Australia's trade surplus unexpectedly narrowed in January as gold and equipment imports surged

October 7th - Shares of U.S.-listed gold mining companies fell in pre-market trading, following the decline in gold prices (GOL/). Spot gold (XAU=) dropped by about 1% to $4,118.7 per ounce. The decline in gold prices was due to a stronger U.S. dollar, as investors are also awaiting the Federal Reserve’s minutes from the September meeting to assess policymakers’ support for further interest rate hikes (GOL/). Major mining companies Newmont Mining (NEM.N) and Barrick Gold (ABX.TO, B.N) saw shares fall roughly 2% and 1.5% respectively. U.S.-listed shares of South African mining firms Gold Fields (GFI.N), Harmony Gold (HMY.N), and AngloGold Ashanti (AU.N) dropped between 1.7% and 4.5%. Shares of Canadian mining companies Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO, AEM.N) and Kinross Gold (K.TO, KGC.N) both fell by 1.9%. (For the convenience of non-English speakers, Reuters has automated this report into several other languages. As automated translation may be inaccurate or fail to include needed context, Reuters does not guarantee its accuracy and provides automated translations purely to assist readers. Reuters assumes no responsibility for any damage or loss due to the use of automated translation services.)

Latest update October 7 - Chipmaker Intel (INTC.O) shares rose 0.84% to $113.45 in premarket trading, attempting a rebound after four consecutive days of decline. Intel (INTC) CEO Pat Gelsinger told Bloomberg (link) the company will continue to advance Elon Musk's Terafab chip manufacturing (link) project. The report was released just days after Musk said TSMC 2330.TW and Terafab had discussed potential collaboration (link). Terafab is Elon Musk’s planned chip manufacturing plant (link), aiming to produce AI chips for Tesla TSLA.O and SpaceX SPCX.O. Last Saturday, Musk said that discussions were still at a preliminary stage and added that there may be results. However, on Wednesday he stated that TSMC (link) would not operate the Terafab AI chip production facility. Intel and Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment outside regular business hours. As of the close of the previous trading day, Intel (INTC) shares had more than tripled year to date. The stock dropped a total of 6.4% over the last four trading sessions. Meanwhile, shares of other major chipmakers declined, with Nvidia NVDA.O and AMD AMD.O dropping 0.6% and 1.8%, respectively. (For the convenience of non-English speakers, Reuters automates the translation of its reports into several other languages. As automated translations may contain errors or lack required context, Reuters does not guarantee the accuracy of automated translated texts. Automated translations are provided solely to assist readers. Reuters does not accept any liability for damage or loss resulting from the use of automated translation services.)

Christoph Steitz/Anousha Sakoui – Reuters, Frankfurt/London, October 7 – According to two directly informed sources, Apollo Global Management (APO.N) has submitted a non-binding offer for the German state-owned energy company Uniper (UN0k.DE), joining the bidding for one of Germany’s largest utility companies. Prospective buyers must submit expressions of interest for Uniper by September 21. The company received a €13.5 billion ($15.1 billion) bailout from the Berlin government in 2022. Reuters previously reported that the sale of Uniper could be valued at around €10 billion, making it one of the largest utility transactions in Europe this year. The German Ministry of Finance, which oversees the Berlin government’s 99.12% stake in Uniper, is advised by UBS and JPMorgan, and has stated that it plans to sell up to 74.12% of the energy company. Czech energy company EPH, controlled by billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, as well as a consortium consisting of Brookfield (BN.TO) and Canadian CPPIB, have also submitted Expressions of Interest, Reuters previously reported. One source said Norway’s Equinor (EQNR.OL), as well as a consortium made up of KKR (KKR.N) and German rival RWE (RWEG.DE), have also placed offers. A third source involved in the negotiations stated that bidders are expected to be informed in the coming weeks whether they will advance to the next round. These individuals requested anonymity as they are not authorized to speak publicly. Apollo, Uniper, and KKR all declined to comment. Equinor has so far not commented. (1 USD = 0.8933 EUR) (For the convenience of non-English readers, Reuters automatically translates its reports into several other languages. Since automated translation may be inaccurate or miss relevant context, Reuters does not guarantee translation accuracy and provides these as a convenience only. Reuters is not liable for damage or loss resulting from the use of automated translation.)

On October 7: Vaxcyte (PCVX.O) shares fell 0.3% in premarket trading on Wednesday to $66.50, after the company completed a $1.1 billion financing round. On Tuesday night, PCVX announced the pricing (link) of approximately 7.8 million shares of common stock and pre-funded warrants at $64 per share, raising $500 million in total; simultaneously, the company launched a public offering of $500 million of convertible senior notes with a coupon rate of 1.5%, maturing on October 15, 2032. The conversion price of the convertible notes is $89.60, representing a 40% premium over the equity offering price. On Monday, PCVX shares surged around 31% after the company announced that its pneumococcal vaccine VAX-31 met all primary endpoints in late-stage clinical trials (link), generating an immune response at least comparable to that of Pfizer’s Prevnar 20 (PFE.N) and Merck’s Capvaxive (MRK.N). On Tuesday, following the launch of the public offering (link), the stock closed down nearly 10% at $66.70. PCVX plans to use the net proceeds from this offering to fund clinical development of the VAX-31 adult and pediatric programs, including the ongoing adult Phase III clinical trial of VAX-31. Jefferies, Leerink, BofA, Evercore, Goldman Sachs, and Guggenheim are joint book-running managers for the equity offering; Jefferies, Leerink, BofA, Goldman Sachs, and Evercore act as lead managers for the convertible notes transaction. As of Tuesday’s close, PCVX shares are up about 45% year-to-date.