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DAKAR -The International Monetary Fund isn't planning to vote on a crucial debt misreporting waiver for Senegal during its Friday board meeting at which the matter will be discussed, two sources close to the matters told Reuters. The country has been expecting the waiver since May to enable its access to fresh IMF cash, but it has yet to complete certain criteria needed for a formal board vote, the sources said.  The IMF froze its previous $1.8 billion lending programme to Senegal after its then-newly elected leaders uncovered billions in unreported debt – a sum that has ballooned to more than $11 billion. Both sources said that discussions on the waiver were going well and it was likely to come this year. But a formal board meeting, which has not yet been scheduled, is needed to sign off on it.  A spokesperson for the IMF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Senegal's finance ministry declined to comment. (Reporting by Portia Crowe, editing by Libby George and Rodrigo Campos)

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By Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta (Reuters) – Wall Street's main indexes hit intraday record highs on Friday as optimism about an imminent interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve boosted sentiment in the final trading session of a week that saw volatility due to the U.S. government shutdown. The federal shutdown, which began on Wednesday, has disrupted the flow of critical economic data, including the highly anticipated nonfarm payrolls report that was originally scheduled for release on Friday. It has now been postponed, leaving investors to rely on other indicators that suggest a softening in the labor market, keeping bets on an impending rate cut alive. Coupled with the strength in the technology sector, the optimism has so far helped investors look past the federal impasse. The three main indexes are on track to notch weekly gains if the current levels hold. "The market's focused on a couple of different things instead of the shutdown. One is the AI optimism that we've seen over recent days, and then the data that came out this week is pretty supportive of the Fed being able to cut rates," said Veronica Willis, global investment strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in New York. At 10:09 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 274.53 points, or 0.59%, to 46,794.89, the S&P 500 gained 12.09 points, or 0.18%, to 6,727.44, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 7.27 points, or 0.03%, to 22,836.64. The S&P 500 tech sector rose 0.2%. Healthcare stocks gained 1.3%, adding to the week's rally. Humana and Danaher added 5.6% and 4.2%, respectively, and were among the top performers on the benchmark index. Communication services shares on the S&P 500 fell 0.9%, dragged by losses in Meta Platforms and Alphabet, which were down 1.2% and 1.4%, respectively. The losses also weighed on the Nasdaq. A gain in banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, which rose 0.5% and 1%, respectively, boosted the Dow. Meanwhile, BofA Global Research forecast on Friday that the Fed would deliver its next interest-rate cut in October instead of December, citing soft labor market data. However, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he was hesitant to commit to a series of rate cuts, with inflation still running above the central bank's 2% target. Data from the Institute for Supply Management showed non-manufacturing activity stood at 50 last month, compared with an estimate of 51.7, according to economists polled by Reuters, capping some early gains. New York Fed President John Williams said central banks needed to be aware that unpredictable changes were inevitable and should strategize to operate in those environments. Investors will parse comments from Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson later in the day. In stocks, Applied Materials fell 2.9% after the chip-equipment maker forecast a $600 million hit to fiscal 2026 revenue on broader semiconductor export curbs. Shares of USA Rare Earth jumped 19.6% after CEO Barbara Humpton told CNBC the company was "in close communication" with the White House. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.59-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.43-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 110 new highs and 17 new lows. (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Pooja Desai)

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By Erwin Seba, Shivani Tanna and Stephanie Kelly (Reuters) -A large fire erupted in a jet fuel production unit at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery near Los Angeles on Thursday, disrupting supply in California's isolated energy market. Chevron's second-biggest refinery in the United States, the El Segundo facility supplies a fifth of all motor vehicle fuels and 40% of the jet fuel consumed in southern California. No injuries were reported and all workers at the refinery were accounted for, Chevron spokesperson Allison Cook said in an email. Media said the blaze had been contained, though it was still burning early on Friday.  It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion at the facility in the suburb of El Segundo, which supplies jet fuel for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), located just north of the refinery. WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS FOR CALIFORNIA'S FUEL MARKET?  "There is no known impact to LAX at this time," Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. The fire broke out in the refinery's Isomax 7 unit, which converts mid-distillate fuel oil into jet fuel, two sources said. It was unclear how it would affect the refinery’s ability to produce jet fuel, and whether wider output had been affected. U.S. WTI crude futures prices were trading up 22 cents at $60.70 per barrel at 1136 GMT on Friday, on course for a weekly loss of more than 7%. [O/R] The fire is unlikely to have a large impact on the wider oil market, two analysts told Reuters, but California gasoline prices could rise as the state's fuel market is isolated from other U.S. refining centers in the Midwest and on the Gulf Coast. If supply is affected, the California market could draw fuel imports from northeast Asia refiners in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, Asian trade sources said. Northeast Asia has sent 90,000 barrels per day of jet fuel to the U.S. West Coast region so far this year versus 112,000 bpd in 2024, Kpler data showed. FIREBALL TURNED THE SKY ORANGE "Chevron fire department personnel, including emergency responders from the cities of El Segundo and Manhattan Beach are actively responding to an isolated fire inside the Chevron El Segundo Refinery," Cook, the spokesperson, said. "All refinery personnel and contractors have been accounted for and there are no injuries." Local officials said no evacuation orders were issued for nearby residents, some of whom live in apartment buildings across the street from the refinery.  Residents of Manhattan Beach, located southwest of the refinery, were told to shelter in place until 2 a.m.  Los Angeles residents posted numerous videos of the fire online, saying they were stunned by the noise of the blast. A University of California-San Diego camera captured video of the explosion shortly after 9:30 p.m. PDT (0430 GMT).  The fireball when the fire erupted turned the sky orange in the western Los Angeles area as did the refinery's safety flare, which was set off due to the blaze. Safety flares, which emit a tall plume of flame, are used when refineries cannot process hydrocarbons normally.  In addition to Chevron, state and federal safety agencies will investigate the fire after the blaze is extinguished, they said. In December 2022, an isolated fire in the refinery was quickly extinguished. In the U.S. so far in 2025, there have been several refinery fire incidents. The refinery's total storage capacity is 12.5 million barrels in about 150 major tanks. The sources said they were not sure how much jet fuel was currently in storage.  (Reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston, Shivani Tanna, Anmol Choubey, Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, Stephanie Kelly in London, Trixie Yap in Singapore; Editing by Susan Fenton, Clarence Fernandez and Mark Potter)

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By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. services sector activity stalled in September amid a sharp slowdown in new orders, while subdued employment added to mounting evidence of sluggish labor market conditions because of waning demand and supply of workers. The survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Friday could gain more prominence after a lapse in funding undefined forced a shutdown of the U.S. government and delayed the release of the closely watched monthly employment report for September. The ISM said its nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 50 last month, the breakeven level, from 52.0 in August. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the services PMI easing to 51.7. The services sector accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. Tariffs on imports have eroded business sentiment, constraining activity across the services and manufacturing sectors. The survey's measure of new orders received by services businesses dropped to 50.4 from 56.0 in August. BACKLOG ORDERS ARE STILL SUBDUED  Both backlog and export orders remained subdued. Though a gauge of services sector employment inched up to 47.2 from 46.5 in August, it was the fourth straight month that it was mired in contraction territory. That aligns with other data that have suggested the labor market has stagnated. Demand for workers has slackened. Economists blame this on the drag from uncertainty stemming from tariffs as well as the rise of artificial intelligence. At the same time, immigration raids have reduced labor supply, creating a dynamic that has left the labor market in paralysis. Data from the Chicago Federal Reserve on Thursday, which combines private and available public numbers, estimated the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3% in September. The government reported on Tuesday there were 0.98 job openings undefined for every unemployed person in August compared to 1.0 in July. Economists expect the lackluster labor market will spur the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this month. The U.S. central bank resumed easing policy in September, cutting its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to the 4.00%-4.25% range, to aid the labor market. With the full inflationary effects of tariffs still to be felt, a rate cut is not guaranteed. The ISM survey's measure of prices paid by businesses edged up to 69.4 from 69.2 in August. Services inflation has firmed up in recent months, driven by higher airline fares as well as rises in prices at restaurants, and more expensive hotel and motel rooms. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

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By Pooja Menon (Reuters) -USA Rare Earth shares jumped more than 18% to scale a record high on Friday, after a report that the mining company's CEO Barbara Humpton said it was in close discussions with the White House. Humpton was addressing a question about the company's potential interest in striking a deal with the Trump administration, in an interview with CNBC late on Thursday. USA Rare Earth did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Humpton's remarks follow the Trump administration taking a 5% stake in Lithium Americas and a separate 5% stake in the company's Thacker Pass joint venture with General Motors earlier this week. U.S. President Donald Trump had invoked emergency powers in March to boost domestic production of critical minerals as part of a broad effort to offset China's near-total control of the sector. China had halted exports of rare earths, a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion, in March as part of a trade spat with Trump. While that showed some signs of easing in June, broader tensions underscored the need for greater U.S. output. MP Materials had also unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal with the U.S. government in July to boost output of rare earth magnets, with the defense department becoming its largest shareholder. USA Rare Earth has been developing a mine in Sierra Blanca, Texas and a neo magnet manufacturing facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which is expected to go commercial in the first half of 2026. The company is one of the more significant emerging U.S. neo magnet manufacturers and any reshoring strategy should include them, said Subash Chandra, analyst at The Benchmark Company. "We don't know what form a potential U.S. government investment can take, but there's still a missing piece to the mines to magnet strategy," Chandra said. Its shares have more than doubled so far this year, giving the company a market capitalization of $2.59 billion. (Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

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By Jan Wolfe WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear ExxonMobil's bid to obtain compensation from Cuban state-owned firms for oil and gas assets seized in 1960 under a federal law that lets Americans sue foreign companies and individuals over property confiscated by the communist-ruled Caribbean country. The justices took up Exxon's appeal of a lower court's ruling that undercut its legal efforts to win such compensation from Cuban state-owned companies that allegedly have profited from stolen property in litigation invoking a 1996 U.S. law called the Helms-Burton Act. The court also took up a similar bid by a Delaware-registered company that built port facilities in Havana seized in 1960 by Cuba's government to revive $440 million in judgments against Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and two other cruise lines that have used the terminal. The Supreme Court is due to hear arguments in the cases during its new nine-month term that starts on Monday. The Exxon dispute relates to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro's confiscation of all of its oil and gas assets in Cuba – a loss valued at more than $700 million today. Cuba has never paid any compensation to Exxon, but the Helms-Burton Act gave the oil company an opening to sue for damages in U.S. court. The Helms-Burton Act allows U.S. nationals who owned property in Cuba to sue anyone who "traffics in property which was confiscated by the Cuban Government on or after January 1, 1959." It also authorizes the U.S. president to suspend that provision if deemed "necessary to the national interests of the United States." Exxon filed a lawsuit in 2019, seeking compensation from three Cuban state-owned companies it said continue to hold and profit off their stolen property. Those Cuban state-owned companies are Corporación Cimex, S.A. (Cuba), Corporación Cimex, S.A. (Panama) and Unión Cuba-Petróleo. Years of litigation followed, focused on jurisdictional questions rather than liability. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that plaintiffs bringing cases under the Helms-Burton Act must satisfy an exception under a different U.S. law, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which shields foreign governments from lawsuits in the United States unless an exception applies. In the cruise lines dispute, Havana Docks Corporation sued four cruise lines – Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean Cruises and MSC Cruises – in federal court in Florida in 2019. Havana Docks built piers at the port prior to Cuban Revolution of the 1950s and is seeking compensation from the cruise operators because they used that property from 2016 to 2019. Shortly after coming to power in 1959, Cuban leader Fidel Castro nationalized and expropriated property held by U.S. companies including Havana Docks, which had a 99-year concession for the construction and operation of piers at the port of Havana, granted in 1934 by Cuba's government. Cuba has never paid any compensation to Havana Docks, but the Helms-Burton Act gave the company an opening to sue for damages in U.S. court. A federal judge ruled that the cruise lines had engaged in trafficking by having their ships dock at the terminal and imposed judgments of more than $100 million against each of the four. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out those judgments last year, finding that Havana Docks did not have a viable claim because its concession would have expired in 2004, well before the cruise lines used the facilities. U.S. presidents of both parties opted to suspend the law, meaning private lawsuits could not go forward. But President Donald Trump lifted that suspension in 2019 during his first term in office, unleashing a wave of litigation in U.S. courts against Cuban state-owned entities and a few American companies that were accused of trafficking in confiscated property. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Will Dunham)

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By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) -World stocks were on course for a solid weekly gain and more record highs as the seemingly unstoppable rally in tech shares and expectations of lower U.S. interest rates helped offset U.S. government shutdown uncertainty. Investors have mostly shrugged off the shutdown, the 15th since 1981, but on Friday it meant traders weren't getting probably the single most-watched piece of market-moving economic data – monthly U.S. payrolls figures. MSCI's main 47-country index of world shares didn't seem bothered, with record-high Wall Street opening higher yet again and Europe cruising towards its best week since April. [.N][.EU] Euro zone services sector PMIs had helped the euro tick up too as they accelerated to an eight-month high thanks to moderate growth in Germany, Italy and Spain, although France's political turmoil continued to weigh there. Christopher Hodge, U.S. economist at Natixis, said the lack of payrolls data in some ways bolstered the current view among forecasters that U.S. interest rates will be cut again this month. "The baseline (of a rate cut) is the default in the absence of new information," Hodge said, adding that the markets also had plenty of practice now in dealing with U.S. shutdowns. "The only thing that could be different this time is that we are in an economic and policy cycle that is a lot more ambiguous." Benchmark government bond yields – the main driver of global borrowing costs – nudged higher in both the U.S. and the euro zone, although they dropped in the UK after poor PMI data there, and all were down for the week. Markets are almost fully pricing in a 25-basis-point Fed rate cut this month and at least four cuts by the end of 2026. GOING FOR GOLD The overnight rise in MSCI's main Asian share index meant it closed with a 2.7% weekly gain and has now risen about 23% this year. China and some other parts of Asia had been closed for a holiday, meaning trading was thinner than usual although Taiwan hit a record high and Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.5% ahead of the crucial weekend vote that will determine that country's next prime minister. [.T] Wall Street futures were pointing higher again as well. All three major U.S. indexes had closed at fresh peaks on Thursday, buoyed as insatiable investor enthusiasm for all things AI continued. [.N] Weiheng Chen, global investment strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, said investors appear willing to give Washington time to resolve its disagreements, though a prolonged government shutdown might start to move markets. "For now, investors remain more focused on the potential impacts of the Fed's rate-cutting cycle, trade and immigration policy, economic data and corporate earnings," Chen said. With no government reports on the labour market to take cues from, investors have turned to alternative data from public and private sources and so far they point to a sluggish U.S. labour market. Friday does offer the Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing PMI data for September as well as the final readings of S&P Global's services and composite PMIs for September. It has left the dollar under pressure and Friday's moves saw sag again when measured against a basket of other top currencies. It was also on course for its biggest weekly drop since August. [/FRX] The Japanese yen has been the biggest beneficiary of that dip although it weakened to 147.74 per dollar on Friday after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda left markets guessing on when it will next hike interest rates. In commodities, oil prices recovered slightly on the day but were on course for their steepest weekly drop in over three months. Brent crude futures were at $64.39 a barrel as U.S. trading gathered pace while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $60.75 a barrel. Precious metal gold, meanwhile, was up again and on course for its seventh straight week of gains at $3,877, after hitting a new record of $3,896 an ounce on Thursday. It is viewed as a safe-haven asset during times of uncertainty and thrives on low interest rates. It has now surged 47% this year. [GOL/] "As the U.S. dollar’s status as the global reserve currency is tested, gold is emerging as the pre-eminent safe haven, and we continue to view it as the ultimate diversifier," said Greg Hirt, global CIO for multi-asset at AllianzGI. (Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; editing by Susan Fenton and Mark HeinriCh)

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(Reuters) – Wall Street's main indexes opened higher on Friday as optimism about an imminent interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve boosted sentiment in the final trading session of a week that saw volatility due to the U.S. government shutdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 64.2 points, or 0.14%, at the open to 46,583.95. The S&P 500 rose 6.8 points, or 0.10%, at the open to 6,722.14​, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 42.1 points, or 0.18%, to 22,886.157. (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

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By Akash Sriram (Reuters) -BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is in talks to acquire Macquarie-backed Aligned Data Centers, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The acquisition could value the data center operator at around $40 billion, one of the sources said. The deal underscores surging investor interest in data centers that cater to the booming market for artificial intelligence tools and power their growing adoption across the globe. The talks, which involve Abu Dhabi-based AI investment firm MGX, are at an advanced stage, the sources said. Bloomberg News first reported the development on Thursday. MGX, established by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and G42, may invest in Aligned as part of the transaction, the people familiar with the matter said. Mubadala holds a minority stake in the data center operator. Aligned, MGX and Mubadala did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Macquarie, BlackRock and GIP declined to comment on the news. Texas-based Aligned, which specializes in AI-related infrastructure, raised more than $12 billion in January. The company operates nearly 80 data centers, with more than 5 gigawatts of capacity in operation or development, according to its website. Aligned counts hyperscale cloud providers and artificial intelligence firms such as Lambda among its customers. If completed, the Aligned deal would mark one of the largest-ever acquisitions of a private data center company. The scramble for computing capacity has intensified as OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and Abu Dhabi's MGX plan to invest in Stargate, a $500-billion-dollar supercomputer project to house growing computing needs. Investors have poured record sums into digital infrastructure this year, betting that rising power needs will make data centers critical real estate assets. McKinsey estimates investments in AI-related infrastructure could reach $6.7 trillion by 2030. GIP is also in late-stage talks to buy utility firm AES in a deal that could be valued at more than $40 billion, sources told Reuters on Wednesday. (Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham, Gnaneshwar Rajan and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Shinjini Ganguli)

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(Corrects firm name to MillTech from MillTechFX in paragraph 22) 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 more than 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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