Trading Day – Anglo American invests $200 million in green energy venture

Anglo American will invest $200 million as part of a deal to combine its hydrogen truck venture, nuGen Zero Emissions Haulage Solution (ZEHS), with specialist engineering technology company First Mode.

Upon completion of the deal, Anglo will hold a controlling stake in First Mode.

US markets are down, with the S&P 500 closing 0.2% lower and the Nasdaq declining by 0.5%.

The Nikkei 225 is down in early morning trade, decreasing by 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index increased by 2.9%.

The CEOs of two of the largest American banks have pointed to an economic slowdown as consumer spending comes under pressure.

Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle have been awarded a Pentagon cloud deal worth $9 billion.

Here is the biggest news of the day.

• Anglo American invests $200 million to combine its hydrogen truck venture with First Mode. Specialist engineering technology company First Mode partnered with Anglo to develop the nuGen Zero Emissions Haulage Solution (ZEHS), a hydrogen-powered mine haul truck of which a prototype is already operating at its Mogalakwena mine. The new combined business will retain the name First Mode and will prioritize accelerating the development of the nuGen ZEHS. Upon completion of the deal, Anglo will hold a controlling stake in First Mode.

• Big US bank CEOs point to an economic slowdown. The CEOs of two of the largest American banks have noted that consumer spending is slowing down as the FED’s interest rate hikes take effect on the economy. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said that after two years of pandemic-fueled, double-digit growth in Bank of America card volume, “the rate of growth is slowing.” “While retail payments surged 11% so far this year to nearly $4 trillion, that increase obscures a slowdown that began in recent weeks: November spending rose just 5%,” he said. Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf cited shrinking growth in credit-card spending and roughly flat debit card transaction volumes. “There is a slowdown happening, there’s no question about it,” Scharf said. “We are expecting a fairly weak economy throughout the entire year, and hopeful that it’ll be somewhat mild relative to what it could possibly be.”

• Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle are awarded Pentagon cloud deals worth $9 billion. The Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, or JWCC, aims to rely on multiple providers of remotely operated infrastructure technology instead of being dependent on a single company. A Department of Defense spokesperson commented, “JWCC is a multiple award procurement composed of four contracts with a shared ceiling of $9 Billion.” The outcome of the contract is particularly favourable for Oracle, which is not considered to be in the top tier of companies offering cloud-based computing services.

• Bank of Canada raised rates by 0.5% to 4.25%, the highest level in nearly 15 years. The central bank eliminated the forward guidance it has used since the start of the tightening cycle, dropping language that said rates would have to rise further. “Looking ahead, Governing Council will be considering whether the policy interest rate needs to rise further to bring supply and demand back into balance and return inflation to target,” the bank said in a statement.