OPEC pushes for agreement on oil cuts
VIENNA -- OPEC nations on Monday continued a diplomatic effort to secure a deal on oil production cuts, with Qatar, Algeria and Venezuela leading the push to overcome the divide between the group's biggest producers, according to a delegate familiar with the talks.
The behind-the-scenes diplomacy comes after bilateral meetings over the weekend failed to resolve the rifts, leaving just two weeks to finalize an agreement before the Nov. 30 ministerial meeting in Vienna, according to the delegate, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran are still at odds over how to share output cuts, the person said.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has yet to find a path to finalize the preliminary cuts deal reached in Algiers on Sept. 28, which ended a two-year policy of pumping without limits. After an initial rally to nearly $54 a barrel, Brent crude has dropped to $44 as doubts spread about the implementation of the agreement. Members' total output is still growing as Libya and Nigeria recover from violence that halted production.
Saudi Arabia, the group's de facto leader, is ready to cut production, but only if the effort is built around four pillars, said the delegate. All members must agree to collective action, pledge to share the burden of cuts equitably, and do so in a way that is transparent and has credibility with the market. The latter can be achieved by using OPEC estimates of how much each member pumps, rather than relying on the country's own estimates, the delegate said.
-- Bloomberg News
Russian GDP falls, but beats forecasts
MOSCOW -- Russia's economy in the third quarter shrank the least since a contraction began at the start of last year.
Gross domestic product fell 0.4 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier after a decline of 0.6 percent in the previous three months, the Federal Statistics Service said Monday, citing preliminary data. The median of 21 estimates in a Bloomberg survey was for a drop of 0.5 percent. The Economy Ministry in Moscow had projected a 0.4 percent decrease.
The world's biggest energy exporter is shaking off its longest slump under President Vladimir Putin after oil prices stabilized. The challenge now is to avoid a period of stagnation, with Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina warning on Monday that the economy won't grow faster than 2 percent without structural changes.
-- Bloomberg News
$111M buys unfinished '70s nuke plant
HOLLYWOOD, Ala. -- The Tennessee Valley Authority has sold an unfinished nuclear power plant in northeast Alabama for $111 million.
Nuclear Holdings LLC purchased the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant at auction Monday. The sale price was more than three times the minimum bid of $36.4 million.
The company plans to finish the twin-reactor facility as a nuclear power plant and bring it online. Such a project could mean billions of dollars in spending and hundreds of jobs in the Tennessee Valley.
Work began at the Bellefonte site in the mid-1970s, but the Tennessee Valley Authority never finished the two-reactor plant as demand for electricity waned. The utility says it has spent about $5 billion at the plant.
The purchaser gets two unfinished reactors, several buildings and 1,600 acres along the Tennessee River.
-- The Associated Press
Las Vegas Taco Bell offers booze, duds
LAS VEGAS -- Yum Brands Inc., now more reliant on its Taco Bell chain to fuel growth, is opening a booze-serving flagship restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip to help invigorate the brand.
The new location will offer a retail shop with Taco Bell-branded clothing, a bar menu and all-night operating hours -- the first time a Taco Bell has tried that combination. Yum also is updating the Taco Bell logo for the first time in more than two decades, part of a plan to add 2,000 Taco Bells globally by 2022 and become a $15 billion business.
Yum, which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut, is focusing more on Taco Bell after the spinoff last month of its Chinese operations, which had generated about half the company's revenue. With just a fraction of its restaurants abroad, Taco Bell remains primarily a U.S. business and will now account for about a third of Yum's operating profit.
The Las Vegas location, the chain's 7,000th domestic restaurant, opens during a broader slowdown in the U.S. fast-food industry. Companies are stepping up discounts and promotions in a bid to stand out. Food deflation also has squeezed restaurants by pulling down grocery prices and making meals at home more attractive.
-- The Associated Press
Use caution on U.S. deals, Chinese told
BEIJING -- Chinese buyers keen to continue 2016's rapid dealmaking under a Donald Trump presidency are being given one piece of advice: Wait and see.
Bankers and lawyers are already counseling some Chinese clients to hit the pause button until President-elect Trump clarifies his stance on cross-border deals for U.S. targets, according to three advisers to Chinese clients, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Acquisitive Chinese companies have led a blockbuster year of dealmaking in 2016, accounting for about $225 billion of overseas purchases this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's more than triple the level of the same period a year earlier -- and the biggest chunk of that $225 billion has been spent in the U.S.
But one of the hallmarks of Trump's presidential campaign was an insistence that China has taken advantage of the U.S. on trade deals. He has pledged to label China a currency manipulator. He's also vowed to lower corporate taxes in an effort to tempt companies to stay in, or return to, the U.S.
Some of the biggest effects could be seen in the technology and entertainment industries, where Chinese buyers have been particularly active. Just this month, billionaire Wang Jianlin's Dalian Wanda Group Co. agreed to pay $1 billion to acquire Dick Clark Productions Inc., the television studio behind the Golden Globe awards and Miss America beauty pageant.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 11/15/2016