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Documents show that the US has demanded that EU exempt their gas from the methane emission law.
A document from the U.S. Government, seen by, shows that the United States wants the European Union to exempt oil and gas imports from the methane emission law of the bloc until 2035. The EU will require importers of gas and oil to Europe, starting this year, to report and monitor the methane emission associated with these imports. This is in an effort to reduce the emissions of the powerful planet-warming gas. Chris Wright, the U.S. Energy secretary, has criticized this 'world-first' climate policy. He has said that it is impossible to implement and has warned it may disrupt U.S. Gas supplies to Europe. European countries are increasing the imports of U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas, as they rush to reduce their oil and gas imports. In a document from the U.S. government, which was reviewed by the, it stated that, in the absence a "full-repeal" of the EU legislation, the United States suggested that the EU "delay the requirement for U.S. emission data reporting under EUMR [EU Methane Regulation] to October 2035". The document was distributed to EU member governments ahead of Monday's meeting of their energy ministers. A spokesperson from the U.S. Mission to the EU did not respond immediately to a comment request. The spokesperson for the European Commission did not confirm immediately if they had received the U.S. document. (Reporting and editing by Louise Rasmussen, Bart Meijer and Kate Abnett)
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Gold rises 1% due to safe-haven demand and a weaker dollar in advance of US jobs data
Gold rose 1% to hover around a seven-week-high on Monday, supported by the weaker dollar and expectations of interest rate cuts. Safe-haven purchases were also boosted due to geopolitical concerns. Silver gained, but held below its record high from Friday. Gold spot rose 1%, to $4343.96 per ounce at 0949 GMT. Bullion reached its highest level since October 21 last Friday. U.S. Gold Futures rose 1.2% to $4.377.80 per ounce. Dollar?hovered near a 2-month low achieved last week making greenback priced gold more affordable to overseas buyers. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury Yields also edged down. Giovanni Staunovo, a UBS analyst, says that "stronger demand from investors, three months of solid central bank demand (as well) as investors beginning to anticipate even lower interest rates in 2026" are all factors supporting gold. In a vote that was divided, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a rate cut of 25 basis points last week. Further easing will depend on inflation and the state of employment. Investors are watching this week's U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls Report for more clues about monetary policy. Gold and other non-yielding investments benefit from a low interest rate environment. The Russian central bank stated on Friday that the European Union's plans to use Russian assets as collateral for a loan to the Ukraine were illegal. It also said that the Russian central bank reserved the right of using all means available to protect its interests. Silver spot rose by 2.8%, to $63.76 an ounce. It reached a record-high of $64.65 before closing sharply lower. Metal prices have risen 120% in this year due to tighter supplies and the inclusion of critical minerals on the U.S. list. Silver benefits from the same factors that support?investment demands for gold (i.e. Lower rates should also benefit the industrial sector due to the fiscal and monetary stimulus measures. Palladium rose 2.4%, to $1.523.11, while spot platinum increased 1.1%, to $1.763.67 per ounce.
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Key data: Shares stabilize ahead of major central bank decisions
European shares rose on Monday, as Wall Street futures indicated a recovery after last week's selling. However, investor caution capped gains ahead of a busy week that will include important central bank decisions and economic reports. The benchmark STOXX Index of 600 large companies in Europe gained 0.6%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% after U.S. shares had fallen on Friday due to concerns over a bubble in?Artificial Intelligence stocks and lingering inflation. Asia shares have been less buoyant due to renewed concerns in China's real estate market. MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan fell 1.2%. This was led by a fall of up to 2.7% on South Korean shares. South Korea is one of the best-performing markets in the world this year. Marc Velan is the head of investments for Lucerne Asset Management, a Singapore-based asset management firm. He said that "the risk-off tone in Asia appears to be more a spillover effect from last Friday's sale in U.S. tech and momentum than a regional catalyst." The unwinding of the AI-capex trade affected global risk appetite. And in the 'thinnest year-end liquidity, these moves tend to spread quickly across regions. Investors waited for a series of economic data releases and central bank decisions. The yield of the 10-year Treasury bond in the United States was down 3 basis points to 4.1645%. CHINA PROPERTY WORRIES The U.S. Dollar fell 0.1% against the Chinese Yuan trading offshore to 7.0486, which is its highest level in over a year. Factory?output data and retail sales figures for November showed a further slowdown. Official data released on Monday showed that the price of new homes continued to decline in November. This indicates that the recovery in the demand for housing is still elusive, despite government promises to stabilize the sector. China Vanke announced that it would convene a second meeting of bondholders after the state-backed developer failed to get bondholder approval for an extension by one year to a bond payment due on Monday. This increased the risk?of default, and renewed concerns about the crisis?hit property?sector. Jeff Zhang, Morningstar's equity analyst, said: "If Vanke defaults in the end, we believe the ramifications for the China property industry can be significant." Investors are more likely to be concerned with the balance sheet, and the government's attitude toward bailouts for even'safe' names. CENTRAL BANK CENTRAL BANK LOOM DECISIONS The Bank of Japan, among the central banks that will make decisions this week is expected to increase rates by 25 basis point to 0.75%. Meanwhile, the Bank of England could cut rates to 3.75%. Along with Sweden's Riksbank, Norway's Norges Bank and the European Central Bank, it is expected that interest rates will remain unchanged. Investors can also catch up with economic data delayed by the U.S. The government shutdown has delayed the release of the November jobs report and the consumer price index. Ben Bennett, Hong Kong-based head of investment strategy Asia for L&G Asset Management, said: "It is worth treating this week's statistics with a grain of salt due to the difficulties in collecting data and the direct impact of the shutdown on the economy." We'll need to wait until the year 2026 before we can get a better idea of how the U.S. economy is doing." economy." Stocks in Japan gained support on Monday after the BOJ released its closely-watched "tankan", or business survey, which showed that the big manufacturers' sentiment had reached a four year high. This indicated the economy could be weathering the impact of higher U.S. Tariffs. The Topix rose 0.2% last, and the yen gained 0.6%, to 154.955 versus the U.S. Dollar, which is nearing its highest level in a week. The kiwi fell 0.4% to $0.5781 following comments by New Zealand's central bank governor Anna Breman, who warned that financial market conditions have?tightened over the past few weeks. This has led investors to reduce their expectations of rate hikes for next year. Brent crude rose 0.5% to $61.44 on supply concerns from the U.S. Venezuela tensions, among other factors. Imperial Oil announced on Sunday that it had issued an?fire alarm at its 120,000 barrel per day refinery facility in Ontario. Russia, meanwhile, said that a refinery in Afipsky had not been damaged by an attack from a Ukrainian drone. Steve Witkoff, the U.S. ambassador to Berlin said that "a lot of progress has been made" on the geopolitical side in the peace talks in Berlin for the end of the Ukraine conflict. Gold has extended its recent rally for a fifth consecutive day, as it nears a record-high of $4381.21. Last week, spot bullion prices rose 1.1% to $4,348.83. The cryptocurrency markets ended a three-day loss streak. Bitcoin was up 1.5% to $89,845 while ether rose 2% to $3145. (Reporting and editing by Shri Navaratnam; Sam Holmes, Louise Heavens and Gregor Stuart Hunter)
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UK watchdog investigates EY audit of Shell for rule violation
The British Financial Reporting Council announced on Monday that it has opened an investigation into Ernst & Young’s audit of Shell’s 2024 financial reports for possible violations of audit partner rotation regulations. Shell announced in July that it would update the 2023 and 2024 annual reports, due to EY not complying with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s audit partner rotation rules. The financial statements, however, would remain unchanged. U.S. SEC regulations require 'lead and review audit partners' to rotate every five years, with a cooling-off period of five years. 'Other key partners must rotate every seven?years after a two-year pause. EY stated in a statement emailed to clients that "as disclosed on 2 July 2025 by EY UK, the FRC's Revised Ethical Standard concerning rotation of partners within one engagement was exceeded." EY reported the matter via email. The accounting firm stated that it would continue to cooperate fully with the FRC during the investigation. EY informed Shell in July that the U.S. Audit Opinions for 2023-2024 could not be relied upon. A different partner was assigned to reissue these opinions. It also flagged UK partner rotation breaches, even though no amended filings?were required in the UK. The FRC's Conduct Committee made the decision on October 21 to open the investigation, and the probe will then be conducted by its enforcement division. Shell did not respond immediately to a comment request. (Reporting by Yamini Kalia and Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru. Mark Potter and Mrigank Dhaniwala edited the article.
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Wall Street Journal, December 15,
These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. ? The accuracy of these stories has not been verified by the site. - iRobot filed for bankruptcy on Sunday. It said that after it was bought by iPicea Robotics (its primary manufacturer), the company would become private. SolGold stated that it would "like to recommend" an offer from Jiangxi Copper, its largest shareholder. The improved offer values the gold-and-copper miner at approximately?842million pounds ($1.12billion), amid a global race for copper assets. SpaceX is starting to select Wall Street banks to provide advice on its initial public offer. The 78-year old mainstay of the city’s battered democracy movement could be forced to spend his entire life in prison by a Hong Kong court. Sanofi said that the U.S. regulatory approval of its experimental tolebrutinib treatment for multiple sclerosis will 'be delayed once again.' It also stated that a late stage trial for another form of disease did not achieve its primary goal.
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As markets watch US jobs data, gold rises due to a softer dollar and yields
On Monday, gold held near a seven-week high due to a weaker dollar and lower U.S. Yields in advance of important jobs data. Silver rose but fell short of Friday's record. Spot gold increased 1%, to $4344.40 per ounce at 0656 GMT. Bullion reached its highest level since October 21 last Friday. U.S. Gold Futures rose 1.1% to $4.377.40 per ounce. The dollar was hovering?near the two-month low reached last week. This made bullion attractive to overseas buyers. Meanwhile, benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields dipped. Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at OANDA, said that "gold is likely to continue being well-bid into U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls" as evidence of a?labour shortage would cap front-end yields and keep the dollar weak. This will support a push towards $4,380-4,440 following a strong rebound from a?$4,243 support zone." The markets are still focused on the Fed's outlook for policy after the U.S. central banks delivered a 25 basis-point rate reduction last week, in a split decision. They also signaled a possible pause because inflation is sticky and labour market outlooks are uncertain. Two Fed officials dissented, saying inflation was too high to justify a more lenient policy. Investors currently expect two rate cuts in the next year, and this week's U.S. employment report is seen as an important test. Gold and other non-yielding investments benefit from a low interest rate environment. ANZ stated in a report that India's decision to allow pension funds the opportunity to invest in ETFs for gold and silver could boost institutional participation. We believe that such regulations can increase investor confidence and improve sentiment, resulting in higher allocations of assets across portfolios. Spot silver increased 2% to $63.23 an ounce. The price of silver reached a record high on Friday at $64.65. However, it closed sharply lower. Despite a rally that has risen more than 115% this year, ANZ warned of downside risks. They cited the possibility of a U.S. exemption from tariffs that could ease supply and stretched valuations compared to gold, which may lead to fund rotation. Palladium prices rose 2.9%, to $1.531.28, while spot platinum fell 0.4%, to $1.738.23 per ounce.
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Saudi Arabia's annual rate of inflation slowed to 1.9% in Novembre
According to government data released on Monday, the annual inflation rate in Saudi Arabia fell to 1.9% from 2.2% in October. The consumer price index, which measures inflation, has been hovering around 2.1%-2.3% for the majority of this year. This is due to rising house prices. According to the General Authority for Statistics in Saudi Arabia, housing rental prices rose 5.4% and passenger transport prices increased by 6.4%. Saudi Arabia's Real Estate Authority in September outlined new rules to combat'rental increases'. These included a suspension of annual rent increases for both residential and commercial properties within the urban boundaries of Riyadh. The government passed a law allowing foreigners to purchase property more easily. As part of its Vision 2030 program, the kingdom is building several new massive developments around Riyadh to boost tourism and the private sectors in an effort to diversify their economy away from oil. The CPI in November increased by 0.1% on a monthly basis. Reporting by Utkarsh Setti in Dubai, Editing by Neil Fullick
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Key data: Stocks fall ahead of central bank decision
Asian stocks fell on Monday as investors reined back risk-taking ahead of a week that is packed with "important central bank decisions" and economic data. MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific index outside Japan fell 1.2%. This was led by a fall of?of?as much?as 2.7% in South Korean stocks, which is one of the best-performing markets worldwide this year. Marc Velan is the head of investments for Lucerne Asset Management, a Singapore-based asset management firm. He said that "the risk-off tone in Asia appears to be more a spillover effect from last Friday's sale in U.S. tech and momentum than a regional catalyst." The unwinding of the AI-capex trade has weighed down on global risk appetite. In thin year-end liquid, these moves tend to spread quickly across regions. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% while the yield of the 10-year Treasury bond in the U.S. fell 2.2 basis points to 4.1743%. Investors were awaiting a series of economic data releases as well as central bank decisions. CHINA PROPERTY WORRIES The U.S. Dollar fell 0.1% against the Chinese Yuan trading offshore to 7.0486, which is its highest level in over a year. Factory output and retail sales numbers for November showed a further slowdown. Official data released on Monday showed that the price of new homes continued to decline in November. This indicates that despite government promises to stabilize the housing sector, there is still no sign of a recovery. China Vanke announced that it would convene another bondholder meeting after the state-backed developer failed to get bondholder approval for an extension of a bond payment due on Monday. This increased the risk of default, and renewed concerns about the property crisis-hit sector. Jeff Zhang, Morningstar's equity analyst, said: "If Vanke defaults in the end, the ramifications for the China property sector could be significant." Investors are more likely to be concerned with the government's attitude toward bailouts, even for'safe' names. CENTRAL BANK LOOM DECISIONS Bank of England could make a similar cut of 3.75%. Along with Sweden's Riksbank, and Norway's Norges Bank, the European Central Bank will likely keep rates at current levels. Investors can also catch up with economic data delayed by the U.S. shutdown. This includes the November jobs report and the monthly consumer price index. Ben Bennett, Hong Kong's head of investment strategy Asia for L&G Asset Management said that the data this week should be taken with a grain of salt due to the difficulties in collecting data and the direct impact of the shutdown on the economy. We'll need to wait until the year 2026 before we can get a better idea of how the U.S. economy is doing. economy." Stocks in Japan gained support on Monday after the BOJ released its closely watched "tankan", or business survey, which showed that the big manufacturers' sentiment had reached a four-year high. This indicated the economy could be coping with the impact of higher U.S. Tariffs. Topix rose 0.2% last week, and the yen gained 0.6% against the dollar to reach 154.955, its highest level in over a week. The kiwi currency fell?0.4%, to $0.5781, after New Zealand's central bank governor Anna Breman warned that financial market conditions have tightened over the past few weeks. This has led investors to reduce their expectations of rate hikes for next year. Brent crude rose 0.5% to $61.44 on supply concerns from the U.S. - Venezuela tensions, among other factors. Imperial Oil announced on Sunday that it had issued an alert for a fire at its?120,000 barrels per day refinery in Ontario, Canada. Russia has said that a Ukrainian drone did not damage an oil refinery located in Afipsky. Steve Witkoff, the U.S. ambassador to Berlin said that "a lot of progress has been made" on the geopolitical side in the peace talks in Berlin for the end of the Ukraine conflict. Gold has extended its recent rally for a fifth consecutive day, as it nears a record-high of $4381.21. Last week, spot bullion prices rose 1.0% to $4,344.89. The cryptocurrency markets ended a three-day losing run, with bitcoin ending the day up 1.3% to $89,598.96, and ether= increasing 1.5% to 3,127.57. (Reporting and editing by Shri Navaratnam, Sam Holmes and Gregor Stuart Hunter)
Gaza residents still without electricity, despite ceasefire
Hanan al-Joujou is a Palestinian mother of three who has to feed them in the dark using a flashlight. There is still no electricity in Gaza, even after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last month.
They go hungry when they can't afford to charge their flashlight.
Al-Joujou, speaking of the Muslim sunset devotion, said: "We remain in darkness once the sun has set and the Maghrib Prayer is called." If the flashlight is handy, we will light it. We go to bed without food or light if we don't have electricity. Since the war began, her family has lived without electricity. They relied on candles to get by when they first moved into the city of Rafah at the southern end of the Palestinian enclave.
They eventually gave up on that too, for fear of a fire in their tent. "We tried to use a simple LED lamp, but it was broken. We don't have the money to repair it. "We tried to buy a battery but it was expensive and not available," al-Joujou explained.
Gaza was mainly dependent on electricity imported from Israel before the war. However, supplies were unstable. Gaza received 120 megawatts of electricity from Israel, while its lone power station supplied 60 MW.
Israel placed Gaza under "total seige" shortly after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants on south Israel that killed 1,200 according to Israeli statistics.
After its power station ran dry of fuel in a matter of days, Gaza lost electricity.
The Israeli military responded to questions submitted for this article by saying that civilian infrastructures, such as electrify installations, are not military targets in and of themselves. It also said that it takes measures to minimize harm done to "civilians" and "civil structures", and asserted that Hamas operates from civilian areas.
In a camp for displaced persons in the Nuseirat neighborhood in Gaza, family activities are mostly over when the sun sets. Al-Joujou’s children use a torch for their homework whenever it is possible to charge the device.
Ahmed, Hanan's 35-year-old husband, said: "We barely make enough money for our daily needs."
Some residents have set up charging stations, powered by private generators or solar power. This is because the war destroyed Gaza's electric grid and cables. Mohammed al-Hor and his family run a charging business that uses solar power. The family installed it at their home, which was struck by an Israeli attack. The 32-year old said that the charging point had also been bombed and his brother was killed inside.
PUNISHMENT Israeli Minister Eli Cohen stated in March this year that he had instructed the Electric Corporation not to sell electricity to Gaza, as a punishment against Hamas.
Even after the ceasefire is reached, rebuilding Gaza's infrastructure -- which was reduced to rubble by Israeli bombing -- will require massive investment.
Gaza's media director, who is also the company's head of communications, said that the war had already destroyed over 80% of Gaza's electrical distribution networks. Initial estimates of losses to the infrastructure and machinery were estimated at $728 million.
"For the last two years, no electricity reached the Gaza Strip." Mohammed Thabet said that the amount of electricity in Gaza was zero, whereas pre-war requirements were 600 megawatts.
COGAT, an arm of Israel's military that supervises the aid flow into the Gaza Strip said Israel was fully committed to fulfilling its obligation to allow the entry of trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including fuel for electricity. This is in line with the terms and conditions of the ceasefire accord.
COGAT also added that two desalination plants were supported by the Kela electricity line, which was installed in Israel. Israel connected a powerline to a U.N. managed desalination facility in Khan Younis, a southern Gaza city located near the border with Egypt. This was done to provide more drinking water for Palestinians. (Reporting and writing by Mahmoud Alwazeer and Haseeb Abdallah; editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Nick Zieminski and Nayera Addallah)
(source: Reuters)