Rogers takeover of Shaw Communications

A House of Commons committee says it does not believe that Rogers Communications Inc.’s $26-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. should proceed, and urges the government to prioritize consumers as it reviews the transaction, for example by forcing Rogers to divest Shaw’s wireless business.

The report from the industry and technology committee, which was tabled on Friday, said that while the committee opposes the takeover, if the deal does go forward, the government must ensure that all of the conditions attached are enforceable.

The government does not have to follow the report’s recommendations, which are non-binding. The committee comprises members of Parliament from the Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic parties and the Bloc Québécois.

“Rogers has linked a number of commitments to the merger that the government has no way to enforce. The committee therefore doubts Rogers’s promises to rural regions,” the report reads.

Rogers has promised to create a $1-billion fund to connect rural, remote and Indigenous communities in Western Canada to high-speed internet as part of the merger.

The Federal Industry Minister said Thursday that he won’t allow Rogers to acquire all of Shaw’s wireless licences, as doing so would be at odds with Ottawa’s desire to encourage competition in the industry. However, Mr. Champagne’s statement left the door open to allowing some of Shaw’s wireless licences to be transferred to Rogers.

A spokesperson for Rogers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PUBLISHED FRI, MAR 4 2022

Oil prices rebounded on Friday as fears of Western sanctions disrupted Russian oil exports, outweighing the possibility of more Iranian supplies, while reports of a nuclear plant fire in Ukraine spooked markets.

Global stocks fell and oil prices rose on signs of an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict after reports that a Ukrainian nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, was on fire after an attack by Russian troops.

Brent crude futures for May rose as high as $114.23 a barrel and were at $112.46, up $2.00, or 1.8% by 7:10 a.m. on Wall Street. The contract fell 2.2% on Thursday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate for April rose 2.09% to $109.90 per barrel after touching a high of $112.84 earlier in the session. The contract fell 2.6% in the previous session.

Oil prices are set to post their strongest weekly gains since the middle of 2020, with WTI up 18% and Brent up 14% after hitting their highest in a decade this week.

Oil is rising on fears that Western sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine conflict will disrupt shipments from Russia, which is the world’s biggest exporter of crude and oil products combined. Trading activity for Russian crude oil slowed as buyers hesitate to make purchases because of the sanctions while there is growing pressure on U.S. President Joe Biden to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil.

“The escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine has not only caused geopolitical risks, but is adding to already elevated inflationary concerns as well as driving increased risk premiums across the space,” RBC Capital analyst Christopher Louney said in a note.

More oil supplies could be added from a coordinated release of 60 million barrels of oil reserves by developed nations. Japan said on Friday it plans to release 7.5 million barrels of oil, although it’s a small fraction of its demand.

Prices swung in a $10 range on Thursday but settled lower for the first time in four sessions as investors focused on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal which is expected to boost Iranian oil exports and ease tight global supplies.

“Price gains linked to actual and perceived disruptions to Russian oil exports should more than offset any fall in prices from potentially more Iranian crude oil supply,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar said in a note.

Dhar expects Brent to average $110 a barrel in the second and third quarters of this year. But, “the risk is that prices rise above our forecast in the short term,” he said, adding it was plausible Brent futures could reach $150.

Talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal appeared to near a climax with talk of an imminent ministerial meeting as a U.N. report on Thursday showed Iranis most of the way to amassing enough enriched uranium for one bomb if purified further.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/04/jobs-report-february-2022.html

Job growth accelerated in February for a U.S. economy wrestling with swelling prices, the potential for higher interest rates and intensifying geopolitical problems.

Nonfarm payrolls for the month grew by 678,000 and the unemployment rate was 3.8%, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

That compared to estimates of 440,000 for payrolls and 3.9% for the jobless rate.

In a sign that inflation could be cooling, wages barely rose for the month, up just 1 cent an hour or 0.03%, compared to estimates for a 0.5% gain. The year-over-year increase was 5.13%, well below the 5.8% Dow Jones estimate.

For the labor market broadly, the report brought the level of employed Americans closer to pre-pandemic levels, though still short by 1.14 million. Labor shortages remain a major obstacle to fill the 10.9 million jobs that were open at the end of 2021, a historically high gap that had left about 1.7 vacancies per available workers.

This is breaking news. Please check back here for updates.

Oil rose above $111 a barrel on Friday in a volatile session as fears over disruption to Russian oil exports in the face of Western sanctions offset the prospect of more Iranian supplies in the event of a nuclear deal with Tehran.

Signs of an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with reports of a fire at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant, spooked markets before authorities said the fire in a building identified as a training centre had been extinguished.

Brent crude rose as high as $114.23 a barrel and by 4:20 a.m. ET was up 63 cents, or 0.6%, at $111.09. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) added 64 cents, or 0.6%, to $108.31 after touching a high of $112.84.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means that fears over supply will remain front and centre,” said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM, though he added that there is “a new sense of urgency from all parties involved” to revive the Iranian nuclear deal.

Crude oil hit its highest in a decade this week and prices are set to post their strongest weekly gains since the middle of 2020, with the U.S. benchmark up more than 18% and Brent 13%.

On Thursday prices swung in a $10 range but settled lower for the first time in four sessions as investors focused on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, which is expected to boost Iranian oil exports and ease tight supplies.

Oil prices are rising on fears that Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict will disrupt shipments from Russia, the world’s biggest exporter of crude and oil products combined.

Trading activity for Russian crude has slowed as buyers hesitate to make purchases because of sanctions against Russia while U.S. President Joe Biden comes under growing pressure to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil.

More oil supplies are set to be added from a coordinated release of 60 million barrels of oil reserves by developed nations. Japan said on Friday it plans to release 7.5 million barrels of oil – a small fraction of its deman

Oil rose above $111 a barrel on Friday in a volatile session as fears over disruption to Russian oil exports in the face of Western sanctions offset the prospect of more Iranian supplies in the event of a nuclear deal with Tehran.

Signs of an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with reports of a fire at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant, spooked markets before authorities said the fire in a building identified as a training centre had been extinguished.

Brent crude rose as high as $114.23 a barrel and by 4:20 a.m. ET was up 63 cents, or 0.6%, at $111.09. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) added 64 cents, or 0.6%, to $108.31 after touching a high of $112.84.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means that fears over supply will remain front and centre,” said Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM, though he added that there is “a new sense of urgency from all parties involved” to revive the Iranian nuclear deal.

Crude oil hit its highest in a decade this week and prices are set to post their strongest weekly gains since the middle of 2020, with the U.S. benchmark up more than 18% and Brent 13%.

On Thursday prices swung in a $10 range but settled lower for the first time in four sessions as investors focused on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal, which is expected to boost Iranian oil exports and ease tight supplies.

Oil prices are rising on fears that Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict will disrupt shipments from Russia, the world’s biggest exporter of crude and oil products combined.

Trading activity for Russian crude has slowed as buyers hesitate to make purchases because of sanctions against Russia while U.S. President Joe Biden comes under growing pressure to ban U.S. imports of Russian oil.

More oil supplies are set to be added from a coordinated release of 60 million barrels of oil reserves by developed nations. Japan said on Friday it plans to release 7.5 million barrels of oil – a small fraction of its demand.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-chinese-refiners-tap-alternative-payments-to-keep-russian-oil-flowing/

Chinese refiners are paying for Russian crude oil using cash transfers to maintain imports from Russia’s Fast East, as banks shy away from financing the oil because of sanctions, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Global oil prices have soared to their highest in a decade as banks halted financing Russian oil after the United States and other countries ramped up sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.

Spot crude premiums and freight rates also spiked, piling on buyers’ costs.

Several European and U.S. refiners have stopped buying Russian oil this week, even though Washington said Russian oil and gas are exempted from sanctions.

But Chinese buyers are looking to maintain purchases of ESPO Blend crude exported from Russia’s Far East Kozmino port using other payment methods as they cannot secure letters of credit from banks, trade sources said.

“For those done deals, payments are being sorted out with buyers doing Telegraphic Transfer as bank financing becomes very difficult,” said a Singapore-based Chinese trading executive.

Telegraphic transfer, equivalent to cash pre-payment, requires buyers to transfer funds to sellers up front, a challenge for some cash-strapped independent refiners with each Aframax tanker-sized cargo now costing more than $85 million, the sources said.

Some sellers are providing open credit, but this raises their risk exposure, they added.

Sources said the cash settlements still need to go through the SWIFT messaging system to Russian banks which are not on the U.S. sanction list, said two trading executives with knowledge of the situation.

ESPO blend is popular among China’s independent refiners because of its short voyage time from Russia, availability on a spot basis, and good fuel yield.

Russia is the world’s No. 2 crude exporter, with exports reaching 7.8 million barrels per day in December, the International Energy Agency said.

Last year China imported 575,000 barrels per day of ESPO shipped by tankers, some 6% of total Chinese crude oil imports, with the majority processed by independent refiners, according to tanker tracker Vortexa Analytics.

State refining major Sinopec is a key buyer and trader of seaborne ESPO.

Sinopec’s trading vehicle Unipec, which rivals Vitol as the world’s top oil trader, typically has large open credit lines with suppliers that allow the major to pay a month after a shipment is loaded.

Unipec has bought as many as eight ESPO cargoes for April loading, traders said.

Sinopec did not immediately comment on how the firm pays for its purchases.

One independent refiner who buys ESPO crude said the company can only use telegraphic transfer (TT) to pay for the oil, and that financing costs are now high because oil prices have surged and there is no longer a credit period for repayment.

“We can only use TT for now,” the buyer said. “Previously with LCs, we had a credit period of 30 days. But now we have to pay up front.”

“Refining margins are poor, too,” the source added.

With oil near $120 a barrel, allowing teapots to pay after oil is delivered magnifies risk exposure for a trading company.

Sellers may well ask refiners to provide cash or part of the cargo as collateral, traders said.

“Whichever way, we believe China’s ESPO influx will continue as teapots don’t have many other options, as prices of competing supplies like West African oil went sky-high,” said a second Singapore-based executive with an independent refiner.

Spot premiums of West African and Brazilian crude for May delivery jumped to $9-$10 a barrel above dated Brent this week in volatile trade, a buyer said.

Adding to refiners’ costs are surging freight rates, which have nearly doubled over the week to $900,000 per day for an Aframax tanker sailing from Russia’s Kozmino port to north China, the highest since May 2020, according to traders and Refinitiv data.

China separately buys 800,000 bpd of Russian oil via pipelines under a government-to-government deal between state energy giant CNPC and Russian oil major Rosneft. The pipeline flows remained unaffected, Chinese oil officials have said.

China has repeatedly voiced opposition to the sanctions, calling them ineffective and insisting it will maintain normal economic and trade exchanges with Russia.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/04/russia-ukraine-latest-updates.html

Russian forces attacked Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine early Friday morning, causing a fire to break out at an adjacent training facility.

Ukraine’s nuclear agency says Russian military forces have taken control of the facility in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

The bombardment triggered international condemnation and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the attack.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/04/europe-markets-russia-attacks-ukraine-power-plant.html

The pan-European Stoxx 600 slid 0.8% in early trade, with autos dropping 2.7% to lead losses while utilities bucked the downward trend to add 0.8%.

A fire broke out at a training facility at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after an attack by Russian forces early Friday morning. Ukraine officials said the situation is now secure, while the U.S. Nuclear Incident Response Team has been activated.

International leaders have condemned the bombardment and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he would call for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the attack.

Russia has been ratcheting up its assault on its neighbor in recent days, shelling major cities and advancing toward the capital city of Kyiv. The invasion has drawn unprecedented economic sanctions from Western governments.

Markets in Asia-Pacific tumbled as investors continued to monitor the invasion, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and Japan’s Nikkei 225 both falling more than 2% to lead losses.

U.S. stock futures also fell early Friday morning ahead of a key jobs report, but recouped some losses following the reassuring statements out of Kyiv.

Earnings before the bell on Friday came from Lufthansa, while economic data releases include February PMI (purchasing managers’ index) readings from the euro zone and the U.K.

In terms of individual share price movement, Spain’s Cellnex Telecom gained 5.6% to lead the Stoxx 600 after the British regulator approved its purchase of 6,000 mobile towers.

At the bottom of the European blue chip index, German energy company Uniper fell 8.3%.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-bank-of-montreal-tops-quarterly-profit-expectations-on-strong-retail/

Crescent Point Energy Corp. CPG-T +0.32%increase reported a fourth-quarter profit of $121.6-million compared with a loss of $51.2-million a year ago, helped by higher oil and gas prices.

The Calgary-based company says the profit amounted to 21 cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a loss of 10 cents per share in the last three months of 2020.

Oil and gas sales totalled $900.4-million, up from $447.8-million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Crescent Point says production in the quarter averaged 130,407 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 111,217 a year earlier.

The company’s average selling price was $75.05 per barrel of oil equivalent, up from $43.76 in the fourth quarter of 2020.

On an adjusted basis, Crescent Point says its net earnings from operations totalled 27 cents per share, up from 16 cents a year earlier.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/03/weekly-jobless-claims-.html

Jobless claims total 215,000, fewer than expected; productivity rises 6.6%

Initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 215,000, the lowest tally since the beginning of the year and fewer than Wall Street estimates, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for first-time filings to come in at 225,000 for the week ended Feb. 26.

A separate report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that nonfarm productivity rose 6.6% in the fourth quarter, slightly less than the estimate for 6.7%. However, unit labor costs rose 0.9%, well ahead of the expected 0.3%.

On jobless claims, last week’s total represented a decline of 18,000 from the previous week and was the lowest since Jan. 1.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind the headline number, edged higher to 1.48 million. However, the four-week moving average, which smooths out weekly volatility, moved down to 1.54 million, the lowest level since April 4, 1970.

The total of those receiving benefits under all programs fell further, dropping to 1.97 million, a decline of 62,625.

The jobless numbers come a day before the BLS’ closely watched nonfarm payrolls report. Wall Street is looking for a gain of 440,000 in February, following up the much stronger-than-expected 467,000 total in January.

Companies are still trying to fill nearly 11 million job openings at a time when the worker shortage has expanded to unprecedented levels. There are about 4.4 million more employment openings than there are unemployed workers looking for jobs.

Wages have surged in the current environment, with average hourly earnings up 5.7% in January, a level well above anything seen in the pre-pandemic environment, according to Labor Department data going back about 15 years.

Unit labor costs continued to increase in the last three months of 2021, though at a lower pace than the previous quarter due in large part to the jump in productivity. A 7.5% rise in hourly compensation was largely offset by the 6.6% productivity rise. For the full year, unit labor costs were up 3.6%, down from the 4.3% gain in 2020.

Federal Reserve policymakers are about to tackle the inflation issue with an expected series of rate increases.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday called the labor market “extremely tight” and said he expects the first rate hike to come at the central bank’s policymaking meeting later this month.

Oil jumps, Brent above $116 per barrel as supply issues persist

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/03/oil-markets-russia-sanctions-russia-ukraine-invasion-global-supply.html

Oil prices extended their rally on Thursday, with Brent rising above $116 a barrel, as trade disruption and shipping issues from Russian sanctions over the Ukraine crisis sparked supply worries while U.S. crude stocks fell to multi-year lows.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia have decided to maintain an increase in output by 400,000 barrels per day in March despite the price surge, ignoring the Ukraine crisis during their talks and snubbing calls from consumers for more crude.

Brent crude futures rallied to $116.83 a barrel, the highest since August 2013. The contract was at $116.60 a barrel, up $3.67 by 0112 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $113.01 a barrel, up $2.41 after touching a fresh 11-year high of $113.31 a barrel.

“The White House ratcheted up pressure on Russia with the announcement that it will apply export controls targeting Russian oil refining,” ANZ analysts said in a note.

“This raises concerns that Russian oil supplies will continue to hit constraints.”

The market was reacting to the latest round of sanctions by Washington on Russia’s oil refining sector that raised concerns that Russian oil and gas exports could be targeted next.

So far, it has stopped short of targeting Russia’s oil and gas exports as the Biden administration weighs the impacts on global oil markets and U.S. energy prices.

Russia is the world’s No. 3 oil producer and the largest exporter of oil to global markets, according to the International Energy Agency. Russian crude and oil products exports reached 7.8 million barrels per day in December, the agency said.

Meanwhile, U.S. oil inventories continued to decline. The key Cushing, Oklahoma crude hub’s tanks were at their lowest since 2018, while U.S. strategic reserves dropped to a near 20-year low — and that was before another release announced by the White House on Tuesday in tandem with other industrialized nations.