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By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -A federal appeals court on Thursday said it will reconsider its recent holding that the U.S. Department of Transportation had authority to require airlines to fully disclose fees upfront when passengers book flights. In a brief order, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said its 17 active judges will sit "en banc" to review the January 28 decision by a three-judge panel. Several major airlines are challenging a consumer-friendly rule issued in April 2024 during the Biden administration, which required airlines and ticket agents to disclose "ancillary fees" such as baggage charges during the booking process. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, United Airlines and three trade groups including Airlines for America objected, saying federal law gave the Transportation Department no power to issue such rules. The appeals court put the rule on hold in July 2024. In its January decision, the court said the Transportation Department had authority to write fee disclosure rules that address "unfair or deceptive practices" by airlines. It nonetheless said the agency should have let airlines comment on a study it used to assess the fee rule's potential impact. The appeals court returned the matter to the Transportation Department, instead of vacating the rule. In seeking en banc review, the airlines said adopting the rule would "upend the way airlines interact with their customers, at great cost, and with no demonstrated benefit." The Transportation Department opposed a rehearing, saying the appeals court "properly exercised its discretion" in remanding the rule. Lawyers for the airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Airlines for America declined to comment. Neither the Transportation Department nor the U.S. Department of Justice immediately responded to requests for comment. The 5th Circuit is one of the most conservative federal appeals courts. It did not say when it will hear oral arguments. The case is Airlines for America et al v Department of Transportation, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-60231. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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By Iain Withers and Koh Gui Qing NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -Global stocks gained and gold traded near record highs on Thursday as investors took in their stride the potential ramifications of a U.S. government shutdown, while a weak private U.S. labor market report bolstered bets for Federal Reserve rate cuts. Investors have been largely sanguine about the shutdown's impact on the markets and economy, helped by data of past shutdowns that showed limited fallouts. Morgan Stanley, for example, said U.S. share prices have risen an average 4.4% while real U.S. economic growth has expanded 2.2% during shutdowns in the past. Instead, investors are focused on how much the Federal Reserve might lower interest rates this year, and whether the roaring U.S. stock market is due for a short-term pullback in the near future. Nicholas Colas and Jessica Rabe, co-founders of DataTrek Research, said sector sub-indices for the S&P 500 index are showing a marked correlation with downside risks. "Every other time they have done so since 2023, the S&P has declined by 5-18% in the following weeks," Colas and Rabe said. "This is not an outright 'sell' signal, but history says to be selective here."  The S&P 500, which has risen 14% so far this year, was flat after briefly touching a record high of 6,731.94 points. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4% after also hitting an all-time high of 22,900.60 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%. A protracted U.S. government shutdown could mean that the release of key official data on employment and inflation is delayed or disrupted, clouding the picture on the health of the world's biggest economy and the path for interest rates. A monthly payrolls report seems unlikely now to be released on Friday, putting an ADP employment report that showed the economy unexpectedly shed jobs in September into sharper focus. Traders are now pricing in two quarter-point Fed rate cuts by the end of the year as almost a done deal. "I hope they sort this out rapidly," said Kevin Thozet, investment committee member at asset manager Carmignac, referring to the government shutdown, adding that inflation data was also due ahead of the Fed's next meeting. "It's like a blind man walking with a blind dog," he said. SHUTDOWN ANGST HURTS DOLLAR, BOOSTS GOLD The MSCI's broadest index of global stocks was up about 0.2% on Thursday, after European stocks hit another record high, up about 0.5%. Tech shares in Asia had earlier rallied, helping drive up the region's stock indexes, partly lifted by news that South Korean chip heavyweights Samsung and SK Hynix inked partnerships to supply OpenAI data centres.  Gold , which have been buoyed by a combination of Fed easing bets and some shutdown angst, took a breather and slipped 0.2% after reaching another all-time high of $3,895.09 overnight. The two-year Treasury yield sank to a two-week low of 3.531% overnight, and was last at 3.5408%. "As is often the case, fresh highs are likely to beget yet more fresh highs here, with momentum still firmly with the bulls, and the fundamental case for further upside in PMs (precious metals) a solid one too," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the currency against six major peers, languished near a one-week low of 97.459 reached overnight. It last stood at 97.856, up 0.1% from Wednesday's closing level. The dollar rose 0.1% against the yen at 147.22 yen, after Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida signalled confidence that conditions for another interest rate hike were falling into place in remarks at an industry event. The euro was flat at $1.1720, while sterling fell 0.3% at $1.3444. Oil prices edged lower on Thursday, extending a run of declines into a fourth day due to concerns about oversupply in the market. [O/R] Brent crude futures fell 1.5% to $64.38 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude also dipped 1.6% to $60.77 a barrel.   (Reporting by Iain Withers in London and Kevin Buckland in TokyoEditing by Deepa Babington and Nick Zieminski)

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By Sinéad Carew and Niket Nishant (Reuters) -Wall Street's three major indexes marked record closing highs with modest gains on Thursday, largely thanks to support from the technology sector, while investors cautiously monitored private labor market data on the second day of a U.S. government shutdown.  The benchmark index rose very slightly, with its valuation already at its highest level since 2020, while the Nasdaq, up 0.4%,  was the biggest gainer on the day, with help from heavyweight technology companies including AI chip leader Nvidia, Apple and Broadcom.   With no official government data available because of the shutdown, investors were monitoring information from other sources. A report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said U.S. employers announced fewer layoffs in September but that hiring plans so far this year were the lowest since 2009. This followed the previous day's weaker-than-expected ADP National Employment Report. "The market is looking at all of that against the backdrop of what was already weak job data in recent months to try to gauge the real path forward for the labor market from here," said Jim Baird, chief investment officer with Plante Moran Financial Advisors. The lackluster jobs data so far has led traders to bet widely that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates two more times this year, including a cut at the end of October. However, the Labor Department had to delay its September nonfarm payroll report because of the government shutdown.   While the shutdown was not a shock and investors have been soothed by the knowledge that such closures have typically not hurt the market in the past, Baird noted that it still caused worries. "Given how polarized the two (political) parties are right now, and both seem to be staking out their respective positions, it wouldn't be surprising if this one drags out a little bit longer," he said.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.62 points, or 0.17%, to 46,519.72. The S&P 500 gained 4.15 points, or 0.06%, to 6,715.35 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 88.89 points, or 0.39%, to 22,844.05.  The gains marked two closing highs in a row for the S&P 500 and the Dow, while the Nasdaq narrowly missed a record close on Wednesday.  Earlier in the session, the S&P and the Nasdaq indexes had hit intraday record highs. The S&P 500's forward price-to-earnings ratio has climbed to 23.1. The tech sector finished up 0.5% and  was the biggest boost to the S&P 500 with a lot of help from chip stocks. The broader semiconductor index closed up 1.9% and also registered a record closing high. Materials was the biggest percentage gainer among the benchmark's 11 major industry sectors, adding 1%. Energy was the biggest percentage loser of the group, falling 1%.  Consumer discretionary, while not the biggest percentage loser, was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 due largely to a selloff in shares of Tesla, which ended down 5% for its biggest one-day percentage loss since late July. The electric vehicle maker gave up early gains after a strong quarterly deliveries report, because some analysts flagged risks to sales in the upcoming quarters due to the withdrawal of the $7,500 federal tax credit. Shares of credit bureaus Equifax and TransUnion fell 8.5% and 10.6%, respectively, after FICO launched a program that could allow mortgage lenders to gain access to credit scores without relying on the bureaus. FICO shares surged almost 18% after the news. Occidental Petroleum said it would sell its petrochemical division to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for $9.7 billion, sending shares of the oil and gas producer down 7.3%.  Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.16-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 530 new highs and 93 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,706 stocks rose and 1,971 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.37-to-1 ratio.  The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 140 new highs and 67 new lows. On U.S. exchanges, 18.77 billion shares changed hands compared with the 18.83 billion 20-day moving average.  (Reporting by Sinéad Carew and Caroline Valetkevitch in New York and Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Matthew Lewis)

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By Dan Catchpole (Reuters) -Boeing is expanding plans to replace striking St. Louis-area workers who assemble fighter jets and munitions with new hires through year's end, management announced on Thursday in an internal memo shared with Reuters.   Roughly 3,200 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 837 have been on strike since August 4.  The first group of replacement workers for munitions production and assembly mechanics will begin training on Friday, according to the memo from Boeing Vice President Dan Gillian.  Boeing is also evaluating moving some work to third parties, Gillian said. Boeing declined to comment  on the memo or say how many replacement workers would start training. Union officials and members said the move was largely a bluff, noting their jobs require weeks to several months of training, and getting a security clearance needed for many of the defense jobs can take up to six months. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders urged Boeing in a letter sent on Wednesday to end the eight-week-long strike.  "Do the right thing," Sanders said in his letter to Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg. "Sign a fair contract."  Boeing management has said the company will not significantly increase its offer, which workers rejected.  Sanders, an independent from Vermont who often votes with Democrats, along with Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, used a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday to slam Boeing's stance in labor talks.  The committee was reviewing President Donald Trump's nominations to key labor positions, including Boeing's chief labor counsel Scott Mayer to the National Labor Relations Board.  "The concept of fairness is an elusive one," Mayer said when asked by Hawley what would be a fair resolution to the strike. Mayer said he was not speaking for the company. Hawley and Sanders criticized Boeing for giving recent CEOs substantial compensation packages, but holding out against the IAM's proposals. "Fairness may be elusive, but that doesn't look like fairness to me," Hawley said. Boeing's board approved $22 million in compensation for Ortberg in 2025. The IAM estimates its proposal would cost Boeing $40 million a year on average. (Reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle, Editing by Alistair Bell and Nia Williams)

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(Reuters) -Alphabet's Google and Comcast-owned NBCUniversal have reached a multi-year agreement to keep NBC shows such as "Sunday Night Football" and "America's Got Talent" on YouTube TV, wrapping up a difficult negotiation. YouTube TV, one of the biggest pay-TV distributors in the U.S., will carry NBCUniversal's full portfolio of networks such as NBC and CNBC under the deal, according to a statement from the companies on Thursday. Google's cable-like subscription service will also be able to offer NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service to its 10 million subscribers, as part of a separate streaming subscription package known as YouTube Primetime Channels. The agreement includes a multi-year extension of Peacock's availability across Google's Android platforms, including Google Play and Google TV. YouTube now accounts for the largest share of TV viewing in the U.S., ahead of streaming rival Netflix and traditional media companies such as Disney, according to analytics firm Nielsen. The video-sharing platform's growing dominance highlights the changing status quo in the U.S. TV landscape. Carriage talks with NBCUniversal had stalled earlier over the rates that YouTube TV will pay to carry its shows. The two companies agreed to a short-term contract extension on Wednesday, averting a blackout and ensuring YouTube TV subscribers retained access to NBCUniversal programming while negotiations continued. YouTube TV ranks among the four largest U.S. pay-TV distributors, and Alphabet's deep pockets have recently given the video platform leverage over Paramount Skydance and Fox Corp in carriage talks, according to media firms and analysts. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona and Devika Syamnath)

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By Dan Catchpole (Reuters) -Boeing is expanding plans to replace striking St. Louis-area workers who assemble fighter jets and munitions with new hires through year's end, management announced on Thursday in an internal memo shared with Reuters.   Roughly 3,200 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 837 have been on strike since August 4.  The first group of replacement workers for munitions production and assembly mechanics will begin training on Friday, according to the memo from Boeing Vice President Dan Gillian.  Boeing is also evaluating moving some work to third parties, Gillian said. Boeing declined to comment  on the memo or say how many replacement workers would start training. Union officials and members said the move was largely a bluff, noting their jobs require weeks to several months of training, and getting a security clearance needed for many of the defense jobs can take up to six months. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders urged Boeing in a letter sent on Wednesday to end the eight-week-long strike.  "Do the right thing," Sanders said in his letter to Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg. "Sign a fair contract."  Boeing management has said the company will not significantly increase its offer, which workers rejected.  Sanders, an independent from Vermont who often votes with Democrats, along with Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, used a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday to slam Boeing's stance in labor talks.  The committee was reviewing President Donald Trump's nominations to key labor positions, including Boeing's chief labor counsel Scott Mayer to the National Labor Relations Board.  "The concept of fairness is an elusive one," Mayer said when asked by Hawley what would be a fair resolution to the strike. Mayer said he was not speaking for the company. Hawley and Sanders criticized Boeing for giving recent CEOs substantial compensation packages, but holding out against the IAM's proposals. "Fairness may be elusive, but that doesn't look like fairness to me," Hawley said. Boeing's board approved $22 million in compensation for Ortberg in 2025. The IAM estimates its proposal would cost Boeing $40 million a year on average. (Reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle, Editing by Alistair Bell and Nia Williams)

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(Reuters) -A federal appeals court on Thursday said it will reconsider its recent holding that the U.S. Department of Transportation has authority to write rules governing disclosures of airline fees. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ordered "en banc" review by all active judges of the January 28 decision by a three-judge panel. Several airlines had challenged a rule adopted last year they said would "upend the way airlines interact with their customers, at great cost, and with no demonstrated benefit." (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris Reese)

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HONG KONG (Reuters) -China's securities regulator has issued a warning to S&P's local subsidiary, telling it to "rectify" its operations and strengthen quality controls as authorities step up efforts to tighten oversight of the ratings industry. The Beijing Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Tuesday sent the letter to S&P Credit Ratings (China) Co Ltd in which it also said the company had failed to carry out proper disclosure procedures in its ratings business. "Your company shall immediately carry out comprehensive rectification from the date of receipt of this decision, implement … other relevant regulations, strictly abide by the principles of prudence and consistency," the commission said in a letter which was posted on its website. It did not provide specific details about the matters it referred to. S&P said it was committed to address the issues raised. "S&P Global (China) Ratings has received a letter from the Beijing Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission," it said in an email response to Reuters. "We are committed to taking the necessary steps to address the points raised and ensuring compliance with the regulatory requirements."  (Reporting by Jessie Pang and Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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(Reuters) -Alphabet's Google and Comcast-owned NBCUniversal said on Thursday they had reached a long-term agreement to ensure the continued availability of NBC shows, including "Sunday Night Football" and "America's Got Talent", on YouTube TV. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

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By Dawn Kopecki, Jarrett Renshaw, Sabrina Valle and Ernest Scheyder NEW YORK, October 2 (Reuters) -Eli Lilly was asked to produce more insulin; Pfizer to produce more of its top-selling cancer drug Ibrance and its cholesterol drug Lipitor; and London-based AstraZeneca to consider a new headquarters in the U.S., according to two sources.  Pharmaceutical executives are getting near-daily calls from staff at the White House – including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles – and senior figures at agencies like Health & Human Services and the Commerce Department, two sources familiar with the matter said.   But pharmaceutical companies are the tip of the iceberg.  The Trump administration is pursuing deals across up to 30 industries, involving dozens of companies deemed critical to national or economic security, according to more than a half dozen people familiar with the talks.  In some cases, the administration is offering tariff relief in exchange for concessions, revenue guarantees, or taking equity stakes in troubled companies, among other types of help. The fast-paced dealmaking is designed to deliver political wins for U.S. President Donald Trump before the 2026 midterm elections, the sources said. On Tuesday, Trump announced a deal with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to cut drug prices in exchange for relief from planned tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals. "The United States is done subsidizing healthcare of the rest of the world," Trump said in a event in the Oval Office.  Just as important as the deals themselves is the optics – they must be announced from the White House, two sources said.  Eli Lilly learned this the hard way when it excluded Trump from its announcement of two new manufacturing sites in September and got a call from the administration asking why they didn't allow the president to announce it himself. A spokesperson for Eli Lilly said it had not been asked to increase insulin production and that it takes "pride in regularly inviting White House officials to our announcements."  Pfizer and AstraZeneca declined to comment. The White House declined to comment on Eli Lilly's announcement or on specific details of the administration's plans.  It's all part of what White House spokesman Kush Desai has described as a "whole-of-government approach" to dealmaking "to safeguard our national and economic security." The plan is to use the broad powers of government to push companies to further Trump's goal of moving manufacturing to the United States, reducing dependence on China, strengthening supply chains for critical products, and contributing to the government's coffers, according to six people familiar with the discussions.  Administration outreach has touched disparate corners of the economy including semiconductors, AI, quantum computing, critical minerals, ship building, energy, battery production, pharmaceuticals and freight, the sources said.  The full breadth of the administration's plans have not previously been reported. Taken together, the planned interventions in the American economy reverse decades of hands-off approach to private enterprise, a defining feature of American capitalism.  "It's amazing that a Republican administration is taking us farther away from traditional capitalism than any other Democratic administration," said John Coffee, professor of corporate law at Columbia University in New York.  $250 BILLION IN FINANCING The Trump administration is looking to a little-known federal agency, the International Development Finance Corporation, to play a major role in overseeing and financing the plan, two of the people said.  Established in Trump's first term with the BUILD Act of 2018, the agency was meant to provide low-cost financing for food, health and other projects in developing nations.   But a proposal sent by the agency to Congress in June would significantly expand its authority and reach. The bill would more than quadruple its financing power to $250 billion from $60 billion as well as establish an equity fund tasked with shoring up key sectors, including infrastructure, energy, critical and rare earth minerals and supply chains – pretty much anything "in the economic and national security interests of the United States," according to a copy of the plan reviewed by Reuters.  The agency is still waiting for Congress to approve its budget as well as the confirmation of Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black's son, Ben, to run it. A spokesman for Black said he couldn't comment on International Development Finance Corporation matters before his Senate confirmation. An International Development Finance Corporation official declined to comment on specific deals, but said its mandate is to "mobilize private sector investment for projects that advance U.S. foreign policy and economic interests, including projects that reduce reliance on critical minerals and materials controlled by China."  The administration is also planning to use the $550 billion Japan is giving the U.S. as part of its trade agreement to seed a new U.S. Investment Accelerator run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a U.S. official told Reuters. Japan has until the end of Trump's term to provide the funding.  Both the Commerce Department's Investment Accelerator and the Development Finance Corporation are said to replace a sovereign wealth fund Trump had originally planned, but has since scrapped, three sources told Reuters.  FEDERAL AGENCIES BECOME DEALMAKERS  At HHS, the search for deals is being led by Chris Klomp, a former Silicon Valley healthcare investor, and John Brooks, a former health policy consultant, with Wiles taking a hand in the biggest pharma deals.  When asked for interviews with Klomp and Brooks, an HHS spokesperson referred Reuters' request to the White House. Lutnick, a former bond trader who rose to become chairman of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, is Trump's dealmaker-in-chief. He has overseen most of the administration’s biggest deals, including its 10% equity stake in Intel and the "golden share" Commerce received as part of Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel in June.   Lutnick declined to comment through a spokesman, but he has emerged as a forceful proponent of the U.S. taking stakes in companies. "If we're going to give you the money, we want a piece of the action," Lutnick told CNBC in August.  He's tapped two Wall Street dealmakers, tech banker Michael Grimes, who joined the administration from Morgan Stanley a few months ago, and M&A lawyer David Shapiro, a former partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, to head up some of the deals, two of the people said. J.P. Morgan, which helped put together the government's deal with rare earths mining company MP Materials, said in a recent company podcast that it’s convened a task force of commercial bankers, goverment relations professionals and investment bankers to field all the corporate client calls it’s received since that deal was announced in July.   “We've had no less than 100 calls with clients to talk about the MP transaction as well as what this means for other industries,” said Andrew Castaldo, J.P. Morgan’s co-head of mid-cap M&A. “And we've had numerous trips down to Washington to explore those opportunities with the government.”  Shapiro and Grimes both declined to comment through a spokesperson.  Lutnick plans to hire more senior dealmakers from Wall Street in the coming weeks for the Investment Accelerator, the U.S. official said.   At the White House, newly installed supply chain czar David Copley has been running many of the negotiations, while Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg is leading conversations with defense contractors, the two sources said.    Feinberg and Copley declined to comment, and the Pentagon referred Reuters' request to the White House. Some companies have welcomed the approach, sensing the opportunity to tap federal dollars and benefit from …

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