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BERLIN (Reuters) -Norse Atlantic Airways, which seeks to break into the long-haul market between Europe and the United States, has seen strong bookings for the upcoming autumn season, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

The Norway-based carrier, which began operations in mid-June, on Aug 5 announced it had filled 86% of transatlantic capacity in July, its first full month of business.

“August has also been very strong, but looking forward we have also seen very good numbers into the autumn,” Chief Executive Bjorn Tore Larsen told a news conference in Berlin.

He reiterated goals of turning a profit in 2023 and fully deploying its fleet of 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft in 2024.

The carrier on Wednesday also announced it will open a route connecting Berlin to the U.S. city of Fort Lauderdale, operating three times a week from Dec. 7, with prices starting at 228 euros ($232) one way.

Norse faces stiff competition, however, from established players such as Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France and SAS, but hopes to do better than Norwegian Air which was forced to withdraw from transatlantic business during the pandemic.

($1 = 0.9842 euros)

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, editing by Terje Solsvik, Kirsten Donovan)

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By Karen Brettell

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar gained on Wednesday before the Federal Reserve is due to release minutes from its July meeting, and the greenback briefly hit a session high against a basket of currencies after data showed that U.S. consumer spending was steady in July.

Bets that the U.S. central bank will continue to hike rates aggressively to battle inflation have increased since last week, when softer-than-expected inflation in July raised some hopes that price pressures might have passed.

Fed officials are adamant they will keep raising interest rates until high inflation is under control, and the release on Wednesday of the minutes from their July 26-27 policy meeting may shed light on just how aggressive they expect to be.

“Everyone is focused on – well, will we really see the Fed be in a position where they need to deliver more massive rate hikes and can the economy handle it, and right now the economy looks like it can,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.

U.S. retail sales were unchanged in July as declining gasoline prices weighed on receipts at service stations but consumer spending appeared to hold up, which could further assuage fears that the economy was already in recession.

Looser financial conditions as benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hold below 3% and as the credit and stocks markets improve has also increased speculation the Fed may need to be more aggressive in hiking rates to make an impact.

Fed funds futures traders are currently pricing in a 48% chance of a 50 basis points increase and a 52% probability of a 75 basis points hike.

The dollar index against a basket of currencies was up 0.27% on the day at 106.76. The euro fell 0.10% against the dollar to $1.0161.

The greenback gained 0.67% against the yen to 135.16.

The dollar is being helped by expectations that the Fed will continue to hike rates at a faster pace then peers.

The euro is also being weighed down by economic concerns as the region faces an energy crisis caused by Western sanctions on Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.

The New Zealand dollar fell 0.87%, erasing earlier gains in volatile trading on what was likely profit taking on the original move.

New Zealand’s central bank on Wednesday delivered its seventh straight interest rate hike and signaled a more hawkish tightening path over coming months to rein in stubbornly high inflation, which briefly boosted the currency.

Sterling also faded after an initial jump on data showing that consumer price inflation in Britain rose to 10.1% in July, the highest since February 1982.

The British pound was last down 0.23% on the day at $1.2061.

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Currency bid prices at 9:34AM (1334 GMT)

Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid

Previous Change

Session

Dollar index 106.7600 106.4800 +0.27% 11.600% +106.8900 +106.3000

Euro/Dollar $1.0161 $1.0172 -0.10% -10.62% +$1.0187 +$1.0146

Dollar/Yen 135.1600 134.2550 +0.67% +17.41% +135.3800 +133.9100

Euro/Yen 137.34 136.50 +0.62% +5.39% +137.4600 +136.2700

Dollar/Swiss 0.9527 0.9497 +0.32% +4.45% +0.9538 +0.9485

Sterling/Dollar $1.2061 $1.2098 -0.23% -10.75% +$1.2143 +$1.2051

Dollar/Canadian 1.2919 1.2846 +0.59% +2.20% +1.2921 +1.2828

Aussie/Dollar $0.6932 $0.7024 -1.30% -4.63% +$0.7026 +$0.6918

Euro/Swiss 0.9679 0.9656 +0.24% -6.65% +0.9687 +0.9652

Euro/Sterling 0.8422 0.8408 +0.17% +0.26% +0.8426 +0.8390

NZ $0.6283 $0.6343 -0.87% -8.13% +$0.6383 +$0.6275

Dollar/Dollar

Dollar/Norway 9.7335 9.6770 +0.58% +10.48% +9.7340 +9.6625

Euro/Norway 9.8935 9.8293 +0.65% -1.19% +9.9017 +9.8215

Dollar/Sweden 10.4051 10.3332 +0.59% +15.38% +10.4123 +10.3154

Euro/Sweden 10.5735 10.5117 +0.59% +3.32% +10.5785 +10.5050

(Additional reporting by Iain Withers in London; Editing by Mark Potter)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — As part of the rollout of a huge new climate, tax and healthcare law, the U.S. government is moving forward with its plan to award new tax credits to electric vehicle purchasers.

Several new websites launched Tuesday to help people identify which vehicles qualify for the credits. Based on data submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, at least 31 new 2022 and 2023 models qualify for the tax credit. For starters, they must be made in North America to be eligible.

President Joe Biden signed Democrats’ landmark climate change and health care bill into law on Tuesday. It includes a tax credit of up to $7,500 that could be used to defray the cost of purchasing an electric vehicle.

Models included are the 2022 Ford F Series electric pickup, BMW X5, Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Bolt, Jeep Wrangler plug-in hybrid, and all four Tesla models.

But some models may exceed sticker-price limits in the complex law, and it remains to be seen whether automakers will be able to find minerals or manufacture batteries that can qualify for the credits.

Consumers can go to https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/decoder/ and key in the 17-digit vehicle identification number of the EV they want to buy to make sure it’s made in the U.S., Canada or Mexico. The Treasury Department also released a frequently asked questions page on the new law’s provisions.

As of Tuesday, tax credits will no longer be available for vehicles assembled outside of the U.S., Canada or Mexico. But people who signed purchase contracts for EVs before Tuesday could still get the credits. The remaining electric vehicle provisions of the law are effective Jan. 1.

A Treasury official told reporters on a call Tuesday that the plan puts the U.S. 2030 climate goals within reach and will help ensure Americans can afford to buy an electric car.

Passage of the measure set off a scramble by automakers to speed up efforts to find North American-made batteries and battery minerals from the U.S., Canada or Mexico to make sure EVs are eligible for the credit.

While automakers have been announcing U.S. battery factories and trying to secure domestic mineral supplies, a large industry trade association has warned that the vast majority of EVs now on sale in the U.S. wouldn’t qualify for the full credit under the Inflation Reduction Act.

“We are working overtime to localize our supply chains and ramp up production,” Chris Smith, chief government affairs officer at Ford, said in a statement.

The credits are important because no automaker wants to be in a position of seeing a competitor sell vehicles at a $7,500 price advantage, especially since the credits largely target middle-class buyers.

“The No. 1 obstacle to EV adoption is cost,” said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst with Cox Automotive. “So a $7,500 difference is significant on one vehicle compared to another for the part of the market that this is aimed at.”

Under the law, an electric vehicle must contain a battery built in North America with minerals mined or recycled on the continent to be eligible for the credit.

And those rules become more stringent over time — to the point where, in a few years, it’s possible that no EVs would qualify for the tax credit, said the Alliance of Automotive Innovation, a key industry trade group. As of now, the alliance estimates that about 50 of the 72 electric, hydrogen or plug-in hybrid models that are sold in the United States wouldn’t meet the requirements.

Under the $740 billion economic package that Biden signed into law, the tax credits would take effect next year. For an EV buyer to qualify for the full credit, 40% of the metals used in a vehicle’s battery must come from North America. By 2027, that required threshold would reach 80%.

If the metals requirement isn’t met, the automaker and its buyers would be eligible for half the tax credit, $3,750.

A separate rule would require that half the batteries’ value must be manufactured or assembled in the North America. If not, the rest of the tax credit would be lost. Those requirements also grow stricter each year, eventually reaching 100% in 2029. Still another rule would require that the EV itself be manufactured in North America, thereby excluding from the tax credit any vehicles made overseas.

The idea behind the requirement is to incentivize domestic manufacturing and mining, build a robust battery supply chain in North America and lessen the industry’s dependence on overseas supply chains that could be subject to disruptions.

But production of lithium and other minerals that are used to produce EV batteries is now dominated by China. And the world’s leading producer of cobalt, another component of the EV batteries, is the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The tax credit would be available only to couples with incomes of $300,000 or less or single people with income of $150,000 or less. And any trucks or SUVs with sticker prices above $80,000 or cars above $55,000 wouldn’t be eligible, knocking many EVs out of the credits.

There’s also a new $4,000 credit for buyers of used EVs, a provision that could help modest-income households go electric.

The Treasury Department, which is administering the tax credits, said more guidance will be coming, and it was not in a position to say what vehicles will qualify for credits after all the law’s provisions are considered.

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two airline ticket agents were hurt when a 33-year-old California man breached security at a busy Las Vegas airport on Sunday, sparking panic among commercial travelers, flight delays and cancellations, police said in a report made public Tuesday.

Neither injury was described as serious, according to an arrest report that compared the incident at Harry Reid International Airport to terrorism.

Stefan Mathias Hutchison, 33, of Oakland, told arresting officers he wanted to go home immediately, not wait for a flight on Monday. Police said he had also been arrested Saturday at the airport on misdemeanor charges after passing Transportation Security Administration screeners in what police also called a security breach.

Hutchison remained jailed ahead of a court date Wednesday before a Las Vegas judge on a burglary charge based on Nevada law making it a felony to enter a building with an intent to commit a crime.

A deputy public defender who represented him declined to comment about the case.

One Spirit Airlines employee hit her head on a wall when Hutchison pushed past her and through a secured door, police said. Another Spirit employee tackled Hutchison before police arrived. Both were taken to hospitals after complaining of pain, according to the police report.

The arresting officer, Eric Jones, wrote the airport at that hour was “extremely busy with thousands of travelers.” He said he heard “approximately 10 loud banging sounds” in the airline ticketing area and saw “hundreds of frightened citizens fleeing,” including “trampling over each other,” and rushing past TSA checkpoints.

Police and social media reports compared the noises to gunshots.

“I determined the loud bangs were stanchions (line dividers) falling on the floor when the citizens were escaping the area,” Jones wrote.

Hutchison spent several hours in jail following his arrest Saturday before a judge freed him with a promise to appear Oct. 11 on the misdemeanor charges. He was accused of passing a TSA screening checkpoint, entering a boarding gate concourse and taking a pair of sunglasses from a variety store before he was arrested.

The arrest report corrected Hutchison’s hometown. Police said Monday he was from Carmichael, California.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The special board appointed by President Joe Biden to intervene in stalled railroad contract talks submitted its recommendations to the White House Tuesday on a potential deal covering 115,000 rail workers and avert a strike, but details of their recommendations weren’t immediately available.

Railroads and unions will use those recommendations as the basis for a new round of negotiations over the next month. If they still can’t agree on a new deal by mid September, federal law would allow a strike or lockout, but Congress is likely to intervene before then to keep the supply chain moving.

A railroad strike could devastate businesses that rely on Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX and other major freight railroads to deliver raw materials and ship their products. That’s why Congress isn’t likely to allow a strike to happen. In past national rail labor disputes, lawmakers have voted to impose terms on the railroads before workers could strike.

A White House official said Biden is optimistic the report will provide a good framework for successful negotiations because avoiding a rail shutdown is in the nation’s interests.

The report was distributed to the parties Tuesday, but the railroads and the unions didn’t immediately comment on any details. It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly the National Mediation Board would post the report online.

The railroads entered the Presidential Emergency Board process a month ago far apart from the 12 unions taking part. The unions have been seeking a 31% raise over the five years of the deal while the railroads were offering only 17% in compounded raises. The unions also don’t want to see the cost of their health care coverage go up much in a new contract.

Railroad workers have gone without a raise since 2019 while the contract talks drug on. The workers expect to be compensated after staying on the job throughout the pandemic and enduring extensive job cuts in recent years. And strikes have become more common over the last two years in a variety of industries because unions generally feel empowered to ask for more.

The major freight railroads have eliminated nearly one-third of their jobs over the past six years as they overhauled their operations to run fewer, longer trains that need fewer locomotives and employees. Unions say the railroads expect more from the workers who remain, and that some railroads’ tightened attendance policies make it harder to take time off because of all the job cuts.

In addition to disagreements over wages and benefits, unions have staunchly opposed a proposal from the railroads to cut the number of workers in a locomotive from two to one. A new proposed federal rule that would require two-man crews in most instances should make it harder for railroads to reduce crew sizes, but the railroads have been pressing for the change for several years. The unions argue that keeping two people on the crews isn’t just about preserving jobs, but also safety.

Reaching a new agreement would likely make it easier for railroads to hire new employees, which they acknowledge they need to do to improve service and cut down on the delays that have plagued freight shipments this year. The major freight railroads have all said they want to hire hundreds more workers, but worker shortages are making that difficult.

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BEIJING (AP) — Unusually high temperatures and a prolonged drought are affecting large swaths of China, reducing crop yields and drinking water supplies.

The lack of rain has been especially marked in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, which encompasses a large area of mountains and rivers.

State media on Tuesday reported fire trucks were delivering water to outlying villages for drinking and irrigating crops.

Rainfall in Chongqing has been half of what is usually expected for the year and some smaller waterways have dried up entirely.

Authorities have issued warnings of temperatures exceeding 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Many parts of China have broken records for high temperatures this year.

Amid the drought, other areas of China have been hit by flash floods, underscoring the effects of climate change on the vast nation of 1.4 billion people stretching from the mountains and deserts of Central Asia to the South China Sea.

The Chongqing drought has affected more than 600,000 people and 36,700 hectares (90,690 acres) of crops, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Neighboring Hubei province has also been badly hit, with some areas reporting the growing season a complete failure, Xinhua said.

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Home Depot is seeing sustained demand for goods related to home improvement projects despite soaring prices and mortgage rates for homes.

Revenue for the three months ended July 31 rose 6.5% to $43.79 billion, which topped projections of $43.35 billion on Wall Street, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, climbed 5.8%, and 5.4% in the U.S.

While the number of customer transactions fell 3%, the amount shoppers spent per transaction rose 9.1%.

The Atlanta company earned $5.17 billion, or $5.05 per share, which also topped per-share projections for $4.95. It was also better than last year’s strong second quarter, when the company posted earnings of $4.81 billion.

Profit and sales levels were unprecedented for Home Depot, according to CEO Ted Decker,

Home improvement stores have remained busy during the pandemic as people working from home took on new projects. The spring and summer is also a traditional busy season as home owners head out for flowers, vegetables and other gardening and landscaping goods.

Home Depot has continued to lure customers despite what may be a cooling of the housing market. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed for the fifth consecutive month in June as higher mortgage rates and rising prices kept many home hunters on the sidelines. Existing home sales fell 5.4% in June from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.12 million, the National Association of Realtors said last month.

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates soared last week in a continued volatile market as the key 30-year loan rate jumped back over 5%. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported that the 30-year rate rose to 5.22% from 4.99% a week earlier. By contrast, the rate stood at 2.87% a year ago. The average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular among those looking to refinance their homes, increased to 4.59% from 4.26%.

Home Depot Inc. maintained its fiscal 2022 forecast for mid-single digits earnings per share growth and total sales growth and comparable sales growth of about 3%.

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BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s main industry lobby group warned Tuesday that factories may have to throttle production or halt it completely because plunging water levels on the Rhine River are making it harder to transport cargo.

Water levels on the Rhine at Emmerich, near the Dutch border, dropped by a further four centimeters (1.6 inches) in 24 hours, hitting zero on the depth gauge.

Authorities say the shipping lane itself still has a depth of almost 200 centimeters (six feet, six inches), but the record low measurement Tuesday morning highlights the extreme lack of water caused by months of drought affecting much of Europe.

“The ongoing drought and the low water levels threaten the supply security of industry,” said Holger Loesch, deputy head of the business lobby group BDI.

Loesch said shifting cargo from river to train or transport was difficult because of limited rail capacity and a lack of drivers.

“It’s only a question of time before facilities in the chemical and steel industry have to be switched off, petroleum and construction materials won’t reach their destination, and high-capacity and heavy-goods transports can’t be carried out anymore,” he said, adding that this could lead to supply bottlenecks and short-time work might result.

Loesch warned that energy supplies could also be further strained as ships carrying coal and gasoline along the Rhine are affected.

He echoed concerns that climate change could make droughts more frequent in the future, and urged the government to help closely monitor water levels and react early to potential transportation problems on Germany’s waterways.

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Follow AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

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By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) -Berkshire Hathaway Inc, run by billionaire Warren Buffett, has tripled its stake in online banking company Ally Financial Inc and increased its bet that “Call of Duty” video game maker Activision Blizzard Inc will be acquired by Microsoft Corp.

In a Monday regulatory filing describing its U.S.-listed equity investments as of June 30, Berkshire also said it exited what was once an $8.3 billion investment in Verizon Communications Inc and no longer owns Royalty Pharma Plc, which buys drug royalties.

The filing does not specify whether Buffett or his portfolio managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler made specific purchases and sales, but investors often try to mimic what Berkshire does. Larger investments are normally Buffett’s.

Berkshire slowed its stock buying spree in the second quarter as U.S. stock markets fell, purchasing $6.2 billion of stocks and selling $2.3 billion. It had bought $51.1 billion and sold $9.7 billion in the first quarter.

Nevertheless, Buffett’s conglomerate, which also owns dozens of businesses such as the BNSF railroad and Geico auto insurer, ended June with a $327.7 billion equity portfolio, led by $125.1 billion in Apple Inc.

It also invested more than $33 billion in two oil companies, Chevron Corp and Occidental Petroleum Corp, as oil prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Berkshire has since purchased another $1.7 billion of Occidental stock, boosting its stake to 20.2%. It also owns $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock.

In the second quarter, Berkshire’s Ally stake grew to 30 million shares from about 9 million, while its Activision stake grew to 68.4 million shares, worth $5.3 billion, from 64.3 million.

The Activision investment is a form of arbitrage, where Buffett appears to be betting that investors are pessimistic that regulators will approve Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion takeover of the company.

According to Monday’s filing, Berkshire also increased its holdings during the second quarter in Apple, Celanese Corp, Chevron, Markel Corp, McKesson Corp, Occidental and Paramount Global.

It reduced its holdings in General Motors Co, Kroger Co, Store Capital Corp and US Bancorp, the filing shows.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, Editing by Franklin Paul and Josie Kao)

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NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart Inc. said Monday it has signed a deal with Paramount Global to offer the entertainment company’s streaming service as a perk to subscribers of the discounter’s shipping subscription service.

The move is part of efforts by the nation’s largest retailer to better compete with Amazon’s Prime membership program, which offers an array of perks.

Starting in September, subscribers to Walmart+ will be have access to the Paramount+ Essential Plan, which includes ads and offers original dramas such as “1883” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” along with the preschool franchise “PAW Patrol,” recent blockbuster films such as “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” and live sports.

The cost of Walmart+ will remain $98 a year, or $12.95 a month, the retailer said. It includes free shipping on items and discounts on gasoline. An Amazon Prime membership costs $139 a year, or $14.99 a month, and includes the Amazon Video service, original programming and free gaming, among other perks.

Walmart, which is based in Bentonville, Arkansas, has never disclosed the number of members it has signed up but said on Monday that it has had monthly growth in membership since its launch in September 2020.

Terms of the deal with New York-based Paramount Global were not disclosed.

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