(Reuters) -Chipmaker Wolfspeed (NYSE:WOLF) said on Monday that its board ousted Gregg Lowe as its CEO without cause, amid growing challenges from slowing demand for electric vehicles, sending its shares up about 6%.

The Durham, North Carolina-based company faced manufacturing issues at its factory, which it has announced will be shut down. It has also been struggling with slowing orders from the industrial and energy end markets.

Between a weak demand environment, Wolfspeed’s existing restructuring plan and reduced capital expenditure for fiscal 2025, the new management cannot do much to ignite a rally in the shares other than a full-on sale, analysts at Charter Equity Research said.

Wolfspeed’s shares are down about 85% so far this year, widely underperforming the S&P 500 and the Philadelphia semiconductor index.

The company, which makes chips using silicon carbide (SiC), a more energy-efficient material than standard silicon, counts General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Mercedes-Benz (OTC:MBGAF) among its customers.

Lowe, who has served as the company’s CEO since 2017, will receive a severance payment as part of the settlement, the company said in a filing.

Lowe did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The company also named Chairman Thomas Werner as executive chairman and said its board was conducting a search for a permanent CEO.

Wolfspeed had forecast quarterly revenue below Wall Street estimates earlier this month and said it would book $174 million in restructuring charges for the planned closure of a facility.

The company also announced to lay off 20% of its workforce on its latest post-earnings call. Last month, it had also dropped plans to build a factory in Ensdorf, Germany, citing the slower adoption of EVs in Europe.

By David Shepardson

(Reuters) -New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted on Monday to implement a $9 congestion mitigation charge for driving in Manhattan starting on Jan. 5, a move aimed at raising billions for mass transit and cutting traffic.

The congestion charge, the first of its kind in the United States, was revived last week by Governor Kathy Hochul after she had put it on indefinite hold in June.

London implemented a similar fee in 2003, which is now 15 pounds ($19).

New York plans to charge a $9 toll during daytime hours for passenger vehicles driving in Manhattan south of 60th Street after scrapping an earlier plan to charge $15 that would have started on June 30.

New York still requires a final approval from the U.S. Transportation Department, which MTA hopes it can receive quickly. There are still a number of court challenges pending.

The MTA said the toll will result in at least 80,000 fewer vehicles entering the zone daily, “relieving crowding in what is today the most congested district in the United States.”

New York is racing to implement the charge before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump said last week he strongly disagreed with the decision to implement the fee.

Hochul said the toll is crucial to making new investment in subways and buses in New York, and that it will support $15 billion in debt financing for mass transit improvement.

Trucks and buses will pay up to $21.60, and there will be 75% discounts for traveling at night. The fee will be charged once a day regardless of how many trips are made for car owners, while taxis will pay 75 cents per trip in the Manhattan zone and Uber (NYSE:UBER) or Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) vehicles reserved by app will pay $1.50 per trip.

Drivers traveling on the highways that ring Manhattan in the zone will not be charged.

The MTA has said the fee would cut traffic by 17%, improve air quality, and increase mass transit use by 1% to 2%. In the aftermath of the delay, the MTA said in June it was putting $16.5 billion in capital projects on hold but will now move forward with those projects.

New York has said that more than 700,000 vehicles enter the Manhattan central business district daily, reducing travel speeds to around 7 miles (11 km) per hour on average, which is down 23% since 2010, MTA said.

($1 = 0.7891 pounds)

By Marcela Ayres

(Reuters) – Brazil’s central bank chief, Roberto Campos Neto, said on Monday that monetary policy is being driven to some extent by fiscal policy as risk premiums on long-term interest rates rise amid fears over the country’s debt trajectory.

“I don’t think Brazil’s fiscal reality is an imminent disaster,” he said at an event in Sao Paulo hosted by Consulting House, adding, “We can make course corrections.”

He said Brazil has “many tools and ample capacity to deliver a positive fiscal shock and turn things around,” but added that the timing of announcements was “super relevant.”

The government of leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has signaled that it plans new fiscal measures to support the fiscal framework introduced last year.

Fears that rapidly rising mandatory expenditures could render the new framework unsustainable in the short term have injected volatility into local markets.

Finance Minister Fernando Haddad had indicated that these measures could be announced last week, but the delay has kept markets in suspense, fueling uncertainty that has driven long-term interest rates higher, and weakened Brazil’s currency, the real.

Campos Neto said a positive fiscal shock would have a significant impact on markets if it changed the outlook for Brazil’s public debt trajectory.

He also said there was a perception of some softening in economic activity, but no strong evidence to support it.

Policymakers highlighted the stronger-than-expected performance of Latin America’s largest economy as a key factor in their decision to launch a tightening cycle in September, even as advanced economies have been shifting to monetary easing.

In the minutes of the central bank’s latest policy meeting, when it raised rates by 50 basis points to 11.25%, it noted early signs of moderation in indicators such as trade and earnings. However, policymakers stressed this did not signal a turning point in the labor market or economic growth.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has increased its 12-month base case price target on the S&P 500 to 6,500, the firm’s equity strategist Michael Wilson and other strategists wrote in a note on Monday.

The benchmark index was last at 5,893.

According to the note, the firm expects the recent broadening in U.S. earnings growth to continue in 2025 as the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates into next year and as business cycle indicators improve further.

“A potential rise in corporate animal spirits post the election (as we saw following the 2016 election) could catalyze a more balanced earnings profile across the market in 2025,” the strategists added.

Republican Donald Trump this month won a second term as U.S. president. He was elected U.S. president for the first time in 2016.

The firm remains bullish on “quality cyclicals,” noting that financials remain its “favored overweight” following an upgrade in early October.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A tight U.S. labor market is still adding to inflationary pressures, though less so than it did in 2022 and 2023, according to research published on Monday by the San Francisco Federal Reserve.

“Declines in excess demand pushed inflation down almost three-quarters of a percentage point over the past two years,” San Francisco Fed economists Regis (NASDAQ:RGS) Barnichon and Adam Hale Shapiro wrote in the regional Fed bank’s latest Economic Letter. “However, elevated demand continued to contribute 0.3 to 0.4 percentage point to inflation as of September 2024.” 

The finding, based on an analysis of the relationship between inflation and labor market heat as measured by the ratio of job openings to job seekers, could help inform Fed policymakers as they weigh how much further and at what pace to reduce short-term borrowing costs. 

The U.S. central bank began lowering its policy rate in September in response to a slowdown in inflation and cooling of the job market. After a second rate cut earlier this month, the rate now sits in the 4.50%-4.75% range. U.S. central bankers believe that level is high enough to keep the brakes on the economy, but there is broad internal disagreement over how restrictive the rate is, and therefore about when and how much to cut it further.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who has followed the sharp decline in the job-openings to job-seeker ratio closely, has said he believes labor demand is now in rough balance with supply and that the job market is no longer a source of significant inflationary pressures. 

The San Francisco Fed research suggests the job market continues to be a source of inflation, which Powell estimates was 2.3% in October by the Fed’s targeted measure, and 2.8% by a measure stripping out food and energy that the Fed uses to gauge underlying inflationary pressures. 

The U.S. central bank aims for 2% inflation.

By Steve Holland

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump’s search for a Treasury secretary is widening after it stalled over the weekend and he is looking at other candidates, two sources briefed on the matter said on Monday.

Banker Howard Lutnick and investor Scott Bessent had been lead candidates for the top Treasury job in the new Trump administration, Reuters reported last week. However, no announcement about the position was made and the team has widened the search, the two sources said.

Among the other names being considered are Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) Chief Executive Marc Rowan, one of the sources said, confirming earlier reporting by the New York Times (NYSE:NYT) and the Wall Street Journal, which said that Trump was also considering former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh.

Rowan and Warsh did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Bessent declined to comment. A spokesperson for Lutnick declined to comment.

It was unclear if any candidates had been ruled out or if other names could be added to the mix. A number of other people have also been speculated for the position.

The Treasury secretary role is one of the highest-profile cabinet posts, overseeing the country’s financial and economic policy. As such, it is one of the key roles being watched by global investors and Wall Street.

As of Sunday, Trump was also considering Lutnick for another economic job, possibly that of commerce secretary, the source briefed on the matter told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Two top Trump advisers, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is Trump’s pick to head the Health and Human Services Department, sided with Lutnick for the position, sending supportive posts on social media.

Musk did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment beyond his post on X. A spokesperson for Kennedy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PARIS (Reuters) -French luxury group Kering (EPA:PRTP) said on Monday it had named Cedric Charbit as CEO of fashion house Saint Laurent, choosing a leader for its second largest fashion label from within its ranks.

He replaces Francesca Bellettini, who has also been group deputy CEO since last year, overseeing brand development, including jewellery labels.

Charbit, currently chief executive of smaller fashion label Balenciaga, also owned by Kering, will be replaced by Gianfranco Gianangeli.

The executives take up their positions on Jan. 2, reporting to Bellettini, Kering said in a statement.

“These evolutions further reinforce our organisation,” said Kering Chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault, noting Bellettini would now be able to focus on her deputy CEO role.

Kering has undergone a sweeping overhaul in recent months, reshuffling the upper management of the company as it seeks to revive sales growth at its star label Gucci, which fell behind rivals during the pandemic and is struggling to regain traction amid an industry slump.

Last month, the group named Stefano Cantino CEO of Gucci after an interim period in which it was run by Jean-Francois Palus, Pinault’s longtime right-hand man.

Charbit has been CEO of Balenciaga for eight years, and worked at Saint Laurent before that.

Gianangeli, formerly CEO of Maison Margiela, has been chief commercial officer for Saint Laurent since last year.

By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden pledged a $4 billion U.S. contribution to the World Bank’s International Development Association fund for the world’s poorest countries, two sources with knowledge of the commitment said on Monday.

Biden announced the U.S. pledge during a closed session of the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The amount is a record and substantially exceeds the $3.5 billion Washington committed in the previous IDA fund replenishment round in December 2021.

A White House spokesperson in Washington declined comment on the World Bank’s IDA replenishment.

It is unclear if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has proposed cutting foreign aid in the past, will honor Biden’s pledge as he and billionaire Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk seek to slash U.S. spending through a new government efficiency panel. An appropriation by the U.S. Congress to fund the commitment would not likely take place until after Trump takes office in January.

A spokesperson for Trump’s transition team could not immediately be reached for comment.

‘HISTORIC’ PLEDGE

Earlier in Rio de Janeiro, U.S. deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer told reporters that Biden would announce a “historic” pledge to the IDA replenishment.

Finer also told reporters at a briefing on the G20 summit that Biden will launch a bilateral clean energy partnership when he meets Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday.

The World Bank’s IDA fund, which provides mainly grants and very low interest loans to the poorest countries, is replenished every three years, and a pledging conference is scheduled for Dec. 6.

World Bank President Ajay Banga is aiming for a record amount exceeding the $93 billion refunding in December 2021, amid rising demands from poor nations in Africa and elsewhere that are struggling with crushing debts, climate disasters, conflict and other pressures.

Banga told Reuters in October that a $120 billion replenishment is possible, but that goal would require some substantial increases in country commitments.

Biden’s new U.S. commitment is about 14.3% higher than its 2021 contribution. At the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in October, Spain announced plans to boost its contribution by 37% to 400 million euros ($423 million).

Denmark in September announced a 40% increase in its contribution to about $492 million.

(This story has been corrected to clarify that Biden announces ‘historic’ pledge to IDA, not Trump, in paragraph 6)

By Carlos Vargas and Nelson Bocanegra

BOGOTA (Reuters) -Colombia’s economy grew 2.0% year-on-year in the third quarter, the government’s DANE statistics agency said on Monday.

The result came in below market expectations of 2.3% in a Reuters poll last week and the central bank technical team’s 2.4% forecast.

The economy grew by 0.2% from the second quarter, DANE added.

The year-on-year expansion was driven by entertainment, which grew 14.1%, agriculture, which grew 10.7%, and finance, which expanded 4.4%, DANE director Piedad Urdinola told a press conference.

The mining sector contracted by 7.1%, while manufacturing shrank 1.3%, DANE said.

Private investment in the third quarter was up 22.7% year-on-year, DANE said.

For the first nine months of 2024, economic output was up 1.6% year-on-year.

Inflation stood at 5.41% in October, well above the central bank’s 3% target. Since last December, it has cut its benchmark interest rate by 325 basis points to 9.75%.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Inflationary expectations among Russian households for the year ahead stood at 13.4% in November, unchanged from October, yet still at their highest level for the year, the central bank said on Monday.

The central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 21% last month, the highest level in over 20 years, citing high inflation and elevated inflationary expectations as the main reasons for the move.

The central bank board will convene for the next rate-setting meeting on Dec. 20.