from the next generation for an orderly transition and a long tenure.\nThat’s why most eyes are on Lake, 54, and Piepszak, 53. Insiders say others are also seen as entering the fray — such as Troy Rohrbaugh and Marc Badrichani, who co-lead markets and securities services, as well as payments head Takis Georgakopoulos and chief strategy and growth officer Sanoke Viswanathan.\nSuccession is a formidable challenge for Dimon, putting his legacy at stake. He has run JPMorgan for 18 years, growing it through the 2008 financial crisis and then adapting it to an era of stiffer regulation and digital banking. He came out ahead again during this year’s turmoil in regional banking, scooping up First Republic to bolster JPMorgan’s presence in Silicon Valley.\nWhile Dimon’s track record may give the next CEO stable footing, it has also raised questions about who else is up to the task.\nRead a Big Take: Dimon Is More Crucial Than Ever to the Bank He Built\nPiepszak has gained momentum as the top candidate in recent years, clinching a series of promotions and building relationships with other senior executives, colleagues said. Though she has privately told several people that she isn’t sure she wants the job, one executive said that’s not the case today. Regardless, if the board ultimately wants her, it will approach her.\nLake, Piepszak’s close friend and mentor-turned-co-head atop the firm’s giant consumer banking business, has extended her tenure as a senior executive known for an in-the-weeds understanding of the firm.\nHer name has come up in a number of CEO searches and, in some cases, she has entertained overtures. She interviewed to run Wells Fargo & Co. in 2019 and this year held preliminary talks with PayPal Holdings Inc. about that firm’s top job.\nRising Together\nPiepszak and Lake both joined JPMorgan’s corporate and investment bank early in their careers.\nLake arrived more than two decades ago, starting in the UK, and rose through finance positions in the corporate and investment bank to become controller in 2007. That position ordinarily wouldn’t offer much exposure to the unit’s top brass, but when the financial crisis erupted she impressed then-co-heads Steve Black and Bill Winters as they raced to integrate Bear Stearns.\nLake earned a spot in a small group of rising leaders within the firm, alongside Ryan McInerney, Guy America and Barry Sommers, among others. Around the same time, Charlie Scharf, then running JPMorgan’s retail business, needed someone to handle the unit’s finances and enlisted Lake, orchestrating her jump from Wall Street to Main Street banking. Scharf now runs Wells Fargo.\nA couple years later, Lake brought in Piepszak for a finance role in the mortgage unit. Both impressed their bosses and kept climbing. After the London Whale trading blowup, Dimon chose Lake as JPMorgan’s chief financial officer, calling her “an outstanding choice for this critically important role.”\nIn the meantime, Piepszak scored a series of promotions within the consumer bank to ultimately take over as head of card services in early 2017. Her appointment came mere months after the firm had launched its wildly popular Sapphire Reserve credit card. JPMorgan leaned on the business for growth throughout her tenure.\nThen came a major shuffle. In 2019, Lake — by that point considered a frontrunner to succeed Dimon for years — was tapped to oversee consumer lending. Piepszak, still relatively unknown outside JPMorgan, was named the firm’s next CFO, launching her into the realm of potential successors.\nThat arrangement lasted for two years, until the firm announced Gordon Smith’s plans to retire as co-president and hand off the consumer and community bank he had led for nearly a decade. Lake and Piepszak were assigned to oversee it together.\nThe unit is on track for record revenue this year. Lake and Piepszak split their day-to-day oversight: Lake has payments, lending and commerce, while Piepszak has banking and wealth management.\nOne hiccup was JPMorgan’s botched acquisition of college financial-planning website Frank in 2021. JPMorgan sued the founder, Charlie Javice, and one of her lieutenants last year, alleging they concocted millions of fake customers to mislead the bank into acquiring the firm for $175 million. Javice and her deputy were later indicted in federal court. Both have pleaded not guilty and dispute JPMorgan’s allegations.\nDimon called the acquisition a “huge mistake.” But the financial hit was negligible: the price amounted to three hours of JPMorgan’s revenue in 2021.\nAnd the boss has stopped notably short of publicly criticizing his deputies, saying he doesn’t want the firm to be so “terrified of errors that we don’t do anything.”\nThis year, Lake and Piepszak were put in charge of integrating First Republic. Dimon has praised the progress as “excellent.”\nRead more: JPMorgan Has a Master Plan to Beat Competitors in Silicon Valley\nAnyone who’s watched the dial spin endlessly at JPMorgan knows that a long roster of potential CEO contenders has emerged under Dimon only to move on, sometimes tiring of the wait or washing out.\nBut a widely held view among those close to JPMorgan’s leadership is that there are still ways for Lake and Piepszak to advance their careers there — whether that means taking sole control of the consumer division they now run jointly, or moving over to the firm’s Wall Street operations.\nSuch an option came up recently: Both were asked whether they might want to move to the investment bank as Carlos Hernandez — its executive chair of investment and corporate banking — retired. Both preferred to stay in their current roles.\n",
        "title": "Dimon’s Heir at JPMorgan Still Hazy as ‘Five More Years’ Tick By"
    },
    {
        "id": 1520,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-illumina-divest-cancer-test-203805212.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Corrects to say Icahn 'did not' immediately respond to Reuters request for comment in paragraph 15)\nDec 17 (Reuters) - Gene sequencing company Illumina said on Sunday it will divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail after the companies battled both U.S. and European antitrust enforcers for more than two years and faced fierce opposition from activist investor Carl Icahn.\nThe divestiture will be executed through a third-party sale or capital markets transaction, San Diego-based Illumina said in a statement, adding that it would finalize the terms by second quarter of 2024.\nGrail will continue to be held separate with committed funding from Illumina for the company's business through the divestment process, the former said in a separate statement.\nGrail, valued at $7.1 billion under Illumina's deal, is seeking to market a blood test that can diagnose many kinds of cancer, known as a liquid biopsy.\nIllumina had spun off Grail in 2016 but retained a 12% stake. It reacquired Grail in 2021 despite competition concerns.\nA U.S. appeals court on Friday ordered the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct a new review of Illumina’s purchase of Grail, saying the agency had applied the wrong legal standard in its arguments. But the court said the FTC had substantial evidence to show the deal would lessen competition and opened the door to the regulator pursuing a new legal strategy to block the deal.\nIllumina had decided not to pursue further appeals of the Fifth Circuit's decision, it said.\nThe FTC was concerned that Illumina, the dominant provider of DNA sequencing of tumors and cancer cells that help match patients with treatments most likely to benefit them, might raise prices or refuse to sell to Grail's test rivals.\nEurope had proposed measures for Illumina to unwind its acquisition of Grail.\nIn July, Illumina was fined a record 432 million euros ($471 million) by the European Union for closing its takeover of Grail before securing EU antitrust approval.\nIllumina had said in October it would divest Grail in 12 months, according to the terms of the European Commission's order, if the company does not win its challenge in court.\nLast week, Illumina argued that it does no business in Europe and therefore the EU competition enforcer has no jurisdiction.\nIllumina's acquisition of Grail also came under pressure from investors, including billionaire Icahn, who led a successful board challenge in May. Icahn in October sued Illumina, accusing the company of breaching its fiduciary duties over the Grail deal.\nIllumina's stock price has tumbled more than 37% so far this year, and the board replaced the CEO soon after Icahn won one board seat.\nIcahn did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. ($1 = 0.9179 euros) (Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama, Diane Bartz and Chandni Shah; Additional reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Deepa Babington and Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "REFILE-UPDATE 3-Illumina to divest cancer test maker Grail after antitrust battles"
    },
    {
        "id": 1521,
        "link": "https://finance.yahoo.com/news/illumina-divest-cancer-test-maker-195014865.html",
        "sentiment": "neutral",
        "text": "(Reuters) — Gene sequencing company Illumina said on Sunday it will divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail after the companies battled both US and European antitrust enforcers for more than two years and faced fierce opposition from activist investor Carl Icahn.\nThe divestiture will be executed through a third-party sale or capital markets transaction, San Diego-based Illumina said in a statement, adding that it would finalize the terms by second quarter of 2024.\nGrail will continue to be held separate with committed funding from Illumina for the company's business through the divestment process, the former said in a separate statement.\nGrail, valued at $7.1 billion under Illumina's deal, is seeking to market a blood test that can diagnose many kinds of cancer, known as a liquid biopsy.\nIllumina had spun off Grail in 2016 but retained a 12% stake. It reacquired Grail in 2021 despite competition concerns.\nA US appeals court on Friday ordered the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct a new review of Illumina’s purchase of Grail, saying the agency had applied the wrong legal standard in its arguments. But the court said the FTC had substantial evidence to show the deal would lessen competition and opened the door to the regulator pursuing a new legal strategy to block the deal.\nIllumina had decided not to pursue further appeals of the Fifth Circuit's decision, it said.\nThe FTC was concerned that Illumina, the dominant provider of DNA sequencing of tumors and cancer cells that help match patients with treatments most likely to benefit them, might raise prices or refuse to sell to Grail's test rivals.\nEurope had proposed measures for Illumina to unwind its acquisition of Grail.\nIn July, Illumina was fined a record 432 million euros ($471 million) by the European Union for closing its takeover of Grail before securing EU antitrust approval.\nIllumina had said in October it would divest Grail in 12 months, according to the terms of the European Commission's order, if the company does not win its challenge in court.\nLast week, Illumina argued that it does no business in Europe and therefore the EU competition enforcer has no jurisdiction.\nIllumina's acquisition of Grail also came under pressure from investors, including billionaire Icahn, who led a successful board challenge in May. Icahn in October sued Illumina, accusing the company of breaching its fiduciary duties over the Grail deal.\nIllumina's stock price has tumbled more than 37% so far this year, and the board replaced the CEO soon after Icahn won one board seat.\nIcahn did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.\n(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama, Diane Bartz and Chandni Shah; Additional reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Deepa Babington and Bill Berkrot)\n",
        "title": "Illumina to divest cancer test maker Grail after antitrust battles"
    }
]