2025-07-15 09:54
LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - The pound steadied on Tuesday, following the previous day's slide, in line with a more upbeat tone across the broader markets, ahead of U.S. inflation data and a speech by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey later on. Sterling was last at $1.3435, little changed on the day and was similarly steady against the euro , which traded at 86.92 pence. Sign up here. Bailey will give his annual "Mansion House" address to London's financial sector on Tuesday, along with finance minister Rachel Reeves. The pound is still up 7.6% against the dollar this year, but it has lost over 5% in value against the euro, set for its weakest annual performance since 2022, when UK markets were hit by a crisis triggered by an interim budget from former Prime Minister Liz Truss. Losses against the euro have accelerated in recent weeks. In the last two months, sterling has lost over 3.5%. Investor concern over the outlook for the UK economy, which contracted unexpectedly for a second month in a row in May, is building, especially in light of the shrinking fiscal headroom that Reeves has after the government watered down a landmark reform to welfare benefits and passed a bill that blew a hole in its finances. "That round of cuts left a 5 billion-pound ($6.72 billion) hole in public finances, one which the government seems unconfident in fixing with more cuts. All of this means that the pound is under pressure on the fiscal credibility front, not Liz Truss by any means, but a serious drag on sterling's value," Caxton FX strategist David Stritch said. Money markets show traders are looking for at least two quarter-point rate cuts this year from 4.25%, which implies rates at 3.6% by December. Just two months ago, markets showed the implied rate for December was closer to 4%. "Expect Governor Bailey to reiterate a position – similar to the Fed – that faster easing is possible if the labour market deteriorates," ING strategist Chris Turner said in a note. Investors are waiting for U.S. consumer inflation later on Tuesday that could be key in setting expectations for where U.S. rates will head over the coming Federal Reserve meetings. There is also UK consumer inflation on Wednesday that is expected to show price pressures continued to accelerate in June. ($1 = 0.7437 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/pound-edges-up-ahead-us-data-bailey-speech-2025-07-15/
2025-07-15 09:50
STOCKHOLM, July 15 (Reuters) - A tariff level of 10% is the best that the European Union can expect from negotiations with the United States, Sweden's Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said on Tuesday. "We have to reckon on 10% in any case. That's the lowest we can expect," Svantesson told reporters. Sign up here. Svantesson said uncertainty about tariffs as well as the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East meant that Sweden's economy remained weak. In June, the government cut its forecast for growth this year to 0.9% - half the 1.8% it expected in May. Nevertheless, Svantesson said the economy was fundamentally strong and robust government finances meant Sweden could easily finance its rapid increase in defence spending, though there would be less room for other reforms in the autumn budget. Think tank NIER reckons the government has room for 34 billion Swedish crowns ($3.54 billion) in unfinanced measures in the upcoming budget bill, which will be published in September. Svantesson said the budget would focus on strengthening households and getting more people into work. "It is not the time for tax hikes, quite the opposite in the current situation," she said. ($1 = 9.6162 Swedish crowns) https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/swedish-finance-minister-says-10-us-tariffs-lowest-eu-can-expect-2025-07-15/
2025-07-15 07:48
Kremlin says Trump sending wrong signal to Ukraine Russia does not care about Trump's theatrics, official says Trump asked Zelenskiy if Ukraine could hit Moscow, FT reports Trump threatened sanctions on buyers of Russian exports Trump says he is 'not done' with Putin, BBC reports MOSCOW, July 15 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Tuesday reacted icily to Donald Trump's warnings to President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, saying that recent decisions by the U.S. president and the NATO military alliance would be interpreted by Kyiv as a signal to continue the war. Trump, sitting beside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on Monday, announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of 100% on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days. Sign up here. "The U.S. president's statements are very serious. Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington." Peskov, though, added that it was already clear that decisions being made in Washington and other NATO capitals were "perceived by the Ukrainian side not as a signal for peace but as a signal to continue the war." Putin, who has spoken to Trump by telephone at least six times this year, has yet to comment publicly on Trump's remarks. But two other senior Russian officials did not hold back. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow did not care about Trump's "theatrical ultimatum", while a senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, suggested that giving ultimatums to Moscow was unacceptable and pointless. Trump, who has said he wants to be seen as a "peacemaker" president, said he wanted to see the end of the war - on which he said the United States had spent $350 billion - but that he had been "disappointed" by Putin. TRUMP 'VERY UNHAPPY' Trump specifically expressed frustration that Putin's "talk" about peace was often followed by Russian strikes on major Ukrainian cities, and indicated Washington wanted to press Moscow into ending the war by sending more arms to Ukraine. "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy," Trump said of Putin, a reference to former U.S. President Joe Biden calling the Russian leader "a killer" in a 2021 interview. The Financial Times reported that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up strikes deep , opens new tab in Russian territory, even asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whether he could hit Moscow if the U.S. provided long-range weapons. Trump told the BBC that he was "not done" with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards. Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. The United States says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war. In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones which injured 18 people. SECONDARY SANCTIONS Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: "Et tu, Trump - the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war'". Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace - but on his terms - and that there is no point discussing a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down. In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention is to impose "100% tariffs on Russia" and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal is not struck in 50 days. "We can do secondary," Trump said. "We're probably talking about 100 percent or something like that. We can do secondary tariffs without the Senate, without the House, but what they're crafting also could be very good." Eighty-five of the 100 U.S. senators are co-sponsoring a bill that would give Trump the authority to impose 500% tariffs on any country that helps Russia. China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second largest exporter of oil. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-does-not-care-about-trumps-theatrical-ultimatum-senior-official-says-2025-07-15/
2025-07-15 07:06
Kazakhstan has exceeded OPEC+ output quota Output at Tengiz oilfield has been expanded Some OPEC+ members angry with Kazakhstan for surpassing quota No plans for Kazakhstan to leave OPEC+ ASTANA, July 15 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's oil output in the first half of 2025 rose by around 11.6% to 49.9 million metric tons from the same period in 2024, while the country has no plans to leave the OPEC+ group of global leading oil producers, senior officials said on Tuesday. The Central Asian republic has persistently exceeded quotas set by OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers led by Russia, angering some bloc's members, according to the industry sources. Sign up here. Energy minister Erlan Akkenzhenov said on Tuesday that Kazakhstan exported 39.6 million tons of oil (1.64 million barrels per day), while this year's export is expected at 70.5 million tons. Reuters uses the ratio of barrels of Kazakhstan's crude oil to metric tons of 7.5 barrels per metric ton. Separately, the country's Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov said Kazakhstan did not plan to leave OPEC+, while conceding it has struggled to abide by the OPEC+ production quotas. He said it was due to the expansion of the Chevron-led (CVX.N) , opens new tab Tengiz oilfield, the country's largest. Kazakhstan's OPEC+ quota is set to rise to 1.532 million barrels per day in August from 1.514 million barrels per day in July. This does not account for output of gas condensate, a type of light oil. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/kazakhstan-hikes-oil-output-by-116-first-half-no-plans-quit-opec-2025-07-15/
2025-07-15 07:04
SEOUL, July 15 (Reuters) - South Korea will prepare within this year a roadmap for its stock market to win developed market status from a global index provider, the country's acting finance minister said on Tuesday. The move is part of market reform pledges by President Lee Jae Myung, who took office last month, to win an upgrade from emerging market status to developed market status by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) to attract capital inflows. Sign up here. The government will prepare a comprehensive roadmap to bring improvements in market accessibility and implement measures as soon as they are prepared, Acting Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il said at a task-force meeting. "Through the promotion to the MSCI developed market index, we will establish an investment environment that is in line with global standards and advance our foreign exchange and capital markets," Minister Lee said. Last month, MSCI kept South Korea on its emerging market index, as it said more needed to be done, particularly on the foreign exchange market, though it acknowledged an improvement in short-selling accessibility. The benchmark KOSPI stock index (.KS11) , opens new tab has been rallying since President Lee's election victory in early June, hitting its highest level in nearly four years on Tuesday. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/south-korea-prepare-roadmap-developed-market-upgrade-2025-07-15/
2025-07-15 07:02
HONG KONG, July 15 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered (STAN.L) , opens new tab will allow institutional clients to trade bitcoin and ether through its UK branch, the bank said on Tuesday, becoming what it said was the first global systemically important bank to offer such crypto services. Some financial institutions have said they are seeing more client demand for crypto products as the price of bitcoin hits record highs, helped by U.S. President Donald Trump's pro-crypto stance. Sign up here. Institutional clients around the world, including corporates, investors and asset managers, will be able to conduct spot crypto trading through Standard Chartered's existing platforms, and will soon be offered non-deliverable forwards trading, the bank said in a statement. Standard Chartered already offers crypto products, including trading, via two independent subsidiary companies: Zodia Markets and Zodia Custody. Zodia Markets allows clients to trade more than 70 crypto assets, a spokesperson for Standard Chartered said. "As client demand accelerates further, we want to offer clients a route to transact, trade and manage digital asset risk safely and efficiently within regulatory requirements," Chief Executive Bill Winters said in the statement. Crypto asset markets have gradually recovered in recent years, after a series of crypto company bankruptcies in 2022 revealed widespread misconduct across the nascent industry and left millions of investors out of pocket. The U.S. House of Representatives is set to pass a series of crypto-related bills this week, which the Republican majority has dubbed "crypto week". Some U.S. banks are holding internal discussions about expanding into crypto, a sector many had previously avoided, and France's Societe Generale last month became the world's first major bank to launch a dollar-pegged stablecoin. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/stanchart-launches-bitcoin-ether-spot-trading-institutional-clients-2025-07-15/
