Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures rose in evening deals on Sunday as Wall Street appeared to be relieved by President-elect Donald Trump nominating prominent investor Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary.  Futures were buoyed by a persistent rotation into cyclical and economically sensitive stocks, as markets positioned for more expansionary policies under Trump. But overall gains were limited by weakness in technology, with major chipmaking stocks losing ground. Broader market sentiment was also boosted by reports that Israel was close to reaching a ceasefire with military group Hezbollah in Lebanon, potentially marking some deescalation in the long-running Middle East conflict.  Focus this week is on a string of key economic indicators, which are likely to factor into the outlook for interest rates.  rose 0.4% to 6,008.0 points, while rose 0.4% to 20,937.0 points by 18:22 ET (23:22 GMT). rose 0.5% to 44,618.0 points.  Wall St relived by Bessent for Treasury secretary  Bessent’s nomination helped clear a major point of uncertainty for markets, given that the Treasury Secretary role is one of the most influential in the cabinet for economic and trade regulations. Bessent is a career investor who has called for tax reforms and deregulation for U.S. firms. He has also opposed overly strict trade tariffs, lessening the prospect of a dire trade war under a Trump administration.  The slid 0.6% after Bessent’s nomination, while Treasury yields- which have been a point of pressure on Wall Street- also fell sharply, with the losing 1.4%.  Bessent’s nomination came amid a flurry of cabinet picks by Trump. The President-elect chose Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary and China hawk Mike Waltz as National Security Adviser.  Wall St upbeat with PCE data in focus  Sunday’s gains in futures came following a positive session on Wall Street on Friday, as investors shifted further into cyclical stocks and away from technology. The outpaced its peers, rising nearly 1% to finish at 44,296.51 points on Friday. The rose 0.4% to 5,969.30 points, while the lagged, rising 0.2% to 19,003.65 points.  Trump’s promises of tax breaks and U.S.-centric policies saw investors favoring stocks with more exposure to the U.S. economy. Plays out of tech stocks were also furthered by a somewhat middling earnings outlook from market darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:) last week. Focus this week is squarely on upcoming data, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. The reading is set to offer more cues on the path of interest rates and comes amid some doubts over whether the central bank will cut interest rates in December. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post US stock futures rise as Trump picks Bessent for Treasury role By Investing.com first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

By Lisa Richwine and Dawn Chmielewski (Reuters) -The musical adaptation “Wicked” and action epic “Gladiator II” racked up a combined $270.2 million in global ticket sales over the weekend, a gift to cinemas heading into what may be a record-setting holiday season. The robust box office returns provided reassurance to Hollywood, which has weathered cost-cutting and layoffs amid forecasts of the death of cinema as consumers gravitated to streaming video services. “Moviegoers and box office pundits have been waiting for this weekend, and no one is disappointed,” said Chris Aronson, president of distribution for Paramount Pictures. “Wicked,” the first of two Universal Pictures films based on a Broadway prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” topped the domestic and global box office. It pulled in $114 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters, plus $50.2 million in international markets, for a global total of $164.2 million. It was the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a Broadway musical, ahead of the global debut of Universal’s 2012 release “Les Miserables,” according to the studio. “Gladiator II” hauled in $106 million around the world, including $55.5 million from domestic sales. The Paramount Pictures film is the sequel to a movie that won the best picture Oscar two decades ago. The film, which was released last weekend outside the U.S., had an overall box office tally of $221 million. The two films, dubbed “Glicked” by fans, brought in $169.5 million at domestic theaters, helping lift the weekend box office to $201.9 million. It’s the highest-grossing weekend in North America since the July opening of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” according to Comscore. “Glicked” fell short of the $245 million “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” opening frenzy in July 2023, which showed that the industry was rebounding from the pandemic and strikes that year by writers and actors. Still, the two films delivered a much-needed jolt to movie theaters, after anticipated fall films such as “Joker: Folie a Deux” and “Venom: The Last Dance” underperformed at the box office. The fervor was a positive sign for theater chains such as AMC Entertainment (NYSE:), Cineplex and Cinemark that are looking ahead to another major release, Walt Disney (NYSE:)’s animated “Moana 2” this week. “This is a tremendous catalyst for a strong box office going into December and the New Year,” said National Association of Theatre Owners President and CEO Michael O’Leary. Movie ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada have hovered below pre-pandemic levels as cinemas grapple with competition from streaming and the disruptions from the last year’s Hollywood strikes. Sunday’s tallies brought year-to-date domestic ticket sales to $7.3 billion, down 10.6% from the same time in 2023, according to Comscore. Studios and theater owners are hopeful that “Moana 2” will lead next weekend to the strongest Thanksgiving-period sales in history. Box office analysts say ticket sales from Thanksgiving through the end of the year could rank as the biggest in cinema history. The holiday season record of $2.5 billion was set in 2017, led by the “Star Wars” film “The Last Jedi.” “This is the best possible news for movie theaters, this lineup of films, starting with ‘Glicked’ and ‘Moana 2,” said Paul Dergarabedian, media analyst for Comscore. “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in the story of a misunderstood, green-skinned student of magic who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. “It’s wrapped in a fairy tale, but the point of it is to dig at real truth,” director Jon M. Chu told Reuters at the film’s premiere in London, when asked about the story’s broad appeal. Universal, a unit of Comcast (NASDAQ:), spent roughly $160 million to make the first “Wicked” movie, a sum that does not include tens of millions more for marketing ranging from a Super Bowl ad to hundreds of “Wicked” products. In a campaign reminiscent of the hoopla surrounding “Barbie,” “Wicked” tie-ins include pink and green drinks at Starbucks (NASDAQ:), a fashion line at Target (NYSE:) and a Betty Crocker cupcake mix. “This campaign was just everywhere. It was just inescapable,” said Jim Orr, Universal Pictures’ president of domestic theatrical distribution. “And on top of all of that, we had the hardest-working cast that you could have. From a publicity and from a marketing standpoint, Cynthia and Ariana were literally just everywhere.” The second “Wicked” film is scheduled for release in November 2025. “Gladiator II” stars Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington in a story of political intrigue that unfolds 16 years after the original film. Other films coming before year-end include Walt Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King,” Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” and Searchlight Pictures’ “A Complete Unknown,” starring Timothee Chalamet as musician Bob Dylan. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post ‘Wicked,’ ‘Gladiator II’ bring in $270.2 million in global box office By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

By Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s antitrust body has turned down a request from Apple (NASDAQ:) to put a hold on an investigation report which found the company breached competition laws, allowing the case to continue, an internal order from the regulator seen by Reuters showed. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) in August ordered a recall of investigation reports after Apple said the watchdog had disclosed commercial secrets to competitors in the case dating back to 2021, including Tinder-owner Match. These elements should have been redacted. The CCI had asked parties to return the reports and destroy any copies. The regulator then issued new reports. The CCI internal order showed that Apple in November alleged that the main complainant in the antitrust investigation – Indian non-profit Together We Fight Society (TWFS) – had not complied with the directives to give an assurance that the old investigation reports had been destroyed. Apple asked the CCI “to take action against TWFS for non-compliance with its order” and “to withhold the revised” report, the CCI order, dated Nov. 13, seen by Reuters showed. “Apple’s request to hold the investigation report in abeyance was deemed untenable,” the CCI said in the order. Apple did not respond to Reuters queries. The CCI did not respond outside regular business hours on Sunday. Calls to representatives of TWFS went unanswered. A CCI investigation had found that Apple exploited its dominant position in the market for app stores on its iOS operating system to the detriment of app developers, users and other payment processors. Apple has denied wrongdoing and said it is a small player in India where phones that use Google (NASDAQ:)’s Android system are dominant. The CCI internal order also showed that Apple has been asked to submit its audited financial statements for fiscal years 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 under regulatory guidelines aimed at determining possible monetary penalties in the case. The CCI’s senior officials will review the investigation report and make a final ruling on the case. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Indian regulator rejects Apple request to put antitrust report on hold By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

(Corrects paragraph 1 to remove extraneous ‘the’) (Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a summons to Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, indicted on U.S. bribery allegations related to a bombshell federal indictment against him, a court filing showed. The SEC is suing the head of the Adani Group and his nephew Sagar Adani, alleging they engaged in hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to help an Adani company while “falsely touting the company’s compliance with antibribery principles and laws in connection with a $750 million bond offering.” The summons requires an answer within 21 days, according to the filing dated Wednesday in federal court in the Eastern District of New York. The SEC suit seeks unspecified monetary penalties and restrictions on the Adanis from serving as officers of listed companies. Adani Group representatives did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Sunday. The group has denied the criminal charges as “baseless”. The group CFO said the indictment is linked to one contract of Adani Green Energy (NS:) that makes up some 10% of its business, and that no other firms in the conglomerate were accused of wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors issued arrest warrants for Gautam and Sagar Adani, alleging they participated in a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure power-supply deals. Authorities said Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar, agreed to bribe Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India’s largest solar power plant project. The crisis is the second in two years to hit the ports-to-power conglomerate founded by Adani, 62, one of the world’s richest people. The fallout was felt immediately, as billions of dollars were wiped off the market value of Adani Group companies and Kenya’s president canceled a massive airport project with the group. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post US SEC issues summons for India’s Adani, nephew on bribery allegations By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

(Reuters) – Adani Energy Solutions said on Saturday that Kenya’s cancellation of a $736 million transmission line project did not require it to make any regulatory disclosure under Indian stock exchange rules as it was within its ordinary course of business. It said it was responding to a request for clarification from the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange after Reuters reported that Kenya’s president had ordered the cancellation of the 30-year public-private partnership deal. “Further, the Company hereby submits that there is no material impact of the Media Report on the operations of the Company,” Adani Energy Solutions said in a statement. President William Ruto also said on Thursday he had ordered the cancellation of a procurement process that had been expected to award control of Kenya’s main airport to India’s Adani Group. U.S. authorities on Wednesday indicted Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and seven others, alleging they paid $265 million in bribes to Indian officials. The group denied the allegations. Under the Kenyan international airport plan, worth nearly $2 billion, the Adani Group was to add a second runway and upgrade the passenger terminal in exchange for a 30-year lease. Adani Energy Solutions said in its statement on Saturday that it was not involved in the deal to manage and upgrade Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta airport. “The Company nor any of its subsidiaries have entered into any contract in connection with any airport in Kenya,” it said. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Adani Energy Solutions says no material impact from Kenya energy deal cancellation By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

TOKYO (Reuters) – The founding family of Japan’s Seven & i Holdings has approached KKR & Co (NYSE:) and other investment firms about participating in the potential buyout of the retailer, the newspaper reported on Saturday. In addition to KKR, the founding Ito family also approached Bain Capital and Apollo Global Management (NYSE:) due to the view it will be difficult to secure sufficient capital from banks, the Nikkei reported. Funding for the proposed buyout will be finalised by the end of December and will involve Japan’s three largest lenders, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Seven has received a buyout proposal from the founding family while under pressure to convince investors it can enhance value on its own and fend off a $47-billion takeover bid from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Seven & i founding family sounded out KKR, others about buyout, Nikkei says By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

Gold prices rally 1.50% on Friday, boosted by a decrease in US 10-year Treasury yields to 4.40%. Escalating geopolitical concerns, including potential expansion of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, fuel demand for Bullion’s safe-haven status. US economic data shows mixed signals; Services and Composite PMIs outperform while Manufacturing PMI remains in contraction. Gold price rallies to a new two-week high on Friday during the North American session as US Treasury bond yields drop. Geopolitics continued to play its part, keeping the golden metal bid, while US business activity improved, capping the non-yielding metal advance. The XAU/USD trades at $2,710, gaining 1.50%. The yellow metal surged due to a slight fall in US Treasury yields. The US 10-year T-note dipped two basis points to 4.40%, a tailwind for Bullion prices, set to print gains of more than 5% on the week. Risks that the Russia-Ukraine war might broaden and transform into a US-Russia conflict keep Bullion prices higher. This and uncertainty about the Middle East conflict involving Israel and Lebanon may pave the way for retesting the XAU/USD all-time high at $2,790. Data-wise, the US economic docket featured the release of S&P Global Flash PMIs for November. The Services and Composite indices expanded, exceeding estimates and October’s figures. However, the Manufacturing PMI, despite improving above forecasts and the previous month’s release, remained below the 50 line, which divides expansion/contraction territories. Recently, the University of Michigan (UoM) revealed that Consumer Sentiment among Americans improved compared to the preliminary reading, while inflation is expected to approach the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) 2% goal in the 12 months ahead. In the meantime, some Fed officials who crossed the wires became slightly concerned about inflation progress stalling. Even though the majority advocate for a looser policy, they acknowledge the economy remains robust; and if inflation entrenches above the 2% goal, they could pause its easing cycle. Traders trimmed the chances for a 25 bps rate cut at the December meeting. The CME FedWatch Tool sees a 56% probability of lowering rates, down from a 58% chance two days ago. Key economic indicators, including the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes, October Durable Goods Orders, and the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, are set for release next week. Daily digest market movers: Gold refreshes two-week peak on geopolitical jitters Gold prices recovered as US real yields retreated two basis points to 2.068%. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the buck’s performance against six currencies, gains over 0.34%, up at 107.00 near weekly highs. US S&P Global PMIs for November showed growth, with the Services PMI rising to 57.0 and the Composite PMI to 55.3, both surpassing the prior month. The Manufacturing PMI edged up from 48.5 to 48.8, aligning with expectations. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index improved from 70.5 to 71.8 in November but fell short of projections. Meanwhile, as anticipated, one-year inflation expectations eased slightly from 2.7% to 2.6%. According to Chicago Board of Trade data via the December fed funds futures contract, investors are pricing in a 22 basis-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve by the end of 2024. Technical outlook: Gold price buyers, set their sight around $2,800 Gold’s rally is set to continue with prices aiming to challenge the $2,750 figure once more. On Thursday, the yellow metal crossed above the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) of $2,663, prompting buyers to push XAU/USD’s spot prices higher. In that environment, if Bullion prices clear $2,750, the all-time high at $2,790 is next. A breach of the latter will expose the $2,800 figure and pave the way to test $3,000, which Goldman Sachs sees as the next major resistance. On the other hand, if XAU/USD tumbles below $2,700, the non-yielding metal could begin to trade range-bound within the $2,650-$2,700 range unless bears clear the November 14 swing low of $2,536, followed by $2,500. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has shifted to a bullish bias, indicating buyers are in charge. Fed FAQs Monetary policy in the US is shaped by the Federal Reserve (Fed). The Fed has two mandates: to achieve price stability and foster full employment. Its primary tool to achieve these goals is by adjusting interest rates. When prices are rising too quickly and inflation is above the Fed’s 2% target, it raises interest rates, increasing borrowing costs throughout the economy. This results in a stronger US Dollar (USD) as it makes the US a more attractive place for international investors to park their money. When inflation falls below 2% or the Unemployment Rate is too high, the Fed may lower interest rates to encourage borrowing, which weighs on the Greenback. The Federal Reserve (Fed) holds eight policy meetings a year, where the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) assesses economic conditions and makes monetary policy decisions. The FOMC is attended by twelve Fed officials – the seven members of the Board of Governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and four of the remaining eleven regional Reserve Bank presidents, who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis. In extreme situations, the Federal Reserve may resort to a policy named Quantitative Easing (QE). QE is the process by which the Fed substantially increases the flow of credit in a stuck financial system. It is a non-standard policy measure used during crises or when inflation is extremely low. It was the Fed’s weapon of choice during the Great Financial Crisis in 2008. It involves the Fed printing more Dollars and using them to buy high grade bonds from financial institutions. QE usually weakens the US Dollar. Quantitative tightening (QT) is the reverse process of QE, whereby the Federal Reserve stops buying bonds from financial institutions and does not reinvest the principal from the bonds it holds maturing, to purchase new bonds. It is usually positive for the value of the US Dollar.   Source link The post Gold closes week above $2,700, US PCE data in Focus first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and blockchain gaming studio Mythical Games have teamed up to launch FIFA Rivals — a free-to-play soccer game on Apple’s iOS and Android. Scheduled to be released in the summer of 2025, FIFA Rivals will allow gamers to manage their own soccer clubs and compete against other players in real-time arcade gameplay. “Build your squad, dominate the competition, and create your legacy in the newest title,” Mythical said in its pitch to sports-loving gamers. New title in the ‘Rivals’ franchise! Introducing @FIFARivals, an officially licensed mobile game from @playmythical and @FIFAcom Powered by Mythos chain, build your dream team, own your players, and compete in real-time arcade action. Available in 2025 on iOS & Android. pic.twitter.com/2S5EnhV3sB — Enter the Mythos (@EnterTheMythos) November 22, 2024 The company’s CEO John Linden said FIFA Rivals could attract over 100 million gamers given that its NFL Rivals game has already seen over 6 million players sign up from a far narrower audience. To put things into perspective, around 5 billion people tuned into the FIFA World Cup in 2022 while roughly 500 million people watched the NFL playoffs last year. FIFA Rivals will be powered by the Mythical-supported Mythos blockchain and secured by the Polkadot network. The partnership adds to a growing trend of sporting associations partnering with blockchain gaming studios aimed at delivering fun and interactive experiences for fans. The intended appeal of blockchain games is that players can own in-game assets and monetize them in a play-to-earn economy. One of Mythical’s early successes was Blankos Block Party, a social build and create nonfungible token game that has since transferred to Polkadot and is seeing around 3 million monthly transactions. Related: Ubisoft set to launch its first Web3 game on Oasys blockchain FIFA Rivals was made possible through the Mythos Foundation which Mythical launched in October 2022 to onboard and support new gamers and developers in its ecosystem.  The Mythos Foundation is tasked with building cross-chain infrastructure, NFT in-game economies, providing support for gaming guilds, growing traditional esports participation in Web3 and collaborating with traditional gaming platforms to craft new policies for gamers. Mythical secured $37 million in Series C1 funding in June 2023 which it used to build out its marketplace and pursue other revenue-generating initiatives. Magazine: 110M Doodles coffee cups appear at McDonald’s across the US Source link The post FIFA, Mythical Games collaborate to launch blockchain game FIFA Rivals first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

(Reuters) – Funds managed by Goldman Sachs will write off nearly $900 million after Swedish lithium-ion battery producer Northvolt filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week, Britain’s Financial Times reported on Saturday. The Goldman private equity funds, which together ranked as the second-largest shareholders in Northvolt, plan to write down their $896 million investment to zero by year end, the report said, citing letters to investors seen by the FT. “While we are one of many investors disappointed by this outcome, this was a minority investment through highly diversified funds. Our portfolios have concentration limits to mitigate risks,” Goldman said in a statement. Northvolt did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The group went in a matter of months this year from being Europe’s best shot in a vital industry for the energy transition to racing to stay afloat, hobbled by production problems and dwindling funds. Northvolt’s CEO and co-founder Peter Carlsson stepped down on Friday, a day after the company filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In November 2019 the company had completed its $1 billion equity capital raising, aimed at funding its plans to build Europe’s biggest lithium-ion battery plant, led by Germany’s Volkswagen (ETR:) and Goldman. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Goldman funds to take $900 million hit on Northvolt, FT reports By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

By Virginia Furness, Kate Abnett and Simon Jessop BAKU (Reuters) – Countries agreed a deal at the COP29 climate conference on Saturday on rules for a global market to buy and sell carbon credits that proponents say will mobilise billions of dollars into new projects to help fight global warming. The agreement, clinched roughly a decade after international talks on forming the market began, hinged on how to ensure credibility in the system so it can reliably lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change. Carbon credits are created through projects such as planting trees or putting up wind farms in a poorer country that receive one credit for every metric ton in emissions that they reduce or suck out of the atmosphere. Countries and companies can buy those credits to help reach their climate goals. After striking an agreement early in the two-week conference that will allow a centralised U.N. trading system to launch as soon as next year, negotiators spent much of the rest of their time in Azerbaijan trying to hammer out details of a separate bilateral system for countries to trade directly. Details to be worked out included how a registry to track credits would be structured, as well as how much information countries should share about their deals and what should happen when projects go wrong. Among the strongest voices was the European Union calling for stricter U.N. oversight and greater transparency over trades between nations, while the United States sought more autonomy over the deals struck. The COP29 presidency had published a draft deal ahead of the agreement that proposed allowing for some countries to issue carbon credits through a separate registry system, without that amounting to a U.N. seal of approval. The final text was a compromise after the EU secured registry services for countries that can’t afford to set up their own ledgers for issuing and tracking credits, while the U.S. ensured that a transaction merely being recorded on such a registry does not qualify as a U.N. endorsement of the credits. By agreeing that the registry would not determine a credit’s quality or endorse issuers, the EU had “gone way out of its way to accommodate the U.S.”, said Pedro Barata, who tracked the talks for the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund. “It’s still a viable international trading system… even if some people will say it has no teeth.” While shoring up a global market for carbon credits was a key focus of talks in Baku, bilateral trading began in January when Switzerland bought credits from Thailand and dozens of other countries have already made agreements to transfer credits. But those deals remain limited and striking the right balance on a clear set of rules to ensure integrity and transparency without limiting countries’ ability to participate should prompt a pick-up in deal flow. IETA, a business group that supports an expansion of carbon credit trading, has said a U.N.-backed market could be worth $250 billion a year by 2030, and count towards offsetting an extra 5 billion metric tons of carbon emissions annually. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post COP29 agrees deal to kick-start global carbon credit trading By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

By Scott Murdoch and Tom Westbrook (Reuters) -Gautam Adani’s conglomerate could find it harder to get funding following a U.S. arrest warrant for its billionaire founder, with some banks considering halting fresh credit to the Indian group due to an alleged $265 million bribery scheme. Some global banks are considering temporarily halting fresh credit to the Adani Group after the U.S. indictment but maintaining existing loans, sources told Reuters. Ratings agency S&P warned in a statement that the group will need regular access to equity and debt markets given its large growth plans, but it might find fewer takers. “We believe domestic, as well as some international banks and bond market investors, look at Adani entities as a group, and could set group limits on their exposure,” it said. However, S&P added that the rated entities have “no immediate and lumpy” debt maturities. Senior executives at two of Adani’s global lenders said that they have had multiple calls within their respective banks to discuss exposure to the group and what the impact of the indictment would be on its financial position. Research firm CreditSights highlighted refinancing for the conglomerate’s green energy business, which is at the centre of the allegations, as its biggest near-term concern. Bonds issued by the Adani Group dropped sharply for a second day on Friday and although the shares of some Adani firms clawed back some of Thursday’s losses, the overall market value of all 10 stocks has dropped by $27.9 billion over two sessions. Adani Green Energy (NS:), which is at the centre of the U.S. allegations, has lost nearly $7 billion of its value. U.S. authorities have charged Adani and seven other people with agreeing to pay bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts that could yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years as well as to develop India’s largest solar power project. Adani Group has said the accusations as well as those levelled by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a parallel civil case are “baseless and denied” and that it will seek “all possible legal recourse”. Some analysts said the fallout was unlikely to be limited to the Adani group of companies. “India’s renewable energy sector, a critical pillar for global climate goals, may face reduced international investment as a result of this controversy,” said Nimish Maheshwari, an independent analyst who publishes on Smartkarma. “Investors may demand greater transparency and due diligence, slowing down the pace of project financing.” The Securities and Exchange Board of India, the country’s market regulator, is making preliminary checks to see if disclosures made by Adani entities were inadequate and if they breached local market regulations, a SEBI official told Reuters. SEBI did not respond to a request for comment. The regulator has completed a separate investigation into the group, but not yet issued orders, after Hindenburg Research in January 2023 alleged improper use of tax havens and stock manipulation, which the group has denied. Falls in Adani dollar bond prices on Friday included a 2.5c drop on the dollar for 2029 Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone bonds. At 87.8c, they are down more than 5c over the two sessions. Longer-dated maturities have fallen around 5c in two days and trade just below 80c. Adani Transmission and Adani Mumbai bond prices had similar declines. Investors are also watching to see if more Adani deals could be scuttled after Kenya cancelled a procurement process worth nearly $2 billion that had been widely expected to award control of the country’s main airport to the group. It also nixed a 30-year, $736-million public-private partnership deal that an Adani Group firm signed with the energy ministry last month to construct power transmission lines. Adani Green also cancelled a scheduled $600 million U.S. bond sale. U.S. prosecutors say Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and others bribed Indian officials to gain business advantages in renewable energy projects in India that benefited Adani Green and a company called Azure Power, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange until late 2023. They are also accused of making misleading statements to the public, including U.S. investors, despite being made aware of the U.S. investigation in 2023. Adani has not appeared in public or commented on social media since the indictment and his whereabouts remain unclear. Indian authorities have not responded to opposition calls for a probe into the indictment, which came not long after Adani raised $1.5 billion through two share sales by flagship firm Adani Enterprises (NS:) and power distribution arm Adani Energy Solutions. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Adani Group could find funding harder after US indictment as banks review credit By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s Huawei, blacklisted by the U.S., said on Saturday it is targeting 100,000 applications for its Harmony (JO:) operating system in coming months as it seeks widespread help to achieve self-reliance. The tech giant has more than 15,000 applications based on Harmony that can meet consumers’ basic needs, but the ecosystem requires more personalised and boutique apps, Huawei Chairman Xu Zhijun told a conference on Saturday. “Based on our analysis, for the Harmony ecosystem to be mature in meeting consumer needs, 100,000 apps is the milestone, and that is the key objective over the next six to 12 months,” Xu said in a speech posted on the WeChat messaging app. The ambitious app target highlights the urgency in developing home-grown technologies as China faces elevated tensions with the U.S. in areas ranging from trade to technology as President-elect Donald Trump threatens to be tougher on China. Huawei launched its operating system five years ago after U.S. sanctions cut off support for Google (NASDAQ:)’s Android. The Shenzhen-based company, which sells products ranging from smartphones to laptops, later developed an open-source version of the Harmony system. Due to the U.S. sanctions, “Huawei has been forced to accelerate developing its own operating system,” Xu said. Although much progress has been made, “for any operation system, no matter how advanced it is, it would be of no value if no one uses it.” Xu expressed hope that developers could work hard to enrich app offerings and called on government agencies, state companies and social organisations to use Harmony as their operating system at work. He asked consumers to be tolerant of the system’s immaturity, saying, “The more people use it, the more quickly it will become mature.” Huawei unveiled Harmony in August 2019, three months after Washington placed it under trade restrictions over alleged security concerns. Huawei denies its equipment poses a risk. “No way back leads to victory,” Xu said. “Huawei will unwaveringly invest in developing the Harmony ecosystem, and strive to make the impossible possible.” !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post China’s Huawei aims 100,000 apps on Harmony OS in 6-12 months By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

By Mohamed Ezz and Valerie Volcovici ALEXANDRIA, Egypt/BAKU (Reuters) – Black dust coats streets and collects on rooftops in the neighbourhood adjoining a sprawling cement factory in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Activists and local residents accuse the plant operated by the Alexandria Portland Cement Company (APCC), a subsidiary of Greece’s Titan Cement, of fouling the air by burning coal. “Every night, we see particles falling from their chimneys. Under street lights, you can clearly see the dust raining down,” said Mostafa Mahmoud, a grocery store owner in the Wadi al-Qamar neighbourhood. Reuters could not independently verify the assertion. Titan Cement says the plant’s emissions are within legal limits, and it plans to reduce its use of coal in coming years. Like many cement manufacturers in Egypt and across North Africa, the factory uses imported coal to fire its kilns. Lately, more and more of the region’s coal is coming from the United States, according to U.S. export data. Fossil fuel exports have been a hot topic at the United Nations climate conference in Baku this year, with activists and delegates from some climate-vulnerable countries arguing nations should be held accountable for the pollution they send overseas – often to poor developing nations – in the form of oil, gas and coal. Some are seeking to get the question of how to do this onto the agenda at future climate summits. A landmark agreement reached in Paris in 2015 to fight climate change requires countries to set targets and report on progress reducing national levels of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. But it does not impose such requirements for emissions generated from fossil fuels they drill, mine and ship elsewhere. That has allowed countries like the United States, Norway, Australia and others to say they are making progress toward international climate goals while also producing and exporting fossil fuels at breakneck pace, said Bill Hare, co-founder of Climate Action (WA:) Tracker, an independent scientific project that tracks government climate action. “Most of these fossil-fuel-exporting countries can get to look good with their domestic climate action,” he said on the sidelines of the COP29 conference in Baku this week. “Their exported emissions are someone else’s problem.” U.S. fossil fuel exports – including coal, oil, gas and refined fuels – led to over 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in other countries in 2022, according to a calculation carried out by Climate Action Tracker and verified by Reuters using data from the International Energy Agency. That is equivalent to about a third of U.S. domestic emissions, the data showed. A years-long drilling boom has made the U.S. the world’s top oil and gas producer, while robust demand has lifted its coal exports for four years running, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Asked how Washington squares its climate ambitions with its fossil fuel production and exports, President Joe Biden’s climate adviser, Ali Zaidi, said strong energy output was needed to keep consumer prices low during a transition to cleaner fuels. “I don’t think there is social license for a decarbonisation playbook that puts upward price pressure for retail consumers in the marketplace,” Zaidi told Reuters. Incoming president Donald Trump, a climate change sceptic, has said he wants to further boost the nation’s fossil fuel production. For other producers, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel exports sometimes outweigh domestic emissions, Climate Action Tracker said. That was true for Norway, Australia and Canada in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available for all countries analysed. Reuters obtained exclusive access to the calculations. Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment said it is up to other nations to manage their own carbon footprints. “Each country is responsible for reducing its own emissions,” the ministry said in a statement to Reuters. Officials at the environment and climate ministries of Canada and Australia did not comment. Addressing the summit in Azerbaijan, host President Ilham Aliyev accused some Western politicians of double standards for lecturing his government about its oil and gas use, saying, “They better look at themselves.” CEMENT AND BRICKMAKERS Most U.S. gas exports now go to European countries seeking to reduce dependence on Russia, while China has become one of the top buyers of and coal, according to the EIA figures. America’s biggest growth market for coal, however, is North Africa. U.S. coal mines exported around 52.5 million short tons globally in the first half of 2024, up nearly 7% from the same period a year ago, the data showed. Much of the increase was driven by cement and brickmakers in Egypt and Morocco, which together took in more than 5 million short tons over the period, the EIA said in a recent report. “These customers value the high heat content of U.S. thermal coal, which makes their manufacturing operations more efficient,” the report said. Meanwhile, U.S. domestic coal use has been sliding as cheap and subsidies for renewables like solar and wind drive coal-fired power plant closures, extending a more than 15-year decline in greenhouse gas emissions. Egypt’s cement industry has relied on imported coal for nearly a decade, since persistent natural gas shortages forced many factories to look for alternatives, said Ahmed Shireen Korayem, vice chairman and board member at the Arab Union for Cement and Building Materials, a regional industry body. The U.S. is Egypt’s largest supplier, accounting for 3.1 million of the 6.6 million metric tons of coal imported this year, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LON:). Russia supplied most of the rest, 2.1 million metric tons. Its environment ministry referred questions to the foreign ministry, which did not immediately comment. Activists argue that the Egyptian government’s decision to lift a longstanding ban on coal imports in 2015 to support an industry central to its economic development plans is harmful to the environment and health of communities like Wadi al-Qamar. Using data from the Alexandria plant’s emissions-monitoring system, researchers from Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, Cairo University and environment ministry simulated the dispersion of polluting dust and toxic gases between 2014 and 2020. The study, published in the Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering in 2022, concluded that the shift from using natural gas to coal as the dominant fuel lead to increased emissions and concentrations of total suspended particulates (TSP), nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. The concentrations were mostly within legal limits, however. Egypt’s greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels rose by more than a fifth in the decade ended in 2022, hitting 263 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to data from the Global Carbon Budget, a project led by Britain’s Exeter University. Most of these emissions came from gas and oil, which remain Egypt’s main energy sources. Coal accounted for 3.4% of the 2022 total, 9 million metric tons. The government committed in 2021 to phase out the use of coal and has asked companies that use it to introduce more renewable sources into their energy mix. But Heba Maatouk, a spokesperson for Egypt’s environment ministry, said there was insufficient supply of alternatives, such as refuse-derived fuel (RDF) made from combustible trash. “If companies cannot get the RDF, they won’t stop operating and will use coal to avoid losses,” Maatouk told Reuters. LEGAL BATTLES Decarbonising the cement industry is a challenge, particularly in poorer developing nations like Egypt, because it requires vast amounts of energy, and technologies to keep emissions from the atmosphere are expensive. In his COP29 address last week, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said his country’s plans to boost renewable energy to 42% of its power mix by 2030 depend on foreign support. Residents in the Wadi al-Qamar neighborhood have been engaged in a prolonged legal battle with the Alexandria cement factory, APCC, filing multiple lawsuits, said Hoda Nasrallah, a lawyer for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). In 2016, community members backed by EIPR asked an administrative court in Alexandria to overturn amendments to the country’s environmental regulations that allow heavy industries to use coal on health and environmental grounds, according to the rights group. APCC officials did not respond to a request for comment made through a legal representative. Titan Cement confirmed that the factory sources coal from the U.S. but did not elaborate. In a statement issued by its group corporate communications director, Lydia Yannakopoulou, the company said the plant had not violated any laws, had made 40 million euros in investments in pollution controls since 2010, and planned to reduce its use of coal in coming years as it ramps up use of alternatives. She said a court-appointed committee of experts from Alexandria University concluded there were no environmental violations resulting from the company’s emissions or operational processes, and the emissions were within legal limits. Nasrallah said lawyers representing the community believe the committee was headed by a company employee and have taken their case to Egypt’s highest administrative court in Cairo. Neither side provided a copy of the committee’s report, and Reuters could not independently verify their assertions. A ruling in the case is expected in December. Meanwhile, frustration is building among nearby residents like Hisham al-Akary, who says his family has lived in Wadi al-Qamar for generations and cannot afford to move. “This factory shouldn’t be here,” he told Reuters. “We should stay, and they should leave.” (Mohamed Ezz reported from Cairo and Valerie Volcovici from Baku. Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Alexandra Zavis) !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post How big fossil-fuel-producing countries export emissions abroad By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

By Michael Erman (Reuters) -U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has nominated surgeon and writer Martin Makary to lead the Food and Drug Administration, the world’s most influential drug regulator with a more than $7 billion budget. Makary, a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he is chief of islet transplant surgery, in interviews promoting his most recent book spoke out against what he called “massive overtreatment” in the U.S. – “an epidemic of inappropriate care.” The book, “Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong and What It Means for Our Health,” was published in September. In a statement announcing his pick on Friday, Trump said Makary was needed “to course-correct and refocus the Agency.” The FDA regulates human and veterinary drugs, medical devices and vaccines, and approves new treatments and assures they are safe and effective before they enter the biggest and most lucrative healthcare market in the world. The agency is also responsible for safety standards for food, tobacco and cosmetics. Trump said he was confident Makary would “cut the bureaucratic red tape at the Agency to make sure Americans get the Medical (TASE:) Cures and Treatments they deserve.” Makary had raised concerns about a number of public health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic in essays published in the Wall Street Journal, touting the protection received from natural immunity and opposing COVID vaccine mandates for the general public, though he was not opposed to the vaccines. Makary would report to Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., if he is confirmed by the Senate. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and activist who has spread misinformation on vaccines, has vowed to work to end chronic disease, clean up corruption and provide Americans with the data they need to make informed decisions about their health. RBC analyst Brian Abrahams said in a research note earlier this week that Makary was likely to be more industry unfriendly than his predecessor. “Dr. Makary could make the agency more suspicious of, rather than collaborative with, drugmakers, with his criticisms around medication overuse potentially leading to a more skeptical and less permissive culture around approving drugs with mixed data or more modest benefits,” Abrahams wrote. As a doctor, Makary was a co-developer of the Surgery Checklist, a routine for surgeons that improved surgical outcomes and has been spread around the globe by the World Health Organization. He has advocated for reexamining the use of hormone replacement treatment in menopausal women, reducing overuse of antibiotics and reforms to medical education. Makary, who lives in Baltimore, has also served as an adviser to Washington conservative healthcare think tank Paragon Health Institute. Makary would succeed Dr. Robert Califf, a cardiologist and researcher who had held the role of FDA commissioner in the Obama administration. In his second term under President Joe Biden, Califf revamped the agency’s food operations and inspections processes and tried to combat misinformation. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Trump’s FDA pick is surgeon and writer Martin Makary By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

The Dow Jones gained another 400 points on Friday. After a brief lull, the major index is back into its post-election rally. Investors are pivoting out of the usual tech rally into consumer goods. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has snapped its recent soft patch, extending its midweek bullish pivot into a firm Friday performance. The Dow Jones is on its way to finishing another trading week on the firmly bullish side, up around 1.8% from Monday’s opening bids but still a little shy of last week’s record highs near 44,485. A firm print in US Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) figures helped to bolster investor sentiment on Friday. November’s Manufacturing PMI exceeded expectations, printing at 48.8 compared to October’s 48.5. The Services PMI component handily outperformed forecasts, coming in at 57.0. Median market forecasts called for a more sedate uptick to 55.3 from the previous month’s 55.0. Despite the upbeat print in PMI business activity expectations, consumer sentiment surveys threw up a warning flag: the University of Michigan’s (UoM) Consumer Sentiment Index for November declined to 71.8 from the previous month’s 73.0, entirely missing an expected step upwards to 73.7. UoM 5-year Consumer Inflation Expectations also accelerated in November, and surveyed consumers now expect 5-year inflation to reach 3.2%, climbing from the expected hold at 3.1%. Dow Jones news The Dow Jones is seeing a wide sweep of bullish momentum on Friday, with all but five of the securities listed on the major index testing higher on the last day of trading for the week. Across the sector space, telecoms and tech companies are on the soft side, with industrials, consumer discretionaries, and financials finding the high side of the boards. Tech sector investors have decided that Nvidia’s (NVDA) 93% YoY earnings growth in the third quarter wasn’t enough to keep bids on the high end; NVDA is down over 3% on Friday and trading at $142 per share. Boeing rose over 4.5% on Friday, testing into $150 per share as investors pick up the airplane manufacturer and developer with eyes on the company’s backlog of customer orders worth an estimated $500 billion. The company’s ability to execute on those orders has apparently not factored into the equation, with at least two plane models under FAA review. Boeing also has plans on the books for the company to axe 17,000 workers or ten percent of its entire workforce. Dow Jones price forecast Dow Jones bulls continue to keep prices elevated and out of harm’s way of any meaningful bearish technical signals. The major equity index is up around 5.8% in November, the index’s best-performing month to-date, and has added a tidy 18% from 2024’s opening bids. One-sided bullish price action is marching back toward the 44,400 level, with the index’s latest pullback pricing in a soft technical floor near 43,200. Near-term momentum has a hard barrier priced in at the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) near 42,650. Dow Jones daily chart Dow Jones FAQs The Dow Jones Industrial Average, one of the oldest stock market indices in the world, is compiled of the 30 most traded stocks in the US. The index is price-weighted rather than weighted by capitalization. It is calculated by summing the prices of the constituent stocks and dividing them by a factor, currently 0.152. The index was founded by Charles Dow, who also founded the Wall Street Journal. In later years it has been criticized for not being broadly representative enough because it only tracks 30 conglomerates, unlike broader indices such as the S&P 500. Many different factors drive the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). The aggregate performance of the component companies revealed in quarterly company earnings reports is the main one. US and global macroeconomic data also contributes as it impacts on investor sentiment. The level of interest rates, set by the Federal Reserve (Fed), also influences the DJIA as it affects the cost of credit, on which many corporations are heavily reliant. Therefore, inflation can be a major driver as well as other metrics which impact the Fed decisions. Dow Theory is a method for identifying the primary trend of the stock market developed by Charles Dow. A key step is to compare the direction of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA) and only follow trends where both are moving in the same direction. Volume is a confirmatory criteria. The theory uses elements of peak and trough analysis. Dow’s theory posits three trend phases: accumulation, when smart money starts buying or selling; public participation, when the wider public joins in; and distribution, when the smart money exits. There are a number of ways to trade the DJIA. One is to use ETFs which allow investors to trade the DJIA as a single security, rather than having to buy shares in all 30 constituent companies. A leading example is the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA). DJIA futures contracts enable traders to speculate on the future value of the index and Options provide the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the index at a predetermined price in the future. Mutual funds enable investors to buy a share of a diversified portfolio of DJIA stocks thus providing exposure to the overall index.   Source link The post Dow Jones squeezes out another 400 point gain on Friday first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has endorsed using blockchain technology to manage trading collateral in United States derivatives markets, according to a Nov. 21 report by the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee. Blockchain technologies — including distributed ledgers and tokenization — can address longstanding challenges for traditional derivatives exchanges and expand the variety of assets available to collateral trades, the report said. “All over the world, there have been successful and proven commercial use cases for tokenization of assets,” CFTC Commissioner Caroline D. Pham said in a statement, adding: “Now, we can finally begin to make progress on U.S. regulatory clarity for digital assets.” Among other benefits, blockchain networks “can facilitate real-time, 24/7/365 transfers of the [collateral] asset without costly or complex linkages across multiple intermediaries,” the report said. They “can also permit peer-to-peer transfers, meaning that a person owning the asset can transfer or pledge that asset without transacting through a broker,” it continued. The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is piloting settling trades on blockchain networks. Source: DTCC Related: Trump mulls tapping crypto-friendly CFTC chair: Report Traders are often required to post collateral, or “margin,” to secure trades until they are completed. The CFTC regulates commodity derivatives markets, such as exchanges, for trading futures and options, and plays a crucial role in overseeing US cryptocurrency markets. How Trump will shape CFTC’s approach to blockchain United States President-elect Donald Trump — who has promised to turn the US into the “world’s crypto capital” — is reportedly mulling tapping a crypto-friendly commissioner to lead the CFTC when he begins his presidential term on Jan. 20, 2025. Under President Joe Biden, the Securities and Exchange Commission and CFTC have taken aggressive regulatory stances toward crypto, bringing hundreds of actions against industry firms. Summer Mersinger, a Republican CFTC commissioner who has urged the regulator to take a more accommodating stance on crypto, is among those under consideration to chair the agency. Commissioner Pham has also taken pro-crypto stances, including criticizing the CFTC in September for charging Uniswap, a decentralized exchange, with running an unregistered derivatives exchange. Is the SEC next to embrace blockchain? In addition to the CFTC, there will be leadership changes at the SEC. On Nov. 21, SEC Chair Gary Gensler, known for his hardline stance on cryptocurrency regulation, announced plans to depart from the agency on Jan. 20, 2025. Source: Gary Gensler Even before the post-election shake-up at the SEC and CFTC, there were signs that regulators and trading platforms were beginning to embrace tokenized assets as collateral for trades. In September, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation — the United States’ central clearinghouse for securities trades — completed a pilot program exploring using tokenized US Treasury bills as trading margin. Magazine: Terrorism and Israel-Gaza war weaponized to destroy crypto Source link The post CFTC report endorses tokenizing trading collateral  first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

By Steve Holland and Alexandra Ulmer (Reuters) -President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pick prominent investor Scott Bessent to take on the role of U.S. Treasury secretary, sources told Reuters on Friday, putting him at the helm of a cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.  One source briefed by the Trump transition team and a donor briefed on the plans told Reuters of Trump’s intention to pick Bessent. The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs. Bessent was picked from a crowded field of candidates for the coveted role. That list included Apollo Global Management (NYSE:) Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department. Bessent has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal. The market’s surge after Trump’s election victory, he wrote, signaled investor “expectations of higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans.”   Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers. ECONOMY’S QUARTERBACK As the 79th Treasury secretary, Bessent would essentially be the highest-ranking U.S. economic official, responsible for maintaining the plumbing of the world’s largest economy, from collecting taxes and paying the nation’s bills to managing the $28.6-trillion Treasury debt market and overseeing financial regulation, including handling and preventing market crises. The Treasury boss also runs U.S. financial sanctions policy, oversees the U.S.-led International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other international financial institutions, and manages national security screenings of foreign investments in the U.S. Bessent would face challenges, including safely managing federal deficits that are forecast to grow by nearly $8 trillion over a decade due to Trump’s plans to extend expiring tax cuts next year and add generous new breaks, including ending taxes on Social Security income. Without offsetting revenues, this new debt would add to an unsustainable fiscal trajectory already forecast to balloon U.S. debt by $22 trillion through 2033. Managing debt increases this large without market indigestion will be a challenge, though Bessent has argued Trump’s agenda would unleash stronger economic growth that would grow revenue and shore up market confidence.  Bessent would also inherit the role carved out by Yellen to lead the Group of Seven wealthy democracies to provide tens of billions of dollars in economic support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion and tighten sanctions on Moscow. But given Trump’s desire to end the war quickly and withdraw U.S. financial support for Ukraine, it is unclear whether he would pursue this. Another area where Bessent will likely differ from Yellen is her focus on climate change, from her mandate that development banks expand lending for clean energy to incorporating climate risks into financial regulations and managing hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy tax credits. Trump, a climate-change skeptic, has vowed to increase production of U.S. fossil fuel energy and end the clean-energy subsidies in President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. FED FACING The Treasury secretary is also the administration’s closest point of contact with the Federal Reserve. Both Yellen under Biden and Mnuchin under Trump typically met weekly with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, often over breakfast or lunch. Bessent has floated the idea of creating a “shadow” Fed chair. This would entail nominating as early as possible a presumptive Powell predecessor to the Fed Board who would then deliver their own policy guidance so that, as Bessent told Barron’s last month, “no one is really going to care what Jerome Powell has to say anymore.” The next seat to open up at the Fed Board is that of Governor Adriana Kugler, whose term runs to January 2026. Bessent has since said he no longer thinks the idea of a shadow chair worth pursuing, the Wall Street Journal reported.  Powell’s term as Fed chair expires in May 2026, and presidents rarely wait until the Fed chief’s term ends before nominating a successor. FROM FINANCE TO DC  Bessent, 62, primarily lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his husband and two children. He grew up in the fishing village of Little River, South Carolina, where Bessent has said his father, a real estate investor, experienced booms and busts. Bessent worked for noted short seller Jim Chanos in the late 1980s and then joined Soros Fund Management, the famed macroeconomic investment firm of billionaire George Soros. He soon helped Soros and top deputy Stanley Druckenmiller on their most famous trade – shorting the British pound in 1992 and earning the firm more than $1 billion. In 2015, Bessent raised $4.5 billion, including $2 billion from Soros, to launch Key Square Group, a hedge fund firm that bets on macroeconomic trends. Key Square’s main fund gained about 31% in 2022, according to media reports, but firm assets have declined to approximately $577 million as of December 2023, according to a regulatory filing.    !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Trump expected to pick Bessent to be US treasury secretary, sources say By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

By Niket Nishant and Chris Prentice (Reuters) – Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:)’ Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher on Friday withdrew from consideration for chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Trump administration, leaving other Republican former SEC officials among the top candidates. “I’ve made it clear to the relevant people that I’m not interested in being considered for the role,” he told CNBC. Gallagher said in a statement he was committed to Robinhood and the retail brokerage’s customers. Industry sources said restrictions on public officials’ investments were a potential deterrent for Gallagher, who served as an SEC commissioner from 2011 to 2015. Gallagher was the frontrunner for the job, Reuters and other media outlets reported earlier this month, citing sources familiar with the matter. His candidacy was supported by cryptocurrency executives, an important source of campaign finance for President-elect Donald Trump.  Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt did not comment directly on Gallagher’s announcement but said Trump was still deciding who would serve in his administration. Gallagher’s decision to bow out opens the door for other contenders.  Reuters and other media have reported former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins, CEO of consultancy Patomak Global Partners (NYSE:), and Willkie Farr & Gallagher law firm partner Robert Stebbins, who served as SEC general counsel during Trump’s first administration, were also being considered for SEC chair. A person with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday evening that they were still contenders. Neither Atkins nor Stebbins immediately returned a request for comment Another potential candidate is Teresa Goody Guillén, partner at law firm BakerHostetler and co-lead of its blockchain team, Coindesk reported on Tuesday. She declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Wednesday and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. The cryptocurrency industry is seeking a complete overhaul of SEC crypto policy, ending a crackdown by the SEC’s current chair, Gary Gensler, who leaves office in January before Trump’s inauguration. Atkins, who served on Trump’s transition team in 2016 when he was also a contender for SEC chair, is a crypto enthusiast, while Stebbins has been criticized by some crypto executives for his role in crypto enforcement actions during his time at the agency. Trump’s transition team has spoken with as many as a dozen potential candidates for the job, according to multiple sources and media reports. A decision is likely to wait until a Treasury secretary is announced. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Robinhood’s top attorney Gallagher rules out SEC chair role By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York state judge found Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:) liable in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit accusing the satellite radio and streaming company of making it too hard for customers to cancel subscriptions. While rejecting claims alleging fraud and deceptive practices, Justice Lyle Frank of the state Supreme Court in Manhattan said Sirius’ policies violated the federal Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act. Frank said Sirius made canceling subscriptions “clearly not as easy” as signing up, by requiring subscribers to speak at length with live agents trained to dissuade cancellations, and listen to as many as five offers of other services before being allowed to cancel. The judge said Sirius must change its cancellation practices to comply with the law, and pay unspecified damages. Sirius said on Friday it would appeal the Nov. 21 decision. It also said it would abide by a U.S. Federal Trade Commission rule requiring businesses to make canceling subscriptions as easy as signing up. The “click-to-cancel” rule takes effect on Jan. 14, 2025. James sued Sirius last December, saying the New York-based company’s own data showed subscribers spent an average 11-1/2 minutes to cancel by phone and 30 minutes to cancel online. She said Sirius can cancel subscriptions with a click of a button, or let customers do it themselves. “My office sued SiriusXM to protect consumers, and as a result of our actions, they will have to simplify their cancellation process to stop taking advantage of New Yorkers,” James said in a statement on Friday. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Sirius XM found liable in New York lawsuit over subscription cancellations By Reuters first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.

Inveting.com — Shares of Games Workshop Group (LON:) surged more than 16% on Friday, driven by an upbeat trading update for the six months ending December 1.  Games Workshop said in a statement that trading since its previous update on September 18, has exceeded expectations.  The group now anticipates core revenue of no less than £260 million, an increase from the £235.6 million reported for the same period in 2023/24.  Additionally, its licensing revenue is expected to more than double, reaching at least £30 million compared to £13.0 million in the prior year. This revenue boost has also translated into higher profitability. The group estimates its profit before tax to be no less than £120 million, marking a 25% growth from £96.1 million recorded in the previous year. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); Source link The post Games Workshop shares soar on trading update By Investing.com first appeared on Forex Trader Hub.