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(Reuters) -Nearly eight in 10 Americans want Congress to renew enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at year-end, even as lawmakers clash over federal spending, a new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll said on Friday. The findings come after an impasse between Republican President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats triggered the 15th U.S. government shutdown on Oct. 1, the latest since 1981. After the poll, shares of UnitedHealth were higher by 3%, Humana climbed 8.8%, Elevance gained 4.6%, Centene advanced 4.4% Cigna jumped 5.6%, and CVS Health increased 1.5%. About 78% of adults said the subsidies, which lower premiums for people buying coverage on ACA marketplaces, should be extended, compared with 22% who favor letting them lapse. Support cuts across party lines, with 92% of Democrats, 82% of independents and 59% of Republicans – including 57% of those aligned with Donald Trump’s "Make America Great Again" movement – backing an extension. If Congress does not act, health insurance costs would increase sharply for many of the 24 million Americans who get their coverage through the ACA, according to the nonpartisan KFF. The impact would be most acute in Republican-controlled states that have not expanded the Medicaid health plan for the poor. Democrats also want guardrails that would stop President Trump from unilaterally ignoring their ACA provisions or temporarily withholding funds. "The poll was fielded just prior to the Oct. 1 federal government shutdown that was triggered in part by disagreements about whether, how and when to extend the expiring tax credits," said the KFF. Without action, premiums for subsidized enrollees could more than double next year, rising 114% on average to $1,904, according to KFF. (Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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By Arathy Somasekhar HOUSTON (Reuters) -Oil prices settled higher on Friday but posted a weekly loss of 8.1% after news of potential increases to OPEC+ supply. Brent crude futures closed up 42 cents, or 0.7%, at $64.53 a barrel by, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 40 cents, or 0.7%, at $60.88. For the week, Brent fell 8.1%, the largest weekly loss in over three months. WTI tumbled 7.4% in the week. "The expected increase in OPEC+ production and the Iraq/Kurdish pipeline beginning to flow after being shut in the past two years is keeping sellers present in crude,"  said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial. "Hamas is also starting negotiations with the Trump administration on a peace plan. Add in the bearish EIA storage data from earlier this week and it's hard to be bullish crude in the near term," Kissler said. Eight OPEC+ countries are likely to further raise oil output on Sunday with the group’s leader Saudi Arabia pushing for a large increase to regain market share and Russia suggesting a more modest rise, four people with knowledge of the OPEC+ talks said. Potentially higher OPEC+ supply and slowing global crude refinery runs owing to maintenance and a seasonal dip in demand in the months ahead are set to weigh on market sentiment, analysts said. "Demand indicators have fallen a touch through the Atlantic Basin as summer demand comes to an end. The over-supplied implied balance from a fundamentals perspective starting in October is gaining ground," said Rystad Energy analyst Janiv Shah. JPMorgan analysts, meanwhile, said they believed September marked a turning point, with the oil market heading towards a sizeable surplus in the fourth quarter and into next year. Meanwhile, crude oil flowed through a pipeline from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to Turkey on Saturday for the first time in 2-1/2 years, Iraq's oil ministry said earlier this week. Meanwhile,  U.S. President Donald Trump gave Hamas until Sunday night to agree to his proposal to end Israel's war in Gaza.  U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories rose last week as refining activity and demand softened, according to the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday, further weighing on prices. On the supply side, producers cut oil rigs by 2 to 422, oilfield service provider Baker Hughes said.  Elsewhere on Friday, a fire broke out at Chevron's El Segundo refinery overnight, though a county official said the flames had been confined to one area. The refinery is one of the largest on the U.S. West Coast, with capacity of 290,000 bpd. It was not immediately clear if there was any impact on production, but the impact on oil prices could be limited, analysts said. (Reporting by Robert Harvey and Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by David Goodman, Susan Fenton, Chris Reese and Diane Craft)

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(Reuters) -Drugmaker AbbVie in a regulatory filing on Friday said it expects third-quarter earnings to include a $2.7 billion charge related to in-process research and development (IPR&D) expenses. The drugmaker also forecast third-quarter adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.74 to $1.78, according to the filing. (Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)

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(Corrects paragraph 16 to say almost three quarters, instead of more than three quarters) By Laura Matthews and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) -The long-awaited resumption of the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting cycle is likely to cheapen hedging of dollar exposure for foreign investors and increase their motivation to guard more of their U.S. assets against further currency weakness. In September, the U.S. central bank lowered interest rates by an expected 25 basis points to 4.00-4.25% on labor market concerns and indicated more cuts would follow later this year. That cut narrows the interest-rate differential between the U.S. and other developed countries, which helps to lower the hedging costs for foreign pensions, sovereign funds and other institutional investors, managers and analysts said. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index is down about 10% this year, partially driven by foreign investors increasing hedging activity on worries about the impact of U.S. trade and tariff policies on their U.S. assets, market participants said. "There are some people that are watching it, that have been waiting for the resumption of the cutting cycle by the Fed," said Van Luu, global head of solutions strategy for fixed income and foreign exchange for Russell Investments in London. "Now they are inclined to raise the hedge ratio, and they're waiting for the right moment or they're waiting for some kind of catalyst." Hedging is a way to limit losses on an existing portfolio by using financial instruments such as derivatives to create an offsetting position. Since it often involves selling dollars via forwards or swaps, any rise in hedging activity can spell additional weakness for the beleaguered greenback. NEW-FOUND NEED TO HEDGE High hedging costs and a bullish view on the buck were two major factors suppressing FX hedging ratios in recent years, according to a June report from the Bank for International Settlements.  Years of dollar strength meant foreign investors could leave U.S. assets unhedged since it boosted their overall returns and was a source of diversification. Now that's set to change. With the greenback down significantly this year and with more potential weakness on the horizon, hedging could help blunt the hurt from unfavorable FX moves. Markets are pricing in about two more quarter-point rate cuts this year, which could incentivize investors who want to ramp up their hedges but have found the cost to do so a deterrent. GUARDING MORE BUSINESS AGAINST CURRENCY SWINGS Foreigners currently have more than $30 trillion invested in U.S. stocks and bonds, according to Morgan Stanley, $8 trillion of which is held by European investors. Rising concerns over Fed leadership, its independence, and U.S. policy uncertainty have helped keep pressure on the dollar, even as U.S. stocks have rallied. The S&P 500 is up about 14% for the year, near a record high. "The strong gains in U.S. (stock) market and the very sharp U.S. dollar falls are unusual but they’re not unheard of – we think an increase in hedging is part of the reason for this divergence," said Steve Dooley, head of market insights at Convera in Melbourne. A July research note from Deutsche Bank showed that equity investors in Germany and Austria have increased their hedge ratios to 60-70% from 20-30% at the start of the year. A new report from the Danish central bank showed that insurance companies and pension funds are shielding almost three quarters of their dollar investments from currency swings. The Deutsche note stated that some high-profile pension funds plan to top up those ratios after the summer.    "I think foreign investors are still inclined to hedge away their dollar exposure," Thierry Wizman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie in New York, said. "So they will come out again at some point in the next few weeks … you're going to see another round of dollar hedging by foreign institutions," he said. Research from MillTech also shows that 86% of European corporates are currently hedging their forecastable currency risk, up from 67% in 2023, with their mean hedge ratio rising to 49% from 43%.  Joseph Hoffman, chief executive officer at Mesirow Currency Management, said the shift among international investors is not mainly about short-term interest-rate advantages, but is driven "more by a bearish structural view on the dollar rooted in the Fed’s policy, heightened political uncertainty, and persistent fiscal deficits." WHAT'S MY COST? Still, a lower cost of hedging will likely draw those investors who may have held off boosting hedges due to price considerations. For instance, the 4% annual hedging cost for investors in Japan and Switzerland, based on current interest rates, remains a big hurdle. It costs other euro-based investors around 2% annually. "I think there's like a psychological level that if the hedge cost goes to 1% or below, which is on the horizon for EUR investors over the next 12 months, people wouldn't worry about it as such," said Russell's Luu. (Reporting by Laura Matthews and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed in New York; Editing by Alden Bentley and Andrea Ricci)

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By Sabrina Valle and Doyinsola Oladipo NEW YORK (Reuters) -Spirit Airlines plans to shrink its fleet by nearly 100 aircraft, nearly half of its fleet, as part of a sweeping bankruptcy restructuring process, CFO Fred Cromer said on Friday during a virtual meeting with creditors. The ultra-low-cost-carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time this year after a prolonged period of financial strain. The carrier, which currently operates 214 aircraft, is using bankruptcy tools to eliminate unprofitable routes and reduce its operations. The company said in a statement that it filed a motion with the court on Thursday to reject 87 additional aircraft leases. "The motion is subject to court approval, and we continue to engage with key stakeholders, including our lessors, as part of our ongoing restructuring to position Spirit for the future," it said. The carrier said it has until October 27 to finalize its aircraft needs and that it will use the time to continue negotiations with its lessors, which may result in aircraft being removed from the proposed rejection list.  The strategy is expected to save the company "hundreds of millions of dollars" in costs, Cromer said, allowing it to "support a much smaller and stronger Spirit Airlines." Industry overcapacity among low-cost carriers combined with low passenger demand, significant downward pressure in pricing, and an influx of low-fare seats at legacy airlines led the company to bankruptcy, Cromer said. "While the industry was hopeful at the beginning of 2025 that there would be a rebound, it didn't happen," he said. "That obviously led to the situation that we're in today." In recent weeks, Spirit has announced plans to exit service at more than a dozen U.S. airports, including Hartford, Connecticut, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and suspended roughly 40 routes as part of its restructuring plan. The company said it has the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York's approval to reject 12 airport leases and 19 ground handling agreements. The company also rejected leases on 27 aircraft from lessor AerCap. AerCap will pay Spirit $150 million as part of the deal, which resolves their dispute over a deal covering 36 Airbus planes due for delivery between 2027 and 2028. (Reporting by Sabrina Valle and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; Editing by Leslie Adler and Rosalba O'Brien)

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(Fixes duplicated cause in first paragraph) NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Dow and S&P 500 registered record closing highs on Friday, with interest rate-cut expectations improving as the U.S. government shutdown went on for a third day, while the Nasdaq eased. Shares of big tech-related names mostly fell. Shares of Applied Materials were down after the chip-equipment maker late Thursday forecast a $600 million hit to fiscal 2026 revenue. Shares of Tesla also were lower, while the S&P 500 utilities gained. The U.S. government shutdown dragged on for a third day. Investors were still able to digest a survey by the Institute for Supply Management, which showed the services employment index contracted for the fourth consecutive month. The news underscored the case for more interest rate cuts from the Fed. "It certainly feels like momentum is on the side of investors over the last few days," said Mona Mahajan, head of investment strategy at Edward Jones. It seems like "the market probability of a Fed rate cut has actually gone up since the shutdown began," she said. "Maybe that's because there's the potential impact on the economy or some weaker jobs data this week or this morning's ISM data… the expectation is we're still in this environment where the Fed is going to cut rates." The market has historically been mostly unaffected by shutdowns but some strategists said that a longer shutdown could create more uncertainty for investors and for Federal Reserve policymakers.  According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 0.47 points, or 0.01%, to end at 6,715.82 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 63.19 points, or 0.28%, to 22,780.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 242.00 points, or 0.52%, to 46,761.72. "The market generally looks past government shutdowns because they don't usually last long and they don't have a longer-term negative impact on the economy," said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Troy, Michigan. "But the longer it goes… it means the data collection for really important reports could get delayed, or it could cloud some of the data that we will eventually get because the data collection wasn't happening over an extended period." Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he was hesitant to commit to a series of rate cuts with inflation still running above the target.  Shares of USA Rare Earth rose after CEO Barbara Humpton told CNBC the company was "in close communication" with the White House. (Additional reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Pooja Desai and Aurora Ellis)

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(Reuters) -AbbVie expects third-quarter earnings to include a $2.7 billion charge related to in-process research and development (IPR&D) expenses, the drugmaker said in a regulatory filing on Friday. It also forecast third-quarter adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.74 to $1.78, including the impact of the IPR&D expense. AbbVie said such expenses may arise from collaborations, licensing deals or asset acquisitions, but are not forecast in advance due to uncertainty around timing and occurrence. Including the third-quarter charge, AbbVie now expects full-year adjusted EPS to range between $10.38 and $10.58 compared with the prior range of $11.88 to $12.08. (Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)

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By Luciana Magalhaes and Leticia Fucuchima SAO PAULO (Reuters) -J&F Investimentos SA, the holding company owned by Brazil's billionaire Batista brothers, is in talks to acquire French utility EDF's Rio de Janeiro thermal plant, according to two people familiar with the matter. The deal, which could fetch up to 2 billion reais ($374 million) according to one of the sources, has drawn interest from other bidders, they added. One of the sources noted that the asset sale, coordinated by Bank of America, is still in its early stages and J&F has not yet made a binding offer. The negotiations are part of a wave of dealmaking in Brazil's power sector this year, which could soon include big deals from players including Canada's Brookfield and France's Engie, people familiar with the matter said. Asked about talks to sell its Norte Fluminense plant, EDF said it is weighing IPOs of its North American and Brazilian subsidiaries as part of a 10-year global plan to boost the growth of its portfolio and long-term investment capacity. J&F and Bank of America declined to comment. FRENCH UTILITY REFOCUSES ON DOMESTIC NUCLEAR As part of a strategic overhaul, EDF is weighing options for its Brazilian assets while reducing its overseas presence and divesting non-core assets to refocus on domestic nuclear projects. The natural gas-fired plant is operating without long-term contracts from buyers, making it attractive to J&F, which often seeks underperforming assets for turnaround, a source said. J&F's power company Ambar Energia has other plants without long-term contracts in its portfolio. J&F, which also owns meatpacker JBS, has expanded its reach in the energy sector through its subsidiary Ambar Energia. The holding company separately made an offer this week to buy Roraima Energia, a power distribution company in the northern Brazilian state owned by the Oliveira Energia group. Last year, J&F signed a preliminary agreement with Oliveira Energia to take control of the power distribution company in Amazonas, but the deal has yet to be finalized. (Reporting by Luciana Magalhaes and Leticia FucuchimaEditing by Brad Haynes and Lisa Shumaker)

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By David Lawder and Lisa Baertlein WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee accused the Trump administration of having inadequate customs procedures in place as it ended the "de minimis" U.S. tariff exemption for packages valued below $800, leading to severe disruptions in mail shipments to U.S. shoppers and small businesses. Senator Ron Wyden in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seen by Reuters requested answers on how the department concluded that adequate systems were in place to collect duties on low-value packages as the exemption ended on August 29. Wyden, one of the Democratic Party's most influential voices on tax and trade matters in Congress, sought to put a negative spin on the administration's claim that it closed a dangerous trade loophole. The de minimis exemption allowed nearly 1.4 billion packages to enter the U.S. duty free in 2024 and fueled a boom in direct-to-consumer e-commerce shipments from Chinese e-commerce firms Shein and Temu . Wyden said the change was "hasty," leading to "mass disruptions in international shipments, confusion and increased costs for American consumers and small businesses." He cited data from the U.N.'s Universal Postal Union (UPU) showing that on August 29, the day the de minimis exemption ended, total postal shipments to the U.S. had fallen 81%. "I have serious concerns about your judgment and seek additional information regarding your role in the decision to abruptly end de minimis without proper systems in place to handle the change," Wyden wrote in the letter to Lutnick. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, which is charged with collecting import duties, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Commerce Department. A spokesperson for the UPU said the agency would be updating its U.S. shipment figures, which do not include commercial express shipments such as those from FedEx or United Parcel Service, in coming weeks. The U.S. Postal Service declined to comment on incoming shipment volumes for foreign postal packages. Shippers of illicit drugs and fentanyl precursor chemicals also have exploited de minimis due to limited inspections for many packages claiming the exemption. (Reporting by David Lawder and Lisa Baertlein; editing by Diane Craft)

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By Michael S. Derby (Reuters) -Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran on Friday again pressed for an aggressive path of rate cuts citing the impact of Trump administration policies on the economy, while other central bank officials made the case for a more cautious approach citing still-worrisome inflation pressures. “My view is that if policy is out of whack, you should adjust it at a reasonably … brisk pace,” Miran said in an interview on Bloomberg television. When it comes to the current setting of central bank interest rate policy, “we're not at the point yet where, if you sort of keep it there another day, it's a crisis, but if you keep it there for an extra year, yeah, I think you have…problems on your hands.” Miran said his belief that monetary policy needs to be much easier than it is now is based on his view that economic shifts largely on the immigration front suggest that the so-called neutral interest rate has declined from where it was. That means that if left near current levels, Fed policy has become more restrictive of growth, Miran said.  Miran spoke on a day the government was supposed to release its latest employment sector report but did not due to a shutdown created by elected leaders' failure to agree on a budget. Miran did not express concern about missing the key data, noting the central bank still has time before its next meeting scheduled for late October.  Miran is the Fed's newest governor and in a highly unusual state of affairs is on leave from a job at the Trump White House. He dissented in favor of a half-percentage-point rate cut at the interest-rate setting Federal Open Market Committee meeting last month. Then, officials trimmed their federal funds rate target range by a quarter percentage point to between 4% and 4.25% as they sought to balance a desire to lower still-high inflation while providing support for a weakening jobs market.  Officials also penciled in further rate cuts and see the interest rate target in the 3.5% to 3.75% range by year's end, with a move to between 3.25% and 3.5% in 2026.  Miran's preference for aggressive rate cuts puts him at a distance from most policymakers, especially as a wide range of regional Fed bank presidents are still worried about lowering rates with inflation well above the Fed's 2% target and expected to accelerate as President Donald Trump's tariffs surge through the economy.  SERVICES INFLATION PUTS FED IN A STICKY SPOT Speaking on CNBC, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the Fed now finds itself in "a bit of a sticky spot" with recent data showing an upswing in services inflation while payroll job creation has been weakening.  "You see this uptick in inflation and particularly the uptick in services inflation, which is probably not coming from tariffs," he said, adding "I'm a little wary about front-loading too many rate cuts and just counting on the inflation going away." Meanwhile, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan remained hawkish and told a conference that "we really need to be cautious of further rate cuts from here" in an environment where things like non-housing services inflation remain "worrisome" and suggestive that current above-target inflation is not just a tariff-driven issue.  Fed second-in-command Philip Jefferson also spoke in remarks that noted the recent rate cut was important to help ward off further trouble in the job market. "With the unemployment rate at 4.3%, the labor market is softening, which suggests that, left unsupported, it could experience stress," he said, adding last month's easing "moved our policy rate closer to a more neutral stance while maintaining a balanced approach to promoting our dual-mandate objectives." In a press conference after the September FOMC meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell hinted at Miran's isolation and said "there wasn’t widespread support at all for a 50-basis-point cut today," noting that policy moves of greater than 25 basis points often happen "when you feel that policy is out of place and needs to move quickly to a new place. That’s not at all what I feel, certainly now."  That said, while Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman voted for the 25-basis-point cut, she has since argued that Fed policy is at risk of falling behind the curve in offsetting risks to the labor sector.  In his remarks to the television channel, Miran said his longer-run expectations for monetary policy are not dissimilar from other policymakers and "all that's different is the fact that I want to get there a little bit faster."  Miran also shrugged off the risks of cutting rates aggressively at a time when financial markets have been very buoyant and could rise further on cheaper short-term borrowing costs.  "It can be a little bit of a mistake to look at financial conditions and infer something necessarily about the stance of monetary policy, because they can be driven up by other things," Miran said. And he added financial conditions are "not all loose" and housing finance, for example, is "relatively tight."  (Reporting by Michael S. Derby and Dan Burns; Additional reporting by Ann Saphir and Howard Schneider; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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