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Automakers join forces with EV manufacturers to avoid EU emission fines
Automakers formed alliances with electric vehicle companies to avoid heavy fines from the European Union for carbon emissions. Several legacy automakers could face fines, as the transition from ICEs to EVs has been slower than expected. As of Tuesday, here are the details on the regulations and alliances that will be in place by 2025. Initial EU fines were based on carbon emissions levels in 2025. The European Commission, under pressure from the automakers, allowed compliance in March based on average emissions between 2025 and 2027. All alliance agreements currently in existence, as identified by their pool managers, will expire this year. It is expected that they will be renewed in the coming years. NISSAN Nissan, the Japanese EV manufacturer, teamed up with BYD in October. KG MOBILITY A second pool was created at the end September by South Korea’s KG Mobility, and Chinese EV manufacturer Xpeng. In January, Tesla, Stellantis, Toyota, Ford and Chinese EV manufacturer Leapmotor formed a pool. Mazda, Subaru, Mazda, and Subaru also joined. In March, Japan's Honda & Suzuki joined the pool. MERCEDES In January, this pool included Mercedes, Volvo Car, Polestar, Smart Automobile, and EV manufacturer Polestar. Volvo Car and Polestar both have the backing of China's Geely. Geely Chairman Li Shufu owns a 9.69% share in Mercedes. He is the second largest shareholder of the group after China's BAIC Group. Smart Automobile was formed as a joint venture by Mercedes and Geely. Forecasts of EV According to AlixPartners consultant, EVs accounted for 12% of the total European light vehicles sold last year and will reach 15% in 2019. AlixPartners predicts that their market share will increase to 24% by 2027, and 40% at the end of this decade.
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Fluor gains after Starboard purchases stake, NuScale urges review
Two sources said that shares of the construction company Fluor Corp rose by 2.7% after activist investor Starboard Value purchased a stake of nearly 5%, in order to unlock value for its 40% ownership in NuScale Power. Jeff Smith, the founder of Starboard, is expected to present the investment thesis for the firm at the 13D Monitor Active Passive Investment Summit, which will be held in New York, later that day. He will also talk about plans for TripAdvisor - another recent target. NuScale Power shares fell 7% at the opening of trading. Citigroup analysts said that Starboard's investment supports their view that Fluor shares still have room for growth. They cited the value of the NuScale stake and the potential improvement to the core operations of the company. Fluor could eventually sell its remaining 111,000,000 shares of NuScale, which represents over 60% of the company's market capitalization. Fluor's shares are down by 3% this year. NuScale's shares are up over 145% this year due to the growing demand for clean energy products that power AI-driven data centres and defense infrastructure. Starboard and Fluor both did not respond immediately when contacted. Fluor's core businesses, including infrastructure and energy projects have been under pressure. The company posted a 6% decline in revenue for the second quarter, falling short of analyst expectations. Starboard claims the segment is undervalued in comparison to Fluor NuScale's stake, and wants strategic options. Fluor, which is in a good position to benefit from the infrastructure policies of President Donald Trump that could boost investments in energy and construction, has launched an activist campaign. (Reporting and editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri; Rashika Singh)
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IIR: Dangote refinery gasoline unit is operating at 60% capacity
In an email, IIR, a industry monitor in Nigeria, said that the Dangote oil refining company restarted its 204,000 barrels per day gasoline production on October 19, as planned. The run rate was 60%. IIR said that the unit will be expected to maintain this rate until a planned shutdown in December 2025 or January 2026 has been completed. A spokesperson from Dangote didn't immediately respond to a comment request. The unit's outage, which began late in August, improved export economics to West Africa, covering the shortfall. This helped boost European gasoline refinery margins. According to calculations, the news of the planned restart last week pushed the margins down to $16.50 per barrel on Monday from $20 per barrel on October 16 Kpler data indicates that gasoline exports to West Africa from Europe are on track to hit about 300,000 barrels per day in October. This is their highest level since May. Aliko Dangote built the 650,000 bpd refinery in Africa. It has been undergoing maintenance for several years, resulting in a reduced demand for crude oil. Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar, Editing by Kirsten Doovan and Ros Russel
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Canada's inflation rate increases in September due to a smaller drop in gas prices
Data released on Tuesday showed that Canada's inflation rate rose to 2.4% annually in September. This was mainly due to a lower decline in gasoline prices compared to the previous month, and an increase in food prices. The Bank of Canada will meet later this month to make its next monetary decision. Economists will closely monitor the report to determine when it might be time for another rate cut. Money markets have put a probability of 86% on a rate cut of 25 basis points on October 29. This would reduce the benchmark rate to 2.25%. The Canadian dollar rose 0.12%, to 1.4018 US cents. The analysts polled predicted that the annual inflation rate would increase to 2.3% from 1.9% in august. StatsCan reported that the CPI increased 0.1% month-over-month in September after a decline of 0.1% in August. The Canadian government removed the carbon tax on gasoline that was keeping prices high all last year. The decline in August was greater than September, mainly because of a large drop in gasoline prices that occurred in September 2024. After a 2.4% increase in August, the CPI excluding gasoline rose by 2.6% in September. To gauge the price trend, economists have used the BoC's preferred measures of inflation that exclude the effect of tax measures. The CPI-median or the middle component of the CPI Basket, one of the BoC's preferred core measures of inflation that excludes the impact of tax measures, was 3.2% in September. This is unchanged from last month's upwardly revised annual number. StatsCan reported that the CPI-trim measure, which excludes extreme price changes, increased to 3.1% from 3.0% in September. Last month, the CPI basket had a share above 3% and below 1%. After a 3.4% rise in August, food prices rose 3.8% last month. This increase was due to an increase of 4% in food purchases from stores compared to a 3.5% rise in August. Statisticians said that the increase in grocery prices in September was the biggest year-over-year gain since April 2024. Rents contributed to the CPI's increase year-over-year, with a jump of 4.8% in September. This move brought shelter inflation, which is the largest component of the CPI, down to 2.6%. Promit Mukherjee, Dale Smith, and Paul Simao edited the report.
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M23 rebels have looted $70 million in gold from Congo mines since May, according to company reports
The company said that rebels who occupy Twangiza Mining’s gold concession located in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have stolen at least 500 kg of bullion from May. It also accused some of its employees of assisting the theft. The looted gold, at current prices is worth approximately $70 million. The mine is in South Kivu, where M23 rebels, backed by Rwandans, staged an offensive lightning fast this year which allowed them to capture more territory than they ever had before. The mine was seized in May. Twangiza Mining, in response to questions about losses after M23 took over the mine, said that they had transported a first batch of 50 kg gold in a short period of time with the help of a few employees. The company stated that "since the occupation they have secretly obtained and transported at least 500kg gold through underground channels." M23 didn't immediately respond to our request for a comment. Twangiza Mining is a Congo-based company that describes itself as Chinese. It has lost more than 100 kg of gold per month since it was taken over, along with $5 million in equipment and materials. It said that the company was preparing to submit a formal complaint before international arbitrators and Congolese officials, and had declared force majeure. The rebels were accused of expulsion, demolishment of churches and the use Rwandan technicians for geological data extraction to resume and expand mines. There are still more than 150 workers on the site. The company stated that it was unable to contact them. The Rwandan government didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. On October 15, a drone strike destroyed the power generation infrastructure of the mine. The drone strike's perpetrator is still unknown. The fighting in eastern Congo this year has resulted in the deaths of thousands and displacement of hundreds of thousands. According to U.N. inspectors, armed groups have taken over several mining sites located in the mineral rich eastern Congo. According to a U.N. Security Council report last year, M23 rebels earn around $300,000.00 per month from mineral taxes in Rubaya's coltan rich region. In June, U.S. president Donald Trump mediated a peace agreement between Congo and Rwanda as part of a plan to stabilize eastern Congo and attract Western mining investment. Rwanda has denied supporting M23 rebels despite claims from U.N. officials and regional governments. Qatar has hosted direct talks between Congo's M23 and Qatar. As part of this process, the two sides missed a deadline in August for a deal on peace. However, they did agree to a monitoring system for a possible ceasefire. Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Sonia Rolley and Robbie Corey Boulet edited the article.
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Uganda to hold general elections on January 15,
The Ugandan electoral commission announced on Tuesday that the general elections will be held in the country on January 15. At the election, the octogenarian president Yoweri Museeveni will try to extend his reign to almost half a century. Museveni, Africa's fourth-longest-serving leader, has had his government change the constitution twice in order to remove term and age limits. This allows him to stay in office ever since 1986. As in the 2021 election, Museveni's main rival is expected to be 43-year-old pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine, who has parlayed his singing stardom to amass a large support base among young voters. Wine, who is Robert Kyagulanyi in real life, claims that Museveni was able to win the last elections through ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, bribery, and other methods of rigging. Officials of the ruling party dismiss this accusation, claiming that Museveni was elected with genuine support. Six candidates from smaller parties will be running in the next presidential race. Voters will also elect parliament members. Former rebel Museveni is credited for stabilizing Uganda, promoting growth and fighting HIV/AIDS. Critics have condemned the suppression of political opposition, abuses of human rights and scandals involving corruption by his government. Officials deny allegations of human rights abuses, and claim that those in custody are subjected to due process. The government of Museveni hopes that the beginning of crude oil exports from fields operated France's TotalEnergies, and China's CNOOC next year will propel economic growth to double digits. Uganda is an important geopolitical actor in East Africa. It has troops in Somalia and South Sudan as well as in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo on missions of anti-insurgency, peacekeeping or military co-operation. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Alexander Winning, Alexandra Hudson)
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Fluor gains after Starboard purchases stake, NuScale urges review
Sources familiar with the situation said that shares of construction company Fluor Corp rose by 6% on Tuesday in premarket trading after activist investor Starboard Value purchased a stake of nearly 5%, in order to unlock value in its 40% ownership in NuScale power. Jeff Smith, the founder of Starboard, is expected to present the investment thesis for the firm at the 13D Monitor Active Passive Investment Summit, which will be held in New York, later that day. He will also talk about plans for TripAdvisor - another recent target. NuScale Power shares fell 4.7% in value before the bell. Citigroup analysts said that Starboard's investment supports their view that Fluor shares still have room for growth. They cited the value of the NuScale stake and the potential improvement to the core operations of the company. Fluor could eventually sell its remaining 111,000,000 shares of NuScale, which represents over 60% of the company's market capitalization. Fluor's shares are down by 3% this year. NuScale's shares are up over 145% this year due to the growing demand for clean energy products that power AI-driven data centres and defense infrastructure. Starboard and Fluor both did not respond immediately when contacted. Fluor's core businesses, including infrastructure and energy projects have been under pressure. The company posted a 6% decline in revenue for the second quarter, falling short of analyst expectations. Starboard claims the segment is undervalued in comparison to Fluor NuScale's stake, and wants strategic options. Fluor, which is in a good position to benefit from the infrastructure policies of President Donald Trump that could boost investments in energy and construction, has launched an activist campaign.
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Sources say that France's EDF has appointed advisers to examine options for Italian Edison.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter said that EDF, a French utility, has chosen Intesa Sanpaolo IMI as its financial advisors to examine strategic options for Edison in Italy. State-owned EDF, under the leadership of its new CEO Bernard Fontana has begun reviewing its assets in order to raise funds to meet government requirements for investment in new nuclear reactors. Sources have said that EDF was considering a public offering, bringing in a financial sponsor, or selling a stake to Edison. One person stated that EDF would retain a majority shareholding in Edison in any deal. Sources have estimated that Edison's value could range between 8 billion and 12 billion euros. EDF, Lazard Intesa and Edison have declined to comment. Il Sole 24 Ore, a daily Italian newspaper, reported that Intesa was in the lead to become EDF’s advisor. Edison CEO Nicola Monti stated in September that the Italian group is ready to list at the Milan bourse if its parent company decides to move forward with this plan. Edison has already established the corporate structure and procedures required for its stock to be traded publicly. EDF retained Edison's shares in Milan when it took Edison private and acquired its full control in 2012. This is a special type of share that offers a higher dividend rate than ordinary shares, but does not grant holders the right to vote at shareholder meetings. Edison reported revenues of 15,4 billion euros, and a core income of 1.7 billion euro last year.
Stocks are on tenterhooks, as Trump's tariff plans approach
Asian stocks stumbled on Wednesday as investors worried about escalating global trade wars awaited the details of U.S. president Donald Trump's proposed tariffs.
In recent weeks, investors have been focused on the new round reciprocal levies which the White House will announce at 2000 GMT on Wednesday. These are expected to go into effect immediately following the announcement.
Trump has already imposed duties on autos, aluminium and steel, as well as increased duties on all Chinese goods. This has rattled the markets, with fears growing that a full-blown global trade war may trigger a sharp economic slowdown.
Asian stocks dropped in the early morning trading after a turbulent session in the United States. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.3%, while South Korea's benchmark was down 0.57%.
Wall Street's benchmark S&P and Nasdaq both ended the session higher, after earlier losing ground. The Dow ended a little lower.
Chris Weston is the head of Pepperstone's research. He said: "We are experiencing a trading environment that is in a state if chop. Market players are adjusting their exposures at the margins and don't want to commit."
The blue-chip index rose 0.14%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.3% in early trading.
Vasu Menon is the managing director for investment strategy at OCBC. He said: "Trump called April 2, 'Liberation Day,' but it's unlikely that investors will be truly liberated from tariff uncertainty."
This possibility will likely continue to make investors nervous.
Investors are becoming increasingly concerned by signs such as rising prices, a slowing economy and cracks on the labour market.
The data showed that U.S. manufacturing shrank in March, after two months of growth. A measure of inflation in the factory gates jumped to its highest level in almost three years due to rising concern over tariffs on imported products.
In a recent note, ING economists stated that "Tariffs were meant to reinvigorate U.S. Manufacturing, but they are more concerned about the impact on supply chains, and what it means for foreign retaliation, despite signs of a cooling in the domestic economy."
The Labour Department reported on Tuesday that U.S. employment opportunities fell by 194,000 in February to 7.568 millions as tariff uncertainty dampened labour demand.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury benchmark note in the United States was 4.189% during Asian hours, having fallen to 4.133% Tuesday. This is its lowest level since February 4.
Most currency pairs traded in tight ranges. The euro remained at $1.079125 while the sterling traded at $1.29125. The yen was slightly weaker, at 149.83 dollars per yen.
But the focus will be on tariff details. This is especially true after a report in the media said that Trump's advisers were considering a plan to raise duties by around 20% on products from almost every country rather than target certain countries or specific products.
"We are heading into Trump's time to shine, with many already having deleveraged in order to run as neutral or flat a position they can on equity, USD (dollar), and Treasuries." Pepperstone's Weston stated
Gold, which is seen as a safe haven against economic and political turmoil, was well-priced at $3,132.43 an ounce. This price, while up by 0.7%, was still just below the previous session's record high.
(source: Reuters)