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Apple, Netflix pull out of South by Southwest pageant amid

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The brand of U.S. expertise firm Apple is seen at a department workplace in Basel, Switzerland March 2, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

(Reuters) – Apple Inc and Netflix Inc stated they had been pulling out of the South by Southwest music and tech pageant to be held later this month, amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The U.S. dying toll from coronavirus infections rose to 11 on Wednesday and California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency amid the nation’s largest outbreak.

Fb Inc had stated earlier this week it could not take part within the pageant.

Representatives of the occasion didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Organizers of the South by Southwest music and tech pageant, set to be held in Austin, Texas, had stated final month the occasion would proceed as deliberate regardless of “a handful” of cancellations associated to the virus.

The outbreak has disrupted different tech conferences and gatherings, together with the Cellular World Congress in Barcelona and Google’s annual developer occasion, Google I/O. Corporations have additionally modified their work and journey plans.

IBM stated on Wednesday its developer convention ‘IBM Suppose 2020’ could be an internet occasion and happen from Could 5-7.

The corporate stated it has issued new journey restrictions by means of the top of March.

Reporting by Rama Venkat and Bharath Manjesh in Bengaluru and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Modifying by Maju Samuel and Vinay Dwivedi

Our Requirements:The Thomson Reuters Belief Rules.

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Exxon CEO sticks to spending targets as oil costs tumble

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two years into an formidable progress plan to revive earnings on the largest U.S. oil firm, Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) mentioned on Thursday it will persist with its spending plans whilst its rivals trim prices.

FILE PHOTO: Darren Woods, Chairman & CEO of Exxon Mobil Company attends a information convention on the New York Inventory Change (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Exxon faces oil costs which have fallen over 20% this 12 months, the bottom pure gasoline costs in a long time, a long-term business outlook too is clouded by a push towards cleaner gas and stress from buyers for greater returns.

It plans to spend between $30 billion and $35 billion a 12 months by means of 2025, with about $33 billion in capital expenditure this 12 months.

The corporate’s progress technique “will result in sustained enchancment in shareholder worth,” Exxon’s Chief Government Officer Darren Woods mentioned in New York, the place the corporate held its annual investor day assembly.

Exxon’s progress plans embrace an enormous wager on U.S. shale, the place output has surged, making america the world’s largest oil producer, and on Guyana, the place an Exxon-led consortium has made one of many largest discoveries in years.

On Tuesday, Exxon’s closest U.S.-rival Chevron confirmed off its personal warfare chest by highlighting it has as much as $80 billion that it may use for shareholder returns over the following 5 years no matter buying and selling costs for oil.

As the 2 corporations race to turn out to be the primary to provide 1 million barrels of oil-equivalent per day in Permian, the highest U.S. oilfield, Exxon mentioned Thursday that it’s going to exceed that focus on by 2024.

The complete oil business has fallen out of favor with buyers, however Exxon, as soon as the business’s money stream and income chief, has tumbled significantly arduous.

Complete returns for Exxon over the past 5 years have fallen into destructive territory, whereas the S&P 500 returned 64%. Rivals Chevron, Complete and BP have seen constructive returns, whereas Royal Dutch Shell has been flat.

(This story corrects day in first paragraph to Thursday, not Tuesday)

Reporting by Jennifer Hiller in New York and Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Arun Koyyur and Chizu Nomiyama

Our Requirements:The Thomson Reuters Belief Rules.

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Oil clambers larger as OPEC, allies transfer nearer to deeper

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil costs jumped 1.5% on Wednesday on hopes that main producers have made progress in direction of sealing an settlement to implement deeper output cuts aimed toward offsetting the droop in demand brought on by the worldwide coronavirus outbreak.

FILE PHOTO: Pump jacks function at sundown in Midland, Texas, U.S., February 11, 2019. REUTERS/Nick Oxford

Brent crude LCOc1 rose by 78 cents, or 1.50%, to $52.64 a barrel at 0502 GMT, after settling down four cents within the earlier session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1 rose by 72 cents, or 1.53%, to $47.90 a barrel, up for a 3rd session.

A panel of the Group of Petroleum Exporting International locations (OPEC) and its allies, a grouping often known as OPEC+, advisable reducing oil output by an additional 1 million barrels per day (bpd) on Tuesday. The advice might imply that Russia and Saudi Arabia, the 2 greatest producers within the OPEC+ group, are near a deal to assist costs.

That will be along with 2.1 million bpd in present output cuts that embody a 1.7 million bpd in curbs by OPEC+ and different voluntary reductions by Saudi Arabia, the world’s greatest exporter. The group is ready to fulfill formally in Vienna on March 5-6.

“That is no time for warning for OPEC+. Second-quarter oversupply wanted some heavy lifting from the group to offset even earlier than the COVID-19 (coronavirus illness) outbreak, however now it’s a should,” Barclays analysts mentioned in a analysis notice.

Brent and WTI have every fallen about 27% from their 2020-peak reached in January.

The anticipated 1 million bpd extra minimize by OPEC+ would nonetheless fall effectively in need of the newly elevated 2.1 million bpd anticipated world demand loss within the first half alone, Goldman Sachs analysts (GS.N) wrote in a analysis notice.

U.S. crude oil inventories rose in the newest week, whereas gasoline and distillate shares fell, knowledge from trade group the American Petroleum Institute confirmed on Tuesday.

Crude inventories rose by 1.7 million barrels within the week to Feb. 28 to 446.6 million barrels, in contrast with analysts’ expectations for a construct of two.6 million barrels.

Goldman has once more minimize its Brent value forecast to $45 a barrel in April, whereas anticipating Brent regularly recovering to $60 a barrel by year-end.

Morgan Stanley on Tuesday additionally minimize its second-quarter 2020 Brent value forecast to $55 per barrel and its WTI outlook to $50 on expectations that China’s 2020 oil demand development can be near zero and that demand elsewhere might weaken due to the virus.

Elsewhere, the U.S. Federal Reserve minimize rates of interest on Tuesday in a bid to protect the world’s largest economic system from the influence of the coronavirus.

“(The) Fed’s emergency fee minimize underscores fragility of financial fundamentals, and this urges OPEC+ to expedite a deeper output minimize to shore up vitality costs,” mentioned Margaret Yang, market analyst at CMC Markets.

Yang mentioned from a technical evaluation perspective, Brent has discovered sturdy assist at round $50-52, whereas quick resistance will be discovered at $54.70.

Reporting by Shu Zhang; Modifying by Christian Schmollinger and Kenneth Maxwell

Our Requirements:The Thomson Reuters Belief Rules.

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Waymo joins critics of California’s self-driving data

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FILE PHOTO: Reuters reporter Alexandria Sage steps out of a Waymo self-driving vehicle during a demonstration in Chandler, Arizona, November 29, 2018. Picture taken November 29, 2018. REUTERS/Caitlin O’Hara

(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Waymo, widely considered the front-runner in self-driving vehicles, on Wednesday joined a growing chorus of dissenters panning a California requirement on reporting test data, as the state released 2019 results.

Waymo tweeted that the metric, called disengagements, is not an accurate or relevant way to measure a company’s technical progress, even though it is widely used to do that.

“The disengagement metric does not provide relevant insights” nor does it distinguish Waymo’s “performance from others in the self-driving space,” the company said.

California requires self-driving companies to provide disengagement data on how often a human driver must intervene to take control from a self-driving system during testing on public roads.

Other self-driving companies, including General Motors Co’s (GM.N) Cruise and California startup Aurora also have criticized the disengagement data.

Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Richard Chang

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Samsung Electronics confirms coronavirus case at phone

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SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) said on Saturday that one coronavirus case had been confirmed at its mobile device factory complex in the southeastern city of Gumi, causing a shutdown of its entire facility there until Monday morning.

Samsung Electronics, the world’s top smartphone maker, said the floor where the infected employee worked would be shut down until the morning of Feb. 25.

“The company has placed colleagues who came in contact with the infected employee in self-quarantine and taken steps to have them tested for possible infection,” Samsung said in a news release.

Samsung’s factory in Gumi accounts for a small portion of its total smartphone production, and it makes high-end phones, mostly for the domestic market. Samsung produces most of its smartphones in Vietnam and India.

Gumi is close to the city of Daegu, home to a church at the center of South Korea’s largest coronavirus outbreak.

South Korea said on Saturday that the number of people infected with the coronavirus in the country had more than doubled to 433.

Samsung said production at its chip and display factories in other parts of South Korea would not be affected.

Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin. Editing by Gerry Doyle

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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U.S. SEC probes Altria’s investment in Juul: source

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FILE PHOTO: Juul brand vape cartridges are pictured for sale at a shop in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., September 26, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage/File Photo

(Reuters) – U.S. regulators have opened a probe regarding Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc’s (MO.N) investment in e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether the Marlboro maker adequately disclosed the risks to its shareholders when it spent $12.8 billion in 2018 for a 35% stake in the start-up, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Friday.

The SEC has issued subpoenas to Juul and the e-cigarette maker has responded, according to the person familiar with the matter.

Juul has turned over documents including correspondence with Altria and financial projections Juul shared with Altria before the deal, the person said.

Altria has recorded $8.6 billion in impairment charges since investing in Juul in December 2018, bringing the value of its investment to $4.2 billion by end of 2019.

Juul and Altria did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam and Abhishek Manikandan in Bengaluru, and Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Dollar tramples yen and safe-haven status, gold gains

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – The strong dollar got stronger on Thursday, rising to a three-year high against a basket of trading partner currencies, after a steep slide in the Japanese yen called into question its safe-haven status while the rally in U.S. equities took a pause.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Gold prices hit their highest level in seven years as investors sought safe-haven assets after a rise in the number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea and the price of oil rose, supported by China’s efforts to bolster its virus-weakened economy.

The dollar has surged almost 2% since Tuesday against the yen, reaching its highest in almost 10 months, and the greenback climbed to near three-year highs against the euro.

The dollar index of the world’s most-traded currencies rose 0.12% to its highest level since May 2017.

The index is up 3.6% this year. It also gained to its best levels of the year against China’s offshore yuan and MSCI’s index of emerging-market currencies.

A host of reasons were cited for the dollar’s move, ranging from the outperformance of the U.S. economy and corporate earnings to potential recessions in Japan and the euro zone.

A run of dire economic news out of Japan has stirred talk the country is already in recession and that Japanese funds were dumping local assets in favor of U.S. shares and gold.

“The strongest explanation (for the yen’s decline) is a widespread selling by Japanese asset managers amid growing fears about the health of Japan’s economy,” said Raffi Boyadijian, investment analyst at XM.

The yen’s slide is unusual because the exchange rate with the dollar has been unraveling from its close correlation to the price of gold and U.S. Treasury yields, a development that must be watched, he said.

“This raises question marks about whether the yen is losing some of its shine as the world’s preferred safe-haven currency,” Boyadijian said.

China reported a drop in new virus cases and announced an interest rate cut to buttress its economy. But South Korea recorded an increase in new cases, Japan reported two deaths and researchers said the pathogen seemed to spread more easily than previously believed.

A rally that had lifted major U.S. and European stock indexes to record highs this week lost steam, as investors fretted about the spread of the coronavirus outside of China.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.84% and emerging market stocks lost 0.95%.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.62%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 283.03 points, or 0.96%, to 29,065. The S&P 500 lost 30.99 points, or 0.92%, to 3,355.16 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 131.33 points, or 1.34%, to 9,685.85.

Morgan Stanley’s multibillion-dollar buyout for E*Trade Financial boosted the discount brokerage’s shares.

E*Trade jumped 24.4% after Morgan Stanley offered to pay $13 billion in an all-stock deal, the biggest acquisition by a Wall Street bank since the financial crisis.

Morgan Stanley’s shares fell 3.6%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.5% overnight, led by drops in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and South Korea’s KOSPI.

Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,616.74 an ounce, after hitting its highest since February 2013 at $1,622.19.

Oil prices rose further after a U.S. report showed a draw in gasoline inventories and a much smaller-than-anticipated rise in crude stocks.

U.S. gasoline stockpiles fell 2 million barrels in the week to Feb. 14. Analysts had estimated an increase of 400,000 barrels.

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that crude inventories rose only 414,000 barrels last week, compared with a 2.5 million-barrel rise that analysts had expected in a Reuters poll. [EIA/S]

Brent crude futures rose 58 cents to $59.70 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate gained 91 cents to $54.20 a barrel.

Demand for safe-haven U.S. Treasury debt was robust, driving the 30-year bond yield below the psychologically significant 2% level to its lowest since September 2019.

The 30-year bond last rose 39/32 in price to push its yield down to 1.9626%.

Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 17/32 in price to yield 1.5135%.

Reporting by Herbert Lash; additional reporting by Ritvik Carvalho in London; editing by Jonathan Oatis

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BlackRock bolsters European management as part of post-Brexit expansion

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FILE PHOTO: A sign for BlackRock Inc hangs above their building in New York U.S., July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) – BlackRock (BLK.N), the world’s biggest asset manager, has appointed two executives to oversee Continental Europe for the first time as part of its efforts to expand in the region, a memo to staff on Wednesday seen by Reuters showed.

Over the last two years, BlackRock had accelerated its investment in the region as a “strategic priority” and now ran more than $1 trillion, “making us the largest independent asset manager on the Continent,” its head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Rachel Lord, said in the memo.

With “an ambitious strategy for growth” in the region, Lord said it needed “dedicated leadership” and so had appointed two country heads, Stephane Lapiquonne and Christian Hyldahl, to jointly lead the company’s efforts.

Reporting by Simon Jessop; editing by Sinead Cruise

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