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Chinese Hackers Target U.S. Critical Infrastructure in Cyber Espionage ScareBy John Kemp , senior energy analyst at JKempEnergy Europe’s gas inventories have depleted at the fastest rate for eight years, as the region has experienced repeated bouts of colder-than-normal temperatures and low wind speeds since the start of the winter heating season. Combined inventories in underground storage across the European Union and the United Kingdom dropped by 83 terawatt-hours (TWh) between the official start of winter on October 1 and November 26. Stocks have fallen more than four times faster than the average over the last ten years, and by the most for any year since 2016, according to data from operators compiled by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE). Inventories were still 58 TWh (+6% or +0.55 standard deviations) above the prior ten-year seasonal average on November 26, but the surplus had narrowed from 122 TWh (+13% or +1.38 standard deviations) at the start of winter. Storage facilities across the region were 87% full on average, sharply lower than 97% on the same date in 2023 and 94% in 2022. Northwest Europe has experienced a colder start to the winter this year , after exceptionally mild winters in 2023/24 and 2022/23, which has boosted heating demand. With the heating season now approaching the 20% mark, Frankfurt has experienced 377 heating degree days, close to the average for the last ten years, but many more than in 2023 (303) and 2022 (345). London has so far shivered through 327 heating degree days, the coldest start to the winter for five years, and well above the number in 2023 (268) and 2022 (219). While colder temperatures have boosted heating demand, wind speeds in the North Sea have been below normal, cutting generation from offshore wind farms and forcing more reliance on gas-fired units. Based on inventory movements over the last decade, EU and UK stocks are currently on course to end the winter around 468 TWh (with a likely range from 293 TWh to 573 TWh). The projected carryout is already much lower than the 532 TWh (with a likely range from 349 TWh to 718 TWh) when the winter began. On this course, inventories will end the winter almost 30% below record carryouts at the end of winter 2023/24 and 2022/23. TOUGHER REFILL SEASON Stocks are still comfortable but can no longer be described as plentiful and prices have risen to discourage consumption and attract more liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to the region. Front-month futures prices on the Dutch Title Transfer Facility have averaged €44 per megawatt-hour so far in November up from €36 in September and just €26 in February. After adjusting for inflation, front-month prices in November are in the 87th percentile for all months since 2010 up from the 43rd percentile in February, signalling the need to conserve stocks and attract more supply. But the greatest futures price increases have been for deliveries after this winter ends, in the second and third quarters of 2025. Because of the much bigger depletion this winter, traders anticipate Europe will need to buy much more gas to refill its storage facilities in the summer of 2025 than was the case in the summers of 2024 and 2023. Futures prices for the summer of 2025 (April-September) have recently traded as much as €4 per megawatt-hour above those for the winter of 2025/26 (October-March). The unusual backwardation is a sign traders expect Europe will have to pay more next summer to refill storage and ensure stocks are back to a comfortable level ahead of winter 2025/26. Europe will have to attract more LNG cargoes away from the fast-growing gas markets in Asia next summer and that implies higher prices. In most seasonal commodity markets, the biggest risk of shortages comes not from a single disruption but repeated disruptions in successive years. Inventories are normally enough to absorb one unexpected supply disruption or demand shock but that will leave them depleted and poorly prepared in the event of a second disruption or shock. Europe’s major challenge is what would happen if winter 2024/25 remains colder-than-normal and is followed by another cold winter in 2025/26. To minimise that risk, depleted inventories will have to rebuilt during the summer of 2025, and traders are already betting that will prove expensive as Europe competes for more gas with fast-growing economies in Asia.
Deep-pocketed investors have adopted a bullish approach towards Applied Mat AMAT , and it's something market players shouldn't ignore. Our tracking of public options records at Benzinga unveiled this significant move today. The identity of these investors remains unknown, but such a substantial move in AMAT usually suggests something big is about to happen. We gleaned this information from our observations today when Benzinga's options scanner highlighted 17 extraordinary options activities for Applied Mat. This level of activity is out of the ordinary. The general mood among these heavyweight investors is divided, with 52% leaning bullish and 41% bearish. Among these notable options, 9 are puts, totaling $508,082, and 8 are calls, amounting to $841,880. Predicted Price Range Based on the trading activity, it appears that the significant investors are aiming for a price territory stretching from $115.0 to $220.0 for Applied Mat over the recent three months. Insights into Volume & Open Interest Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for Applied Mat's options for a given strike price. Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of Applied Mat's whale trades within a strike price range from $115.0 to $220.0 in the last 30 days. Applied Mat Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days Noteworthy Options Activity: Symbol PUT/CALL Trade Type Sentiment Exp. Date Ask Bid Price Strike Price Total Trade Price Open Interest Volume AMAT CALL TRADE NEUTRAL 09/19/25 $11.3 $10.9 $11.1 $200.00 $444.0K 735 403 AMAT CALL SWEEP BULLISH 01/16/26 $18.85 $18.65 $18.8 $190.00 $110.9K 146 62 AMAT PUT SWEEP BULLISH 03/21/25 $7.3 $7.15 $7.15 $155.00 $100.8K 1.1K 153 AMAT PUT TRADE BEARISH 01/17/25 $20.0 $19.7 $20.0 $185.00 $100.0K 1.6K 50 AMAT CALL SWEEP BULLISH 04/17/25 $10.9 $10.65 $10.9 $175.00 $87.2K 888 81 About Applied Mat Applied Materials Inc is the largest semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment, or WFE, manufacturer in the world. Applied Materials has a broad portfolio spanning nearly every corner of the WFE ecosystem. Specifically, Applied Materials holds a market share leadership position in deposition, which entails the layering of new materials on semiconductor wafers. It is more exposed to general-purpose logic chips made at integrated device manufacturers and foundries. It counts the largest chipmakers in the world as customers, including TSMC, Intel, and Samsung. Having examined the options trading patterns of Applied Mat, our attention now turns directly to the company. This shift allows us to delve into its present market position and performance Applied Mat's Current Market Status With a volume of 1,007,647, the price of AMAT is down -1.41% at $165.18. RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold. Next earnings are expected to be released in 48 days. What Analysts Are Saying About Applied Mat A total of 3 professional analysts have given their take on this stock in the last 30 days, setting an average price target of $194.66666666666666. Unusual Options Activity Detected: Smart Money on the Move Benzinga Edge's Unusual Options board spots potential market movers before they happen. See what positions big money is taking on your favorite stocks. Click here for access .* Consistent in their evaluation, an analyst from Bernstein keeps a Outperform rating on Applied Mat with a target price of $210. * An analyst from Wells Fargo has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on Applied Mat, which currently sits at a price target of $210. * An analyst from Morgan Stanley downgraded its action to Underweight with a price target of $164. Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely. If you want to stay updated on the latest options trades for Applied Mat, Benzinga Pro gives you real-time options trades alerts. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.The ‘Queen Never Cry’ meme has all the babes locked in
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Are We Ready for Robots with Paychecks? The Surprising TruthThe official Congressional portrait of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor in his second administration, elevating a Republican congresswoman who has strong support from unions in her district but lost reelection in November. Chavez-DeRemer will have to be confirmed by the Senate, which will be under Republican control when Trump takes office on Jan. 20, 2025, and can formally send nominations to Capitol Hill. Here are things to know about the labor secretary-designate, the agency she would lead if she wins Senate approval and how she could matter to Trump’s encore presidency. A brief from national law firm details her education in the Central Valley and business background. “After growing up in the San Joaquin Valley and earning a business administration degree from Fresno State, Chavez-DeRemer founded an anesthesia management company with her husband in Oregon. She began her public service career in 2002, winning a seat on the Happy Valley City Council and becoming Council President. In 2010, she was elected Mayor of Happy Valley, a suburb of Portland, OR. After two failed attempts, she won Oregon’s 5th district Congressional seat in 2022. During a single term in Congress, she served on the Committee on Education and the Workforce and held several workplace-related subcommittee assignments. She just narrowly lost her reelection bid – but appears poised to return to D.C. in a much different capacity.” Chavez-DeRemer is a one-term congresswoman, having lost reelection in her competitive Oregon district earlier this month. But in her short stint on Capitol Hill she has established a clear record on workers’ rights and organized labor issues that belie the Republican Party’s usual alliances with business interests. She was an enthusiastic back of the PRO Act, legislation that would make it easier to unionize on a federal level. The bill, one of Democratic President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, passed the House during Biden’s first two years in office, when Democrats controlled the chamber. But it never had a chance of attracting enough Republican senators to reach the 60 votes required to avoid a filibuster in the Senate. Chavez-DeRemer also co-sponsored another piece of legislation that would protect public-sector workers from having their Social Security benefits docked because of government pension benefits. That proposal also has lingered for a lack of GOP support. Chavez-DeRemer may give labor plenty to like, but union leaders are not necessarily cheering yet. Many of them still do not trust Trump. The president-elect certainly has styled himself as a friend of the working class. His bond with blue-collar, non-college educated Americans is a core part of his political identity and helped him chip away at Democrats’ historical electoral advantage in households with unionized workers. But he was also the president who chose business-friendly appointees to the National Labor Relations Board during his 2017-21 term and generally has backed policies that would make it harder for workers to unionize. He criticized union bosses on the campaign trail, and at one point suggested members of the United Auto Workers should not pay their dues. His administration did expand overtime eligibility rules, but not nearly as much as Democrats wanted, and a Trump-appointed judge has since struck down the Biden administration’s more generous overtime rules. And though Trump distanced himself from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 during the campaign, he has since his victory warmed to some of the people involved in that conservative blueprint that, broadly speaking, would tilt power in the workplace even more toward employers and corporations. Among other ideas, the plan also would curb enforcement of workplace safety regulations. After Trump’s announcement Friday, National Education Association President Becky Pringle lauded Chavez-DeRemer’s House record but sounded a note of caution. “Educators and working families across the nation will be watching ... as she moves through the confirmation process,” Pringle said in a statement, “and hope to hear a pledge from her to continue to stand up for workers and students as her record suggests, not blind loyalty to the Project 2025 agenda.” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler praised Chavez-DeRemer’s “pro-labor record in Congress,” but said “it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as Secretary of Labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda.” Labor is another executive department that often operates away from the spotlight. But Trump’s emphasis on the working class could intensify attention on the department, especially in an administration replete with tremendously wealthy leaders, including the president-elect. Trump took implicit aim at the department’s historically uncontroversial role of maintaining labor statistics, arguing that Biden’s administration manipulated calculations of unemployment and the workforce. If she is confirmed, Chavez-DeRemer could find herself standing between the nonpartisan bureaucrats at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a president with strong opinions about government stats and what they say about the state of the economy — and the White House’s stewardship. Her handling of overtime rules also would be scrutinized, and she could find herself pulled into whatever becomes of Trump’s promise to launch the largest deportation force in U.S. history, potentially pitting Trump’s administration against economic sectors and companies that depend heavily on immigrant labor. Chavez-DeRemer was the first Republican woman elected to Congress from Oregon. She joins Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, as the second Latino pick for Trump’s second Cabinet. Trump’s first labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, also was Latino. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer Legs? Wings? Breasts? A new restaurant in Northwest Fresno had The Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County is partnering Gov. Gavin Newsom made a stop in Fresno on Thursday,The Future of Hygiene: SensoWash® Starck f Revolutionizes Bathroom Comfort
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RADNOR — Having landed his dream job once, Eric Roedl wasn’t sure at first what to make of the chance to do it again. It would’ve taken a lot to get the Deputy Athletic Director at the University of Oregon to leave Eugene, where he’s spent 13 years. The chance to lead not just any athletic department but that of his alma mater was sufficient to bring him back to the Main Line. Roedl was introduced Tuesday as Villanova’s Vice President and Director of Athletics. He replaces Mark Jackson, who was hired in the fall to become the AD at Northwestern. The move brings Roedl home. He played tennis at Villanova, graduating in 1997. His wife Nicole is a 1998 graduate of Villanova. Roedl spent eight years in athletic administration at Temple, then a stint at William & Mary before venturing west to a power conference behemoth in Oregon. While Villanova President Rev. Peter M. Donohue joked at Tuesday’s press conference that he hoped Roedl could bring a slice of the Ducks’ massive budget East with him, Roedl will carry some tangible aspects managing such a big organization to the mission-driven challenge at Villanova. “My big takeaways from Oregon are a commitment to building a championship culture in everything we do, very high standards, full-fledged commitment to holistic student-athlete development, always trying to be out in front when it comes to NCAA deregulation and the things that we can do to provide support for our student-athletes, and just creating a great environment for our student-athletes and our staff,” Roedl said. “People talk about resources and they talk about money, but to me, what really is the difference maker in building successful programs – and I know you know this here at Villanova – it’s about the people and how you operate in the culture.” Both Donohue and Roedl acknowledged several times the changing landscape of college athletics. Athletes are able to earn money for their name, image and likeness, and the House settlement requires colleges to share revenue with athletes. The pressure of those changes will exert much different responses at Roedl’s former employer, a public land-grant institution backed by the deep pockets of Nike’s founder, than at a small, private, Augustinian university. Roedl highlighted those differences in asserting how his approach would meet those challenges. “We have an exciting and compelling vision for the future,” Roedl said in prepared remarks. “Villanova has a deep belief in the role and value of college athletics as a part of this community. Nothing brings people together like sports, and I think Nova Nation is a true testament to that. ... Our priorities will be focused on what’s in the best interest of this university and alignment with our Augustinian values, and certainly what is in the best interest of the health, well-being and success of our student-athletes.” Roedl talked around a question about the basketball program’s recent struggles, beyond a pledge to “continue to innovate and strategically invest” in the men’s and women’s programs. The Wildcats, who won national titles in 2016 and 2018 under Jay Wright, have failed to make the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons under Kyle Neptune. Roedl won’t formally take over until January, but he’ll be monitoring how the basketball season progresses, with on-court performance as one of several factors in determining Neptune’s fate. Roedl is transitioning from a program that enjoys a revenue-generating football program to a Football Championship Subdivision squad that is a much different economic model. But he extolled the virtues of that competitive format for Villanova, which begins the FCS playoffs on Saturday. “I think the FCS football model is terrific,” Roedl said. “I love the fact that you’re competing throughout the year, and you’re competing to get into the playoffs, and you can play your way through. The CFP finally came around to that type of a model. It took a while, but the financial model is different, and football means different things to different schools. “There’s a lot of benefit to having an FCS football program and all the things that it brings to your campus. The team represents this university really well. We bring in tremendous, talented student-athletes from all over the country to come in here and compete for Villanova, and that’s a program that I really look forward to supporting and being a part of.” Roedl played a sport in college that, like many Olympic sports, feels economically endangered at the collegiate level. He calls his student-athlete experience “transformational,” in both his career and his life. He used the term “broad-based excellence” on several occasions to illustrate a goal of elevating all of Villanova’s 24 varsity programs, in terms of on-field success and off-field sustainability. In lamenting that “college athletics has become a little bit more transactional,” Roedl is endeavoring to lead Villanova through a middle path. If recruiting talent becomes a bidding war against bigger and better resourced schools, they don’t necessarily have the capital to compete directly. So the name of the game is to provide something more than just what happens on the field, whether that’s academically or via the community. “To me, one of the things that’s most special about college athletics is all the opportunity that it provides to young people to dream and be a part of a university athletic program, and that’s something that we’re going to be fully committed to here at Villanova,” he said. “We’re going to work our tails off to go out and find the resources. It’s a new time, and there’s going to be more pressure on each of our programs to find ways to be sustainable, to continue to be able to provide those opportunities. There’s a lot of pressure on resources right now post-House settlement and we look forward to engaging in the communities around all of our sports to continue to have them be thriving and successful.”
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Rested Ducks take on Flyers, Oilers at home this weekendJimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief financial officer, has emerged as the leading contender to fill the congressional seat vacated by Matt Gaetz. President-elect Donald Trump praised Patronis' devotion to MAGA ideas and backed him on Monday, despite the fact that he has not yet made his campaign official. Trump’s EndorsementOn Truth Social, Trump, 78, emphasized Patronis' qualifications and described him as a "fourth-generation Floridian" who is committed to his cause. The president-elect characterized Patronis as a possible congressional ally who would prioritize border security, economic growth, and Second Amendment protection. Trump added, "Jimmy has been a wonderful friend to me and to MAGA." Patronis, 52, has only hinted at his intention in running for Florida's 1st Congressional District seat, thus the support was unexpected. Patronis’s Political CareerSince 2017, Patronis has been Florida's CFO, managing state funds, conducting agency audits, and policing insurance. The position includes the duties of fire marshal, comptroller, and treasurer. Under previous Governor Rick Scott, Patronis joined the cabinet, and he remained there under Governor Ron DeSantis. Trump's objectives and his legislative efforts have frequently coincided. Patronis suggested last year creating a "Freedom Fighters Fund" to provide up to $5 million to pay for the legal fees of Florida candidates for president, including Trump. In the end, DeSantis rejected the plan. The Seat Gaetz Left BehindIn order to pursue a now-cancelled campaign to become attorney general in Trump's cabinet, Matt Gaetz resigned earlier this month. A contest for Florida's 1st Congressional District seat, a Republican stronghold in the Panhandle, was sparked by his resignation. After struggling to get Senate approval because of a sex scandal that he has denied, Gaetz withdrew from consideration for the position of attorney general. After declaring he would not run for reelection, he joined Cameo and started sending customized video messages. The general election is slated for April 1, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has established a primary on January 28. Other ContendersThe position has already drawn interest from a number of Republican hopefuls. Among them are Keith Gross, state lawmaker Michelle Salzman, Nathan Nelson, and former Green Beret John Frankman. Trump's backing has brought considerable attention to Patronis's possible candidacy despite the expanding field of candidates. Patronis’s VisionPatronis made a social media hints about his goals last week when he said on X, "I am seriously considering running for Florida Congressional District 1. We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to combat the swamp, put a stop to lawfare, and give Americans back control." Patronis is now the front-runner in the race thanks to Trump's backing, but it's unclear when he will officially enter. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News, World and around the world.
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