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Permian pioneers: ExxonMobil is splashing the cash

Permian pioneers: ExxonMobil is splashing the cash

Permian pioneer

ExxonMobil is eyeing up a major deal, with America’s largest oil company on the brink of buying Pioneer Natural Resources, Texas' biggest crude producer, in a deal worth approximately $60 billion. If completed, this would mark Exxon's largest deal since it acquired the second half of its name for $81 billion back in 1999.

Pioneer wields a strong presence in the Permian Basin — a sprawling patch of shale in Texas and New Mexico that's become the backbone of America’s oil industry. In the last quarter alone, Pioneer extracted a staggering 711,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the basin, trailing only behind Chevron and ConocoPhillips in the region.

Buying Pioneer makes a lot of sense for Exxon: the company has been investing heavily into its own operations in the booming Permian Basin and, like its rivals, is flushed with cash after last year’s record-breaking profits.

The deal also comes just two years after Exxon’s public showdown with hedge fund Engine No. 1, which pushed for the company to adopt a more environmentally friendly strategy — the behemoth clearly isn’t ready to let go of the oil and gas that's fueled its profits for decades.

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“Tariffs have introduced new cost pressure to the business, but the pricing story in September was mostly driven by the healthy mix of EVs and higher-end vehicles pushing the new-vehicle ATP into uncharted territory,” Cox executive analyst Erin Keating said. Passing the $50,000 mark was inevitable, Keating said, especially considering that the country’s bestseller is a Ford truck that “routinely costs north of $65,000.”

Year over year, new vehicle prices rose nearly 6% for GM, while Ford’s climbed 2.5%. Volkswagen new prices were up 12.5%.

As prices climb, so do delinquencies on loans to borrowers with lower credit scores. Recent data from Fitch Ratings shows the portion of subprime US auto loans 60 days or more overdue reached 6.43% in August.

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Alibaba slides as the e-commerce giant’s cloud arm reportedly plans to slash overseas prices

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GM dips after revealing it will take a $1.6 billion Q3 hit due to its EV pullback

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“Following recent US Government policy changes, including the termination of certain consumer tax incentives for EV purchases and the reduction in the stringency of emissions regulations, we expect the adoption rate of EVs to slow. These developments have caused us to reassess our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint,” GM wrote in a Tuesday filing.

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