2025-07-28 12:48

United States and EU avert trade war with 15% tariff deal Trump to reduce 50-day deadline for Russia to end war in Ukraine OPEC+ panel likely to keep oil policy steady, sources say LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Monday after a trade deal between the United States and the European Union and U.S. President Donald Trump's comments saying he would shorten a deadline he had set for Russia to end its war in Ukraine or face severe tariffs. Brent crude futures were up $1.18, or 1.7%, at $69.62 a barrel by 1218 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.16, or 1.8%, at $66.32. Sign up here. Trump said he was reducing the 50-day deadline he had given Russia, which was due to end in early September. The trade deal between the U.S. and European Union and a possible extension of the U.S.-China tariff pause are supporting global financial markets and oil prices, IG markets analyst Tony Sycamore said. Sunday's framework trade pact with the EU sets a 15% U.S. import tariff on most EU goods while Trump said it also called for $750 billion of EU purchases of U.S. energy in the coming years. Senior U.S. and Chinese officials meet in Stockholm on Monday to try to extend their tariff truce before an August 12 deadline. The U.S.-EU deal removed another layer of uncertainty and the focus seems to be shifting back towards fundamentals, said PVM analyst Tamas Varga, adding that a strong dollar and falling Indian oil imports have weighed on crude prices. On the supply side, an OPEC+ panel is unlikely to alter existing plans to raise oil output when it meets on Monday, four OPEC+ delegates told Reuters on July 25. ING expects OPEC+ to at least complete the full return of 2.2 million barrels per day of additional voluntary supply cuts by the end of September. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-rises-us-eu-deal-shorter-us-deadline-russia-2025-07-28/

2025-07-28 12:44

TURNBERRY, Scotland, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he was reducing the 50-day deadline he gave Russia over its war in Ukraine, underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for prolonging fighting between the two countries. "I'm disappointed in President Putin," Trump said, speaking alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of their meeting in Scotland. "I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer what's going to happen." Sign up here. He did not give a new deadline. Trump set the 50-day deadline earlier this month. The U.S. president has repeatedly voiced exasperation with Putin for continuing attacks on Ukraine despite U.S. efforts to end the war. Before returning to the White House in January, Trump, who views himself as a peacemaker, had promised to end the three-and-a-half-year-old conflict within 24 hours. Trump has threatened new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its exports unless an agreement is reached by early September. But the president, who has also expressed annoyance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has not always followed up on his tough talk about Putin with action, citing what he deems a good relationship that the two men have had previously. "We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever," Trump said. "And I say that's not the way to do it." https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-says-he-is-reducing-50-day-deadline-russia-war-ukraine-2025-07-28/

2025-07-28 12:39

ATHENS, July 28 (Reuters) - Firefighters battled to put out wildfires on Monday in three separate provinces in Turkey, in Greece and near a tourist resort in Albania, stoked by strong winds after days of searing heat across the Mediterranean region. Smoke billowed over the mountainous Black Sea province of Karabuk, some 200 kilometres north of the capital Ankara, as a wildfire which raged for a sixth day forced the evacuation of more than a dozen villages and burnt swathes of forests. Sign up here. In the northwestern province of Bursa, three firefighters were killed on Sunday when their vehicle crashed, Turkey's Forestry Ministry said on Monday. Crews fought to tame two separate blazes there on Monday, following the evacuation of more than 3,600 people from settlements in the southern provinces of Mersin and Antalya. Turkey has seen dozens of wildfires in recent weeks amid extreme heat, while 10 firefighters were killed last week battling a fire in the central Eskisehir province. Hot and dry summers have been common in the Mediterranean region, but more intense heatwaves have contributed to destructive wildfires in recent years amid fast-rising temperatures across the globe. In Greece, dozens of firefighters battled a blaze that broke out at the foot of Mount Hymettus in Athens near a university campus in the densely populated suburbs. At least 18 helicopters and aircraft were operating in the area. In Albania, firefighters assisted by the army battled to control a wildfire before it reached the seaside city of Saranda and other tourist resorts in the south of the country on the Ionian coast. Some 13 people have been arrested over arson-related offenses in the past three days, local police said. Bulgaria deployed firefighting planes to help ground forces tame a large wildfire in a wooded southwestern area, while in Greece, several villages were evacuated and five people were injured in separate wildfires over the weekend under scorching heat and strong winds. As Greece saw off its third summer heatwave on Monday, rainy weather in Serbia helped firefighters there bring more than 100 wildfires under control. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/firefighters-battle-blazes-turkey-greece-albania-after-days-scorching-heat-2025-07-28/

2025-07-28 12:29

BUCHAREST, July 28 (Reuters) - Severe overnight floods in eastern Romania killed one person and damaged thousands of homes, with hundreds of people evacuated and three helicopters searching for stranded villagers, officials said on Monday. Some 25 villages across nine counties were affected by heavy rain and high winds, which tore off roofs and uprooted trees, blocking traffic on some national roads, the emergency response agency said. Sign up here. The worst hit were Neamt and Suceava counties in eastern Romania, where two rivers burst their banks, killing a 66-year-old man and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. All access roads to the village of Brosteni in Suceava county were blocked. The Environment Ministry's water management agency said some rivers saw record high water levels. Repair works on collapsed bridges were underway, it said. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/floods-romania-kill-one-hundreds-evacuated-2025-07-28/

2025-07-28 12:03

NEW DELHI, July 28 (Reuters) - Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy Monday said it has started legal proceedings against Microsoft (MSFT.O) , opens new tab following the abrupt and unilateral suspension of critical services by the U.S.-headquartered software giant. "Microsoft is currently restricting Nayara Energy’s access to its own data, proprietary tools, and products—despite these being acquired under fully paid-up licenses," the refiner said in a statement. Sign up here. Nayara, a major buyer of Russian oil, was recently sanctioned by the European Union as the refinery is majority-owned by Russian entities, including oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) , opens new tab. Microsoft last Tuesday halted services for Nayara Energy, sources familiar with the matter said, adding that the company's employees' Outlook email accounts and Teams have not been working. Microsoft declined to comment on the issue. Nayara Energy has filed a petition before Delhi High Court seeking an interim injunction and resumption of services to safeguard its rights and ensure continued access to essential digital infrastructure, the company said. It said Microsoft had not consulted the company before withdrawing the services. "This action has been taken unilaterally, without prior notice, consultation or recourse, and under the guise of compliance," it said. Since the imposition of EU sanctions against Nayara, at least two tankers skipped loading refined products from Vadinar and one crude tanker carrying Russian Urals was diverted. Its chief executive resigned and the company had to appoint Sergey Denisov as CEO. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/eu-sanctioned-indian-refiner-nayara-takes-microsoft-court-over-outage-2025-07-28/

2025-07-28 11:48

Treasury to maintain auction sizes amid fiscal deficit concerns Focus on T-bills due to robust demand Potential delay in lifting long-dated auction sizes until 2027 Treasury may tweak debt buyback program NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury is widely expected to maintain current auction sizes for notes and bonds when it announces financing plans this week, and will likely keep them steady for some time, forgoing issuing longer-dated debt to cover the government's fiscal shortfall. Investors will be looking for guidance as to how long the Treasury can hold off not raising the size of the debt auctions used to fund the ballooning U.S. budget deficit. The fiscal deficit is set to increase to a record $2.8 trillion over a decade with the passage of President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," estimates from the Congressional Budget Office showed. Sign up here. The Treasury will release its quarterly borrowing requirements on Monday at 3:00 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) and its refunding plan on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT). It will also announce auction sizes for new issues of three-year and 10-year notes, as well as 30-year bonds, securities that make scheduled coupon payments to lenders who buy them. Analysts said the Treasury can afford to delay increasing the auction sizes for longer-maturity debt given its focus on the issuance of more Treasury bills where demand has been robust. Treasury recently ramped up issuance of short-dated bills to replenish its cash balance which has shrunk to about $300 billion. It raised the issuance of the bills with maturities under eight weeks, specifically after Trump's spending bill was signed into law. The tax and spending legislation extended the debt ceiling as well by $5 trillion to more than $40 trillion. Bank estimates of additional T-bill supply by the end of the year ranged from $620 billion to more than $800 billion. Analysts said money market funds are well placed to take on the flood of short-term debt issuance in the market. Money market funds, with more than $7 trillion in assets, have been the biggest buyers of T-bills and will continue to be so, with historical third-quarter inflows averaging around $90 billion between 2015 and 2025, excluding 2020 and 2023, according to J.P. Morgan in a research note. The U.S. bank believes money market funds are likely to absorb about 60%-80% of the upcoming T-bill supply in the next few months. "We think the Treasury has the option of not increasing coupons through 2027...and quite possibly through 2028," said Guneet Dhingra, head of U.S. rates strategy at BNP Paribas, in New York, referring to securities that make coupon payments such as Treasury notes and bonds. "Incremental needs by the Treasury will be financed via T-bills...coupons will stay stable and will still raise money for the Treasury. But using T-bills is a sustainable and prudent strategy because demand is significant." The move away from the long end has also been partly driven by market considerations, with the Federal Reserve keeping the fed funds rate at a target range of 4.25%–4.50% since December 2024 due to inflation concerns. That has prompted investors to move away from the long end of the curve, keeping their yields higher. By issuing more short-term debt, like T-bills, the Treasury can borrow at lower rates, reducing immediate interest expenses. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier said increasing long-term bond sales at current high rates was not cost-effective. FARTHER OUT; BUYBACKS Wells Fargo, in a research note, said it doesn't expect the Treasury to begin increasing the size of long-dated auctions until February 2027. TD Securities also thinks auction sizes will remain steady until at least late-2026, noting that the bulk of those increases will likely occur on the front end and the belly or the intermediate part of the curve. Tom Simons, chief U.S. economist at Jefferies in New York, also pointed out that given the still uncertain U.S. fiscal outlook, it would be sensible for the Treasury to stay put for now. In the near term, he believes the U.S. economy may end up with more growth and revenue than the CBO's fiscal deficit forecast, which Simons said does not include tariff income. "When you're fairly uncertain about the magnitude of near-term deficits and there are two-sided risks, it makes sense to keep the coupon auction sizes the same," the Jefferies' chief economist said. Investors are also expecting changes to the Treasury's debt buybacks launched in 2024, meant to enhance bond market liquidity. Buybacks provided a regular outlet for investors to sell back to the Treasury older and less liquid off-the-run securities across the yield curve. Lou Crandall, chief economist at money market research firm Wrightson ICAP, thinks the Treasury will bump up buybacks in the 20-year and 30-year maturities, which have been "massively oversubscribed". He added that total offers for those debts have exceeded the operational maximum amount by nearly 7-to-1 in 20-year bonds and more than 5-to-1 in the 30-year sector. In contrast, the Treasury has retired just $2.7 billion in par value terms in the seven- to 10-year sector, Crandall said. "The more aggressive level of dealer participation in bond-sector buybacks probably does warrant an increase in redemption operations at the long end," he noted. "The taxpayer cost-savings of retiring less liquid off-the-runs in the bond sector are real, as are the market-functioning benefits." https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/no-treasury-auction-size-increases-seen-us-refunding-2025-07-28/