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Israel will kill Hamas leaders if they survive the Qatar attack next time, an Israeli official claims
The Israeli ambassador in the United States stated that if Israel didn't kill Hamas leaders during an air strike against Qatar on Tuesday, it would be successful the next time. This operation raised concerns about it torpedoing efforts to secure ceasefires in Gaza. "Right away, we might be the subject of some criticism. They will get over it. Yechiel Leiter said late Tuesday on Fox News' Special Report that Israel was changing for the better. "The region will change for the better when we take away these enemies of peace, and these enemies to Western civilization's ability to commit terrorism." Israel's attack on the Qatari capital Doha Tuesday was an attempt to kill Hamas political leaders. The attack escalated its military action in Middle East, which the U.S. called a unilateral strike that did not advance American or Israeli interests. This operation was particularly sensitive, as Qatar is hosting negotiations to secure a ceasefire for the Gaza War which has raged for almost two years. Leiter said, "We'll try again next time if we don't succeed this time." Hamas confirmed that five members of the group were killed, including the exiled Gaza chief Khalil al Hayya and his top negotiator. Hamas political Bureau member Suhail al-Hindi said to Al Jazeera TV that the top leadership of the group survived the attack. On Wednesday, a senior Israeli official stated that optimism over the outcome of the strike had turned into doubt. The official expressed concern that so many hours had passed without a conclusion, especially in a country as orderly as Qatar. Qatar, who said that one of its security personnel was killed in the attack said Israel is treacherous and engages in "state terror." Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani claimed that the airstrikes could derail peace talks Qatar is mediating between Hamas & Israel. Israel had warned Palestinians to leave Gaza City - a city that once housed about a half million people - as it sought to eliminate what was left of Hamas. The group has been decimated since October 2023 by Israel's army. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that he was "very unsatisfied" with every aspect of the Israeli attack. When asked how the failure to kill Hamas leaders in the attack on Qatar would affect the ceasefire negotiations by the U.S. Mike Huckabee, the Ambassador to Israel, told: "The truth is that we don't really know." Hamas rejected all offers so far. "They reject all offers that are put forward." He then reiterated the U.S.-Israeli position that Hamas militants should "go" and have no future running Gaza. The militant group that has controlled Gaza for almost two decades, but now controls only parts, said on Saturday, once again, that it would free all hostages, if Israel agreed end the war and remove its forces from Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu wants a deal in which all hostages are released immediately and Hamas is forced to surrender. He has ignored the global condemnation for operations such as the one which struck Doha, Qatar on Tuesday. He is extending military operations throughout the Middle East ever since Hamas launched an attack against Israel in 2023. Business as usual On Wednesday, Doha's schools and businesses were open as usual. In the Legtafiya district, where the attacks took place, a petrol pump was cordoned-off and schools closed. The International School of Choueifat, located nearby, was closed but offered online classes. Trump said that he thought it was a good idea to hit Hamas, but regretted the fact that the attack occurred in the Gulf Arab State, a non-NATO major ally of Washington, and the place where the Palestinian Islamist movement has had a political base for many years. Al-Udeid Air Base is the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East. Israel has killed top Hamas leaders in the years since the Palestinian militants attacked Israel, October 2023. They are believed to have killed 1,200 soldiers, civilians, and taken 251 hostages. Israel's military action in Gaza has killed more than 64,000 people according to local authorities and left the Palestinian enclave in ruins. A humanitarian crisis, including widespread starvation, has shocked the entire world. (Writing and editing by Sharon Singleton; Michael Georgy)
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Gold nears record high ahead US inflation data
The gold price hovered at a high level on Wednesday. This was due to expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this month. Market participants were also awaiting U.S. inflation figures for clues about its monetary policy. As of 0821 GMT spot gold was up 0.5%, at $3,643.78 an ounce. It had hit a record high on Tuesday of $3,673.95 per ounce. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery were flat at $3.682.30. Ricardo Evangelista is a senior analyst with ActivTrades. He said that gold's gains are due to expectations of Fed rate reductions, and signs of cooling on the U.S. labor market. This has weakened the U.S. dollar. The Fed's policy meeting in September was prompted by the weakening of the labor market. The U.S. government reported on Tuesday that the economy probably created 911,000 less jobs than originally estimated in the year through March. This suggests that the job growth had already slowed before President Donald Trump imposed aggressive tariffs on imported goods. The independent analyst Ross Norman stated that "the outsized revisions to jobs in the U.S. almost certainly add to the pervasive sense of economic unrest and such unexpected economic shifts highlight the role of Gold as a safe haven asset." According to CME's FedWatch Tool, the markets are pricing in 92% of a rate cut of 25 basis points, and 8% of a more significant 50 basis point cut. Watch closely the U.S. consumer price inflation and producer price inflation figures on Thursday, both due at 1230 GMT. These will provide more clues about the Fed's rate path. Gold that does not yield is usually a good investment in an environment with low interest rates. The gold price has risen 38% this year after a 27% increase in 2024. This is due to a weaker dollar, central bank accumulations, dovish monetary policies and increased global uncertainty. ANZ Group increased its gold price forecast for the year to end on Wednesday from $3,800 to $4,000 per ounce. Silver spot increased by 0.4%, to $41.06 an ounce. Platinum rose by 0.2%, to $1 387.45, and palladium increased 0.2%, to $1 1450.73.
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Prices of oil rise after Israeli attacks but oversupply limits gains
The oil prices increased on Wednesday, after Israel targeted Hamas leaders in Qatar and Poland shot down drones. Meanwhile, the U.S. pushed for new sanctions against Russian oil buyers. However, concerns about crude oversupply limited further gains. Brent crude futures rose 56 cents or 0.8% to $66.95 a barrel as of 0835 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures also gained 56 cents or 0.9% to $63.19 a barrel. The previous trading session saw prices rise by 0.6% after Israel announced that it had attacked Hamas leaders in Doha. After the attack, both benchmarks gained nearly 2% but then lost much of that gain. Geopolitical tensions rose in other places as well when Poland, the first NATO member to fire in this war, shot down drones on Wednesday during an attack by Russia in western Ukraine. There was no immediate danger of a disruption in supply. Brent is trading two dollars lower than it did last Tuesday. SEB analysts stated that geopolitical risks premiums on oil are rarely sustained unless there is a supply disruption. Sources say that Donald Trump, the U.S. president, has asked the European Union (EU) to impose tariffs of 100% on China and India in order to exert pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. China and India have been major purchasers of Russian oil since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine 2022. Analysts at LSEG said that there is still uncertainty about how far the Administration will go. Aggressive action could interfere with efforts to control inflation and influence Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. The Federal Reserve is expected to reduce interest rates during its meeting on September 16-17, which will boost the economy and increase demand for oil. The outlook for supply is still bearish. Energy Information Administration warned that global crude prices would be significantly impacted by rising inventories in the months to come as OPEC+ increased output. Market sources cited American Petroleum Institute data on Tuesday to report that U.S. crude oil, gasoline, and distillate stock levels rose in the last week. The government data will be released at 1430 GMT.
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Barclays raises its 2025 S&P500 target for the second time in three months
Barclays on Wednesday raised its 2025 year-end target for the S&P 500 to 6,450 from 6,050, its second in three months, on stronger-than-expected corporate earnings, resilient U.S. economic growth and optimism around artificial intelligence. The British brokerage has joined a list of global firms, such as Citigroup and HSBC, that have increased their targets for the benchmark index. S&P 500 rallied steadily after hitting a low in April due to President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day", tariffs. It has gained about 30%, boosted by strong earnings and investor excitement around the AI boom. The new target, however, is only slightly lower than the last closing index of 6,512.61, which indicates labour market risks. Data released on Friday revealed that the U.S. unemployment rate increased to 4.3% in August, a four-year high. This slowed the pace of the economy. Barclays strategists said that while global GDP growth has stabilized, US labor market risk is increasing. It noted that the AI-centric narrative of growth, rate cuts in the short-term and seasonality favoring equities after the quarters of July-September will support equities until year's end, adding that this expectation was probably already priced into markets. The brokerage says it expects the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut rates three times before year's end, which will help reduce labor market risks. The S&P 500's 2025 earnings per share (EPS) was also increased to $268, up from $262. It also raised its target for 2026 to 7,700 from 6,700 and projected EPS at $295 from $285. Barclays upgraded its view of the U.S. technology sector to "positive", citing high data center demand, and eased concerns about AI disruptions in software. The company downgraded U.S. Healthcare to "neutral", citing regulatory concerns, and upgraded the Materials sector to "neutral", citing improved outlooks for metals as well as agricultural chemicals. Investors will closely watch the Fed's meeting on policy next week to get clues about the path of rate cuts and the direction of the market. (Reporting and editing by Janane Vekatraman in Bengaluru)
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Polish stocks fall after NATO member shoots down Russian aircraft in its airspace
Polish stocks fell on Wednesday, after Poland shot down Russian Drones that had entered its airspace as part of a Russian offensive in western Ukraine. At 0829 GMT the Warsaw blue-chip index slid to 2.6%, making it one of only a few European indices that were trading lower. Konrad Ryczko is an analyst with DM BOS. He said that the future of the situation was uncertain. Robert Maj, an Ipopema Securities analyst, said that the drop was a reaction to overnight events, and gave investors a reason to take advantage of recent gains. Maj added: "It is also a form profit-taking, because the Warsaw Stock Exchange had one of, if no better, the best performing indexes in this year." The benchmark index fell when Russia began its war with Poland's neighbor in February 2022. It has recovered and is now up 28% this year. This puts it in competition with markets such as Hong Kong for year-to-date gains. Some stocks in the defence sector rose as investors expected to benefit from a rise in geopolitical tensions. Shares of military supplier Lubawa rose 4.2% while Zremb Chojnice - which produces dual-use steel structure - jumped to record highs by around 10%. Maj said: "Companies within the defence sector... could benefit from an increase in geopolitical tensions, and this is exactly what we are seeing today on the stock market." The WIG20 index was down 3.5% to 3.8%, with the biggest losses coming from lenders Alior Bank, Pekao, and refiner Orlen.
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Bangchak is still waiting for details about the Thai sustainable aviation fuel mandate.
A senior executive at the Thai energy company Bangchak Corp stated on Wednesday that there are no details yet on the expected mandate of the country for sustainable aviation fuel usage. The company started producing sustainable aviation fuel in the first half of this year. It has a production capacity of 1 million litres (880 metric tons) a day. Gloyta Nathalang said at the APPEC Conference in Singapore that "we are in a limbo". She said: "We have some agreements and some markets but no specifics on a mandate." Nathalang, who spoke at the event, said that the company's SAF unit is still in "test-run period" and will be fully operational early in 2026. He added that the unit can switch to renewable diesel if necessary. She said, "We expected that there would be a directive by 2026." "Now that we have only a few more months, there is no mandate or policy." She said that there is still disagreement among a few ministers about who should be tasked with setting the mandate. Bangchak, according to the company's website, signed a contract with Shell Singapore Trading to supply sustainable aviation gasoline. (Reporting and writing by Trixie Yap, Tony Munroe, Christopher Cushing, Jan Harvey).
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Prices for gas in Europe are little changed, as the market ignores geopolitical risk
The Dutch and British wholesale prices of gas were mostly stable on Wednesday, as the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, Europe and Russia, where Russian drones invaded NATO member Poland's airspace failed to counterbalance a market that was balanced. LSEG data shows that the benchmark Dutch front-month contract was 32.75 euros per Megawatt Hour (MWh) or $11.23/mmBtu at 0820 GMT. This is a decrease of 0.03 euros. The Dutch day-ahead contracts was down by 0.30 euros to 32.60 euros/MWh. The British gas front-month price fell by 0.25 pence, to 80.38 p/therm. However, the day-ahead contract rose 0.85 pence and now stands at 81.25 pence/therm. A trader stated that the market response to Israel's attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar was quite muted, as it had no impact on liquefied gas (LNG). The price of oil did not change much after the Russian air raids on Ukraine during the night and several Russian drones entering Polish airspace. The trader stated that "in the middle of maintenance (of the Norwegian continental shelf), I would have expected to see a little more premium factored in." He said that a stronger response would require a combination simultaneous events, such as prolonged outages in Norway and increased demand on the spot market from Chinese buyers. Analysts at Northern Gas & Power stated in a morning press briefing that European storage levels are still healthy, at just below 80%. The planned maintenance of the Norwegian pipeline will be completed in the next few weeks. The price of oil is susceptible to swings due to the uncertainty surrounding winter demand, and other risks that may be present in supply regions. Analysts said that cooler temperatures in Britain Wednesday morning are helping to support the day-ahead price of gasoline. The benchmark carbon contract in Europe was down by 0.16 euros at 76.74 euro per metric ton. Nora Buli, reporting from Oslo; Susanna Twidale, editing)
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GEK Terna, Greece's largest GEK, posts an 84% increase in adjusted EBITDA for the first half.
GEK Terna, a Greek energy and infrastructure company, reported a 84% increase year-on-year in its core profit for the first half of 2018. The group cited a better performance from concessions as well as increased construction activity. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), the group's adjusted profit, rose from 172 millions euros to 317million euros for the period ending June. GEK Terna reported that the segment's adjusted EBITDA grew 114%, to 167 millions euros. This accounted for 53% group operating profit. The increased traffic was due to the higher traffic on its motorway system and an adjusted EBITDA contribution of 89 million Euros from Attiki Odos, where traffic grew by 4.8%. Nea, Kentriki Odos and Olympia Odos both reported traffic increases of 7.9%. Construction revenue increased by 41%, to 813 millions euros. Adjusted EBITDA grew 49%, to 89million euros, thanks to faster project completion. The backlog of signed construction projects for the group increased to 6.3 billion euro at the end June. This is up from 4.1bn euros at 2024's close, and nearly half of this was due to GEK Terna’s own investments. GEK Terna said that the increase in operating profits is sustainable. They cited the increasing contribution of concessions. Further gains are expected as major projects such as Egnatia Airport and Kastelli Airport come online. Reporting by Antonis Pottitos; Editing and proofreading by Tomasz Jowski, Elaine Hardcastle
Austria loses its legal challenge against EU 'green gas' and nuclear rules
Austria lost its legal challenge to the European Union's rules classifying nuclear energy and gas as climate-friendly investment on Wednesday. Europe's second highest court sided in favor of the EU.
Austrian government challenged the decision of the European Commission to include nuclear and gas in the EU "taxonomy", which is a list of investments in Europe that can be labeled and marketed.
The court agreed with Brussels in a ruling that said the EU Commission was "right to believe that certain economic activities within the nuclear energy sector and the fossil gas sector can, under certain circumstances, contribute significantly to climate change adaptation and mitigation."
Gas and nuclear were included in the EU taxonomy for 2022, which exposed deep rifts among countries about what energy sources they should use to achieve climate change goals.
Spain and Denmark, among others, had said that it was not credible for gas, which is a fossil fuel emitting CO2, to be labelled as climate-friendly. Poland and Bulgaria are among the countries that have sought to support investments in gas as a way to get rid of more polluting coal.
Austria's legal case, filed to the EU general court, argued that Brussels should annul rules because nuclear energy can't meet the requirement of "doing no significant harm" to environment due to concerns about radioactive wastage.
Austrians are generally against nuclear power, and the country never built an atomic reactor. (Reporting and editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Charlotte Abnett)
(source: Reuters)