Business

By Nupur Anand

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Shares in state-owned Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC) slid 5% in their market debut on Tuesday, with sentiment hurt by recent market volatility.

The government raised about $2.7 billion from selling a 3.5% stake in the country’s biggest insurer and largest domestic financial investor, marking India’s biggest IPO to date.

The IPO was priced last week at 949 Indian rupees, the top of the indicated range.

Shares were trading at 900 rupees on Tuesday morning.

(Reporting by Nupur Anand in Mumbai, Chris Thomas in Bengaluru and Aftab Ahmed in New Delhi; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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(Reuters) – Credit Bank of Moscow (MKB), one of Russia’s largest private lenders, has obtained a gold export licence from the government, it said on Monday, becoming the latest Russian bank to turn to precious metals trade to offset the impact of sanctions.

The main operators of the gold market in Russia and its largest lenders – Sberbank and VTB – have been hit by harsh Western sanctions imposed on Moscow after it sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

“MKB has a dedicated focus on developing operations with precious metals,” MKB said in a statement. The bank has also been subject to sanctions in the United States but it said they were not “blocking” its activity.

“We are following major trends on the financial market and assessing prospects for the development of our business, including the precious metals business,” it added.

Russia is one of the world’s largest producers of gold along with Australia and China. Its 2021 gold production from mines rose by 1.7% to 314 tonnes, the finance ministry said.

After the sanctions, Russia’s gold miners and banks – which can still trade precious metals abroad – are searching for buyers as demand at home is unstable.

The central bank, which used to be the main buyer of the Russian gold from commercial banks in previous years, has changed its rules for gold purchases several times since Feb. 24, including a short-lived decision to stop all buying.

Demand for gold bars from Russians spiked in March after Moscow scrapped a 20% value-added tax on gold purchases, but it has since weakened as the rouble pared initial losses and became the world’s best-performing currency due to the central bank’s control measures.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Barbara Lewis)

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-A small but growing number of companies, including Amazon.com and Tesla Inc, are rolling out policies to offer benefits to U.S. employees who may need to access abortion services as some state legislatures impose tighter restrictions.

An unprecedented leak of a draft opinion earlier this month suggests that the U.S. Supreme Court is set to vote to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide.

Following is a list of companies who have offered their U.S. employees reproductive healthcare benefits including abortion coverage or travel benefits for out-of-state abortions.

Company Benefit(s) Offered

Citigroup Inc The bank has started covering travel expenses for employees

who go out of state for abortions because of newly enacted

restrictions in Texas and other places, becoming the first

major U.S. bank to make that commitment.

Yelp Inc The crowd-sourced review platform will extend its abortion

coverage to cover expenses for its employees and their

dependents who need to travel to another state for abortion

services.

Amazon.com The second-largest U.S. private employer told employees it

will pay up to $4,000 in travel expenses yearly for

non-life threatening medical treatments, among them

elective abortions.

Levi Strauss & CO The apparel company will reimburse travel expenses for its

full- and part-time employees who need to travel to another

state for healthcare services, including abortions.

United Talent Agency The private Hollywood talent agency said it would reimburse

travel expenses related to women’s reproductive health

services that are not accessible in an employee’s state of

residence.

Tesla Inc Tesla’s Safety Net program and health insurance includes

travel and lodging support for its employees who may need

to seek healthcare services that are unavailable in their

home state, according to the company’s 2021 impact report.

[https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/2021-tesla-impact-report.pdf

]

Microsoft Corp Microsoft Corp said that it would extend its abortion and

gender affirming care services for employees in the United

States to include travel expense assistance.

Starbucks Corp Starbucks Corp said it will reimburse U.S. employees and

their dependents if they must travel more than 100 miles

from their homes to obtain an abortion.

(Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo; Editing by Anna Driver and Rosalba O’Brien)

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By Natalie Grover

(Reuters) -Valneva lost nearly a fifth of its value on Monday after the French drugmaker said its COVID-19 vaccine agreement with the European Commission was likely to be scrapped and it might have to rethink its financial guidance.

Valneva said the European Commission (EC) had informed the company of its intent to terminate an advance purchase agreement for its COVID vaccine.

A final decision on the deal has still not been made, a Commission spokesperson said on Monday.

Valneva’s shares were down about 19.5% at 1455 GMT.

“The EC decision is regrettable especially as we continue to receive messages from Europeans who are looking for a more traditional vaccine solution,” CEO Thomas Lingelbach said.

Valneva’s vaccine relies on technology that has been used for decades, including in some shots against polio, influenza and hepatitis.

Valneva signed a deal with the EC last November to supply up to 60 million doses of vaccine over two years, including 24.3 million doses in 2022.

The company has already received roughly 30% in pre-payments from the EC under the contract, CEO Lingelbach said, noting that if the deal is cancelled Valneva is not required to return them.

The supply deal gave the EC the right to cancel if the vaccine was not endorsed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) by the end of April. It still has not got an EMA green light, but Lingelbach said he remained confident that it will by June.

Under the deal, Valneva has 30 days from May 13 to win marketing authorisation or propose an acceptable remediation plan.

Valneva is working with the EC on a remediation plan and intends to make the vaccine available to those EU member states that still want it.

Certain member states, including “very big European countries” have already expressed interest, Lingelbach said.

Britain cancelled its Valneva COVID-19 vaccine supply deal in 2021.

Valneva scored its first approval in Bahrain and has since begun to deploy its vaccine there. On Monday, the company also secured emergency approval in the United Arab Emirates.

FINANCIAL HIT

Valneva said it may reconsider its financial forecast for 2022. The company has previously said it expects to generate revenue of 430 million euros to 590 million euros ($448.58 million to $615.49 million) this year.

Rx Securities analyst Samir Devani had forecast over 400 million euros in Valneva COVID vaccine sales this year, most of which was linked to the EU contract.

“Should this be terminated, a substantial downgrade is likely,” he wrote in a note.

A raft of vaccine makers, including AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, have recently warned of a global COVID vaccine glut.

Devani told Reuters the EC might be looking to re-negotiate the deal given that it might not need more vaccines, but has paid 30% upfront.

One option would be to potentially use the Valneva vaccine as a booster, he said.

Valneva expects to report data on the use of its COVID vaccine as a booster in the third quarter.

($1 = 0.9586 euros)

(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian and Benoit Van Overstraeten and Natalie Grover in London; editing by Kim Coghill, Jason Neely, Susan Fenton and Jane Merriman)

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By Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices slipped on Monday, giving up earlier gains as investors took profits after a surge in the previous session, but global supply fears loomed with the European Union preparing to phase in a ban on imports from Russia.

Brent crude futures were down 64 cents, or 0.6%, at $110.91 a barrel at 0137 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped 60 cents, or 0.5%, to $109.89 a barrel.

Both benchmarks, which jumped about 4% last Friday, earlier increased by more than $1 a barrel, with WTI reaching its highest since March 28 of $111.71.

“Oil markets are expected to gain this week as a pending ban by the European Union on Russian oil will further tighten global supplies of crude and fuels,” said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Fujitomi Securities Co Ltd.

The EU still aims to agree a phased embargo on Russia oil this month despite concerns about supply in eastern Europe, four diplomats and officials said on Friday, rejecting suggestions of a delay or watering down proposals.

Last week, Moscow – which calls its actions in Ukraine “a special military operation” – slapped sanctions on several European energy companies, causing worries about supplies.

Meanwhile, U.S. gasoline futures set a fresh all-time high again on Monday as falling stockpiles fuelled supply concerns.

“Oil prices remained bullish, especially WTI’s near-term contract, as U.S. gasoline prices continued to rise amid weaker imports of petroleum products from Europe,” Fujitomi Securities’ Saito said.

On the supply side, U.S. energy firms in the week to May 13 added oil and natural gas rigs for an eighth week in a row as high prices and prodding by the federal government prompted drillers to return to the wellpad.

Elsewhere OPEC+ – the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia – has been undershooting previously agreed plans for output increases due to under-investment in oilfields in some OPEC members and, more recently, losses in Russian output.

The latest monthly report from OPEC showed its output in April rose by 153,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 28.65 million bpd, lagging the 254,000 bpd rise that OPEC is allowed under the OPEC+ deal.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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By Greg Roumeliotis and Sheila Dang

(Reuters) -Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that his $44-billion cash deal for Twitter Inc was “temporarily on hold” while he waits for the social media company to provide data on the proportion of its fake accounts.

Twitter shares initially fell more than 20% in premarket trading, but after Musk, the chief executive of electric car market Tesla Inc, sent a second tweet saying he remained committed to the deal, they regained some ground.

The shares were down 9.6% to $40.71 in trading on Friday, a steep discount to the $54.20 per share acquisition price.

Musk, the world’s richest person, decided to waive due diligence when he agreed to buy Twitter on April 25, in an effort to get the San Francisco-based company to accept his “best and final offer.” This could make it harder for him to argue that Twitter somehow misled him.

Since Musk inked his deal to acquire Twitter, technology stocks have plunged amid investor concerns over inflation and a potential economic slowdown.

The spread between the offer price and the value of Twitter shares had widened in recent days, implying less than a 50% chance of completion, as investors speculated that the downturn would prompt Musk to walk away or seek a lower price.

“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk told his more than 92 million Twitter followers.

Under the terms of Musk’s contract with Twitter, he is entitled to ask the company for information on its operations following the signing of the deal. But this is meant to help him prepare for his ownership of Twitter, not to carry out due diligence and reopen negotiations.

Twitter is planning no immediate action against Musk as a result of Musk’s comment, people familiar with the matter said. The company considered the comment disparaging and a violation of the terms of their deal contract, but was encouraged by Musk subsequently tweeting he was committing to the acquisition, the sources added.

Musk came to Twitter’s office for a meeting on May 6 as part of the transaction planning process, a Twitter spokesperson said.

Twitter’s Chief Executive Parag Agrawal also weighed in, tweeting “While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios.” On Thursday, Agrawal announced leadership changes and a hiring freeze.

REAL OR FAKE?

Spam or fake accounts are designed to manipulate or artificially boost activity on services like Twitter. Some create an impression that something or someone is more popular than they actually are.

Musk tweeted a Reuters story from ten days ago that cited the fake account figures. Twitter has said that the figures were an estimate and that the actual number may be higher.

The estimated number of spam accounts on the microblogging site has held steady below 5% since 2013, according to regulatory filings from Twitter, prompting some analysts to question why Musk was raising it now.

“This 5% metric has been out for some time. He clearly would have already seen it… So it may well be more part of the strategy to lower the price,” said Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

Tesla’s stock rose 5% on Friday. The shares have lost about a quarter of their value since Musk disclosed a stake in Twitter of April 4, amid concerns he will get distracted as Tesla’s chief executive and that he may have to sell more Tesla shares to fund the deal.

There is plenty of precedent for a potential renegotiation of the price following a market downturn. Several companies repriced agreed acquisitions when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020 and delivered a global economic shock.

For example, French retailer LVMH threatened to walk away from a deal with Tiffany & Co. The U.S. jewelry retailer agreed to lower the price by $425 million to $15.8 billion.

Acquirers seeking a get out sometimes turn to “material adverse effect” clauses in their merger agreement, arguing the target company has been significantly damaged.

But the language in the Twitter deal agreement, as in many recent mergers, does not allow Musk to walk away because of a deteriorating business environment, such as a drop in demand for advertising or because Twitter’s shares have plunged.

Musk is contractually obligated to pay Twitter a $1 billion break-up fee if he does not complete the deal. But the contract also contains a “specific performance” clause that a judge can cite to force Musk to complete the deal.

In practice, acquirers who lose a specific performance case are almost never forced to complete an acquisition and typically negotiate a monetary settlement with their targets.

DEFEAT THE BOTS

Musk has said that if he buys Twitter he “will defeat the spam bots or die trying” and has blamed the company’s reliance on advertising for why it has let spam bots proliferate.

He has also been critical of Twitter’s moderation policy and has said he wants Twitter’s algorithm to prioritize tweets to be public.

Earlier this week, Musk said he would reverse Twitter’s ban on former U.S. President Donald Trump when he buys the social media platform, signaling his intention to cut moderation.

Trump, who started a rival social media app called Truth Social, took to his platform on Friday to weigh in.

“There is no way Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter at such a ridiculous price, especially since realizing it is a company largely based on bots or spam accounts,” Trump wrote in a post, adding that his site is much better.

(Additonal reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru, Ken Li in New York and Katie Paul in San FranciscoWriting by Anna Driver and Editing by Alexander Smith, Nick Zieminski and Alistair Bell)

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By Elizabeth Dilts Marshall

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global shares rose on Friday as Wall Street rallied to end a volatile week of trading, while oil jumped 4% on the back of record-high U.S. gas prices.

Global markets and U.S. stocks were down sharply most of this week as investors grew anxious about the possibility of recession. The S&P 500 index is off nearly 20% from its all-time high in January and was close to a bear market on Thursday. [.N]

But investors’ fears over whether U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell can accomplish a “soft landing” – bringing inflation down while keeping the U.S. economy growing – appeared to ease at least temporarily on Friday.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 2.30% at 4:07 p.m. ET (2007 GMT), after hitting its lowest since November 2020 on Thursday. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 2.14%.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 94.57 points, or 2.41%, to end at 4,024.65 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 436.61 points, or 3.84%, to 11,807.57. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 466.43 points, or 1.47%, to 32,196.73.

Despite Friday’s gains, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their sixth consecutive weekly loss, and the Dow notched its seventh consecutive weekly dip.

Emerging market stocks rose 1.83%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rallied 2.01% from Thursday’s 22-month closing low. Japan’s Nikkei rose 2.64%.

“Stocks were ready to rebound as some investors remain hopeful the Fed will deliver a soft landing, while others are ready to buy the dip,” said Edward Moya, analyst at OANDA.

Cryptocurrencies steadied on Friday, with bitcoin recovering from a 16-month low after a volatile week dominated by the collapse in value of TerraUSD, a so-called stablecoin.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, rose 3.5% to $29,884, rebounding from a December 2020 low of $25,400 hit on Thursday. Bitcoin remains far below week-earlier levels of around $40,000 and is on track for a record seventh consecutive weekly loss.

Oil prices jumped 4% as U.S. gasoline prices jumped to a record high and China looked ready to ease pandemic restrictions.

Brent futures rose $4.10, or 3.8%, to settle at $111.55 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $4.36, or 4.1%, to settle at $110.49.

GRAPHIC: S&P 500 set for a sixth straight week of falls (https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/zdpxoglxgvx/stx1305.PNG)

Markets are likely to experience a short-term rebound before resuming the sell-off which has sent Wall Street’s Nasdaq tech index down over 25% since the beginning of the year, BofA analysts wrote in a weekly strategy note.

Investors liquidated global equity funds worth $10.53 billion in the week ended May 11, compared with $1.65 billion of net selling in the previous week, according to Refinitiv Lipper.

In an interview late on Thursday, Powell said the battle to control inflation would “include some pain,” and he repeated his expectation of half-percentage-point interest rate rises at each of the Fed’s next two policy meetings.

Headline inflation in the euro zone will fall in the second half of the year but so-called core prices, which strip out food and energy, will keep rising, the European Central Bank’s vice-president Luis de Guindos said on Friday.

The dollar was lower on Friday but remained on track for a weekly gain. The dollar index fell 0.2%, with the euro up 0.21% to $1.0401.

The Japanese yen weakened 0.77% versus the greenback at 129.32 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2232, up 0.27% on the day.

The moves higher in equities were mirrored in U.S. Treasuries, with the benchmark U.S. 10-year yield edging up to 2.9367% from a close of 2.817% on Thursday.

The policy-sensitive 2-year yield was 2.5986%, from a close of 2.522%.

Gold fell more than 1% on Friday and is set for its fourth straight weekly decline, as the dollar’s strength sapped appetite for bullion. Spot gold dropped 0.8% to $1,807.79 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.59% to $1,807.40 an ounce.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Dilts Marshall; Additional reporting by Carolyn Cohn in London and Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai and Dhara Ranasinghe in London; Editing by Jane Merriman, Nick Zieminski and Richard Chang)

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(Reuters) – The organizer of the Golden Globe awards is exploring strategic options including a takeover offer from interim Chief Executive Todd Boehly, the non-profit organization said on Friday.

Boehly’s proposal comes a week after a consortium led by the U.S. business tycoon clinched a $5.2 billion deal to buy Premier League club Chelsea.

The LA Dodgers part-owner’s investment vehicle Eldridge Industries LLC has worked out a term sheet with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) that allows the organization to solicit other offers and consider alternative deals.

“At least one other entity has already indicated interest in making a proposal,” the association said in a statement.

The HFPA, which hands out the annual Golden Globe awards for television and film, has formed a special committee to determine “potential outside strategic interest”, it said.

The offer comes at a time when the HFPA struggles to repair its reputation after Hollywood backlash over its ethics and lack of diversity, which led U.S. television network NBC to drop the Golden Globes ceremony in 2022.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Soaring inflation will trigger an automatic increase in California’s minimum wage next year, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced Thursday.

The minimum wage will jump to $15.50 per hour on Jan. 1, the highest of any state. That’s an increase from $15 per hour for companies with more than 25 employees and $14 per hour for companies with 25 workers or less.

California lawmakers voted to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2016, but the increase was phased in over several years. The law says the minimum wage must increase to $15.50 per hour for everyone if increased by more than 7%. Thursday, the California Department of Finance said they project inflation for the 2022 fiscal year — which ends June 30 — will be 7.6% higher than the year before, triggering the increase.

Official inflation figures won’t be final until this summer. But the Newsom administration believes the growth will be more than enough to trigger the automatic increase.

Inflation has been a problem everywhere, as consumer prices jumped 8.3% last month from a year ago and diluted the purchasing power of the U.S. consumer. A labor shortage throughout the pandemic has prompted many companies to increase pay sometimes beyond the minimum wage just to attract and retain workers.

California has about 3 million minimum wage workers, according to a conservative estimate from the state Department of Finance. The increase in the minimum wage will be about $3 billion, or less than 0.1% of the $3.3 trillion in personal income Californians are projected to earn.

Bosler said the increase could cause prices to jump for restaurants, which have low profit margins. But overall, she said the minimum wage increase is “expected to have a very minimal impact on overall inflation in the state’s economy.”

The minimum wage increase is only a portion of the extra money that could land in taxpayers’ pockets this year. Thursday, the governor doubled down on a proposal to send $800 checks to Californians who own cars to help offset high gas prices. The proposal would cost $11.5 billion and would also include spending $750 million to give everyone free rides on public transit for up to three months.

Newsom proposed that in March, but Democrats in the Legislature have rejected it. Instead, they want to send $200 checks to low-to-moderate income California taxpayers and their dependents, regardless of whether they own a car.

Bosler said the Newsom administration believes their proposal is better because they would hire an outside company to distribute the checks faster than the government could.

“I think they have their points, I think we have our reasons for wanting to stick with our proposal,” Bosler said. “We’ll keep working with them.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins said they are working on a plan that is “not just passing a one-size-fits-all windfall that benefits millionaires.”

“Senate Democrats do not believe a rebate tied to car ownership does the job,” Atkins said. “That plan leaves out non-car owners, including low income and elderly Californians, who are also impacted by the current high costs of consumer goods and are also deserving of relief.”

While that proposal has stalled, Newsom revealed a new plan on Thursday that would send $1,000 checks to workers in hospitals and nursing homes in recognition of their dangerous work during the pandemic. About 600,000 workers would be eligible for the money, which would go to anyone who works inside a hospital or a nursing home — including doctors, nurses and other support staff.

Workers would be guaranteed a $1,000 check. But if companies agree to add in another $500, the state will match it for a total of $2,000.

“These workers have been on the front lines throughout the COVID pandemic,” Bosler said. “They also are suffering very critical retention issues and shortages and we hope that additional payment will help to address those issues.”

Dave Regan, president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, said staffing problems at hospitals and nursing homes have only worsened as workers left the industry in droves during the pandemic “because of increased health risks, emotional and mental stress, and overwork.”

“With this investment in keeping skilled health care workers on the job, the governor’s proposal moves us one step closer to a future where every Californian has access to care provided by valued and respected caregivers,” Regan said.

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By Sheila Dang

(Reuters) -Two senior Twitter leaders who oversee the consumer and revenue divisions will depart the social media company, Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal told employees in a memo on Thursday, in one of the biggest shake-ups at the company since billionaire Elon Musk announced he would buy it for $44 billion.

Agrawal also said in the memo, which was seen by Reuters, that Twitter would pause most hiring and review all existing job offers to determine whether any “should be pulled back.”

He attributed the decision in part because Twitter was not able to hit user growth and revenue milestones to maintain confidence that it could reach aggressive growth targets it had set in 2020.

“We need to continue to be intentional about our teams, hiring and costs,” Agrawal wrote.

The company was targeting $7.5 billion in annual revenue and 315 million daily users by the end of 2023, but withdrew those goals in its recent earnings report.

Kayvon Beykpour, who led Twitter’s consumer division, and Bruce Falck, who oversaw revenue, both tweeted on Thursday that the departures were not their decisions.

“Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction,” Beykpour tweeted, adding he was still on paternity leave from Twitter.

“I’ll clarify that I too was fired by (Parag),” Falck said, though he appeared to later delete the tweet.

Falck thanked his team in a tweet thread and updated his bio to say “unemployed.”

“We were able to achieve the results we did through your hard work – quarterly revenue does not lie. Google it,” he said.

Jay Sullivan, who was leading the consumer unit during Beykpour’s leave, will become permanent head of the division. He will also oversee the revenue team until a new leader is named, Agrawal said in the memo.

While no layoffs are planned, Agrawal said Twitter will reduce its spending on contractors, travel and marketing as well as its real estate footprint.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; additional reporting by Katie PaulEditing by Chizu Nomiyama, Will Dunham, Nick Zieminski and Bernard Orr)

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