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OPEC+ is likely to stick to its current oil output target when it meets on Sunday, two OPEC+ sources said on Friday, although some say a further output cut is not completely off the table given concern about economic growth and demand. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, a group known as OPEC+, has switched its planned in-person meeting in Vienna on Dec. 4 to a virtual one, which sources in the group say signals the likelihood of it leaving policy unchanged. “It is unlikely there will be any change to the policy,” an OPEC+ source said. Another source made similar remarks, also declining to be identified by name. Talks begin on Saturday when OPEC ministers hold a virtual meeting at 1100 GMT. OPEC+ begins talks at the same time on Sunday with a meeting of the advisory Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) panel, followed by the full ministerial conference. With oil prices and the economic outlook weakening, the group agreed in ...

Amgen Inc’s AMGN-Q experimental obesity drug demonstrated promising durability trends in an early trial, paving the way for a larger mid-stage study early next year, company officials said ahead of a data presentation on Saturday. The small Phase I trial found that patients maintained their weight loss for 70 days after receiving the highest tested dose of the injected drug, currently known as AMG133. Amgen shares have gained about 5% since the company said on Nov. 7 that 12 weeks of trial treatment at the highest monthly dose of AMG133 resulted in mean weight loss of 14.5%. At 150 days after the last dose, maintained weight loss had dropped to 11.2% below original weight at the start of the trial, according to findings detailed at a meeting of World Congress of Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease in Los Angeles. Patients treated with AMG133 did have side effects including nausea and vomiting, but most cases were mild and resolved within a couple of days after the...

The logo of the Organization of the Petroleoum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is seen outside of OPEC's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on March 3. Lisa Leutner /The Associated Press OPEC+ agreed to stick to its oil output targets at a meeting on Sunday as the oil markets struggle to assess the impact of a slowing Chinese economy on demand and a G7 price cap on Russian oil on supply. The decision comes two days after the Group of Seven (G7) nations agreed a price cap on Russian oil. OPEC+, which comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, angered the United States and other Western nations in October when it agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels per day (bpd), about 2% of world demand, from November until the end of 2023. Washington accused the group and one of its leaders, Saudi Arabia, of siding with Russia despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine. OPEC+ argued it had cut output because of a weaker economic outlook. Oil prices hav...

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits increased moderately last week, pointing to a still-tight and strong labour market despite growing fears of a recession as the Federal Reserve fights to dampen demand. Though the weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday showed unemployment rolls, or the so-called continuing claims rising to a 10-month high in late November, economists cautioned against reading too much into the move as the data are volatile around this time of the year. Labor market tightness and resilience keeps the U.S. central bank on course to continue hiking interest rates for a while. “It is too early to interpret higher continuing claims as a signal of a loosening labour market,” said Isfar Munir, an economist at Citigroup in New York. “The holiday time is generally not attractive to workers to start a new job, compounded by many firms temporarily closing during the holiday period.” Initial claims for state unemployment be...

JPMorgan JPM-N said on Thursday it had set targets to cut emissions tied to its finance and deal making in the iron and steel, cement and aviation sectors, as those emissions linked to oil and gas usage rose. As the largest U.S. bank and major funder to the fossil fuel industry, investors and campaigners keenly watch JPMorgan’s climate efforts as the world shifts to a low-carbon economy. After releasing targets for oil and gas, electric power and autos in 2021, the new sector targets mean the bank now has plans to reduce emissions from all of the sectors most responsible for climate-damaging carbon emissions. For iron and steel, the bank said it aims to cut emissions per tonne of crude steel produced by 31 per cent by 2030. For cement it is targeting a 29 per cent cut and for aviation a cut of 36 per cent. The bank said all the targets were in line with the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Emissions (NZE) scenario. Lucie Pinson, director of non-profit Reclaim Finance, welcomed ...

JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM-N on Thursday shut down its Frank website, a college financial planning platform it bought in 2021, after suing the startup’s founder and another executive for creating nearly 4 million fake customer accounts. The largest U.S. bank by assets had paid $175-million for Frank in a bid to deepen its ties with students. The bank said it was led to believe by founder Charlie Javice and Chief Growth Officer Olivier Amar that more than 4.25 million students had created accounts on Frank. However, when JPMorgan sent marketing test emails to a list of Frank’s customers that the company had provided, only 28 per cent of them were delivered, the bank alleged. JPMorgan said it generally sees a delivery rate of 99 per cent with similar campaigns. “(JPMorgan) paid $175-million for what it believed was a business deeply engaged with the college-aged market segment with 4.265 million customers; instead, it received a business with fewer than 300,000 customers,” the bank sa...

JPMorgan's corporate headquarters, in New York, on May 20, 2015. Mike Segar/Reuters JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM-N said on Friday it set aside $1.4-billion in anticipation of a mild recession, even as it reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on the back of strong performance at its trading unit. Shares of the biggest U.S. bank fell about 3 per cent in premarket trading as it kicked off quarterly earnings for corporate America that are expected to fall for the first time since the third quarter of 2020. While Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said consumers were still spending excess cash and businesses remained healthy, he listed a number of uncertainties facing the economy. “We still do not know the ultimate effect of the headwinds coming from geopolitical tensions including the war in Ukraine, the vulnerable state of energy and food supplies, persistent inflation... and the unprecedented quantitative tightening.” The bank flagged a modest deterioration in its macroeconomic ...

U.S. consumers are becoming more confident that price pressures will ease considerably over the next 12 months, with a survey on Friday showing their one-year inflation expectations falling in January to the lowest level since the spring of 2021. But the road to low inflation will be bumpy as other data on Friday showed import prices unexpectedly increasing in December after five straight monthly decreases, boosted by higher costs for natural gas and food. Overall inflation is retreating as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate increases cool demand, and bottlenecks in the supply chain ease. “The Fed will be happy to see short-term expectations reverting back to more normal levels,” said Shannon Seery, an economist at Wells Fargo in New York. “That all supports views inflation is indeed slowing, but it’s going to take some time for it to get back to the 2 per cent target that the Fed is looking for.” Year-ahead inflation expectations dropped to a preliminary reading of 4.0 p...