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Helion, a nuclear startup, has raised $15.5 billion in its latest funding round
Helion, a nuclear fusion energy firm, announced on Thursday that it had raised $465'million in its most recent funding round. The investment was led by Thrive Capital. The round nearly triples Helion’s valuation from its last Series F round of funding in January 2025 when it raised $425m at a valuation $5.4bn. The financing highlights the increasing demand for electricity in massive data centers that are dedicated to artificial-intelligence operations. Helion now has a total funding of $1.5 billion. The company stated that proceeds from this latest round would be used to?accelerate commercial deployment, increase manufacturing capacity and support the delivery of clean electricity to customers. Helion is a company backed by OpenAI founders Sam Altman & Greg Brockman. They are among the many?public and private firms working on fusion's main challenge: generating more energy from a?reaction that is needed to initiate and contain it. Alta Park Capital and Ford Motor CEO Bill Ford were among the investors in the latest Series G round of funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Mithril Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 as well as Good Ventures Foundation, all existing backers, also participated in the funding. The funding was announced after Helion's Polaris test machine reportedly used fusion fuel, and reached temperatures of?above?150 million degrees Celsius. The company has signed agreements in 2023 with Microsoft for the supply of electricity by 2028 and Nucor to build a 500MW Fusion Power Plant. OpenAI's Sam Altman left Helion's Board earlier this year as the two companies began to explore collaborating "at significant scale". Helion was founded in 2013 by David Kirtley, John Slough Chris Pihl and George Votroubek. Orion, its first power plant is currently under construction in Malaga (Washington). (Reporting and editing by Ditta Pujara in Bengaluru, Pranav Mathur from Bengaluru)
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After Ukrainian strikes, Russian-held Crimea tightens up fuel restrictions
Russian-controlled Crimea tightened rationing on?fuel supplies Thursday. It suspended all cash sales of gasoline, and issued a 'new coupon' to buy it. The peninsula is grappling with a shortage of fuel linked to Ukrainian drone attacks. In recent days, drivers in the Crimea region, which was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014, faced long queues at gas stations after Kyiv's attacks restricted supplies from adjacent Russian-controlled territory in southeast Ukraine. Sergei Aksyonov - the Kremlin's appointed head of Crimea - announced the new measures, which tighten restrictions on petrol sales imposed a month ago. He said that the sale of gasoline in cash would be suspended for several days. No new coupons will be issued either. The maximum amount of fuel that can be purchased with coupons is 20 litres. He blamed the rationing on "difficult conditions" without giving further details. Ukraine has been attacking fuel infrastructure near Crimea and elsewhere for a number of months, in an attempt to limit Moscow's financial ability to fund its four-year-old?war against Ukraine during a period of high global oil prices. Local Russian authorities said that Ukrainian drones attacked the Black Sea peninsula on Thursday, killing 4 people and damaging buildings. This was a day after Moscow & Kyiv exchanged strikes in each other's cities.
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Gold prices rise as hopes for a Middle East ceasefire pressure bond and dollar yields
Gold prices rose more than 1% on Thursday, as oil prices fell due to optimism about a possible end to the Iran Conflict. This led to a fall in bond yields and pressured the dollar. As of 9:05 am EDT (1305 GMT), spot gold was up by 1.7% to $4,505.35 an ounce. U.S. Gold futures for August delivered gained 1.5%, to $4,532.80. The dollar and bond yields have been pushed up by reports of a?deal for a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, according to independent metals trader Tai Wong. This has helped gold hold just above the 200-day moving averge. Israel and Lebanon announced late on Wednesday that they had agreed to implement ceasefire. This raised hopes for a possible deal between Washington?and Tehran. The news prompted oil prices to drop by more than 3% amid hopes of a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Dollars fell by 0.3% making greenback bullion cheaper for holders of other currencies. Lower yields on U.S. Treasuries including the 10-year bond also boosted gold's appeal. Wong stated that "record highs in gold for this year are unlikely until we have a lasting, clean ceasefire with Iran, which opens Hormuz and allows energy prices to fall, as well as markets not worrying about possible higher rates." Gold, the traditional safe-haven, reached a record of $5,594.82 an ounce on January 29. Since the start of the Iran conflict, in late February, it has fallen by 16%. Interest rates are high and this weighs on bullion that does not yield. Investors will now be focusing their attention on the U.S. Employment Report for May, which is due to be released this Friday. The data may shed a little?light on?the health of the?labor market, which can help to?guide Federal Reserve's future policy. Spot silver increased 3.1% to $74.96 an ounce. Platinum gained 1.9%, reaching $1,895.29. Palladium rose 1.6%, to $1.322.01. (Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; Editing by Paul Simao)
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Mozambique tightens its grip on mining by imposing a 15% stake for the state and local processing
Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo?signed a law requiring 15% state ownership in?all mining and processing ventures, tightening its control over resources at a time when demand for battery materials is growing. Mozambique ranks third in the world for graphite production, which is used to make batteries and energy storage systems. According to a government notice from June 3, the mining law approved by Parliament in may aims to improve Mozambique’s “management of strategic resource in defence of national interest”. The new law, which was seen on Thursday, states that the state will have a minimum participation of 15 percent, "free and non-dilutable", in all mining projects. The 'new rules' did not apply immediately to existing mines that are covered by long-term contracts. The Mines Ministry was not available for immediate comment. Mozambique joins a growing list of African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the continent's top producer of lithium, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the world's largest producer of?cobalt and a major copper supplier to the global market, who are tightening their control over raw commodity exports in order to gain greater economic benefits from their resources. Syrah's Balama operations in the north of the nation, Mozambique, has a graphite deposit that is one of the largest in the world. According to the U.S. Geological Survey China and Madagascar are two of the world's top graphite producers. Rio Tinto and Brazil's Vale owned significant coal assets in Mozambique, including the?world's biggest ruby mine?, Montepuez. The new regulations prohibit the export of semi-processed or unprocessed minerals, unless they are covered by an approved plan to process them locally, and are covered by specific ministerial authorization. Reporting by Custodio Cosse and Manuel Mucari; Writing by Nelson Banya, Editing by Elaine Hardcastle
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Russian Platinum to launch Arctic mine in November
The owner of Russian Platinum said that the company plans to begin production at its Arctic polymetallic project by November. Only Nornickel, a metals giant in Russia, produces platinum group metals. Russian Platinum originally planned to start the first stage of its project in 2024 but had to postpone it because they couldn't get equipment due to Western sanctions. Musa Bazhaev, at the St Petersburg Economic Forum, said: "We expect our first production in November of this year." The company has licences to mine the Chernogorskoye deposit, and the southern portion of the Norilsk-1 deposit. These deposits contain copper-nickel ore with high platinum content. This is mainly used for emissions-control catalysts and electronic devices. The deposits are near Nornickel’s core assets. In 2018, the companies agreed to create a PGM Alliance, but this collapsed in 2020 because of?opposition from Rusal, one of Nornickel’s largest shareholders. The parties then signed offtake agreements for five years in 2021 to supply concentrates from the Chernogorsky facility to Nornickel’s Global Palladium Fund. Nornickel is the largest palladium manufacturer in the world with a 40% share. In a review of market conditions published late last year, it was stated that Russian Platinum’s project would add about 0.5 mln ozs of palladium to Russia's annual output and 0.2 mln ozs of platinum. Interfax, citing Bazhaev, reported that the capital expenditure for Russian Platinum's Project has already reached 500 billion roubles. Bazhaev stated that a second stage of the project will bring the southern part Norilsk-1 on stream, with a production of?15 millions tons of ore per year and 55 tons PGMs. Bazhaev did not provide a timeline for the start of operations in the second phase. He said that Russian Platinum may return to discussions about a partnership with Nornickel.
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McGeever: Whisper it, but there's a chance that the US job market has turned a corner.
After the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, there has been a long-standing stereotype that describes the U.S. job market as "low hire and low fire." This is because of a weak labor demand offset by dwindling labor supply. This delicate balance could be shifting in the right direction. There are a number of employment indicators that point to a positive future. However, there's no evidence of a "jobpocalypse", driven by AI - not yet. The May non-farm payrolls report is due this Friday. It's expected to show an increase of 85,000 jobs and a stable unemployment rate at 4.3%. This would be an excellent result compared to where the labor markets were at the end last year. In the first four month of this year, monthly job gains averaged around 76,000. This is not a record-breaking number, but it's a significant improvement over the average for last year of less than 10,000. This is a rate that is far above what's needed to keep the unemployment rate down. According to an April Federal Reserve paper, this so-called "breakeven rate" has dropped so dramatically that economists believe it's close to zero. Even if the economy was growing at its potential, payrolls could drop by up to 100,000 in any one or two months of this year. In comparison to that scenario, the 85,000 predicted for May and current year-to date average numbers look impressive. Reasons to be cheerful Recent indicators are also encouraging. This week, the so-called "JOLTS", or Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data showed that the number of job openings for April was the highest since?two years. The rate of growth was also the fastest in six years. The caveat is that most of these positions were within one industry. The Bank of America economists point out that it was still the first time in June since the last year's vacancy rate exceeded the number unemployed workers. ADP's private sector payroll figures also showed that 122,000 jobs were added last month. This is the highest growth rate since January of last year. ADP's numbers do not include the government sector, and are therefore stronger than the national payrolls since Donald Trump took over the White House. The signals are still positive, and they don't show any signs of AI-related job loss. The revised Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for the fourth quarter of 2013 showed that employment was stronger than originally thought. JPMorgan estimates that employment growth could be revised upwards by at least 20,000 per month in the year to March. This is a significant change from recent downward revisions. BREATHING ROOM Tim Duy, chief U.S. economic advisor at SGH Macro Advisors says that the employment cycle bottomed around summer or fall last year. He says that the labor market has "likely become durably stronger." Duy points out the JOLTS report from last year as an indicator. More job openings usually lead to increased hiring, which in turn should encourage people to leave their jobs, creating more openings. It would help the labor market move again, and get it out of an "unusual" and "uncomfortable" equilibrium as former Fed Chair Jerome Powell described it in April. Kevin Warsh, Powell's replacement, may find that the job market is in a good spot at this time. The employment growth is 'picking up', which reduces the pressure on interest rates to drop, but not fast enough to raise inflation concerns. The U.S. is experiencing an increase in inflation pressures, but not because of wages, but rather due to the energy crisis, tariffs, and other supply-related issues. The average annual earnings?growth trend has been lower for the past three years. With inflation nearing 4%, it is now a negative growth. There are still many reasons to be concerned about the possibility that a labor market which is "low hire and low fire" could turn into one where "no hiring, all fire". There are many reasons to be concerned, including the global energy crisis that is still in progress, the fear of an AI bubble, and the unknown effects of this new technology. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement company, released figures on?Thursday that offered a 'warning': U.S. employers cut 97,000 jobs in May, which is the highest number for this month since 2020. There are reasons to be hopeful. Will Friday's report on employment be another? You like this column? Open Interest (ROI) is your new essential source of global financial commentary. Follow ROI on LinkedIn and X. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast daily on Apple, Spotify or the app. Subscribe to the Morning Bid podcast and hear journalists discussing the latest news in finance and markets seven days a weeks.
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Stocks struggle after Broadcom dive; oil drops off highs
The world stock market fell for a second day in a row on Thursday, as a glitch with the AI rally and renewed fighting involving the U.S.A. and Iran dampened sentiment. Oil prices also eased after Israel and Lebanon reached a ceasefire. Europe's stock exchanges were mostly sideways, as crude oil and bond yields fell. But Wall Street futures pointed lower following a plunge in AI chipmaker Broadcom shares and a bad day for other tech heavy indexes. After Wednesday's after hours 13% drop in Broadcom stock, South Korea's stock fell as much as 2,6%, and Japan's Nikkei225, Hong Kong, and Taiwan ended with losses between 1,4% and 1,7%. The company's revenue for the second quarter was below expectations and its long-range forecast remained unchanged. This disappointed traders who saw it as an indication that a major AI chipset maker may be losing momentum. "There has been some softness on the equity markets after Broadcom. This suggests that we need to take a little time to consolidate this very strong rally," stated James?Athey, fund manager at Marlborough. It wasn't just about hoping and expecting, but it also raised the idea that the demand for chips will not continue to grow exponentially in the future. Brent crude prices fell 3.5% to below $95 per barrel after Lebanon and Israel agreed on a ceasefire conditional upon a complete cessation in fire by the Iran-aligned Hezbollah. There was some hope that the U.S. and Israel war against Iran would be ended, but it is still unclear how or when this will happen. U.S. president Donald Trump said Wednesday that progress could be made by the weekend. However, Bahrain reported intercepting three'missiles' and several drones. Kuwait temporarily suspended air traffic at its main airport following an attack. Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister, said there had been no progress in the talks with the U.S. He also posted that any hostile act would be met with a swift and decisive response. COORDINATED MOVEMENTS In pre-market Wall Street trading, the Broadcom disappointment led to a drop of between 4% and 7,5% for other leading chipmakers Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices, Marvell Technology, and Qualcomm. The S&P 500 is expected to stop its impressive nine-week streak of weekly gains that have not been interrupted. However, with the index up over 10% this year so far, the 'bulls' won't worry too much. On the currency market, the yen climbed to 159.8 dollars, giving the Bank of Japan a bit of breathing space from its current FX intervention threshold of 160. Minoru Kihara, the Chief Cabinet Secretary in Tokyo, said that he expected the central bank to coordinate with the government following the recent comments by BOJ Governor Kazuo ueda that an interest rate increase is imminent. The?U.S. The dollar index, which measures greenback strength against six major currencies, fell 0.3% on Wednesday from its two-month-high, following better than expected data for the U.S. services sector PMI. The figures showed that businesses had preemptively placed orders and built up inventories in anticipation of shortages or higher prices following the Iran 'war. The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution on war powers to prevent Donald Trump from continuing his conflict against Iran. It is only symbolic as the measure must still be approved by the Senate. Also, it would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress to overturn a veto that was almost certain. The decline in oil prices helped push 10-year Treasury 'yields' - which are the main drivers of global borrowing costs – down to 4.45%. Germany's Bund was still trying to return to under 3% despite a rate hike expected by the ECB next week. Gold and the Aussie dollar also saw modest gains after a recovery in Australia's exports of resources helped to swing its trade balance into the positive. Bitcoin dropped 2.2%, to $64,000. It has now fallen by almost 25% over the past few weeks.
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Dollar and oil prices fall as optimism about peace in the Middle East pushes gold prices higher
Gold prices rose Thursday as hopes for a resolution to the Middle East conflict led to a drop in oil and dollar prices, which eased fears of inflation and rate hikes. As of 1156 GMT, spot gold rose 1.7% to $4,506.19 an ounce. U.S. gold for August delivery rose 1.5% to $4533.60. Dollar eased making greenback bullion prices more affordable for holders other currencies. The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to implement a truce to end hostilities. This boosted?hopes of a broader agreement to end the U.S. - Israeli war against Iran. The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives also?approved resolutions to prevent U.S. president Donald Trump from continuing his war against Iran. "A successful diplomatic result would allow crude flows to resume, and ease inflationary concerns." "An easing of geopolitical fears and lower oil prices could be a factor in helping bullion to extend its recovery," Nikos Tzabouras said, a senior analyst at Jefferies owned Tradu.com. Oil prices fell following the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. Since the Iran conflict started in late February, gold prices have dropped by about 16%. The rise in crude oil prices can cause inflation and increase the probability of higher interest rates. Gold is often seen as an inflation hedge, but higher interest rates can weigh down on this non-yielding material. Metals Focus, a consultancy, expects gold to resume its bull market in the second half 2026. However, it sees total demand for gold falling by 2% due to double-digit losses from jewellery and central bank purchases. The near-term outlook for gold remains challenging. The precious metal may slip further into bear territory in the coming days. The combination of geopolitical risks and interest rates that are higher for longer benefits the U.S. Dollar, which is a strong headwind to?gold," Tzabouras stated. Investors are now awaiting the U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls Data for?May, due on Friday, to gauge Federal Reserve's monetary policies. Silver spot rose by 2.4%, to $74.44 an ounce. Platinum gained 2.1%, to $1.897.60. Palladium increased 1.8%, to $1.325.14. (Reporting and editing by Emelia Sithole Matarise and Shailesh Kumar in Bengaluru)
Bond yields rise on inflation fears as global shares fall
Investor euphoria about tech stocks was replaced by inflation fears on Friday, and traders bet more that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in 2018. U.S. president Donald Trump left China Friday with no significant breakthroughs in trade, or any tangible help from Beijing to end Iran's war. Oil prices rose again on Friday due to uncertainty over a Middle East?deal. This was in addition to the concerns raised by two high-inflation readings earlier this week.
S&P 500, Nasdaq and other major stock markets fell on Friday following two sessions of record-breaking gains on artificial intelligence technology stocks.
The market has realised that it was way ahead of itself. The market didn't pay enough attention to the economic and bond markets. "It was caught in this momentum AI trade," Kenny Polcari said, chief market analyst at Slatestone Wealth.
The market has finally listened to what the economic data and bond market are telling them. The inflation rate is likely to rise in the coming months.
FALLS ON THE WALL STREET At 10:52 a.m. (1450 GMT), on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped?432.76 or 0.86% to 49,630.70. The S&P 500 declined 75.90 or 1.01% to 7,425.34 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 387.22 or 1.45% to 26,249.36.
The MSCI index of global stocks fell by 15.80 points or 1.42% to?1,100.26.
The pan-European STOXX 600 fell by 1.56%. MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan dropped 2.54%, and Japan's Nikkei fell 1.99%.
The Kospi index in South Korea fell by more than 6 percent on Friday, after recent gains. The index is still up by 77.8% for the year.
GOVERNMENT BANK?YIELDS SKYROCKET In government bonds, yields on longer-dated U.S. Treasury bonds climbed to their highest levels in over a year. This was due to rising oil prices and fears of inflation from ongoing energy disruptions across the Middle East. Demand for U.S. Treasuries was already affected by inflation concerns. This week, demand was low at auctions.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year note in the United States rose by 11.6 basis point to 4.576% from 4.459% at late Thursday, while that of the 30-year bond rose by 10.1 basis points.
The yield on the 2-year bond, which is usually in line with expectations of interest rates for the Federal Reserve (Fed), rose by 8.3 basis points, to 4,075% from 3.992%, late Thursday. The dollar gained in value, putting it on course for its largest weekly gain in over two months as bets were placed on a Fed interest rate hike. According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool traders were betting last on a 38% chance that a 25 basis-point rate hike would occur by the end of this year, compared with less than 14% a week earlier.
Kevin Warsh will replace Jerome Powell as Fed Chairman on Friday. Trump nominated the incoming Fed Chair, who is expected to be Kevin Warsh. Trump has been 'pressuring Powell to lower interest rates.
Kevin Warsh will be put to the test by the market. "They're going press him to find out what he truly stands for," Polcari stated.
The dollar index, a measure of the U.S. Dollar against a basket including the yen and the euro, rose by 0.32%, to 99.26. However, the euro fell by 0.39%, to $1.1623.
The dollar gained 0.24% against the Japanese yen to 158.73.
The sterling fell to a new five-week low on its fifth consecutive day of losses. It was last down by 0.43%, at $1.3341.
The pound fell 0.9% Thursday after the resignation of Wes Streeting as health minister, deepening Britain’s political crisis. Steve Reed, British housing Minister, urged Labour Party legislators to "get behind" Prime Minister Keir starmer on Friday. Reed said that no one was willing to challenge him.
On the energy market, U.S. Crude?rose by 3.7%, to $104.91, and Brent rose by 3.34% to $109.27 a barrel. Gold fell to its lowest level in more than a week, under pressure from rising Treasury yields and the dollar.
Spot gold dropped 2.21%, to $4,46.93 per ounce. U.S. Gold Futures dropped 3.29% to $4,524.30 an ounce. Reporting by Sinead carew in New York and Sophie Kiderlin, London. Stella Qiu, Sydney. Sam Holmes, Mark Potter Joe Bavier, Barbara Lewis and Barbara Lewis edited the article.
(source: Reuters)