DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Les Arts Florissants Returns to New York, Endangered
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Zachary Woolfe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The pair of concerts that William Christie and his ensemble, Les Arts Florissants, offered at Carnegie Hall this week made me a little sad. What depressed me was the question of whether there’s a future in New York for this pathbreaking early-music group, founded in France four decades ago by Christie, an American. Its longtime bases when on tour in the city, Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, have jolted away from the kind of music programming that was until recently a core part of their identities — and the kind that Les Arts Florissants embodies. Sure, Christie and Les Arts Florissants don’t do contemporary pieces. Their repertoire, with its founding specialty in the French Baroque of Lully, Rameau and Charpentier, doesn’t check fashionable boxes of diversity, equity and inclusion.

☆ After Front Door Shooting, Kansas City Grapples With Race
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Mitch Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — From one vantage point, a post-pandemic boom seemed to be taking hold in Kansas City. It was the only Midwestern city selected to host World Cup soccer games. “We need to clean up our house so that we can be proud and not performative when we have company,” said Gwen Grant, the president and chief executive of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City. She said her city needed to “address the root causes of these problems, and address the systems, and not run away from the tough race and racism conversations.”

☆ Iran Invites Saudi Arabia’s King to Visit as Bitter Rivalry Recedes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( David S. Cloud | Stephen Kalin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

DUBAI—Iran has invited Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz to visit the country, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday, a sign of the rapidly improving ties between two longtime regional rivals. The invitation comes after the two governments agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations last month in a deal brokered by China, which ended seven years of estrangement and jolted the geopolitics of the oil-rich region.

☆ Peering Into Volcanoes at Tanzania’s Crater Highlands
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Patrick Scott | Photographs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Cloud shadows darkened sections of the leafless rim and the tan crater floor. A silvery green lake spread out on the left, and a patch of emerald woodlands near a stream stretched out on the right. In the rainy seasons, the expansive floor is lush and teeming with animals, including massive herds of migrating wildebeests. And because nearly all of the inhabitants are herbivores, we saw no chasing and fleeing. Instead, the wildebeests milled about or rested in acacia shade, and the zebras did a lot of standing around, motionless, like they were trying to remember something they’d just forgotten.

April 14 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc's (C.N) first-quarter profit beat Wall Street expectations as it earned more from borrowers paying higher interest on loans. Citi earned $1.86 per share in the first quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of $1.67, according to Refinitiv data. The bank's investment in services to corporations resulted in 31% growth in revenues in treasury and trade solutions. INVESTMENT BANKING BACK? Mason expressed cautious optimism about a recovery in investment banking.

April 14 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc's (C.N) first-quarter profit beat Wall Street expectations on Friday as it earned more from borrowers paying higher interest on loans. While its net interest income rose 23% to $13.3 billion, Citi also set aside $241 million to cover potential loan losses, from $138 million a year earlier. Net income rose 7% to $4.6 billion, or $2.19 per share, in the three months to March 31 from $4.3 billion, or $2.02 per share, a year earlier. The banking sector was jolted by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month, which wiped out billions of dollars in market value. Analysts expect an economic slowdown to curb demand for loans and depress net interest margins (NIM) across the industry in the coming quarters.

☆ Citigroup profit beats estimates on higher interest income from loans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 14 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc's (C.N) first-quarter profit beat Wall Street expectations on Friday as it earned more from borrowers paying higher interest on loans, benefiting from a tighter monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. The banking sector was jolted by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month, which wiped out billions of dollars in market value. Its loans also fell marginally to $652 billion, while its net interest income rose 23% to $13.3 billion. Analysts expect an economic slowdown to curb demand for loans and depress net interest margins (NIM) across the industry in the coming quarters. Net income rose 7% to $4.6 billion, or $2.19 per share, in the three months to March 31 from $4.3 billion, or $2.02, a year earlier.

☆ Oil falls as investors cautious about U.S. recession risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Jeslyn Lerh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Angus Mordant/File PhotoSINGAPORE, April 13 (Reuters) - Oil prices retreated on Thursday after rising for two sessions, with investors still showing lingering concern over a possible U.S. recession and weaker oil demand. The Biden administration plans to refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve soon, and hopes to do it at lower oil prices, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Wednesday. Still, the oil market was jolted higher two weeks ago after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies such as Russia agreed to curtail output. As a result, the global oil market could see tightness in the second half of 2023, which would push prices higher, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.

[1/2] The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Angus Mordant/File PhotoTOKYO, April 13 (Reuters) - Oil prices eased in early trading on Thursday after rising for the previous two sessions as investors remained cautious due to lingering concerns over a U.S. recession and weaker oil demand. Brent crude fell 19 cents, or 0.2%, at $87.14 a barrel by 0116 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate slid 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $83.10. However, the Fed's staff assessing the potential fallout of banking stress projected a "mild recession" later this year. Markets on Wednesday shrugged off a small build in U.S. crude oil stocks, attributing it in part to a congressionally mandated release of oil from the U.S. emergency reserve and lower exports at the start of the month.

☆ Aramco to supply full volumes to Asia despite OPEC+ oil cuts - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SINGAPORE, April 10 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco has told at least four customers in North Asia they will receive full contract volumes of crude oil in May, several sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. People now wonder how the additional voluntary cut would reflect in the actual supply, or if it is merely a measure to shore up oil prices, a source at an Asian refiner said. Oil demand is expected to be weak as several refiners in Asia, such as Sinopec, S-Oil, Fuji Oil and Idemitsu, have planned maintenance in May. Crude benchmarks jumped 6% last week after the major oil producers jolted market with the additional output reduction. It also increased the prices of other oil grades to Asian clients amid expectations of tighter market supply.

☆ RBC: Buy these 30 high-conviction stocks as they continue delivering market-beating returns in an up-and-down year
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

RBC's collection of 30 favorite global stocks handily outperformed US stocks in the first quarter. In the first quarter, that list of 30 stocks delivered an 11.9% total return, compared to a 7.7% return for the MSCI World Index and 7% for the S&P 500. The group also notes that since the end of 2020, the top 30 stocks have returned 37.8%, while the MSCI index has returned 24.5%. The following 30 stocks are ranked from lowest to highest based on how much RBC thinks they will deliver in returns over the next year. All of those implied upside figures were calculated based on the stocks' most recent closing prices.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore flights between their countries and resume government and private-sector visits, after their top diplomats met in Beijing on Thursday as a thaw begins in one of the Middle East’s thorniest rivalries. The summit comes weeks after the two governments agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations in a deal brokered by China, which ended seven years of estrangement and jolted the geopolitics of this oil-rich region.

☆ Morning Bid: Markets labor under recession cloud
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan. If the tight U.S. labor market is finally unwinding, markets suspect the Federal Reserve's job may well done after all - but at the cost of a looming recession. With Wednesday's private sector jobs reading for March and Friday's national payrolls report ahead, U.S. interest rate markets were jolted again on Tuesday by surprisingly soft data on job vacancies that suggested cooling demand for staff. More decisively, the two-year Treasury yield plunged more than 20 basis points intraday to hover just above 3.8% on Wednesday. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

By offloading some of the risk on their loans, the banks can significantly reduce how much capital they need to set aside to cover potential losses, according to law firm Clifford Chance. A bank can normally transfer risks of losses equivalent to around 7% to 12% of a loan portfolio, two market sources said. With synthetic structures, a bank transfers the risk via credit derivatives or guarantees but keeps holding the underlying exposures. The IFC sold BNP a $50 million guarantee on $1 billion of loans to emerging markets, they said, without disclosing terms. While Europe has been at the forefront for risk transfers, the stock of loans covered by SRTs is small relative to European banks' balance sheets.

☆ Morning Bid: Jolted markets fret about economy, Fed rate path
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The JOLTS report on Tuesday showed that U.S. job openings dropped to their lowest level in nearly two years in February, with traders wagering that the Fed is just about done with its interest rate hikes. And yet, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said that the U.S. central bank likely has more interest rate rises ahead amid signs the recent banking sector troubles have been contained. A surprise 50 basis point hike from New Zealand's central bank shocked the Asian market, with kiwi-dollar scaling a two-month peak. Twenty-two of 24 economists in a Reuters poll had forecast the Reserve Bank of New Zealand would raise rates by just 25 basis points. A Reuters poll of foreign exchange strategists showed that the U.S. dollar will weaken against most major currencies this year as the interest rate gap with its peers stops widening.

☆ Oil prices steady as investor focus shifts to demand outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Oil prices steadied in early Asian trade on Tuesday after OPEC+ plans to cut more production jolted markets the previous day, with investors' attention shifting to demand trends and the impact of higher prices on the global economy. The latest pledges bring the total volume of cuts by OPEC+ to 3.66 million bpd including a 2 million barrel cut last October, according to Reuters calculations — equal to about 3.7% of global demand. "In the short term, demand is expected to rise for the summer driving season, but higher oil prices may intensify inflationary pressures and prolong interest rate hikes in many countries, which could dampen demand," he said. The OPEC+ production curbs led most analysts to raise their Brent oil price forecasts to around $100 per barrel by year-end. The news, however, added to investor worries about higher costs for businesses and consumers, raising fears that an inflationary jolt to the world economy from rising oil prices will result in more rate hikes.

☆ Oil prices rise as investors move focus from OPEC+ cuts to demand outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Companies Goldman Sachs Group Inc FollowBEIJING, April 4 (Reuters) - Oil prices posted gains in Asian trade on Tuesday after OPEC+ plans to cut more production jolted markets the previous day, with investors' attention shifting to demand trends and the impact of higher prices on the global economy. The latest pledges bring the total volume of cuts by OPEC+ to 3.66 million bpd including a 2 million barrel cut last October, according to Reuters calculations - equal to about 3.7% of global demand. "In the short term, demand is expected to rise for the summer driving season, but higher oil prices may intensify inflationary pressures and prolong interest rate hikes in many countries, which could dampen demand," he said. The OPEC+ production curbs led most analysts to raise their Brent oil price forecasts to around $100 per barrel by year-end. "But for anything more than that something has to change dramatically from the demand side of the equation," he added.

☆ European stocks head for higher open, brushing off concerns over oil markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

European markets are heading for a higher open Tuesday, seemingly brushing off concerns over oil price rises following a surprise production cut by the OPEC+ alliance. Oil prices steadied in early Asian trade on Tuesday after markets were jolted the previous day, with investor focus shifting to demand trends and the impact of higher prices on the global economy. Overnight, Asia-Pacific markets were mixed ahead of a Reserve Bank of Australia's interest rate hike decision, with economists almost evenly spilt on whether the RBA will pause or continue its hiking cycle. U.S. stock futures inched lower Tuesday morning as investors weighed a spike in oil prices that led the S&P 500 higher to start the new trading month.

☆ Dollar slides on sluggish US data, Aussie steadies ahead of RBA
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Against the sliding dollar, the British pound and the Australian and New Zealand dollars rose to multi-week highs in early Asia trade on Tuesday. The kiwi rose 0.2% to $0.6310, its highest since mid-February, while the U.S. dollar index was marginally lower at 102.02, having fallen more than 0.5% on Monday. "The closest thing we get to good news in (the) report is that the slowing in the factory sector is pushing prices lower and supply chains are continuing to heal, benefiting from the slack. The RBA will pause policy tightening according to a poll of analysts, although a strong minority still forecast a hike. Data out last week showed Australian inflation slowed to an eight-month low in February, due in part to a sharp retreat in prices for holiday travel and accommodation.

☆ C$ posts biggest gain in nearly 2 months on OPEC+ output cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Fergal Smith | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, settled 6.3% higher at $84.93 a barrel as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, or OPEC+, jolted markets with plans to cut more production. The Canadian dollar was trading 0.8% higher at 1.3412 per greenback, or 74.56 U.S. cents, its biggest single-day advance since Feb. 10 and its strongest level since Feb. 16. Canadian government bond yields eased across the curve, tracking the move in U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year was down 1.5 basis points at 2.884%, while the gap between it and its U.S. equivalent narrowed by four basis points to 55.1 basis points in favor of the U.S. bond. Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Yellen says OPEC+ move bad for global growth outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW HAVEN, Conn., April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday said a surprise OPEC+ oil production cut is an "unconstructive act" that will add uncertainty to the global growth outlook and to burdens on consumers at a time of high inflation. "I think it's a regrettable action that OPEC decided to take," Yellen told reporters, adding it was too early to assess what the price impact would be. "Clearly, it's not a positive for global growth," Yellen said. U.S. President Joe Biden downplayed the impact of the OPEC+ move in a brief comment to reporters on Monday. She said coalition countries could revisit the price cap level if a change was deemed appropriate, "but I don't see that that's appropriate at this time."

☆ Oil soars more than $5 per barrel
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Florence Tan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SINGAPORE, April 3 (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped more than $5 a barrel on Monday's open, jolted by a surprise announcement by OPEC+ to cut production further in an effort to support market stability. Brent crude hit the highest in nearly a month at the open, trading at $85.56 a barrel by 2249 GMT, up $5.67, or 7.1%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude touched its highest since late January and was at $81.08 a barrel, up $5.41, or 7.2%. The group known as OPEC+ had been expected to maintain its earlier decision to cut output by 2 million bpd until December. Goldman estimated the output reduction could provide a 7% boost to oil prices, contributing to higher Saudi and OPEC+ oil revenues.

☆ Oil jumps $5 per barrel
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Florence Tan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SINGAPORE, April 3 (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped about $5 a barrel on Monday's open, jolted by a surprise announcement by OPEC+ to cut production further in an effort to support market stability. Brent crude hit the highest in nearly a month at the open, trading at $84.95 a barrel by 0039 GMT, up $5.06, or 6.3%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude touched its highest since late January and was at $80.47 a barrel, up $4.80, or 6.3%. Goldman estimated the output reduction could provide a 7% boost to oil prices, contributing to higher Saudi and OPEC+ oil revenues. Analysts at the National Australia Bank said the OPEC+ production cuts and demand recovery from top crude importer China could drive oil prices above $100 a barrel through third quarter.

☆ Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark struck a deal to run their 200+ advanced fighter jets as a single fleet, creating a new headache for Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Air force commanders of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark said Friday that they have signed a letter of intent to establish a unified Nordic air defense, Reuters reported. "Our combined fleet can be compared to a large European country," commander of the Danish air force, Major General Jan Dam, told Reuters. Norway, Denmark, and Finland have all committed to the F-35 jets which are the most advanced Western fighter planes. NATO Air Command chief General James Hecker was also present at the signing of the letter at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May 2022, jolted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine into ending decades of their position of "non-alignment."

Search resuls for: "jolted"

25 mentions found