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Nvidia's stock rose as high as $502.66, topping a record hit earlier this week, The first trillion-dollar chip maker pared some gains and was last up 0.8%% at $474.6. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), buoyed by Nvidia, rose in early trade before falling by 1.36%. Reuters GraphicsMore than 20 brokerages raised their target price on Nvidia after the earnings. The median analyst price target on the stock has nearly doubled to $600 since May when the company forecast a 50% jump in second-quarter revenue. Short sellers of Nvidia's stock have made $826 million in mark-to-market losses on Thursday, data from analytics firm S3 Partners showed.

Persons: Ann Wang, Michael James, James, Elazar, Tom Plumb, Plumb, Matthew Tuttle, Susan Mathew, Chavi Mehta, Medha Singh, Shreyashi Sanyal, Shristi Achar, Amruta, Noel Randewich, Varun H, Shinjini Ganguli, Sharon Singleton, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, Nvidia, Philadelphia Semiconductor, Marvell Technology, Devices Inc, Intel, Nasdaq, Wedbush Securities, Reuters, Elazar Advisors, Rosenblatt Securities, Plumb Funds, Partners, Tuttle Capital Management, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, Clara , California, Bengaluru, Chibuike, New York, Oakland , California

☆ Focus: Colombia's potential renewables boom short circuits on Indigenous resistance
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Nelson Bocanegra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Solar photovoltaic array is seen at a solar power field of the company Celsia, in Yumbo, Colombia, February 6, 2019. Joanna Barney, a researcher at non-governmental organization Indepaz said she was aware of the deaths associated with conflicts over renewables projects. Renewables - even if ostensibly more environmentally-friendly - are facing hurdles similar to those confronted by oil and mining companies, long Colombia's top sources of income. Wind and solar provide less than 1% - about 300 megawatts - of Colombia's current energy generation. "The projects aren't operating and it doesn't seem like they will start in the next two years," said Alejandro Lucio of Optima Consultores, which advises renewables companies.

Persons: Julia Symmes Cobb, Gustavo Petro, Italy's, Petro, Jose Silva, Silva, Enel, Colombia Erik Hoeg, Hoeg, Joanna Barney, Indepaz, Alexandra Hernandez, Alejandro Lucio, Optima, Nelson Bocanegra, Christian Plumb Organizations: REUTERS, University of La, EDP Renewables, Brookfield Asset Management, AES, El, Nacion, Reuters, Renewables, Colombian Renewable Energy Association, Thomson Locations: Yumbo, Colombia, BOGOTA, Colombia's La Guajira, Guajira, University of La Guajira, Energi, Brookfield, La Guajira, Colombia's, Europe, Chile, Mexico

When Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and over a dozen of his allies for their attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results, she did something ingenious. In contrast to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s latest laser-focused federal indictment of Mr. Trump, Ms. Willis charges a wide range of conspirators from the Oval Office to low-level Georgia G.O.P. functionaries and is the first to plumb the full depths, through a state-focused bathyscope, of the conspiracy. Her case also provides other important complements to the federal matter: Unlike Mr. Smith’s case, which will almost certainly not be broadcast because of federal standards, hers will almost certainly be televised, and should Mr. Trump or another Republican win the White House, Ms. Willis’s case cannot be immediately pardoned away. It is a reminder of the genius of American federalism: When our democracy is threatened, states have an indispensable part to play in protecting it.

Persons: Fani Willis, Donald Trump, Georgia’s, Jack Smith’s, Mr, Trump, Willis, plumb Organizations: Republican, White, Georgia Locations: Fulton County, Georgia

☆ US investors flag retaliation risks after Biden's China tech curbs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

But several portfolio managers said the bigger worry was whether China would strike back, as it has in the past. "It is naïve to think that there won't be some type of retaliation from China," said Tom Plumb, CEO of mutual fund Plumb Funds. China could restrict exports of rare earths used in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and other components, or target other U.S. technology companies, Plumb said. SELF-SUFFICIENCYChina hawks in Washington say American investors have transferred capital and valuable know-how to Chinese technology companies that could help advance Beijing's military capabilities. Phillip Wool, a co-portfolio manager of Rayliant Quantamental China Equity ETF, said U.S.-China tensions were causing investors to miss out on China growth.

Persons: Florence Lo, Joe Biden's, Biden, Rick Meckler, Tom Plumb, Plumb, Michael Ashley Schulman, Phillip Wool, Shashwat Chauhan, Amruta, Chibuike Oguh, Laura Matthews, Herbert Lash, Davide Barbuscia, Michelle Price, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, Cherry Lane Investments, China Exchange, Wall, Micron Technology, U.S, Funds, Reuters, Running, Capital Advisors, China Equity, Thomson Locations: China, U.S, Beijing, New Jersey, Washington, Rayliant

Summary Peso's informal value hits all-time low vs dollarAnnual inflation surges to 45%Plunge in peso value 'something horrible', says teacherHAVANA, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The Cuban peso was trading on the informal market at an all-time low of 230 to the dollar on Wednesday, slumping to half its value a year ago as consumers struggle with surging inflation and scarce goods, a widely watched tracker showed. The state considers the informal exchange rate, widely tracked via the independent news outlet El Toque, as illegal, but it has been unable to shut it down. The state officially pegs the local currency at 120 pesos to the dollar, but it has few to exchange. The weakening informal rate was similar to a fall in the government’s electronic equivalent, which residents must use to purchase goods at state stores that are relatively well-stocked compared with peso outlets. Prices grew 39% last year, a figure many economists say underestimates the rate as it does not adequately account for a growing informal market.

Persons: HAVANA, Bert Hoffman, Alejandro Gil, May, Sonia Nunez, Gil, Mario Fuentes, Christian Plumb, Conor Humphries Organizations: Cuban, German Institute of Global, Communist, Economy, Thomson Locations: America, Hamburg, Cuban, Havana

And while South Africa may have topped the overall pile of major economies in 2022, the trajectory of its carbon intensity has been steadily lower for the past decade, with the latest carbon intensity level nearly 8% lower than that of 2010. Poland's carbon intensity is also on a steadily declining track, and has dropped 16% since 2010 due to greater use of renewables and cleaner-burning natural gas in energy generation. Carbon intensity of key Asian economiesIndia, which had a carbon intensity of 632 grams per KWh in 2022, also has a declining intensity trend, although at a much shallower slope than Poland given India's continued high reliance on coal in power generation. TRENDING LOWEROther key economies with significant carbon intensity trends include Japan, which was forced to sharply increase carbon intensity in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown by shuttering other nuclear plants and increasing use of coal and gas-fired plants to generate electricity instead. Some economies are increasing their carbon intensity, but most have reduced intensity since 2010Most other major economies are also undergoing steady carbon intensity declines, including Australia, which in the early 2000's had one of the highest carbon intensity ratings in the world thanks to its predominantly coal-fired power system, but has now cut that intensity through sharp increases in solar and wind power generation.

Persons: plumb, Gavin Maguire, Conor Humphries Organizations: United States, Reuters, Thomson Locations: LITTLETON , Colorado, China, India, South Africa, Indonesia, Poland, Africa, Morocco, The Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Botswana, Guinea, Bissau, Gambia, South Sudan, Japan, Australia

☆ Stockton Rush: What we know about the Titan submersible's pilot
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Rush has approached his dream of deep-sea exploration with child-like verve and an antipathy toward regulations — a pattern that has come into sharp relief since Sunday night, when his vessel, the Titan, went missing. But in 2004, he told Smithsonian, the dream shifted after Richard Branson launched the first commercial aircraft into space. “I had this epiphany that this was not at all what I wanted to do,” Rush told the magazine. The commercial sub industry is “obscenely safe” he told Smithsonian, “because they have all these regulations. He also asked Rush about what the vessel’s “MacGyvery” components — like the plastic PlayStation controller and LED lights that Rush bought from an RV retailer.

Persons: Jacques Cousteau, Rush, MacArthur, you’re, ” Rush, Alan Estrada, ”, Richard Branson, Kirk, OceanGate, Greg Gilbert, Estrada, “, David Lochridge, OceanGate hasn’t, David Pogue, You’re, Pogue, plumb, Nick D’Annunzio, TARA, Celina Tebor, Sam Delouya Organizations: New, New York CNN, Stockton Rush, verve, Princeton, Smithsonian Magazine, McDonnell Douglas Corporation, UC Berkeley, Smithsonian, Enterprise, OceanGate, Everett, NASA, CBS, Boeing, University of Washington, USA, Michelin Locations: New York, Seattle, Washington

☆ The Art of Being a Flâneur
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Stephanie Rosenbloom | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

I followed the river toward the Uffizi Gallery where I stopped, enchanted by the scene below. It’s “a search for the delectable, delicious, almost gustatory delights of the moment,” as they put it. Other times, an object or architectural detail that piques your interest — a gate, a gargoyle — provides a portal to another time. Stories of vanished ages can be triggered by a single stone, then explored back home through books and websites. Being in a big city among so many strangers can be at turns exhilarating and disturbing.

Persons: Arno, Fred B, Bryant, Joseph Veroff, Puccini’s, Robert K, Merton, Elinor Barber, bento, Amer, plumb, Edgar Allan Poe’s “, Marie Roget, ”, Walter Benjamin, “ Charles Baudelaire Organizations: Uffizi, Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Opera House, Columbia University, Science, Metro, Poet Locations: Firenze, Florence, New York, Tokyo, Japan, Istanbul, Paris

[1/2] A trader work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 24, 2023. Benchmark 10-year notes were up at 3.695%, while yields on the more rate-sensitive 2-year notes rose to 4.509%. The U.S. dollar edged higher in choppy trading after the strong job growth data. The dollar index rose 0.483%, with the euro dropping 0.5% to $1.0707. Gold prices slipped as the U.S. dollar rose.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Joe Biden, Tom Plumb, Brent, Chibuike Oguh, Aurora Ellis, Matthew Lewis Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, YORK, Global, U.S, Treasury, Federal, Labor Department, Senate, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Organization of, Petroleum, West Texas, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, financials, New York

[1/2] A trader work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 24, 2023. Benchmark 10-year notes were up at 3.689%, while yields on the more rate-sensitive 2-year notes rose to 4.5011%. The U.S. dollar edged higher in choppy trading after the strong jobs growth data. The dollar index rose 0.406%, with the euro down 0.41% to $1.0717. Gold prices slipped as the U.S. dollar rose.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Joe Biden, Tom Plumb, Brent, Chibuike Oguh, Aurora Ellis Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, YORK, Treasury, Federal, Labor Department, U.S, Senate, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Organization of, Petroleum, West Texas, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, financials, New York

☆ ‘Primary Trust’ Review: Sipping Mai Tais, Until Bitter Reality Knocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Naveen Kumar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

(“Primary Trust” doubles as the name of Kenneth’s new employer, and an abbreviated metaphor for what was lost when his mother died.) As in her superstore dark comedy “Paris,” presented by Atlantic Theater Company in 2020, Booth again probes the half-dread of working-class Black characters in a one-freeway-exit corner of the Northeast. And though Kenneth’s Blackness is an underlying aspect of his experience, it is not the acute source of his alienation. Booth’s one-man study is wonderfully vivid, but there’s only so much emotional engagement that the unburdening of feelings, rather than their enactment or discovery, can inspire. Her other characters are far more loosely sketched: Sanders and Matthis turn small roles, rich with concise, sideways detail, into four-course meals, paradoxically making them feel underused.

☆ US regional bank stocks fall after Yellen says more bank mergers necessary
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. regional lenders fell on Friday after CNN reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told bank chief executives that more mergers may be necessary following a series of bank failures. Yellen also reaffirmed the strength and soundness of the country's banking system at the meeting with bank CEOs on Thursday in the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank. The KBW Regional Banking Index (.KRX) fell 3%, with shares of PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) and Western Alliance (WAL.N) among the biggest losers as they shed 4% each. The regional bank crisis has been partly blamed by some on aggressive interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which forced some lenders to seek new capital to make up for a fall in the value of assets linked to interest rates. The debt ceiling dispute has weighed on market sentiment, including for regional bank stocks.

☆ Black Men Don’t Do Therapy. Or So I Thought.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Ismail Muhammad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Sitting in a chair next to the record player, I’d play the song over and over and over, listening tearfully. When my favorite TV characters died, I’d mourn them, staying in my feelings for days at a time. Eventually I met a therapist who practiced cognitive behavioral therapy, an approach whose orientation toward problem-solving suited me. I’d learned to register, name and acknowledge my feelings as a way of managing them rather than being overwhelmed. Sadness sneaked up on me as I tried to describe my emotional life to people who I knew loved me but with whom I communicated through a haze of mutual discomfort.

☆ Chile's lithium push emerges as test for Latin American resource nationalism
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( David Alire Garcia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Laborers work at a lithium plant on the Atacama salt flat in the Atacama desert of northern Chile January 8, 2013. While the former student protest leader's proposal to give the government a majority stake in all future lithium projects faces an uncertain path in Congress, its mere introduction shook one of the mining industry's most lucrative corners. Lithium is in high demand for rechargeable batteries for future fleets of electric vehicles in the global transition to green energy. That leaves the exception to the trend, Argentina, as an increasingly likely Latin American destination for new private capital for lithium. A strong pipeline of lithium projects in Argentina, the world's No.

☆ First Republic Bank shares plumb new lows on report government reluctant to intervene
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Niket Nishant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

After a brutal selloff, the bank's market capitalization was about $886 million at its lowest on Wednesday, a far cry from its peak of more than $40 billion in November 2021. U.S. government officials are currently unwilling to intervene in the First Republic rescue process, CNBC reported, citing sources. Reuters GraphicsA trader works at the post where First Republic Bank stock is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 16, 2023. "The (First Republic) assets will be sold, but it may take some time and could be sold at a pretty severe discount to par," David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, said. At least three brokerages have cut their price targets on First Republic's shares since it reported first-quarter earnings on Monday.

☆ Modern Body Horror Is Turning Breastfeeding Into an Act of Terror
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Kyle Macneill | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Brandon Cronenberg’s body-horror “Infinity Pool” is a movie that leaks. It’s as viscous as it is vicious, fueled by endless fluids: blood, sweat, tears, urine, semen and vomit. Breastfeeding, it turns out, is the most horrifying act of them all. A slew of recent horror movies and series, including “Infinity Pool,” “Barbarian,” “Titane” and “The Baby,” have featured erotic lactation, brutalized nipples and demonic nursing. There’s no fixed formula for creating these scenes, the “Infinity Pool” intimacy coordinator Casey Hudecki explained.

☆ Wall St Week Ahead- Tech earnings to test markets' 'most crowded' trade
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( David Randall | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

NEW YORK, April 21 (Reuters) - A blistering rally in megacap growth and technology shares has buoyed markets this year, and earnings reports in coming weeks could help investors determine if those gains are justified. Technology earnings are seen falling 14.4%. Earnings will show "whether this is really a safe haven if you are worried about recession." Still, gains could fizzle if the Fed does not cut interest rates this year, as widely expected. Growth stocks are especially vulnerable to high borrowing costs, which threaten to erode the value of their longer-term cash flows.

☆ Regional bank reports so far show deposits are stabilizing. What's next for the stocks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The opening days of the first-quarter earnings season have spurred a sigh of relief among investors, especially when it comes to the regional banks whose future seemed seriously in doubt just a month ago. A quick glance at the early reports from the biggest regional banks show only modest deposit declines in the first quarter. One deposit drop that caught some analysts off-guard among the larger regional banks was a nearly $20 billion decline at US Bancorp , but the bank still has more than $500 billion in deposits. Longer term outlook However, the stabilized funding may not be enough for the regional bank stocks to catch up to their larger competitors, which are viewed as safer and have more diversified businesses. A potential recession could cause credit losses at regional banks in the coming months, and commercial real estate exposure is particularly concerning for investors.

☆ Demolish office buildings because demand isn't coming back, hedge fund manager says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Office buildings should be torn down as demand isn't going to bounce back, Kyle Bass said. Converting office space to apartments isn't practical either, he told Bloomberg. And despite the shortage in housing inventory, it's not practical to keep most buildings and convert office space to apartments, he added. You wouldn't want to live there," he told Bloomberg, citing the lack of light as an example. Others on Wall Street are also bearish on commercial real estate.

☆ Exclusive: Mexican firm seeks $380 million from Honduras over blocked unit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Valentine Hilaire | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MEXICO CITY, April 14 (Reuters) - Mexican investment firm JLL Capital, whose Honduran operation has been blocked since 2018 in a local dispute, is seeking some $380 million from the Central American country in arbitration proceedings, claiming that it violated foreign investment protections, documents reviewed by Reuters show. The invitations were properly handled, countered Daniel Garcia Barragan of the law firm Garcia Barragan Abogados representing JLL last week. This is the second claim against Honduras submitted to World Bank's ICSID this year, its website shows. Some analysts say this casts doubt on the Central American nation's ability to attract foreign investment. Executives had planned to expand operations to Guatemala, but pulled the plug due to its legal troubles in Honduras.

☆ Exclusive: Canada's ATCO gives Mexico troubled pipeline after damage award -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Dave Graham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Lopez Obrador afterward met representatives from Canadian energy companies, including ATCO, and details of the transfer were concluded in late February, one of the sources said. Neither ATCO, CFE, the Canadian government or Lopez Obrador's office immediately replied to requests for comment. Arguing that past governments skewed Mexico's energy market in favor of private capital, Lopez Obrador has taken a series of steps to bolster state control of the sector. Last July the U.S. and Canadian governments launched formal dispute resolution talks with Mexico over energy. The company argued Mexico had not done enough to enable the pipeline's completion, and the London Court of International Arbitration agreed, Reuters reported.

He was replaced by Pedro Rafael Tellechea, who had been named to head PDVSA in January. Maduro said that his government was committed to "going to the root" of corruption, calling the probe which began last year "professional, scientific and disciplined." The Finance Ministry, the central bank, and PDVSA did not respond to requests for comment. It is unclear whether the corruption probe and contract review will concretely improve PDVSA's cash flows in the near future. PDVSA last year delayed cash payments in dollars to several of its suppliers because of dwindling income.

☆ Guerrilla Gardeners Meet Billionaire Doomsayer. Hurly-Burly Ensues.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Dwight Garner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Catton resembles one of those teachers who can take a student’s simple-minded question and, without condescending, shape it into an ingenious one. The bullets really fly in “Birnam Wood.” The big explosion will probably go off. The Birnam Wood collective makes sure its apolitical Facebook page is sunny and welcoming. Birnam Wood has this cockeyed, D.I.Y. She’s aching to leave the collective, and she may not be as sensible as we think she is.

☆ Cuba blasts U.S. for years of disregarding evidence on 'Havana Syndrome'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Dave Sherwood | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

read more"This conclusion ... confirms what we already knew," Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told Reuters in an interview in Havana late on Thursday. "The unfortunate thing is, the U.S. government leveraged (Havana Syndrome) to derail bilateral relations ... and discredit Cuba." Cuba has for years labeled as "science fiction" the idea that ´Havana Syndrome´ resulted from an attack by a foreign agent, and its top scientists in 2021 found no evidence of such allegations. De Cossio told Reuters there had been no shortage of evidence and that the revelation this week cast fresh doubt on the credibility of other U.S. policies towards Cuba. ´Havana Syndrome,´ referred to by the U.S. government as "anomalous health incidents," first came to light in 2016 after dozens of diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Havana complained of intense headaches, nausea, memory lapses and dizziness.

SAO PAULO/MEXICO CITY, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Brazilian retailer Americanas SA (AMER3.SA) said on Wednesday its chief executive and chief financial officer resigned after the discovery of around 20 billion reais ($3.88 billion) in accounting "inconsistencies." Lojas Americanas CEO Sergio Rial departed less than two weeks after taking the job, when he replaced Miguel Gutierrez. Joao Guerra, a long-time Americanas executive not involved with accounting or financial management, will take over as CEO on an interim basis. The amount of accounting inconsistencies is larger than the company´s net equity, 15 billion reais, said Fabrício Gonçalvez, CEO at Box Asset Management. The amount is also almost twice Americanas' 10.7 billion reais market capitalization, according to Refinitiv data.

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