Oil and gas producers that fail to commit to reducing their emissions to “net-zero” could face being rejected for North Sea drilling licences.
The government’s new business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said companies would only get government backing if they took decarbonisation “very seriously indeed.”
The news comes amid a mounting tide calling for firms to clean up their act, as the government looks for ways to hit its targets to reach net-zero by 2050. It said in last month’s energy white paper that North Sea licensing would have to fall in line.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesperson said: “The Business Secretary rightly set out how our review into the future of the oil and gas licensing regime seeks to ensure it remains compatible with our target to reach net zero emissions by 2050. This commitment also forms part of the Energy White Paper published last month.
“We will agree a transformational North Sea Transition Deal with industry in the coming months to create jobs, retain skills and deliver new business and trade opportunities to support the sector’s transition to a lower carbon future.”
Governments and campaigners alike have been putting pressure on companies to change how they do business with regards to climate change.
TRENDING 1. China s Kuaishou to open books for $5 billion Hong Kong IPO next week - sources 2. Emicida, a rapper on a mission to recover Brazil s black history 3. Australia’s state by state Covid restrictions and coronavirus lockdown rules explained 4. England overcome scare to beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in Galle 5. How COVID-19 has helped us understand our kids better
Latest storiesReutersChina s Kuaishou to open books for $5 billion Hong Kong IPO next week - sources Chinese online short video company Kuaishou will open the books for its Hong Kong initial public offering to raise at least $5 billion next Monday in the city s biggest float in more than a year, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Kuaishou, which is backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kuaishou has aimed for a market capitalisation of more than $50 billion since it began preparing for a public markets deal, Reuters reported in September.
4 minutes agoEmicida, a rapper on a mission to recover Brazil s black history Emicida, a rapper on a mission to recover Brazil s black history. Musician and maker of ‘heroic’ Netflix documentary warns his country is on a dangerous path
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Australia’s state by state Covid restrictions and coronavirus lockdown rules explained Australia’s state by state Covid restrictions and coronavirus lockdown rules explained. The number of new coronavirus cases in Australia has been dropping, but states remain on high alert for the UK variant of Covid-19, so what restrictions are still in place? Do I have to wear a mask and where can and can’t I go in Australia? Untangle Australia’s Covid-19 laws and guidelines with our guide
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13 minutes agoU.S. Equity Futures Retreat, Dollar Edges Higher: Markets Wrap (Bloomberg) -- U.S. equity futures dipped and Asian stocks were mixed Monday amid investor caution at the start of the week even as data indicated China’s economic recovery remains on track. The dollar nudged up.South Korean and Taiwan shares retreated as sentiment toward chip component makers took a hit on news the Trump administration will restrict licenses to several Huawei Technologies Co. suppliers. Hong Kong and Chinese stocks saw modest gains after growth and industrial output data beat expectations. S P 500 futures pointed lower with European contracts. Crude oil slipped.There is no trading of cash Treasuries due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, though U.S. bond futures advanced. The S P 500 closed lower Friday and support for Treasuries pushed the yield on 10-year notes down to around 1.08%.Global shares slipped last week after optimism about the $1.9 trillion U.S. aid package, and the so-called reflation trade, faltered into a holiday weekend. Investors are waiting for the inauguration of Joe Biden, who ascends to the U.S. presidency on Wednesday with a speech outlining how he’ll tackle the health and economic crises he inherits.“Markets needed a breather or even a pull back to justify reflationary expectations,” said Ben Emons, managing director of global macro strategy at Medley Global Advisors.Meanwhile, Janet Yellen is expected to affirm the U.S.’s commitment to market-determined exchange rates and provide assurances that the U.S. will not seek a weaker currency for competitive trade advantages, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Biden transition officials familiar with preparation for her confirmation hearing as Treasury Secretary.U.S.-China tension continues to bubble in the last days of Donald Trump’s presidency. The U.S. government notified several Huawei suppliers that it’s revoking their licenses to work with the Chinese firm and rejecting other applications, Reuters reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.On the coronavirus front, cases approached the 95 million mark, while the U.S. death toll from Covid-19 neared 400,000. Norway expressed increasing concern about the safety of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine on elderly people with serious underlying health conditions after deaths in 29 people who received inoculations.These are some key events coming up in the week ahead:U.S. equity and bond markets are shut Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.Earnings come from companies including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Procter Gamble, Intel, and Netflix.Joe Biden takes office as U.S. president on Wednesday.Policy decisions are due Wednesday from central banks in Brazil, Malaysia and Canada. The Bank of Japan and the ECB deliver decisions Thursday.Here are the main moves in markets:StocksS P 500 futures slid 0.2% as of 1:43 p.m. in Tokyo. The index fell 0.7% on Friday.Japan’s Topix index declined 0.7%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5%.South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.5%.Shanghai Composite rose 0.7%.Euro Stoxx 50 futures lost 0.3%.CurrenciesThe yen was at 103.76 per dollar, up 0.1%.The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.1%.The euro bought $1.2069.The offshore yuan traded flat at 6.4944 per dollar.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries ended last week at 1.08%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude slid 0.8% to $51.93 a barrel.Gold was steady at $1,828.24 an ounce.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
14 minutes agoWilliamson, Pelicans spoil Fox s big night in win over Kings Zion Williamson had 31 points and six rebounds, Steven Adams made a pair of clutch free throws with 17.9 seconds remaining, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 43-point performance by Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox and beat the Kings 128-123 Sunday night. Brandon Ingram scored 22 points, Eric Bledsoe added 21 and Adams had 12 points and 15 rebounds to help the Pelicans end a five-game losing streak.
15 minutes agoChina enters 2021 on rebound after recording lowest economic growth in 40 years China’s economy picked up speed in the fourth quarter, with growth beating expectations as it ended a rough coronavirus-striken 2020 in remarkably good shape and remained poised to expand further this year even as the global pandemic raged unabated. The world’s second-largest economy has surprised many with the speed of its recovery from the coronavirus jolt, especially as policymakers have also had to navigate tense U.S.-China relations on trade and other fronts.Beijing’s strict virus curbs enabled it to largely contain the COVID-19 outbreak much quicker than most countries, while government-led policy stimulus and local manufacturers stepping up production to supply goods to many countries crippled by the pandemic have also helped fire up momentum.Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 6.5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, quicker than the 6.1% forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and followed the third quarter’s solid 4.9% growth.GDP grew 2.3% in 2020, the data showed, making China the only major economy in the world to avoid a contraction last year as many nations struggled to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. And China is expected to continue to power ahead of its peers this year, with economists forecasting GDP to expand at the fastest pace in a decade at 8.4%, according to a Reuters poll.“The higher-than-expected GDP number indicates that growth has stepped into the expansionary zone, although some sectors remain in recovery,” Xing Zhaopeng, economist at ANZ in Shanghai.“Policy exiting will pose counter-cyclical pressures on 2021 growth.”Backed by the strict virus containment measures and policy stimulus, the economy has recovered steadily from a steep 6.8% slump in the first three months of 2020, when an outbreak of COVID-19 in the central city of Wuhan turned into a full-blown epidemic.Asia’s economic powerhouse has been fuelled by a surprisingly resilient export sector, but China’s consumption – a key driver of growth – has lagged expectations amid fears of a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.Data last week showed Chinese exports grew by more than expected in December, as coronavirus disruptions around the world fuelled demand for Chinese goods even as a stronger yuan made exports more expensive for overseas buyers.Yet, underscoring the massive COVID-19 impact worldwide, China’s 2020 GDP growth marked its weakest pace since 1976, the final year of the decade-long Cultural Revolution that wrecked the economy.Overall, the slew of brightening economic data has reduced the need for more monetary easing this year, leading the central bank to scale back some policy support, sources told Reuters, but there would be no abrupt shift in policy direction, according to top policymakers.On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP rose 2.6% in October-December, the bureau said, compared with expectations for a 3.2% rise and a revised 3.0 gain in the previous quarter.Highlighting the weakness in consumption, retail sales fell 3.9% last year, marking the first contraction since 1968, records from NBS showed. Growth in retail sales in December missed analyst forecasts and eased to 4.6% from November’s 5.0%, as sales of garments, cosmetics, telecoms and autos slowed.However, China’s vast manufacturing sector continued to gain momentum, with industrial output rising at a faster-than-expected rate of 7.3% last month from a year ago, hitting the highest since March 2019.Lingering risks in 2021Ning Jizhe, head of China’s statistics bureau, told a briefing that there would be many favourable conditions to sustain China’s economic recovery in 2021.This year marks the start of China’s 14th five-year plan, which policymakers see as vital for steering the economy past the so-called “middle income trap”.China still faces many challenges, not least the tensions between Beijing and Washington and how they would play out under the new U.S. administration led by President-elect Joe Biden. As well, rising labour costs, the aging population, and a recent spike in credit defaults add to risks for an economy that is still trying to reduce a mountain of debt.“We should be alert to the following problems in 2021: first the imbalance of economic recovery. Compared with investment and export, consumption is weak as a whole and has yet to return to normal levels,” Wang Jun, Beijing-based chief economist at Zhongyuan Bank.“The second is the problem of excessive and rapid credit contraction.”The central bank is poised to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged in coming months while steering a steady slowdown in credit expansion in 2021, policy sources have said.The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank, sees the macro leverage ratio jumping by about 30 percentage points in 2020 to over 270%.While this year’s predicted growth rate of over 8% would be the strongest in a decade, led by an expected double-digit expansion in the first quarter, it is rendered less impressive coming off the low base set in pandemic-stricken 2020.Some analysts also cautioned that a recent rebound in COVID-19 cases in the northeast of the country could impact activity and consumption in the run-up to next month’s long Lunar New Year holidays.“Control of people-flows has started, so the risk of a widespread outbreak of Covid should be small,” said Iris Pang, ING’s chief China economist.“But the risk of a technology war between China and some economies remains if the U.S. does not remove some measures.”(REUTERS)
15 minutes agoA $6 Billion Fund Is Upbeat on Indian Stocks Unfazed by Prices (Bloomberg) -- A record price-to-earnings valuation for Indian shares shouldn’t act as a deterrent for investors, according to Radhika Gupta, the head of Edelweiss Asset Management Ltd.Gupta, the only female chief executive officer of a major asset manager in India, says it’s “risky to be underweight equities” at a time when local stocks remain “heavily” driven by liquidity. Her firm, which oversees 465 billion rupees ($6.4 billion) in assets, is putting its money to work: an Edelweiss balanced fund that invests in both stocks and bonds has boosted its equity allocation to about 75%, from just 30% in March.“Looking at a single metric of value or P/E is not a fair way to judge the market at a point when domestic economic activity is bottoming out, and you have such high liquidity,” she said. “We are buyers of businesses. We are looking at corporate earnings, the domestic economy, flows and risk appetite.”India’s benchmark S P BSE Sensex has rallied around 90% from its low during the March swoon in 2020, hitting fresh records on the way. The rally fueled by central bank liquidity and incessant foreign inflows has the gauge trading at more than 23 times its 12-month forward earnings. That’s versus a five-year average multiple of around 18 times, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.The Sensex was down 0.6% as of 10:16 a.m. in Mumbai on Monday, tracking broad declines in Asian stocks. It completed an 11th straight week of gains on Friday.Gupta’s optimism is at odds with rising concern among many market watchers that stock prices in India have run ahead of themselves as the economy braces for its biggest annual contraction in records going back to 1952.Last week, the Reserve Bank of India also warned about the rally, citing a widening “disconnect” between certain sections of the financial markets and the real economy. The RBI will also start draining cash from the banking system as it seeks to revert to normal liquidity operations from pandemic-imposed emergency measures.READ: Record Valuations Raise Alarm in India’s Frenzied Stock MarketEarnings, DataGupta, on the other hand, points to improving corporate earnings and the strength shown in recent months by high-frequency economic indicators such as exports, automobile sales and manufacturing output amid an uptick in consumption. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg have revised up 12-month estimated earnings for Sensex members by about 20% since a trough in July.“A lot of the uncertainty surrounding markets has ebbed,” she said. “The second quarter was good for company earnings led by margin expansion, the tail risk for banks has been contained and a couple of government reforms in the pipeline tell you that the downside risk isn’t very high.”READ: Top Fund Manager Is Bullish on Riskier India Credits on RecoveryForeigners continue to pile into Indian stocks, having bought a net $2.4 billion in two weeks in the new year, after pumping in $23.4 billion in 2020. That was the most since 2012.“Vaccines and the low interest environment that we are in could be a very good thing for emerging markets” like India, said Gupta. “We are hoping to see a scenario of better-than-expected performance for the corporate sector. With lockdowns opening up, we expect revenues to come back.”READ: Massive Vaccine Drive Starts in India Despite Safety Doubts(Adds Monday’s moves in the fifth paragraph, updates prices throughout.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
18 minutes agoBiden to scrap Keystone XL pipeline permit: Canadian media President-elect Joe Biden plans to scrap the permit for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline between Canada and the US, two Canadian broadcasters said Sunday.
20 minutes agoADDING MULTIMEDIA — ENHERTU® Approved in the U.S. for the Treatment of Patients with Previously Treated HER2 Positive Advanced Gastric Cancer Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo) and AstraZeneca’s ENHERTU® (fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki) has been approved in the U.S. for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic HER2 positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma who have received a prior trastuzumab-based regimen.
21 minutes agoCoronavirus vaccines to be offered to over 70s as Government expands rollout It comes as a ban on quarantine-free travel into the UK entered into force at 4am in a bid to keep out new coronavirus strains.
23 minutes agoOil Extends Losses on Stronger Dollar and Still-Surging Virus (Bloomberg) -- Oil extended losses in Asia on a stronger dollar and a still-surging coronavirus after slumping the most in almost four weeks on Friday following the release of disappointing U.S. economic data.Futures in New York fell below $52 a barrel after tumbling 2.3% on Friday. The dollar held gains Monday after advancing last week, reducing the appeal of commodities like oil that are priced in the currency. Chinese economic growth and industrial production data released Monday came in ahead of estimates, helping oil to pare losses slightly.Covid-19 continues to spread rapidly, complicating the global consumption recovery. The U.S. is on track to reach 400,000 deaths before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, while the U.K. is closing its travel corridors with other countries as cases spike. Indian energy demand got off to a shaky start to the year, with sales of transport and cooking fuels dropping Crude still managed to eke out a small gain last week, helped by a rebalancing of commodity indexes and the promise of more U.S. stimulus spending. However, the rally that started in early November and has pushed oil to the highest in almost a year looks to be stalling amid a worsening short-term demand outlook.The dip in prices on Friday was a “breather” for a market that has rallied strongly, said Howie Lee, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. “Biden’s inauguration will be the focus of markets this week, particularly on how quickly he can roll out his fiscal stimulus plans.”Libya’s oil output, meanwhile, has dropped by about 200,000 barrels a day after the closure of a leaking pipeline. The decline underscores how difficult it is for the country to maintain production after almost a decade of civil war.See also: President Biden Won’t Unlock a Wave of Iranian Crude: Julian LeeThe worsening short-term outlook is being reflected in oil’s futures curve. Brent’s prompt timespread is 2 cents a barrel in contango -- a bearish structure where near-dated prices are cheaper than later-dated ones -- after being as much as 16 cents in backwardation earlier in the month.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
25 minutes agoBitcoin Retreats From $40,000 Level Strategists View as Key (Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin retreated further from the $40,000 level on Monday, a decline that could portend more losses based on the latest analysis from strategists at JPMorgan Chase Co.The cryptocurrency could be hurt by an exodus of trend-following investors unless it can “break out” above $40,000 soon, a team including Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said. The pattern of demand for Bitcoin futures and the $22.9 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust will help determine the outlook, they added.“The flow into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust would likely need to sustain its $100 million per day pace over the coming days and weeks for such a breakout to occur,” the strategists wrote in a note on Friday.Traders seeking clues about investor appetite for risk have been gripped by Bitcoin’s stunning rally and turbulent 12% slide from a record of almost $42,000 on Jan. 8. The cryptocurrency boom since March embodies the ebullience in financial markets awash with stimulus to fight the impact of the pandemic -- as well as the concern that some of these gains may prove unsustainable.The JPMorgan strategists said Bitcoin was in a similar position in late November, except with $20,000 as the test. Flows of institutional investment into the Grayscale trust helped the world’s largest cryptocurrency extend its rally, they wrote.Trend-following traders “could propagate the past week’s correction” and “momentum signals will naturally decay from here up till the end of March” if Bitcoin’s price fails to break above $40,000, they said.Bitcoin dipped about 4% to $35,100 as of 1:14 p.m. in Tokyo on Monday. Ether, another popular digital coin, shed 5% to $1,200.Exactly what’s driven the yearlong near-quadrupling in Bitcoin’s price remains murky. Commentators have cited day traders, wealthy buyers, hedge funds, companies and even signs of interest from long-term investors like insurers.Bitcoin’s proponents argue it’s maturing as a hedge for dollar weakness and the possibility of faster inflation in a recovering global economy. Others say its defining characteristic remains speculative booms followed by busts.(Updates with latest price movements from the first paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
30 minutes agoCouldn t have put in a worse performance than this: Pirlo slams players after defeat Milan [Italy], January 18 (ANI): Juventus manager Andrea Pirlo has slammed players after suffering a defeat against Inter Milan and even went on to say that his side couldn t have put in a worse performance than this .
32 minutes agoPatrick Mahomes’ concussion scare reminds the Chiefs there s one thing they can t control in quest to repeat Nobody has repeated as Super Bowl champion since the New England Patriots in 2003 and 2004. And those back-to-back titles weren t just down to talent and coaching.
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35 minutes agoGuitarist for Metal Band Iced Earth Surrenders to FBI on Capitol Insurrection Charges Guitarist Jon Schaffer, a founding member of the metal band Iced Earth, has been taken into custody in his home state of Indiana after making “wanted” lists as a result of his widely seen participation in pro-Trump forces’ siege of the U.S. Capitol. News outlets including the Indianapolis Star have reported that Schaffer turned himself […]
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