Exchange-Traded Funds Rise, US Equities Higher After Midday

Reuters, October 5 - Centalion Group announced on Monday that it has acquired upstream and midstream natural gas assets in the Haynesville region of Texas and Louisiana from Texas-based private shale company Silver Hill Energy Partners. The commodities trader, formerly known as Gunvor, rebranded as Centalion Group last week (link), and stated plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from Cyprus to Singapore. A spokesperson for Centalion Group said the Haynesville platform, composed of Post Oak and Silver Hill assets, has an enterprise value of approximately $2 billion. In August, Reuters cited sources stating that Centalion Group (link) was negotiating the acquisition of Silver Hill's assets, with a deal valued between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion. The assets currently produce about 300 million cubic feet per day of natural gas (MMcfd), and the portfolio includes approximately 72,000 net acres in the Haynesville and Bossier development areas. "Our consideration was to establish operations in this basin, a hub for both domestic and export markets, in order to seize this option and create value from it," the spokesperson added. (To assist non-English speakers, Reuters offers automated translation of its reports into several other languages. Due to possible errors in automated translations or missing required context, Reuters does not guarantee the accuracy of automated translation texts, and provides them solely for readers' convenience. Reuters is not liable for any damages or losses resulting from the use of the automated translation feature.)

Updates headline, adds details in paragraphs 2-10 By Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - McDonald's MCD.N has been sued in federal court in Chicago in a proposed nationwide class action alleging the fast-food company illegally coordinates menu prices across its franchises and company-owned restaurants through an AI-powered pricing system. The lawsuit, filed on Friday, said McDonald’s violated US antitrust law by conspiring with independent franchisees to fix prices using algorithms trained on nonpublic data. Reuters reported last week that McDonald’s pricing engine uses machine-learning algorithms to continually analyze data from millions of daily transactions across its nearly 14,000 restaurants. The lawsuit cited the Reuters article, which said other fast-food companies are also turning to AI to help with pricing and other operations. "Independent businesses must set their prices independently," the lawsuit said. McDonald’s, in a statement on Monday, called the allegations speculative and uninformed. "AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other menu item," the company said. It said franchisees make their own pricing decisions, and that the use of pricing recommendation tools and analytics is widespread across industries. US plaintiffs have filed a wave of class actions in recent years alleging that companies used algorithms or AI to illegally coordinate prices for hotel rooms, apartment rentals and other purchases. Lark Turner, a lawyer for the plaintiff, said in a statement, that McDonald's is "leveraging its troves of data and its franchised system to nickel-and-dime consumers down to the last French fry." The plaintiff, an Illinois resident, is seeking to represent a class of potentially millions of McDonald's customers, the lawsuit said. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Rod Nickel)

Post-close Latest Developments PTC shares surged due to a takeover bid by Schneider Electric; traders see a decreased probability of an interest rate hike in October; bank earnings season is set to begin next week. Noel Randewich/Tharuniyaa Lakshmi, Reuters, October 5 – On Monday, the Nasdaq closed at a record high, driven by Nvidia and Microsoft, as investors focused on the drop in oil prices and anticipated the upcoming quarterly earnings reports. This marked the second consecutive day of significant gains for the Nasdaq, following weaker-than-expected employment data released on Friday, which weakened market expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike at its policy meeting this month. Artificial intelligence giants Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) both saw their stock prices rise. Meta Platforms (META.O) and Tesla (TSLA.O) shares also advanced. Oil prices fell due to increased crude exports from the Middle East and a G7 commitment to boost supply. “With economic data releases relatively light and about a week until earnings season starts, investors are searching for any positive catalyst. Clearly, they are looking to the pullback in energy prices,” noted Art Hogan, Chief Market Strategist at B. Riley Wealth. Bank stocks to kick off third-quarter earnings season As major U.S. banks report earnings, the Q3 earnings season will officially begin next week. According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), analysts expect S&P 500 companies’ earnings to rise by over 30% year-on-year, mainly driven by strong performance from AI-related stocks. According to the CME FedWatch tool, following Friday’s data showing U.S. job growth in September slowed more than expected, traders now put the probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike at its October meeting at 24%, down from 70% a week earlier. Following Schneider Electric (SCHN.PA) agreeing to buy software company PTC (PTC.O) in an all-cash deal valued at $22.6 billions, PTC shares jumped on the news. Preliminary data showed the S&P 500 Index (.SPX) rose 51.50 points, or 0.67%, to close at 7,774.22; the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) climbed 289.42 points, or 1.06%, to 27,480.28; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) gained 94.59 points, or 0.18%, to finish at 51,274.32. The previous record high close for the Nasdaq occurred on September 22. Despite rising U.S. Treasury yields and higher oil prices due to U.S.-Iran tensions, optimism around strong corporate earnings has driven U.S. stocks to outperform global markets over the past six months. Freight forwarder C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW.O) agreed to acquire transportation broker RXO (RXO.N) for $5.8 billions in a mixed stock and cash transaction. RXO shares rallied on the news, while C.H. Robinson shares fell. Cerebras Systems (CBRS.O) shares gained after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on social media that the chip design company is a “close partner” and that the two firms are “working together deeply on pushing the frontier of speed.”