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☆ World Bank set to launch more robust, transparent business climate rankings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The World Bank will announce on Monday a new methodology for assessing the business climate in up to 180 countries after embarrassing revelations of data irregularities and favoritism toward China forced it to cancel the "Doing Business" rankings two years ago. "Business Ready improves upon and replaces the World Bank Group’s earlier Doing Business project. It reflects a more balanced and transparent approach toward evaluating a country’s business and investment climate," the bank said in a statement. "The main thing that went wrong was the data integrity of Doing Business was compromised," Norman Loayza, director of the World Bank's Indicators Group, which leads the project, told Reuters. But World Bank officials were still debating whether to revive the business climate rankings that were at the heart of the "Doing Business" controversy or produce an overall index, Loayza said, with a decision expected prior to the first report.

☆ North Dakota governor signs law banning nearly all abortions in the state
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Shawna Mizelle | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Doug Burgum of North Dakota signed a near-total abortion ban bill into law Monday. The bill joins other GOP-led legislation aimed at restricting abortion access that has become law in a post-Roe v. Wade world. Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio and Texas have also passed six-week abortion bans, sparking legal challenges. North Dakota’s new law follows a legal battle over a 2007 trigger law that was blocked by a district judge last year. With the trigger ban on pause, North Dakota law had allowed abortion up until 20 weeks or more post-fertilization.

☆ Atlas Energy valued at $1.75 billion after shares fall in U.S. debut
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 9 (Reuters) - Shares of Atlas Energy Solutions Inc (AESI.N) fell nearly 3% in their U.S. market debut on Thursday, valuing the oilfield services firm at $1.75 billion. The Austin, Texas-based company's shares opened at $17.5, below its initial public offering price of $18 a share. Atlas raised $324 million in its IPO on Wednesday after it sold 18 million shares at $18 apiece, below a range of $20 to $23 set earlier. Reuters was the first to report last year that Atlas was preparing for an IPO which could value the company at $2 billion to $3 billion. Calgary-based energy company Greenfire Resources and clean energy producer NET Power plan to merge with blank-check companies to go public in the United States.

☆ China refines capital and risk management of commercial banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

China's banking regulator and the central bank plan to adopt a more differentiated regulatory system for assessing commercial banks' capital adequacy and risk management, in a step to better prevent risks in the country's financial system. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the People's Bank of China on Saturday jointly released amended draft rules that they said aimed to help banks "continuously improve the precision of risk measurement and guide banks to better serve the real economy." The draft rules, which bring the banking sector closer to global standards, will divide lenders into three groups based on business scale and risk level.

☆ U.S. is 'absolutely' behind on supply chain independence from China, Biden advisor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

watch nowThe U.S. has some rapid catching up to do if it is to secure the reliability of its supply chain and its independence from competitors like China, a top White House advisor admitted this week. "We can't have a supply chain that is concentrated in any country, doesn't matter which country that is," he said. Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China October 31, 2010. The Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have also highlighted the fragility of the global supply chain. Globally, China controls most of the market for processing and refining for cobalt, lithium, rare earths and other critical minerals."

☆ UK's Johnson Matthey joins hands with Plug Power for hydrogen tech partnership
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - British chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (JMAT.L) said it had entered into a long-term supply and joint development agreement with Plug Power for hydrogen technology-related products. Johnson Matthey, which makes catalytic converters for vehicles and refines platinum group of metals (PGMs) used chiefly by automakers, said on Tuesday that the group would supply a substantial portion of U.S.-based Plug's demand for components of fuel cells and electrolysers. Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ OPEC Cartel Has Nothing on China’s Clean-Energy Monopoly
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Carol Ryan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Geopolitical tensions have prompted moves by the West to diversify supply chains in sensitive industries such as clean energy. Yet an even bigger vulnerability is building in the global supply chain for green energy. China refines 95% of the world’s supply of cobalt, a metal used in lithium-ion batteries. It manufactures over 70% of sicilia-based solar photovoltaic modules and is home to three-quarters of global electric-vehicle battery production capacity. Such numbers, published by the International Energy Agency last week, underline just how concentrated the global supply chains necessary for the transition to renewable energy are.

The sale of the plant to a consortium, led by Cypriot private equity firm G.O.I. The sale process is in contrast to Germany's confiscation of Rosneft's Schwedt refinery and Gazprom Germania, or Russia's takeover of Sakhalin 1 from Exxon Mobil (XOM.N). Energy is run by Michael Bobrov, who is also CEO of Israeli firm Green Oil that holds a major stake in Israel's biggest refiner Bazan Group. The deal marks an expansion into the refining sector for Trafigura that concluded a similar deal with Prax in 2021 for a refinery in Britain. Trafigura also holds a 3% stake in Italian refiner Saras, an indirect stake in India's major Nayara refinery and runs two small refineries via its subsidiary Puma Energy.

☆ East-West battleground will shift from fossil fuels to metals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MILAN, Dec 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The global trade war will shift from fossil fuels to metals and raw materials. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlighted the risk of relying on autocratic states for energy. Europe needs to cumulatively spend $5.3 trillion on clean energy projects by 2050. That requires a sixfold increase in the global production of copper, lithium, graphite, nickel and some rare earths by 2040, International Energy Agency estimates show. It refines 58% of lithium produced globally, 65% of cobalt and over one-third of nickel and copper.

☆ East-West battleground will shift to metals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Lisa Jucca | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MILAN, Dec 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The global trade war will shift from fossil fuels to metals and raw materials. Europe needs to cumulatively spend $5.3 trillion on clean energy projects by 2050. That requires a sixfold increase in the global production of copper, lithium, graphite, nickel and some rare earths by 2040, International Energy Agency estimates show. It refines 58% of lithium produced globally, 65% of cobalt and over one-third of nickel and copper. That’s why Western nations’ best option is ultimately to recycle metals from used appliances.

☆ Elon Musk's former right-hand man is taking the next big step in his plan to make EVs cheaper by recycling old batteries
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The EV battery recycling giant just announced a new plant in South Carolina. The plant will help carmakers get the materials they need to make EV batteries. With more and more demand for the materials to make these things, taking advantage of recycling can ease a supply crunch and eventually drive down costs. "The goal is to make the most sustainable battery materials," said Jackson Switzer, Redwood senior director of business development and one of Insider's 100 People Transforming Business. "To make the most sustainable battery materials, we need to get as much recycled nickel, cobalt, and lithium as we can into the front end of the system.

☆ Black Californians could get $223,000 each in reparations — and it could even help close the state's homeownership gap
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In 2020, CA Governor Gavin Newsom formed a task force to decide how the state could best administer reparations to Black residents. The task force has proposed providing upwards of $223,200 for each qualifying resident. However, few leaders have brought forward proposals that are as sweeping in scope as the one produced by California's special task force. The reparations proposal could help Black Californians obtain homeownershipAccording to the California Housing Finance Agency, Black Americans have the lowest homeownership rate in the state. Other states have also awarded reparations to their Black constituentsWhile the California proposal is sweeping in its scope, Newsom's office has the benefit of being able to study examples of reparations programs elsewhere.

MILAN, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Russia's Lukoil (LKOH.MM) and U.S. private equity firm Crossbridge are close to a deal for the sale of the Russian group's refinery in Sicily, Italy, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. The Lukoil-owned site in Sicily refines a fifth of Italy's crude and directly employs about 1,000 people in an economically depressed area. Last week, Rome laid down a scheme to place the plant in the hands of trustees to protect jobs and domestic refinery capacity from the embargo. read moreThe possibility that the refinery may end up under a trusteeship has accelerated negotiations between Lukoil and Crossbridge, one of the sources said. ($1 = 0.9480 euros)Additional reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Wall Street analysts put four Club holdings — Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Honeywell (HON) — under the microscope Tuesday. Club take: We continue to see Amazon's cloud business as the industry leader that repeatedly outperforms peers. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . Analysts have been debating the demand for Apple's iPhone 14 models amid a backdrop of rampant inflation, rising interest rates and fears of a global recession.

☆ Redwood Materials to supply cathode material to Panasonic U.S. battery plant
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Paul Lienert | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 15 (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp (6752.T) will buy remanufactured battery cathode material from Redwood Materials, beginning in 2025, for the Japanese battery maker’s new Kansas plant, the companies said on Tuesday. Those targets are a focus of U.S. President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to build up a battery materials supply base in North America. “The IRA just accelerated this entire transition” of the battery supply chain, Redwood Materials Chief Executive J.B. Straubel said in an interview. He expects the company to be the first to produce cathode material at volume in North America. Redwood recycles Panasonic scrap materials from that factory, and has an agreement to supply Panasonic at the Nevada plant with remanufactured anode copper foil.

☆ Retailers Turning to Specific-Day Delivery Over Speediest Shipping
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Retailers this holiday season are focusing on delivering packages to customers on specific dates, rather than competing on speed of delivery. With inflation-conscious consumers now dialing back their online shopping, many retailers are focused on restraining the high costs of fulfillment and last-mile delivery. In 2019, the e-commerce giant also gave its Prime members the option to pick a specific delivery date. The feature refines the retailer’s previous three- to five-day shipping window, said Shivi Shankaran, the company’s chief operating officer. “Sometimes they want it really, really fast, or they want it really, really scheduled,” Mr. Gorlin said.

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