MANILA (Reuters) – Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Tuesday conducted an aerial inspection over a southern province hit by landslides triggered by tropical storm Nalgae that killed 110 people.

More than 100 people were injured and 33 were still missing as a result of widespread flooding and multiple landslides, the disaster agency said.

Nalgae is headed for southern China after damaging $22 million worth of farm goods and $13 million worth of infrastructure, government data showed. It is the second-most destructive storm to hit the Philippines so far this year, after tropical storm Megi killed 214 people in April.

Marcos on Tuesday ordered officials to distribute relief packs faster and called for better preparation ahead of four more tropical storms forecast by the weather agency before the end of the year.

“When we were doing aerial inspection, I noticed that landslides occurred in denuded mountains and that was the problem,” said Marcos, who also visited an evacuation centre in Maguindanao province.

Most of the casualties from Nalgae, the country’s 14th cyclone this year, were in the southern autonomous region of Bangsamoro because of rain-induced landslides in deforested areas.

The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, sees an average 20 typhoons a year, with frequent landslides and floods blamed on the growing intensity of tropical cyclones due to climate change.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)

By Deborah Mary Sophia

(Reuters) -Mondelez International Inc raised its full-year results forecasts on Tuesday and rolled out more price hikes as people continued to snack on the Oreo maker’s chocolates and biscuits even as the treats got more expensive.

The company’s shares jumped nearly 4% in late trading as it also trumped Wall Street targets for third-quarter results.

“We see consumers saying that chocolate is really something they cannot live without,” Chief Executive Dirk Van de Put said on a post-earnings call.

Mondelez joins a host of food companies including Cheerios maker General Mills Inc and soda giants Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc in boosting its annual forecasts on the back of higher prices, as shoppers remained willing to indulge on “affordable luxuries” despite decades-high inflation.

Still, Mondelez is battling a volatile environment in its European market, which recorded a 2.4% fall in quarterly revenues, as consumers tighten their belts amid soaring rent and energy costs.

The Sour Patch candy maker said some high-margin product lines in France and across Europe were impacted by disruptions around pricing from retailers.

But strong demand in emerging markets and North America helped Mondelez post an adjusted profit of 74 cents per share on revenue of $7.76 billion for the third quarter, both exceeding Refinitiv IBES estimates.

“Third quarter’s a charm,” J.P. Morgan analyst Ken Goldman wrote in a note, adding that the results are a win for the stock.

Mondelez now expects 2022 organic net revenue to increase more than 10%, up from a prior estimate for an over 8% jump.

It also forecast 2022 adjusted profit per share would grow more than 10% on a constant-currency basis, compared with its previous expectation for mid-to-high single-digit growth.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

(Reuters) -Match Group topped quarterly revenue estimates as more users looking for matches and connections took paid subscriptions on dating app Tinder, sending the company’s shares up 16% on Tuesday.

The results are welcome news for the company which has been rocked this year by executive changes and analyst concerns about poor execution of new features on its dating apps. Spiraling inflation has also pressured spending on its apps.

Despite the odds, the company’s revenue came in at $810 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, beating the average analyst estimate of $793 million, according to Refinitiv data.

Tinder’s revenue grew 6% and its paying users jumped 7%, aided by the return of a feature that lets users swipe right and left from their desktops. The company, however, forecast flat growth in fourth-quarter revenue for Tinder.

“Product execution is already improving,” Chief Executive Bernard Kim and finance chief Gary Swidler said in a letter to shareholders.

But they warned that a weakening global economy was hitting Match’s brands that serve lower-income consumers, while also weighing on discretionary spending across its apps.

Match plans to tackle the slowdown with reductions in headcount-related expenses and marketing spend and expects to have flat margins in 2023.

Shares of the company were trading at $51.21 in extended trading. They have declined 66.1% so far this year.

Match forecast fourth-quarter revenue between $780 million and $790 million, below market estimates of $809.2 million, as it expects to take an additional $14 million hit from a stronger U.S. dollar than it had previously expected.

The company added that a search was ongoing for Tinder CEO, a position vacant since the sudden departure of Renate Nyborg in August.

(Reporting by Vansh Agarwal and Shreyaa Narayanan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Shinjini Ganguli)

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro will meet in Caracas on Tuesday to discuss their countries’ recently-thawed bilateral ties and expanded trade, the Colombian government said on Monday.

The neighbors’ fraught relationship has improved since Petro took office in August on promises to fully restart trade, with cargo transport now allowed at border crossings between the Colombian city of Cucuta and the Venezuelan state of Tachira.

“President Gustavo Petro will travel to the city of Caracas with his team to have lunch with the Venezuelan president,” Petro’s office said in a statement about the meeting – the leaders’ first since the thaw in relations.

They will discuss bilateral relations, reopening the border and reintegrating Venezuela into the inter-American human rights systems, said the statement.

The meeting is part of efforts to boost regional economies and protect the Amazon, the statement added.

Venezuela is a guarantor country at Colombia’s talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, which will resume in November. Advocacy group Human Rights Watch has said Colombia could use the renewed relationship to help curb human rights violations in its neighbor.

Caracas broke off relations with Bogota in 2019 after Venezuelan opposition activists tried to send aid trucks from Colombia. Maduro’s government said it was a front for an attempted coup.

Previous governments in Bogota have accused Maduro of harboring Colombian rebel groups and criminals, accusations he has denied.

Bilateral trade totaled $7 billion in 2008, before Venezuela’s then-president Hugo Chavez froze it to protest a Bogota-Washington military deal.

(Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Josie Kao)

By Catarina Demony and Sergio Goncalves

LISBON (Reuters) – The chief executive of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, said he was “extremely supportive” of freedom of speech and that was the main reason why his company decided to invest $500 million into Elon Musk’s buyout of Twitter Inc.

Binance’s Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, who is an active Twitter user with over 7 million followers, said there were “very strong reasons” why he invested in the platform.

“Number one is that we want to be extremely supportive of free speech,” Zhao said at the opening event of Europe’s largest tech conference, the Web Summit, in Lisbon, adding that Twitter is “where people express their opinions”.

“It is an important free speech platform – that’s the number one reason,” he added.

Musk’s Twitter takeover saga came to an end on Thursday when the deal officially closed after months of twists and turns in and outside the courtroom, and Musk immediately fired top executives at the platform.

It is unclear how actively involved co-investors like Binance could be in Twitter’s future as a minority investor, since Musk fully controls the board and decision-making in the now-private Twitter.

Most of his co-investors in the $44 billion deal are funds such as Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management, Andreessen Horowitz and Brookfield. Binance said last week it is creating a team to work on how blockchain and crypto could be helpful to Twitter.

“I’m a heavy Twitter user,” Zhao said, adding Binance planned to be a long-term investor in the platform. “I want to invest in products that are important for our industry.”

Musk said on Tuesday Twitter would charge $8 for its Blue service, which includes its sought-after “verified” badge in his push to monetise the service and make the social media network less reliant on ads. Zhao said he supported the idea.

Asked about other ideas Musk has for the platform, Zhao said: “Elon Musk is a very hard guy to predict.”

(Reporting by Catarina Demony and Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Richard Pullin)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks closed lower for a second straight session on Tuesday after data indicating that the labor market remained on solid ground dimmed hopes the Federal Reserve might have enough reason to begin reducing the size of its interest rate hikes.

A survey showed U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose in September, suggesting that demand for labor remains strong even as the central bank has embarked on a path of aggressive rate hikes in an effort to bring down stubbornly high inflation.

Investors have been paying close attention to labor market data for any signs of weakening in the job market, as decreasing wage pressures and easing demand would help reduce inflation, giving the Fed the ammunition to begin decelerating with a 50-basis-point rate hike in December.

Growing expectations the central bank may have enough justification to begin slowing in December — partly due to data pointing to a weakening economy and a corporate earnings season that has been better than expected — helped stocks rally in October, with the Dow notching its biggest monthly percentage gain since 1976.

The sharp focus on labor market data overshadowed another report which showed U.S. manufacturing activity grew at its slowest pace in nearly 2-1/2 years in October as rising rates cool demand for goods and pricing pressures on manufacturers lessened.

“That is the concern for the market is we know the Fed wants to slow down the labor market, they want to slow down hiring so demand drops in the economy, which will help inflation,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Troy, Michigan.

“From an employment standpoint things look really robust though, and that is putting some pressure on stocks.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 79.75 points, or 0.24%, to 32,653.2, the S&P 500 lost 15.88 points, or 0.41%, to 3,856.1 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 97.30 points, or 0.89%, to 10,890.85.

The Fed is set to release its policy statement at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Wednesday, and investors will be closely eyeing any signals in the statement or comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell afterward that the central bank is contemplating decreasing its rate hikes.

Energy, up 0.99% was the best-performing S&P sector, lifted by a gain in crude prices on an unverified report that China was considering lifting its strict COVID-19 regulations.

That also helped boost U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms such as JD.Com, up 3.08% and Alibaba Group Holding, which gained 3.59%.

Megacap growth names such as Amazon and Apple, which have struggled since the Fed began raising interest rates, were once again under pressure, falling 5.52% and 1.75%, respectively.

Uber Technologies surged 11.97% after giving an upbeat fourth-quarter profit view that also lifted shares of its peers Lyft Inc, up 3.48% and DoorDash, up 3.61%.

Pfizer rose 3.14% after the drugmaker raised full-year sales estimates for its COVID-19 vaccine, while Eli Lilly fell 2.63% after trimming its profit forecast.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.11 billion shares, compared with the 11.45 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.56-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.29-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 24 new 52-week highs and eight new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 120 new highs and 110 new lows.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

By Karen Freifeld and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The criminal tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization went on hold on Tuesday after the company’s controller, Jeffrey McConney, who had been testifying as a prosecution witness, tested positive for COVID-19.

McConney had been coughing during his testimony earlier in the day and on Monday after he took the stand as the first witness in the trial. He tested positive after complaining of illness during Tuesday’s lunch break.

Justice Juan Merchan, who oversees the case in Manhattan Supreme Court, said the trial could resume on Nov. 7 if the 67-year-old McConney felt better. He said court protocol called for McConney to isolate for six days.

The unexpected delay came after McConney testified that the Trump Organization paid well over $1 million in untaxed benefits for Allen Weisselberg, its longtime former chief financial officer.

McConney’s testimony could bolster prosecutors’ argument that the former president’s company improperly paid Weisselberg off-the-books benefits to keep him happy by reducing his tax bill, and save money itself.

The Trump Organization, which operates hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world, was charged in 2021 by the Manhattan district attorney’s office with awarding executive perks over 15 years without reporting the additional income to tax authorities, and falsely reporting bonuses as non-employee compensation.

If convicted, the company could face $1.6 million in fines. A conviction could also complicate its ability to do business.

The case is one of several legal matters faced by Donald Trump, as the Republican former president, 76, weighs another White House run in 2024 after losing to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.

Trump has not been charged, while two Trump Organization units have pleaded not guilty.

Weisselberg pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for the prosecution, which viewed him as a prime beneficiary of the tax scheme.

The plea agreement calls for Weisselberg to serve five months in jail. He remains on the Trump Organization’s payroll, but stepped down as CFO after being charged.

TRUMP WAS ‘THE BOSS’

McConney’s illness was disclosed outside the jury’s presence by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, who told Merchan that the district attorney’s office had arranged for a COVID-19 test.

The judge later said that McConney tested positive.

McConney has worked for the Trump Organization since 1987, and received immunity after testifying to a grand jury.

Before being sidelined, McConney testified that Weisselberg’s $540,000 annual salary and $400,000 annual bonus did not change for a decade, but that he was awarded perks including rent and private school tuition payments.

McConney said that before becoming president, Trump would decide how much Weisselberg would be paid each year.

“Prior to 2017, he was the boss,” McConney said, referring to Trump.

McConney was shown a 2005 lease that Trump signed for a $6,500-a-month Manhattan apartment for Weisselberg and his wife.

“That is President Trump’s signature,” McConney testified, looking at Trump’s trademark black Sharpie signature.

He said one of Trump’s companies paid about $1 million in rent, more than $80,000 in utilities and $45,000 for parking, and more than $195,000 for Mercedes-Benzes for Weisselberg and his wife between 2005 and 2017.

McConney said Trump personally signed more than $315,000 in checks for private school tuition for Weisselberg’s grandchildren, and Weisselberg received more than $29,000 in cash to disperse as Christmas gifts.

The controller also said other Trump entities, including a golf club and his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, paid bonuses to some Trump Organization employees that would make them appear to be independent contractors instead of employees.

It was not until 2017 or 2018, by which time Trump’s sons Donald Jr and Eric had taken the helm, that the company changed its practices after a memo from its tax lawyer, McConney said.

McConney remains on the Trump Organization’s payroll, and prosecutors view him as a hostile witness.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Jonathan Stempel in New YorkAdditional reporting by Luc Cohen in New York;Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The attack on U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband highlights the need for more money to protect lawmakers in a bitterly divided political climate, the head of the Capitol Police said on Tuesday.

Authorities are monitoring thousands of cases across the country to stop potential threats, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in a statement just hours before the man accused of beating Pelosi’s husband with a hammer was expected to make his first court appearance.

The attack was politically motivated, according to prosecutors, who said in court papers that the accused, David Wayne DePape, 42, said that he wanted to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and force her to tell “the truth.”

Pelosi has long been a target of conservative anger.

“We believe today’s political climate calls for more resources to provide additional layers of physical security for members of Congress,” Manger said. “This plan would include an emphasis on adding redundancies to the measures that are already in place for congressional leadership,” he said without providing details.

Pelosi and other top leaders of Congress get full-time guards and other enhanced security measures.

The attack came shortly before the Nov. 8 midterm elections and follows months of bitter campaigning as Republicans try to win control of the House of Representatives and Senate.

Threats against Republican and Democratic lawmakers have been on the rise. Capitol Police said they investigated 9,625 incidents in 2021, nearly a threefold increase from 2017.

Manger said the department is on track to meet its goal of hiring nearly 280 officers by the end of this year.

Security measures for members of Congress and for the Capitol itself have been under intense scrutiny since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the seat of government by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, who has refused to accept Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

The Capitol Police has opened regional field offices in California and Florida, with plans to open more soon to help investigate threats to lawmakers, Manger said.

Also starting this year, members of Congress can have up to $10,000 worth of new security equipment for their homes paid for by the government, a House Democratic aide said.

This could include items such as motion detectors, duress buttons, special door and window locks and enhanced lighting. They also can hire private security firms.

Lawmakers can also use their regular office expense accounts to buy bulletproof vests and other security equipment and Capitol Police have been increasing coordination with local law enforcement agencies.

(Reporting by Paul Grant and Richard Cowan; editing by Scott Malone, Tim Ahmann, Nick Macfie and Tomasz Janowski)

By Tiyashi Datta and Aditya Soni

(Reuters) -Electronic Arts Inc lowered its annual bookings forecast on Tuesday as the publisher of “FIFA” and “Apex Legends” struggles with this year’s surge in the U.S. dollar and a gaming industry slowdown from pandemic heights. The company now expects annual bookings – an indicator of future revenue – between $7.65 billion and $7.85 billion, compared with $7.90 billion to $8.10 billion earlier. After a meteoric rise during the pandemic, videogame sales have been easing this year due to a lack of major releases and lower spending by consumers facing decades-high inflation.

That, coupled with the industry’s prolonged supply-chain challenges, also pressured quarterly revenue from Sony Corp’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Corp’s Xbox content and services.

Overall, the gaming market is expected to grow just 2% in 2022, according to data from research firm Newzoo, a far cry from 2020’s 23% jump. A near 17% rise in the U.S. dollar this year has also stifled growth, with EA forecasting a roughly $200 million hit to annual bookings. The company earns more than half of its revenue from outside the United States.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said “poor mobile execution” was also a concern.

“They haven’t efficiently integrated their big mobile acquisitions and bought games that were in decline when they closed Glu, Codemasters and Playdemic.”

EA had no major releases for most of the year, but it could get some support from the October launch of “FIFA 23” – the latest installment in its popular soccer franchise.

“FIFA 23” had the best launch week of any game in the series and it looks set for more demand thanks to the soccer World Cup in Qatar next month. EA’s second-quarter adjusted sales of $1.75 billion was slightly higher than analysts’ estimates, according to Refinitiv data. Its adjusted profit also beat expectations.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

(Reuters) -Lithium producer Livent Corp on Tuesday cut the top end of its 2022 earnings and sales forecast, citing inflation and other macroeconomic pressures weighing on its output of the electric vehicle battery metal.

Shares fell 2.5% in after-hours trading following the news, despite Livent posting better-than-expected quarterly profit.

“Lithium demand has remained robust despite some near-term supply chain disruptions and global macro concerns,” Chief Executive Paul Graves said in a statement.

Livent now expects 2022 sales of $815 million to $845 million, compared with a previous estimate for annual sales between $800 million to $860 million.

The company also cut the top end of its adjusted profit forecast by $5 million, to $370 million.

The revised forecasts would still, if realized, mark a jump from 2021 levels, as lithium demand recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Philadelphia-based company posted third-quarter net income of $77.6 million, or 37 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $12.6 million, or a loss of 8 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, Livent earned 41 cents per share. By that measure, analysts expected earnings of 40 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Livent extracts lithium from brine formations in Argentina and processes the metal into a form usable for EV batteries in North Carolina, where the company said an expansion of a processing facility is nearly complete.

In August, Livent struck a six-year lithium supply deal worth nearly $200 million with General Motors Co.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in HoustonEditing by Matthew Lewis)

(Reuters) -Tesla aims to start mass production of its Cybertruck at the end of 2023, two years after the initial target for the long-awaited pickup truck Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled in 2019, two people with knowledge of the plans told Reuters.

Tesla said last month it was working on readying its Austin, Texas, plant to build the new model with “early production” set to start in the middle of 2023. “We’re in the final lap for Cybertruck,” Musk told a conference call with financial analysts.

A gradual ramp in the second half of next year to full output for the sharp-angled electric truck would mean that Tesla would not be recording revenue until early 2024 for a full-quarter of production on a new model expected as key to its growth.

It would also mean a wait of another year for the estimated hundreds of thousands of potential buyers who have paid $100 to reserve a Cybertruck in one of the most highly anticipated and closely tracked electric vehicle launches ever.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request to comment. Tesla shares were up 0.4% after rising as much as 4.3% earlier on Tuesday.

It has not announced final pricing on the Cybertruck, showed the production version of the vehicle or specified how it will manage the battery supply for the new model.

In 2019, Tesla had projected an initial price of under $40,000, but prices for new vehicles have shot higher since then and Tesla has raised prices across its lineup.

Another source said Cybertruck was designed to use Tesla’s much-touted 4680 batteries. But Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid said Tesla has not been able to significantly scale up production of the in-house batteries, which could lead to further delays of Cybertrucks beyond the end of 2023.

Tesla may have to significantly redesign the Cybertruck batteries to switch to conventional 2170 batteries, he added.

Musk said last month the 4680 batteries are not expected to be “any limiting factor for Cybertruck or anything else.” He said the battery output was growing exponentially, without giving details about the production volume.

CRACKED WINDOWS

Musk introduced Cybertruck in a 2019 reveal where the vehicle’s designer cracked the vehicle’s supposedly unbreakable “armor glass” windows. The company has pushed back production timing three times since: from late 2021 to late 2022, then to early 2023 and most recently to the mid-2023 target for initial production.

The Cybertruck launch will give Tesla an EV entrant in one of the most profitable segments of the U.S. market and a competitor to electric pickups from the likes of Ford Motor Co and Rivian Automotive, both of which have launched models in still-limited numbers.

In January, Musk had cited shortages in sourcing components as the reason for pushing the launch of Cybertruck into 2023.

In May, Tesla stopped taking orders for the Cybertruck outside North America. Musk said then the company had “more orders of the first Cybertrucks than we could possibly fulfill for three years after the start of production.”

Automakers often ramp production slowly for an all-new model like the Cybertruck.

Analysts have also cautioned that a weakening global economy will start to weigh on sales for Tesla, which has so far been able to sell every car it makes. Musk has said he expected a coming recession would last “probably until Spring of ’24.”

IDRA Group, the Italian company making the Giga Press that will be used for die casting parts for the Cybertruck, said in a LinkedIn post last week that the 9,000-ton machine for truck part production was packed and ready to be shipped.

The post did not name Tesla. Tesla has been using the Giga Press to cut the cost and complexity of production of its Model Y, an innovation other automakers, including Toyota, have studied.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Zhang Yan in Shanghai; Writing by Kevin Krolicki; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Josie Kao)

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Tuesday, recouping losses from the previous session, on optimism that China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, could reopen from strict COVID curbs.

Brent crude for January delivery rose $1.84, or 2%%, to settle at $94.65 a barrel. The December contract expired on Monday at $94.83 a barrel, down 1%.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.84, or 2.1%, to $88.37 after falling 1.6% in the previous session.

An unverified note trending in social media, and tweeted by influential economist Hao Hong, said a “Reopening Committee” has been formed by Politburo Standing Member Wang Huning, and was reviewing overseas COVID data to assess various reopening scenarios, aiming to relax COVID rules in March, 2023. Hong Kong and China stocks jumped on the rumors.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman later said he was unaware of the situation.

“We’re getting a lot of signals in that direction and the market is responding very positively to that,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.

The Brent and WTI benchmarks both registered monthly gains in October, their first since May, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, cut their targeted output by 2 million barrels per day (bpd).

The OPEC+ cuts and record U.S. oil export data also support oil price fundamentals, said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng.

Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM, meanwhile, said that dwindling oil supply, a possible halt to release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and reinvigorated oil demand growth could also send crude back above $100 a barrel.

An oil investment lag is sowing seeds for a future energy crisis, OPEC secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said on Tuesday.

OPEC raised its forecasts for world oil demand in the medium and longer term on Monday, saying that $12.1 trillion of investment is needed to meet this demand.

These bullish factors have offset demand concerns raised by COVID-19 curbs that lowered China’s factory activity in October and cut into its imports from Japan and South Korea.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell in the latest week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.

The API reported that crude stocks fell by about 6.5 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 28, they said. Gasoline inventories fell by about 2.6 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose by about 870,000 barrels, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Eight analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories rose by about 400,000 barrels. U.S. government data is due on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York; additional reporting by Rowena Edwards in London and Isabel Kua in SingaporeEditing by David Goodman, Angus MacSwan and David Gregorio)

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Senior leaders at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Commerce Department’s telecommunications unit met to discuss aviation safety concerns raised by new 5G C-Band deployments, two sources briefed on the meeting told Reuters on Tuesday.

FAA acting Administrator Billy Nolen and Alan Davidson, who heads the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), met virtually for about 30 minutes on Monday, the sources said. Last month, Nolen wrote the NTIA seeking a delay in some 5G C-Band transmissions from smaller operators over aviation safety concerns.

The FAA and NTIA declined comment on the meeting.

Nolen said in his Oct. 21 letter said the agency wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to mandate voluntary mitigations AT&T and Verizon agreed to earlier this year mandated for 19 smaller telecoms and other spectrum holders.

“Aviation safety would be compromised if the U.S. government does not codify certain additional operating limits in the 5G C-Band environment,” Nolen wrote.

Industry officials say the FAA has raised the idea of temporarily prohibiting deployment of some stations in the 3.8-3.9 MHz block and maintaining some existing power limits until January 2024.

The letter was sent to Davidson and FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel was copied.

Rosenworcel last week confirmed that she received the letter. “We are in discussions with our colleagues at the NTIA,” Rosenworcel said.

Concerns 5G service could interfere with airplane altimeters, which give data on a plane’s height above the ground and are crucial for bad-weather landing, led to disruptions at some U.S. airports earlier this year.

Verizon and AT&T in June voluntarily agreed to delay some C-Band 5G usage until July 2023 as air carriers work to retrofit airplanes to ensure that they will not face interference.

Airline CEOs on Jan. 17 had warned of an impending “catastrophic” aviation crisis that could ground almost all traffic because of the 5G deployment. A deal struck shortly before a January deadline did not prevent dozens of foreign carriers from canceling international flights to the United States.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Mark Porter)

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -There was “nothing nefarious” about former private equity executive Tom Barrack’s ties with United Arab Emirates officials, Barrack’s defense lawyer said in closing arguments on Tuesday, denying prosecutors’ charges that former U.S. President Donald Trump’s onetime ally was an illegal foreign agent.

Barrack’s lawyer, Randall Jackson, said there was no evidence Barrack agreed to act as a UAE agent during either of his two 2016 meetings with UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nayhan, the second of which took place during a bike ride in Morocco.

“The theory of the government is that they have come to some sort of supersecret spy agreement during this first meeting, and during the second meeting they’re going to firm it up,” Jackson told the jury in federal court in Brooklyn.

“No one, if they want to have a serious discussion about an illegal arrangement with a 70-year-old man, says ‘Let’s do it on a bike ride.'”

Barrack, now 75, pleaded not guilty last year to charges of pushing the UAE’s interests to Trump’s campaign and administration without informing the U.S. attorney general that he was an agent, as required by law.

Prosecutors say Abu Dhabi paid him back by investing $374 million from its sovereign wealth funds with Barrack’s company, then known as Colony Capital.

Sam Nitze, a prosecutor, said in a rebuttal argument that the defense mischaracterized the government’s description of Barrack’s meeting with Sheikh Tahnoun to try to “make a cartoon of the evidence.” Nitze said there were also private meetings on the Morocco trip.

“The defense needs to talk about supersecret meetings and superspies because if they grapple with the law as it is … the case is over for them,” Nitze said.

During the six-week trial, prosecutors showed jurors hundreds of text messages and emails between Barrack, his former assistant and co-defendant Matthew Grimes, and a businessman named Rashid Al-Malik, whom prosecutors say acted as an intermediary between the two and UAE officials.

Grimes has pleaded not guilty. Al-Malik is at large.

‘PERFECTLY NORMAL’

Jurors last month heard prosecution testimony from former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said he was unaware of any role by Barrack in U.S. foreign policy.

“How were the defendants able to operate with impunity?” Ryan Harris, another prosecutor, said in his closing statement earlier on Tuesday. “Because they never told … public officials charged with stopping foreign influence campaigns.”

Jackson countered on Tuesday that it was “perfectly normal” for international businessmen like Barrack to meet with UAE officials, several of whom – including Sheikh Tahnoun – had authority over both policy and investment matters. Barrack argues his interactions were part of his role running Colony, now known as DigitalBridge Group Inc.

Jackson pointed jurors to the fact that Barrack disclosed his contacts with UAE officials on a State Department form when he was being considered for diplomatic postings early in the Trump administration as evidence.

“No one discloses this kind of information if they’re trying to hide or deceive someone about the nature of the relationship,” Jackson said.

Barrack himself took the stand last week, testifying that he never agreed to act at Abu Dhabi’s direction. He also pointed to his support of UAE rival Qatar during a 2017 blockade of that country by Middle Eastern neighbors as evidence he was not promoting the UAE’s interests.

“At the UAE’s most critical foreign policy moment, he not only doesn’t sit quiet, he not only doesn’t help the UAE’s position, he literally goes to the opposite,” Jackson said.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Josie Kao and Jonathan Oatis)

By Davide Barbuscia and David Randall

NEW YORK (Reuters) – As the market widely anticipates the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike interest rates by another 75 basis points this week, several parts of the U.S. Treasury yield curve point to an upcoming recession.

The U.S. central bank has hiked interest rates aggressively this year to fight inflation. Curve inversions essentially reflect traders’ expectations that the Fed will need to cut rates later on to help an economy hurt by higher borrowing costs. The Fed is on Wednesday expected to hike its target overnight lending rate to a 3.75%-4.00% range.

Yields on two-year Treasuries have been significantly above those of 10-year Treasuries since early July. Other parts of the curve that the Fed sees as more reliable warnings an economic contraction is expected have also inverted, or have flattened significantly, in recent weeks.

Here is a quick primer on what a steep, flat or inverted yield curve means, how it has predicted recession, and what it might be signaling now. WHAT SHOULD THE CURVE LOOK LIKE? The U.S. Treasury finances federal government budget obligations by issuing various forms of debt. The $24 trillion Treasury market includes bills that mature in one month to one year, two- to 10-year notes, and 20- and 30-year bonds. The yield curve, which plots the return on all Treasury securities, typically slopes upward as the payout increases with the duration. Yields move inversely to prices. A steepening curve typically signals expectations for stronger economic activity, higher inflation, and higher interest rates. A flattening curve can mean investors expect near-term rate hikes and are pessimistic about economic growth further ahead.

HOW DOES THE CURVE LOOK NOW?

Investors watch parts of the yield curve as recession indicators, primarily the spread between three-month Treasury bills and 10-year notes, and the two- to 10-year (2/10) segment.

Yields on two-year Treasuries stood at 4.523% on Tuesday while the 10-year were at 4.035%. That curve has been in deep negative territory for several months now.

The curve plotting yields of three-month bills against those of 10-year notes, which had already inverted in intraday trading in July, has turned negative late last month, closing inverted for the first time since early 2020. That negative yield spread stood at -12.1 basis points on Tuesday.

Another part of the curve that Fed Chair Jerome Powell has indicated as a more reliable harbinger of recession has flattened significantly, and some analysts said it could invert soon. What Fed economists call near-term forward yield spreads – namely the differential between the three-month Treasury yield and what the market expects that yield to be in 18 months – stood at around 25 basis points on Tuesday.

A similar curve, that shows a spread between where money markets expect the three-month federal funds rate to be in 18 months and the current three-month federal funds rate, inverted briefly in July and turned negative again late last month. That spread – measured through overnight indexed swap (OIS) rates, which reflect traders’ expectations on the federal funds rate – stood at about -16 basis points on Tuesday. WHAT DOES AN INVERTED CURVE MEAN?

The inversions suggest that while investors expect higher short-term rates, they may be growing nervous about the Fed’s ability to control inflation without significantly hurting growth. The Fed has already raised rates by 300 basis points this year.

The U.S. curve has inverted before each recession since 1955, with a recession following in six to 24 months, according to a 2018 report by researchers at the San Francisco Fed. It offered a false signal just once in that time. That research focused on the part of the curve between one- and 10-year yields.

Anu Gaggar, Global Investment Strategist for Commonwealth Financial Network, found that the 2/10 spread has inverted 28 times since 1900. In 22 of these instances, a recession followed, she said in June.

For the last six recessions, a recession on average began six to 36 months after the curve inverted, she said.

Before this year, the last time the 2/10 part of the curve inverted was in 2019. The following year, the United States entered a recession, albeit one caused by the pandemic. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE REAL WORLD? While rate increases can be a weapon against inflation, they can also slow economic growth by raising borrowing costs for everything from mortgages to car loans. The yield curve also affects consumers and business. When short-term rates increase, U.S. banks raise benchmark rates for a wide range of consumer and commercial loans, including small business loans and credit cards, making borrowing more costly for consumers. Mortgage rates also rise. When the yield curve steepens, banks can borrow at lower rates and lend at higher rates. When the curve is flatter their margins are squeezed, which may deter lending.

(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia and David Randall; editing by Megan Davies and Tomasz Janowski)

(Reuters) -Eli Lilly and Co on Tuesday forecast its annual profit and revenue below estimates, as a stronger dollar piled more pressure on the drugmaker struggling with lower insulin prices and generic competition for its cancer drug.

The company’s shares fell 2.6% on Tuesday as a forecast cut for the third time this year overshadowed strong performance by its newly approved diabetes drug.

Eli Lilly now expects adjusted full-year earnings of $7.70 to $7.85 per share, compared to its prior forecast of $7.90 to $8.05 and below analysts’ expectations of $7.97.

The drugmaker also trimmed its full-year revenue forecast, citing a $300 million hit to its revenue from the strong dollar. Lilly now sees revenue in the range of $28.5 billion to $29 billion, below analysts’ estimates of $28.76 billion at mid-point.

Multinational companies such as Abbott Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson have been hit by the dollar’s strength against a basket of currencies.

Last month, J&J said a stronger dollar will reduce its 2023 adjusted earnings by between 40 cents and 45 cents. Lilly flagged a total impact of about $1 billion from the strong dollar for the full year.

The company posted better-than-expected results for the third quarter, as demand for its recently approved diabetes drug, Mounjaro, helped counter declining sales of its diabetes and cancer treatments.

Mohit Bansal, an analyst at Wells Fargo, said a second straight quarter of strong Mounjaro sales is an encouraging sign as the drug’s launch has been promotion driven.

Investors are closely focused on Mounjaro’s uptake as it is expected to have blockbuster potential, especially if approved as a treatment for obesity.

Third-quarter sales of the diabetes drug was $187.3 million, with more than half coming from the United States, and easily beating estimates of $81 million.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Maju Samuel)

By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) -The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said on Wednesday the country’s financial system is as a whole resilient but global financial stress will test this.

“The rising global interest rates necessary to curb inflation will test New Zealand’s financial resilience,” Governor Adrian Orr said in the bank’s financial stability review, which is released twice a year.

“While our financial system as a whole is resilient, some households and businesses will be challenged by the rising interest rate environment,” Orr added.

The RBNZ added there are increasing downside risks to the global economic outlook and despite New Zealand’s high levels of employment and a sound government fiscal position, the country is not immune to these risks.

New Zealand’s central bank has aggressively hiked interest rates as it has sought to get on top of a red-hot housing market and soaring inflation.

The cash rate is now at its highest level in seven years and mortgage rates have risen sharply putting pressure on housing markets with sharp falls in some locations and a reduction in sales.

The central bank, however, said house prices remain above their sustainable level, and that a further gradual decline would be positive for long-term financial stability.

However, it adds a small number of recent buyers are in negative equity, and this will continue to grow if prices continue to fall.

“With widespread negative equity, banks would be more at risk of losses if people can no longer afford their mortgage, for example if they lose their job,” the RBNZ said.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

By Brendan O’Brien

(Reuters) -Grieving relatives of the 17 students and teachers killed in a 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, confronted the killer, Nikolas Cruz, with tearful, angry words as his sentencing hearing began on Tuesday.

At the conclusion of the hearing on Wednesday, Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer is due to sentence Cruz, 24, to life in prison without possibility of parole, a sentence decided by a jury. The jury voted to spare Cruz from the death penalty for one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, a decision several survivors’ relatives decried in court as injustice.

“You are pure evil,” Anne Ramsay, the mother of 17-year-old Helena Ramsay, told Cruz, who pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder. He listened to the victim impact statements at a table in the courtroom, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, large spectacles and a COVID-19 mask.

Inez Hixon called Cruz a “domestic terrorist” for killing her father-in-law, school athletics director Chris Hixon, two other staff members and 14 students with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 30 miles (50 km) north of the courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.

“I wish no peace for you,” Inez Hixon said in emotional testimony. “I wish nothing but pain. And I hope that every breath you take you remember that’s a breath that you stole.”

Cruz was 19 at the time of his attack and had been expelled from the school. Some of the survivors went on to organize a youth-led movement for tighter gun regulations in the United States, which has the highest rate of private gun ownership in the world and where mass shootings have become recurrent.

Many family members who sat through the three-month penalty trial said they were dismayed by the jury’s decision to recommend life in prison without possibility of parole instead of the death penalty for Cruz. Florida law requires that Scherer must follow the jury’s recommendation in formally sentencing Cruz.

Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed in the shooting, said on Twitter that he will not speak during the hearing.

“Because I have decided that it simply won’t change reality or the way I feel,” he wrote. “The reality is that I will still visit Jaime at the cemetery and the monster’s fate will not change. It has already been decided.”

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago and Jonathan Allen in New York; editing by Donna Bryson and Jonathan Oatis)

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) -Dollar General Corp, one of the largest U.S. discount retailers, was sued on Tuesday by Ohio, which accused the company of baiting shoppers with low prices on store shelves, only to then charge more at the register.

Citing inflationary pressures faced by consumers, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said he sued after receiving 12 complaints about overcharges, including from a shopper charged $2 for shampoo that was listed at $1 on the shelf.

Yost said Ohio lets stores have error rates on overcharges as high as 2%, but that testing last month at 20 Dollar General stores in Butler County, just north of Cincinnati, found error rates of 16.7% to 88.2%.

The attorney general also said employees sometimes wouldn’t change prices even after shoppers pointed out discrepancies.

“This seems like a company trying to make an extra buck and hoping no one will notice,” Yost said in a statement. “We’ve not only noticed but are taking action to stop it.”

Dollar General did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit filed in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas accused Dollar General of violating a state consumer protection laws and a rule against “bait advertising.”

It seeks unspecified damages for shoppers, civil fines of $25,000 per violation, and an injunction against further violations.

Dollar General is based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. It operates more than 18,000 stores in 47 U.S. states, including more than 900 in Ohio.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Mark Porter)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street stocks fell on Tuesday while Treasury yields dipped as investors speculated whether the U.S. Federal Reserve may hint at a slower pace of policy tightening this week.

Data showing U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose in September and suggesting that demand for labor remains strong supported the view that the Fed will continue with its aggressive interest rate hikes.

The Fed is expected to raise interest rates by 75 basis points on Wednesday after its two-day meeting, but investors will look for any signals that the U.S. central bank may be considering slowing the pace of rate hikes in the future.

“With the Fed tomorrow, it’s more about the comments following the rate hike,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “The question is: Do they start to turn dovish? Do they start to pinpoint their plan to pivot? Will they suggest they could do 50 (basis points) in December and will be done in early 2023?”

“The market is down today based on a little nervousness that the Fed is going to be a broken record tomorrow, and that it’s going to be cautious at all cost.”

Although last week’s ECB meeting was perceived by markets as containing dovish signals, ECB President Christine Lagarde said in an interview on Tuesday that the central bank must keep raising rates to fight off inflation, even if the probability of a euro zone recession has increased.

The Bank of England (BoE) is also meeting this week and is expected to deliver a 75 basis points increase as well. Traders then expect the BoE to slow down and raise rates by 50 basis points in December.

In U.S. equity markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 79.75 points, or 0.24%, to 32,653.2, the S&P 500 lost 15.88 points, or 0.41%, to 3,856.1 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 97.30 points, or 0.89%, to 10,890.85.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.58% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.19%.

British energy giant BP reported a third quarter profit of $8.15 billion, more than double its earnings in the same period last year. Rivals Shell, Exxon Mobil and TotalEnergies also reported bumper profits last week.

The yield on 10-year notes fell 2.7 basis points to 4.05%, while the two-year yield, which typically moves in step with rate expectations, was up 4.4 basis points to yield 4.5447%.

In currencies, the dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was up very slightly.

The Chinese yuan fell to a near 15-year low against the dollar, before paring its losses after the central bank fixed the official guidance rate on the weaker side of the key 7.2-per-dollar level for the first time since 2008. The dollar was last down 0.4% against the offshore yuan.

The Australian dollar was little changed at US$0.6395.. The Reserve Bank of Australia raised rates by 25 basis points for a second month running, but revised its inflation outlook upward and said more rate hikes would be needed.

In commodities, oil recouped losses from the previous session, on optimism that China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, could reopen from strict COVID-19 curbs. U.S. crude oil futures settled at $88.37 per barrel, up $1.84, or 2.13% while Brent crude futures settled at $94.65, up $1.84, or 1.98%.

(Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Sinéad Carew in New York, Elizabeth Howcroft in London, Editing by Chizu Nomiyamad, Tomasz Janowski and Jonathan Oatis)