2025-07-04 19:48

Management of Russian-occupied station says power restored Ukrainian minister says Russian shelling caused the outage Ukrainian energy distribution company says it restored power VIENNA, July 4 (Reuters) - All external power lines supplying electricity to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine were down for several hours on Friday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said, but the station's management later said power had been restored. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, acknowledged that power had been restored after 3 1/2 hours. But he added in a statement on X that nuclear safety "remains extremely precarious in Ukraine." Sign up here. Ukraine's energy minister blamed Russian shelling for severing the last power line to the plant and its six reactors. The country's power distribution operator said its technicians had taken action to restore it. Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, which is not operating but still requires power to keep its nuclear fuel cool, switched during the outage to running on diesel generators, the IAEA said. The organization has repeatedly warned of the risk of a catastrophic accident at Zaporizhzhia, which is located near the front line in the war in Ukraine. Its reactors are shut down, but the nuclear fuel inside them still needs to be cooled, which requires constant power. The plant's Russia-installed management issued a statement on Telegram saying the high-voltage line to the plant had been restored. The statement said there had been no disruptions to operations at the plant, no violations of security procedures and no rise in background radiation levels beyond normal levels. The IAEA had earlier said that the plant had lost all off-site power for the ninth time during the military conflict and for the first time since late 2023. "The ZNPP currently relies on power from its emergency diesel generators, underlining (the) extremely precarious nuclear safety situation," it said. Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galuschenko wrote on Telegram that a Russian strike had cut off the plant. "The enemy struck the power line connecting the temporarily occupied (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant) with the integrated power system of Ukraine." Ukrenergo, the sole operator of high-voltage lines in Ukraine, said its specialists had brought it back into service. "Ukrenergo specialists have brought back into service the high-voltage line which supplies the temporarily occupied power station," it said on Telegram. Neither the IAEA nor the plant's Russian-installed management initially cited a cause for the cut-off. Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia station in the first weeks of Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side regularly accuses the other of firing or taking other actions that could trigger a nuclear accident. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/power-cut-ukraines-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-kyiv-blames-russian-strike-2025-07-04/

2025-07-04 19:20

Stock rally largely driven by retail investors and share buybacks Institutional positioning in equities remains underweight Avoiding a major tariff escalation could help ease near-term market worries Upcoming economic data and Q2 results key for assessing the U.S. economic outlook NEW YORK, July 4 (Reuters) - Investors will be keeping a close eye on tariff headlines out of Washington next week, as a temporary suspension of punitive import levies is set to expire. If that Wednesday deadline passes without an increase in trade tensions, it could prove positive for the markets. Negotiators from more than a dozen major U.S. trading partners are rushing to reach agreements with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration by July 9 to avoid even higher tariffs, and Trump and his team have kept up the pressure in recent days. Sign up here. On Wednesday, Trump announced a deal with Vietnam that he says will impose a lower-than-promised 20% tariff on many Vietnamese exports. While the administration has teased a forthcoming deal with India, talks with Japan, the sixth-largest U.S. trading partner and closest ally in Asia, appeared to hit roadblocks. Investors have shifted from panicking about tariffs to relief buying, recently lifting the U.S. stock market back to record highs, with corporate earnings and the U.S. economy holding up better than many had expected through a period of dramatic policy change. The S&P 500 has risen about 26% from April 8, when stocks bottomed following Trump's draconian April 2 tariff announcement. But much of the rally has been driven by retail market participants and corporate share buybacks, even as institutional investors have been more reticent. Despite the S&P 500 making new highs, equity positioning is far below February levels as investors remain underweight stocks, according to Deutsche Bank estimates. "This has definitely been a junkier rally, a more speculative rally," Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. "In the last week or so, it's been driven a lot more, I think, by retail than it has been by institutions. Institutional positioning is really just average," she said. While many factors are keeping investors cautious, including worries about U.S. economic growth and lofty stock market valuations, getting past the tariff deadline without a major escalation in tensions would be one less thing to worry about in the near term, analysts said. "I think that there may be some threats and saber-rattling, but I don't really think that any of that now poses a major danger to the market," said Irene Tunkel, chief U.S. equities strategist, BCA Research. Still, investors don't expect the tariff deadline to put an end to trade tensions for good. "I don't view it necessarily as a hard deadline," said Julian McManus, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors. "The 90-day pause itself was instituted because the markets were falling apart, and I think policymakers needed breathing room and time to try and negotiate these deals or find some kind of off ramp," he said. Investors' cautious approach to boosting equity exposure now is reminiscent of their behavior immediately after the pandemic market drop of March 2020, when allocations to stocks recovered more slowly than major market indexes, Deutsche Bank strategist Parag Thatte, said. "It does mean that there is room for exposures to keep rising, which is a positive for equities all else equal," Thatte said. After a roller-coaster first half, the S&P 500 is entering a historically strong period. Over the past 20 years, July has been the strongest month for the benchmark index with an average return of 2.5%, according to a Reuters analysis of LSEG data. Investors will also be keeping an eye on economic data - especially inflation numbers - and second quarter results in coming weeks for clues to the health of the U.S. economy, and the Federal Reserve interest rate outlook. "We're right at the point where institutions are going to have to decide one way or the other, do they believe the rally or not," Morgan Stanley's Shalett said. Wall St Week Ahead runs every Friday. For the daily stock market report, please click https://www.reuters.com/business/wall-st-week-ahead-investors-eye-tariff-deadline-us-stocks-rally-2025-07-04/

2025-07-04 19:12

ISTANBUL, July 4 (Reuters) - Turkish authorities arrested ten suspects in relation to wildfires that broke out across the country over the past week, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Friday. The wildfires killed at least two people in western coastal province of Izmir as fire extinguishing teams supported by planes and helicopters struggled to contain the blazes. Sign up here. High temperatures, strong winds and low humidity also caused swift spread of the fires. Authorities determined that some of the 65 fires that broke out since June 26 were due to welding and agricultural machinery usage near the forest area and burning garden waste. Legal proceedings for 15 more suspects continue, Yerlikaya said. Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said nine out of ten wildfires that teams were battling on Friday were largely under control while efforts to contain the fire in southeastern Hatay province will continue overnight. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/turkey-arrests-ten-suspects-after-wildfires-interior-minister-says-2025-07-04/

2025-07-04 18:59

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA, July 4 (Reuters) - Brazil's trade surplus in June missed analysts' expectations, government data showed on Friday, as imports kept their recent growth path and the government cut its own yearly surplus outlook. Latin America's largest economy's monthly surplus declined near 7% from a year earlier to $5.89 billion, according to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade, missing the $6.45 billion forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. Sign up here. Exports rose 1.4% year-over-year to $29.1 billion, as higher prices of coffee and stronger beef exports helped to offset declines in soy, oil and iron ore. Meanwhile, imports increased by a pace of 3.8% to $23.3 billion, amid increased purchases of multiple products, including fertilizers, auto parts, medicine, aircrafts and machines. The ministry also cut its 2025 trade surplus estimate by nearly a third to $50.4 billion, from $70.2 billion previously, increasing the projection for imports and cutting the exports outlook. Year-to-date, Brazil's trade surplus has plunged almost 28% from the same period in 2024 to $30.1 billion. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-posts-lower-than-expected-trade-surplus-june-2025-07-04/

2025-07-04 18:52

Peru cuts over 50,500 miners from formalization program Government vows crackdown on illegal mining Small-scale miners threaten to escalate protests LIMA, July 4 (Reuters) - Peru's government has kicked 50,565 informal miners off a temporary program that allowed them to continue operations, the minister of energy and mines said on Friday. Only 31,560 miners will remain in the program that aims to formalize them and the government will reinforce its efforts against illegal mining, minister Jorge Montero told a local radio station. Sign up here. The announcement came as hundreds of small-scale miners push for continued operations with protests and a blockade of a key copper corridor used by major miners MMG (1208.HK) , opens new tab, Glencore (GLEN.L) , opens new tab and Hudbay (HBM.TO) , opens new tab. Peru is the world's third-largest copper producer. The government said at least 45,000 of the excluded miners had not registered any activity in the last four years. "We will strengthen our efforts to crack down on illegal mining throughout the country," Montero said. The program, called REINFO, was started in 2012 and meant to be a temporary way to formalize miners operating outside the law. It has since been extended multiple times but also criticized for enabling illegal mining that degrades the environment. Government attempts to shutter the program have been met with fierce protests, and in late June, the government said it was extending the program until the end of 2025. Many workers have used the temporary permit to mine in prohibited areas or third-party property without having to comply with labor or environmental regulations, according to authorities and private mining companies. This has led to deadly clashes in mining regions, leaving dozens dead in the last few years, prompting President Dina Boluarte to temporarily suspend mining in May in the country's north after 13 gold mine workers were kidnapped and killed. Maximo Becquer, who heads Peru's National Confederation of Small and Artisanal Mining (Confemin), blasted the government's move, saying it would impact half a million people who depend on the sector, and vowed to ramp up the protests. "We ratify the strike until the government reverses these actions and violations against the right to work," Becquer said in a post on social media. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/peru-ramps-up-fight-against-illegal-mining-kicks-most-informal-miners-off-permit-2025-07-04/

2025-07-04 18:14

LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - OPEC+ may make an increase in oil output for August at its meeting on Saturday that is larger than the 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) hikes it made for May, June and July, three sources familiar with OPEC+ talks told Reuters. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/opec-may-make-larger-oil-output-hike-saturday-sources-say-2025-07-04/