2025-07-02 20:44

Pentagon's assessment suggests strikes against Iran likely achieved goals Evolving US intelligence on strikes being closely watched Iran says key nuclear facility seriously damaged WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Wednesday that U.S. strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran's nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public. Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was "probably closer to two years." Parnell did not provide evidence to back up his assessment. Sign up here. "We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department (of Defense) assess that," Parnell told a news briefing. U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen 30,000-pound (13,600-kg) bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles. The evolving U.S. intelligence about the impact of the strikes is being closely watched, after President Donald Trump said almost immediately after they took place that Iran's program had been obliterated, language echoed by Parnell at Wednesday's briefing. Such conclusions often take the U.S. intelligence community weeks or more to determine. "All of the intelligence that we've seen (has) led us to believe that Iran's -- those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated," Parnell said. Over the weekend, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective U.S. strikes to destroy Tehran's nuclear program have been. Several experts have also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes and could be hiding it. But U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he was unaware of intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its highly enriched uranium to shield it from U.S. strikes. A preliminary assessment last week from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggested that the strikes may have only set back Iran's nuclear program by months. But Trump administration officials said that assessment was low confidence and had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran's nuclear program was severely damaged. According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage. "No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged," Araqchi said in the interview broadcast by CBS News on Tuesday. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iranian-nuclear-program-degraded-by-up-two-years-pentagon-says-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 20:42

TSX ends up 0.1% at 26,869.66 Eclipses Monday's record closing high Energy rises 1.4% as oil settles 3.1% higher Materials group avances 1% July 2 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index edged up to a new record high on Wednesday, helped by gains for resource and consumer discretionary shares, as investors continued to look past global economic uncertainty and weighed prospects for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. The S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab ended up 12.55 points, or 0.1%, at 26,869.66, eclipsing the record closing high it posted on Monday, before the Canada Day holiday. Sign up here. "The market continues to climb the wall of worry," said Greg Taylor, CFA, chief investment officer at PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. "There is a lot of fear out there but I think that kept a lot of people out of the market." U.S. private payrolls fell for the first time in more than two years in June as economic uncertainty hampered hiring, but low layoffs continued to anchor the labor market. "The U.S. ADP number came in light and that's gotten more people excited that there might be more rate cuts coming sooner in the U.S.," Taylor said. Wall Street also ended higher, helped by news of a trade agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam, while domestic data showed signs of trade uncertainty hurting the economy. The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index edged down to 45.6 in June from 46.1 in May. The energy sector rose 1.4% as the price of oil settled 3.1% higher $67.45 a barrel. Gold also rose, which helped lift metal mining shares. The materials group was up 1%. Consumer discretionary added 2.4%, helped by a gain of 7.8% for the shares of autoparts manufacturer Magna International Inc (MG.TO) , opens new tab. Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO) , opens new tab was another standout, with its shares jumping 21.4%. The company said on Monday it had secured an order for 50 Challenger and Global aircraft. Consumer staples was a drag, falling 1.5% and technology ended 0.5% lower. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/tsx-futures-edge-higher-investors-await-us-trade-updates-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 20:33

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - The budget bill the U.S. Senate passed on Tuesday and the House of Representatives is now debating for final approval would dampen development of wind and solar power, kill climate funding and boost oil, gas and coal output. Below are some details about the bill's provisions on energy development and the environment: Sign up here. SOLAR, WIND TAX CREDITS The legislation sharply reduces access to a 30% tax credit for solar and wind power projects that had been set to run until 2032, and which developers had relied on for future projects. To access the subsidy, projects must now start service by late 2027, one year earlier than proposed in the House bill, or begin construction within a year of the bill’s adoption. Using the credits would also require new standards on the origin of manufactured components used in the projects, in part to boost domestic manufacturing and reduce dependence on China. Clean manufacturing projects such as solar panel or battery manufacturing seeking a production tax credit from January 1, 2026 onward also need to meet those material-sourcing requirements. NUCLEAR, HYDRO AND GEOTHERMAL The Senate bill preserves tax credits for nuclear, hydropower and geothermal projects if they start construction by 2033. Those forms of power generation are favored by the Trump administration, in part because they do not rely on weather conditions to produce. HYDROGEN, EXISTING NUCLEAR AND CARBON CAPTURE Tax credits for clean hydrogen could be used until the end of 2027, two years longer than the House had proposed. The Senate bill maintains the carbon capture and storage tax credit proposed by the Senate finance committee that creates parity between credit levels for carbon utilization projects and those storing captured CO2 underground and preserves the credits for existing nuclear plants. TRANSFERABILITY Under the Senate bill, developers of renewable hydrogen and nuclear power, and carbon capture, can still sell their credits to third parties in order to raise capital to finance projects. GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION GRANTS, OTHER IRA PROGRAMS The bill rescinds all unobligated funding from former President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act from the $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It also will rescind unspent grant funding allocated to the Department of Energy by the IRA for transmission deployment and siting, low-carbon construction materials, programs to decarbonize buildings, money allocated to help oil and gas companies to reduce their methane emissions, and tribal energy loans. HOME EFFICIENCY Tax credits for households that want to make energy-efficient home improvements can only be used for projects that are completed by the end of 2025. For energy efficiency credits for commercial buildings, developers would need to start construction by June 30, 2026. The House version did not include the elimination of the buildings' tax credit. ARCTIC OIL AND GAS The bill mandates four sales of oil and gas drilling rights by 2032 in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve that's home to endangered and threatened species such as polar bears. A January ANWR lease sale required by a law passed in Trump's first administration drew zero bids. The bill mandates five lease sales by 2035 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and nullifies Biden's leasing limits set in 2022. OTHER DRILLING The Senate bill would allow four year non-renewable drilling permits on federal lands. Such permits are currently subject to annual renewals. The bill also streamlines leasing and prohibits some measures meant to limit environmental damage. It requires 30 offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico over 15 years. The Trump administration has named the area the Gulf of America. ICEBREAKERS The bill provides $24.6 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard's procurement of icebreakers, airplanes and ports, much of which could be used in development of Arctic oil, gas and minerals. COAL Senators attached a last-minute measure that could benefit miners of coal for steel making. It would allow producers of metallurgical coal to claim an advanced manufacturing production tax credit available for critical minerals. The credit for 2.5% of production costs is potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars to coal companies. The bill would also reduce royalty rates the coal industry must pay when mining on public lands from 12.5% to 7% and expand leasing on federal lands by 4 million acres (1,618,740 hectares) OIL RESERVE The bill runs counter to Trump's plans to quickly replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, slashing the amount of money available for purchases. It offers funding that would now cover only about 3 million barrels of purchases, instead of about 20 million. It also cancels a mandated sale from the SPR of about 7 million barrels. The U.S. conducted a historic sale of 180 million barrels in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/trumps-budget-bill-boosts-fossil-fuels-hits-renewable-energy-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 20:09

July 2 (Reuters) - Crypto firm Ripple is applying for a national bank charter in the United States, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote in a social media post on Wednesday, following a similar move by stablecoin giant Circle (CRCL.N) , opens new tab. The move reflects a broader push by crypto firms for regulatory clarity and deeper integration with the traditional financial system. Sign up here. A charter would allow crypto companies to settle payments faster and cut costs by bypassing intermediary banks, while also providing a stamp of legitimacy after years of what they claim has been regulatory sidelining. Ripple's charter will need to be approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a top banking regulator. An OCC spokesperson confirmed it had received a charter application from the company. The company is also seeking a Fed Master account that would give it access to the Federal Reserve's payments infrastructure and allow it to hold its stablecoin reserves directly with the central bank, Garlinghouse wrote on X. Ripple launched its stablecoin, RLUSD, in October last year. While much smaller than dominant players Tether and Circle's USD Coin, RLUSD still ranks among the biggest stablecoins. It has a market value of about $470 million, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Earlier this week, stablecoin firm Circle also said it is applying to create a national trust bank in the United States, weeks after its robust initial public offering. Stablecoins have gained momentum in recent weeks after the U.S. Senate passed the GENIUS Act, a development the crypto industry has argued could boost their use through clear regulations. "The GENIUS Act will likely support stablecoin adoption in the U.S. while incorporating sensible safeguards for consumer protection and financial stability," digital asset manager Grayscale's research team wrote in a report on Wednesday. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ripple-applies-us-national-bank-charter-crypto-eyes-next-frontier-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 20:08

US would set rates on many Vietnamese exports at 20% Higher tariffs were due to take effect next week without deal US cars may get preferential access to Vietnam's market WASHINGTON/HANOI, July 2 (Reuters) - The United States will place a lower-than-promised 20% tariff on many Vietnamese exports, Donald Trump said on Wednesday, cooling tensions with its tenth-biggest trading partner days before the U.S. president could raise levies on most imports. Vietnamese goods would face a 20% tariff and trans-shipments from third countries through Vietnam will face a 40% levy, he said. Vietnam could import U.S. products with a zero percent tariff, he added. Sign up here. "It is my Great Honor to announce that I have just made a Trade Deal with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam," Trump said on Truth Social after speaking with Vietnam's top leader, To Lam. Trump's announcement comes just days before a July 9 deadline before he ramps up tariffs on most imports, one of the Republican's signature economic policies. Under that plan, announced in April, U.S. importers of Vietnamese goods would have had to pay a 46% tariff. Details were scant. It was not clear which products Trump's 20% tariff would apply to, or whether some would qualify for lower or higher total duties. Also left to later discussion was how the new trans-shipment provision, aimed at products largely made in China and then labeled "Made in Vietnam," would be implemented and enforced. The Vietnamese government did not confirm the specific tariff levels in a statement celebrating what it described as an agreement on a joint statement about a trade framework. Vietnam would commit to "providing preferential market access for U.S. goods, including large-engine cars," the government in Hanoi said. A deal between the two countries would be a political boost for Trump, whose team has struggled to quickly close deals with Washington's biggest trading partners ahead of the deadline. While the administration has teased a forthcoming deal with India, truces reached earlier with Britain and China were limited in scope. Talks with Japan, the United States' sixth-largest trading partner and closest ally in Asia, appeared to hit road blocks. The U.S. is Vietnam's largest export market and the two countries' growing economic, diplomatic and military ties are a hedge against Washington's biggest strategic rival, China. Vietnam has worked to retain close relations with both superpowers. Shares of major U.S. apparel and sportswear makers including Nike (NKE.N) , opens new tab, Under Armour (UAA.N) , opens new tab and North Face maker VF Corp (VFC.N) , opens new tab closed higher on Wednesday on the news. Lam also asked Trump for the U.S. to recognize Vietnam as a market economy and remove restrictions on the exports of high-tech products to the country, Vietnam said. Those changes have long been sought by Hanoi. The White House and the Vietnamese trade ministry did not respond to requests for additional comment. GROWING TRADE TIES Since Trump imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese goods in his 2017-2021 term, U.S. trade with Vietnam has exploded, though almost all of it in the form of goods to the United States from Vietnam as importers sought workarounds for the China levies. Since 2018, Vietnam's exports are up nearly threefold from less than $50 billion that year to about $137 billion in 2024, Census Bureau data shows. U.S. exports to Vietnam are up only about 30% in that time - to just over $13 billion last year from less than $10 billion in 2018. "'Transshipping' is a vague and often politicized term in trade enforcement," said Dan Martin, business adviser at Dezan Shira & Associates, on LinkedIn. "How it's defined and how it's applied in practice will shape the future of US-Vietnam trade relations." Trump announced a wave of tariffs for countries around the world on April 2, before pausing the implementation of most duties until July 9. More than a dozen countries are actively negotiating with the Trump administration to avoid a steep spike in tariffs on their exports. Britain accepted a 10% U.S. tariff on many goods, including autos, in exchange for special access for aircraft engines and British beef. Like the agreement struck with Britain in May, the one with Vietnam resembles a framework rather than a finalized trade pact. China and the United States also came to a truce in a tit-for-tat tariff battle in which Beijing restored American access to some rare-earth minerals, but the two sides left most of their disagreements to later negotiations. "Had Trump stuck with 46 percent, much higher than the current tariff on China, Vietnam feared it would be disadvantaged by its competitors especially in Southeast Asia," said Murray Hiebert, a senior associate with the Southeast Asia program at CSIS, a think tank. "This likely would have dented Vietnam's trust in the U.S. and it might have toned down some of its security cooperation with Washington." https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-says-he-has-struck-trade-deal-with-vietnam-2025-07-02/

2025-07-02 20:03

ZURICH, July 2 (Reuters) - England manager Sarina Wiegman is confident her players will be well prepared for the Switzerland heatwave when they begin the defence of their Women's European Championship title against France on Saturday in Zurich. Wiegman was thankful for the recent warm weather in England that allowed them to get in some early heat acclimatisation. Sign up here. "Of course, we have protocols in place, strategies, which players who have been around longer are familiar with... because they played in circumstances like this," Wiegman said from the team's base camp on Wednesday. "I think we could already practise (in the heat) the first week of our training camp, because in England it was really hot too." England's heat protocols including wearing ice vests and towels, sitting in ice baths and drinking ice slushies. They also use cryotherapy, which involves applying extremely cold temperatures either locally with ice packs or cooling sprays, or in a cryotherapy chamber. "(We also) make sure we are hydrated. Of course, taking enough rest," Wiegman said. "Don't go in and out all the time. That's for your recovery. And do those things to keep your body temperature low." The temperature climbed to 33 degrees Celsius in Zurich on Wednesday but conditions are expected to cool down slightly before the weekend. Saturday's kickoff is at 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT). European soccer governing body UEFA is taking the warm weather seriously, with free sunscreen available around stadiums and fan zones and a relaxation of the rules about taking water bottles into the stadiums. The normally strict security rules were relaxed to allow fans attending matches on the first two days -- Wednesday and Thursday -- to bring a half-litre plastic or aluminium water bottle into the stadium, though no glass bottles will be allowed. Wiegman said after Saturday's game that the team would meet with England's medical staff to gauge how the players managed the conditions. "And then we move forward on to the next game," she said. England, who edged Germany 2-1 at Wembley Stadium to win Euro 2022, are in a tough group in Switzerland, with France, the Netherlands and Wales. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/england-boss-wiegman-says-team-well-prepared-sweltering-swiss-heat-2025-07-02/