(Reuters) -S&P Global Ratings revised Ireland’s outlook to “positive” from “stable” on Friday, citing extraordinary overperformance in corporate tax receipt collections, while peer agency Fitch affirmed its ratings at “AA” with a “stable” outlook.

“The positive outlook reflects the significant fiscal overperformance, particularly driven by corporation tax receipts, which are rebuilding the Irish government’s fiscal buffers,” S&P said.

Ireland’s tax collection increased by 14.9% in the first 10 months of the year, compared with the same period in 2023, as the first portion of a 14 billion euro ($14.74 billion) back-tax windfall boosted already healthy revenues.

According to Fitch, the country has a prudent domestic fiscal framework designed to mitigate risks from the large and highly-concentrated windfall corporate tax revenue.

An explosion in corporate tax revenues, mainly paid by a few large U.S. multinationals, has handed Ireland one of Europe’s few budget surpluses, and a one-off collection of back taxes from Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is set to push that surplus to 7.5% of national income this year.

S&P estimates the Irish government will run a fiscal surplus equivalent to 7.4% of national income, 2.8% excluding the Apple’s windfall, still the highest in the eurozone.

Fitch expects Ireland’s budget surplus for 2024 to be 4.3% of gross domestic product — 1.5% excluding revenue from Apple.

“In our view, the government’s plans to stash a large portion of future surpluses into newly setup savings funds will improve Ireland’s fiscal and economic resilience,” S&P added.

S&P affirmed the “AA/A-1+” long- and short-term ratings for the country.

Both Fitch and S&P upgraded Ireland’s ratings in May due to its fiscal framework, Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) followed in August with an outlook revision to “positive” and affirmed its ratings.

($1 = 0.9498 euros)

By Anthony Esposito and Ana Isabel Martinez

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico expects its budget deficit next year to come down to 3.9% of GDP as growth increases, Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O said on Friday, as the government plans hefty spending cuts including to defense and security.

Latin America’s second-largest economy is seen expanding between 2% and 3% next year, speeding up from the projected 1.5% to 2.5% growth in 2024, according to the proposed budget.

That is significantly higher than the IMF forecast, which sees 2025 growth at 1.3%.

The government has been under pressure to narrow the deficit which is expected to close the year at 5.9% of GDP, the highest since the 1980s, while also fulfilling promises to increase welfare programs.

The finance ministry said growth was backed by a strong labor market, robust private consumption and high levels of public and private investment.

But some analysts said the forecasts appeared overly optimistic.

“The rosy estimates make it unlikely that the deficit and debt forecasts are reached,” said Gabriela Siller, an analyst at Banco BASE.

Siller highlighted the risk to investment in Mexico posed by the re-election in the U.S. of former President Donald Trump, who has called for tariff increases on Mexican goods, as well as constitutional reforms to Mexico’s judiciary that have spooked investors.

Ramirez de la O stressed that spending would look for growth while prioritizing social programs to reduce inequality.

The budget proposal will now be debated by lawmakers in Congress, where President Claudia Sheinbaum’s party and its allies hold strong majorities in both chambers.

The exchange rate for Mexico’s currency is seen at 18.7 pesos to the U.S. dollar by the end of 2025, significantly stronger than current levels around 20 pesos.

The budget assumes an average oil export price of $57.80 per barrel next year. The key oil price is used to estimate a large amount of government revenue.

Proposed spending cuts show the Mexican government deprioritizing sectors such as defense, with a 44% cut compared to the last budget, and security which saw a 36% cut.

Environmental spending was also down 39% despite expectations that Sheinbaum, a scientist who has worked on climate change, would put greater emphasis on the environment.

Spending for state oil company Pemex is shown down 7.5%. The government also expects to transfer 136 billion pesos ($6.69 billion) to Pemex next year to help the heavily indebted firm meet its debt and loan repayments.

“In general terms the budget proposal meets expectations: it shows a considerable reduction in the deficit without fueling concern of a potential economic recession,” analysts at CIBanco wrote in a note.

The economic outlook is optimistic, the analysts added, which “should be enough to remove one more fear from investors.”

Ratings agencies should react to the news in the next week, the CIBanco analysts said, with an outlook downgrade from Fitch possible.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) Ratings downgraded Mexico’s outlook to “negative” on Thursday.

(Reuters) -Eyenovia said on Friday it will discontinue a late-stage study for its experimental drug-device combination to treat near-sightedness and cut about 50% of its workforce.

Shares of the company were down nearly 70% at close of trading on Friday.

The drug, a low-dose atropine, was being tested with the company’s experimental drug-delivery device, Optejet, as a potential treatment for progressive myopia in children aged between 3 and 12.

An independent committee reviewed the safety and efficacy data from 252 trial participants and found that the rate of myopia progression was not significantly different between the treatment arm and placebo.

All doses of the drug appeared to be well-tolerated with “mild and infrequent” side-effects, the company said.

Optejet delivers the drug in microdoses and reduces chances of overdosing compared to conventional eyedroppers, according to the company.

The drug developer said it plans to review the data more thoroughly and evaluate strategic options, including a business combination, reverse merger and/or sale of assets.

The company said its remaining staff will be focused on the development of the second generation of Optejet.

Earlier this year, Eyenovia (NASDAQ:EYEN) had gained U.S. approval for its eye drops to reduce inflammation and pain in patients who have undergone eye surgery.

The company also markets a pupil-dilating spray, Mydcombi, for use with Optejet during eye examinations.

By Nelson Renteria

NUEVO CUSCATLAN, El Salvador (Reuters) – Bitcoin enthusiasts meeting in El Salvador on Friday said a recent surge in the cryptocurrency’s value since Donald Trump’s U.S. election win has heightened their expectations the price will rise further and it will be adopted more broadly globally.

Dozens of domestic and foreign ‘bitcoiners’ met at the Adopting Bitcoin conference just outside the Salvadoran capital, with the Central American country hyping its status as a hub for the promotion of digital currency trading.

Three years ago, President Nayib Bukele made El Salvador the first country in the world to establish Bitcoin as legal tender, alongside the U.S. dollar. The decision drew criticism from the International Monetary Fund, with whom the country is negotiating a $1.3 billion loan.

Bitcoin, which was trading above $90,000 on Friday, rallied to an all-time high after Trump secured his new term in office, set to begin in January. Investors see the incoming president as a cryptocurrency champion who will slash regulations.

“Trump understands what it’s like to be a capitalist, he’s going to get out of the way and remove regulations that are not necessary,” said Charlie Stevens, a 27-year-old Irishman who has lived in El Salvador for a year and a half.

“Bitcoin is growing very, very fast, in front of the eyes of the whole world. And the whole world has its eyes on El Salvador,” he added.

Bukele’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency has had a heady if volatile rise, trading at around $8,000 five years ago, and starting this year at around $42,000.

In January, Vice President Felix Ulloa told Reuters that El Salvador would remain committed to the digital currency, despite scarce use of Bitcoin among Salvadorans and some technical issues.

(Reuters) – Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee on Friday signaled he feels the U.S. central bank will likely end up cutting the policy rate by another quarter of a percentage point this year and a full percentage point further next year, as Fed policymakers projected in September . 

“I think we are going to be looking at rates coming down over the next year along the line the dot-plot said,” Goolsbee told Bloomberg TV, referring to Fed projections released in September that depict the rate-path forecasts of the Fed’s 19 policymakers as dots on a chart.

The median view of that dot plot was for the Fed policy rate to end this year at 4.4%, a quarter of a percentage point below where it is today, and to be 3.4% by the end of next year. 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s government efficiency panel wants “high IQ” employees and plans weekly livestreams, according to X posts about President-elect Donald Trump’s initiative to streamline the U.S. bureaucracy.

Trump named Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the panel on Tuesday. Their mission is to propose dramatic cuts to the federal workforce, regulations and spending.

Given the ambitious claims made by Musk and Trump about the panel’s ability to transform the U.S. government, the group has received widespread publicity and interest in how it will operate.

Ramaswamy said on X on Friday that the weekly livestreams will begin soon. Before last week’s presidential election, Ramaswamy, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur, and Musk spoke about government and American culture in live broadcasts on X, which is owned by Musk.

The two on Thursday solicited resumes from “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.” The appeal was posted on X by a new account for the efficiency panel.

In a Thursday evening speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said that the body will issue individual reports on its work and “a big one” at the end, which is slated for July 4, 2026.

Ramaswamy has spoken frequently about the parts of the U.S. government where he sees a need for extensive change.

For example, he said on X on Friday there is too much bureaucracy leading to less innovation and higher costs at the Food and Drug Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and “countless other 3-letter agencies.”

It was not clear whether the panel would be an official government body or an outside advisory group. Federal commissions are required to hold public hearings.

Congress has power over the federal budget under the Constitution so any major spending cuts would need its approval.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The Mexican government expects to transfer 136 billion pesos ($6.69 billion) to state oil producer Pemex next year to help the heavily indebted firm meet its debt and loan repayments, a budget proposal showed on Friday.

Pemex has debt payments of nearly $9 billion coming due on bonds next year, part of its $97.3 billion in financial liabilities. Ratings agencies have long criticized the firm for its reliance on government support to shore up its finances.

President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in October, has said that her government will continue to support Pemex and state-owned electric utility CFE (EBR:CFEB) because of the key role they play.

The transfer to Pemex is dependent on the company improving its balance sheet by the same amount, according to the budget proposal. Congress must now debate and vote on the bill.

Pemex has received around 150 billion pesos this year to meet its debt obligations.

Under the administration of Sheinbaum’s predecessor, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Pemex received billions of dollars to pay down its debt, boost oil output and build a refinery that is just starting to produce fuel.

($1 = 20.3310 Mexican pesos)

By Anirban Sen and Ernest Scheyder

(Reuters) -Compass Minerals is in talks with private-equity firms to sell itself, three sources familiar with the matter said, after an aborted lithium-mining project hit shares of the minerals producer, which is worth about $1.5 billion including debt.

Overland Park, Kansas-based Compass has been working with its investment bankers for several weeks to evaluate acquisition interest from several buyout firms, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential.

The talks are advanced and a deal could be signed in the coming weeks, the sources said. But they warned a deal was not certain.

The company’s shares jumped more than 30% on Friday after Reuters reported its talks with potential suitors.

A spokesperson for the company declined to comment.

Compass produces salt for the transportation and food industries, as well as fire retardants and fertilizers.

Compass became an acquisition target after its shares lost more than half their value this year up to Thursday’s close. The company shut down its lithium unit, which used to produce electric-vehicle battery metal for automakers such as Ford Motor (NYSE:F), disappointing investors.

Earlier this year, Compass canceled plans to develop a large lithium project in Utah after facing intense opposition from regulators, who argued it would have a detrimental environmental impact on the Great Salt Lake.

Mild weather has also hurt its mineral salts business in its most recent quarterly results. In May, the company said it would reduce its debt pile and not pay out dividends to free up cash.

For the quarter ended June 30, Compass’ revenue fell slightly to $203 million, while it swung to a net loss of $43.6 million.

BAKU (Reuters) – Cancelling the U.S. electric vehicle tax credit would be counterproductive and cede ground to car-makers in China, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters on Friday at the COP29 climate conference in Baku.

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is planning to kill the $7,500 consumer tax credit as part of broader tax-reform legislation, Reuters reported Thursday.

“It would be so counterproductive,” she said when asked about the report. “You eliminate these credits, and what do you do? You end up ceding the territory to other countries, particularly China.”

By Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Strong U.S. economic and inflation data on Friday continued reshaping the debate among Federal Reserve policymakers over the pace and extent of interest rate cuts as investors further downgraded their expectations for a rate reduction at the central bank’s December meeting.

In the latest round of comments on U.S. monetary policy, Fed officials continued to express faith that inflation was coming under control and would allow the central bank to lower its benchmark rate over time from the current 4.5% to 4.75% range, a level felt to discourage spending and investment, to a more neutral setting.

But how fast that happens, and what level represents “neutral,” remain under debate, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday saying the economy’s continued strength meant the Fed could take its time with the discussion.

The signs of increasing hesitancy over what a month ago had been baked-in expectations for a quick run of cuts into next year comes as a major political shift is underway following Donald Trump’s victory in last week’s presidential election, with Wall Street trying to reconcile what it sees as further inflationary pressures arising in the year ahead as the incoming Republican president pushes for tax cuts, higher tariffs and a crackdown on immigration.

Fed officials have so far been reluctant to say they are taking that into account, but investors already are and market bets on how quickly and how much the Fed will cut rates have ratcheted down over the last week.

Boston Fed President Susan Collins on Friday said she did not see a big urgency to lower rates but did not rule out another rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting on Dec. 17-18.

“I certainly wouldn’t take December off the table. But again, we’re not on a preset path and so we’ll have a look carefully at the data and see what make sense when we get” to the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting, she told Bloomberg TV.

DATA SURPRISES TO UPSIDE, AGAIN

Data that arrived Friday morning continued firmer than expected, with strong retail sales and rising prices for imported goods. After the data, traders reduced bets on a December rate cut to around a 60% chance from about 70% on Thursday.

Citigroup (NYSE:C)’s gauge of the degree to which incoming data exceeds consensus expectations among economists was at a seven-month high as of Thursday ahead of the stronger-than-expected retail sales figures.

Speaking to CNBC, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said a raft of recent numbers, including a weak October jobs report, may have been influenced by storm and strike events, and noted that a previous jump in import costs proved a mere “bump.”

His broad expectation is that inflation will continue to fall towards the Fed’s 2% target, acknowledging that one important indicator, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index stripped of food and energy costs, remains “too high” at an estimated 2.8% for October.

“As long as we keep making progress towards the 2% inflation goal over the next 12 to 18 months, rates will be a lot lower then they are now,” Goolsbee said.

But if Fed officials disagree on where they see the “neutral” stopping point, “it does make sense to start slowing at some point how rapidly you are getting there just to figure out…are we at neutral, are we getting close?”

Fed policymakers in a set of economic projections issued in September anticipated at the median that the policy rate would fall to 2.9% some time in 2026. Investors in contracts tied to that rate now see rates staying as much as a percentage point higher then that.