Category: 3. Business

(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks were mixed as investors awaited clues about the Federal Reserve’s policy path in its final interest-rate decision of the year.

Chinese property stocks rallied on optimism over potential policy support, while stock benchmarks climbed in Taiwan and fell in South Korea. US equity futures were little changed. Silver extended a rally after rising to a record, while Australian bonds dropped for a second day following Tuesday’s hawkish central bank decision.

Traders are anticipating a third consecutive Fed rate cut Wednesday, while the focus will be on the central bank’s latest dot plot, economic projections and comments from Chair Jerome Powell. Volatility around the decision has been among the defining characteristics of equity trading in the past six weeks, superseding concern about a potential AI bubble and the impact of President Donald Trump’s trade policies.

“Asian equities are drifting in light red as investors brace for one of the most ‘known-yet-unknown’ final Fed packages of the year,” said Hebe Chen, an analyst at Vantage Markets in Melbourne. “With a 25 basis-point cut widely viewed as locked in, the real swing factor will be the Fed’s economic projections, unusually delivered without a full quarter of verified data — leaving a wide runway for interpretation and volatility.”

Chinese property stocks surged in Wednesday afternoon trading on expectations for policy stimulus from Beijing and hopes of progress in China Vanke Co.’s debt talks.

A Bloomberg Intelligence gauge of Chinese developer shares jumped more than 4% as trading resumed after the mid-day break. Shares of Vanke, which is at the center of investor scrutiny following bond payment delays, jumped as much as 19% in Hong Kong.

Chinese retail stocks also rose after Beijing called for prioritizing the industry as a key driver to boosting domestic demand. Retail should be prioritized as a key driver for building a robust domestic demand system and strengthening the domestic economic cycle, Vice Commerce Minister Sheng Qiuping said at a briefing.

Silver extended its rally after breaking above $60 an ounce for the first time on Tuesday, with momentum coming from supply tightness and bets on further monetary easing by the Fed. The white metal rose as much as 1.3% to a record $61.4797 an ounce on Wednesday.

“Silver has a big retail and speculative base,” said David Wilson, director of commodities strategy at BNP Paribas SA. “Once you have an upside momentum, it tends to bring in more money.”

Australia’s three-year note yield climbed as much as seven basis points to 4.21%, the highest since November 2024. The yield had jumped 10 basis points on Tuesday when central bank Governor Michele Bullock called an end to a truncated easing cycle as policymakers gauge whether a pickup in inflation requires an extended interest-rate pause or a switch to tightening.

Global bond yields have risen to highs last seen in 2009 ahead of a key Federal Reserve policy meeting, signaling concerns that interest-rate cutting cycles from the US to Australia may be ending soon.

US Treasuries were little changed after dropping Tuesday when data showed October job openings increased to the highest level in five months. The Fed’s two previous cuts this year were intended to address weakening employment conditions, including a rise in the unemployment rate to nearly 4.5%.

Kevin Hassett, the frontrunner in Trump’s search to replace Powell, said on Tuesday that he sees plenty of room to substantially lower rates, even more than a quarter-point cut.

Another Fed rate cut is seen as further eroding the options for investors who are looking for healthy income levels. In recent years, investors were paid handsomely to play it safe. Short-term US Treasuries offered yields above 5% — a rare chance to earn solid returns without locking up capital or chasing risk.

The Fed’s expected cut is a reminder that “today’s yields may not always be available,” said James Turner, co-head of global fixed income for EMEA at BlackRock in London. Pension and insurer clients are looking toward high yield, emerging-market debt, AAA rated collateralized loan obligations and securitization investments, to “enhance income and diversify,” he said

Oil held the biggest two-day drop in a month as concerns about global oversupply continued to weigh on sentiment.

Corporate News:

China Vanke Co. creditors are set to meet Wednesday as the distressed developer makes one more push to win support for a bond extension plan aimed at averting a default. SpaceX is moving ahead with plans for an initial public offering that would seek to raise significantly more than $30 billion, people familiar with the matter said, in a transaction that would make it the biggest listing of all time. Major investors in First Brands Group have offloaded stakes in the bankrupt auto supplier’s debt in recent days, causing the value of its most senior loan to collapse and prompting it to pull forward a lender call to calm nerves. Parkview Group Ltd. has secured a $940 million loan refinancing deal backed by a key Beijing asset, according to people familiar with the matter, ending a months-long saga that had weighed on the Hong Kong developer amid China’s prolonged property crisis. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 3:31 p.m. Tokyo time S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.1% Japan’s Topix rose 0.1% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1% The Shanghai Composite fell 0.1% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.2% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1633 The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 156.70 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0580 per dollar Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin was little changed at $92,623.68 Ether rose 0.6% to $3,323.17 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.18% Japan’s 10-year yield was unchanged at 1.955% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 4.81% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3% to $58.41 a barrel Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Michael G. Wilson.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

The price of silver has hit a record high ahead of an expected US Federal Reserve interest rate cut and as demand from the technology industry for the precious metal remains high.

Silver crossed $60 (£45.10) an ounce on the spot market, where the precious metal is bought and sold for immediate delivery, for the first time on Tuesday.

Gold, which hit record highs earlier this year as concerns grew about the impact of US tariffs and the global economic outlook, also made gains this week.

Investors tend to move money into precious metals like gold and silver as interest rates come down and the US dollar weakens.

The US central bank is widely expected to cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday.

When interest rates are cut, traders typically buy assets like silver because the benefits of keeping cash in the bank or buying short-term bonds falls, said Yeow Hee Chua from the Nanyang Technological University.

“That naturally shifts demand toward assets viewed as stores of value, including silver,” he said.

The move into so-called “safe-haven” assets was also a key reason for gold hitting new record highs in recent months, as it crossed $4,000 an ounce for the first time.

Silver’s rally could also be seen a “spillover effect” from the jump in the value of gold as investors look for cheaper alternatives, said OCBC bank analyst Christopher Wong.

Experts say the value of silver was also pushed up as strong demand from the technology industry outstripped supplies.

That has helped more than double the value of silver this year as it outperformed other precious metals, including gold.

“Silver is not only an investment asset but also a physical resource,” and more manufacturers are finding a need for the material, said Kosmas Marinakis from the Singapore Management University.

The precious metal, which conducts electricity better than gold or copper, is used to produce goods like electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels.

But it is difficult to quickly increase silver supplies as the majority of global output is a by-product from mines that mainly extract other metals like lead, copper or gold.

The price of silver is also being boosted by concerns that the US may impose tariffs on it as part of President Donald Trump’s trade policies.

Manufacturers have been racing to secure supplies to ensure their operations are not interrupted by shortages, which has helped to push up prices on global markets, said Prof Marinakis.

He added that he expects the price of silver to remain high in the coming months.

Six months after stepping down from leading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, billionaire Elon Musk suggested he likely would not repeat his time helming the controversial cost-cutting mission.

Musk discussed his time at the White House in a nearly hourlong podcast interview with former Trump administration aide Katie Miller that was released Tuesday. Asked if he believes DOGE was successful, Musk responded that it was “a little bit successful.”

“We were somewhat successful,” the world’s richest man said, adding that he believes the initiative “stopped a lot of funding that really just made no sense” and was “entirely wasteful.”

Miller asked Musk if he would repeat his time leading the cost-cutting initiative, knowing what he knows now. He demurred before saying: “I think instead of doing DOGE, I would’ve basically…worked in my companies, essentially.” 

He continued: “They wouldn’t have been burning the cars,” referring to a series of arson and vandalism incidents that hit dealerships for Musk’s electric carmaker, Tesla.

Named after an internet meme, DOGE was formed just hours after President Trump was sworn in. Musk, who spent hundreds of millions supporting Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, quickly became a near-ubiquitous presence at the White House.  

Musk and his young team at DOGE quickly tore through the executive branch, shutting down programs that they found wasteful and pushing for massive reductions to the federal workforce through a combination of layoffs and voluntary buyouts. In some cases, entire agencies — including the U.S. Agency for International Development — were effectively shuttered. 

Musk has suggested the effort could save the government hundreds of billions, and possibly $2 trillion, though some of the cost savings figures touted by DOGE have been called into question.

His aggressive approach — epitomized by a February event in which he waved around a chainsaw, calling it “the chainsaw for bureaucracy” — had its share of detractors, including federal workers who faced layoffs and disruptions, and Democratic lawmakers who argued the initiative was wielding vast power without approval from Congress. Lawsuits were filed to halt some of the cuts. Musk defended DOGE, arguing the government needs to slash its spending.

Musk and the Mr. Trump’s once-close relationship ruptured shortly after the Tesla CEO left the White House in late May. In a public back-and-forth, Musk attacked the president in personal terms and criticized his signature tax legislation, and Mr. Trump threatened to cut off lucrative federal subsidies for Tesla and Musk’s rocket company SpaceX. 

Musk has also flirted with launching his own political party — though his plans are unclear.

The two have appeared to at least partially mend their relationship since then, with Musk visiting the White House last month for a dinner with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince.

Asked last week if Musk is back in his circle of friends, Mr. Trump said, “I like Elon a lot,” before suggesting that their rift was due to cuts to electric vehicle subsidies.

“I think we get along well,” the president added.

And Musk, for his part, told Miller in his podcast interview that Mr. Trump is the funniest person he knows.

“He’s got a great sense of humor,” he said, pointing to the president’s Oval Office banter with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. “It’s like naturally funny. It’s somewhat effortless.”

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Almost 60 major low carbon hydrogen projects including by oil groups BP and ExxonMobil have been cancelled or put on hold this year, as the industry is hit by spiralling costs, policy uncertainty and a lack of buyers.

The projects that have been cancelled or paused had a combined annual output of 4.9mn tonnes, according to data from S&P Global, equivalent to more than four times the world’s installed clean hydrogen capacity.

BP last week pulled out of planned investments in hydrogen plants in Oman and Teesside in north-east England, having abandoned this year a green hydrogen facility that was set to be built in Australia. Exxon last month paused a hydrogen plant in Texas that would have been one of the world’s largest.

Equinor, ArcelorMittal and Vattenfall are among companies that have cancelled or delayed hydrogen plants in the past 18 months, while Shell scrapped an early-stage project in Norway.

The delays highlight issues in scaling up a technology that has long-held promise as a key way of cutting carbon emissions. Low carbon hydrogen — made with either renewable energy and water or gas and carbon capture and storage — has struggled to secure upfront contracts from buyers, with so-called green and blue hydrogen more expensive than the “grey” version derived from fossil fuels without its emissions being captured.

“It’s been a challenging year or two for any company trying to develop [clean] hydrogen projects,” said Murray Douglas, head of hydrogen research at Wood Mackenzie. “The willingness to pay any sort of green premium across all low-carbon technologies has evaporated.”

The consultancy has tracked more than 300 cancelled, stalled or inactive low-carbon hydrogen schemes since 2020, though Douglas said many were speculative or of low quality.

The prospective industry has also been set back by US President Donald Trump’s hostility towards renewable energy projects, leading to cuts in subsidies promised by Joe Biden’s administration, while European nations have been slow to implement their plans.

Low carbon hydrogen attracted attention in the early 2020s as a way to fuel sectors that are hard to decarbonise such as aviation, steel and long-distance trucking, and to clean up major sources of pollution including oil refining and fertiliser manufacturing.

More than 2,600 projects had been announced globally by the end of 2024, according to the International Energy Agency, including big plants in places with abundant solar and wind energy such as Australia, Mauritania and Egypt.

The agency, which estimates that clean hydrogen needs to increase 10-fold by 2035 to meet net zero emission goals to limit global warming, has said just a quarter of projects in the pipeline for 2030 will probably be built by then.

The Hydrogen Council, backed by major industrial groups as well as oil and gas majors such as ExxonMobil, Aramco, Adani and Adnoc, noted that more than $110bn had been committed to about 500 projects globally.

Chief executive Ivana Jemelkova said: “What we are seeing is a natural, expected phase of market maturation — similar to what wind, solar and battery industries experienced in their early scale up, where roughly one in 10 projects ultimately came online.”

But cost remains a problem and green hydrogen made using even cheap renewable energy can cost about double that produced with fossil fuels without the emissions being captured, largely due to the cost of developing the new infrastructure as well as distribution.

Steel maker ArcelorMittal in June cancelled two green hydrogen plants in Germany despite €1.3bn of support from the government, saying green hydrogen was not yet a viable fuel source.

Lagging storage and transport infrastructure saw Vattenfall withdraw from an EU subsidy for an electrolyser scheme in the Netherlands earlier this year, after a pan-European pipeline was delayed.

Policy support is still uncertain in many markets, despite hydrogen receiving at least $10bn in public research and development funding worldwide between 2020 and 2024, according to IEA figures.

Brussels has set a goal for renewable hydrogen to meet 10 per cent of the bloc’s energy needs by 2050 and allocated more than €20bn in subsidies. But member states have been slow to adopt legislation setting shorter-term binding targets, adding to uncertainty, analysts said.

AI is transforming industries at an unprecedented pace. More than just a tool, this rapidly evolving technology is fundamentally redefining how companies operate, serve clients, and make decisions. Unlike past technological shifts that unfolded gradually, AI’s impact is exponential. It compresses time, cost, and decision cycles. Work that took weeks now happens in hours, pushing organizations to move faster than feels manageable.

This pace is exciting but daunting, especially for organizations operating in highly regulated, legacy-heavy industries. Leaders know they must move quickly, but most struggle with the same challenge: deploying AI to drive tangible outcomes, not just running pilots.

Complex challenges like this are exactly where DXC Technology excels.

For more than 50 years, DXC has helped Fortune 500 companies solve their most difficult obstacles, whether transforming mission-critical systems, modernizing legacy infrastructures, or delivering outcomes that move entire industries forward.

Transforming how we work, operate and innovate

DXC is driving exponential change, transforming virtually every aspect of our business to accelerate our ability to meet evolving market and customer demands. We are becoming a fundamentally different DXC, changing how our colleagues work, how we operate, and how we develop and market our services and solutions.

We’re not just helping clients navigate this transformation. We’re living it ourselves. Take our new two-track business model: While retaining the core of our business, DXC is fast-tracking new offerings like AdvisoryX, our global advisory services business, and Xponential, our enterprise AI orchestration blueprint.

These innovations help address the most critical challenges leaders face today, including making AI work and delivering real results.

Where proven expertise meets AI-powered innovation

Clients now expect both innovation and flawless execution, not just IT services. In response, DXC has evolved into an enterprise technology and innovation partner where AI is central to how we design, deliver, and operate solutions.

We’ve spent decades building this capability, helping organizations worldwide solve intricate challenges and navigate change with confidence. Four core strengths position us uniquely to help leaders reinvent their organizations and deliver outcomes others typically can’t:

• Heritage of trusted partnerships. For decades, DXC has been the steady force behind major transformations through every technology shift. We know how to navigate complexity while keeping critical systems running. That experience positions us to build what’s next. Organizations need clarity now more than ever. DXC delivers it.
• Engineering depth that solves complex challenges. Our engineers bring years, sometimes decades, of experience solving sophisticated challenges across banking, healthcare, and other critical industries. They go beyond simply using AI by orchestrating autonomous agents throughout the development process to help clients reduce costs and boost efficiency. With specialized training in high-stakes environments, they deliver solutions few competitors can match.
• Proven ability to execute and deliver. While others sell vision, DXC delivers outcomes. We’ve built our reputation on consistent results for clients. In a market drowning in AI hype, execution separates what’s real from the noise.
• Mastery of complexity. DXC specializes in modernizing legacy-heavy, regulated, and global organizations. We bring clarity to tangled systems and processes. Few can transform mission-critical systems at our scale while keeping operations running smoothly.

We’re moving beyond technology-focused messaging to spotlight the outcomes we deliver in a world where change happens exponentially. As one unified DXC, we bring the full strength of our capabilities to every customer.

Our purpose mirrors this evolution: We exist to make it happen – by mastering the complexity of exponential change.

When you experience the new DXC, you’ll see the difference. Our visual identity and messaging are more human, relatable, and conversational, reflecting our role as a trusted partner. This isn’t about promising a future vision. It’s about solving intricate challenges today.

At DXC, we deliver the impossible.

DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) is a leading enterprise technology and innovation partner delivering software, services, and solutions to global enterprises and public sector organizations — helping them harness AI to drive outcomes at a time of exponential change with speed. With deep expertise in Managed Infrastructure Services, Application Modernization, and Industry-Specific Software Solutions, DXC modernizes, secures, and operates some of the world’s most complex technology estates. Learn more on dxc.com.

Digital platforms significantly enhance the efficiency of renewable energy operations by integrating cutting-edge technologies such as IoT, AI and blockchain.

These platforms transform complex datasets into actionable insights, enabling better decision-making and operational efficiency.

For instance, AI-driven automation and real-time energy management systems help predict energy production patterns, optimize the output of wind turbines and solar panels, and address potential system failures before they cause outages.

Digital platforms also facilitate demand-side flexibility, allowing consumers to better understand their energy use and lower their bills.

By fostering collaboration and innovation, these platforms contribute to a more resilient and adaptive energy future.

TOKYO – Nikon Corporation will open and commence operation of “S3S LAB”, a co-creation platform outfitted with a full suite of equipment necessary for developing flexible electronics within its Sagamihara Plant in Kanagawa prefecture on December 10, 2025. “S3S LAB” will house Nikon’s proprietary, cutting-edge Roll-to-Roll (R2R)^*1 maskless lithography system, as well as peripheral equipment utilizing the film deposition and multilayer wiring formation technologies required for flexible device manufacturing. As a new base for innovation, it will provide strong solutions to customers’ challenges, from research and development to commercialization.

Flexible electronics, which form electronic circuits on the surface of film, enables production of lightweight, thin, transparent, and freely shaped devices. This opens up new possibilities in a variety of fields, including displays, sensors, and perovskite solar cells. However, the transition from research and development to mass production poses the challenge of expensive capital investment and co-creation platforms that can consistently verify the R2R process are rare even on a global scale.

“S3S LAB” provides integrated support from prototype manufacturing to mass production process development, enabling customers to promote necessary process verifications for mass production, and commercialization decisions without large-scale capital investment. In the mass production phase, Nikon will contribute to customers’ commercialization and the creation of a new era in the flexible electronics industry by providing process technology and R2R equipment cultivated at “S3S LAB”.

• *1A manufacturing process in which roll-shaped substrates are continuously processed and rewound into rolls. Compared to the sheet processing method, it features superior continuity and high productivity.

Overview of S3S LAB

Features of the R2R Maskless Lithography System

• Achieves 6.0 µm^*2 (L/S^*3) resolution and overlay accuracy within ± 2 µm for films prone to deformation such as distortion and shrinkage due to heat, supporting the production of high-definition and multilayer wiring devices.
• Delivers high productivity of 10 mm per second by utilizing multi-lens technology^*4 developed with Nikon’s FPD lithography systems.
• The polygon scanning method is used to pattern on the curved surface of the roll, enabling continuous patterning.
• Since exposure is based on CAD data, no photomask is required, which contributes to shortening prototyping time and reducing mask costs.

• *21 µm (micrometer) means one-millionth of a meter (one-thousandth of a millimeter).
• *3Abbreviation for Line and Space. Refers to the width of the wiring and the spacing between adjacent wiring.
• *4Nikon’s proprietary technology for FPD lithography systems arranges multiple projection lenses in an array and precisely controls them to achieve the same effect as using a single giant lens. This enables patterning over a wider area in a single scan.

Overview of the R2R Maskless Lithography System

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The legal documents submitted in New York Supreme Court mark the latest development in a prolonged saga over Venture Global’s failure to deliver LNG under long-term contracts while selling on the spot market as prices soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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In a challenge last month to the arbitration ruling, Shell alleged that a third party testified in arbitration that Venture Global had abruptly decided to delay the start of its Calcasieu Pass LNG plant. Shell said it asked arbitrators to study that communication, but said Venture Global avoided disclosure by giving misleading statements.

Venture Global said in its filing on Tuesday that Shell had provided no evidence of the alleged fraud. It said the third party, which was redacted, “did not testify to written communications with Venture Global” and that Venture Global’s counsel did not make misleading statements.

The LNG producer also said in the filing that Shell had breached arbitration confidentiality to share information with Venture Global’s counterparties and their counsel.

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Shell’s arbitration case centred around cargoes from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass facility. Shell also has a long-term contract with Venture Global’s Plaquemines facility.

In its legal filing, Venture Global included an email from what it said was a Shell executive, whose name was redacted, signalling an interest in reaching a commercial resolution.

“We remain interested in finding a commercial resolution for both the CP (Calcasieu Pass) and Plaquemines situations and I welcome a conversation at your earliest convenience,” the Shell executive told Venture Global in an email dated the same day the oil major filed its challenge.

The Shell executive also told Venture Global in the email that the arbitration outcome between the LNG producer and BP raised significant concerns about the evidence presented in that proceeding, and suggested that Shell’s arbitration should have been decided in the same way.

Venture Global shares, also under pressure from its exposure to a possible LNG supply glut, have declined 22% since Shell first filed the challenge last month. They are hovering near an all-time low of $6.56 per share compared with $24 when they began trading on the market in January.

that BP won its arbitration case with an argument of unfair behaviour by Venture Global, citing five sources.

BP’s arbitration win in October gave Shell a basis for its challenge, legal experts told Reuters.

“Shell referencing BP’s win (in its challenge) signals that similar fact-patterns led to different tribunal outcomes, strengthening Shell’s argument that full evidentiary access matters,” said Claudio Steuer of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

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