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Islanders win seventh consecutive game vs. Lightning
The New York Islanders are the best NHL team right now. They will be looking to win their seventh consecutive game when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning this Saturday. New York has the longest winning streak in the league and is now atop the Eastern Conference after a 9-3-0 finish to January. The Islanders were three spots and four points back of Columbus in the race for the last wild-card position on Friday. The Rangers have climbed past Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Montreal on their way up from the bottom of the East standings. Ilya Sorokin, the New York goalkeeper, recorded his third shutout in Philadelphia on Thursday night. He made 23 saves to help his team earn two points with a 3-0 win. Kyle Palmieri's third Islanders goal was scored with about 10 minutes left to seal the victory. The right-winger of the second line scored his first goal in over 15 games, dating back to Dec. 23, when he lost 7-1 at home to the Buffalo Sabres. New York was also able to enjoy a goal by Marc Gatcomb. He scored for the first-time in his seventh NHL match on Thursday. Palmieri stated during the broadcast on Thursday that "we've got an excellent thing going right now." "Guys believe (in) one another, and we will try to keep the thing going." "We've been on an uphill climb for the past two years." The Islanders and Florida Panthers will finish their two-game back-to-back series on Sunday, in Sunrise, Fla. The Lightning blanked Los Angeles Kings, the visitors on Thursday 3-0 to end a two-game losing streak and win their second game in six (2-4-0) games. The victory on Thursday was crucial, given the future of Tampa Bay. The Lightning will play two games against the Ottawa Senators after Saturday. Ottawa recently surpassed Tampa Bay to take third place in Atlantic Division. The victory also saved the team of coach Jon Cooper from a second poor month in this season. The Lightning finished January 8-1-1 after going 5-6-2 in November. Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded his 37th career shutout on Thursday. It was his third this season. The star goaltender, who was a questionable player due to illness, needed to be protected by keeping the puck away from the defensive zone. Cooper stated that the concern was that he had not skated for four days. "I just wanted to be sure that we weren't stuck at our end the whole night." ... You can win by defending yourself. "I've been giving the same press conference the last few weeks: I really like the way our team is playing." The Lightning called up Matt Tomkins to replace Jonas Johansson, who was ill and had a lower body injury. Tomkins is 6-5-1 in net with a 3.24 goal-against-average and a.892 saving percentage. Nikita Kucherov, who assisted Tampa Bay's goal on Thursday, now has 75 points in the NHL season. He is third behind Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon (88) and Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl (76) Field Level Media
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Maze Therapeutics debuts on Nasdaq with a lukewarm $690.4 Million valuation
Maze Therapeutics was the latest drug-developer to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Its shares rose nearly 1% during their debut and gave the company a value of $690.37 millions. The market's muted reaction indicates that investors are still cautious, as the demand for new listings is slowly recovering after a dry spell of nearly three years. The opening price for the company's shares was $16.12, compared to an initial public offering of $16. Maze increased its IPO size to 8.75 million shares in the range of $15-$17 each, to raise $140 millions. It originally planned to sell 7.8 million share. Maze develops drugs to treat chronic renal diseases. Two of the leading experimental candidates are MZE829 in a midstage study and MZE782 in an early stage study. Initial data is expected in 2025's second half. Last month, Maze raised $115 million through a Series-D round led by Frazier and Deep Track Capital. HEALTHCARE IPO PIPELINE Many healthcare companies are eager to test out the IPO market. Medline is at the top of the list, having filed confidentially for an IPO which could value it up to $50 billion. According to an EY report, healthcare companies will dominate IPO listings by 2024, accounting for 43% of the volume and 26% in value of deals exceeding $50 million. Despite their stellar debuts, the market response has been tepid. Weight-loss drug developers BioAge and MBX Biosciences are both trading well below their IPO price, according to LSEG data. The recent healthcare IPO performance was subdued due to post-election uncertainties. This may eventually resolve, but it is clearly affecting investor confidence for the time being," said Dr. Lukas Mühlbauer from IPOX Schuster.
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Big Oil's profits from refining are expected to decline in 2025
Oil executives are not optimistic about the refining industry in 2025 Exxon and Chevron Q4 profit hurt by weak refinery sector Fuel demand in the US and China is waning, posing challenges for independent refiners Sheila Dang & Shariq Khan HOUSTON, January 31 - Big Oil executives saw little hope for a near-term increase in refinery profits, after Chevron Exxon Mobil, and Shell reported earnings in the fourth quarter that were severely affected by a decline in margins. Refining margins have been hurt by a combination of sputtering growth in demand and an increase in global refinery capacity in 2024. Chevron shares fell 4% following its first loss in the refining sector since 2020. The No. 2 U.S. producer of oil missed Wall Street's profit forecast. In an interview, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth stated that the trend of softening margins through 2024 will continue and extend into 2025. He said, "There's no doubt that it was a poor fourth quarter," in an interview. "I won't call it a storm of the century, but I will say that it was a quarter where everything went in one direction and was negative." Wirth said Chevron will focus on what they can control to recover, including lighter maintenance schedules for refineries in the coming year. Exxon Mobil shares dropped 2.5% following a 75% drop in adjusted earnings for refining when compared to the third quarter. S&P 500 Energy Sector Index fell 2.8% on the Friday. Kathryn Mikells, Exxon's Chief Finance Officer, stated in an interview that the refining industry is still under pressure due to the additional fuel entering the market as a result of new refineries opening in countries all over the world. She said, "That is what we are watching as we look forward to 2025." The number one U.S. oil producer still beat profit estimates with higher production from the Permian basin, the top U.S. oilfield, and Guyana, which is the latest hotspot for oil. The No. Shell, a UK-based company, said Thursday that it has no plans to expand its refining business but also does not intend to leave it. In part due to lower refining margins, the company's earnings for the fourth quarter of 2008 nearly halved to $3.66 Billion. Shell sold its chemical and refining hub in Singapore in the past year, and it plans to close another plant in Wesseling in Germany. HIT TO INDEPENDENT RIFERS Oil majors were cushioned by higher production of oil and gas, but pure-play refiners suffered as the demand for fuel in the U.S., and China, two of the largest oil consumers, fell. Phillips 66s profit for the fourth quarter dropped to $8 million, down from $1.26 Billion in the previous quarter. Valero’s refining profits dropped by 73% in its fourth quarter. Valero CEO Lane Riggs said on Thursday that two U.S. refining plants are scheduled to close in this year, and limited capacity increases beyond 2025 should help sustain the margins of refineries over the long-term. Investors also worried about U.S. president Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs for crude imports from Canada or Mexico on February 1, which could increase costs for U.S. refining companies. TotalEnergies, the French oil giant, will announce its fourth-quarter results on February 5, and British oil producer BP on February 11. BP warned that a decline in the refining margins, as well as the impact of maintenance and turnaround activities could result in a quarterly profit drop of up to $300,000,000. Sheila Dang reported from Houston, and Richard Valdmanis edited the story with Simon Webb and Margueritachoy.
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Wall St. ends lower after White House announces Trump will implement tariffs
U.S. stock indexes lost ground on Friday after the White House announced that U.S. president Donald Trump would implement tariffs on Saturday of 25% on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese imports. Investors are bracing themselves for more tariff news, after Trump warned repeatedly about the use of this measure. The uncertainty over tariffs' impact has clouded the economy and inflation outlook. Sources familiar with Trump's tariff plans said earlier that Trump would announce tariffs against Canadian and Mexican imports this Saturday, but defer the collection of duties until March 1. The White House spokesperson called this report "false." She stated that the duties will be published on Saturday, and they will take effect immediately. The stock market fell on the following day after the White House's comments. "I thought the market would have been down more. It's more than just the announcement, which I believe will affect a few industries. "It's the retaliation," said Rick Meckler of Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey, a family-owned investment office. Early in the session, data on the economy reinforced expectations that Federal Reserve would maintain interest rates for a longer period. As expected, U.S. consumer spending increased in December. Scott Wren is a senior global market analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, St. Louis. He said, "It makes perfect sense that the Fed did not do anything in this week and that (Fed Chairman) Jay Powell says they aren't in a rush to lower rates." According to preliminary data the S&P 500 dropped 31.10 points or 0.51% to finish at 6,040.07, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 58.47 or 0.30% to 19,623.27. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 341.68 points or 0.76% to 44,540.45. Powell, the U.S. central Bank's chairman, said that Powell wants to wait for further inflation progress before reducing rates. Apple shares were volatile. Apple's earnings report on Thursday was dominated by upbeat comments from its executives, a sign that the company expects to recover after a drop in iPhone sales due to AI features. Chevron's shares dropped after it reported earnings that were below expectations for the fourth quarter.
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Dow, S&P 500 and Dow decline as White House announces Trump will implement tariffs
S&P 500, Dow and Dow Jones were all slightly lower in Friday's trading. Indexes lost ground after the White House announced that U.S. president Donald Trump would implement tariffs on Saturday of 25% on Canadian imports, 10% on Chinese products and 25% on Mexican imports. Investors are bracing themselves for more tariff news, after Trump repeatedly warned against using this measure. Sources familiar with Trump's tariff plans said earlier that Trump would announce tariffs against Canadian and Mexican imports this Saturday, but defer the collection of duties until March 1. Early in the session, data on the economy reinforced expectations that Federal Reserve would maintain interest rates for longer. As expected, U.S. consumer spending increased in December. It makes perfect sense that the Fed did not do anything in this week and it is also logical (Fed chair) Jay Powell said they aren't in a rush to lower interest rates," said Scott Wren. He's a senior global strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, located in St. Louis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 257.03 or 0.57% to 44,625.10. The S&P 500 fell 13.92 or 0.23% to 6,057.25 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 6.06 or 0.03% to 19,687.81. In its Wednesday policy announcement, the Fed kept rates at their current levels. Futures that settle at the policy rate of the central bank showed traders were still betting on the Fed delaying rate cuts until June, and reducing them by 70%. Apple was the last to fall. Apple was the last to fall. Chevron's shares dropped after it reported earnings that were below expectations for the fourth quarter.
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Petrobras Brazil raises diesel prices first time since 2023. Shares rise
Petrobras, the state-run Brazilian oil company, announced on Friday that it would increase the price of diesel sold to its distributors for more than a month. This was a much anticipated change in fuel prices, which sent the shares up. Petrobras announced that it will increase the price of diesel at refinery gates by 0.22 reals per liter to an average of 3.72 reais (about $0.6376) starting February 1. This is the first rise since October 2023. Petrobras preferential shares rose by around 2% on the B3 Brazilian stock exchange in the afternoon following news of this hike. Analysts said that the adjustment brings Petrobras' prices into line with the international market. The markets were eagerly anticipating an announcement after local media reported this week that Luiz Inacio Lula had authorized Petrobras to take the action, since its prices are lower than the current international prices. Lula said on Thursday that it wasn't up to him whether Petrobras made any adjustments to the fuel prices. He left the door open for Petrobras if they deemed it "important." Diesel's price increase comes as the government is working to reduce food prices following a recent poll that showed Lula's approval ratings dropping. Petrobras, under Lula's administration, has adopted a pricing strategy designed to protect Brazilian fuel prices from the volatility of international markets, while maintaining a profitable sales model for the company.
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What is worrying US executives about tariffs?
In the early days this quarter's earning season, tariffs were on executives' minds as U.S. president Donald Trump threatened to hit Mexico and Canada with levies against imported goods. The tariffs will now be implemented on March 1 with an announcement made on Saturday. However, it's possible that Trump may back down on his threats or only target specific industries. This quarter, the topic of how companies are navigating this issue will be a major focus on investor events and conference calls. Nearly 200 of the S&P 1000 - a group of large, mid and small cap stocks - mentioned "nearshoring," tariffs or supply chain during the month of January. Many CEOs have made similar remarks to Textron CEO Scott Donnelly who stated on Jan. 22, "we're going to just kind of hold in there and watch how it all plays out." Here are some of what trade executives are talking about: In recent weeks, several companies have talked about the difficulties of moving production. Tariffs may apply to companies that manufacture in both the United States and Mexico or Canada. Brent Yeagy is the CEO of Wabash National, a transportation logistics company. He said: "We have capacity available in our domestic operations that can shift production as required to minimize any tariff impacts." Polaris, a manufacturer of power sports vehicles, spoke about it on its earnings call. It noted that in 2017, Polaris moved quickly to leave China and now faces possible tariffs because of production facilities in Mexico. It also has to deal with increased labor costs in its U.S. operation. Michael Speetzen said, "We have been incredibly under-represented in the powersports industry." This was during a call with investors on January 28. "We are the only U.S. manufacturers, yet we pay tariffs." MOVE SHIPMENTS AROUND Some companies have indicated they may consider moving where they send their shipments. Some large global companies with multiple operations may be able adjust shipments to a different location. William Oplinger, CEO of Alcoa, said on January 22 that the Middle East, India and other countries with lower tariffs could increase imports, while Canadian Aluminum would be diverted to Europe and others. He said that a 25% tax on Canadian aluminum exported to the United States would cost U.S. consumers between $1.5 and $2 billion per year. SALES ACCELERATION In both the previous and current quarters, many companies have already reported that customers are increasing their orders in anticipation of tariffs. General Motors, for example, accelerated delivery to get ahead before tariffs. Some companies anticipate that Trump will announce an accelerated tariff schedule, which would then lead to pre-emptive purchasing. "I don't see any increased pre-buying activity for products. Neil Schrimsher CEO of Applied Industrial Technologies said that most people are taking the stance they will have a notice period if and when these events occur. Inflation and Pricing Many executives have stated that tariffs will be passed onto consumers. Eric Cremers commented during the earnings call of PotlatchDeltic that he knew of a Canadian producer of lumber who would attempt to pass 100% of tariff costs on to their customers. "Now, will they be able get 100% of whatever duty it is or not?" Who knows how things will end up, but they plan to pass this on to the consumers."
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Brava's onshore assets can be purchased through the Fluxus process in Brazil
Fluxus, a Brazilian oil and natural gas company owned by the conglomerate J&F has decided to withdraw its bid to purchase assets onshore owned by Brava Energia. This was announced in a Friday statement. Fluxus was invited to take part in the second phase of the sales process, but after a preliminary review decided to not proceed. This pushed Brava Energia's shares lower. Sources familiar with the issue told the media earlier this month that Fluxus made a non-binding bid for the assets onshore as part of its expansion strategy. However, the interest would depend on the results of further analysis. Sources stated at the time, that Brava was formed by a merger of 3R Petroleum with Enauta in the past year. The assets were valued at approximately $2 billion. Brava said last week that its board had decided which bidders were qualified to continue in the process. They would be receiving letters with guidelines on how to carry out due diligence and make binding offers. The J&F owned company stated that "Fluxus has been invited to participate in the competition process for Brava Energia's onshore assets, and to then proceed to the next round." Fluxus, however, decided to discontinue the process after preliminary analysis. Following the Fluxus announcement, Brava shares in Sao Paulo, which had risen as high as 6.2% on Friday, saw their gains revert to 2%. (Reporting and writing by Leticia Furcuchima, Gabriel Araujo, Christina Fincher, Editing).
Trump expects Canada to pay less duty on oil after Feb. 18,
Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that he expected his administration to implement tariffs on oil and gas by February 18th. It could also reduce the planned tax on some Canadian crude.
Refiners in the Midwest of the United States process about 70% of this oil imported by the U.S. Analysts and companies have warned that a tariff on oil imports may lead to a decrease in fuel production at these facilities, and increase costs for consumers.
Trump didn't specify a country that would be affected by the new tariffs or give any further details.
Trump told reporters at the Oval Office of the White House that he would impose tariffs on gas and oil. "That will happen pretty soon, around the 18th February," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House.
When asked if the tariffs for tomorrow would also include Canadian crude oil, Trump replied: "I will probably reduce the tariff on that a little bit." We're thinking of bringing it down to 10% on the oil."
This would be in place of the 25% that Trump previously spoke about.
Most U.S. refiners, particularly those in the Midwest rely on imported crude, as their facilities are designed to handle heavier crude grades such as those coming from Mexico and Canada.
While awaiting clarification, they are preparing to face the new tariffs for Canadian and Mexican crude oil imports. Imports of Canadian crude oil to the United States began earlier this month
Record levels of activity
Phillips 66, a U.S. refiner, expects to cut production in the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions where there are few alternative crude oil supplies if tariffs go into effect.
TD Cowen data shows that Phillips 66 and HF Sinclair, as well as Par Pacific Holdings, have a high exposure to Canadian crude.
Gary Simmons, Valero's chief operating officer, told analysts during a call on Thursday that his commercial and optimization teams had been hard at work to come up with every possible scenario and determine how they would respond to Trump's tariffs.
Valero, the second largest refinery in the United States by capacity. Trevor Hunnicutt reported from Washington and Nicole Jao from New York. Kanishka Singh contributed additional reporting in Washington. Chris Reese edited the story.
(source: Reuters)