2025-08-21 10:32
European stock indexes down, Wall Street futures mixed Euro zone business activity expanded in August, PMIs show Markets wait for Fed's Jackson Hole comments PARIS, Aug 21 (Reuters) - European stock markets fell slightly in early trading on Thursday, hovering just below recent highs, as traders avoided making big moves and waited for the Federal Reserve's three-day annual Jackson Hole symposium. Jackson Hole starts on Thursday and focus will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday, which could move markets as traders look for hints about the likelihood of a September rate cut. Sign up here. “People are sitting on their hands. You have a couple of big known unknowns coming, with Jackson Hole tomorrow and the Fed in September," said Tim Graf, head of macro strategy for EMEA at State Street Markets. “This is the time to send the message, if you’re going to ease, that it’s coming," he said. "But I can also see them saying, we don’t know the full effect of tariffs and inflation pressure is still not quite out of the economy and being a bit more balanced." Traders had ramped up bets for a September cut following a surprisingly weak payrolls report at the start of this month, and were further encouraged after consumer price data showed limited upward pressure from tariffs. But they lowered their expectations slightly following the release of minutes from the Fed's July meeting. Stock markets stayed near recent highs during Asian trading, and Australia's benchmark (.AXJO) , opens new tab hit a new record. At 0946 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down by 0.2%, just below the five-month high it hit in the previous session (.STOXX) , opens new tab. London's FTSE 100 was down 0.1% (.FSTE) , opens new tab, Germany's DAX was down 0.1% (.GDAXI) , opens new tab and France's CAC 40 was down 0.4% . The MSCI World Equity Index was down 0.1% on the day (.MIWD00000PUS) , opens new tab. U.S. stock futures were mixed, with Nasdaq e-minis steady but S&P 500 e-minis down by 0.1% , . A U.S. tech selloff had continued for a second day on Wednesday, in a move analysts attributed to concerns about high valuations, profit-taking and risk aversion. Euro zone business activity accelerated in August, PMI data showed, with Germany registering its fastest growth since March and France's downturn easing. Euro zone bond yields were mostly higher, with the benchmark 10-year German Bund at 2.7374% . The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was at 4.3101% . The U.S. dollar index was up 0.2% on the day at 98.225 , and the euro was steady at $1.1653 . U.S. President Donald Trump intensified his effort to influence the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, calling on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to resign on the basis of allegations made by one of his political allies about mortgages she holds in Michigan and Georgia. Cook said she had "no intention of being bullied to step down" from her position at the central bank. Deutsche Bank analysts in a research note attributed a rise in gold overnight to renewed concerns about the Fed's independence. "The news was a reminder of the lingering concerns over future Fed independence and risks of fiscal dominance, though the extent of the market reaction was fairly modest," Deutsche Bank said. State Street Markets' Tim Graf said that although central bank independence is considered "sacrosanct" by markets, it was not yet problematic. “Markets quite rightly look through this, price maybe a little bit of risk premium for sure, but it's not something that I think really upsets the apple cart too much," he said. Gold prices edged lower on Thursday, at $3340.61 per ounce. Oil prices rose, bolstered by signs of strong demand in the U.S.. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-update-3-2025-08-21/
2025-08-21 10:14
MUMBAI, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee fell on Thursday as aggressive dollar buying by oil importers towards the end of the session pressured the local currency even as persistent greenback sales by foreign banks helped offset some of the losses. The Asian currency closed 0.24% lower at 87.2700 per U.S. dollar on Thursday against its previous close of 87.0650. Sign up here. "There were some debt inflows which had masked the impact, but with that done, we saw the impact of dollar bids," a trader with a brokerage said. Meanwhile, foreign banks were on the offer side in the dollar/rupee pair again for most part of the session on Thursday, extending the pattern seen over the past two days - a move that has puzzled traders. The persistent selling by foreign banks coupled with the Indian government's proposed tax cuts and U.S. President Donald Trump's talks with Russian and Ukrainian Presidents helped the rupee move higher than 87 for the first time this month on Tuesday. However, the upcoming August 27 deadline for the implementation of additional 25% U.S. tariffs on Indian goods is expected to pose a fresh threat to the rupee. "The expectation is that the rupee will be on the weaker side till September," said Dilip Parmar, currency analyst at HDFC Securities. Earlier this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's accusations of India profiteering from purchases of Russian oil during the Ukraine war further hurt the rupee. Also closely watched will be U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday, in which market participants will look for clues on interest rate trajectory in the world's largest economy. Asian currencies traded mixed on Thursday while dollar index was flat at 98.238 as of 1536 IST. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-slips-oil-importers-step-up-dollar-purchases-2025-08-21/
2025-08-21 10:07
LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - A downturn in British factories eased slightly in September but concerns about the government's November budget, the economy, high energy costs and issues hiring skilled workers are weighing on firms, an industry survey showed on Tuesday. The CBI's monthly balance for manufacturing new orders fell in September to -27 from -33 in August. Sign up here. The CBI's gauge of output for the past three months improved but remained rooted in contraction territory. The measure for the next three months edged down to -14 in September from -13 in August. "Businesses across the board are looking ahead to the November Budget with hope that it delivers meaningful action to ease cost and regulatory pressures," Ben Jones, lead economist at the CBI, said. "Without that clear policy direction, confidence will continue to ebb and firms will find it increasingly difficult to invest, hire and grow." The survey's gauge of export orders improved marginally compared to August at -32, but remained far below the long-term average of -19. Expectations for rising prices over the coming three months among manufacturers were their weakest since October 2024, the CBI said. The CBI report followed on the heels of S&P Global's preliminary September survey of the UK manufacturing sector, which showed a downturn in output, with some factories saying the shutdown of Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover had impacted activity in the automotive supply chain. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-factories-report-new-downturn-weak-outlook-cbi-says-2025-08-21/
2025-08-21 07:45
OSLO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Norway's DNO (DNO.OL) , opens new tab has restarted oil production at its Tawke and Peshkabir fields in Iraq's semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, which were halted last month due to drone strikes in the area, the company said on Wednesday. Repeated drone attacks on oilfields in the region slashed crude output, including the production of other companies, by some 140,000 to 150,000 barrels per day, energy officials told Reuters last month. Sign up here. No people were injured, but surface processing equipment at Peshkabir and an oil storage tank at Tawke were hit, DNO said on Thursday. "On a test basis, DNO restarted production from Tawke in early August, while Peshkabir was restarted later in the month," DNO said in a statement along with its second-quarter earnings report. DNO's Oslo-listed shares rose 11% by 0734 GMT. While months-long repairs were still pending, the company has ramped up gross production on a test basis to 55,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), about evenly split between the Tawke and Peshkabir fields, DNO added. The company, which holds a 75% stake in the Tawke license, where the Tawke and Peshkabir fields are, said it aimed to increase production in the Kurdistan region to 100,000 boepd in the long-term. Its partner Genel Energy has the remaining 25%. Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP.L) , opens new tab, another Kurdish oil producer, said on August 13 that it had resumed production at the Shaikan oilfield, which was also hit by drone attacks. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/norways-dno-resumes-oil-output-kurdistan-fields-after-drone-strikes-2025-08-21/
2025-08-21 07:43
MOSCOW, Aug 21 (Reuters) - A fire has started following a drone at an industrial site strike in Russia's southern Novoshakhtinsk city, home to an oil refinery, authorities said on Thursday, as Ukraine stepped up attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure. "A fire broke out at one of the industrial enterprises in Novoshakhtinsk. Preliminarily, no one was hurt. Emergency services are working at the scene," said Yury Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region, without specifying the target of the attack. Sign up here. Novoshakhtinsk refinery, which sells fuel mainly for export, has annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of oil, or around 100,000 barrels per day. Since the start of August, Ukraine has targeted a number of Russian oil refineries, including Novokuibyshevsk, Syzran, Ryazan and Volgograd. https://www.reuters.com/world/blaze-erupts-industrial-site-russias-novoshakhstinsk-after-drone-attack-2025-08-21/
2025-08-21 07:27
China industrial output weakest since November 2024 Fed rate cut repricing could drive USD higher - Analysts Investors eye annual Jackson Hole symposium later this week Aug 21 (Reuters) - Bearish bets on China's yuan hit their highest since mid-May, with analysts turning short for the first time amid mounting concerns over the economy, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday. China's economy lost steam in July, with retail sales rising just 3.7% year-on-year, well below the 5.9% growth expected in a Reuters poll. Sign up here. Industrial output grew 5.7%, its weakest pace since November 2024. New home prices fell 2.8% in July from a year earlier, extending a two-year stagnation, while fixed-asset investment rose just 1.6% in the first seven months of 2025, missing forecasts for 2.7%. Meanwhile, analysts held on to their bearish outlook for the South Korean won , unchanged since early May, while slightly trimming short positions on the Singapore dollar , a Reuters fortnightly poll of 11 respondents showed. Sentiment toward the Indonesian rupiah turned negative after flipping bullish, while short positions on the Taiwan dollar were trimmed. Bank Indonesia unexpectedly cut its benchmark 7-day reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday. The poll responses were received before the rate decision. For the Indian rupee and Malaysian ringgit analysts pared back bullish positions. Philippine peso bearish bets were trimmed slightly, and Thai baht analysts trimmed bullish positions. ANZ analysts see India's growth momentum slowing with tepid household consumption and investment expected over the coming quarters, adding that export competitiveness faces headwinds from US tariffs. "Based on this outlook, we believe that the INR is likely to trade with a depreciation bias in the near-to-medium term, underperforming compared to its Asian peers." Meanwhile, Reuters reported China is considering allowing yuan-backed stablecoins for the first time to boost wider adoption globally. China is expected to discuss expanding yuan use and possibly stablecoins for cross-border trade at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit to be held Aug. 31-Sep. 1 in Tianjin. "Given potential Federal Reserve reluctance to deliver significant rate cuts at upcoming FOMC meetings (contingent on employment and inflation data), market repricing of rate cut expectations could drive the U.S. Dollar and Treasury yields higher, creating headwinds for emerging market currencies," said Poon Panichpibool, market strategist at Krung Thai Bank. Money markets reflect a 93% chance of a 25-basis-point Fed rate cut in September. The U.S dollar index has lost 0.8% in value in the last two weeks, but is on track to edge higher this week, up 0.4% so far. "We have had quite a strong sell-off in the USD for much of 1H 2025 and currencies now await macro cues from data. With both of Fed's inflation and employment mandate in a potential conflict, we could be in a period of consolidation," said Fiona Lim, senior forex strategist at Maybank Singapore. "Currencies such as KRW and TWD which gained the most in 1H of 2025 have the biggest room to retrace." Investors fretted about Federal Reserve independence after another attack from President Donald Trump ahead of remarks from Chair Jerome Powell at the annual Jackson Hole symposium later this week. The Asian currency positioning poll is focused on what analysts and fund managers believe are the current market positions in nine Asian emerging market currencies: the Chinese yuan, South Korean won, Singapore dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Taiwan dollar, Indian rupee, Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit and the Thai baht. The poll uses estimates of net long or short positions on a scale of minus 3 to plus 3. A score of plus 3 indicates the market is significantly long U.S. dollars. The figures include positions held through non-deliverable forwards (NDFs). The survey findings are provided below (positions in U.S. dollar versus each currency): https://www.reuters.com/world/china/yuan-short-bets-hit-may-highs-chinas-economic-woes-weigh-emerging-market-2025-08-21/
