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(Reuters) -Apple has halted a planned overhaul of its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset to shift resources to smart glasses that would rival products from Meta Platforms, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The iPhone maker had been preparing a cheaper, lighter variant of its headset, code-named N100, for release in 2027, Bloomberg said. But the company told staff internally last week that it is reallocating employees from that project to accelerate work on glasses. The $3,499 Vision Pro, launched in February 2024 to heavy fanfare, has struggled to sustain momentum amid a thin slate of mainstream content and competition from cheaper devices such as Meta's Quest. Apple is working on at least two types of smart glasses, the report said. The first, dubbed N50, will pair with an iPhone and lack its own display. Apple aims to unveil the model as soon as next year, ahead of a release in 2027. The second version, with a display, is planned for 2028, but Apple is now seeking to accelerate development of the product that could challenge the Meta Ray-Ban Display, the report said. In September, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off the company's first consumer-ready $800 smart glasses with a built-in display and a new wristband controller at Meta's Connect event. Meta also unveiled a new pair of Oakley-branded glasses called Vanguard aimed at athletes. Apple's glasses will rely heavily on voice interaction and artificial intelligence, the report said. The company declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters. At its annual product launch event last month, Apple introduced an upgraded line of iPhones, alongside a slimmer iPhone Air. The event, however, was light on evidence of how Apple — a laggard in the AI race — aims to close the gap with the likes of Google, which showcased the capabilities of its Gemini AI model in its latest flagship phones. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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By Manya Saini (Reuters) -Fitch said on Wednesday it does not expect the ongoing U.S. government shutdown to affect the country's sovereign ratings in the near term, adding that any impact on economic growth would depend on its scope and duration. The U.S. government shut down much of its operations earlier in the day as deep partisan divisions prevented Congress and the White House from reaching a funding deal, setting off what could be a long, grueling standoff that could lead to the loss of thousands of federal jobs. "Fitch will continue to assess developments around the U.S. regulatory environment, rule of law, and institutional checks and balances as part of its sovereign credit analysis," the ratings agency said. It expects the general government deficit to narrow to 6.8% of GDP in 2025 from 7.7% in 2024, partly due to a surge in tariff revenues, which it now sees reaching $300 billion. "Despite increased uncertainty around U.S. policy and the possible erosion of institutional checks and balances, we expect the U.S. dollar's predominant reserve currency status — a material sovereign rating strength — to continue for the foreseeable future," Fitch added. S&P Global Ratings said, separately, that government shutdowns generally have only a marginal effect on the broader economy, and it does not consider them credit events for the U.S. sovereign rating. But secondary effects can build up over time, it warned, as furloughed workers cut spending and delays in key economic data add uncertainty for the Federal Reserve. S&P Global estimated the shutdown could trim GDP growth by 0.1% to 0.2% for every week the government is closed. A government shutdown can have broad implications, disrupting federal services, slowing economic activity, and increasing uncertainty for markets and businesses. The longest U.S. government shutdown, lasting 35 days in 2018-2019 during President Donald Trump's first term, partly ended after flight delays triggered by air traffic controllers calling in sick. It remains unclear how long the current government shutdown will continue. The main U.S. stock indexes bounced back from early lows on Wednesday. [.N] "Government shutdowns are inconvenient and messy, but there is little evidence that they have a significant impact on the economy," said Scott Helfstein, head of investment strategy at Global X. "Typically, the lost economic activity, if meaningful in the first place, is recovered in the following quarter." (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Prakhar Srivastava; Editing by Alan Barona)

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By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Group of Seven nations' finance ministers said on Wednesday they will take joint steps to increase pressure on Russia by targeting those who are continuing to increase their purchases of Russian oil and those that are facilitating circumvention. The G7 finance ministers also said they agreed on the importance of trade measures, including tariffs and import and export bans, in efforts to cut off Russian revenues due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The joint statement followed a virtual meeting of the finance minister. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Washington has called on its allies to impose tariffs on purchasers of Russian oil like India and China. While Trump has refrained from imposing additional tariffs on Chinese imports over China's purchases of Russian oil, his administration has targeted New Delhi with extra tariffs on imports from India. The G7 statement on Wednesday did not name India or China. KEY QUOTES "We will target those who are continuing to increase their purchase of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine and those that are facilitating circumvention," G7's statement said. "We will take concrete measures to significantly reduce, with the objective of phasing out, our remaining imports from Russia, including on hydrocarbon imports," it added. The G7 foreign ministers also said they were "giving serious consideration" to trade measures and other restrictions on countries helping finance Russia's war efforts. No country was identified in the statement. CONTEXT Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014. Russia has faced heavy sanctions from Western powers who have been considering ways to restrict financing for its war efforts. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio)

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By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices slid for a third day in a row to a 16-week low on Wednesday as a U.S. government shutdown fed worries about the global economy, while traders expected more oil supply to come on the market with a planned output boost by OPEC+ next month. Brent crude futures fell 68 cents, or 1.0%, to settle at $65.35 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 59 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $61.78. Those were the lowest closes for Brent since June 5 and for WTI since May 30. U.S. oil production growth will stall if prices stay near $60 per barrel, as fewer drilling sites are profitable at that level, the CEO of Diamondback Energy FANG.O, one of the country's top oil producers, said on Wednesday. In other energy markets, U.S. gasoline futures closed at their lowest in almost a year. Traders expect OPEC+ to boost production in November by about the same as the 500,000 barrels per day hike in September, even as U.S. and Asian demand start to decline, Rystad analyst Janiv Shah said. OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied producers like Russia, could agree to raise oil production by up to 500,000 bpd in November, triple the increase made for October, as Saudi Arabia seeks to reclaim market share, three sources familiar with the talks said. However, OPEC wrote on X that media reports of plans to raise output by 500,000 bpd were misleading. An OPEC+ panel stressed the need for achieving full compliance with oil output agreements and extra output cuts that some members are required to make to compensate for earlier exceeding quotas at a meeting on Wednesday, OPEC said in a statement. Oil prices were also pressured by a bigger-than-expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said energy firms added 1.8 million barrels of crude into inventories during the week ended September 26, exceeding the 1.0-million-barrel build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll. [EIA/S] [API/S] On Tuesday, sources said the American Petroleum Institute trade group had reported a 3.7-million-barrel draw for the week. "Crude stocks rose following a drop in exports, which were not as hot and could signal some weak demand … we already had a pretty big sell-off on the government shutdown and expectations that that could slow the economy and hurt demand," said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Price Futures Group. US GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN The U.S. government shut down much of its operations on Wednesday as deep partisan divisions prevented Congress and the White House from reaching a funding deal. Government agencies have warned this would halt the release of the closely watched September employment report, among other things. The White House warned that worker layoffs are imminent as the first day of the government shutdown unfolded, even as Vice President JD Vance insisted no final decisions have been made. U.S. manufacturing activity edged up in September, though new orders and employment were subdued as factories grappled with the fallout from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. In Asia, the world's biggest oil-consuming region, data on factory activity added to concerns about fuel demand, as manufacturing activity contracted across most major economies in September. Focus was also shifting to the supply and export disruption in Russia due to Ukrainian assaults, PVM Oil Associates' analyst Tamas Varga said. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the situation with the supply of fuel on the domestic market is under control on the whole, while some regions are experiencing shortages of the fuel. Urals crude differentials to dated Brent held steady on Wednesday, while oil loadings from Russia's three key western ports jumped by 25% in September from August, as refinery outages caused by Ukrainian drone attacks freed up more crude. In Venezuela, an OPEC member under U.S. sanctions, oil exports averaged 1.09 million bpd in September, the highest monthly level since February 2020, according to shipping data and documents from state-run energy company PDVSA. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York, Seher Dareen in London and Mohi Narayan in New Delhi. Additional reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston and Ahmad Ghaddar in London; Editing by Alexandra Hudson, Aidan Lewis, Mark Potter, David Gregorio, Diane Craft and Daniel Wallis)

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By David French (Reuters) -BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners is in advanced talks to buy utility group AES, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in a deal that could exceed $38 billion including debt. AES shares jumped more than 15% to $15.15, trading at their highest level in around 11 months, on the news which was first reported by the Financial Times. A transaction could be announced in the coming weeks, according to two of the sources, who cautioned there was no guarantee that an agreement will be reached and talks could still fall through. The two sources, plus two further sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential deliberations, confirmed that discussions have been ongoing between AES and GIP in recent months. AES carries consolidated debt of around $29 billion and, as of last close, its market capitalization stood at $9.37 billion, implying an enterprise value of more than $38 billion. AES declined comment. GIP did not respond to a request for comment. Power companies are drawing investor interest as artificial intelligence and data centers drive a surge in power demand, spurring a wave of dealmaking across the sector. AES, which surpassed Wall Street estimates for its second-quarter profit in July, has experienced significant growth in its renewables unit over the past year. This expansion has been fueled by a global push for cleaner sources of power generation, coinciding with projections that U.S. power consumption will reach record levels. BlackRock last year acquired GIP for $12.5 billion as part of its move to expand its footprint in infrastructure and private markets. GIP has a notable track record in the utility space, including teaming up with CPP Investments last year on a pending  $6.2 billion take-private acquisition of U.S. utility Allete. Arlington, Virginia-based AES has power assets on four continents, generating more than 36,000 megawatts, according to its website. (Reporting by David French in New York and Gnaneshwar Rajan and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Ateev Bhandari and Arunima Kumar ; Editing by Alan Barona, Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Harikrishnan Nair, Krishna Chandra Eluri, Mark Porter and Nick Zieminski)

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(Reuters) -The Bank of Canada expects to release baseline projections for the economy and inflation with its monetary policy report in October, its summary of deliberations released on Wednesday showed. The central bank had stopped giving definitive estimates for Canada's economy from the second quarter and instead opted to lay out a range of projections based on how U.S. tariffs impact the economy. Governor Tiff Macklem had based the decision to pause baseline estimates on extreme uncertainty over whether higher tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump would increase inflation or slow economic growth. "Given the relative stability with respect to U.S. tariffs since the July Report, members expected they would be able to present a baseline projection for growth and inflation in the October Monetary Policy Report," the minutes of the meeting for the Sept. 17 rates decision showed.  The BoC reduced its key policy rate to a three-year low of 2.5% last month, its first cut in six months, and said it would be ready to cut again if risks to the economy increased in coming months. Money markets are betting that the odds for another 25 basis point rate cut on Oct. 29 are just over 55%. The rate-setting committee acknowledged in their meeting that risks to inflation going up were subsiding.  Most counter-tariffs on U.S. goods had been removed, the members believed, and they agreed that there was no longer a significant risk that the cost of tariffs would be passed on to Canadian consumers and create a knock-on effect to other prices. "Lower input costs from labor, shipping and materials would also likely mean lower inflationary pressures going forward," the minutes said. However, they agreed that the risks had not gone away.  The Governing Council said that economic growth could slow further while the adjustment in business investment and jobs plays out. Members discussed how slower population growth and a softer labor market could dampen growth in household spending in the coming months. They also expected weak business investment to continue to weigh on economic growth in the second half of the year.  But they agreed that consumption should continue to support growth going forward and that the economy was expected to grow roughly in line with the "current tariff scenario" outlined in the July monetary policy report. The impending renegotiation of the free-trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada was fueling some uncertainty, and this could impede recovery in business investment in the near term. (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Caroline Stauffer) ((promit.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com)) Keywords: CANADA CENBANK/ (Reporting by Chris Reese)

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By Echo Wang (Reuters) -Meta Platforms said on Wednesday it would begin using people's interactions with its generative AI tools to personalize content and advertising across its apps such as Facebook and Instagram starting on December 16. Users will be notified of the changes from October 7 and they will not have an option to opt out, the social media giant said, though the update applies only to those who use Meta AI. Meta said users' interactions with its AI features, whether by voice or text, would be added to existing data such as likes and follows to shape recommendations for content and ads, including Reels and ads. For example, a user talking about hiking with Meta AI could later be shown hiking groups, friends’ trail updates or ads for boots. "People's interactions simply are going to be another piece of the input that will inform the personalization of feeds and ads," said Christy Harris, privacy policy manager at Meta. "We're still in the process of building the first offerings that will make use of this data." When people have conversations with Meta AI about more sensitive topics such as their religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, Meta will not use those topics to show them ads, it said. The rollout will begin in most regions on December 16 and expand over time, excluding the UK, the European Union and South Korea. Meta AI now has 1 billion monthly active users across the company’s family of apps. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the company's annual shareholder meeting this year that the “focus for this year is deepening the experience and making Meta AI the leading personal AI with an emphasis on personalization, voice conversations and entertainment.” Meta launched its first consumer-ready smart glasses with a built-in display at its annual Connect conference last month.  The company's use of AI interactions for ads comes as other tech giants, including Google and Amazon, have begun monetizing AI tools, often through cloud-based services. But few have used AI chat interactions to personalize content and advertising across multiple platforms at the scale Meta is attempting. (Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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(Reuters) -Dating app Grindr on Wednesday named John North as its finance chief, replacing Vanna Krantz. North stepped down as CEO of U.S. recreational vehicles retailer Lazydays Holdings last year. Krantz, in July, had said she would step down once a successor is named. She was Grindr's CFO for three years, during which she oversaw its transition to a publicly listed company in 2022. North, who has over 20 years of experience, is a board member of protective films and coatings provider Xpel and was previously the CFO of Copart, an online vehicle auctioneer. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)

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By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -Tyson Foods agreed to pay $85 million to settle a lawsuit by consumers who accused the largest U.S. meat company of conspiring with rivals to inflate pork prices by limiting supply in the $20 billion U.S. market. The preliminary class action settlement disclosed on Wednesday is the largest in more than seven years of antitrust litigation by the consumers against pork producers, surpassing Smithfield Foods' $75 million settlement in 2022. It would boost consumers' overall recovery to $208 million, including settlements with Brazil's JBS, Hormel Foods and other defendants. Tyson, based in Springdale, Arkansas, is the last publicly traded company to settle. Its settlement requires approval by U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minneapolis. Tyson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for the consumers did not immediately respond to similar requests. Triumph Foods and data provider Agri Stats remain defendants. Dozens of supermarket chains including Kroger, restaurant chains including McDonald's, food producers and food distributors have also sued over pork prices. Plaintiffs said the alleged conspiracy ran from 2009 to 2018, and was intended to increase the defendants' profits, as well as prices. Similar litigation alleging price-fixing of beef, chicken and turkey is pending in Minnesota and Chicago federal courts. The case is In re Pork Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, No. 18-01776. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Marguerita Choy)

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(Reuters) -The Bank of Canada expects to release baseline projections for the economy and inflation with its monetary policy report in October, its summary of deliberations released on Wednesday showed. The central bank had stopped giving definitive estimates for Canada's economy from the second quarter and instead opted to lay out a range of projections based on how U.S. tariffs impact the economy. Governor Tiff Macklem had based the decision to pause baseline estimates on extreme uncertainty over whether higher tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump would increase inflation or slow economic growth. "Given the relative stability with respect to U.S. tariffs since the July Report, members expected they would be able to present a baseline projection for growth and inflation in the October Monetary Policy Report," the minutes of the meeting for the Sept. 17 rates decision showed.  The BoC reduced its key policy rate to a three-year low of 2.5% last month, its first cut in six months, and said it would be ready to cut again if risks to the economy increased in coming months. Money markets are betting that the odds for another 25 basis point rate cut on Oct. 29 are just over 55%. The rate-setting committee acknowledged in their meeting that risks to inflation going up were subsiding.  Most counter-tariffs on U.S. goods had been removed, the members believed, and they agreed that there was no longer a significant risk that the cost of tariffs would be passed on to Canadian consumers and create a knock-on effect to other prices. "Lower input costs from labor, shipping and materials would also likely mean lower inflationary pressures going forward," the minutes said. However, they agreed that the risks had not gone away.  The Governing Council said that economic growth could slow further while the adjustment in business investment and jobs plays out. Members discussed how slower population growth and a softer labor market could dampen growth in household spending in the coming months. They also expected weak business investment to continue to weigh on economic growth in the second half of the year.  But they agreed that consumption should continue to support growth going forward and that the economy was expected to grow roughly in line with the "current tariff scenario" outlined in the July monetary policy report. The impending renegotiation of the free-trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada was fueling some uncertainty, and this could impede recovery in business investment in the near term. (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Caroline Stauffer) ((promit.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com)) Keywords: CANADA CENBANK/ (Reporting by Chris Reese)

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