2025-07-01 10:11
MUMBAI, July 1 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee strengthened on Tuesday, alongside most Asian peers, as worries over U.S. President Donald Trump's fiscal policies and uncertainty around trade deals kept the dollar pinned at a more than three-year low against major peers. The rupee closed at 85.52 per U.S. dollar, up about 0.3% on the day. Sign up here. While the rupee strengthened on the day, it was unable to hold onto gains above the 85.50 mark, with traders pointing to bids from a large state-run bank and a few local private banks. The currency is likely to stay rangebound in the near term unless it convincingly breaches either 85.45-85.50 on the upside or 86 on the downside, a trader at a private bank said. Asian currencies were mostly up between 0.1% and 0.4%, while the dollar index declined 0.3% to 96.37, its lowest level since February 2022. Worries about U.S. fiscal policies, uncertainty over trade deals ahead of a looming deadline and concerns over the future independence of the Federal Reserve have all hurt the dollar this year. The dollar index is nursing losses of 11% on the year so far. "The dented safe-haven status of the U.S. amid demanding asset price valuations portends a redistribution of global portfolio flows across various regions. Asia can both drive and benefit from this redistribution," ANZ said in a Tuesday note. While countries with sizeable external investment surpluses, such as Taiwan and South Korea, will lead the diversification from U.S. assets, potential inflows will also extend more broadly to economies like India and Indonesia, the note added. With investors also ramping up wagers on faster rate cuts by the Fed this year, the focus will turn to U.S. economic data due later in the day. Remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell will also be in the spotlight for cues on the future path of policy rates. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/rupee-gains-alongside-asian-peers-us-policy-worries-trouble-dollar-2025-07-01/
2025-07-01 09:52
BERN, July 1(Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank still has the tools to steer inflation towards its price stability goal even with interest rates at zero, extended governing board member Atillio Zanetti said on Tuesday. "It's not an obvious step to go into negative rates, but I wouldn't say that we don't want to do that if that's necessary," Zanetti told reporters. Sign up here. "So negative rates are an option but we are aware that the transmission of monetary policy with negative rates is different than in positive territory," he added. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/snb-says-negative-interest-rates-remain-an-option-2025-07-01/
2025-07-01 08:03
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey on Tuesday highlighted Britain's softening labour market and said rising uncertainty in the global economy had "definitely" hurt economic growth and investment intentions. In an interview with CNBC, Bailey said a key question for the BoE was how much the weakening of the labour market and the economy would help to reduce inflation pressure. Sign up here. Bailey mostly emphasised the downward risks to Britain's economy rather than the threat of inflation - although he said the BoE was watching "very carefully" for signs that recent price increases might turn out more persistent. Short-dated British government bond yields touched an almost two-month low after Bailey spoke. "That increase in uncertainty and predictability is definitely coming through in terms of activity and growth," Bailey said in an interview with CNBC from a central bank summit in Sintra, Portugal. "When I go around the country talking to businesses, which I do a lot, what they tell me is that they are putting off investment decisions." He repeated his view that interest rates are likely to fall gradually. On the outcome of the BoE's next meeting in August, Bailey said: "We'll see." "I do see some underlying weakening, particularly in the labour market - and the labour market is softening," Bailey added. Asked about the steepening of Britain's government bond yield curve, Bailey said it likely reflected uncertainty in the global economy. There was no question over the viability of the stock of debt, Bailey said. He described the next annual decision over the size of the BoE's quantitative tightening process as "live". In June the BoE held interest rates steady in a two-way split vote. It said it is focusing on inflation risks from a weaker jobs market and from higher energy prices due to the conflict in the Middle East. Investors are betting on the BoE cutting rates in two further quarter-point moves to 3.75% by the end of the year. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/boes-bailey-sees-weakening-labour-market-cnbc-interview-2025-07-01/
2025-07-01 07:43
MADRID, July 1 (Reuters) - High-speed train traffic between Madrid and the southern Spanish region of Andalusia resumed on Tuesday, after a power cable failure left passengers stranded in train carriages and at stations overnight, railway infrastructure operator ADIF said. Around 20 trains were blocked on the tracks or unable to depart on Monday evening, with approximately 10 more cancelled on Tuesday morning in Madrid and southern Spanish cities including Seville, where global leaders are attending a United Nations conference on development financing. Sign up here. Traffic between the towns of Yeles and La Sagra, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Madrid, was suspended at 8:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) when an overhead cable malfunctioned, a spokesperson for the state-owned ADIF said. The cause of the malfunction was unknown, he said, and ADIF had postponed the resumption of service four times before launching the first train around 11:00 a.m. (0900 GMT). The backlog of passengers would slowly reduce during the day, it said. ADIF had called on regional emergency services to evacuate stranded passengers, some of whom spent hours stuck inside the trains in blistering heat. At least one train full of passengers remained on the tracks the entire night, the spokesperson said. The high-speed network has rapidly expanded in Spain as part of a government push to decarbonise public transport. The network connects almost all the country's big cities but is vulnerable to cable incidents as it crosses large swathes of scarcely populated areas. A copper cable theft paralysed the same line for more than 12 hours in early May. https://www.reuters.com/world/high-speed-train-line-spains-andalusia-cut-after-power-cable-failure-2025-07-01/
2025-07-01 07:41
July 1 (Reuters) - Expectations in Germany's chemical industry improved significantly in June as companies pin their hopes on a planned reduction in electricity tax for industry, according to a survey published on Tuesday. The Ifo economic expectations indicator for the sector entered positive territory in June, reaching 9.5 points, its highest in three and a half years, from -5.4 points in May. Sign up here. The German government plans to cut electricity tax for selected sectors, limiting its planned relief to industry, agriculture and forestry. The plans have prompted criticism from representatives from the retail, industrial, and energy sectors, who warn it could distort competition and have limited impact. Electricity prices in Germany are among the highest in the world, ranking fifth globally in the first quarter of the year with an average of 38 euro cents per kilowatt-hour. "However, the increased confidence is hardly reflected so far in the current business situation of many companies," Ifo said, adding that the order backlog remains extremely low. Some companies are benefiting from lower raw material costs and the first signs of an upturn in demand on international markets, Ifo said, while also flagging the United States' protectionist tariff policy, high location costs and geopolitical uncertainty as weighing on the sector's recovery. "In this situation, the state investments decided by the German government are providing urgently needed impetus," Ifo industry analyst Anna Wolf said. (This story has been corrected to change the period to 3.5 years from 2.5 years in paragraph 2 following a correction of the Ifo statement) https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/mood-germanys-chemical-industry-brightens-power-subsidy-plan-ifo-says-2025-07-01/
2025-07-01 07:30
SYDNEY, July 1 (Reuters) - A "bomb cyclone" has lashed Australia's most populous state with heavy rain and strong winds, forcing airlines to cancel domestic flights and prompting evacuation warnings in coastal communities. Authorities on Tuesday warned that parts of New South Wales could also expect the wild weather to worsen in the next 24 hours, with up to 250 mm (9.8 inches) of rain and winds up to 125 kph (78 mph) predicted. Sign up here. Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib said the size of the system was "enormous". "It may seem pretty bad but the terrible thing is the situation is going to worsen over the course of the next 24 hours," he told a news conference on Tuesday afternoon. Residents living along areas vulnerable to coastal erosion have been told to leave their homes with minor flood warnings also in place for several communities along the state's Mid North Coast. Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) , opens new tab cancelled at least 11 domestic flights operating from Sydney and Virgin Australia (VGN.AX) , opens new tab cancelled 12, the Sydney Airport website showed. No international flights have been affected. "Some services on Virgin Australia's network have been impacted by adverse weather in Sydney and Newcastle today," a Virgin Australia spokesperson said by email. Australia’s weather bureau said a "bomb cyclone", or "bombogenesis", was a low-pressure system that formed quickly and caused pressure to drop significantly within a short period of time. The weather system is expected to shift offshore into the Tasman Sea on Wednesday and ease by Thursday, the bureau said. "Damaging winds and large seas will continue across much of the coast through Wednesday, with warnings expected to continue," Senior Meteorologist Helen Reid said. "Conditions will continue to ease into Friday with only very light isolated showers lingering about the east coast by the end of the week." https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/sydney-flights-disrupted-by-heavy-rain-winds-flood-alert-raised-2025-07-01/
