2025-06-08 21:05

NAPERVILLE, Illinois, June 8 (Reuters) - Speculators dug deeper into bear territory last week across U.S. grain and oilseed futures, and with this time of year known to feature plenty of uncertainties, investors must keep their eyes glued on upcoming weather forecasts for the U.S. Corn Belt. In the week ended June 3, money managers' combined net short position across U.S. grain and oilseed futures and options surpassed 400,000 contracts, up more than 90,000 on the week. Sign up here. That marks their most bearish collective position since early September and their most bearish open to June in eight years. Just four months ago, the combined net long topped out at 300,000 contracts. Last week’s move was driven by heavier selling in corn, soybeans and soybean oil. Money managers maintained bullish CBOT soybean oil bets through the week ended June 3, but they slashed their net long futures and options contracts by 22,000 to 31,990 contracts due to negative sentiment on the U.S. biofuels front. Money managers nearly erased bullish bets in CBOT soybean futures and options, reducing their net long to 8,601 contracts from 36,697 a week earlier. Funds’ bearish soymeal position remained near-record large as prices have traded sideways over the last several weeks, and they also maintained sizable net shorts across the wheat flavors. CORN FOCUS Last week’s net selling in corn was primarily driven by a large wave of new gross short positions, a trend that has been present in six of the last seven weeks. As of June 3, money managers’ net short in CBOT corn futures and options hit a nine-month high of 154,043 contracts, up from 100,760 a week earlier. Recent heavy speculative selling in corn comes against the backdrop of a wildly strong U.S. export program and similarly robust U.S. ethanol grind. These factors have pared 2024-25 U.S. corn ending stock predictions significantly over the last year. However, the futures market does not seem to be reflecting a terribly tight situation. Late last week, CBOT July corn opened up a discount to December corn , not suggestive of imminent concern over supplies. Funds’ building bearishness in corn as well as the newly established market carry could be hinting at the expectation that last year’s U.S. corn crop was larger than the U.S. Department of Agriculture stated. The agency’s June 30 stocks report could potentially validate this notion. But in the meantime, traders will need to be watching the U.S. weather forecasts, which as of Friday suggested a potential dry spell for the western Corn Belt over the next two weeks. Heat risks were relatively low, though corn and soybean crop conditions are sitting at just average levels. In the week ahead, the market will be anticipating USDA’s monthly supply and demand report on Thursday, and traders expect a further contraction in old-crop U.S. corn supply. All eyes will turn toward London on Monday, where top U.S. and Chinese officials will hold talks aimed at resolving trade disputes. Pending the outcome, this could have markets starting off the week with a bang. But whether that trajectory is higher or lower is anyone’s guess. Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/funds-bearish-sentiment-us-grains-oilseeds-hits-nine-month-high-braun-2025-06-08/

2025-06-08 17:32

LIMA, June 8 (Reuters) - Peru's government has abandoned a plan that reduced the size of a protected area around the country's ancient Nazca Lines, it said on Sunday, after criticism the change made them vulnerable to the impact of informal mining operations. Peru's Culture Ministry in a statement said it was reinstating with immediate effect the protected area covering 5,600 square kilometers (2162.17 square miles), that in late May had been cut back to 3,200 square kilometers. The government said at the time the decision was based on studies that had more precisely demarcated areas with "real patrimonial value". Sign up here. The remote Nazca region located roughly 400 km (250 miles) south of Lima contains hundreds of pre-Hispanic artifacts and its plateau is famous for the Nazca Lines, where over 800 giant desert etchings of animals, plants and geometric figures were created more than 1,500 years ago. UNESCO declared them a World Heritage site in 1994. A technical panel of government representatives, archaeologists, academics and members of international organizations, including UNESCO, will work together to build consensus on a future proposal for zoning and land use in the area, the Culture Ministry's statement said. According to figures from the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines, 362 small-scale gold miners operate in the Nazca district under a program to regularize their status. Authorities have previously conducted operations against illegal mining in the area. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/peru-restores-nazca-lines-protection-after-backlash-over-mining-risk-2025-06-08/

2025-06-08 12:39

June 8 (Reuters) - Slovakia will block any European Union sanctions against Russia that damage its national interests, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Sunday after parliament approved a resolution calling on the government not to back any new measures. Fico said that Slovakia wanted to stay constructive within the bloc, but he called the resolution a political tool with a strong message. Sign up here. "If there is a sanction that would harm us, I will never vote for it," Fico told a news conference shown on his party's YouTube page. Slovakia, a NATO and European Union member, has diverged from Western allies in its position on Ukraine under Fico and his leftist-nationalist government coalition, and stopped official state military aid to Kyiv as it battles Russia's invasion. Fico has also been an opponent of sanctioning Russia for its war against Ukraine, saying trade measures damage Slovakia and the EU more than Moscow. The new resolution, approved in a thinly attended parliamentary session, committed government members not to vote for new sanctions and trade limitations towards Russia. It had not been immediately clear to what extent the resolution was constitutionally binding. Fico said he could not support any measure stopping the import of Russian fuel for Slovakia's nuclear power plants. "I am interested in being a constructive player in the European Union, but not at the expense of Slovakia." Slovakia has not blocked any previous EU sanctions, including a 17th package targeting Moscow's shadow fleet, adopted in May. Attempts to hit Russia's gas and nuclear sectors have consistently hit obstacles, with opposition from Slovakia and other countries, like Hungary, that still rely on Russian energy supplies. https://www.reuters.com/world/pm-fico-says-slovakia-will-block-eu-sanctions-russia-if-they-harm-national-2025-06-08/

2025-06-08 11:56

June 8 (Reuters) - Nuclear equipment supplier Westinghouse is in talks with U.S. officials and industry partners about deploying 10 large reactors, in response to presidential executive orders, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing the company's CEO. President Donald Trump's executive orders, which were published on May 23, directed the government to cut down on regulations and fast-track licences for reactors and power plants to shrink a multi-year process to 18 months. Sign up here. Dan Sumner, Westinghouse interim chief executive, told the FT that the company was "uniquely positioned" to deliver the president's agenda because it had an approved reactor design, a viable supply chain and recent experience of building two of its AP1000 reactors in Georgia. "There is active engagement with the administration, including key points of interface with the loan programmes office, recognising the importance of financing to the deployment of the model," he told the FT. Westinghouse did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/westinghouse-pursues-us-nuclear-expansion-after-trump-orders-ft-says-2025-06-08/

2025-06-08 11:52

ASTANA, June 8 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Sunday replaced two ministers in his government, including the transport minister, who he had previously criticized for delays in infrastructure modernisation. He fired Defence Minister Ruslan Zhaksylykov and replaced him with Zhaksylykov's deputy and Air Defence Forces chief Dauren Kosanov, according to decrees published on the president's site. Sign up here. Tokayev met Kosanov on Sunday and gave him several instructions, including strengthening the army's combat readiness, expanding the capabilities of the Special Operations Forces, and modernising the military's infrastructure. Zhaksylykov, previously deputy interior minister and head of the national guard, was appointed defence minister after civil unrest in January 2022 triggered by the removal of a price cap on fuel. Authorities were forced to call in troops from a Russian-led alliance of former Soviet states to quell what became a broad protest against corruption and economic hardship. Tokayev also sacked transport minister Marat Karabayev who he had reprimanded in May for problems with transport and logistics. It is not clear who will replace Karabayev. The president did not reveal the reasons for the reshuffle. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/kazakhstan-president-replaces-ministers-defence-transport-2025-06-08/

2025-06-08 09:46

FRANKFURT, June 8 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank can take its time on interest rates with monetary policy now set at a neutral level that is no longer restrictive, ECB policymaker Joachim Nagel said on German radio on Sunday. The ECB cut interest rates on Thursday for the eighth time in a year but signalled at least a policy pause next month after inflation returned to its 2% target. Sign up here. Nagel, who is also the president of Germany's central bank, said rates are now at a neutral level - central-banker language to describe policy that neither expands nor brakes the economy. "We are no longer restrictive. I believe that we can now take the time to look at the situation first. We now have maximum flexibility at this interest rate level," Nagel said in a live interview on Deutschlandfunk radio. The ECB has lowered borrowing costs eight times, or by 2 percentage points since last June, seeking to prop up a euro zone economy that was struggling even before erratic U.S. economic and trade policies dealt it further blows. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ecb-can-take-time-policy-policymaker-nagel-says-2025-06-08/