By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump is endorsing Congressman Jim Jordan to replace ousted U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the former president said on Friday, as the chamber’s fractious Republicans try to unify in the aftermath of McCarthy’s historic fall.

“He (Jordan) is STRONG on Crime, Borders, our Military/Vets, & 2nd Amendment. Jim, his wife, Polly, & family are outstanding – He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social app.

The post follows earlier news that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, might agree to replace McCarthy for a short time. Fox News also reported that Trump was close to endorsing Jordan.

Two Republican lawmakers are campaigning for the speakership: Representative Steve Scalise, who was second to McCarthy on the leadership ladder, and Jordan, an outspoken conservative from Ohio who has led investigations into the Biden administration.

Republicans, who control the House of Representatives by a narrow 221-212 margin, are due to hold a closed-door forum for candidates seeking the speakership on Tuesday, a meeting that the former Republican president said he could attend. A vote is expected the next day.

But acrimony and resentment over McCarthy’s ouster could make nominating a new speaker a challenge for House Republicans.

Although House rules do not require the speaker to be a member of Congress, Trump already has a lot on his plate as he faces four upcoming criminal trials, two related to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

House Republican rules prohibit a speaker who is under felony indictment.

Trump spent much of the start of the week in New York, where his civil fraud trial was getting under way, with the former reality TV star drawing the spotlight over repeated verbal attacks on the U.S. legal system, drawing a gag order from the judge.

Trump’s pull with House Republicans has been tested at times this year. Republicans initially did not respond to Trump’s call to elect McCarthy as speaker, waiting three days before doing so and subjecting McCarthy to a grueling 15 rounds of voting.

Trump has been indicted on 91 felony counts in four separate criminal cases including two that accuse him of illegally trying to subvert his 2020 presidential election loss.

Republican congressional leadership sources either did not respond to a request for comment or declined to comment on the possibility of Trump’s becoming speaker.

The meeting on Tuesday would be Trump’s first visit to Capitol Hill since his supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to prevent lawmakers from certifying his 2020 White House loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

(Reporting by David Morgan, additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, Costas Pitas, Nathan Layne and Nilutpal Timsina; Editing by Scott Malone, Howard Goller and Gerry Doyle)

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump is close to endorsing Congressman Jim Jordan to replace ousted U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Fox News reported on Thursday, as the chamber’s fractious Republicans try to unify in the aftermath of McCarthy’s historic fall.

The report from Fox anchor Sean Hannity follows earlier news that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, could agree to replace McCarthy for a short time.

Republican U.S. Representative Troy Nehls said late on Thursday he had spoken to Trump, who told him that he would endorse Jordan.

“Just had a great conversation with President Trump about the Speaker’s race. He is endorsing Jim Jordan, and I believe Congress should listen to the leader of our party,” Nehls said on X, formerly called Twitter.

Two Republican lawmakers are campaigning for the speakership: Representative Steve Scalise, who was second to McCarthy on the leadership ladder, and Jordan, an outspoken conservative from Ohio who has led investigations into the Biden administration.

Republicans, who control the House of Representatives by a narrow 221-212 margin, are due to hold a closed-door forum for candidates seeking the speakership on Tuesday, a meeting that the former Republican president said he could attend. A vote is expected the next day.

But acrimony and resentment over McCarthy’s ouster could make nominating a new speaker a challenge for House Republicans.

Although House rules do not require the speaker to be a member of Congress, Trump already has a lot on his plate as he faces four upcoming criminal trials, two related to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

House Republican rules prohibit a speaker who is under felony indictment.

Trump spent much of the start of the week in New York, where his civil fraud trial was getting under way, with the former reality TV star drawing the spotlight over repeated verbal attacks on the U.S. legal system, drawing a gag order from the judge.

Trump’s pull with House Republicans has been tested at times this year. Republicans initially did not respond to Trump’s call to elect McCarthy as speaker, waiting three days before doing so and subjecting McCarthy to a grueling 15 rounds of voting.

Trump has been indicted on 91 felony counts in four separate criminal cases including two that accuse him of illegally trying to subvert his 2020 presidential election loss.

Republican congressional leadership sources either did not respond to a request for comment or declined to comment on the possibility of Trump’s becoming speaker.

The meeting on Tuesday would be Trump’s first visit to Capitol Hill since his supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to prevent lawmakers from certifying his 2020 White House loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

(Reporting by David Morgan, additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, Costas Pitas and Nathan Layne; Editing by Scott Malone, Howard Goller and Gerry Doyle)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended just slightly lower after bouncing off session lows on Thursday as investors awaited Friday’s monthly jobs report and further possible clues on the outlook for interest rates.

U.S. data on initial claims for state unemployment benefits pointed to still-resilient labor market conditions, a day after a report showing U.S. private payrolls increased less than expected in September.

Friday’s monthly payrolls report could be the week’s most important economic news, however, investors remained concerned about whether the Federal Reserve will keep rates higher for longer.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields eased. Earlier this week, they hit their highest since 2007.

Stocks ended well off their weakest levels of the session, and strategists noted the S&P 500 was holding above its 200-day moving average, currently at around 4,206.

“It looks like we’re trying to hold here, and the reason is probably because yields have come down somewhat and these comments by Mary Daly may have also helped a little bit,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

San Francisco Fed Bank President Mary Daly said at the Economic Club of New York that with U.S. monetary policy “well into” restrictive territory and the recent rise in U.S. Treasury yields, the Fed may not need to raise rates any more.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.98 points, or 0.03%, to 33,119.57, the S&P 500 lost 5.56 points, or 0.13%, to 4,258.19 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 16.18 points, or 0.12%, to 13,219.83.

Among the day’s decliners, Clorox Co dropped 5.2% as the cleaning products maker said it expects to post a first-quarter loss.

Also, shares of Dell Technologies were down 1.5% after the company’s revenue forecast signaled that an AI boost may take longer to materialize.

After recent market weakness, investors are keen for third-quarter earnings reports to kick off mid-month. S&P 500 company earnings overall are expected to have risen 1.6% year-over-year for the quarter, according to LSEG IBES data.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.76 billion shares, compared with the 10.63 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.11-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.02-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and 39 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 24 new highs and 330 new lows.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and David Gregorio)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended just slightly lower after bouncing off session lows on Thursday as investors awaited Friday’s monthly jobs report and further possible clues on the outlook for interest rates.

U.S. data on initial claims for state unemployment benefits pointed to still-resilient labor market conditions, a day after a report showing U.S. private payrolls increased less than expected in September.

Friday’s monthly payrolls report could be the week’s most important economic news, however, investors remained concerned about whether the Federal Reserve will keep rates higher for longer.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields eased. Earlier this week, they hit their highest since 2007.

Stocks ended well off their weakest levels of the session, and strategists noted the S&P 500 was holding above its 200-day moving average, currently at around 4,206.

“It looks like we’re trying to hold here, and the reason is probably because yields have come down somewhat and these comments by Mary Daly may have also helped a little bit,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

San Francisco Fed Bank President Mary Daly said at the Economic Club of New York that with U.S. monetary policy “well into” restrictive territory and the recent rise in U.S. Treasury yields, the Fed may not need to raise rates any more.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.98 points, or 0.03%, to 33,119.57, the S&P 500 lost 5.56 points, or 0.13%, to 4,258.19 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 16.18 points, or 0.12%, to 13,219.83.

Among the day’s decliners, Clorox Co dropped 5.2% as the cleaning products maker said it expects to post a first-quarter loss.

Also, shares of Dell Technologies were down 1.5% after the company’s revenue forecast signaled that an AI boost may take longer to materialize.

After recent market weakness, investors are keen for third-quarter earnings reports to kick off mid-month. S&P 500 company earnings overall are expected to have risen 1.6% year-over-year for the quarter, according to LSEG IBES data.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.76 billion shares, compared with the 10.63 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.11-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.02-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and 39 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 24 new highs and 330 new lows.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and David Gregorio)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 ended down slightly after U.S. stocks bounced off session lows as investors awaited Friday’s monthly jobs report and further possible clues on the outlook for interest rates.

U.S. data on initial claims for state unemployment benefits pointed to still-resilient labor market conditions, a day after a report showing U.S. private payrolls increased less than expected in September.

Friday’s monthly payrolls report was expected to be the week’s most important economic news, helping to determine whether the Federal Reserve will keep rates higher for longer.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields eased. Earlier this week, they hit their highest since 2007.

Stocks ended well off session lows, and strategists noted that the S&P 500 was holding above its 200-day moving average, currently at around 4,206.

“It looks like we’re trying to hold here, and the reason is probably because yields have come down somewhat and maybe these comments by Mary Daly may have also helped a little bit,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

San Francisco Fed Bank President Mary Daly said at the Economic Club of New York that with U.S. monetary policy “well into” restrictive territory and the recent rise in U.S. Treasury yields, the Fed may not need to raise rates any more.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 5.40 points, or 0.13%, to end at 4,258.35 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 16.18 points, or 0.12%, to 13,219.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 18.92 points, or 0.06%, to 33,110.63.

Among stocks, Clorox dropped as the cleaning products maker said it expects to post a first-quarter loss.

Also, shares of Dell Technologies were down after the company’s revenue forecast signaled that an AI boost may take longer to materialize.

(Additional reporting by Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and David Gregorio)

By Geert De Clercq and Manuel Ausloos

PARIS (Reuters) -The Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s highest peak, has lost more than two metres (6.5 ft) in two years and shrunk to its lowest level since precise measurements started 22 years ago as warmer summers reduced snowpack size, researchers said on Thursday.

A team of topographers who perform measurements every two years told a news conference in Chamonix in the French Alps the mountain was now 4,805.59 metres (15766 ft) high, 2.22 metres lower than their last measurement of 4,807.81 metres (15773 ft) in September 2021.

“The top of Mont Blanc is like a dune, it moves, and it is not the first time we have measured height variations of more than two metres,” said Cecile Taffin of the UNGE surveyors union.

She added this year’s particularly low level was probably due to a lack of rain and a hot summer.

When precise GNSS satellite measurements started in September 2001, the Mont Blanc stood at 4,010.40 metres.

Between 2001 and 2013 it ranged between 4,808 and 4,810 metres with a record 4,810.90 metres (15,783.79 ft) in 2007, but from 4,810.02 metres in 2013 it has been on a downward trend.

The Mont Blanc’s rocky peak culminates at 4,792 metres but total height depends on its snowpack, which typically increases over summer, as rain on its peak turns into snow.

Farouk Kadded at Leica Geosystems said that this year, for the first time since 2015 – when scientists started measurements in June too – Mont Blanc’s snowpack in September had remained virtually unchanged from June.

“Normally, Mont Blanc gains one metre from June to September, but that did not happen this summer because several days of positive temperatures, even a record of 10 degrees Celsius,” he added.

Topographers said it was not up to them to interpret their data and that climate change specialists would put forward theories to explain this phenomenon.

Before GNSS with its centimetre precision, scientists used GPS, trigonometric estimates and barometric measurements, which can be off by several metres.

“It is hard to believe we are going to recuperate a few metres over the next two years. There is a lot of variation, but there is a slight downward trend,” Kadded said.

(Reporting by Kate Entringer, Dominique Vidalon, Manuel Ausloos and Geert De Clercq, Editing by William Maclean and Grant McCool)

By Eric Onstad

LONDON (Reuters) – The United States and partners are working on 15 projects to secure supplies of critical minerals needed for electric vehicles and the energy transition, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

The Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) formed last year by 14 governments aims to ensure adequate supplies of minerals such as lithium and rare earths to meet zero-carbon goals.

“We’re now looking at 15 projects on five continents, ranging from extraction to processing,” Jose Fernandez, U.S. State Department under secretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, told a briefing in London.

“It’s our intent is to get some deals done in the next few months.”

He declined to give details about the companies involved but said at least one of the projects is in Britain.

The MSP, co-hosted by Britain, will meet next week during the London Metal Exchange (LME) Week industry gathering, he added.

The MSP aims to facilitate deals among private companies and help with financing, including by trade banks such as the U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank (EXIM), Fernandez said.

The other members of the MSP are the European Union, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Japan, India and South Korea.

Fernandez said he was confident that the United States would seal an agreement to allow critical minerals mined or processed in Britain to qualify for U.S. clean vehicle tax breaks.

On Monday, Fernandez said the United States was optimistic about reaching such an agreement with the EU and Washington signed a minerals deal with Japan in March.

“Those conversations are intense, they’re ongoing and we have every expectation they will result in an agreement,” Fernandez said.

The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act provides a $7,500 tax credit on EVs bought in the U.S. if a percentage of critical battery minerals are sourced from the United States or a free trade partner.

(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

By Dan Levine and Hyunjoo Jin

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A Tesla engineer in court on Wednesday rejected a lawyer’s suggestion that the company named its driver-assistant feature “Full Self-Driving” because it wanted people to believe that its systems had more abilities than was really the case.

The electric-vehicle maker is defending itself at the first U.S. trial over allegations that Tesla’s Autopilot feature led to a death. The lawsuit, filed in a California state court, alleges the Autopilot system caused owner Micah Lee’s Model 3 to suddenly veer off a highway east of Los Angeles at 65 miles per hour (105 kph), strike a palm tree and burst into flames, all in the span of seconds.

The 2019 crash killed Lee and seriously injured his two passengers. The lawsuit accuses Tesla of knowing that Autopilot and other safety systems were defective when it sold the car.

Tesla denies the claims, saying it is not even clear whether Autopilot was engaged at the moment Lee’s car crashed.

The EV maker has been testing and rolling out its Autopilot and more advanced Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, which Chief Executive Elon Musk has touted as crucial to his company’s future but which has drawn regulatory and legal scrutiny.

The 37-year-old Lee bought Tesla’s “full self-driving capability package” for $6,000 for his Model 3 in 2019. At that time, the FSD package performed functions such as maintaining distance from a vehicle in front and keeping the car within the lane, Tesla engineer Eloy Rubio Blanco testified in court on Wednesday. The automaker later added more advanced features to the system.

During his testimony, Rubio rejected a suggestion from Lee’s attorney that the company chose the name “Full Self-Driving” because it hoped the public would think its vehicles had more features.

“Do I think our drivers think that our vehicles are autonomous? No,” Rubio said, according to a trial transcript seen by Reuters.

However, Rubio also acknowledged that Tesla vehicles sold in 2019 might have “latent defects” due to the complexity of the vehicle software.

He said Tesla’s driver-assistant system “has a series of limitations,” which is why a driver should override the system when needed. For example, he said an object might be detected inaccurately, leading the car to decelerate. In certain situations, he said, the automatic braking might be insufficient to avoid a collision.

Tesla asked that Rubio’s testimony be kept private due to trade secrets. The judge ejected that request, though he shut down the court’s live audio feed during Rubio’s appearance.

(Reporting by Dan Levine and Hyun-Joo Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

By Max A. Cherney

(Reuters) – Artificial intelligence chipmaker Graphcore said it needed to raise cash due to widening losses, according to a filing, as Nvidia’s dominance in AI chips has chilled funding for startups looking to compete directly.

Graphcore produces AI chips called intelligence processor units (IPUs) that aim to take on Nvidia. It reported pre-tax losses widened 11% to $204.6 million, according to a filing of its 2022 financial statements filed Wednesday. Revenue declined 46% to $2.7 million.

According to a forecast the company made through 2027, Graphcore will need to raise more cash to break even, the filing said. The company is in talks with investors to raise money but has not reached an agreement.

A spokesperson for Graphcore declined to comment on its fundraising activity.

“We’re thrilled with the results that we were able to deliver in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness compared to GPUs which set us up for commercial success in coming years,” Graphcore spokesperson Iain Mackenzie said in a statement.

Nvidia’s dominance in AI has made it more difficult for startups to access capital, as investors are less willing to make large bets on companies that compete head on.

The chipmaker closed operations in Norway, Japan, and South Korea and scaled back operations in other countries, according to the filing. The company’s headcount dropped to 494, down 21% from a year earlier, the filing said.

Graphcore has raised $711.8 million at a $2.77 billion valuation, according to PitchBook data.

(Reporting by Max A. Cherney in San Francisco)

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump may meet next week with fellow Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives when they hear from candidates who hope to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican lawmaker told Reuters on Thursday.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican who speaks regularly with Trump, said the former president is considering a trip to Washington on Tuesday to attend a closed-door forum for Republican speaker candidates.

“It’s true. He’s considering coming. I’m encouraging him to come,” she said.

A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Republican congressional leadership sources likewise did not respond, or declined to comment.

It would be Trump’s first visit to Capitol Hill since his supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to prevent lawmakers from certifying his 2020 White House loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

It was unclear whether Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, would ask lawmakers to vote for him to lead the Republican-controlled chamber. Greene said she supports that idea.

“I would love to nominate him for speaker of the House in our forum, and I’m hoping that he will be a candidate,” she said.

Before entering the courtroom for his civil fraud trial on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged the calls for him to serve as speaker but said he remained focused on the 2024 election.

House rules do not require the speaker to actually be a member of Congress. However, Republicans require leaders to step aside if they are indicted for a felony that carries a prison sentence of at least two years.

Trump has been indicted on 91 felony counts in four separate criminal cases including two that accuse him of illegally trying to subvert his 2020 presidential election loss.

The House is currently leaderless after a rebellious faction of Republicans forced a vote on Tuesday that removed McCarthy from his post.

Two Republican lawmakers are campaigning for the job: Representative Steve Scalise, who was second to McCarthy on the leadership ladder, and Representative Jim Jordan, an outspoken conservative who has led investigations into the Biden administration. At least one other, Representative Kevin Hern, has said he may run for the post as well.

Republicans are due to meet next Tuesday behind closed doors to hear from their speaker candidates. A vote is scheduled for the following day.

To win the speaker’s gavel, a candidate must win a majority of votes in the 435-seat chamber. That could be difficult as Republicans hold a narrow 221-212 majority and Democrats are expected to vote for their leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan, David Morgan and Nathan Layne; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)