2026-01-22 11:25

Trump secures U.S. access to Greenland, eases tensions Iran supply risk reduced, oil prices stabilize Potential Ukraine peace deal could impact oil prices NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Oil prices slid about 2% to a one-week low on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump softened threats toward Greenland and Iran, and on some positive movement that could lead to a solution to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Brent futures fell $1.18, or 1.8%, to settle at $64.06 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.26, or 2.1%, to settle at a one-week low of $59.36 a barrel. Sign up here. Trump said he has secured total and permanent U.S. access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, whose head said allies would have to step up their commitment to Arctic security to ward off threats from Russia and China. European Union leaders, meanwhile, will rethink ties with the U.S. at an emergency summit on Thursday after Trump's threat of tariffs and even military action to acquire Greenland badly shook confidence in the transatlantic relationship, diplomats said. "There is a deflation of risk premium related to the Greenland debacle and Iran supply risk has also been reduced," said Ole Hansen, chief commodity analyst at Saxo Bank. Trump also said he hoped there would be no further U.S. military action in Iran, but added the U.S. would act if Iran resumes its nuclear program. Iran, operating under sanctions, is the third-biggest crude producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq. With less tension around Greenland and Iran, oil prices should hold at around $60 a barrel, according to Tony Sycamore, an analyst with online broker IG. RUSSIA AND UKRAINE President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine said on Thursday after talks with Trump in Davos that terms of security guarantees for Ukraine had been finalized, but the vital issue of territory in its war with Russia remains unsolved. Trump has pressured Ukraine to secure peace after nearly four years of war, despite few signs Russia wants to stop fighting. A deal to bring peace to Ukraine and lift sanctions on Russia, the world's third-biggest crude producer, could reduce oil prices by making more fuel available on global markets. The French navy intercepted a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean suspected of being part of a shadow fleet that enables Russia to export oil despite sanctions. Russian oil output fell 0.8% to 10.28 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, around a tenth of global production, according to data published on Thursday. In Venezuela, another sanctioned OPEC member, trading houses Vitol and Trafigura were exporting fuel oil under a U.S.-backed deal following capture of Venezuelan President . A proposed reform of Venezuela's hydrocarbons law would allow foreign and local companies to operate oilfields on their own through a new contract model, commercialize output and receive sale proceeds even if acting as minority partners of state company PDVSA, drafts seen by Reuters on Thursday showed. The Trump administration is allowing China to purchase Venezuelan oil but not at "unfair, undercut" prices at which Caracas sold the crude before the U.S. removed Maduro, a U.S. official said on Thursday. Boosting oil flows from Venezuela could reduce oil prices. Also weighing on oil prices, forecasts have been trimmed for European corporate health. Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi Arabia's Aramco (2223.SE) , opens new tab, the world's biggest oil producer, said global oil glut predictions are seriously exaggerated as demand growth remains strong and global oil stocks are depleted. US OIL INVENTORIES: Oil futures extended losses on a bigger-than-expected crude storage build. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said energy firms added 3.6 million barrels of crude to storage during the week ended January 16, more than triple the 1.1-million-barrel increase analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and exceeding the 3.0-million-barrel build that market sources said the American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group reported on Wednesday. , EIA and API released their reports a day later than usual due to the U.S. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday. (This story has been refiled to fix the hyperlink to restore missing text in paragraph 4) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-edges-up-after-trump-steps-backs-tariff-threats-over-greenland-2026-01-22/

2026-01-22 11:18

TOKYO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The Japanese government largely retained its cautiously optimistic view of the economy in its economic report published on Thursday, while warning of downside risks from U.S. trade policies. In its monthly economic assessment for January, the Cabinet Office reiterated that the world's fourth-largest economy was recovering moderately, but highlighted the possible impact from U.S. policies on especially its auto industry. Sign up here. It also underlined the need to remain vigilant over market movements. Its outlook on private consumption, which accounts for more than half of the economy, was maintained and described as "picking up" for a fifth consecutive month. The only major change in the economic assessment was in the trade and services balance, revised to "roughly balanced" from "in deficit." On prices, it said the rise in food costs - the main driver of inflation - slowed, and the government will watch closely to see whether signs of a slowdown in price increases take hold. The yen's sharp declines since October, however, have heightened uncertainty on whether cost-push price pressures will moderate as smoothly as the central bank projects. Japan's economy contracted an annualised 2.3% in the third quarter as a drop in exports from the impact of higher tariffs resulted in the first contraction in six quarters. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is expected to keep its interest rates steady at its two-day policy meeting ending on Friday, after raising its benchmark rate to a 30-year-high of 0.75% just last month. Political developments have also added to economic uncertainty. On Monday, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called a snap parliamentary election for February 8 to seek voters' backing for policies, including increased government spending and a two-year suspension of a consumption tax on food. Her proposals sparked a broad selloff in bonds, currencies and stocks on concerns that Japan's already strained public finances could worsen. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/japan-retains-cautious-economic-view-flags-risks-us-trade-policies-2026-01-22/

2026-01-22 11:16

FRANKFURT, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The German economy ended last year with momentum building but first quarter growth is likely to be modest, with inflation stabilising at 2%, the Bundesbank said in a monthly economic report on Thursday. Germany's economy, Europe's biggest, became stuck in stagnation in recent years as industry suffered a big recession and U.S. tariffs ate deep into exports, putting recovery bets squarely on the government's spending spree. Sign up here. "The somewhat more pessimistic expectations of companies recently suggest that economic output is likely to grow only moderately in the first quarter of this year," the central bank said. "However, the easing of fiscal policy should provide a stronger boost later in the year." Exports are still weak but industry appears to have bottomed out, households are spending more given big wage gains, and domestic demand is up sharply, likely driven by the government's efforts to beef up defence spending, the report said. While the outlook is far better than any time in recent years, the recovery could take longer and the government is expected to cut its own growth forecast for this year to 1.0% from 1.3%, a source familiar with the projections told Reuters earlier this week. On inflation, the Bundesbank maintained a sanguine outlook, predicting German price growth remaining close to the European Central Bank's 2% target in the coming months. Overall euro zone inflation is seen dipping below 2%, mostly on lower energy costs, before recovering next year as domestic price pressures hold around target. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-economy-staying-slow-lane-early-2026-bundesbank-predicts-2026-01-22/

2026-01-22 11:11

JAKARTA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Indonesia's energy ministry was not consulted before President Prabowo Subianto decided to revoke the permit of a China-backed hydroelectric power plant on the island of Sumatra, an official at the ministry, Eniya Listiani Dewi, said on Thursday. The government said on Tuesday that it had revoked the permits of 28 firms accused of environmental breaches that worsened last year's deadly floods in Sumatra. Sign up here. The firms include PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy(NSHE), which runs the Batangtoru hydropower facility. The company is controlled by China's state-run SDIC Power Holdings Co. Ltd. Eniya Listiani Dewi told reporters that she hadn't been informed why the permit for the plant had been cancelled, or what kind of permit it was. The hydropower project, worth over $1.6 billion, has long been on the radar of environmental activists, with many calling for it to be stopped because of the ecological destruction it has wrought on the biodiverse island. The presidential office and NSHE did not immediately response to request for comments. The energy ministry is part of the forestry task force and must have been involved in the decision making process, the task force's spokesperson Barita Simanjuntak told Reuters on Thursday. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/indonesian-president-did-not-consult-with-energy-ministry-when-revoking-china-2026-01-22/

2026-01-22 11:00

LITTLETON, Colorado, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Judging by state and local filings alone, the U.S.' data center computing capacity could jump by close to 1,000% if all projects currently planned come to fruition. That's a big "if," however, as it is widely known that some of the plans filed by so-called hyperscalers are more aspirational than hard commitments and will likely be withdrawn if development or grid interconnection takes too long. Sign up here. Other project estimates likely deliberately inflated the computing capacity that is expected to be constructed, in the hopes that large-scale projects may be eligible for local government support and attain leverage in zoning negotiations. That said, it is clear that a huge swell in overall data center computing heft - and power consumption - can be expected across the country, which will have sizeable repercussions for local electricity markets, utilities and other businesses. To help assess which states face the biggest potential impact from the data center build-out, here is a breakdown of where the planned capacity additions are due to be located - and how state electricity supplies and prices have been trending. COAST-TO-COAST One of the standout features of the data center capacity pipeline is how widely spread the development plans are across the country. In total, plans for just over 150 gigawatts (GW) of new data center power capacity have been filed nationally, with 24 different states planning or building at least 1 GW of new capacity, according to Cleanview, an energy data portal. Given that total current U.S. data center capacity is just under 15 GW and that only three states - Virginia, Texas and Arizona - have more than 2 GW in current operation, the planned capacity building boom is potentially transformational. The proposed sites span from North Dakota to Alabama, but some states have chunkier development pipelines than others. Virginia - already called the country's data center alley - plans an eleven-fold rise in computing capacity, which will maintain the state's lead in data center heft with close to 35 GW in development. Texas ranks second with around 27 GW of capacity plans, while gas-rich Pennsylvania ranks third with a capacity pipeline of around 14 GW. Outside of those already established hubs for energy-intensive industry, New Mexico, Indiana, Arizona and Utah also have hefty capacity plans in the works, with more than 25 GW of additional capacity planned between them. Other notable states with plans to bring on massive new capacity include Georgia, Louisiana and Wyoming, which each plan to build more than 3 GW of new computing power. POTENTIAL ROADBLOCKS The mere prospect of a data center boom has already resulted in gridlock within utility planning systems and yearslong waiting lists for new power generating equipment, especially gas power turbines , opens new tab - before shovels have even hit the dirt. Electricity prices - already buoyed in nearly every market as utility systems upgrade grids and transmission networks - have also risen as data center chatter intensified in key markets. Among the top 15 states for planned new data center capacity, electricity prices for residential customers have climbed by an average of 16% since the start of 2024, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That price gain compares to a 10% rise in national residential electricity prices over the same period and indicates that hefty data center capacity pipelines may come with a side of local rate inflation. Thankfully for large energy consumers, utility-scale supplies of electricity have increased at an even faster rate across the country - especially in the states where large data center demand loads are set to emerge. Total electricity output across the same 15 states with the largest data center capacity pipelines has increased by an average of 22% since the start of 2024, data from think tank Ember shows. That growth rate slightly exceeds the national electricity supply expansion of 21% over the same period and suggests that utilities in those states may be outworking their peers in an effort to make the data center capacity dreams a reality. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters. Enjoying this column? Check out Reuters Open Interest (ROI), your essential new source for global financial commentary. ROI delivers thought-provoking, data-driven analysis of everything from swap rates to soybeans. Markets are moving faster than ever. ROI can help you keep up. Follow ROI on LinkedIn , opens new tab and X , opens new tab. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/charting-data-center-development-roadmap-key-us-states-2026-01-22/

2026-01-22 10:59

Rutte says NATO senior commanders will discuss what's needed NATO Secretary General expects results to be seen this year Rutte sure non-Arctic NATO allies will contribute to effort DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The framework deal on Greenland agreed with U.S. President Donald Trump would require NATO allies to step up on Arctic security and the first results of this will be seen this year, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters on Thursday. It was now up to NATO commanders to work through the details of extra security requirements, Rutte said in an interview at the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, adding that he was sure non-Arctic NATO allies would want to contribute to the effort. Sign up here. "We will come together in NATO with our senior commanders to work out what is necessary," an upbeat Rutte said, adding: "I have no doubt we can do this quite fast. Certainly I would hope for 2026, I hope even early in 2026." Rutte said minerals exploitation was not discussed during his meeting with Trump in Davos on Wednesday. Negotiations on the Arctic island would continue between the United States, Denmark and Greenland itself, he said. Rutte also said the intensified Arctic effort would not drain resources in support of Ukraine, which relies heavily on NATO members for military backing in its war with Russia. Trump on Wednesday said the U.S. would not use force to pursue his ambition to acquire Greenland and later dropped the threat of additional tariffs against some of Washington's European allies and fellow NATO members over the issue. Asked if NATO allies can take Trump at his word, Rutte replied: "You can always take Donald Trump at his word". Rutte, who was given a shout-out by Trump during his widely-watched Davos address on Wednesday, was also asked how it was he seemed to be emerging as the person who can best bring a conversation with the U.S. president to a positive conclusion. "I've no idea. I can only tell you that I like the guy, that I respect his leadership," Rutte said. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/rutte-says-greenland-framework-deal-means-nato-allies-must-step-up-arctic-2026-01-22/